[Onthebarricades] GLOBAL UNREST: Revolts against state abuse

[Andy]

*  CHILE:  Anti-dictatorship day marked by youth protests, street fighting
*  NAURU:  Police station torched, police routed in unrest over phosphate 
exports
*  DENMARK:  Police abuse of minorities leads to week-long mass unrest
*  AUSTRALIA:  Yet more unrest in Northern Territory - this time Echo Island
*  INDIA:  Villagers block roads over police abuse, wrongful arrests
*  KENYA:  Murder by police sparks revolt by villagers
*  NWFP, PAKISTAN:  Diesel pump operators block roads to army
*  INGUSHETIA:  Anti-corruption protests and more clashes with police
*  JAMAICA:  Arrests spark taxi strike
*  IRAN:  Shoppers "riot against modesty police", resist arrest of woman
*  GUATEMALA:  Villagers hold police hostage to demand release of land 
activist

Publicly Archived at Global Resistance: 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN2843349620080329


Rocks and tear gas in Chile's annual youth protests
Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:27am EDT

By Rodrigo Martinez
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Masked youths threw stones at police who responded by 
firing tear gas and water cannon in the Chilean capital on Friday at the 
start of annual protests against the government and the country's 
free-market system.
Dozens of youths, some in school uniforms, threw objects into the Santiago's 
main street, the Alameda. Some wearing hoods or bandannas over their faces 
scattered pink pamphlets that read "Popular Union of Students."
Police in armored vehicles sped through the street spraying clouds of tear 
gas as officers riot gear rounded up youths and bundled them into police 
buses as sirens blared. Barriers were erected cordoning off the presidential 
palace nearby. Police said they had detained 185 people.
The protests were aimed at Chile's capitalist-style economic model and the 
government, which the groups say manipulates the education system to favor 
the wealthy and exclude the poor.
President Michelle Bachelet condemned the violence.
"Democracy in Chile is solid and there is no justification for violence," 
she told reporters as riot police in flak jackets and helmets manned 
intersections and street corners.
Two small bomb blasts have rocked banks in the two weeks running up to 
Saturday's anniversary of "Day of the Young Combatant." The day marks the 
deaths of two brothers, Eduardo and Rafael Vergara, during Augusto 
Pinochet's 1973-90 dictatorship.
Bachelet was herself briefly detained and tortured along with her mother 
during Pinochet's harsh dictatorship, in which nearly 3,200 people were 
killed.
"If one wants to pay homage to the tremendous tragedy of the Vergara 
brothers, during a period when Chile was not democratic, the right thing to 
do is guarantee that democracy means being able to express yourself but 
without violence," Bachelet said.
Chile is one of the most stable countries in the region, but Bachelet's 
popularity has taken a bashing because of the way her government has handled 
past student protests as well as a botched transport system for the capital.
There have also been corruption allegations against members of her 
administration.
"We think this neo-liberal education system that the government has 
introduced should be stopped," said Saray Acevedo, of the National Popular 
Coordinator of Students. She handed out the flyers to passers-by that read 
"Against a neo-liberal education. Struggle by the people and students."
Some ordinary Chileans say the protesters have a point.
"The government speaks but does not act. I think the people should protest 
more, they are too passive," said Rodrigo Nunez, a 39-year-old engineer, as 
he walked past armored police trucks.
"There are so many problems. It is true education is expensive and 
marginalizes the poor. The cost of living is high. Electricity and gas 
prices are up. Look at how they protest in Argentina! I voted for this 
government and feel conned," he said.
Last year, students wearing balaclavas clashed with police in Santiago and 
other cities, throwing stones and gasoline bombs. Police retaliated with 
tear gas and water cannon.
At least officers were wounded in those clashes and police arrested more 
than 850 people across the country. Many businesses shut down. Several 
explosive devices detonated but no one was injured.
Chile has vowed to clamp down on groups who set off bombs and extra police 
will patrol the streets of Santiago on Saturday.
(With reporting by Simon Gardner and Reuters TV; Editing by Chris Wilson)


http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2008/03/29/chilean_protesters_clash_with_police/8276/


Chilean protesters clash with police

Published: March 29, 2008 at 2:12 PM

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 29 (UPI) -- Nearly 200 people were arrested in 
Santiago, Chile, during a demonstration honoring two men killed during a 
previous military regime, according to authorities.

Police clashed with protesters and used tear gas to subdue the crowd, 
estimated at several hundred, La Nacion reported Saturday.

Saturday in Chile marks the "Day of the Young Combatant," the anniversary of 
the death of two brothers, Eduardo and Rafael Vergara, who opposed the 
dictatorship of former Chilean leader Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990).

http://www.pslweb.org/site/News2/459048564?page=NewsArticle&id=8827&news_iv_ctrl=1261


Chilean students protest on Day of the Young Combatant
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
By: Stefanie Fisher
In brief
Hundreds of students and youth took to the streets on March 28 in Santiago, 
Chile, stopping traffic on their way toward the government palace.
Protesters were attacked by hundreds of riot police with tear gas and water 
cannons. The cops rounded up and arrested over two hundred youth and their 
supporters.
More demonstrations and actions are planned throughout the weekend to mark 
the annual "Day of the Young Combatant," which honors teenage activists 
Eduardo and Rafael Vergara, who were killed on March 29, 1985 during Augusto 
Pinochet's brutal dictatorship.
Protesters denounced the Chilean government's free-market economic model 
that has left many Chileans poor and disillusioned with President Michelle 
Bachelet's unfulfilled promises.
Students were also protesting the government's manipulation of the education 
system, which benefits the rich and excludes the poor.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/10/asia/AS-GEN-Nauru-Riot.php


Rioters in Nauru torch police station during weekend violence

The Associated Press
Published: March 10, 2008

WELLINGTON, New Zealand: Rioters on the Pacific island nation of Nauru set 
fire to the tiny nation's main police station during a weekend protest by 
about 100 young people, New Zealand's government said Monday.
No one was injured in the violence although the police station was gutted 
and several people were arrested, said James Funnell, a spokesman for New 
Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters.
The larger Pacific nations of Australia and New Zealand maintain close ties 
with Nauru and other small island nations in the region.
The cause of the Nauru rioting was not immediately clear. Political turmoil 
there came to a head late last year when a breakaway group of Cabinet 
ministers ousted President Ludwig Scotty in a no-confidence motion, accusing 
his government of taking no action on corruption allegations.
Marcus Stephens, Nauru's former champion weightlifter and a Commonwealth 
Games medalist, was elected as the new president on Dec. 19.
Funnell said the latest reports from the island said the situation was calm.
Officials in Nauru - a speck of land halfway between Australia and Hawaii - 
were not immediately available for comment.
"It appears from our inquiries the origin of the violence is a long-standing 
commercial dispute," Funnel said. He did not give further details of the 
problem or say how many people were arrested in the violence.
"Police reservists were sworn under emergency authority to protect national 
infrastructure," he said.
Those detained were being held in a camp the Australian government set up on 
the island in 2001 to house foreign asylum seekers, who were caught while 
heading for Australia by boat, while their asylum requests were being 
processed. The program ended earlier this year and no asylum seekers were 
still in the camp, Funnell said.
Nauru was the third South Pacific country to suffer rioting and arson in the 
past two years. Similar problems have hit Samoa and Tonga.
Nauru was once was a major supplier of phosphate, which is used for making 
farm fertilizer.
Its population of about 12,500 had one of the world's highest per capita 
incomes about 25 years ago. The country's fortunes dwindled as its phosphate 
reserves ran out, however, and have been worsened by bad investments and 
poor economic management by its government.


http://www.stuff.co.nz/4433454a12.html


Riot hits Nauru, NZ ponders action
BY MICHAEL FIELD - Fairfax Media | Monday, 10 March 2008
The main police station in the South Pacific nation of Nauru has been gutted 
by fire after rioters attacked it over the weekend, and authorities fear 
more violence ahead.
Rioters objecting to the export of phosphate burnt the station on Saturday, 
prompting local authorities to deputize a hundred people, including 
teenagers, to protect other buildings.
A New Zealand Government spokesman said they were discussing the situation 
with their Australian counterparts in the event Nauru called for assistance.
When similar riots broke out in the Solomon Islands and Tonga in 2006, New 
Zealand forces were flown in along with other Pacific units.
Nauru is the world's smallest republic, only 21-square kilometre in area and 
with just 12,000 people. It has been stripped down to a bleak landscape of 
bleached coral pinnacles.
A New Zealander, Albert Ellis, discovered its high grade phosphate in 1900 
and in what amounted to colonial robbery, saw much of it mined and turned 
into super phosphate for the farms of Australia and New Zealand. Nauru won 
independence from Britain, Australia and New Zealand, becoming the world's 
smallest republic in 1968.
Nauruans became the world's richest people on a per capita basis but over 
three decades saw most of their money disappear in poor investments and 
corruption.
The bulk of the phosphate ran out around 10 years ago but mineable 
quantities are known to exist in previously mined areas. The Government of 
Nauru created a new company, Ronphos Corporation, to reopen the mines.
The first shipment was being loaded up last week, prompting public concern.
World phosphate prices have nearly doubled in recent years.
AAP reported that Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs believes there 
is a chance of further violence and has warned Australians in Nauru to stay 
indoors at night.
No people have been harmed in the disturbance.
The Howard government in Australia turned Nauru into an offshore detention 
centre for asylum seekers under its so-called "Pacific Solution".
The centre has been closed but some Australian police remain.

http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news621.htm


Copenhagen Riots - It's been no fairy tale in Denmark with a full week of 
argy-bargy in Copenhagen. Racist policing pushed the immigrant population to 
a flash point when a 65-year-old immigrant man was beaten severely by police 
on February 9th - and it flared out to into riots across the country. Cars 
were set alight and barricades burnt, mostly started by young immigrants but 
joined by anti-racist activists and other 'avin it' types. The incident 
which sparked it all off was during a car search, where children no older 
than thirteen who tried to help the victim were also beaten. This was just 
one too many times for the common practice in Copenhagen of police searching 
people on grounds of race. It's the same ingredients as the Paris riots in 
recent years.
While the mainstream media did their best to align the riots with 
fundamentalist Muslims offended by a newspaper reprint of the infamous 
Muhammed cartoon - or boredom in the barrios - the real reasons were 
outlined when a group calling itself "Drengene fra indre Nørrebro" (the boys 
from inner Nørrebro) sent a letter to a national newspaper saying that the 
riots had been about discrimination and harassment by police to immigrants 
on the urban estates.
Cars and buildings - including several schools - were destroyed and around 
45 were arrested and charged with arson and vandalism during the week.


http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL16445295


Danish youths riot for sixth night, several arrests
Sat Feb 16, 2008 11:20am EST

COPENHAGEN, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Gangs of rioters set fire to cars and garbage 
trucks in northern Copenhagen on Friday, the sixth night of rioting and 
vandalism that has spread from the capital to other Danish cities, police 
said on Saturday.

Five youths were arrested in the capital on Friday after 28 cars and 35 
garbage trucks were burned, Copenhagen police duty officer Jakob Kristensen 
told Reuters.

Danish media said arrests in other towns brought to 29 the number of people 
police were holding.

Scores of cars and several schools have been vandalised or burned in the 
past week. Police could give no reason, but said that unusually mild weather 
and the closure of schools for a winter break might have contributed.

Police arrested two Tunisians and a Dane of Moroccan descent on Tuesday for 
planning to kill a cartoonist who drew one of the cartoons printed in a 
Danish newspaper two years ago that roused a storm of protest in Muslim 
countries.

Fifteen Danish newspapers reprinted his drawing on Wednesday in protest 
against the alleged murder plot.

Several hundred Muslims gathered in central Copenhagen on Friday to protest 
against publication of the cartoon. Most Muslims consider depictions of the 
founder of Islam offensive.

Social workers said the arrests, the reprinting of the cartoon and protests 
against its appearance might have fuelled the riots.

Publication of the cartoons two years ago led to protests and rioting in 
Muslim countries in which at least 50 people were killed and three Danish 
embassies attacked. In October police arrested more than 400 people in 
Copenhagen after demonstrators evicted from a youth centre earlier in the 
year tried to occupy a new building. (Reporting by Kim McLaughlin, editing 
by Tim Pearce)

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gb_Oh9rwoIfa6wxMsitw7VG4k9Fw


Youths riot across Denmark for sixth night in a row: police
Feb 15, 2008
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Six people were arrested in Copenhagen overnight after 
small groups of youths torched cars and dumpsters across the city for the 
sixth night in a row, police said on Saturday.
Up to eight others were arrested in towns across the country, media 
reported.
"In Copenhagen there were 28 cars set on fire, 35 dumpsters and 14 garbage 
fires in the streets," Copenhagen police chief inspector Lau Thytesen told 
AFP.
Of the six people arrested in the capital, five were to be charged with 
arson while the sixth had been released, he said.
Other violence was reported in Denmark's second biggest city Aarhus, as well 
as Odense and North Zealand.
The cause of the troubles was not known. The youths, who have acted in small 
groups with no apparent organisation, have not spoken out about their 
motive.
One of the organisers of a peaceful anti-racism demonstration held in 
Copenhagen on Friday, Rasmus Lingnau Amossen, told daily Politiken that many 
youngsters felt harassed by police and believed the police were racist.
New regulations allow police to search people at random for weapons, even 
without suspicion, in certain areas of Copenhagen, including the heavily 
immigrant areas of Noerrebro and Vesterbro where the troubles began last 
weekend.
"I've spoken with some of them and asked them why they're doing it 
(rioting). And they said it was because of the harassment they're subjected 
to in connection with the searches," Amossen said.
"When police choose to stop everyone with Arab features or the wrong skin 
colour while they let other people pass by, it's not about a specific effort 
anymore. It's about racism," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/11/2159634.htm


Man dies following riots on Elcho Island
Posted Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:50pm AEDT
Northern Territory Police say things have calmed down on Elcho Island 
following a weekend riot.
Officers say they had to use force to control a dispute involving 400 people 
which erupted in Galiwinku yesterday afternoon.
Police say a man, who was not involved in the fight, collapsed and died 
shortly afterwards.
His death is not being treated as suspicious.

http://www.thestatesman.net/page.arcview.php?date=2008-03-10&usrsess=1&clid=10&id=221272


Villagers protest against police arrogance

Statesman News Service
MALDA, March 9: Hundreds of villagers, residents of Sadipur between English 
Bazaar and Kaliachak police station, blocked a state highway for over 14 
hours today in protest against alleged police highhandedness.
Police arrested three persons last night from that village in connection 
with a lynching case. Villagers claimed that three persons were innocent.
Villagers alleged that police damaged their houses and tortured women 
members of their family in the name of raid.
It may be noted that two youths were killed a few days ago there. Villagers 
suspected them to be criminals and hacked them to death.
After the incident, Malda SP Mr Satyajit Bandyopadhyay said: "Police would 
not spare any one for taking law in their hands".
But police could not conduct a raid just after the incident in Sadipur and 
adjoining villages due to on going Madhyamik and Madrassa examinations.
The police later raided the villages but failed to identify any one who 
killed the two youths brutally.
Villagers dragged the two youths from their area, tied them with trees, 
killed them at night and lastly dumped their bodies on the other of the 
village.
Though police asked the villagers to confess the crime and surrender them, 
no one agreed to come forward.
Last night police picked up three persons from that village when villagers 
refused to confess and disclose the names of those who killed the two men.
Malda SP Mr Satyajit Bandyopadhyay said: "Raid would be continued to nab 
others involved in this case. Action would be taken if police personnel were 
found guilty as per the allegations by the villagers.
Villagers finally lifted the road block around 2 pm today which began at 6 
am.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200802070185.html


Kenya: Death At Police Post Sparks Riot

The Nation (Nairobi)
7 February 2008
Posted to the web 7 February 2008
Nation Team
Nairobi
A man who had been arrested on accusations of robbery died Wednesday at a 
police post.
Shortly afterwards, residents of Katanga village in Thika District started 
rioting.

Central provincial officer Japhter Rugut said the man had been arrested for 
attacking people. "He died at the Administration Police post before he could 
be handed over to the regular police, but residents thought he had been 
tortured," he said.
He said the man believed to be mentally ill, had been attacking residents 
and snatching items from them.
Gatundu North MP Clement Waibara urged protesters to end the riots.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C02%5C15%5Cstory_15-2-2008_pg7_37


NW army camp attacked, diesel pump owners threaten protest
MIRANSHAH: Unknown militants fired two missiles on the Miranshah army camp, 
but no casualties were reported, officials said.

Meanwhile, diesel pump owners have announced to close the Bannu-Miranshah 
Road for an indefinite period in protest against the suspension of supply of 
diesel to 25 pumps in North Waziristan Agency, and even the army vehicles 
would not be allowed to use the road.

NW Agency Political Agent Auranzeb Khan told Daily Times it was the army 
that had stopped diesel supply to the agency, and not the tribal 
administration. staff report


http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2008/01/3afe394d-3c71-4c7d-b1aa-f524ef1b13c3.html


Russia: Security Forces Violently Disperse Protest In Ingushetia

The offices of the state-owned 'Serdalo' newspaper were set on fire 
following the demonstration
(AFP)

Police have clashed with hundreds of protesters rallying against corruption 
and human rights abuses in Russia's southern Republic of Ingushetia.

One demonstrator was reported wounded in the violence, while others were 
detained, including journalists and human rights activists.

RFE/RL's Russian Service reported that the violence began after about 1,000 
demonstrators tried to gather in a central square in Ingushetia's capital, 
Nazran, but heavily armed riot police blocked streets leading to the square.

Protesters then began throwing rocks and incendiary devices at the police, 
who fired shots into the air before moving into the crowd. Police and 
paramilitary forces then chased protesters through the center of Nazran.

RFE/RL's Danila Galperovich, who was on the scene, said that "local police 
special forces were attacked by demonstrators with stones and Molotov 
cocktails. Special forces responded with heavy force, using tear gas and 
hand guns."

Later, he and other journalists with independent media, as well human rights 
activists, were detained by police. The others detained included "Novaya 
gazeta" correspondent Olga Bobrova, Ekho Moskvy radio correspondents 
Vladimir Varfolomeyev and Roman Plusov, and two activists from the Russian 
human rights group Memorial, Yekaterina Sokiriaskaya and Timur Akiyev.

"After the clashes ended, I was trying to clear up how many casualties there 
were on both sides," Galperovich said. "When I introduced myself to the 
police officers, they, without any comment, took away all my belongings and 
detained me for two hours at the local police department. Then when the 
republican and Nazran prosecutors appeared on the scene, all my personal 
belongings were returned to me. And I'm still in the local police 
department, waiting to be freed."

Reports say smoke and flames poured from the offices of the state newspaper 
"Serdalo" and from Ingushetia's main hotel. It was not clear who set the 
facilities on fire or why.

Protesting Police Crackdown, Abuses

The demonstrators carried placards calling for the resignation of 
Ingushetian President Murat Zyazikov, a close ally of Russian President 
Vladimir Putin.

Organizers say they informed the authorities of their plan to hold the rally 
and that it was intended to protest corruption and the abductions, beatings, 
arrests, and killings of suspects by government forces and local allied 
paramilitaries.

On January 25 Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) launched a large-scale 
security operation in Ingushetia in response to a surge in violence and 
abductions in the republic -- mostly against police.

Nazran and other parts of the republic were declared "counterterrorism 
zones," giving emergency powers to the security forces.

On November 24, 2007, police in Nazran used force to disperse hundreds of 
people taking part in a protest similar to today's gathering. Reports said 
100 protesters were detained at that time.

The mostly Muslim republic of fewer than 500,000 people shares the religion, 
language, and culture of neighboring Chechnya. Its population includes a 
large number of refugees from Chechnya, where Russia has fought two wars 
against separatist rebels over the last 15 years.

Federal officials last year tripled the number of law enforcement troops in 
Ingushetia in an effort to tighten the authorities' control there.

[From: Chechnya Weekly (The Jamestown Foundation, USA)
January 31, 2008-Volume IX, Issue 4]
http://www.jamestown.org


Police and Protesters Clash Again In Nazran

OMON riot police on January 26 forcibly dispersed protesters who
gathered in Nazran to protest the policies and actions of the
administration of Ingushetia's president, Murat Zyazikov. Kommersant
reported on January 28 that while the demonstration's organizers
officially billed it as being "in support of President Putin," its
real aim was to demand once again Zyazikov's resignation. A similar
protest, held in Nazran last November 24, was also broken up by riot
police (Chechnya Weekly, November 29, 2007).

The independent Ingushetiya.ru website and other media reported that
while thousands of demonstrators tried to get to Nazran's central
square, the demonstration's planned site, the area was surrounded by
heavily armed riot police and armored vehicles and thus only several
hundred manage to get near the square. Protesters reportedly threw
stones and Molotov cocktails at the riot police, who in turn beat
protesters and fired over their heads, wounding one protester. At
that point, the protest's organizers decided to call it off and
reschedule it for February 23, the anniversary of Soviet dictator
Josef Stalin's mass deportation of the Chechens and Ingush in
1944. "We understood that we couldn't force our way onto the square
without a clash, that blood might be shed, so we decided to call off
the demonstration," one of the protest's organizers, Ingushetiya.ru
proprietor Mamgomed Yevloev, told Kommersant.

Still, Kommersant reported that the protesters then split into two
groups, one of which headed for the Nazran police headquarters while
the other headed to the Assa Hotel and the offices of the government
newspaper Serdalo, both of which were set ablaze. According to
police officials and Serdalo's chief editor, Khusein Shadiev, the
protesters threw Molotov cocktails at both buildings. Shadiev said
the protesters - who, he said, numbered around 200-were
not "peaceful demonstrators" but "real [rebel] fighters," and that
neither the military nor the police had tried to "prevent these
outrages." According to Kommersant, the newspaper's offices were
seriously damaged by the fire but the hotel escaped serious damage
because the fire there was extinguished quickly. No one was hurt at
either location. Kommersant quoted Svetlana Gorbakova, an aide to
the head of the investigations department of the federal
Investigative Committee's branch for Ingushetia, as saying that
police found more than 100 unused Molotov cocktails in a garage near
the newspaper's offices.

Magomed Yevloev, for his part, said the opposition was not
responsible for the arson attacks or other acts of violence in
Nazran on January 26. "The opposition has nothing to do with the
mass riots that took place in the city," he told
Kommersant. "Provocateurs acting in the interests of the authorities
fought with the police and burned the buildings."

Police reported that 43 people were arrested in connection with the
January 26 demonstration and violence in Nazran. Among those
detained were two human rights activists-Memorial staff members
Ekaterina Sokiryanskaya and Timur Akiev, who were held for 10 hours
and interrogated as witnesses to "mass riots" -and 10 journalists,
including correspondents for Ekho Moskvy radio, Novaya Gazeta and
Radio Liberty. Kommersant reported that Mustafa Kurkiev, a
correspondent for the newspaper Zhizn, was severely beaten by police
after they detained him along with Said-Khussein Tsarnaev, a
photojournalist for RIA Novosti. Kommersant quoted sources in the
Zyazikov administration as saying the journalists had been "detained
for resisting the authorities."

Human Rights Watch condemned the detention of the journalists in
Nazran. "Ingush authorities are trying to silence dissent by
stopping journalists from doing their jobs," said Holly Cartner,
Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. She said it
was "disgraceful" Kurkiev and Tsarnaev were "detained and ill-
treated by police just because they were covering a protest," adding
that with tensions rising, Ingushetia "needs more independent
reporting, not less," and that Ingushetia's government "should stop
harassing journalists and ensure freedom of expression."

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also condemned the
detention of the journalists and human rights activists in Nazran,
stating in a January 29 press release that, according to its
interviews, two of the detained journalists had been "badly
beaten." "We are appalled by the abusive actions of the Ingush
authorities, which effectively prevented news of civil protests from
reaching the rest of the world," the press release quoted CPJ
Executive Director Joel Simon as saying. Joel added, "The forceful
prevention of journalists from covering important news is the reason
why Russia's North Caucasus has become a virtual black hole for
information."

Ingushetia's two main Internet providers blocked access to
Ingushetiya.ru over several days prior to the January 26 protest in
Nazran.

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080318/lead/lead5.html


Cabbie protest over lock-ups leaves commuters stranded
published: Tuesday | March 18, 2008
Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer

Taxi drivers use their vehicles to block the Stewart Town main road in St 
Mary, yesterday, in protest against the decision of a resident magistrate to 
jail for two days those who continue to breach the Road Traffic Act. - Roger 
Robinson/Freelance Photographer
St Mary commuters were left stranded for almost the entire day yesterday, as 
taxi drivers took protest action against a ruling in the parish's Resident 
Magistrate's Court.
The protest also prevented schoolchildren who had to use the Highgate route 
from travelling to school. Heavy trees that were cut down for roadblocks 
also caused power outages in the communities of Clonmel, Belfield and White 
Hall.
The taxi drivers were protesting against the decision taken last Thursday, 
by Resident Magistrate Crisanthia Brown, to have 20 taxi drivers jailed for 
two days after they made an appearance in the St Mary Traffic Court for 
breaching the Road Traffic Act.
The drivers said they were also protesting against what they claimed was the 
Transport Authority's failure to provide them with the badges and other 
materials that they had paid for.
The Gleaner understands that most of the taxi drivers were in court to 
answer to offences of having no PPV badges, uniforms or logbooks.
No payment
However, Keith Goodison, general manager at the Transport Authority, told 
The Gleaner that none of the persons involved in yesterday's protest or 
those detained has paid for their badges.
"I am not aware of anyone who has gone through the process of paying for 
their badge and hasn't received it," said Goodison.
He said that many of the taxi drivers had only paid for the badges but had 
not gone ahead to do the fingerprinting which is a crucial part of the 
process.
"Many of them are complaining that the process is too long and that they 
don't want to go all the way to Kingston to have their fingerprints taken," 
he said.
Goodison said many of the drivers, instead, travel with the receipts, 
claiming the Authority had failed to issue them with badges.
Last Thursday, Constabulary Communication Communication Network liaison 
officer for the parish, Corporal Angella McTaggart, told The Gleaner that RM 
Brown was sending a strong message to motorists.
"Many of these traffic offenders take it as a joke. They just expect to come 
to court and pay the fine, they never expect anything like this," she said.


http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/iranian_shoppers_vs_the_modest/


Iranian Shoppers Riot Against Modesty Police

February 26, 2008 - by Ardeshir Arian
The Iranian regime does its best to keep a tight rein on news outlets, but 
new media - cell phone video, YouTube, and the countless number of blogs and 
news forums in Farsi - means that when large-scale protests against the 
regime occur in public they are impossible to completely conceal.
This is apparently what happened over the weekend. Sources have told PJM of 
a major public uprising over the weekend in Tehran - an account corroborated 
by other reports on the Web.
This is the story they tell: at approximately 7 pm on Saturday, February 23, 
the Ershad patrol, or modesty police assigned to enforce clothing 
regulations, accosted and attempted to arrest a young woman at Goldis 
Shopping Mall, located in western Tehran, presumably because her dress was 
not sufficiently modest.
In recent weeks, the police squads charged with enforcing modesty have 
become more rigorous in their enforcement, with thousands of women detained, 
questioned, and arrested for violating hijab standards.
Instead of meekly submitting to her fate, the woman fought back. A young 
man - it is unclear whether he was accompanying her - came to her defense 
and joined her in fighting the police. In an attempt to subdue - and 
humiliate him - the police grabbed the young man and threw him into the 
garbage can nearby.
That was when the large crowd, predominately made up of young people, rose 
up against the police and attempted to liberate the young woman themselves. 
Faced with a full-blown riot - complete with angry crowds with garbage cans 
being set on fire - the frightened police jumped into the van and fled the 
scene, except for one unfortunate officer who was left behind. The policeman 
was reportedly attacked and beaten by the mob.
The police returned, reinforced by a full-fledged anti-riot unit. To gain 
control of the situation, members of the unit fired warning shots into the 
air and threatened to fire directly into the crowd. There were reports of 
between 10-15 arrests.
The incident was documented by a cell phone video that was uploaded to 
YouTube. While the quality of the video is extremely poor, the Farsi 
narration and background voices were intelligible and translatable.
Among the calls coming from the angry crowd after the police were first 
driven away:
"You have put us on since 1979 until now," the crowd cheered after repeating 
the slogan multiple times.
Another slogan was chanted repeatedly and accompanied by boos: "We do not 
want the Islamic regime."
The crowd continuously boos and heckles the police: "A revolution is 
happening." When a police vehicle approaches, there is a call: "Look, this 
guy is entangled too." "He is going the wrong way." "What the hell are you 
going to do?" "How many people do you think you can kill?"
Then, there are cries of "death to the police."
On the video, the voice of an individual - a citizen reporter - narrates: 
"They (police) arrested a girl and put her in the van, people rushed to free 
her from the police custody. The arresting officer let go of her and they 
started attacking him. The van belonging to the agents left the scene, not 
wanting to be hit by the people and left that officer behind. People 
ambushed him as he was running away from them and beat him up badly."
In a report on the event that appeared on the Iran Press Service web site, 
student web sites are quoted as saying that "to disperse the angry mob, 
heavy police and anti-riot units that arrived fired into the air but were 
met with a crowd of more than 300 people, now chanting slogans against the 
regime and its leaders, mostly Ayatollah Ali Khameni and Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad, chanting 'We don't want dictatorship,' 'We don't want emergency 
and martial law.'"
The story comes on the heels of reports of student uprisings. As with this 
story, the reports are nowhere to be seen in the official Iranian press or 
the Western media - but by those who are determined that stories of 
resistance are somehow told.


http://psychodiva.blogspot.com/2008/03/young-shoppers-riot.html


Wednesday, March 05, 2008

You might think that is nothing- that it's just another story about yobs and 
the media does after all adore savaging young people and making them out to 
be the worst thing since the last generation that was the worst thing- which 
started around 1750 I think? Or maybe a lot lot earlier
"What is happening to our young
people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They
ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions.
Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?" Attributed to Plato 
(424/423 BCE-348/347 BCE)
"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BCE).

Anyway- these particular young people live in one of the most oppressive 
regimes in the world- second only to Saudi Arabia - and they rioted- they 
rioted against the 'modesty police' who were - again as they do multiple 
times daily- trying to arrest a young woman for some perceived infraction of 
the 'modesty code'.

This news - and news of other riots and demonstrations against the regime in 
Iran - does not appear to have reached the western press - I wonder why?

I like young people- I think they are great-I like working with them and I 
like listening to their crazy ideas and watching them when they really get 
an idea or notion that you have been trying to teach them for what feels 
like decades and any young person that has the courage to stand up to this 
regime is a hero to me.

We do not often portray young people as heroes unless they have somehow 
managed to catch the attention of the media with some tear-jerking story - I 
say lets spread the news about young people in Iran - young people who do 
not want to live under the present regime- what are western governments 
doing to support them? Or does support only depend on the amount of oil and 
other revenue that the conglomerates of the world - and mainly the US - can 
get from your country?

Then of course, it's mainly women and young girls who are being hurt by this 
regime- and as I have said before in earlier posts- women don't matter to 
the world - and it would probably matter more if it were black people being 
treated in this way.

Go and look at the video on the Pajamasmedia website - the quality is bad 
and you have to turn the laptop on its side through some of it- but it is 
worth seeing and worth reading the translation below.

Meanwhile in South Africa behaviour is not much different- a young woman was 
sexually assaulted by a gang of men who decided- all on their own - that she 
was dressed so 'immodestly' (in a miniskirt) that she was 'asking for it' - 
and I thought the days of 'she was asking for it' had been laid to rest by 
the equality of women - fat chance eh when you get judges in the UK telling 
the jury to take the way a woman is dressed, the amount she has drunk and 
her previous sex-life into account when she complains of being raped - even 
when the 'woman' is a girl under 16!

And over in Germany violence towards women in the name of tribal culture is 
continuing despite cries of 'multiculturalism' and support for religious 
views by the UN and despite also the UN's support for the universal equality 
of rights for women. although some do still seek to complain about women's 
rights undermining their religion.

--------------------------------------------------------

Associated Press:

Mob Kidnaps 30 Police in Guatemala

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - An angry mob took 30 police officers hostage in 
Guatemala and threatened to kill them unless authorities release a farm 
leader who was detained last week, a police official said Friday.

The crowd surrounded the police station in the Caribbean coastal town of 
Livingston on Thursday night, disarmed the agents and took them in small 
boats to their remote village of Maya Creek, national police spokesman 
Faustino Sanchez told The Associated Press.

Local media estimated there were hundreds of people in the mob.

"They told us they are going to kill them one by one," Sanchez said. "We 
hope that after establishing negotiations we can reach some type of 
agreement or at least a more direct communication that will help us to get 
them freed."

The villagers demanded the government free Ramiro Choc, who was arrested 
Feb. 14 on charges of illegal land invasion, robbery and illegally holding 
people against their will. Choc allegedly incited community residents to 
invade land and take over protected nature reserves.

Maya Creek is accessible only by boat and then a half-hour walk through 
dense jungle, Sanchez said. The hostages have asked authorities to send 
negotiators instead of backup forces.