[Onthebarricades] Various global uprisings, Dec-Jan 07/08

[Andy]

*  BAHAMAS:  Popular uprising in Bimini sparked by police shooting
*  EGYPT:  Bedouin teenager wounded during protests against police
*  SOUTH AFRICA:  Bophimira residents build burning barricades in protest 
over services
*  GUINEA:  Presidential "coup" sparks youth unrest
*  ARGENTINA:  Unrest by passengers over delays; airport ransacked
*  ITALY:  Protest over rubbish dump, health hazard leads to insurrection in 
Naples
                  After protests, residents expelled police from the area 
and burnt rubbish piles
                  Protests later spread to Sardinia
*  CANADA:  Protesters against university development occupy site, trash 
buildings
*  BURMA:  Arrest of rapper sparks crowd uprising
*  AUSTRALIA:  Partygoers resist police attack on forbidden rave
*  INDIA:  Clashes during march by adivasis
*  ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIA:  Unrest in Aurukun, Wadeye; media depicts as 
fighting between groups
                        "Reform maybe, but basics first" (commentary)
*  PAPUA NEW GUINEA:  Killing of councillor sparks unrest
*  BAHRAIN:  Oppressed Shiites burn tyres, police cars, and fight police in 
five days of unrest
*  SOMALIA:  Protester killed during clashes as leader visits disputed 
region

http://freeport.nassauguardian.net/national_local/290598093023282.php

Monday, December 24, 2007
Local/National News
Riot In Bimini; 'Uprising' triggered by death of resident shot by the police
By ANGELO ARMBRISTER
Freeport News Reporter
What is being described as as an all-out riot erupted in Bimini on Saturday 
following what residents of that island are calling an unnecessary police 
shooting that claimed the life of one of their own.
Initial reports issued by police on Saturday, Dec-ember 22, 2007, indicated 
that at about 12:15 that morning the victim, later identified as 43-year-old 
Aschal Dion Rolle of South Bimini was shot by the Police and succumbed to 
his injuries at about 3:15 a.m.
Superintendent of Police Emrick Seymour, who led a team of officers out of 
Grand Bahama into Bimini, said that he would not call the situation a riot 
but rather an "uprising."
However, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham responded to the turn of events 
describing them as deeply troubling and unacceptable.
When contacted, Seymour explained that a large contingent of officers went 
into Bimini from both Grand Bahama and New Providence to restore order on 
the little island.
"I don't know if you would call it a riot," Seymour explained. "I know there 
was maybe an uprising, an unrest. I will use the term an unrest, which was 
the result of a police related shooting which occurred the night before 
where the police was in-volved in an altercation with the suspect and he was 
ultimately shot. I guess their thing was that what the police did was 
unjustfied, so I guess they took to the streets, came by the police station 
in an effort to take the law into their own hands."
Seymour explained that the residents chose to relay their message through 
some acts of violence, including setting fire to a number of government 
properties.
"They did in fact set fire to the police dormitories. They set fire to the 
old administrators building. They set fire to the police boats and fire was 
set to one of the police jeeps," he said, adding that a police officer's car 
was also overturned by the agitated residents.
It was reported that the residents did attempt to set fire to the police 
station but were unsuccessful. They did, however, cause some damage to the 
structure by breaking some of the glass.
"There was significant damage to the buildings that I mentioned," Seymour 
said. "The roof of the dormitory was completely burnt away and all the 
officers that were living there, their belongings were destroyed. There were 
eight officers living there. The old administrators' duplex was completely 
des-troyed.
All that, Seymour said, was done in an attempt to get at the officer 
involved in the shooting incident.
"That was their thing. But we came over and quelled the uprising," he said. 
"Of course, after meeting with all the leaders in the community, we were 
able to successfully quell the uprising and order was restored yesterday 
afternoon."
According to Seymour, the commotion began at around 8:30 that morning and 
subsided at about 5 p.m.
Rumours that U.S. Coast Guards were called in to assist in bringing order, 
Seymour said was just that - rumours.
"There is no truth to that rumour," Seymour insisted. "Bahamian police 
officers from Grand Bahama and New Providence were the only ones on the 
ground in Bimini, so I categorically deny that."
Noting that a small contingent of Defence Force officers travelled to 
Bimini, Seymour said that they came as a support group but were not needed 
during the time of the uprising.
Speaking with the Freeport News yesterday, the victim's cousin, Mariah 
Rolle, defended the actions of herself and other residents to rebel against 
the police on the island.
"Everybody in Bimini is related in some way - directly or indirectly- and 
the whole community was upset," Rolle said. "Bimini was upset and outraged 
yesterday... I witnessed the riot, but not the shooting. But we got a call 
and I saw when they were putting him in the car to take him to the clinic."
Claiming that police were not justified in their actions, Rolle defended the 
actions of the residents who lashed out at the officers in retaliation.
"We didn't take a life," she said. "Everything that we did could be 
replaced. I feel like we had to do something. Something had to be done 
because it's not just hapening in Bimini, it's happening all over The 
Bahamas. It needs to stop."
Asked whether anyone was arrested, Rolle responded, "it was a riot and if 
one person was arrested then the entrie island would have had to be 
arrested. The whole Bimini community was out there."
Rolle said that there is a great need for mature and experienced police 
officers in Bimini.
"Being on the island, the inspector is never here," she said. "All we have 
is these young constables running around. No one is over 30 and all of them 
have firearm and doesn't even know the law. I feel like Bimini is a small 
community and we need experienced police officers because with these people 
in Bimini you have to be the judge and the jury on the street. So I think 
they need more experienced police officers."
Rolle said the victim is survived by his parents, Estelle and James Rolle; 
two brothers and two sisters; one daughter and one grandaughter.
She said funeral arrangements have not yet been made, but it is most likely 
going to be held as soon as the police releases the body - 'more than likely 
on Saturday."
AFTERMATH - Pictured is the Old Administrators Building in Bimini, which was 
burnt to the ground on Saturday by outraged residents over a police related 
shooting that claimed the life of one of their own.(Nassau Guardian Photo by 
EDWARD RUSSELL III)

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL30126852.html

Friday, 30th November 2007 - 22:00CET
Egyptian Bedouin teen wounded in protest
A Bedouin teenager was shot and wounded during an anti-government protest 
near Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip today in disputed circumstances, 
security sources and Bedouin representatives said.
The protesters were angry over Egypt's slowness in releasing Bedouin 
arrested in security sweeps but never convicted of any crimes. They also 
want Egypt to review judgments made against Bedouin in absentia and 
complained about poor living conditions.
Members of the community said tensions were high because plainclothes 
security men had earlier scuffled with several Bedouin activists, prompting 
community leaders to postpone a planned peaceful march. But some members of 
the community decided to protest anyway.
The 15-year-old boy, Ibrahim al-Hathithi, was shot and wounded during the 
protest in the Egyptian border town of Rafah in the Sinai peninsula, a 
Bedouin activist said. Members of the Bedouin community said he was shot by 
police, but police denied firing on the protesters.
Relations between the police and the Bedouin have been strained since at 
least 2004, when the police detained thousands of local people for possible 
links to a group which bombed tourist resorts.
Thousands of Egyptian riot police clashed with Bedouin protesting against 
the government in July and witnesses said several civilians were shot and 
wounded and a teen-aged boy was killed.

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=nw20071206084546908C507055

Marchers arrested as protest turns violent

    December 06 2007 at 09:37AM

Twenty-eight people were arrested on Wednesday in the Dryharts area of Taung 
in the North West when a community protest march turned violent, police said 
on Thursday.

Police spokesperson Superintendent Louis Jacobs said the protesters were 
unhappy with a Bophirima councillor whom they said was not delivering on 
services.

"They barricaded roads with burning tyres and they burnt a police vehicle," 
Jacobs said.

Jacobs said the protesters - who were all in police custody - would appear 
in court on Friday and would be charged with public violence.

The SABC reported that residents' unhappiness stemmed from Bophirima 
municipality's nomination as the Best Performing District municipality at 
the national Vuna Awards.

Bophirima also won the award last year for good governance and outstanding 
performance.

Residents said that this, however, was not the case on the ground. - Sapa

http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-04-voa21.cfm

Youths in Guinea Riot After President Dismisses Minister
By Nico Colombant
Dakar
04 January 2008

Colombant report - Download MP3 (727k)
Listen to Colombant report

Angry youth in Guinea have taken to the streets in the capital Conakry, 
burning tires and building barricades, after the president fired the 
communications minister. VOA's Nico Colombant reports from our West Africa 
bureau in Dakar.

Black smoke rose over Conakry, while shops in the main Madina market closed 
down. Angry young men ran through the streets carrying stones and 
brandishing pieces of wood. They said they would not accept the president's 
decision to dismiss a minister without consulting the prime minister.

The dismissal and protests follow a controversial new year's message signed 
by long-standing President Lansana Conte and posted on the website of 
Guinea's state news agency.

It said the government of Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate has been a 
disappointment in many areas, and that Guinea needs to shape up in its 50th 
year after independence.

The now-fired communications minister, Justin Morel Junior, a close Kouyate 
ally, responded to the new year's message by reading a statement on state 
television, saying the words attributed to the president were written by 
extremists "nostalgic for a past that no longer exists."

Junior was fired Thursday by presidential decree and replaced by Issa Conde, 
until now the director of Guinea's national press agency.

In December, President Conte signed a decree giving more control within the 
government to one of his closest allies, the presidency secretary-general, 
Sam Mamadi Soumah.

A regional analyst with Brussels-based Crisis Group, Gilles Yabi, says Mr. 
Kouyate's power is quickly diminishing.

"This is really the responsibility of the prime minister to coordinate the 
activity of the government, so from early December, it was very clear that 
we have seen a kind of shifting of power from Prime Minister Lansana Kouyate 
to President Lansana Conte again," said Yabi. "Of course, we can expect some 
reaction from the population and the civil society and perhaps the trade 
unions, after these signs of President Lansana Conte regaining full power 
after the events of January and February 2006."

Mr. Kouyate was named prime minister with expanded powers last year after 
violent union-led protests demanded that President Conte reduce prices on 
staple goods, improve services and reduce his control of the government.

Yabi says the current crisis comes as Mr. Kouyate was finally starting to 
bring improvement to the daily lives of Guineans, after a slow start where 
he spent most of his time abroad looking for aid.

"There has been some clear improvement in social services, water, 
electricity, and all these issues were really the core reason of the general 
strike and the massive demonstrations last year," said Yabi.

"So now we have a kind of mixed evaluation of the performance of Kouyate's 
government. Clearly, we cannot talk about real revolution, a kind of real 
break from Conte's system, but this is also due to the fact Prime Minister 
Kouyate did not have full powers and he has to get the approval and the 
signature of President Conte for all decrees," he added.

The chain-smoking, diabetic President Conte, who can barely walk, has been 
in power since a coup in 1984, followed by successive elections, deemed by 
the opposition and foreign observers as fraudulent.

New legislative polls are due this year.

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5FUGbcDz2WBtsAbJdDwTIL4liVg

Near-riot strands dozens of Air Canada passengers in Argentina

2 days ago

MONTREAL - Air Canada is hoping to fly dozens of passengers stranded by a 
near-riot in Buenos Aires back to Toronto over the next few days.

An Air Canada flight from the Argentinian capital was forced to fly half 
full on the weekend after angry locals frustrated by a labour dispute 
brought a Buenos Aires airport to a standstill.

Rampaging passengers smashed ticket counters, threw computers to the ground 
and attacked security guards.

"They caused quite a bit of damage and they even blocked other passengers 
from getting through checkpoints and security controls," Air Canada 
spokeswoman Isabelle Arthur said Monday.

Arthur says about 50 of the stranded passengers were rebooked on other 
airlines while 40 others will take regular Air Canada flights over the next 
few days.

Arthur said Saturday night's flight 093 was delayed as long as possible as 
airline staff tried to round up passengers and get them through security.

She says the flight crew was approaching its maximum allowed time on duty 
when the flight was forced to leave.

"The flight crews are under Transport Canada regulations which they must 
respect," Arthur said.

"They cannot exceed a number of hours of flying time."

Arthur said the airline will pick up the tab for hotel, meal and telephone 
expenses for stranded passengers.

She added that the situation has stabilized at the Buenos Aires airport.

The protests broke out after local airline Aerolineas Argentinas announced 
it was cancelling most of its flights on Saturday due to a labour dispute.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/24d0f39e-bd50-11dc-b7e6-0000779fd2ac.html

Rubbish protest seals off Naples suburb

By Guy Dinmore in Naples

Published: January 7 2008 18:58 | Last updated: January 7 2008 18:58

Italian authorities lost control of an entire suburb of Naples to protesters 
on Monday as police and army failed to end a rubbish crisis that has turned 
the city into a smouldering health hazard and exposed again the weakness of 
the central government.

Tonnes of uncollected rubbish have been spewing out of skips and across 
streets since late December when the last of the southern region's landfill 
sites, said to be stuffed to the brim, closed to further dumping.

Several thousand residents of Pianura, in the hills behind Naples, 
barricaded their suburb with concrete bollards, trees and fencing to block 
access to a nearby old tip - closed 12 years ago for health reasons - that 
the authorities want to reopen.

Police with batons charged the protesters on Monday. "We have to liberate 
the streets," one officer said. But they admitted failure and a line of 
trucks carrying tar to prepare the site had to turn back. People milling 
around their multiple lines of defences were furious at the police action, 
insisting their resistance had been peaceful. "It is urban warfare," said 
one protester.

Most shops were shut and streets deserted. Steady rain dissolved smouldering 
piles of refuse into the gutters, raising fears of epidemics.

Clusters of police admitted they had little control over Pianura and had 
trouble getting in and out. The government deployed small army units to 
clear rubbish so that children could go to school, as ordered by Romano 
Prodi, the prime minister. But some schools remained closed and local mayors 
resisted Rome's instructions to open after Christmas.

Mr Prodi held crisis talks on Monday with several ministers of his fractious 
centre-left coalition, including Pecoraro Scanio, who is in charge of the 
environment and under strong pressure to resign, as is Antonio Bassolino, 
the communist governor of the region of Campania surrounding Naples. But 
there was no outcome reported and talks were to continue on Tuesday.

Naples and its 2m people have been periodically plunged into garbage 
"emergencies", blaming their politicians, business community and the 
Camorra, as the region's mafia is known. Collecting and disposing of trash 
is a highly lucrative business and it is widely believed that Pianura's 
closed landfill - next to a national park - hides toxic wastes carried from 
all over Europe by Camorra- affiliated companies.

Local experts on organsied crime, including author Roberto Saviano who is 
under police protection, believe the Camorra are capable of stoking such 
crises to squeeze more income from the authorities.

Rome first appointed a special garbage commissioner in 1994. The result has 
been the further loss of millions of euros in public funds and the 
construction of just one incinerator. Cancer rates are far above the 
national average in the crime-ridden city.

Carlo Ciampi, the former president who hosted a G7 summit to advertise a 
supposed revival of Naples in 1994, on Monday expressed his indignation and 
shame, saying the entire political establishment was to blame.

Last night the police were reported to have pulled out of Pianura, but local 
media were convinced police would return in force as the authorities could 
not be seen to be held hostage by a suburb of 3,000 people.

The European Commission issued Italy with a garbage warning last June and a 
second in October for breaching European Union rules on waste.

Additional reporting by Andrew Bounds in Brussels

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iHdYGgFyVTKkhbtHxQWZR0y12g0wD8TV78T01

Garbage Crisis Stirs Protest in Naples

By SALVATORE LAPORTA - Jan 4, 2008

NAPLES, Italy (AP) - Stinking mounds of garbage piled up on the streets of 
Naples on Friday and officials around the country blamed organized crime and 
bureaucratic red tape for the city's refuse crisis.

Effigies of city officials, suspended from lampposts and trees, reflected 
the fury of Naples' citizens, who have had to live amid small mountains of 
their own refuse since Dec. 21, when collectors stopped gathering it because 
there was nowhere to take it.

Residents have resorted to setting trash on fire, raising fears of toxic 
smoke.

"Garbage is piling up outside our building," said Angela Sepe, a Neapolitan 
walking on the outskirts of the city. "I don't go downstairs any more to 
throw it away but throw it out the window because the garbage has already 
reached" as high as the second-floor window.

Naples and other parts of the southern Campania region have been plagued by 
a series of garbage crises for more than a decade. Dumps fill up and local 
communities block efforts to build new ones or create temporary storage 
sites. In 2004, a garbage crisis prompted weeks of protests.

On Thursday, angry residents in the Pianura neighborhood in Naples' 
outskirts blocked a street to protest the reopening of a long-closed dump. 
Fire officials said four empty buses in the neighborhood were set afire 
overnight - apparently in protest of the dump's reopening.

About 100 young protesters marched Friday on City Hall. Some occupied a 
central balcony and the roof, where they hung banners protesting the 
reopening of the dump and demanding a full-fledged plan to improve recycling 
in the area, the ANSA and Apcom news agencies reported.

Local, regional and national officials handed out blame for the southern 
city's chronic inability to properly dispose of its trash.

Several lawmakers said the government's creation in 1994 of a special office 
of trash commissioner to deal with Naples' continuing garbage crisis was 
part of the problem.

Leading Italian daily Corriere della Sera ran a lengthy investigation Friday 
detailing recent findings by a parliamentary committee that allege 
corruption and inefficiency in the commissioner's office.

Environment Minister Antonio Pecoraro Scanio, who has been a harsh critic of 
the commissioner's office, also blamed what he called the "ecomafia," a 
reference to Naples' organized crime syndicate, the Camorra, and its hold on 
garbage collection.

In an interview with the free daily E Polis, Pecoraro Scanio said the only 
way to escape the mob's hold on Naples' garbage was to get more Neapolitans 
to recycle and to build technologically advanced plants to dispose of the 
garbage in an environmentally friendly way.

Pecoraro Scanio said the Camorra was taking advantage of the fires set by 
residents to get rid of toxic waste.

"The ecomafias are behind the fires that are burning Naples and that are set 
to burn the accumulated trash," he said. "In the chaos that is created, the 
Camorra is always the victor."

The effigies hanging Friday carried banners with slogans critical of Antonio 
Bassolino, the governor of Campania, and the city's mayor, Rosa Russo 
Iervolino, the Apcom news agency reported. There have been calls for days 
for Bassolino to resign.

Prime Minister Romano Prodi chimed in, calling for "unity" and warning that 
finger-pointing was making residents have even less faith in the 
government's ability to deal with the crisis.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKL0367814920080103

Neapolitans protest against garbage crisis plan
Thu Jan 3, 2008 5:45pm GMT

NAPLES (Reuters) - About 200 people on Thursday blocked the entrance to a 
waste dump in Naples which authorities planned to reopen to resolve a 
garbage crisis blamed on mismanagement, corruption and organized crime.

Shoulder-high mounds of rotting, rat-infested garbage have accumulated in 
the southern city for months as delays have dogged the opening of a massive 
incinerator meant to end a 14-year 'state of emergency' for waste in the 
Naples area.

An end-year deadline for opening the incinerator, designed to burn the 
waste, was missed and all waste dumps are full, forcing the authorities to 
try to reopen a landfill that was closed in 1996.

Hundreds of garbage piles in Naples and surrounding towns have been set 
alight by frustrated residents in recent days, fire authorities said, 
prompting fears of high levels of cancer-causing dioxin emissions.

Italy declared a state of emergency for waste in Campania, the region of 
which Naples is the capital, in 1994. But successive trash tsars appointed 
by the government have failed to end the crisis.

Part of the problem is that organized crime -- rife in the Naples area --  
has made illegal waste disposal an industry that was worth 5.8 billion euros 
($8.6 billion) in 2006, according to a study by conservation group 
Legambiente.

Mafia-controlled waste disposal -- by burial or burning -- has poisoned the 
environment so badly that people in some parts of the region are two to 
three times more likely to get liver cancer than in the rest of the country, 
according to Italy's National Research Council.

Italy risks a legal suit from the European Commission, which has sent the 
government warnings about its failure to deal with waste in Campania.

"The latest developments are a cause for concern and the Commission will 
look at it more closely in coming weeks," said Barbara Helfferich, 
Commission spokeswoman for the environment.

(Additional reporting by Darren Ennis in Brussels)

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Sarah Marsh)

http://www.euronews.net/index.php?page=info&article=464279&lng=1

Sardinians protest over intake of Naples waste

There have been scuffles in Sardinia as Naples' rubbish crisis spills over 
into other parts of Italy. The protest was against the island's decision to 
relieve Naples of some of the waste that's been piling up on its streets. 
Its governor said the rest of Italy had a duty to show solidarity with the 
city.

Other areas of the country have agreed to take some of the waste and Naples 
is set to increase shipments it already makes to incinerators in Germany. 
Switzerland may also help out.

Rubbish collection in Naples came to a halt before Christmas after dumps in 
the area were declared full. But analysts say the crisis is the result of 
decades of political weakness, corruption and heavy mafia involvement in 
waste disposal.

The EU is closely following the dispute and an official said Rome could face 
accelerated legal proceedings if there is no breakthrough soon. One 
Neapolitan has come up with their own solution, putting the trash up for 
sale on Ebay.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=228738

UBC radicals vandalize buildings to protest development

Group inspired by Vietnam war-era protestors

Richard Warnica, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, January 10, 2008

A team of self-styled "warriors" has declared "war" on the University of 
B.C., smashing windows and painting walls in protest over on-campus 
development.

The group, whose name is an allusion to a radical Vietnam war era protest 
movement, has even issued a manifesto.

"We, the warriors of the Wreath Underground, claim responsibility for the 
recent acts of targeted vandalism," reads the declaration e-mailed in 
December to the university's student paper, the Ubyssey. "To avoid UBC 
security deeming these actions random violence, we will declare ourselves 
here, our ethos and our aims."

The manifesto claims the group is behind attacks on two campus buildings in 
December.

One night, after classes were over for the semester, someone spray-painted 
an administration building and bashed windows and spray-painted walls at 
another complex.

According to the declaration, the attacks are an off-shoot of a 
long-standing protest over commercial and residential developments in the 
heart of the university's sprawling Vancouver campus.

But while the manifesto cites a repeated refusal to consider student input 
in campus developments, a UBC spokesman said that hasn't been the case.

"There has been no dearth of dialogue with students and other members of the 
community on this project, both recently and over the course of several 
years,"said Scott Macrae.

Even as what Mr. Macrae describes as "a relatively small number of people" 
were occupying a hill scheduled for demolition, administrators and planners 
were consulting with students next door in the student union building, he 
said.

That, however, doesn't wash with one of the protest organizers.

Nathan Crompton, an organizer with the UBC chapter of Students for 
Democratic Society (SDS), called the recent acts of violence "a bad tactic." 
But, he said, he can empathize with the motivations of those who carried 
them out.

"Some folks are just very frustrated and feel that no matter what we do, the 
administration has its own agenda," Mr. Crompton said. "And the only 
solution, I guess, is to do these crazy things."

The name "the Wreath Underground" is a reference to "the Weather 
Underground," a radical splinter group of the original Students for 
Democratic Society, a Vietnam War-era protest group that collapsed amidst 
infighting and rising militancy in the 1960s.

"That's what frustrates a lot of people on the SDS," said Mr. Crompton. "We 
try to operate on consensus, which means members can't claim to represent 
the group without running it by everyone. So what's really problematic about 
this group is that they're claiming this connection to SDS and the history 
and the radical wing . . . and we all know how things went with the Weather 
Underground, not very well."

Meanwhile, UBC RCMP said they are investigating.

Staff Sgt. Kevin Kenna said police will likely interview members of the SDS. 
But, he added, they've had nothing but good relations with the group.

"There's been no trouble out of them in the past," Sgt. Kenna said. 
"Whoever's involved with this (incident) seems to want to up the ante."

http://english.dvb.no/news.php?id=687

Riot at concert after rapper arrested
Nov 19, 2007 (DVB)-Burmese rapper G-Tone was taken away by police as he left 
the stage at a concert last night after he showed a religious tattoo to the 
crowd during his performance, according to an audience member.
During a hip hop festival at Mya Yeik Nyo hotel at around 9pm, G-Tone took 
off his shirt and turned his back to the audience to reveal a tattoo of two 
hands clasped in a prayer position holding prayer beads.
Immediately after the gesture, police and fire brigade officials went 
towards the stage to arrest him, but were persuaded by other musicians to 
wait until the end of his set to avoid making a scene.
As soon as G-Tone left the stage, he was arrested and handcuffed by the 
police, still in view of the crowd.
The rapper's arrest provoked an angry reaction from the crowd, who started 
shouting at the police.
In response, the police went into the crowd and began beating up audience 
members, who were mostly young people and high school students, including 
8th and 9th graders.
The incident grew into a riot as the audience became increasingly angry at 
the police.
When other musicians tried to intervene to stop the police, they too were 
hit, including popular hip hop musicians Kyat Pha and Yatha, who was kicked 
when he tried to stop the police.
Kyat Pha's band 9mm has been banned by the regime for distributing political 
songs by other artists at a concert.
The manager of the Mya Yeik Nyo hotel told the other musicians to calm the 
crowd by telling them G-Tone had gone home and had not been arrested, and 
the show was brought to a premature end.
It is not clear if G-Tone is being held by police or has been released.
Reporting by Aye Nai

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Illegal-dance-party-of-1000-shut-down/2007/11/25/1195925648444.html

Illegal dance party of 1,000 shut down
November 25, 2007 - 6:04AM
Advertisement
Three people have been charged after riot police were called to an illegal 
dance party of 1,000 people at a factory in inner Sydney early on Sunday.
After receiving a number of noise complaints, police shut down the rave, in 
McCauley St at Alexandria, about 12.30am (AEDT).
The public order and riot squad was called to assist Redfern Police in 
closing the factory's doors and directing partygoers to Redfern Railway 
Station.
A 22-year-old man from Kingswood was charged with three counts of resisting 
arrest, two counts of throwing a missile at a police officer, violent 
disorder, riot and affray.
He will appear in Newtown Local Court on December 11.
A 32-year-old Marrickville woman was charged with maliciously damaging a 
police vehicle and resisting arrest after allegedly kicking the door of the 
car.
She will appear in Downing Centre Local Court on December 14.
A 19-year-old woman from Penrith will appear on the same date to answer an 
allegation of assaulting a police officer.
Inquiries are continuing into other revellers detained at the scene, while 
police want to determine who the organisers were and whether the party had 
gone ahead after forced entry to the premises.

http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070033864&ch=11/24/2007%2010:14:00%20PM

Guwahati: Quota protest turns violent
 Kishalay Bhattacharjee
Saturday, November 24, 2007 (Guwahati)
One person has died and 240 others injured in Guwahati as thousands of 
Adivasis, who are demanding scheduled tribe status, went on the rampage as 
they marched to the state assembly.

Residents of a locality retaliated when the protestors started damaging 
their shops and vehicles.

The situation spiralled out of control and the government has no answers why 
this happened.

''It was basically fighting between two groups. They damaged property, the 
police beat them up. Police was there but the presence was not sufficient,'' 
said Avinash Joshi, DC, Kamrup.

Over the past few years, the Adivasis, who mostly work in the tea gardens, 
have been growing restless. They have several demands - the main one being 
scheduled tribe status.

Saturday's violence sparked off by a section of the rallyists seemed to be 
well-planned.

When the residents started retaliating, the perpetrators fled, leaving 
behind others, who seemed to have been taken by surprise.

''Yes, according to me it's a mistake but what to do. The boys who were 
informed could not understand. We are responsible. We can gain it (ST 
status) by non-violence,'' said Rajiv Soren, Adivasi activist.

Such clashes are unusual for Guwahati. Now there is a fear of a backlash in 
Upper Assam where the Adivasi population is larger.

But for now, it's been a rude shock for the administration and a reminder 
that they should be prepared for the worst.


http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/alcohol-fuels-200strong-riot/2007/12/02/1196530466117.html

Alcohol fuels 200-strong riot
December 2, 2007 - 2:04PM
At least one person was taken to hospital and four others detained after 
police were threatened with baseball bats as they tried to break up an 
alcohol-fuelled riot in the Northern Territory.
Police said the riot involving about 200 people erupted last night at 
Ngukurr, southeast of Katherine, following fighting between two families on 
Friday night in the community's swimming pool area.
Officers were last night forced to withdraw after they were threatened with 
baseball bats, forcing them to call for backup from Katherine and Mataranka.
Police have since taken four people into custody and investigations into the 
riot are continuing, with charges expected to be laid.
At least one person was badly injured, police said.
The citizen, whose sex has not been disclosed, received stitches for a head 
wound believed to have been caused by a glass bottle.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/200_Aborigines_riot_in_Australian_town_after_drunken_brawl/articleshow/2595714.cms

200 Aborigines riot in Australian town after drunken brawl
5 Dec 2007, 0008 hrs IST,REUTERS


SYDNEY: As many as 200 people, some armed with spears, knives and sticks, 
rioted in an Australian outback aboriginal town after a drunken argument in 
a tavern, police said on Tuesday.

Fighting between feuding two families started on Monday night in the tavern 
at Aurukun, an isolated aboriginal community in northern Queensland, and 
when the brawl spilled out onto the street, onlookers joined in the 
fighting.

"The argument started in the tavern and moved onto the street where about 
200 people, some armed with spears, sticks and knives, started fighting," a 
police spokes-man said, adding that one man had suffered head injuries.

About 15 people were armed with spears, sticks and knives and it took 
several hours to stop the fighting, said police. Five people were charged 
after the riot, the third in the community in the past year.

The fighting in Aurukun is being fuelled by alcohol abuse in the isolated 
community, say local Aborigines.

Australia's 460,000 Aborigines have high rates of unemployment, 
imprisonment, alcohol, drug abuse and domestic violence.

Police inspector Russell Rhodes said tensions in the aboriginal community 
had been high for several years. "From time to time we enjoy very peaceful 
passages of time.. but at other times the most minor thing can trigger a 
dispute" Rhodes said.

http://www.ntnews.com.au/article/2007/12/27/2951_ntnews.html

Riot erupts in remote NT town

REBEKAH CAVANAGH

27Dec07

CHRISTMAS Day turned to chaos in the Territory's largest Aboriginal 
community as men armed with axes, spears and metal bars rioted in the 
streets.

Residents said last night they spent the day "terrified" and that police 
were "powerless" to stop the violence.

The riots broke out in the Wadeye community, about 350km southwest of 
Darwin, early Christmas morning and continued yesterday.

One resident, who wished not to be named, said the gangs had been fighting 
since Sunday.

"There is currently a full blown riot happening with gangs of youths 
trashing houses and infrastructure being destroyed," they said yesterday.

"There are only four police officers in the community and for the last four 
days they have tried non-stop to quell the violence.

"It's about time this s... was stopped.

"People are terrified.

"There needs to be some serious action to put a stop to this before someone 
is killed."

Most of the rioting took place in the main street outside the community 
store. Wadeye Police said last night they had been called to "general 
disturbances" on a ``number of occasions'' since early Christmas morning.

Officer-in-charge Sergeant Shane Taylor called a meeting with the 
traditional elders at the police station to resolve the problem yesterday.

"It's no secret there are ongoing inter-family disputes in the Wadeye 
community," he said.

"On this occasion, some disturbances started to flare up but there are no 
reported injuries and persons involved all fled when police arrived.

"The elders all came together (yesterday) and we discussed the issues and 
some methods to resolve them and restore calm for the community."

Sgt Taylor said no arrests were made as of yesterday and that elders were 
speaking with young perpetrators.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/reform-perhaps-but-basics-first/2007/12/06/1196812914930.html

Reform perhaps, but basics first
Philip Martin
December 7, 2007
The remote far north Queensland Aboriginal community of Aurukun has rioted 
for the third time this year.
On Monday 200 people armed with spears, knives and sticks fought street 
battles before being subdued by tactical response police. The riot has been 
reported in the media as resulting from sly-grog boated in from Weipa on 
Sunday. Aurukun is one of the four Cape York communities in Noel Pearson's 
welfare reform program.
Pearson's collaboration with the Howard government to shift the language of 
public debate on Aborigines from "rights-based" to "responsibility-based" 
has concealed many of the day-to-day problems that lead communities such as 
Aurukun to riot.
On July 18 Pearson's plan to alter the conditions of Aboriginal people 
through a carrot-and-stick approach to welfare was supported by the 
indigenous affairs minister, Mal Brough, with $48 million in funding. In the 
same week I wrote in these pages that passive welfare was only one part of a 
larger problem. The plan Pearson sent to Canberra had omitted evidence that 
this was the case.
The research I collected over six months living in Aurukun while working for 
Pearson's Cape York Partnerships showed Aurukun is chronically 
under-resourced in infrastructure and services. This a source of community 
frustration and a factor in its social breakdown. My work suggested that a 
range of issues affecting day-to-day lives would need addressing before a 
welfare reform program could succeed.
One of these was chronic overcrowding in housing. Often more than 20 family 
members lived in one broken-down house. I listed many incidents of broken 
pipes flooding houses, making them uninhabitable. I wrote on children 
waiting in the mornings for 15 or more people to use the single shower 
before them, and being late to school or absent and how families could wait 
for months for plumbers or builders to show up, if at all.
Other essential services are absent in Aurukun. These include:
 - No Centrelink officer charged with supporting people to get "real jobs";
 - No AbStudy representative to respond to questions on education, and few 
people have phones;
 - No Department of Emergency Services officers;
 - No permanent drug and alcohol counsellor addressing the grog and 
substance abuse;
 - No permanent doctors; and
 - No dentist.
The food trucked in is of low quality and up to four times as dear as in 
Cairns. Packs of wild dogs roam the streets. The services that are there - 
the school, the health clinic, the police - are under-staffed and 
under-resourced.
Sadly, the Aurukun riots demonstrate the state's free licence in relation to 
remote Aboriginal communities. After the January 11 riot Aurukun went from 
having a police force incapable of responding to most call-outs through lack 
of manpower (the then sergeant-in-charge told me he needed 16 full-time 
officers, but had only six) to overnight having teams of special forces in 
troop carriers, in out-of-all-proportion black-body armour, balaclavas and 
semi-automatics.
By January 13 the Aurukun airstrip went from hosting only the Royal Flying 
Doctor plane and the eight-seat charter, to police and government jets 
screaming in (and out). There were counsellors for state-service providers, 
police ethics inspectors asking questions of the community, and reporters in 
helicopters.
A week after the January riots there were meetings between Aurukun Shire 
Council, clan elders, the acting Queensland police minister, Andrew Fraser, 
and the communities minister, Warren Pitt. Aurukun asked only for a 
permanent sports and recreation officer, extra community funding and better 
policing. It was a wretched wish-list from a community used to not getting 
much. The community was told it would be granted.
Community pacified, job done, the ministers flew out, the papers stopped 
carrying the story, the public moved on. More than nine months later there 
is still no sports and recreation officer in Aurukun, the police numbers 
remain nine below what the former sergeant-in-charge requested, and half the 
permanent staff at the health clinic have gone. There have been two more 
riots, on September 19 and on Monday.
The move from rights-based to responsibility-based Aboriginal welfare policy 
is tying Aurukun's people into ever-tighter relations of financial control, 
surveillance and regulation through welfare reform, while overlooking 
federal and state responsibilities to provide essential infrastructure.
People in cities think that controlling Aborigines through welfare will work 
in their best interests, eventually. Riots such as Monday's seem to justify 
the need for neo-liberal interventions in Aboriginal communities. In fact 
they show that welfare reform cannot work without the Government also 
responding to community pleas for adequate policing and housing, at the 
least.
Philip Martin worked as a family engagement officer on the Welfare Reform 
Project in Aurukun for Cape York Partnerships between November 2006 and May 
2007.

http://www.thenational.com.pg/120707/Nation%202.htm

Killing of councillor sparks riot in Wabag
By ANDREW ALPHONSE
THE killing of a councillor in Wabag town yesterday sparked a riot with 
tribesmen seizing vehicles and equipment belonging to a company working on 
the town's water supply.
Enga acting provincial police commander Senior Insp Albert Beli said John 
Kopiyo, who is also board chairman of Wabag Primary School, died after he 
was allegedly attacked by workmen working on the Wabag town water project.
Insp Beli said the councillor had gone to the site to express his 
disagreement over the way in which water pipes were being laid over a piece 
of land.
An argument developed and the workers allegedly attacked Kopiyo, seriously 
injuring him.
He was taken to the Wabag Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Angered by news of his death, Kopiyo's relatives ran riot in town, attacking 
the workers and seizing vehicles belonging to the Chinese company that is 
involved in the upgrade work.
An all-out riot in town was prevented by quick police intervention.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hhipV1BcPwE0je8rfIhucuaYdAxg

Bahrain hit by protests by majority Shiites

Dec 23, 2007

MANAMA (AFP) - Bahrain has been hit by rioting in majority Shiite areas for 
a fifth consecutive day in demonstrations that have seen the death of one 
protester, press reports said on Sunday.

Security forces have fired teargas and rubber bullets in Shiite villages in 
disturbances that erupted following the death on Monday of a young protester 
after a demonstration organised by the opposition, the reports said.

The 22-year-old man died in hospital after being taken ill at his home after 
the protest at Jid Hafs during which he inhaled teargas, an opposition 
activist told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Security sources cited by the official Bahrain News Agency (BNA) said the 
man had died of natural causes and that an investigation had been launched 
into his death.

The Al-Wasat newspaper on Sunday reported a statement by the independent 
Bahrain Human Rights Association that security forces had made 39 arrests 
and around a dozen people had been injured during the demonstrations.

An interior ministry official said in a statement carried by BNA that the 
people arrested were not being held for their political activism but for 
implication in theft of weapons and arson against a police car.

Monday's protest was staged by Shiites -- the majority in the small Sunni 
Muslim-ruled Gulf monarchy -- seeking compensation for what they said were 
human rights violations between 1980 and 1990.

http://www.pr-inside.com/hundreds-of-bahraini-shiites-clash-with-r352408.htm

Hundreds of Bahraini Shiites clash with riot police on coronation day
© AP
2007-12-17 22:27:40 -


MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) - Police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of 
Bahrain's Shiites holding a rally Monday outside the capital Manama marking 
the death of one of their countrymen more than ten years earlier, witnesses 
and rights activists reported.
The demonstration, which may have resulted in a fatality, coincided with the 
tiny island kingdom's

second day of celebrations marking the ruler's coronation.
Abdul-Jalil al-Singace, head of the Haq human rights group, told The 
Associated Press by phone from London, that one protester, 30-year-old Ali 
Jassem, died after inhaling large amounts of tear gas.
Family members who spoke to AP said Jassem died following his return home 
just minutes after taking part in the rally.
The Bahraini Interior Ministry, however, said in a statement that the man 
died of «natural causes» according to medical reports.
«There was no direct contact with the demonstrators,» Interior Ministry 
spokesman Maj. Mohammed bin Daina said to AP, saying there was no evidence 
that the deceased had been beaten by police or even taken part in the 
demonstration.
«Regrettably, this gathering was illegal and not permitted,» he said 
describing the protesters as «outlaws» who blocked roads forcing police to 
get involved.
Late in the evening, hundreds of Bahrainis gathered in front of 
al-Salmaniyah Hospital asking for the corpse of Jassem.
Abdul-Hadi al-Khawaja, the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights who 
was at the morgue said that bruises could be seen over Jassem's dead body.
«I am looking at blue marks and bruises on his hands and chest,» said 
al-Khawaja by telephone while he stood next to the body, «but I can't tell 
that he was beaten, I am not a doctor.
Jassem's brother Hassan spoke to the AP from the morgue saying «I was told 
by several witnesses that he (Ali) was seen at the protest being beaten up 
by police.

According to witnesses, security forces prevented the demonstrators from 
entering the capital and when protesters instead marched through three 
nearby villages, riot police fired tire gas and rubber bullets to disperse 
them.
The demonstrations took place in al-Malkiyah village, some 12 kilometers (7 
miles) west of the capital Manama, as well as Daih and Sanabis, east of the 
capital, where demonstrators set fire to tires and garbage bins.
According to al-Singace, the crowd carried pictures for the 1990s martyrs 
and banners criticizing the royal family.
The rally was held to commemorate the political upheaval that began in 1994 
and lasted for several years, when more than 40 people, including Asian 
residents had died.
Shiite Arabs, who make up a majority of Bahrain's population, waged an 
occasionally violent campaign that included arson attacks calling for a 
return to democracy and against perceived discrimination by the Sunni ruling 
family.
The tiny Persian Gulf kingdom is a close U.S. ally. The oil-refining and 
banking island also hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i8rJlkiNMlOpOklGdkjjfPPNegXQD8TK3RJ03

Bahraini Shiites Clash With Riot Police

Dec 18, 2007

SANABIS, Bahrain (AP) - Hundreds of Bahraini Shiites clashed with riot 
police Tuesday after the funeral of a protester who died after a similar 
confrontation a day earlier.

Police used tear gas and chased the protesters through the streets of 
Sanabis, a village on the outskirts of Manama, capital of the small island 
kingdom. Protesters hurled stones at police and burned tires as the turmoil 
stretched into the evening.

There was no official comment on the protest and no reports on injuries or 
arrests.

The unrest followed the funeral of a protester who died Monday after a rally 
in which Shiites commemorated a deadly political upheaval that began in 
Bahrain in 1994 and lasted for several years.

Abdul-Jalil al-Singace, head of the Haq human rights group, told The 
Associated Press by telephone from London that the protester, 30-year-old 
Ali Jassem, died after inhaling large amounts of tear gas.

Relatives said Jassem died just after returning home from Monday's rally.

However, the Bahraini Interior Ministry said in a statement that the man 
died of "natural causes" according to medical reports.

Monday's demonstration coincided with the tiny island kingdom's second day 
of celebrations marking the ruler's coronation. Shiite Arabs, who make up a 
majority of the population in Bahrain, have waged an occasionally violent 
campaign against perceived discrimination by the ruling Sunni family.

The Persian Gulf kingdom is a close U.S. ally. The oil-refining and banking 
island also hosts the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200801141499.html

Somalia: Violent Protest Against Visiting Puntland VP in Sool Kills 1

Garowe Online (Garowe)

14 January 2008
Posted to the web 14 January 2008


The vice president of Somalia's semiautonomous Puntland region faced violent 
protests after briefly visiting residents and soldiers encamped at Tukaraq, 
a frontier town in Sool region where Puntland troops have been organizing to 
retake the provincial capital Las Anod.

Vice President Hassan Dahir Afqura was accompanied by senior Puntland 
military commanders on his unannounced visit to Tukaraq yesterday, sources 
said.

Puntland Vice President Hassan Dahir Afqura

The vice president's visit to the frontline troops coincided with a bloody 
battle in parts of Sool between forces loyal to the separatist region of 
Somaliland and clan militias allied to Puntland.

Tukaraq residents welcomed Vice President Afqura's delegation by throwing 
stones and demanding his withdrawal, local sources reported. He was quickly 
ushered to the military camp, where he addressed Puntland troops and 
stressed "defending" the region, the sources added.

But the troops became frustrated with the Puntland vice president's speech.

Some soldiers began protesting and the scene quickly transformed chaotic, 
according to witnesses. One Tukaraq soldier was killed by members of 
Afqura's personal guard, soldiers said.Relevant Links

The Puntland vice president returned to the administrative capital Garowe 
later Sunday.

A soldier in Tukaraq who spoke with Garowe Online on the condition of 
anonymity said the troops were displeased with Afqura's speech, which did 
not address Somaliland's control of Las Anod but centered around defending 
the rest of the Puntland regions.

Somaliland and Puntland have battled for control of Sool region since 2002. 
Local residents fear the outbreak of a major clan war in northern Somalia, a 
region that has enjoyed relative peace and stability for more than a decade.