[Onthebarricades] More repression news, Dec/Jan 07-08

[Andy]

*  AUSTRALIA:  Nine charged in Wadeye unrest
*  BAHRAIN:  Conformists protest against Shiite unrest
*  PAKISTAN:  Police fail to provide sufficient evidence against Bhutto 
unrest accused
*  PAKISTAN:  Charges against three in Bhutto unrest
*  UK:  Riot police self-acquittal challenged after attacks on school 
students - "not blameless" says head
*  MEXICO:  State fingered over Acteal massacre, ongoing terror

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/31/2129141.htm?section=australia

Nine to face court over Wadeye Xmas riot

Posted Mon Dec 31, 2007 7:23am AEDT
Map: Wadeye 0822

Nine people are expected to appear in the Darwin Magistrates Court today, 
charged over Christmas Day riots at a remote Indigenous community.

The community of Wadeye south-west of Darwin, was taken over by gang 
violence for four days over the Christmas period.

The violence escalated on Christmas Day as hundreds of men took to the 
streets armed with knives, machetes and spears when a family dispute boiled 
over.

Police officers were flown in from Darwin and a nearby community to find 
those responsible.

A resident of Wadeye captured the street battle on video and police have 
been using it to identify the main offenders.

So far 39 men have been arrested with nine of them flown to Darwin where 
they are due to appear in court this morning.

Police say more arrests are likely.

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=204098&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=30284

Hundreds protest against rioters

   MANAMA

MANAMA: More than 1,500 people demonstrated yesterday in Isa Town to condemn 
the riots and acts of sabotage during the National Day and Eid Al Adha 
holidays. Protesters, led by Terrorism Victims Committee president MP Shaikh 
Jassim Al Saeedi, marched after Friday prayers from the Sabeeka Al Nasif 
Mosque at the Isa Traditional Market, calling for harsh punishments to be 
meted out to those involved.

Taking part in the march were MPs Shaikh Mohammed Khalid Mohammed and Samy 
Al Buhairy, municipal councillors and political and social societies' 
representatives.

Shaikh Jassim said that the demonstration had one goal and that is to show 
that Bahrainis don't agree with what's going on. "These terrorist acts have 
affected locals and expatriates and damaged public and private property and 
instead of giving them amnesty as always, we want them to be punished," he 
said.

"Today's demonstration is peaceful and responsible, unlike the barbaric, 
uncivilised and hate-filled attacks by those who went on a rampage last 
week.

"We are here to express our love and loyalty to the leadership and country, 
and our stand against anything that would threaten our unity, or harm anyone 
in the community."

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=89999

43 riot suspects released on bail

By By Jamal Khurshid
1/8/2008
Karachi

Police failed to find sufficient evidence against as many as 43 suspects 
facing charges of arson, looting and rioting in Karachi in the aftermath of 
PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto's assassination on December 27 last year.

The suspects, who were in police custody since January 1, have been released 
on bail by the Administrative Judge (AJ) of the anti-terrorism courts in 
Karachi as police investigation officers submitted that no sufficient 
evidence was found against them.

The suspects informed the AJ that they were innocent and that the police 
falsely implicated them in the cases. On the AJ's query, it was revealed 
that the suspects were either daily-wage labourers, employees in small shops 
or visitors to Abdullah Shah Ghazi's shrine.

Four suspects, Sultan, Ghulam Ahmed, Hazrat Wali and Mubeen Abro, were 
earlier released on bail as they were juveniles.The police earlier alleged 
that the suspects were involved in ransacking public and private properties 
in the limits of Boat Basin, Clifton and Gizri police stations following the 
assassination of Benazir.

Police investigation officers submitted that the suspects had ransacked 
banks, petrol pumps, wine shops, showrooms and set on fire several vehicles. 
The remand of suspects was obtained by police to recover the looted money 
and valuables.

The suspects were booked under Sections 147,148,149,435,427, 380 of the PPC 
and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.As the matter was taken to the AJ, 
the Boat Basin police produced 18 suspects, Gizri police 22, while the 
Clifton police produced 12 suspects. The Investigation Officers (IOs) said 
that the police had evidence against eight suspects who were arrested 
red-handed while no evidence was found against the others. They sought 
judicial custody of eight suspects as they could submit a charge-sheet 
against them.

The AJ, remanding eight suspects, Yousuf, Asghar Ali, Kamran, Mohammad Riaz, 
Imranuddin, Zubair, Ajmal, and Mahiwal, to judicial custody, directed the 
IOs to submit the charge-sheets against them on the next date of hearing 
while the remaining suspects were released on personal surety of Rs50,000.

Meanwhile, the AJ extended the police remand of two suspects facing arson 
and looting charges till January 15 directing the Judicial Magistrate to 
conduct an identification parade of the suspects.Abdul Waqar and Mohammad 
Naeem were arrested by the Quaidabad police. They are charged with 
ransacking the BASF factory and looting valuables from the premises.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=90468

Charge-sheet submitted against three riot suspects

By By our correspondent
1/11/2008
Karachi

The police submitted a charge-sheet against three suspects facing riot and 
arson charges following the assassination of the Pakistan People's Party 
(PPP) Chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, on December 27.

Mohammad Omer, Khalid, and Mohammad Athar, are charged with ransacking 
public and private properties within the limits of the Malir city police 
station and for setting on fire several vehicles.

The Investigation Officer for the case submitted the charge-sheet against 
the suspects for trial. The Administrative Judge (AJ) of the anti-terrorism 
courts in Karachi, accepting the charge-sheet, sent the case to ATC-III for 
trial.

Meanwhile, the AJ extended the police remand of two suspects Mohammad Waqar 
and Mohammad Zaheer till January 17. They were arrested by the Saddar police 
under the anti-terrorism laws.

The AJ also directed police to submit a charge-sheet against six suspects 
facing kidnapping-for-ransom charges till January 14.

Nadeemul Haq, 48, Attaullah Shah, 24, Amir Hussain, 37, Mohammad Bilal, 33, 
Rashid Ahmed, 24, and Rafiq, 20, are charged with kidnapping Basil Masih, 
Ali Ahmed and Ms Noreen Ali for ransom from the Safari Park area in Karachi 
on December 19 last year.

Police alleged that suspects kept the abducted hostages at a house in PECHS 
and received Rs50,000 for their release.

http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/content/camden/hamhigh/news/story.aspx?brand=NorthLondon24&category=Newshamhigh&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newshamhigh&itemid=WeED10%20Jan%202008%2017%3A49%3A31%3A757

Riot police were not blameless, claims head
editorial at hamhigh.co.uk
10 January 2008
A HEADTEACHER has lodged an appeal after police rejected complaints that 
riot cops had beaten up and racially abused pupils.

Officers more used to dealing with football hooligans were called to 
Hampstead school in Westbere Road on November 26, 2006 when trouble flared 
outside the gates.

Officers from the Territorial Support Group (TSG) were accused by pupils and 
staff of being heavy handed and racist.

But headteacher Jacques Szemalikowski has been told an internal police 
investigation has concluded there is no meat to any of the school's 
complaints.

He has now lodged an appeal with the Independent Police Complaints 
Commission (IPCC).

He said: "We want to pursue the complaint because we don't agree with the 
outcome of the investigation. I want them to go over all the evidence again 
and consider all of it even if it takes time. I am concerned about the 
heavy-handedness of the whole operation and how appropriately they dealt 
with the students. Nothing in their report changes our view on that."

In November last year Roy Martin and his son Sashon Martin-Edwards, 16, were 
arrested in the melee, and later launched a private prosecution against 
officers.

They are claiming they were the victims of racial discrimination, assault, 
false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

IPCC spokesman Richard Offer said: "When we get the papers from the Met 
police we will consider the appeal. We will examine all the evidence and 
then come to a decision as to whether the appeal should be upheld.

http://www.ww4report.com/node/4678

Mexican state "responsible" for Acteal massacre -and ongoing terror
Submitted by Bill Weinberg on Mon, 11/19/2007 - 06:50.
A statement by Las Abejas, the Fray Bartolomé de las Casas Human Rights 
Center and other civil organizations in conflicted Chiapas state finds that 
the Mexican national state "is responsible for the Acteal massacre" of Dec. 
22, 1997. The statement says the terror campaign in the highland 
municipality of Chenalhó really began Aug. 19, 1996, with the assassination 
of six youths who were part of the support base of the Zapatista National 
Liberation Army (EZLN). The statement says "the massacre was the product of 
a deliberate and directed State policy to exterminate the EZLN, its support 
base and any organization of civil society whose demands were uncomfortable 
for the government." (La Jornada, Nov. 4)
Las Abejas, the group targeted in the massacre, is a Toztzil Maya indigenous 
organization of Catholic pacifist principles, which is sympathetic to the 
EZLN but not a part of its support base. The president of Las Abejas' 
steering committee, Diego Pérez Jiménez, charged that the guilty party "is 
the Mexican state, because it did not intervene to stop the paramilitaries." 
Speaking at a Día de Todos Santos commemoration of the victims, he added: 
"We will not rest until we get justice, and all of the material and 
intellectual authors are detained." Up to 100 local Tzotzils were at the 
ceremony in the mountain hamlet of Acteal, despite cold, wet weather. (La 
Jornada, Nov. 1)
Also attending was Miguel Chanteau, who was parish priest of Chenalhó at the 
time of the massacre, and was expelled to his native France two months 
later. In a new interview in the central Chiapas Highlands town of San 
Cristóbal de las Casas, he too charged: "The Acteal massacre was planned by 
the government to wipe out the Zapatista support bases... As we approach ten 
years since the events, I don't see much possibility for a solution on the 
part of the government. It seems their strategy is to let time pass, and it 
will be forgotten. But it will not be forgotten."
Chanteau said that among the 87 Tzotzils detained by Mexican federal 
authorities after the massacre, and now still held at El Amate prison, 
"there are some guilty and some innocent, because it was a round-up." (La 
Jornada, Nov. 7)
Low-level terror continues in Chiapas, as the state is once again 
militarized in response to a supposed guerilla threat. Mexican and 
international activists have established a civil observation camp at El 
Relleno, Venustiano Carranza municipality, where the inhabitants have been 
repeatedly harassed by army and police forces ostensibly hunting down the 
Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR). (Mirada Sur, Chiapas, Oct. 29, via IMC 
Chiapas)
Activists protested that the state's ruling Democratic Revolution Party 
(PRD) has named Rafael Cevallos Cancino coordinator of its bloc in the state 
legislature. State PRD director Carlos Esquinca hailed him as "a man with 
broad experience." Onésimo Hidalgo, director of the Chiapas Investigative 
Center for Communitarian Action (CIEPAC), charged that investigations by the 
federal Prosecutor General had named Cevallos as a funder of Los 
Chinchulines, a notorious paramilitary group in the north of the state. 
Hidalgo also warned that in the Oct. 7 elections, persons linked to the 
paramilitaries had won the municipal presidencies of San Cristóbal de las 
Casas, Sabanilla, Zinacantán, San Andrés Larráinzar and Chilón. (La Jornada, 
Oct. 25, via Chiapas IMC)
Hidalgo accused the new municipal president (mayor) of San Cristóbal of an 
overt threat. President Mariano Díaz-who occupied the same office in the 
'90s, when he represented the "auténticos coletos," a conservative body of 
the traditional town elite-said he would "impose order" in Cerro Huitepec, a 
hill outside town where the EZLN have declared a rebel ecological reserve, 
and the barrios of 5 de Marzo and Molino de los Arcos, said to be zones of 
Zapatista sympathy. (Meridiano90, Oct. 25)