[Onthebarricades] Global protests and unrest: land grabs, land rights and squatters, Apr-Aug 2008
Andy
ldxar1 at tesco.net
Thu Aug 28 12:18:35 PDT 2008
ON THE BARRICADES: Global Resistance Roundup, April-August 2008
https://lists.resist.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/onthebarricades
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/globalresistance/
NOTE: Apologies that I've accidentally split South African township
protests between two or three different sections.
* SOUTH AFRICA: Four injured as police attack anti-eviction protest
* TRINIDAD: Politician arrested during land grab protest
* PAKISTAN: Cops injured in land dispute
* NIGERIA: Toge residents prevent shack demolitions
* PAKISTAN: Protest in Rawalpindi about land grab, irregularities
* ISRAEL: Druze minority protesters target police over land grab
* TRINIDAD: Protesters replant on disputed land
* GERMANY: Week of unrest over gentrification of Mitte, Berlin
* UGANDA: "Encroachers" protest planting
* CAMBODIA: Minority protesters oppose forest clearance
* US: Homeless protest at City Hall, set up tent camp
* US: Nikisi residents protest beach closure
* CAMBODIA: Port building stalled by protests
* PHILIPPINES: Rally against land seizure
* PARAGUAY: Landless protest
* TRINIDAD: Protests for "promised" land
* CHINA: Police kill two at protest over gold mine
* SOUTH AFRICA: Roadblocks, looting, attack on minister's house at
settlement near Lenasia
* PAKISTAN: Protest against demolitions at historic village
* PHILIPPINES: Farmers rally at court against land grab
* VENEZUELA: Road to Brazil blocked over plan to remove miners
* SOUTH AFRICA: Winelands protesters march for land redistribution
* PHILIPPINES: Farmers protest against land grab for tourism
* KENYA: Protest over land fee
* BAHRAIN: Several protests over land rights
* EGYPT: Hundreds protest killing of Copt in land dispute
* US: Protesters want pig farm, not water tower
* US: Historically rooted family protest road route land grab
* MALAYSIA: Squatters protest against eviction orders
* UK: Protest at Stoke Newington police station after police attack on
squat
* IRELAND: Romany land rights protest features self-immolation
* US: Community residents oppose Miami development plan
* US: Mural in land grab protest becomes focus for dispute
* US: Protest at cabin removal in park
* THAILAND: Traders protest at threat of explusion
* CYPRUS/UK: One-man protest over land dispute
* US: Upset over threat to campsite
* INDONESIA: Mudslide survivors protest over land rights, compensation
* KENYA: Protests over airport expansion
* PHILIPPINES: Farmers rally against ranching
* MALAYSIA: Farmers protest at threat from logging
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2157154,00.html
Four injured in protest
01/08/2007 16:10 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Pretoria police say at least four people have been injured
when the police fired rubber bullets at protesters in Hammanskraal.
Spokesperson Richard Makhene said the Kanana village residents were
protesting on Wednesday against the Tshwane council's decision to demolish
their shacks.
He said the council was granted a court order to evict the residents as the
place was not suitable for people to live there.
The residents were given until August 7 to respond and state why they should
not be evicted.
Makhene said: "The Red Ants and metro police acted before time."
He said Hammanskraal police refused to be part of the operation and Roslyn
police were called in.
One protester, who was hit by a rubber bullet, opened a case of assault.
Three others were taken to hospital, said Makhene.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161324485
UNC councillor arrested in protest
Julien Neaves jneaves at trinidadexpress.com
Saturday, May 17th 2008
UNITED National Congress-Alliance councillor for Valsayn South/Carapo
Khadijah Ameen was arrested yesterday during a protest by residents of
Spring Village, Valsayn, over a Housing Development Corporation (HDC)
project.
At around 6 a.m. a number of residents began protesting on Southern Main
Road, Valsayn. Police and fire officers were quickly on the scene. Half an
hour later 19-year-old Daniel Benny from Curepe was arrested for obscene
language.
Police say that during the protest Ameen was repeatedly cautioned to stop
blocking traffic on the Southern Main Road; the protest caused traffic to be
backed up to the Caroni Bridge at one point.
Police report that 27-year-old Ameen indicated she was not going to stop and
at 8 a.m. she was arrested for obstruction of the free passageway by Acting
Corporal Nirmal Ramjattan.
She appeared at the Tunapuna Second Magistrates' Court before Justice of the
Peace Kavita Mahadeo.
Ameen pleaded not guilty and was released on $10,000 bail. Benny was
released on $5,000 bail and both are scheduled to reappear in Court on May
20.
She emerged from the Court to loud cheers and whistles from supporters. She
told members of the media that they planned to seek legal advice following
their "rough" treatment by the police, saying that a number of senior
citizens, including a pundit, were shoved.
She said that they would continue fighting for a recreational ground in
Spring Village that had been promised for more than 28 years, for the
farmers to be allowed to use land for agriculture and for the squatters to
be regularised.
HDC said in release yesterday that it was disappointed by the protest, as
Minister in the Ministry of Planning, Housing and the Environment Tina
Gronlund-Nunez, HDC and LSA officials met with a delegation from Spring
Village on Thursday, including Ameen.
HDC corporate communications manager Lesley John reported that assurances
were given by the officials that no residents would be displaced during the
regularisation exercise, and that recreational facilities and green space
would be provided with any development.
They were also advised that work on the site was at a very preliminary stage
and that plans would be shared with the villagers when they became
available.
Residents, however, have charged that acres of vegetable crops were being
destroyed by bulldozing, but HDC has denied this. Villagers told the Express
that they were not being communicated with by the officials and protests
would continue.
Gronlund-Nunez, who at the meeting apologised that villagers had not been
communicated with prior to the exercise, agreed to hold a public meeting
with all residents early next week.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=130605
Protesters resort to rioting; several cops injured Monday, August 18, 2008
By our correspondent
Karachi
A violent protest reportedly erupted over the old disputed Gutter Bagheecha
land over which two groups had been disputing since long. On Sunday, the
‘Nisaar group’ blocked the Mewa Shah Road and resorted to firing at the
police.
The police managed to control the situation after some hours, during which
time a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MNA was also caught in the crossfire.
He, however, escaped unhurt. Several constables including the SHO SITE
sustained injuries during the protest.
According to sources, a dispute was going on between various parties,
including the Nisaar Baloch group, for the past many months regarding the
ownership of Gattar Bagheecha land. Recently, a court issued orders in
favour of one such group to construct the KMC Society. However, the opponent
Nisaar Baloch group started disputing the claim.
SSP Ishfaq Alam of SITE Town said that negotiations were underway for the
past 10 to 15 days between various parties and Nisaar was asked to produce
ownership papers of the plot. He refused to do so, but continued disputing
the rival group’s claim. Several FIRs were also being lodged in this regard,
SSP Alam mentioned.
According to eyewitnesses and police sources, the Nisaar Baloch group
blocked the Pak Colony Road adjacent to the Mewa Shah graveyard on Sunday
afternoon. Since it was the eve of Shab-e-Baraat, there was an unusual rush
of people and heavy movement of vehicles at the graveyard.
In the meantime, a heavy contingent of police reached the spot and asked the
protestors to clear the road. The mob, however, threw stones at the police
and later resorted to aerial firing.
The police lobbed teargas shells to disperse the mob, which refused to
budge. Meanwhile, SP SITE Town reached the spot and stopped the police from
tear gassing. He asked the leaders of the protesting group to come in for
talks but they refused and again opened fire. Sensing danger, SSP Alam moved
away in his car and the police again started shelling.
Following this violent act by the Nisaar Baloch group, SSP Alam immediately
asked the traffic police to block the road from Bara Board and divert
traffic.
The protesters, however, continued to fire at the police during which SHO
SITE Liaquat Ali Dogar and several other policemen were injuted. Later, the
elders of the community approached the police and pacified the situation.
But after a few minutes the mob again came on to the road and resorted to
pelting stones and aerial firing.
The SP SITE said that during the firing incident, MQM MNA Hyder Abbas Rizvi
also came under attack due to which an escort constable Mohammed Younus got
injured. However, the police kept on resisting the protesters and the
situation was brought under control after several hours.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806120393.html
Nigeria: Protesters Halt Demolition At Toge Community
Daily Trust (Abuja)
12 June 2008
Posted to the web 12 June 2008
Hamisu Kabir Matazu and Haruna Mohammed Yusuf
Abuja
Angry protesters Tuesday stopped officials of the Department of Development
Control from demolishing structures at Toge community, a suburb town along
airport road Abuja.
The clash took place in the morning when the residents sighted three
bulldozers enter their community and immediately started shouting that they
would not allow the bulldozers to pull down their structures until they are
compensated.
"We are not going to leave this place until government compensates us and by
the way, where do they expect us to go?" a spokesperson in the community
wondered aloud.
The spokesperson disclosed that a court injunction has been served on the
FCTA, restricting them from demolishing their houses.
He said the simple thing for government to do is to find them money and
alternative plots to build on instead of throwing them to the streets.
Muhammed Adamu Ategba, one of the residents said residents obeyed the rules
of FCTA in building their houses by observing the 150 meters distance from
the road warning.
Abubakar Aminu Abbo another resident lamented that many people would become
destitute if the demolition takes place.
An official of the development control department said they were not aware
of the court injunction.
"Nobody can stop the FCTA from clean-up the Federal Capital Territory," he
said.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C05%5C12%5Cstory_12-5-2008_pg11_7
Katchi abadi residents protest demolition of houses by CCB
* Cantonment board officials accused of defying stay order, misbehaving with
women
By Terence J Sigamony
RAWALPINDI: Residents of a katchi abadi adjacent to Army Public School,
Tulsa Road, held a demonstration near Kutheri bas stop here on Sunday
against demolition of their houses by the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB).
They urged Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Rawalpindi corps
commander to take notice of the operation and give them their houses back.
The residents told Daily Times that around 40 the CCB workers and police
entered the locality at 9:00 am on Saturday when all male members of their
families were out on job. “They started throwing away our belongings. The
residents of the locality are mostly sanitary workers who leave their homes
at 5:00 am and come back by 1:00 pm,” said Rakhsanda Begum.
Stay order: She alleged that the board workers also misbehaved with women
and abused them. They also tore the court’s stay order and defying court
orders demolished all houses in the locality, she added. “Now we are living
in the open beside the road without any shelter, food and water. We have no
place to go,” she said.
“Almost all residents are the CCB employees. Three days ago they got the
salaries and bought edibles for the whole month, but all things have been
buried under debris,” the residents said.
When contacted an official of the CCB on the condition of anonymity said the
board had given notice to the residents of the katchi abadi three years ago
to vacate the government land, but they approached the court which granted
them stay order. He said the stay period expired on Saturday and action was
taken to get back the government land.
The katchi adabi comprising 15 houses was built between the backside of the
residential area and the Army Public Girls School on Tulsa Road. The
residents said they had been living there before 1947. They said they had
collected things with great difficulties and meagre income over the years.
Sakina Bibi said she had been collecting her daughter’s dowry for the last
seven years, but every thing now had been buried under the debris. She said
why the authorities concerned did not take action against those who had
encroached government land in busy markets and elsewhere in the city.
Waqar Bhatti, counsel for the residents, told Daily Times that about five
years ago also the authorities tried to vacate these houses but the
residents approached Civil Judge Sheikh Javed, who granted stay and after
hearing both the parties confirmed the stay order. The court disposed of the
case after assurance from the cantonment lawyer that occupants would not be
forced to vacate the houses.
He said at the beginning of this month the board authorities again started
harassing them. They approached the court of Civil Judge Basit Aleem. After
hearing them the court granted stay order, which was binding, and hearing
was fixed next week.
http://www.worldpress.org/feed.cfm?http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/147155
Druze Protestors Block Police Station, Damage Cars
(IsraelNN.com) Approximately 300 Druze protestors surrounded police stations
in Daliat el-Carmel and Isfiya on Sunday and blocked a road nearby.
Protestors blocked access to the stations, and police suspect they were
responsible for damaging six police vehicles.
The protestors were rallying against plans to appropriate nearby lands for a
natural gas pipeline set to pass through the north. Community leaders
attempted to calm the protestors, telling them to fight the government and
not local police officers. Police referred to the protest as “routine,” and
said there had been no need to call up additional forces to deal with the
incident.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870495333&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Apr 26, 2008 15:00 | Updated Apr 27, 2008 0:08
Druse protest against land expropriation
By GREER FAY CASHMAN AND JERUSALEM POST STAFF
"We won't respect a law that doesn't respect us," Carmel City Mayor Dr.
Akram Hasson said Saturday during a protest by dozens of Druse in the North
against Israel's plans to expropriate 2,000 dunams of land from their
community on the east Carmel Mountains.
A Druse shepherd with his herd in the North. [file]
Photo: Ariel Jerozolimski
Slideshow: Pictures of the week
The plans are intended for several national projects, including the
construction of a cross-country road, laying a gas pipeline and assembling
the Hamemek railway tracks.
The Druse erected a protest tent on the land, near Yokne'am.
Also attending the demonstration were Israeli Arab MKs Ahmad Tibi (UAL),
Jamal Zahalka (Balad) and Muhammad Barakei (Hadash). Carmel City represents
a merger of Daliat al-Carmel and Usfiya.
Owners of the lands set to be expropriated warned of violence more severe
that the riots in the Druse village of Peki'in on October 30, in which 29
police officers and 13 civilians were injured.
Druse spiritual leader Sheikh Muafak Tarif said that the national projects
must be frozen and spoke of the need to act with logic and decisiveness, but
without violence.
Earlier Saturday, Tarif told Army Radio that "the Druse community supports
national projects but not our expense." He said that in contrast to Arabs,
no land was being offered as a replacement, adding that Transportation
Minister Shaul Mofaz and National Infrastructures Minister Binyamin
Ben-Eliezer had said that the projects would not begin until a deal is
reached with the Druse leaders.
President Shimon Peres on Friday was the guest of the Druse community near
the grave of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses.
Though still optimistic that Israel would one day make peace with the
Palestinians, Peres condemned the acts of terror that create difficulties
for the peace process and for coexistence.
Murder leads to murder... and achieves nothing, said Peres, adding that
senseless bloodshed was an obstacle to peace.
Peres was reacting to the murder of two security guards in the Nitzanei
Shalom Industrial Zone near Tulkarm.
Nonetheless, he said, if Israel was able to achieve peace with Egypt and
Jordan, he was confident that Israel could reach a peace agreement with the
Palestinians and even with Syria, "providing that the Syrians proceed
towards peace in the proper manner."
Expressing pride in the Druse community, Peres invited its members to join
in the peace effort.
Sensitive to some of their frustrations, Peres said: "I pray with you that
in the next decade we will know peace with full equality, full freedom and
unity."
Peres also paid a condolence call on the family of St.-Sgt. Sayef Bisan, a
Druse soldier killed earlier this month in an ambush in Gaza.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161327198
Spring Village protesters replant on disputed land
Jensen LaVende jlavende at trinidadexpress.com
Friday, May 23rd 2008
FIRST TREE: MP for the area Vasant Bharath plants the first tree at Bassie
Extension Road, Spring Village, Valsayn, yesterday. The farming area was
buldozed by the HDC two weeks ago. -Photo: ANISTO ALVES
RESIDENTS of Spring Village, Valsayn, continued the tradition of planting on
Corpus Christi Day yesterday, after they claimed all of their crops were
bulldozed by the Housing Development Corporation two weeks ago.
The residents who came out in their numbers, planted coconut, pimentos, bodi
and melongene, in what was described as a "defiant act of protest" by Member
of Parliament for the area Vasant Bharath.
Bharath was the first to plant on the bulldozed parcel of land, which
residents claim was over 12 acres, located off Bassie Street Extension.
There he planted two coconut trees while residents applauded him. Bharath
also planted other smaller trees which he said represented the youth of the
nation. "As fast as they bulldoze we would re-plant," he added.
On Wednesday, Housing Minister Emily Gaynor Dick-Forde announced that
development at the Spring Village site would be halted to investigate the
level of farming in the area and reports of crops being bulldozed after
meeting with Bharath and a group of residents at the HDC's Port of Spain
headquarters.
The Agricultural Society of Trinidad and Tobago also gave its support to the
residents, bringing corn and pigeon peas seeds and a host of other seedlings
that the residents readily accepted. The dust from vehicles passing over the
newly cleared area did not stop villagers from burying seedlings and seeds
beneath the parched, clay-like earth.
One resident said this was the best birthday gift that he had ever received
and thanked those who came out to support the planting protest. The
villagers called on the HDC to regularise the farmers and when the houses
are erected that people from the area are given first preference.
Afterwards the community came together and enjoyed a game of cricket on a
lot of land which they said had been promised to them to house a savannah
and a playing field.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/01/europe/EU-GEN-Germany-Berlin-Protests.php
Berliners protest gentrification of eastern neighborhoods
The Associated Press
Published: June 1, 2008
BERLIN: Hundreds of people demonstrated near two new high-end housing
developments in downtown Berlin on Sunday, capping a week of scattered
violence and rallies against the gentrification of the area.
The protests began after police removed squatters from a house in the Mitte
district on Tuesday, where they had been staying to protest the rapid
development and reconstruction in central East Berlin.
Rioters torched 30 cars on Wednesday, and another on Saturday.
On Sunday, some 500 people packed a closed-off street across from the city's
Mauerpark, which sits along the route of the former Berlin Wall in
Prenzlauer Berg.
After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, the neighborhood as well as other
districts became favorite stomping grounds for artists, anarchists and
students, with thousands setting up impromptu clubs, meeting spaces and
squats in abandoned buildings.
Nearly two decades later, most of the buildings have been renovated,
attracting well-heeled residents and driving up rents — while at the same
time driving out many who can no longer afford to live there.
Patrik Technau, a Prenzlauer Berg native, said he organized Sunday's rally
near two new high-end housing developments that are under way as part of a
new kind of "culture war."
"It's people who have always lived in Berlin against people coming in —
yuppies, people with money — who want to change the neighborhoods," Technau,
26, told reporters on Friday.
Hundreds of police stood guard near the area, but did not interfere with the
demonstration.
Still, the rally seemed more of a summer festival than a demonstration, with
people dancing in the sun as DJs and bands played at either end of the
street.
"Remain dirty Berlin," read one of the few protest placards, held aloft by
Horst Ungaern, a 24-year-old from Berlin's Neukoelln district.
"I'm here because I don't have much money myself, and I think it's crap that
I can't afford to live in the city I grew up in," Ungaern said.
The group later marched peacefully through the area, occasionally chanting
"yuppies out." No incidents were reported.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200808250428.html
Uganda: NFA Plants Trees Amidst Protests From Encroachers
New Vision (Kampala)
24 August 2008
Posted to the web 25 August 2008
Gerald Tenywa
Kampala
THE National Forestry authority (NFA) has continued with the restoration of
Wambabya forest despite resistance from the local people in Hoima district.
In a recent clash outside the forest reserve, a group of local people armed
with arrows and spears attacked policemen who were providing security to the
NFA team. The Police is holding three suspects over the incident.
"At the time of the shooting, the team of forestry and district officials
and the people contracted to plant the trees were inspecting the areas to be
replanted," said David Mununuzi, a forestry official.
In an interview with The New Vision on Thursday, Mununuzi said the
encroachers had taken over 2,000 hectares of the 9,000 hectares of the
forest. They were growing cassava and tobacco in the forest and some of them
had set up homes there, he said.
He added that the encroachers would be allowed to harvest their crops before
leaving.
The forest is a catchment area for R. Wambabya on which a hydro-power dam is
to be built. Because of the destruction of the forest, the river has been
heavily silted.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2008081521232/National-news/Ethnic-minorities-to-protest-clearing-of-their-ancestral-lands.html
Ethnic minorities to protest clearing of their ancestral lands
Written by Chrann Chamroeun
Friday, 15 August 2008
Ratanakkiri community claims their forest has been stolen by a local
businessman and fear that they will lose more if he is not stopped
AFP
A minority tribe woman enjoys a pipe in Ratanakkiri province in this file
photo.
A GROUP of 50 ethnic minority Tampoun and Kreung villagers have said they
will stage a demonstration today at the provincial governor's office in
Ratanakkiri province to protest the clearing of 10 hectares of forest by a
local businessman, according to Vin Sokhin, a community representative in
Dong Kampoul village.
"Ten of the 20 hectares have been cleared of trees, and we are afraid that
we will lose the rest of it if we don't protest," Vin Sokhin said.
He added that 46 families, or nearly 250 people, rely on the lands for
collecting wood, vegetables and other supplies, and that since July they
have been warned by labourers to stay away.
Legal title to the land
The local businessman, Seng Piseth, claims to have purchased the land
legally from O'Chum District Governor Bean Thveun.
"They can protest or go to the courts if they choose, but I have all the
necessary documents to prove my case," he said.
The district governor said the deal was accepted by members of the community
in return for a payment of US$2,000, to be used for the benefit of all the
villagers.
"We have received the $2,000 dollars and are using it for the benefit of the
whole community," said Vong Doung, a village chief involved in the deal.
But Vin Sokhin disputed the claim that the villagers have received any
benefit from the sale.
"We are protesting this deal, made between only a few community members," he
said.
"We have not received any of this money and we don't want it. We want the
land back," he added.
http://www.montanasnewsstation.com/global/story.asp?s=8451654
Homeless advocates protest at Seattle City Hall
Associated Press - June 9, 2008 12:25 PM ET
SEATTLE (AP) - About 20 homeless advocates have blocked a downtown Seattle
intersection near City Hall to protest sweeps that have removed transient
camps.
The protesters planned to be arrested Monday following an overnight camp-out
at the City Hall Plaza.
The demonstration was organized by the group Real Change. It says the city
needs to add shelters for the homeless before cracks down on camps.
The city removes transient camps from greenbelts and underpasses to prevent
health and safety problems. Residents are given advance warning and offered
social services.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004468026_homeless10m.html?syndication=rss
Tuesday, June 10, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
ELLEN M. BANNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Police arrest a protester who refused to clear the street north of Seattle
City Hall on Tuesday morning. Fifteen people were briefly taken into
custody.
Related
Archive | Dozens protest homeless sweeps with City Hall camp-out
Fifteen people protesting the sweeps of homeless encampments in Seattle
parks were arrested Monday morning after they blocked Cherry Street on the
north side of City Hall in Seattle by pitching a tent in the street and
standing in the road.
The protesters, who included homeless people and their supporters, including
at least two clergymen, were arrested before 9:35 a.m. The 15 were
interviewed and released, according to police spokesman Sean Whitcomb. He
said it will be up to the City Attorney's office whether to file charges of
pedestrian interference.
The last to be arrested was Dana Sutliffe, with the Real Change Organizing
Project. She yelled, "Stop the sweeps!" as she was led away. Sutliffe said
she is from Norway, and "to see people on the street here is just an
atrocity for me."
John Moorehead, a homeless man who works construction jobs, said he
participated in the blockade because "my camps have been raided three or
four times when I'm trying to get ahead. How can you get ahead when they're
taking your stuff?"
The Rev. Rich Lang, pastor of Trinity Methodist Church in Ballard, was
wearing his clerical vestments when he was arrested in the rain. He said
Mayor Greg Nickels "has chosen the side of the developers and people with
financial interests. That's not bad, but he's forgotten the people on the
lower rung."
"It's my understanding everybody was cooperative. It went fairly smoothly.
This was a planned event," said Seattle police spokesman Mark Jamieson.
After the last person was arrested, officers took down the tent that was
blocking traffic.
Protesters chanted, "Sweep Nickels, not the homeless," referring to a
homeless sweeps policy initiated by the mayor. Sunday night, the homeless,
their supporters and activists had pitched tents in front of City Hall in
protest.
It was the third annual overnight protest camp-out, and organizer Timothy
Harris said advocates are frustrated, calling the policy unfair and
inadequate.
Alex Fryer, a spokesman for Nickels, said the sweeps policy tries to balance
the needs of the homeless with protecting city parks.
http://newsminer.com/news/2008/jun/29/nikiski-residents-protest-beach-closure/
Nikiski residents protest beach closure
Published Sunday, June 29, 2008
KENAI -- Residents of Nikiski turned out to protest closure of a beach that
many have used for decades.
Karen McGahan has enjoyed Nikishka Beach every summer since before Alaska
Statehood but she's been denied this year by Offshore Systems Kenai, a
ship-loading company following security plans required by the federal
government.
A company spokesman said new access may be available within days, but
members of the McGahan family and other Nikiski residents frustrated with
the closure protested Saturday with homemade signs.
"We're getting our freedom taken away step by step and it isn't fair," said
Nadine Gabbett, who has used Nikishka Beach since 1965.
Residents use the beach to fly kites, roast marshmallows and search for
agates.
"We use this beach for education, recreation and relaxation," said lifelong
Nikiski resident Leah Jackson.
Signs read, "We're not terrorists just rock collectors," and "We're not
against security just the level of it."
Protesters marched from Nikiski High School to Offshore Systems Kenai. They
shouted, "Free the beach," and stood at the company's gate and guard shack
that blocks beach access.
Protesters moved aside for supply trucks. Except for filming the event with
two video cameras, security guards acted as if no one was there.
Protesters also gathered at Nikishka Beach Road and the Kenai Spur Highway
to shout out their message.
Company operations manager Mike Peek said he wants to see people allowed to
used the beach again but he does not a choice under the federal mandate.
"I have to follow federal regulations or I'll be shut down," he said.
A lawsuit has been filed concerning beach access.
"If it can be taken away overnight, they can give us our access overnight,"
said Katrina Nelson.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/20071214255/Siem-Reap-Insider/Plan-to-build-new-Siem-Reap-port-stalled-by-protests.html
Plan to build new Siem Reap port stalled by protests
Written by Cat Barton and Cheang Sokha
Friday, 14 December 2007
A huge billboard depicts what could be the future of Chong Kneas.
A $2 million plan to develop a "tourist port" south of Siem Reap town in the
floating village of Chong Kneas has stalled because of opposition from the
people who live there.
The project was approved by the Council for the Development of Cambodia
(CDC) in May, but when a South Korean investment company began bringing in
its bulldozers later that month, the villagers erupted by blocking the
gates. They said it was the first they'd heard of the tourist port.
Now, eight months after receiving the green light from the CDC, the Sou
Ching Investment Co. Ltd project appears dead in the water.
"When the Sou Ching Company got their license, they did not talk to the
people or the community leaders," said Minh Bunly, project officer for the
Fisheries Action Coalition Team (FACT) a local NGO which works with fishing
communities. "There is currently no solution to the problem."
Bunly said that many of the residents of the village make a living taking
tourists out onto the Tonle Sap lake, but the tourist port would do away
with that and set up a centralized boat rental system where all tourists
would go through Sou Ching.
Bunly said the company hasn't been trying to solve the problem fairly. "Now
there is no activity on the company's part," he said. "They refuse to
negotiate with the people. The people are very angry."
The company could not be reached for comment.
According to Korean-language media reports, Sou Ching Port Investment is
part of a large investment fund established by two major Korean companies -
SK Securities and Golden Bridge Asset Management.
In September the two companies established the first of two planned funds to
invest in Cambodia with a focus on developing tourist infrastructure.
Although details of the investments were not disclosed, SK Securities asset
manager, Yim Yeo Ngijin, was quoted as saying that the companies were
expecting returns on their investment of up to $1 trillion. He described the
Sou Ching Port Investment as part of a "cultural exchange package."
Sou Ching received approval May 4, 2007 in a letter from Suon Sethy,
secretary general of the Cambodian Investment Board, which is part of the
CDC. The letter stated that the Sou Ching company's office in Tnal village,
Sronger commune, Siem Reap province, proved it had necessary capital
investment of $2.7 million and it could begin construction immediately.
The company moved several old yellow bulldozers into the area and put up
billboards depicting the architectural plans.
According to an April 2007 tourism working group meeting at the Ministry of
Tourism (MoT), about 60,000 tourists now visit the Chong Kneas area each
month in high season. By charging $1 dollar per tourist, the working group
estimated that revenues of $120,000 every two months could be achieved
rapidly.
Sou Ching requested the rights to invest in road construction, channel
restoration and to charge a toll fee, parking fee, and pier fee. The company
also asked to charge an entrance fee to the Tonle Sap. The MoT said these
requests, especially the entrance fee, were "a problem."
The port issue came up most recently at a tourism working group meeting at
the MoT on August 7th, where the MoT noted that 'Sou Ching' company had been
granted these rights and obtained its concession on the basis it would also
develop the area by building a road and a new port.
The MoT voiced concern that, as of August, Sou Ching was already charging
tourists $1 per visit but no infrastructure development had occurred.
The proposed port spans several communes including Chong Kneas commune and
Siem Reap commune in the Phnom Krom area.
Siem Reap governor Sou Phirin has given his seal of approval to the port.
His approval is contained in official correspondence dated May 21 in which
Phirin answered a letter from the developer's director Ros Chhoudeth saying
the provincial authorities supported the project. Chhoudeth's letter was
asking for help with the "illegal occupation of the concerned area" - in
other words - evictions.
"Sou Ching can start port construction in the Chong Kneas area," the letter
from the governor said. "But we suggest the establishment of a provincial
coalition committee in order to make sure construction goes smoothly."
Such a committee was set up May 25, according to documents obtained by the
Post. But no villagers are on it. The committee includes Siem Reap deputy
Chan Sophal, other members linked to the provincial government and Sou Ching
officials.
An official from the CDC who asked not to be identified, said that just
because the CDC approves of the new port doesn't mean that Sou Ching has the
right to evict residents from the area against their will. "They must find a
solution to this problem that is in accordance with the law," the official
said. "Their license to develop the port is not equivalent to an official
deed to the land in question."
The residents of the floating village said they oppose the port because it
will damage the area's flooded forests and rice fields.
They live mostly in small one-room wooden boats. They could move the boats,
but they are worried the developer will either block them from moving in and
out or make them pay if they want to enter or leave the new port area.
They said that if the company's port monopolizes the tourist trade it would
put them out of work. They also said the larger boats that the port would
cater to could damage their floating houses with their wake and make it
dangerous for small boats to navigate the entrance to the Tonle Sap Lake.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080802-152260/Hundreds-stage-protest-in-rain-soaked-beach-paradise
Hundreds stage protest in rain-soaked beach paradise
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr.
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 17:20:00 08/02/2008
BORACAY ISLAND, Aklan -- Braving persistent rains, around 700 residents,
resort owners, land occupants, including foreigners, joined a protest rally
here on Friday to oppose legislation that categorizes more than half of the
island as public agricultural land open for disposition.
The protesters, many wearing red shirts, converged on the plaza of Barangay
(village) Balabag, one of three villages on the island at around 5 p.m.,
calling for the junking of House Bill 1109 that seeks to declare "certain
parcels of the public domain within Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan as
agricultural land open to disposition."
Speakers took turns denouncing the bill and vowed to defend their land,
which they have occupied for decades. Some of them belonged to families
living on the island for generations.
The bill, authored by Aklan Representative Florencio Miraflores, categorizes
626.59 hectares of the 1,006-ha island as public domain. Another 337.68 ha
will be categorized as forestland or protected zones, while the remaining
areas will be considered buffer zones and easements.
The bill was passed by the House on April 29, 2008 and has been transmitted
to the Senate.
Property owners and land occupants opposing the bill have criticized it as
unconstitutional and said it would deprive them of their "vested rights"
over lots they have occupied for years.
They claimed the bill would open up their properties to acquisition by other
investors.
Investor Chito Tañada, who decided to settle on the island early this year,
said he was shocked to know that his property, which he is developing as a
condominium complex, is sitting on an area classified as forest land under
HB 1109.
"The bill must be opposed or amended so that it will favor property owners,"
he said in a press conference before the protest rally. "As it is, (the
bill) is unconstitutional because it assails our vested rights."
Tañada said the reclassification of the island into forest land,
agricultural land, and buffer zones is incorrect because areas categorized
as forest land have long been inhabited by people in organized communities
for years.
"Almost every part of Boracay has been occupied for more than 30 years,"
said Tañada.
He also pointed out that 30 percent of the island had already been titled
even before President Ferdinand Marcos issued Proclamation 1801 in 1978
declaring Boracay and other islands as tourist zones and marine reserves.
The decree forbids development projects without the approval of the
government and, in effect, the issuance of new titles.
Most of the business owners and residents have been occupying other lots for
around 30 years through tax declarations.
Property owner Lara Salaver said that under the bill's land classification,
around 199 ha of the Shangri-La-owned property on the northern end of the
island would be considered forest land.
The $60-million Shangri-La Resort and Spa in Boracay's Yapak village is
scheduled to open late this year.
Salaver said the bill is "confiscatory" because the government would have
control over their property.
"This bill is another insecurity for us because we can lose our properties
that have been with our families since we we're born here," said Socorro
Ruchanie Gadon, a long-time resident and resort owner.
The opponents of the bill have asked the Senate to block the passage of the
bill.
On Wednesday, a group of resort owners held a dialogue with some senators
and presented a manifesto signed by 2,400 island stakeholders.
Salaver said they were calling on Miraflores to recall the bill.
She said Miraflores should have waited for the Supreme Court to rule on a
pending appeal of a lower court ruling that recognized the right of
occupants to have their properties titled through judicial confirmation.
Miraflores earlier defended the bill, saying this would actually safeguard
the properties of the occupants.
Miraflores said the bill provides for the issuance of patents to occupants
who have been continuously occupying their lots for the last 30 years. The
patent is limited to a maximum of 12 hectares per applicant.
The 30-year period would also include the occupancy of previous occupants of
the property being applied for patent.
But Salaver said application for free patent would require that they
recognize that their properties are part of the public domain. Their
application could also be rejected, belying Miraflores’s claimed of
guarantees, she said.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Landless_poor_protest_for_parcels_in_0803.html
Landless poor protest for parcels in Paraguay
Associated Press
Published: Sunday August 3, 2008
CAPIIBARY, Paraguay -- Just outside the rickety wire fence that guards the
rich, red soil of this vast hacienda, dozens of peasants have camped for
weeks under a patchwork of thatched shelters and tarpaulin-covered tents.
They are demanding a slice of the wealthy landowner's property to grow food
for their families. And if Paraguay president-elect Fernando Lugo doesn't
help them get it, they plan to swarm the private property, just as thousands
of other landless farmers have done throughout the country.
"The Paraguayan people are awakening," said Salomon Ruiz Diaz, 29, a protest
leader.
Land reform is the single biggest issue in this tiny nation of just under 7
million people, where 1 percent of the population controls 77 percent of the
arable fields. It is also the biggest challenge facing Lugo, a bearded,
sandal-clad former Roman Catholic bishop who won election in April when
Paraguay joined the continent's swing to the left and ended six decades of
conservative single-party rule.
With the Aug. 15 inauguration of the man known as "the bishop of the poor,"
peasants like Ruiz Diaz see Paraguay's first real chance to address an
age-old land dilemma. The way Lugo deals with the land issue will go a long
way toward determining whether he will govern as a revolutionary leftist,
like Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, or more of a middle-of-the-road pragmatist,
like Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Across Latin America, land reform has been the battle cry of generations of
populist leaders. But results have generally been modest, as in Mexico and
Brazil. In Bolivia, President Evo Morales has provoked a constitutional
crisis with his efforts to seize land from large agribusiness for the poor
indigenous majority.
In Paraguay, South America's second poorest nation after Bolivia, land
ownership is the key to wealth, or even survival. The country has very
little industry, and as much as 42 percent of its people live in poverty.
By most accounts, the land gap dates back nearly 140 years to a war Paraguay
lost to Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Devastated and saddled with crushing
war debt, Paraguay began selling off its government holdings that at the
time amounted to 95 percent of the country. Over the years, the most fertile
parcels went to political cronies, and many profited by reselling land to
wealthy foreigners.
Privatization accelerated under the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner from
1954 to 1989 and into the early 1990s. A 2004 government study found that
some 17 million acres ended up in the hands of just 1,877 people.
The hope of land reform helped drive Lugo's election, and now the pressure
is on him to deliver. In dozens of land invasions since the election,
peasant groups have burned tractors, briefly taken hostages and helped
themselves to tools and cell phones before retreating.
Nationwide, an estimated 150,000 to 225,000 Paraguayans claim some
affiliation with the various, scattered land groups, and some 50,000 are
camped illegally on soy farms and ranches.
So far Lugo has managed to balance both sides. He has persuaded most peasant
leaders to stop invading property by promising priority for land relief. He
has also assured private landowners that he'll respect their holdings.
And he has studiously avoided the kind of revolutionary rhetoric that
elevated class tensions and spooked investors in Venezuela, Bolivia and
Ecuador, taking pains to say that both landowners and the landless have
legitimate claims.
"The constitution guarantees private property," Lugo said shortly after the
election, "but it also guarantees the right of all Paraguayans to have
access to a piece of land."
Lugo, who has spent many years ministering to poor farmers, has asked for
patience. He says he plans to buy or expropriate abandoned or illegally
acquired land and redistribute it to peasant farmers, along with property
the government already holds. His supporters plan a national survey to
determine who owns what land _ a project would take at least two years, and
require help from international lending organizations.
But actually pushing through land reform is a different matter.
Lugo will have to contend with government bureaucracies still dominated by
political patronage hires, and avoid alienating the soy growers and cattle
ranchers who keep Paraguay's economy sputtering along. Land redistribution
has been the law in Paraguay for decades, but the agencies charged with
carrying it out have been accused of inefficiency and corruption.
Hector Daniel Cardoso, president of the National Institute of Rural and Land
Development, says his agency does the best it can, considering it has a
woefully outdated land registry and is nearly bankrupt. ad_icon
Lugo has also given few specifics of how he plans to implement reform, other
than promising loans, technical assistance, schools and public health
programs _ all of which already are government policy.
"The law isn't the problem," said Sen. Emilio Camacho, a Lugo ally. "It's
the political will." Camacho predicted that Lugo would not take radical
action because he is essentially a pragmatic man.
Lugo will also be hampered by having only a tenuous majority coalition in
Congress, which by law must approve all land expropriations. And landowners
can appeal takeovers, but the courts are dominated by judges appointed by
the long-ruling Colorado Party.
So despite his best intentions, Paraguay's political establishment will
likely allow only conservative land reform, said Miguel Carter, an American
University expert on land issues in South America.
"There is a pent-up demand in Paraguay that has been barely satisfied,"
Carter said. "I'm concerned there may be a little wishful thinking as to how
easily it can be done."
Along a highway outside the sweltering rural town of Capiibary _ "straw
juice" in the indigenous Guarani language still spoken by most Paraguayans _
that demand is clear. Under a thatched shelter, people listen to a young man
in a red "Che" Guevara beret explain their claim to the fertile land, saying
it should be redistributed because it is unproductive and possibly
ill-gotten.
The estate is controlled by Jose Raimundo Bogarin, a large soy grower with
an auto-import business who is known as a collector of antique cars.
Attempts by The Associated Press to reach Bogarin for comment were
unsuccessful.
There are "no original documents" describing the title history of the land,
according to Belarmino Balbuena, a leader of a coalition of Paraguayan
landless groups. Balbuena said that of the hacienda's estimated 100,000
acres, there's enough acreage in questionable ownership to satisfy the
protesters' demands for about 20,000 acres to divide among themselves for
subsistence farming.
What happens next will depend on Lugo.
"If a month passes, or a month and a half, or two months ..." Ruiz Diaz
said, his voice trailing off as he leaned on the wire fence. "We've heard
his speeches, but we're waiting for results."
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161314766
Wallerfield farmers hold protest for 'promised' land
-GG
Friday, April 25th 2008
making their voices heard: Displaced Wallerfield farmers display placards
offering words of wisdom and advice during their protest yesterday at the
Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain, opposite Whitehall. -Photo: ANISTO
ALVES
AMID global food shortages, several farmers who once toiled the land at
Wallerfield, staged a small protest outside Whitehall, Port of Spain,
yesterday.
They were demanding answers from the Agriculture Ministry for lands they
were promised since 2003.
Farmer Baldeo Ramroop led a party of about 30 "dislocated" farmers around
midday.
"We need some answers from the Ministry of Agriculture," he said, since some
of their farms were shut down to make way for the University of Trinidad and
Tobago campus.
Ramroop, who is the general secretary of the Wallerfield Farmers and Allied
Welfare Association, said since they were evicted in 2003, they were
promised that they would be relocated.
He said there were 15 remaining farmers at Wallerfield and they were told
that they have to leave by June.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4492427a12.html
China police 'shoot two' in land protest
Reuters | Tuesday, 22 April 2008
Chinese police opened fire during a clash over land use between villagers
and employees of China's number two gold miner, killing two and wounding
more than 20, a Hong Kong newspaper has said.
Beijing, terrified of social unrest ahead of the Olympics in August, has
cracked down on recent protests over the arbitrary use of land by powerful
local interests.
Ming Pao cited unidentified sources as saying riot police in the
southwestern province of Yunnan were sent in on Sunday after almost 100
villagers clashed with Zijin Mining workers.
The villagers were angry with offers of compensation and relocations when
Zijin was trying to buy up small mines in the area, the newspaper said.
An unidentified police official told the newspaper the shooting was in
self-defence and that just one person was killed.
The paper quoted a Zijin Mining official as saying the company's investments
in the area were in accordance with local rules and regulations.
He was unaware of the exact situation in Yunnan.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1401167.php/At_least_one_farmer_killed_in_land_protest_in_China
At least one farmer killed in land protest in China
Apr 22, 2008, 8:52 GMT
Beijing - At least one person was killed in clashes between farmers and
police in south-western China in a land dispute involving a mine, local
sources said Tuesday in telephone interviews.
More than a dozen people were hurt Monday, some of them suffering
life-threatening injuries, in the town of Saixi in Yunnan province's Malipo
county, they said.
The dispute involves the Zijin mining company, which has begun mining
operations on the land of Saixi residents, who belong to the Miao ethnic
minority.
'It is not the first violent confrontation between the farmers and
authorities in the past year and a half,' a bank employee said.
The Chinese Human Rights Defenders group said police opened fire on the
protesters, killing one farmer and injuring five others.
A doctor working in the intensive care unit of the Wenshan hospital said two
of the injured had life-threatening injuries.
Zijin wants to open a tungsten mine on the site, but the farmers have
rejected an offer of compensation for their land.
Land disputes have become common in China in recent years with residents
often objecting to low compensation offered in deals negotiated between
business and the government.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2309718,00.html
100s protest for housing, water
21/04/2008 17:04 - (SA)
Johannesburg - About 500 protesters from an informal settlement blocked the
entrance to a street in Lenasia South on Monday, Johannesburg police said.
Spokesperson Inspector Mpho Kgafoane said residents from the Hospital Hills
informal settlement have started gathering again on Sheffield Street and
have blocked the road once again.
"No one can enter the street at this stage. There have been no stoning
incidents and the protesters are relatively quiet."
"There is a heavy police presence at the scene," she said.
On Monday protesters torched a security vehicle and robbed a butchery of all
its meat.
The protests began on Sunday over the service delivery of the local ward
councillor, Paul Molutsi.
"Molutsi was having a meeting with the residents of the informal settlement
when the crowd became angry.
"They were unhappy that their electricity, housing and water needs had not
been met," she said.
According to the police, residents started protesting by blocking off
Sheffield Street and stoning police and police vehicles.
Two police vehicles were damaged on Sunday and some police officers
sustained minor injuries.
"Twenty-three people were arrested during protests on Sunday," Kgafoane
said.
Those arrested were to be charged with causing a public disturbance and
would appear in the Vereeniging Magistrate's Court soon, police said.
http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2340985,00.html
Protesters block Jhb roads
15/06/2008 14:35 - (SA)
Johannesburg - About 200 residents in Lawley, Lenasia, staged a protest on
Sunday, demanding that the local council develop their informal settlements,
Johannesburg police said.
"They started protesting this morning, demanding that the Lawley Station
squatter camps be developed," said Constable Edwin Ntsheo.
He said they blocked roads with rocks from Lawley to Ennerdale, and were not
letting traffic through. They were also singing and chanting.
"They are not being violent, but police are monitoring the situation."
He said the council had promised residents that development would occur in
the area by June 1, but they were told last Thursday that soil tests were
still being conducted, thus delaying the development.
"The residents claim that soil tests have already been done six times in the
area," Ntsheo said.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Development&set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=nw20080615132009871C236599
Protesting residents demand development
June 15 2008 at 01:38PM
About 200 residents in Lawley, Lenasia, staged a protest on Sunday,
demanding that the local council develop their informal settlements,
Johannesburg police said.
"They started protesting this morning, demanding that the Lawley Station
squatter camps be developed," said Constable Edwin Ntsheo.
He said they blocked roads with rocks from Lawley to Ennerdale, and were not
letting traffic through. They were also singing and chanting.
"They are not being violent, but police are monitoring the situation."
He said the council had promised residents that development would occur in
the area by June 1, but they were told last Thursday that soil tests were
still being conducted, thus delaying the development.
"The residents claim that soil tests have already been done six times in the
area," Ntsheo said. - Sapa
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2008/04/21/Stores_looted_in_lack_of_services_protest/UPI-68001208794259/
Stores looted in lack of services protest
Published: April 21, 2008 at 12:10 PM
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, April 21 (UPI) -- South African police reported
calm Monday following a night of looting and burning by residents of the
Hospital Hill settlement in Johannesburg.
Some 300 people turned out to protest the government's delay in providing
housing, electricity, water and sanitation facilities in Lenasia South, The
Star newspaper of Gauteng Province reported.
Police said residents barricaded roads leading to the area and looted shops,
carrying away everything from meat to broken refrigerators and computers.
Authorities believe the protests were sparked by an address Sunday by local
councilor Paul Molutsi who was providing residents with a quarterly update.
Many of the residents have been living in the informal Hospital Hill
settlement for as long as 20 years.
The newspaper says at last count there were more than 3,000 shacks in the
area.
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20080421061051286C144687
Lenasia protesters try raze councillor's home
Bhavna Sookha
April 21 2008 at 07:24AM
Police and demonstrators have clashed, leaving rubber-bullet casings and
debris littering the streets at an informal settlement near Lenasia, south
of Joburg.
Thirty residents of Hospital Hill settlement, near Lenasia South, were
arrested after the house of the local councillor was set on fire after a
meeting on service delivery on Sunday.
Residents had gathered early in the morning to hear the councillor give them
a progress report on service delivery issues when tempers flared.
The group were unhappy with the delays in the provision of housing,
electricity, water and sanitary facilities.
'Police returned to the settlement with reinforcements to disperse the
crowd'
Police, who had escorted the councillor into the area for the meeting,
hastily withdrew him when residents started getting disruptive. The crowd
dispersed but later gathered on their own to continue the meeting, and
police were alerted.
The unhappy residents have been living in the informal settlement for more
than 20 years. At the last count there were at least 3 200 shacks in the
area, housing four to five people per corrugated iron home.
Police returned to the settlement with reinforcements to disperse the crowd,
which had regrouped deep in the settlement.
Rocks, broken glass, rubbish bags and tree branches littered roads after
police had dispersed the protesters.
Some cement manhole covers had been broken and large holes were left exposed
on the sides of the road.
Groups of between six and eight police officers continued to patrol the
settlement late on Sunday as tensions ran high.
They occasionally stopped residents to question and search them.
The police's Director Ronnie Rajin said: "After the crowd scattered, they
went to the councillor's house and set it on fire."
He added that 30 people had been arrested for public disturbance, damage to
public property and assault.
A resident from the area said money was being spent to tar roads in Lenasia
South when it could have been used to build houses for residents of the
informal settlement.
"I don't blame them one bit. I also would have been angry if empty promises
were made to me," he said.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=110817
Residents protest demolition of old village Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Residents of Orangi Town held a demonstration on Monday outside the Karachi
Press Club (KPC) against the town administration for demolishing around 500
houses in an old village called Hawa Goth.
Protestors, including old women and children, carried banners inscribed with
slogans against the town administration and the local police. They urged
authorities concerned to provide them with justice.
“My husband Rasool Bux and my son-in-law, Maskan, were killed when our house
was destroyed,” an old woman, Mehnaz, told The News. “I need justice.”
Mehnaz is a mother of six. She said her son-in-law had left behind three
children.
Another old woman, Hawa, said they had been living there for the past 45
years. She claimed that the town administration had demanded Rs5 million
from them in return for not destroying their houses. One protester, Akbar,
claimed that their village was also included in the first plan of the city,
which dates back to 1915.
“I constructed the house with my hard-earned money but the town
administration destroyed it,” an outraged Baloch woman said. In 1993, Akbar
said, the then-deputy commissioner Karachi West had given them lease for the
village which is spread over 60 acres. He claimed that the slain Pakistan
Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, had also visited their
village.
Residents of Hawa Goth have been demanding justice for the past five months,
Akbar said. Participants at Monday’s demonstration threatened to stage a
hunger strike outside the KPC if their demands were not fulfilled soon.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/92941/Calatagan-farmers-stage-protest-at-SC-to-push-land-rights
Calatagan farmers stage protest at SC to push land rights
05/02/2008 | 01:10 PM
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MANILA, Philippines - Farmers from Calatagan, Batangas on Friday staged a
protest rally in front of the Supreme Court to ask for the return of their
farmland which the government declared a mining land, QTV's Balitanghali
reported.
The television report said police immediately dispersed the placard-bearing
protesters minutes after they assembled in the vicinity of the High
Tribunal.
In a press statement, Rufina Nolasco, chairperson of Samahan at Ugnayan ng
Magsasaka at Mamamayan sa Calatagan (SUMAMACA), said they are asking the
Supreme Court to implement its en banc decision dated March 25, 1988 under
then Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee ordering the return of the land to the
farmers.
“From the beginning it was our forefathers who tilled the land and we are
the ones who first inhabited and developed the coast lines. We were evicted
but the Supreme Court decided on our favor. Unfortunately since the issuance
of the decision up till now the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) has not done the resurvey of the land," Nolasco said.
The peasants have started their vigil in front f the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources since April 30. The farmers said they will
continue their protests until their land is returned to them.
At least 60 farmers marched from Calatagan, Batangas to Manila last week as
a protest to a government decision reclassifying an agricultural area into a
mining area.
According to the Task Force Baha-Talibayog, the farmer-beneficiaries have
already received Emancipation Patents under Presidential Decree 27, when the
property’s former owner, Ceferino Ascue, “illegally sold" the land to the
Asturias Industries Inc. in 1995.
In 1997, Asturias Industries Inc. entered into a Mineral Production Sharing
Agreement (MPSA) with the government and obtained an environmental
compliance certificate (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural
Resources (DENR) to conduct mining activities in the area on the basis of a
1965 Bureau of Mines findings that the area is “mineralized." - Amita
Legaspi, GMANews.TV
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/05/03/3424218.htm
[May 03, 2008]
Venezuelan miners block road to Brazil to protest removal plan
(EFE Ingles Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Caracas, May 3 (EFE).- Miners in
southeastern Venezuela were blockading a road linking the country with
Brazil to protest a government plan to forcibly evacuate 5,000 of them from
the area, a mine workers' leader said.
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President Hugo Chavez's government "plans to remove more than 5,000 small
miners from the Las Cristinas sector" of Bolivar state, "and when 24 hours
had passed today (Friday) since the beginning of the blockade two army
convoys arrived that supposedly are going to try" to remove them, labor
leader Abelardo Diaz said from the area.
The president of the Federation of Bolivar Gold and Diamond Miners'
Cooperatives and Associations added in telephone statements to Caracas
broadcaster Globovision that the blockade eventually will be complemented
this weekend by "an initial 24-hour strike" by residents of the town of
Santa Elena de Uairen and other nearby municipalities.
Other workers in Santa Elena said they would back the potential strike, Diaz
said, adding that Basic Industry and Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz told them
on two occasions in recent weeks that the miners must carry out their work
elsewhere in the country.
He showed them which other areas, but "there are no schools, hospitals" in
those places, Diaz said. "There's nothing."
"The situation is very worrisome, because they plan to remove all the miners
from the upper basin of the Caroni River," which would mean the
disappearance of almost the entire mining population of Bolivar, he said.
He acknowledged that the minister recently backed off a threat to "remove
them with C-4 (plastic explosives), as they are accustomed to doing,"
apparently referring to army soldiers.
He accused the official, however, of "trying to wear the miners down" and
said he did not attend two meetings last week to outline his plan and hear
the workers' concerns.
"We're waiting for the arrival of the minister, who supposedly will come
tomorrow, Saturday; if he doesn't, we'll immediately shut down the entire
town of Santa Elena de Uairen," Diaz warned.
The Las Cristinas development is home to one of South America's largest gold
deposits. According to Sanz's office, it is estimated to contain some 323
million tons of provable and probable reserves.
According to press reports from Caracas released this week, the Environment
Ministry this month denied Canadian mining firm Crystallex a permit to begin
exploiting the mine, alleging "sensitive issues related to indigenous
populations, small miners and the environment."
A communique from the Toronto-based company cited by the Caracas daily El
Universal said the Venezuelan government "seems to be opposed to all mining
in the region."
Crystallex was awarded a concession to exploit the mine in 2002 and was
awaiting an environmental permit to begin carrying out operations. EFE
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Development&set_id=1&click_id=124&art_id=vn20080429120407286C663899
Winelands protesters march for land
April 29 2008 at 12:16PM
Hundreds of poor people from the Breede River Winelands region took to the
streets in Robertson on Monday to demand that the municipality speed up land
redistribution.
The protesters included members of the Mawubuye Land Rights Forum,
small-scale farmers, the landless and the poor.
The protesters chanted songs demanding land outside the Breede River
Winelands municipality.
In a memorandum submitted to mayor John Ngonyama, the demands included
transparency about the land the municipality held and measures taken to make
it accessible to the poor, the non-renewal of contracts for commercial
farmers leasing municipal land, and an immediate stop to the sale of land to
developers.
"There has been no help from the municipality in reducing poverty. Instead,
people are constantly discouraged and prevented from utilising unused pieces
of land to feed their families.
"We demand to know the municipality's contribution and role in the land
reform programme that targets 30 percent of commercial land by 2014 for
redistribution.
"There should be free access to information about development plans and
strict adherence to policy of developmental local government where the
municipality worked together with communities to address development
challenges," read the memorandum in part.
Mawubuye Land Rights Forum vice-chairperson Dulcie Winegaard said: "We are
the indigenous people and we have nothing. We want land to support ourselves
and families."
Accepting the petition, Ngonyama promised to report back to the people after
a month.
He said there were farms in the municipality that had been identified for
allocation to the poor and landless.
"If the municipality does not meet our demands, we plan mass action again,"
said Mawubuye Land Rights Forum president Henry Michaels.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080513-136239/Farmers-protest-conversion-of-agricultural-land-for-tourism
Farmers protest conversion of agricultural land for tourism
By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:28:00 05/13/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Members of a leftist farmers’ group staged a picket
at the Department of Tourism (DoT) in Manila on Tuesday to demand an end to
the conversion of agricultural lands for tourism, specifically in Nasugbu,
Batangas.
The Kalipunan ng Samahang Magsasaka sa Timog Katagalugan (Kasama-TK,
Federation of Farmers’ Associations in Southern Tagalog) demanded the
scrapping of Executive Order 647, which authorizes an “eminent persons
group” to “oversee the sustainable development of Nasugbu tourism in behalf
of the President of the Philippines and the Secretary of Tourism.”
Kasama-TK secretary general Orly Marcellana said stopping land conversion is
crucial to solving the food crisis the country is facing.
“The people of Southern Tagalog pose a challenge to [President] Gloria
[Macapagal] Arroyo to…immediately act on the case in Nasugbu by stopping the
land use conversion. We also call on this department [DoT] to stop
converting our lands, intended for agriculture and fisheries, especially
[since] we are in the middle of a food crisis,” Marcellana said.
Samahang Magbubukid ng Batangas (SAMBAT, Batangas Farmers’ Association)
chairman Romy Cayao said EO 647 “strengthens and caters the interest of the
‘eminent person,’ which, from our simple understanding, is the few
capitalists and landlords,” at the expense of farmers and fisherfolk.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200806020112.html
Kenya: Activists Protest Over Fee for Land
The Nation (Nairobi)
31 May 2008
Posted to the web 2 June 2008
Jonathan Manyindo
Nairobi
A condition requiring people to pay a Sh2,000 application fee for plots in
the 15,000-acre farm, previously owned by former Taveta MP, Basil Criticos,
has sparked a major rift between a Cabinet minister and human rights
activists.
Whereas Special Programmes minister, Naomi Shabaan, who is also Taveta MP,
insists the fee must be paid for the 2,000 plots, activists from Coast Land
Alliance and Darubini ya Haki Taveta want the town council to stop
collecting the money, saying the Government already spent tax payers' money
to purchase the land.
The Government bought the land from the National Bank of Kenya, which had
repossessed it from Mr Criticos for defaulting on a loan.
The council is charging a Sh2,000 non-refundable application fee per plot
and successful applicants are required to develop the plots within two
years, failure to which the land will be repossessed.
Darubini ya Haki chairman, Jasper Muruttu claimed the Government paid for
15,000 acres yet the minister was pushing for the sub-division of only 2,000
acres.
And Taita Taveta Human Rights Network chairman, Haji Mwakio warned that the
Taveta community was likely to lose the land to outsiders if local
councillors were left to carry out the allocation.
"We would not like the situation experienced in Shimba Hills and Mpeketoni
repeated in Taveta," he said.
However, Dr Shabaan said the land is not for free and asked those who do not
want to pay the fee to keep off.
Speaking at Kimala during a public meeting, the minister accused the human
rights activists of jeopardising the process for their own personal
interests.
Personal war
She said the remaining 13,000 acres would be distributed to the public
later.
Dr Shabaan said the community will have to blame itself if they failed "to
take the golden opportunity to own land that they have fought for for many
decades."
Dr Shabaan said plans were underway to take over all the land owned by Mr
Criticos, including Grogan Castle where the former MP has shifted his
residence.
She also said another large-scale land owner in the area had agreed to
surrender 15,000 acres to the local community.
Mr Criticos, when reached for comment, accused the MP of a personal war
against him by targeting his land.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7011256504
Bahrains Protestors Find Quiet Ways To Make Their Points
ShareThis
June 12, 2008 8:58 p.m. EST
Sandeep Singh Grewal - AHN Middle East Correspondent
Manama, Bahrain (AHN) - Peace is the new formula for protestors in the
Kingdom, one of the few liberal states in the Gulf Cooperation Council that
encourages outspokenness.
And these days, protestors are saying it with flowers.
An example is the Nuwaidarat housing protest that has been going on for more
than 100 days. It is the longest peaceful protest in the country. The
residents of four villages-Asker, Ma'ameer, Nuwaidarat and Sanad-are
demanding the government allocate 230 new housing units to them rather than
to outsiders. The villagers are protesting in style, with a range of tactics
from billiard or table tennis tournaments to film screenings and pony rides
to spice up their protest.
"Every day someone is protesting. The villagers take turns to spend the
night in our hut. We will continue our protest till the authorities hand
over the keys of these new housing units. They belong to us and not to
people who do not live here," a protestor told AHN.
This protest without a pause gets even bigger during the weekends, with
lawmakers invited to deliver speeches and express solidarity to the
protesters.
Another ongoing protest is by Arad residents in Muharraq, the second largest
city, over a land grab issue. The organizers hold their customary Friday
protest outside the Muharraq Club after prayers. The common factor between
them and the Nuwaidarat protest is that they too are battling to gain
control in their own soil. They allege the land near the Arad Fort was
grabbed by the Muharraq Club for construction of a commercial complex. They
send text messages to all their supporters and political groups to
participate in the protest.
The seriousness behind the issues has not been diluted as the protestors
want to send their message without raising the white flag.
The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) established last year a
center, the first of its kind in the Middle East, under the theme "Youth
Against Violence," to help prevent violent demonstrations. Some of their
strategies included presenting bouquets to riot police before a protest,
balloon campaigns and wearing common color attire as a symbol of protest.
BYSHR President Mohammed Al Maskati told AHN, "We cannot change everything
but are trying to introduce non-violent ways of protesting. We have trained
so far 65 youth from different villages and will continue our training."
The society has tied up with the Centre for Applied Non-Violent Action and
Strategies (CANVAS) in Serbia to send trainers to Bahrain for their program.
He said this time they would screen films about Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson
Mandela to the youth across the country.
Some of the other popular protests held last year included a black ribbon
protest by about 9,500 teachers from government schools who were demanding
salary increments, bonus and overtime and an umbrella protest by unionists
of a telecom company calling for the reinstatement of two leaders.
Seeing the popularity of these soft protests, UNESCO is organizing a
regional meet of more than 100 young people and key speakers from around the
world to discuss ways to dissuade youth from engaging in violent and radical
behavior.
The three-day event here, which begins Sunday, is held under the patronage
of the Foreign Ministry, which would provide a platform to tackle the global
challenge of violent radicalization of youth.
Last year, 324 rallies were held in the country, of which only 104 were
approved by the Ministry of Interior. There are regular reports in the local
media of illegal gatherings by miscreants that turned violent. A policeman
in Karzakan was killed by a masked men in an illegal gathering who threw
Molotov Cocktails at the patrol jeep.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/06/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Sectarian-Tensions.php
Police: Coptic Christian killed in dispute over land in Egypt, hundreds
protest slaying
The Associated Press
Published: June 6, 2008
CAIRO, Egypt: Police unleashed tear gas Friday to disperse hundreds of
villagers who were protesting the killing of a fellow Christian in southern
Egypt, police official said Friday.
Police arrested a 25-year-old Muslim man for allegedly stabbing to death
Milad Farag Ibrahim, 22, after a dispute erupted Friday between the two over
a piece of land in the town of Dafash in Minya province, the official said.
Hundreds of angry relatives and neighbors later gathered in the town's
streets, protesting his death and calling for revenge, said the official,
who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak
to the media.
Police officials rushed to the area to control the situation and used tear
gas to disperse the crowd, the official said.
On Saturday, a Muslim man was killed and three Christians were injured when
villagers clashed over the expansion of a monastery in another village in
Minya, which is located about 130 miles (210 kilometers) south of Cairo.
Coptic Christians make up an estimated 10 percent of Egypt's 76.5 million
people. They generally live in peace with the Muslim majority, though
occasional clashes occur.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1420884/protesters_prefer_pigs_over_pricey_water_tower_well/index.html?source=r_science
Protesters Prefer Pigs Over Pricey Water Tower, Well
Posted on: Friday, 6 June 2008, 21:00 CDT
By Georgia Garvey
ggarvey@@dailyherald.com
A handful of Island Lake residents lent an oink of support Thursday night to
a man fighting a village proposal for a water tower and well next to his
home.
In recognition of Wauconda Township resident Robert Wargaski's planned pig
farm, the residents sported plastic pig noses and carried signs at the
village board meeting.
"This board stinks," resident Laurie Rabattini said. "We're trying to send a
message."
Wargaski has been fighting for years against a planned Island Lake water
well and tower next door to his property. Now Wargaski is saying he plans to
do some building of his own: a containment facility and manure lagoon for
the 50 to 100 pigs he's planning to farm on his five acres of land.
Environmental regulations forbid animal manure too close to public water
sources.
Rabattini said she supports Wargaski's fight against the village but says
the conflict is due to flawed leadership
"This is an example of larger problems," she said. "I'd be more pro a pig
farm than I am a $5 million water tower."
Cassie Martin, who also wore the nose and carried some of the signs, agreed.
"We're willing to fight for what's right," she said. "We need to be here."
The women planned to stand up with their noses on and signs up during public
comment period, which did not come until late Thursday.
Wargaski, who was not present Thursday, has argued the planned well would
lower his property values and force him to dig his well deeper. He has also
sought an injunction in Lake County court to stop the construction of the
well and tower.
Wargaski's land is zoned as agricultural, but the Illinois Environmental
Protection Agency has already issued the village a permit to build the
tower. Mayor Tom Hyde has said he's not certain what will happen with the
proposed pig farm but doesn't believe the IEPA will take away a permit it
has already granted.
(c) 2008 Daily Herald; Arlington Heights, Ill.. Provided by ProQuest
Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
http://seguingazette.com/story.lasso?ewcd=53dff8262189b091
Altwein family protests pathway of Outer Loop
By Michael Cary
The Gazette-Enterprise
Published June 25, 2008
SCHUMANNSVILLE — Johann Gotthulf and Wilhelmine Altwein moved from Prussia
to Texas in 1851.
They settled on a farm on the west bank of the Guadalupe River, which today
is a narrow section of the waterway below Lake Dunlap dam and Lake McQueeney
Dam.
An Altwein family cemetery was established in 1853 when Johann died of a
heat stroke while working to clear land.
His great-grandson, Kermit, and Kermit’s wife, Marilyn, obtained a
historical marker for the cemetery from the Texas Historical Commission.
The Texas Department of Agriculture’s Family Land Heritage Program honored
the Altwein Ranch for a century or more of continuous ownership and
operation as a family agricultural enterprise.
Today, the Altweins have maintained their 139-acre farm for the past 155
years. Their daughter, Susan, lives in the 1910 farmhouse with her husband,
Ben Thibodeaux and their children. The Altweins and the Thibodeauxs are
worried about the effect the proposed New Braunfels Outer Loop will have
when it impacts their family farm.
It seems that the Texas Department of Transportation has laid out a plan for
the road and a river crossing that will miss the farmhouse but will include
the Altwein river bottom property.
“Taking this land in the name of progress is a travesty. The proposed route
will take almost all of our river frontage,” Kermit Altwein wrote to TxDOT.
The New Braunfels Outer Loop is a preliminary plan to identify a general
corridor for a proposed outer loop, according to www.nbolstudy.com .
The 800-ft. wide loop may or may not be built, and it is not currently
funded. The plan for funding if it is built 20 years from now will be
through charging tolls to drive on it.
A meeting concerning the planned route for the New Braunfels Outer Loop is
set for 6:30 p.m. today at Canyon High School in New Braunfels. Another
meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the same location for property
owners who will be affected by recent revisions to the 40-mile loop.
Marilyn and Kermit Altwein have supported the efforts of New Braunfels area
property owners who formed the group Citizens Alliance for Smart Expansion.
CASE members question why an expected population of 170,000 in 30 years
needs a 6-lane loop the size of San Antonio’s Loop 410, which they contend
was built when the population reached 600,000.
CASE meets at 5:30 p.m. every Thursday at Faith United Church, 970 N. Loop
337 (at Common Street) in New Braunfels.
The Altweins say their river bottom is sort of a bottleneck along the river,
with gravel bars up and downriver of their ranch, which makes it passable
only by canoe, kayak or flat-bottomed boat.
There is abundant wildlife on the property and the Altweins are
participating in a Wildlife Management Association preservation program.
“We got the TxDOT notice about the outer loop, but we thought it was junk
mail,” Marilyn said.
“We’ve never seen a clear map of the loop,” she said.
Altwein, who is the broker for Altwein Realty, said the outer loop puts
their property in limbo.
“Your land is saddled with it, and you can’t sell your property,” Altwein
said.
“We’re going to try to change their minds,” Susan Thibodeaux said.
“Our kids are sixth generation and they want to keep living here,”
Thibodeaux said.
http://www.nst.com.my/Monday/National/2274727/Article/index_html
2008/06/23
150 squatters protest against eviction notices
KUALA LUMPUR: Some 200 police personnel were put on standby during a
peaceful demonstration in Kampung Pandan yesterday morning. About 150
squatters were protesting against notices of eviction issued to them by City
Hall.
Cheras police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Amir Mohd Hashim said no
untoward incident occurred during the half-hour illegal gathering at 10am at
the Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement.
He said police were there to observe and control traffic flow along Jalan
Delapan, next to SJK (Tamil) Kampung Pandan, where the crowd gathered.
"We allowed them to assemble and protest for 30 minutes before asking them
to disperse," he said.
Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement Action Committee chairman Suresh Kumar said
the protesters were not objecting to the notices, but they want more time to
further discuss the issue with City Hall.
"How can they serve us a one-month notice on June 10, asking about 3,000
people to move out by July 8? The 270 houses have been here for 51 years,"
he said.
"They offered us rented units in the DBKL low-cost flats in Kampung
Muhibbah, Puchong, in the past but we declined because it was too far away."
He said there were several issues they wanted to discuss with City Hall,
adding that they wanted to know what the plans for the redevelopment of the
squatter land were.
They want City Hall to build low-cost flats where their houses are located
and give them the units for free as compensation. They also want
compensation for the demolished temples and for them to be rebuilt by City
Hall.
Hindu Rights Action Force coordinator S. Jayathas and Pas officials were
present.
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/07/404111.html
Squatter's Protest at Stoke Newington Police Station
Dominic | 18.07.2008 23:17 | Free Spaces | London
Two people were arrested as police evicted a squat in Hackney today. Friends
and supporters gathered at Stoke Newington Police station to demand their
release.
The police said that both people were arrested for criminal damage and
abstracting electricity, but they decided not to charge either. One was
released, but the other was said to be wanted over a separate allegation in
Poland, and is facing extradition.
A flyer distributed at the protest said:
Today police illegally evicted a squat in Hackney and arrested our two
friends inside. We are calling for their immediate release!
Hackney council and the metropolitan police have been working together to
evict squatters, families and the poor. We are loosing our homes to the
aggressive gentrification of hackney: we aren't going without a fight.
We are increasingly harassed, searched, beaten and arrested, and this has
become a common experience across the board with policing in Hackney.
We oppose police brutality and repression.
Dominic
http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0716/dublin.html
Man suffers burns at Dublin protest
Wednesday, 16 July 2008 11:24
A man is being treated for burn injuries following an incident during a
protest in Dublin last night.
The incident happened during a demonstration by members of the Travelling
community at Coolock Lane at about 8pm last night.
It is understood residents of an unofficial halting site were protesting
over plans by the local authority to move them from the area.
Advertisement
Gardaí were called to the scene after a man carrying petrol threatened to
set himself on fire.
Officers were attempting to defuse the situation when another man became
engulfed in flames.
The injured man was taken to Beaumont Hospital for treatment for second
degree burns.
He was transferred to the burns unit of St James's Hospital last night.
http://www.local10.com/news/16861867/detail.html?rss=mia&psp=news
Community Activists To Protest Miami's Mega Plan
POSTED: 8:09 am EDT July 12, 2008
UPDATED: 8:45 am EDT July 12, 2008
MIAMI -- Community activists against Miami's Mega Plan will take to the
streets of Watson Island Saturday morning.
Miami City Commissioner Tomas Regalado, County Commission candidate Val
Screen, Miami Neighborhoods United president Grace Solares, Environmental
Law and Public Interest Attorney Frank Schnidman and others will protest the
$3 billion plan.
Attorneys for billionaire plaintiff Norman Braman and for Miami-Dade County
could not move toward a compromise on Friday. This after a judge asked them
to negotiate. One attorney called the meeting "a waste of time".
The trial is expected to start Monday.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-mural13-2008jul13,0,3421808.story
Political protest hits a brick wall
St. Louis officials say the mural is too big. Its author says they're
against the message, not the medium.
By P.J. Huffstutter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
7:46 PM PDT, July 12, 2008
ST. LOUIS -- When this city declared the aging Bohemian Hill neighborhood
blighted and opened the door to the possibility of using eminent domain to
redevelop it, social activist Jim Roos decided to protest in a big way.
He hired an artist to paint a two-story-high mural on the outside of a
duplex, turning a late-1800s brick facade into a massive declaration of
outrage easily spotted from the city's major arteries.
The mural, which says "End Eminent Domain Abuse" inside a red circle with a
slash through it, has annoyed civic leaders and led to a legal battle.
The city is asking a federal judge to order Roos to get rid of the painting.
The city's attorneys say it isn't art or constitutionally protected free
speech but simply a sign that's too big.
Local codes restrict signs in the city's residential areas to 30 square feet
in total size, said Matthew Moak, an associate city attorney. The mural is
24 feet across -- 15 times the maximum.
"I don't care what it says. . . . If it had been dogs playing pokeron the
side of the building, it'd still be a problem," Moak said. "You cannot erect
what amounts to a two-story piece of graffiti."
Roos -- who runs a company that manages rental units for low-income
residents, including the Bohemian Hills duplex -- acknowledges that he
didn't apply for a city permit before commissioning the mural. When he tried
to get one after the fact, the city denied his application.
Roos believes it's the painting's message -- not its size -- that St. Louis
lawmakers truly object to.
"If this were advertising McDonald's or beer or the Cardinals, there'd be no
discussion or debate," said Roos.
"The city just can't stand that someone is protesting what they're doing in
such a loud way."
The lawsuit is to be heard in the spring.
Since the 2005 Supreme Court ruling that local governments could seize
private property and hand it over to developers, the battle over the
practice of eminent domain has led to a slew of state legislation over the
issue.
Some states, such as California, have few restrictions, said Larry Morandi,
director of state policy research for the National Conference of State
Legislatures. Last year, lawmakers in Sacramento failed to pass a measure
that would have prohibited local governments from acquiring homes, churches
and farmland through eminent domain.
Last month, California voters shot down a proposition that would have phased
out rent control and limited the government's ability to take private
property. (Voters did, however, pass a measure protecting owner-occupied
homes from eminent domain.)
Missouri's law prevents governments from using the process solely for the
purpose of economic gain or to increase the tax base, "but that adverb --
solely -- gives cities some wiggle room," Morandi said. "It tells local
governments: 'You'd better make sure you've done your homework before you
try to take a property.' "
City officials say the measure has helped St. Louis. Like many Midwestern
cities with old housing stock and numerous abandoned properties, St. Louis
has used eminent domain as part of a broader effort to redevelop
neighborhoods. And the city has faced the legal battles that often follow.
For Roos, who is spearheading a grass-roots effort to have a measure further
restricting eminent domain placed on the November ballot, this fight goes
back decades.
When he unsuccessfully ran for alderman here in 1987, his campaign focused
on letting neighborhoods revitalize naturally, rather than "be rushed by a
bunch of developers," Roos said.
Several years ago, the issue became personal when the city invoked eminent
domain to acquire and tear down two dozen buildings managed by Roos' group,
Neighborhood Enterprises Inc.
"When some of our tenants started getting letters from the city last year
saying, once again, the city was interested in acquiring their homes, I felt
like something drastic needed to be done," Roos said.
The mural is on a building in a wedge-shaped residential area on the city's
near south side that faces the point where interstates 44 and 55 merge. In
the 19th century, Bohemian Hill was home to Eastern European immigrants
drawn to the city's industrial boom. It later fell into decay and was
partially cleared to make room for the merging interstates.
Today the area is a hodgepodge of elegantly rehabbed condominiums, modest
low-income housing, and rows of boarded-up brick homes that date to the turn
of the 20th century.
"I've had city officials tell me that if [the mural] were smaller and
painted on the front of the building, then it'd be OK," Roos said.
"But then what's the point? No one would see it."
p.j.huffstutter at latimes.com
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008083004_cabins31.html?syndication=rss
Group protests cabin removal at Lake Roosevelt National Recreational Area
A land-rights group is outraged that the National Park Service is studying
whether to terminate leases on 26 vacation cabins in the Lake Roosevelt
National Recreation Area.
By Nicholas K. Geranios
The Associated Press
SPOKANE — A land-rights group is outraged that the National Park Service is
studying whether to terminate leases on 26 vacation cabins in the Lake
Roosevelt National Recreation Area.
The American Land Rights Association, of Battle Ground, Clark County, calls
the study a "land grab."
"Please do your part to help the cabin owners at Lake Roosevelt save their
cabins from the National Park Service," the group said in a mailing to
supporters. "The key here is to work together."
This week is the deadline for people to file comments to the service about
the cabins.
Debbie Bird, superintendent of the Lake Roosevelt recreation area, said it's
too early to predict whether the cabins are in danger of removal.
"We are doing an environmental assessment," Bird said. "It's premature to
predict the outcome."
Bird rejected the notion of a "land grab," primarily because the federal
government already owns the land the cabins were built on.
The 26 vacation cabins are a legacy of a 1950s-era program in which people
were encouraged to lease land along the Columbia River reservoir created by
Grand Coulee Dam and build simple cabins, not primary residences, Bird said.
The leases, which cost $4,500 per year, run for five years, she said.
Now the Park Service is studying whether it wants to continue having the
cabins, which are at the Rickey Point and Sherman Creek areas of the
150-mile-long lake. Federal law requires the environmental assessment to
determine whether the cabins should be allowed and under what lease
conditions, the park service said.
The American Land Rights Association is calling on its supporters to deluge
the service with demands that the cabins be retained. It has sent a standard
comment form, along with instructions to alter the form to look more like it
is from an individual rather than part of a mass effort.
"The Park Service will try to discount this questionnaire," the group told
supporters. "You can prevent them from doing that by personalizing it as
much as you can.
"Please make sure you write in some personal comments."
Lake Roosevelt is a popular recreation area, especially with boaters, but
relatively few people live along its banks. New homes have not been allowed
on the shoreline for decades.
The land-rights association believes the Park Service should encourage more
cabins to be built in the recreation area, to discourage people from abusing
the shoreline.
"The superintendent should make it a priority to develop sites ... to
distribute the use of the lake, broaden the carrying capacity and create
additional opportunity for those who wish to have a more removed or remote
recreational opportunity," the association said.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
http://www.bangkokpost.com/250708_News/25Jul2008_news15.php
KLONG TOEY MARKET
Vendors protest against PAT plans
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
Anurak: Admits rents will go up
About 3,000 vendors from Klong Toey market protested outside the Port
Authority of Thailand (PAT) yesterday, fearing a planned renovation of the
ageing market area would mean their expulsion.
The group, led by Klong Toey market community head Sompong Tangskulwiwatana,
blocked Kasemrat road from the Customs Department intersection to the PAT
building and beyond, nearly to the Tha Ruea expressway ramp.
They blocked the entrance to the PAT building, denying access to vehicles,
causing a serious traffic jam on nearby roads until they dispersed in late
afternoon.
The protesters were dissatisfied with the PAT's decision not to renew
contracts with three companies which manage areas in the market. The
contracts expired on March 31.
They worry the decision will lead to their eviction to allow for the
building of a yet another shopping mall.
PAT director-general Sunida Skulratana assured them all vendors would be
still allowed to sell at Klong Toey market. There would be only a change in
market managers, she said.
''The companies have enticed the vendors to stage the rally to pressure the
PAT to renew their contracts,'' Mrs Sunida said.
''We can't agree to that. Our evaluation shows those companies did not
manage the market effectively.''
Klong Toey market vendors wave the national flag as they rally in front of
the Port Authority of Thailand yesterday in protest against its plan to
renovate the market, which could result in their losing selling space.
The PAT would continue accepting tenders from new companies to run the
market until Aug 4. The bids would be opened on Sept 17.
The tenders are for the management of a market area of 8.49 rai (appraised
value 350 million baht) opposite Sacred Heart Convent school and another
area of 14.32 rai (appraised value 591 million baht) by Rama IV road.
Deputy Transport Minister Anurak Jureemart said there had been no major
improvements at Klong Toey market for a very long time.
The PAT wanted to make it a cleaner market by installing a better drainage
system and a waste water treatment facility, and build a parking lot to
attract more customers, said Mr Anurak.
He admitted the existing vendors would have to pay higher rents after the
changes, but they would have first right to the selling area.
The protesting vendors dispersed in late afternoon after the PAT executives
agreed to consider their proposals within five days
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=40876&cat_id=1
Tent protest aims to shame Cyprus in dispute with developers
By Jean Christou
BRITISH home buyer Conor O’Dwyer marked his 39th birthday yesterday far away
from his wife and children as he continued his indefinite protest outside
the Cyprus High Commission in London.
O’Dwyer began his protest camping outside the Cypriot diplomatic mission
this month because August marks two years since he was due to move his
family to Cyprus, and August marks the anniversary of when the Minister of
the Interior told the media he was looking into the unlawful selling of O’Dwyer’s
house.
In two years, no progress has been made on O’Dwyer’s case outlined on his
website www.lyingbuilder.com, and he has now set up a new site
www.ShameOnCyprus.com, which will focus initially on his protest in London.
“I am still getting the same rhetoric that I was getting two years ago,” O’Dwyer
said yesterday. ‘That’s why I’m protesting. I’m not going anywhere until
they drag this case to court and take the developers off to jail. I deserve
my day in court.”
O’Dwyer spent a week in Larnaca hospital last January after he was beaten up
in Frenaros when he went to take pictures of the house he had bought and
over which he later came into dispute with the developers.
They have been charged by police in connection with the attack on O’Dwyer in
Frenaros, but the case has yet to reach the courts.
He says the developers unilaterally cancelled his contract and kept his
money, some £75,000 sterling, because he had pulled them up over what he saw
as a misrepresentation of their deal. That case is also pending at court.
The developers have accused O’Dwyer of allegedly masterminding a plan to
extort a newer more expensive property, and exorbitant damages from the
company.
“My case is undeniable,” said O’Dwyer who, said that if anyone bothered to
look at it, it could be solved in an afternoon. “It doesn’t take Sherlock
Holmes to figure it out. This whole thing stinks.”
O’Dwyer did receive a visit from an official at the Cyprus High Commission
on Friday but the official only gave him “the same old story”, he said. A
new High Commissioner is due to be in place next week, whom O’Dwyer hopes
might listen to him.
Since the indefinite protest began, O’Dwyer has been sleeping in a tent and
spends his day updating his new website and talking to passers-by,
including, he said, potential British property buyers for Cyprus. “A few
have now been put off buying in Cyprus when they heard what happened to me,”
he said. “I’m not going to stay quiet any more and watch other people lose
their savings. I’m sleeping in a tent. That’s what I got for my £75,000. I’ve
lost my home but I’m not moving from here until I let everyone know what a
corrupt society Cyprus is.”
http://www.beloblog.com/ProJo_Blogs/newsblog/2008/08/campers-protest.html
Campers protest campsite move in Westport
11:30 AM Mon, Aug 11, 2008 | Permalink
Jack Perry Email
WESTPORT, Mass. (AP) -- Campers who regularly use the waterfront RV
campsites at Horseneck Beach in Westport are upset that the state is moving
them.
Camper Betty Weeden of Portsmouth, R.I., says she plans to send a petition
she has circulated with more than 700 signatures to lawmakers and Gov. Deval
Patrick to get the state Department of Conservation and Recreation to
reconsider the decision.
The plan to move the 32 campsites with views of Buzzards Bay farther inland
is part of a master plan for the park.
The department says the campsites are being moved to protect dunes.
State Rep. Michael Rodrigues, D-Westport, thinks the campsites should stay
where they are.
A DCR spokeswoman says there have already been numerous public hearings
about the plan.
http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1426751.php/Victims_of_Indonesian_mud_volcano_protest_for_compensation
Victims of Indonesian mud volcano protest for compensation
Asia-Pacific News
Aug 25, 2008, 9:54 GMT
vote nowBuzz up!
Jakarta - Hundreds of homeless residents from East Java province demanded
compensation for their properties destroyed by a massive mudflow caused by
an industrial accident.
More than 14,000 homes, 33 schools, 65 mosques and an orphanage have been
buried since May 2006 when a 'mud volcano' began oozing to the surface
following an oil-drilling accident in East Java district of Sidoardjo, an
industrial suburb.
'Our two-year housing rents is running out, but so far we don't know yet
when they would pay the remaining 80 per cent of compensation. Now, we have
no place to stay,' said Heri Iswandi, one of the protest leaders, was quoted
as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.
'This land still belong to us. We will continue to block the BPLS' works
from continuing to built dams here until we get full payment of the
compensation money,' Iswandi said.
BPLS is the government-sanctioned Sidoarjo Mud Mitigation Agency, which has
been working to stem the flow with a network of dams and by channelling some
of it into the sea, but with little success so far.
Gas leaks are increasingly common around the site as the weight of the mud
causes the ground to sink and trapped gas makes its way to the surface.
The sludge also buried railway tracks and toll roads, causing serious
traffic disruption.
The drilling operation, operated by the Indonesian company PT Lapindo
Brantas, apparently hit an underground volcanic mud flow while drilling at a
depth of 3,000 metres, allowing the sludge to spew to the surface.
Geologists, scientists, non-governmental organizations and many victims
blame the company for irresponsible drilling. Lapindo is backed by two court
rulings that said an earthquake near Yogyakarta, 250 kilometres away,
triggered the mud volcano.
The government accepted responsibility last year for costs related to the
disaster's social impact on people living outside swamped areas. But it
ordered Lapindo to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah (425 million dollars) in partial
compensation for the mud disaster.
Jakarta - Hundreds of homeless residents from East Java province demanded
compensation for their properties destroyed by a massive mudflow caused by
an industrial accident.
More than 14,000 homes, 33 schools, 65 mosques and an orphanage have been
buried since May 2006 when a 'mud volcano' began oozing to the surface
following an oil-drilling accident in East Java district of Sidoardjo, an
industrial suburb.
'Our two-year housing rents is running out, but so far we don't know yet
when they would pay the remaining 80 per cent of compensation. Now, we have
no place to stay,' said Heri Iswandi, one of the protest leaders, was quoted
as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.
'This land still belong to us. We will continue to block the BPLS' works
from continuing to built dams here until we get full payment of the
compensation money,' Iswandi said.
BPLS is the government-sanctioned Sidoarjo Mud Mitigation Agency, which has
been working to stem the flow with a network of dams and by channelling some
of it into the sea, but with little success so far.
Gas leaks are increasingly common around the site as the weight of the mud
causes the ground to sink and trapped gas makes its way to the surface.
The sludge also buried railway tracks and toll roads, causing serious
traffic disruption.
The drilling operation, operated by the Indonesian company PT Lapindo
Brantas, apparently hit an underground volcanic mud flow while drilling at a
depth of 3,000 metres, allowing the sludge to spew to the surface.
Geologists, scientists, non-governmental organizations and many victims
blame the company for irresponsible drilling. Lapindo is backed by two court
rulings that said an earthquake near Yogyakarta, 250 kilometres away,
triggered the mud volcano.
The government accepted responsibility last year for costs related to the
disaster's social impact on people living outside swamped areas. But it
ordered Lapindo to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah (425 million dollars) in partial
compensation for the mud disaster.
http://allafrica.com/stories/200808180836.html
Kenya: Protests As KAA Hands Over Airport
The Nation (Nairobi)
16 August 2008
Posted to the web 18 August 2008
Cosmas Butunyi
Nairobi
The Kenya Airports Authority on Friday handed over Kisumu Airport to a
contractor to begin its upgrading and expansion amid protests from the local
community.
KAA project manager Philemon Chamwada said that work on the Sh2.6 billion
project would start after Chinese Overseas Engineering Company gets the
green light in two weeks.
As the handover ceremony was going on, members of the Kogony community
demonstrated outside the airport and had to be restrained by anti-riot
police.
The secretary general of the Kogony Clan Land Council of Elders, Mr Ayub
Onyango Ogindo, said the community would not allow the project to take off
unless they were fully compensated.
He said that the Sh15 million KAA had paid was a token and for compensation
for developments on the land.
"We want proper compensation commensurate with the value of our land," he
said.
Mr Ogindo also demanded that the project's environmental impact assessment
(EIA) be made public.
The community also wants jobs to be earmarked for locals and a memorandum of
understanding drawn up on how the community will benefit after its
completion.
"We have received an assurance from the Government that pertinent issues are
being addressed," Mr Chamwada said in response to the demands.
He said that KAA had received the land's title deed from the Government.
Mr Chamwada said the EIA report had been submitted to the National
Environmental Management Authority and a licence granted.
"Relevant notices were issued during the process," he said.
He said unskilled labour would be hired from the community but the
contractor would use his discretion to hire skilled manpower.
"We cannot compromise on the quality of work, which has to meet
international aviation standards," he said.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20080807-153226/Bukidnon-farmers-stage-protest-at-DENR
Bukidnon farmers stage protest at DENR
By Katherine Evangelista
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:10:00 08/07/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Some 30 farmers held a rally outside the Department
of Natural Resources (DENR) central office in Quezon City on Thursday
calling for the cancellation of the lease contracts of six cattle ranch
operators in Bukidnon.
Wealthy ranch operators, all belonging to different political clans, have
allegedly violated the Forest Land Grazing Lease Agreement (FLGLA) they had
with the DENR, said Jane Neri, spokesperson of the Alliance of Landless
Farmers and Rural Poor in Bukidnon-Task Force Mapalad (Alyansa-TFM).
The FLGLA allows for only 20 hectares of land to be used for food production
for the cattles being raised and not for exportable crop plantations.
However, ranch operators have converted most of the 3,548 hectares of land
that they have occupied into fields for various crops like pineapple and
sugarcane, Neri said.
One of the ranches under question is the 456-hectare Manzano Ranch operated
by the former mayor of Don Carlos, Felix Manzano who was alleged using
majority of the land for planting sugarcanes and another portion for raising
fighting cocks.
Similarly, the 820-hectare Ocaya Ranch is also being questioned since aside
from allegedly violating the land-usage provision in their FLGLA, ranch
operator Circle T Development Corporation, the family business of the late
governor Timoteo Ocaya, has failed to pay rental and surcharges and has not
submitted annual grazing report.
A letter from DENR Assistant Secretary General Legal Services signed by
Mylene Albano has recommended the cancellation of the Ocaya Ranch FLGLA, but
the ranch was still operating, Neri said.
She added that they were laid off from their employment in the farms and
were forced to live outside the perimeter of the lands they used to work on
after they filed the petition for the cancellation of the FLGLAs some 10
years ago.
"Matagal na itong isyung ito. Dati sa DENR Region 10 office kami pero sabi
sa amin hindi daw sila may hawak ng cancellation ng FLGLA kaya pumunta na
kami dito sa Maynila [This issue is old. We used to go to the DENR Region 10
office but now they’ve told us that they were not responsible for the
petition to cancel the FLGLA that’s why we went to Manila]," Neri said.
She added that there was a fact-finding team formed to investigate the
alleged violations but the results were questionable since these were biased
against the farmers.
"Kitang-kita naman dun na konti na lang 'yung mga baka tapos ang lalawak na
nung mga tubuhan pero hindi pa rin nila kinansela yung FLGLA [Everyone cam
see that there are not enough cows and the lands for sugarcane are growing
and yet they have not cancelled the FLGLA)," Neri lamented.
Alyansa-TFM called on to DENR Secretary Lito Atienza to immediately cancel
the FLGLAs of to give way for displaced farm laborers to file for a
community-based Forest Management (CBFM) which is similar to the
Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program for farmers, Neri said.
"These rich ranch owners have profited more than enough while we dirt poor
farmers need to labor on the field in order to buy NFA rice and dried fish.
Farmers as pillar of economic survival is a major reason why DENR should
cancel these FLGLAs and distribute the lands to qualified farmer
beneficiaries," said Metodio Alindajao, president of Alayon sa Buayan
Association, Inc. which is also affiliated with the TFM.
Giving the land to the farm laborers will allow them to plant staple food
products like rice and corn and help protect the forest by planting trees,
said Oscar Mañiego, chairperson of Alyansa-TFM.
"Hunger triggered us to camp at the DENR national office because hundreds of
hectares of fertile land in Bukidnon now devoted to export crop plantation
can be cultivated for staple food production," Maniego added.
The CBFM has duration of 25 years and is renewable for another 25 years
thereafter, Mañiego said.
http://www.nst.com.my/Friday/National/2272371/Article/index_html
2008/06/20
Padi farmers protest MB's logging threat
By : Noor Adzman Baharuddin
ALOR STAR: Some 63,000 padi farmers in Kedah and Perlis are angry with
Menteri Besar Azizan Abdul Razak for his decision to log timber in water
catchment areas in Kedah.
Their spokesman, Ahmad Radin, described the decision announced by Azizan on
Wednesday as "an attempt to kill off our livelihood".
"The trees are there to help retain water in the ground.
"If you remove them, there will be no more water for our padi fields and
everyone knows this.
"We are talking about the livelihood of more than 63,000 farmers and this
does not include their families and children," he said when asked to comment
on Azizan's announcement that the Pas-led state government would log timber,
valued at about RM16 billion, in water catchment areas in Kedah if the
Federal Government does not compensate the loss of revenue for maintaining
them.
Azizan claimed the Federal Government had ignored the state's request for
RM100 million in compensation on numerous occasions and that logging permits
would be issued soon.
He said for many years Kedah had never been compensated for providing raw
water for irrigation, industrial and domestic uses to Penang and Perlis.
Ahmad, who is also chairman of the coordinating committee for area farmers'
organisation under the Muda Agricultural Development Authority, said most of
the farmers only learnt about the matter yesterday after reading it in the
newspapers .
"I chaired a meeting with all the 27 area farmers' organisations from Kedah
and Perlis and we discussed Azizan's announcement.
"He had gone back on his word about settling any problem with the Federal
Government through discussions.
"I remembered him saying so only a few days after he was appointed Kedah
Menteri Besar."
He said Azizan or his representatives should have held discussions with the
padi farmers before making the decision.
"We are talking about the livelihood and future of many people but our views
were not sought before they made the decision.
"We are very upset and disappointed with Azizan."
He said Azizan should not hold the Federal Government to ransom but resolve
the matter through discussion.
"It appears he is trying to pelingkopkan kita (destroy us) while getting
even with the Federal Government."
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