[Onthebarricades] Worker unrest - Egypt, Zambia, China, Greece, UAE, Eq.Guinea, Nigeria

[Andy]

*  EGYPT:  General strikes, street protest rock Mubarak despite massive 
police repression
Police effectively shut down Egypt to stop demonstrations; workers fought 
police with stones at one factory
Solidarity strikes were attempted and students also protested
*  ZAMBIA:  Smelter workers revolt, take managers hostage
*  CHINA:  Workers revolt at container factory after beating of colleague
*  GREECE:  Protesters battle police during general strike over neoliberal 
reforms
*  UAE:  Migrant workers revolt in Sharjah, battle police
*  EQUATORIAL GUINEA:  Statists kill two workers during clashes; Chinese 
migrant workers confronted the military
*  NIGERIA:  Workers and supporters trash Apapa Port after deaths


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

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_26084.shtml


Egypt: strikes shake US ally
By Hossam el-Hamalawy
Feb 20, 2008, 03:31
Workers at the Ghazl el-Mahalla textile mill in Egypt staged a mass
demonstration last Sunday, calling for the end of the US-backed
regime of Hosni Mubarak.

The textile mill is the biggest in the Middle East. Its 27,000-
strong workforce has been instrumental in forcing the regime into
making economic concessions.

The workers stormed out of their factory chanting, "Down, down Hosni
Mubarak! Your rule is shit!" As they spilled out into the Nile Delta
town they were joined by up to 10,000 local people.

The protest inside the factory began by demanding a rise in the
national minimum wage. The demonstration was called the day before
the National Council for Wages - the government body in charge of
setting the minimum wage - was due to convene for the first time
since the mid-1980s.

The minimum wage in Egypt has been held at £3.26 a month since 1984 -
while inflation has rocketed. The workers are demanding the
government raise the minimum wage to £112 a month.

The protest was organised in secret by left wing activists in the
factory. Bosses called in police in riot gear. At this point the
workers stormed the gates and drove them away.

They marched through the streets waving loaves of bread and
chanting, "We are sick of eating beans while the rich eat chicken
and pigeons." Others chanted against Mubarak's son and heir, "Gamal
Mubarak, tell your dad we hate him!"

Kamal al-Fayoumi, a union organiser and activist in the unofficial
textile workers' union, told the crowds, "We are demanding social
justice for all workers in Egypt. We want all the resources shared
equally between workers and peasants, and not for this government of
businessmen."

Hosni Mubarak's regime is a key US ally in the region. Last month
hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip poured into
Egypt after demolishing the border fence built by Israel. Mubarak
had sealed the border as part of a US-Israeli siege on the
Palestinian territory intended to destroy Hamas - the resistance
movement that won the 2006 elections.

Attempts by Egyptian security forces to ailed after they were
confronted by Palestinians and resistance fighters.

Images of Egyptian riot police beating Palestinians were beamed
across the Egypt, fuelling angry protests in the capital Cairo.
Mubarak was forced to back down and begin negotiations with Hamas.

Now the struggle has shifted back into the Egyptian working class.

Sunday's demonstration marks a deepening of the wave of industrial
struggle that began in Ghazl el-Mahalla in December 2006.

That strike over bonuses set the standard for a wave of similar
disputes, including those of rail workers, nurses, cement workers
and tax collectors.

The Sunday protest also marks a shift in the tempo of the struggle.
In previous disputes Mahalla workers fought over local economic
demands and made appeals to Mubarak to intervene against factory
bosses.

The chants against Mubarak and his family indicate a political
crystallisation of the current movement. This demonstration was the
first time since bread riots in 1977 that national demands have been
raised in mass street demonstrations.

This current wave of struggle began with the pro-Palestinian
demonstrations in 2000, which metamorphosed into 30,000 strong anti-
war protests in Cairo on 20-21 March 2003.

The demonstration, known as the "Tahrir Intifada" after the square
in the heart of the capital, broke Mubarak's regime of fear.

The resistance to war and neoliberalism is transforming the movement
for change inside the Middle East.

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_26475.shtml
Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian journalist.

Day of angry protest stuns Egypt
By Michael Slackman
Apr 6, 2008, 23:41

Cairo: The center of this normally bustling, overcrowded, traffic-clogged 
city was largely quiet Sunday, the roads nearly empty, many of the stores 
shuttered, as the riot police came out in force to prevent a general strike 
aimed at signaling widespread discontent with President Hosni Mubarak and 
his government.

Egypt has virtually no organized political opposition, except the Muslim 
Brotherhood, which is banned and barred from politics.

But events Sunday underscored the rise of a potentially more dangerous 
challenge to the government's monopoly on power: Widespread public outrage 
and a growing willingness by workers and professionals to press their 
demands by striking.

The main complaint is economic, driven by rising food prices, depressed 
salaries and what opposition leaders say is an unprecedented gap between 
rich and poor. It is hard to say if the streets were empty Sunday because 
people stayed home for fear of getting caught in the crossfire between 
protesters and police, or because of the call to stay home as a form of 
protest.

Either way, the government took the threat of a mass mobilization so 
seriously that it issued a warning to potential strikers, saying it would 
"take necessary and resolute measures toward any attempt to demonstrate, 
impede traffic, hamper work in public facilities or to incite any of this."

In Cairo, riot police officers massed in Tahrir Square, the center of the 
city. They stood in formation outside the lawyers', doctors' and 
journalists' syndicates. State security agents had visited government 
workers in advance and ordered them to attend work on Sunday, some workers 
said. At the lawyers' syndicate, a few hundred protesters stood on the roof 
and on a balcony chanting "Down, down Hosni Mubarak."

Hundreds of students demonstrated at three universities in Cairo.

In Mahalla al-Kobra, the center of Egypt's textile industry north of Cairo, 
a melee broke out late in the day as the riot police fired tear gas and 
workers threw stones. Officials said there were more than 200 arrests around 
the country, including at least seven people arrested for their efforts to 
use the Internet to promote the call for a day of unrest.

"I am not about to claim that the Egyptian people are finally rebelling," 
said Abdel Ahab El Meseery, an organizer with Kifaya, an opposition 
movement, who once served as the Arab League's cultural attaché to the 
United Nations. "The element of fear is there. The people are afraid of the 
government, but the government is as afraid of the people."

Under Mubarak and his governing National Democratic Party, officials have 
succeeded in stunting the growth and influence of political opposition. The 
only opposition group with a broad network and a core constituency is the 
Muslim Brotherhood, which has little ability to effect political change 
because its members are routinely arrested and jailed. Local elections are 
scheduled for Tuesday, and the government has arrested hundreds of 
Brotherhood members and supporters in advance.

The Brotherhood, struggling to regain its footing after the intense and 
persistent police pressure, distanced itself from the call to strike and 
said it would not participate.

Since September 2007 the government itself has scrambled to keep pace with 
the growing reliance on strikes as a tool to press worker demands. Textile 
workers, tax clerks and university professors have all held strikes or 
threatened to strike.

Doctors have also threatened to strike, complaining that physicians with 20 
years experience, for example, often make no more than 450 Egyptian pounds a 
month, the equivalent of about $80.

"What made us take more confrontational measures is that we saw other groups 
doing so and making their demands," said Hamdy El Sayyid, longtime chairman 
of the doctors' syndicate.

But what has turned the demands of individual workers into a potential mass 
movement, officials and political analysts said, has been inflation on food 
products, mostly bread and cooking oil. The rising cost of wheat, coupled 
with widespread corruption in the production and distribution of subsidized 
bread, has prompted the president to order a resolution to the problem.

But that has done little to calm public outrage, or lower bread prices.

On Adly Street, a broad thoroughfare in central Cairo, many more stores than 
usual were shuttered Sunday, according to street vendors and local 
residents. It was a windy day, with a sandstorm and rain showers, which may 
have offered people added encouragement to stay off the streets.

"People are staying at home today," said Ashraf, a clerk in a luggage store 
on Adly Street. He was afraid to give his last name, for fear of arrest, but 
he said he kept his children home from school and dressed in all black as 
signs of support for the protest. "Because of the prices, because we can't 
get food," he said explaining the reason for the strike.

The strike plans began with the workers in Mahalla, who had said they would 
strike at 7 a.m., when workers changed shifts, to protest low wages. But 
state security forces arrived in mass and workers said they grew intimidated 
and went to work.

But the initial plan led other, smaller groups to call for the day of 
protest as a general sign of discontent with the direction Egypt is taking.

Kifaya, which had been in the vanguard of opposition movements until 2005, 
when its public following dwindled, joined the call. What may have spooked 
government officials mostly is the way in which technology - especially text 
messages on cellphones - was used to spread the word, without any formal 
organization promoting the call, political analysts said.

Residents of Imbaba, a conservative, poor neighborhood inside Cairo, asked 
neighbors to stay home as a sign of protest.

Belal Fadl, a scriptwriter and satirist in Cairo, said that Egypt was going 
through a very confusing time, one in which, he warned, the government 
should not rely on a population that is politically apathetic.

The problems, he said, were now too widespread, and too close to home.

"People in Egypt," Fadl said, "don't care about democracy and the transfer 
of power - they don't believe in it because they didn't grow up to it in the 
first place. This is unfortunately the case. Their problem is limited to 
their ability to survive and if that is threatened then they will stand up."

Mona el Naggar contributed reporting.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/04/06/africa/egypt.php

Taken from http://www.anarchistblackcat.org/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=598

I've just got back after spending a whole day in Cairo trying to go to one
of the solidarity protests. But as usual downtown Cairo was literally under
siege with thousands of police, plainclothes thugs, vans, water cannons etc.
everywhere. Protesters were that turned up in small numbers were arrested (I
think about 30-50 in Cairo alone) or were forced to disperse. A group of
about 200 were holed up in the Lawyers Syndicate by hundreds of police.

In Mahalla several workers (up to 200) were arrested. Mahalla and the Misr
Spinning and Weaving Factory has been under siege for days and today all
attempts at striking or occupying the factory were effectively stopped by
the security forces. There has apparently been a split between militant and
co-opted workers in Mahalla, with the former strike leaders (Attar and Habib
e.g.) belonging to the latter group (they even signed documents affirming
that they would not strike today). I haven't got all the news for other
places in Egypt, but there appears to have been a general police repression
everywhere.

I just heard that two boys were killed in Mahalla and that the city has been
closed down (i.e. no-one can leave or enter).

The call for a general strike was just posturing by the Islamic Labour
Party. It was a call to strike being passed around on facebook, e-mails, sms
etc. but not backed up by anything organized at workplaces. However, Cairo
was relatively empty today and some reports I've read say that "significant
parts of the population actively or passively were supporting the strike".
Lots of university students apparently did not attend classes today. None of
this I have been able to confirm, but I will probably get a clearer picture
of what happened later this evening or tomorrow.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL06355028.html

Egyptian Security forces abort day of protest
Sun 6 Apr 2008, 9:43 GMT

[-] Text [+]
By Wael Gamal
CAIRO, April 6 (Reuters) - Egyptian security forces thwarted plans for a 
strike by about 20,000 textile workers in the Nile Delta on Sunday when 
hundreds of plainclothes agents took control of the factory, worker 
activists told Reuters.
Solidarity stoppages and protests in other parts of the country were 
cancelled or failed to draw widespread support, disrupting attempts to 
launch a nationwide general strike.
Karim Al Behiry, a blogger who works in the textile factory in Mahalla 
el-Kubra, 100 km (60 miles) north of Cairo, said the security men made it 
impossible to protest.
"They are inside and outside the factory and workers who managed to reach 
the place were taken one by one to their machines and were forced to work," 
he told Reuters.
"Many workers couldn't reach the factory in the first place because of the 
security siege," he added.
A workers group at state-owned Misr Spinning and Weaving Company had called 
for workers across the country to strike on Sunday in solidarity with their 
demands for wage increases to face recent rises in prices.
Egypt's urban consumer inflation jumped to an 11-month high of 12.1 percent 
in the year to February. Higher prices for food have hit the the poorest of 
Egyptians hardest.
The strike call won overt support only from the anti-government protest 
movement Kefaya and some small opposition parties and movements. The 
influential Muslim Brotherhood, the main opposition force, gave it only 
tacit approval.
On the social networking Web site Facebook a group in support of the protest 
had accumulated more than 60,000 members by Sunday morning.
DETAINED FOR LEAFLETS
Security forces arrested 28 people in Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta 
city of Mansoura late on Saturday and on Sunday as they were distributing 
leaflets in support of the strike, security sources and a committee of legal 
observers said.
"These included the opposition blogger Malek Mostafa and members of the 
frozen Islamic Labour Party," lawyer and human rights activist Gamal Eid 
told Reuters.
The organisers of the strike have called for demonstrations in main squares 
in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities to protest declining standards of 
living, especially among the poor.
But the Interior Ministry threatened to prosecute any strikers or protesters 
and mobilised thousands of riot police in the streets of Cairo to prevent 
them.
The security presence was especially strong around Tahrir Square in central 
Cairo and at the headquarters of the lawyers and journalists association, 
popular venues for protests.
"We tried to demonstrate in Tahrir Square but we were chased out and some of 
us were arrested," Abdelwahab El-Messiri, the general coordinator of Kefaya, 
told Reuters.
"So we decided to cancel it because we don't want to have victims," he 
added.
Workers in Kafr Al Dawar and Shebine Al Koom said there too organisers had 
cancelled solidarity strikes and demonstrations.
But some private schools in Cairo cancelled classes and told pupils to stay 
at home for fear of trouble in the streets. (Editing by Jonathan Wright and 
Mary Gabriel)

Frustrating day, and on top of that there was a sandstorm and it rained.

http://www.mideastwire.com/topstory.php?id=22481
2008-04-07 00:00:00
"The Egyptian giant is on the move"

On April 7, the Palestinian-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the
following opinion piece by Chief Editor Abdel-Beri Atwan: "Like an
elephant, Egypt moves heavily and and enjoys a high tolerance level.
However, when it starts to move, there is no stopping it as it
destroys everything that stands in its way, especially if it is
hungry and if its children can't find anything to eat. The strikes
and demonstrations staged in Egyptian cities yesterday are just the
beginning, or the beginning of the end of the regime. What is
important now is not the success or the failure of the
demonstration, as much as it is the fact that the giant represented
by the popular base has started to rebel against hunger, oppression
and corruption and has started to raise its voice in protest.

"After thirty years of fake peace and false promises, and after
having humiliatingly joined the American war projects against Arabs
and Muslims, the good Egyptian people are now hungry and dying in
bread queues, while other populations are advancing, prospering and
becoming economic tigers. I lived in Egypt when I was a university
student at the end of the sixties, beginning of the seventies, as
well as during the depletion war and before the country shifted
Westwards and surrendered its neck to the International Monetary
Fund.

"I can say that cooperatives were filled with all kinds of food
products and the entire Egyptian people wore wool and cotton clothes
and high-quality Egyptian shoes, from the president of the republic
to the smallest employee in the state... The great Egypt was sold
under the headline of privatization to the US and Israel, in
exchange for a very small price, which was collected by a group
surrounding President Mubarak, his sons and the ruling elite, so
that it differentiates itself from the vast majority of good and
patient Egyptian people... America is the biggest wheat-producing
and exporting country in the world.

"Why doesn't it rush to save its ally President Hosni Mubarak, who
helped it in all its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and maybe in its
war against Iran and Syria in the future, and who became its
mediator for peace and normalization in the region? The answer is
simple: The problem is not as much the US as it is the Egyptian
regime itself. This regime does not know how to manage its alliances
and exploit them to serve its people and the coming generations.
What this regime is interested in, is remaining in power at any cost
while filling the foreign bank accounts of those surrounding it...
Now Egypt has no economy, no politics and no leadership. It is like
a piece of wood floating on a river, not knowing when, where and how
it will stop.

"It is not controlling its own fate and its captain has eluded his
responsibilities and has retreated to his own world in the Sharm al-
Shaykh resort far from all problems and concerns... However, the
Egyptian people have started to rebel, to break the circle of
silence and make loud demands for a drastic change. They will
undoubtedly achieve their goals, for this has been done throughout
eight thousand years of civilization and creativity. Their rebellion
will mark the beginning of salvation from the state of submission
that this nation is undergoing, considering that ever since Egypt
left with its flock with the Camp David Accords, its situation has
been deteriorating..." - Al-Quds al-Arabi, United Kingdom

Call for Class Solidarity from Egyptian El Mahalla Workers

http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/mahalla070408.html

6 April 2008 -- The government's police attacked the Mahalla
workers' strike. Since the night of 5 April, so many worker leaders
have been arrested. Police besieged the city. The strike couldn't
start in the morning. In the afternoon, workers, their families,
and the unemployed started demonstrations. Police have attacked
brutally with real bullets and gas bombs and killed 7 people, one of
whom was a 9-year-old boy. 200 have been arrested in Cairo and 400
in Mahallah. Two of them are professors. Hundreds of wounded
demonstrator are in three hospitals. Half a million demonstrators
are in streets and clashes with police are continuing. However,
workers are trying to start the strike. Below are calls for
solidarity issued before the strike. -- Cigdem Cidamli

Call for Class Solidarity from Egyptian El Mahalla Workers

6th April will be a very significant day for the laborers in both
southern and northern coasts of the Mediterranean sea. That day,
the labourers in Turkey will take another important step in their
struggle against the neo-liberal social security reform law. And in
Egypt, El Mahalla textile workers, the pioneers of the two years of
the strike wave in this country, declared a new wildcat strike for
6th of April and a general strike atmosphere is constituted against
the neo-liberal, oppressive, corrupted Hosni Mubarak regime. 25
thousand workers of Mahalla factory, which is one of the largest
textile factories in all Middle East, declared a strike action on
6th April, which is a work day in Egypt, demanding their wages at
the level of an average 350 Egyptian pounds (60 dollars) to be
increased with the high inflation rate and the conditions in the
factory clinic to be improved.

However, the strike of the Mahalla workers has a meaning beyond
their mere demands for the Egyptian working class and people. If
Mahalla workers can really do the strike and be successful, the
broader struggle against the Mubarak regime will be gaining a very
important new achievement by the hands of the Egyptian working
class. Hence the strike action of the Mahalla workers, pioneers of
the wave of independent and de facto trade union organisations and
strikes of the last two years, is declared illegal today by the
Ministry of Interior. The state security forces, hand in hand with
the official trade union organisation General Federation of Trade
Unions and Ministery of Labour, announced that they will use all
measures in order the prevent 6th April strike. Mahalla, which is a
worker town in two hours distance to the capital city Cairo, is
surrounded by 35 thousand security police and entrance to the town
is prevented. And in the capital city at least 5 people
distributing solidarity leaflets are arrested today. The worker
leaders of the factory are not staying in their houses in order to
prevent the arrests to halt the strike action.

On the other hand, the tax collectors movement, which shares the
leadership of the strike wave with Mahalla workers and various other
independent worker organisations in different cities in the whole
country, decided to make solidarity strikes and demonstrations the
same day. Solidarity Commission in Support of Mahalla Workers
called on all Egyptian workers and people to support the strike
action of the Mahalla workers. It seems that neo-liberal, pro-
market and corrupted Hosni Mubarak regime will use all kinds of
oppression to prevent the 6th April action. Militant workers of
Mahalla are calling all workers and laboring people of the world to
support their fair cause and to show their solidarity.

Contact for solidarity:

Solidarity Commission in Support of Mahalla Workers,
6apri08 at gmail.com, 6april.blogspot.com

Workers of Mahalla
Unite behind Your Rights

A great comprador's salute to the militant workers of Ghazl El-
Mahalla, who announced that they will go on strike today in order to
demand their rights, and above all their right to a fair fixed
minimum wage, along with the need to link wages with prices.

And, all the shame and condemnation is the share of the workers'
syndicate that does its best to halt the workers movement and break
their rightful strike.

Your strike, today, is an enormous step forward since it does not
only relate to you, but concerns each and every person who works in
return for a wage in Egypt.

Workers of Mahalla, you are not alone today for the whole of Egypt
supports you in your just demands. Do not be dissuaded by the
continuous trials at breaking your unity and stand firm against all
the games of the treacherous syndicate and the regime's oppressive
machine and media used to break your will.

Long live the struggles of all the Egyptian people, and the workers'
struggle at their core, to free themselves, win back their rights,
and fight against the strategies of oppression, exploitation, and
corruption.

Long Live the militancy and revolt of El-Mahalla workers

The Solidarity Commission in Support of Mahalla Workers

A Call to All Egyptians, Workers, and Populace at Large!
Stand Together and Unite!

To every honourable effort, and every drop of sweat exerted by those
who worked hard for a morsel of bread soaked in the blood and sweat
of a worker. To those whose wages have been enveloped by the deamon
that is inflation, subjected to the monstrosity of those who invest
in the workers' efforts and feast on their sweat.

To all the workers . . .

To the hope of this nation, of its peoples, its children and its
women . . .

You are called upon today to stand together as one, with all that
you have; be it your effort, your words, or your actions; behind the
pioneers of your struggle; behind the workers of Mahalla.

The pioneers that stand today, declaring a strike and calling for
their rights to a minimum wage rate aligned with inflation and
market prices. These demands they do not call for the workers of
Mahalla only, but for every workers in Egypt, for every wager-earner
on this land.

Undaunted by the treachery of the General Federation of Egyptian
Workers, or the Ministry of Labour, who supposedly represent the
plight of every wage-earner for his/her rights. The workers of
Mahalla were not daunted by the state securitys' various attempts to
instill fear in their hearts. Nay, they stood strong in the
forefront, speaking in the names of the hopes and aspirations of
all Egyptians for a more dignified life, particularly after the
inconceivable rise in prices.

We are called upon today to lend our voices to yours, God is with
you, and so are we. Standing behind you to support your every
effort and every cause for a more dignified life for us and our
children.

The committee in solidarity with the workers of Mahallah.

Sendika.org (Cairo-Mahalla)

Cigdem Cidamli is a co-editor of the Turkish edition of Monthly
Review.

http://www.pr-inside.com/egyptian-security-forces-prevent-planned-r522282.htm

Egyptian security forces prevent planned textile strike, workers riot

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© AP
2008-04-06 17:09:48 -
MAHALLA AL-KOBRA, Egypt (AP) - Security forces clashed with workers in the 
gritty industrial city of Mahalla al-Kobra in northern Egypt Sunday 
afternoon after earlier plans for a strike at the nation's largest 
industrial complex were foiled, according to eyewitnesses and security 
officials.
Meanwhile in the capital Cairo many citizens responded to activists' calls

for nationwide action by skipping work or school to protest deteriorating 
economic conditions, amid a heavy security crackdown that saw massive 
amounts of riot police occupying public squares.
Police have arrested four workers in Mahalla following the clashes and 
another 94 people in several provinces across the country, including several 
prominent activists and trade unionists, reported a security official on 
condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
The factory strike over low wages and rising prices was scheduled to begin 
at 7:30 a.m. when the workers changed shifts, but hundreds of security 
forces arrived hours earlier and took control of the Mahalla al-Kobra 
textile plant, said Mustafa Foda, a 25-year veteran of the company.
«From 3 a.m. they took control of the inside of the company with 
plainclothes security,» said Foda. «Anyone who tried to talk was taken.
The 55-year-old worker said that security prevented him and many others from 
entering the factory and arrested some 150 workers ahead of the shift 
change.
The strike was also hindered by the decision from several worker leaders not 
to carry out any strike inside the factory due to ongoing negotiations with 
the government-controlled union and factory management.
«They are working on our demands, so why go on strike?» he told The 
Associated Press. «We have to give them a chance to see improvements,» he 
added, suggesting that labor would reconsider the strike in July.
Inside the factory, throughout Sunday, business continued as usual, but 
after the day shift ended at 3:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT) locals and 
workers gathered in the main square where they were confronted by large 
numbers of riot police, according to eye witnesses.
«A lot of rocks are being thrown and there are indications that people are 
being beaten,» said Joel Beinin, a professor of Middle East Studies from the 
American University at Cairo who was at the scene. There were later reports 
of tear gas fired into the crowd of several hundreds.
Traffic was significantly lighter than usual in Cairo on Sunday and schools 
were almost completely empty, indicating many of the city's millions of 
residents were heeding the activists' call.
Egyptians are often characterized as being politically apathetic, and many 
Cairo residents seemed surprised by the enthusiastic response.
Hundreds of students demonstrated in Helwan and Cairo universities in the 
capital after previously skipping classes and chanted anti-regime slogans.
Hundreds of intellectuals and activists also protested inside the grounds of 
the Bar Association in downtown Cairo, waving banners and chanting slogans 
demanding economic reform. The protesters congregated despite a warning by 
Egypt's Interior Ministry on Saturday against civil disturbances.
«The strike is legitimate against poverty and starvation,» chanted the 
protesters, who were surrounded by hundreds of riot police personnel. People 
on the roof later showered security forces with glass bottles and bits of 
wood.
Other attempts to stage demonstrations in the city's main squares were 
swiftly dispersed and dozens of activists were arrested.
The strike calls were the first major attempt by opposition groups to turn 
the past year's labor unrest and rising anger over the economy into a wider 
political protest against the government, only two days before key elections 
for local councils on Tuesday.
The government had announced a ban on political rallies inside mosques, 
hoping to blunt the protests. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also lifted 
import duties on some foodstuffs in an effort to soften economic complaints 
brought on by a near doubling of prices of food stuffs due to international 
and local influences.

«The regime is terrified and Sunday's strike is a test for the upcoming 
popular uprising,» said a headline in the Sunday edition of the Sout El-Umma 
opposition newspaper.
In recent days, anti-government groups have been sending mobile phone 
messages and e-mails to people around the country to hold protests, stay 
home from work, avoid shopping, wear black clothes and hang the Egyptian 
flag from windows and balconies in a show of support for the strikers.
Strikes and demonstrations are illegal in Egypt under the country's 
emergency law, and protesters are often silenced by Egyptian security 
forces.
Associated Press writer Maggie Michael contributed to this report from 
Cairo.

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2008/03/04/afx4726795.html

Striking Zambian workers riot, temporarily take Chinese managers hostage
03.04.08, 7:54 AM ET
LUSAKA (Thomson Financial) - Striking construction workers rioted at a 
copper smelter in Zambia on Tuesday, temporarily taking a group of Chinese 
managers hostage and damaging property in protest against poor working 
conditions.
The hostages were set free a few hours after workers locked them in their 
offices and shut the perimeter gates to the 200 mln usd Chinese-owned site 
near the town of Chambeshi, company spokesmen and police said.
Police surrounded the premises and locked out the rioting Zambian workers, 
but not before they had set fire to part of a hostel housing Chinese 
workers, said a policeman who could not be named as he was not an official 
spokesman.
Managers of the Chambishi Copper Smelter and worker representatives were 
locked in talks by lunch time to try and resolve their differences.
Company spokesman George Jambwa said more than 500 workers began strike 
action on Monday to press for better wages and safer working conditions.

http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN436190.html

Workers riot over pay at Zambia's Chambishi smelter
Tue 4 Mar 2008, 10:03 GMT

By Shapi Shacinda
LUSAKA (Reuters) - Workers at Zambia's Chinese-owned Chambishi Smelter 
rioted over pay on Tuesday, injuring a Chinese manager and damaging property 
as a wage dispute entered a second day, a union official told Reuters.
"There was some kind of rioting and one Chinese manager sustained a cut on 
the lower lip after he was hit by a stone," National Union of Allied and 
Mining Workers (Numaw) secretary Albert Mando told Reuters by telephone from 
Chambishi, 420 km (263 miles) north of the capital of Lusaka.
He said workers who went on strike on Monday gathered outside the smelter on 
Tuesday and hurled stones at managers inside.
"Another Zambian manager was also injured on the leg while some property has 
been destroyed," Mando added, saying police were called in to break up the 
riot.
"Police have managed to calm the situation, but the workers are still 
gathered outside the smelter ... They are demanding improved conditions of 
service and better salaries," said Mando.
Numaw officials were in talks with management at the smelter to resolve the 
pay dispute, he said.
Union president Mundia Sikufele told Reuters on Monday the workers stopped 
work after learning that salary negotiations between the Chinese managers of 
Chambishi Smelter and the Numaw had collapsed.
Sikufele declined to state how much workers at Chambishi were paid, but 
confirmed they were demanding salaries ranging from $325 to $400 per month. 
A government official close to the negotiations told Reuters workers were 
now paid about $80 in monthly pay.
Chambishi Smelter, which will cost more than $200 million to construct, is 
part of China's planned $900 million investment in the mining town of 
Chambishi, which the government has turned into a tax-free economic zone to 
attract Chinese investment.
Copper production is Zambia's main economic activity and the vast copper 
mines are a major employer in the southern African country of 12 million 
people.

http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/media/news/viewnews.cgi?category=8&id=1204878276

State probes Chambishi riot
By ANGELA CHISHIMBA
GOVERNMENT is investigating the wrangles at Chambishi Copper Smelter Limited 
(CCS) and the subsequent riotous behaviour by workers, which led to damage 
to company property.
And management at CCS has back-pedaled on its decision to dismiss the 
workers and instead asked them to exculpate themselves on whether or not 
they took part in the riot.
About 500 workers at the CCS were on Wednesday issued with summary dismissal 
letters following their two-day riotous behaviour in protest against alleged 
poor conditions of service.
Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ronald Mukuma said in an interview 
in Lusaka yesterday that although Government would investigate the wrangles 
at Chambishi Mine before any action was taken, it was disappointed at the 
workers' unruly behavior.
He said the workers should not have taken the law into their own hands 
because labour laws did not stipulate such action.
"We are spending hours at the tripartite committee discussing the importance 
of dialogue and yet people are doing the contrary," he said.
Mr Mukuma said he was disappointed that workers damaged property, which 
belonged to them as Zambians.
He said labour laws clearly stipulated procedures to follow when there was a 
dispute, other than the action taken by the workers.
Mr Mukuma said Government's intervention in the matter would depend on the 
outcome of the investigations.
"Officials from my Ministry are already on the ground carrying out 
investigations. The officials have actually been there from day one," he 
said.
Mr Mukuma said negotiations between CCS management and the workers were 
supposed to start before the riotous behaviour.
"I don't understand why workers had to strike and riot before negotiations 
commenced," he said.
Mr Mukuma was also disappointed at some National Union of Miners and Allied 
Workers (NUMAW) officials who were reported to have incited workers to go on 
strike.
Meanwhile, CCS company secretary Sun Chuanqi said in a statement the workers 
will not be dismissed indiscriminately, report MUKULA MUKULA and ALEX NJOVU.
Mr Chuanqi said CCS would be guided by its in-house code of conduct and the 
country's labour laws.
"For now, none of the workers has been fired. We have merely given them 
three days in which to exculpate themselves, and there after, that is when 
management is going to make a decision. But for now, they still remain our 
employees," he said.
Mr Chuanqi said the company's idea to write summary dismissal letters to the 
workers was meant to keep them away from work because some of them were 
intent on destroying company property.
He said it would be unfair for the company to fire its workers that had 
worked so hard since the smelter project started in 2006.
"We have come a long way with our workers and their services to this company 
are valuable. In fact, this is their investment, and the challenge is upon 
them as employees to guard it jealously," Mr Chuanqi said.
He said management and the union would continue negotiations for improved 
salaries and conditions of service and that both parties were committed to 
ensuring that workers were given a salary increase.
Mr Chuanqi said management established that only a quarter of the workers 
took part in the riot while most of them were unwilling participants who 
were persuaded by their colleagues to take part.
He was convinced that most of the workers would soon resume work.
By yesterday afternoon, management had given 300 employees their summary 
dismissal letters while 100 had already exculpated themselves and were 
working.
A Zambia Daily Mail team that visited the plant found workers taking turns 
in walking into human resource offices to be interviewed on whether they 
took part in the riot or not.
The interviews of the workers were conducted under heavy presence of police 
in riot gear.
The company says it lost property worth US$200,000 following the workers' 
two-day protest against alleged poor conditions of service.
Meanwhile, the six NUMAW who were arrested and detained by police have been 
released.
Copperbelt police commanding officer Antonneil Mutentwa said the six 
officials were released without charges.
He, however, said police would continue with investigations on who was 
responsible for the riot.

http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/media/news/viewnews.cgi?category=8&id=1204878276

State probes Chambishi riot
By ANGELA CHISHIMBA
GOVERNMENT is investigating the wrangles at Chambishi Copper Smelter Limited 
(CCS) and the subsequent riotous behaviour by workers, which led to damage 
to company property.
And management at CCS has back-pedaled on its decision to dismiss the 
workers and instead asked them to exculpate themselves on whether or not 
they took part in the riot.
About 500 workers at the CCS were on Wednesday issued with summary dismissal 
letters following their two-day riotous behaviour in protest against alleged 
poor conditions of service.
Minister of Labour and Social Security, Ronald Mukuma said in an interview 
in Lusaka yesterday that although Government would investigate the wrangles 
at Chambishi Mine before any action was taken, it was disappointed at the 
workers' unruly behavior.
He said the workers should not have taken the law into their own hands 
because labour laws did not stipulate such action.
"We are spending hours at the tripartite committee discussing the importance 
of dialogue and yet people are doing the contrary," he said.
Mr Mukuma said he was disappointed that workers damaged property, which 
belonged to them as Zambians.
He said labour laws clearly stipulated procedures to follow when there was a 
dispute, other than the action taken by the workers.
Mr Mukuma said Government's intervention in the matter would depend on the 
outcome of the investigations.
"Officials from my Ministry are already on the ground carrying out 
investigations. The officials have actually been there from day one," he 
said.
Mr Mukuma said negotiations between CCS management and the workers were 
supposed to start before the riotous behaviour.
"I don't understand why workers had to strike and riot before negotiations 
commenced," he said.
Mr Mukuma was also disappointed at some National Union of Miners and Allied 
Workers (NUMAW) officials who were reported to have incited workers to go on 
strike.
Meanwhile, CCS company secretary Sun Chuanqi said in a statement the workers 
will not be dismissed indiscriminately, report MUKULA MUKULA and ALEX NJOVU.
Mr Chuanqi said CCS would be guided by its in-house code of conduct and the 
country's labour laws.
"For now, none of the workers has been fired. We have merely given them 
three days in which to exculpate themselves, and there after, that is when 
management is going to make a decision. But for now, they still remain our 
employees," he said.
Mr Chuanqi said the company's idea to write summary dismissal letters to the 
workers was meant to keep them away from work because some of them were 
intent on destroying company property.
He said it would be unfair for the company to fire its workers that had 
worked so hard since the smelter project started in 2006.
"We have come a long way with our workers and their services to this company 
are valuable. In fact, this is their investment, and the challenge is upon 
them as employees to guard it jealously," Mr Chuanqi said.
He said management and the union would continue negotiations for improved 
salaries and conditions of service and that both parties were committed to 
ensuring that workers were given a salary increase.
Mr Chuanqi said management established that only a quarter of the workers 
took part in the riot while most of them were unwilling participants who 
were persuaded by their colleagues to take part.
He was convinced that most of the workers would soon resume work.
By yesterday afternoon, management had given 300 employees their summary 
dismissal letters while 100 had already exculpated themselves and were 
working.
A Zambia Daily Mail team that visited the plant found workers taking turns 
in walking into human resource offices to be interviewed on whether they 
took part in the riot or not.
The interviews of the workers were conducted under heavy presence of police 
in riot gear.
The company says it lost property worth US$200,000 following the workers' 
two-day protest against alleged poor conditions of service.
Meanwhile, the six NUMAW who were arrested and detained by police have been 
released.
Copperbelt police commanding officer Antonneil Mutentwa said the six 
officials were released without charges.
He, however, said police would continue with investigations on who was 
responsible for the riot.

http://www.rfa.org/english/news/2008/01/17/china_riot/

Workers Riot at Maersk Factory in Southern China
2008.01.17

Promotional photo on the Machong development Web site. Photo: Machong 
government
HONG KONG-Hundreds of workers at a factory in southern China owned by Danish 
shipping giant Maersk rioted earlier this week, clashing with security 
guards and smashing property after a colleague was beaten for jumping a 
lunchtime queue.
"It is total chaos here. We don't even know where to start," a member of the 
administrative staff at Maersk Container Industri in the port of Machong, 
near Dongguan city, said.
"There are lots of broken windows. Wherever there was a piece of glass, it 
has now been broken," he told RFA's Cantonese service.
The riots were triggered by a dispute in the canteen Monday lunchtime 
involving migrant worker Zhao Hongwei.
Zhao said he was beaten by security guards after he refused to pay a fine of 
200 yuan for jumping the barrier in the canteen.
Canteen dispute
China's economic miracle is being accomplished at the expense of people's 
rights and at the expense of their health.
Chinese labor expert Han Dongfang
"I didn't have time to queue because [our shift ended late, so] we only had 
30 minutes to eat, so I jumped over the barrier. The security guards saw me 
and called me over. They wanted to fine me 200 yuan. I said that was too 
much. So they just kept on upping the amount until it was more than 1,000 
yuan," he said.
"As I was leaving the canteen, they blocked my way and wouldn't let me 
leave. They were waiting for me outside the door. They surrounded me and 
started hitting me with their walkie-talkies around the head," Zhao said.
"I managed to get away, and then I ran back to the canteen and shouted 'The 
security guards are beating me!' They could see it was true because I was 
covered in blood by then. The workers were already very angry and they 
rushed to attack the security guards. The guards saw they were getting some 
makeshift weapons, and they fled."
Zhao, who was taken to hospital by police along with an injured security 
guard, said the workers had been angry at pay cuts and demands from 
management for greater productivity and longer hours for a very long time.
After the police left, they starting attacking the main administrative 
building, smashing all the windows with bricks, Zhao said. Some reports said 
they set fire to the security guards' office and their living quarters. The 
riot lasted into the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Local media reports said the workers were angry after Maersk adjusted the 
number of days off that they would have over the upcoming Lunar New Year 
holiday. The new system allowed workers to have five days off over the 
national holiday period, but only if they worked overtime during weekends 
prior to the holiday.
Employees argued that if they worked overtime on weekends, then they should 
be paid for it (and not given days off for a major Chinese holiday that they 
should receive anyway), according to a report in the Southern Metropolis 
Daily translated and posted on the CSR Asia blog.
Labor expert Han Dongfang estimates that strikes involving at least 1,000 
workers occur daily in the economic powerhouse that is the Pearl River 
Delta, along with many smaller strikes.
Officials vow to investigate
Han, who hosts the Labor Bulletin program for RFA's Mandarin service said 
there were also many smaller strikes daily in the region, where about 
one-third of Chinese exports are manufactured and where, according to a 
published study, workers lose or break about 40,000 fingers on the job every 
year.
Zhao, who has worked at Maersk for nearly a year, said the security guards 
often bullied and beat up the workers, but it was the workers who always 
ended up getting fined by the company. The office workers were unhappy too, 
because the company kept cutting their wages.
"Why do you have to take the side of the security guards in your factory?" 
he asked. "The security guards were in the wrong here. Added to that, you 
keep cutting our wages and demanding greater productivity and longer hours."
Repeated attempts to interview a senior executive at Maersk met with no 
response.
An officer who answered the phone at the Machong township police station 
declined to comment on the incident.
But an official at the local government's foreign trade and economic affairs 
bureau said they would be investigating. "We will liaise with all sides and 
investigate this manner," an official said.
Han Dongfang says China's labor problems are widespread and largely 
unrecognized in the wider world. He estimates that there is a major strike 
of at least 1,000 workers somewhere in the country at least once a day.
"The international community is in the middle of a completely unrealistic 
fantasy about China, which states that because there is economic development 
in China, that things will inevitably improve gradually," Han said on the 
launch of his recent book on China's labor movement A Cry for Justice.
But things won't turn out that way, Han says. "China's economic miracle is 
being accomplished at the expense of people's rights and at the expense of 
their health, and the international community needs to understand this."
"Those who infringe on the rights of the Chinese worker know exactly what 
they are doing. These people do not have the power to negotiate. Their own 
government refuses to respect or enforce legislation. In such a climate, we 
have got to the point where bosses are allowed to do exactly as they please, 
and infringe the rights of their workforce in the most blatant manner."
He called for a wider recognition of value of negotiated settlements between 
labor and management. "If collective bargaining was going on at the level of 
China's companies, this in itself would provide a valuable education to 
China's bosses, and put more pressure on them."
"It would prevent them from doing exactly as they please. This would not 
only have the effect of strengthening workers' rights; it would also prevent 
the more flagrant abuses of those rights," Han told RFA's Mandarin service.
In 2007, factories that supplied more than a dozen corporations, including 
US giants Wal-Mart, Disney and Dell, were accused of unfair labor practices, 
including using child labor, forcing employees to work 16-hour days on 
fast-moving assembly lines, and paying workers less than minimum wage, 
according to a recent report in the New York Times.
Minimum wage in Guangzhou province, part of the Pearl River Delta area, is 
about 55 U.S. cents an hour.
Han urged multinational companies to give greater consideration to workers' 
welfare and rights.
Original reporting in Cantonese by Lee Yong-tim, and in Mandarin by Shen 
Hua. Cantonese service director: Shiny Li. Mandarin service director: 
Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta 
Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.

http://www.brantfordexpositor.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=950854

Demonstrators clash with riot cops during Greece general strike
Posted By Elena Becatoros
Posted 10 days ago
Riot police fired tear gas at demonstrators throwing rocks and firebombs in 
central Athens during a national general strike by millions of Greeks 
protesting against government pension changes.
An estimated 100,000 people marched in downtown Athens on Wednesday and when 
the demonstration ended, groups of anarchists fought running battles with 
riot police in the capital. Clouds of tear gas hung over Exarhia Square and 
cafe customers scrambled for cover.
Clashes had broken out during the march when a group of demonstrators threw 
two or three firebombs and rocks at riot police outside parliament and 
police responded with tear gas. About 8,000 people also marched in the 
northern city Thessaloniki, where protesters set fire to two banks and three 
bank machines. No injuries were immediately reported in either Athens or 
Thessaloniki. Wednesday's walkout, like two other general strikes since 
December, shut down public services and forced the cancellation of dozens of 
flights.
"We're marching for a socially just pension system," Socialist opposition 
leader and former foreign minister George Papandreou said earlier as he 
marched through downtown Athens.
He accused the government of eroding "the most basic of pension rights," 
particularly for women, while offering tax cuts for the rich and benefits 
for large corporations.
"It's unacceptable. We're fighting and we hope we can win this fight for a 
much better and much safer Greece," he said.
Oppose changes
Opinion polls show most Greeks oppose changes to the pension system that 
would unify pension and health funds, raise the effective retirement age for 
women and working mothers and create incentives and disincentives to keep 
employees working longer.
"No to the continued robbing of our pension funds and rights," read a banner 
carried by protesters in Athens.
"We will not back down," read another.
Hospital doctors, air-traffic controllers, teachers, port workers, hotel 
employees and gas station workers joined others already striking this week 
against the fiercely contested changes.
Thousands of Greek workers walked out Tuesday when a 24-hour strike by rail 
workers also brought subway and train transport in Athens to a standstill. 
Banks shut down and most courts were empty because of a weeklong lawyers' 
strike.
Mounds of trash continued to pile up on city streets Wednesday because of a 
garbage-collectors' strike, while strikes by employees at the main power 
company have caused rolling blackouts for the last two weeks.
Since winning re-election in September, the rightist government has pushed 
to change the pension system, warning it could collapse in a few years' time 
if it is not reformed.
Yiannis Panagopoulos, head of one of the two main labour unions, GSEE, said 
unions would continue to resist the changes, even if they are voted into law 
Thursday.
"The battle doesn't stop with the vote on the legislation," he said Tuesday.
"The legislation needs to be implemented when it becomes law. And there 
resistance will reach its climax."

http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=18834&t=1&c=33&cg=4

Sharjah Police quells labour riot

UAE. Sharjah police personnel were able to bring calm on Wednesday night to 
Al-Nahda district in Sharjah where workers of Tiger Contracting Company were 
staging a protest in an area of residential towers under construction.
Tipped off by a road user who was heading from Dubai to Al-Nahda Bridge, the 
Sharjah Police Operations Room despatched patrols to the scene of riots.
"At 10.55 pm and to the surprise of motorists, a group of people blocked the 
road by heaps of building materials and wood cable drums", the source said.
Sharjah Police said in a statement to the official news agency WAM that the 
rioters were Indians, Bengalis, Afghans and Pakistanis working for Tiger 
Contracting.
When the policemen tried to talk to the labourers on the scene to find out 
their reasons for carrying out the riot acts, some labourers who managed to 
get to the upper stories of the building started to attack the police 
personnel and cars with stones, bricks, ceramic slates and other building 
materials endangering the lives of passerbyes and motorists who happened to 
be at the scene.
After being forced to block the road, Sharjah Police continued to try to 
talk to the workers in a bid to calm them down and persuade them to stop 
throwing stones and bricks.
When rioters refused to listen to the policemen's repeated calls for calm, 
emergency backup was called in to eventually control the scene and rioters 
and restore discipline within a few hours.
The Public Prosecution has started questioning workers who were involved in 
the riot acts to find out the reasons.
Some rioters and policemen sustained few minor injuries as a result of 
darkness at most of the upper stories of the building and bids by the police 
to evacuate the scene. The injured received first aid at the scene.
According to Director General of Sharjah Police, Brigadier Humaid Mohammed 
Al-Hudaidi, the incident was a riot act and has "nothing to do with labour 
disputes".
An official at the Ministry of Labour said that the construction workers at 
Tiger Contracting receive between AED 750 and AED 850 per month after the 
salaries were increased in February 2008. The company's workers, he added, 
also receive overtime wages which take the total monthly salary up to AED 
1,100.
The official said the company used to increase worker salaries in February 
each year.
Al-Hudaidi said that the Public Prosecution and the other authorities 
investigating the riots will take rioters to court.
"The UAE's security authorities will never allow any individual or group 
whatsoever to jeopardise the country's stability and security and whoever 
attempts to do so and violate the law will be totally strictly dealt with," 
stressed Al-Hudaidi.
"The UAE's security authorities are always on the high-alert and are highly 
prepared to shoulder their responsibilities of maintaining the security and 
stability of our courtiers", he added.
However, he added, the security authorities always act to protect the 
country's security and stability. He said they will support anyone in 
getting their rightful claims only through law and not through unlawful acts 
which endanger lives and damage public property.
None of the UAE newspapers quoted any comments from the protesters.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL3164273.html

Two killed as Chinese workers riot in Eq. Guinea
Mon 31 Mar 2008, 15:57 GMT

MALABO, March 31 (Reuters) - Two Chinese were killed and four injured in 
Equatorial Guinea when striking Chinese construction workers clashed with 
security forces in a labour dispute that turned violent, Chinese authorities 
said on Monday.
A senior government official in Equatorial Guinea said the clash occurred 
last week during what he called a "riot" by some 200 Chinese contract 
labourers working at Mongomo on the continental mainland part of the West 
African oil producer.
"We don't want this kind of revolt in the country," the official told 
Reuters, asking not to be named. But he added he could not confirm the 
deaths, which were reported by the English-language China Daily in Beijing 
on Monday, citing a posting on the Chinese Foreign Ministry Website.
While details were sketchy, it was believed to be the first case of Chinese 
workers being killed in a labour dispute in Africa. Separatist Ogaden rebels 
killed nine Chinese in a raid on an oilfield in Ethiopia last year and 
Chinese employees have been taken hostage in other incidents in Nigeria and 
Niger.
In an economic offensive that has alarmed the West, Beijing is pumping 
billions of dollars into energy, mining and infrastructure projects on the 
world's poorest continent to secure oil and minerals for its fast growing 
economy.
At the same time, increasing disputes and protests at Chinese-run or 
financed projects in Africa have given ammunition to western critics who say 
Beijing is cutting corners on labour and human rights safeguards in its 
African investment drive.
China had asked Equatorial Guinea's government to investigate last week's 
incident, according to the posting on the Chinese Foreign Ministry Website.
"There was a riot of Chinese workers in Mongomo ... they confronted our 
military," the Equatorial Guinean official said.
He said the dispute turned violent when the strikers tried to stop other 
Chinese from carrying on working in Mongomo, where companies from China are 
constructing roads and buildings.
According to the China Daily report, the Equatorial Guinean government 
expressed deep regret over the incident, adding it was willing to work with 
the Chinese side.
TOUGH CONDITIONS
It was not immediately clear whether the incident would damage Beijing's 
relations with Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa's third biggest oil 
producer where China National Petroleum Corp has invested in deep-water 
exploration. The country's oil sector is dominated by Western companies.
Chinese companies have also been working on several infrastructure projects.
The Mongomo incident focused attention on labour issues at Chinese economic 
projects in Africa, where local African workers have protested over low pay 
and harsh conditions.
"The more Chinese projects you have in Africa, the more this sort of thing 
is likely to occur," said Alex Vines, head of the Africa Programme at 
Chatham House, a London-based think tank.
African projects operated by Chinese companies not only caused resentment 
among locals because of their tough demands on workers but also because they 
often brought in Chinese contract labourers, reducing the creation of local 
jobs.
Vines said Mongomo, close to Equatorial Guinea's eastern frontier with 
Gabon, is the ancestral home of the family of President Teodoro Obiang 
Nguema, who has ruled since 1979.
"Equatorial Guinea has been using the Chinese to play them off against 
Western companies and obtain better terms from the West," he added. (For 
full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: 
http://africa.reuters.com/) (Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Janet 
Lawrence)

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804010283.html

Nigeria: FG Sets Up Panel On Apapa Port Riot

This Day (Lagos)
1 April 2008
Posted to the web 1 April 2008
Onyebuchi Ezigbo
Abuja
The Federal Government yesterday inaugurated a 10-man Administrative Panel 
of Enquiry, to investigate recent disturbances at the Apapa ports, which led 
to destruction of properties worth millions of Naira.
Minister of State for Water Transportation, Prince John Okechukwu Emeka, 
while inaugurating the panel inAbuja, warned that government will not fold 
its armsand allow a few individuals drag the economy to thepits under any 
guise.
Represented by Alhaji Buba Umar Faruk, Director Maritime Services 
Department, Federal Ministry of Transportation, Emeka said he was 
dumb-founded when he saw the level ofdestruction during his assessment 
visit, as a result of the incident.
Emeka assured investors in the various sectors of the economy that their 
investments will be protected at all times, adding that "government will do 
everything within its powers to get to the root of the problem and bring the 
perpetrators to book."
A statement, signed by the Press Secretary, Mr Abiodun Oladunjoye, said the 
terms of reference for the Panel is to determine immediate and remote causes 
of the invasion at Messrs ENL premises, ascertain the level of destruction 
andrecommend remedial measures and roles played byindividuals, groups or 
organisations in the mayhem.
The panel is to also determine if any organisation wasnegligent in the 
performance of its duties, beforeduring or after the incident, evaluate the 
securityarrangements at our ports and make recommendations that would 
forestall future occurrence.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803210523.html

Nigeria: Minister, Lawmakers, Others Condemn Destruction At Apapa Port

This Day (Lagos)
20 March 2008
Posted to the web 21 March 2008
John Iwori
Lagos
More condemnations have trailed last week's destruction of properties 
belonging to ENL Consortium Limited, the concessionaire at Terminal C and D, 
Apapa Quay, Lagos Port Complex.
Hell was let loose on Friday at the terminal as dockworkers in collaboration 
with hoodlums popularly called area boys invaded the port protesting the 
death of three seafarers who reportedly died following a crane failure on a 
vessel discharging cargo at the terminal.
During the rampage which lasted over two hours, over 20 vehicles were 
vandalized, just as over N10 million cash kept in the safe of ENL Consortium 
Limited was carted away by the protesters.
A female staff of the company was also reportedly raped, just as its General 
Manager was beaten black and blue by the protesters who were joined by some 
aggrieved dockworkers who had been disengaged from the ports in the wake of 
the economic reforms programme initiated by the immediate past 
administration led by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.
Properties conservatively estimated at about N500 million were destroyed as 
the hoodlums stormed the port under the pretence of showing solidarity with 
three dockworkers that lost their lives at the terminal while working at the 
quayside.
An eyewitness of the early morning accident told newsmen that the 
dockworkers were working at the quayside at berth 10 where a ship called 
Green Majestic was discharging fish.
In the course of the discharge, the crane of the ship which was doing the 
discharge suddenly snapped and fell on two ENL dockworkers killing them 
instantly.
Another dockworker was said to have been severely injured.
Other dockworkers working at the Terminal had marched to the office in 
protest of the death of their colleagues demanding that the ship, Green 
Majestic, be detained and compensation paid to the families of the deceased.
The management had assured the mourning dockworkers that justice will be 
done in the death of the two company staff but news filtered out in no time 
that two dockworkers had died at ENL terminal.
It was gathered that some dockworkers who had earlier been disengaged from 
the system and paid severance benefits took advantage of the situation to 
unleash mayhem.
Brandishing axes, machetes and other dangerous weapons, the hoodlums went 
past all security barriers and stormed ENL Consortium chanting war songs.
They destroyed every ENL Consortium vehicle in sight numbering about 20, 
shattered doors, windows, partitions and broke into all the offices of the 
company including that of the Executive Vice Chairman, Princess Vicky 
Haastrup.
The hoodlums also entered the company's finance department breaking into the 
locks of every safe carting away not less than N10 million cash.
They also allegedly stripped some female workers of the company naked and 
dispossessed them of their cash, jewelleries and telephone sets.
The General Manager, Mr. Mark Walsh was saved from being lynched by ENL's 
dockworkers.
"They destroyed everything in sight including all the software we have just 
developed at a cost of over N100 million", Walsh said.
According to him, all those who destroyed and looted the company's property 
were not the company's dockworkers but hoodlums who took advantage of what 
he described as an "unfortunate incident".
The President General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Comrade 
Onikolaese Irabor in his comments over the incident, disowned those who 
perpetrated the destruction.
"Dockworkers are not vandals or criminals so we don't go about destroying 
properties. We are however very sad about the development", he said.
According to Irabor who is also the National Deputy President of the 
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), the protest by the dockworkers is a clear 
indication that they are not happy with current situation at the port saying 
that they deserve a better deal than they are currently getting from the 
terminal operators.
As the riot continued, the Nigeria Ports Authority security personnel made 
desperate attempt to prevent journalists from covering the event.
It took the intervention of some dockworkers who forcefully led the 
journalists to the scene of the accident. The scene was littered with 
bloodstains. Ports Police led by the Commissioner of Police Mr. J.O. 
Uzuegbunam were at the scene to restore normalcy.
He told the journalists that what happened was an accident and that the 
dockworkers were angered by the incident.
Reacting to the development while on a visit to see things for himself at 
the terminal, the Minister of State for Tansportation, Prince John Okechukwu 
Emeka condemned the destruction that trailed the protest.
Emeka who was obviously shocked at the level of carnage perpetrated by some 
of the dockworkers said: "This is a systematic destruction of the property 
of ENL Consortium and it is not acceptable to government. This is a total 
disgrace. There will definitely be a high powered enquiry to enable 
government appreciate the extent of damage done here.
"I have gone round and I assure you that there is absolutely no reason for 
the kind of destruction that I saw here today especially at this time that 
government is trying to attract private sector investment into the country".
The Minister described the action of those who perpetrated the dastardly act 
as a total and unacceptable disgrace.
Some yet to be identified persons pretending to be in solidarity with the 
dockworkers had cashed in on the unfortunate death of a dockworker and a 
motor boy last Friday to rape, steal and destroy at ENL Consortium Limited.
Apparently irked by the incident, the House of Representatives Committee on 
Marine Transport also expressed deep shock over the accident at the ENL 
Terminal in Apapa Lagos.
In a statement made available to THISDAY in Lagos, the committee said it was 
unfortunate that the situation could not be brought under control before it 
became uncontrollable , leading to deaths.
According to the statement signed by its chairman, Hon. Ifeanyi Ogwuanyi, it 
expressed condolences to the families of the deceased dockworkers.
"We are saddened that lives were lost and we commiserate with families of 
those who died as a result of the crane accident. The committee promises to 
step into the circumstances that led to the death of the dockworkers with a 
view to ensuring that operations at our seaports meet international 
standard".
"We are aware that the present dispensation of port concession has brought 
certain challenges into the fore and also called certain operational 
practices to question. The accident which snowballed into death and wanton 
destruction of properties is a test case for private sector participation in 
port operations. It is also a confirmation of the need to continue to 
fine-tune the current system", the committee added.
It also acknowledged the various concerns that have been expressed at 
different quarters about the present system. "The House of Representatives 
and indeed the National Assembly will not fold its arm and watch innocent 
Nigerians lose their precious lives in avoidable circumstances. We will soon 
invite all the parties including the terminal operators, the workers union, 
the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration 
and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
"In the meantime, we appeal for calm, especially among our dockworkers 
considering the fact that our sea ports are the gateways to our economy. 
Once again, we commiserate with the families of the deceased, the union and 
sympathize with all those who lost things as a result of the mayhem," the 
committee concluded.