[Onthebarricades] Pro-democracy, corruption and rights protests, Asia, Apr-Aug 2008

[Andy]

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/

IRAN
*  Tehran protest against "plundering"; protesters clash with police
*  Anti-corruption protest in second city Mashhad
*  Cleric jailed for corruption protest walk
*  Iranian presidential visit sparks protests in America
*  Turkey:  Protest at Iranian embassy
*  France:  March for unbanning of Iranian armed opposition group

NORTH KOREA
*  Defectors in the south send balloons to north
*  "Freedom walk" kicks off in Washington

SOUTH KOREA
*  Conscientious objector refuses to serve in riot police

TAIWAN
*  Protesters call for abolition of anti-protest law

PHILIPPINES
*  State of the Nation Address protested with strikes, marches
*  "Balas Boys" opposition group stage picket for resignation of governor
*  Journalists strike over killings, beating
*  Activist priest holds silent protest over wrongful conviction

HONG KONG
*  Tiananmen march numbers down

PAPUA NEW GUINEA
*  Residents in Port Moresby protest "systemic" corruption

NEPAL
*  Civil society groups protest free palace for ex-King
*  Protesters demand compensation for tobacco worker

INDONESIA
*  Death of student protester sparks unrest
*  Protesters demand halt to North Sumatra ballot count
*  Student protesters torch government car

http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/5282/129/

Iran: 2,000 local residents in Poonak protest

Sunday, 15 June 2008
NCRI - More than 2,000 residents of Poonak district in west Tehran took to 
streets on Friday protesting to the regime's plundering polices.
Citizens from all walks of life such as workers, teachers and students took 
part in the demonstration. Shortly after the start of the move the State 
Security Forces (SSF) – mullahs' suppressive police – clashed with the crowd 
wounding some and arresting 10 others.
Members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Special Units were 
called in to contain the protests.
Street demonstrations as a form of protest to high inflation rates, lack of 
adequate housing, fuel rations, sky rocketing unemployment, especially among 
youths, are commonplace in Iran.
Workers are on the forefront of protests in recent weeks with Sugar Cane 
Factory workers in the southwestern city of Shoosh in their 4th week of 
strike over unpaid wages and salaries.
Next are students with protests from Tehran University to Polytechnic, 
Sahand in Tabriz, Teachers' Training School, Bo-Ali in Hamadan, Shiraz 
University in Shiraz and Zanjan University in Zanjan as well as many other 
higher education schools across the nation.
They all say the same thing in different words that is an unrelenting desire 
for a regime change in Iran.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/07/06/iran-peaceful-protest-movement-against-corruption/

Here is a film in YouTube showing a peaceful demonstration against 
corruption in Mashhad, the second largest city in Iran, about 10 days ago.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/07/30/iran-clerics-protest-walk-ends-in-jail/

Iran: Cleric's Protest Walk Ends in Jail

Wednesday, July 30th, 2008 @ 00:05 UTC
by Hamid Tehrani
An Iranian cleric named Ali Reza Jahanshahi was arrested about two weeks 
ago, shortly after beginning a 960 kilometer (590 miles) protest walk from 
the southern Iranian city, Sirjan to Tehran. The cleric was protesting 
corrupt land appropriation in Sirjan, and complained the government was not 
doing enough to stop it. Jahnashahi was arrested after walking about 30 
kilometers near the city Abadeh.

Jahnashahi depicted above, along with an Islamic Hadith quote saying is it 
is the responsibility of clerics to defend the oppressed.
Several conservative Iranian and pro-Islamic Republic bloggers have declared 
their support for his protest, and have called on authorities to release 
him. Many other Islamic students and clerics have also demonstrated for his 
freedom. Many of these bloggers and students are members of the Association 
of Justice Seekers' Students, a conservative and Islamist group that has 
criticized the Iranian authorities for their lack of action against 
corruption.
Meanwhile, the news of the cleric's detention has scarcely been covered by 
secular or reformist bloggers. It helps demonstrate how polarized the 
Iranian blogosphere is.
Blogger Mostazafin (means ‘oppressed' in Persian), who has followed the news 
of Jahnashahi protest closely, has published [Fa] several photos of the 
cleric, and says that 18 university student magazines published a 
declaration to defend his revolutionary protest walk.
He quotes from the declaration:
“In Sirjan we witnessed how power circles and capitalists illegally took 
control of many properties that belong to the Iranian people… People who 
acted against Islamic Republic law and Islam.”
Mostazifin says of Jahnashahi's campaign:
“For two years he tried to attract the Iranian authorities’ attention to 
enormous financial corruption, but nobody paid any attention… What happened 
in Sirjan is just an example of what is going on across Iran.”
Markazinews writes that six security agents arrested Jahanshahi while he was 
in a mosque and forced him into a car. Reportedly, he was arrested because 
his actions are against the statute of clerics.
Markazinews has quoted from a statement of the Justice Seekers' Students, 
that recalls that the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the former Leader of Islamic 
Republic of Iran, said clerics should not forget the poor and barefooted 
people… The statement says they will not tolerate the authorities' 
shortcomings, and will strive to accomplish their revolutionary duties.
Bignaehstiz has published a badge to support the cleric that reads, “In the 
fight against the corrupt of Sirjan, we are with Jahanshahi.” The blogger 
adds that some students and clerics supported his action and walked with him 
part of the way to protest against corruption.
Kashmar criticized the Special Cleric Court that ordered the arrest and 
detention of Jahanshahi, and asks why they do not act against the corrupt 
clerics instead.
The Muslim Bloggers Association also published a badge that says corrupt 
clerics should be arrested instead of the protesting cleric from Sirjani.

http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/iranian+ny+visit+sparks+protests/841057?intcmp=rss_news_perspectives_iran_in_focus

Iranian NY visit sparks protests
Watch the report
Print this page
Last Modified: 24 Sep 2007
By: Jonathan Rugman
Protesters gather in New York as Iran's President Ahmadinejad arrives to 
address the UN general assembly.
"Go to hell!" screamed one New York tabloid as Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad arrived in New York for the UN general assembly.

Crowds of protesters gathered outside the city's prestigious Columbia 
university, where he's due to speak today, as he declared that Iran did not 
recognise Israel because it was based on occupation and racism.

Earlier the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said it would have been 
a travesty for him to visit the site of the 11 September attacks.

http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=110316

Protest in front of Iranian Embassy in Ankara
Monday, July 21, 2008
Protest in front of Iranian Embassy in Ankara
  A group left a black wreath in front of the Iranian Embassy in Ankara in 
protest to the arrest of the chairman of the Tehran Bus Workers Union, 
Mansour Osanloo, yesterday. United Transportation Workers Union Chairman 
Yunus Akıl said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 
International Labor Organization expressly allowed all people to form and 
join unions and added, �Iran is amongst the countries that deny rights.�

http://www.ncr-iran.org/content/view/5336/129/

Iranian opposition supporters protest in Paris

Monday, 30 June 2008
Source: Agence France-Presse
PARIS (AFP) More than 70,000 supporters of Iran's opposition protested near 
Paris on Saturday, urging the international community to remove bans on the 
country's armed opposition group, organisers said.
The protest came just days after Britain's decision to lift its ban on the 
People's Mojehedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI)[MEK], a move Iran denounced 
as a "disgrace".
Delegations of Iranian PMOI supporters from Germany, Australia, Belgium, 
Canada, the United States, Britain, Iraq and Jordan took part in the 
assembly in a hall in the Villepinte suburb of Paris, according to 
organisers.
"I call on the Council of Ministers of the European Union to erase the name 
of the PMOI [MEK] from the list of terrorist organisations," opposition 
leader Maryam Radjavi told supporters.
By labelling the group as terrorists, Western governments "have helped the 
world's most powerful supporter of terrorism," said Radjavi.
"Remove this chain with which you have bound the hands and feet of the 
resistance against the religious dictatorship" in Tehran, she said.
Formed in the 1960s in opposition to the rule of the US-backed shah of Iran, 
the PMOI [MEK] took part in the 1979 Islamic revolution but then took up 
arms against the Islamic republic.
Organisers on Saturday called the opposition assembly "particularly 
significant three days away from the French presidency of the EU" because 
"France plays a major role in the Iran crisis."
France takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on July 1.
The assembly supported the decision in London to remove the ban on PMOI.
British lawmakers approved the move following a court verdict last month 
ruling that the government had to remove the group from a terrorist 
blacklist.

http://www.worldpress.org/feed.cfm?http://www.nzherald.co.nz/index.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10505284&ref=rss

High-flying protest by N Korean defectors
8:15AM Monday April 21, 2008
A group of North Korean defectors sent helium balloons carrying some 60,000 
leaflets condemning North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to their homeland from a 
South Korean island. The leaflets also contained Bible verses as well as 
US$1 ($1.28) bills in an apparent attempt to lure North Koreans into picking 
them up.
"Our purpose is to urge North Koreans to bring down the dictatorship with 
their hands," said Park Sang Hak, the organiser of the campaign. Park said 
the propaganda could reach as far as the North's capital, Pyongyang.

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200804/200804280010.html

N.Korea Freedom Week Kicks Off in Washington
North Korea Freedom Week, sponsored by the North Korea Freedom Coalition, a 
coalition of American civic groups, kicked off in Washington on Saturday.
The group staged a demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy in 
Washington that day in protest against the repatriation of North Korean 
refugees caught in China. Until May 2, it will hold events such as and 
international day of prayer for North Korea (April 26), a Capitol Hill rally 
for North Korean human rights and to save the refugees (April 29), and a 
press conference on the repatriation of North Korean refugees (May 1).
"Crossing," a film on North Korean refugees that is expected to be released 
in South Korea in June, and "On the Border," a Chosun Ilbo documentary, will 
be screened for U.S. congressmen and their assistants on April 28 and 30.
NKFC chairwoman Suzanne Scholte, the leader of the Defense Forum group, said 
the NKFC has invited 21 North Korean refugees who have defected to various 
countries including South Korea, to hear their eyewitness testimonies about 
the miserable reality facing North Korean refugees in China. She also urged 
the Chinese government to change its “inhumane” policy of infringing North 
Korean refugees' rights with the approach of the Beijing Olympics.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_entertainment/301925.html

No riot

Lee Gil-jun holds a press conference at Shinwol Catholic Church on July 31 
before turning himself in to police. Lee was conscripted into the military 
in February as a member of the riot police force but went absent without 
leave after he was ordered to suppress demonstrations.
In a statement he made at the press conference, Lee said, “An arrest warrant 
was issued for me, but I will turn myself in to the police, because I think 
I did the honorable thing by choosing to disobey orders to suppress 
demonstrations. I will continue to raise awareness about the irrationality 
of the system for conscripting people into the riot police force while I am 
in jail and throughout my trial and while I am in jail.”
He has been demonstrating against conscription into the riot police force in 
front of the church for the past five days.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2008/05/03/2003410929

Protesters call for death of Parade and Assembly Law
TOOL OF THE STATE: The demonstrators were outside the High Court supporting 
Chung Hsiu-mei and Pan Hsin-jung who had been indicted for violating the law
By Loa Iok-Sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, May 03, 2008, Page 3
The Parade and Assembly Law (集會遊行法) limits freedom of expression for 
minority groups and should be abolished. That was the view of civic groups 
who were supporting two activists indicted for violating the law by 
demonstrating outside the Taiwan High Court yesterday.
“The Parade and Assembly Law was adopted after martial law was lifted as a 
tool for the government to limit freedom of expression,” Huang Chia-ping 
(黃佳平), a spokesman for the Alliance Against the Parade and Assembly Law, 
told representatives of several civic groups gathered outside the court 
building.

They were there supporting National Cheng-kung University Taiwanese 
literature professor Chung Hsiu-mei (鍾秀梅) and National Taiwan University 
student Pan Hsin-jung (潘欣榮). Chung and Pan were indicted for violation of 
the law because a demonstration they led in front of the Ministry of 
Education against the privatization of the education sector and increases in 
the cost of tuition two years ago exceeded the approved time.

The two were originally declared innocent by the Taipei District Court, but 
prosecutors chose to appeal. The Taiwan High Court upheld the innocent 
verdict yesterday.

“Minority non-governmental organizations are unable to get their voices 
heard through the mainstream media, taking our message to the street is an 
important way for us to get it across to the public,” Huang said.

While the police are supposed to remain neutral and simply maintain order 
during demonstrations, “they often serve as a tool for the state to repress 
minority groups,” Huang said.

Pan agreed.

“We wanted to speak out, but the state, through the Assembly and Parade Law, 
wants us to shut up,” Pan said after walking out of the court building a 
free man.

“There are many other laws that could regulate assemblies and parades,” said 
Tsai Chi-hsun (蔡季勳), secretary-general of the Taiwan Association for Human 
Rights, who also supports abolishing the Assembly and Parade Law. “The Road 
Traffic Management and Punishment Law [道路交通管理處罰條例] and the Social Order Law 
[社會秩序維護法] could be used — just to name just two.”

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080729-151322/Transport-strikes-protest-marches-outside-Metro

Transport strikes, protest marches outside Metro
By Inquirer Bureaus
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:54:00 07/29/2008
MANILA, Philippines—A Central Luzon-wide transport strike, effigy-burning 
and protest rallies in key urban centers outside Metro Manila erupted 
Monday, even before President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo could deliver her 
State of the Nation Address (SONA) in Congress.
Jeepney, bus and even tricycle drivers stopped plying their routes in 
Bulacan, Pampanga, Zambales, Nueva Ecija and Bataan to demand the scrapping 
of the value-added tax (VAT) on oil products and the Oil Deregulation Law, 
Rolando Catanghal, spokesperson of Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator sa 
Pilipinas (STOP), said.
In Pampanga, policemen dispersed a picket line of tricycle drivers in Guagua 
town and arrested STOP provincial leader Rolando Cruz at 7 a.m. Cruz was 
released less than an hour without charges, Catanghal said.
In Bataan, two transport leaders in Orani town, who were trying to convince 
fellow drivers to join the strike, were held by policemen, he said.
The strike, which began at 1 a.m., coincided with rallies and vigils 
launched by Kilusan para sa Pambansang Demokrasya, according to Aurora 
Broquil, KPD regional spokesperson.
In Angeles City, some 500 leaders and members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan 
(Bayan) in Central Luzon assembled for a poverty and hunger forum at the 
city library. In Tarlac City, some 200 students belonging to Liga ng mga 
Mag-aaral sa Tarlac gathered at 1 p.m. for a protest against Ms Arroyo’s 
SONA.
Both the police and the military in Central Luzon went on full alert for the 
SONA.
Protest amid rain
In Baguio City, about 200 activists and students staged a rally despite 
strong rains so they could remind the people that the President had 
purportedly failed to deliver on her promise to improve their lives.
The group, led by Tongtongan ti Umili, urged residents to avoid tuning in to 
Ms Arroyo’s televised SONA because the public not need hear her “lies.”
But Bayan Muna vice chair Manuel Loste said he would watch the SONA. “Her 
SONA is about the positive points [of her administration] but this is a 
complete contrast to the crisis we are all experiencing,” he said.
In Laguna, activists gathered in Calamba City for their own “State of the 
Youth” address.
Led by Anakbayan-Timog Katagalugan (Anakbayan-TK), they burned an effigy of 
Ms Arroyo, which depicted her as Pinocchio with Uncle Sam as puppet master. 
They carried large placards bearing the President’s face and the word 
 “OUST!”
“The grumbling stomachs of the 14.1 million hungry Filipinos and the abject 
poverty in the cities and countryside aptly depict the true state of the 
nation than Ms Arroyo’s SONA in the newly renovated and lavish Congress,” 
said PJ Santos, Anakbayan-TK secretary general.
Santos said his group had already gathered hundreds of signatures calling 
for the scrapping of the 12-percent VAT on oil and other commodities during 
an 18-day “cultural caravan.”
Snake effigy
In Quezon, nearly 100 people paraded a snake effigy in the main streets of 
Lucena City. According to Dennis Agudo, spokesperson of Anakbayan-Quezon, 
the snake symbolized the Arroyo administration’s “terror” campaign in the 
province due to stepped-up military operations against communist rebels.
Arman Abarillo, secretary general of the regional chapter of Bayan, said in 
a phone interview that the rally in Batangas City also featured an effigy of 
Ms Arroyo resembling a long-nosed Pinocchio.
Rallies were also held in Antipolo City, and Teresa and Cainta towns in 
Rizal, in Bacoor, Cavite, and in Pagsanjan and Sta. Cruz towns in Laguna.
In Albay, the protesters denounced the privatization of the power sector and 
massive land conversion.
Tessa Lopez, Bayan regional spokesperson, said her group opposed the 
takeover by National Power Corp. of the Albay Electric Cooperative and the 
proposed multimillion-peso Southern Luzon International Airport in Daraga 
town. The airport project, she said, would destroy 181 hectares of rice 
fields.
‘Fish strike’
At least 2,000 people joined the rallies in Sorsogon, Camarines Sur and 
Albay, Lopez said. She added that noise barrages were held in Catanduanes 
and Camarines Norte.
On Tuesday, some 10,000 drivers of jeepneys, buses, vans and tricycles will 
hold a two-day strike starting 1 a.m.
At least 5,000 people will also start a two-day “fish strike” in Masbate, 
Sorsogon, Albay and Catanduanes, according to Gerry Albert Corpuz, 
spokesperson of Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamalakaya ng Pilipinas 
(Pamalakaya).
Corpuz said fishing operations would be suspended while fluvial parades and 
other community-based protests will be held to show the fishing sector’s 
opposition to oil price increases.
In Iloilo City, around 2,000 farmers and slum dwellers led by Bayan marched 
to the provincial capitol, carrying placards and streamers describing their 
plight. They said the government had failed to address the needs of people 
left homeless by Typhoon “Frank.”
“We have been poor since we were born. But we haven’t been this poor like 
today,” said Estelita Ducio, a vendor from La Paz District. Ducio said the 
soaring prices of rice, fuel and basic commodities had made it harder for 
her family to eat three times a day.
In Capiz, Bayan led 1,000 people to a rally at the Roxas City grandstand. In 
Aklan, some 500 protesters led by Bayan and Kadamay marched from the ABL 
Sports Complex to the public plaza in the capital town of Kalibo.
Octopus effigy
In Negros Occidental, about 2,000 street marchers ended up at the public 
plaza in Bacolod City. The rally carried the theme “hunger, oppression, 
militarization, corruption must end, Gloria Arroyo must leave.”
The crowd shouted anti-Arroyo slogans and burned an octopus-like figure 
resembling Ms Arroyo wearing an Uncle Sam hat. The tentacles of the octopus 
represented her programs that were sucking the blood of the suffering 
people, Bayan-Negros chair Junhil Enriquez said.
In Cebu City, Bayan said about 300 people marched to the Malacañang sa 
Sugbo, while Sanlakas said 200 of its members held its own march at the 
presidential residence.
Bayan-Cebu chair Jaime Paglinawan said Ms Arroyo failed to fulfill her 
promise in the previous SONA of food on every table. More and more people 
have suffered from hunger because of the escalating prices of rice while the 
minimum wage of the workers remain low, he said.
‘Lumad’ appeal
Workers from Compostela Valley affiliated with the militant labor center 
Kilusang Mayo Uno staged a rally, while the peasant group Kilusang 
Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and the “lumad” Pasaka held their own protests at 
the Freedom and Rizal Park in Davao City.
A mock concert, dubbed “SONA 2008: Karnabal sa mga Bakak ni Gloria” 
(Carnival of Gloria’s Lies), was scheduled at 9 p.m.
Pasaka called for a stop of the militarization in lumad (indigenous people’s) 
areas and decried the continued destruction of ancestral lands.
Kerlan Fanagel, Pasaka secretary general, accused Ms Arroyo of “crushing out 
our national patrimony by openly selling our ancestral lands to foreign 
investors.” He said the government’s policy had favored large-scale mining, 
big plantations and the setting up of dams that displace “lumad” 
communities.
In General Santos City, about 500 people held a rally at the public market. 
Edward Flores, Bayan spokesperson for the South Cotabato-Sarangani-General 
Santos area, said a similar activity was held in Koronadal City in South 
Cotabato.
In Zamboanga City, members of the women’s group Gabriela complained of 
harassment when City Hall workers tried to disperse their rally at Western 
Mindanao University.
Small rallies were also reported in the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Butuan. 
Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon; Vincent Cabreza and Desiree Caluza, 
Inquirer Northern Luzon; Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Niña Catherine Calleja, 
Ephraim Aguilar and Publio Peyra III, Inquirer Southern Luzon; Nestor P. 
Burgos Jr., Carla P. Gomez and Jhunnex Napallacan, Inquirer Visayas; 
Germelina Lacorte, Aquiles Z. Zonio, Julie S. Alipala and Franklin Caliguid, 
Inquirer Mindanao

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080729-151416/Youth-groups-press-on-with-peoples-SONA-protest

Youth groups press on with ‘people’s SONA’ protest
By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:04:00 07/29/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Youth activists continued their “people's State of 
the Nation Address (SONA)” protest on Tuesday, heading to urban poor 
communities and “educating” the people about President Gloria 
Macapagal-Arroyo's allegedly erring policies.
Hundreds of students led by the League of Filipino Students (LFS) converged 
at the Welcome Rotonda at the border of Quezon City and Manila before 
heading to the Trabajo Market and Bustillos Street in España.
The groups conducted short programs there before heading to the Don Chino 
Roces (former Mendiola) Bridge in Manila to continue their protest.
The youth groups said they felt “insulted” by Arroyo's claim that she “cares 
for hardworking students soon to graduate and wanting to see hope of good 
job and a career prospect here at home.”
LFS chairman Vencer Crisostomo singled out Commission on Higher Education 
(CHEd) Memorandum 14 removing the ceiling on tuition fee increases for 
private schools and the 300 percent tuition increase at the University of 
the Philippines (UP) as proof that Arroyo's policies have “made education 
less accessible for Filipinos.”
Anakbayan national chairperson Ken Ramos also said Arroyo's speech was 
lacking “real and long lasting solutions” to the crises besetting the 
country.
“Arroyo's insistence on the Oil Deregulation Law and VAT [value added tax] 
as the necessary, although unpopular, means of helping out the poor 
manifests her scant knowledge of the people's needs,” he added.
The youth groups also criticized Arroyo's “distorted social services” 
including the discount on text messaging rates and call centers, among 
others.
Crisostomo said the government should expect more protest actions from the 
youth sector because “more students are realizing the necessity of changing 
the very system that has driven millions to hunger and changing it with 
something just.”

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/221794,thousands-protest-ahead-of-philippine-leaders-state-of-nation-speech.html

Thousands protest ahead of Philippine leader's state of nation speech
Posted : Mon, 28 Jul 2008 04:31:03 GMT
Author : DPA

Manila - Thousands of protestors took to the streets in the Philippines 
Monday ahead of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's annual speech to 
Congress. The protestors, undeterred by rain and tight security, marched 
near the Batasan Pambansa Complex in Quezon City in metropolitan Manila, 
where Arroyo was to deliver her state of the nation speech later in the day.
They carried placards that read, "Raise wages," "Oust Gloria" and "Gloria 
resign."
In front of the protestors, a float carried an effigy of Arroyo riding a 
plane while behind her, a ship was sinking with thousands of hands pleading 
for her help.
Thousands of police and soldiers were deployed in key areas around Manila to 
guard against any outbreak of violence or hostilities during the protests.
A portion of the main road leading to the Batasan Pambansa Complex was 
closed to traffic hours before Arroyo's speech.
Manila police chief Geary Barias said 3,000 policemen were deployed in and 
around the sprawling complex alone.
"I assure you that these policemen will exercise maximum tolerance," he 
said. "They have undergone a two-day seminar conducted by the Commission on 
Human Rights."
A survey conducted a week earlier showed that 40 per cent of Filipinos did 
not expect Arroyo to tell the truth about the true state of the nation in 
her annual address.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2008/07/29/news/anti.sona.protest.crowd.thins.down.html

Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Anti-Sona protest crowd thins down
By Carlo P. Mallo and Grace L. Plata

THE crowds who gathered under the heat of the sun to express anger against 
the Arroyo administration was relatively thinner, compared to the previous 
protest actions, which called for the resignation of the President.

Views against the Sona, however, were as fiery as before, with protesters 
coming from as far as Kidapawan and Cotabato joining the pool of speakers 
and protesters.

Arroyo Watch: Sun.Star blog on President Arroyo

Coming from all walks of life -- students, militants, labor groups, and 
party-list groups -- gathered Monday morning at the Freedom Park fronting 
the Ateneo de Davao University to express their sentiments against the 
eight-year rein of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, which was celebrated 
with her annual State of the Nation Address (Sona).

Most visible were the groups of Akbayan, Gabriela, Anak Pawis, League of 
Filipino Students, and Bayan.

The crowd though did not come up at par with the one gathered during the 
height of the ZTE national broadband deal scandal late last year.

The protesters were calling for the removal of the value added tax (VAT) on 
petroleum products amidst the rising costs of fuel, an across the board 
increase in wages, cheaper rice, and land for the farmers, among others.

There was also minimal police presence around Freedom Park as the area has 
been appointed as a free for all park wherein protest actions may be 
conducted without having the need to secure permits.

Despite the smaller crowd, the militants' Sona was attended by groups from 
as far as Kidapawan and Cotabato.

Suara Bangsamoro Chair Amirah Lidasan hit the Arroyo government for the 
"insincerity" of the recently-resumed peace talks, which once again ended in 
an impasse after two days.

"In a matter of days, impasse na naman. That only shows that Arroyo is only 
going for the 'pogi points' by resuming the talks," Lidasan said.

She added that they hope the impasse would not mean another all-out 
offensive in the process.

Farmers allied with the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) and lumads 
under Pasaka, on the other hand, read out an open letter to the President 
blaming her for their continued landlessness and lack of food on the table.

"This regime did nothing to alleviate poverty wrought by centuries of 
landlessness. Band-aid solutions and dole outs did nothing to realize your 
promises of prosperity. You lifted not a finger to change our pitiable 
situation under a fake and deceitful Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program 
(Carp). Instead, you have allowed the small percentage of rich and landed 
families, with whom you belong, the monopoly of vast tracks of lands," they 
said.

Youth groups also expressed their anger and disappointment with the 
President who they said has prioritized warfare over education.

"Since her first Sona, she has promised to make education a priority but 
until present, this has not been realized. Ginuna pa niya ang pakigyera 
kaysa sa paghatag ug budget para sa edukasyon. Maski ang gobyerno niangkon 
nga daghan na ang wala naka-eskewla sa pagkakarun," Anakbayan Spokesperson 
Karlos Manlupig said.

Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap spokesperson Franchie Buhayan also deplored 
Arroyo's capitalization of the people's miserable condition for her 
grandstanding of her newly created national social welfare program.

Buhayan added: "The people have not been pleased by Gloria Arroyo's program 
for the poor. They have in fact lost their patience and trust in Gloria 
Arroyo's government and they are now ready to express their discontent in 
any ways their voices would be heard."

The groups in general branded President Arroyo as a "liar," saying she has 
not made good on any of the promises made during her past addresses.

Meanwhile, City Councilor Peter T. Laviña called the Sona as redundant and 
therefore useless.

"Short on good things to say on her Sona today, Arroyo would highlight the 
event instead by what she would be wearing for the joint opening of 
Congress," Laviña said.

He also bashed the huge sum spent just to beautify the Batasang Pambansa 
where the President delivered her 8th Sona.

"Amidst the many crises facing the country, a number of which were caused by 
erroneous policies of this administration, the House is spending a huge sum 
for a facelift," Laviña said.

Starting with over P9 million for renovating the damage by a bomb blast last 
year, the House, under the new leadership of Speaker Prospero Nograles, 
would be spending P200 million for the makeover. This, Laviña believes, is 
aimed to polish the House image after the Jose de Venecia era.

"Unfortunately for the House, in spite of this cosmetic make up and more 
projects to cost a total of P1 billion, its image would not change a bit. To 
me, it remains to be the house of wasteful trapos (traditional politicians) 
and abode of lackeys of the Palace," the councilor said.

"I believe profligate is just about the right word to describe spending P1 
billion for a makeover when hunger stares a third of our people in their 
faces," he added.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storyPage.aspx?storyId=126199

Bacolod activists set to greet Arroyo SONA with protests
By YASMIN PASCUAL-DORMIDO
ABS-CBN Bacolod
Activists in Bacolod City are set to launch protest actions to coincide with 
President Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address or SONA on Monday.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) - Negros said President Arroyo has given 
Filipinos many reasons to go to the streets and protest on the day of her 
SONA.
Felipe Gelle, BAYAN Negros secretary general, said the economy is fast 
deteriorating and the president has given the people no other course but to 
air their grievances through mass demonstrations.
Gelle stressed, "the economic policies of the Arroyo Administration are 
slowly killing Filipinos with the high prices of rice and other basic 
commodities. The weekly oil price hikes further aggravates the impact of the 
food crisis on the poor".
Gelle added that it would be foolish for Mrs. Arroyo to brag about her 
so-called economic growth and development gains because these are 
meaningless to millions of poor Filipinos.
On July 28th, BAYAN is set burn an effigy of Mrs. Arroyo, as soon as she 
begins her SONA at the House of Representatives in Quezon City.
The effigy is an octopus with tentacles representing the Expanded Value 
Added Tax or EVAT, oil price hikes, power and water rate increases and other 
taxes that eat up the earnings of the ordinary Filipino.
Allied organizations of BAYAN will participate in the SONA protests.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/metro/view/20080729-151331/Vendors-enjoy-brisk-business-from-hungry-protesters

Vendors enjoy brisk business from hungry protesters
By Marlon Ramos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 06:47:00 07/29/2008
MANILA, Philippines—While protesters took to the streets, Lita Mercurio was 
busy attending to her customers at the makeshift carinderia (food stall) 
that she and her husband put up on the sidewalk on Commonwealth Avenue in 
Quezon City.
“The occasion offers us an opportunity to earn in these difficult times,” 
the 51-year-old mother told the Philippine Daily Inquirer as she handed over 
a bottle of soda to a young woman.
Like any other protest rallies, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s State of 
the Nation Address (SONA) gave Mercurio and other vendors an opportunity to 
sell their wares and earn extra income.
For almost six hours, the 500-meter stretch of Commonwealth Avenue was 
virtually turned into a marketplace for a number of hawkers selling food 
items, clothes and other personal stuff.
Fish-ball carts and barbecue stalls selling pork barbecue, grilled innards 
and dried squid sprouted on the highway.
Mercurio, who runs a variety store in front of a school in Barangay Holy 
Spirit, said she got up as early as 2 a.m. to buy meat and other supplies 
from a nearby public market.
As of 1 p.m., Mercurio said she had already recovered the P2,500 that she 
had spent for the goods she bought.
She said she expected to earn as much as P6,000 before the protesters leave 
the area.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080823-156441/A-new-kind-of-protest-painting-dancing-singing

A new kind of protest: painting, dancing, singing
By Kristine L. Alave
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 19:11:00 08/23/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Who would have thought that a mass protest action 
against the Arroyo administration could be much fun? Around 3,000 to 5,000 
students from Catholic and public schools joined veterans of street protests 
to express their opposition to a government they believe doesn’t value the 
truth and which they have accused of covering up a wide array wrongdoing.
But instead of the usual fiery speeches and chanting of sloganss, the Truth 
Festival on the Roxas Boulevard on Friday night featured art works, dancing, 
and pop songs. The students came with their friends and classmates and 
stayed up all night.
For most of the young participants, the atmosphere was more of a block party 
that stretched from the afternoon to the early hours of Saturday than a mass 
protest against the Arroyo government.
At the beginning of the program, some fine arts students painted colorful 
murals on stage and on the street.
The students, some coming from nearby provinces, were entertained by dance 
numbers from pep squads of Adamson University and De La Salle University.
The University of the Philippines’ Kontra Gapi provided music, along with 
singers Grace Nono and Bayang Barrios.
A group of students from Concordia College in Manila said it was their first 
time to join a rally. Femielin Habal, a fourth-year nursing student, said 
the rally was different from the chaotic and violent street protests usually 
seen on television.
“This is better, more light-hearted. Now we know that a rally can also be 
peaceful,” she said, adding that the violent demonstrations on television 
had scared them away.
If all demonstrations against the government were like this, Habal said she 
would have participated in them.
Although they have never joined rallies before, Habal and her friends said 
they were displeased by how the government was running the country.
Her classmates, Rusell Dizon and Bobbie Lauzon, said they witnessed 
first-hand the government’s ineptitude at the hospitals where they were 
undergoing their internships.
“At the V.Luna, there is no medication for tuberculosis patients. They are 
supposed to get it every day for six months, but they don’t. How can they 
get better?” Lauzon said.
“Where do our taxes go?” Dizon chimed in.
In another part of the crowd, a group of teenaged boys clad in their best 
black and punk outfits, said they were encouraged to attend the festival 
because they heard that the well-known punk band The Wuds was supposed to 
play there.
It was almost 11 p.m. and the band had yet to appear on stage but the boys 
said they would not leave yet.
John Ross Rowalle, a high school junior at a public school in Pasay City 
with kohl-lined eyes and pants where he painted the words “their guns will 
never silence us,” said they agreed with the speakers that the government 
has taken things too far.
“I am concerned about the human rights. The government wants to demolish our 
homes. In our community, when somebody has done wrong, he is just gunned 
down,” he said.
The Truth Festival, which was organized by artists’ groups, progressive 
organizations, and the religious community, was aimed at revealing the 
truths on issues that the Arroyo government has tried to hide or obfuscate.
Organizers of the event said adding cultural presentations and entertainment 
to a gathering that focuses on dour issues was a way of getting the people’s 
attention to the wrongdoings of the Arroyo government.
“In the search for truth, we thought it may be good to come up with a more 
innovative and creative way of telling the people about it. That’s why we 
came up with this idea,” said Sr. Mary John Mananzan, national 
co-chairperson of the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the 
Philippines (AMRSP).
“We will band together to honor truth and to make the Philippines the most 
truthful place on earth through the arts, one street at a time,” said 
Mananzan.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo, in an interview, said it was the 
intention of the organizers to make the mass protest less confrontational to 
attract a wide range of sectors, particularly the youth.
“The point was to reveal what the people really feel. This is a joyful 
gathering. There is no confrontation,” he said.
“The turnout was better than we expected. The people are still interested in 
the truth. We have here sectors from schools, the Church, the urban poor,” 
Pabillo added.

Speakers at the night rally included former Vice-President Teofisto 
Guingona, Edita Burgos, mother of missing activist Jonas Burgos, and Rodolfo 
“Jun” Lozada, the Senate witness in the $329-million national broadband 
network corruption scandal that implicated the President’s husband and 
allies.
Guingona discussed the iniquity of the 12-percent value-added tax, which he 
said the poor could ill-afford. He urged the Arroyo administration to scrap 
the VAT, particularly on gas and power, saying the current tax system 
favored only the rich.
Burgos, for her part, said the Arroyo government was abducting innocent 
civilians to silence them from speaking out. “That is another truth: 
cover-up. They abduct our loved ones when they speak the truth and my son 
was speaking for farmers,” she said.
Lozada, who was introduced to loud cheering, encouraged the youths to speak 
and value the truth, despite what has happened to him.
In return for divulging the anomalies in the NBN deal, the government filed 
several criminal cases against him, he said.
“Of all the lies that are told to us, are there still those who question it, 
who fight it? We should not let it happen,” he said.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2008/08/15/news/balas.boys.supporters.vow.to.mount.protest.html

Friday, August 15, 2008
Balas Boys, supporters vow to mount protest
By Ian Ocampo Flora

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Former supporters and the recently dismissed members 
of the Biyaya A Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) are now amassing local 
support -- not for another election campaign but for the resignation of 
Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu.

Disenchanted former supporters led by businessman Rene Romero, furniture 
magnate Myrna Bituin, former chief-of-staff Archie Reyes and the former 
members of the Balas said they will "snowball" their call for Dabu's 
resignation.

Visit the Beijing Olympics 2008 blog

Some even said "sectors" have pledged support and are ready to rally "warm 
bodies" for the protesters.

The Balas picket, now on its fourth day, came after Panlilio allegedly 
failed to abide by the agreed "unconditional reinstatement" of the quarry 
task force members, whose services were earlier terminated by Dabu for 
staging a rally in front of the Capitol two months ago.

Prior to their rally, they were protesting their demotion, which was made 
after alleged anomalies and complaints in quarry monitoring surfaced.

The disgruntled Balas members called for the resignation of Dabu.

But civil society groups were able to persuade the Balas employees to meet 
with Panlilio.

The meeting was attended by civil society groups Kasaup and Kapampangan 
Marangal, Incorporated at the Social Action Center of Pampanga (Sacop) and 
moderated by Fr. Deo Galang.

The Balas boys said the governor failed to abide by what had been agreed 
upon in the nine-hour dialogue.

Last Wednesday, around 50 individuals from a "civil society" group trooped 
to the Balas rally post near the perimeter of the Arnedo Park to sympathize 
with the protesters.

The alleged group refused to reveal which group they belong to.

Eduard de Leon said programs were scheduled in the early morning and late
afternoon so as not to disturb regular Capitol working hours.

"We will intensify our call. We expect people and supporters to amass day 
after day, this is to show Governor Panlilio that we are very committed to 
see the resignation of Atty. Dabu," de Leon said.

Supporters of the group managed to set up recorded speeches and put up 
streamers using the colors of the Panlilio election campaign.

But this time the streamers turned against Panlilio's "stubborn" refusal to 
let the ax fall on the provincial administrator.

"Its like the election time when we supported Governor Panlilio. It's just 
too sad that it had to come to this. There have been so many who have fallen 
from the campaign but the governor wants to keep one administrator and let 
others go," Roperlee Suiquia told attendees in a night vigil program which 
lasted in the wee hours of the night.

Bituin said: "Dabu may be a good lawyer but being a provincial administrator 
needs people skills and gathers supporters for a worthy cause... She has 
become a very big liability to this government."

The protesters warned that Panlilio should start thinking of the fate of 
Dabu before more people amass in front of the Arnedo Park.

Panlilio, however, seems unmoved by the plans of the group. He said he will 
continue to offer the possibility of a dialogue.

"I still offer them the possibility of settling these issues through a 
formal and heart-to-heart dialogue," Panlilio added.

But some Balas members said they are not entirely convinced on holding 
another dialogue since the governor does not abide by what has been 
discussed.

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/pam/2008/08/21/news/balas.boys.immortalize.protest.with.tattoos.html

August 21, 2008
Balas boys immortalize protest with tattoos
By Ian Ocampo Flora

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- Despite the pain and virtually being "marked for 
life," the former members of the Biyaya A Luluguran at Sisikapan (Balas) had 
themselves tattooed on Wednesday to keep themselves reminded of their 
campaign and "sad fate."

According to Eduard de Leon, former Balas supervisor, all 40 dismissed 
members of Balas have undergone the tattooing process to express their 
"unity and brotherhood" in their campaign to call for the resignation of 
Provincial Administrator Vivian Dabu.

Visit the Beijing Olympics 2008 blog

The tattoo marks were placed on their left arms and bears the inscription 
"Balas Boys 08-11-08." De Leon said the date pertains to their rally calling 
for the resignation of Dabu.

The protesting Balas Boys said they have been steadfast on their call for 
resignation of Dabu and for Governor Eddie Panlilio to abide by what was 
agreed during the dialogue at the Social Action Center of Pampanga (Sacop) 
recently.

Almost two weeks of protest has yielded nothing so far for the protestors.
Panlilio allegedly failed to abide by the Sacop's dialogue agreement for the 
"unconditional reinstatement" of the quarry task force members, whose 
services were earlier terminated by Dabu for staging a rally in front of the 
Capitol two months ago.

Prior to their rally, they were protesting their demotion, which was made 
after alleged anomalies and complaints in quarry monitoring surfaced. The 
disgruntled Balas members called for the resignation of Dabu. But civil 
society groups were able to persuade the Balas employees to meet with 
Panlilio at Sacop.

The meeting was attended by civil society groups Kasaup and Kapampangan 
Marangal, Inc. at Sacop and moderated by Rev. Fr. Deo Galang.

"We will see this through and we will not surrender in our campaign," de 
Leon said.

In an interview with Panlilio, the governor said the protesting Balas 
members will no longer be reinstated to their posts because they repeated 
their protest rally in front of the Capitol. He said there's no amicable 
settlement on the issue.

"It appears that there is a deadlock but certainly they (Balas protesters) 
will not be taken back," Panlilio said.

Despite this, the former Balas members have not ran out of creative ways of 
expressing their grievances including playing recorded monologues and 
jingles mimicking Panlilio's campaign materials and signature campaigns 
calling for Dabu's resignation.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20080820-155868/Journalists-take-break-to-protest-killings

Journalists take break to protest killings
By Nestor P. Burgos Jr., Julie Alipala
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 23:47:00 08/20/2008
MANILA, Philippines – Braving intermittent rains, journalists gathered on 
Wednesday at the shrine of Ilonggo patriot and journalist Graciano Lopez 
Jaena at the public plaza in Jaro District, Iloilo City to condemn the 
continued killings of media people in the country.
Led by the Iloilo chapter of the National Union of Journalists of the 
Philippines (NUJP), 30 journalists from various newspapers and TV and radio 
stations wore black shirts and displayed a streamer calling for a stop to 
the killings.
In Zamboanga City, at least 50 journalists from radio, TV and print took a 
break from their usual tasks and walked as one against the spate of media 
killings.
“We have to do something against the killings of journalists. Our fellow 
journalists died because they believed in something,” said Rey Bayoging, 
manager of Radio Mindanao Network [RMN] Zamboanga.
The NUJP in Zamboanga, in a statement, said “speaking, uncovering and 
writing about the truth in the face of power is also dangerous as we have 
countless reports of harassments, intimidation, persecution and threats.”
The protests were part of a nationwide “Day of Mourning and Protest” by 
media groups following the killing of two broadcasters recently.
Capiz broadcaster Martin Roxas, program director of dyVR and host of the 
station’s “Targetanay sa Udto” program, was gunned down by two motorcycle 
assassins on Aug. 7, minutes after he left the station.
Police have arrested and filed murder charges against Joenel Lastimoso, 27, 
and Christian Tan, 25, who were arrested at a police checkpoint in Ivisan 
town.
Another RMN broadcaster, Dennis Cuesta, was shot in General Santos City last 
Aug. 4 and died five days later.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view_article.php?article_id=135459

Iloilo media protest shoving of photojournalist
By David Israel Sinay
Visayas Bureau
First Posted 07:12pm (Mla time) 05/08/2008
ILOILO CITY, Philippines -- The Iloilo City Hall Press Corps (ICHPC) has 
demanded a public apology from City Legal Officer Edgardo Gil for allegedly 
shoving away a photojournalist during an interview.
The ICHPC, composed of reporters from various local newspapers, radio and 
television stations and correspondents of national dailies, passed a 
resolution demanding an apology from Gil for "conduct unbecoming of a public 
official."
The journalists said Gil pushed and berated photojournalist Arnold Almacen, 
who was trying to take his picture while reporters were interviewing him 
Tuesday.
Almacen, a member of the ICHPC representing the local daily Visayan Daily 
Headlines and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, was with other journalists 
waiting for Gil to come out of his office on Tuesday shortly before the 
incident happened.
Rhonson Hofileña of DyOK Aksyon Radyo-Iloilo and Roberto Ladera of DyRI 
RMN-Iloilo also said Gil told Almacen, "Gago ka karon a! Kon magkuha ka 
litrato lisensya ka anay [Idiot! Ask permission before you take my 
picture]," as he pushed the photographer’s camera.
The ICHPC noted that Gil, as a public official, must be "open to media 
scrutiny, more so that the incident happened within the confines of his 
office."
During Tuesday's incident, Gil tried to cover his face and waved his hands 
when some journalists tried to take his pictures.
The journalists were trying to get Gil's side about the discovery by the 
Panay Electric Company (Peco) of a tampered electric meter at his residence 
on Burgos St., La Paz district during an inspection on April 15.
"He should be thankful that we waited for him to get his side. But it seemed 
it was a mistake to interview [Gil]," ICHPC president and Radyo ng Bayan 
reporter Lucy Montealto said.
Gil refused to comment at first but later denied involvement in the 
tampering of the electric meter. He explained that the tampered meter was 
not his but his tenant’s.
Iloilo City Mayor Jerry Treñas said Gil should deal with the issue.
"He will have to face to that," Treñas said.
Treñas, who was furnished with the ICHPC resolution, said he would discuss 
it with Gil, who was on vacation in Boracay.

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080602-140341/Running-priest-sits-in-protest

Running priest sits in protest

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:46:00 06/02/2008
MANILA, Philippines -- Activist priest Fr. Robert Reyes on Monday held a 
silent protest in front of the Supreme Court building on Padre Faura in 
Manila to call for the speedy and just disposition of the “Abadilla 5” case.
“I have stood and sat for the last two hours in front of the Supreme Court. 
What are a few hours of inconvenience compared to the 12 years of detention 
and imprisonment of five men whose guilt is in serious doubt?” Reyes said in 
a statement he distributed to reporters.
Reyes said the sad plight of the Abadilla 5 and many others like them 
illustrated the effects of what the Asian Human Rights Commission of Hong 
Kong recently referred to as the “rotten Philippine justice system.”
The “Abadilla 5” are Quezon City tricycle driver Joel de Jesus, his 
neighbors Lenido Lumanog, Rameses de Jesus, Cesar Fortuna and Augusto 
Santos, who were convicted in 1999 of the ambush-slaying in 1996 of retired 
Colonel Rolando Abadilla, a former military intelligence officer during the 
Marcos dictatorship who was then vice governor of Ilocos Norte. Margaux C. 
Ortiz

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/world/asia/05hong.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin

Vigil for Tiananmen Dead Draws Fewer in Hong Kong

Adrian Bradshaw/European Pressphoto Agency
A somewhat smaller crowd than in prior years turned out in Hong Kong on 
Wednesday evening for the annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 
crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
By KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 5, 2008
HONG KONG — A somewhat smaller crowd than in previous years turned out here 
on Wednesday evening for the annual candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 
crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square, the participation 
depressed by a growing reluctance among many Hong Kong residents to confront 
Beijing officials on human rights issues.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Rings: The Starting Line: The Tiananmen Square Protests, 19 Years Later 
(June 4, 2008)
Enthusiasm for the Olympic Games in Beijing, sympathy for victims of the May 
12 earthquake in Sichuan Province and growing prosperity because of China’s 
economic boom have combined to weaken Hong Kong’s once-vigorous protest 
movement.
Even Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the highest official of the Roman Catholic 
Church in China and a vociferous critic of Beijing’s rights record, has 
moderated his tone in recent weeks.
Cardinal Zen, the bishop of Hong Kong, surprised many here on Monday when, 
in a special Mass for earthquake victims, he praised China for its openness 
in handling the rescue efforts.
He went further on Wednesday evening at a prayer meeting just before the 
candlelight vigil, although he gently mentioned a continued desire for China 
to apologize for the Tiananmen Square killings. “We will wholeheartedly 
support the leaders as they progress along the grand highway of respect for 
humanity,” he said.
The prayer meeting was held in a different part of the park from where the 
vigil was held, and the cardinal followed his usual practice of not 
attending the vigil itself.
Cardinal Zen’s remarks represented a shift in his stance compared with two 
years ago, when he observed the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings 
by delivering a vehement denunciation of the Chinese government’s human 
rights record.
The crowd at Wednesday’s vigil was smaller than last year’s, which had been 
estimated by organizers at 55,000 and by the police at 27,000. This year 
organizers put the crowd at 48,000, while the police said 15,700 attended.
The University of Hong Kong found a significant shift in its 16th annual 
survey of public attitudes in the weeks preceding the vigil.
The survey found that the majority of Hong Kong residents still believe that 
Chinese students were right to protest in 1989, that the government was 
wrong to kill an unknown number of protesters and imprison many more in the 
June 4 military crackdown, and that the government should reverse its 
official stand that the crackdown was a necessary measure to preserve social 
order.
But attitudes toward the government’s more recent human rights record have 
changed.
The proportion of respondents who believed that human rights in China had 
improved since 1989 rose to 85 percent, from 78 percent a year ago. The 
proportion who thought that they would improve further in the next three 
years climbed to 77 percent, from 67 percent a year ago.
The university’s researchers interviewed 2,030 residents in a telephone 
survey conducted from May 20 to June 2. The margin of sampling error was 
plus or minus three percentage points.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/01/2261750.htm

PNG groups protest corruption
By PNG correspondent Steve Marshall
Posted Sun Jun 1, 2008 8:13pm AEST
Papua New Guinea residents have taken to the streets of Port Moresby to 
support the fight against systemic corruption that continues to impact on 
the country's development.
Over the years, PNG has slipped down the global corruption rankings.
Today more than a thousand people from corporate, non-government and 
government organisations turned out for the annual walk against corruption.
The event was held to raise funds for the work carried out by Transparency 
International's PNG branch.
Even PNG's Governor-General Sir Paulias Matane was up early to help raise 
awareness.
Event organiser Peter Aitsi said the message was loud and clear.
"The people of Papua New Guinea are deadly set against corruption," he said.
"And the message shown by the people who turned out today was a clear 
indication."
The event raised more than $70,000.

http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/videos/2008/jun/jun11/video04.php

Civil Society members staging a sit-in programme protesting against the
government decision to provide Nagarjuna Palace to ex-king Gyanendra. They
also demanded a new government be formed and 26 CA members nominated as soon 
as possible.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0529/breaking69.htm

Thursday, May 29, 2008, 14:39
Police clash with protesters in Nepal
Hundreds of Nepali protesters demanding that dethroned King Gyanendra 
immediately leave his palace clashed with police today, injuring more than 
25 people only a day after the abolition of the monarchy.
Hundreds of stone-throwing demonstrators tried to storm the palace, 
prompting police to beat them back with bamboo sticks.
"Gyanendra, thief, leave the palace!" protesters shouted.
The clash came hours after the royal flag was lowered from Nepal's royal 
place as the Himalayan nation celebrated its first day as a republic 
following the abolition of its 239-year-old Hindu monarchy.
A special assembly elected in April voted to abolish the monarch and gave 
Gyanendra a fortnight to vacate the sprawling pink palace in Kathmandu. His 
palace will be turned into a museum.
That vote was a key condition of a 2006 peace deal with the Maoist former 
rebels who ended their decade-long civil war and joined mainstream politics.
"Vive la Republique," read a banner headline in the Kathmandu Post .
"A hope is born," said the Himalayan Times daily.
Authorities said the national flag will be raised in place of the royal 
standard. About 500 people shouting "This is the people's victory" marched 
in celebration of the new republic.
"I feel really honoured," said 27-year-old university student Dev Raj Bhatta 
standing in sweltering heat outside the palace gate earlier today. "The end 
of the monarchy has made me a proud Nepali citizen."
The US government, which still classifies the Maoists as a terrorist 
organisation, gave its support to the new republic.
"This is another exciting milestone in Nepal's democratic development," a US 
embassy statement said.

http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2008/jun/jun10/news04.php

Civil society protests govt decision to allow former royals to stay in 
palaces

Members of the civil society staging protest at Maitighar Mandala, 
Kathmandu, to protest...
Civil society activists have warned of protests if the government did not 
amend its decision to allow former king Gyanendra to reside in Nagarjuna 
Palace and other royal relatives Ratna and Sarala to stay at Mahindra Manjil 
and Tribhuvan Sadan respectively inside Narayanhiti palace.
Staging protests at Maitighar Mandala Monday evening, the activists called 
on the government to revoke the cabinet decision.
Shyam Shrestha said government ignored the direction given by the first 
sitting of the constituent assembly to vacate the Nayaranhiti Palace.
Folk singer Nanda Krishna Joshi demanded action against Gyanendra for his 
inhuman acts while in power. nepalnews.com ia June 10 08

http://story.torontotelegraph.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/373619/cs/1/

Nepal protesters demand compensation for slain ITC worker
Toronto Telegraph
Saturday 21st June, 2008
(IANS)
Agitated workers at Indian firm ITC's tobacco factory in Nepal, who went on 
strike from Thursday and blocked the highway to protest against the murder 
of a colleague by an armed group, are asking for Nepali Rupees 1 million as 
compensation from the government.

Lila Prasad Lamichhane, an employee at Surya Nepal, the tobacco giant's 
joint venture in Nepal, was abducted Wednesday from a village in Nepal's 
turbulent Terai area by an armed group of former Maoists, the Janatantrik 
Terai Mukti Morcha, who killed him the same day.

After the 35-year-old's body was found, agitated workers halted work at the 
tobacco factory in Simra village in Bara district on the India-Nepal border, 
demanding compensation for the slain worker's family as well as adequate 
security for the work force.

They also closed a section of the highway that connects south Nepal with 
India.

Surya Nepal officials said they were shocked by the murder of a 'member of 
the family' but were helpless over the demands since security was the 
business of the government.

On Saturday, however, the district security committee and workers reached an 
understanding.

As per the understanding, the committee will ask the government of Prime 
Minister Girija Prasad Koirala to declare Lamichhane a 'martyr' and pay NRS 
1 million to his next of kin.

It was not known immediately why Lamichhane, a junior staffer, was killed.

However, the security situation in the Terai has rapidly worsened after the 
April election with abductions, extortion and shootings on the rise.

Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat had promised worried industrialists in 
south Nepal that an industrial security force would be formed and deployed 
in the Terai. The promise is yet to be kept.

The Surya Nepal case also shows up the difficulties foreign investors have 
been facing in Nepal.

The blue-chip company lost millions as its factory remained closed due to a 
situation that was not of its making.

Other large Indian joint ventures like Nepal Lever and Dabur Nepal have had 
their factory gates padlocked or invaded by locals while United Telecom Ltd, 
in which VSNL, MTNL and Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd have 
stakes, had its office closed by the workers hired by a third-party 
contracting company demanding direct employment.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1413042.php/Indonesian_students_go_to_the_streets_over_protestors_death

Indonesian students go to the streets over protestor's death
Jun 24, 2008, 12:30 GMT
Jakarta - Angered by the death of a student protester after his arrest, 
hundreds of students demonstrated Tuesday outside the parliament building in 
Jakarta, burning tyres and pelting the police with rocks, witnesses and 
local media reports said.
In addition, around 1,000 protestors toppled the parliament building's 
fence, while an effort to set a police vehicle on fire was foiled by police 
officers.
Besides being angered over the death of their colleague, the demonstrators 
also demanded the government revoke a 30 per cent fuel price hikes imposed 
last month. Police used water cannon to disperse the demonstration, 
witnesses said.
A report by Elshinta private radio said at least five student protestors 
were detained for allegedly provoking the vandalism.
The protestors carried a mock of coffin and pictures of Maftuh Fauzi, a 
27-year-old student at the National University who had been among 100 fuel 
price protesters arrested May 24.
He died in hospital last Friday, but there were conflicting reports about 
the cause.
The Indonesian Doctors' Association was seeking clarification from Pertamina 
Hospital, which said Fauzi died of HIV/AIDS. Students say he was beaten by 
police and died of his injuries.

http://lists.topica.com/lists/indonesia-act@igc.topica.com/read/message.html?sort=t&mid=813090304

The Jakarta Post
Thursday, April 24, 2008

Protestors demand halt to ballot count N. Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

The North Sumatra KPUD was scene to a wave of protests
Wednesday, with demonstrators demanding it immediately halt
ballot counting a day prior to the planned announcement of
winners in the province's gubernatorial election.

The protesters also demanded the province's General Election
Commission (KPUD) immediately hold a repeat election, saying
many people had not been registered and failed to exercise their
voting rights.

A protest coordinator from the North Sumatra Election Awareness
Forum, Togar Hutabarat, said the KPUD should stop the vote count
due to indications of election fraud. His group had found
cheating to be widespread, especially on voting day, he added.

"We found people casting their votes three times during the
election on April 16. It was very easy to cheat because the ink
used to stain fingers after voting could be easily wiped off,"
said Togar at the KPUD in Medan.

He said such incidents had tarnished the North Sumatra
gubernatorial election. He urged the KPUD to stop the vote count
because the ballot papers did not accurately represent the
voting public.

Leader of the Islamic Youth Movement, Irfandi, who participated
in the rally, said the KPUD should hold a repeat election lest
the elected governor be deemed illegitimate.

Irfandi said the KPUD should be held responsible for not being
able to encourage people to vote. "The KPUD has failed to carry
out its duties. It should hold a repeat election so people who
failed to cast their votes on April 16 can have another chance
to do so," said Irfandi.

Another protester, Anggiat Hutagaol, said non-voters were found
virtually in every regency and city in the province, a majority
of whom were in West Pakpak (60 percent), followed by Medan city
(57 percent), Karo regency (50 percent), Pematang Siantar city
(44 percent) and Sibolga city (40 percent).

"The percentage of those who did not cast their votes is
significantly high. The KPUD cannot take it lightly because it
concerns people's legal rights," said Anggiat.

KPUD member Tonni Situmorang said the vote count for the regency
and city levels had been completed as of Wednesday, thus the
office could not meet protesters' demand to halt the count.

"The KPUD finished counting votes for all regencies and cities
today. As many as 22 of them have sent in their official
reports, while the remaining reports from four regions -- North
Tapanuli, Sibolga, Nias and South Nias -- are on their way
here," Situmorang told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Situmorang said his office would tally the results to determine
the governor-elect.

"The KPUD will tally the votes and ascertain the winners on
Thursday. No one can prevent us from performing our duties
tomorrow," said Situmorang, adding that there was no legal basis
for the KPUD to hold a repeat election.

Police reported they would deploy at least 300 personnel and two
armored vehicles at the KPUD office in anticipation of possible
incidents during the announcement of the elected gubernatorial
pair.

http://www.nowpublic.com/world/protesters-destroy-car-sudirman-street-0

Protesters destroy car on Sudirman Street
by renovatio | June 24, 2008 at 09:20 pm | 16 views | add comment

Protesters on Tuesday destroyed a government car passing through the 
Sudirman Street in front of the Atmajaya University.
Elshinta radio reported that the protesters stopped the car, forced the 
driver to leave the car and set it on fire, causing panic among people 
watching the protest.
A spokeswoman from the university told Elshinta radio that the
protesters were not Atmajaya students.

She added her students were still taking the university final exams when the 
incident occurred.

She claimed the protesters called for an investigation into the death of 
Maftuh Fauzi, a student from the National University who died last Friday 
after he was released from police jail and
received treatment from hospitals.

The demonstrators also reportedly rejected the fuel price hikes.