From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 10:50:53 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:50:53 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] GAZA PROTESTS - Europe, Dec-Jan 08-09
Message-ID: <4AEF2A0D.7060400@tesco.net>

* NORWAY: Militant protests target Israeli rally, embassy; train strike 
over Gaza
* GREECE: Clashes near Israeli embassy, banks set on fire
* FRANCE: Cars, stores trashed in Paris protest
* EUROPE: Roundups of protests across Europe
* BELGIUM: Cars, buses trashed during Gaza demo
* BOSNIA: Hundreds in protest at US Embassy
* CYPRUS: Protesters storm police barricades at Israeli embassy
* SPAIN: Protests in Madrid, Girona
* BULGARIA: Protests in Sofia, Plovdiv, Madan
* ICELAND: Protest in Reykjavik
* GERMANY: Controversy over Hamas support, Nazi comparison as Muslims 
demonstrate
* ITALY: Thousands march in Rome; bigots attack regular prayer vigils
* POLAND: Israeli ambassador targeted by protesters
* HOLLAND: Big demonstrations, but controversy over anti-Semitism
* HOLLAND: Utrecht protesters stand up to police repression
* RUSSIA: Small protest at Israeli embassy
* SWITZERLAND: Hundreds march for ceasefire
* IRELAND: Protests in Dublin, Cork, Belfast; self-immolation incident
* SCOTLAND: Shoes thrown at Edinburgh protest

NOTE: Roundups in some of the global stories also refer to protests in 
other European countries including Denmark and Austria.




http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/249583,norwegian-police-use-teargas-on-protesters-against-pro-israel-rally.html

Norwegian police use teargas on protesters against pro-Israel rally
Posted : Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:24:20 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : World

Oslo - Norwegian police used teargas Thursday to disperse 
counter-protesters in connection with a public rally in support of 
Israel in downtown Oslo. Siv Jensen, leader of the opposition, populist 
Progressive Party, was a keynote speaker, saying that "war is the worst 
thing there is," but insisting Israel was "exercising the right to 
defend itself."
Several hundred people including several parliamentarians attended the 
rally that was organized by pro-Israel groups including With Israel for 
Peace.
During Jensen's speech, angry counter-protesters burned an Israeli flag. 
After the rally, there were scuffles and some counter-protesters also 
fired fireworks at police, who responded with teargas. Some 
counter-protesters also threw eggs and bottles, local media reported.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
Later torch rallies to show support for the victims of the Middle East 
conflict and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza were organized in Oslo and 
other cities including Bergen, Stavanger and Tromso.
The rallies were backed by a broad range of Norwegian organizations and 
groups including Save the Children, the Norwegian Red Cross, Amnesty 
International Norway, Norwegian Church Aid, Norwegian People's Aid, the 
Confederation of Sports, the Norwegian Football Association, the trade 
union confederation LO, the Federation of Norwegian Professional 
Associations Akademikerne, and the Norwegian Christian Council.




http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1451513.php/Norwegian_police_use_tear_gas_at_Israeli_embassy_protest_

Norwegian police use tear gas at Israeli embassy protest
Middle East News
Jan 4, 2009, 17:54 GMT
Oslo - Norwegian police used teargas Sunday to disperse a gathering 
outside the Israeli embassy in Oslo to protest Israel's military 
offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Several hundred protesters took part. Police use the tear gas to 
disperse the protestors.
Some protesters lit fireworks and threw eggs and stones at police and 
the embassy building, local media reported.
Shoes were also thrown at police officers, broadcaster TV2 reported.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
A similar protest was staged end of December, resulting in the arrest of 
some nine protesters.





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/249869,police-detain-protesters-in-oslo-after-gaza-demonstrations--summary.html

Police detain protesters in Oslo after Gaza demonstrations - Summary
Posted : Sat, 10 Jan 2009 19:18:05 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Europe (World)

Oslo/Stockholm - Norwegian police used teargas and detained some 100 
protesters Saturday after a protest against Israel's offensive in Gaza 
went out of control in Oslo. Fireworks and stones were thrown at police 
and there was also vandalism, police said in a statement.
The arrests took place near the Israeli embassy as hundreds of 
protesters flouted a ban against approaching the embassy.
A few police officers sustained minor injuries after being hit by stones.
The militant autonomous group Blitz had called for supporters to move 
towards the embassy after a protest in a different part of Oslo.
The violence took place although police had earlier decided not to allow 
protesters to approach the Israeli embassy.
The move was an attempt to avert a possible repetition of Thursday 
evening's violent scenes when police were forced to use teargas and 
arrested some 30 protesters.
In neighbouring Sweden, several thousand people took part in a protest 
in central Stockholm.
Participants included Mona Sahlin, the leader of the opposition Social 
Democrats, and Wanja Lundby Wedin, head of the blue-collar federation LO.
After speeches at Sergels Torg square, the participants marched to the 
Israeli embassy, which police had cordoned off. There were no immediate 
reports of incidents.
Gatherings were also organized in other major Swedish cities.
In the Danish capital Copenhagen, a few hundred people took part in a 
pro-Israel rally.
The unrest in Oslo erupted Thursday after counter-protesters attacked a 
pro-Israel rally held in front of parliament.
Some counter-protesters also threw stones, eggs and bottles. Scuffles 
broke out after the rally and some counter-protesters also fired 
fireworks at police, who responded with teargas.
Counter-protesters also smashed shop windows along Oslo's main Karl 
Johan Avenue, and set fire to litter bins and a Christmas tree outside 
the university.






http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&BF94C11DB176523FC225753800618052

Trains Across Norway Stop to Protest Gaza War
Passenger trains stopped for an extra two minutes at stations across 
Norway Thursday to protest Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, the 
union that organized the demonstration said.
"On the basis of the humanitarian situation that has resulted from 
Israel's invasion of Gaza, the board of NLF (Norway's Locomotive 
Association) has decided to make a political show of support for the 
Palestinian people," the union said in a statement.
"It is our duty as union members to react to the slaughter of civilians 
that we are witnessing," it said, adding that all passenger trains at a 
station at 4:00 pm (1500 GMT) had been asked to wait an extra two 
minutes before continuing their routes.
Trains that were not in station at that time had made their two-minute 
stop as soon as they got to the nearest station.
The train personnel had also been asked to inform passengers the delay 
was an expression of "solidarity with the Palestinian people ... We 
demand the immediate withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza," the union 
said.
More than 760 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its 
offensive on December 27. (AFP)


Beirut, 08 Jan 09, 19:52










http://www.ana-mpa.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=7177007&service=142

Violence at protest demonstration against Israeli war on Gaza
A rally was held Saturday evening outside the Israeli embassy in Athens 
in protest of the Israeli attacks on Gaza and in solidarity with the 
Palestinian people, with the participation of the Coalition of the Left, 
Movements and Ecology (SYN) party, the Hellenic Social Forum, and trade 
unions, anti-war organizations and Palestinian organizations, including 
a delegation of SYRIZA (the SYN-led Coalition of the Radical Left 
parliamentary alliance) MPs headed by SYN leader Alexis Tsipras, and 
main opposition PASOK party MPs Dinos Rovlias and Sophia Sakorafa.

Scuffles broke out between demonstrators and a strong police continent 
outside the embassy, with police obliging the protestors to disperse and 
flee down side streets.

The protestors marched along central streets, making stops at Syntagma 
Square and the Egyptian embassy, as well as at the US embassy, where 
they attempted to break a roadblock set up by the MAT riot police with 
MAT vans by throwing rocks in the direction of the police. The MAT 
responded with flare and sound grenades and teargas, forcing the 
demonstrators to retreat and break up into smaller groups heading in 
several directions, which caused traffic chaos on several streets of Athens.

The protestors set fire to trash bins while, earlier, they burned 
Israeli and US flags outside the Israeli and Egyptian embassies.








http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2433913

Greeks set banks on fire in Gaza protest
Published: 10:34AM Monday January 05, 2009
Source: Reuters

ReutersA pro-Palestinian protester raises the burning flags of the US 
and Israel during a rally in Athens
Greek demonstrators set fire to banks, threw rocks and fired flares at 
police in the capital Athens, one of several protests worldwide against 
Israel's offensive in the Gaza strip.

Tens of thousands have protested against Israel's offensive and its 
weekend land assault into Gaza.
In some Western countries smaller protests have been staged in favour of 
the action which Israel says is aimed at stopping rocket attacks by the 
Islamist Hamas group towards its southern towns.

In Greece, protesters burnt flags and hurled shoes and rocks at the 
Israeli embassy during a march by about 3,000 people organised by local 
Palestinian groups, left-wing parties and anti-war groups.

"Police fired teargas to disperse protesters that had started throwing 
rocks and firing flares at police after the conclusion of the rally," 
said a police official who requested anonymity.

"After the rally, which was mostly peaceful, some protesters then 
proceeded to smash cars and set fire to banks near the embassy. Three 
bank branches were set fire to."

The protesters carried banners that read Free Palestine and Support to 
the Intifada - slogans which were seen on the streets of the Moroccan 
capital, Rabat.

"Allah Akbar (God is Greatest). We are all with Gaza," chanted thousands 
of Moroccan protesters, many of whom were women wearing hijabs and 
Islamic headscarves.

The demonstrators, joined by some government ministers, criticised Arab 
leaders for what they said was a failure to support Hamas in Gaza.

More than one thousand people demonstrated in the Belgian capital 
Brussels, with smaller demonstrations in other cities, and in Poland 
protesters called for an end to the slaughter in Gaza outside the 
Israeli embassy in Warsaw.

In Paris, where more than 20,000 people took part in a march on Saturday 
to protest the bombardment of Gaza, several hundred people gathered at 
the Israeli embassy to express support for Israel and to condemn Hamas 
rocket attacks.

"I have come here to defend peace in solidarity with our children at the 
front who are fighting Hamas, a criminal, extremist movement", said a 50 
year-old teacher who declined to be named because she had pupils from 
Arab families in her class.





http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/01/05/nb-03

Thousands protest in Turkey, Greece against Israeli offensive in Gaza
05/01/2009
ANKARA, Turkey -- Hundreds of thousands of people protested Israel's 
offensive on the Gaza Strip in several rallies across Turkey on Sunday 
(January 4th). Police officials say around 200,000 people took part in a 
massive demonstration in central Istanbul, chanting slogans and waving 
flags.
There were similar anti-Israeli protests elsewhere Sunday. Around 50,000 
people demonstrated in the south-eastern province of Diyarbakir. Smaller 
demonstrations occurred Saturday night outside the Israeli and UN 
missions in Istanbul and Ankara. Turkey tightened security measures at 
synagogues in Istanbul as protests against Israel's attacks on Gaza 
intensified. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been shuttling 
around the Middle East in search of a cease-fire.
In Athens meanwhile, there were two protests Sunday against Israel's 
offensive. One turned violent, with demonstrators torching banks, 
smashing windows of several buildings and throwing rocks and shoes at 
police outside the Israeli Embassy.




http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100211

Gaza Humanitarian Crisis Sparks Protests in Athens
World | January 5, 2009, Monday
Protests against Israel's offensive in Gaza and the deepening 
humanitarian crisis there sparked in Athens and brief clashes with 
police erupted.

Rallies were organized Sunday in front of the Israeli Embassy in the 
Greek capital with demonstrators burning Israeli and US flags and 
chanting "Free Palestine." In an evening protest against the invasion 
into Gaza, a small group of self-styled anarchists threw rocks against 
riot police and smashed windows of banks.

The protest was organized by the Greek Social Forum, anti-war 
organizations, the local Palestinian community and trade unions, 
Kathimerini reported.

Meanwhile, Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis voiced an opinion that 
Israel's ground offensive made the humanitarian conditions in Gaza worse.




http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2008/12/30/nb-02

Clashes mar anti-Israeli protests in Athens; Turkey refuses to mediate 
for Israel
30/12/2008
ATHENS, Greece -- Clashes broke out on Monday (December 29th) during a 
demonstration in Athens against Israel's military operation in Gaza, 
media reported. Police fired tear gas to keep protesters away from the 
Israeli embassy. More than 3,000 protesters waving Palestinian flags and 
chanting anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans took part in the rally, 
organised by the Communist Party of Greece and Arab groups.
In other news Monday, Turkey announced it will no longer mediate between 
Israel and Syria, saying the Israeli attacks on Gaza have made peace 
"impossible". "Israel cannot speak of peace with Syria while engaging in 
war with Gaza," Foreign Minister Ali Babacan told reporters after a 
meeting with visiting Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit. Both 
ministers urged Israel to stop its offensive on the Gaza Strip.
The offensive prompted Murat Mercan, head of the foreign affairs 
committee in Turkey's parliament and a member of the ruling Justice and 
Development Party (AKP), to resign Monday as a member of the 
Turkish-Israeli Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group. Two other AKP 
deputies resigned from the group later in the day.
Meanwhile, Cyprus boosted security measures at embassies of Middle East 
countries because of the escalation of violence in Gaza. "We are ready 
to deal with any situation," Justice and Public Order Minister Loucas 
Louca said. (ANA-MPA, Express, Kathimerini, ERT, AFP, AP, VOA, Press TV, 
Anadolu news agency, Hurriyet, Makfax, CNA, Famagusta Gazette, Financial 
Mirror - 29/12/08)






http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafp081230105618.0ra51285p2&show_article=1

Protestors in front of the US consulate in Thessaloniki

Protestors shout during a demonstration in front of the US consulate in 
the northern Greek town of Thessaloniki. European Union foreign 
ministers meeting in Paris are to appeal for an immediate ceasefire in 
the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, 
officials have said.





http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/03/1001964/paris-protest-turns-violent

Paris protest turns violent
January 3, 2009
PARIS (JTA) -- A large pro-Palestinian protest in the heart of the 
high-end shopping district in Paris turned violent.
A pro-Palestinian umbrella group, including France's Communist Party, 
led more than 21,000 demonstrators, according to reports, in a march 
Saturday afternoon protesting Israel's military actions over the past 
week in the Gaza Strip. Police blocked the demonstrators from reaching 
their planned final destination, the Israeli Embassy.
Protesters set cars on fire, and several luxury store windows were 
smashed and looted.
French riot police clashed with roughly 400 to 500 youth, according to 
police. The youth, wearing Palestinian flags and kaffiyehs, threw chairs 
and other objects at police barricades. Police responded with tear gas 
bombs.
While the youth withdrew from advancing police, many broke car windows, 
the glass protecting bus stop shelters and the windows of one bus 
abandoned by its driver. Police detained some 20 protesters before calm 
was restored. Families with young children and elderly women who had 
participated in the march fled in fear.
Anti-Israel, anti-French and anti-American slogans could be heard 
throughout the rally. France and its president, Nicolas Sarkozy, were 
dubbed Israel's "accomplices."
Signs and flags compared the Star of David to a swastika. As many as 50 
demonstrators carried several mannequins wrapped in bloody sheets above 
Palestinian flags. Protesters repeatedly called "Israel Assassin" and 
"Zionists, you are the terrorists."
The crowd booed as it passed a photo of France's first lady, Carla 
Bruni-Sarkozy, on the cover of a French Jewish publication, The Jewish 
Tribune.
Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protests took place simultaneously 
in other major French cities.








http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.16c524e9b669346c610be26d34121f4a.581&show_article=1

Europeans keep up protests against Israel's Gaza war

Jan 17 03:38 PM US/Eastern Comments (0)

Thousands of Palestine supporters hold banners and posters as they 
demonstr...

Thousands of protesters calling for Israel to stop its offensive in the 
Gaza Strip rallied in European cities Saturday, even as Israel 
reportedly is poised to declare a unilateral ceasefire.
In the French capital, an estimated 2,600 people, some carrying 
Palestinian flags, marched through the city centre behind a banner 
declaring "Palestinian resistance: Stop the French-Israeli collaboration".
Police however stepped in when the marchers reached the Garnier Opera 
plaza, using tear gas to stop some protesters who tried to force open a 
gate at the opera house. Several people were arrested, an AFP 
correspondent reported.
Similar protests were held in cities around France including Marseille 
where Mustapha Mohammadi, the head of a Franco-Palestinian peace group, 
told the crowd that in Gaza scenes of massacre were "taking place before 
the cameras and in the face of the passivity of the Americans and the 
Europeans".
In London, some 3,500 people filled Trafalgar Square, police said, for a 
protest billed as a "demonstration against Israel's barbarity and war 
crimes".
Veteran socialist Tony Benn called for Britain to kick out the Israeli 
ambassador and withdraw its top diplomat in Tel Aviv.
"We must negotiate with Hamas, now," the 83-year-old said, referring to 
the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, where more than 1,200 
Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli offensive began on 
December 27.
Israel's main ally the United States was a target of protesters' anger 
in Muslim-majority Turkey, where around 400 activists from a pro-Islamic 
group rallied across from the US embassy in Ankara.
They held banners reading "Down with the great Satan!" and "USA: You are 
shareholders of the crime organisation Israel" as riot police prevented 
them from approaching the embassy building.
On Istanbul's main commercial street, Amnesty International erected mock 
gravestones marked with "Killed while helping the injured" and "Died 
because of lack of medicines" to protest the killing of civilians in Gaza.
In Bosnia, with its large Muslim population, protestors wearing yellow 
armbands marked "Gaza" formed a line next to a former football pitch in 
Sarajevo that was turned into a cemetery during the country's 1992-1995 
civil war.
"What we want is to remind the people of Israel of Jewish suffering and 
to call on them to show solidarity with the suffering of the civilians 
in Gaza," said Bosnian film director Jasmila Zbanic, referring to the 
yellow armbands that Jews were forced to wear during the Holocaust.
"We who have survived the (Sarajevo) siege know that aggression is a 
horrific act," she added.
The UN European headquarters was the rallying point in Geneva for 
hundreds of protesters against Israel's attacks on Gaza, who formed a 
circle around rows of white bundles on the ground.
The bundles symbolised the "number of dead in Gaza", said one organiser 
Hafid Ouardiri.
"They did not die for nothing. They are dead so that the Palestinians 
can be free," he told AFP.
Many children were present at the Geneva protest "because children have 
become the symbol of those buffeted in this conflict," Ouardiri said.
Demonstrations also took place in cities around Spain and Belgium, and 
in Athens where more than 1,000 marched to the Israeli embassy, led by 
some 30 Palestinian immigrants.
The local Palestinian community also organised demonstrations in Berlin 
and in Rome, while a protest in Assisi drew former Italian prime 
minister Massimo D'Alema who has criticised the Israeli offensive for 
fuelling Arab extremist propaganda and damaging Israeli interests.
While Europeans have displayed chiefly pro-Palestinian sentiment in most 
demonstrations, support for Israel could be seen Saturday in the Swiss 
capital Bern at a rally that drew some 1,500 people, the Swiss news 
agency ATS reported.
Karl-Hartmut Moerschel, who heads the Bern section of the Swiss-Israel 
association, told told the gathering that the Gaza offensive was 
"necessary and fair."
On the Israeli side, 10 soldiers and three civilians have been killed in 
combat or in rocket strikes by militants in Gaza, who have fired more 
than 700 rockets and mortar rounds into Israel since the start of the 
war, according to the Israeli army.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was poised to announce a unilateral ceasefire 
later Saturday after a security council meeting, a senior government 
official told AFP, even as troops assaulted Gaza from land, air and sea.





http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-01/2009-01-12-voa1.cfm?CFID=170300102&CFTOKEN=14218354&jsessionid=84305d04994891016cef7937791136c2ef7d

Gaza Protests Held in Many Countries
By VOA News
12 January 2009

Protesters shout slogans against the Israeli offensive in Gaza during a 
demonstration in Madrid, 11 Jan 2009
Thousands of people in London's Trafalgar Square protested Israel's 
actions, while counter-protesters stationed themselves nearby to call 
out support for Israel.

Thousands also marched in Brussels, Belgium, and in Madrid, Spain. The 
rallies were a continuation of the protests that took place a day 
earlier in cities worldwide.

Saturday, several thousand demonstrators in Washington gathered in a 
park across the street from the White House to protest Israel's 
offensive against Gaza.

The protesters carried Palestinian flags and shouted slogans in support 
of the Palestinians in Gaza.

In France, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the 
capital, Paris. Protests were also held in smaller cities around the 
country.





http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3937287,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

| 12.01.2009 | 01:00 UTC
Protests pro and contra in Europe
Demonstrations against the Israeli offensive in Gaza ended in violent 
incidents in Brussels and Madrid on Sunday while in other European 
cities pro-Israeli demonstrators, mainly led by Jewish groups, denounced 
Hamas. In the Belgian capital police say they arrested 10 people after 
30,000 demonstrators had protested Israel's assault on Gaza. As they 
dispersed, some protestors smashed windows and overturned cars. In 
Madrid a march by tens of thousands, including students and trade 
unionists, ended in arrests when several hundred people allegedly threw 
stones. Pro-Israeli demonstrations were held in the German cities of 
Berlin, Frankfurt and Munich. The president of the Central Council of 
Jews in Germany, Charlotte Koch, said sole responsibility for civilian 
deaths on both sides lay with Hamas because of what she called its acts 
of murder and destabilisation for years in the Middle East.







http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/10/israel.gaza.uk.protests/index.html?eref=edition_europe

January 11, 2009 -- Updated 0507 GMT (1307 HKT)

Protesters across Europe call for end to Gaza conflict
? Story Highlights
? Three arrested after London protest becomes unruly; officer knocked out
? Police say 20,000 gathered outside Israeli Embassy in London
? Similar demonstrations take place in other European cities
? 3,000 protest outside temporary residence of U.S. President-elect Obama
(CNN) -- Thousands of demonstrators marched through cities across Europe 
on Saturday, calling for an immediate end to Israel's attacks on Gaza.

A protester swings a club at a police horse Saturday night near London's 
Israeli Embassy. ?

Up to 20,000 people were gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in London, 
England, at the peak of protests there, London Metropolitan Police said.
A police officer was knocked unconscious Saturday night as the protests 
turned unruly, the police said.
The London crowd dismantled barriers placed in front of the embassy and 
began pelting officers with sticks, rocks and pieces of the metal 
barriers, police said. Three people were arrested.
Organizers including the Stop the War Coalition and the Palestine 
Solidarity Campaign expected more than 100,000 people to join the London 
march to protest Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza.
Celebrities including musician Annie Lennox and Bianca Jagger, musician 
Mick Jagger's ex-wife, spoke at a rally before the procession, which 
went from Hyde Park to the Israeli Embassy in Kensington, West London. 
Watch demonstrators throw bottles, metal at police ?
Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, 
also spoke at the rally, The Times newspaper reported.
During her speech, Booth criticized Blair over his attempts to bring 
about a resolution to the conflict.
"Tony Blair's only comment regarding the cease-fire has been to say that 
it can only take place after the tunnels in Gaza are destroyed," The 
Times quoted her as saying.
"What he is suggesting means that after the massacre, people will have 
no access to food, kerosene and medicines that came through those 
tunnels. That is not a cease-fire; that is a slow agonizing death," she 
said, according to The Times.
Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone issued a statement backing the 
demonstration.
"Every day, we see appalling pictures of children slaughtered by Israeli 
bombs, missiles and other sophisticated weapons," he said. "Yet with 
more than 700 dead and thousands more seriously wounded, the 
international community is allowing Israel to continue its completely 
disproportionate onslaught accompanied by an Orwellian litany of lies."
Meanwhile, the British Press Association reported that similar 
demonstrations took place in other British cities, including Newcastle 
and Edinburgh.
Thousands took part in a rally through the center of Edinburgh calling 
for an end to the military campaign. About 300 shoes and red paint were 
thrown toward the U.S. consulate in the Scottish capital, the PA said.
Thousands demonstrated in other European cities, according to local 
media reports, including Innsbruck, Austria; Paris, France; Milan, 
Italy; Berlin, Germany; and Oslo, Norway. iReport: Protests in Paris
In Washington, pro-Palestinian activists rallied outside the temporary 
residence of President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday and called on the 
incoming leader to stop the violence in Gaza.
About 3,000 people carrying signs and chanting "Free Palestine" flooded 
Lafayette Park between the White House and the Hay-Adams Hotel, where 
the president-elect is living with his family.
Carrying a flag and wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh head scarf, 
Abdel-Kader Elkabil exhorted the president-elect to take action.
"Please, Mr. Obama, do something. We love you. We voted for you," he 
said. "I'm expecting you to do something. ... You're the only one who 
can do something."
Asma Mobin-Uddin drove to Washington with a group of 500 activists from 
Ohio. She said she voted for Obama because she believed he could "make a 
difference."
"President Obama, look in the eyes of your kids and look in the eyes of 
the kids in that region," she said at the rally. "Please, stop the 
violence, stop the hate, stop the occupation."

Israelis say their Gaza military operation, which started December 27, 
is targeting rocket-launching sites, Hamas infrastructure and the 
movement's leaders in an effort to stop militants from sending rockets 
into southern Israel.
Palestinian medical sources said that more than 800 Palestinians have 
been killed in the attacks, including 235 children, and about 3,300 
people have been wounded. Thirteen Israelis, including 10 soldiers, have 
died since the operation began.





http://www.myantiwar.org/view/168926.html

Last update - 23:19 28/12/2008

Anti-Israel protests over Gaza raids draw thousands across Europe By DPA 
and the Associated Press Tags: hamas, israel, israel news
More than 1,000 people staged protests in Paris on Sunday against one of 
Israel's strike on Palestinian militants, police said, as the French 
government pushed for a halt to fighting.

"Some 1,300 people gathered in northern Paris in the Barbes 
neighborhood, and 150 gathered near the landmark Arc de Triomphe," a 
police spokeswoman said. The Barbes neighborhood has a large Arab 
population. "Both protests were peaceful," she added.

Near Champs-Elysees, several police vans and officers formed a broad 
security perimeter around the tightly guarded Israeli Embassy.

Advertisement

French President Nicolas Sarkozy held telephone talks Sunday with 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and condemned what he called "the 
provocations that led to this situation as well as the disproportionate 
use of force."

France appears to be trying to use its last days as United Nations' 
president to press for a halt to fighting. On Thursday France will pass 
the EU presidency to the Czech Republic.

"Europe has a role to play," French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner 
said in an interview published Sunday.

Kouchner spoke to Abbas and Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit on 
Saturday.

"The Egyptians are capable of restarting the peace process, we must help 
them," Kouchner said, and noted that the attacks come in a context of 
vacancy of power in Israel and the U.S. as both countries are undergoing 
leadership transitions.

Manwhile, some 2,000 people staged a noisy protest outside the Israeli 
embassy in London on Sunday in response to Israeli air strikes that left 
hundreds dead in the Gaza Strip.

Police were forced to call in reinforcements after protesters tore down 
barriers holding them back and hurled projectiles in the direction of 
the diplomatic mission.

Six people were charged with disturbing public order after police 
forcibly removed a number of protesters from the gathering in the west 
of London.

Traffic in the area ground to a halt as the protest swelled from an 
initial group of 500 Palestinians and other people opposed to the 
Israeli military action in Gaza.

"Israel is a terrorist state," chanted demonstrators as Palestinian 
flags were waved. Other protesters held up posters reading "Holocaust in 
Gaza."

British Foreign Secretary David Milliband called for an "immediate halt 
to all violence" in Gaza. He said a cease-fire was urgently needed to 
halt the "massive loss of life" from the Israeli bombings.

Milliband said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown had contacted his 
Israeli counterpart Ehud Olmert and made it clear Israel must stick by 
its humanitarian obligations

(Haaretz)





http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-01/2009-01-10-voa11.cfm?CFID=168734828&CFTOKEN=60361228&jsessionid=88307baace9d6e1eb3f563574d49361a3f7b

Europeans Protest Gaza Violence
By VOA News
10 January 2009


Protesters gather during a rally against Israeli military action in the 
Gaza Strip at Hyde Park in London, 10 Jan 2009
Tens of thousands of people turned out to protest the ongoing violence 
in Gaza Saturday in demonstrations in Western European cities.

In London, protesters massed outside the Israeli Embassy, waving 
Palestinian flags and calling for an immediate end to Israel's military 
strikes on Gaza. The demonstrators - British Muslims, members of 
left-leaning political groups, and students, among others - held up huge 
banners condemning the attacks as a crime against humanity.

In France, tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the 
capital, Paris. Protests were also held in smaller cities around the 
country.

In the German city of Duisburg, an estimated 10-thousand people marched 
through the streets to call for a lifting of the blockade and for an 
immediate end to the violence in Gaza. The protest was peaceful, 
although several demonstrators did throw snowballs at an Israeli flag.

Protests were also held in the German capital, Berlin.

News reports say a pro-Israeli rally is scheduled to take place on 
Sunday in London's Trafalgar Square.

Separately, in Algeria, a government statement said at least 60 people 
were injured during an anti-Israeli protest in the capital, Algiers, on 
Friday. The Interior Ministry said at least 40 protesters and 23 police 
officers were injured when police clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators.





http://livenews.com.au/Article/Index/166200?channel=home

11 January 2009 9:09 AM 0 comments | Have your say
European protesters call for a halt to Gaza conflict

Australian Associated Press
The most appalling violence is happening in Gaza - a few punch-ups 
outside the Israeli embassy is neither here nor there
Veteran left-wing campaigner Tariq Ali
Tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied across Europe on Saturday to 
call for an end to Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The two biggest protests took place in London and Paris, with largely 
peaceful demonstrations in both capitals turning violent as the day wore on.

In London, angry demonstrators hurled sticks and stones at police 
outside the Israeli embassy as officers in riot gear and on horseback 
charged the crowd to keep them away from the building in the upmarket 
Kensington district. Police made 24 arrests.

Veteran left-wing campaigner Tariq Ali, who had led the march, said: 
"The most appalling violence is happening in Gaza - a few punch-ups 
outside the Israeli embassy is neither here nor there."

Organisers hoped 100,000 people would attend the London rally, which 
began in Hyde Park before progressing to the Israeli embassy. Police 
estimated the crowd at 12,000.

About 30,000 people marched through Paris, the interior ministry said, 
and more than 90,000 joined protests in more than 120 towns and cities 
elsewhere in France.

In the capital, thousands of French men and women of Arab origin 
carrying Palestinian banners joined forces with left-wing militants amid 
cries of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greater) and "Israel murderer."

Protesters smashed a bus shelter and a telephone box in central Paris, 
and bottles were later thrown at riot police and shop windows smashed.

Police fired teargas after mobs overturned motor scooters and set them 
on fire.

A march in the southern city of Nice descended into violence. Seven 
police were hurt and 11 rioters arrested as youths broke off from a 
2,500-strong crowd of protesters and smashed shop windows.

Demonstrations took place on the streets of other European cities 
including Athens, Berlin, Budapest, Oslo, Sarajevo and Stockholm.

Israel's offensive on Gaza went into a third week on Saturday as planes 
carried out more air strikes, while troops clashed with Hamas fighters 
despite international calls for a ceasefire as the death toll rose above 
800.

Meanwhile, Hamas and other armed groups fired at least 13 rockets into 
Israel, wounding four people, the Israeli army said.

In Sarajevo, peace activist Svetlana Broz told a 1,000-strong 
pro-Palestinian demonstration that the city knew better than others 
"what happens when the world remains silent at a time when innocent 
civilians suffer", referring to the bloody siege of the city in the 
1992-95 war in the former Yugoslavia.

Police in Oslo fired teargas after a small group among a crowd of 2,000 
pelted them with stones and up to 5,000 demonstrators gathered outside 
the Israeli embassy in Stockholm to call for an end to the military 
campaign.

More than 6,000 people gathered for a peaceful rally in Berlin with 
similar shows of support for the Palestinians in Munich and Cologne.

In western Germany, some 10,000 people, largely from the ethnic Turkish 
community, protested in Duisburg. Police briefly intervened when 
demonstrators threw snowballs at a window bearing two Israeli flags.

Innsbruck in western Austria staged a peaceful protest of 3,500 people 
waving banners saying "Stop Israeli terror" and 7,000 protesters turned 
out in Bern, Switzerland.

In Athens, more than 2,000 people took part in a protest staged by 
left-wing groups and thousands demonstrated in Milan and Turin.

A rally is planned in Madrid on Sunday, while a pro-Israeli 
demonstration is scheduled to take place in London.






http://www.deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705275015,00.html

Thousands in European cities protest Israeli bombardment of Gaza
By Jill Lawless
Associated Press
Published: Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009 12:10 a.m. MST

LONDON ? Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in European cities on 
Saturday against Israel's bombardment of Gaza, including protesters who 
hurled shoes at the tall iron gates outside the British prime minister's 
residence in London.
Amid increasing criticism of Israel, international diplomatic efforts 
are growing to end the strikes, which have killed more than 460 people 
and left 1,700 injured. Late Saturday, Israel launched a ground 
offensive, sending tanks and infantry into Gaza.
In London, at least 10,000 people, many carrying Palestinian flags, 
marched past Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Downing Street residence to a 
rally in Trafalgar Square. Outside Downing Street, hundreds of 
protesters stopped and threw shoes at the gates that block entry to the 
narrow road.
Shoe-throwing has become a popular gesture of protest and contempt since 
an Iraqi journalist pelted U.S. President George W. Bush with a pair of 
brogues in Baghdad last month.
Police estimated the crowd in London at 10,000 to 12,000, but organizers 
said the number was much higher. The marchers included activist Bianca 
Jagger, ex-Eurythmics singer Annie Lennox and comedian Alexei Sayle.
Story continues below

"As a Jew, it's very moving to see so many people who are so outraged at 
Israel's actions," Sayle said. "Israel is a democratic country that is 
behaving like a terrorist organization."
After the rally, about 5,000 protesters marched on the Israeli Embassy 
in west London. Some youths burned Israeli flags and scuffled with 
police and hurled bottles and sticks at officers in riot gear. Several 
demonstrators were led away by police after leaping over metal barriers 
holding them back from the embassy.
Protest organizers accused police of charging into groups of 
demonstrators on the way to the embassy and said they would file a 
complaint.
In the United States, hundreds of protesters participated in a 
pro-Palestinian demonstration along New York's 42nd Street in front of 
Bryant Park.
Rallies also were held in other British cities ? including Manchester, 
Liverpool and Glasgow ? and across Europe. Protests in Paris, Amsterdam, 
Rome and Berlin all drew thousands of people.
In Paris, police said 21,000 marched through the streets, shouting "We 
are all Palestinians" and "Israel assassin." Later, about 500 of the 
protesters turned violent, throwing objects at police, burning Israeli 
flags, overturning and torching cars, and vandalizing several shops, 
police said. Ten police officers were injured in the clashes and 20 
protesters arrested, a Paris police spokeswoman said.
Angry protests continued for a second day in Turkey, where about 5,000 
demonstrators shouted "killer Israel" in downtown Ankara.
In The Netherlands, thousands of people marched through Amsterdam, 
criticizing both the Israeli attacks and the Dutch government's failure 
to condemn them. One banner declared: "Anne Frank is turning in her 
grave. Oh Israel!"
More than 4,000 people demonstrated in Duesseldorf, Germany, and some 
5,000 in Frankfurt. One group in Duesseldorf held up a doll representing 
a bleeding baby with the placard "Made in Israel."
In Berlin, more than 7,000 people braved freezing temperatures for a 
march along the capital's Unter den Linden boulevard.
Another 2,500 demonstrated in Salzburg, Austria, while scores protested 
peacefully in Madrid outside the Spanish Foreign Ministry.
Hundreds more marched in the Swedish cities of Malmo and Uppsala, while 
in Oslo, Norway demonstrators marched from the parliament to the Israeli 
Embassy, calling on Israel to "let Gaza live."
In Athens, Greece ? the scene of violent demonstrations by anarchist 
youths over the past month ? a few of the 5,000 protesters threw stones 
and petrol bombs at police outside the Israeli Embassy. Riot police 
retaliated with tear gas and stun grenades.




http://jta.org/news/article/2008/12/31/1001931/belgian-protesters-turn-to-vandalism

Belgian protesters turn to vandalism
December 31, 2008
BRUSSELS, Belgium (JTA) -- Belgian demonstrators against Israel's 
operation in Gaza vandalized cars and attacked buses.
A Wednesday demonstration in Antwerp organized by the Arab-European 
League, a Flemish political group, was disbanded by police after youths 
vandalized the area around the protest, smashing car windows and 
attacking trams and buses on the streets.
Two hundred of the participants began walking in the direction of 
Antwerp's Jewish community, at which time police brought the rioters 
under control.
Warned by police, most area businesses had closed their shops ahead of 
the arrival of the youths, preventing damage. According to Belgian news 
sources, the situation was under control by late afternoon, when an imam 
urged the rioters to calm down.





http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/01/09/nb-08

Demonstrators in Sarajevo protest bombings in Gaza
09/01/2009
SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) -- Several hundred people 
demonstrated outside the US Embassy in Sarajevo on Thursday (January 
8th) against the Israeli military operation in Gaza. The protesters 
carried posters reading "Srebrenica 1995 -- Gaza 2009" and "Palestine is 
another Bosnia". They demanded that Washington pressure Israel into 
ending its offensive against Hamas militants. Government officials have 
said that Palestinians injured in the conflict can receive treatment at 
hospitals in three BiH cities, including Sarajevo. (AFP, Anadolu news 
agency - 08/01/09)





http://portokalada.com/contents/Hundreds_protest_in_Cyprus_over_violence_in_Gaza.9722

Hundreds protest in Cyprus over violence in Gaza
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators have pelted Cypriot riot police with 
rocks, sticks, shoes and oranges near the Israeli embassy in Nicosia.
A peaceful protest turned violent Saturday when some protesters tried to 
pull away barbed wire and break through a line of riot police blocking a 
road leading to the Israeli embassy.
The demonstrators eventually stopped and dispersed after protest leaders 
pleaded with them to stop.
About 2,000 demonstrators, including Palestinians and Greek and Turkish 
Cypriots, had earlier converged in the center of the Cypriot capital to 
protest Israel's 8-day old air bombing campaign in Gaza.
It was the largest protest on the Mediterranean island so far on issue 
of Gaza, and organizers vowed that protests would continue.
Source: International Herald Tribune





http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/12/content_10643819.htm

Fresh protest in Spain condemns Israeli raids in Gaza

People take part in a demonstration on Jan. 11, 2009 in Madrid, capital 
of Spain, to protest against Israeli's continued military attacks on the 
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. (Xinhua/Chen Haitong)

MADRID, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of people Sunday marched 
through the center of this Spanish capital to condemn the Israeli raids 
in the Gaza Strip.
During the protest, the protesters burnt Israeli flags and chanted 
slogans such as "Stop the genocide in Palestine."
The march began in the Cibeles Square and ended with a gathering in 
Madrid's landmark Puerta del Sol square.
In a statement, the protestors condemned the "inhuman" Israeli military 
actions in Gaza. They also blamed Israel's retaliation on the launching 
of rockets from Hamas.
Some politicians called for a ceasefire in Gaza and urged the Spanish 
government to consult with the Israeli ambassador in Spain.
Israel's offensive on Gaza continued Sunday as planes unleashed more 
airstrikes, while ground troops clashed with Hamas fighters despite 
international calls for a ceasefire.





http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1231424926621&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Jan 11, 2009 19:09 | Updated Jan 11, 2009 19:48
Some 100,000 demonstrators protest 'massacre in Gaza' in Spain
By ASSOCIATED PRESS


Be the first to rate this | Top Rated Articles [?]
More than 100,000 people marched through Spain's capital and other 
cities Sunday calling for Israel to announce an immediate cease-fire in 
Gaza.
The protest in Madrid was the largest of demonstrations across Europe 
expressing both support and opposition for the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Protesters filled downtown boulevards carrying banners saying "Peace," 
"SOS Gaza," placards with the word "Gaza" above a red-stained hand and 
mock blood-spattered bodies of children.
Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem's mother Pilar, also an actress, was 
among speakers who addressed the crowd.





http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafp081231025022.a1krojhxp2&show_article=1

Protesters demonstrate in Girona, Spain

Protesters demonstrate in Girona, Spain, against the Israeli military 
offensive in the Gaza Strip. Protesters denouncing Israel's deadly 
bombardment of the Gaza Strip returned to the streets in demonstrations 
around the world to keep up the pressure for an end to the violence.





http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/31/content_10583464.htm

Hundreds protest in downtown Sofia against Israeli attack on Gaza

SOFIA, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Several hundred Palestinians, representatives 
of Arab associations and Bulgarians staged a rallyin downtown Sofia on 
Tuesday afternoon, protesting Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, 
which have entered the fourth day.
The protesters handed a declaration to Bulgarian President Georgi 
Parvanov, appealing that Bulgaria, in its capacity as a member of the 
European Union, should provide support for the restoration of peace in 
the Gaza Strip.
The protesters chanted "Long Live Palestine" and carried posters that 
read "Muslims are for peace," "How long will there be innocent victims?" 
and "Killed children do not grow up."
Earlier on Tuesday, the Ambassador of the Palestinian Authority to 
Bulgaria Ahmed al-Madbuh held a special press conference and called upon 
the international community to exert pressure on Israel to stop its 
military actions and restore peace in Gaza.
"What is happening in Gaza is a real massacre," the ambassador said, 
adding that Israel is violating all UN resolutions concerning the 
conflict in Gaza, and that the Israeli leadership must be tried for 
military crimes.
According to the ambassador, so far more than 400 Palestinians had been 
killed and 2,000 others wounded -- including 150 children and at least 
100 women -- in the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza.
Madbuh also compared Israel's policy towards the Arab population in Gaza 
to the policy of Nazi Germany towards the Jews in World War II.





http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100348

Protest Wave against Israeli Actions in Gaza Spreads to Bulgaria's Plovdiv
Politics | January 9, 2009, Friday

Bulgarian Muslims protesting against the Israeli attacks on Gaza 
gathered in downtown Plovdiv Friday, carrying a stretcher with a blood 
stained doll with a rocket in her chest and posters with pictures of 
dismembered bodies. Photo by Victor Kadiri
Bulgarian Muslims, protesting against the Israeli attacks on Gaza, 
gathered in downtown Plovdiv Friday, carrying on a stretcher a blood 
stained doll with a rocket in her chest and posters with pictures of 
dismembered bodies.

The crowd of 200 people shouted "Israelis are terrorists" and "We want 
peace for Palestine".

The Chair of the Mosque Board Dzhamiset Dzhafer had warned earlier that 
Plovdiv could expect a rally of about 2,000 protesters.

Dzhafer read a protest declaration from the Muslim community in Plovdiv 
and the region, condemning the "atrocious Israeli actions and the 
merciless massacre of women, children and elderly people".

Dzafer appealed to all international social and political organizations 
to become more active and halt the military operations in Gaza.

So far, Muslims from Plovdiv have collected through a charity campaign 
about BGN 1,000 and three sacks of clothes for the Muslim population in 
the conflict area.

Despite the UN description of the situation in Gaza as an "increasingly 
alarming" humanitarian crisis and the Sofia and Plovdiv protests, the 
Israeli Ambassador to Sofia Noah Gal- Gendler stated Friday that there 
was no such crisis, adding that children and women were dieing because 
the Hamas fighters used them as human shields.




http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100168

600 Protest in Bulgaria's Madan against Israel Air Strikes in Gaza
Politics | January 2, 2009, Friday

Several hundred protested against the Israeli air strikes on Gaza in 
Bulgaria's town of Madan on Friday. Photo by BGNES
More than 600 people rallied in the southern Bulgarian town of Madan 
Friday afternoon in protest against the continuing Israeli air strikes 
in the Gaza Strip.

Most of the participants came to the rally right after they attended the 
Madan mosque for the Friday prayer. Many of the 7 000 inhabitants of the 
town are Muslims. The peaceful protest rally was organized at the 
initiative of the local Muslim trusteeship.

The protesters agreed on a declaration calling upon the Bulgarian 
institutions to be as active as possible in order to contribute to the 
settlement of the conflict.

"The world governments must know that the fight against terrorism cannot 
be equal to the murder of millions of Muslims, and that this is just 
exacerbating the tragedy and bloodshed in the Middle East region", the 
declaration reads.

The protesters carried posters and banners written in Bulgarian, 
English, and Arab, stating "Islam Is Peace, Not War" and "Stop the War 
in Gaza". Many of them said they believed that the present conflict in 
the Gaza Strip amounted to a clear-cut aggression on part of Israel. The 
rally concluded with a prayer for peace.

This is the second protest rally in Bulgaria against the Middle East 
conflict. On December 30, 2008, several hundred Palestinians, Arabs, and 
Bulgarians staged a rally in downtown Sofia protesting against Israel's 
air strikes in the Gaza Strip.




http://www.nowpublic.com/world/protest-against-israel-reykjavik-iceland-today

Protest against Israel in Reykjavik - Iceland today
Share:
by dorisig007 | December 30, 2008 at 02:46 pm
Protest against Israel in Reykjavik - Iceland today-Video-01
see larger video
uploaded by dorisig007
Today at 16:00 hours ,local time (GMT ) there was a protest meeting in 
downtown Reykjavik. There ,speaches where held against the Israeli 
attack on the the Palenstinians. Few dozen people attended the protest . 
And then they went to the USA embassy to protest some more One member of 
Parliement , mr Ogmundur Jonasson ,made a speach against the Israeli 
attack. Now they where not protesting against the banking crisis - that 
will be tomorrow. I took a little video clip






http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/251096,germans-protest-against-gaza-hostilities.html

Germans protest against Gaza hostilities
Posted : Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:57:05 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Europe (World)

Berlin - Demonstrators attacked a pro-Israeli stand on Saturday during 
rallies in German cities against the war in Gaza. The incident occurred 
in the northern city of Kassel, where hundreds of protesters marched 
through the streets calling for an end to the hostilities.
A small group of protesters tried to grab Israeli flags and posters from 
the stand, while other demonstrators egged them on. Police defused the 
situation and the march proceeded.
No violence was reported from two other rallies called by the Islamic 
communities in the northern ports of Hamburg and Kiel. More than 1,100 
people took art in the protests, police said.
The day's biggest rally took place in the German capital Berlin where 
some 10,000 people were expected.
A Berlin court allowed participants to canvas support for the radical 
Hamas organization that rules Gaza after overturning a ban on such 
action imposed by city authorities.
More than 1,200 Palestinians have been killed and over 5,200 wounded 
since Israel launched a military assault on the Gaza Strip three weeks ago.





http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/46234,opinion,gaza-european-protestors-dare-to-mention-the-holocaust

German protestors dare to compare Israelis to Nazis

European guilt about the Holocaust is receding in the face of Israeli 
aggresssion ? and there?s nothing anti-semitic about it
By Neil Clark
FIRST POSTED JANUARY 6, 2008
As a Jew, it's very moving to see so many people who are so outraged at 
Israel's actions," said the comedian Alexei Sayle after Saturday's 
10,000-strong anti-war protest in London. He would certainly be moved by 
the reaction of the people of Europe to Israel's military aggression.
Last weekend thousands of Europeans took part in anti-Israel 
demonstrations. In Paris, around 25,0000 demonstrators, many wearing 
Palestinian headscarves, marched through the city chanting slogans such 
as "Israel killers" and "We are all Palestinians". In the Netherlands, 
thousands marched through Amsterdam, criticising the Israeli attacks and 
the Dutch government's failure to condemn them. One banner declared: 
"Anne Frank is turning in her grave. Oh Israel!"
Protestors have not been afraid to compare Israel's treatment of the 
Palestinians to the Nazis' treatment of the Jews. In Stockholm, 
protestors set fire to an Israeli flag painted with a swastika. In 
Madrid more than 1,000 people marched, many carrying banners equating 
Zionism with Nazism. One banner declared: "This is not a war but a 
genocide".
Anti-Israel protestors in Belgrade

Some of the biggest demonstrations were in countries where for 
historical reasons, people have previously felt particularly inhibited 
about expressing criticism of the Jewish state. In Salzburg in Austria 
around 2,500 people took to the streets. In Germany there were sizeable 
demonstrations in several cities: around 10,000 people protested in 
Frankfurt, a further 7,000 in Berlin. In Dusseldorf protestors held up a 
doll representing a bleeding baby with the placard "Made in Israel".
The significance of these protests cannot be underestimated. For most of 
the first 60 years of its existence, Israel got an easy ride from 
Europeans due to European guilt over the Holocaust. But as revulsion 
over Israel's treatment of the Palestinians grows, the 'Holocaust card' 
- long used by Zionists in order to stifle legitimate debate over 
Israel's actions - no longer has the same impact.
Zionists will, of course, claim that the growing European opposition to 
Israel is a sign that the continent is reverting to anti-semitism; the 
staunchly pro-Israel commentator Melanie Phillips has already dismissed 
the anti-Israel protestors as "leftists, Jew-haters, Muslims and useful 
idiots".
But the most striking thing about the demonstrations to date has been 
the absence of anti-semitism. Anger is rising across Europe, but it is 
anger directed against the state of Israel - not Jews in general; in 
fact in some demonstrations, such as the one in London, Jewish groups 
themselves took part.
"Everybody is somebody's Jew. And the Palestinians are the Jews of the 
Israelis", the Jewish writer and holocaust survivor Primo Levi once 
famously remarked. It seems an increasing number of people across Europe 
are coming to the same conclusion.







http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3935288,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

| 10.01.2009 | 16:00 UTC
Thousands in German city protest Israeli offensive
Some 10,000 people have marched through the western German city of 
Duisburg protesting against the Israeli offensive in Gaza. The 
demonstrators called for an immediate end to the violence and a lifting 
of the blockade on Gaza. The demonstration was organized by the regional 
office of Milli Gorus, a group whose founder advocates creating an 
Islamic state in Turkey.



http://jta.org/news/article/2009/01/04/1001973/berlin-protests-turn-anti-semitic

Berlin arrests 8 in Israel protest
January 4, 2009
BERLIN (JTA) -- Police made eight arrests during a demonstration by 
thousands against Israel in Berlin.
Berlin's Jewish community also filed charges of incitement to hate based 
on posters displayed at a separate protest on Dec. 29.
An estimated 7,000 people turned out for Saturday's march, one of 
several held in European cities over the weekend protesting Israel's 
military operation in the Gaza Strip. In Berlin, some marchers demanded 
the right of return for Palestinians, referred to citizens in Gaza as 
prisoners, and charged Israel with blocking delivery of food and medicine.
Some clearly anti-Semitic posters were displayed, said Levi Salomon, who 
coordinates the task force against anti-Semitism for Berlin's Jewish 
community. Salomon told JTA he saw a family with small children holding 
a sign that read "Israelis are child murderers." Police arrested the 
adults at his urging, Salomon said, adding that what made the statement 
illegal was its condemnation of Israelis as a people.
Police spokesman Michael Mass told JTA said that while the demonstration 
was "for the most part peaceful," arrests were made on charges that 
included incitement to hate, breach of peace and violating the right to 
assembly. Mass said
Calling a demonstration peaceful gives the press and public "a false 
idea," Salomon said, and added that even some legal slogans "can be 
described as anti-Semitic." For example, Salomon said, he saw and heard 
slogans at recent demonstrations including "'intifada to the bitter 
end," "Israel mass murderer," "Zionists are fascists" and "Olmert is a 
murderer."
Salomon said he filed a suit in Berlin on Jan. 2 in connection with a 
demonstration four days earlier where protesters were reported to be 
carrying signs reading "death to Israel," "s**t Jews" and "Juden Raus," 
or "kick out the Jews." No further information was available about the 
suit, Mass told JTA.



http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/248170,germany-defends-israeli-action-in-gaza-protest-in-berlin--summary.html

Germany defends Israeli action in Gaza; protest in Berlin - Summary
Posted : Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:06:23 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Europe (World)

More than 1,000 people demonstrated in Berlin on Monday against Israel's 
military action. Police said the protest, organized by various Arab 
groups, passed off without incident.
Ahmed Muhaisen, chairman of the Palestinian community in the German 
capital, said the protesters wanted to express their solidarity with the 
Palestinian people.





http://www.gmanews.tv/story/143620/10000-protest-Gaza-violence-in-Germany

10,000 protest Gaza violence in Germany
01/10/2009 | 09:01 PM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | ShareThis
BERLIN ? About 10,000 people are marching through the western German 
city of Duisburg to protest the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The demonstrators call for an immediate end to the violence and a 
lifting of the blockade of Gaza.

Organizer Engin Karahan says the marchers want to show "our solidarity 
with the victims in the Gaza Strip, and signal our opposition to the 
oppression and violence in Gaza."

Protesters threw snowballs at two Israeli flags that hang from the 
windows of a house along the demonstration route, but otherwise no 
incidents have been reported.

The demonstration Saturday was organized by the regional office of Milli 
Gorus, a group whose founder advocates creating an Islamic state in 
Turkey. - AP





http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1056230.html

17/01/2009

Thousands march in Rome to protest Israel's Gaza offensive By Reuters 
Tags: Hamas, France, Israel News
Thousands of people waving Palestinian flags marched through Rome on 
Saturday in a demonstration against Israel's offensive in Gaza.

Some of the demonstrators held banners with Nazi swastikas super-imposed 
on the Star of David.

Others carried large pictures of Palestinian children killed since 
Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Dec. 27. Ground troops 
pushed in a week later.

A large banner reading "Life, land and liberty for the Palestinian 
people" led the Rome demonstration.

Another demonstration for peace in Gaza took place in Assisi, the 
central Italian city where St. Francis was born.

The Vatican, meanwhile, announced that Pope Benedict had sent an 
unspecified amount of money from his personal charity funds to help the 
tiny Catholic population in Gaza.

Thousands protest in Paris against IDF Gaza op
Thousands of protesters marched Saturday in Paris in a show of
support for Gaza Palestinians, though police cut the event short before 
it reached its intended destination, the Israeli embassy.

The march was the third major pro-Palestinian protest in the French 
capital in as many weeks. It appeared largely unmarred by the kinds of 
violence - like the burning of cars and smashing of windows - that hit 
the previous demonstrations.

Paris police officials said 2,600 people took part in Saturday's march. 
The protest's organizers, EuroPalestine, said 18,000 people had turned 
out. A separate protest Saturday in eastern Paris drew some 450 people, 
the police said.

Demonstrators held a banner reading Stop the Franco-Israeli 
collaboration and brandished Palestinian flags to protest Israel's 
deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip. The fighting - launched by Israel on 
Dec. 27 to stop rocket fire into its territory - has killed more than 
1,100 Palestinians and 13 Israelis, including 10 soldiers.

Demonstrator Jennifer Reghioui, a 35-year-old secretary, said she turned 
out for the march to show the French people, who are asleep at the 
wheel, that just a few hours from here, a massacre is taking place.

The protest's organizers had announced they would march from the city 
center to Israel's embassy, in the smart eighth district. But their 
route was changed at the last minute and marchers went only as far as 
the Place de l'Opera.

Police officials declined to comment on the change, but French media 
reported that police had refused marchers permission to congregate 
outside the embassy for security reasons.

Demonstrators burned at least three Israeli and U.S. flags, or crude, 
handmade drawings of the flags, but the event was largely peaceful





http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LB20239.htm

Italian minister blasts Muslim protesters' prayers
11 Jan 2009 16:49:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Deepa Babington
ROME, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Italy's defence minister warned the country's 
Muslims to stop further "provocations" after thousands held prayers in 
public squares in Milan during pro-Palestinian demonstrations over the 
past week.
Ignazio La Russa, from the right-wing National Alliance, said he did not 
oppose protests or want to deny anyone the right to pray, but called the 
public prayers a challenge to peace.
"I say enough of the provocations of Islamists in Milan," he told Il 
Giornale newspaper on Sunday. "In Milan, a legitimate demonstration 
ended in a deliberately provocative mosque under the open sky."
Thousands of Muslims knelt with their heads bowed to the ground in 
prayer before Milan's central train station in one of several 
pro-Palestinian protests on Saturday.
A week ago, Muslims held prayers in front of Milan's central cathedral, 
angering right-wing politicians in the overwhelming Catholic country who 
called it an affront to Christianity.
Muslim leaders later apologised, saying no offence was intended. There 
are about 1 million Muslims in Italy, making up almost two percent of 
the population.
"What would have happened if a group of Christians gathered together to 
pray with a rosary before Mecca? They probably would have been stoned," 
said La Russa, who described himself as a practicising Catholic who 
attends Mass almost every Sunday.
Milan's deputy mayor issued a similar warning to Muslims, saying four 
protests in seven days was too much.
"Enough with pro-Hamas marches now," said Riccardo De Corato. "Milan is 
not a province of Gaza and has no intention of reluctantly instituting 
this type of 'Gaza Saturdays.'"
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition, which 
includes the hardline anti-immigrant Northern League, has clashed with 
Italy's Muslim community in the past.
It irked Muslims last year with plans to block the construction of new 
mosques in Italy.
Protests against the Israeli offensive continued in Italy on Sunday, 
with 3,000 people marching through the centre of Naples. Another 1,000 
held hands to form a human chain and march through Rome's historic 
centre to demand an end to violence in Gaza. (Editing by Katie Nguyen)





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/249863,protests-staged-in-italy-against-israeli-attacks-on-gaza.html

Protests staged in Italy against Israeli attacks on Gaza
Posted : Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:54:05 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Middle East (World)

Rome - Thousands of people, many waving Palestinian flags, on Saturday 
held marches and rallies in the Italian cities of Milan, Turin and 
Florence to protest the Israeli military incursion in the Gaza Strip. 
Scuffles broke out when some demonstrators set fire to an Israeli flag 
while others attempted to stop them during an afternoon march in 
downtown Milan, news reports said.
Also in Milan, several hundred Muslims knelt in prayer near the city's 
main railway station.
A spokesman for a group representing Palestinians living in Italy said 
over a loudspeaker the gesture was meant to signify a "desire for peace."
Similar marches took place in Turin and in Florence, where demonstrators 
gathered near the city's famous Duomo Roman Catholic cathedral.
Saturday's protests were organized by left-wing unions and political 
parties as well as peace activists and religious groups.





http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055836.html

15/01/2009

Protesters against Gaza op heckle Israeli ambassador at Holocaust 
ceremony in Poland By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: poland, 
israel news, gaza
Click here for more articles by Yossi Melman

Protesters against Israel's operation in Gaza on Wednesday night 
disrupted a ceremony in Poznan, Poland, attended by the country's 
Israeli ambassador, David Peleg, to honor people who saved Jews during 
the Holocaust.

Police were called to the scene and made several arrests.

Peleg was scheduled to speak at a ceremony honoring a number of people 
considered "righteous among the nations," for their efforts to save Jews 
during the Holocaust.

The conflict began when protesters, apparently anarchists, stood up and 
waved banners reading "stop the slaughter," after which an 
Israeli-Polish radio broadcaster confronted them. An altercation among 
several of the attendees in the auditorium broke out and police made a 
number of arrests.

Peleg was not involved in the altercation and was unhurt. He told 
Haaretz, "I remained seated on the stage and waited for the commotion to 
end. At no point did I feel threatened."





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/248185,warsaw-protesters-demonstrate-at-israeli-embassy.html

Warsaw protesters demonstrate at Israeli embassy

Posted : Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:51:30 GMT
Author : DPA
Warsaw - Some 100 people protested outside the Israeli embassy in Warsaw 
on Monday, calling for an end to "killing civilians" after three days of 
airstrikes in the Gaza Strip. "What's happening in Gaza now is not a war 
against Hamas, it's a genocide against a people who have been kept 
imprisoned for the past two years," said a Palestinian protester who 
declined to give his name. "They are bombing mosques. They are bombing 
hospitals. Is this democracy?"
Chanting "Long live Palestine," and "Stop Israeli Terrorism," the 
protestors waved Palestinian flags and carried signs saying, "Stop the 
Holocaust in Gaza."
"We are against the massacre in Gaza," said Omar Faris, of an 
association promoting Polish-Palestinian relations. "The people who were 
victims of Hitler are now his best students."









http://www.expatica.com/nl/news/local_news/Six-arrested-in-Gaza-protest-in-Utrecht_48517.html

Six arrested in Gaza protest in Utrecht
Six people were arrested for refusing to follow police orders in a 
demonstration to show support for Palestinians in Gaza.

UTRECHT ? The centre of Utrecht, one of the major cities in the central 
Netherlands, was the scene of trouble on Thursday evening.

During a demonstration to show support for Palestinians in Gaza, police 
arrested six people for threatening behaviour and refusing to follow 
police orders.

Utrecht police said about 300 people, mainly youths of Moroccan origin, 
assembled near the city's main shopping centre where stores were open 
late, and the streets were packed with shoppers.

In the demonstration described as tense by the police, the protesters 
carried flags, made a lot of noise and chanted anti-Israeli slogans.

[Radio Netherlands / Expatica]






http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1055554.html

Dutch MP: I never heard Gaza protesters shouting 'Jews to the gas' By 
Cnaan Liphshiz , Haaretz Correspondent

"I was in front with a loudspeaker," he said. "They're saying people in 
the back shouted these things, but I never heard them."

He was filmed at the event shouting "intifada" and "free Palestine." In 
a video posted online before the complaint, van Bommel's voice is heard 
as people in the background shout in Dutch: "Hamas, Hamas, Joden aan het 
gas."

The protest was against Israel's Gaza invasion, in which nearly 1,000 
people have been killed.

The longtime Israel critic from the Socialist Party told Haaretz that by 
calling for intifada he meant "non-violent resistance like in the first 
intifada, with strikes and civic disobedience to occupation."

Moskowicz, a prominent attorney, cited the 1999 conviction of a rightist 
MP for incitement after attending a demonstration where the crowd 
called, "Our own people come first," in his complaint.

The affair has caused van Bommel to cancel his attendance at a memorial 
for the victims of Auschwitz on January 25, "due to threats to disrupt 
the event." The organizers announced yesterday he is nonetheless welcome 
to attend.





http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/01/417106.html

Protests for Gaza in Holland
Kristel" | 04.01.2009 12:28 | Palestine | Terror War | World
Watch this: www.youtube.com/watch?v=78VcKje_dqQ&feature=channel (click 
on the higher quality button to see it better!)

Since Israel started its attacks on Gaza, four big demonstrations have 
been organized in the Netherlands. Organizations from different 
political, religious and ethnic backgrounds have joined forces in a 
Platform that calls upon the Dutch government to act against Israel and 
demand Israel to stop the attacks and the occupation of Palestine.

Immediately after the news of the attacks reached the Netherlands, 
people gathered at the main square in Amsterdam for a vigil.
Three days later a group of Arabic students who are studying in Holland 
organized a protest in the Hague, the city where the government is 
seated and where the embassies are located. During a march that passed 
the government, the American and the Israeli embassy, around 2000 people 
showed their grief and demanded the Dutch politicians to act against 
Israels violence.

A Jewish Israeli living in Holland took the stage near the Israeli 
embassy and condemned his government for the occupation of Palestine and 
the recent attacks on the Gaza strip. The Palestinians cheered for him 
and showed him their respect for his support.

On Friday another demonstration took place in the city of Rotterdam, the 
main port and the 2nd biggest city of the Netherlands. A group of 1500 
people protested. This protest was organized by the local branches of 
four political parties that condemn Israels attacks on Gaza.

Today ten thousand people demonstrated in Amsterdam, the capital of the 
Netherlands. The protest started with a manifestation with speeches from 
different representatives of the organizations and political parties and 
with a music performance by a Palestinian group.

The Netherlands has two large immigrant communities, from Morocco and 
Turkey. From both groups many representatives were present and they 
showed their solidarity with the Palestinian people.

During the demonstration the demonstrators marched through the city 
center of Amsterdam chanting for a free Palestine and condemning the 
Dutch government for its complicity with the siege and bombing of Gaza.

Until now the government has not responded or voiced its concern for the 
people of Gaza.

A member of the Socialist Party and spokesman for Foreign Affairs 
chanted: 'Intifada, Intifada, Palestine Free Now!' with the rest of the 
protestors. After the demonstration he has called the government for an 
urgent debate to force them to condemn the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

In the next days more actions against the Israeli invasion into the 
Gazastrip will follow. Currently a plan for a 24 hour presence to 
protest near the Israeli embassy in the Hague are being discussed.
Kristel"
Homepage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78VcKje_dqQ&feature=channe





http://www.nowpublic.com/world/protest-hague

Protest in The Hague

uploaded by Kitrov January 2, 2009 at 06:31 am
40 views | 2 comments | 0 recommendations

I stumbled upon this protest in The Hague. This is the area where the 
Dutch government is accommodated. There are always a lot of different 
protests and rallies right here. These are sympathizers of Gaza that are 
obviously not too happy about the stuff that?s going on out there right now.
It?s not the best photograph, but due to my always rooting for the 
underdog I sympathize with these people and feel like they deserve their 
shine





http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3649337,00.html

Anti-Israeli protest held in Moscow
Published: 01.02.09, 16:40 / Israel News

A few dozen people have staged a protest outside the Israeli Embassy in 
Moscow demanding an end to attacks on the Gaza Strip.

The protest was not sanctioned. City police spokesman Vladimir Paklin 
says about 37 people were detained. The participants in Friday's protest 
carried flags of Palestine, Lebanon, Hizbullah, prewar Iraq and 
Azerbaijan. (AP)






http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3649351,00.html

Switzerland protest calls for cease-fire in Gaza
Published: 01.02.09, 17:31 / Israel News

Hundreds of people have marched in the Swiss capital Bern to call for an 
immediate cease-fire in Gaza.

Protesters say the international community should impose sanctions 
against Israel and protect the Palestinian population from further 
attacks. (AP)






http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0110/breaking12.htm

January 10, 2009, 17:19
Dublin protest calls for boycott of Israel
Related ?
? Israel threatens escalation despite Gaza truce calls | 10/01/2009
A protest against the Israeli offensive in Gaza has taken place in 
Dublin this afternoon.
Around 800 demonstrators, some of whom were carrying a coffin draped in 
a Palestinian flag, assembled at the Central Bank on Dame Street to hear 
speakers criticise Israel?s actions in the current conflict.
Addressing the crowd Richard Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti-War Movement 
called on the Government to expel the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland.
Marie Crowley of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign said 800 
Palestinians had been killed, one third of them children, since the 
beginning of the recent Israeli offensive.
?The entire population of the Gaza strip is forced to live in what is 
essentially a concentration camp,? she said.
Ms Crowley said the Palestinian people in Gaza are being bombarded by 
air, sea and land and called Israel?s campaign a ?holocaust? which 
amounted to the ?ethnic-cleansing? of the Palestinian people.
Sinn F?in president Gerry Adams said "the international community has to 
recognise the democratic mandate of Hamas and open dialogue with them".
Speakers also called on the international community not sell or buy 
goods from Israel.
The demonstration passed the D?il before it continued on to the Israeli 
embassy.
Minister for the Environment and Green Party leader John Gormley told a 
gathering of his party that people around the world were repelled by 
Israel?s bombardment.
?I am horrified to learn that Israel intends continuing to pursue its 
aims by military means using disproportionate violence which inevitably 
means further wholesale slaughter,? he said.
?I am also deeply disturbed by emerging allegations of human rights 
atrocities.?
In Belfast, around 5,000 marched through the centre city calling for an 
end to violence in the Middle East.
At City Hall speakers from the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU), 
who planned the event, plus representatives of the four main Christian 
churches, addressed the peace rally.
Catholic Bishop Donal McKeown told the crowd, which included families 
with children, that young people in Gaza were the victims of a wider 
conflict.
Church of Ireland representative Archdeacon Billy Dodds and Methodist 
Church representative Rev. Derek Johnson called for an end to 
hostilities on both sides.
Rev Dr Mark Gray of the Presbyterian Church expressed concerns at the 
levels of violence and added: ?We must work for the dignity of all people.?
The Democratic Unionist Party condemned the march as anti-Israel and 
pro-Hamas.






http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/mhsnmhsnmhau/rss2/

Protestors call for end to violence in Gaza
Print Email+ Share+

10/01/2009 - 15:35:28
Two protests took place in Cork city today in connection to the ongoing 
violence in Gaza.

One of the demonstrations is run by Amnesty International who are 
calling for people to sign a petition to being an end to Israeli and 
Palestinian human rights abuses.

Bus drivers from the Bus Eireann Children's Project are collecting in 
Parnell Place Bus Station today for the children of Gaza.

A 40ft container will be situated at the station until 5pm and people 
are being asked to donate children's clothes, blankets, toys and medical 
supplies.

The container will be transferred to a UN site near Gaza and will then 
be transported into the affected area.

Meanwhile, Amnesty have asked members of the public to sign petitions to 
bring an end to Israeli and Palestinian human rights abuses.







http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0108/breaking50.htm

Thursday, January 8, 2009, 14:12
Anti-war group seeks support for protest march
MARY FITZGERALD, Foreign Affairs Correspondent and CHARLIE TAYLOR
A broad coalition of politicians, trade unionists, anti-war activists 
and members of the Palestinian community in Ireland today called for 
thousands to join them in a demonstration this weekend protesting 
against Israeli's military assault on Gaza.
The protestors will gather in Dublin city centre on Saturday to urge the 
Government to break off diplomatic relations with Israel and press for 
the EU to suspend the process of upgrading of its ties with the country.

They are also calling for a blanket international boycott of Israel.

At a press conference today Labour TD Joe Costello, Mags O'Brien of 
Sitpu, artist Robert Ballagh, Daith? Doolan of Sinn Fein and Richard 
Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti-War Movement were among those appealing 
for members of the public to join this weekend's demonstration.

The protestors plan to march past D?il Eireann and on to the Israeli 
Embassy in Ballsbridge.

The Dublin rally will coincide with other demonstrations taking place 
worldwide.
Separately, Amnesty International, Tr?caire and Christian Aid have 
jointly called on members of the public to join with them in lighting 
candles in memory of the men, women and children on both sides who have 
died since Israel?s Gaza offensive began on 27th December.

Members of the organisations will be gathering at the Grafton Street 
entrance to St. Stephen?s Green, Dublin at 6pm on Friday where candles 
will be lit to mark the death of Palestinians and Israelis who have died 
since the Gaza bombardment began.

?This is not about being pro-Palestine or pro-Israel,? said Amnesty 
International executive director Colm O?Gorman. ?Human rights abuses on 
both sides need to be condemned. This is an opportunity for members of 
the public to participate in a non-partisan call for an end to violence 
that has left 600 people dead on both sides of the border.?






http://www.anphoblacht.com/news/detail/37028

15 January, 2009
Top Stories

Major protests against slaughter in Gaza

MAJOR protests against the Israeli military onslaught in Gaza took place 
in Dublin and Belfast last Saturday.
Over 1,000 demonstrators assembled at Dublin?s Central Bank on Dame 
Street to hear speakers criticise Israel?s actions in the current conflict.
Richard Boyd Barrett of the Irish Anti-War Movement called on the 
Government to expel the Israeli ambassador to Ireland.
Marie Crowley of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), 
pointing out that 800 Palestinians have been killed, one third of them 
children, since the beginning of the recent Israeli offensive, said:
?The entire population of the Gaza Strip is forced to live in what is 
essentially a concentration camp.?
She said Palestinians in Gaza are being bombarded by air, sea and land. 
She called Israel?s campaign a ?holocaust? which amounted to the 
?ethnic-cleansing? of Palestinian people.
Sinn F?in President Gerry Adams demanded that the international 
community match hard words with strong action.
Adams said:
?Two years ago, I visited the Palestinian refugee camp at Kalandia in 
the West Bank. The camp was established in 1949, the year after I was 
born. In the intervening years, thousands of Palestinian families have 
endured the horror of living in the most unimaginable and terrible of 
conditions in that camp.
?Their plight is replicated right across that region by millions of 
Palestinians. Is c?is n?ire agus c?is br?n ? sin don domhain ar fad. 
This is an indictment of the international community who have failed to 
provide the leadership necessary to bring an end to this crisis decades ago.
?Each day we have watched in growing outrage as the people of Gaza are 
subjected to a brutal military assault and occupation that has left 
almost a thousand dead ? hundreds of them children.
?The haunting images of homes wrecked, of terrified families existing 
among rubble in shock and despair, and of endless funerals, has rightly 
outraged people across the world. Caithfidh deireadh a theacht le seo anois.
?It is time all of this was brought to an end. The slaughter of people 
in Gaza must end.
?There must be an end to all hostilities; an end to the attack on Gaza; 
an end to the blockades and sanctions; an end to the obscenity of the 
wall which steals Palestinian land and divides families and communities; 
an end to the refugee camps; and an end to the denial of the Palestinian 
people of their right to self-determination.
?The international community must match strong words with strong action. 
War is not the only option. Peace is the only option and that means in 
the first instance engaging in dialogue. All democratic mandates must be 
respected.
?And this means the Israeli Government must be prepared to talk directly 
with Hamas.
?It is the only way to agree a negotiated peace settlement ? it is the 
only realistic way to end the decades of war and injustice. But unless 
the international community ? and that includes the Irish Government, 
the EU and the US Government ? exercises its considerable influence and 
authority, any temporary relaxation of the current assault on Gaza will 
only bring a short respite for citizens there.
?What is needed is a real and sustained international effort to 
construct a durable peace settlement which provides for two states, 
including a Palestinian state that is sustainable and viable.
?We must commit ourselves, no matter what happens in the short-term, to 
working for a peace settlement, to working for a Palestinian state which 
is sustainable and viable. We must commit to doing all we can to help 
make that a reality.?
Speakers at the Dublin rally also called on the international community 
not to sell or buy goods from Israel. Prior to the march, one man was 
arrested at a Marks & Spencers store in the centre of the city. The 
arrested man was one of a group of people handing out leaflets calling 
for the boycott of Israeli goods being sold in the shop. The leafleters 
criticised the actions of garda? and of security staff at Marks and 
Spencers which they said was ?heavy handed? and ?over the top?. The 
arrested man was charged with reckless damage to the Marks & Spencers store.
The demonstration passed the D?il before it continued on to the Israeli 
Embassy.
Speaking at an Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign press conference on 
the same day, Sinn F?in National Chairperson and Dublin MEP Mary Lou 
McDonald described Israel?s deepening military offensive as morally 
reprehensible.
The Dublin MEP said:
?Israel?s treatment of the Palestinian people has historically been 
unacceptable. However, since this current military offensive against the 
region began two weeks ago, the world has witnessed an attack against 
humanity unlike one we have seen for many, many years.
?There are simply no words to describe just how wrong the military 
actions of Israel are. Their daily justification of the atrocities 
against the civilian population of Gaza is sickening and morally 
reprehensible. The slaughter of Palestinian families under the guise of 
security concerns no longer washes with people and the world looks on in 
horror.
?International governments? responses to the crisis have been inept. The 
UN and EU have failed to exert sufficient pressure on the Israeli 
Government. And the US, the real power brokers, have refused to step in 
and call a halt to the deepening atrocities being foisted upon the 
people of Gaza. Shame on all of them.
?The EU can and must voice the revulsion felt by member state citizens. 
To date, its language has been tough and its actions weak. A Council of 
Ministers meeting needs to be called immediately at which the suspension 
of the Israel-EU Association Agreement and Euro-Med Agreements must be 
agreed.
?A vote on increasing the EU?s preferential trade agreements with Israel 
will go before the European Parliament later this month. The vote was 
due to take place last month but was suspended following a motion put 
forward by Sinn F?in?s parliamentary group, GUE/NGL. I will be calling 
on all MEPs to vote against increasing the EU-Israel Association Agreement.
?The people of Gaza need action not words.?
Also on Saturday, Belfast saw several thousand people march through the 
city centre calling for an end to the slaughter in Gaza.
At Belfast City Hall, speakers from the Irish Congress of Trades Unions 
(ICTU), which planned the event, plus representatives of the four main 
Christian churches, addressed the peace rally as did Belfast Lord Mayor 
Tom Hartley of Sinn F?in.
Hartley called for an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal from Gaza by 
Israeli forces.
Catholic Bishop Donal McKeown told the crowd, which included families 
with children, that young people in Gaza were the victims of a wider 
conflict.
Church of Ireland representative Archdeacon Billy Dodds and Methodist 
Church representative Rev Derek Johnson called for an end to hostilities 
on both sides.
Rev Dr Mark Gray of the Presbyterian Church expressed concerns at the 
levels of violence and added: ?We must work for the dignity of all people.?
The Democratic Unionist Party, however, condemned the march as 
anti-Israel and pro-Hamas.
Following his address at the Belfast rally, Mayor Tom Hartley said:
?The strong turn-out in Belfast, and in other cities around the world 
today highlights the strength of opinion surrounding the ongoing 
situation in Gaza.
?With over 800 people killed in the ongoing offensive, 270 of whom are 
children, the world cannot nor will not stand idly by and let this 
crisis continue unmarked.
?Israel are now dropping leaflets over Gaza warning its inhabitants of 
an intensification so it is never more important to let those with 
influence hear the calls of outrage against the massive death toll and 
humanitarian crisis in Gaza
?Sinn F?in supports the calls for an immediate end to attacks on all 
civilians; an immediate ceasefire and a withdrawal of Israeli forces. It 
is also essential that urgent aid be allowed into Gaza with unimpeded 
access throughout the Gaza Strip.?
Meanwhile, Sinn F?in Lisburn Councillor Charlene O?Hara criticised the 
PSNI for misreading the mood of Belfast march and rally. This followed 
complaints that deploying PSNI members dressed in riot gear was an 
overreaction to a peaceful protest.
Councillor O?Hara said:
?Thousands of people turned out today in Belfast and across the world to 
highlight their opposition to the ongoing situation in Gaza.
?To have the PSNI dressed in riot gear along Royal Avenue and Donegall 
Place but in particular outside firms such as Gap and Marks & Spencer, 
companies listed on the ?Boycott Israeli Goods? list, is a massive 
over-reaction to what was always a peaceful protest regarding the 
ongoing situation in Gaza.
?People from all sections of the community heard speeches from Sinn 
F?in?s Lord Mayor Tom Hartley, trade union representatives and church 
leaders. Is this the type of protest that justifies the PSNI to react in 
such a fashion? I think any sensible person would say definitely not.?
The Sinn F?in team in the North?s Assembly held a solidarity event for 
the people of Gaza on the steps of Stormont on Monday.
Speaking after the event, Sinn F?in Chief Whip Car?l N? Chuil?n said:
?Today?s event was a small symbol of our solidarity with the besieged 
people in Gaza. As we return to the Assembly today, it is of vital 
importance that the calls for a ceasefire and for inclusive negotiations 
are echoed here at Stormont.
?Sinn F?in has submitted a motion on the issue of Gaza and we will 
continue to highlight the terrible events taking place there, as well as 
continuing to call for an end to the war and peace for all those people 
suffering at present.?






http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2009/0103/breaking28.htm

Saturday, January 3, 2009, 21:00
Man attempts to set himself alight at Gaza protest
Protestors burn the Israeli flag outside Leinster House during the 
Ireland Palestine demonstration in Dublin today. Photo: Matt Kavanagh
AOIFE CARR
A man attempted to set himself alight at a protest today in Dublin over 
the continued bombing of Gaza.
The man, who appeared visibly distraught, set his arms and shoulders 
alight before onlookers managed to extinguish the flames. He was not 
seriously injured.

The incident happened at around 1.45pm this afternoon at the Central 
Bank in Dublin where around 600 people had gathered to protest at 
Israeli attacks in Gaza.

The protest continued without incident to Leinster House and finished 
this evening in O?Connell Street.
Other demonstrations took place in Galway, Cork, Limerick, Derry and Sligo.

Kevin Squires of the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign branded 
Israeli actions war crimes.

?This latest series of war crimes in Gaza is completely beyond the 
pale,? Mr Squires said. ?Action needs to be taken. Israel can no longer 
get away with this.?

The protests were one of many taking place across the world to demand a 
halt to Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.

Protests were held in Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, 
the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey as the Israeli offensive entered its 
second week, and before Israel confirmed ground forces had entered Gaza.

Israeli Arabs held a protest march, Kuwaitis also took to the streets, a 
day after bigger Middle East rallies, and peaceful pro- and anti-Israel 
protests were held in New York.

In Paris, police said more than 21,000 demonstrators, many wearing 
Palestinian keffiyeh headscarves, marched through the city centre 
chanting slogans such as "Israel murderer!" and waving banners demanding 
an end to the air attacks.

Groups of protesters clashed with police. At least three cars were set 
alight and about 20 overturned by demonstrators as the march ended near 
some of the biggest department stores in the French capital.

In London, police said more than 10,000 people staged a march and rally 
to urge an end to the Israeli offensive against Hamas militants that has 
killed at least 446 Palestinians.

In many cities people waved shoes, recalling the action of an Iraqi 
journalist who hurled footwear at US President George W. Bush in Baghdad 
last month in a symbolic insult.

British demonstrators threw dozens of shoes into the street as they 
passed the gated entrance to Downing Street and shouted angrily at a 
line of 40 police officers on guard there.

"Come to get your shoes Gordon," one woman shouted as other marchers 
directed chants of "Shame on you" at Mr Brown.

A spokesman said Mr Brown had spoken again to Israeli Prime Minister 
Ehud Olmert today and was pressing hard for an immediate ceasefire.

About 3,500 people marched in Berlin and 4,000 in the western city of 
Duesseldorf, police said.

Several thousand people demonstrated in Ankara in a second day of 
protests in Turkey. In smaller protests in Istanbul, demonstrators 
carried baby dolls smeared with fake blood.

In New York, several hundred pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied near 
Times Square in a peaceful protest, calling for an immediate end to the 
Israeli offensive.

A few dozen pro-Israel counter-protesters gathered just across the 
street, but there were no clashes between the opposing groups and police 
reported no arrests.

More than 1,000 demonstrators marched through Kuwait City, with banners 
reading "Gaza will not die" and "We want a free Gaza". Other protests of 
at least 1,000 people took place in Madrid, Amsterdam, Milan and Turin.
Additional reporting: Reuters






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7822195.stm

Saturday, 10 January 2009

Shoes hurled during Gaza protest


Thousands of people joined the protest in Edinburgh

In pictures: Gaza protest

Protesters hurled shoes towards the US consulate in Edinburgh as a part 
of a protest against Israeli action in Gaza.
Thousands took part in a rally through the city calling for an end to 
the military action.
Police said about 4,000 people attended the protest but organisers put 
the number at 10,000.
About 300 shoes, including ski-boots and clogs, and red paint were 
thrown as part of the protest. Three police officers sustained minor 
injuries.
Ch Insp Kevin Greig, of Lothian and Borders Police, said none had 
required hospital treatment.
He said a criminal investigation had been launched into the incident.
Ch Insp Greig said: "This happened outside the American consulate where 
the traditional way of displaying discord with what is happening in the 
Middle East is to take their shoes off and throw them on to the ground.
"Unfortunately a number of these persons, about 60, threw heavy clogs, 
ski-boots and wooden poles at the police officers."
Asif Dean, from the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said he did 
not see any unrest.
He said: "I was not aware of any trouble at all. The only trouble that I 
saw was that the police didn't like people voicing their support for 
Hamas, but I don't think there was any violence or anything. So I'm not 
aware of any incidents, as far as I'm aware it was a completely peaceful 
march."
"Overwhelming"
Pete Cannell, secretary of the Scottish Stop the War Coalition, said: 
"If we'd had a few more days it would've been twice the size."
"The response we got when we were handing out leaflets was overwhelming."
Event organiser Nick Napier said the action was taken as a result of the 
"rage and anger" over the death toll in Gaza over the past two weeks.
"People are here because they know the trail of blood leads from Gaza 
back to Britain and that Gordon Brown, while publicly calling for a 
ceasefire, we know has instructed his diplomats in New York to support 
the Americans."
He added: "The American position is to endorse Israel's massacre of the 
people of Gaza.
"That's why we have this unprecedentedly large march here.
"They're angry. It's another year, another war, another massacre.
"It's a war too many for most people."
Hundreds of people also took part in protests in Aberdeen and Inverness.
A spokesman for the American Consulate declined to comment.


From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 11:09:22 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:09:22 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] GAZA PROTESTS, Rest of the World, Dec-Jan 08-09
Message-ID: <4AEF2E62.8000709@tesco.net>


* KASHMIR: Clashes at Muslim protests in solidarity with Gaza
* INDIA: Leftists, Muslims stage protests in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, 
Hyderabad, nationwide
* VENEZUELA: Protests target Israeli embassy
* COLOMBIA: Palestinian community protests
* BRAZIL: 300 in march in Rio
* PANAMA: Several hundred march
* UGANDA: Muslims hold protest, urge boycott, burn flag
* KENYA: Nairobi - Muslims gather for post-prayer protests, attacked by 
police
* KENYA: Mombasa - Protesters defeat police repression
* NIGERIA: Hundreds protest in Kano; protests suppressed elsewhere
* SOUTH AFRICA: Wave of protests target embassies
* TAIWAN: Muslims, human rights activists, civic groups protest
* KOREA: Civil society groups protest
* THAILAND: Muslims protest at Israeli embassy
* VIRGIN ISLANDS: Local residents protest
* PHILIPPINES: Muslims, leftists join Gaza protests
* NEW ZEALAND: Noisy protest targets Israeli tennis player
* CANADA: Jewish protesters occupy Israeli consulate
* CANADA: Nationwide protests; Parliament Hill blocked, PM targeted
* AUSTRALIA: Protests in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, 
elsewhere
* NEW ZEALAND: Thousands join marches; Israeli monument defaced




http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Anti-Israel_protests_in_Srinagar/rssarticleshow/3931796.cms

Muslims in Srinagar stage anti-Israel protests
3 Jan 2009, 1934 hrs IST, AGENCIES

SRINAGAR: Muslims in Srinagar on Saturday demonstrated against Israel's 
air raids over Gaza.

Hundreds of people, including women and children, gathered in the heart 
of Srinagar and were led by separatist leader Javed Mir, an executive 
member of Hurriyat Conference, in a protest march.

The protest was against Israel's continuing aggression against Palestine.

Several people joined the protest as it marched towards Lal Chowk. The 
protesters were raising anti-US and Israeli slogans and expressed their 
solidarity with the people of Gaza.

They dispersed peacefully after burning the effigy of the Israel Prime 
Minister.

The protesters also blamed the US for its continuing support to Israel.

Condemning this brutality against innocent children and women, Javed Mir 
said that the world body should come forward and act against this 
Israeli aggression.

"This procession is against the way terrorists are bombing and brutally 
treating the innocents, children and elderly of Palestine. We strongly 
condemn it. Apart from this, we want to tell the big international 
powers that do not incite the Muslims," said Javed Mir.

The demonstrators said that the world community should take a pro-active 
role in stopping the Israeli offensive since the United Nations and 
other super powers have failed to deter Tel Aviv from executing such 
offensive against Palestine.





http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/muslims-in-srinagar-stage-anti-israel-protests_100137890.html

Muslims in Srinagar stage anti-Israel protests
January 3rd, 2009 - 7:04 pm ICT by ANI -
Srinagar, Jan 3 (ANI): Muslims in Srinagar on Saturday demonstrated 
against Israel??s air raids over Gaza.
Hundreds of people, including women and children, gathered in the heart 
of Srinagar and were led by separatist leader Javed Mir, an executive 
member of Hurriyat Conference, in a protest march.
The protest was against Israel??s continuing aggression against Palestine.
Several people joined the protest as it marched towards Lal Chowk. The 
protesters were raising anti-US and Israeli slogans and expressed their 
solidarity with the people of Gaza.
They dispersed peacefully after burning the effigy of the Israel Prime 
Minister.
The protesters also blamed the US for its continuing support to Israel.
Condemning this brutality against innocent children and women, Javed Mir 
said that the world body should come forward and act against this 
Israeli aggression.
?This procession is against the way terrorists are bombing and brutally 
treating the innocents, children and elderly of Palestine. We strongly 
condemn it. Apart from this, we want to tell the big international 
powers that do not incite the Muslims,? said Javed Mir.
The demonstrators said that the world community should take a pro-active 
role in stopping the Israeli offensive since the United Nations and 
other super powers have failed to deter Tel Aviv from executing such 
offensive against Palestine. (ANI)





http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/25-injured-in-anti-israel-protests-in-kashmir-lead_100137652.html

25 injured in anti-Israel protests in Kashmir (Lead)
January 2nd, 2009 - 10:49 pm ICT by IANS -
Srinagar, Jan 2 (IANS) At least 25 people were injured Friday as 
protests against Israel?s air strikes on Palestinians in Gaza rocked the 
old Srinagar city and other towns in the Kashmir Valley Friday. The 
police resorted to baton-charge to quell the mob in the capital city, 
officials said.Hundreds of protestors, majority of them youth, took to 
the streets in several old city areas in the afternoon after the 
congregational Friday prayers.
Shouting anti-Israeli and anti-US slogans, the crowds pelted stones at 
the police and paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 
personnel, who responded by firing teargas shells and used batons to 
quell the violence, a senior police official here said.
?Where are the champions of civil rights and liberties? Why are they 
silent when innocent, unarmed Muslims are killed in hundreds by Israel?? 
shouted an angry protester.
According to the police, the protests spread to other old city areas and 
a group of angry youth attacked the Nowhatta police station with stones 
and bricks.
The clashes that continued till late evening left 25 wounded, two of 
them seriously. At least three photo-journalists and videographers were 
also injured in the baton charge, a police officer said.
Reports from other major towns said hundreds of people protested against 
the Israeli strikes and called upon the world community to stop what 
they called ?genocide of the Palestinian civilians in Gaza?, the police 
officer said.
Thousands of people in Srinagar and other towns also offered funeral 
prayers in absentia for the victims of the Israeli bombings in Gaza.
The state administration has made elaborate security arrangements to 
maintain law and order in the city, official sources said.
The Imams (clerics) in various mosques across the valley strongly 
condemned the relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza and accused the US of 
supporting the Israeli government?s ?genocide policy?.
The Muslim majority Kashmir valley has traditionally had close emotional 
links with the people of Palestine and any major development in 
Arab-Israel ties has always drawn a response in the valley.






http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=117764&d=3&m=1&y=2009&pix=world.jpg&category=World

Saturday 3 January 2009 (06 Muharram 1430)

50 hurt in protest over assault on Gaza
Agencies

SRINAGAR: At least 50 people were injured when baton-wielding police in 
Kashmir fired tear gas shells yesterday to disperse hundreds of Muslims 
protesting at Israeli strikes on Gaza, police and witnesses said. There 
were also demonstrations in other Indian cities, including New Delhi and 
Hyderabad.
In Kashmir?s summer capital Srinagar, angry demonstrators shouting ?Down 
with Zionist terrorism, down with Israel? burned American and Israeli 
flags near Kashmir?s grand mosque, Jamia Masjid. Police also clashed 
with stone-throwing demonstrators in several other parts of the city. 
Most of the protests were staged after Friday prayers.
?Policemen and some photojournalists are among the injured,? Mohammad 
Syed, a police official said.
Around 250 Muslims in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad also 
protested against the offensive outside the recently opened US consulate 
yesterday, police said.
They tried to set fire to an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert but were stopped by police. There were further large protests in 
the Muslim-majority old part of the city.
A Reuters witness saw similar scenes in the capital, New Delhi, as 
protesters gathered outside India?s largest mosque, similarly called 
Jama Masjid, to burn Israeli and American flags and an effigy. The 
Indian government has joined international calls for a halt to the 
conflict, and promised $1 million in financial aid to affected families 
in Gaza.
In Srinagar earlier yesterday, the chief priest of Kashmir and senior 
separatist leader, Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, led thousands of worshippers in 
a mass prayer for the slain Palestinians.
?Why is the world community silent when innocent, unarmed Muslims are 
killed in hundreds by Israel? It is a naked aggression,? Farooq said at 
the city?s grand mosque. ?Muslim countries must unite to fight for the 
liberation of Palestine, Iraq , Afghanistan and Kashmir.?
Meanwhile, two soldiers and six militants have been killed in two 
shootouts in Kashmir, the first violence since state elections in the 
Muslim-majority region, the army said yesterday.
The first gunbattle erupted late Thursday in the southern district of 
Poonch after Indian troops, acting on a tip-off, carried out a search 
operation of a densely forested area.
?As we closed in, the militants opened fire, killing two of our 
soldiers,? an army officer told AFP, asking not to be named. He said one 
militant was killed in the return of fire. Three more were killed when 
soldiers launched a fresh offensive early yesterday, the officer said.
Indian troops shot dead two more militants during a separate gunbattle 
in northern Baramulla district, police said. The violence was the first 
since the completion of seven-stage state elections on Dec. 24. Despite 
a boycott call by separatists and militants more than 60 percent of 
voters took part.
The regional pro-India National Conference (NC) and India?s ruling 
Congress party decided to form the government after polls produced a 
fractured legislature. A Muslim insurgency in Indian Kashmir has claimed 
at least 47,000 lives in the past two decades.
A meeting of Jammu and Kashmir coalition partners also decided there 
would be no rotation of the chief minister?s post between the two 
parties in the state and the NC?s Omar Abdullah will head the government 
for the full six-year term.
?There will not be any rotational chief ministership and there will be a 
deputy chief minister from the Jammu region,? Omar Abdullah, who is also 
NC?s president, told reporters. Congress sources disclosed the deputy 
chief minister would be from their party.
The oath-taking of the new 25-member ministry would be held in Srinagar 
on Jan 5, a day ahead of a meeting of all chief ministers convened by 
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss internal security. Sonia Gandhi 
is expected to attend the swearing-in.
? With input from Mukhtar Ahmad





http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200901090829DOWJONESDJONLINE000528_univ.xml

16 Injured In Anti-Israel Protests In Indian Kashmir1-9-09 8:29 AM EST | 
E-mail Article | Print Article
SRINAGAR (AFP)--Riot police in Indian-controlled Kashmir used tear gas 
Friday to disperse hundreds of Muslims protesting against Israel's 
continued military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
At least 10 civilians and six policemen were wounded in the clashes in 
the main city of Srinagar, a police officer said, on condition of anonymity.
Hundreds of protesters emerged from region's main mosque and chanted 
"death to Israel" and "long live Palestine".
They also set fire to Israeli flags, before trying to march towards the 
city center - a move promptly blocked by the police who fired tear gas.
On Thursday, thousands of Shiite Muslims held noisy demonstrations 
against Israel in continuing protests.
Indian Kashmir is a predominantly Muslim region where Muslim militant 
groups have been fighting since 1989 to end Indian rule. The unrest has 
left more than 47,000 people dead by official count.




http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=RSSFeed-India&id=4c8566d7-664e-46b1-bf44-6cd09e8e836f&Headline=14+injured+during+anti-Israel+protest+in+Kashmir

14 injured during anti-Israel protest in KashmirAds By Google

Press Trust Of India
Srinagar, January 09, 2009
First Published: 18:01 IST(9/1/2009)
Last Updated: 18:04 IST(9/1/2009)

At least 14 people, including six security personnel, were injured today 
as police cane charged on mobs protesting against ongoing Israeli 
strikes on Gaza, at Jama Masjid area in Srinagar.
Police lobbed tear gas shells to disperse the agitated protesters after 
they turned violent and resorted to stone pelting injuring six security 
personnel, official sources said.
The trouble started shortly after Friday prayers when a large group of 
people, mostly youth, took to streets and torched an Israeli flag and 
tried to take out a march to protest the killing of Palestinian in 
Israeli strikes, the sources said.
Later, they said, police burst teargas shells to disperse the 
protesters, who were chanting pro-freedom and anti-Israel slogans.
Eight persons were injured in the baton charge and taken to nearby 
hospitals from where they were discharged after first aid, the sources said.
They said several protesters were also detained by police during the 
clashes which were still continuing when last reports were received.
Reinforcements have been rushed to the area to restore law and order, 
the sources said.
Meanwhile, special prayers were offered in almost all mosques across 
Kashmir valley for those who lost their lives in the Israeli strikes on 
Gaza.
The Imams (head priests) strongly condemned the Israeli action and urged 
the world community to raise their voice against the "Israeli barbarism".
A group of doctors also took out a peaceful march at Medical College 
Srinagar to condemn the Israeli action.





http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Anti-Israel_protests_break_out_in_JK/articleshow/3926089.cms

12 hurt as Kashmiris condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza
2 Jan 2009, 1902 hrs IST, AFP

SRINAGAR: More than a dozen people were hurt on Friday when police used 
teargas to disperse hundreds of angry Kashmiri Muslims protesting 
against the Israeli attacks on Gaza.

The protesters took to the streets outside the main mosque in Srinagar, 
the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, after Friday prayers, chanting 
"down with Israel."

They carried banners reading "stop genocide of Palestinians" and "US, 
Israel don't provoke Muslims to become terrorists like you."

As the protesters tried to march towards the city centre, police used 
batons and fired teargas to disperse them. Protesters retaliated by 
pelting the security forces with stones.

"More than a dozen people, including some policemen, have been injured 
so far," a police officer, Ishfaq Ahmed said.

The marchers set fire to US flags.

Earlier, hundreds of Muslims burnt Israeli flags and chanted anti-Israel 
and anti-US slogans as they staged a similar protest near Srinagar's 
main commercial district of Lal Chowk.

Carrying pro-Palestinian banners and portraits of Hezbollah chief Hassan 
Nasrallah, they marched through the streets chanting, "death to Israel" 
and "death to US."

"Look how they are killing Muslims and no one seems to be bothered," 
said Akbar Ali, one of the protesters.

Kashmir is in the grip of a nearly two-decade old insurgency against 
Indian rule that has so far left more than 47,000 people dead by 
official count.

At least 420 Palestinians have died in a seven day blitz by Israel, 
while rockets fired from Gaza have claimed four Israeli lives.

Israel on Wednesday rejected a French proposal for a 48-hour ceasefire 
to help humanitarian efforts, and tanks and troops are now massed for a 
threatened ground offensive.

Hamas has called for a "day of wrath" on Friday in east Jerusalem and 
the West Bank, with "massive marches" after weekly Muslim prayers.





http://www.kashmirlive.com/story/Twelve-injured-in-antiIsrael-protests-in-Kashmir/411565.html

Twelve injured in anti-Israel protests in Kashmir
Agencies
Posted online: January 16, 2009 at 1625

At least 12 people were injured as police burst teargas shells and 
charged batons to disperse stone-pelting mobs, protesting against the 
Israeli aggression in Gaza.
Srinagar At least 12 people were injured as police burst teargas shells 
and charged batons to disperse stone-pelting mobs, protesting against 
the ongoing Israeli aggression in Gaza, at several places in Srinagar on 
Friday, official sources said.
The clashes took place at Maisuma, Basant Bagh, Red Cross road, 
Gawkadal, Jamia Masjid, Nowhatta and Rajouri Kadal as mobs, chanting 
anti-Israel slogans, turned violent and resorted to stone-pelting at 
police and paramilitary forces, the sources said.
Twelve persons, including seven security men, were injured in the 
clashes as police used batons shelled teargas to disperse them.
Barring tension in some parts of the city, the anti-Israel 
demonstrations staged shortly after Friday prayers in various parts of 
the valley ended peacefully, the sources said.
Various separatist organisations, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation 
Front (JKLF), have called for peaceful agitation across Kashmir valley 
to protest the killing of innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Vice chairman of JKLF, who led one of the peaceful 
protests outside party headquarters at Maisuma, said, "Men, women, 
children and elderly persons have been killed in the Israeli action and 
the killings have been going on unabated."
Bhat also criticised the world community for maintaining "criminal 
silence" over the "genocide of Palestinians".




http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/31/stories/2008123160791200.htm

National

Protest against air strikes
? Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

CPI(M) activists, led by its Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, stage a 
protest near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday against Israeli 
air strikes in Gaza.






http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=448018

CPI (M) activists protest against Israel's offensive on Gaza
________________________________________

ANI Wednesday 31st December, 2008
New Delhi, Dec 31 : Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI (M) 
activists staged a protest here on Tuesday over the Israeli bombings 
against Gaza.

Birnda Karat, Polit Bureau member of CPI (M), who was leading the 
demonstration, said that the protest was staged to express the anger of 
Indian people over Israel's barbaric torture and offensive on Gaza strip.

Karat also maintained that India should sever ties with Israel.

Israel hit the Gaza Strip with more air strikes on Tuesday and warned 
its military action could last weeks, while its Islamist enemy Hamas 
vowed to keep up rocket attacks on Israeli cities.

Both sides rejected any notion of a cease-fire soon, three days after 
Israeli leaders launched bombing raids with the declared aim of halting 
rocket salvoes from the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Israel, which is blockading Gaza, was 
gathering ground forces at the frontier and would expand its operation 
"as much as is necessary" to stop the rocket fire and "deal a heavy blow 
to Hamas."

Israeli warplanes pressed on for the fourth day with attacks on Hamas 
targets, killing 12 Palestinians. They included sisters aged four and 
11. Several rockets fired from Gaza hit Israel, a day after three 
Israelis were killed in cross-border salvos.

Medical officials put Palestinian casualties since Saturday at 348 dead 
with more than 800 wounded. A United Nations agency said at least 62 of 
the dead were civilians. In all, four Israelis have been killed since 
the operation began.

Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying the Gaza 
operation, launched by his centrist government six weeks before a 
national election that opinion polls predict the right-wing Likud party 
will win, was in "the first of several stages."





http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/31/stories/2008123155051000.htm

National

Protest against airstrikes
? Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

CPI(M) activists, led by its Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat, stage a 
protest near the Israeli embassy in New Delhi on Tuesday against Israeli 
airstrikes in Gaza.





http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/hyderabad-residents-protest-at-us-consulate-against-israel_100137571.html

Hyderabad residents protest at US consulate against Israel
January 2nd, 2009 - 7:27 pm ICT by IANS -
Hyderabad, Jan 2 (IANS) Tension prevailed at the US consulate here 
Friday as around 1,000 people staged a demonstration protesting Israel?s 
air strikes on Palestinians in Gaza.About six protestors were injured as 
police caned the crowd that tried to barge into the newly-inaugurated 
consulate building in the high-security Begumpet neighbourhood.
About 1,000 protestors belonging to the minority cell of the ruling 
Congress party gathered outside the consulate, raising slogans against 
Israel?s action and demanding a halt to the strikes.
The protestors, led by Congress party?s minority cell president Mohammed 
Sirajuddin, managed to reach the entrance of the heavily guarded US 
consulate and tried to barge in. Police used batons to disperse the 
protestors and stopped them from burning an effigy of Israeli Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert.
Denouncing the killing of over 400 Palestinians by Israel in the 
week-long strikes, the group also raised slogans against the US for its 
support to Israel. They also carried placards with pictures of victims, 
including children.
?Down with Israel? and ?Stop genocide? were some of the slogans written 
on placards.
Police later took the protestors into custody for gathering without 
permission in a prohibited area.
?The protest shows the anger and anguish of the people over the massacre 
of innocent Palestinians at the hands of Israel,? said Sirajuddin.
This was the first protest by any group at the consulate, which was 
formally opened Oct 24. The consulate, which is scheduled to start 
processing visa requests later this month, is operating from Paigah 
Palace, a heritage building.
The spontaneous protest soon after Friday prayers took the police off 
guard. Security was further tightened after the protest.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Muslims staged anti-Israel demonstrations in the 
old city of Hyderabad and some other towns in the state after Friday 
prayers.
Muslims constitute 40 percent of Hyderabad?s nearly 80 million 
population. Muslims also took out a rally in Nizamabad town to condemn 
the massacre of Palestinians and demanded an end to the brutality.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/03/stories/2009010353790400.htm

New Delhi

Protest against Israeli attack on Gaza
Staff Reporter
Demand to rush humanitarian aid to Palestinian people and end the siege
- Photo: Sandeep Saxena

United we stand: Palestinians along with CPI (M-L)-New Democracy 
activists demonstrating in New Delhi on Friday in protest against the 
U.S backed Israeli attack on Gaza.
NEW DELHI: The Delhi Committee of the Communist Party of India 
(Marxist-Leninist)-New Democracy organised a protest demonstration at 
Jantar Mantar here on Friday demanding an end to the ?US-backed Israeli 
attacks on Gaza?.
Supporting the Palestinian people?s long struggle, the protesters raised 
slogans against American imperialism and Israel?s Zionist rulers.
Addressing the protesters, party leaders condemned the Israeli attack 
launched after a long siege.
?In the current attacks, a large number of children, women and men have 
been killed and injured and it is a matter of shame that not only has 
the United States supported the attack openly, even other Western 
countries are yet to move international forums to put pressure on 
Israel,? said a statement issued by the party.
?The Israeli Government and the US have never accepted the electoral 
victory of the Hamas and in this attack the Hamas is being targeted 
along with random killing of civilians,? said the release, demanding 
that Israel rebuild Gaza and end the siege.
Speakers at the protest also demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh 
downgrade the relationship with Israel and rush humanitarian aid to Gaza.





http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/mumbai-muslims-stage-anti-israel-protest_100137400.html

Mumbai Muslims stage anti-Israel protest
January 2nd, 2009 - 12:36 pm ICT by ANI -
Mumbai, Jan 2 (ANI): Israel??s air raids on Gaza that have led to the 
killing of hundreds of innocent civilians, has convinced clerics of the 
All India Ulema Council to send boxes of bangles to leaders of different 
Arab countries.
The protestors contend that the Arab leaders ought to have taken a 
pro-active role in stopping the Israeli offensive since the United 
Nations and super powers have failed to prevent Tel Aviv from executing 
such offensive against the Palestinans.
The protestors said the bangles were apt medium to remind the Arab 
nations of their impotency vis-a-vis Israel.
The All India Ulema Council contends that if Gulf countries unite 
together, the Israeli action can be countered. No major Arab country has 
come forward to aid of Palestine.
The protesters also demanded that the United Nations declare Israel a 
terrorist state.
?For the past sixty years, Israelis have been killing innocents in 
Palestine on one or the other reason, by either bombing their areas or 
by firing artillery and bullets on them. Different ways of brutal 
attacks are being conducted on them. The situation today is that the 
children in Palestine do not have milk to drink and no food to eat. The 
Israelis are showering all ways of brutality on them. We urge the United 
Nations to declare Israel as a terrorist state,? said Maulana Moin 
Ashraf, President, Darul-ul-Uloom Ashrafia, Mumbai.
On Wednesday, Israel stepped up preparations for a possible ground 
offensive after Hamas??s long-range rockets hit a major population centre.
Diplomats said the deadliest conflict in the Gaza Strip in four decades 
appeared close to a tipping point after four days of cross-border fire 
killed more than 385 Palestinians and four Israelis.
Foreign powers have increased pressure on both sides to halt 
hostilities, but the public anger in Israel over the widening of the 
rocket attacks to include Beersheba, 40 km from the Gaza Strip, could 
move the government to hit the Hamas even harder. (ANI)





http://www.indianmuslims.info/news/2009/jan/02/protests_against_israeli_attack_gaza_growing_india.html

Protests against Israeli attack on Gaza growing in India
Submitted by Mudassir Rizwan on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 05:33.
? Indian Muslim
By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: Hundreds of Muslims after Juma Prayer in Delhi today 
protested against Israeli bombings on Gaza Strip in which hundreds of 
innocent civilians including women and children have so far been killed.
In the indiscriminate bombings on Palestinians in Gaza Strip in the last 
5 days about 500 people have been killed and around 1000 injured.

Soon after Juma Prayer at historic Jama Masjid people began shouting 
slogans against the Israeli aggression on Gaza. They also condemned the 
US for not using its influence to stop the bombings.
Earlier in his weekly Juma sermon, Ahmad Bukhari, Imam of Jama Masjid, 
criticized Israel for using force against the civilians. He also 
condemned the silence of world community and powerful countries 
including the US. He singled out Islamic countries for failing to take a 
united approach against Israeli attack. He demanded central UPA 
government to strongly condemn the Israeli aggression.

There are reports of such protests from other parts of the country 
including Hyderabad and Kashmir.
Meanwhile there is a report that the central government in New Delhi has 
announced $ 1 million for relief work in Gaza Strip.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011051550500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

?Fiery? protest
PHOTO: G. SANJEEV REDDY

IN CONDEMNATION: Activists of the MIM torch an ?effigy? of Israel in 
protest against its continuing attack on Gaza, in Adilabad on Friday. -






http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=455557

Lucknow women protest against Gaza offensive
________________________________________

ANI Monday 19th January, 2009
Lucknow, Jan 19 : Scores of women here staged a demonstration against 
Israeli offensive in Gaza to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

The protest was organised under the aegis of the All India Muslim Women 
Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) and Communist Party of India (CPI) on 
Sunday and came after Israel offered a unilateral ceasefire in Gaza.

Protestors urged New Delhi to snap all diplomatic ties with Israel.

"We are protesting against the Israeli attack on Palestine. We urge the 
Government of India to close the embassy of Israel and snap all 
diplomatic ties with the nation. Israeli strikes on Palestinian 
territory, hospitals and mosques are illegal. The United Nations must 
take action on this," said Shaista Amber, President of AIMWPLB.

More than 1,150 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its 
offensive against Gaza on December 27 to force Hamas to stop rocket 
attacks on its territory.

Israel has accused Hamas of taking shelter among the civilian population 
and using sites such as mosques and schools as military posts.

Hamas said on Sunday it would cease fire immediately along with other 
militant groups in the Gaza Strip and give Israel, which already 
declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/06/stories/2009010656000400.htm

New Delhi

Students protest Israeli attack on Gaza
Staff Reporter
Photo: Shanker Chakravarty

Students protesting in front of the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi on 
Monday against attacks on Gaza.
NEW DELHI: Protesting against the Israeli strikes on Gaza, students of 
Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University held a demonstration 
outside the Israeli Embassy here on Monday. The agitators, hurling shoes 
and slippers in the direction of the embassy, were stopped by police 
some distance away from the building.
Carrying placards like ?Stop killing innocents in Palestine? and ?Down 
with Israel state terrorism?, the protesters shouted slogans against 
Israeli ?invasion?. They also burnt an Israeli flag before being 
detained by the police.
Nearly 50 students from different organisations at JNU, such as the 
Students? Federation of India, the Progressive Students? Union and 
activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, emerged from one 
of the by-lanes on Aurangzeb Road around 4 p.m. and began running 
towards the Israeli Embassy.
Police caught unawares
Since it was a flash demonstration, the police were caught unawares. 
However, media presence outside the embassy alerted the Israeli 
officials. They informed the police who later strengthened their 
presence outside the building.
?We have come here to convey a message to the Government that the youth 
are against the Israeli offensive on Gaza,? said an SFI activist, 
Dhananjay Tripathi.
?We are against the Gaza bombings. We condemn the killing of innocents 
there and express our solidarity with the Palestinians,? said Vibha, an 
activist of the PSU.
Palestinian Shadi Farrokhyani, who is doing her Ph.D. from JNU, urged 
Indians not to remain silent on the issue.
?It is not just Hamas but a lot of innocent civilians are being killed 
in the strikes. There have been massive demonstrations all over the 
world. I am happy that in India also people are reacting, especially the 
Left parties that have shown solidarity,? she said, holding a placard.
Traffic was held up briefly on Aurangzeb Road because of the protest.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/12/stories/2009011258680300.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Ulama protests against Israeli action
Staff Reporter
Thiruvananthapuram: The Dakshina Kerala Jam-Iyyathul Ulama has said that 
its members will stage a march in front of the Raj Bhavan here on 
January 13 in protest against the Israeli military action in Gaza.
In a press release here on Sunday, the Ulama said that the Israeli Army 
was targeting innocent civilians, including children and woman, and 
hospitals under the pretext of attacking armed militants.




http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/17/stories/2009011758410300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Protest against attack on Palestine
A large number of Muslims, under the banner of Taseen Masjid Committee 
held a demonstration near NAD Kotha Road here on Friday protesting 
against Israel?s attack on Palestine. They strongly condemned the 
attacks, particularly since they were resulting in the deaths of infants 
and women and damage to hospitals, and demanded Israel to stop the 
attacks immediately. The committee wanted the Indian Government to put 
pressure on Israel to stop the attacks on Palestine. Committee president 
Syed Khamar Tajuddin, secretary Md. Afsar, PCC Member A.K. Quereshi, 
District Kazi Shamsuddin and others participated.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/18/stories/2009011856191200.htm

New Delhi

LJP condemns Israeli action in Gaza, holds protest
Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI: The Lok Janshakti Party on Saturday strongly and 
unequivocally condemned the ?Israeli aggression? on the Gaza strip and 
demanded that India not only condemn the act but also sever all 
diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv.
The party also demanded that India should immediately urge the United 
Nations to take immediate cognisance of the ?massacre in the Gaza strip? 
and proceed to try the Israeli Prime Minister and his Cabinet for ?war 
crimes.?
?The calculated and meticulously planned attacks on the Gaza strip are 
nothing short of terror unleashed on the vast humanity of Gaza strip 
where hundreds of innocent armed civilians, including 300 children, have 
been killed and thousands maimed for life,? the party said in a 
memorandum to the President.






http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/?sid=450630

Anti-Israel protests continue in metropolitan cities
________________________________________

ANI Wednesday 7th January, 2009
New Delhi/ Kolkata, Jan 7 : Hundreds of people have been protesting 
against Israeli attack on Gaza by taking to the streets in metropolitan 
cities.

Protestors in New Delhi, comprising mainly Muslims, blamed the United 
States for the Israeli attack and accused the United Progressive 
Alliance Government for not strongly condemning the attacks on Gaza.

Children and women came out in large numbers in the protest march 
raising slogans against the genocide attacks on innocent children in Gaza.

"We want to give a call to America, Israel, Europe, Arab nations and our 
country as they are sitting as mute spectators. Everything is shut there 
and they are deprived of necessities like food, medicine shops and 
water. We have held this protest so that our voice reaches the UN 
Organisation, our Government and the Arab nations," said Ilyas, a protestor.

In Kolkata, the anti-Israel protests were organised by the Socialist 
Unity Centre of India (SUCI) whose supporters burnt effigies of the 
outgoing US President George W Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert expressing their anger against the Gaza attacks.

The supporters carried placards denouncing Israel and US as 'butchers of 
Gaza' and accusing Bush and Olmert as the 'greatest terrorists on earth'.

"They are trampling on all the democratic rights of the common people to 
elect their Government and also in the name of collective punishment. 
They are punishing the common people. They have totally failed to 
contain terror. They are acting as agents of terrorists," said Biplap 
Chakraborty, Secretariat Member, SUCI.

About 530 Palestinians have reportedly been killed since Israel launched 
its offensive on December 27 to curtail Hamas rocket attacks on its 
territory from Gaza.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010851040300.htm

Kerala - Malappuram

Flurry of protests against Israel attacks
Staff Reporter
Protestors condemn stand of U.S. and India
________________________________________
DYFI holds protest marches across district
?Declare Israel a terror nation?
________________________________________
MALAPPURAM: A flurry of agitations was taken out here on Wednesday by 
various organisations in protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The protestors condemned Israeli brutality in killing ordinary citizens 
including children, and criticised the stand of America and India 
towards the aggression on Palestine.
The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) held protest marches in 
all block centres across the district.
The DYFI condemned the Congress policy of supporting Israel despite the 
worldwide denunciation of Zionist brutalities.
DYFI protestors said the Indian policy was gross diversion from the 
non-aligned path that the country followed till recently. They accused 
the Central government of trying to strengthen military relations with 
Israel.
Solidarity rally
A Palestine solidarity rally organised by the Samastha Kerala Sunni 
Students Federation (SKSSF) demanded that Israel should be declared a 
terror nation.
SKSSF protestors said that more shoes would be hurled on the face of the 
U.S., which supported the Israeli killing of innocent citizens.
The Kerala School Teachers Association (KSTA) condemned the silence 
maintained by the Manmohan Singh government even when Israel went about 
decimating the Palestinian population.
?The Indian government should show the guts not only to condemn the 
Israeli attack on Gaza but also to break diplomatic relations with that 
country,? said KSTA leaders here on Wednesday.
Hundreds of youngsters took part in a protest against Israel organised 
by the Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) at Kottakkal at midday.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/09/stories/2009010954320300.htm

Kerala

Protest sans borders

Global concerns: Activists of the Samastha Kerala Sunni Students 
Federation (SKSSF) taking out a rally in Malappuram on Thursday to 
protest against Israel?s attack on Gaza.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/07/stories/2009010760691400.htm

National

Left front to protest Israel?s attack on Gaza
Special Correspondent
KOLKATA:The ruling Left Front in West Bengal will organise protest 
marches across the State on January 10 condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Biman Bose, Left Front Committee chairman, said here on Tuesday that 
processions would be taken out in the city and the districts and 
meetings held condemning the ?brutal attacks on the Palestinian people.?
He deplored the silence maintained by the United Nations as well as the 
Indian government on the matter and called upon the latter to 
immediately exert diplomatic pressure on the Israeli government to put a 
stop to the attacks on Gaza.
Asked for his comments on a rally in the city organised by the Trinamool 
Congress in protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza that was 
addressed by its chief Mamata Banerjee, he wondered what it was worth, 
as the party was not known for taking any ideological stand in 
international affairs.
Condemning Israel?s attacks on the Gaza strip, Ms. Banerjee demanded 
that the Centre send relief and representatives to Gaza and also urge to 
the United Nations to stop the ongoing violence.
She added that India should sever diplomatic ties with Israel if the 
situation so required.
On the by-election to the Nandigram Assembly constituency held on Monday 
Mr. Bose said that although it was being claimed that the polls were 
peaceful they were held in a situation of repressed terror.
The apparent peace in the area on the day of the polls should not 
suggest that the elections were free and fair, he said.
Corrections and Clarifications
In a report "Left front to protest Israel's attack on Kashmir" (January 
7, 2009), some comments made by Ms. Mamata Banerjee were tagged on to 
those made by Mr. Biman Bose, Left front committee chairman, without 
proper attribution. The comments by Ms Banerjee were given as a separate 
story by a staff reporter. This was incorporated into the news item in 
question by the editorial desk.





http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/muslims-in-new-delhi-protest-against-gaza-attack_100143700.html

Muslims in New Delhi protest against Gaza attack
January 17th, 2009 - 8:17 pm ICT by ANI -
New Delhi, Jan 17 (ANI): Hundreds of Muslim protestors continued to 
protest against Israels attack on Gaza here on Saturday.
?This protest is aimed at the Government of India and the message that 
we give today from this protest is that the Government should not just 
speak, it should act. It has to remove the diplomatic relations with 
Israel. It has to break all strategic and military relations with 
Israel,? said Abdul Rashid Qureshi, a spokesperson of the protestors group.
According to the spokesperson, they also protested against USA, UK and 
United Nations for their alleged pro-Israeli actions.
More than 1140 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its 
offensive against Gaza on December 27 to force Hamas to stop rocket 
attacks on its territory.
Israel has accused Hamas of sheltering among the civilian population and 
using sites such as mosques and schools as military posts. (ANI)






http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Bandh_against_Gaza_attacks/articleshow/3970547.cms

Bandh against Gaza attacks
TNN 13 January 2009, 03:23am IST
KOLKATA: A four-hour bandh from 12 noon to 4 pm has been called by the 
Milli Ittehad Parishad West Bengal, a forum of 13 Muslim organisations 
to protest Israel's strikes on civilian targets in Gaza City of Palestine.

Lawyer Idris Ali, who had moved high court against bandhs earlier, is 
himself a party to the bandh call. On Monday, he and Haji Abdul Aziz 
gave the call after a rally.

The organisers will invite prominent leaders CPM state secretary Biman 
Bose, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee and state Congress 
working president Pradip Bhattacharya to a downtown protest gathering on 
Friday, hoping that none of them can ignore the invitation with the Lok 
Sabha election around. Although Left parties have already condemned the 
attacks on Palestine, it is not certain whether Bose will join Friday's 
gathering.

Speakers at Monday's press conference came down heavily on Israel for 
the way it has targeted Hamas, the largest and most influential Islamic 
organisation in Palestine, killing women and children. They insisted 
that Israel was leading the attack at the prodding of the US.





http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-12/30/content_10579464.htm

2008-12-30 10:03:09 Print

Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts
Palestinians in Venezuela hold anti-Israel demonstration

A Palestinian girl demonstrates in front of the Israeli Embassy in 
Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on Dec. 29, 2008. Palestinians who reside 
in Venezuela gathered here on Monday during a demonstration against 
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. (Xinhua/Bolivar News Agency)

A Palestinian demonstrates in front of the Israeli Embassy in Caracas, 
capital of Venezuela, on Dec. 29, 2008. Palestinians who reside in 
Venezuela gathered here on Monday during a demonstration against Israeli 
airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. (Xinhua/Bolivar News Agency)
Palestinian women demonstrate in front of the Israeli Embassy in 
Caracas, capital of Venezuela, on Dec. 29, 2008. Palestinians who reside 
in Venezuela gathered here on Monday during a demonstration against 
Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. (Xinhua/Bolivar News Agency)





http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/09/content_10628834.htm

Venezuelans protest Israeli military actions against Gaza

Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts
CARACAS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government staged a march on 
Thursday to protest the Israeli raids against the Gaza Strip.
Supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez gathered in front of the 
Este Park in Caracas, from where they marched to the Israeli embassy.
On Jan. 6, Chavez expelled Israeli ambassador as a gesture of 
repudiation for the raids that Israel has launched against Gaza since 
Dec. 27. Over 700 Palestinians have been killed.
The Venezuelan government also ordered its representative to the UN to 
exert pressure together with other countries on the Security Council to 
take urgent measures to stop the Israeli air strikes and ground 
operations against Palestinians.





http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6604308

Caracas Protesters Cheer Israeli Envoy's Expulsion
Spraying graffiti and smashing windows, Venezuelan protesters back 
expulsion of Israeli envoy
CARACAS, Venezuela January 8, 2009 (AP)
The Associated Press

Demonstrators protest outside Israel's embassy in Caracas, Thursday, 
Jan. 8, 2009. Protesters...
(AP)
Protesters condemning Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip sprayed 
graffiti and hurled shoes at the country's embassy in Venezuela on 
Thursday, backing President Hugo Chavez's decision to expel the Israeli 
ambassador.
Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and chanted "Gaza, hold on! The 
world is rising up!" Journalists estimated the crowd at about 1,000.
Protesters broke windows as they threw shoes and firecrackers at the 
seven-story building housing the Embassy and spray-painted "Israel Get 
Out" and "Long live a free Palestine" on its storefronts.
Chavez has ordered Ambassador Shlomo Cohen to leave in protest over the 
attacks in Gaza. Israel says Cohen was given until Friday to depart, and 
the nation is considering expelling Venezuelan diplomats in response.
"We are leaving without hate or rancor. On the contrary, we have much 
fondness for the Venezuelan people," Cohen told The Associated Press on 
Thursday at a gathering at a Jewish community center in eastern Caracas.
More than 700 have been killed since Israel launched the offensive Dec. 
27, aiming to halt Palestinian rocket attacks into southern Israel.
The protesters included Venezuelans of Arab descent and Chavez 
supporters with no links to the Middle East.
"I disagree with them killing all those people," said Robert Cardenas, a 
43-year-old art museum employee.
Chavez has long been critical of Israel in its conflict with the 
Palestinians. He accuses the Israeli government of acting as an arm of 
Washington.
Jewish community leader Abraham Levy, president of the Venezuelan 
Confederation of Israelite Associations, has said the diplomatic break 
attempts to demonize Israel. Venezuela's Jewish community numbers nearly 
15,000.





http://www.examiner.com/x-2086-NY-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2009m1d8-Protests-in-Caracas-for-and-against-Israeli-ambassador-expulsion

Protests in Caracas for and against Israeli ambassador expulsion

January 8, 9:53 PM ? Add a Comment

You will most likely not hear about the condemnation in Caracas by the 
Colegio de Internacionalistas de Venezuela (a body of advocates of 
international cooperation) of President Chavez' expulsion of Israeli 
ambassador Shlomo Cohen. Chavez defended his decision by saying it was a 
gesture of "dignity". Globovision News reported that the Colegio issued 
a press release this afternoon rejecting Ambassador's Cohen's expulsion 
from the country. They go on to say that this action positions the 
Venezuelan government as a biased party in the arab-israeli conflict, 
and it does nothing to contribute to the resolution of the hostilities. 
Quoting from the Spanish text: "We exhort the government of Venezuela to 
reconsider the measure and to propitiate stages of negotiations that can 
contribute effectively to the solution of the problems rather than 
worsening them. "
The Colegio expressed their repudiation of the use of violence and 
called on to the international organizations to seek alternatives to the 
war and for respect of international law. It is sad that the 
International organizations they are calling on have not yet responded 
to the release. At least not yet.
What has received attention however was a mildly violent protest in 
Caracas in front of the Israeli embassy, where they proceeded to stamp 
and burn the Israeli flag (unheard of till now), throw shoes at the 
building, waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags. The estimated size of 
the crowd was about 1000.
There were also firecrackers exploded in front of the Embassy, and some 
spray painted graffiti which said: "long live a free Palestine" on the 
ground floor store fronts. Others chanted "Gaza, hold on, the world is 
rising up". Some protesters jumped over the fence outside the embassy. 
Many windows were smashed with glass shards all over the ground.
Associated Press publicized a list description of the photos that were 
taken of the demonstration, and a woman of Muslim descent was heard 
saying: ""I would like other countries, both Arab and non-Arab countries 
to take the same initiative (of expelling their Israeli ambassadors) so 
that the Israeli people realize that the whole world is against this 
massacre that they are carrying out." The Associated Press site had not 
publicized these photos as of this writing.





http://english.sina.com/life/p/2009/0109/210472.html

Girl dressed up as Statue of Liberty protests Israel's offensive in Gaza
2009-01-09 10:26:51 GMT2009-01-09 18:26:51 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
A girl dressed up as Statue of Liberty with a shoe in her raising hand 
is seen during a rally against Israel's offensive in Gaza, in front of 
the Israeli embassy in Caracas January 8, 2009. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/03/content_10596474.htm

Palestinian community in Colombia protests Israeli raids on Gaza

BOGOTA, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of people from the Palestinian 
community in the Colombian capital city of Bogota on Friday protested 
outside the Israeli embassy against Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
The protesters marched from the historic Bolivar Square to the Israeli 
embassy in northern Bogota, demanding peace for the Palestinian people.
The protest came at a time when the Colombian government condemned, in a 
statement, the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza and expressed its solidarity 
with the Palestinian people.
Israel launched airstrikes on Gaza last Saturday, a move it said to 
retaliate for the firing of rockets into its southern territory by Hamas 
militias.
The ongoing military operation has left at least 432 people killed and 
some 2,200 wounded, Mo'aweya Hassanein, chief of emergency and ambulance 
services in the Palestinian health ministry said.






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/09/content_10629274.htm

Brazilians protest against Israeli invasion of Gaza

Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- About 300 people took to the streets 
of downtown Rio on Thursday afternoon to protest against the ongoing 
Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
The protest was organized by a group called the Committee of Solidarity 
with the Palestinian People's Fight, whose supporters include several 
trade unions and left-wing parties.
"It is a catastrophe, a holocaust," the committee's president Stela 
Santos said, "Israel is committing an aggression against those people, 
who do not have an army and resist with few resources."
Erlix Estevez, who represents NGO AmIsrael in Brazil, regretted the war 
in Gaza.
"The (Israeli) action is not against the Palestinian people, but against 
Hamas, which is a terrorist group," he said, "we are against actions 
which affect civilians and efforts to reach a peace agreement. The 
Palestinian nation has the right to exist. That land is for everyone: 
Jewish, Christians and Muslims."
He added that although the Israeli actions were self-defensive in 
nature, but disproportional in comparison with Hamas's attacks.
"I do not believe that peace can come from war," he said.
It is the second large protest against the Israeli attack within two 
days in Brazil. On Wednesday, about 1,200 people staged a protest in Sao 
Paulo, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.





http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/middle-east/2009/01/01/190113/Several-hundred.htm

January 1, 2009 10:12 am TWN, AFP
Several hundred in Panama protest Israel Gaza raids
PANAMA CITY -- Around 200 people protested outside the Israeli embassy 
in Panama City Tuesday to condemn Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip 
that have left at least 373 Palestinians dead. The Central American 
country's protests joined a wave of worldwide pressure as Israel mulled 
a proposed 48-hour truce.
?We came to condemn this massacre against Palestinian people in which 
civilians are dying,? said Genaro Lopez, director of a local rights 
group, blaming the United States for supporting Israel's attacks. ?We 
came to protest and condemn the massacres by the terrorist state of 
Israel,? said Khaled Salama, representative for the Party of Palestinian 
People for Latin America and the Caribbean.





http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/13/668532

Muslims protest Israeli bombing of Palestine Sunday, 18th January, 2009

Ugandan Muslims burn the Israeli flag at a demonstration at Kololo 
Airstrip on Friday
By Nuliat Nakiwala

A section of Muslims on Friday held a protest in Kampala against the 
Israeli military offensive in Gaza.

During the prayers at Kololo airstrip, the Muslims, led by Sheikh Nooh 
Muzata, condemned the atrocities committed by the Israeli Defence Forces 
against the people of Gaza.

At least 1,203 Palestinians, including 410 children, have been killed 
and 5,300 wounded in the three-week- offensive.

Israel says the offensive is meant to put a halt to rocket attacks on 
southern Israel from the Hamas-controlled Gaza enclave.

After the prayers, a delegation led by Prof. Abasi Kiyimba, marched to 
the foreign affairs ministry to present a petition condemning Israel.

The foreign affairs state minister, Henry Oryem Okello, said the 
Government does not support any kind of terrorism.
Other delegates were Sheikh Obeid Kamulegeya, Sheikh Hassan Kirya, Hajji 
Ahamed Lubega and Sheikh Muhammad Katuramu.

Muslim clerics called upon the international community to step up 
pressure towards Israel to halt its ?campaign of murder and destruction?.

They urged world leaders to boost efforts to maintain a strong 
Palestinian state, so as to bring an end to 60 years of anguish.

Kiyimba said: ?Muslims should stop buying products from companies that 
are against Palestine, because by using such products you are supporting 
your enemies to kill your brothers.?

Prince Badru Nakibinge Kakungulu, Prince Khalifan Kakungulu, the Amir 
Ummah Sheikh Abdul Hakim Ssekimpi, Muslim MPs Erias Lukwago, Latif 
Ssebagala and Lule Mawiya attended.
Mawiya urged the NRM Government to make its stand on the conflict known.






http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=January2009&file=World_News2009011012610.xml

Police disperse protests in Kenya
Web posted at: 1/10/2009 1:26:10
Source ::: AFP Nairobi: Kenyan police fired tear gas and used water 
cannons to disperse hundreds of Muslims who had gathered after Friday 
prayers in Nairobi to protest against Israel?s deadly raids in the Gaza 
Strip. Close to a thousands demonstrators started chanting slogans in 
solidarity with the Palestinians outside the capital?s Jamea mosque.






http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2450918,00.html

Cops break up Gaza protest
09/01/2009 16:04 - (SA)

Nairobi - Kenyan police fired tear gas and used water cannons to 
disperse hundreds of Muslims who had gathered after Friday prayers in 
Nairobi to protest against Israel's deadly raids in the Gaza Strip.
Close to a thousands demonstrators started chanting slogans in 
solidarity with the Palestinians outside the capital's Jamea mosque.
"No to shedding innocent blood", "End the massacre in Gaza", "Israel, 
stop killing innocent people", read some of the placards.
The Jewish state launched a massive military operation against the Gaza 
Strip on December 27 in a move it said was aimed at stopping rocket 
attacks on southern Israel.
Israel has targeted militants and officials from the radical Hamas 
movement which controls the territory but many of the nearly 800 people 
medics say have died since the launch of the raids are civilians.
"We are supporting our brothers being killed by Israel. We want peace, 
so why are our brothers dying," said Ahmed Isak, a 45-year-old Kenyan 
who took part in Friday's protest.
"They're persecuting us and shedding our blood. We are ready to die if 
our fellow Muslims are being persecuted," said Amina Doro, another one 
of the demonstrators.
The protestors tried to march towards the Israeli embassy in central 
Nairobi but were stopped by a heavy security deployment.
Similar protests were held in Nairobi and elsewhere in Kenya last week.
- AFP





http://www.nation.co.ke/News/-/1056/509814/-/u0qp31/-/index.html

Anti-Israeli protests spill into Nairobi

Demonstrators tear up and burn a paper-made lsraeli flag in Nairobi on 
Friday in protest at Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. Photo/MOHAMED DAHIR
By ALPHONCE SHIUNDUPosted Friday, January 2 2009 at 21:55
Protests over Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip spilled into the streets 
of Nairobi on Friday as Muslims in the city vowed to march to that 
country?s embassy and seek audience with the ambassador.
They want the envoy to ?either apologise for the atrocities or vacate 
the country.?
The atmosphere was charged at Nairobi?s Jamia Mosque during Friday 
prayers after Muslims were informed that dozens of women and children 
had been killed in the attacks.
Speeches at the rally held in Banda Street outside the Jamia Mosque 
shortly after the prayers were punctuated with shouts of ?genocide?, 
?holocaust? and ?massacre?.
Human rights
The Muslims urged President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga to 
cut ties with Israel as a show of Kenya?s commitment to human rights.
They also urged the Government to send a strong letter of protest to 
Israel over the attacks.
Vice-chairperson of the Government?s human rights watchdog, Kenya 
National Human Rights Commission Hassan Omar said the attacks were an 
excuse by the West to continue oppressing Muslims.
?Whether or not the police commissioner allows us to protest next week, 
we?ll go to that embassy and give them a piece of our mind,? Mr Omar said.
The Muslims also condemned Arab envoys in Kenya for failing to ?act in 
solidarity with Palestine.?
Only the Iranian ambassador, Mr Hamid Moayyer, has condemned the attacks.
Israel says that its assault on Gaza is aimed at ending persistent Hamas 
rocket attacks, but the offensive has sparked international condemnation 
and protests.
The body count following the attacks hit 420 yesterday morning, with 
another 2,100 critically wounded.
Kisumu Town East MP Shakeel Shabir said he would petition Muslim MPs to 
pass a vote of no confidence in Foreign Affairs minister Moses 
Wetang?ula if he did not condemn the attacks.






http://www.nation.co.ke/News/regional/-/1070/509478/-/709his/-/index.html

Muslims in protest over Gaza crisis

Muslims in Mombasa burn a US flag during a demonstration in Mombasa 
onThursday. They condemned the Israel attacks on Gaza. Photo/Laban Walloga.
By NATION Correspondent Posted Thursday, January 1 2009 at 20:29
Hundreds of Muslims on Thursday thronged the streets of Mombasa to 
protest against the Israeli attacks on Gaza Strip.
The procession started at the Kwa Shibu Mosque in Mwembe Tayari and 
proceeded to Kenyatta Avenue and on to Digo and Makadara roads. The 
protesters then converged at Makadara grounds for prayers.
Men, women and children joined in the protest carrying placards, shoes 
and Palestinian and Israeli flags. They at the same time chanted slogans 
to register their bitterness against Israel.
At one point, Mombasa head of police Tom Odero tried to control the 
movement of the crowd but the youth turned rowdy and had it their way.





http://allafrica.com/stories/200812160541.html

Nigeria: Shiites in Kano Protest Gaza Blockage
Jaafar Jaafar
16 December 2008

Hundreds of Shiite Muslims in Kano have protested Israel's bloc-kage of 
Gaza city, urging Presi-dent Umaru Yar'adua to sever diplomatic ties 
with the Jewish state.
Speaking during the protest, the representative of Sheik Ibrahim 
El-zakzaky, Malam Sanusi Abdulkadir, said it is high time the whole 
world gathered in unison to call Israel to order.
Abdulkadir said Muslims have suffered untold hardship for the period the 
Israel blocked the routes, lamenting that peo-ple all over the world 
folded their arms without denouncing the in-human treatments.
"We have rights to make this call because the Federal Govern-ment has 
condemned injustices in South Africa and other parts of the world. So 
now, it is incum-bent upon us, the religious leaders to call on 
government to do something on this injus-tice", he said.
He said they can not compel the Israel government to stop the injustice 
but they can urge Nigerian government to prevail, diplomatically, on the 
Israel to lower the bar placed on the Gaza routes.
The Shiite leader also said human rights activists should rise against 
the inhuman treat-ment meted out to Gaza people by Israel.
He said history has shown that, apart from Gaza case, no any country in 
the world was ever made prisoner by another country. "We have to show 
our displeasure to the injustices meted out to the Gaza people", he stated.






http://allafrica.com/stories/200901050186.html

Leadership (Abuja)
Nigeria: Protests in Kano Over Gaza Invasion
Abdulaziz Ahmad Abdulaziz
5 January 2009
Kano ? Disturbed by what they call "gargantuan injustice and merciless 
genocide" by the Zionist state of Israel on the Palestinians of Gaza, 
thousands of Muslims in Kano staged various peaceful demonstrations and 
prayer sessions from Friday through the weekend to express dismay over 
Israel's air strike on Gaza.
Different groups of Muslims in Kano held various events to express their 
anger and disapproval with a call on the Federal Government to cut 
diplomatic ties with Israel.
Last Friday a group of Muslims under the banner of Sheikh Ibrahim 
Zakzaky's Islamic Movement converged at the Fagge Juma'at mosque for 
protest meeting.
The group, led by Sheikh Muhammmad Mahmud Turi flew Palestinian flags 
chanting curses and disapproval slogans to Israel . Some of the chants 
include "death to Israel ", "victory for Hamas" among others.
The protesters condemned the action as merciless and cowardly. 
Addressing the gathering Sheikh Turi said Israel's injustice on the 
Palestinians is infamous through out the world as he said that the 
aerial strike had claimed 1,200 women and children.
According to him, the fact that only 61 Hamas jihadists lost their lives 
in the battle that claimed 1,200 innocent women and children testifies 
to the fact that " Israel is coward that cannot fight in the front but 
only resort to injustice."
He described the Palestinian people as courageous and called on them to 
continue fighting until they are freed. "The world is with you against 
this cowardly act by the Zionist regime, but we have proved that we are 
stronger than before by your continued resistance, despite six days of 
aerial bombardment," Shiekh Turi said.
He also described the event in Gaza as the "beginning of the end of the 
Zionist state, especially the growing ability of the resistance movement 
to withstand the aerial bombardment," Sheikh Turi said, adding that with 
the failure of Israel to deal with Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon in 2002 
and in 2006, the acclaimed invincibility of Israel has not only been 
disproven, "it has also been shown that the illegitimate nation will 
soon cease to exist," he said.
On the same vein, Israeli and American flags were set on fair by a group 
of demonstrators under the banner of Jama'atut Tajdidil Islamy, JTI, 
after the Friday prayers at the Kano city Central mosque in disapproval 
of the Israel 's attacks on Gaza .
Speaking at the event, the leader of JTI in Kano Mallam Abdullahi Salihu 
Aikawa expressed anathema on Israel calling it "illegitimate and 
merciless country". Aikawa noted that for a long time Israel has been 
cooking any flimsy reason on which to camouflage for assault on the 
Palestinians.
He, in a strong worded remarks, called on the Federal Government to 
untie diplomatic ties with the Zionist state even as he lambaste Arab 
countries and other nations for exhibiting sheer disregard for the 
situation.
Meanwhile, thousands of Muslim faithful attended a special prayer 
session at Darul Qadiriyya in the heart of Kano where prayers were 
offered for divine intervention on the happenings in the Middle East.
The faithful, under the guidance of Sheikh Musal Qasiyuni Nasiru Kabara, 
equally flay the action of Israel of murdering innocent women and 
children. They also offered Islamic funeral prayer in absentia to the 
Palestinians that were killed in the strikes.





http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200901103233495

Police avert anti-Israel protest in Jos
By Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Published: Saturday, 10 Jan 2009
A detachment of armed soldiers and mobile policemen was on Friday 
drafted to hotspots in the Jos North Local Government Area, to thwart a 
planned demonstration by some Muslim youths against Israel?s bombing of 
Gaza.
Saturday Punch gathered that the group?s request for permission to hold 
a peaceful rally after the Friday prayers was turned down. Consequently, 
the group vowed to proceed with the demonstration.
Their insistence stirred fresh tension in the troubled city, as shop 
owners in hotspots of Bauchi Road, Massalachin Juma?a, Congo Russia and 
Katako junction quickly closed their shops. Efforts to speak with the 
Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Abubakar Umar, were not fruitful as 
he was absent when Saturday Punch visited his office.
Calls to his mobile phone could not go through either as it was said not 
to be available. Meanwhile the spiritual leader of El-Buba Outreach 
Ministry International, Prophet Isah El-Buba, has cautioned the Federal 
Government over the handling of the November 28, 2008 mayhem in Jos. 
El-Buba said that President Umaru Yar?Adua, as the father of the nation, 
should treat all Nigerians equally, irrespective of their ethnic or 
religious affiliation.
In an open letter to Yar?Adua, titled, ?Mr. President: Nigeria is our 
collective Heritage,? a copy of which was made available to Saturday 
Punch in Jos on Friday, the cleric drew the President?s attention to the 
recent bloodshed in the city, that claimed over 300 lives.
He also protested the attitude of some Federal Government emissaries 
that visited the city after the mayhem. He said that most of the key 
government functionaries sent from the Presidency to Jos to ascertain 
the extent of the damage and destruction to lives and property 
undermined the personality of Governor Jonah Jang as the chief security 
officer of Plateau State.
El-Buba urged the President to display the attitude of a true leader to 
all concerned in the Jos North conflict. He added that the problem with 
Nigerian leaders over the years had to do with their interests, which 
were always tilted towards self-serving regional, religious and economic 
pursuits.
He advised the Federal Government to go beyond Plateau State in setting 
up panels to investigate the causes of religious crisis by probing 
similar bloodshed in Kano, Kaduna, Bauchi and Borno states.
Also, a Muslim group, the Association for the Propagation of Islam in 
Different Languages, has called for peaceful co-existence in the state. 
It also called on Plateau State elite to complement the state 
government?s efforts by employing their intellectual ability in 
preaching the need for harmonious co-existence.
Addressing a news conference in Jos on Friday, the association lamented 
the sporadic violence that had engulfed the tin city over the past few 
years. The association?s Spokesman, Mr. Ishaku Dalyop, called for 
adequate security apparatus and incentives to deal with threats to the 
peace of the state.
Dalyop further urged religious leaders to restrict themselves to 
preaching peace, love and tolerance among the people, adding that they 
should not be seen as playing politics or allowing politicians to use 
religion as a political weapon.





http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2447997,00.html

1 000 protest at US consulate
02/01/2009 19:13 - (SA)
Johannesburg - A crowd of about 1 000 people protested outside the US 
consulate in Killarney, Johannesburg on Friday against Israel's air 
strikes on Gaza.
The crowd was also protesting against the US's supply of military 
hardware to Israel.
The crowd chanted "Allahu Akhbar" and "Please free Palestine" while they 
were addressed by speakers from the SA Council of Churches and the 
Congress of SA Trade Unions.
"We are conveying the message that Israel is an apartheid state," said 
Cosatu's Bongani Masuku.
The organisers of the protest had planned to throw shoes at a large 
picture of US president George W Bush, but this did not go as planned.
"The target we were supposed to throw shoes at was burned by our 
comrades," an organiser told the crowd.
- SAPA






http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/249523,south-africans-protest-israels-gaza-offensive.html

South Africans protest Israel's Gaza offensive
Posted : Thu, 08 Jan 2009 13:33:13 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Africa (World)

Johannesburg - Several thousands in South Africa on Thursday took part 
in a march to parliament to protest Israel's military offensive in the 
Gaza. Protestors carried placards, some lashing out at South Africa's 
arms industry for selling "bullets and bombs" to Israel.
In a memorandum handed to a government official outside the parliament 
building in Cape Town
, protestors demanded the expulsion of Israel's ambassador.
The Cape Town-based Workers International Vanguard League (WIVL), one of 
several groups that organized the march, had earlier called for a 
boycott of Israeli products in supermarkets.






http://www.sabcnews.com/portal/site/SABCNews/menuitem.5c4f8fe7ee929f602ea12ea1674daeb9/?vgnextoid=d2b54a93715ee110VgnVCM10000077d4ea9bRCRD&vgnextfmt=default

SA muslims protest against 'Gaza massacre' January 17 2009 , 6:35:00
Hundreds of marchers have dispersed peacefully in Port Elizabeth after 
handing over a memorandum against Israel's actions in Gaza to local 
authorities. The march, led by the Coalition for Peace, was in protest 
against what it calls the massacre of Palestinians by Israelis in Gaza.
The mainly women and children marchers from the Muslim community braved 
the scorching sun to make their views known about what's happening in 
the Middle East. They marchers called for Israel to withdraw from Gaza 
immediately.
The placards they carried, called for a stop to the killing of women and 
children. They called for the South African government to close down the 
Israeli Embassy, and to expel its ambassador. A memorandum showing 
solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, was also handed to the 
police.






http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2450864,00.html

Gaza protests to continue
09/01/2009 17:03 - (SA)


Johannesburg - The Palestine Solidarity Committee on Friday was expected 
to march to the Egyptian embassy in protest against that country's 
"collaboration with Israel", it said in a statement.
Other protesters were expected to take to the streets of Durban during 
lunch-time in protest against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza.
"Thousands will march in Durban today (Friday) while thousands others 
will lay siege at the Egyptian embassy in Pretoria at 15:00," the 
organisation's Melissa Hole said.
Friday's protests mark the third day of similar protests across the country.
While organised pickets and protests got off to a slow start on 
Wednesday, thousands of people took to the streets of Cape Town on 
Thursday, en-route to Parliament.
Demonstrators wore T-shirts bearing the slogans "Sanctions Against 
Israel Now" and "Stop the Massacre in Palestine", they also carried 
placards reading "Hitler Taught Them" and "Hamas We Salute You".
Yet another poster carried by the demonstrators read: "South Africa, the 
bullets and bombs that you are selling to Israel are killing innocent 
babies in Palestine".
- SAPA






http://news.iafrica.com/sa/1215098.htm

SA protests target Egypt
Sat, 10 Jan 2009 08:06
The Palestine Solidarity Committee on Friday handed a memorandum to the 
Egyptian Embassy in Pretoria in protest against that country's 
"complicity with Israel" in the attacks on Gaza.
Committee spokesperson Melissa Hoole said the document was handed to 
embassy representatives around 5.30pm following a protest march.
She described the protest as successful with marchers having been 
well-behaved. "Thousands" of people took part ? a diverse collection of 
South Africans as well as immigrants from other parts of the world, she 
said.
Other protests against the Israeli military offensive in Gaza took place 
in Durban during lunch-time.
Friday's protests marked the third day of similar action across the 
country and more were planned, said Hoole.
While organised pickets and protests got off to a slow start on 
Wednesday, thousands took to the streets of Cape Town on Thursday, 
en-route to Parliament.
Demonstrators wore T-shirts bearing the slogans "Sanctions Against 
Israel Now" and "Stop the Massacre in Palestine". They also carried 
placards reading "Hitler Taught Them" and "Hamas We Salute You".
Yet another poster carried by the demonstrators read: "South Africa, the 
bullets and bombs that you are selling to Israel are killing innocent 
babies in Palestine".
Sapa





http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Top&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20090102144634514C206693

Joburg journo assaulted at Gaza protest

January 02 2009 at 03:08PM

A photographer was assaulted by a Palestine Solidarity Committee 
protester on a pavement outside the United States Consulate in Killarney 
on Friday.

Financial Mail photographer Russell Roberts told Sapa that a protester 
demanded to know what organisation he was from and, when he failed to 
answer, threw a punch at him, hitting his camera.

Earlier, the Palestine Solidarity Committee said it was holding the 
protest in an effort to join the international call for Israel to 
immediately stop its assault on Gaza and the collective punishment of 
people of that territory. - Sapa





http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=911648

Protest for Gaza in Johannesburg Sapa Published:Jan 02, 2009
________________________________________

The target we were supposed to throw shoes at was burned by our comrades

A crowd of about 1000 people protested outside the US consulate in 
Killarney, Johannesburg on Friday against Israel?s air strikes on Gaza.
The crowd was also protesting against the US?s supply of military 
hardware to Israel.
The crowd chanted "Allahu Akhbar" and "Please free Palestine" while they 
were addressed by speakers from the SA Council of Churches and the 
Congress of SA Trade Unions.
"We are conveying the message that Israel is an apartheid state," said 
Cosatu?s Bongani Masuku.
The organisers of the protest had planned to throw shoes at a large 
picture of US president George W Bush, but this did not go as planned.
"The target we were supposed to throw shoes at was burned by our 
comrades," an organiser told the crowd.





http://news.iafrica.com/sa/1201748.htm

1000 protest against Israel
Fri, 02 Jan 2009 19:15
A crowd of about 1000 people protested outside the US consulate in 
Killarney, Johannesburg on Friday against Israel's air strikes on Gaza.
The crowd was also protesting against the US's supply of military 
hardware to Israel.
The crowd chanted "Allahu Akhbar" and "Please free Palestine", while 
they were addressed by speakers from the SA Council of Churches and the 
Congress of SA Trade Unions.
"We are conveying the message that Israel is an apartheid state," said 
Cosatu's Bongani Masuku.
The organisers of the protest had planned to throw shoes at a large 
picture of US president George W. Bush, but this did not go as planned.
"The target we were supposed to throw shoes at was burned by our 
comrades," an organiser told the crowd.
Sapa







http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2450341,00.html

SA Muslims protest Gaza attacks
08/01/2009 14:28 - (SA)

People shout out during a pro-Palestinian group protest against the 
Israeli action in the Gaza Strip in Cape Town. (Schalk van Zuydam, AP)

Cape Town - More than 1 000 South African Muslims marched to Parliament 
in Cape Town on Thursday to protest against the Israeli offensive in the 
Gaza Strip, which they likened to apartheid and genocide.
Chanting "Free Palestine" and bearing banners screaming "death to 
Israel", and some sporting T-shirts saying "Boycott apartheid Israel", 
the protesters handed over a memorandum to the South Africa's junior 
foreign minister.
"I am here to express my disgust at the situation in Gaza regarding the 
Israelis using their power and might to kill innocent civilians," said 
37-year-old Mogamat Booley.
"I want to bring awareness in South Africa, for them to use all their 
might to assist and put pressure on the Israeli government."
More than 700 have been killed and over 3 100 injured since Israel first 
launched air strikes on Hamas military and government targets on 
December 27 in a campaign it says aims to stop Hamas rocket attacks 
across the border.
'Slaughter of innocent people'
A 58-year-old protester said he wanted to "bring awareness about the 
massacre and slaughter of innocent people".
"Where is the boundary when it comes to war? Where is the humanity in 
that?" he said, asking not to be named.
The march, organised by a group of mainly Muslim organisations, called 
for a stop to hostilities and urged South Africa to impose sanctions 
against Israel.
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sue van der Merwe accepted the 
memorandum and told the crowd that South Africa urged all parties in the 
conflict to turn to peaceful negotiations.
"We immediately call for the cessation of hostilities ... violence will 
not solve anything," she said.
- AFP




http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_2449659,00.html

Protests in SA over Gaza
07/01/2009 11:33 - (SA)

Johannesburg - Countrywide pickets against Israel's military offensive 
in the Gaza Strip got off to a slow start on Wednesday, but this has not 
deterred organisers from forging ahead with their awareness campaign.
The pickets, which were expected to carry on until Friday, were being 
held in Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Pretoria.
"It was a slow start but hopefully more people will join us tomorrow. 
But it is, however, not about the numbers but to create awareness about 
what is happening," said Moeniera Peters of Salt River Circle in Cape Town.
Pickets in Cape Town were held between 07:30 and 08:30 on Wednesday. 
Bloemfontein picketers were expected to meet at 11:00.
The Workers International Vanguard League (WIVL) and the Anti-War 
Coalition were expected to join the awareness campaigns on Thursday 
afternoon, with a mass march to Parliament.
WIVL spokesperson Shaheed Mahomed said they would also write letters to 
Pick n Pay, Checkers and Woolworths "to ask them to stop funding Zionist 
organisations and to stop importing Israeli goods".
- SAPA





http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/01/17/2003433932

Muslims in Taipei protest Israel
GAZA ANGER: Protesters chanted slogans outside the Israeli 
representative office and rejected a meeting with officials there who 
said they weren?t fully informed
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jan 17, 2009, Page 2
Members of the Chinese Muslim Association hold a demonstration outside 
the Taipei Grand Mosque yesterday. The demonstrators accused Israel of 
being a state terrorist and demanded that it stop attacking civilians in 
the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: CNA
Muslims in Taiwan staged a demonstration outside the Taipei Grand Mosque 
yesterday, accusing Israel of being a state terrorist, and demanding it 
stop attacking civilians in the Gaza Strip.
?Over a thousand people were killed in a little more than half a month 
since Israel launched its recent attack on the Gaza Strip, but the UN 
failed to exercise any effective intervention,? Ishag Ma (???), 
Chinese Muslim Association deputy secretary-general, told hundreds of 
Muslims who came out of the mosque to join the protest after attending 
the Friday prayer.

?That?s why we gather peacefully here to urge the UN to do something,? 
Ma said.

?Shame, shame, Israel!? protesters chanted while holding signs with 
slogans in Chinese, English, and Arabic condemning Israel and pleading 
for it to stop the attacks.

They also showed pictures of injured Palestinian children.

Yesterday marked the 21st day since Israel launched a massive attack in 
the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by the Palestinian National 
Authority, in retaliation for rocket attacks by Hamas.

Hamas rockets have killed around 20 Israeli civilians, while the Israeli 
offensive has caused more than 1,000 deaths including over 300 children, 
Gaza medics say.

?This is not just about Muslims or Palestinians, everyone ? no matter 
whether you?re a Muslim, Christian or Buddhist, you?re Taiwanese or 
American ? should stand out agsinst it,? Rehmat Khan, originally from 
Pakistan, said. ?Israel is a terrorist state that kills people like 
slaughtering animals.?

While he agreed that rocket fire on Israeli civilians should be halted 
as well, Pakistani Rizwan Ahmed Khan said that Israel?s retaliation was 
not justified.

?Sixteen people were killed [by Hamas rockets] in five years, but you 
murdered over a thousand people including 300 children and a lot of old 
people in just how many days? How is that fair?? Rizwan Ahmed Khan said.

After chanting slogans, demonstrators marched while holding a 5m banner 
with the star of David ? a symbol of Israel ? on it.

?If Israelis believe themselves to be God?s chosen people, they should 
act like it ? murdering innocent people certainly isn?t what God?s 
chosen people should do,? Ma said.

Meanwhile, dozens of antiwar activists mobilized by the Labor Rights 
Association staged a separate protest near the Israeli representative 
office in Taipei yesterday morning, calling on Israel to withdraw from 
Palestine.

The protesters simulated corpses by wrapping themselves in white cloth 
and lying on the ground in front of the Israeli office.

While Israeli diplomats from the Israeli representative office were 
willing to meet with the protesters, the group rejected it.

?We don?t want to hear any explanation from Israel ? the only response 
we want is the immediate halt of military action in Gaza,? the group?s 
secretary-general, Tang Shu (??), said.

When reached by the Taipei Times for response, Israeli representative to 
Taiwan Raphael Gamzou said: ?I believe the distinguished demonstrators 
are probably not fully informed about the situation in our area.?

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU





http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/01/10/2003433398

AI Taiwan protests Gaza attacks
SYMPATHIES: The Israeli representative said that Amnesty International 
had already shown its bias by staging a demonstration in front of the 
Israeli office
By Loa Iok-sin
STAFF REPORTER
Saturday, Jan 10, 2009, Page 2

Protesters mobilized by Amnesty International Taiwan and several other 
civic groups demonstrate near the Israeli representative office in 
Taipei yesterday, demanding that Israel stop its attacks on the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO: CNA
Dozens of protesters mobilized by Amnesty International (AI) Taiwan and 
several other civic groups in the country staged a demonstration near 
the Israeli representative office in Taipei yesterday, demanding that 
Israel stop its military actions in the Gaza Strip.
?We cannot but feel the horror of the effects of so much bombardment and 
ground fire on the Gaza civilians, who have already suffered gravely 
from your government's blockade of even humanitarian aid and supplies,? 
said AI Taiwan chairman Peter Huang (???), reading an open letter to 
Israeli President Shimon Peres in English, before handing the letter to 
a staffer at the Israeli office.

?This does not mean, of course, that our feelings of moral horror does 
not extend to the lost lives of Israeli civilians,? Huang said. ?On the 
contrary, it is for the sake of preventing more lives from being lost 
and for the possible beginning of a more durable peace that we're 
writing to you.?

Israel launched its latest offensive on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt 
rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.

According to wire reports, 22 Israelis have been killed in Hamas rocket 
attacks, while more than 760 Palestinians ? mostly civilians ? have lost 
their lives since Israel began the mass offensive.

Hung Hung (??), a poet, read three poems during the protest ? one by 
Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai that tells how Israeli civilians suffer from 
Hamas attacks, another by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish that recounts 
how a Palestinian mother mourns the death of her son after the Israeli 
offensive, and a third one that he wrote himself, describing his joy 
upon learning of the withdrawal of Israeli troops in 2002.

The reading was followed by a minute of silence for those who have lost 
their lives in the conflict.

A staffer from the Israeli representative office came out of the 
building to accept the protest letter from the demonstrators.

Meanwhile, Israeli Representative Raphael Gamzou criticized AI for not 
fully disclosing its intention when it asked for a meeting, but added 
that his invitation for an open dialogue remained.

Gamzou said the group failed to conduct itself with ?integrity? and that 
the Israeli office only found out about the demonstration from local law 
enforcement authorities.

He said that by lodging a protest in front of the Israeli office, AI had 
already shown its bias.

The office had expected the group to present an anti-violence petition.

Gamzou said although he respects the group, he declined to meet with AI 
officers because he refused to be an ?actor in their sitcom? as he was 
never informed by the group it was planning to stage a demonstration.

During the eight-year-long Hamas-initiated attacks against Israeli 
civilians, he said he never saw ?any expressions of anger and sadness 
from Amnesty International Taiwan or any local NGOs.?

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU





http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2009/01/21/2003434287

Gaza supporters protest at AIT gates
NO TO BOMBARDMENT: Protesters say Israel is acting like the Nazis in its 
indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians, while the US is using 
them as guinea pigs
By Jenny W. Hsu
STAFF REPORTER
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009, Page 4
More than 70 representatives from various civic groups rallied in front 
of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in the pouring rain yesterday, 
requesting that incoming US president Barack Obama immediately halt arms 
sales to Jerusalem and a complete removal of the Israeli military from 
the Gaza Strip.
?Israel is acting like the Nazis in Gaza. The Jewish people have 
forgotten what it is like to be oppressed and killed,? said Jousef, a 
Palestinian in Taiwan who called the current conflict a holocaust.

Dubbing the Israelis a ?psychologically damaged people,? Jousef and his 
friends accused Israel of using the Palestinians as punching bags for 
their repressed anger at Nazi wartime leader Adolf Hitler and blamed 
Washington for treating them as guinea pigs to experiment with new weapons.

The protesters threw shoes at a picture of outgoing US president George 
W. Bush with a black swastika on his forehead and a Hitler mustache, 
calling him a ?butcher.?

?How can anyone claim rights to a piece of land just because the Bible 
they read says so?? said Feng Chuan-ben (??), who said the US was 
reluctant to chide Israel for committing crimes against humanity because 
Washington was funded mostly by Jewish interest groups.

On the verge of tears, a Jewish expatriate who spoke on condition of 
anonymity said Israel was taking democracy hostage by attacking 
Palestinians and murdering civilians.

Okba, a Palestinian businessman, said he has not been able to contact 
his family and friends back home since the fighting started.

Israeli Representative to Taipei Raphael Gamzou defended his 
government?s actions, saying Israel has abided by a policy of restraint 
in the past eight years while Hamas, which he called a fundamentalist 
Muslim terrorist group, continued to seek the destruction of Israel.

The protesters said they would wait and see if Obama could bring peace 
to the Middle East, but added, ?at least he won?t be as extreme and as 
one-sided [as Bush].?

More than 60 police officers carrying shields were mobilized at the 
scene of the protest. Police on two occasions ordered the demonstrators 
to disband immediately for staging an unlawful protest.

No AIT official came out to meet the protesters during the hour-long 
protest. Asked for a comment on the protest, AIT Spokesman Thomas Hodges 
said the protesters did not deliver a petition to the AIT.

In an e-mailed response, Hodges repeated the US government?s official 
position on the conflict, saying that Washington was deeply concerned 
about the violence in Gaza and has called on all sides to protect 
innocent lives, minimize civilian casualties and address the urgent 
humanitarian needs of Palestinians.

?Hamas has held the people of Gaza hostage ever since their illegal coup 
[sic] against the forces of [Palestinian] President Mahmoud Abbas, the 
legitimate president of the Palestinian people. We strongly condemn the 
repeated rocket and mortar attacks against innocent Israeli civilians 
and hold Hamas fully responsible for breaking the ceasefire [sic] and 
for the renewal of violence in Gaza,? the response said.

?As we have long stated, Hamas can be a part of the peace process by 
accepting the principles outlined by the Quartet: renunciation of 
violence and terror, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous 
agreements between the parties, including the Roadmap,? it said.





http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/01/113_37995.html

Stop killing!: Masked protesters hold placards written with the number 
of displaced Palestinians as they march around the Israeli Embassy in 
Seoul, Friday, during a rally against Israel?s air strikes on the Gaza 
Strip. More than 25,000 displaced Palestinians are currently taking 
shelter in U.N. facilities there, said U.N. officials.

/ AP-Yonhap






http://english.ohmynews.com/articleview/article_view.asp?at_code=436364

Koreans Protest Israeli Attack on Palestinians in Gaza Demonstrations 
this week and a letter by civil society organizations to Israel's 
embassy in Seoul
Published 2009-01-06 16:57 (KST) As the Israeli attack on the people in 
Gaza intensifies, more and more people are demonstrating in opposition 
to the Israeli action and in support of the people trapped in Gaza.

There have been such actions in South Korea. The following describes a 
press conference held at the Israeli Embassy in Seoul. It is followed by 
a letter delivered to the embassy.

Korean Action Against Israeli Killing the Palestinian People of the Gaza 
Strip

Sixteen Korean civil society organizations and progressive political 
parties held a press conference Dec. 30 condemning Israeli bombardment 
and blockade of the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip in front of the 
Israeli Embassy.

After the conference, they delivered a letter to the Israeli Embassy 
which urged that the bombing and killing of the Palestinian people of 
the Gaza Strip be stopped.

They planned two demonstrations in front of the Israeli Embassy this 
week. The first demonstration was Jan. 5 at noon. A follow-up action, a 
candlelight vigil, will be held Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. in front of the Israeli 
Embassy near Gwanghwamun Square.





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/248924,hundreds-of-thai-muslims-protest-israels-attack-on-gaza.html

Hundreds of Thai Muslims protest Israel's attack on Gaza
Posted : Mon, 05 Jan 2009 05:06:03 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Asia (World)

Bangkok - Hundreds of Thai Muslims demonstrated Monday in front of 
Israel's embassy in Bangkok, waving banners, burning the Israeli flag 
and slingshotting balls of protest statements at the premises in 
reaction to Tel Aviv's invasion of Gaza. About 400 members of the Muslim 
Group for Peace rallied in front of the embassy waving banners reading 
"Destroy Israel," "Stop the bloodshed," "Free Gaza" and "Where is the UN?"
After reading out a statement condemning Israel's attack on Gaza the 
protestors used slingshots to shoot rolled up balls of the statement at 
the Ocean Tower II Building, which houses the Israeli embassy on the 
25th floor.
The protestors then burned the Israeli flag.
"Thai Muslims must condemn Israel for their attack on Gaza," said Usma 
Lukyee, a leader of the Muslim Group for Peace. "We want to send our 
support to our brothers in Palestine."
Usma said the group would hold another demonstration outside the Israeli 
embassy on Tuesday, when he expected over 1,000 Thai-Muslims to show up 
from all parts of Thailand.
Most of the demonstrators outside the embassy on Monday came from the 
large Muslim community living in Thonburi, Bangkok's sister city.
Muslims are a minority in Thailand, accounting for about 5 per cent of 
the population which is predominantly Buddhist.
An exception is Thailand's three southernmost provinces - Narathiwat, 
Pattani and Yala - where 80 per cent of the 2 million people are Muslim.
The area has been the scene of constant violence since January, 2004, 
when Muslim militants attacks an army arms depot and stole about 300 war 
weapons, prompting several bloody reprisals on the rebels that inflamed 
local antagonism against authorities.
Clashes, bombs, assassinations and beheadings have claimed some 3,000 
casualties in the area over the past four years.
The three provinces comprised the independent Islamic sultanate of 
Pattani more than 200 years ago before it fell under Bangkok's rule.
A separatist struggle has simmered in the area for decades.





http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/30092463/Thai-Muslims-protest-Israel%27s-attack-on-Gaza

Thai Muslims protest Israel's attack on Gaza

Hundreds of Thai Muslims demonstrated Monday in front of Israel's 
embassy in Bangkok, burning the Israeli flag as they called on the 
international community to condemn the invasion.
About 400 members of the Muslim Group for Peace, waving Thai flag and 
holding placard reading "Free Gaza Now", "Stop the bloodshed, and 
"Israel is the Real Axis of Devil".

Others were holding posters of children throwing rocks at Israeli 
soldiers, and the damages inflicted on Gaza and its residents. A poster 
of Hassan Nasrallah, the Shiite leader of Hezbollah, stood out among the 
crowd. Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, is a powerful Lebanese 
militia that fought a vicious ground war with Israel in 2006.






http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17632355

St. Thomas marchers protest violence in Gaza
By SEAN McCOY
Monday, January 19th 2009

Daily News Photo by Sean McCoy V.I. protesters call for a withdrawal of 
Israeli troops from Palestine and an end to fighting.

About 50 local residents, many with family and friends living in the 
Gaza Strip, marched Saturday afternoon along the St. Thomas waterfront 
in protest of Israel's incursion into the Mediterranean strip of land.
The members of the group gathered at Emancipation Park after the march 
and spoke out about the violence in the Gaza Strip.
"We stand for these kids who are being killed for no reason," Nael Bazar 
said over a loudspeaker. "They've been bombing this country, people that 
have no weapons, who have nothing."
Israeli troops began to withdraw from Gaza on Sunday after their 
government and Hamas militants declared an end to the three-week war. 
Israel and Hamas do not recognize each other and ended up separately 
declaring cease-fires 12 hours apart after strenuous efforts by Egyptian 
mediators.
More than half of the more than 1,200 Palestinians killed in fighting 
were civilians, according to human rights groups and the United Nations.
At least 13 Israelis, 10 of them soldiers, were killed.
The marchers said that they were angry that so many civilians were 
killed or injured in the fighting and called for an end to the 
"occupation" by Israel.
"How many babies need to die?" said Sara Husein, "This is about the 
children who are dying. Where are they going to flee to?"
Many protesters carried signs - some saying "Save Gaza," "U.S. Tax $ for 
Peace Not War" - or photographs of children injured during the war.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.







http://www.gmanews.tv/story/142920/RP-militants-join-protests-vs-Israel-attacks-on-Gaza

RP militants join protests vs Israel attacks on Gaza
01/07/2009 | 06:34 AM
Email this | Email the Editor | Print | ShareThis
MANILA, Philippines - Left-leaning militant groups added their voices to 
protests against Israel's attack on Gaza, and scored the United States 
for its support to Israel.

Umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) called for an end to 
the siege and the inhumane blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the US government for its political 
and military support for Israel. For decades now, the US government has 
encouraged and supported Israel's occupation of Palestine and its armed 
aggression against the Palestinian people," it said in a statement on 
its website.

Bayan said the US government not only provides billions of dollars of 
military aid to Israel, it also uses its veto power in the United 
Nations to support of Israel?s cause.

Recently, it said the US government even rejected a UN Security Council 
ceasefire resolution, "a clear indication that the US supports the 
attacks on Gaza."

"We call for an end to the siege of Gaza and for immediate relief for 
the Palestinian people ravaged by the Israeli armed offensives. We call 
for an end to the inhumane blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza and for 
allowing much-needed aid to be brought to (Palestinians in Gaza)," it said.

The group also called for an end to the Israeli occupation as the only 
long-term and viable path to peace.

It said it stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their 
fight of genuine self-determination and freedom from oppression.

Bayan said the eight-day airstrikes followed by the ground invasion of 
Gaza is the latest in the long list of atrocities committed by Israel 
against the Palestinians under the Occupation.

It said Israel justifies its armed aggression by saying it is a response 
to the rocket attacks of Hamas on Israel, a view supported by the United 
States.

"What Israel refuses to acknowledge is the broader context wherein this 
violence is happening. The actions of Hamas should be seen in the 
context of the brutal, more than half-century occupation of Palestinian 
territory by Israel. In the case of Gaza, while Israel has pulled out 
its troops and settlements over the past three years, Israel has 
effectively set up an economic blockade that systematically and 
collectively punishes, starves and kills the Palestinian people," it said.

Also, it said residents of Gaza have been denied any meaningful economic 
activity as a result of the blockade.

"In light of the historical circumstances of Israeli occupation, the 
current offensive against the Palestinian people can never be 
justified," it said. - GMANews.TV






http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090102-181100/RP-Muslims-protest-Israeli-air-strikes

RP Muslims protest Israeli air strikes
By Miko L. Morelos
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:12:00 01/02/2009

Filed Under: Armed conflict, War, Protest
MANILA, Philippines -- Some 20 demonstrators, including children and 
some members of a Bangsamoro umbrella group, condemned Israeli air 
strikes against Hamas militants in the Gaza strip, in a demonstration on 
Friday where mainly voiced concern for innocent civilians killed and 
displaced in the fighting between Israelis and Palestinians.
The Bangsamoro People Solidarity for Peace (BPSP), an alliance of 10 
groups concerned with Muslim affairs, joined Arab nations in asking 
Israel to stop its bombing raids which they claimed have killed over 400 
civilians, including children, women and elderly.
One speaker during the 30-minute protest after noontime prayers at the 
Blue Mosque in Maharlika village, Taguig City even compared the Israeli 
offensive to the Holocaust.
?This genocidal attack is Israel's 'Final Solution' to the Palestine 
people,? said Rei Melencio of the Partido Lakas ng Masa, adding that 
Israel's ground forces were on standby waiting for the green light to 
push through Gaza.
?Muslims in the Philippines are obliged to condemn the attacks and at 
the same time we ask Arab nations to continue pressuring Israel to stop 
[the attacks],? said Kashim Candido, another demonstrator.
Schoolaged children carried placards bearing pictures of dead children 
and injured women, and slogans that said: ?Free Palestine.? They joined 
other protesters in chanting ?Allahu Akbar (God is great)? which 
punctuated speeches given by leaders of the group.
?We appeal to the people of the world to help stop the fighting,? Imam 
Abdul Kahar said in his speech.
Israel has rejected increasing international pressure to suspend its 
military offensive against the Palestinian militants who remained 
defiant by firing rockets at Israeli targets.
The group also lamented inaction by the United Nations, which has yet to 
issue a resolution regarding the escalating conflict. The UN Security 
Council recently issued a statement calling for a halt to the hostilities.
?We're not confident that the UN could do something about the conflict, 
but despite this, we ask them to stop Israel's continuing attacks on 
Gaza,? said Jolly Lais, convener of the BPSP.







http://www.israelnews.net/story/451105

Israeli tennis player faces protests over Gaza attacks
Israel News.Net
Thursday 8th January, 2009 (IANS)
Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer was subject to a small but noisy 
protest over her country's invasion of Gaza when she played a 
quarter-final match at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland Thursday.

About 20 protestors waving anti-Israel placards yelled slogans outside 
the stadium's main entrance opposed by a lone Israeli demonstrator with 
a sign saying, 'Hamas murders hope.'

Security was tight and the demonstrators moved on before the start of 
Peer's match, which she lost to number one seed Elena Dementieva of 
Russia in 63 minutes.

Peer, who earlier rejected calls to withdraw from the tournament, said 
later: 'I am not the government of Israel and I am not representing 
Israel in politics. I am a tennis player and that's what I represent now.'

Protest organiser John Minto, who led a campaign against New Zealand's 
sporting contacts with apartheid South Africa in the 1970s, said the 
demonstration would make New Zealanders think more deeply about what 
their country could do to support the Palestinian struggle.

Minto called Wednesday for a shoe-waving protest against Peer's 
participation in the tournament but this did not happen.

Peer, who was making her third appearance at the Auckland tournament, 
said she had never been targeted by protestors anywhere before.







http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1053793.html

Last update - 07:21 08/01/2009

Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer faces Gaza protest while playing in New 
Zealand By DPA Tags: gaza, shahar peer
Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer, 22, was subject to a small but noisy 
protest over her country's invasion of Gaza when she played a 
quarter-final match at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland on Thursday.

About 20 protestors waving anti-Israel placards yelled slogans outside 
the stadium's main entrance opposed by a lone Israeli demonstrator with 
a sign saying, "Hamas murders hope."

Security was tight and the demonstrators moved on before the start of 
Peer's match, which she lost to number one seed Elena Dementieva of 
Russia in 63 minutes.

Advertisement

Peer, who earlier rejected calls to withdraw from the tournament, said 
later, "I am not the government of Israel and I not representing Israel 
in politics. I am a tennis player and that's what I represent now."

Protest organizer John Minto, who led a campaign against New Zealand's 
sporting contacts with apartheid South Africa in the 1970s, said the 
demonstration would make New Zealanders think more deeply about what 
their country could do to support the Palestinian struggle.

Minto called Wednesday for a shoe-waving protest against Peer's 
participation in the tournament but this did not happen.

Peer, who was making her third appearance at the Auckland tournament, 
said she had never been targeted by protestors anywhere before.







http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/tennis/787521

Protestors target Israeli tennis player
Last updated 12:31 08/01/2009
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JOHN SELKIRK/Dominion Post
'END ISRAELI APARTHEID': Veteran protestor John Minto, who was a key 
figure in the anti-apartheid protests of the 1981 Springboks rugby tour, 
leads a group protesting Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer's 
participation in the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland.

Israeli Shahar Peer, the subject of a protest outside the ASB Classic 
tennis venue in Auckland, completed her quarterfinal match without 
disruption today.
About 20 protesters who gathered outside the main entrance this morning 
for a noisy demonstration against Israel's military offensive in Gaza 
were moved on peacefully when Peer's match with Russian top-seed Elena 
Dementieva began in the early afternoon.
Peer, the No 5 seed, was given a warm welcome by fans when she arrived 
on court and supporters in one corner of the stadium displayed two 
Israeli flags.
Security was boosted at the venue today, and included bag searches, and 
there was also a discreet but visible security presence at courtside.
The match itself lasted just 63 minutes, with Dementieva dominant 
against Peer, who put up a brief fight in the opening set, but then 
faded to a 6-3 6-1 defeat.
The result ended Peer's involvement in the Classic. She had lost in the 
second round of the doubles yesterday with Danish partner Caroline 
Wozniecki.
Jerusalem-born Peer, 21, was making her third appearance in the 
tournament, and she indicated yesterday that she wanted to come back 
next year.
The protesters, led by veteran activist John Minto, waved placards and 
called for Peer to withdraw from the event.
Police initially tried to move them, but Mr Minto said they had a right 
to take their action.
After talks with Tennis Auckland management, the protesters were allowed 
to stay put outside the tennis centre.
A lone pro-Israel demonstrator stood opposite the group with the sign 
reading: "Minto supports Hamas Murderers. Hamas murders hope."
Fans heading into the centre had mixed opinions about the group's protest.
"I don't believe that Hamas have any morals," Aucklander Rosalie Widger 
told NZPA.
"They shield themselves behind civilians. It's dreadful what's going on, 
Hamas is firing into Israel and they are trying to stop it."
Hamiltonian Bob Wilcock said the protesters had a fair point of view, 
but also thought the action was "a bit simplistic" and one-sided.





http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/787517

Noisy protest fails to disrupt tennis
Last updated 12:15 08/01/2009

Israeli Shahar Peer, the subject of a protest outside the ASB Classic 
tennis venue in Auckland, completed her quarterfinal match without 
disruption today.
About 20 protesters who gathered outside the main entrance this morning 
for a noisy demonstration against Israel's military offensive in Gaza 
were moved on peacefully when Peer's match with Russian top-seed Elena 
Dementieva began in the early afternoon.
Peer, the No 5 seed, was given a warm welcome by fans when she arrived 
on court and supporters in one corner of the stadium displayed two 
Israeli flags.
Security was boosted at the venue today, and included bag searches, and 
there was also a discreet but visible security presence at courtside.
The match itself lasted just 63 minutes, with Dementieva dominant 
against Peer, who put up a brief fight in the opening set, but then 
faded to a 6-3 6-1 defeat.
The result ended Peer's involvement in the Classic. She had lost in the 
second round of the doubles yesterday with Danish partner Carole Wozniecki.
Jerusalem-born Peer, 21, was making her third appearance in the 
tournament, and she indicated yesterday that she wanted to come back 
next year.
The protesters, led by veteran activist John Minto, waved placards and 
called for Peer to withdraw from the event.
Police initially tried to move them, but Mr Minto said they had a right 
to take their action.
After talks with Tennis Auckland management, the protesters were allowed 
to stay put outside the tennis centre.
A lone pro-Israel demonstrator stood opposite the group with the sign 
reading: ``Minto supports Hamas Murderers. Hamas murders hope.''
Fans heading into the centre had mixed opinions about the group's protest.
"I don't believe that Hamas have any morals,'' Aucklander Rosalie Widger 
told NZPA.
"They shield themselves behind civilians. It's dreadful what's going on, 
Hamas is firing into Israel and they are trying to stop it.''
Hamiltonian Bob Wilcock said the protesters had a fair point of view, 
but also thought the action was "a bit simplistic'' and one-sided.

- NZPA





http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2436620

Anti-Israel activists protest at tennis
Published: 11:39AM Thursday January 08, 2009Anti-Israel activists have 
protested at the women's tennis tournament in Auckland where Israeli 
player Shahar Peer is competing.

They waved shoes at fans, urging them to boycott Peer's quarter finals 
matches on Thursday.

They say she should speak out against her government's Gaza campaign and 
quit the tournament.
"We are asking her to make a big sacrifice but it's not as big as the 
sacrifice Palestinians are making every day of their lives," says John 
Minto of the Global Peace and Justice network.
Minto says Israel's attacks on the Gaza strip are indefensible and the 
latest chapter in a 60 year-old history of oppression and brutality 
against Palestinians.
He has reportedly met with Auckland tennis bosses over the situation.
National MP Maurice Williamson says Peer is not representing her country 
in the tournament.
"She's an individual, paid for herself to come, leave her alone," he says.
Security was stepped-up but police did not make any arrests.
Peer has ignored the protesters, saying she is just here to play Tennis.
"What is going on in Israel is not easy for any one of us, hopefully it 
will end as soon as possible."
Some tennis fans appeared less than impressed by the protesters' actions 
while others seemed rather bemused by the sideshow.











http://story.floridastatesman.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/c08dd24cec417021/id/451305/cs/1/

Jewish women stage protest inside Israeli Consulate in Toronto
Florida Statesman
Thursday 8th January, 2009
A number of Jewish women gained entry to the Israeli consulate in 
Toronto on Wednesday and staged a sit-in protest.

The women were protesting Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip which they 
described as 'atrocities.'

The heavily guarded consulate was taken by surprise. The Royal Canadian 
Mounted Police were called in and the women, 8 in number, were arrested.

At the Metro Toronto Police station the women were formally charged with 
breaching the peace. The police subsequently withdrew the charges and 
released the women.

Included in the group was the President of Science for Peace, and 
several students.

'Israel purports to represent all Jews worldwide and these atrocities 
are not being committed in our name,' spokesperson and filmmaker Cathy 
Gulkin for the group told The Toronto Star.

A spokesman for the Israeli consulate declined comment.

Notwithstanding Wednesday's protest, Toronto's Jewish community is 
preparing for a major pro-Israel rally Thursday night at the largest 
synagogue in the city, planned in conjunction with similar rallies in 
cities across Canada.






http://english.sina.com/world/2009/0107/210020.html

Jewish protesters at Canada Israeli consulate arrested
2009-01-07 20:21:17 GMT2009-01-08 04:21:17 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
OTTAWA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Eight Jewish protestors were arrested 
Wednesday after they occupied the Israeli consulate in Toronto, Canadian 
police said.
The group, made up with Canadian Jewish women, carried out the 
occupation to show their opposition to Israel's military operations in 
the Gaza Strip and its two-year economic blockade of the territory, 
spokesperson Miriam Garfinkle told reporters Wednesday.
They will face trespassing and failure-to-disperse charges, a police 
officer said.
In a news release forwarded by organization "Palestinian and Jewish 
Unity," the protestors said: "Protestors are outraged at Israel's latest 
assault on the Palestinian people and by the Canadian government's 
refusal to condemn these massacres."
"They are deeply concerned that Canadians are hearing the views of 
pro-Israel groups who are being represented as the only voice of Jewish 
Canadians. The protestors have occupied the consulate to send a clear 
statement that many Jewish-Canadians do not support Israel's violence 
and apartheid policies. "






http://www.olyblog.net/dual-protests-us-embassy-vancouver-notes-about-making-peace

Dual Protests at the US Embassy in Vancouver + notes about making peace
Submitted by DaveO on Tue, 12/30/2008 - 11:30am.
On a rainy day in Vancouver, BC, pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protests 
tried to out-yell each other outside of the USA Embassy.
My friend Kris Krug went down to document the event and came back rather 
moved by the experience by seeing friends yelling at each other with no 
resolve and also the fact that we as humans haven't developed a method 
to resolve these absurd conflicts predicated by race, religion, and 
territory.
Personally, I think we can do better. Respect, forgiveness, kindness, 
friendliness and ecumenicality for starters.
Here are Kris' remarks:
It makes me sad that in 2008 there is a such an immovable mountain of a 
conflict whose central tenants seem to be based on racism and religious 
intolerance. On both sides. All sides.
I feel sad and my head hangs a lil lower every time I hear about an 
escalation of the violence in the middle east. I like to be positive and 
optimistic in general and am frustrated not only in the terrible things 
that are taking place in terms of violence, but also that we don?t seem 
to even have the institutions in which we can seek forgiveness and 
resolution. I?m disappointed in all of us.






http://www.cjnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16092&Itemid=86

Police asked to investigate anti-Israel protests
By PAUL LUNGEN, Staff Reporter
Wednesday, 21 January 2009
TORONTO ? A man clutching a Hezbollah flag promising that ?this is going 
to wipe you off the planet?; youngsters chanting in Arabic,?Palestine is 
ours and the Jews are our dogs?; a woman screaming hysterically at 
nearby counter-protesters, ?Jewish child? You?re going to f...in? die. 
Hamas is coming for you? F... off?; calls for Hezbollah chieftain Hassan 
Nasrallah to ?strike Tel Aviv?; a demonstrator carrying a poster with 
the epithet ?Nazisrael.?
Those images of demonstrators, many with their faces contorted in rage, 
were recorded at anti-Israel demonstrations over the past few weeks in 
Toronto, Montreal and Calgary and have been distributed to the RCMP and 
local police by Canadian Jewish Congress.
Law enforcement agencies have been asked to examine the videos to 
determine whether the demonstrators crossed the bounds of acceptable 
discourse and strayed into criminal violations of anti-hate laws, 
spokespeople for Canadian Jewish Congress and the Canada-Israel 
Committee (CIC) told a news conference in Toronto last week.
The videos have been posted on YouTube and a number of blogs and can be 
seen on this site.
The events that took place on Canadian streets go far beyond Canadian 
norms of civility and would shock Canadians if they knew of them, said 
Congress CEO Bernie Farber.
The organizations that sponsored the rallies ought to ?denounce the 
horrendous expressions of anti-Semitism and calls to genocide that 
occurred,? he said.
?It is necessary at such times for all of us to stand together and 
isolate hate. The law is only one instrument. It is Canadians 
collectively that can provide the best remedy. Only by speaking out 
against such vile intolerance ? be you a political leader, a labour 
leader or an average citizen ? can we truly defeat such fanaticism,? 
Farber said.
The Canadian demonstrations coincided with protests in cities around the 
world against Israel?s attack on Hamas in Gaza. Thousands have taken to 
the streets in London, Paris, South Africa and the Middle East.
Referring to those events, Farber warned that ?the hateful energy we see 
being promulgated on our streets? could escalate to actual violence as 
it has in New York, London and Sweden. Synagogues in Antwerp and London 
have been firebombed, lit rags were pushed through the mail slot of a 
Jewish home in Belgium, Islamic extremists are said to have prepared hit 
lists of Jewish leaders in Britain, and Hamas has announced that Jewish 
children anywhere are legitimate targets for murder.
?And all this we believe stems from the hateful energy we see being 
promulgated on our streets. We do not want similar hate-filled episodes 
here in Canada,? Farber said.
He noted that in Calgary, members of the white supremacist Aryan Guard 
felt comfortable marching with pro-Hamas protesters.
CIC executive vice-president Sara Saber-Freedman said shouts at a rally 
in Montreal referred to a battle against Jews in the seventh century and 
?is in effect a call for death to the Jews.?
If the extreme rhetoric is not denounced by rally organizers, those 
protesters will feel their behaviour is acceptable. It?s a moral issue, 
Saber-Freedman said. ?This kind of rhetoric leads to violence.?
The rallies were sponsored by unions and church groups, as well as 
Muslim, Arab and Palestinian organizations. Farber called on them to 
?immediately denounce those who utilize the language of hate and 
violence here in Canada. Each should clearly separate their 
organizations from such language.?
Outside the news conference, sponsored by Congress and the CIC, the 
Jewish community?s lobbying arm for Israel, a handful of protesters 
argued that the two organizations were attempting to distract attention 
from Israel?s attack on Gaza.
Inside the news conference, a reporter noted that slurs came from both 
sides at demonstrations. Farber said if there were calls for genocide 
from pro-Israel protesters and something equivalent to comparing Jews 
with Nazis, ?in a New York minute, I?d denounce it.?





http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20081228/middleeast_protests_081228/20081228?hub=Canada

Mideast conflict sparks protests in Canada
Updated Sun. Dec. 28 2008 3:07 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
Demonstrators rallied in several Canadian cities Sunday, taking sides in 
the latest conflict between Israel and Hamas militants. The latest 
Mideast violence has killed nearly 300 people in the Gaza Strip.
In Toronto, about 200 people gathered outside the downtown building that 
houses Israel's consulate to show their solidarity with the Palestinians.
Some protesters engaged in a shouting match with a few dozen 
representatives from the Jewish Defence League, who conducted a 
demonstration across the street.
In Ottawa, dozens of people denounced the Israeli campaign during a 
protest at the Human Rights Monument. There were more rallies held in 
Montreal and other Canadian cities.
The Canadian protests mimicked demonstrations in cities across the 
Middle East, many of which turned violent.
A rally in the Iraqi city of Mosul attracted a suicide bomber on a 
bicycle. One of the 1,300 demonstrators was killed and 16 others were 
wounded in that incident.
In Lebanon, police had to fire tear gas at thousands of demonstrators to 
prevent them from getting near the Egyptian embassy. Egypt has been 
criticized for acting as a mediator between the Israelis and the 
Palestinians and for closing its border with the Gaza Strip.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Sunday encouraged both 
sides to renew the truce that had been in place for much of the summer 
and early fall.
"There has been a calm and we should work to restore it," Gheit said.
In Egypt, thousands of demonstrators gathered at university campuses in 
Cairo and Alexandria to denounce what they feel is their government's 
weak support for the Palestinians.
In the Syrian capital of Damascus, more than 5,000 protesters marched 
toward the city's main square, burning both Israeli and U.S. flags.
A banner belonging to one protester read: "The aggression against Gaza 
is an aggression against the whole Arab nation."
In Beirut, a representative of Hamas told a crowd of protesters that the 
militant group would continue to fight.
"We have one alternative which is to be steadfast and resist and then we 
will be victorious," Osama Hamdan said.
About 5,000 lawyers in Amman, Jordan, marched toward parliament in a 
quest to have the Israeli ambassador expelled and the embassy closed.
In Turkey, one of the few Muslim countries that has a relationship with 
Israel, the prime minister denounced the campaign as a "crime against 
humanity."
The protests coincide with calls from the international community to 
work together to help bring an end to the violence.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner encouraged other European 
countries to work together to negotiate a solution to the crisis.
"We have entered a new spiral of despair," Kouchner told the Journal du 
Dimanche in an interview published on Sunday. "The truce must be restored."
With files from The Associated Press



http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2009/01/04/7916376-cp.html

Montreal protestors denounce Israeli offensive, Canada's inaction
By Sidhartha Banerjee, THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL - Thousands of placard-toting, flag-waving protesters spilled 
into the streets of Montreal on Sunday, calling on the Canadian 
government to apply pressure on Israel to stop its military offensive in 
Gaza.
The boisterous-but-peaceful group made up adults and children shouted 
slogans such as "Israel terrorist" and "Free Palestine" as they snaked 
through the downtown core in a bone-chilling cold.
The Montreal march was the latest in a series of events this weekend 
across Canada denouncing the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
Another event on Sunday attracted an estimated 300 people in Edmonton 
and similar protests were held Saturday in Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto.
But members of the Quebec-Israel Committee who observed the rally said 
they were troubled by chants in Arabic calling for death to Jews and the 
alleged burning of an Israeli flag in front of the consulate.
"The violent and anti-Semitic rhetoric of numerous protesters is an echo 
of radical Islamic discourse that holds sway in the Middle East, but has 
no place in Quebec," Luciano Del Negro, director general of the 
committee, said in a statement.
Even as Israel's troops and military machinery continued their push into 
Gaza, protesters continued to press for the Canadian government to do more.
"There is a massacre going on Gaza right now," said protester Gerbe Rahal.
"I don't have any family in Gaza but you don't need to have family there 
to know what's going on there is inhuman and that it can't continue that 
way."
An imposing number of demonstrators moved from a public square on the 
western tip of Montreal's downtown core to the Israeli consulate, housed 
in an office tower just a stone's throw away.
Under the watchful of eye of a Montreal police escort and more officers 
guarding the door to the consulate, protesters roared before moving on 
along busy Ste. Catherine Street.
Fabienne Presentey, a protester with Independent Jewish Voices, opposed 
to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, said that military 
might will do little to make Israelis more secure.
"A protest - one person's voice - everything is necessary when there is 
an injustice. All voices that can be raised against this injustice must 
be," she said.
Israel has said it is acting in self-defence in response to continuous 
firing of rockets by the Hamas militant group from Gaza into nearby 
Jewish towns.
More than 500 Palestinians and a handful of Israelis have died since the 
battles began last weekend.
The Israeli air strikes have badly damaged Gaza's infrastructure, 
knocking out power and water in many areas and raising fears of 
humanitarian disaster as the Israeli ground incursion started Saturday.
Protest organizers called on the Canadian government to press Israel for 
a ceasefire and immediate sanctions and boycotts against that country.
Laith Marouf, chapter co-ordinator at Solidarity for Palestinian Human 
Rights' Montreal chapter, also said organizers wanted borders to Egypt 
opened to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza and to let residents caught 
in the crossfire the chance to get out.
"On a personal level, people are worried about their families, but 
secondly people are very disappointed at the Canadian government and 
their callous position on war crimes that Israel is committing," Marouf 
said, adding the Canadian government's position didn't necessarily come 
as a surprise.
"But that doesn't mean that we do not condemn it and we will put the 
pressure on this (Canadian) government as much as we can to abide by 
international law."
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon issued a statement Sunday 
saying that "Canada is deeply concerned about the increase in 
hostilities between Israel and Hamas."
Cannon called for renewed international diplomatic efforts for a 
ceasefire, starting with a halt to rocket attacks on Israel the 
statement says are the cause of the crisis.
It adds the region must have access to food, fuel and medical supplies.
In Edmonton, protesters staged a boisterous rally in front of city hall, 
denouncing the war in Gaza as a "holocaust" against the Palestinians.
The protesters, many wearing colourful head scarves, waved placards 
decrying the war and shouted for peace as they marched around the 
square, some carrying the Palestinian flag.
Protester Ahmad Assaf said the world must denounce what he describes as 
Israeli aggression and the hypocrisy of Western nations that are arming 
Israel.
"They have been killing innocent people for 60 years," he said. "Enough 
is enough."
Alaa Kabri, a volunteer with the Canada-Palestine Cultural Association, 
says the rally was organized by Edmonton's Islamic community to take a 
stand against oppression.
"While the world was looking the other way over New Years, there was a 
massacre taking place in Gaza and it's all in the name of self defence," 
he said.
"Forty-two of the children are dead and I don't consider killing 
children a matter of self defence."
(With files from Jim MacDonald in Edmonton)


http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2009/01/03/7910171-cp.html

Protests on Parliament Hill, Gaza
By THE CANADIAN PRESS


Protesters in several Canadian cities waved placards and Palestinian 
flags Saturday as they angrily denounced the ongoing Israeli offensive 
in Gaza, just as word emerged that Israel's troops and tanks had moved 
into enemy territory.
Following on the heels of angry protests taking place in cities across 
Europe, the Canadian show of solidarity began in the nation's capital 
with more than 500 demonstrators braving chill winds on the steps of 
Parliament Hill.
The group made its way to the Israeli and U.S. embassies in Ottawa, as 
did a gathering of several thousand people in Toronto who at one point 
faced off against a smaller group of pro-Israel demonstrators in a 
downtown public square.
The noisy but peaceful gathering on Parliament Hill erupted with cries 
of "shame" when a speaker delivered the news Israel had begun its ground 
assault.
"Regardless what they say in this building (House of Commons), 
regardless what they say in Washington or the Hague, these are war 
crimes," shouted Robert Assaly, an Anglican priest from Montreal who was 
a speaker at the rally.
At the height of the protest, military officials in Jerusalem confirmed 
that Israeli ground forces, amassed for days on the Gaza border, had 
started moving into the region.
The ground incursion had been widely expected in the wake of a heavy 
barrage of artillery strikes from Israeli gunboats and warships that was 
hammering the region Saturday.
Organizers at the invective-charged Toronto rally opted not to announce 
the news for fear it would stoke additional anger.
"This will have huge implications," said Ali Mallah of the Canadian-Arab 
Federation.
"It will widen the wedge toward more war, more violence and more people 
to be killed. It's a shame that we just entered a new year ... to start 
with war and killing in the Middle East."
In addition to the Ottawa and Toronto protests, events were scheduled 
for Montreal and Vancouver.
Braving -19 C wind-chill temperatures, the Ottawa rally denounced what 
they called Israeli atrocities against the 1.5 million residents of Gaza.
It included many self-identified Palestinian-Canadians, as well as a 
smattering of Jewish-Canadians opposed to Israel's policies in Gaza and 
the West Bank, union activists and civil rights advocates.
Israel has said it is acting in self-defence in response to continuous 
firing of rockets from Gaza into Jewish towns.
But the demonstrators dismissed that defence, calling the rockets a 
minor provocation that don't excuse the killing of over 400 Palestinians.
Toronto police - including several on horseback - formed a barrier 
between the impassioned masses of Palestine supporters and the scores 
waving Israeli flags as the protest forced the closure of a typically 
busy portion of Yonge Street.
"(The violence) devastated me and my family," said Suraya Aburaneh, 21. 
"We can't do much, but we're here in Canada and the best we can do is 
spread awareness."
Interrupting her was her nine-year-old cousin Dina, who shouted: "We 
can't let people die like this!"
"We just need peace in this world, no killing. Both sides," said Sumbul 
Raza, 34, as she marched and led chants of, "Shame, shame Israel."
Across police lines, a group organized by the Jewish Defense League held 
a counter-demonstration.
"I want them to have their own country, I want them to have democracy," 
said Ravid Dahan, 28, who moved to Canada from Israel two years ago.
"I want my children to go to school with their children. But they don't 
believe I exist."
Jill Aharon, 51, from Thornhill, added peace could come easily: "If they 
lay down their rockets, there will be no more death," she said.
Tens of thousands of people also demonstrated across Europe on Saturday, 
including protesters who hurled shoes at the tall iron gates outside the 
British prime minister's residence in London.
Protests in Paris, Rome, Berlin and many other European cities also drew 
thousands.
Israel says it is responding to rockets fired from Gaza by the Hamas 
militant group. Four Israelis also have been killed in the week of violence.
The Israeli air strikes have badly damaged Gaza's infrastructure, 
knocking out power and water in many areas and raising fears of 
humanitarian disaster.





http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/National/2009/01/03/7908541-sun.html

Sat, January 3, 2009
Anti-Israel protest targets PM's office
UPDATED: 2009-01-03 03:52:42 MST

By BILL KAUFMANN, SUN MEDIA

Tempers flared during a protest yesterday against the bombing of Gaza in 
front of Stephen Harper's Calgary office yesterday.
About 150 demonstrators blocked parking lot traffic in front of the PM's 
Glenmore Landing constituency office, demanding the Harper government 
take a stand against Israel's air assault on the Gaza Strip reported to 
have killed more than 400 people.
Leading the demonstrators in a chant, Muslim Council of Calgary chairman 
Nagah Hage denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "Olmert-Hitler, 
you're the same, the only difference is the name," Hage shouted.
The Muslim leader also told the crowd Harper's staunch support for 
Israel makes him complicit.
"How can you, Mr. Harper, turn your back on such atrocities," he said.

"You are one of the culprits."
Later, when asked if he regretted his Hitler comparison, Hage stood firm.
"Hitler wasn't as bad as Olmert," he said.
As the protest wound down, a lone counter-demonstrator brandished a tiny 
Israeli flag and a placard defending Israel's right to defend its security.
One protestor inaccurately hurled a shoe at the lone man -- for Arabs, 
the ultimate insult.
"Look -- an Arab mob against democracy," said the counter-demonstrator.
Hage then struggled to convince the crowd to ignore the man and disperse.
In a statement, the Mideast violence was condemned by Adam Singer of the 
Calgary Jewish Community Council.
But he said Israel "has shown remarkable patience in not responding" to 
rocket attacks from Gaza up to now.
"Our thoughts are with all those who are suffering in this conflict."







http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/content/subscribe?user_URL=http://www.theglobeandmail.com%2Fservlet%2Fstory%2FRTGAM.20090110.wcanprot0110%2FBNStory%2FNational%2Fhome%3Fcid%3Dal_gam_mostview&ord=15714866&brand=theglobeandmail&force_login=true

Posted AT 8:41 PM EDT on 10/01/09
Gaza protests draw thousands across Canada
The Canadian Press
TORONTO ? Thousands of people, some using stark visual images to 
illustrate their outrage, demanded that Canada not take sides in the 
ongoing Middle East conflict in pro-Palestinian demonstrations across 
the country Saturday. Police estimated about 2,000 protesters were 
packed outside the Israeli Consulate in Toronto calling for an end to 
Israeli attacks in Gaza.





http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/01/10/gaza-protests.html?ref=rss

Protests over Israel's Gaza offensive held in Canadian, world cities
Last Updated: Saturday, January 10, 2009 | 7:53 PM ET Comments356Recommend71
CBC News
Thousands of Canadians joined demonstrators around the world Saturday in 
a series of heated protests against Israel's offensive in Gaza, with 
scuffles and arrests reported in several European cities.
Outside the Israeli Consulate in Toronto, police estimated about 2,000 
people gathered in frigid weather to condemn the Israeli attacks, while 
a smaller group of pro-Israeli demonstrators made their presence known 
behind a police barricade.
Protestesters stamp on a burning Israeli flag Saturday during a 
demonstration in Montreal calling for an end to Israel's offensive in 
Gaza. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)In Montreal, about 1,000 marched in 
a protest organized by several large labour federations in support of 
the Palestinian people of Gaza. A crowd set at least one Israeli flag on 
fire.
In Vancouver, hundreds of people gathered in the pouring rain in front 
of the city's art gallery, where the protest spilled on to a downtown 
street and stopped traffic.
Protesters waved placards and chanted "Free Gaza" as speakers condemned 
Israel.
Scores of marches were held across France. The biggest was in Paris, 
where an estimated 30,000 people took part and scuffles with police were 
reported.
In Washington, hundreds rallied near the White House and the hotel of 
president-elect Barack Obama to demand an end to the Israeli military 
campaign.
Israel says its two-week-old offensive is intended to stop the Hamas 
militant group from launching rocket attacks on southern Israel. Medical 
officials say more than 800 Palestinians have been killed.
Thirteen Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed since 
the conflict began on Dec. 27.
Protesters burned Israeli flags in Sweden and threw shoes at the U.S. 
Consulate in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Riot police face protesters against Israeli military action in the Gaza 
Strip, near the Israeli Embassy in London on Saturday. (Akira 
Suemori/Associated Press) In central London, two officers were hurt when 
demonstrators attempted to topple barriers outside the Israeli Embassy 
and clashed with police. One officer was knocked unconscious as 
protesters shattered shop windows with projectiles and sticks.
In Innsbruck, Austria, volunteer security personnel arranged by the 
organizers of a demonstration moved quickly to surround and protect an 
elderly man after he suddenly unrolled an Israeli flag in the middle of 
the protest.
A crowd of 12,000 gathered in London's Hyde Park carrying placards 
marked "Gaza: Stop the massacre" and chanting, "Free, free Palestine."
In Italy, several thousand people carrying Palestinian flags marched in 
Milan, Florence and Venice to protest the Israeli offensive.
Hezbollah organizes Lebanon protest
In Milan, protesters burned a white sheet with the Star of David on it 
and some participants carried posters with the Israeli flag and a 
swastika on them, the ANSA news agency reported.
In Germany, some 8,500 people rallied in Berlin's Alexanderplatz and 
then marched to the city's main train station. Hundreds of police were 
deployed along the route and several Hamas flags were confiscated from 
the protesters. No serious incidents were reported, however, police said.
In the western German city of Duisburg, 10,000 marched.
"We want to show our solidarity with the victims in the Gaza Strip and 
signal our opposition to the oppression and violence in Gaza," said 
organizer Engin Karahan.
Nearly 20,000 people marched through the southern Lebanese town 
Nabatiyeh in a protest organized by Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas that 
fought its own 34-day conflict with Israel in the summer of 2006.
In Norway, police used tear gas to try to disperse at least 1,000 
protesters after some hurled bottles, rocks and fired fireworks at 
officers. Two people were injured and two were taken into custody, said 
Oslo police spokeswoman Unni Groendal.





http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/12/28/7868271-cp.html

Canadian protesters slam 'terrorist' Israel
By Colin Perkel, THE CANADIAN PRESS

A woman holds a Palestinian flag in Toronto on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008 
during a protest to denounce the Israeli military action in the Gaza 
Strip and show solidarity with the Palestinian people. THE CANADIAN 
PRESS/Colin Perkel

TORONTO - The raw realities of Middle East politics spilled onto the 
streets in several cities across Canada on Sunday as pro-Palestinian 
protesters denounced the bloody Israeli attacks on Gaza and blasted 
Israel as a terrorist state.
The largest demonstration was in Toronto, where tempers flared and 
tensions mounted as about 800 protesters outside the Israeli consulate 
screamed at a few dozen pro-Israel supporters across busy Bloor Street.
"I am here to stand up for the victims of Palestine who are being 
brutally slaughtered by the Israeli terrorist state," said protester Ali 
Mallah as he waved a Palestinian flag.
"If there was no occupation, there would be no rockets. Occupation is 
the worst form of terrorism. People have the right to resist their 
occupier by any means necessary."
Police had their hands full keeping the two groups apart as the 
pro-Palestinian group surged across the road, but, apart from some minor 
scuffles, there was no violence.
At least 290 Palestinians have been killed and about 800 injured in 
recent days in a series of intensive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza 
Strip that Israel says is in reprisal for rocket attacks from 
Palestinian militants.

Harold Medjuck, who stood holding a pro-Israel banner across the road 
from the larger protest, said the Israeli air strikes were defensive.
"What would Canada do if somebody wanted to do air strikes against 
Canada?" Medjuck said. "All they (the Palestinians) want to do is kill 
Jews."
In Montreal, about 300 protesters showed up on a warm, windy day to show 
solidarity with people in the Gaza Strip.
Blasting Palestinian music and flying Palestinian flags, the protesters 
- many wearing the distinctive black-and-white checked keffiyeh - 
marched through the city's downtown core as shoppers stopped to gawk and 
take photographs.
"They're living in fear," said Abdul Elsalfiti of his family in the Gaza 
strip.
"My family is looking for bread, they're looking for shelter, they're 
looking for water, they're just looking for basic needs."
Lesley Levy, a member of the British-based Independent Jewish Voices, 
said she "felt ashamed" for what was going on in Israel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has expressed concern about the 
escalating violence but has made clear the federal government believes 
Israel has a right to defend itself.
Protection of civilians was Canada's utmost concern and the deliberate 
and constant targetting of civilians by Hamas was the main reason for 
the bloody events, Cannon said.
Ismail Zayid, who joined dozens of protesters at a downtown Halifax park 
in condemning the "massacre" of Palestinians, was incredulous at 
Cannon's statement.
"The people who've been subjected to this don't have the right to defend 
themselves, but Israel has the right to defend," said Zayid, 75, a 
retired doctor who has lived in Halifax for 36 years but is originally 
from the West Bank.
"We claim to uphold (international law) and yet here, when human rights 
are violated, we are not critical of the people who commit these crimes."
Following their protest outside the Israeli consulate in Toronto, 
hundreds of demonstrators then marched about a kilometre to the U.S. 
consulate, shutting down University Avenue as police, some mounted, some 
on bicycles, kept a watchful eye.
Among the protesters was Samer Noureddine, 11.
"I don't like what I'm hearing on the news about the bombs in 
Palestine," Noureddine said.
"I have some family friends in Palestine right now that live in Gaza so 
I'm here to represent them."
About four dozen protesters also gathered in Ottawa outside City Hall 
carrying flags and signs reading "Save Gaza."
Organizer Monzer Zimmo calling for international pressure on Israel to 
stop "this madness of attacking civilians and police stations and women, 
men, children and elderly people this holiday season."






http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081228.wisraelprotests1228/BNStory/National/home?cid=al_gam_mostview

Canadians take to streets to protest air strikes

COLIN PERKEL
The Canadian Press
December 28, 2008 at 5:53 PM EDT
TORONTO ? The raw realities of Middle East politics spilled onto the 
streets in several cities across Canada on Sunday as pro-Palestinian 
protesters denounced the bloody Israeli attacks on Gaza.
The largest demonstration was in Toronto, where tempers flared and 
tensions mounted as about 800 protesters outside the Israeli consulate 
screamed at a few dozen pro-Israel supporters across busy Bloor Street.
?I am here to stand up for the victims of Palestine who are being 
brutally slaughtered by the Israeli terrorist state,? said protester Ali 
Mallah as he waved a Palestinian flag.
?If there was no occupation, there would be no rockets. Occupation is 
the worst form of terrorism. People have the right to resist their 
occupier by any means necessary.?
Police had their hands full keeping the two groups apart as the 
pro-Palestinian group surged across the road, but, apart from some minor 
scuffles, there was no violence.
At least 290 Palestinians have been killed and about 800 injured in 
recent days in a series of intensive Israeli air strikes on the Gaza 
Strip that Israel says is in reprisal for rocket attacks from 
Palestinian militants.
Harold Medjuck, who stood holding a pro-Israel banner across the road 
from the larger protest, said the Israeli air strikes were defensive.
?What would Canada do if somebody wanted to do air strikes against 
Canada?? Mr. Medjuck said. ?All they (the Palestinians) want to do is 
kill Jews.?
In Montreal, about 300 protesters showed up on a warm, windy day to show 
solidarity with people in the Gaza Strip.
Blasting Palestinian music and flying Palestinian flags, the protesters 
? many wearing the distinctive black-and-white checked keffiyeh ? 
marched through the city's downtown core as shoppers stopped to gawk and 
take photographs.
?They're living in fear,? said Abdul Elsalfiti of his family in the Gaza 
Strip.
?My family is looking for bread, they're looking for shelter, they're 
looking for water, they're just looking for basic needs.?
Lesley Levy, a member of the British-based Independent Jewish Voices, 
said she ?felt ashamed? for what was going on in Israel.
Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon has expressed concern about the 
escalating violence but has made clear the federal government believes 
Israel has a right to defend itself.
Ismail Zayid, who joined dozens of protesters at a downtown Halifax park 
in condemning the ?massacre? of Palestinians, was incredulous at Mr. 
Cannon's statement.
?The people who've been subjected to this don't have the right to defend 
themselves, but Israel has the right to defend,? said Mr. Zayid, 75, a 
retired doctor who has lived in Halifax for 36 years but is originally 
from the West Bank.
?We claim to uphold (international law) and yet here, when human rights 
are violated, we are not critical of the people who commit these crimes.?
Following their protest outside the Israeli consulate in Toronto, 
hundreds of demonstrators then marched about a kilometre on the U.S. 
consulate, shutting down University Avenue as police, some mounted, some 
on bicycles, kept a watchful eye.
Among the protesters was Samer Noureddine, 11.
?I don't like what I'm hearing on the news about the bombs in 
Palestine,? Samer said.
?I have some family friends in Palestine right now that live in Gaza so 
I'm hear to represent them.?
About four dozen protesters also gathered in Ottawa outside City Hall 
carrying flags and signs reading ?Save Gaza.?
Organizer Monzer Zimmo calling for international pressure on Israel to 
stop ?this madness of attacking civilians and police stations and women, 
men, children and elderly people this holiday season.?






http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Gaza+violence+protested+crowd/1189860/story.html

Gaza violence protested by crowd as Israel pullout begins

By Star Staff, The Windsor StarJanuary 18, 2009Comments (35)

A woman carrying a photograph of a man holding a dead infant joined with 
about 100 members of the local Arabic community and the Windsor Peace 
Coalition at Windsor City Hall Square Saturday to protest the recent 
attacks in Gaza.
Photograph by: Nick Brancaccio, The Windsor Star
As news of a ceasefire was filtering out to the world, about 100 
demonstrators, mainly members of the local Arabic community, marched 
down Wyandotte Street East Saturday and gathered at City Hall Square to 
protest Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip.
?Israel, U.S.A, how many kids did you kill today?? Dhouha Triki, 19, 
shouted over a loudspeaker as men carried a coffin draped in a 
Palestinian flag and young boys clutched effigies of bloodied babies.
?We need to show support for the people in Gaza,? said Triki after the 
procession made its way to city hall.
One man climbed the inukshuk and hoisted one of the many Palestinian 
flags carried by demonstrators.
Amidst the black, white, green and red flags was a single Maple Leaf.
?I am a Palestinian Canadian,? said Rana Nasser, 20, one of the event 
organizers. ?We feel helpless just watching people dying.?
She said the event was advertised on Facebook and on flyers posted at 
the University of Windsor, St. Clair College and Arabic stores on 
Wyandotte Street East.
?What?s going on in the Middle East is a massacre. We can?t just watch 
this on TV and do nothing,? she said.
?Free Palestine, occupation is a crime,? Nasser shouted when she took 
the loudspeaker.
Demonstrators carried placards condemning Israel and praising Hamas, the 
Islamic party that holds the majority of seats in the Palestinian 
legislature, but is in a power struggle for control of the government. 
Canada is among the countries that has condemned Hamas as a terrorist 
organization.
Speakers at the demonstration said any ceasefire in the region was long 
overdue.
Israel declared a truce in the 22-day offensive Saturday. Hamas 
continued firing rockets into southern Israel Sunday, then agreed to a 
ceasefire, giving Israel one week to withdraw from the region.





http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/story.html?id=1135372

Protesters denounce Israeli military action in Gaza

By Alan Hustak, The GazetteJanuary 2, 2009

Unnerved by Israel's latest deadly assault on Gaza, a handful of Jewish 
and Palestinian Montrealers rallied downtown Friday to denounce the 
week-long attacks that so far have left more than 400 people dead.
Members of the Coalition against Israeli Apartheid and another group 
calling for Palestinian and Jewish unity gathered in bitter cold for a 
brief protest vigil at noon at the corner of St. Catherine St. and 
McGill College.
Waving placards that read ?Save Gaza?, and carrying banners calling for 
?An End to Israeli Apartheid,? the two dozen or so demonstrators were 
almost outnumbered by reporters and television crews dispatched to cover 
the rally on a slow news day.
With Israeli troops and tanks massing along the border with Gaza in 
preparation for what appears to be a massive ground invasion, organizers 
say bigger demonstrations are planned for Montreal in the weeks ahead to 
show solidarity with innocent civilians in Gaza who are ?suffering under 
bombardment.?
Laith Marouf, national chapter co-ordinator for Solidarity for 
Palestinian Human Rights, said the demonstrators are also upset with 
Prime Minister Stephen Harper?s ?callous attitude in support of the 
Israeli action.?
Bruce Katz, a spokesperson for Palestinian and Jewish Unity said 
although this afternoon?s demonstration was small, it represents ?the 
ongoing battle for the hearts and minds of public opinion,? for a 
humanitarian solution to the conflict in the Middle East.
?The liberation of Palestine, of people who have been kicked around for 
60 years, and the liberation of Jews from Zionism go hand in hand,? Katz 
said. ?You can?t have one without the other.
?No one should ever be a slave to any state, including the State of 
Israel,? he said.
Another protest demonstration against Israel planned for Sunday will 
begin at 1 p.m. at Cabot Square, outside the AMC Forum. And another 
similar rally is planned for Jan. 10.






http://www.thestar.com/news/GTA/article/561323

Toronto protesters march in support of Palestinians

COLIN MCCONNELL/TORONTO STAR
Protesters march up Yonge St. to voice their displeasure with Israel's 
incursion into Gaza. (Jan, 3, 2009)

WHY CANADA BACKS ISRAEL: WALKOM
Jan 03, 2009 03:45 PM
Comments on this story (39)
Kenyon Wallace
STAFF REPORTER

As Israeli troops entered the Gaza strip, thousands of pro-Palestinian 
demonstrators stopped traffic along Yonge St. between Dundas and Bloor 
Sts. for a march condemning the Israeli action this afternoon.
Police on horseback and bicycles worked to control the crowd as it 
marched northwards, but as of 3 p.m., the protest has been peaceful.
"No one is as angry as I am. I have lost my entire family to the Israeli 
apartheid," Rafeef Ziadah, spokesperson for Palestine House, told the 
crowd. "Stop the attack on Gaza."
Chanting "free, free Palestine" and "from Iraq to Palestine, occupation 
is a crime", protestors marched from Dundas Square to the Israeli 
consulate at Yonge and Bloor Sts.
About 200 counter-protestors were also in attendance to show their 
support for Israel's incursions into the Gaza strip.
"We support the Israeli government's efforts to stop Hamas, stop 
terrorism and stop terrorist infrastructure," said Meir Weinstein, 
national director of the Jewish Defence League in Canada.
"Only this will bring stability to the region."




http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Politics/2009/01/03/7910171-cp.html

Protests on Parliament Hill, Gaza
By THE CANADIAN PRESS

Protesters in several Canadian cities waved placards and Palestinian 
flags Saturday as they angrily denounced the ongoing Israeli offensive 
in Gaza, just as word emerged that Israel's troops and tanks had moved 
into enemy territory.
Following on the heels of angry protests taking place in cities across 
Europe, the Canadian show of solidarity began in the nation's capital 
with more than 500 demonstrators braving chill winds on the steps of 
Parliament Hill.
The group made its way to the Israeli and U.S. embassies in Ottawa, as 
did a gathering of several thousand people in Toronto who at one point 
faced off against a smaller group of pro-Israel demonstrators in a 
downtown public square.
The noisy but peaceful gathering on Parliament Hill erupted with cries 
of "shame" when a speaker delivered the news Israel had begun its ground 
assault.
"Regardless what they say in this building (House of Commons), 
regardless what they say in Washington or the Hague, these are war 
crimes," shouted Robert Assaly, an Anglican priest from Montreal who was 
a speaker at the rally.
At the height of the protest, military officials in Jerusalem confirmed 
that Israeli ground forces, amassed for days on the Gaza border, had 
started moving into the region.
The ground incursion had been widely expected in the wake of a heavy 
barrage of artillery strikes from Israeli gunboats and warships that was 
hammering the region Saturday.
Organizers at the invective-charged Toronto rally opted not to announce 
the news for fear it would stoke additional anger.
"This will have huge implications," said Ali Mallah of the Canadian-Arab 
Federation.
"It will widen the wedge toward more war, more violence and more people 
to be killed. It's a shame that we just entered a new year ... to start 
with war and killing in the Middle East."
In addition to the Ottawa and Toronto protests, events were scheduled 
for Montreal and Vancouver.
Braving -19 C wind-chill temperatures, the Ottawa rally denounced what 
they called Israeli atrocities against the 1.5 million residents of Gaza.
It included many self-identified Palestinian-Canadians, as well as a 
smattering of Jewish-Canadians opposed to Israel's policies in Gaza and 
the West Bank, union activists and civil rights advocates.
Israel has said it is acting in self-defence in response to continuous 
firing of rockets from Gaza into Jewish towns.
But the demonstrators dismissed that defence, calling the rockets a 
minor provocation that don't excuse the killing of over 400 Palestinians.
Toronto police - including several on horseback - formed a barrier 
between the impassioned masses of Palestine supporters and the scores 
waving Israeli flags as the protest forced the closure of a typically 
busy portion of Yonge Street.
"(The violence) devastated me and my family," said Suraya Aburaneh, 21. 
"We can't do much, but we're here in Canada and the best we can do is 
spread awareness."
Interrupting her was her nine-year-old cousin Dina, who shouted: "We 
can't let people die like this!"
"We just need peace in this world, no killing. Both sides," said Sumbul 
Raza, 34, as she marched and led chants of, "Shame, shame Israel."
Across police lines, a group organized by the Jewish Defense League held 
a counter-demonstration.
"I want them to have their own country, I want them to have democracy," 
said Ravid Dahan, 28, who moved to Canada from Israel two years ago.
"I want my children to go to school with their children. But they don't 
believe I exist."
Jill Aharon, 51, from Thornhill, added peace could come easily: "If they 
lay down their rockets, there will be no more death," she said.
Tens of thousands of people also demonstrated across Europe on Saturday, 
including protesters who hurled shoes at the tall iron gates outside the 
British prime minister's residence in London.
Protests in Paris, Rome, Berlin and many other European cities also drew 
thousands.
Israel says it is responding to rockets fired from Gaza by the Hamas 
militant group. Four Israelis also have been killed in the week of 
violence.
The Israeli air strikes have badly damaged Gaza's infrastructure, 
knocking out power and water in many areas and raising fears of 
humanitarian disaster.






http://www.vancouversun.com/News/story.html?id=1141426

More Canadian protests over Gaza

By Jan Ravensbergen, Canwest News ServiceJanuary 4, 2009

MONTREAL ? At least 5,000 demonstrators chanting an array of 
anti-Israeli slogans converged on Montreal?s downtown core Sunday for a 
noisy, three-hour protest.
The event attracted many families, often with young children bundled up 
against the cold.
The size of the crowd made him ?very, very happy,? declared Ahmed 
Benhmade, accompanied by his wife, Halima Salahiddin, their 18-month-old 
daughter, Safina, tightly bundled in winter gear and seated wide-eyed in 
a stroller.
?It shows that this cause is just,? Benhmade declared. ?We are here for 
justice and we are here for peace.?
The march initially headed westbound along Montreal?s main shopping 
street, Ste. Catherine St., to the Westmount Square complex which houses 
the Israeli consulate for Montreal.
At least 16 Montreal police constables were lined up outside the large 
plate-glass windows there, moving their line of defence in tandem with 
the crowd.
?Stop the killing, stop the crime, Israel out of Palestine,? protesters 
chanted. Police reported no violent incidents.
?Everything went smoothly,? Constable Olivier Lapointe said. ?There were 
no arrests.?
Quebec member of legislature Amir Khadir, the highest-profile speaker at 
Sunday?s event, said the protest sent a message ?to say ?no? to the 
violation of the rights of the Palestinian people, and for a just peace 
that the Palestinian people and the Jewish people deserve.
?The Palestinian people as well as the Israeli people are taken hostage 
by the situation of violence,? added Khadir, elected Dec. 8 to the 
national assembly for the Montreal riding of Mercier ? the first member 
of legislature elected for the Quebec solidaire party.
Also Sunday, hundreds of Palestinian supporters rallied in front of city 
hall in Edmonton, condemning Israel?s ongoing invasion of the Gaza Strip 
and pleading for peace.
?Stop the massacre now in Gaza!? the protesters shouted as they marched 
around the ice rink waving Palestinian flags. Many wore black-and-white 
kaffiyehs, the symbolic Palestinian head scarf. ?Free, free Palestine!?
Police estimate as many as 500 people attended the rally, which began at 
1 p.m. and lasted more than an hour.
On Saturday hundreds took part in similar protests in Canadian cities 
including Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg.
Montreal Gazette with files from the Edmonton Journal





http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_30641.aspx

Tensions High At Gaza Protest Downtown
Saturday January 3, 2009
CityNews.ca Staff
Emotions were high as Israeli and Palestinian supporters met in 
Toronto's downtown core, half a world away from the escalating violence 
in Gaza.
As many as 5,000 demonstrators gathered at Yonge-Dundas Square as part 
of a global day of protest against what has become an all-out war on the 
Gaza Strip. Israeli troops have crossed the border after a week of 
attacks in retailation for rocket strikes by Hamas.
Angry Greeks burned the Israeli flag. And the story was the same in 
Jordan and elsewhere.
Here at home, both sides waved flags and shouted at each other across a 
narrow barricade as they marched towards the Israeli consulate on Bloor 
Street
"They are firing at us at night while people are sleeping - mosques, 
kids, universities. Where's Hamas? Where?" shouted Palestinian Canadian 
Bader El-Khatib.
His friend Mohammed Hamouda concurred. "[My grandfather] was visiting 
his neighbours because four of their kids died. The oldest was 10 years 
old. And when he went to the funeral, [the Israelis] shot a rocket and 
killed a lot of people there."
On the other side, Israeli protestor Tomer Chencinski had another 
perspective. "Hamas is a terrorist organization that keeps sending 
rockets. Israel needs to defend itself and its people."
And Israel Ilshech, in town for a visit, described his experience. "I 
live in Israel. I want you to imagine for one second that you are 
sitting in your house with your family and you hear a bomb come to your 
house."
Dozens of police officer were on duty to keep the peace.
"So far it's been a loud, vocal crowd - very vocal. But, fortunately, no 
incidents yet. We're hoping it remains that way," noted Toronto Police 
Supt. Hugh Ferguson.
But as the protests intensified, police ushered the Israeli protesters 
away as a precaution.
Protests took place in cities across Canada, including Vancouver, 
Montreal and Ottawa.







http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/01/11/edm-gaza-protest.html?ref=rss

Edmontonians protest Gaza attacks
Last Updated: Sunday, January 11, 2009 | 1:54 PM MT Comments22Recommend16
CBC News
Hundreds of people demonstrated in Edmonton on Saturday, demanding that 
Canada call for an end to Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Chanting, "Stop the violence in the Gaza Strip" and holding graphic 
signs, protesters demanded the Canadian government do more to end the 
conflict.
Speakers addressed the crowd at Churchill Square in downtown Edmonton, 
talking about the innocent people who have been caught in the crossfire.
Rally organizer Fatioeh Hazimah Muwais said the federal government 
should step in and say "enough killing."
In the audience, carrying an anti-war placard, was Gabriel Cardenas.
He said it's painful to see the images coming out of Gaza.
"It's heart wrenching, you know. You see kids getting blown up?dead from 
assaults by military force, you see people suffering and you see a 
massive amount of hypocrisy," Cardenas said.
"I'm not saying that I think Hamas is good, 'cause I don't, but I also 
don't think the Israeli government is good."
More than 800 Palestinians and 13 Israelis have been killed since the 
conflict began Dec. 27.
Demonstrations calling for the immediate end to all hostilities in the 
Gaza Strip were also held Saturday in Calgary, Winnipeg, Vancouver, 
Toronto and Montreal.







http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/18/2468571.htm

Gaza protest chokes central Sydney
Posted Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:00pm AEDT
Updated Sun Jan 18, 2009 6:57pm AEDT
? Map: Sydney 2000
? Related Story: Israeli ceasefire begins in Gaza
? Related Story: Hamas must respect ceasefire, says Smith
Several thousand people have again choked the streets of central Sydney 
in a protest over the Israeli bombing of Gaza.
The Israeli Government's announcement of a ceasefire has been met with 
cynicism by many.
About 5,000 people crammed into the Sydney Town Hall's forecourt to 
again condemn Israel over the deaths of 1,200 civilians in Gaza.
Journalist John Pilger accused the media of bowing to Israel in its 
reporting of the events in the Middle East.
"The media has built a wall between the massacres in Gaza and the truth 
of what has happened there," he said.
The President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, Ikebal 
Patel, says he doubts the ceasefire will hold.
"The ceasefire is not good enough if Israel does not get itself out of 
Gaza," he said.
He says the Australian Government has been "lame" in its failing to 
condemn Israel's actions.





http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/1/4/melbourne_muslims_protest_israeli_invasion_of_gaza.html

Melbourne Muslims Protest Israeli Invasion Of Gaza
Sunday, January 04, 2009 12:28:38 PM
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? Melbourne Muslims March
MELBOURNE -- As Israeli ground troops marched into Gaza, Muslims marched 
in Melbourne.
More than 100 protesters called on Central Florida leaders Saturday to 
petition Washington to help end the fighting in the Middle East.
"We are just here to show our concern. What is done by the Israeli army 
is wrong," one protester told News 13.
Adding to the rally's numbers were Brevard County peace activists who 
were previously focused on the war in Iraq.
"Pressure President Bush for the remaining two weeks he's in office to 
intervene immediately, to assist in humanitarian needs," said Vicki 
Impoco, a representative of the group Brevard Patriots for Peace.
Many of the protestors questioned U.S. military hardware and tax dollars 
going toward Israel.
"Our country supporting it with our great stand for freedom, justice, 
and equality. Our principles are at stake here," said Delacie Phillips, 
chairman of the Brevard Islamic Society.
Israeli defense forces said they are trying to destroy Hamas rocket 
launch capability. Those rockets were being fired into Israel.
Despite that, protestors in Melbourne said Israel was using too much force.
"The war is between people of power and no power. The people of Gaza 
have no way to resist," said Sabir Ali, president of the Brevard Islamic 
Society.
Brevard Patriots for Peace planned to hold what it calls a "peace vigil" 
in Melbourne at 6 p.m. Wednesday.







http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24871764-2862,00.html

Gaza protests spill onto Melbourne's streets
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Geraldine Mitchell and AAP
January 04, 2009 06:45pm
ISRAEL'S military assault on Gaza brought Melbourne's city centre to a 
standstill today as hundreds of protesters took to the streets armed 
with placards and flags.
About 100 Israel supporters gathered on the steps of State Parliament 
chanting "no more terror", but were outnumbered by the vocal 1000-strong 
pro-Palestinian crowd at the State Library of Victoria.

The Gaza solidarity protest, organised by the Social Alliance, called 
for Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to intervene and help stop the carnage.

"We call on the Rudd government to condemn this slaughter and to break 
Australian economic, diplomatic, military and cultural ties with the 
Israeli apartheid state," they said.

The crowd disrupted trams as they marched from the library to Federation 
Square chanting ``Free Palestine" and "Out, out Israeli out".

Protesters at the pro-Israel rally were draped in Australian and Israeli 
flags, and some held banners reading "Free Gaza from Hamas" and "Hamas 
uses human shields".

Federal Labor member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby addressed the 
crowd and asked Melburnians to imagine how they would react if their 
suburbs were being bombed.

"This is one of the dilemmas that democratic societies like Israel have 
to face. How do we react when faced by Islamist fanatics who would kill 
Australians, in Bali, murder our tourists in Mumbai and do what they are 
doing to the Israelis on the edge of Gaza," he said.

About 50 police were on standby but the two protest groups did not meet 
and there were no reports of trouble.






http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuId=28&ContentID=118971

Melbourne protesters condemn Israel-Gaza war
18th January 2009, 14:45 WST

Israel?s announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza has not deterred thousands 
of Palestinian supporters from marching in Melbourne to condemn the 
violence.
As many as 12,000 people gathered on the steps of Victoria?s State 
Library on Sunday in support of Australians for Palestine, waving 
Palestinian flags and carrying placards calling for an end to what was 
described as a ?massacre?.
Israel held its fire in Gaza today after declaring a unilateral 
ceasefire in its 22-day onslaught, which has killed more than 1200 
Palestinians.
South Australian Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young welcomed the 
ceasefire announcement but said Israel must now withdraw its troops from 
Gaza.
?Without that, we?re not really achieving stability and we?re not really 
putting ourselves in the best position for peace in the long term,? she 
told AAP at the rally.
?We must ensure that countries like Australia, regardless of whether 
there is a ceasefire or not in the next few days, still come out and 
condemn the disproportionate violence that has been going on.?
Senator Hanson-Young also addressed the crowd, calling on Prime Minister 
Kevin Rudd to openly condemn the situation in Gaza.
?It?s time Prime Minister Rudd condemns the violence in Gaza,? she told 
the crowd.
?It?s time Prime Minister Rudd gives Australia something to be proud of.?
She said the government should call for the immediate withdrawal of 
Israeli troops from Gaza.
The protesters, estimated to number 12,000 by Australians for Palestine 
organisers, marched from the library to the steps of the Victorian 
parliament.
Other speakers included former Democrats leader Lyn Allison, Australian 
Council of Trade Unions international director Alison Tate, and 
cartoonist Michael Leunig.
A special service for peace was expected to be held at Melbourne?s St 
Paul?s Anglican Cathedral later on Sunday afternoon, attended by 
Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Dr Philip Freier and World Vision chief 
Tim Costello.
A solidarity meeting to show support for Israel, organised by members of 
Melbourne?s Jewish community, will be held on Tuesday.
MELBOURNE
AAP





http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24871593-5001021,00.html?from=public_rss

Gaza protest clogs central Sydney

January 04, 2009 12:00am
THOUSANDS of people have gathered outside Sydney's Town Hall to protest 
against the Israeli military assault on the Gaza strip.
Carrying flags and banners and chanting "free, free Palestine" the 
protesters were to march past the Egyptian consulate in Surry Hills and 
onto Belmore Park.

Parts of the city centre including a section of George Street have been 
blocked off for the protest rally and there is a heavy police presence.

Invading Israeli ground forces have fought fierce battles with Hamas 
militants in Gaza since they entered the region last night.

The ground operation follows an eight-day bombing blitz that killed 
hundreds of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction.

Gaza emergency services said one child had been killed and 11 others 
wounded in a tank attack.

In Sydney, spokeswoman Rihab Charida told the crowd that Australia was 
one of many countries where protests were being staged.

"We are here today to express our solidarity with the people in Gaza and 
tell them that we are with them," she said.

"This demonstration today is about an international solidarity movement 
that says: 'We are with you.'"

The rally has been organised by the Sydney-based Gaza Defence Committee 
and is due to end at Belmore Park near Central Station.






http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuId=77&ContentID=115560

Perth marchers protest against Israel
31st December 2008, 18:30 WST

About 150 people marched through Perth's streets calling for an end to 
Israel's shelling of Gaza this afternoon.
However, their attempt to present demands to the Federal Government fell 
on deaf ears as there was nobody at the Department of Foreign Affairs 
and Trade to meet them.
The lunchtime rally, organised by Friends of Palestine WA, was held to 
protest Israel's recent attacks on the strife-torn Gaza strip.
Today's protest went off peacefully in 37-degree heat, guarded by eight 
police officers, after speeches in front of the Wesley Church in Hay Street.





http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-protesters-march-against-israel-20081231-77tg.html

Perth protesters march against Israel
? Chalpat Sonti
? December 31, 2008
About 150 people have marched in scorching hot weather through Perth's 
streets calling for an end to Israel's shelling of Gaza.
But the protesters' attempts to present their demands to the Federal 
Government fell flat when it was revealed nobody was at the Department 
of Foreign Affairs and Trade to meet them.
The lunchtime rally, organised by Friends of Palestine WA, was held to 
protest Israel's recent attacks on the strife-torn Gaza strip. The 
protesters accused Israel of breaking a ceasefire. Israel has claimed 
the Palestinian group Hamas militants did so first by firing rockets 
into its territory.
Today's protest went off peacefully in 37-degree heat and under the 
watchful eye of eight police, after speeches in front of the Wesley 
Church in Hay Street.
As hundreds of shoppers meandered through the busy thoroughfare, 
speakers including Friends spokesman Alex Whisson, WA Social Justice 
Network co-convenor Gavin Mooney and local journalist Giovanni Torre 
called on Israel to end its siege and for the Australian Government to 
organise an airlift of medical supplies to the region.
Mr Torre said Israel's strategy "only makes sense in the broader context 
of the strategy of ethnic cleansing".
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has called his country's attacks "an 
all-out war against Hamas and its proxies".
The protesters then made their way along the Hay Street Mall and Barrack 
St to the Exchange Plaza building in St George's Terrace.
There they planned to present their demands to a DFAT official. But 
despite being told by a building employee that someone would meet them, 
police informed the group there were no DFAT employees in the building, 
Mr Whisson said.
The group plans to hold a second protest in Florence Hummerston Reserve 
on Sunday.





http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/03/2458623.htm

Brisbane Palestinian community protests Gaza violence
Posted Sat Jan 3, 2009 9:00pm AEDT
? Map: Brisbane 4000
About 500 members of Brisbane's Palestinian community have staged a 
peaceful protest in the city's centre.
They called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and international action 
to prevent what they fear is imminent ground invasion by the Israeli army.
Michael Shaik from Australians for Palestine says any lasting peace will 
be a long time coming.
"Once Israel withdraws from the occupied territories and lets the 
Palestinians have there own state, then there'll be a solution," he said.
"But I don't think that's going to happen for some time."
More protests are planned for Brisbane.





http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/779/40191

Australian protests demand a free Gaza

Simon Butler
17 January 2009

Protests against the Israel?s ongoing military assault and siege on Gaza 
have continued across Australia as the Palestinian death toll mounts.
By January 18 ? 22 days after Israel began its brutal attack ? more than 
1200 Palestinians had been killed, including more than 400 children. At 
least a further 5220 people had been injured.

Sam Wainwright reported on January 10 more than 300 people gathered on 
the Fremantle Esplanade to protest Israel?s war. The protest was the 
third in as many weeks, with 150 and 450 gathering in Perth on the 
previous two weekends.

Meanwhile the Friends of Palestine WA (FoPWA) group has rapidly grown 
into a thriving and democratic hub of activity with over 30 people 
attending its planning meetings.

The January 10 rally heard from a number of speakers from the Arab and 
Muslim communities and the Catholic Church.

Newly elected Greens Senator Scott Ludlam was warmly received and any 
mention of the federal Labor government?s stance brought boos and jeers.

In contrast, when the statement by the Venezuelan government announcing 
its intention to expel the Israeli ambassador was read out the 
spontaneous chant of ?Viva Chavez; Down, down Arab leaders? went through 
the crowd. A number of people had brought home made placards commending 
the stance of Venezuela.

Speaking just before the march through Fremantle, long time FoPWA 
activist Alex Whisson gave an impassioned speech that included a 
detailed account of the Gaza death toll.

The chants on the march reflected the mood of the crowd; ?Rudd, Gillard 
you can?t hide; You support genocide!? and ?Israel USA; How many kids 
did you kill today!?

The Fremantle protest was followed up by a vigil and mass leafleting of 
the CBD by some 30 activists on Friday January 16. The next major 
protest will be in Perth at noon on Saturday January 31 in Forrest Place.

Ruth Ratcliffe reported that more than 1500 people rallied on the steps 
of Parliament House in Adelaide on January 11 to condemn the Israeli 
massacre.

The rally was organised by the Australian Friends of Palestine 
Association (AFOPA).

Speakers included AFOPA Chairperson Paul Heywood-Smith, SA Greens 
Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the public advocate for AFOPA Michael Shaik 
and South Australian independent MP Kris Hanna.

More than 2000 people also marched through the streets of central 
Brisbane in solidarity with Gaza on January 10.

Speakers at the Brisbane rally included Aboriginal elder Bob Anderson, 
jewish anti-war activist Margot Salom and the federal ALP member for 
Moreton Graham Perrett.

Up to 500 people joined a Muslim prayer and protest march to deputy 
Prime Minister Julia Gillard?s office in the Melbourne suburb of 
Werribee on January 16.

Margarita Windisch reported that the prayer and rally was organised by 
the Western suburbs Muslim community and the Melbourne Palestine 
Solidarity Network.

Sheikh Isse Musse, the Imam of the Virgin Mary Mosque in Werribee, led 
the prayer and strongly condemned Israel?s continuing illegal occupation 
of Palestine and its horrendous attack on the people of Gaza, which has 
left essential infrastructure in rubble and has destroyed schools and 
hospitals.

The prayer was followed by a spirited march to Julia Gillard?s office, 
with people chanting ?shame Gillard shame, free Gaza?, and ?Israel is a 
terrorist state?.

Tasnim Sammak, a young Palestinian woman whose family comes from Gaza, 
spoke outside Gillard?s office and denounced the Australian government?s 
implicit support for Israel?s war on Gaza.

Other speakers also condemned the pro-Israel bias of reportage by 
mainstream media.

Amid loud chants from the crowd, a petition with over 10,000 signatures 
was handed over to a representative of Julia Gillard. The petition 
called on the Rudd government to oppose Israel?s unjustifiable violence.

Jonathan Strauss reported that the single word ?Gaza? shone out from 
brightly burning candles, which were placed on a black cloth surrounded 
by Palestinian scarves, in Cairns on January 16.

The candle display was the centrepiece of a vigil in solidarity with the 
people of Gaza, which supported an end to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. 
Protesters also called for an end to Israel?s criminal blockade of the 
Gaza strip.

Around 45 people from Cairns and the Atherton Tablelands joined the 
action, which was organised by Socialist Alliance members, Green Left 
Weekly supporters and activists from the Cairns? group, Peace by Peace.

Speakers at the vigil included the Socialist Alliance, the secretary of 
the local Greens branch and a member of the Maritime Union of Australia.

The Newcastle NoWAR Collective has mounted protests denouncing Israel?s 
attacks every Wednesday at the Hamilton clocktower since the bombing began.

Niko Leka reported that each protest has grown in numbers, with sixty 
people attending the rally on January 14. A popular chant at the 
Newcastle rally was ?Free Palestine ? yes we can!?

Four hundred people also protested in Wollongong on January 17. The 
protest was organised by Illawarra No War.

Jess Moore reported that the speakers included Lebanese community leader 
Saeb Ali, Reverend Gordon Bradbury from the Uniting Church and Arthur 
Rorris, the secretary of the South Coast Labour Council.






http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/777/40132

Australian protests in support of Gaza

Simon Butler, Sydney
6 January 2009

Pip Hinman, from Sydney Stop the War Coalition, held a shoe aloft ? in 
tribute to Iraqi reporter Muntader al-Zaidi ? to roars of approval from 
a 10,000-strong crowd in Sydney on January 4.
Shoe-throwing quickly became a symbol of anti-imperialist defiance after 
al-Zaidi threw a pair at US President George Bush. Hinman was standing 
in solidarity with the people of Gaza at one of many rallies around 
Australia calling for an end to Israel?s brutal assault.

Nationally, the rallies brought large numbers of Arabic and Muslim 
people onto the streets in outrage at the horrendous suffering they are 
witnessing from afar. Many of the rallies were preceded by emergency 
actions on December 29-31, after Israel?s attack was first reported.

Chaired by Rita Khoury from the newly formed Gaza Defence Committee, the 
Sydney rally was also addressed by Professor Peter Manning, Father Dave 
Smith from the Holy Trinity Anglican Church and Simon Flynn, who gave a 
message of solidarity on behalf of the NSW Fire Brigade Employees Union, 
the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union and the Maritime Union 
of Australia.

Also on January 4, 5000 people rallied in Melbourne, where Steve 
Dargavel, state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union 
demanded that the federal government call on Israel to withdraw its forces.

Sue Bolton reported that, earlier in the week, a rally was organised by 
the Muslim community in Broadmeadows in Melbourne?s west. The key 
message of the rally, which attracted 1000 people, was the need for 
ongoing protests to stop the Israeli aggression.

Five hundred people attended a solidarity protest in Brisbane on January 
3. Dave Riley reported that the rally was boosted by a big contingent 
from the Middle-Eastern community.

Justice for Palestine has recently formed and is planning future 
protests. Stalls and vigils have been organised and another rally is 
planned for January 10.

Annas Abdullah chaired the rally on behalf of Justice for Palestine. 
Murri elder Bob Anderson also addressed the crowd.

Chris Latham in Perth reported that 500 people attended a demonstration 
organised by Friends of Palestine (WA) on January 4.

Speakers included federal Greens Senator Scott Ludlum, Giovanni Torre 
and Nick Everett from Friends of Palestine, and Viv Doymar from Code 
Pink. The rally demanded the Australian government boycott Israeli 
companies and cut all diplomatic ties with Israel.

In Adelaide, 170 people gathered on the steps of Parliament House on 
December 30, reported John Hawtin. The rally was organised by Australian 
Friends of Palestine (SA) and chaired by Bassam Daly. Speakers included 
Sandra Kanck, Democrats MLC, and federal Greens MP Sarah Hanson-Young.

In Newcastle, 20 people rallied on December 31, according to Steve 
O?Brien. On the same day, a protest was also organised in Armidale in 
Northern NSW by members of the New England branch of the Socialist Alliance.






http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24871515-29277,00.html?from=public_rss

Israeli flag burnt in Sydney protest against Gaza conflict
By Stephanie Gardiner and Daniel Fogarty
AAP
January 04, 2009 06:13pm

Israeli flag is burned as thousands of Australians stage protests 
against the ground war in Gaza. 01/09 Sky News

A PROTESTER burnt an Israeli flag and others carried coffins as 
thousands of people staged demonstrations against the Gaza conflict today.
About 2000 people gathered outside the Sydney Town Hall to vent their 
anger over Israeli airstrikes on Gaza that have killed hundreds of 
Palestinians in recent days.
They chanted, "Free, free Palestine" and "Israel, USA, how many kids 
have you killed today?"
Others held placards saying "Patience O Gaza we have not forgotten you" 
and "Disgraceful world silence".
Invading Israeli ground forces have fought fierce battles with Hamas 
militants in Gaza since entering the region last night.
The ground operation follows an eight-day bombing blitz that killed 
hundreds of Palestinians and caused widespread destruction.
Gaza emergency services said one child had been killed and 11 others 
wounded in a tank attack.
Many speakers addressed the Sydney crowd to loud cheers from protesters 
of all backgrounds.
Forad Shriedy told the crowd he had been forced to flee Palestine as an 
eight-year-old in 1948.
"We are here today to condemn Israel's terror... and to say no to the 
brutal attacks on Gaza," Mr Shriedy said.
"Every person has a homeland to live in, but for the Palestinians the 
homeland lives in us."
The protest snaked through CBD streets, blocking off part of George 
Street as weekend shoppers and commuters looked on.
Marchers carried three coffins past the Egyptian consulate in the nearby 
suburb of Surry Hills as a reminder of the lives lost in the conflict.
Protesters chanted, clapped and banged on drums as they made their way 
to Belmore Park, where a young man climbed a tree and set an Israeli 
flag on fire despite organisers urging him to stop.
Protesters take sides
In Melbourne about 3000 people turned out to protest against Israel's 
military assault on Gaza, just a few blocks away from a smaller 
pro-Israel rally.
About 500 supporters of Israel gathered at State Parliament chanting "no 
more terror", with banners calling for Gaza to be freed from Hamas' 
control.
At the Victorian State Library less than a kilometre away, 
pro-Palestinian protesters condemned the Israeli military action.
Protesters at the pro-Israel rally were draped in Australian and Israeli 
flags, and some held banners reading "Free Gaza from Hamas" and "Hamas 
uses human shields".
Speakers included Federal Labor member for Melbourne Ports Michael Danby 
and Liberal Senator Mitch Fifield.
Mr Danby asked Melburnians to imagine how they would react if their 
suburbs were being bombed.
"This is one of the dilemmas that democratic societies like Israel have 
to face. How do we react when faced by Islamist fanatics who would kill 
Australians, in Bali, murder our tourists in Mumbai and do what they are 
doing to the Israelis on the edge of Gaza," he said.
At the opposing rally, protesters called for a free Palestine and held 
banners showing photos of the bloodied corpses of children.
Other banners read "stop the holocaust in Gaza" and "peace & justice for 
Palestine".
Speakers urged supporters to write to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and 
newspapers to condemn the Israeli action.
Victorian upper house Greens member Colleen Hartland called on the 
Federal Government to speak out against the Israeli military assault.
Acting Prime Minister Julia Gillard yesterday refused to criticise 
Israel's bombing campaign.
The two protest groups did not meet and there were no reports of trouble.




http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/11/2463297.htm

Gaza protests continue in Adelaide
Posted Sun Jan 11, 2009 8:41pm AEDT

Hundreds of people gathered to condemn the killing of civilians in Gaza. 
(AAP Image: Larine Statham)
? Map: Adelaide 5000
A weekend of protests in South Australia against Israel's attacks on the 
Gaza Strip has continued.
Around 500 people gathered on the steps of Parliament House in Adelaide.
Bassan Dally from the Australian Friends of Palestine Association says 
Australia needs to do more to stop the fighting.
"The killing has to stop, the ceasefire has to happen now," she said.
"The Australian Government, which calls itself a friend of Israel, 
should use this friendship to call on it. Enough is enough, 800 people 
killed."






http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,20797,24916856-3102,00.html?from=public_rss

Kevin Rudd's Brisbane electorate office hit by Gaza protesters
Francis Chung
January 15, 2009 05:20pm
PICTURES of dead Palestinian children have been posted on the windows of 
Kevin Rudd's Brisbane electorate office as dozens protest the Gaza crisis.
About 40 protesters, chanting "Free, free Palestine," marched on the 
Prime Minister's office in Morningside this afternoon to deliver almost 
2000 letters and petitions demanding the Australian Government take a 
stronger stance against Israel's actions in Gaza.
Latest on the Gaza crisis
Mr Rudd, the Member for Griffith, is on leave. Since being elected prime 
minister in November 2007 he has spent much of his time in Canberra or 
overseas.
In addition to the pictures of dead Palestinian children, demonstrators 
waved signs reading "USA-Israel Axis of Evil" and "Stop Israel's 
massacre in Gaza".
A small police presence watched over the noisy but peaceful demonstration.
Justice for Palestine spokesman Mr Abdalla likened Israel's actions to 
apartheid South Africa and even those of Nazi Germany.
"The apartheid state of Israel has blatantly broken every United Nations 
resolution that has been put towards it in killing Palestinian children, 
Palestinian civilians, and justifying it by saying that it is Hamas that 
have killed them," he said.
"We're asking the Prime Minister to adhere to United Nations resolutions 
towards Palestine, to stop Israeli terrorism, to stop what Israel is 
doing to the Palestinians and speak up against it."
Aisha, a Turkish Australian, said she was very angry with the situation 
in Israel.
"Hundreds of kids are lying dead their graves because of the Israeli 
oppression - not just now, for decades," she said.
Mark Gillespie, of East Brisbane, said the Government had turned a blind 
eye to Israel's behaviour.
"We're disappointed with the position that (Acting Prime Minister) Julia 
Gillard and Kevin Rudd have taken on Israel's violence. We think it's 
disproportional and they should be saying that loud and clear," he said.
Protest organiser Sarah Giles was hoping to build on last weekend's 
turnout of 2000, with more protests scheduled in the coming weeks.
She said there would be protests the next two Saturdays, January 17 and 
24, at noon at Queens Park on the corner of George and Elizabeth streets 
in the Brisbane CBD.
"We're trying to get the word out to everyone who opposes what's going 
on and opposes the attack on Gaza to come along," she said.
A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister said the Government was deeply 
concerned about the continuing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
"The death of Palestinian civilians in conflict is tragic and we urge 
Israel to ensure that it takes all precautions to avoid and minimise 
harm to civilians,'' she said.
"The Australian Government supports the proper investigation of 
allegations of violations of international law.
"These events further underline the need for negotiations to deliver an 
immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire.''
The spokeswoman said the Government announced an immediate commitment of 
$5 million in additional assistance to the people of the Gaza Strip on 
January 1.
This builds on the doubling of Australia's assistance to the Palestinian 
people in 2008 to $45 million.
- with AAP






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/10/2462999.htm

Palestinian protesters march against Gaza attacks
Posted Sat Jan 10, 2009 4:47pm AEDT
? Map: Brisbane 4000
More than 500 Palestinian supporters have marched through Brisbane's CBD 
calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Australians for Palestine spokesman Michael Shaik says it is likely that 
the worst of the violence is yet to come.
"I think Hamas should cease firing rockets but you can't have a 
unilateral ceasefire," he said.
"They can't do so while Israel's still occupying the Gaza Strip and 
Israel is still bombing Palestinian refugee camps."
Mr Shaik says he expects the ground offensive to continue and more lives 
to be lost.
"I don't think Israel will agree to a ceasefire in the days ahead and 
we're very concerned about the escalating violence in the Gaza strip today."






http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/world/world/general/australian-jews-protest-against-israels-action/1400338.aspx

Australian Jews protest against Israel's action
ANDREW WEST AND JONATHAN PEARLMAN
6/01/2009 12:00:01 AM
MORE than 100 Australian Jews, including two award-winning novelists and 
a former federal cabinet minister, have signed a statement condemning 
Israel's siege of Gaza, heightening tensions within the local Jewish 
community over the violence.
The Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, meanwhile called yesterday for an 
immediate ceasefire in Gaza but refused to criticise the Israeli offensive.
Authors Linda Jaivin and Sara Dowse, the environment minister in the 
Whitlam government, Moss Cass, and the NSW Greens leader, Ian Cohen, are 
among 120 Australian Jews to accuse the Israeli Government of a "grossly 
disproportionate military assault on Gaza because it was Israel that 
violated the fragile truce on November 4, 2008".
Their statement has provoked a backlash from leaders of Australia's main 
Jewish groups, who argue that Israel is acting in self-defence.
The statement was co-ordinated, but not endorsed, by the group 
Independent Australian Jewish Voices. It is part of an international 
outcry from dissident Jewish groups, including J Street in the US and 
Gush Shalom in Israel.
The signatories agree that Israel has a right to defend itself but say 
"the assault on the population of Gaza will only inflame hatred of Jews, 
and of the state of Israel, while doing nothing to protect the lives of 
Israelis".
They argue that "crude home-made rockets" fired by the Hamas-led 
government in Gaza have caused relatively few Israeli casualties. "By 
contrast, Israeli bombardment has caused around 400 deaths and 2000 
casualties, including a large proportion of women and children."
Other signatories include the controversial anti-Zionist writer Antony 
Loewenstein, the literary critic Andrew Riemer, and academics Andrew 
Benjamin, Gavin Kitching, David Goodman and Michele Grossman.
"This is a solid minority of leading Jewish figures who are sick and 
tired of being told what Jews should think about Israel and are appalled 
by Israel's crimes in Gaza," Mr Loewenstein said.
But the executive director of the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs 
Council, Colin Rubenstein, accused the signatories of being "indifferent 
to Israel's suffering" from repeated rocket attacks from Hamas.
"The comments are grossly ill informed, almost stunning in their 
ignorance, on the history of the ceasefire and its subsequent breakdown, 
Hamas's demands, Hamas's constitution, Hamas's willingness to negotiate 
and other matters," Dr Rubenstein said.
"They propose that the population of southern Israel must continue to 
live under constant rocket bombardment, opposing all practical efforts 
to actually invoke the right to self-defence the signatories say they 
recognise."
The head of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, Vic Alhadeff, declined to 
comment directly on the dissenters' statement but also blamed the crisis 
in Gaza on Hamas, saying it had fired more than 8000 rockets and mortars 
into Israel since 2001.
"All the civilian casualties are a tragedy. They stem from the fact that 
Hamas cynically locates its weapons and fighters in the midst of the 
Palestinian civilian population," he said.
In his first comments on the conflict after a 10-day holiday, Mr Rudd 
appealed for a diplomatic solution that would bring an end to Hamas 
rocket fire and the Israeli blockade of the territory.
"All Australians are concerned about the humanitarian implications of 
this conflict.
"And it is critical therefore for Israel to meet its humanitarian 
obligations under international humanitarian law towards the people of 
Gaza, in ensuring that they have access to basic goods, food and 
humanitarian assistance and medical supplies," he said.






http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuId=28&ContentID=115280

Arab Australians protest Gaza bombings
29th December 2008, 18:15 WST

Angry Arab Australians faced riot police outside the United States 
consulate in Sydney as nationwide protests condemned Israel?s bombing of 
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Downtown Sydney went into gridlock on Monday with more than 1000 Arab 
Australians crippling peak-hour traffic in the CBD as they marched on 
the consulate.
Police stopped traffic on George Street so the mostly male group of 
protesters could move from an anti-Israel, anti-US rally at Town Hall to 
Martin Place around 3pm (WST).
Palestinian activist Rawan Abdul chastised Acting Prime Minister Julia 
Gillard for stating that the ruling Hamas party in Gaza initiated 
hostilities with Israel.
?While (Prime Minister Kevin) Rudd sits around and watches the cricket, 
his deputy comes out and says ?Israel, Israel (is) retaliating in 
self-defence,?? Ms Abdul shouted through loudspeakers at the rally.
?Do we agree with that? No!?
University of Western Sydney professor John Macdonald, who is also a 
visiting professor at Birzeit University in the Palestinian territories, 
said the 1.5 million people in Gaza live in a ?concentration camp?.
?Palestine and Gaza are occupied places,? Mr Macdonald told the rally.
?There are international regulations about occupied people which are 
totally ignored by our own (Australian) government, by the governments 
of the world.?
The few hundred people who attended the rally moved slowly towards 
Martin Place and the crowd more than tripled in size along the way, 
spanning three city blocks.
They protested against Israel?s massive air offensive on Gaza which has 
claimed more than 300 lives and injured 1000 more since Saturday.
Holiday shoppers stopped to watch mainly young Arab men shouting slogans 
against Israel and the US.
?Bomb (President George W) Bush and the Jews,? they yelled along with 
?Israel, USA, how many children have you killed today??
Tensions heightened when the marchers arrived at Martin Place and a 
number of them, led by former Guantanamo Bay inmate Mamdouh Habib, 
approached a wall of riot police protecting the entrance to the US 
consulate.
Private security guards attached to the protest positioned themselves in 
between, preventing the potential for a riot.
The event concluded with more speeches from a stage where controversial 
Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali joined other religious leaders.
Smaller protests were held at the Sheik?s home mosque at Lakemba, in 
Sydney?s west, and at other capital cities in Australia.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils in a statement condemned 
the bombings and so did the Socialist Alliance and the CFMEU.
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council welcomed Ms Gillard?s 
comments, stating that Hamas broke the ceasefire with Israel by firing 
rockets and mortars at their neighbour.
SYDNEY
AAP




http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/pro-palestine-protesters-converge-parliament-39665

Pro-Palestine protesters converge on Parliament
NZPA | Tuesday January 20 2009 - 01:44pm
About 150 protesters converged on Parliament today to urge the 
Government to condemn Israel's assault of the Gaza Strip.
Protest organiser Tali Williams, of the Wellington Palestine Group, 
called on the Government to revoke the credentials of the Canberra-based 
Israeli ambassador to New Zealand and the current visa-free status for 
Israelis.
The group also called for the Government to cut non-United Nations 
contact with the Israeli military, support any moves to indict Israeli 
leaders for war crimes, ban goods from Israeli businesses in the 
occupied territories and stop government departments procuring Israeli 
goods and services.
Green Party foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke was the only MP to 
address the protesters, condemning Israel and the lack of action on the 
part of the Government.

Mr Locke said Israel was guilty of war crimes.
He criticised the Government for not even being prepared to call 
Israel's assault on the territory as "disproportionate" to the rocket 
attacks it cited as a pretext for the attack.
The protest briefly held up traffic in Wellington's centre as it moved 
from Cuba St to Parliament.
Israel has started pulling back its troops in the past few days 
following a 22-day offensive that authorities estimate has left 1300 
Palestinians dead and thousands more homeless.





http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0812/S00309.htm

Auckland: Protest slaughter in Gaza - 4pm Today
Tuesday, 30 December 2008, 1:04 pm
Press Release: Global Peace And Justice Auckland
Protest against slaughter in Gaza - Today (30th) 4pm, US Consulate, 
Citibank, 23 Customs St East
Today?s protest will focus on -
1. The deafening silence of the New Zealand government on the massacre 
in Gaza. New Zealand should unreservedly condemn Israel?s slaughter in 
Gaza and support calls for an international boycott of Israel.
2. The unconditional support for the slaughter given by the US 
government. Israel would not be able to continue to imprison one and a 
half million Palestinians in Gaza without US political and military 
support. The US does this not because it believes what Israel is doing 
is right but because it suits US interests to have a client state in the 
middle-east.
3. The misinformation spread by groups such as the New Zealand Jewish 
Council which for example claims Hamas is a terrorist organisation when 
it is in fact a democratically elected political organisation.
The situation of Palestinians trapped in the open-air prison which is 
Gaza resembles the plight of Jews trapped in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland 
in the 1940s by the Nazis. Confined in this slum Jews led an uprising in 
1943 which was brutally suppressed in much the same way as the some of 
the descendents of those heroic Polish Jews now besiege and slaughter 
Palestinians in Gaza.
We should celebrate the fighting spirit of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto 
just as should celebrate the fighting spirit of Palestinians under siege 
in Gaza.
Israel has no justification to attack Gaza. The problem is not the 
amateur rockets fired into Israel from Gaza but Israeli policies which 
have turned the Gaza strip into a massive open-air prison for one and a 
half million Palestinians. Israel has blocked off land, sea and air 
access while regularly choking off energy and food supplies along with 
work access for Palestinians. Under these appalling of circumstances it 
would be astonishing if Palestinians did not fight back. They have lived 
in an Israeli-created hell-hole of deprivation and oppression for 60 years.
New Zealand supported the French resistance fighting German occupation 
of France in the 1940s and we should do the same for the Palestinians.
Having been driven from their homes and land 60 years ago by Jewish 
terror squads the Palestinians are left with just 22% of the land of the 
original Palestine. It was nothing short of an exercise in ethnic 
cleansing which is mirrored today in the racist laws which give second 
class citizenship to non-Jews in Israel.
Not content with seizing most of the land for an exclusive Jewish state 
the remaining Palestinian land on the West Bank is criss-crossed with 
Israeli-only, military-patrolled roads which link together new Jewish 
settlements being built on Palestinian land. All this despite 
innumerable UN resolutions calling on Israel to abide by international law.
Just three weeks ago the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said 
Israel's discrimination between Jewish settlers and Palestinians in the 
West Bank was increasingly reminiscent of white South Africa's apartheid 
system. The group said Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory
"have created a situation of institutionalised discrimination and 
segregation.?
"The discrimination in services, budgets and access to natural resources 
between the two groups in the same territory constitutes a stark 
violation of the principle of equality, which is reminiscent in many and 
increasing ways of the apartheid regime that was applied in South Africa."
New Zealand should condemn Israeli brutality and support the Palestinian 
struggle. We should also celebrate the actions of Israeli activists such 
as Neta Golan who was arrested by Israeli police earlier this month for 
joining the crew of the fifth boat to break the Israeli blockade of 
Gaza, bringing much needed supplies to the territory.
It?s time for real pressure on the US and the rogue state of Israel.
ENDS






http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/788043

Police complaint received over Gaza protest
The Dominion Post
Last updated 22:33 08/01/2009
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Police are considering laying charges against a Catholic priest who 
daubed blood and paint on an Israeli monument in protest over Israel's 
invasion of Gaza.
It follows a complaint from former honorary Israeli consul in New 
Zealand David Zwartz after the Yitzhak Rabin Peace Memorial in 
Wellington was smeared with the red mixture on Wednesday.
Inspector Simon Perry of Wellington confirmed that a complaint had been 
received. It was too early to say if charges would follow.
Wellington Archbishop John Dew apologised yesterday for Father Gerard 
Burns' actions and again distanced himself and the church from Father 
Burns, who he said was acting on his own initiative.
Father Burns has defended his "symbolic action", saying it was a 
denunciation of the Israeli state, not an attack on the Jewish faith.
Archbishop Dew said: "I offer an apology for [his] actions and make this 
apology to all those who were offended at the desecration of the Rabin 
monument."
The apology came as about 20 people, led by John Minto, waved placards 
outside the Auckland Tennis Centre where Israeli Shahar Peer was 
playing, protesting against Israel's offensive and calling for her to 
withdraw from the tournament.
Police initially tried to move them from outside the tennis centre but 
Mr Minto said they had the right to protest.
After talking to Auckland Tennis management inside the centre, the 
demonstrators were allowed to continue their protest. They were moved on 
peacefully when Peer's match with Russian Elena Dementieva began in the 
early afternoon.
A lone Israeli demonstrator stood opposite the group with a sign 
reading, "Minto supports Hamas murderers. Hamas murders hope."
"I'm just supporting peace. It's as simple as that," the protester said. 
As an extra security precaution, searches were carried out at the main 
entrance and extra police were on standby.
Peer completed her singles quarterfinal without disruption yesterday. 
Peer, the No5 seed, was given a warm welcome by fans when she arrived on 
court and supporters in one corner of the stadium displayed two Israeli 
flags.
Jerusalem-born Peer, 21, was beaten 6-3, 6-1.
She did not put her loss down to the protest, which she saw when she got 
to the venue. She also had nothing to say in response to those involved.
"I'm not the government of Israel and I'm not representing Israel as a 
politician," she said. "I'm a tennis player and that's what I represent 
now."






http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/779578

NZ Palestinians protest Gaza attacks
Fairfax Media
Last updated 08:20 31/12/2008
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MICHAEL FIELD/Fairfax Media
Protesters burn a US flag in Auckland's Aotea Square as part of a 
protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza. Around 350 people took part in 
the protest.
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New Zealand's small Palestinian community turned out in force at a 
peaceful protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza.
About 350 people gathered outside the United States consulate in 
Auckland yesterday evening in a protest organised by veteran activist 
John Minto.
They were protesting "an unholy massacre" that had turned Palestine into 
a hellhole, he said.
"This is an appalling abuse of human rights.''
Several Palestinian speakers told the rally that Israel had used the 
Holocaust to justify its existence but was now imposing a similar fate 
on Palestinians.
Three police officers watched on.
After protesting outside the closed US consulate in Customhouse Street 
the protesters then marched up a quiet Queen Street to Aotea Square, 
where a US flag was burnt. A shoe was also displayed on a fishing rod - 
a symbol of the shoes thrown at US President George Bush by Iraqi 
journalist Muntader al-Zeidi.






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/17/content_10674312.htm

New Zealanders protest against Israel's action in Gaza

Special report: Palestine-Israel Conflicts
WELLINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Demonstrations were staged in the New 
Zealand cities of Auckland and Christchurch on Saturday following 
Israel's attacks on Gaza, according to local media.
About 400 people took part in a protest held in Auckland, the largest 
city in the country. Some of the demonstrators threw balloons full of 
red paint at buildings, Radio New Zealand reported.
Protest spokesman John Darroch said that components made in New Zealand 
have guided the missiles that have killed and injured thousands of 
people in the Gaza Strip and millions more in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In South Island's largest city of Christchurch, more than 500 people 
took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Israel's invasion of 
Gaza.
In Dunedin city, about 100 people also took to the streets to 
demonstrate against the Israeli offensive on the same day.
The "Justice for Palestine" group and its supporters carried placards 
declaring "resistance is not terrorism" and chanting, the Radio New 
Zealand said.






http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=151078

Protests against Israel
17/01/2009 17:28:03
Protests have been held in Auckland and Christchurch today, prompted by 
the Israeli action in the Gaza Strip.
In Auckland activist Tyler Culpepper was arrested after he climbed onto 
the roof of the Rakon manufacturing facility in Mt Wellington and used 
red paint to change its signage to read Rakon kills.
Some 400 people were involved in the Auckland protest. Others among them 
threw balloons full of red paint at the building.
Protest spokesman John Darroch says components made in New Zealand have 
guided the missiles that have killed and injured thousands in the Gaza 
Strip and millions more in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mr Culpepper says it 
was his intention to show Rakon helps shed blood by selling components 
to weapons companies.
A peaceful protest in Christchurch this afternoon attracted about 400 
people.





http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=151085

Protestors target Rakon
17/01/2009 18:24:09
A group of protesters has defaced the building of an Auckland 
electronics company to highlight the war in the Gaza Strip.
Christian peace activist John Darroch says Rakon Limited manufactures 
parts for guidance systems for missiles, which are sold to the Israeli 
government. He says 200 people threw water balloons with red paint in 
them, and one protestor adjusted the company's sign to say 'Rakon Kills'.
Mr Darroch says the paint poured across the Rakon building is nothing 
compared with the lives of the several hundred killed in the latest 
attack on Gaza. He says he can not sit back and do nothing when there 
are people being slaughtered.






http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/01/17/1245984bec0a

NZ Govt urges Israel, Hamas to stick to ceasefire
Updated at 10:53am on 19 January 2009
The New Zealand Government says both Israel and Hamas need to stick to 
their ceasefire commitments in order allow diplomatic negotiations to 
get underway.
Hamas has said it will cease fire immediately and give Israel, which 
already declared a unilateral truce, one week to pull its troops out of 
Gaza.
During the 22-day-long offensive, Israeli attacks killed more than 1,300 
Palestinians, including some 700 civilians, Gaza medical officials said. 
Israel said hundreds of gunmen were among the dead.
Ten Israeli soldiers were killed as well as three Israeli civilians hit 
by rockets.
Prime Minister John Key has welcomed the week-long ceasefire by Hamas, 
but said the only way forward to lasting peace in the Middle East is 
through negotiation and dialogue.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said the ceasefire needs to 
hold, to give diplomatic efforts the opportunity to get underway.
European leaders were heading to a summit with Egypt's President Hosni 
Mubarak to try to bolster the truce.
Pro-Israeli rally
About 200 people took part in a rally in Auckland on Sunday afternoon in 
support of Israel's actions.
The gathering was organised by the Australasian Union of Jewish Students 
who say the country's actions have been in self defence.
The group's co-leader Alon Meltzer says New Zealand cannot pass judgment 
as it has not experienced what it's like to constantly dodge bullets, 
bombs and the like.
He says while news of the unilateral cease-fire is undoubtedly a good 
thing, Hamas is still required to agree.
Anti-Israeli protests
A protester was arrested on Saturday afternoon at a demonstration 
outside an Auckland business said to have provided parts for Israeli bombs.
Rakon in Mount Wellington is said to manufacture crystal oscillators 
that are used in guidance systems for missiles and munitions systems.
Protester Tyler Culpepper climbed onto the building's roof, adjusting 
some signage with paint to read "Rakon kills".
He will appear in court next week on a wilful damage charge.
About 400 people took part in the protest which was organised by the 
group Global Peace and Justice.
Rakon says its products are not sold directly to the Israeli government, 
and it takes hundreds of components to build the GPS systems used in 
"smart bombs".
On Saturday, more than 500 people took to the streets in Christchurch to 
demonstrate against Israel's invasion of Gaza.
The Justice for Palestine group and its supporters marched from the 
Canterbury Museum to Cathedral Square carrying placards declaring 
"resistance is not terrorism" and chanting.
In Dunedin, about 100 people also took to the streets to demonstrate 
against the Israeli offensive.






http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/01/17/1245984b67d4

NZ electrical company focus of Gaza protest
Updated at 5:54pm on 17 January 2009
A New Zealand company which makes electrical components used in Global 
Positioning Systems was the focus of a protest on Saturday by groups 
opposed to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The march, organised by the group Global Peace and Justice, began in Mt 
Wellington on Saturday afternoon and ended outside the company's 
premises in Auckland.
The group's spokesperson, Mike Treen, said Rakon manufactures items used 
in targeted bombs such as those currently being used by the Israeli air 
force.
"The information we have is that it forms an important part of those 
components already," Mr Treen told Radio New Zealand.
"The company says that it seeks to be the dominant player in these 
targetting systems and already has something like 25% of the worldwide 
market so I think that's pretty clear that they are."
However, Rakon marketing manager Justin Maloney, says its products are 
not sold directly to the Israeli government and the company cannot 
logistically track all of its products to an end user.
Mr Maloney says Rakon's products are used in a wide variety of 
applications and it takes hundreds of components to build the GPS 
systems used in smart bombs.
Health officials in Gaza say at least 1,105 Palestinians have been 
killed and 5,100 wounded - many of them civilians - since Israel began 
bombarding the territory on 27 December. Israel says the bombings are in 
response to rocket attacks against its people.
Thirteen Israelis - three of them civilians - have died, while 233 
soldiers have been wounded, the Israeli army says.





http://english.sina.com/world/2009/0117/212347.html

New Zealanders protest against Israel's action in Gaza
2009-01-17 10:41:17 GMT2009-01-17 18:41:17 (Beijing Time) xinhuanet
WELLINGTON, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Demonstrations were staged in the New 
Zealand cities of Auckland and Christchurch on Saturday following 
Israel's attacks on Gaza, according to local media.
About 400 people took part in a protest held in Auckland, the largest 
city in the country. Some of the demonstrators threw balloons full of 
red paint at buildings, Radio New Zealand reported.
Protest spokesman John Darroch said that components made in New Zealand 
have guided the missiles that have killed and injured thousands of 
people in the Gaza Strip and millions more in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In South Island's largest city of Christchurch, more than 500 people 
took to the streets on Saturday to protest against Israel's invasion of 
Gaza.
In Dunedin city, about 100 people also took to the streets to 
demonstrate against the Israeli offensive on the same day.
The "Justice for Palestine" group and its supporters carried placards 
declaring "resistance is not terrorism" and chanting, the Radio New 
Zealand said.





http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/rakon-headquarters-be-site-anti-israel-protest-39607

Rakon headquarters to be site of anti-Israel protest
Niko Kloeten | Friday January 16 2009 - 01:58pm
Opponents of Israel?s military actions in Gaza have picked a new protest 
target: one of New Zealand?s most successful technology companies.
A protest march against Rakon is scheduled to begin at 3pm tomorrow and 
will travel from outside Sylvia Park to Rakon?s Mt Wellington head office.
The march will involve members of a number of groups including Global 
Peace and Justice Auckland and Citizens Against Privatisation.
While it is unclear how many people will attend the march, it will be 
the latest in a number of local protests against ?Operation Cast Lead?, 
which some agencies estimate has killed more than 1000 Gazans.
Rakon is being targeted because of claims its GPS technology is being 
used in the missiles employed by the Israeli Defense Force in Gaza.
The company got into hot water in 2006 over company documents that 
revealed some of its crystal oscillator technology could be used in 
?smart bombs?; however, Rakon has denied that it knows the end purposes 
these products are used for.
Rakon?s head office couldn?t be reached for comment on the protest.





http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/783969

Protestors take to streets
Fairfax Media
Last updated 11:23 06/01/2009

ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post
TAKING TO THE STREETS: Around 100 protestors took to central Wellington 
streets this afternoon.

TAKING A STAND: A protestor outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade office in Lambton Quay before the march began at 12.30pm.
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Around 100 protestors have taken to central Wellington streets this 
afternoon in a march aiming to push the Government into taking a 
stronger stand against Israel's attacks on Gaza.
Protestors began marching at 12.30pm from the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Trade office in Lambton Quay and headed to a memorial 
monument for former Israeli leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Yitzhak 
Rabin, near Civic Square, for speeches.
The protest action in Wellington comes as Israeli tanks, planes and 
ground forces continue to pound Gaza, in the 10th day of action. 
Israel's defence minister has warned that the offensive against Hamas 
militants in the Palestinian enclave will go on until Israel was safe.
The march - destined to end at Parliament - followed Green Party foreign 
affairs spokesman Keith Locke's call for the New Zealand Government to 
take a stronger stand against the attacks.
"It is horrendous what is happening there," he said this afternoon.
"It is a war crime to attack civilian targets and destroy buildings and 
cause the deaths of innocent civilians.
"If it was done in this country, there would be outrage, it would be 
called terrorism and we want our government to tell it like it is; that 
war crimes and terrorism are being used in the attacks on the people in 
Gaza today."
At the memorial today, Wellington Palestinian Group spokesman Don Carson 
criticised the lack of Government response, calling it weak and 
one-sided, and urged it to enter talks with Hamas. "Let's send a message 
to our politicians to damn well do something," he said.
Father Gerard Burn then sprinkled red paint, mixed with a drop of his 
own blood, on the monument to mark the killing of hundreds of 
Palestinians and the seizure of their land.
As the crowd gathered, chants of "They kill, they lie but Palestine will 
never die", "Allahu Akhbar" and "Free, free Palestine".
Palestinian Ihab Almawajah, 19, told Stuff.co.nz that he had a cousin 
killed in the first of the Israeli strikes in Gaza. "It's not fair on 
innocent people ... We hope the world understands that all Palestine 
wants is peace."
Lebanese man Ziad Wakim, 23, said: "Stop the occupation of Palestine, 
give the right for Palestinians to go back home to their homeland and 
stop the bombing."
"They talk too much about he six million Jews killed in Nazi camps and 
concentration camps. What about the 60 years of occupation. How many 
Palestinians have been killed since," Mr Wakim asked.
"If you talk about other liberators in the past ... William Wallace, of 
Scotland, George Washington, of America, were they terrorists? Well they 
had the freedom to free their land and now we are seeing Palestinians 
free their land."
However, Aucklander Brian Sheehy was a lone voice in opposition to the 
passionate protests.
"What about the Israelis," he shouted, despite abuse from the protestors.
"These people are complaining about Israel attacking them, but what 
about Israel being attacked? Do they not have a right to defend 
themselves? I say that we should be marching for the Israelites as well.
"Israel has gone in because they warned them for ages that, if they 
continue to bomb them, they'll go in and deal to it. They're not dealing 
to the Palestinians, they're dealing to the Hamas and Hizbollah. So, at 
the end of the day, there's going to be collateral damage anyway, that's 
what war is all about and it's a matter of them protecting their own so 
go for it Israel."
Mr Sheehy defended the innocent casualties as collateral damage.
"The Hamas are shooting rockets into Israel and they have absolutely no 
idea where they are landing so they can do as much damage as they like 
it appears and Israel is not allowed to defend themselves ... this is a 
ridiculous scenario.
"They not going to be pushed around like they have for centuries, 
slaughtered by everybody and hated by everybody but they do have a right 
to defend themselves and they will."
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said earlier that the 
Government had called on both sides of the conflict to accept an 
immediate ceasefire.
"The New Zealand Government is not prepared to choose sides in the 
conflict in the manner that Mr Locke suggests. Both sides need to step 
back from the brink."
Labour leader Phil Goff deplored the increasing toll. "The appalling 
death toll and injury rate overwhelmingly involves civilians, innocent 
of playing any part in the causes of the conflict.
"Neither those firing the Hamas rockets nor those who have launched the 
disproportionate response, resulting in the deaths of more than 400 
people in Gaza, can escape condemnation for their actions." He said the 
best prospect for finding a solution remained international agreement to 
end the conflict.
"Notwithstanding that its first priority will be to address financial 
and economic problems at home, I hope that the Obama administration can 
bring fresh ideas and determination to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict," Mr Goff said.
- with NZPA





http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10550835&ref=rss

NZ priest stands by bloody Gaza protest
12:47PM Wednesday Jan 07, 2009
A Catholic priest who splattered a mixture of his blood and paint on an 
Israeli memorial plaque during a protest yesterday said it was a 
symbolic act and nothing compared to the killing taking place in Gaza.
About 1000 people marched through central Wellington protesting against 
Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza and calling on the New Zealand 
Government to end its neutral stance.
Father Gerard Burns, the parish priest of Te Parisi o te Ngakau Tapu in 
Porirua, was one of the protest leaders and smeared the blood and paint 
on the Yitzhak Rabin peace memorial.
Mr Rabin was prime minister of Israel from 1974-1977 and again from 
1992-1995. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 and was assassinated by 
a right-wing Israeli radical in 1995.
Kiwi Friends of Israel called for Father Burns to apologise for his actions.
"Kiwi Friends of Israel strongly supports the right of all New 
Zealanders to have a robust debate on the rights and wrongs of Israel's 
policies but attacking peace memorials isn't legitimate behaviour.
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"The desecration is doubly contemptible given Mr Rabin's lifelong 
commitment to peace and stability in Israel and Palestine."
Father Burns does not agree Mr Rabin's commitment to peace was 
"lifelong", but rather he "converted" to peace later in life.
The paint was a "symbolic action" and a "denunciation of the (Israeli) 
state, not an attack on the Jewish faith.
"I have a great esteem for the Jewish faith. I mean the founder of 
Christianity was Jewish ... but, the Israeli state is another beast 
altogether."
The prophets of Judaism would be criticising Israel's actions, Father 
Burns said.
An Israeli flag was also burnt at the protest.
There was no comparison between the burning of a flag, or painting of a 
monument and the killing taking place in Gaza, he said.
As for the New Zealand Government's response, Father Burns believes "not 
taking a side is taking a side. It's to say you accept what's going on".
He said despite being a small country New Zealand had shown in the past, 
with opposition to South African rugby tours (during the apartheid era), 
banning of cluster bombs and anti-nuclear stance, that it could spark 
global change.
Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said earlier the Government was 
not prepared to choose sides.
He said the Government's stance was in line with the international 
community, including the United Nations and European Union.
Father Burns did not find it strange that a New Zealand Catholic priest 
should take a stand against an Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"One of the people that I am very keen to support is the Christian 
Palestinians. It's not just Jews against Muslims. It's a political war 
with some religious implications.
"Denouncing injustice is a priestly role ... I might be failing in my 
duty if I didn't do it."
Catholic Church spokeswoman Lyndsay Freer told The New Zealand Herald 
priests were entitled to their individual views.
The New Zealand church's stance echoed Pope Benedict's address last week.
"We feel that in the interests of peace and dignity dialogue must take 
place, and the killing must stop, from both sides."
New Zealand's Tertiary Education Union (TEU) today called on the Israeli 
and Palestinian governments to "respect the peaceful role that education 
institutions play in communities" and keep war out of Palestine's 
schools and tertiary education institutions.
Their call follows the bombing of a Gaza school yesterday that killed 
over 40 people.
- NZPA





http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200901060226DOWJONESDJONLINE000084_univ.xml

Over Thousand Protest In New Zealand Capital Against Gaza Attack1-6-09 
2:26 AM EST | E-mail Article | Print Article
WELLINGTON (AFP)--More than 1,000 demonstrators marched through the 
center of New Zealand's capital Wellington Tuesday to protest Israel's 
attack on Gaza.
The protesters called on the New Zealand government to end its neutral 
stance on the conflict.
Israel's air and ground attacks on Gaza in retaliation for rocket 
attacks has killed at least 560 Palestinians, according to doctors in 
the territory.
Speaking to the protesters, Green Party legislator Keith Locke said the 
people of New Zealand wanted their government to take action.
"What we have to do is not sit on the sidelines," he said. "We must be 
part of a coalition of the peaceful in this world."
Police said there was no trouble from the chanting and clapping 
marchers, who delivered a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade.
New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said earlier the 
government wasn't prepared to choose sides in the conflict.
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman and former prime minister Helen 
Clark said she was concerned the U.N. Security Council had been unable 
to agree on a further call for a ceasefire in the conflict.
"There is no road to peace between Israel and the Palestinians through 
this conflict in Gaza, but rather a deepening polarization between the 
two sides which makes it even more difficult for a long-term settlement 
to be achieved," Clark said.





http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/01/06/124597a3d8b3

Priest unrepentant over protest action
Updated at 4:27pm on 7 January 2009
A Catholic priest in Wellington says he is unrepentant about smearing a 
mixture of his own blood and paint on an Israeli memorial on Tuesday.
The memorial to the former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was 
attacked after a protest by a pro-Palestinian group about the invasion 
of Gaza city.
Father Gerard Burns spilt a mix of paint and blood on the Rabin memorial.
The act has outraged Kiwi Friends of Israel, which is calling for an 
apology. A spokesperson for the organisation, Ed Brownlee, says Father 
Burns' actions are doubly contemptible because Mr Rabin was an advocate 
for peace and stability in the Middle East.
However, Father Burns says he disputes the former prime minister's 
commitment to a lasting peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.
Tuesday's protest march through the capital drew several hundred highly 
emotional and angry Palestinian supporters, who carried banners 
condemning Israel's attack on Gaza.
A handful of pro-Israeli supporters were also present.





http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10550698&ref=rss

Protesters call on NZ Govt to oppose Gaza attacks
2:36PM Tuesday Jan 06, 2009

Israel has vowed to continue its attack on Gaza until 'peace and 
tranquility' has been restored. Photo / AP

Over 1000 Palestinian supporters marched through central Wellington 
today in protest against Israel's bombardment of Gaza.
They were protesting against Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza 
and called on the New Zealand Government to end its neutral stance.
Gaza health officials reported that since the campaign began on Dec. 27 
more than 550 Palestinians have been killed and 2,500 wounded, including 
200 civilians
Speaking to march supporters today, Green MP Keith Locke said the people 
of New Zealand wanted their Government to take action.
He said the Government was hypocritical if it did not speak up against 
the "terrorist attacks" on the people of Gaza.
"Our Government should speak the truth.
"What we have to do is not sit on the sidelines ... we must be part of a 
coalition of the peaceful in this world."
The protesters delivered a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade office on Lambton Quay and marched to Civic Square chanting to a 
drum beat, clapping and waving signs.
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The group included business people on lunch breaks, students and families.
Inspector Simon Perry said the group was well behaved, had liaised with 
police prior to the march and had stuck to the bus lanes.
He said the group was "considerably larger" than expected.
Protest spokeswoman Serena Moran said "most other governments" had 
condemned the Israeli invasion.
"(Foreign Affairs Minister) Murray McCully is washing his hands of the 
horrendous Palestinian suffering in Gaza."
Mr McCully said earlier the Government "is not prepared to choose sides".
Mr McCully said the Government's stance was in line with the 
international community, including the United Nations and European Union.
Labour's foreign affairs spokeswoman Helen Clark expressed concern that 
the United Nations Security Council had been unable to agree on a 
further call for a ceasefire to hostilities in Gaza.
"There is no road to peace between Israel and the Palestinians through 
this conflict in Gaza, but rather a deepening polarisation between the 
two sides which makes it even more difficult for a long term settlement 
to be achieved."
Israel today ignored mounting international calls for a cease-fire, 
saying it wouldn't stop its crippling 10-day assault until "peace and 
tranquility' are achieved in southern Israeli towns in the line of 
Palestinian rocket fire.
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand said it had "deep 
concern" about the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
It called on the Government and other world leaders to "come out 
strongly to censure Israel".
New Zealand's current stance was "shameful", it said.
Waikato Jewish Association spokesman Beni Tobias said the Israeli 
government was doing what was necessary to protect its citizens, and 
that its actions were justified by international law.
- NZPA, AP





http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/784873

Protest in Wellington over Gaza attacks
Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 11:23 06/01/2009
Around 100 protestors have taken to central Wellington streets this 
afternoon in a march aiming to push the Government into taking a 
stronger stand against Israel's attacks on Gaza.
Protestors began marching at 12.30pm from the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Trade office in Lambton Quay and headed to a memorial 
monument for former Israeli leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Yitzhak 
Rabin, near Civic Square, for speeches.
The protest action in Wellington comes as Israeli tanks, planes and 
ground forces continue to pound Gaza, in the 10th day of action. 
Israel's defence minister has warned that the offensive against Hamas 
militants in the Palestinian enclave will go on until Israel was safe.
The march - destined to end at Parliament - followed Green Party foreign 
affairs spokesman Keith Locke's call for the New Zealand Government to 
take a stronger stand against the attacks.
"It is horrendous what is happening there," he said this afternoon.
"It is a war crime to attack civilian targets and destroy buildings and 
cause the deaths of innocent civilians.
"If it was done in this country, there would be outrage, it would be 
called terrorism and we want our government to tell it like it is; that 
war crimes and terrorism are being used in the attacks on the people in 
Gaza today."
At the memorial today, Wellington Palestinian Group spokesman Don Carson 
criticised the lack of Government response, calling it weak and 
one-sided, and urged it to enter talks with Hamas. "Let's send a message 
to our politicians to damn well do something," he said.
Father Gerard Burn then sprinkled red paint, mixed with a drop of his 
own blood, on the monument to mark the killing of hundreds of 
Palestinians and the seizure of their land.
As the crowd gathered, chants of "They kill, they lie but Palestine will 
never die", "Allahu Akhbar" and "Free, free Palestine".
Palestinian Ihab Almawajah, 19, told Stuff.co.nz that he had a cousin 
killed in the first of the Israeli strikes in Gaza. "It's not fair on 
innocent people ... We hope the world understands that all Palestine 
wants is peace."
Lebanese man Ziad Wakim, 23, said: "Stop the occupation of Palestine, 
give the right for Palestinians to go back home to their homeland and 
stop the bombing."
"They talk too much about he six million Jews killed in Nazi camps and 
concentration camps. What about the 60 years of occupation. How many 
Palestinians have been killed since," Mr Wakim asked.
"If you talk about other liberators in the past ... William Wallace, of 
Scotland, George Washington, of America, were they terrorists? Well they 
had the freedom to free their land and now we are seeing Palestinians 
free their land."
However, Aucklander Brian Sheehy was a lone voice in opposition to the 
passionate protests.
"What about the Israelis," he shouted, despite abuse from the protestors.
"These people are complaining about Israel attacking them, but what 
about Israel being attacked? Do they not have a right to defend 
themselves? I say that we should be marching for the Israelites as well.
"Israel has gone in because they warned them for ages that, if they 
continue to bomb them, they'll go in and deal to it. They're not dealing 
to the Palestinians, they're dealing to the Hamas and Hizbollah. So, at 
the end of the day, there's going to be collateral damage anyway, that's 
what war is all about and it's a matter of them protecting their own so 
go for it Israel."
Mr Sheehy defended the innocent casualties as collateral damage.
"The Hamas are shooting rockets into Israel and they have absolutely no 
idea where they are landing so they can do as much damage as they like 
it appears and Israel is not allowed to defend themselves ... this is a 
ridiculous scenario.
"They not going to be pushed around like they have for centuries, 
slaughtered by everybody and hated by everybody but they do have a right 
to defend themselves and they will."
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said earlier that the 
Government had called on both sides of the conflict to accept an 
immediate ceasefire.
"The New Zealand Government is not prepared to choose sides in the 
conflict in the manner that Mr Locke suggests. Both sides need to step 
back from the brink."
Labour leader Phil Goff deplored the increasing toll. "The appalling 
death toll and injury rate overwhelmingly involves civilians, innocent 
of playing any part in the causes of the conflict.
"Neither those firing the Hamas rockets nor those who have launched the 
disproportionate response, resulting in the deaths of more than 400 
people in Gaza, can escape condemnation for their actions." He said the 
best prospect for finding a solution remained international agreement to 
end the conflict.
"Notwithstanding that its first priority will be to address financial 
and economic problems at home, I hope that the Obama administration can 
bring fresh ideas and determination to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian 
conflict," Mr Goff said.
- with NZPA





http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/06/content_10611748.htm

New Zealanders protest against Israeli attacks on Gaza

By Huang Xingwei
WELLINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 1,000 Palestinian supporters in 
New Zealand marched in central Wellington on Tuesday, protesting against 
Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza and called on the New Zealand 
government to end its neutral stance.
The Wellington Palestine Group delivered a letter to the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade, attacking the government's position of 
"taking no side" on the crisis.
While the government is supporting calls for an end to the conflict 
between Israel and Hamas, the group said it has stopped short at 
condemning the ground invasion of Gaza by Israel.
In the letter, the group called for the credentials of the Israeli 
ambassador to be revoked and for New Zealand to cut all ties with Israel.
New Zealand was jeopardizing a seat on the United Nations' Human Rights 
Council, march organizers said.
The protesters said the people of New Zealand wanted their government to 
take actions on it.
Protesters began marching at 12:30 p.m. local time from the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs and Trade office in Lambton Quay and headed to a 
memorial monument for former Israeli leader and Nobel Peace Laureate 
Yitzhak Rabin, near Civic Square, chanting to a drum beat, clapping and 
waving signs.
The protest action in Wellington came as Israeli tanks, planes and 
ground forces continue to pound Gaza, in the 10th day of action. 
Israel's defense minister has warned that the offensive against Hamas 
militants in the Palestinian enclave will go on until Israel was safe.
At the memorial, Wellington Palestinian Group spokesman Don Carson said, 
"Let's send a message to our politicians to do something."
Father Gerard Burn then sprinkled red paint, mixed with a drop of his 
own blood, on the monument to mark the killing of hundreds of 
Palestinians and the seizure of their land.
As the crowd gathered, they chanted "They kill, they lie but Palestine 
will never die", "Allahu Akhbar" and "Free, free Palestine".
Palestinian Ihab Almawajah, 19, said his cousin was killed in the first 
of the Israeli strikes in Gaza. "It's not fair on innocent people ... We 
hope the world understands that all Palestine wants is peace."
Protest spokeswoman Serena Moran said, "most other governments" had 
condemned the Israel's invasion.
In a related development, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully 
said earlier that the government had called on both sides of the 
conflict to accept an immediate ceasefire.
"The New Zealand government is not prepared to choose sides in the 
conflict in the manner that Mr Locke suggests. Both sides need to step 
back from the brink."
Labour leader Phil Goff deplored the increasing toll, saying "the 
appalling death toll and injury rate overwhelmingly involves civilians, 
innocent of playing any part in the causes of the conflict."
"Neither those firing the Hamas rockets nor those who have launched the 
disproportionate response, resulting in the deaths of more than 400 
people in Gaza, can escape condemnation for their actions."
He said the best prospect for finding a solution remained international 
agreement to end the conflict.
Labor Party's foreign affairs spokeswoman Helen Clark expressed concern 
that the United Nations Security Council had been unable to agree on a 
further call for a ceasefire to hostilities in Gaza.
"There is no road to peace between Israel and the Palestinians through 
this conflict in Gaza, but rather a deepening polarization between the 
two sides which makes it even more difficult for a long term settlement 
to be achieved."
The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand said that it had 
"deep concern" about the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
It called on the government and other countries' leaders to "come out 
strongly to censure Israel".






http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0901/S00005.htm

Stop the massacre in Gaza: Protest 6 January Wgtn
Friday, 2 January 2009, 3:43 pm
Press Release: Wellington Palestine Group
Stop the massacre in Gaza: Protest 6 January and other events in Wellington
The Wellington Palestine Group has organized the following events in 
Wellington to protest the Israeli massacre of Palestinians currently 
taking place in Gaza.
Please forward this information to your networks and come to the events 
with banners, placards and huge amounts of solidarity for the 
Palestinian people who continue to suffer under a brutal Israeli 
Military Occupation.






http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0901/S00054.htm

Welington Palestine Group - Rabin memorial protest
Saturday, 10 January 2009, 5:17 pm
Press Release: Wellington Palestine Group
The Wellington Palestine Group states that it was collectively 
responsible for the action which Gerard Burns undertook at the Yitzak 
Rabin Memorial in Wellington on Tuesday. Gerard Burns courageously 
carried out the symbolic act which was prepared and planned by the Group.
Wellington Palestine Group spokesperson Omar Khamoun says ?we chose this 
memorial in Wellington as the object of our protest to highlight the 
long trajectory of Palestinian dispossession and suffering, which former 
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin was party to?.
Khamoun says ?Israeli historians document Rabin?s war crimes including 
the key role he played in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the 
districts of Lydda and Ramleh in 1948; his leading of Israeli forces in 
the 1967 occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza and the Golan 
Heights. He is also infamous for his "broken bones policy" which openly 
encouraged breaking bones of peaceful Palestinian demonstrators during 
the first Intifada?
The memorial which was placed in Wellington in 2000 without public 
consultation is sponsored by the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Khamoun 
says ?The Jewish National Fund (JNF) is a racist organisation that 
administers the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by managing land stolen 
from the Palestinians for the exclusive benefit of the Israeli Jewish 
population.?
The group also chose the memorial to illustrate the insidiousness of the 
international public relations campaign waged by Israel creating 
mythical stories of figures like Rabin as peacemakers. ?Rabin was never 
a peacemaker. Even after the signing of Oslo, he declared in front of 
the Israeli parliament that Israel will get peace without conceding 
anything?. Khamoun says.
The Wellington Palestine Group supports a solution to the 
Palestine/Israel question based on UN resolutions 242 and 194, but it 
sees this becoming increasingly difficult because of Israeli settlements 
and ongoing military repression.
Vatican justice and peace minister Cardinal Renato Martino described 
Gaza yesterday as ?increasingly resembl[ing] a big concentration camp.? 
The military history of Rabin and the present bombing of Gaza make 
?spilling blood? on Rabin?s plaque entirely appropriate.
If the newly founded ?Kiwi Friends of Israel? are so offended by a drop 
of blood mixed with water soluble paint, then they should be outraged by 
the rivers of blood flowing in the streets, mosques, schools and 
hospitals of Gaza. What is really being desecrated, a stone monument or 
the sacredness of real lives?






http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2437667

Anger mounts in Akld streets at Gaza violence
Published: 2:26PM Saturday January 10, 2009
Source: ONE News/Newstalk ZB
Anger mounts as a large crowd marched in central Auckland on Saturday 
afternoon to protest at Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip.
It was a peaceful protest but many were very clearly angry as over 1000 
marched down Queen Street in Auckland.
The crowd moved from Aotea Square to the US Consulate in Customs Street 
where they made their feelings about continued US support of Israel very 
clear with chants of "Long Live Palestine" and "Israel/USA how many kids 
have you killed today?"
At the consulate they hurled boots and shoes at the building.
"Shoes are... they've become a symbol of opposition to US and Israeli 
policies in the Middle East," says veteran activist and protest 
organiser John Minto.
Minto says the the march has made New Zealand the first country to stage 
a protest march on Saturday in an international day of action to 
mobilise the world against what he calls the Israeli massacre of civilians.
The march also had a noticeable presence from New Zealand Muslims.
Some of those marching had a peaceful message while others were less 
diplomatic.
"People have to have the understanding that we're not gonna let it 
happen we don't want it to happen," says one protester.
The march is the latest in a number of protests around the country over 
the past two weeks in support of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip but this 
time the numbers are greater, the language stronger and the demands more 
emphatic.
"We need to keep this pressure up now until it ends!" says another 
protester.
However among the anger there is also a moments' silence for peace.
The fighting in the Middle East may be half a world away but for many it 
felt very close to home.





http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=150719

Protestors use controversial line
10/01/2009 17:24:04
Traffic came to a standstill on Queen Street this afternoon as 
protestors lay down to show they are against Israel's actions in the 
Gaza Strip. They also pelted the Unites States' Consulate building in 
Customs Street with footwear.
Marcher Ali Bakarat hopes New Zealanders support Palestine, which has 
become the scene of what he says are unnecessary killings. He says 800 
people have been killed, and between 50 and 70 percent have been women 
and children. Mr Bakarat says more than 1.9 million people live in the 
Gaza Strip, which is smaller than Auckland city. About 300 people took 
part in the Auckland protest.
A spokesman for the newly-formed group Kiwi Friends of Israel, Ed 
Brownlee, says the protesters have been chanting 'god is great' in 
Arabic, which traditionally is non-controversial. But he says more 
recently the term has been associated with terrorist groups. Mr Brownlee 
says he supports a free and strong Israel, and a ceasefire should be 
based on Hamas stopping its terrorist actions.





http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/middleeast/news/article_1452649.php/Record_anti-Israel_protest_claimed_in_New_Zealand_

Record anti-Israel protest claimed in New Zealand
Middle East News
Jan 10, 2009, 2:50 GMT
Wellington - About 500 protestors burned an Israel flag and threw shoes 
at the United States consulate in Auckland Saturday in what the 
organizer claimed was New Zealand's largest pro-Palestinian demonstration.
Some wore Palestinian flags and held placards of dead and mutilated 
children as they marched through the city centre chanting, 'How many 
kids have you killed today, Israel, USA?' Radio New Zealand reported.
Protest organizer John Minto said it was the first protest march on an 
international day of action to mobilise the world against what he called 
the Israeli massacre of civilians in Gaza.
He called on the New Zealand government to condemn Israel's actions in 
the conflict.
Ed Brownlee, from the organization Kiwi Friends of Israel, accused some 
of the demonstrators of supporting terrorism.





http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/790095

Protestors swarm central Auckland (+photos)
Stuff.co.nz
Last updated 14:32 10/01/2009

Crowds of protestors swarmed central Auckland today in defiance of 
Israel's attacks on Palestinians in Gaza.
The rally, which attracted around 500 people, began in Aotea Square at 
noon and ended at the United States consulate in Customs Street.
Auckland police Senior Sergeant Gary Barber said those involved with the 
protest had been surprisingly well behaved.
"There was a small incident where a protestor ran up to someone holding 
an Israeli flag and took off with it into the crowd, but that was the 
worst of it."
There was also a symbolic throwing of shoes at the United States 
consulate, he said.
Auckland resident Malcom Evans said he was attending the demonstration 
to express his solidarity with those who found the activities of Israel 
abhorrent.
"Zionism and apartheid have no difference," he said.
"We need to express our indignation the same way we did when South 
Africa practised their hateful regime."
Speeches crackled across the loud speakers at Aotea Square, as protest 
organiser John Minto, Green MP Keith Locke and other members of the 
Palestinian community addressed the growing crowd.
Monitored by around a dozen police, organisers handed out petition forms 
and leaflets detailing Israeli products which it encouraged people to 
boycott.
Dorothy, a Whangaparoa resident who didn't want her last name published, 
was one of the first to arrive at the protest.
She stood clasping a large board bearing the pictures of women and 
children caught in the conflict.
"I'm a grandmother and a mother and the slaughter of innocent woman and 
children brings me here today. My heart goes out to all of them," she said.
Locke, who spoke in support of Gaza at the rally, said he wished more of 
his colleagues had turned out to support the demonstration.
"The Green Party thinks it is vitally important that our government 
takes a much stronger stance on these attacks," he said.
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"What Israel has done in Gaza is totally unacceptable."
He said Israel had taken the weak response from other countries around 
the world as a green light to continue their aggression.
Peter Bolot attended the demonstration in defiance of the protest 
against Israel.
Mr Bolot said he worked as a dentist in a free clinic in Jerusalem, and 
treated both Arabs and Jews.
He was disdainful of today?s rally, saying it a gathering of uniformed 
people, fuelled by inaccurate and one-sided reports of the conflict in 
the New Zealand media.
He said Hamas should stop hiding behind innocents.
"What I have a problem with is this one sided attack from people who 
hide behind woman and children."





http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/newsdetail1.asp?storyID=150397

Protestors target Israel
03/01/2009 15:12:14
Protesters in central Auckland this afternoon have a message for Israel. 
The Palestine Human Rights Campaign is calling for a stop to the attacks 
on the Gaza Strip, saying they are no different from Nazi Germany's 
action against Jews in the 1930s.
More than 50 people gathered at the harbour end of Queen Street holding 
signs and banners opposing Israel's recent military attacks. Some were 
Palestinians living in New Zealand, while others simply wanted to show 
support for their cause.






http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2446490,00.html

100s protest at Israeli embassy
28/12/2008 21:06 - (SA) London - Police say an estimated 700 
demonstrators are protesting outside the Israeli Embassy in London 
against Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.
The Metropolitan Police said three people have been arrested so far in 
connection with the protest on Sunday near the embassy in London's 
Kensington neighbourhood.
Some 280 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's campaign, which 
started on Saturday. The Israeli army says its assault is aimed at 
stopping Palestinian militants from launching rocket and mortar attacks 
into Israel.
Anti-Israeli protests have swept through cities in the Middle East. From 
Lebanon to Iran, Israel's adversaries marshalled crowds out onto the 
streets for noisy demonstrations against the attacks.
- AP





http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2008/12/29/12438686944b

Auckland protest over bombings
Updated at 3:14pm on 29 December 2008
A protest against the Israeli raids on Gaza is being organised in 
Auckland on Tuesday.
Global Peace and Justice Auckland will demonstrate outside the United 
States consulate at 4pm.
The group says the United States has given its unconditional backing to 
the Israeli government in these attacks. It is calling on the New 
Zealand government to condemn the attacks.



From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 11:28:19 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:28:19 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] KOREA,
	Jan 2009 - Yeongsan squat eviction murder/tragedy sparks protests
Message-ID: <4AEF32D3.3020402@tesco.net>

A violent police attack on a squat in Seoul left five squatters and a 
cop dead, after police used chemicals during clashes with squatters 
which caused a massive fire. The building was squatted as part of 
anti-gentrification protests. A probe into the incident amounts to a 
cover-up as protests continue and police target protest organisers.






http://www.indymedia.org/en/2009/02/920422.shtml

KOREA: EVICTION STRUGGLE
The Deadly Face of Development: Struggle Against Evictions in Korea
03 Feb 2009 17:18 GMT

On January 20th, an illegally and incompetently conducted raid on 
activists and tenants protesting their forced eviction from central 
Seoul left 6 dead. This incident ignited immediate and continuing 
demonstrations against police violence, massive redevelopment, and the 
administration that has exacerbated both of these issues. South Korea's 
redevelopment projects have always met with fierce resistance, as 
landless poor were sacrificed for the profits of wealthy conglomerates. 
This violent crackdown in Yongsan neighborhood, however, has lead to an 
unprecedented show of support among diverse populations in solidarity 
with those struggling for housing and survival.
On Monday, January 19th, evictee-protesters members from Jun Chul Yun, 
or the Federation Against House Demolition, including tenants from the 
neighborhood as well as other areas, occupied a five story building in 
Yongsan4ga neighborhood and assembled a defensive shelter on the roof. 
Roof-top access was blocked to prevent the police from removing them. 
The evictee-protesters prepared themselves for an occupation and 
struggle, supplied with, among other items, paint thinner and molotov 
cocktails.
A 1,500 strong police force was dispatched to disperse about 50 
protesters. At 10pm, the night before the police raid, "contract 
workers" hired by the landowners, referred to by many as "construction 
thugs" for their traditional role in threatening and attacking evictees, 
gathered on the second floor of the building. The police threatened to 
use force against the protestors unless they ended their sit-in. In an 
apparent attempt to intimidate the protesters, the construction thugs 
set fire to used tires on the third floor of the building.
At 6am, Tuesday the 20th, the police sent a SWAT team into the building, 
and mobilized three water trucks to spray the roof with water. In an 
unprecedentedly short period of time for dealing with protests and 
sit-ins, a SWAT team was deployed in an "anti-terror" operation. 
According to Yongsan District police chief Baek Dong-san, they took such 
swift action because the protesters continued hurling cocktails, bricks 
and golf balls and spraying acid at officers and passers-by. There were 
42 activists on the roof. Access to the roof being blocked off from 
inside the building, the police used a crane to lift the SWAT team above 
the roof in a metal storage container unit. The police sprayed the roof 
from the container box with a water hose, while the protesters resisted, 
throwing molotov cocktails. At 7:30, a fire, of unknown origins broke 
out within the makeshift fort. The police continued to spray water 
cannons and hoses at the roof, the water mixing with paint thinner and 
spreading the fire throughout the building. The smoke grew thicker and 
flames bigger, and protesters struggled to evacuate the shed. As the 
shed filled with water, the paint-thinner, being lighter than water, 
floated on the surface and prevented the fire from being extinguished. 
Cans of paint thinner were seen being frantically thrown out of small 
windows in the shed, in an attempt to prevent the growth of the fire. 
One protester, seeking to flee the flames, hung from a window, 
eventually falling four floors to the ground. He suffered severe 
injuries from the fall, as the police had not prepared any mattresses 
around the building. The fire was ultimately extinguished by 8am. Five 
protesters and a police officer died. The cause of death of all six 
individuals is under investigation.
Lies and Crimes
Since the incident, numerous accusations have been made against Kim 
Seok-ki, the Seoul police commissioner, including allegations of 
excessive police force, tactical errors and lying to the public about 
the operation.
In initial statements following the attack, the Seoul police station 
denied the involvement of private security personnel, "construction 
thugs", in the operation. According to recordings of police radio 
transmissions, officers communicated directly with the construction 
thugs, providing them with shields, permitting them to light fires, and 
directing them to remove obstacles from the building's floors to 
facilitate access to the roof.
The police claimed to have taken all safety precautions during the 
deadly raid, but numerous facts suggest to the contrary. According to 
some observers, the police used the container to ram the shelter, 
shaking the structure and spreading the fire throughout. Police radio 
transmissions also revealed that when some officers warned that the 
water cannons were exacerbating the fire, they were ordered to continue 
spraying. The nonstop blasting of water hoses both intensified the fire 
as well as making it difficult for the protesters to escape.
In a report to the national assembly the police department claimed that 
they had nine fire trucks, two chemical fire trucks, and five ambulances 
prepared at the scene. But the fire department reported that there were 
only two fire engines at the scene in advance, and that they sent 
chemical fire trucks without police request after the fire had started.
Family members also condemn the police for conducting autopsies without 
their consent, contending that they cannot trust a biased police autopsy 
conducted in secret.
Protests
The evening of the 20th saw intense confrontations between the police 
and protesters demanding that justice be done. Members from 
anti-eviction groups struggled along-side students and activists who had 
been active during 2008's candlelight protest movement. Violence broke 
out as protesters threw rocks and bricks at the police.
Since then, there have been vigils and marches on a daily basis, 
including the lunar new year holidays. The 23rd of January saw around 
3,000 people gather at Seoul Station, who, breaking through the police 
line, marched through central Seoul. The 31st saw over 8 thousand people 
gather in a plaza, surrounded by 10 thousand riot police. Five people 
were arrested during clashes with the police, when the crowd attempted 
to march to another part of the city.
Background
Yong-san4ga is a neighborhood located in central Seoul, nestled between 
the Han river to the south and a US army base to the north. Real estate 
anywhere around central Seoul is very high, and the land speculation 
caused by the anticipated US base relocation has made the area 
especially attractive to investors.
Samsung, Posco, and Daelim, three of Korea's powerful "chaebols", or 
international conglomerates, received the development rights to "Yongsan 
Newtown". They will make an expected 4 billion US dollars in profits 
from the redevelopment and sale of the land, while the compensation 
given to most shop owners wasn't enough to relocate their business an 
start anew.
"Those who come to the District Office demanding the ridiculous won't be 
treated as democratic citizens, please have some restraint." (banner 
hung by the Yongsan District Chairman criticizing the residents 
protesting their eviction)
For over a year, tenants living in the re-development area requested the 
Yongsan District Office to provide the temporary housing and appropriate 
protection, but were denied opportunities for discussion or negotiation. 
During this process, private security personnel hired by the 
redevelopment cooperative threatened residents, vandalizing stores and 
homes, even sexually harassing them.
One business owner lost his customers after rotten fish was repeatedly 
placed near his restaurant. However, the police took no action against 
the construction thugs. Out of the original 890 tenants, 763 abandoned 
their homes or businesses due to the thugs' violence and pressure from 
the Redevelopment Cooperative.
Redevelopment History
The process of redevelopment in present day South Korea involves a 
complex web of relationships, some open and some obscure, between giant 
business conglomerates and government, wealthy landowners and hired 
thugs, low-income tenants and the police.
 From the 1950's to the 70's the Seoul Metropolitan Government utilized 
eviction-centered-redevelopment policies, where the government removed 
residents directly by force. The strong reaction against redevelopment 
and the growing anti-eviction movement pressed the government to resort 
to more sophisticated methods. The joint-redevelopment policy appeared 
in the 1980's as a strategy to disengage the government, superficially, 
from the eviction and redevelopment process. Likewise, the new system 
pit poor tenants and owners against each other, thereby diminishing the 
potential for an urban social movement that threatened the government's 
legitimacy.
Land owners within the redevelopment zone are persuaded to form a 
Redevelopment Cooperative. This cooperative run by land owners chooses a 
construction company to carry out the compensation of households and 
take responsibility of vacating the land of all residents. This 
"privatized redevelopment" decreases government involvement and 
encourages profit-making by the construction companies.
Current President Lee Myung-bak, whose nickname is "The Bulldozer", is a 
former CEO of Hyudae and was the political architect of the 
"revitalization" of the Cheongyae river, which included the violent 
removal of poor residents and vendors. Lee changed the city's 
redevelopment policy while mayor of Seoul, easing regulation so that now 
in Seoul alone, there are around 200 redevelopment projects underway in 
areas that house around 400,000 people.
New Policy of Swift Retaliation against Dissent
Kim Seok-ki, the Seoul Metropolitan police commissioner responsible for 
the operation, was recently appointed by president Lee Myung-bak as the 
next commissioner general of the National Police Agency. Like Myung-bak, 
who is known for manufacturing politically strategic spectacles of 
power, many see this unprecedentedly harsh and swift crackdown as an 
attempt to bolster his status as he ascends to the nation's highest 
police rank. That the raid happened within 25 hours after the sit-in 
began reflects the Lee Administration's policy towards dissent. Lee 
Myung-bak's Grand National Party, or "Han Nara Dang", has been described 
as pushing the clock back in its approach to handling civil unrest. The 
major themes of this policy: no negotiation and swift, oppressive 
action. Other examples of this impatience and immediate retaliation 
against dissenting voices include Minerva, an online economic analyst 
who grew famous due to his accurate economic predictions and criticism 
of government's economic policy. He was arrested on Jan. 7th, accused of 
spreading false rumors of government intervention in the exchange market.
During the summer of 2008, frustration with the Lee administration was 
unleashed during the so-called candle light protests, where massive 
grassroots mobilization met with equally great repression.
South Korea was requested twice by the Committee on the Economic, Social 
and Cultural Rights to provide protection to victims of forced evictions.
photos: images of demolition and thug graffiti
videos: Police Crackdown and Fire 1 | Video of Crackdown and Fire 2 | 
video critical of protesters | January 20 Night Protest
Call for Urgent Action
questions/comments
contact: imc [stopspam] jinbo.net
add a comment on this article
Thug Graffiti
imc-korea 03.Feb.2009 17:46

more photos at:
http://www.daehanmindecline.com/digital/20081116b.html
Yongsan Resisting Tenants: 'Falsely Accused, Nowhere to Go'
no chr.! 06.Feb.2009 14:56
Opinion/testimony by Park Tae-wook (17 years old student at Gwacheon 
high school):

On Jan. 20, 2009, just six days before (Lunar) New Year's Day, there was 
a tragic incident that happened in the Yongsan area of Seoul. Even now, 
two weeks later, this topic is a hot issue in Korea. Many believe that 
this is the result born from the bad rule of the president, Lee Myung-bak.

At Yongsan, for about a year now, there has been talk of redeveloping 
that part of the city. For the past couple months, construction workers 
or so-called "service gangsters," roamed the neighborhood and made 
people fearful.

What they did was unforgivable. They say they first tried to negotiate 
with the residents, but as we all know, they failed. Then, they tried 
another method.

This time, they not only instilled fear in the residents, but some 
actually hammered down brick walls, broke windows, made threats and in 
some cases, assaulted the residents. It didn't finish in one day, 
however. They came back the next day, and the next day and the day after 
that. Again, they made threats to the residents. After days of this kind 
of harassment, some residents packed up their belongings and left. 
Others remained and hoped that someone would speak up for them.

As days went by with no change, the residents were getting tired. 
Everyday "service gangsters" would come to their houses and mock them in 
every possible way.

Of course it is shocking to believe any of this is happening. One might 
ask, "Why stay there and wait for harm? Why not leave?" If they would do 
just that, this wouldn't have been the problem. But the residents had a 
lot to say to the world.

As things got worse, more people started moving out of their cozy homes 
into nearby parks or deserted fields. They made themselves comfortable, 
if there was any comfort, by raising up tents and sleeping inside 
makeshift houses.

Finally, when only a few houses were left, they decided to carry out 
violent protests -- putting their lives on the line. Some of them 
started to go into deserted buildings and constructed double and triple 
level barricades. They stocked up on food and water. That was the start 
of the "rebellion" by the residents against the city and the 
construction companies. Mostly men, they locked themselves in buildings 
and refused to come out.

Since there were barricades, no one except those who lived in the 
buildings knew the way up. These men were prepared. Whenever gangsters 
or police tried to find a way in, they would tighten their barriers. In 
one news article, they said they even had air rifles, Molotov cocktails, 
paint thinner and other materials that meant strong resistance.

As days passed, tensions grew. Finally, on Jan. 20, the SWAT division of 
the police mobilized. By 6 a.m., these squads surrounded one particular 
building with angry residents in it. These policemen tried to force 
their way into the building and in doing so, clashed with the residents.

The angry residents had already spread paint thinner on the floors and 
stairs. The police were informed about this and were supposed to take 
heed. However, without taking any notice of the danger, the police 
charged into the building and collided head to head with the residents.

In the process, a fire erupted from somewhere in the building. The few 
people who were still in the building had nowhere to go. They knew this 
was the end of the protest. Some actually jumped from the windows, 
breaking a leg or an arm. The few who got out of the building by way of 
the stairs were immediately arrested. Still others were rescued by firemen.

However, there were some who did not make it out safely. These men were 
the five residents who passed away in the fire. In the aftermath, the 
police did not admit to any mistakes on their part. They blamed only the 
protesters.

The police even accused the residents of starting the fire. How can this 
be? Would the residents start a fire and die in it with their protest in 
vain? No. Then what are they saying?

The answer is this: the police are lying to the citizens.

In reaction to the police's version of events, people from all over 
Korea stood on their feet and marched into demonstrations. They made 
banners and shouted "Even apologizing won't be enough," "What is the 
president doing?" and other phrases that disapproved of the police and 
the president.

The police and higher ups were taken aback by the reaction of citizens. 
Kim Suk-ki, who ordered the SWAT action, tried to defuse the situation 
with words, but the citizens were not tricked. They demanded his 
resignation followed by a detailed investigation in this matter.

With the investigation still underway, the citizens are still angry. 
Frequent demonstrations are likely to be seen throughout Korea. With 
this matter being a hot issue, people are starting to worry other 
related incidents and this issue is growing by the day. For now, the 
best solution to this problem is the nation's full out support for the 
unfortunate residents of Yongsan.
Mass Protests Against the Govt. Are Continuing!
no chr.! 09.Feb.2009 13:57
Yesterday for the 3rd time since the Yongsan Massacre thousands 
(according to the police: 2,500, according to the organizers and the 
independent media: 5,000) of political, labour, human right and student 
activists, together with masses of "ordinary" citizens, protested in 
downtown Seoul against the S.K. government.

Today's S. Korean "left"-liberal daily newspaper The Hankyoreh reported 
following:

Police and protesters clash at Yongsan memorial events..

Police and civilians clashed on Saturday during a memorial event for the 
victims of last month?s police raid on anti-urban development protesters 
in Seoul?s Yongsan district. The gathering was the third of its kind 
held in central Seoul following the Yongsan tragedy, which left six 
people dead.

On Saturday, police arrested six people during the event organized by 
the People?s Committee to Protest against the Murderous Clampdown on the 
Yongsan Evictees, including a 25-year-old student only identified by his 
surname, Park.

Protesters were calling on the government to step up efforts to find and 
punish those responsible for the Yongsan tragedy.

Police sealed off Chonggye Plaza, where the memorial event was scheduled 
to be held, leaving protest participants to gather in front of the Korea 
Deposit Insurance Corp. at around 4 p.m. Approximately 5,000 people 
joined the event, and over 9,000 police officers were deployed, 
including members of the riot police. After the memorial event ended, 
participants attempted to move toward Cheong Wa Dae at around 5:50 p.m., 
when they clashed with police who were trying to stop them.

In Jongno and Myeong-dong, scuffles between protesters and police also 
broke out, with police firing water paint at protest participants. The 
crowd dispersed at around 10 p.m., and approximately 200 college 
students who had been protesting at Lotte Department store also departed 
the scene at around 11 p.m..

A memorial event was also held at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Earlier in the day, 
the People?s Committee had displayed pictures related to the Yongsan 
tragedy in central Seoul. The committee said it is planning to organize 
a large-scale demonstration on Monday, when the prosecution is scheduled 
to unveil the results of its investigation into the Yongsan incident. (*)

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/337673.html



* Surprise, Surprise! "No police executives will be indicted over the 
fatal crackdown on squatters in Yongsan last month, according to an 
investigation the prosecution wrapped up today. But 20 of the 
demonstrators - all of whom were rallying over what "insufficient 
compensation" for an urban renewal project - were indicted for 
obstructing official duties", Korea Herald reported today.

As usual: The VICTIMS are always to blame!
Just remember the horrible fire disaster in Yeosu, where two years ago 
10 migrant workers were killed in the local deportation center. 
http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2007/2279
Back then the "authorities" (immigration office/ministry of justice..) 
also ultimately blamed the victims to be responsible for the tragedy.


Related:
DP Calls for Reinvestigating Yongsan Clash
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/02/117_39225.html


For more about the protest demo last Sat.
http://blog.jinbo.net/CINA/?pid=1742
"Police Were Just Doing There Job" says Korean Courts
eemoogee 10.Feb.2009 12:36
The weird logic of the Korean Prosecution

On February 9th, The Korean Prosecution has announced their biased 
investigation result of the Youngsan forced eviction and the death of 6 
people. ?The police are not guilty; only guilty are the evictees? was 
their point. That means, the murderer is not guilty; guilty is the 
victim. Last January 20th, six people including 5 evictee-sit-in 
strugglers and one police officer were killed during the police?s 
unprecedentedly harsh crackdown mobilizing the SWAT team and thousands 
of police troops. However, the prosecution brought the charge only to 
the evictees while reporting that the police, the construction thugs and 
the redevelopment cooperative are not guilty.

click here for full article

The Weird Logic of the S. Korean Prosecution
no chr.! 10.Feb.2009 14:38
With regard to the article: "Police Were Just Doing There Job, says 
Korean Courts": The complete (worth reading!!) contribution you can read 
here: http://indymedia.cast.or.kr/drupal/?q=ko/node/30

Related stuff in the S.K. press:
Protesters to blame for fatal Yongsan fire: prosecutors (JoongAng Ilbo)
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2900841

Prosecution blames protesters for Yongsan tragedy, clears police 
(Hankyoreh)
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/337916.html
Seoul: Streit um besetztes Haus endet t?dlich
Micky the Maniac 11.Feb.2009 19:44
http://de.indymedia.org/2009/01/240542.shtml
State Terror After the Yongsan Massacre
no chr.! 12.Feb.2009 15:01
Hankyoreh's latest article "Prosecution intensifies its investigation 
into demolition protest group" is drawing attention to the "slightly 
tense relationship" between the Lee Myung-bak administration (i.e. the 
prosecution/police) and the Federation Against House 
Demolition/Jeoncheolyeon (JCY), especially since the Yongsan Massacre 
and the following - and ongoing - protests. Well, you also might call it 
simply: The (increasing) State Terror against JCY!!

For more please check out:
http://blog.jinbo.net/CINA/?pid=1746
The Fire on Dragon Hill
no chr.! 21.Feb.2009 14:22
A special feature by NewsCham (2.20):

In the early morning hours of January 20th, a shipping container 
carrying members of the police SWAT team was hoisted to the roof of the 
Namildang building in Yongsan, a central district in the heart of Seoul 
City. The SWAT team used water canons to forcibly end a 25-hour long 
protest that was staged by local residents and members of the National 
Alliance of Squatters and Evictees. A fire soon engulfed the building. 
When the fire was finally extinguished at around 8 am that morning, six 
bodies were among the ashes; five protesters and one police officer...

The complete feature you can read here:
http://www.newscham.net/news/view.php?board=news_E&nid=51741







http://www.myantiwar.org/view/170784.html

S.Korea's Lee calls protest deaths "heartbreaking"
REUTERS
Reuters North American News Service
Jan 21, 2009 04:41 EST
SEOUL, Jan 21 (Reuters) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said on 
Wednesday it was "heartbreaking" that lives were lost in a clash a day 
earlier between police and protesters, which sparked fresh street 
protest against his government.
<br/>
Five protesters and a police commando died in a blaze at a building in 
central Seoul on Tuesday where authorities moved in to break up a 
protest by tenants and activists fighting against planned demolition and 
seeking better compensation.
"The fact that there were losses of lives is truly heartbreaking," Lee, 
was quoted as saying at a meeting with his senior staff members, 
according officials who were present.
"This type of thing must not happen again," said Lee, who took office a 
year ago and has seen his support rate fall to about 20 percent in 
recent weeks with respondents saying they are frustrated with what they 
see as ineffective leadership.
After the incident, hundreds of people held a violent protest against 
what they called police brutality late into Tuesday night in scenes 
reminiscent of months-long street rallies against Lee's unpopular 
decision to reopen the country to U.S. beef.
Newspapers from the political left and right in editorials on Wednesday 
criticised the police for what the country's biggest daily, the Chosun 
Ilbo, called a "deadly overreaction."
Tuesday's clash came two days after Lee replaced his police chief who 
was heavily criticised for his handling of the previous protests that 
erupted under Lee.
Prosecutors have started work on an inquiry into the deaths and are 
expected to question both protesters who were led away from the scene 
and police officers.
The protesters had occupied the building demanding more compensation to 
vacate the property, which is in an area planned for demolition as part 
of a major development project.
Lee reshuffled his top economic officials on Monday, replacing his 
widely criticised finance minister, to speed up measures to stop Asia's 
fourth largest economy from sliding into its deepest recession in 11 
years. (Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Jon Herskovitz and Sanjeev 
Miglani)






http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123248129918699099.html

? JANUARY 21, 2009
In South Korea, Six Die in Raid to Break Up Protest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEOUL, South Korea -- Police commandos stormed a vacant office building 
occupied by displaced tenants in central Seoul early Tuesday, sparking a 
clash and blaze that killed six people and injured 23, authorities said.
AFP
A crate containing commandos is lifted onto the roof of a burning 
building in Seoul, where about 40 tenants and small-business owners had 
staged a protest against a redevelopment project. Six people were killed 
and 23 injured.
A team of 100 commandos landed on the roof in a shipping container to 
break up the protest by some 40 people who had camped for days in the 
five-story building in Seoul's Yongsan neighborhood, Seoul police said.
The protesters were tenants and small-business owners pushing for better 
compensation from construction companies redeveloping buildings in the 
area, a tenants' rights group said.
The protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at police and out the building's 
windows, police said. Fire then engulfed the rooftop within minutes, 
sending flames and black smoke shooting into the sky and trapping people 
inside, witnesses said.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze in about an hour, authorities said. 
Several dozen people inside the building were evacuated and 28 people 
were arrested, police said.
Yongsan Police Chief Baek Dong-san said five bodies were found, 
including one police officer. Seoul police later said the death toll 
stood at six dead.
The incident comes as President Lee Myung-bak tries to win back public 
support amid an economic crisis and six months after the violent street 
protests that erupted over allowing U.S. beef imports last year.
"How can this happen in a democracy?" Yang Mi-ok, a member of the 
tenants' association, said outside the building as she denounced police 
over the deadly crackdown.
One of the dead was the former owner of a watch shop who had been forced 
to vacate the building.
President Lee ordered a probe of the incident. Investigators were at the 
scene Tuesday, with hundreds of riot police blocking the entrance. 
Residents left white chrysanthemums, a traditional Korean symbol of 
grief, at a makeshift mourning site outside the building.







http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/21/skorea.fire/index.html?eref=edition_asia

January 21, 2009 -- Updated 1102 GMT (1902 HKT)

South Korea probes deadly blaze at protest
? Story Highlights
? Six people dead, including police officer, authorities say
? Protesters were staging sit-in against urban development
? Authorities say an investigation has been launched into how blaze started
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- South Korean authorities have launched an 
investigation into a deadly fire that broke out during a police standoff 
with protesters, a police spokesman said Wednesday.

Six people including a police officer were killed in the blaze.

The Tuesday morning blaze left six people dead, including a police 
officer, and injured some 20 others, according to Lee Suk-hee, a Seoul 
police spokesman.
The fire erupted after Seoul Police Chief Kim Seok-ki ordered police 
commandos to storm a building where protesters were staging a sit-in 
against an urban development project, the Yonhap news agency reported.
The protesters had occupied the building since Monday, demanding higher 
compensation for the forced closures of their businesses caused by the 
redevelopment project.
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office is investigating how the fire started, 
questioning commandos and protesters, according to Yonhap. Kim is also 
expected to be questioned for his role in the incident. Watch protesters 
face off against police ?

"We demand the government punish everyone responsible for the bloody 
crackdown that suppressed the people's struggle for their right to 
live," the families said in a joint statement, Yonhap reported.
Various groups have gathered at the site to honor the dead, call for an 
investigation and condemn the use of force by police.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/DN-skorea_21int.ART.State.Edition1.4ef6896.html

Protest sparks fire, killing six in South Korea
12:00 AM CST on Wednesday, January 21, 2009





http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/01/21/2003434254

Six killed in blaze during Seoul raid on protesters
SIT-IN: The opposition said the Seoul police chief, who was chosen to 
head the National Police Agency, used excessive force in evicting 
squatters from a building

AFP, SEOUL
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2009, Page 5

A South Korean squatter who opposed a redevelopment plan for the 
building he lived in shouts for help in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
Six people were killed yesterday when masked South Korean protesters 
armed with firebombs set an apartment block rooftop ablaze as police 
commandos tried to evict them, officers said.
They said five protesters and one officer died in the blaze started by 
residents who were staging a sit-in to demonstrate against their 
eviction for a redevelopment scheme in the capital.

In a dramatic operation, a crane was used to lift the commandos onto the 
roof of the empty five-story building in Seoul?s central Yongsan 
District, where between 30 and 40 people had staged a sit-in since Monday.

Yongsan police chief Baek Dong-san told reporters the residents had 
stacked three shipping containers on the roof to make a watchtower.

As helmeted commandos approached, he said, protesters atop the tower 
sprayed paint thinner and threw firebombs at them, starting a blaze that 
spread across the roof.

The blaze was put out after about 30 minutes and the bodies were found 
during a subsequent search. Baek said 17 police and six protesters were 
hurt, with one of the residents in a coma.

Police said they were still searching the building for any more victims.

They said they confiscated 150 firebombs, 40 bottles of hydrochloric 
acid, 1,000 bricks and 700 balls to be used as ammunition for slingshots.

?In consultation with the prosecution, police will thoroughly 
investigate the case,? Baek said.

Some 1,400 officers were mobilised, media reports said, and 25 people 
were arrested.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ordered a thorough investigation 
after being briefed at a Cabinet meeting.

South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, in a televised statement, 
expressed condolences to families of the dead but promised ?stern 
measures? against lawbreakers.

The incident came just two days after Lee appointed Kim Seok-ki, the 
current Seoul police chief, to head the National Police Agency.

Opposition legislators who accused him of using excessive force during 
protests against US beef imports last summer were expected to seize on 
the Yongsan deaths during his upcoming confirmation hearing.

?[Kim?s] first performance after being appointed as the head of police 
was the bloody crackdown on ordinary citizens,? a spokeswoman for the 
opposition Democratic Party said.

There have been other fiery protests in South Korea in the past.

A court last October confirmed a 10-year jail sentence on an elderly man 
who torched South Korea?s foremost historical landmark, the Namdaemum 
Gate, over an unrelated property dispute.

In April 2007 a protester set himself alight outside the venue of free 
trade talks between the US and South Korea.

He died later.

Another man died last June two weeks after setting himself ablaze in 
protest at a deal to resume US beef imports.

Police mobilised for rallies sometimes carry small fire extinguishers to 
prevent such acts.
http://news.morningstar.com/newsnet/ViewNews.aspx?article=/DJ/200901200209DOWJONESDJONLINE000085_univ.xml

4TH UPDATE: 6 Killed During S Korea Raid On Protesters1-20-09 2:09 AM 
EST | E-mail Article | Print Article
(Updates death toll and adds prime minister's comment)
SEOUL (AFP)--Six people were killed Tuesday when masked South Korean 
protesters armed with firebombs set an apartment block rooftop ablaze as 
police commandos tried to evict them, officers said.
They said five protesters and one officer died in the blaze started by 
residents who were staging a sit-in to demonstrate at their eviction for 
a redevelopment scheme in the capital.
In a dramatic operation a crane was used to lift the commandos onto the 
roof of the empty five-storey building in Seoul's central Yongsan 
district, where between 30 and 40 people had staged a sit-in since Monday.
Yongsan police Chief Baek Dong-san told reporters the residents had 
stacked three shipping containers on the roof to make a watchtower.
As helmeted commandos approached, he said, protesters atop the tower 
sprayed paint thinner and threw firebombs at them, starting a blaze that 
spread across the roof.
The blaze was put out after about 30 minutes, and the bodies were found 
during a subsequent search. Baek said 17 police and six protesters were 
hurt, with one of the residents in a coma.
Police said they still are searching the building for any more victims.
They said they confiscated 150 firebombs, 40 bottles of hydrochloric 
acid, 1, 000 bricks and 700 balls to be used as ammunition for slingshots.
"In consultation with the prosecution, police will thoroughly 
investigate the case," Baek said. About 1,400 officers were mobilized, 
media reports said, and 25 people were arrested.
President Lee Myung-bak ordered a thorough investigation after being 
briefed at a cabinet meeting. Prime Minister Han Seung-soo, in a 
televised statement, expressed condolences to families of the dead but 
promised "stern measures" against lawbreakers.
The incident came just two days after President Lee appointed Kim 
Seok-ki, the Seoul police chief, to head the National Police Agency.
Opposition legislators who accuse him of using excessive force during 
protests against U.S. beef imports last summer were expected to seize on 
the Yongsan deaths during his upcoming confirmation hearing.
"(Kim's) first performance after being appointed as the head of police 
was the bloody crackdown on ordinary citizens," a spokeswoman for the 
opposition Democratic Party said.
There have been other fiery protests in South Korea in the past.
A court last October confirmed a 10-year jail sentence on an elderly man 
who torched South Korea's foremost historical landmark, the Namdaemum 
Gate, over an unrelated property dispute.
In April 2007 a protester set himself alight outside the venue of 
free-trade talks between the U.S. and South Korea. He died later.
Another man died last June two weeks after setting himself ablaze in 
protest at a deal to resume U.S. beef imports. Police mobilized for 
rallies sometimes carry small fire extinguishers to prevent such acts.






http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090120/NEWS/901209976/-1/NEWS09

January 20, 2009 5:07 a.m.
Police clash with protesters in Seoul; 6 dead
KWANG-TAE KIM
Associated Press
Advertisement


SEOUL, South Korea ? Police commandos stormed a vacant office building 
occupied by displaced tenants in central Seoul Tuesday, sparking a clash 
and a blaze that killed six people and injured 23, authorities said.
A team of 100 commandos raided the five-story building in Seoul?s 
Yongsan neighborhood early Tuesday morning by landing on the roof in a 
shipping container to break up a protest against a redevelopment plan 
for the area, Seoul police said.
The commandos and some 1,400 riot police were mobilized for the faceoff 
against some 40 people who had been camped out inside the building for 
days, officials said. The protesters were tenants and small business 
owners pushing for better compensation from construction companies 
redeveloping the building, a tenants? rights group said.
The protesters fought back by hurling Molotov cocktails at police and 
out the building?s windows, police said. One of the burning bottles 
sparked a fire on the roof that engulfed the building within minutes, 
sending flames and black smoke shooting into the sky, the cable news 
network YTN reported.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze in about an hour, authorities said. 
Several dozen people inside the building were evacuated and 28 people 
were arrested, police said.
Yongsan Police Chief Baek Dong-san said five bodies were found, 
including one police officer. Seoul police later said the death toll 
stood at six dead.
One of the dead was the former owner of a watch shop who had been forced 
to vacate the building. Another was the manager of a now-defunct 
restaurant, said Kim Jang-ki, a member of the Tenants Association who 
said he knew both men.
Baek said six protesters were injured, with one in serious condition, 
while 17 police officers suffered injuries. He said one other police 
officer remained unaccounted for.
President Lee Myung-bak ordered a probe of the incident. Investigators 
were at the scene Tuesday, with hundreds of riot police blocking the 
entrance. Residents left white flowers outside the building.
Prime Minister Han Seung-soo called the incident "extremely unfortunate" 
and expressed regret over the deaths.
"The government will thoroughly investigate why and how this has 
happened," he said in a televised statement. "We will uncover the truth, 
leaving not a single dot of suspicion."
Police had earlier said the protesters were squatters who had been 
occupying the building since Monday.
The tenants? association said the protesters were employees and business 
owners unhappy with plans to redevelop the area in the heart of the 
South Korean capital. Many of the dilapidated buildings in the 
neighborhood have been torn down to make way for new businesses, real 
estate agents said.
Molotov cocktails were a common feature of the pro-democracy protests in 
South Korea in the 1980s but are rarely used against police today. Paint 
thinner used in the makeshift explosives may have helped fuel the fire, 
Baek said.
Tuesday?s clash was one of the most violent in recent years between 
police and protesters. South Koreans took to the streets last year over 
the government?s decision to reopen the market to U.S. beef but no one 
was killed in the near-daily protests.





http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/454b5914-e6aa-11dd-8e4f-0000779fd2ac,s01=1.html

Anger after six die in S Korea police clash
By Christian Oliver in Seoul
Published: January 20 2009 04:33 | Last updated: January 20 2009 18:29
Lee Myung-bak, the South Korean president, faces public protests after 
six people died during a confrontation with police on Tuesday, putting 
the government on the defensive once again.
While clashes between police and protesters are common in South Korea, 
fatalities are surprisingly rare and those that took place on Tuesday 
will give ammunition to critics of the police already angry at the 
handling of protests last year against beef imports from the US.
EDITOR?S CHOICE
Finance minister axed in Seoul reshuffle - Jan-20
Opposition groups were planning on Tuesday night to mount candlelight 
vigils for the dead, a common way of galvanising political sentiment in 
Korea, while Han Seung-soo, the prime minister, delivered a message of 
regret to the nation. Mr Lee demanded an enquiry and called an emergency 
meeting of senior officials.
The confrontation began after a group of more than 30 traders from the 
central Yongsan area of the capital occupied a four-storey building on 
Monday morning to stage a sit-in protest over the demolition of their 
business premises to make way for apartment blocks. With tragic 
prescience, they had hung out a banner that read: ?We are willing to die.?
The police said a commando unit had to storm the building because the 
protesters were hurling Molotov cocktails, bricks and golf balls, 
squirting hydrochloric acid and firing broken mirror shards from catapults.
While cranes were lifting the police to the roof in an armoured black 
cabin, a blaze engulfed the protesters, probably from the flammable 
spirit being used to make the Molotov cocktails, the police said. The 
full circumstances of the deaths are unclear. Four protesters and one 
policeman died. The sixth body was still unidentified. Seventeen 
policeman and six protesters were injured.
Disputes over urban redevelopment have become common in Seoul, with many 
small business owners and poor residents furious at being pushed out by 
powerful construction companies with political ties.
Seoul?s most famous landmark, the Namdaemun gateway, was burned down 
last year by an old man who received paltry compensation from property 
developers who had forced him from his home.
Last weekend, Mr Lee replaced his police chief, who had been perceived 
as being too draconian during the beef import demonstrations.
Of 467 proposed closures of businesses in Seoul to make room for 
construction, only 15 were in Yongsan, which is also home to a large US 
army base.





http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6686411

SKorean Officials Probe Clash That Left 6 Dead
South Korean officials investigating deadly protest that left 6 dead in 
Seoul
By KWANG-TAE KIM Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea January 20, 2009 (AP)
The Associated Press

A South Korean squatter who is opposed a redevelopment plan for a 
building, shouts in Seoul, South...
(AP)
Authorities stepped up their investigation Wednesday into a deadly clash 
that left six people dead and 23 injured at a vacant office building 
occupied by displaced tenants in central Seoul.
Forensic experts searched inside the five-story building in Seoul's 
Yongsan neighborhood as human rights officials investigated whether 
police used excessive force Tuesday morning to break up the protest.
"We are looking into whether police violated human rights" of protesters 
during the clash, Yoon Seoul-ah, an official of the National Human 
Rights Commission said.
A team of 100 commandos landed on the roof in a shipping container to 
break up the protest by some 40 people who had camped for days in the 
building. The protesters were tenants and small business owners pushing 
for better compensation from construction companies redeveloping 
buildings in the area, a tenants' rights group said.
The protesters hurled Molotov cocktails at police and out the building's 
windows, police said. Fire then engulfed the rooftop within minutes, 
sending flames and black smoke shooting into the sky and trapping people 
inside, witnesses said.
Police said five bodies have been identified including one police 
officer and four protesters. They will conduct DNA analysis on a sixth 
body that was burned beyond recognition, an official at the Seoul 
Metropolitan Police Agency said on condition of anonymity, citing 
policy. He did not give details.
Police said they arrested two protesters Tuesday night after some of 
about 800 people holding a candlelight vigil near the building clashed 
with riot police. About 1,400 riot police were deployed around the 
protest site.
The incident comes as President Lee Myung-bak tries to win back public 
support amid an economic crisis and six months after the violent street 
protests that erupted over allowing U.S. beef imports last year.
Lee ordered the incident investigated and Prime Minister Han Seung-soo 
called the it "extremely unfortunate" and expressed regret over the deaths.
The tenants' association said the protesters were employees and business 
owners unhappy with plans to redevelop the area in the heart of the 
South Korean capital. Many of the dilapidated buildings in the 
neighborhood have been torn down to make way for new businesses, real 
estate agents said.
Smoke billows from a building as police officers in a container box try 
to approach squatters who...
(AP)
Molotov cocktails were a common feature of the pro-democracy protests in 
South Korea in the 1980s but are rarely used against police today.





http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Asia/Story/STIStory_332332.html

Jan 30, 2009
Warrant for protest leader

SEOUL - A SOUTH Korean court has issued a warrant for the arrest of the 
leader of a protest in Seoul that ended in a deadly clash with police 
last week.
Prosecution spokesman Oh Se-in says the leader of a tenant rights group 
is accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at police sent to end the 
protest. The five other people who have been arrested are also suspected 
of hurling firebombs.
The group occupied a building in central Seoul to demand better 
compensation from developers after several were evicted from a 
dilapidated neighborhood that was scheduled for redevelopment.
Police raided the building to end the seizure and protesters threw 
firebombs at them. The clash left five protesters and one police officer 
dead and 23 injured. -- AP









http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200902/200902100039.html

Findings in Protest Tragedy Probe Announced

Prosecutors have announced the results of their investigation of the 
fire in Seoul's Yongsan district last month.
Twenty-seven demonstrators have been indicted for staging a sit-in. The 
swift police break-up resulted in a fire that killed five demonstrators 
and a police officer at a building to be redeveloped. The victims were 
caught in a fire after protesters threw Molotov cocktails at a container 
holding a police commando team that was being lowered onto the rooftop.
The prosecution attributes the tragedy to paint thinner used in making 
the Molotov cocktails. The announcement is expected to trigger huge 
protests by civic groups and political parties who demand that police be 
punished for using excessive force.
Meanwhile, the appointee for Korea's police chief is expected to step 
down on Tuesday, taking responsibility for the tragedy. Police 
commissioner general-designate Kim Seok-ki called a press conference at 
11 a.m. to express his intent to step aside.
Arirang News






From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 11:51:04 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:51:04 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] GREECE:  Insurrection, Dec 15-Jan 24
Message-ID: <4AEF3828.10104@tesco.net>


See also: Occupied London blog
http://www.occupiedlondon.org/blog/

* "Why Greece is wracked with riots"
* Riot cop shot by insurgents
* Insurrection is response of the invisible
* Unrest linked to financial crisis?
* Massive damage to Athens businesses
* Greek police caught violating human rights

* US: Protesters "wreak havoc" in San Francisco
* GERMANY: Clashes at Greek solidarity protests
* UK: Police repression denounced

19 December: Suspicious shooting
20-21 December: Protesters target French Institute; hundreds in new protests
16-17 Dec - Banner hung at Acropolis, protesters storm TV broadcast
15 Dec - Protests continue, Athens at standstill

* BBC "Greek voices" roundup

1 January - New year brings new clashes
9-11 January - Youths battle police in fresh protests
16 Jan - Students protest as police grumble
23 January - protest over injured trade unionist, clashes with police
25 Jan - protesters demand release of comrades, clash with police; 
farmers revive blockades







http://205.188.238.109/time/world/article/0,8599,1864982,00.html

Why Greece Is Wracked By Riots
By Emmanouil Karatarakis / Athens Monday, Dec. 08, 2008

A protester throws a stone at policemen during riots in Athens.
Yiorgos Karahalis / Reuters
For Athens police, the Exarchia neighborhood is enemy territory. A 
perennial sanctuary for the capital's marginalized far-left youth, the 
central district has been the scene of sporadic anti-government violence 
for years.
But clashes rarely grow as big as those that have wracked Greece for the 
past two days. They began when police shot dead a 15-year-old boy in 
Exarchia on the night of Saturday Dec. 6. That killing sparked riots 
that spread to at least a dozen towns and cities across the country and 
have so far left 67 people injured, including 37 police officers. 
Protesters have destroyed at least 17 banks and set fire to dozens of 
shops and cars. It is the worst political violence in Greece in 17 
years. (See pictures of the riots in Greece.)
New clashes erupted Monday in several midsized cities, on the island of 
Corfu, and in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city, where youth 
overturned trashcans, set them on fire, and threw rocks at a police 
station. Further protests are planned though this week. Organizers hope 
they will remain non-violent, but police are preparing for more clashes.
The first signs of unrest came just hours after the killing of 
Andreas-Alexandros Grigoropoulos. Police say Grigoropoulos was among a 
gang of youths who attacked them while on patrol, though the exact 
circumstances of the incident remain unclear. The 37-year-old officer 
who shot Grigoropoulos says he fired warning shots to disperse a crowd, 
though witnesses charge that he pointed his gun at the young boy and 
discharged it once. Prosecutors have charged the officer with 
manslaughter, and his 31-year-old partner with abetting him. The 
coroner's report was inconclusive, though a ballistics test may 
determine whether the bullet was fired at Grigoropoulos directly or 
whether it ricocheted off something first.
In a letter to Giorgopoulos' family, Greek Prime Minister Costas 
Karamanlis expressed his condolences and assured them that such a 
tragedy "won't be repeated". Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos had 
earlier submitted his resignation, but Karamanlis has refused to accept 
it, as the fragile center-right government tries to avoid collapse under 
the weight of the riots. (See pictures of Greece ravaged by forest fires.)
The most aggressive rioters are believed to be anarchists, who trace 
their roots back to the resistance movement which took on Greece's 
military Junta between 1967 and 1974. Though democracy was restored to 
Greece in 1974, that earlier generation has continued to hold a 
fascination amongst the far-left fringe. Exarchia is close to the 
Polytechnic School of Athens, whose gates were crushed by the military 
to break up a student uprising in Nov. 1973. That incident inspired the 
Marxist terrorist outfit November 17, which killed 23 people in targeted 
assassinations before being dismantled in 2002.
The riots come as Greece's center-right government is struggling to cope 
with a plague of scandals and an economic slowdown that threaten its 
slim one-seat majority in Parliament. "For the past five years, Greek 
citizens have realized that they live in an insecure environment, both 
socially and financially," said center-left opposition leader George 
Papandreou. "We must address responsibly the deeper causes of these 
phenomena." (See pictures of the recent riots in Belgrade.)
Greece has experienced steady economic growth over the past seven years, 
but is now bracing for the fallout from the worldwide financial crisis. 
Many are angry that the government is giving $35 billion in aid to Greek 
banks at a time when one out of five citizens lives below the poverty line.
Political consultant Panagiotis Papachatzis says that this week's riots 
will further weaken Prime Minister Karamanlis. "Citizens feel there is a 
lack of decisive action by the government against all forms of violence 
? both police-induced and anarchist," says Papachatzis. "The social 
discontent of the past few days has placed itself [ahead] of the 
financial crisis."






http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013609610

Athens Riot Police Officer On Life Support After Gunmen Attack His Unit
January 5, 2009 9:29 a.m. EST

Linda Young - AHN Editor
Athens, Greece (AHN) - A Greek riot police officer is on life support 
after being seriously injured on Monday in an attack by gunmen on his 
unit of 20 officers who were on board a bus.
Diamandis Matzounis, 21, the wounded officer, reportedly saw the two 
gunmen and warned his colleagues moments before they opened fire with a 
volley of 20 rounds and he was shot in the chest and leg.
The attack was the latest in the backlash from the deadly shooting of a 
15-year-old boy by a police officer in Athens last month that has 
sparked violent protests, despite the fact that the officer accused of 
shooting Alexis Grigoropolous has been charged with murder.
Matzounis was part of a unit guarding the culture ministry in Athens 
when the pre-dawn attack took place. Bullet casings in the attack match 
those from the Dec. 23 attack on police at Athens University, Greece's 
police chief says.
A group calling itself Popular Action claimed to be behind the Dec. 23 
attack, but no one has yet claimed responsibility for Monday's attack.
This incident came a day before the one month anniversary of the death 
of Grigoropolous.

Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013609610#ixzz0LRuWr49l







http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jan/09/greece-riots

What we can learn from the Greek riots
It's time to understand the insurrection as the response of those who 
feel invisible to the political system
o Costas Douzinas
o guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 January 2009 08.00 GMT
o Article history
A large demonstration in Athens planned for today and the re-occupation 
of universities and schools will mark the second phase of the recent 
Greek protests, which started on 6 December after the police killing of 
15-year old Alexis Grigoropoulos. Occupations and demonstrations broke 
out all over the country. Daily marches to police stations, parliament 
and ministries were accompanied by sit-ins, theatre invasions, the 
raising of a banner on the Acropolis and the burning of the Christmas 
tree in Syntagma Square. In an unprecedented move, large numbers of 
secondary school pupils took to the streets to join a protest supported 
by half the population. Solidarity demonstrations throughout Europe 
raised fears of the movement spreading.
Few events in recent Greek history have created such a plethora of 
anxious but inadequate interpretations. Many, often contradictory, 
causes have been put forward: economic (unemployment and neo-liberal 
economic measures), political (persistent corruption and failure of 
education), cultural or ideological. But the most prominent reaction of 
commentators has been incomprehension mixed with incredulity.
No political organisation directed the insurrection, no single ideology 
motivated it, no overwhelming demand was put forward. The persistent 
question, "What do the kids want?" often led to the conclusion that the 
events were not political because they could not be integrated into 
existing analytical frameworks. What seemed to unite the protesters was 
a refusal: "No more, enough is enough." A stubborn negativity 
characterised the insurrection. Is this a new type of politics after the 
decay of democracy?
 From the urban riots of early modernity to May 1968, the "street" has 
changed political systems, laws and institutions. In this sense, the 
December insurrection was a recognisable form of "street" resistance. 
But this was no ordinary protest. Imagine Westminster and Whitehall 
under siege every day for two weeks.
A condensation of causes, strategies, tactics and actions turned 
December into the Greek May. As events developed, the insurrection drew 
in ever larger numbers in a snowballing effect that kept unsettling 
every attempt at explanation or pacification. The listing of possible 
causes could not help understand the effects. In the same way that the 
coming of the insurrection could not have been predicted, its happening 
could not be controlled and its long-terms effects are unknown.
Contemporary politics aims at marginal (re)distributions of benefits, 
rewards and positions without challenging the established order. In this 
sense, politics resembles the marketplace or a town hall debate where 
rational consensus about public goods can be reached. Conflict has been 
pronounced finished, pass?, impossible. The convergence of political 
parties in the centre ground exemplifies this "conflict-free" approach. 
But conflict does not disappear. Neo-liberal capitalism increases 
inequality and fuels conflict. When social conflict cannot be expressed 
politically, it becomes criminality and xenophobia, terrorism and 
intolerance. Or a reactive violence, the emotional response of those 
invisible to the political system.
In the Greek case, antagonism resulted from the tension between the 
structured social body with its political representatives and groups, 
causes and interests radically excluded from the political order. Huge 
numbers of people cannot formulate their demands in the language of 
politics. The protesters do not say, "I want this or that" but simply, 
"Here we are, we stand against". Not we claim this or that right, but we 
claim the "right to have rights". They seem to be saying that, "We, the 
nobodies, the schoolkids, the suffering students, the unemployed, the 
generation that must survive on a salary of 600 euros, are everything."
The insurrection can be recognised as an event of radical change only 
retrospectively, if the rules of political recognition and participation 
are re-arranged. This depends on those who, after the end of the 
insurrection, will uphold the possibility of changing the rules of what 
counts as political. This is the challenge the Athens rising poses to 
Europe.








http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1865999,00.html

The Athens Riots: Fallout from the Financial Crisis?
By Jeff Israely Thursday, Dec. 11, 2008

Rioters torched a bank as they fought riot police in central Athens
Aris Messinis / AFP / Getty

One important target stands out in the riots and street clashes 
engulfing Greece as the damage totals are tallied. In addition to the 
scores of cars burned and shops ransacked by radical youths, the damage 
in Athens extends to banks. Since the violence ignited Saturday night, 
when a policeman fatally shot an Athens teenager, rioters have damaged 
at least 38 banks in the capital, with more than 150 targeted across all 
of Greece, as the rioting has spread to such cities as Thessaloniki, 
Larissa and Patras. (See pictures of the unrest in Athens.)
Of course, attacking the arteries of capitalism has long been a favorite 
symbolic act of hooded anarchists and hard-left protesters, including 
the dozens of ATMs smashed and banks set ablaze during the 
antiglobalization uprisings in Seattle in 1999 and Genoa in 2001. But 
Athens 2008 comes as the very words damaged banks have taken on a whole 
new connotation. Indeed, in the weeks before the violence began, many 
Greeks had expressed outrage at the government's $35 billion in aid to 
the nation's lenders at a time when one out of five citizens lives below 
the poverty line. And so, nearly a week after they began, the Greek 
riots offer the first tangible sign since the West's financial meltdown 
of the potential social unrest percolating just below the surface. (See 
the top 10 underreported stories of 2008.)
Already, demonstrations of solidarity for the Greek protesters have 
arisen across European capitals. "We are mobilizing. Solidarity 
manifestation with Greek insurgents," declared the alternative-media 
website Indymedia, announcing a Friday rally at Greece's embassy in 
London. Eleven protesters were arrested Wednesday during clashes in 
Madrid and Barcelona, while Danish police took 32 people into custody 
during violent protests in Copenhagen. The Greek consulate in New York 
City was also attacked.
Anarchist groups have always had a stronger presence in Greece, even as 
the government struggles to pursue its First World ambitions while 
battling the ghosts of a military dictatorship that ruled from 1967 to 
1974. But the current clashes are also linked to a broader movement 
across the West that came to the fore during a week of demonstrations 
and violence at the World Trade Organization summit nearly a decade ago. 
Utilizing both peaceful and violent tactics, the "Seattle Movement," as 
it came to be known, was a grass-roots effort to fight the ill effects 
of capital-driven globalization. Two years later, in 2001, the movement 
came to a head at the G-8 summit in Genoa, which was marked by three 
days of violence and the fatal shooting by Italian police of a 
23-year-old protester. Only the attacks on Sept. 11, seven weeks after 
the chaos in Genoa, diverted the debate from global capitalism to global 
terrorism. Now, the so-called No Global protesters, feeling vindicated 
perhaps by the financial crisis and the coming wave of unemployment, may 
hope that this week's attention paid to Athens will rejuvenate their cause.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5563043.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797093
January 22, 2009
Greek police were powerless in face of riot
John Carr Analysis
Recommend?
With the news that Pericles Panagopoulos, the kidnapped Greek shipowner, 
had been ransomed and freed on Tuesday, thanks to the efforts of his 
wife and with no apparent police help, the nation shook its head over 
another lamentable performance.
It got worse. That night George Papandreou, the head of the opposition 
Socialists, dropped in unannounced on an Athens police station. All the 
lights were out, he said, and the duty officer was incoherently drunk. 
The Greeks view their police as lazy, corrupt and brutal to minorities 
and immigrants. Last month's rioting in Athens began when a policeman 
shot a teenager - yet there was nothing like the same rage when 
extremists shot and critically wounded a 21-year-old policeman this month.
No politician will boost their powers for fear of being branded a 
fascist. Thirty-five years after the rule of the Colonels - when they 
could arrest and torture anyone at will - they are now unarmed, poorly 
paid, badly trained, timid civil servants in uniform.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7798056.stm
Thursday, 25 December 2008

Riots push Greece to the edge

The riots are estimated to have cost businesses in the capital more than 
$1bn

By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens

Pulsating punk rock was stoking up the black-clad army of students 
outside the University of Athens, as, yet again, they prepared to march 
on parliament.
The Stranglers were singing: "Whatever happened to all the heroes? All 
the Shakespearoes? They watched their Rome burn."
The setting was appropriate: the Propylea, as the university's main 
building is known, resembles a temple from Greece's own glorious 
classical era.
All along Panepistimiou, or University Boulevard, security men in 
upscale jewellers, boutiques and the Attica department store, hastily 
lowered the electronic shutters.
The guards at the Bank of Greece retreated behind supposedly impregnable 
bronze doors, and steeled themselves for yet another assault on the 
symbols of wealth, prosperity and unbridled capitalism.
Since a policeman shot dead 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos on 6 
December, daily riots are estimated to have cost the entrepreneurs in 
the capital more than $1bn.
Economic crisis
In among the hooded tops and Arab scarves was a man with owlish glasses 
and an immaculate mane of silvery, white hair.

The economic crisis is huge and Greece is showing, I think, the future 
for what will happen in other countries

Panos Garganas
Panos Garganas is a career protester who has taken part in every annual 
17 November march on the US embassy.
That march commemorates the day in 1973 when tanks of the US-backed 
military dictatorship smashed through the gates of the Polytechnic 
university and crushed a student uprising.
Whether it is a demonstration to support asylum seekers or to complain 
about the intrusion of privacy threatened by CCTV before the 2004 
Olympic Games, Mr Garganas will be there.
He is a member of the hard left Socialist Workers' Party and is the 
total antithesis of the stereotypical rabid Trotskyite: unfailingly 
polite, articulate, and persuasively reasonable in his arguments.
I asked him to apply some historical context to the most serious civil 
disturbances in Greece since the fall of the colonels' military 
dictatorship 34 years' ago.
"I think we should see today's developments in terms of 1989," he 
replied. "Back then, it was the Eastern bloc that collapsed under the 
pressure of economic crisis, and popular movements in the streets. Now 
we are seeing the same in the West."

The unrest is fuelled by anger at high unemployment and unpopular reforms
"The economic crisis is huge and Greece is showing, I think, the future 
for what will happen in other countries. We could say that 2009, 20 
years on, will see the collapse of Western capitalism."
I asked him if he was not simply looking at the recent unrest through 
the rose-tinted glasses of an old left-wing romantic.
"Well, yes, of course. I am all of those things you just said," he 
replied. "But this democracy is failing people and the present revolt is 
much deeper, it will last much longer, it will affect society much more 
profoundly."
"It does mean misery... in terms of people losing their jobs, their 
homes and their pensions. There's going to be a lot of suffering. But at 
the same time people are reacting, not in a resigned way, but with anger 
and with action and that's always hopeful."
The unrest across Greece is no longer an outpouring of youthful anger 
over the "martyrdom" of a schoolboy in the Athens district of Exarchia.
As Mr Garganas explained, for many protesters it is now a vigorous 
attempt both to topple the conservative government of Prime Minister 
Costas Karamanlis, and to create waves across Europe.
European fears
Further confirmation came from the mouth of Petros Constantinou, a 
bearded firebrand wearing wire-rimmed spectacles that might have fitted 
Leon Trotsky.

Many of the left-wing protesters want to see the government stand down
I asked him to justify the burning and looting of shops belonging to 
people not remotely connected to the death of Alexis Grigoropoulos.
"When we have revolutions, we don't drink tea in our saloons, we have 
fights in the streets," Mr Constantinou shouted.
So should Greece's European Union partners dismiss this talk of 
revolution as being little more than extremist rhetoric, or is there 
something more substantial to fear?
The riots have clearly unsettled France's President, Nicolas Sarkozy. He 
has postponed plans to reform the curriculum of secondary school pupils 
in case they ignite copycat protests.
"In the name of symbols, they can overthrow the country. They are 
regicidal," Mr Sarkozy told the French parliament. "Just look what's 
going on in Greece."
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF), is also deeply concerned and has advised governments to spend 
more money in an effort to ease the global economic crisis.
In a BBC interview, Mr Strauss-Kahn spoke of 2009 as "really being a bad 
year".
"I'm especially concerned by the fact that our forecast, already very 
dark... will be even darker if not enough fiscal stimulus is 
implemented," he said.

An improptu public memorial has been set up at the site of the boy's death
"The question of having social unrest has been highlighted by 
journalists and I can understand that, but its only part of the 
problem," he added. "The problem is that the whole society is going to 
suffer."
At present, the demonstrations across Greece are mainly attracting 
students, high-school pupils, veteran leftist campaigners and members of 
the so called 700-euro generation - disenchanted graduates who are 
unable to break through the ceiling of this nation's minimum wage.
The working and middle classes are staying away, perhaps because of the 
petrol bombs and tear gas.
There is neither a co-coordinated plan of action, nor a charismatic 
revolutionary leader.
But Greek trades unions and university students are now trying to 
mobilise sympathisers who are watching the troubles on television rather 
than participating.
Sleeping giant stirring
Pay attention to the old-fashioned, Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of 
Greece (KKE). Remember them?

If you are coming to Athens in 2009, pack a gas mask with your bikini, 
just in case

Despite the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Soviet bloc, the Greek 
hammer and sickle has never conceded the demise of its ideology and has 
maintained a consistent level of support across the country of about 6 
or 7%.
Since 1989, the KKE has appeared something of an anachronism, but the 
sleeping giant is stirring.
The communists have been among the more responsible politicians over the 
past fortnight, condemning the violence and exerting tight discipline 
over their protest rallies.
Intelligently, they are doing their utmost not to alienate the masses, 
whereas Syriza, the coalition of the left, supported by younger voters 
in the last general election, has been accused of stoking the flames.
Foreign income
Pay attention also to Greece's key sources of foreign income next year. 
If they fail, then Mr Constantinou's revolution could attract more foot 
soldiers.
Tourism and shipping each contribute around 20% towards Greece's 
national earnings.

The Straits of Salamis are filling up with empty, unused cargo vessels
The sight of smoke obscuring the Acropolis is likely to deter American 
tourists doing a grand Mediterranean tour.
The collapse of sterling against the euro means that British tourists, 
who help sustain Crete, Corfu, Halkidiki and other package holiday 
destinations, may choose to get their annual sun fix in Croatia or Turkey.
The desperation of Greek hoteliers will be used by British travel 
companies as an excuse to drive even harder bargains.
This year, during a break in Corfu, the owner of a quaint clifftop 
apartment complex told me that his colleagues were struggling to break 
even, as they were only getting five euros per bed, per night.
The crash earlier in 2008 of British travel firm XL has left scores of 
Greek hoteliers close to bankruptcy.
Some had been waiting a year for XL to pay their 2007 invoices. The 
demise of XL will mean that some island entrepreneurs will lose two 
years' income.
If you fly into Athens International Airport, take a look out of the 
window as you cross the Straits of Salamis between the port of Piraeus 
and the island of Salamina.

You could get $235,000 a day for transporting iron ore - now you can 
barely get $3,000

George Gratsos, President of the Hellenic Chamber of Shipping
This is the location of one of what was arguably the most important sea 
battle of all time.
In 480 BC, the Athenian navy destroyed the armada of King Xerxes of 
Persia and thus ensured that Western civilisation evolved under Greek, 
rather than Asian, influence.
Today the straits are filling up with dozens of cargo vessels, rocking 
at anchor and going nowhere. Their owners can no longer afford to run them.
According to George Gratsos, president of the Hellenic Chamber of 
Shipping, in May of this year, when cargo rates were at their peak, you 
could get $235,000 a day for transporting iron ore.
"Now you can barely get $3,000," he told me.
That amounts to less than a vessel's daily running costs.
Greek ship owners, who are amongst this country's richest and most 
powerful people, can afford to sit on their enormous financial cushions 
and ride out the economic crisis.
But what about the 100,000 Greeks who depend on the shipping industry 
for their livelihoods?
Most middle class Greeks have been working 16-hour days to provide the 
bare necessities of life.

Businesses in Athens are braced for further riots and more damage
Many are now facing ruin through no fault of their own.
So how can Europeans stop Greece's social uprising escalating?
Well, for a start, they could help by taking a holiday in Greece.
Whatever the dire threats of the would-be revolutionaries, the riots are 
not going to reach the thousands of idyllic beaches and inspiring 
archaeological sites.
But if you are coming to Athens in 2009, pack a gas mask with your 
bikini, just in case.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7971577.stm
Monday, 30 March 2009 10:18 UK

Greek police 'violating rights'

Diplomats in Athens believe some criticism of police tactics is justified
Amnesty International has accused Greek police of serious rights 
violations and called on the government to set up an inquiry into 
"systemic problems".
The rights group said the response to December's riots in Athens was the 
culmination of an "entrenched pattern of serious human rights violations".
The anti-government protests erupted after police shot dead a teenaged boy.
In the following weeks police faced almost daily demonstrations and 
riots, and have come under armed attack.
The Greek government has not responded to the Amnesty report, but 
diplomats said the police have shown considerable restraint in the 
circumstances.
In January, a policeman was shot and seriously wounded in central Athens 
in an attack claimed by the left-wing militant group, Revolutionary 
Struggle.
It was one of several such armed attacks.
'Excessive force'
In a report published on Monday, Amnesty said that since the end of the 
anti-government demonstrations in January it had received mounting 
allegations of human rights violations by police.

The people of Greece have the right to proper policing in accordance 
with the government's national and international obligations

Nicola Duckworth
Amnesty International

Greece: Alleged abuses in the policing of demonstrations

The group said it had brought a number of cases to the attention of 
Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos, in which police officers were 
said to have arbitrarily arrested, ill-treated and detained peaceful 
demonstrators and prevented detainees, including minors, from promptly 
contacting their lawyers.
During one incident on 9 January, several lawyers were reportedly 
arrested and mistreated after a violent demonstration on Asklipiou 
Street in Athens, Amnesty said.
Video footage showed police refusing to answer any questions and later 
dragging an elderly woman along the pavement, it added.
"Time and again police officers in Greece have been accused of using 
excessive force against demonstrators or denying them their rights when 
in detention," said Nicola Duckworth, director of Amnesty's Europe and 
Central Asia programme.
"The police response to the recent unrest is the culmination of an 
entrenched pattern of serious human rights violations by law enforcement 
officials."
Ms Duckworth said such incidents "should be used as a catalyst by the 
government to launch a wide-ranging commission of inquiry that would 
investigate not only recent events but also systemic issues, including 
training of police on the use of firearms and of force".

Greek police have protested against the repeated attacks of recent months
"The people of Greece have the right to proper policing in accordance 
with the government's national and international obligations," she added.
Union officials representing the police say morale in the force is at an 
all-time low, because of poor pay, insufficient training, and most 
important of all, the pledge by left-wing militants to kill an officer 
in retaliation for the shooting of teenager Alexis Grigoropoulos in 
December.
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant says foreign diplomats based in Athens believe 
that some criticism of police tactics is justified, but say few other 
European police forces would be as tolerant as the Greeks when facing 
such violence.






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/21/BAV714SA8V.DTL

Protesters wreak havoc at S.F. mall
Elizabeth Fernandez, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, December 21, 2008

(12-20) 22:32 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- A band of demonstrators, many wearing 
black masks, stormed a bustling San Francisco mall Saturday evening, 
upending garbage cans and foliage and damaging crystal merchandise at 
one kiosk.
An estimated 50 to 75 people were involved in the disruption at 
Westfield San Francisco Centre, police said.
"It felt like random, vague anarchy," said Sam Cantrell, who sells 
sunglasses at a kiosk near the escalators on the street level where the 
protesters gathered.
"Everyone's yelling," he said. "Some people started running up the 
escalator the wrong way. People were grabbing their babies and running 
away in fear."
The disruption began around 6:30 p.m. as holiday shoppers crowded the 
mall on the last Saturday before Christmas.
Some protesters threw food, police said. Others tried to toss a large 
planter onto the food court below.
According to mall management, the protesters were part of a "Solidarity 
with Greek Uprising" demonstration, which began in the Mission District 
earlier in the afternoon. An international day of action was called on 
Saturday to protest the death of a young man in Greece in early December.
"Although people have the right to their opinions, disruptive and 
destructive behavior on our property is not tolerated," said mall 
management in a statement.
By 7:45 p.m., the area was cleaned up.
"They made a mess," said Monica Yuen, owner of San Francisco Glass 
Works, a kiosk selling delicate imported crystal earrings, bracelets and 
other jewelry. She was trying to assess the damage to her wares.
"I had a lot of jewelry on the top shelves that got smashed," she said. 
"They threw a big sign at it. I think some of it was stolen. I was 
crying and shaking."
A police source said five or six protesters were arrested for 
misdemeanor vandalism.






http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3892653,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-top-1022-rdf

Southern Europe | 21.12.2008
German Police Arrest 10 at Greece Solidarity Protest

Gro?ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Athens has been rocked 
by rioting and clashes between police and demonstrators
Renewed rioting took place in the Greek capital Athens overnight while 
German police arrested 10 people during scuffles with demonstrators 
staging a rally in Hamburg in support of protests in Greece.

Around 150 masked youths attacked banks, state buildings and a police 
training facility car park in the Athens district where a teenager was 
shot dead by a policeman two weeks ago sparking nationwide unrest.
According to Greek state television NET, there were no reported injuries.
The violence began shortly after a memorial commemoration at the site 
where 16-year-old Alexandros Girgoropoulos was killed by a policeman two 
weeks ago.
More than 100 people have been injured and about 400 have been detained 
during two weeks of protests in Greece triggered by the police shooting 
death of the teenager. Hundreds of shops and banks have been firebombed, 
vandalized and looted.
The policemen accused of killing the youth have been detained and 
charged with manslaughter.
Clashes in Hamburg
Meanwhile a rally held in Hamburg to show solidarity with the Greek 
protestors turned violent as police clashed with some 800 demonstrators 
in the German port city.
Police broke up the protest after bottles and fireworks were thrown at 
officers as the demonstrators attempted to march from the University of 
Hamburg to the city's main railway station.
Afterwards, some of the protesters gathered outside the Greek 
consulate-general for an evening vigil. Police, backed by water cannons, 
were out in force near the building.
Police said some of the Hamburg demonstrators wore face masks and threw 
bottles and burning missiles at the police, two of whom needed hospital 
treatment.





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/247214,protest-against-greek-police-action-held-in-german-city.html

Protest against Greek police action held in German city
Posted : Sat, 20 Dec 2008 17:24:21 GMT
Author : DPA

Hamburg - Some 800 people in the north German port city of Hamburg 
demonstrated Saturday in support of students in Greece involved in 
recent clashes with police. Hamburg police broke up the protest after 
bottles and fireworks were thrown at officers as the demonstrators 
attempted to march from the University of Hamburg to the city's main 
railway station.
Afterwards, some of the protesters gathered outside the Greek 
consulate-general for an evening vigil. Police, backed by water cannons, 
were out in force near the building.
More than 100 people have been injured and about 400 have been detained 
during two weeks of protests in Greece triggered by the police shooting 
death of a teenager. Hundreds of shops and banks have been firebombed, 
vandalized and looted.
The policemen accused of killing the youth have been detained and 
charged with manslaughter.





http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415435.html

journolists prevented from reporting at greek embassy protests in london
brummie | 15.12.2008 13:32 | Social Struggles | Birmingham
http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1029

http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Photographer_obstructed_Met_police_statement_news_273911.html 


http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=830996

again disgusting

http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=1029

Police to investigate Greek embassy incident
The NUJ has welcomed a commitment by the Metropolitan police to 
investigate an incident on Monday in which journalists were obstructed 
in their work.
Journalists have complained about their treatment whilst covering a 
demonstration outside the Greek embassy on Monday.
Press Gazette has now reported that the police are set to investigate 
the conduct of one officer who was caught on camera obstructing 
journalists in their work.

If you can?t see this video, click here
According to the Press Gazette website the Metropolitan Police has 
committed to investigate the conduct of the officer featured in the 
above video clip.
Responding to news of the investigation, NUJ Legal Officer Roy Mincoff 
said: ?We welcome the police?s rapid response to this incident and hope 
it indicates a change in attitude by the police in dealing with 
complaints from the media.
?Police officers must understand that they have a responsibility to the 
press and cannot obstruct journalists in their lawful work. A signal 
from the top is needed to show that the this type of behaviour will not 
be tolerated.
"We wait with interest to see the result of the inquiry and offer our 
full cooperation on the investigation.?






http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/Photographer_obstructed_Met_police_statement_news_273911.html

Photographer 'obstructed': Met police statement
Friday 12th December 2008
Chris Cheesman
Police are investigating the behaviour of an officer who was caught on 
video in what appears to be the obstruction of a press photographer 
doing their job.

The incident occurred as photographers were documenting protests outside 
the Greek Embassy in London on 8 December.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) slammed police for adopting a 
'heavy-handed' approach.

Journalists complained they were 'physically removed from any area from 
which they could document events'.

NUJ Legal Officer Roy Mincoff said: 'The police must remember that they 
have responsibilities towards the media. Even where a protest is itself 
illegal, the media have a right to report on events and the police 
should not be taking action with the intention of obstructing 
journalists in their work.'

He added: 'There are clear guidelines which discuss how the police 
should work with the media and officers policing demonstrations need to 
be made aware of their responsibilities? Such basic infringements of our 
members' rights must stop.'

In a statement, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police told us: 'The 
officer featured in this clip will be investigated regarding his conduct 
with a member of the media.'

The police spokesman acknowledged that officers are expected to adhere 
to the 'clear guidelines' that are there to 'protect the rights of the 
media'.

He added: 'The Metropolitan Police Service seeks to protect the 
interests and right of the media to do their job through educating all 
our staff within the service.

'Before every operation all our staff are briefed as to the role of the 
media and wherever operationally possible to facilitate them.

'This was a spontaneous demonstration that at points included outbreaks 
of disorder, which required an emergency response from police.'
http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=830996

Heavy-handed policing against photographers caught on video
The National Union of Journalists has criticised the Metropolitan Police 
for heavy-handed policing against two photojournalists in London this 
week. The incident was caught on video.
On Monday 08 December, two photojournalists were covering protests 
outside the Greek embassy in London when a police officer deliberately 
obstructed them in their work. The photojournalists, Jason Parkinson and 
Marc Vall?e have complained of being physically removed from any area 
from which they could document events.

'The police must remember that they have responsibilities towards the 
media,' said NUJ Legal Officer Roy Mincoff. 'Even where a protest is 
itself illegal, the media have a right to report on events and the 
police should not be taking action with the intention of obstructing 
journalists in their work.

'There are clear guidelines which discuss how the police should work 
with the media and officers policing demonstrations need to be made 
aware of their responsibilities. The police know very well our concerns 
around cases like this and it?s simply unacceptable for our members to 
continue to have problems when covering protests. Such basic 
infringements of our members? rights must stop.'






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/19/greece.protests/index.html

December 19, 2008 -- Updated 1349 GMT (2149 HKT)

Greek protests after shooting of second teen
? Story Highlights
? 17-year-old shot by unknown assailant in Athens suburb of Peristeri
? Police said no officers were patrolling the region at the time of the 
incident
? First protests flared on Dec. 6 after police killing of 15-year-old boy
? Simmering anger exists about government's handling of economy, 
education, jobs

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Thousands of youths demonstrated in central 
Athens Friday as anger flared in the Greek capital following the 
shooting of another teenager.

High school students protest in front of their school in the western 
Athens suburb of Peristeri.
A group of youths targeted the French Institute, a language and cultural 
institute, and police scrambled to the scene to contain the incident.
The situation began heating up during a protest rally Thursday that 
followed the bizarre shooting of a high school student in an Athens 
suburb earlier this week.
The 17-year-old was hit in the hand by an unknown assailant as he was 
talking to a group of schoolmates in the western suburb of Peristeri. 
Initial police reports showed the student -- the son of a leading trade 
unionist -- was hit with a .38-caliber handgun.
Police said no officers were patrolling the region at the time of the 
incident.
The mysterious shooting has enflamed widespread student anger over the 
fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old boy December 6, which sparked 
Greece's worst riots in decades. Watch more about the flare-up of protests ?
Students rallied Friday in response to the shooting of the 17-year-old. 
One of the rallies was planned for central Athens; the other in the 
suburb where the student was shot.
Later in the day, scores of artists are scheduled to gather in central 
Athens to stage a protest concert in response to the initial shooting of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Daily protests since the December 6 shooting, including riots, have 
thrown Greece into turmoil and have become a simmering anger about the 
conservative government's handling of the economy, education, and jobs.
A string of labor unions called on workers to march on Parliament Friday 
to protest the voting of the 2009 state budget, which calls for 
additional belt-tightening measures in response to the global financial 
crisis.
Student unions were also gathering to across the country to determine 
their course of action for the next few weeks.
At least 800 high schools and 200 universities remain shut as thousands 
of youths have seized the grounds and campuses in protest.

The unrest is threatening the government's hold on power, with some 
opposition groups calling for fresh elections. Stores and international 
businesses have been attacked, and at least 280 people have been 
detained by police. Of that total, 176 were arrested, 130 of them for 
looting.
Of the two officers involved in the death of the 15-year-old, one is 
charged with premeditated manslaughter and the other with acting as an 
accomplice.






http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=161767

Rioting youths attacked the French Institute in Athens with firebombs 
Friday, while Greek union members and university professors geared up 
for new anti-government rallies outside Parliament. Some windows of the 
French Institute, a cultural and language learning center, were smashed 
but the interior was not seriously damaged in the attack by about 20 
youths, police said. A nearby bank ATM was also damaged. No injuries 
were reported. ?Spark in Athens. Fire in Paris. Insurrection is coming,? 
read one slogan spray-painted onto the building?s walls in French. 
Another, written in Greek, read ?France, Greece, uprising everywhere.? 
Athens has seen near daily hit-and-run attacks by youths throwing 
firebombs in the past two weeks, after the fatal police shooting of a 
15-year-old sparked the worst riots Greece has seen in decades. The rage 
unleashed by the Dec. 6 shooting has lifted the lid on years of 
dissatisfaction over social inequality, poor employment prospects for 
young people, and increasing anger with the conservative government?s 
economic policies. Greece?s two largest umbrella trade union 
organizations were to rally later in the day to protest the government?s 
2009 budget, and professors also planned to rally outside Parliament to 
lobby on education issues.
Students also planned a mass concert Friday in central Athens in support 
of the ?uprising of youth? and against ?state repression.?
The rallies and concert come a day after a demonstration against police 
brutality by about 7,000 students and teachers turned violent, sending 
Christmas shoppers and panicked families fleeing to safety. Around 200 
youths wearing masks hurled petrol bombs and chunks of marble hammered 
from surrounding buildings in central Athens at riot police, who 
responded with stun grenades and repeated volleys of acrid tear gas.

20 December 2008, Saturday
AP STOCKHOLM, ATHENS






http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/violent-protests-resume-in-athens_100133628.html

Violent protests resume in Athens
December 21st, 2008 - 8:51 pm ICT by IANS -
Athens, Dec 21 (RIA Novosti) Hundreds of youths staged fresh protests 
here amid Greece?s worst riots in decades sparked by the recent killing 
of a 15-year-old boy by the police, media reports said Sunday. Students 
threw stones and firebombs at the police in the Athens district of 
Exarchia where Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead Dec 6, and also 
erected roadblocks around the nearby Polytechnic University. The police 
responded with teargas shells, TV channels reported.
The riots earlier spread to other Greek cities, leaving a trail of 
destruction as youths went on the rampage looting shops and setting fire 
to hundreds of cars, banks and businesses.
A recent opinion poll published by the Ethnos newspaper said 83 percent 
of Greeks were unhappy with the methods used by the government to deal 
with the violence.
Two police officers have been detained over the teenager?s killing. One 
of the officers, who said he fired the warning shots in self-defence, 
was charged with murder and illegal use of weapon.







http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/12/20/20081220greeceprotests-ON.html

More rioting in Greece over teen killing
Dec. 20, 2008 03:25 PM
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece - Hundreds of rioters fought battles with riot police in 
central Athens on Saturday, two weeks after the fatal police shooting of 
a teenager set off the worst civic unrest in Greece in several decades.
Saturday's violence followed a memorial gathering at 9 p.m. local (1900 
GMT) at the site where 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos died Dec. 6, 
in the central Athens neighborhood of Exarchia.
The rioters, using the nearby Polytechnic - as the National Technical 
University of Athens is known - as a base, launched attacks against riot 
police, throwing rocks and petrol bombs and erecting roadblocks around 
the university. The battles follow an established pattern of rioters 
attacking and then retreating in the face of heavy use of tear gas by 
the police.
Security forces are prevented by law from entering the grounds of the 
Polytechnic. An exemption is allowed if the university administration 
gives the go-ahead but so far no permission has been given.
Grigoropoulos' fatal shooting touched a nerve among Greek youth, who 
took to the streets to protest what they see as random police violence. 
The arraignment of the two police officers involved in the shooting has 
not appeased the young, who are demanding that police be disarmed.
The protests have been fanned by perceptions of rampant corruption among 
politicians and poor employment prospects as the economy takes a turn 
for the worse after 15 years of growth.
While most of the protests have been peaceful, a violent fringe of 
self-styled anarchists has clashed with police and destroyed property. 
An increasing number of disaffected young seems to tolerate the 
anarchists, and occasionally join them.
Saturday's clashes, which included a firebomb attack against the offices 
of a credit data company in Athens, an attack against a city-sponsored 
Christmas tree in central Athens and the occupation of a movie theater 
in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, have dashed the hopes of the 
government and police that protest fatigue would set in as the Christmas 
season nears.
Earlier Saturday evening, a group of masked men broke into the building 
housing the offices of Tiresias SA, a company that keeps records of 
delinquent debtors and cardholders, and firebombed the company's 
offices. The fire was extinguished but the company's offices were 
destroyed, witnesses said.
At around 4 p.m. Saturday, about 150 youth attacked the Christmas tree 
at Syntagma Square in central Athens, tossing garbage and hanging trash 
bags from its branches before clashing with riot police. The square was 
cleared by 6 p.m. At least three news photographers were injured by 
police wielding batons. The tree survived the attack. The original 
Christmas tree had been burned to the ground on Dec. 8, during the worst 
night of rioting in central Athens.
In Thessaloniki, a group of self-styled anarchists occupied a movie 
theater in the city's main square and threw cakes and candy at Mayor 
Vassilis Papageorgopoulos and one of his deputies. The mayor was 
attending an open-air Christmas event near the theater, distributing the 
sweets to children with sickle-cell anemia when the rioters seized the 
stand and threw its contents at the city officials. Later in the 
evening, a group emerged from the theater to attack a Nativity scene, 
throwing away the Christ figure.
The Christmas tree protest had been advertised as part of a day of 
events in Greece and around the world to commemorate Grigoropoulos' 
shooting.
Police said about 1,000 people turned out for a demonstration in 
Hamburg, Germany. Bottles were thrown at police during and after the 
protest, and four officers were lightly injured; nine people were detained.
A further demonstration by about 250 people near the Greek consulate 
passed without incidents, a police statement said.






http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2444573,00.html

Greek protesters hurl firebombs
21/12/2008 14:36 - (SA)
Athens - Clashes between youths and police continued into the night on 
Sunday around Athens Polytechnic in the district where a teenager was 
killed by a policeman two weeks ago sparking nationwide unrest.
Hundreds of people gathered late on Saturday in the Exarchia district at 
the site of the December 6 shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos 
for a protest organised by youths occupying Athens Polytechnic.
Protesters hurled firebombs at police who responded with tear gas. A 
group threw stones and Molotov cocktails at police and set fire to 
garbage bins, acts often seen in Exarchia since the boy's killing.
Police also clashed with protesters after a separate demonstration 
against racism that was attended by around 200 people in Syntagma Square.
"Migrants are killed, schoolchildren are killed," said banners carried 
by the protesters who marched to the Greek parliament.
Molotov cocktails
Protesters threw garbage at police who ringed a Christmas tree on the 
main square. The tree was brought in last week after the original was 
torched at the height of unrest following the schoolboy's death.
Later, a group threw a petrol bomb at a building housing a banking 
services company, although there was only minor damage and the fire was 
quickly brought under control.
In Nea Philadelfia, a western suburb of Athens, demonstrators threw 
Molotov cocktails at the police academy and torched six police vehicles 
parked nearby, without causing any casualties, police said.
Another group of youths set fire to garbage cans in the northern suburb 
of Aghia Paraskevi.
Athens and other Greek cities have seen daily protests over 
Grigoropoulos's death that have often become violent.
In the northern city of Thessaloniki, youths occupied a hall being used 
for a film festival while others pelted the city mayor with pastries, 
police said.
Protesters demanding justice
Masked youths on Friday attacked the French cultural institute in Athens 
after about 1 000 students and communist activists staged a march to 
condemn a second shooting on Wednesday in which the son of a teacher's 
union official was slightly wounded.
Protesters demanding justice over Grigoropoulos's death continue to 
occupy hundreds of schools and many universities across Greece.
The Athens Polytechnic, site of a 1973 student uprising that hastened 
the fall of military dictatorship in Greece, is among the occupied 
campuses.
Meanwhile, German police on Saturday arrested 10 people and suffered 
four injuries in fighting with demonstrators staging a rally in Hamburg 
in support of the Greek protests, officials said.
About 1 300 police were mobilised to monitor the approximately 1 000 
demonstrators who marched to the Greek consulate in the northern port city.
- AFP





http://english.sina.com/world/2008/1221/206286.html

Protesters, police clash in Athens
2008-12-21 18:27:13 GMT2008-12-22 02:27:13 (Beijing Time) xinhuanet
ATHENS, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- An anti-racism rally in central Athens's 
Syntagma Square on Sunday led to a violent confrontation between the 
protesters and riot police, the latest of a series of clashes triggered 
by the death of 15-year-old boy Alexis Grigoropoulos, who was killed by 
police on Dec. 6.
A group of people tried to deposit bags of rubbish at the foot of a new 
Christmas Tree, erected in the square by the Athens municipality to 
replace an old tree which was torched during the riots following the 
boy's death. Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
According to Athens News Agency, six police vehicles were torched by 
unidentified hood-wearing assailants wielding petrol bombs in the west 
Athens district of Nea Philadelphia early Sunday morning. The vehicles 
were parked outside the building of the police accounting department, 
which also suffered damage in the attack.
On Sunday rioting and violent clashes continued in the area around the 
Athens Polytechnic, National Technical University of Athens, with 
protesters again lobbing petrol bombs at police.
Greek police experts on Sunday carried out an on-site forensic 
investigation at the spot where Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot dead, 
trying to gather more evidence related to the case.
The investigation lasted about two to three hours and was conducted in 
the presence of the 9th examining magistrate who is in charge of the case.
Athens News Agency said that the additional specialized investigation, 
which seeks to find evidence to complement the findings of the ballistic 
report in light of eyewitness accounts claiming that the officer was 
aiming directly at the group of youths, was requested by lawyers 
representing the family.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2008/12/22/2003431734

Greek protesters hurl firebombs at police in Athens

AFP, ATHENS
Monday, Dec 22, 2008, Page 6
Clashes between youths and police continued early yesterday morning 
around Athens Polytechnic in the district where a teenager was killed by 
a policeman two weeks ago, sparking nationwide unrest.
Hundreds of people gathered late on Saturday in the Exarchia district at 
the site of the Dec. 6 shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos for 
a protest organized by youths occupying Athens Polytechnic.

Protesters hurled firebombs at police who responded with tear gas. A 
group threw stones and Molotov cocktails and set fire to garbage bins, 
acts often seen in Exarchia since the boy?s killing.

Police also clashed with protesters after a separate demonstration 
against racism that was attended by around 200 people in Syntagma Square.

?Migrants are killed, schoolchildren are killed,? said banners carried 
by the protesters, who marched to the Greek parliament.

NEW TREE

Protesters threw garbage at police who ringed a Christmas tree on the 
main square. The tree was brought in last week after the original was 
torched at the height of unrest.

Later, a group threw a petrol bomb at a building housing a banking 
services company, although there was only minor damage and the fire was 
quickly brought under control.

In Nea Philadelfia, a western suburb of Athens, demonstrators threw 
Molotov cocktails at the police academy and torched six police vehicles 
without causing any casualties, police said.

Athens and other Greek cities have seen daily protests over 
Grigoropoulos? death that have often become violent.

RALLY IN GERMANY

Meanwhile, German police on Saturday arrested 10 people and suffered 
four injuries in fighting with demonstrators staging a rally in Hamburg 
in support of the Greek protests, officials said.

About 1,300 police were mobilized to monitor the approximately 1,000 
demonstrators who marched to the Greek consulate in the northern port city.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has shrugged off calls to resign. 
Last week he announced financial measures to support the business and 
tourism sectors, hardest-hit by the unrest.






http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4BJ1PN20081220?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Hundreds of Greek protesters clash with police
Sat Dec 20, 2008 11:48pm GMT

1 of 11Full Size
By Daniel Flynn and Angeliki Koutantou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Hundreds of Greek youths fought running battles with 
police in Athens late Saturday as anti-government protests entered a 
third week since police shot dead a teen-ager.
Students threw stones and petrol bombs at riot police outside university 
buildings late into the night after a vigil to mark the December 6 
killing of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos turned violent.
Police blocked surrounding roads and fired teargas at the youths, who 
sheltered in the university campus which police are banned from 
entering. A group of anxious mothers waited outside to escort their 
children from the building.
"There are more than 600 students and they're running in and out of the 
university, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails," said a police 
official, who asked not to be named. No injuries were reported.
Across the country, hundreds of schools and several university campuses 
remain occupied by students. In the northern city of Thessaloniki, 
demonstrators briefly occupied a radio station and a cinema.
The protests, the worst Greece has known in decades, have fed on anger 
at youth unemployment, government reforms and the global economic crisis.
For most of Saturday, Athens was calm and the streets were busy with 
Christmas shoppers.
As darkness fell, a group of anarchists rampaged through the upmarket 
district of Kolonaki, torching two cars and throwing petrol bombs into 
the office of a company supplying credit data to banks and the finance 
ministry, police said.
A police official had earlier said the offices belonged to the finance 
ministry.
Earlier, a march in support of immigrants' rights ended in scuffles with 
police when demonstrators pelted them with eggs and rubbish outside 
parliament.
Some protesters tried to set fire to the municipal Christmas tree in the 
central Syntagma square outside parliament, a replacement for a tree 
burnt down in earlier demonstrations. Riot police with shields formed a 
circle round the tree while protesters danced round them holding hands.
Union leaders and students have announced more rallies for the new year.
The protests have caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage, 
rocking a conservative government that has a one-seat majority and 
trails the opposition in polls. Some analysts say continued street 
protests could force early elections.
(Additional reporting by Renee Maltezou; editing by Tim Pearce)







http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/21/2452048.htm
Athens protesters throw petrol bombs, burn cars
Posted Sun Dec 21, 2008 8:00am AEDT
Greek demonstrators threw petrol bombs at finance ministry offices and 
torched two cars in central Athens overnight as anti-government protests 
entered a third week since police shot dead a teenager.
Dozens of demonstrators pelted police with eggs and rubbish outside 
Parliament and tried to set fire to the municipal Christmas tree in the 
central Syntagma square.
Riot police fired teargas to disperse the protest.
A small group who broke away from the crowd threw petrol bombs at nearby 
finance ministry offices, causing minor damage but no injuries, police 
officials said.
In the upmarket Kolonaki district, youths set fire to two vehicles, 
causing serious damage.
The violence was on a smaller scale than the days of rioting that 
erupted in several cities in the wake of the December 6 shooting of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a patrolman in Athens' volatile 
Exarchia neighbourhood.
Greece's worst unrest in decades fed on anger at youth unemployment, 
government reforms and the global economic crisis.
For most of Saturday, Athens was calm and the streets were busy with 
Christmas shoppers.
Unions and students have announced more rallies for the new year.
The protests have caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage, 
rocking the conservative government that has a one-seat majority and 
trails the opposition in polls.
Some analysts say months of street protests could force early elections.
- Reuters






http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/dec2008/gree-d20.shtml
Greece: Student protests target Karamanlis government
By Robert Stevens
20 December 2008
Protests by students and young people continue following the police 
killing of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos on December 6 in the 
Exarchia district of Athens.
On Thursday, further details were revealed about the killing of 
Grigoropoulos as a result of ballistics tests. The Kathimerini newspaper 
cited an unnamed source who said the results appeared to "contradict the 
claims made by the policeman charged with the boy's death."
The newspaper reported that the police officer had originally said that 
he fired his gun, holding it above his head, as a warning shot. The 
sources quoted by Kathimerini said that "the results ... indicate that 
the officer had fired with his arm at a right angle to his body in the 
direction of the child, not straight above his head in a warning shot, 
as he has claimed."
Thursday was the 13th day of continuous protests, with a demonstration 
estimated at 10,000 taking place in Athens. The march began on the 
grounds of Athens University and once more ended at the Greek 
Parliament. It was attacked by large numbers of paramilitary police who 
had formed a cordon around the parliament building. The police used tear 
gas canisters and stun grenades against the demonstrators, who responded 
by throwing stones and Molotov cocktails.
The slogans of the demonstrations have become increasingly hostile to 
the New Democracy government of Costas Karamanlis. Among the banners 
held by the students was one declaring, "Topple the government of blood, 
poverty, privatisations." Another read, "Mourning is not enough, the 
struggle goes on."
Demonstrations were also held in Greece's second city of Thessaloniki 
and in the town of Lamia and on the island of Crete. In Patras, the 
third largest urban centre with a population of more than 220,000, the 
local trade union headquarters was occupied by protesters demonstrating 
against the pro-government policies of the unions and calling for an 
indefinite general strike. The previous day the headquarters of the 
General Confederation of Workers of Greece (GSEE) in Athens had been 
occupied.
Opposing the demands, GSEE leader Yiannis Panagopoulos declared, "The 
GSEE does not govern this country."
Many high schools and universities remain closed due to ongoing 
occupations by thousands of students and youth. According to a report by 
CNN on Friday, at least 800 high schools and 200 universities remain 
shut nationwide. According to the BBC, 70 people have been injured by 
the police and about 400 arrested since the protests began.
The protests coincide with a number of industrial struggles. On 
Thursday, air traffic controllers staged a three-hour strike that 
resulted in the cancellation of all but emergency flights at Athens 
International Airport. The controllers, members of the civil service 
trade union ADEDY, are protesting government policies and demanding a 
pay rise.
Public transport workers also struck transport services. Doctors, 
teachers and hospital staff also took industrial action. Hospitals were 
forced to operate with a skeleton staff as employees held a 24-hour 
strike. Delegations of striking workers marched in support of the 
students to the demonstration at the parliament building.
Anger amongst workers and youth has been exacerbated by the shooting and 
wounding of Giorgos Paplomatas, a 16-year-old boy, in the Peristeri 
district of Athens on Wednesday evening. He was standing on a street 
corner talking to friends when he was shot in the hand by an as yet 
unidentified assailant. Witnesses heard two gunshots being fired.
Giorgos Paplomatas is the son of Constantinos Paplomatas, a prominent 
official in the Greek Teachers' Federation, which is affiliated to the 
Greek Communist Party (KKE). Giorgios is a member of the youth wing of 
the KKE. Paplomatas's father described the shooting as "a murder attempt 
... by sinister forces," according to the Kathimerini newspaper.
A police statement following the shooting claimed that there were no 
officers in the area at the time the shots were fired. According to 
reports, the bullet apparently came from a 38-caliber handgun.
On Thursday evening the KKE held a demonstration in Peristeri to protest 
the shooting. A demonstration was also held on Friday and was reportedly 
attended by 1,500 people. One of the demonstrators, university student 
Dimitris Andriotis, told the Associated Press, "This is an answer to 
state repression. We will not stop coming out into the streets until our 
demands are met."
On Friday, the two largest trade union federations held a rally in 
central Athens to protest the government's 2009 budget. A rally of 
professors was held outside parliament. Later in the evening, a concert 
against state repression was staged.
Following the occupation of the state-owned NET TV channel on Wednesday, 
other media stations were temporarily occupied on Thursday in several 
cities. According to one report, "The municipal radio of Tripoli, Nea 
Tileorasi TV in Chania, Politeia FM in Sparta and Star FM and Imagine 
897 FM in Thessaloniki were occupied." On Friday, Kydon TV in Chania was 
also occupied.
Students have called for further demonstrations today throughout Europe 
and around the world to protest against state violence and murders.
A number of analysts have concluded that it may not be possible for the 
government to remain in office much longer. But they foresee a crisis of 
rule continuing to unfold due to the attacks on the social conditions of 
workers, youth and students that are driven by the scale of the economic 
crisis. Theodoros Livanios, the head of research at polling firm 
Opinion, said this week, "With the world economic crisis, whoever is in 
power will face unpopular choices to keep Greece stable."
Diego Iscaro, an analyst at IHS Global Insight, stated that the attacks 
on education and the pension rights of workers, and the privatisation of 
state services had to be imposed at all costs if the Greek economy were 
to remain stable. "Even before the riots, reform was proving difficult, 
but now it is going to be very, very difficult," he said. "To achieve 
sustainable growth in the medium term, these reforms must happen. In the 
next five years, growth will be slower than what we've seen for a decade."
Under conditions of mounting social and economic crisis, the role being 
played by the trade union bureaucracy and the Communist Party in 
attempting to prevent the radicalisation of youth and students from 
spreading to the working class is critical for the Greek bourgeoisie.
On Friday, Avriani, the daily pro-business right-wing newspaper, 
published a front page which featured a photo of the Greek Communist 
Party leader, Aleka Papariga, alongside a headline reading, "Either 
citizens or the KKE should take it upon themselves to restore public 
order and protection of the democratic system if the police are not able 
to do so." Under her photograph, the newspaper commented, "Aleka 
Papariga's party is the only organised political force that has dared to 
publicly condemn the ?hoodies' and expose their dirty role." The article 
went on to declare ominously that "the country is going through the 
second week of descent into chaos and the crumbling of institutions 
designed to maintain public order. Society's tolerance, including the 
citizens who advocated in favour of strategic restraint, has run out."





http://www.euronews.net/2008/12/20/immigrants-add-their-voices-to-greek-protests/
Immigrants add their voices to Greek protests 20/12/08 19:47 CET
The following article has been retrieved from the archive and no longer 
contains the original video.
A ring of police now have to protect Athens?s grand Christmas tree, 
after the first spruce was reduced to ashes in the ongoing student 
protests, which only now, two weeks on, show signs of calming.
Young people are still furious with their police, throwing rubbish at 
the officers guarding the tree. They will vote this weekend on whether 
or not to continue their protests. Seven hundred schools and several 
universities remain occupied.
?Every revolution which brings social changes brings catastrophes, too. 
But they had dreams and ideals,? said one woman shopper.
?Whatever happens, it was not necessary for all this destruction to 
happen. Why do the owners of the property have to pay the price?? was 
another opinion expressed on Saturday.
Immigrants are also taking to the streets this weekend, along with 
anti-racist groups, to protest at the EU?s asylum and immigration pact. 
They will meet at Athens university, which has been busy removing 
graffiti after the recent protests.






http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008541733_greece20.html?syndication=rss
Saturday, December 20, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Comments (0) E-mail article Print view
Protesters firebomb French center in Athens
Masked youths attacked the French Institute in Athens with firebombs 
Friday, one of the sporadic acts of violence that still hit the capital 
almost daily since the police killing of a teenager nearly two weeks ago 
sparked the worst riots Greece has seen in decades.
By ELENA BECATOROS
The Associated Press
LEFTERIS PITARAKIS / AP
A protester places an anarchist flag in the outstretched marble hand of 
a statue outside Athens University.
ATHENS, Greece ? Masked youths attacked the French Institute in Athens 
with firebombs Friday, one of the sporadic acts of violence that still 
hit the capital almost daily since the police killing of a teenager 
nearly two weeks ago sparked the worst riots Greece has seen in decades.
The rage unleashed by the Dec. 6 shooting has lifted the lid on years of 
dissatisfaction over social inequality, poor employment prospects for 
young people and increasing anger with the conservative government's 
economic policies.
The two policemen involved in the shooting death of 15-year-old 
Alexandros Grigoropoulos have been jailed pending trial. One has been 
charged with murder and the other as an accomplice.
Late Friday a group of about 50 protesters interrupted the official 
premiere of the Greek National Theater, holding up banners urging people 
to join in demonstrations.
The youths threw pamphlets before running off.
In western Athens, masked youths damaged three cash machines and two 
bank fronts with stones and sticks.
Friday's attack against the French Institute, a cultural and educational 
center, was carried out by about 20 masked men who smashed windows and 
burned a guard's booth, but the building's interior was not seriously 
damaged, police said. A nearby bank ATM was also damaged, but nobody was 
injured.
"Spark in Athens. Fire in Paris. Insurrection is coming," read one 
slogan spray-painted onto the building's walls in French. Another, 
written in Greek, read "France, Greece, uprising everywhere."
French Ambassador Christophe Farnaud, who visited the institute, said 
French cultural institutions in Greece would be closed temporarily "as a 
precaution."
In western Athens, some 1,500 people held a peaceful protest against a 
separate shooting in which police say an unknown gunman shot a 
16-year-old boy in the wrist late Wednesday.
The protest march contrasted with the violence that broke out during a 
student demonstration by about 7,000 people in the center of Athens on 
Thursday.
About 200 masked youths hurled firebombs and chunks of marble at riot 
police, who responded with stun grenades and acrid tear gas.
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=United+Kingdom+%26+Europe&month=December2008&file=World_News2008122092711.xml
Protests pile pressure on Athens
Web posted at: 12/20/2008 9:27:11
Source ::: AFP
Athens: Athens police braced for more protests yesterday after nearly 
two weeks of clashes, as the government faced growing pressure over its 
handling of the crisis sparked by the police killing of a teenager. The 
offices of a French cultural institute in the city was targeted by 
masked youths even before the day?s scheduled demonstrations involving 
trade unions as well as student groups.
Students planned a protest in a city suburb where another teenager, the 
son of a union leader, was wounded in a mysterious shooting incident on 
Wednesday night, and were to stage a concert at Athens University. The 
main trade unions meanwhile organised separate rallies outside 
parliament against what they called an ?anti-workers? budget up for vote 
tomorrow.
After Thursday?s violence in Athens, which left city centre residents 
choking in tear gas, the main opposition Pasok socialist party again 
called for early elections, arguing that the government had lost control 
of the situation.About 100 leading figures including academics, 
magistrates and economists launched a petition calling on the government 
and the political world as a whole to get a grip on the situation to 
re-establish confidence.
The press too expressed the growing concern in the country, with both 
the Socialist daily To Vima and the liberal Kathimerini critical of the 
government?s inability to end the crisis.
Even the right-wing daily Eleftheros Typos wrote: ?The majority of 
conservative deputies are calling for immediate changes, the time for a 
reshuffle has come.? Athens police said they had arrested eight 
youths?none of them school or university students ?after several hours 
of street battles with dozens of militants in the city centre Thursday.
They had broken off from an orderly left-wing demonstration of about 
5,000 to confront police officers. During the course of Thursday?s 
clashes three cars, a Greek flag and tables and chairs from 
neighbourhood cafes were burned. Police said that two of those they 
arrested were minors. A group of about 20 youths broke into the Institut 
Francais around midday yesterday, breaking the windows and throwing a 
petrol bomb which briefly started a fire, police and diplomatic sources 
said. Nobody was hurt in the attack, which lasted five minutes, said a 
French diplomat, the youths having restrained the building?s guardian 
without hurting him. The Institut Francais is in the centre of the 
capital, near the site of the current unrest.
Students had organised a midday demonstration at Peristeri, in the 
western suburbs of the capital. This was where the 16-year-old son of a 
leading official in the Greek Teachers Federation ?which backs 
demonstrations across Greece?was wounded by a small-calibre bullet 
Wednesday night. Hit in the hand, he had to be operated on after 
spending a night in hospital.
Police insisted Thursday that none of their officers were in the area at 
the time of the shooting, but the government has promised a inquiry. The 
incident has already been denounced by the teachers? unions. In several 
universities and 700 schools across the country, school and university 
students continued their occupations, said student representatives.
The education ministry put the figure at about a hundred. Protests have 
rocked cities across Greece since the fatal shooting of 15-year-old 
Alexis Grigoropoulos after he was stopped by two policemen, one of whom 
has been charged with homicide, on the night of December 6.






http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=United+Kingdom+%26+Europe&month=December2008&file=World_News2008121914724.xml

Flights grounded as Greek police battle protesters
Web posted at: 12/19/2008 1:47:24
Source ::: REUTERS
ATHENS: Greek marchers hurled firebombs and stones at police outside 
parliament yesterday while unions grounded flights and shut down public 
offices in a 13th day of anti-government protests since police shot dead 
a teenager. Youths waving red flags scuffled with riot police, who 
formed a cordon around parliament, and tried to burn down a Christmas 
tree in the square outside. Police fired teargas to disperse the crowd.
?Topple the government of blood, poverty, privatisations,? read one 
banner among the 7,000 marchers, who denounced education and pension 
reforms and the conservative government?s failure to shelter Greeks from 
the global economic crisis. Retailers pulled down their shutters and 
Christmas shoppers fled from the streets. Rallies by unions, students 
and teachers also took place in the northern city of Thessaloniki, the 
central town of Lamia and on the island of Crete.
?We are not finished just because it?s Christmas. We will continue and 
intensify our struggle over the next year,? said Stathis Anestis, 
spokesman for the GSEE private sector union federation which took part 
in the rallies. A 3-hour work stoppage by public workers halted all but 
emergency flights between 1000 and 1300 GMT. Urban transport services 
were frozen while doctors and teachers walked off the job, reviving 
memories of last week?s 24-hour national strike.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, under fire for his hands off 
reaction to the riots, announced measures to boost flagging tourism, one 
of the main reasons for a slowing economy.
Greece?s worst disturbances in decades, triggered by the December 6 
slaying of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, have fed off anger at 
youth unemployment and the economic slowdown.






http://www.nowpublic.com/world/greek-protesters-occupy-national-theatre-athens
Greek protesters occupy National Theatre, Athens
Share:
by Teacher Dude | December 20, 2008 at 12:50 am

Just minutes after the curtains went up, demonstrators seized the stage 
of the National Theatre, Athens yesterday evening and read out a 
prepared statement demanding the immediate release of all those arrested 
in the recent events following the killing of Greek teenager, Alexis 
Grigoropulos by police two weeks ago. The protesters also called upon 
the audience to join them in the streets shouting", Turn off your cell 
phones, turn on your conscience."
The performance of Roberto Succo by Bernard -Marie Koltes was cancelled 
in a gesture of solidarity by actors and theatre staff with the young 
protesters.
In addition a massive protest concert was held yesterday outside the 
Athens university campus where thousands watched 64 groups and singers 
perform until early hours of Saturday morning.






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/19/greece.protests/index.html?eref=edition_europe
December 19, 2008 -- Updated 1349 GMT (2149 HKT)
Greek protests after shooting of second teen
? Story Highlights
? 17-year-old shot by unknown assailant in Athens suburb of Peristeri
? Police said no officers were patrolling the region at the time of the 
incident
? First protests flared on Dec. 6 after police killing of 15-year-old boy
? Simmering anger exists about government's handling of economy, 
education, jobs

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Thousands of youths demonstrated in central 
Athens Friday as anger flared in the Greek capital following the 
shooting of another teenager.

High school students protest in front of their school in the western 
Athens suburb of Peristeri.
A group of youths targeted the French Institute, a language and cultural 
institute, and police scrambled to the scene to contain the incident.
The situation began heating up during a protest rally Thursday that 
followed the bizarre shooting of a high school student in an Athens 
suburb earlier this week.
The 17-year-old was hit in the hand by an unknown assailant as he was 
talking to a group of schoolmates in the western suburb of Peristeri. 
Initial police reports showed the student -- the son of a leading trade 
unionist -- was hit with a .38-caliber handgun.
Police said no officers were patrolling the region at the time of the 
incident.
The mysterious shooting has enflamed widespread student anger over the 
fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old boy December 6, which sparked 
Greece's worst riots in decades. Watch more about the flare-up of protests ?
Students rallied Friday in response to the shooting of the 17-year-old. 
One of the rallies was planned for central Athens; the other in the 
suburb where the student was shot.
Later in the day, scores of artists are scheduled to gather in central 
Athens to stage a protest concert in response to the initial shooting of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
Daily protests since the December 6 shooting, including riots, have 
thrown Greece into turmoil and have become a simmering anger about the 
conservative government's handling of the economy, education, and jobs.
A string of labor unions called on workers to march on Parliament Friday 
to protest the voting of the 2009 state budget, which calls for 
additional belt-tightening measures in response to the global financial 
crisis.
Student unions were also gathering to across the country to determine 
their course of action for the next few weeks.
At least 800 high schools and 200 universities remain shut as thousands 
of youths have seized the grounds and campuses in protest.
The unrest is threatening the government's hold on power, with some 
opposition groups calling for fresh elections. Stores and international 
businesses have been attacked, and at least 280 people have been 
detained by police. Of that total, 176 were arrested, 130 of them for 
looting.
Of the two officers involved in the death of the 15-year-old, one is 
charged with premeditated manslaughter and the other with acting as an 
accomplice.





http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=67863
Published On: 2008-12-20
International
Protests pile pressure on Greek govt
Afp, Athens

A riot police officer throws a tear gas canister to protesters during a 
demonstration in Athens on Thursday. The Greek capital was suffocating 
under a barrage of tear gas as 5,000 protesters swamped riot police 
outside parliament, 12 days after the police killing of a teenager 
sparked riots. Photo: AFP
Athens police braced for more protests Friday after nearly two weeks of 
clashes, as the government faced growing pressure over its handling of 
the crisis sparked by the police killing of a teenager.

The offices of a French cultural institute in the city were targeted by 
masked youths even before the day's scheduled demonstrations involving 
trade unions as well as student groups.

Students planned a protest in a city suburb where another teenager, the 
son of a union leader, was wounded in a mysterious shooting incident on 
Wednesday night, and were to stage a concert at Athens University.

The main trade unions meanwhile organised separate rallies outside 
parliament against what they called an "anti-workers" budget up for vote 
on Sunday.

After Thursday's violence in Athens, which left city centre residents 
choking in tear gas, the main opposition Pasok socialist party again 
called for early elections, arguing that the government had lost control 
of the situation.

About 100 leading figures including academics, magistrates and 
economists launched a petition calling on the government and the 
political world as a whole to get a grip on the situation to 
re-establish confidence.

The press too expressed the growing concern in the country, with both 
the Socialist daily To Vima and the liberal Kathimerini critical of the 
government's inability to end the crisis.

Even the right-wing daily Eleftheros Typos wrote: "The majority of 
conservative deputies are calling for immediate changes, the time for a 
reshuffle has come."

Protests have rocked cities across Greece since the fatal shooting of 
15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos after he was stopped by two policemen, 
one of whom has been charged with homicide, on the night of December 6.






http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/More_protests_likely_in_Greece_today/articleshow/3862759.cms
More protests likely in Greece today
19 Dec 2008, 1615 hrs IST, AP

ATHENS, Greece: Greek police braced for more protests in Athens on 
Friday, a day after clashes between rock-throwing youths and riot police

firing teargas sent Christmas shoppers fleeing to safety.

The country's two largest umbrella trade union organizations planned an 
afternoon rally outside Parliament to protest the government's 2009 
budget, which lawmakers began debating late on Wednesday. University 
professors also planned a rally outside Parliament.

Separately, students planned a mass concert in central Athens in support 
of the ``uprising of youth'' and against ``state repression,'' according 
to an announcement issued by the student groups organizing the event.

For two weeks Greece has faced its worst civil unrest in decades, 
sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager on Dec. 6. The rage 
unleashed by the shooting has lifted the lid on years of dissatisfaction 
over social inequality, poor employment prospects for school leavers and 
graduates, and increasing anger with the conservative government and its 
economic policies.

The rally and the concert come a day after a demonstration by about 
7,000 high school and university students and teachers against police 
brutality turned violent. Around 200 youths wearing masks hurled petrol 
bombs and chunks of marble hammered from surrounding buildings at riot 
police, who responded with repeated volleys of acrid tear gas and stun 
grenades.

Mothers snatched children from a carousel in the main square. Waiters 
stumbled from cafes, choking on the tear gas fired by police as the 
rioters tried to burn the capital's Christmas tree, replaced just days 
after another tree was torched.

Athens police said eight people were arrested during Thursday's rioting, 
including two minors.

After two weeks of unrelenting rioting set off by the killing of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a slogan spray-painted outside the 
Bank of Greece summed up the mood as Greeks prepared for Christmas: 
``Merry crisis and a happy new fear.''

The two policemen involved in the teenager's shooting have been jailed 
pending trial. One has been charged with murder and the other as an 
accomplice.

The circumstances of the shooting are still disputed. The two policemen 
said one of them fired warning shots after they came under attack by a 
group of youths.

The police ballistics report on the bullet that killed Grigoropoulos 
indicates that the bullet had hit something else before hitting the boy 
in the chest. The policemen's defense lawyer, Alexis Cougias, has said 
the teenager was killed by a ricochet.





http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081219161157.67tux6tn&show_article=1
Protests pile pressure on Greek government

Dec 19 11:12 AM US/Eastern Comments (0)

High school students protest in front of their school in the...

Masked youths smashed up a French cultural institute in the Greek 
capital Friday, as students and trade unionists staged new protests 
nearly two weeks into a crisis sparked by the police killing of a teenager.
About 20 youths broke into the Institut Francais around midday Friday 
and overpowered the caretaker while they broke windows and threw a 
petrol bomb, police and diplomatic sources said.
But nobody was hurt in the attack, which lasted five minutes.
"Clearly, it was an organised attack," French ambassador Christophe 
Farnaud told journalists as he inspected the damage. But it was too 
early to speculate on who might be behind it, he added.
The Institut Francais is in the centre of the capital, near the site of 
the current unrest.
It was just the latest incident in nearly two weeks of violence across 
Greece triggered by the fatal shooting of a teenager by an Athens police 
officer on December 6.
Elsewhere in the capital however there was no sign of trouble at 
separate demonstrations organised Friday by students and trade unionists.
A few hundred union activists gathered peacefully outside parliament in 
Athens against what they called an "anti-workers" budget up for vote on 
Sunday. Large numbers of riot police and other officers kept watch on 
the demonstration.
A few hundred metres (yards) away more than 500 school and university 
students attended a concert in front of Athens University headquarters.
Earlier Friday, about 1,000 students and communist activists marched in 
a city suburb where another teenager, the son of a union leader, was 
wounded in a mysterious shooting incident on Wednesday night.
After rioting in Athens Thursday which left city centre residents 
choking in tear gas, the main opposition Pasok socialist party again 
called for early elections, arguing that the government had lost control 
of the situation.
About 100 leading figures including academics, magistrates and 
economists launched a petition calling on the government and the 
political world as a whole to get a grip on the situation to 
re-establish confidence.
The press too expressed the growing concern in the country, with both 
the Socialist daily To Vima and the liberal Kathimerini critical of the 
government's inability to end the crisis.
Even the right-wing daily Eleftheros Typos wrote: "The majority of 
conservative deputies are calling for immediate changes, the time for a 
reshuffle has come."
Athens police said they had arrested eight youths -- none of them school 
or university students -- after several hours of street battles with 
dozens of militants in the city centre Thursday.
They had broken off from an orderly left-wing demonstration of about 
5,000 to confront police officers. During the course of Thursday's 
clashes three cars, a Greek flag and tables and chairs from 
neighbourhood cafes were burned.
Police said that two of those they arrested were minors.
Student representatives said that school and universities have continued 
their occupations of several universities and 700 schools across the 
country. The education ministry put the figure at about a hundred 
establishments.
Protests have rocked cities across Greece since the fatal shooting of 
15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos on the night of December 6.
One of the two policemen arrested in the case faces homicide charges.






http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3889190,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-top-1022-rdf
Crime | 19.12.2008
More Violence in Athens as Protesters Attack French Institute

Gro?ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Protests in Athens have 
been both peaceful and violent
Athens braced Friday for further protest demonstrations as violence 
continued in the city with a fire bomb attack against a French language 
institute.

Eyewitnesses said around 20 masked protesters hurled Molotov cocktails 
at the institute in central Athens and then escaped down a narrow street.
The incident continued nearly two weeks of severe unrest which was 
triggered by the shooting death of a 15-year-old youth by police on 
Saturday, Dec. 6.
The attack on the language institute preceded scheduled demonstrations 
involving student groups and separate rallies by trade unions protesting 
against an "anti-workers" budget up for vote on Sunday.
The Greek government is facing increasing pressure over its handling of 
the unrest, with the main opposition Pasok socialist party calling once 
again for early elections. Pasok said the government under Prime 
Minister Costas Karamanlis has lost control of the situation.
Bildunterschrift: Gro?ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 
Student groups are protesting the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy
Greek media have also taken a critical stance against the government's 
handling of the unrest, with right-wing paper Eleftheros Typos writing: 
"The majority of conservative deputies are calling for immediate 
changes, the time for a reshuffle has come."
Demonstrations throughout Greece
Hundreds of demonstrators clashed Thursday, Dec. 18, with police in 
front of the Greek parliament in central Athens. Protesters hurled paint 
and riot police retaliating with tear gas.
The clashes came as 7,000 people marched in further anti-government 
protests in Athens and thousands more across Greece to protest the 
conservative government.
Rallies by unions, students and teachers also took place in the northern 
port city of Thessaloniki and on the southern island of Crete.
Hundreds of students continued to clash with police in side-streets 
throughout downtown Athens and around Athens University buildings, 
burning at least three cars, including a security van and trash containers.
Strikes galore
Bildunterschrift: Gro?ansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: 
Greece is experiencing widespread workers' strikes
The demonstrations accompanied strikes called by various unions.
All flights in and out of Athens International Airport were halted for 
several hours by a strike by air traffic controllers demanding a pay 
hike and greater job protection.
Airport employees were joined by civil service trade unions and students 
who held rallies in the city. Urban transport was also halted, while 
doctors and teachers walked off the job.






http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24822254-12335,00.html
Greek police warn of more protest riots in Athens
? Font Size: Decrease Increase
? Print Page: Print
December 19, 2008
Article from: Agence France-Presse
GREEK police are warning people to stay away from central Athens as 
thousands of students staged new protests over the police killing of a 
teenager.
Tensions were raised after the 16-year son of a Greek teacher's union 
official was wounded in a rifle attack on Wednesday night in an Athens 
suburb.

After almost two weeks of unrest and protests over the fatal police 
shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, police quickly denied any 
involvement in the new incident.

The youth was hit in the hand by a rifle bullet as he talked with other 
students in the street near his school in Peristeri, according to police.

The youth spent the night in hospital and underwent an operation 
yesterday, police said. The Greek government promised a detailed inquiry 
into the shooting.

The victim was the son of a leading official in the Greek Teachers 
Federation which backed the latest demonstrations in Athens.

About 3000 students and teachers gathered in Athens and with other 
rallies held in other cities, authorities took widespread precautions to 
avoid a repeat of the riots and looting of the past two weeks.

Police cleared streets around the centre of the capital and told 
residents not to venture out during the demonstrations. Hundreds of 
police were on duty.






http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1867643,00.html
Athens Protests Refuse to Subside
By Jeff Israely and Emmanouil Karatarakis / Athens Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008
The two young men with hoods pulled to their eyebrows and scarves around 
their mouths stood behind Syntagma Square, the main square of Athens not 
far from the Greek parliament. The violence had just been ratcheted up 
in the continuing protests that have rocked Greece since the fatal 
police shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, on Dec. 6. No one is 
certain yet why the riots continue to flare up. And, on Thursday, the 
two youths approached by TIME were not providing any clues either. Asked 
to explain why they were waging their violent campaign against the 
police the pair answered with a brusque "No." A third youth in black 
didn't even acknowledge the question. The three then dashed to 
Panepistimiou Avenue where their peers were camped out, hiding from 
police, waiting to make their next move.
The three had just emerged from a dramatic assault that had ended what 
seemed to be a period of relative quiet in the demonstrations. On 
Thursday, shortly before 3 p.m., a group of teenagers emerged from among 
a crowd of peaceful demonstrators led by teachers and hospital workers 
to put on scarves and pulled hoods over their heads. Ten minutes later, 
they penerated a group of students that had veered off from the 
7,000-person march, and, using that group as cover, rushed police 
officers blocking off the street next to parliament. As the students 
pounded large wooden flagpoles against the shields of the riot police, 
the anarchist youth started throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails at the 
cops, who responded with tear gas. At least one police officer was 
treated inside the halls of parliament, as the heart of government was 
turned into an impromptu medivac center. (See pictures of the Greek riots.)
Nearly two weeks after they began, the protests across Greece have not 
stopped. Noisy demonstrations continue almost daily in front of 
Parliament, youths stormed a local TV station in Athens, and protesters 
Wednesday unfurled banners over the walls of the Acropolis calling for 
"Resistance" across all of Europe. Black-hooded anarchists still storm 
banks and smash storefronts. For a couple of days, the intensity of the 
protests seemed to ebb but on Thursday, civil disobedience degenerated 
back into all-out civil disorder. With the "pop-pop" of launched tear 
gas canisters, Christmas shoppers and cafe customers who had finally 
returnd downtown were sent running for cover, while parents and 
grandparents yanked their kids off a winter carousel in Syntagma Square.
Though many of the demonstrators on Thursday said they oppose violent 
tactics, they continue to focus on what they call unwarranted police 
response to their protests. Lila, a 24-year-old speech therapist, says 
she would never hurl rocks at police, but says the authorities should 
not be occupying the streets. "Each individual is able to protect 
themselves," she said. She said the protests are not "just for the boy," 
but express the anger at the financial crisis and political corruption, 
and "will not end until the government falls." Lazaros Apekis, president 
of the Hellenic Federation of University Teachers, said the youth 
demonstrations are "a genuine social revolt." He said the target is "a 
political system that has sold out the public in favor of private 
interests."
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose center-right majority has a slim 
Parliamentary majority, has ignored calls for early elections. Political 
observers say a budget vote slated for the coming days could undo his 
coalition, though paradoxically the violence may help him hold onto 
power as allies do not want a government collapse during the unrest.
Ultimately, ordinary Greeks will make their political judgment based on 
both the outbreak of anarchist violence and the actions of the 
government. Thus far, apart from the still unclear circumstances of the 
Dec. 6 fatal shooting, the police have mostly taken defensive tactics. 
But the protests, which harken back to the anti-globalization mix of 
violence and civil disobedience of Seattle in 1999 and Genoa in 2001, 
don't appear to be ending any time soon. Protesters say the use of 
online social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have helped 
organize street demonstrations, as well as the more high-profile stunts, 
like the hanging of the two giant pink banners from the Acropolis 
calling on other Europeans to take part in the protests. So far, outside 
of Greece, other anti-globalization demonstrations in sympathy with the 
Athens protests have remained rather limited.






http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/city-protest-turns-violent-as-greek-unrest-continues-14113949.html?r=RSS
City protest turns violent as Greek unrest continues
Friday, 19 December 2008
Riot police launch tear gas grenades as riots erupt in the streets of 
central Athens yesterdayFrightened Christmas shoppers ran for cover as 
riot police clashed with rock-throwing demonstrators in central Athens 
yesterday.
The protesters broke away from a peaceful rally and hurled rocks and 
firebombs at police and buildings near parliament, overturned a car and 
set fire to rubbish bins.
Police responded with tear gas forcing families to abandon a carousel in 
the city's main Syntagma Square after happily going on rides all morning.
Firefighters and police also rushed to stop protesters from burning down 
the city's main Christmas tree, which was replaced earlier this week 
after the first was torched in riots.
The clashes were the latest outbreak of violence after the police shot 
dead 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos 12 days ago. Protests over the 
death and the increasing economic hardship in Greece have led to the 
worst rioting in decades.
Hundreds of businesses have been smashed, burned or looted and gangs of 
youths fought running battles with riot police firing tear gas every 
night for a week.
The riots have been fed by dissatisfaction with Greece's increasingly 
unpopular conservative government. Protests groups have issued a range 
of demands, from disarming police to greater income support for 
low-earning families.
Before the violence broke out, 7,000 students and other protesters 
marched in a rally, chanting ?We are the law, we'll stay on the streets.?
Earlier 1,000 demonstrators joined a Communist Party-backed peaceful 
march through Athens. Some 300 people were also marching in heavy rain 
in Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki in the north.
Major unions staged strikes to protest over the shooting and the 
conservative government's economic policies.
As part of the strikes, air traffic controllers walked off the job for 
three hours, forcing state Olympic Airlines to cancel 28 flights and 
reschedule another 14. State hospitals were operating with skeleton 
staff due to a 24-hour strike.
The government appealed for calm after another teenager was shot in the 
hand late last night. It was unclear who shot him.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/politics/riot-police-clash-with-protesters-in-athens-again_100132733.html
Riot police clash with protesters in Athens again
December 19th, 2008 - 12:55 pm ICT by IANS -
Athens, Dec 19 (DPA) Hundreds of demonstrators have clashed with the 
police in front of the Greek parliament in central Athens, with 
protesters hurling paint and riot police retaliating with teargas.The 
clashes Thursday came as 7,000 people marched in further anti-government 
protests in Athens and thousands more across Greece to protest against 
the conservative government?s reforms and the recent police shooting of 
a teenager.
Rallies by unions, students and teachers also took place in the northern 
port city of Thessaloniki and on the southern island of Crete.
The latest outbreak of violence between demonstrators and the police 
caused hundreds of frightened Christmas shoppers to run for cover and 
parents to grab screaming children from a Christmas carousel in the main 
square.
Retailers, many having recently repaired damage to shops after 13 days 
of riots, could be seen quickly pulling down their shutters and 
customers hurrying out.
Firefighters and riot police stopped a group of protesters from burning 
down Athens? main Christmas tree, which was replaced this week after the 
first was torched in last week?s riots.
Hundreds of students continued to clash with police on side-streets 
throughout downtown Athens and around Athens university buildings, 
burning at least three cars, including a security van and rubbish 
containers.
The demonstrations accompanied strikes called by various unions.
All flights in and out of Athens? International Airport were halted for 
several hours by a strike by air traffic controllers demanding a pay 
rise and greater job protection.
Airport employees were joined by civil service trade unions and students 
who held rallies in Athens. Urban transport was halted while doctors and 
teachers walked off the job.
The strike follows days of riots throughout Greece sparked by the 
shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by police Dec 6. The 
policemen accused of the shooting have been detained and charged with 
manslaughter.
Over 100 people were injured and about 400 were detained during the 
protests while hundreds of shops and banks have been fire-bombed, 
vandalised and looted.
Athens mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis appealed for protesters to suspend 
demonstrations over the Christmas period in order to allow retailers to 
make up some of their losses which are estimated to exceed 500 million 
euros.
Adding to tensions, reports said another teenager was injured in a 
shooting Thursday.
The details of the shooting were not immediately clear but the boy was 
being treated in an Athens hospital and was out of danger.
Police spokesperson Panagiotis Stathis said officers were not involved 
but would investigate to see who was responsible.
Students have called for solidarity rallies across Europe.
On Wednesday, protesters hung two giant banners from the ancient 
Acropolis with the words ?resistance? in five languages.
Across the country students boycotted classes at hundreds of secondary 
schools and universities, saying they were under occupation.
Greek spokesperson Evangelos Andonaros said the recent rioting has 
ruined Greece?s image overseas.
The unrest has shaken the conservative government, which has a one-seat 
majority and trails in opinion polls. Conservative Prime Minister Costas 
Karamanlis has rejected calls to step down, despite growing public pressure.
The country?s worst riots in decades are likely to affect a number of 
economic, education and pension reforms introduced by the government as 
trade unions step up their challenge to stop them.
Earlier this week Karamanlis acknowledged some of the problems that had 
fuelled the anger of young people.
In a speech to parliamentary colleagues Tuesday, he said: 
?Long-unresolved problems, such as corruption in everyday life and a 
sense of social injustice disappoint young people.?






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/12/15/international/i070030S33.DTL
Shoppers flee as police, youths clash in Athens
By ELENA BECATOROS and DEREK GATOPOULOS, Associated Press Writers
Thursday, December 18, 2008

(12-18) 13:31 PST ATHENS, Greece (AP) --
Masked youths set up burning barricades and threw fire bombs and chunks 
of marble at riot police Thursday, after a protest march erupted into 
new fighting that sent Christmas shoppers and panicked parents fleeing 
to safety.
Mothers snatched children from a carousel in the main square. Waiters 
stumbled from cafes choking on tear gas fired by police at rioters 
trying to burn the capital's Christmas tree, replaced just days ago 
after another tree was torched.
After two weeks of unrelenting rioting set off by the fatal police 
shooting of a teenager, a slogan spray-painted outside the Bank of 
Greece summed up the mood as Greeks prepared for Christmas: "Merry 
crisis and a happy new fear."
But protesters' call for European-wide demonstrations of support ? urged 
in banners defiantly unfurled from the ancient Acropolis on Wednesday ? 
met with no apparent response.
Thursday's clashes broke out in front of Parliament at Syntagma Square 
during a demonstration against police brutality. The Dec. 6 death of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos unleashed rage that has fed off 
widespread dissatisfaction with economic hardship, social inequality and 
the unpopular conservative government's policies.
About 200 youths wearing masks put up burning barricades in the streets 
of the Kolonaki district, throwing gasoline bombs and hammering chunks 
of marble and concrete off buildings to hurl. Police answered with 
volleys of tear gas and stun grenades.
As the fighting escalated, frightened parents hurried their children 
away from the carousel in Syntagma Square. Riot police formed a line at 
the replacement Christmas tree and fired tear gas to drive off youths 
trying to set it ablaze.
Businessmen and shoppers ran for cover on Voukourestiou Street, while 
motorscooter and motorcycle drivers on a nearby road screeched to a 
halt, blinded by the tear gas.
Athenians, some angry but many stoically resigned to the fighting, 
picked their way past burning barricades and rocks scattered on the 
streets, carrying home groceries and Christmas presents. Many residents 
and shop owners in the city center now carry surgical or gas masks for 
protection against tear gas.
Police said they made at least three arrests as violence persisted past 
sundown then tailed off. They did not immediately have any information 
on injuries.
Since the rioting began, hundreds of businesses have been smashed, 
burned or looted in cities across Greece.
Shop owners say they are having trouble making ends meet because of 
daily demonstrations and road closures and because many customers are 
afraid to venture into the city center.
"Who am I supposed to complain to?" thundered Spyros Papaspyrou, owner 
of a shoe shop where windows were smashed last week. "Who's going to pay 
all these bills? I'm taking in euro200 ($290) a day. Do they want me to 
stand outside my shop with a shotgun? I can't understand why they can't 
arrest 80 people in the center of Athens."
His anger was aimed both at the rioters for the destruction they have 
wrought and at the government and police for failing to prevent the damage.
"Honestly, I don't know (who to blame)," he said. "Christmas has been 
lost in the center of Athens."
Earlier Thursday, some 7,000 students, teachers and other protesters 
marched through the city chanting: "We are the law! We'll stay on the 
streets!"
One man threw out fliers with the anarchist symbol ? a capital A in a 
circle ? and the slogan: "The road to normality is closed ... due to the 
uprising."
The clashes have left many Athenians fearful and jumpy. Many people 
appeared to blame the riot police for bringing trouble to their 
neighborhood.
"Murderers! Cops are murderers!" screamed one middle-aged woman in 
Kolonaki minutes before riot police fired tear gas at youths who had 
dragged furniture out of a cafe and set it on fire as a barricade.
An elderly balloon seller in Syntagma Square, who would only give his 
name as Yiannis, said he hadn't sold any of his heart-shaped balloons 
because of the violence.
"I can't believe what's happening," he said. "When the protesters come 
by, I sometimes get really scared. I don't know why the police aren't 
doing anything."
Major labor unions staged work stoppages Thursday to protest the 
teenager's shooting and the government's economic policies. Air traffic 
controllers walked off the job for three hours, forcing Olympic Airlines 
to cancel 28 flights and reschedule 14 others. State hospitals operated 
with skeleton staff in a 24-hour strike.
___
Associated Press writers Nicholas Paphitis in Athens and Costas 
Kantouris in Thessaloniki contributed to this report.






http://www.euronews.net/2008/12/18/more-strikes-more-protests-in-greece/
Greece
More strikes, more protests in Greece 18/12/08 07:52 CET
Social order continues to unravel in Greece as anger at the shooting of 
a teenage boy by police earlier this month has sparked wider outrage 
over the government?s economic reforms. Trade unions have taken to the 
streets as the government plans more austerity measures in the face of 
the global downturn. Meanwhile, protestors hung banners from the 
Acropolis and called for demonstrations across Europe. ?Resistance? read 
one in Greek, English, German and Spanish.
The civil unrest has triggered sympathy protests in other countries, and 
European leaders fear the disruption may spread further as the financial 
crisis bites and unemployment rises. A group calling themselves 
?Students Against the System? clashed with police outside the capital?s 
courthouse as they waited for the ballistics report into the killing of 
Alexandros Grigoropoulos. The officer accused of firing the fatal shot 
has been charged with murder and jailed pending trial; his partner has 
been charged as an accomplice.






http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/New_protests_in_Greece_over_teenagers_shooting_/rssarticleshow/3858873.cms
New protests in Greece over teenager's shooting
18 Dec 2008, 2326 hrs IST, AP

ATHENS: Thousands of protesters demonstrated in Greece's main cities on 
Thursday against the police killing of a teenager, while a major labour

Riot police start firing tear gas at protesters trying to break their 
line during riots at a demonstration in Athens, Greece. (AP Photo)
More Pictures

union staged work stoppages to protest the shooting and the conservative 
government's economic policies.

In central Athens, fearful shop owners shuttered their store fronts as 
more than 7,000 students and other protesters marched peacefully, 
chanting slogans. Some demonstrators painted white crime-scene-style 
body outlines on the streets.

Riot police kept a low-key presence, and a Christmas carousel on central 
Syntagma Square was full of children even as the marchers drew close. 
Earlier, some 1,000 demonstrators joined a Communist Party-backed 
peaceful march through town.

The death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on December 6 shocked 
Greece and led to days of the worst rioting the country has seen in 
decades. Hundreds of businesses were smashed, burned or looted and gangs 
of youths fought running battles with riot police firing tear gas every 
night for a week.

The riots were fed by dissatisfaction with the increasingly unpopular 
conservative government and widespread anger over social inequality and 
economic hardship.

"The government has no solution for this problem and we will keep 
demonstrating until our demands are heard," said Petros Constantinou, 
one of the protest organisers.

"We want to see a signal that (the government) is changing course."

Protests groups have issued various demands, from the disarming of 
police to greater income support for low-earning families.






http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/18/greece-athens-protests
Athens shoppers take cover as protesters throw firebombs at police
Violence flares in Greece on 13th day of anti-government demonstrations 
since police shot dead a teenager
? Mark Tran and agencies
? guardian.co.uk, Thursday 18 December 2008 15.20 GMT

Protesters throw stones at riot police in central Athens Photograph: 
Thanassis Stavrakis/AP
Greek protesters threw firebombs and stones at police in central Athens 
today, sending Christmas shoppers scurrying for cover on the 13th day of 
anti-government demonstrations since police shot dead a teenager.
The rioters broke away from a peaceful rally and clashed with police 
near parliament. The police responded with tear gas in the latest 
outbreak of violence over the killing of 15-year-old Alexandros 
Grigoropoulos. His death unleashed pent-up frustration at the 
conservative government's economic policies and allegations of 
corruption at the highest levels.
"Down with the government of blood, poverty and privatisations," read 
one of the banners carried by some 7,000 marchers. Rallies by unions, 
students and teachers also took place in the northern city of Salonika 
and on the island of Crete.
"We are not finished just because it's Christmas. We will continue and 
intensify our struggle in the next year," Stathis Anestis, a spokesman 
for the GSEE private sector union federation, told Reuters.
As unrest broke out again on the streets, a three-hour stoppage by 
public workers at the airport in Athens halted all but emergency 
flights. Urban transport services were frozen while doctors and teachers 
walked off the job, reviving memories of last week's 24-hour national 
strike.
Compounding the tensions, police said a 16-year-old had been shot in the 
hand by an unidentified gunman in Athens late last night.
"Not only policemen carry guns," a police spokesman, Panagiotis Stathis, 
said, strongly denying any officers were involved. "There were no 
policemen there because there was no reason. We are now conducting an 
investigation to see who was responsible."
With more protests planned for tomorrow, an opinion poll published today 
by the leftwing Avgi newspaper, conducted after the start of the riots, 
showed the opposition Pan-Hellenic Socialist party, Pasok, holding a 
6.5% lead over the ruling New Democracy party.
The policeman who shot Grigoropoulos has been charged with murder and 
jailed pending trial, while his partner was charged as an accomplice. He 
said he fired a warning shot in self-defence against a group of youths 
but the family's lawyer said he aimed to kill without significant 
provocation.






http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-12/2008-12-18-voa46.cfm?CFID=164562074&CFTOKEN=80909033&jsessionid=8830f93025655ecbb9ae7a795f3f624c2a3d
Greek Protesters, Police Clash for 13th Day
By VOA News
18 December 2008
Greek riot police have formed a cordon around parliament, in a face-off 
with thousands of people protesting the death of a teenager from police 
gunfire.

About 7,000 protesters marched Thursday through central Athens, marking 
the 13th day of protests triggered by the shooting of a 15-year-old boy.

Flames engulf a policeman from a petrol bomb thrown by rioters outside 
parliament in Athens, 18 Dec 2008
Hundreds later broke off from the rally and began hurling rocks and 
firebombs at police, who quickly retaliated with tear gas to disperse 
the crowd.

Other demonstrators set fire to trash cans, cars and attempted to burn 
down the city's Christmas tree.

About 300 protesters also marched through the northern city of Salonika.

Earlier in the day, labor unions and teachers staged work stoppages to 
express their growing dissatisfaction with the social and economic 
reforms of the government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.

Police said a 16-year-old was shot in the hand late Wednesday, but said 
they were not in the area at the time of the incident and do not know 
who fired the bullet.

Retailers have reported more than a billion dollars in damage and lost 
sales in the violence.

Authorities said rioting triggered by the shooting death is the worst in 
the country in decades.

Greek media have described the protesters as self-styled anarchists and 
youth belonging to far-left militant groups.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/19/2450716.htm
Protesters battle Greek police
Posted Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:09am AEDT
Greek marchers hurled firebombs and stones at police outside Parliament 
in Athens overnight while unions grounded flights and shut down public 
offices in a 13th day of anti-government protests since police shot dead 
a teenager.
Youths waving red flags scuffled with riot police, who formed a cordon 
around Parliament, and tried to burn down a Christmas tree in the square 
outside.
Police fired teargas to disperse the crowd.
"Topple the Government of blood, poverty, privatisations," read one 
banner among the 7,000 marchers, who denounced education and pension 
reforms and the conservative Government's failure to shelter Greeks from 
the global economic crisis.
Retailers pulled down their shutters and Christmas shoppers fled from 
the streets.
Rallies by unions, students and teachers also took place in the northern 
city of Thessaloniki, the central town of Lamia and on the island of Crete.
"We are not finished just because it's Christmas. We will continue and 
intensify our struggle over the next year," Stathis Anestis, spokesman 
for the GSEE private sector union federation, which took part in the 
rallies, said.
A three-hour work stoppage by public workers halted all but emergency 
flights.
Urban transport services were frozen while doctors and teachers walked 
off the job, reviving memories of last week's 24-hour national strike.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, under fire for his hands off 
reaction to the riots, announced measures to boost flagging tourism, one 
of the main reasons for a slowing economy.
"We are determined to do everything possible so that all we have 
achieved through sacrifices is not wasted," he said, announcing tax 
breaks and incentives for the tourism sector.
- Reuters






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/18/greece.protests/index.html?eref=edition_europe
December 18, 2008 -- Updated 1918 GMT (0318 HKT)

Fiery protests near Greek parliament
? Story Highlights
? Thousands of protesters throw petrol bombs near country's parliament 
building
? Riot police prevent protesters from getting close to parliament
? Street protests sparked by December 6 police killing of 15-year-old boy
? Police have alleged that the boy was about to throw a fuel-filled 
device at them

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Thousands of protesters crowded the streets near 
the country's parliament building Thursday, hurling petrol bombs as rows 
of police kept them at bay.

A protester wearing a gas mask throws a small rock at riot police 
outside the Greek Parliament.

Thursday's demonstrations were another surge in the ongoing street 
protests that were sparked by the December 6 police killing of Alexis 
Grigoropolous, a 15-year-old boy in Athens.
Daily protests, including riots, have thrown the country into turmoil 
and have become an outlet for simmering anger about the conservative 
government's handling of the economy, education and jobs.
Thursday's protesters were prevented from getting close to the 
parliament building by a massive line of police who cordoned off the 
building and shut down adjacent streets.
Some of the protesters threw paint bombs at the rows of police.
Protesters also marched in front of Athens University's historical 
downtown building, located off the university's main campus. There, 
police used tear gas to control the crowds.
On Tuesday, dozens of protesters stormed into state television station 
ERT and interrupted regular programming, taking control of the master 
control room and unfurling a black banner that read, "Do not watch 
television. Everyone out on the streets."
Several went into the office of ERT's president to complain about the 
network's coverage of the demonstrations.
The escapade occurred despite beefed up security at the network in 
anticipation of such a move.

The unrest is threatening the government's hold on power, with some 
opposition groups calling for fresh elections. Stores and international 
businesses have been attacked, and at least 280 people have been 
detained by police. Of that total, 176 were arrested, 130 of them for 
looting.
Of the two officers involved in the teen's shooting, one is charged with 
premeditated manslaughter and the other with acting as an accomplice.
http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2008/12/18/nb-07
More student protests, strikes planned in Greece
18/12/2008
ATHENS, Greece ??? Clashes broke out again Thursday (December 18th) in 
Athens as students demanded justice for the killing of 15-year-old 
Alexandros Grigoropoulos, whom a police officer shot dead on December 
6th. Around 10,000 demonstrators converged on parliament. Protesters 
threw fire bombs at riot police, who responded with tear gas.
About 600 schools and universities across the country remain occupied 
since the December 6th incident. On Wednesday, youths occupying the 
Athens Polytechnic set fire to a newspaper kiosk, police said. In the 
northwestern city of Ioannina, about 50 youths took over town hall for 
several hours.
Greek trade unions joined massive student protests by calling strikes 
and demonstrations Thursday and Friday to protest the government's 
economic policy and the provisions of the 2009 state budget. All flights 
from Athens were halted for hours Thursday as air traffic controllers 
went on strike.(Kathimerini, AFP, BBC, Euronews - 18/12/08; ANA-MPA, 
SKAI - 17/12/08)






http://www.tiscali.co.uk/news/newswire.php/news/reuters/2008/12/18/world/protesters-battle-greek-police.html&template=/world/feeds/story-template-reuters.html
Protesters battle Greek police

18/12/2008 23:32

By Dina Kyriakidou and Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek marchers hurled firebombs and stones at police 
outside parliament on Thursday while unions grounded flights and shut 
down public offices in a 13th day of anti-government protests since 
police shot dead a teenager.
Youths waving red flags scuffled with riot police, who formed a cordon 
around parliament, and tried to burn down a Christmas tree in the square 
outside. Police fired teargas to disperse the crowd.
"Topple the government of blood, poverty, privatisations," read one 
banner among the 7,000 marchers, who denounced education and pension 
reforms and the conservative government's failure to shelter Greeks from 
the global economic crisis.
Retailers pulled down their shutters and Christmas shoppers fled from 
the streets. Rallies.....continued below
by unions, students and teachers also took place in the northern city of 
Thessaloniki, the central town of Lamia and on the island of Crete.
"We are not finished just because it's Christmas. We will continue and 
intensify our struggle over the next year," said Stathis Anestis, 
spokesman for the GSEE private sector union federation which took part 
in the rallies.
A 3-hour work stoppage by public workers halted all but emergency 
flights between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. British time. Urban transport 
services were frozen while doctors and teachers walked off the job, 
reviving memories of last week's 24-hour national strike.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, under fire for his hands off 
reaction to the riots, announced measures to boost flagging tourism, one 
of the main reasons for a slowing economy.
"We are determined to do everything possible so that all we have 
achieved through sacrifices is not wasted," he said, announcing tax 
breaks and incentives for the tourism sector.
MORE CLASHES
Greece's worst disturbances in decades, triggered by the December 6 
slaying of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, have fed off anger at 
youth unemployment and the economic slowdown.
They caused hundreds of millions of euros in damage in Athens and have 
shaken a government with a fragile one-seat majority in parliament. The 
demonstrations also sparked smaller sympathy protests from Moscow to Madrid.
On Thursday, hundreds of students clashed with police outside Athens 
university buildings, burning three cars and rubbish containers, while 
one group set fire to a security van.
The policeman who shot dead Grigoropoulos has been charged with murder 
and jailed pending trial, while his partner was charged as an 
accomplice. The officer said he fired a warning shot in self-defence 
against a group of youths.
A ballistic report said on Thursday the bullet ricocheted before killing 
the teenager but further investigation was needed to decide whether the 
policeman aimed or fired in the air.
"The prosecutor ordered a more detailed investigation to determine the 
course of the bullet," said a court official who requested anonymity.
The protests have driven Greek bond spreads -- a measure of perceived 
risk -- to record levels above German benchmark bonds. Ministers say the 
unrest has tarnished Greece's image overseas, which had been boosted by 
the successful 2004 Athens Olympics.






http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24822254-12335,00.html
Greek police warn of more protest riots in Athens
? Font Size: Decrease Increase
? Print Page: Print
December 19, 2008
Article from: Agence France-Presse
GREEK police are warning people to stay away from central Athens as 
thousands of students staged new protests over the police killing of a 
teenager.
Tensions were raised after the 16-year son of a Greek teacher's union 
official was wounded in a rifle attack on Wednesday night in an Athens 
suburb.

After almost two weeks of unrest and protests over the fatal police 
shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, police quickly denied any 
involvement in the new incident.

The youth was hit in the hand by a rifle bullet as he talked with other 
students in the street near his school in Peristeri, according to police.

The youth spent the night in hospital and underwent an operation 
yesterday, police said. The Greek government promised a detailed inquiry 
into the shooting.

The victim was the son of a leading official in the Greek Teachers 
Federation which backed the latest demonstrations in Athens.

About 3000 students and teachers gathered in Athens and with other 
rallies held in other cities, authorities took widespread precautions to 
avoid a repeat of the riots and looting of the past two weeks.

Police cleared streets around the centre of the capital and told 
residents not to venture out during the demonstrations. Hundreds of 
police were on duty.






http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/1393300.htm
New protests rock Greece
Greek police warned people to stay away from central Athens on Thursday 
as thousands of students staged new protests over the police killing of 
a teenager.
Tensions were raised after the 16-year son of a Greek teacher's union 
official was wounded in a rifle attack on Wednesday night in an Athens 
suburb.
After almost two weeks of unrest and protests over the fatal police 
shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, police quickly denied any 
involvement in the new incident.
The youth was hit in the hand by a rifle bullet as he talked with other 
students in the street near his school in Peristeri, according to police.
The youth spent the night in hospital and underwent an operation on 
Thursday, police said. The Greek government promised a detailed inquiry 
into the shooting.
The victim was the son of a leading official in the Greek Teachers 
Federation which backed the latest demonstrations in Athens.
About 3000 students and teachers gathered in Athens and with other 
rallies held in other cities, authorities took widespread precautions to 
avoid a repeat of the riots and looting of the past two weeks.
Police cleared streets around the centre of the capital and told 
residents not to venture out during the demonstrations. Hundreds of 
police were on duty.
One rally, called by the Greek Communist Party (KKK) started in Omonia 
square and went to the Greek parliament without incident.
The main rally by students and teachers was in front of Athens 
University and was also to head to parliament, the scene of many of the 
protests over the death of Grigoropoulos.
Banners at the rally read "Mourning Is Not Enough, The Struggle Goes on".
Planned strikes and protests organised by a public employees' union over 
the Greek budget and anti-racism demonstrations were expected to add to 
the turmoil.
Rallies were also held in the second city of Thessaloniki and planned in 
Patras in the south and Preveza in the west.
Protest organisers called for demonstrations across Europe in 
solidarity. About 50 activists hung banners along the Acropolis monument 
on Wednesday.
One banner called for demonstrations across Europe and a second 
proclaimed "Resistance" in several languages.
Students claim some 600 schools and universities are occupied throughout 
the country. The education ministry says the figure is closer to 100.
A ballistics report on the death of Grigoropoulos was handed over to an 
investigating judge on Thursday, a court source said.
The judge has summoned lawyers for the police officer charged over the 
killing and the victim's family to inform them of the report's 
conclusions, the source said.
Preliminary conclusions by medical examiners and experts working for the 
victim's family indicated that a bullet ricocheted and hit the teenager.
Damage to the bullet showed that it had touched a hard surface before 
hitting Grigoropoulos in the chest, judicial sources and the police 
officer's lawyer said.
The officer, Epaminondas Korkoneas (37), says he was trying to defend 
himself from youths and killed the boy by accident when he fired three 
shots.
His partner, Vassilios Saraliotis (31), was charged with being an 
accomplice.
AFP






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7789215.stm
Thursday, 18 December 2008
New clashes break out in Greece
Violence broke out after thousands of people gathered in Athens
Renewed clashes have broken out between protesters and police in Greece, 
in continuing unrest over the killing of a teenaged boy by police.
Demonstrators charged at riot police outside parliament, throwing fire 
bombs. Police responded with volleys of tear gas.
Twelve days after the police shooting, anger has combined with 
discontent in other parts of Greek society.
Protesters want the government to change social and economic policies.
Air traffic controllers are the latest public sector workers to go on 
strike.
An estimated 10,000 people joined a demonstration in Athens on Thursday 
that congregated outside a university and marched towards parliament, in 
anger at the shooting of a 15-year-old boy by a policeman on 6 December.
Banners castigated the government, which protesters accuse of failing 
the Greek people.
"Down with the government of blood, poverty and privatisations," one 
banner read, Reuters news agency reported.
The new violence erupted in the central square, site of the Greek 
parliament, as protesters threw petrol bombs at the building and 
attempted to burn down Athens' main Christmas tree.
The tree has already been replaced once after being torched during 
previous protests.
Some 70 people have been injured and about 400 have been detained during 
the protests. Hundreds of shops and banks have been vandalised and looted.
The policeman accused of shooting Alexandros Grigoropoulos, aged 15, has 
been charged with murder.
Solidarity rallies

Some people were caught up in the protests as they shopped
Meanwhile all flights to and from Athens airport were halted for several 
hours on Thursday as air traffic controllers protested against 
government policies and demanded a pay rise.
It is part of an industrial action organised by the civil service trade 
union, ADEDY.
On Wednesday, protesters hung huge banners on the Acropolis, the ancient 
site that dominates Athens, calling for "resistance".
Conservative Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has rejected calls to step 
down, despite growing public pressure.
But earlier this week he acknowledged some of the problems that had 
fuelled the anger of young people.
In a speech to parliamentary colleagues on Tuesday, he said 
"long-unresolved problems, such as the lack of meritocracy, corruption 
in everyday life and a sense of social injustice disappoint young people".






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/18/2450695.htm
Athens on new protest alert
Posted Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:03pm AEDT
Greek police have warned people to stay away from central Athens as 
students prepare new protests over the police killing of a teenager.
Tensions were raised after the 16-year-old son of a Greek teacher's 
union official was hit in an air rifle attack on Wednesday night (local 
time) in an Athens suburb.
The youth was only lightly injured in the hand but after almost two 
weeks of unrest and protests after the fatal police shooting of 
15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, police quickly denied any involvement 
in the new incident.
The youth was hit in the hand as he talked with other students in the 
street in Peristeri, according to police.
Greek students planned new marches in Athens and several other cities 
and authorities took widespread precautions to avoid a repeat of some of 
the riots and looting of the past two weeks.
Police cleared streets around the centre of the capital and told 
residents not to venture out during the demonstrations.
Two youth protests have been called. One was to start in front of Athens 
University and the other in Omonia Square.
Both were to advance toward the Greek parliament, which has been the 
scene of many of the protests over the death of Grigoropoulos.
Two Greek trade unions, including a teachers union, said they support 
the student protests.
Planned strikes and protests organised by a public employees' union over 
the Greek budget and anti-racism demonstrations were expected to add to 
the turmoil.
Rallies were also planned in the second city of Thessaloniki, Patras in 
the south and Preveza in the west.
Protest organisers called for demonstrations across Europe in 
solidarity. About 50 activists hung banners along the Acropolis monument 
on Wednesday.
One banner called for demonstrations across Europe and a second 
proclaimed "Resistance" in several languages.
Students claim some 600 schools and universities are occupied throughout 
the country. The education ministry says the figure is closer to 100.
- AFP






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=99928
Acropolis Banner Urges Europe - Wide Protests
World | December 18, 2008, Thursday

Two banners reading "Resistance" in four languages and "Thursday 18/12 
demonstration in all Europe" hanging from the Parthenon on Acropolis 
hill in Athens. Photo by BGNES
Greek protesters have hung huge banners on the Acropolis in Athens, 
calling for Europe-wide rallies, after more than a week of violent 
clashes between demonstrators and police.

"Resistance" was written in four languages on one banner hung at the 
ancient site, which reopened to the public on Tuesday when Greek culture 
ministry staff ended a strike over pay that had lasted for 10 days.

Meanwhile youth protests sparked by the fatal police shooting of a 
teenager continue in Greece with hundreds of shops and banks vandalised 
and some 70 people injured in the wave of riots.

As the protests have become more political Conservative Prime Minister 
Costas Karamanlis rejected calls to step down.

The shooting of the boy was the catalyst for the violence, but it comes 
along with plummeting popularity of the government, accused of failing 
to cope with harsh social problems.






http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/12/18/signs_of_protest_hung_at_greek_acropolis/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+World+news
Signs of protest hung at Greek Acropolis
Youths call for European support
Demonstrators held banners in front of the Parthenon yesterday in 
Athens, with the word ''Resistance'' in four languages. The other sign 
called for demonstrations today, when students plan marches to protest a 
15-year-old's death in a police shooting. (Yiorgos Karahalis/ Reuters)
By Elena Becatoros
Associated Press / December 18, 2008

ATHENS - Protesters hung giant banners off the Acropolis yesterday 
calling for mass demonstrations across Europe, heaping embarrassment on 
a government reeling from Greece's worst riots in decades sparked by the 
police shooting of a teenager.
Two pink banners were unfurled over the walls of the ancient citadel 
that towers above central Athens and could be seen from miles away. One 
bore the word "Resistance" in large black letters in Greek, English, 
Spanish, and German.
The other called for demonstrations throughout the continent today, when 
students plan major marches in Athens and Greece's second-largest city, 
Thessaloniki, to protest the death of 15-year-old Alexandros 
Grigoropoulos, killed in a police shooting on Dec. 6.
The government was furious at the use of Greece's most famous monument.
"There can be no justification for this action," spokesman Evangelos 
Antonaros said. "This hurts the image of our country abroad. . . . It is 
unacceptable."
Although sparked by the youth's death, the riots were fed by 
dissatisfaction with the increasingly unpopular conservative government 
and widespread anger over social inequality and economic hardship.
The violence spread quickly across the country with masked and hooded 
youths fighting with riot police night after night. The violence left 
hundreds of shops and bank branches smashed, burned, and looted, and 
dozens of cars torched. Retailers say the damage will cost them $2 
billion in lost income.
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has rejected opposition calls for early 
elections, saying the country needs a steady hand to deal with the 
international financial crisis.
There has been concern that the unrest could spill over Greece's 
borders, with shows of support in several European countries, including 
Spain, France, and Germany. German police say a solidarity protest is 
planned for today in Berlin and is expected to be attended by about 500 
people.
After more than a week of violence, Greece's mainly young protesters 
have begun changing tactics to attention-grabbing stunts.
The banners were displayed the day after a group of youths forced their 
way into Greece's state television studios, disrupting a news broadcast 
of a speech by Karamanlis.
The youths appeared live on national television behind black banners 
that read: "Stop watching, get out onto the streets" and "Free everyone 
who has been arrested." In Thessaloniki, protesters broke into three 
local radio stations, agreeing to leave only after a protest message was 
read on the air.
More than 300 people have been arrested since the riots started, and the 
main courthouse in Athens has been the scene of tense confrontations 
between riot police and angry students demanding the release of those 
detained during the unrest.






http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28274512/
Christmas shoppers flee amid clashes in Athens
Anti-government rioters try to burn down Greek capital's main holiday tree

Simela Pantzartzi / EPA
Riot police try to protect the Christmas tree in Athens' Syntagma Square 
during clashes with protesters on Thursday.
Slideshow

Violence flares in Greece
Almost two weeks after police killed a teen in Athens, unrest is still 
plaguing Greece.

updated 12:25 p.m. ET Dec. 18, 2008
ATHENS, Greece - Riot police clashed with rock-throwing demonstrators in 
central Athens on Thursday, sending Christmas shoppers and people in 
cafes running for cover. Frightened parents scooped up their children 
from a Christmas carousel in the city's main square and fled.
The protesters broke away from a peaceful rally and hurled rocks and 
firebombs at police and buildings near parliament, overturned a car and 
set fire to trash bins. They also splashed police with red paint.

Police responded with tear gas.
Firefighters and police also stopped an effort Thursday to burn down the 
city's main Christmas tree, which was replaced this week after being 
torched in riots.
Latest outbreak of violence
Thursday's clashes were the latest outbreak of violence over the fatal 
police shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Dec. 6. The 
riots have also been fueled by dissatisfaction with Greece's 
increasingly unpopular conservative government.
More than 200 youths took part in running battles with police Thursday 
in Athens. They also set fire to a private security van and set up a 
burning barricade after smashing a cafe storefront, and dragging out and 
setting fire to its furniture. Downtown streets were littered with 
smashed paving stones and marble blocks.
Before the violence broke out, some 7,000 students and other protesters 
marched in a rally, chanting "We are the law, we'll stay on the 
streets." As they passed, fearful business owners shuttered their shops. 
Some demonstrators painted white crime-scene-style body outlines on the 
streets.
Earlier in the day, some 1,000 demonstrators joined a peaceful Communist 
Party-backed march through the city. Some 300 people also marched in 
Greece's second largest city of Thessaloniki.
Labor protests
While sporadic rallies have been held in Europe in support of the Greek 
protesters, none were reported Thursday.
Major labor unions staged work stoppages Thursday to protest the 
teenager's shooting and the conservative government's economic policies.
Air traffic controllers walked off the job for three hours, forcing 
state Olympic Airlines to cancel 28 flights and reschedule another 14. 
State hospitals were operating with skeleton staff in a 24-hour strike.
The government appealed for calm after another teenager was shot in the 
hand late Wednesday near his school. It was unclear who shot him.
Police spokesman Panayiotis Stathis said no officers were in the area at 
the time of the attack, and Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos 
promised a thorough investigation. The boy underwent surgery Thursday.
The policeman who shot Grigoropoulos has been charged with murder and 
jailed pending trial, while his partner was charged as an accomplice. He 
said he fired a warning shot in self-defense against a group of youths 
but the family's lawyer said he aimed to kill without significant 
provocation.
http://hnn.us/roundup/entries/58385.html
Greek protesters unveil banner on Acropolis
Source: Telegraph (UK) (12-17-08)
Greece's most famous ancient monument, the Acropolis, became the latest 
stage for the country's deep political crisis on Wednesday when 
protesters draped it with banners calling for anti-government 
demonstrations across Europe.
On the twelfth day of unrest since a police officer's fatal shooting of 
a schoolboy triggered riots and arson, protesters unfurled two large 
pink banners from the stone walls of the ancient hilltop citadel, which 
looms over Athens.
"Thursday 18/12 demonstrations in all Europe," one banner read in Greek, 
English, Italian and German, while the other simply bore the word: 
"Resistance".






http://story.torontotelegraph.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/2411cd3571b4f088/id/443449/cs/1/
Greek protesters urge Europe to demonstrate
Toronto Telegraph
Wednesday 17th December, 2008
Greek protesters have hung two giant banners from the Acropolis in 
Athens, with slogans calling for demonstrations across Europe.

One multilingual banner bore the word 'resistance' in several European 
languages.

The other called for demonstrations across the continent.

Many protests have already taken place in Athens and the northern city 
of Salonika to protest the December 6th police shooting of an Athens 
teenager.

Authorities say rioting triggered by the death is the worst in the 
country in decades.

Retailers have reported more than a billion dollars in damage as gangs 
of protesters looted and burned hundreds of business premises over the 
last twelve days of violence.





http://www.ana-mpa.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=7142257&maindocimg=7141968&service=142

Political reactions to youth protest on Acropolis
The government and main opposition PASOK on Wednesday both criticised 
the latest forms of protest adopted by young people. They were 
particularly critical of a group that hung two huge banners from the 
side of the Athens Acropolis, one with the word 'Resistance' in four 
languages and a second urging participation in European-wide 
demonstrations on Thursday.
According to government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros this move was 
"completely unjustifiable" and unacceptable, "in the sense that it 
besmirches the country's image abroad".
Regarding the protestors that broke into the ERT state television 
studios on Tuesday during a live news broadcast, Antonaros said the 
incident was being investigated. He also questioned the failure of the 
opposition parties, especially PASOK, to condemn "actions like these 
that are dangerous for the smooth operation of democratic institutions."
He stressed that there was no question of ERT President Christos 
Panagopoulos resigning over the incident.
The government was concerned by a spate of high school sit-ins but the 
problem was not as big as it was being presented, he added in response 
to other questions.
He stressed that those organising the sit-ins were a minority and did 
not have the right to exclude others from learning.
The protest on the Acropolis was also criticised by the main opposition, 
which described it as excessive.
"I do not consider that the country is in a time of revolution, nor are 
we living under some regime that requires that we give the image of a 
country - an image that has surely gone all around the world - in 
overall resistance," said PASOK shadow minister for education Anna 
Diamantopoulou.
PASOK spokesman George Papaconstantinou, on his part, said Prime 
Minister Costas Karamanlis had fully backed the political leadership of 
all the ministries responsible for the youth demonstrations and rioting 
of the past 10 days, including the education minister and the deputy 
interior minister who had "continued partying at a nightclub after 
hearing of the events in Exarchia".
He also linked the outbreak of violence with issues related to 
education, saying that one of PASOK's first steps as a government would 
be to increase funding for education.
Regarding the Acropolis protest, Papaconstantinou said that "he 
condemned the fact that our country was embarrassed worldwide at this 
time and the government is responsible".
He also criticised the arrests of teenagers indicted for felonies under 
terrorism "when I don't see the arrests of those truly responsible".
On Tuesday's incident at ERT and the protest on the Acropolis, however, 
the spokesman noted that "there are better ways for someone to make 
their opinions known".
In a sarcastic comment on the verdict handed down by a Thessaloniki 
court on officers found guilty of beating up a Cypriot student at a 
march, Papaconstantinou said that "it is impressive that in this country 
the cost of a beating is five euros a day".






http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/greece/3795821/Greek-protesters-invade-TV-studio-and-demand-to-be-put-on-air.html

Greek protesters invade TV studio and demand to be put on air
Protesters attacked the headquarters of Greece's riot police in Athens 
and interrupted a national television news bulletin on Tuesday as 
violence resumed after a two-day lull.

By Nick Squires
Last Updated: 7:04PM GMT 16 Dec 2008

This TV grab shows the point of transition between two TV feeds showing 
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis addressing the parliament, and a 
banner reading "Stop watching and get out onto the streets", displayed 
by Greek youths who interrupted the broa Photo: AFP/GETTY IMAGES
A group of around 100 hooded and masked protesters threw petrol bombs 
and rocks at the police station in the centre of the capital, damaging 
seven cars and a police bus, in a revival of the unrest which was 
triggered by the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old schoolboy by a police 
officer 11 days ago.
Violence also flared in the country's second city, Thessaloniki, where 
riot police fired tear gas to disperse an estimated 300 youths who threw 
stones and fruit outside the city's main court complex.
The disturbance followed a court's decision to hand down suspended 
sentences ranging from three years to 15 months to eight police officers 
who were found guilty of abusing a student during similar demonstrations 
two years ago.
Protesters occupied a studio at the state broadcaster, NET, interrupting 
a news bulletin by holding up banners calling for mass participation in 
the protests which have convulsed Greece since the shooting of 
Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, in Athens on Dec 6.
Footage of a speech by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis was suddenly 
replaced by students who held up banners which read: "Stop watching, get 
out onto the streets," and "Free everyone who has been arrested."
The TV station claimed the students had infiltrated the station earlier 
in the day by pretending to be visitors and then threatened staff, 
demanding to be put on air.
The schoolboy's death triggered some of Greece's worst rioting since the 
end of military rule in 1974, with protesters hurling petrol bombs and 
rocks at police and torching cars, shops, banks and offices in more than 
a dozen Greek cities.
Dozens of people have been injured in the rioting and more than 300 
people arrested. The policeman accused of killing the teenager has been 
charged with murder and is being held pending trial.
In his address to parliament, Mr Karamanlis pledged to improve Greece's 
economic situation and the plight of the estimated 20 per cent of Greeks 
who live in poverty.
But he said his conservative government's options were limited by the 
fact that Greece will spend 12 billion euros, about 5 per cent of GDP, 
just to service its massive national debt.
"Our top priority is to support those hurt the most ... (but) this debt 
is a huge burden that reduces the government's flexibility at a critical 
time," he said.
He acknowledged that young Greeks were frustrated and angry with high 
unemployment, low wages and a poor education system.
"Long unresolved problems disappoint young people: the lack of 
meritocracy, corruption in everyday life, a sense of social injustice. 
The fight against them is hard and constant and we are committed to it."
Political analysts said the prime minister was likely to sacrifice some 
ministers to inject new blood into his conservative government.
"Today the prime minister accepted partial political responsibility," 
said Theodoros Livanios, director of research at a polling firm, 
Opinion. "Karamanlis will soon announce a reshuffle of his government."
The cost to Greece from the rioting has been huge. The National 
Confederation of Commerce estimates 565 shops were damaged in Athens 
alone, with damage costing 200 million euros.






http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2008/12/17/greek_protesters_take_over_tv_radio_studios/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+World+news
Greek protesters take over TV, radio studios
December 17, 2008
ATHENS - Greek protesters pushed their way into television and radio 
studios yesterday, forcing broadcasters to put out anti-government 
messages in a change of tactics after days of violent street protests.
A group of about 10 youths got into the studio of NET state television 
and turned off a broadcast of a speech by Prime Minister Costas 
Karamanlis, station officials said. The protesters forced studio cameras 
to instead show them holding up banners that read: "Stop watching, get 
out onto the streets," and "Free everyone who has been arrested." No one 
was hurt, and no arrests were reported.
NET chairman Christos Panagopoulos said the protesters appeared to know 
how to operate cameras and studio controls.
In Thessaloniki, protesters made their way into three local radio 
stations, agreeing to leave only when a protest message was read out on 
the air.
Violence also broke out again after a two-day lull as masked youths 
attacked riot police headquarters in Athens.
ASSOCIATED PRESS






http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/12/16/greece.protests/index.html?eref=rss_world
December 16, 2008 -- Updated 0327 GMT (1127 HKT)

Greek protesters storm television station
? Story Highlights
? Some 40 protesters snuck into the television station, witnesses say
? They were upset with the network's coverage of the recent police 
killing of a youth
? Police have alleged that the boy was about to throw a fuel-filled 
device at them
? The killing has sparked daily protests, which have thrown the country 
into turmoil

ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Dozens of protesters in the Greek capital 
stormed the headquarters of state television station ERT on Tuesday, 
interrupting broadcasting and unfurling a black banner that read, "Do 
not watch television. Everyone out on the streets."

A youth holds a sign reading, "We won't forget," in front of police 
headquarters in Athens on Monday.

Witnesses, including ERT chairman Christos Panagopoulos, said 40 
protesters snuck into the building outside the capital city of Athens, 
entering in small groups and acting as guests so they would not raise 
suspicions.
The move was a change in tactics by demonstrators protesting the police 
killing on December 6 of Alexis Grigoropolous, a 15-year-old boy in Athens.
Police have alleged that the teenager was about to throw a fuel-filled 
device at them, as a gang of youths pelted a patrol vehicle. Of the two 
officers involved in the shooting, one is charged with premeditated 
manslaughter and the other with acting as an accomplice.
The killing sparked daily protests, including riots, which have thrown 
the country into turmoil and have become an outlet for simmering anger 
about the conservative government's handling of the economy, education 
and jobs.
The unrest is threatening the government's hold on power, with some 
opposition groups calling for fresh elections. Stores and international 
businesses have been attacked, and at least 280 people have been 
detained by police. Of those, 176 were arrested -- 130 of them for looting.
At the state television station on Tuesday, some of the demonstrators 
went to the office of the president to complain about the network's 
coverage of the protests, while others wrested control of a broadcast 
from technicians in the master control room.
Another group of protesters entered the studio where an anchor was in 
the midst of an afternoon broadcast and unfurled the banner.
The station had stepped up security in anticipation of such a move, 
Panagopoulos said.
A posting on ERT's Web site said Panagopoulos "denounced" the actions of 
the protesters, saying they had not identified themselves.

"Mr. Panagopoulos stressed that they were not students but unknown 
people, who do not respect freedom and democracy," the posting said.
The peaceful stunt appeared to have been carried out by artists and 
other professionals, not just students, who have been conducting most of 
the demonstrations, a witness said.






http://www.nowpublic.com/world/greek-protesters-occupy-tv-station-athens
Greek Protesters Occupy TV Station in Athens
Share:
by Teacher Dude | December 17, 2008 at 02:27 am

Protesters occupy Greek TV station Last night a group of 20 students 
occupied the state run NET TV channel in Athens in protest against the 
killing of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a police officer 
eleven days ago. Holding up a banner which said, "Stop Watching. 
Everyone on the Streets" they interrupted the stations broadcast of 
prime minister, Kostas Karamanlis's speech in parliament (see video here).
This is another is series of demonstrations which have swept Greece in 
the wake of the killing and have put the present administration on the 
defensive. Hundreds of schools and campuses throughout Greece remain 
under occupation and protest marches have taken place daily in many 
cities. Although the violent scenes witnessed last week have died down 
young people's feeling of anger at the police and the present econmic 
situation hasn't diminished.
On its site NET channel said that;

"Disrupting any concept of democratic dialogue, a group of young people 
stormed state television ERT studio at noon while the new bulleting was 
aired. They managed to interrupt the regular program, putting at risk 
body integrity of employees, to air their slogans. State Television ERT 
chairman, Hristos Panagopoulos denounced the action of the particular 
group, noting that they had not identified themselves even in the text 
they tried to distribute in the corridors. Mr. Panagopoulos stressed 
that they were not students but unknown people, who do not respect 
freedom and democracy. They were not an organized group but sneaked into 
the state television premises, adding that they blocked both himself and 
journalists responsible for the news bulletin. "

It should be noted that the state run media has long been accused by 
opposition parties of pro government bias in its coverage of domestic 
politics. The opposition PASOK party rerpresentative, Tilimaxhos Hitiris 
accused NET of being a "propaganda mechanism".

Monday's high school student demonstration outside the central police 
headquarters in Athens which was violently broken by when the police 
used batons and tear gas to drive demonstrators back. Whilst scenes of 
police attacking teenagers were shown on many private TV stations the 
state run channels showed earlier scenes of students presenting officers 
with flowers.
http://www.ana-mpa.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=7138892&service=142
Protestors interrupt live state TV news broadcast
The regular programme of the state television network NET was briefly 
interrupted at 15:10 on Tuesday when a group of unknown young people 
broke into the studio while the afternoon news programme was being 
broadcast, bearing a banner reading "Stop watching, get out onto the 
street".
The president of the state broadcasting organisation ERT Christos 
Panagopoulos apologised for the interruption and condemned it on behalf 
of ERT and the workforce as "an pre-planned act that went beyond all 
social tolerance and all aspects of protest".
He said he took full responsibility for what had occurred, with all that 
this might entail, adding that it had been an "organised invasion" by a 
group that did not represent anyone.
"There was no sit-in but an incursion by a small group of unknown 
people, that started entering the buildings of ERT from the morning as 
visitors," Panagopoulos explained, noting that those involved were not 
high school students but people in their mid-20s "without a face or 
identity" that claimed to be people of the arts and letters.
He also accused the group of deliberately creating a diversion so that 
they could carry out their 'coup', turning up at his office and asking 
to express their objections to the way that the recent incidents had 
been covered by private television channels.
While talking to those in his office, Panagopoulos said, he was then 
informed that another group had broken into the studio and forced the 
directors and cameramen to depart, cut off the sound and turning the 
cameras onto themselves.
"They were people that knew how to use the control room, the machinery, 
the cameras. It was planned," Panagopoulos repeated.
He revealed that ERT had been alerted to the fact that a protest was 
being planned and had stepped up security at its Agia Paraskevi and 
Katehaki sites.
"The guarding continued until 14:00 in the afternoon. What happened was, 
however, organised from the morning," he stressed.
Government, parties comment
Referring to the incident at ERT, government spokesman Evangelos 
Antonaros strongly condemned what he called "an attempt by some 
extremist elements to damage the smooth and independent operation of a 
mass media organisation, and what's more, one with a public character".
The actions indicated the contempt in which such elements held the rules 
by which Greece's democracy functioned, he added.
"For this reason, every such action on the part of those that plan it, 
carry it out or even simply support it, is a conscious attempt to 
abolish democracy," Antonaros said.
According to main opposition PASOK's spokesman for media issues 
Tilemachos Hytiris, the incidents at ERT were "inevitable" given that 
the government had "converted the state television into a mechanism for 
propaganda and wasting public money".
The Communist Party of Greece (KKE), on the same issue, said that the 
particular move "could not be ruled out" as one of many possible forms 
of action.
"Our own objection lies with the anonymity of the action, and the fact 
that the messages and the slogans should have been related to the 
problems in education and others that concern the youth of the working 
class, the children of the working class family".






http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/12/20081216141230186786.html
Greek youths make TV protest

A burnt police vehicle targeted in an arson attack on Tuesday [AFP]

About 20 young protesters have briefly occupied a studio at Greek state 
television's offices as part of protests against the death of a 
15-year-old boy who was shot by police on December 6.
The NET channel briefly aired images of the protesters holding up a 
banner in the studio reading, "Stop watching television and get out on 
the streets," before cutting away to advertisements for three minutes.
The interrupted programme then picked up again with the presenter making 
no reference to the incident.
"They came peacefully. There was no force used and they asked to protest 
on the air about the 15-year-old's killing," a police official, who 
asked not to be identified, said.
Christos Panagopoulos, NET's chairman, said the protesters had violently 
forced
their way into the studio. "This goes beyond any limit,'' he said.
The protest interrupted coverage of a speech by Costas Karamanlis, the 
country's prime minister, to parliament.
During his address, Karamanlis said: "Long unresolved problems 
disappoint young people, the lack of meritocracy, corruption in everyday 
life, a sense of social injustice.
"The fight against them is hard and constant and we are committed to it."
Violence continues
Violence over the shooting of Alexandros Grigoropoulos continued on 
Tuesday when about 100 youths attacked a police station in Athens, 
setting fire to a police bus and four cars belonging to officers.
Students blocked streets in the capital and dozens of teenagers gathered 
outside Athens' main court complex and a maximum security prison where 
some threw stones at police.
Protesters have called for riot officers to be pulled off the streets, 
for police to be disarmed and for the government to revise its economic, 
social and education policies.
Since the shooting, shops have been looted and cars smashed during 
protests in many cities around the country.
Greece's national confederation of commerce estimates 565 shops have 
been damaged in Athens alone, at a cost of $275m.






http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415623.html

Eyewitness reports police violence against Athens protesters
The following account was submitted by a Greek student to the WSWS | 
16.12.2008 22:50 | World
On Friday, December 12, a protest of 10,000 people filled the centre of 
Athens. People from every social background took part?students and high 
school students alongside their professors and their parents, but also 
many immigrants, unemployed citizens and even public service workers. 
They all took to the streets to express their opposition to the government.

Starting from the University of Athens, the protest proceeded from 
Stadiou Street to Syntagma Square and finished up in front of the 
parliament building where some minor clashes took place with the police. 
High school students staged a sit-down protest in front of the riot 
control police (MAT). When the bulk of the protesters arrived, the crowd 
made two attempts to enter the parliament building.

After a while the police provoked the crowd by picking out and arresting 
certain individuals. The crowd of demonstrators held their ground. 
Having had no success, the police sprayed the crowd with tear gas and, 
wearing gas masks, attacked the protesters. Fortunately, those caught by 
the police were able to escape with the help of other students and some 
older men who yelled at the police officers (who were also quite young) 
that they "should be ashamed of themselves."

As the police intensified their attacks, the demonstrators withdrew to 
the grounds of the university. En route to the Polytechnio (National 
Technical University), one of the two universities whose students had 
organized the protest, police continued to provoke the protesters and 
grabbed people out of the crowd.

The Polytechnio is located in the Exarchia neighborhood, where the young 
student Alexis Grigoropoulos was killed over a week ago. It was the 
first university to be occupied by students on the very night of the 
murder.

Following the demonstration Friday, between 500 and 700 people gathered 
in the Polytechnio auditorium?students, unemployed, immigrants and 
public service workers?to discuss how to proceed. Those gathered 
stressed the necessity of maintaining the unity of the movement and not 
allowing it to be subordinated to parties that only sought to exploit 
the rallies and protests for their own electoral purposes.

The meeting then discussed how to support the high school students who 
are at the forefront of the demonstrations. Measures were discussed that 
would improve the exchange of information, ensure that the students 
remained organized and united and prevent them from getting arrested.

Public sector workers in attendance declared that certain municipalities 
have entirely closed down and that the workers involved were actively 
supporting the demonstrations. The meeting also discussed the dangers 
arising from a deliberate campaign by the media to isolate and break the 
opposition movement. This would no doubt be supported by and play into 
the hands of the government.

The students are calling on the workers' movement for support and 
demanding that those in its leadership who have close contact with and 
actually work for the government be sacked.

The demands raised included: punishment for those responsible for the 
death of Alexis Grigoropoulos, the resignation of the government, 
abolition of the "terror laws" and the police special forces, a ban on 
carrying weapons by the police, and the release of the 200 students 
arrested since the outbreak of the demonstrations.

The students have also advanced social demands, among them a call for 
the abolition of all private educational institutions, colleges and 
universities and free and unrestricted access to higher education. They 
are also insisting on the maintenance of the right to asylum in 
university buildings and property, first established in the course of 
the mass movement against the Greek military junta in 1973. The protests 
have also raised the need for decent, secure jobs and a reduced workweek.

On Saturday, December 13, a protest took place in the afternoon in front 
of the parliament building. Students from the high school attended by 
Grigoropoulos paid their respects to the slain youth.

Later on some university students protested in front of the assembled 
police lines, taking off their shirts and kneeling with their hands 
behind their backs as if they were prisoners.

Although the rally was peaceful, the government had brought in soldiers 
to protect the parliament and special officers armed with tear gas 
bottles ready to spray protesters. Despite the tense atmosphere, one 
student told the police, "We are not fighting you, we know you are 
humans just like us, we are fighting against your uniform and the laws 
which you obey."

Later the protest proceeded to Athens' Gazi neighborhood, and then 
Peireos Street, where police special forces were lying in wait. Two 
squads suddenly appeared behind the protesters and others came in from 
the side to close down the protest and arrest as many as they could.

On their route to Omonia Square, a small number of protesters attacked 
some banks and sought to dismantle closed circuit television systems 
used by the police to supervise the demonstrations. Contrary to media 
reports of widespread destruction, however, these were the two main 
targets of the protesters.

Those taking part in the daily protests are outraged at the stance taken 
by the Greek media, which concentrates entirely on scuffles between 
police and protesters in such a way as to depict an extremist image of 
the people protesting. The reports on the protests mention student 
protesters, but make no mention of the professors, teaching staff and 
parents taking part. Instead the newspapers concentrate on the damage to 
shops and the reimbursements that the government has promised to 
business owners.
The following account was submitted by a Greek student to the WSWS
Homepage: http://www.wsws.org





http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/12/415620.html

Greek Police crack down as government and opposition seek to isolate 
protests
Stefan Steinberg | 16.12.2008 22:35 | World
Sections of the Greek media and leading politicians have sought to brand 
as "extremists" and "terrorists" the tens of thousands of Greek 
students, school pupils and ordinary workers, including immigrants and 
the employed, who have repeatedly taken part in mass demonstrations in 
the Greek capital Athens and other major cities.

Initially, demonstrators demanded the prosecution of those police 
officers responsible for the shooting death of a 15-year-old youth. 
Increasingly, however, the demonstrations have taken the form of 
protests against the Greek government and the entire political 
establishment. One of the most common demands of the protesters is the 
call for the resignation of the conservative Greek government led by 
Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis (New Democrats, ND).

Together with the concerted campaign to demonise the protesters, leading 
newspapers have called for determined police action to repress the mass 
movement. Last weekend, there were clear indications of a change in 
police tactics, which in turn points to a decision in leading government 
circles to isolate, intimidate and suppress the protest movement.

On Sunday, police charged a peaceful candlelit vigil in Syntagma Square, 
outside the parliament building and the city's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The crowd of demonstrators, numbering about 600, confronted several 
busloads of riot police who began to deploy at the front and back of the 
demonstration and on side streets.

One eyewitness told the BBC, "After the majority of the protesters had 
passed one of these side streets, a group of riot police charged and 
forced about 15 young men and women into a dark shop front on the corner 
of the street.

Protesters flee from tear gas"As the protesters put their hands on their 
heads to signify that they were not intending to fight, the police began 
beating individuals with their batons, issuing threats of extreme 
violence. The women were handcuffed together and the men strip-searched."

The witness, a British businessman who speaks Greek, reported that riot 
police then turned on innocent bystanders: "A riot policeman ran up 
behind one of the men kicking him in the back making obscene comments 
about his size. As the man turned, the policeman began beating the young 
man with his baton, striking him on the head and the side of his face."

The witness said that he overheard the police saying to their detainees, 
"We have you now. You are out of your universities now.... We are going 
to kill you."

The BBC report is backed up by an eyewitness report sent to the World 
Socialist Web Site by a Greek student.

The stepping up of police aggression comes at a time when the political 
establishment in Greece is closing ranks against the mass protests. The 
leader of the main opposition party PASOK, Georgiou Papandreou, recently 
called for new elections. But his party collaborates closely with the 
government in parliament, and the current Greek president is a former 
founding member of the organisation.

PASOK dominated Greek politics since the end of the military 
dictatorship in 1974. From 1981 to 1989, and between 1993 and 2004, it 
formed the government and exerted a powerful influence over the 
country's trade unions. In the 1980s, PASOK defended a nationalist 
economic and political policy, accompanied by anti-American and 
anti-European rhetoric, while at the same time implementing a number of 
social reforms.

In the 1990s, however, in line with other European social democratic 
parties, it increasingly adopted a neo-liberal economic model and pushed 
through drastic welfare cuts at the dictate of the European Union.

PASOK lost support because of its neo-liberal policies and in 2000 was 
only able to secure a narrow victory against ND in national elections.

Georgiou Papandreou took over as head of the party, shortly before the 
2004 elections, but was unable to win support for its populist-led 
election campaign and promises of social reform. Both the father and 
grandfather of Georgiou had already filled the post of prime minister 
and ran the party like a family business.

It was the heritage of nearly two decades of corruption, nepotism and 
betrayal by PASOK that enabled the conservative ND to take power. With 
PASOK discredited, other organisations, such as the Greek Communist 
Party (KKE), have sought to fill the vacuum.

The KKE is the oldest party in Greece and had a history of hard-line 
support for the Stalinist bureaucracy in Moscow until the end of the 
1980s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union precipitated a series of 
splits. Politically, what remains of the hard-line pro-Stalin KKE 
functions today more than ever as a political auxiliary to PASOK.

The KKE refused to participate in the mass demonstrations that began 
just a week ago, condemning the protests as the work of extremists and 
provocateurs. In an interview given to ANA-MPA, just two days ago, KKE 
leader Aleka Papariga savagely attacked the core of demonstrators, 
accusing them of acting on behalf of the state.

"The Molotov cocktails [fire-bombs] and looting of the hooded 
individuals, whose steering centre is linked with the state secret 
services and centres abroad, have absolutely no relationship with the 
mass rage of the pupils, the students, the people in general."

Papariga then went on to harshly criticise the Coalition of the Radical 
Left (SYRIZA), implying that the coalition was acting either 
deliberately or unconsciously for the Greek state. (SYRIZA is an amalgam 
of radical and so-called socialist groups, including the Synaspismos 
organisation that was formed in 2004. It is affiliated to the European 
Left and maintains close relations with organisations such as the German 
Left Party.)

The KKE has won the praise of the government for its hostile stance 
towards the demonstrations. The Employment Minister congratulated the 
KKE for its "responsible" attitude.

The propaganda of the government and opposition has been largely 
rejected by the population. Recent polls make clear that most people 
think the riots are a social uprising, rather than just a reaction to 
the police shooting.

According to the BBC, 60 percent of those questioned by the Kathimerini 
newspaper rejected the assertion that the disturbances have been merely 
a series of coordinated attacks by a small hard core of anarchists. 
Another poll, in the left-wing Ethnos newspaper, determined that 83 
percent of Greeks were unhappy with the government's response to the 
violence. Kathimerini put the disapproval rating at 68 percent.

"As the protesters put their hands on their heads to signify that they 
were not intending to fight, the police began beating individuals with 
their batons, issuing threats of extreme violence. The women were 
handcuffed together and the men strip-searched."

The witness, a British businessman who speaks Greek, reported that riot 
police then turned on innocent bystanders: "A riot policeman ran up 
behind one of the men kicking him in the back making obscene comments 
about his size. As the man turned, the policeman began beating the young 
man with his baton, striking him on the head and the side of his face."

The witness said that he overheard the police saying to their detainees, 
"We have you now. You are out of your universities now.... We are going 
to kill you."

The BBC report is backed up by an eyewitness report sent to the World 
Socialist Web Site by a Greek student.

The stepping up of police aggression comes at a time when the political 
establishment in Greece is closing ranks against the mass protests. The 
leader of the main opposition party PASOK, Georgiou Papandreou, recently 
called for new elections. But his party collaborates closely with the 
government in parliament, and the current Greek president is a former 
founding member of the organisation.

PASOK dominated Greek politics since the end of the military 
dictatorship in 1974. From 1981 to 1989, and between 1993 and 2004, it 
formed the government and exerted a powerful influence over the 
country's trade unions. In the 1980s, PASOK defended a nationalist 
economic and political policy, accompanied by anti-American and 
anti-European rhetoric, while at the same time implementing a number of 
social reforms.

In the 1990s, however, in line with other European social democratic 
parties, it increasingly adopted a neo-liberal economic model and pushed 
through drastic welfare cuts at the dictate of the European Union.

PASOK lost support because of its neo-liberal policies and in 2000 was 
only able to secure a narrow victory against ND in national elections.

Georgiou Papandreou took over as head of the party, shortly before the 
2004 elections, but was unable to win support for its populist-led 
election campaign and promises of social reform. Both the father and 
grandfather of Georgiou had already filled the post of prime minister 
and ran the party like a family business.

It was the heritage of nearly two decades of corruption, nepotism and 
betrayal by PASOK that enabled the conservative ND to take power. With 
PASOK discredited, other organisations, such as the Greek Communist 
Party (KKE), have sought to fill the vacuum.

The KKE is the oldest party in Greece and had a history of hard-line 
support for the Stalinist bureaucracy in Moscow until the end of the 
1980s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union precipitated a series of 
splits. Politically, what remains of the hard-line pro-Stalin KKE 
functions today more than ever as a political auxiliary to PASOK.

The KKE refused to participate in the mass demonstrations that began 
just a week ago, condemning the protests as the work of extremists and 
provocateurs. In an interview given to ANA-MPA, just two days ago, KKE 
leader Aleka Papariga savagely attacked the core of demonstrators, 
accusing them of acting on behalf of the state.

"The Molotov cocktails [fire-bombs] and looting of the hooded 
individuals, whose steering centre is linked with the state secret 
services and centres abroad, have absolutely no relationship with the 
mass rage of the pupils, the students, the people in general."

Papariga then went on to harshly criticise the Coalition of the Radical 
Left (SYRIZA), implying that the coalition was acting either 
deliberately or unconsciously for the Greek state. (SYRIZA is an amalgam 
of radical and so-called socialist groups, including the Synaspismos 
organisation that was formed in 2004. It is affiliated to the European 
Left and maintains close relations with organisations such as the German 
Left Party.)

The KKE has won the praise of the government for its hostile stance 
towards the demonstrations. The Employment Minister congratulated the 
KKE for its "responsible" attitude.

The propaganda of the government and opposition has been largely 
rejected by the population. Recent polls make clear that most people 
think the riots are a social uprising, rather than just a reaction to 
the police shooting.

According to the BBC, 60 percent of those questioned by the Kathimerini 
newspaper rejected the assertion that the disturbances have been merely 
a series of coordinated attacks by a small hard core of anarchists. 
Another poll, in the left-wing Ethnos newspaper, determined that 83 
percent of Greeks were unhappy with the government's response to the 
violence. Kathimerini put the disapproval rating at 68 percent.
Stefan Steinberg
Homepage: http://www.wsws.org






http://www.nowpublic.com/world/continued-protests-puts-greek-government-defensive

Continued Protests Puts Greek Government on the Defensive
Share:
by Teacher Dude | December 16, 2008 at 10:06 am

While the scene of rioting that marked the previous week in Athens and 
other Greek cities have not been repeated this week, protests over the 
killing of 15 year old Alexandros Grigoropoulos have continued unabated.

In place of anarchist wielding petrol bombs in Exarchia the country has 
seen a wave of demonstrations by high school and university students who 
have also occupied hundreds of schools and campuses.

In addition town halls, radio stations and government offices have 
witnessed sit-in by young Greeks angry over what a future which seems to 
offer little in the way of hope or prospects.

The death of the teenager 10 days ago seems to have triggered a wider 
social revolt by under 25's enraged by not just police brutality but 
also a political system which is seemingly mired in corruption and 
scandal. One in which members of the political elite pass on power to 
their family members. Case in point the present prime minister, Kostas 
Karamanlis, nephew of former PM, Constantinos Karamanlis who is simply a 
more obvious example of what of a wider phenomenon as the country's 
political life is riddled with a thick web of family connections which 
means that often the grandchildren of the ruling families cross swords 
in parliament decades after their grandparents have passed away.

Similarly, the the job market and economy in general is ruled by a 
system of patron - client relations which often sees the best paying 
jobs go to insiders rather than those most qualified.
The growing discrepancy between young people's aspirations and a youth 
unemployment rate of 25%, the highest in Europe has driven many to 
despair of their future.

The current crisis has not been helped by the seemingly endless wave of 
corruption and influence scandals that have hit the New Democracy 
administration which was narrowly re-elected in 2007. Despite numerous 
serious cases of financial impropriety, people feel that those involved 
have yet to be punished.

A feeling reinforced by the findings of a parliamentary report on the 
latest Vatopedi monastery land swap scandal which found that no senior 
government official involved had broken the law.
The Vatopedi case,which revolves around a series of dubious land deals 
between the state and the Greek orthodox church has scandalised public 
opinion and caused the government's standing in opinion polls to drop 
dramatically.

The feeling that those in positions of authority are above the law also 
includes the police who have been involved in a long list of cases in 
which deaths and excessive use of violence went unpunished or was hushed 
up.

Young activists clashed with police today outside the central courts in 
the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki when the police officers 
involved in a Rodney King style beating of Cypriot student, Augoustinos 
Dimitrios in 2007 walked free after being given suspended sentences. The 
event which was captured live on shocked audiences with its savagery.

In the wake of the verdict many fear that the case of the teen who was 
shot by a 37 year old police officer will be swept under the carpet once 
protests die down.






http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/12/16/worldupdates/2008-12-16T192403Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-370585-1&sec=Worldupdates

Tuesday December 16, 2008
Greek protesters occupy state TV, interrupt news
ATHENS (Reuters) - About 20 student protesters occupied Greece's state 
television channel on Tuesday, interrupting a news broadcast in a 
demonstration against the police killing of a teenager.
"They came peacefully. There was no force used and they asked to protest 
on the air about the 15-year-old's killing," said a police official, who 
asked not to be identitied.
The channel showed images of the protesters for several moments before 
quickly cutting to advertisements and footage of the prime minister 
talking to his legislators in parliament earlier on Tuesday, the 
eleventh day of demonstrations following the shooting.







http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=99884

Greek Protesters Clash with Police for 10th Day
World | December 16, 2008, Tuesday

Violent protests in Greece entered a 10th day with more rallies planned 
this week. Photo by BGNES
Violent protests in Greece entered a 10th day with youths attacking 
Athens's main police station with petrol bombs.

Police used tear gas to disperse protesters, who started the riots over 
the deadly police shooting of 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos.

The shooting of the boy was the catalyst for the violence, but it comes 
along with plummeting popularity of the centre-right government, accused 
of failing to cope with harsh social problems.

The unrest in Greece has already caused millions of dollars in damage, 
as dozens of banks, shops, and offices were destroyed by anarchist 
protesters.







http://www.denverpost.com/ci_11233434?source=rss
Greek protesters plan march
Denver Post Wire Report
Posted: 12/15/2008 12:30:00 AM MST

ATHENS, Greece ? Athens was calm Sunday after eight days of the worst 
riots Greece has seen in decades, sparked by the police killing of a 
teenager. But Greek youths who have protested daily since the boy's 
death have vowed to remain on the streets until their concerns are 
addressed. Protesters are angry not just at police but at a government 
already on the defensive over a series of financial scandals and over 
economic issues. Protesters say they will march today to the police 
headquarters in Athens. Schoolchildren are planning demonstrations 
throughout the city.







http://www.seattlepi.com/national/392351_greek16.html

Last updated December 15, 2008 8:51 p.m. PT
Greek protesters find refuge in university stronghold
Police barred from campus grounds
By ELENA BECATOROS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATHENS, Greece -- Inside the gates of Athens' main university, bonfires 
rage and masked gangs stockpile petrol bombs, broken paving stones and 
marble hacked from the neoclassical buildings. It's their arsenal for 
more possible clashes with weary police.
But a week into Greece's worst civil unrest in decades -- sparked by the 
police shooting of a teenage boy and then fed by anger at the country's 
economic unraveling -- the rioters' best weapon is arguably the law.
They have used, some say abused, a decades-old code that bars police 
from university campuses. The grounds of the Athens Polytechnic have 
become a combination of sanctuary and makeshift armory for the bands of 
young men and women who have left parts of the capital ransacked and 
smoldering.
The self-proclaimed anarchists and revolutionaries based at the 
Polytechnic have become outnumbered on the streets by more typical 
demonstrators -- such as labor unions and opposition parties -- who have 
called for Greece's increasingly unpopular conservative government to 
resign.
Yet it's the rage and destruction of the masked youths that have become 
the symbols of the showdown.
Nearly every night in the past week, the streets around the Polytechnic 
become an urban battleground. Riot police emerge through clouds of tear 
gas and the smoke of flaming barricades.
Black-clad youths -- their faces covered by masks, scarves and motorbike 
helmets -- hurl petrol bombs over the hulks of torched cars. Late 
Saturday night, one pushed a shopping cart full of rocks and chunks of 
marble to replenish the stocks. Another stumbled into the campus wearing 
a Spiderman mask.
"Stones! We need more stones!" someone bellowed in the dark. One young 
man began smashing pieces of concrete from one of the university's 
buildings.
"Don't waste the Molotovs, damn it! Use them wisely!" another shouted, 
his voice hoarse from the tear gas fired by riot police night after night.
The demands are mostly cries against the government and the economic 
hardships faced by many Greeks as the economy stalls after years of 
moderate growth.
The police know that weapons and rocks are stockpiled in the Polytechnic 
grounds. But they dare not enter.
The image of a tank crashing the Polytechnic's gates on Nov. 17, 1973, 
to quell a student uprising against the military dictatorship is known 
to every Greek. Nov. 17 is a holiday to mark the deaths of the 
protesters and the beginning of the end for the 1967-74 junta.
Greeks have a deep well of tolerance for those who rebel against 
authority, and generally accept the low-level violence that can break 
out during demonstrations, such as smashing store windows or torching 
cars. But the destructive fury unleashed by the fatal police shooting of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos on Dec. 6 has shocked many.
Greece's Retailers Association estimated $135 million in damage to 
stores, and predicted $2 billion in lost revenue during the holiday 
shopping period.








http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/World-News/2-25664-Protests-and-riots-carry-on-in-Greece.html

Protests and riots carry on in Greece
Tuesday, December 16, 2008 08:39 GMT
In Greece police used tear gas in order to disperse the crowds of 
protestors who were throwing stones and Molotov cocktails on security 
forces at the middle of the Greek capital in the second week of 
anti-government riots. The protests erupted after a policeman killed a 
kid in December 6. To that, young men clashed with riot police in front 
of a main court in Athens and near a police center in the middle of the 
capital. Moreover, it was reported that many stores north of the country 
were stolen.







http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/europe/2008/12/16/187818/Greek-police.htm

December 16, 2008 9:54 am TWN, By Renee Maltezou and Daniel Flynn, Reuters
Greek police teargas youths in second week of protests
ATHENS -- Greek police fired teargas at small groups of protesters who 
threw stones and firebombs in central Athens on Monday in a second-week 
of anti-government demonstrations since a policeman shot dead a teenager.
Youths outside Athens? main court and central police station clashed 
with riot police, while acts of vandalism against shops were reported in 
two northern cities in protests against the Dec. 6 killing of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. His death has triggered Greece?s 
worst riots in decades.
The unrest, which has caused more than 200 million euros (US$270 
million) worth of damage, has fed on anger over political scandals, high 
youth unemployment and low wages, and the impact of a global recession 
on Greece.
In bond markets, the spread between Greek debt and German benchmark 
bonds ? a measure of perceived investment risk ? reached its widest 
point in nearly a decade on Monday, at more than 2 percent. Analysts 
said the political crisis had compounded concerns due to the global 
economic downturn.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned there was a risk of 
social unrest spreading unless the global financial sector shared wealth 
more evenly. Copy-cat demonstrations have taken place in many European 
countries.
The scale of the Greek protests has tailed off sharply in recent days 
and Athens was peaceful on Sunday. But students and unions have called 
for more rallies on Thursday and Friday against education and pension 
reforms, privatizations and tax rises as the budget goes to parliament.
The conservative government only has a one-seat majority and trails in 
polls.
Central Athens braced for further violence later on Monday, when an 
anarchist group plans to march on parliament.
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis?s ruling New Democracy party has 
denounced the riots as the work of a small group of hardcore anarchists, 
but at their peak early last week thousands of youths ran riot through 
10 cities, wrecking hundreds of cars, banks and businesses, spooking 
investors.
An opinion poll published on Sunday by Kathimerini newspaper put 
disapproval of the government at 68 percent, with 60 percent of those 
polled saying the riots were a social uprising rather than an outburst 
by an isolated fringe of violent protesters.







http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=161357

Greek protesters rally outside Athens police HQ

Youths protested outside of Athens? main police headquarters on Monday, 
pelting riot police with flour to protest the shooting death of a teenager.

Riot police responded with small amounts of tear gas. Some 2,000 youths 
at the rally blocked one of the capital?s main avenues, chanted slogans 
and occasionally threw oranges and plastic water bottles at riot police 
guarding the building. Police did not respond until a group threw flour 
at them, then fired some tear gas that briefly scattered the 
demonstrators. Earlier, about 50 youths shouted slogans outside the 
capital?s main court complex, where five people arrested during last 
week?s riots were to appear before an examining magistrate. Riot police 
guarded the complex and no disturbances were reported. Police said no 
violence was reported in Athens overnight after an uneventful day 
Sunday. Greece has seen its worst riots in decades after 15-year-old 
Alexandros Grigoropoulos died Dec. 6 in a police shooting. The riots 
quickly spread from Athens to more than a dozen cities. For a week, 
youths smashed and burned stores and cars, and hurled petrol bombs and 
rocks at riot police.

16 December 2008, Tuesday

AP ATHENS






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/16/2447261.htm

Greek police teargas Athens protesters
Posted Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:00am AEDT
Greek police have fired teargas at small groups of protesters who threw 
stones and firebombs in central Athens in a second week of 
anti-government demonstrations since a policeman shot dead a teenager.
Youths outside Athens' main court and central police station clashed 
with riot police, while acts of vandalism against shops were reported in 
two northern cities in protests against the December 6 killing of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
His death has triggered Greece's worst riots in decades which have 
caused more than 200 million euros ($410 million) worth of damage as 
protesters tap into resentment over political scandals and a slowing 
economy hit by the global recession.
The scale of the Greek protests has tailed off sharply in recent days 
and Athens was peaceful on Sunday, but students and police exchanged 
firebombs and teargas on Monday (local time).
More rallies have been called for Thursday and Friday against education 
and pension reforms, privatisations and tax rises as the budget goes to 
parliament.
The tourist industry worries that more unrest will put off foreign 
visitors and badly hit the sector which accounts for nearly one-fifth of 
gross domestic product.
-Reuters







http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28236393/

Greek police fire teargas in 2nd week of protests
Worst demonstrations in decades sparked by killing of teenager

Violence flares in Greece
Almost two weeks after police killed a teen in Athens, unrest is still 
plaguing Greece.
more photos
updated 10:57 a.m. ET Dec. 15, 2008
ATHENS, Greece - Youths protested outside of Athens? main police 
headquarters on Monday, in the second week of violent protests over the 
shooting death of a teenager.
The young protesters pelted riot police with flour and other objects, 
while police responded with tear gas.
Some 2,000 youths at the rally blocked one of the capital?s main 
avenues, chanted slogans and set fire to trash bins before dispersing. 
Two demonstrators were arrested, police said.
________________________________________
Greece has seen its worst riots in decades after 15-year-old Alexandros 
Grigoropoulos died Dec. 6 in a police shooting.
The riots quickly spread from Athens to more than a dozen cities. For a 
week, youths smashed and burned stores and cars, and hurled petrol bombs 
and rocks at riot police, who responded with stun grenades and large 
amounts of tear gas.
On Friday, the head of Greece?s Retailers Association said riots in 
Greek cities had caused an estimated 100 million euros ($135 million) in 
damage to stores, and was likely to cost businesses 1.5 billion euros 
($2 billion) in lost revenue.
Dozens of people were injured in the rioting, while hundreds of stores 
were damaged or looted and more than 200 people were arrested. The 
policeman accused of killing the teenager has been charged with murder 
and is being held pending trial.
On Monday, students also staged peaceful blockades of several busy roads 
in the capital, marched through the city center, and protested outside 
Athens? main court complex, where four people arrested during last 
week?s riots were ordered to remain in custody.
The protests are shifting from expressing anger at police to showing 
general anger at the country?s increasingly unpopular conservative 
government and the economic hardships faced by many Greeks.
Socialist opposition leader George Papandreou renewed calls Monday for 
early elections.
?The government cannot deal with this crisis,? he said. ?It cannot 
protect people ? their rights or property ? and it cannot identify with 
the anxiety felt by the younger generation.?
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose party has only a single seat 
majority in parliament, has repeatedly rejected calls to resign and call 
early elections, saying the country needed a steady hand in times of crisis.
Sunday was the first trouble-free day since Grigoropoulos? killing, but 
some groups, mostly left-wing students, have vowed to keep up the 
protests until the government addresses their concerns.
Protesters have called for riot police to be pulled off the streets, for 
police to be disarmed and for growing social inequality to be resolved.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7783375.stm
15 December 2008

Athens hit by new protest rallies
Protesters outside Athens' police headquarters
Hundreds of people are staging fresh protest rallies in Athens, after 
days of rioting sparked by the killing of a teenager by police in Greece.
They gathered near the capital's police headquarters and the main court, 
where some of the protesters arrested last week were to appear before 
magistrates.
The policeman accused of shooting Alexandros Grigoropoulos, aged 15, has 
been charged with murder.
The shooting has also generated widespread anti-government sentiment,
Sixty per cent of those questioned by Greece's Kathimerini newspaper 
rejected the assertion that the disturbances have been merely a series 
of co-ordinated attacks by a small hard core of anarchists.

It [the government] is wasting away, collapsing and dissolving into a 
dead-end

George Papandreou
opposition Pasok party
Another poll, in the Ethnos newspaper, suggested that 83% of Greeks were 
unhappy with the government's response to the violence. Kathimerini put 
the disapproval rating at 68%.
The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the results appear to confirm 
what many commentators have been saying - that conservative Prime 
Minister Kostas Karamanlis has pulled off the unique feat of alienating 
all sections of Greek society.
Mr Karamanlis - who is on Monday attending the funeral of former Cypriot 
President Tassos Papadopoulos - has rejected calls to step down.
He said the country needed a "steady hand" to deal with the economic 
downturn, "not scenarios about elections and successions".
Economy fears
The new street protests are being held amid a heavy police presence.

At least 70 people have been injured in the protests sparked by the shooting
Demonstrators are chanting anti-government slogans, but no major 
incidents have been reported so far.
Further protests are planned later on Monday outside parliament.
They come after calm was briefly restored in the capital on Sunday.
In all, some 70 people are said to have been injured in violent protests 
across Greece during the unrest sparked by the shooting on 6 December.
On Sunday, the leader of the opposition Panhellenic Socialist Movement 
(Pasok) demanded elections and said the government "ignores the calls of 
society, is incapable of steadily driving the country towards change, 
and is afraid of the people."
"It is wasting away, collapsing and dissolving into a dead-end... Its 
political time is finished," George Papandreou told a party meeting.
A top union official meanwhile warned that with around a quarter of the 
young age group involved in the disturbances being unemployed, the 
unrest could grow in the coming months as more people lose their jobs.
"A massive wave of redundancies will kick in come the New Year when, 
according to our estimates, 100,000 jobs will be lost, which represents 
an additional 5% on the unemployment rate," said Stathis Anestis of the 
General Confederation of Greek Workers.








http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,24805789-401,00.html?from=public_rss
Greek protests to continue
 From correspondents in Athens
Agence France-Presse
December 15, 2008 09:59pm

ATHENS police were out in force today ahead of a rash of protests and 
court appearances relating to the police shooting of a teenager police, 
and as Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis flew to Cyprus.
And the release of a parliamentary inquiry into a land scandal, which 
has also generated widespread anti-government sentiment, threatened to 
increase the pressure on Karamanlis' embattled right-wing government.
Police were guarding the capital's courts, where six of the 86 people 
arrested throughout the unrest overnight were appearing before magistrates.
Around 100 youths were camped outside with a banner showing solidarity 
with "state hostages''.
Just one firebomb attack was reported overnight in the student district 
of Exarchia, where 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos died from a police 
bullet nine days ago.
Rallies were announced drawing university and school students to the 
Athens police headquarters from midday and again after dark.
But protesters admitted that maintaining momentum was becoming difficult.
More than 100 schools were still occupied over the weekend, and pupils 
began blocking traffic around the education and defence ministries today.






http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-12/2008-12-15-voa28.cfm?CFID=163293036&CFTOKEN=89982761&jsessionid=003065312795863410e01f76499a725c1256
Athens Police, Protesters Clash for 10th Day
By VOA News
15 December 2008

Riot police run past burning trash bin during student protests in 
Athens, 15 Dec 2008
Riot police in Athens have used tear gas outside the city's main police 
station as protests over the police killing of a teenager entered a 10th 
day.

The police briefly fired small amounts of tear gas after protesters 
threw fire bombs at the officers. Separately, small groups of youths 
threw eggs at police guarding the city's court. Students were expected 
to stage a march on parliament later Monday.

Witnesses said the intensity of the protests has tailed off sharply in 
recent days, with Sunday largely calm across the capital.

Protesters took to the streets immediately after the December 6 death of 
the teenager, who was struck by police gunfire. The demonstrations 
quickly became violent and spread to other Greek cities.

Both Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and opposition leader George 
Papandreou have repeatedly called for calm.

In an interview with VOA Sunday, Papandreou said Greek youths feel a 
deepening sense of social inequality and injustice that is driving them 
to riot. He said the government should take steps to eliminate 
high-level corruption and address social problems creating a widening 
rift between rich and poor.






http://en.rian.ru/world/20081215/118869902.html
Greek protests bring Athens to standstill
18:41 | 15/ 12/ 2008

ATHENS, December 15 (RIA Novosti) - Riots sparked by the recent killing 
of a teenager by police continued in the Greek capital for a second week 
on Monday as students brought the center to a standstill, a RIA Novosti 
correspondent said.
Over 300 students gathered outside the police headquarters in an 
initially peaceful protest which turned violent when police used tear 
gas against demonstrators who threw eggs and stones. Around 100 people 
also demonstrated near the country's education ministry as students 
targeted the capital's main streets shutting down the city.
On the island of Lesbos and Ioannina, in western Greece, students took 
over local radio stations demanding they be allowed to make live 
broadcasts. A local newspaper in Ioannina was also attacked.
Riots have swept through Greek cities since the December 6 killing of 
Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 15, leaving a trail of destruction as youths 
went on the rampage looting shops and setting fire to hundreds of cars, 
banks and businesses.
An opinion poll published by the Ethnos newspaper on Sunday said 83 % of 
Greeks were unhappy with the methods used by the government to deal with 
the violence.
Two police officers have been detained over the teenager's killing. One 
of them, Epaminondas Korkoneas, who claims he fired warning shots in 
self-defense which ricocheted, was charged with murder and the illegal 
use of his weapon. The second officer, Vassilios Saraliotis, was charged 
with aiding and betting Korkoneas






http://en.rian.ru/world/20081215/118865676.html
Greek students start sit-in protest in Athens
15:41 | 15/ 12/ 2008

ATHENS, December 15 (RIA Novosti) - Several hundred students launched 
sit-in protests in the Greek capital on Monday as the country entered a 
second week of civil disorder following the killing of a 15-year-old 
teenager by police.
Riots have swept through more than 10 Greek cities since the December 6 
killing of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, leaving a trail of destruction as 
youths looted shops and set fire to hundreds of cars, banks and businesses.
Demonstrators gathered outside the capital's police headquarters, prison 
and a university in a silent protest blocking streets. Around 100 people 
also held rallies near the country's education ministry.
Although protesters set fire to three banks and several shops in Athens 
on Saturday, police said Sunday was calm. Meanwhile, the public unrest 
spread last week to other European cities, as hundreds of protesters 
were detained in Spain, France and Denmark in similar incidents.
An opinion poll published by the Ethnos newspaper on Sunday said 83 % of 
Greeks were unhappy with the government's measures to stop the violence.
Two police officers have been detained over the killing. One of them, 
Epaminondas Korkoneas, who claims he fired warning shots in self-defense 
which ricocheted, was charged with murder and the illegal use of his 
weapon. The second officer, Vassilios Saraliotis, was charged with 
aiding and betting Korkoneas.






http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafp081215154430.z1k0g0sup3&show_article=1
Protestors massed in front of the police headquarters in Athens

Students demonstrate in front of the police headquarters of Athens. Riot 
squads have ringed Athens police headquarters as Greek protesters 
targeted state institutions, while the right-wing government faced new 
headaches with the re-emergence of a landswap scandal.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2008/12/16/2003431270

Athens police guard courts for protesters? appearances

AFP AND AP, ATHENS
Tuesday, Dec 16, 2008, Page 6

People kneel in front of riot police during a peaceful protest on 
Saturday outside the Greek parliament in Athens over the fatal police 
shooting of a teen on Dec. 6.
PHOTO: EPA
Athens police were out in force yesterday ahead of a rash of protests 
and court appearances relating to the police shooting of a teenager, and 
as Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis flew to Cyprus.
The release of a parliamentary inquiry into a land scandal, which has 
generated widespread anti-government sentiment, also threatened to 
increase the pressure on Karamanlis? government.

Police were guarding the capital?s courts, where six of the 86 people 
arrested throughout the unrest overnight on Saturday were appearing 
before magistrates.

Around 100 youths were camped outside with a banner showing solidarity 
with ?state hostages.?

Violent protests triggered by the schoolboy?s death quickly spread from 
Athens to more than a dozen other cities last week. At least 70 people 
have been injured, hundreds of stores have been damaged and looted, and 
more than 200 people have been arrested.

The policeman accused of shooting Alexandros Grigoropoulos has been 
charged with murder.

Police said no violence was reported in Athens overnight, after an 
uneventful day on Sunday. However, left-wing student groups have vowed 
to keep up the protests until their concerns are addressed. A rally has 
been scheduled for parliament square on Thursday.

A poll on Sunday suggested most Greeks see the protests as a ?popular 
uprising,? not driven by ?minority activists.? Seventy-six percent of 
those questioned were ?dissatisfied? with the police response. Just 20 
percent approved of the prime minister?s handling of the unrest.

Karamanlis was going ahead with the visit to Cyprus for the funeral of 
former Cypriot president Tassos Papadopoulos, who died of cancer on Friday.






http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafp081215111722.5ztmqq6cp0&show_article=1

Protestors aim laser lights at a police officer in Athens

Protesters point a laser light at a riot policeman outside the 
Polytecnic in central Athens. Athens police are out in force ahead of a 
rash of protests and court appearances relating to the police shooting 
of a teenager police, and as Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis 
flies to Cyprus.







http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/12/15/worldupdates/2008-12-15T194009Z_01_NOOTR_RTRMDNC_0_-370420-1&sec=Worldupdates

December 15, 2008

Greek police teargas youths in 2nd week of protests
By Renee Maltezou and Daniel Flynn
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired teargas at small groups of 
protesters who threw stones and firebombs in central Athens on Monday in 
a second-week of anti-government demonstrations since a policeman shot 
dead a teenager.

Demonstrators protest in front of the Greek consulate in Istanbul 
December 15, 2008. (REUTERS/Osman Orsal)
Youths outside Athens' main court and central police station clashed 
with riot police, while acts of vandalism against shops were reported in 
two northern cities in protests against the Dec. 6 killing of 
15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos. His death has triggered Greece's 
worst riots in decades.
The unrest, which has caused more than 200 million euros ($270 million) 
worth of damage, has fed on anger over political scandals, high youth 
unemployment and low wages, and the impact of a global recession on Greece.
In bond markets, the spread between Greek debt and German benchmark 
bonds -- a measure of perceived investment risk -- reached its widest 
point in nearly a decade on Monday, at more than 2 percent. Analysts 
said the political crisis had compounded concerns due to the global 
economic downturn.
IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn warned there was a risk of 
social unrest spreading unless the global financial sector shared wealth 
more evenly. Copy-cat demonstrations have taken place in many European 
countries.
The scale of the Greek protests has tailed off sharply in recent days 
and Athens was peaceful on Sunday. But students and unions have called 
for more rallies on Thursday and Friday against education and pension 
reforms, privatisations and tax rises as the budget goes to parliament.
The conservative government only has a one-seat majority and trails in 
polls.
"It was expected this would continue for a second week," said Kiki 
Toudoulidou, 37, a teacher. "If the government was handling the 
situation in the right way, we wouldn't have reached this point."
Central Athens braced for further violence later on Monday, when an 
anarchist group plans to march on parliament.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE
Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis's ruling New Democracy party has 
denounced the riots as the work of a small group of hardcore anarchists, 
but at their peak early last week thousands of youths ran riot through 
10 cities, wrecking hundreds of cars, banks and businesses, spooking 
investors.
"Even if you don't believe that Greece could end up exiting the euro, 
you will not want to take on risk," said Peter Mueller, interest rate 
strategist at Comerzbank in Frankfurt.
Chris Pryce, sovereign analyst for Greece at Fitch Ratings, played down 
the political risk to the government. He told Reuters Television he had 
no plans to alter Greece's A rating.
"It will stay stable I would have thought: single A -- the lowest in the 
euro zone -- for some time to come," he said.
Karamanlis, whose hands-off response to the riots has been criticised by 
Greek media, travelled to Cyprus on Monday for the funeral of former 
president Tassos Papadopoulos.
An opinion poll published on Sunday by Kathimerini newspaper put 
disapproval of the government at 68 percent, with 60 percent of those 
polled saying the riots were a social uprising rather than an outburst 
by an isolated fringe of violent protesters.
The National Confederation of Commerce estimates 565 shops were damaged 
in Athens, ruining the Christmas shopping period.
"There is no business. People are disappointed and angry," said Dimitra, 
61, a shop owner who declined to give her second name. "The protests 
will continue. They only needed an excuse."
The policeman charged with killing Grigoropoulos has been jailed along 
with a colleague pending trial. More than 400 protesters have been 
detained during the unrest, although most of have subsequently been 
released without charge.
(Additional reporting by George Matlock in London)






http://www.metro.co.uk/news/world/article.html?%91Blinding%92_laser_pens_used_as_protests_set_to_continue&in_article_id=444064&in_page_id=64
?Blinding? laser pens used as protests set to continue
Sunday, December 14, 2008

Under attack: Protesters use laser pointers to target police in Athens 
on Saturday
Protestors used laser pointers to try to blind police as unrest 
continued in Greece over the fatal police shooting of a teenager.
There was an uneasy calm in the capital Athens on Sunday following an 
eighth straight day of rioting.
However, youths angered by the death of 15-year-old Alexandros 
Grigoropoulos and government reforms have vowed to remain on the streets 
until their concerns are addressed.
'Speaking as an anarchist, we want to create those social conditions 
that will generate more uprisings and to get more people out in the 
streets to demand their rights,' said 32-year-old protester Paris 
Kyriakides.
The laser pointers were used on Saturday night as youths clashed with 
police in Athens just hours after peaceful candlelit vigils were held 
for Alexandros. A police station, stores and banks were damaged.
However, tourists were beginning to make a return to the capital on Sunday.
Prime minister Costas Karamanlis's conservative government has the 
support of just 20 per cent of the population, according to a poll on 
Sunday.






http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/12/15/20081215greece-riots1215.html

Riots end, protests may go on in Greece
by Nicholas Paphitis - Dec. 15, 2008 12:00 AM
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece - The city was calm Sunday after eight days of the worst 
riots Greece has seen in decades, sparked by the police killing of a 
teenager.
Traffic returned to normal in the center of town, and open-topped 
double-decker buses carried tourists around the city's main sights. The 
cafes in the Thissio area under the Acropolis were busy, and couples 
took their children for Sunday walks.
But Greek youths who have protested daily since the boy's death have 
vowed to remain on the streets until their concerns are addressed. 
Protesters are angry not just at police but at a government already on 
the defensive over economic issues and a series of financial scandals.
"We are not in this for the short term," said Petros Constantinou, an 
organizer with the Socialist Workers Party. "We want the protests to 
continue after Christmas and New Year until this government of murderers 
goes."
Analyst Theodore Couloumbis said the disturbances will "peter out" over 
the next few days.
"We are going to have periodic flare-ups," said Couloumbis, a professor 
emeritus of international relations at the University of Athens.
A newspaper poll published Sunday indicated the governing conservatives' 
popularity at 20.6 percent, 5.6 percent below the opposition Socialists. 
However, 55 percent of respondents said neither party seemed competent 
to handle the situation. The Focus poll of 1,000 people for Real News 
gave a 3.1 percentage point margin of error.
Violence has racked Greece since the death of 15-year-old Alexandros 
Grigoropoulos Dec. 6. It spread from Athens to more than a dozen other 
cities. At least 70 people have been injured and more than 200 people 
arrested.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7775075.stm
Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Greek voices: Protests and chaos
After days of rioting across Greece triggered by the shooting of a 
15-year-old boy by police, people taking part in and affected by the 
protests describe how they have been forced to re-evaluate the 
relationship between state and society.
ALEX HADJISAVVAS, SHOP OWNER, ATHENS

The capital Athens has been the scene of violent riots
I haven't been taking part in the protests. I'm against it. All protests 
in Greece lead to violence. I have been the victim this time.
My shop sells ladies fashion and on the first night of the riots my 
window was smashed in and they destroyed the shop front. They must have 
taken around 150-200 coats, jackets, pullovers.
I've been told they carried them out onto the streets and started fires. 
I've spoken to witnesses who said they used the mannequins in my window 
to break other shop windows.
I've been threatened by some of the anarchists. There is a university 
opposite my shop and that is where they have asylum. They are always in 
there, the police can't go in there. They come out from time to time and 
cause trouble.
I wouldn't want to see the government step down. I don't think that is 
the cause of the violence.

I've been threatened by some of the anarchists

The shooting of the boy has nothing to do with the violence. It was the 
icing on the cake for all the protesters. Most of the people who are not 
in favour of the government are looking for a cause to rise up about.
The shooting was the final straw. It's like a chain reaction. The people 
causing the trouble are not involved in politics. They are vandals and 
rioters.
Law and order in this country is not good at the best of times. It's a 
grim situation.
DIMITRIOS PARASKEVAS, MUSICIAN, THESSALONIKI


I have taken part in the peaceful protests. The reason is that we don't 
feel that the state works for the people.
I'm not talking about a particular government. This is about the Greek 
state and society. We want things to work properly. This country takes 
everything too far.
A boy getting shot just like that when he was definitely not causing a 
threat to the police officer. This shows how the Greek state works.
The state does not take into account the citizen. It has been shown that 
there is no civil society in Greece. We don't feel like the state 
belongs to us. We feel like it is sometimes an enemy.
I would like a complete re-evaluation of the relationship between the 
state and the citizen. Police officers, everyone who works for the state 
should know that they work for citizens.
SPIROS DELIMPASIS, COMPUTER ENGINEER, 32, LARISSA


I am totally opposed to the rioting and protests. But I am totally for 
the peaceful protests. The problem is that the rioters find cover 
between peaceful protesters and then start to smash public and private 
property. As a result many people are afraid to show up and peacefully 
express their anger for the murder of the young student.
For over 20 years the police here have not done what they are supposed 
to do. When all they need to do is draw a weapon, they sometimes shoot 
people. That is unacceptable.
With this murder the negative feelings about the government have got to 
many people. For months, there has been just one scandal following another.
But I don't feel that during this situation the government should 
resign. Maybe later. We should get over this and restore the peace and 
then the government should declare elections.
I never had faith in this government or the previous one. The majority 
of politicians are inadequate.
VASSILIKI POLYCHRONOPOULOU, TRAVEL JOURNALIST, ATHENS
I was caught up in the chaos as was everyone who lives in the centre. I 
took part in the peaceful march on the first day but it lasted for only 
an hour. The riots got really bad and people left.

I would like this government to resign. I think it is the least they can do

The police played a major role, firing tear gas at everybody. It was the 
worst I have ever seen in my life. It is not the first time they have 
attacked peaceful citizens.
I believe that the murder of this boy was a horrible incident. But it 
was just a spark for a general social discomfort to say the least. 
People are very disappointed. They don't believe that this government or 
any of the other parties are able to change things.
Sometimes you just need a leader to tell you something, to give you 
reason to be hopeful. This is not the case in Greece. Everyone is very 
disappointed and angry.
I would like this government to resign. I think it is the least they can 
do if they have any decency left inside them.







http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7820695.stm
Friday, 9 January 2009
Greek protests provoke backlash
By Malcolm Brabant
BBC News, Athens

Some Greeks are fed up with the property damage caused by rioters
The diminutive middle-aged woman protester did not conform to the 
"central casting" image of the average Greek demonstrator.
Wearing sensible shoes and a brown raincoat, Myrto Dracopoulou was 
dwarfed by burly police officers as she stood outside Athens' Red Cross 
hospital.
But four weeks' repressed anger, from witnessing the worst civil unrest 
in Greece since the fall of the colonels' dictatorship 35 years ago, 
suddenly spilled over into a stream of outraged consciousness.
The trigger that compelled Mrs Dracopoulou to abandon the sitting room 
of her home in a quiet northern Athenian suburb for the freezing street, 
was the attempted murder of 21-year-old Diamantis Matzounis, a policemen 
shot in a machine-gun attack allegedly linked to a left-wing militant 
group called Revolutionary Struggle.

When I see these things, I feel nostalgic for the dictatorship

Myrto Dracopoulou
She had come to the Red Cross hospital to show solidarity with the 
police force, which has faced constant protest since a policeman shot 
dead 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos on 6 December.
"We are the silent majority," she said. "We don't want this rebellion."
She said the Greek state seemed incapable of controlling "these 
anarchists, these anti-authority people, these terrorists, who have been 
doing whatever they want, unpunished, for years and years and years".
"I am sick and tired of being afraid to go into the centre of my city, 
Athens, because of some demonstration," she added.
She said the disrespect for authority was instilled in schools, where 
"young people are being brainwashed by these extremist leftist parties", 
and said even her sister's kindergarten pupils had taken to calling 
policemen "pigs".
'Ground zero'
For a reaction to those comments, I turned to George Kypraios, a 
resident of Exarchia, the Bohemian district of Athens where both 
Grigoropoulos and Matzounis were shot.

Sympathetic Greeks have built a shrine to Alexis Grigoropoulos
His apartment overlooks what he calls "ground zero", or to give its 
proper name, the Athens Polytechnic, a haven for anarchists and students 
who have been fomenting Greece's social uprising.
"She is talking nonsense," said Mr Kypraios.
"What you would expect from a supporter of LAOS," he said, referring to 
Greece's small ultra-right-wing nationalist party, which has 10 deputies 
in the 300-seat parliament.
He said Exarchia had been outraged by "the futility and absurdity" of 
the teenager's death, but that the protests, which have often ended up 
in running battles between rioters and police, had gone too far.
"The small number of troublemakers who have besmirched Greece's 
reputation globally must not be allowed to hide behind their hoods," he 
said.
"The police have the resources and the legal framework to deal with the 
situation. If there were orders to avoid arrests during the original 
disturbances, time to rescind those.
"I am tired of a tiny minority destroying the international image of our 
city and country, which we so carefully and painstakingly re-built since 
the restoration of democracy in 1974. Enough!"
Nostalgia
This week, the police unions blamed the government for the climate that 
enabled someone to shoot Diamantis Matzounis. They said the order to act 
defensively as the riots began had enabled the security situation to 
spiral out of control.

Police have borne the brunt of anger at the teenager's shooting
On Thursday, after overseeing the first meeting of his reshuffled 
cabinet, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis promised to crack down on the 
"phenomenon of catastrophic violence".
His new public order minister pledged a zero-tolerance policy towards 
crime.
Will this satisfy Myrto Dracopoulou?
"This government is very weak. I have talked to many people of my 
generation and they look back on the dictatorship with some nostalgia 
because we had a quiet life," she says.
"It's not the answer, I know. It is not right to say that, but when I 
see these things, I feel nostalgic for the dictatorship. I was not 
afraid to walk in the streets. I am afraid of the thugs now."







http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7774304.stm
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
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Printable version


'The anarchists are misunderstood'

Anna Giabanidis says law and order has broken down in Athens
Dozens of people have been injured and hundreds of properties torched in 
days of rioting across Greece over the police shooting of a 15-year-old 
boy.
Trainee lawyer Anna Giabanidis has met the anarchists responsible for 
some of the violence and explains their perspective on events.
The views are the personal views of the contributor and do not intend to 
represent any one group in Greece. Anna Giabanidis has been along to 
protests but has not taken part in any violence.
________________________________________
What I have to say may be easily misunderstood - I'm not with the 
anarchists. But I sympathise with what is happening right now.

The feeling here is if you have money and status you can pretty much do 
what you want

I think these people have been very much misunderstood. Everything has 
escalated since the death of Alexis, as we know him over here.
It all dates back to about 1984/5. I don't know the full details as I 
wasn't born then but there's a deep-seated and long-standing concern 
about the way things have been handled by the police and the 
authorities, and the death of the teenager has made things worse.
The feeling here is if you have money and status you can pretty much do 
what you want.
We have a saying here: "If you've got money, you're innocent."
There's a feeling that it's the rich versus the rest, and there's unity 
between those who aren't rich.
You just have to look at the reaction over the last few days to see how 
people have come together.
There are three groups involved. There are the communists, who believe 
in peaceful protest and are not damaging property. They are the ones who 
try to stop the others destroying buildings or burning banks.
The anarchists are the ones you may have seen on television wearing 
masks. They are burning the banks and state property. They do have 
support from some communists.

There's been a total breakdown in law and order.

The third group are the younger people who like to think that they are 
anarchists but they don't know what they stand for.
They are the ones who have been looting - they are neither anarchists 
nor communists.
They are calling themselves anarchists but making things 20 times worse.
I sympathise with them. I went inside the university and spoke with some 
of them.
They feel the only way to make themselves heard is to do these things.
People have lost faith in the authorities or anyone in government - they 
are so angry.
They have started smoking and drinking on the metro - all rules are out. 
There's been a total breakdown in law and order.
I put an empty plastic bottle into a bin and somebody laughed and asked: 
"Why are you doing that?"
Even ordinary people are questioning authority and I can't see it 
getting back on track for a long time.
We'll need an election to get things back on track, we need a government 
response.
I fear it could escalate, I think someone's going to die, because what I 
see first hand is not safe at all.
I'm making Greece my home - I've lived half and half between the UK and 
Greece but I want to live here permanently.
I love the people, the life and the culture - it matches my personality.
If anything, what is happening here now has strengthened my desire to 
make Greece my home.






http://www.nowpublic.com/world/greece-sees-new-year-clashes-and-arson-attacks-0
Greece sees in New Year with clashes and arson attacks.
Share:
by Teacher Dude | January 1, 2009 at 07:46 am

After a brief interlude over the Christmas holidays the clashes sparked 
off by the death of a 15 year old teenager at the hands of the police on 
6th December continued shortly after midnight.

In Athens six banks, several car dealerships and several parked cars 
were set ablaze. In Greece's second city, Thessaloniki, hundreds of 
protesters attacked bank ATMs, the town hall and closed roads.

In addition the Greek prime minister's and the Greek police's web site 
once again were the target of hackers according to Indymedia Athens. A 
group calling itself Hackers Against Oppresion said that it was 
organising" International Electronic Civil Disobedience in Solidarity 
with Greek Anarchists"






http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/01/11/nb-07
Protesting youths battle police in Athens
11/01/2009
ATHENS, Greece -- Several thousand students, teachers and civil servants 
demonstrated in downtown Athens on Friday (January 9th) to protest the 
government's economic policy and planned education reforms, media 
reported. A group of participants started throwing stones and bottles at 
riot police. Police officers fired tear gas and made at least six 
arrests. The rally was the first since Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis 
reshuffled his cabinet earlier on Wednesday. (Kathimerini, Ta nea - 
10/01/09, ANA-MPA, In.news, SKAI, Reuters, AP - 09/01/09)






http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=26291

Greek protesters occupy state TV, interrupt news

ATHENS (Reuters) - About 20 student protesters occupied Greece's state 
television channel on Tuesday, interrupting a news broadcast in a 
demonstration against the police killing of a teenager.

"They came peacefully. There was no force used and they asked to protest 
on the air about the 15-year-old's killing," said a police official, who 
asked not to be identitied.

The channel showed images of the protesters for several moments before 
quickly cutting to advertisements and footage of the prime minister 
talking to his legislators in parliament earlier on Tuesday, the 
eleventh day of demonstrations following the shooting.

Greek youths break into state TV center, take over

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? Protesters forced their way into Greece's state 
NET television news studio Tuesday and interrupted a news broadcast 
featuring the prime minister so they could urge viewers to join mass 
anti-government demonstrations.

For more than a minute, about 10 youths blocked a broadcast showing a 
speech by Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. Instead, they displayed 
banners reading: "Stop watching, get out onto the streets," and "Free 
everyone who has been arrested." No one was hurt, and no arrests were 
reported.

NET chairman Christos Panagopoulos claimed the protesters violently 
forced their way into the studio. "This goes beyond any limit," he said.

It was the latest twist in 11 days of riots and protests after a 
policeman shot and killed a 15-year-old boy on Dec. 6. The violent 
protests have evolved from being just aimed at Greek police to being 
highly critical of Karamanlis' conservative government.

Karamanlis has rejected mounting demands to resign and call new elections.

Earlier Tuesday, masked youths attacked riot police headquarters in 
Athens and protesters clashed with police in the northern city of 
Thessaloniki.

Police said 30 youths threw petrol bombs and stones at the riot police 
building, causing extensive damage to seven cars and a police bus parked 
outside.

Students blocked streets in Athens and dozens of teenagers gathered 
outside the capital's main court complex and a maximum security prison ? 
where some threw stones at police.

Protesters have called for riot officers to be pulled off the streets, 
for police to be disarmed and for the government to revise its economic, 
social and education policies.

The protests have brought higher education in Greece to a standstill. 
Lessons have stopped at more than 100 secondary schools that are under 
occupation by students, according to the Education Ministry. Scores of 
university buildings across Greece are also occupied.

After the shooting death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos, 
furious youths smashed and burnt hundreds of shops in Athens' main 
shopping area, and attacked riot police who responded with massive tear gas.

Dozens of people have been injured in the rioting, while more than 300 
people have been arrested. The policeman accused of killing the teenager 
has been charged with murder and is being held pending trial.

In the northern port of Thessaloniki, riot police fired tear gas Tuesday 
to disperse 300 youths throwing fruit and stones outside the city's main 
court complex. The disturbance followed a court decision that found 
eight police officers guilty of abusing a student following riots two 
years ago.

The policemen received suspended sentences ranging from three years and 
three months for grievous bodily harm to 15 months for being an 
accessory to the abuse.

In a symbolic gesture meant to revive riot-shocked Athens, city 
authorities will light a large Christmas tree Tuesday on central 
Syntagma Square ? which has been at the center of many of the protests. 
The tree replaces one burnt during last week's riots.

Overnight, arsonists attacked three Athens banks with petrol bombs, 
causing extensive damage. There were no injuries or arrests. Every year, 
small anarchist groups carry out dozens of firebombings in Greece 
against government property, banks and diplomatic vehicles.






http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=United+Kingdom+%26+Europe&month=January2009&file=World_News2009011015454.xml
Greek police fire teargas at protesters
Web posted at: 1/10/2009 1:54:54
Source ::: REUTERS
ATHENS: Greek police fired teargas at hundreds of stone-throwing youths 
after an anti-government march in Athens yesterday, sparking fears of a 
return to the street violence which rocked the country last month. 
Several thousand students, teachers and public sector workers marched to 
parliament in protest at the conservative government?s policies, just 
over a month after the police shooting of a teenager unleashed the worst 
riots in decades fed by anger at youth unemployment and political scandals.
?Schools not bombs. Funds for education? read one banner, while marchers 
chanted: ?These are the government?s last days.? Many shouted slogans 
against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Hundreds of anarchists waving black flags and wearing gas masks broke 
away from the march outside the university and threw stones and bottles 
at police, who responded with teargas.
Riot police with shields shut down roads and detained dozens of 
demonstrators in central Athens, where business groups estimate last 
month?s riots caused ?1bn in damage and lost business. ?Thousands of 
protesters walked peacefully to parliament until anarchists threw 
bottles and stones at police,? said a police official who declined to be 
named. ?Police are chasing them around the city centre and have begun to 
make arrests.? The protest came two days after Prime Minister Costas 
Karamanlis announced a cabinet reshuffle aimed at shoring up the 
popularity of his government, which has fallen well behind the Socialist 
opposition party in opinion polls.
Newly-appointed Education Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos pledged on 
Thursday to listen to all sides before implementing controversial 
education reforms, which would allow the introduction of private 
universities in Greece.
?It doesn?t mean anything if the minister changes especially if the 
government?s policy remains the same,? said 33-year-old Nausika Tsima, a 
student, outside parliament. Local media reported that a policeman shot 
with a Kalashnikov assault rifle by an unidentified gunman on Monday was 
in a serious condition in hospital yesterday.
Authorities have said the weapons used in the attack in the central 
Athens Exarchia district was the same used by the left-wing 
Revolutionary Struggle guerrilla group.






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/10/2462893.htm
Greek reporters slam 'police brutality' at Athens protest
Posted Sat Jan 10, 2009 9:39am AEDT
Greek journalists have attacked police conduct at a demonstration in 
central Athens with the interior minister conceding that there might 
have been excesses.
Fourteen lawyers were among those detained after an estimated 3,000 
people, chiefly teachers and students, took part in a demonstration, at 
times violent, against the Government on Friday (local time).
The march was organised on the anniversary of the 1991 murder of Nikos 
Temponeras, a teacher who was bludgeoned to death by a right-wing unionist.
Initial skirmishes broke out near the university between dozens of young 
people wearing hoods and anti-riot police who fired gas to disperse them.
Bins were set on fire and sticks and stones thrown at the security forces.
Clashes continued in the area, which was closed to traffic and where 
hundreds of demonstrators remained for an hour.
There were repeated police charges and several arrests were made. Later 
police headquarters were sealed off.
The detained lawyers were released after the intervention of their 
professional association.
The influential Athens journalists' union (ESHEA) protested to the 
interior ministry about "the brutal attacks and beatings" to which 
reporters and camera crews had been subjected.
"There may have been excesses to be condemned, we are looking into the 
issue, but the police did their job," Interior Minister Procopis 
Pavolopoulos told Greek television.
Calm had returned by the evening.
Greece has been rocked by major unrest since the police shooting of a 
teenager, 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos.
The boy's death on December 6 unleashed a wave of anger that degenerated 
into the worst riots Greece has seen in decades with hundreds of stores 
in several cities vandalised and dozens looted in the days following his 
death.
Police were frequently targeted during the height of the unrest with 
precinct stations in Athens and other cities attacked with stones and 
squad cars torched.
-AFP






http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE5083Q420090109
Greek police fire teargas at stone throwing youths
Fri Jan 9, 2009 2:38pm GMT

By Renee Maltezou
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired teargas at hundreds of 
stone-throwing youths after an anti-government march in Athens Friday, 
sparking fears of a return to the street violence which rocked the 
country last month.
Several thousand students, teachers and public sector workers marched to 
parliament in protest at the conservative government's policies, just 
over a month after the police shooting of a teen-ager unleashed the 
worst riots in decades fed by anger at youth unemployment and political 
scandals.
"Schools not bombs. Funds for education" read one banner, while marchers 
chanted: "These are the government's last days." Many shouted slogans 
against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
Hundreds of anarchists waving black flags and wearing gas masks broke 
away from the march outside the university and threw stones and bottles 
at police, who responded with teargas.
Riot police with shields shut down roads and detained dozens of 
demonstrators in central Athens, where business groups estimate last 
month's riots caused 1 billion euros in damage and lost business.
"Thousands of protesters walked peacefully to parliament until 
anarchists threw bottles and stones at police," said a police official 
who declined to be named. "Police are chasing them around the city 
centre and have begun to make arrests."
The protest came two days after Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis 
announced a cabinet reshuffle aimed at shoring up the popularity of his 
government, which has fallen well behind the Socialist opposition party 
in opinion polls.
Newly-appointed Education Minister Aris Spiliotopoulos pledged Thursday 
to listen to all sides before implementing controversial education 
reforms, which would allow the introduction of private universities in 
Greece.
"It doesn't mean anything if the minister changes especially if the 
government's policy remains the same," said 33-year-old Nausika Tsima, a 
student, outside parliament.
Local media reported that a policeman shot with a Kalashnikov assault 
rifle by an unidentified gunman Monday was in a serious condition in 
hospital Friday.
Authorities have said the weapons used in the attack in the central 
Athens Exarchia district was the same used by the left-wing 
Revolutionary Struggle guerrilla group.
(Editing by Daniel Flynn)






http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_0_09/01/2009_103630
Students resume protests and revive fears
As leftist students prepare to resume anti-government protests with a 
rally today, university academics expressed fears that faculties might 
once again be taken over by anarchists.
Sources told Kathimerini that university rectors fear a new outbreak of 
violence after the protest, which is set to begin at noon outside Athens 
University. There are similar fears among rectors in Thessaloniki, where 
a student rally is to begin at the same time.
One of the issues unsettling academics is the discord among the 
students. Left-leaning student unions are divided into two camps: those 
from the union affiliated with the Communist Party (KKE) who want 
protests but no faculty sit-ins and those affiliated with the Coalition 
of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) and the extra-parliamentary left who want 
sit-ins to resume. Rectors fear that if today?s protest turns violent, 
self-styled anarchists will occupy faculties as they did last month in 
the protests that followed the police killing of a teenager in Exarchia. 
Academics have pledged to remain inside some of the more ?sensitive? 
buildings in a bid to avert sit-ins.
Students have planned meetings next week to decide their course of 
action but this will probably be discussed this evening after the protests.







http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/01/16/nb-04
Police, students stage separate protests in Athens
16/01/2009
ATHENS, Greece -- About 500 policemen took to the streets of Athens on 
Thursday (January 15th) to protest a series of violent attacks on 
colleagues across the country over the past several weeks. Supporting 
the demonstration were lawmakers from the ruling party (New Democracy), 
the main opposition party (PASOK) and the Radical Left Coalition. Weeks 
of sporadic violence have followed the December 6th killing of a 
15-year-old by a police officer.
Separately Thursday, more than 2,000 high school and university students 
protested in downtown Athens against police violence and the 
government's planned education reforms, including spending cuts. 
Protesters gathered outside the University of Athens before marching to 
the parliament building. (ANA-MPA, Naftemporiki, In.news, AFP, AP, 
Makfax - 15/01/09)







http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/23/2473178.htm

Athens demonstration degenerates into violence
Posted Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:23pm AEDT
Violence has erupted in the Greek capital, Athens, after a march in 
support of a trade unionist who was critically injured in an acid attack 
last month.
The march itself passed off peacefully, but the violence started as 
demonstrators dispersed.
After the lead protesters moved away from the labour ministry, a hard 
core launched a frontal assault on riot police guarding the building.
One man carrying a crash helmet ran up to the police lines and crashed a 
rock down at point-blank range.
The police responded with tear gas, pepper spray and stun grenades.
The demonstration split in two and some anarchists headed into the 
entertainment district of Gazi and smashed up banks and restaurants.
- BBC





http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/01/25/nb-04

Greek farmers expand protests
25/01/2009
ATHENS, Greece -- More than 9,000 Greek farmers on Saturday (January 
24th) expanded their protests against the government's farming policy, 
using tractors to blockade two major border crossings with Macedonia. It 
was the sixth consecutive day of protests demanding an increase in 
government subsidies and pensions. Farmers were already blocking the 
borders with Bulgaria and Turkey, as well as several major roads across 
the country, including the Athens-Thessaloniki national highway. At one 
point, Greek farmers reportedly attempted to force their way across the 
border into Bulgaria and were held back by Bulgarian border police. On 
Friday, the Bulgarian government formally protested to the Greek Embassy 
in Sofia, saying the blockade breaches the EU principles of free travel 
and trade.
In other news, protesters clashed with police forces during a march in 
Athens on Saturday to demand the release of people arrested during last 
month's riots. About 150 anarchists broke away from the rally and 
started throwing fire bombs at police. The anarchists set on fire a 
newspaper kiosk and a bus station and caused minor damages to four 
banks. Police responded by firing teargas. Protests also took place in 
the southwestern town of Patras. (ANA-MPA, Ethnos, In.news, DPA, AFP, 
MIA, AP, Reuters, Sofia Echo, BNR - 24/01/09)





http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_2047814049

Chaos in Athens after a protest in support of the attacked Bulgarian
Updated on: 23.01.2009, 14:28
Published on: 23.01.2009, 14:23

?
Author: Stefan Nikolov
Font size: a a a
The Greek police have used yesterday tear-gas in the center of Athens to 
disperse a group of protesters during the protest procession in support 
of the Bulgarian Kostadinka Kuneva, BTA reported.
The clashes have started between far leftist groups and the police near 
the Greek Ministry of Labor in Athens.
The procession was organized by "The initiative of local worker 
organizations for solidarity with Kostadina Kuneva and in support of the 
elimination of the black market of labor in the state and private sector".
We remind you that the Bulgarian was attacked with acid on December 23 
and since then is in treatment with heavy burns in the intensive 
department of a hospital in Athens.






http://www.nowpublic.com/world/athens-sees-still-more-violent-clashes

Athens sees still more violent clashes
Share:
by Teacher Dude | January 25, 2009 at 02:21 am
210 views | 45 Recommendations | 4 comments
Photos

Yesterday protest marches were held in Athens in solidarity with those 
arrested by police during the series of clashes which spread across 
Greece in December following the shooting by police of a 15 year old 
teenager in the capital's Exarchia district.
Protests turned violent as some demonstrators clashed with riot police 
near the Propylia area of downtown Athens. However, eyewitness accounts 
published in Greek language blogs say that the police used excessive 
force, throwing stun grenades into the crowds and indiscriminately 
beating marchers. Attacks were also reported upon riot police in 
Thessaloniki, Greece's second city last night in which Molotov cocktails 
were thrown at police vans.
Despite hopes that last year's violent confrontations have died down, 
the marches demonstrate that popular anger has yet to be extinguished. 
On Thursday (see here for video) about 1000 people marched in protest 
against the attack on Labour activist, Konstandina Kouneva, the victim 
of an acid attack in December. The 44 year - old Bulgarian trade 
unionist is still in intensive care after having acid thrown in her face 
and being forced to drink the liquid.
Lawyers representing her say the attack was prompted by her work in 
exposing an alleged scam by cleaning companies with contracts with the 
state run organisations which meant that the mainly foreign born work 
force received slave wages.
The duration of the confrontations has seen the rapid development of a 
mini "arms race" on Greek streets with the appearance of more and more 
protesters wearing gas masks in order to counter-act the authorities 
extensive use of tear gas. According to the BBC the government has 
responded by ordering water cannons which will be ready for action 
within the next two weeks.
The ruling New Democracy party also faces protests by farmers who have 
used tractors to block road junctions across the country in 
demonstration over low prices and lack of government support for the 
nation's agricultural sector. Attempts to placate farmers with a 500 
million euro aid package have still not seen an end to the roadblocks.






http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE50N1IR20090124?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews
Anarchists clash with Greek police in Athens march
Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:14am EST

ATHENS (Reuters) - Anarchists threw fire bombs and clashed with Greek 
police in Athens on Saturday during a march to parliament by more than 
1,000 demonstrators protesting over the police killing of a teenager 
last month.
"About 150 anarchists who broke away from the rally threw rocks at the 
police who responded with teargas," said a police official, who declined 
to be named. "Later, they threw fire bombs at the offices of the defense 
minister."
The anarchists set on fire a newspaper kiosk and a bus station and 
caused minor damages to four banks in the center of the Greek capital. 
Police chased small groups of youths around the city center and detained 
at least two people.
Protests also took place in the southwestern Greek port of Patras, where 
three newspapers' buildings, a journalists union and three banks 
suffered slight damage.
Greece witnessed the worst riots in decades in December, triggered by 
the fatal police shooting of a 15-year-old boy and fueled by anger at 
economic hardships and government scandals.
On Thursday, a protest march against an acid attack on an immigrant 
cleaner, who was a union activist, caused vandalism by groups of 
anarchists, who clashed with police.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou and Renee Maltezou; Editing by Richard 
Balmforth)






http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2451255
Anarchists clash with Greek police
Published: 9:09PM Friday January 23, 2009
Source: Reuters

ReutersTwo workers paint a coffee shop next to anarchist graffiti in 
central Athens
Small groups of anarchists clashed with Greek police in Athens late on 
Thursday, after 200 people marched to the Labour Ministry to protest an 
acid attack on an immigrant working as a cleaning lady, police said.
"About 30 anarchists threw stones and other objects at police, who 
replied with teargas," said a police official, who declined to be named.
The anarchists also set fire to five garbage containers but no major 
damage was reported.
Greece witnessed the worst riots in decades in December, triggered by 
the fatal police shooting of a teenager and fuelled by anger at economic 
hardships and government scandals.
Since then, the streets of the capital have since remained largely peaceful.







http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_2458470,00.html

Anarchists riot in Athens
2009-01-24 16:30
Athens - Hundreds of self-styled anarchists are battling police in 
central Athens following a march to demand the release of people 
arrested during last month's riots.
The clashes occurred shortly after 14:30 (12:30 GMT) outside the main 
University of Athens building. The rioters used stones and sticks and 
the police charged with batons and used pepper spray.
About 300 rioters have continued their march through a central Athens 
street, smashing shop windows while police follow at a distance.
The anarchists gathered early Saturday afternoon to demand the release 
of what they term "political prisoners".
They were at the forefront of violent riots in Athens and other Greek 
cities for 15 days following the December 6 shooting of a teenager by a 
police officer.
- SAPA

















From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 11:57:53 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:57:53 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] OAKLAND Uprising and protests, Jan 09
Message-ID: <4AEF39C1.20305@tesco.net>

Unrest in Oakland, California over police murder of unarmed man on train.

Later protests:

Apr 10 - Arrest as protesters disrupt police meeting
Jan 31 - Protest closes BART police station; 9 arrested as killer cop bailed
Jan 12 - March in SF
Jan 15 - Protest, arrests as buildings, cars targeted

Main uprising, January 8th - Mass unrest over racist shooting by BART police






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/09/BAU516VVM3.DTL

Protester arrested after attack on BART chief
Rachel Gordon, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, April 10, 2009
________________________________________
(04-09) 14:12 PDT Oakland -- A protester interrupted a BART board 
meeting Thursday when he threw red paint at the transit agency's general 
manager, Dorothy Dugger.

The disruption led to an arrest and prompted BART officials to rethink 
the security at their public meetings.
Witnesses said Gabriel Meyers, 31, of Citrus Heights (Sacramento 
County), had been pacing the room and seemed to grow more agitated 
before he rushed toward Dugger and the deputy general manager and 
spattered them with paint.
Nearly two dozen people came to Thursday's meeting to protest the 
shooting death of Oscar Grant by a BART police officer and demand the 
resignation and firing of Dugger and Police Chief Gary Gee. Protest 
organizers said Meyers was not part of their group.
Meyers was arrested and booked on two counts of battery, one count of 
disrupting a meeting and one count of resisting arrest, Gee said.
After the incident BART board members called for tougher security 
measures at their meetings. One suggestion was to subject the public to 
backpack and bag searches as they enter the chambers. Another was to 
forbid groups from mobbing the speaker's podium.
"We're going to get back control of our meetings," said board President 
Thomas Blalock.






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/30/MNL715KJPS.DTL

Shooting protest briefly closes BART station
Charles Burress,Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writers
Saturday, January 31, 2009

(01-30) 17:47 PST Oakland --
The 12th Street BART Station in Oakland was shut down for five minutes 
Friday afternoon because of a nearby protest by people angry about the 
shooting of Oscar Grant by BART police Officer Johannes Mehserle.
The few dozen protesters, organized by the advocacy group Act Now to 
Stop War and End Racism, gathered at the county courthouse for 
Mehserle's bail hearing. Protesters carried signs reading "Jail Racist 
Killer Cops" and "Justice for Oscar Grant," and several of them said 
they were angry bail was granted.
The group marched through downtown Oakland, prompting BART to shutter 
the 12th Street Station as a precaution.
The group stopped at a McDonald's parking lot at 14th and Jackson 
streets, and police wearing riot gear told them that if they didn't 
disperse they'd be arrested for unlawful assembly. At some point during 
the protest, police released tear gas to try to break up the group. Five 
juveniles and four adults were arrested for failure to disperse, said 
Oakland police Officer Jeffrey Thomason.
By about 5 p.m., there were far more police officers than protesters.






http://cbs5.com/crime/BART.shooting.protests.2.923419.html

Jan 31, 2009 12:47 pm US/Pacific
9 Arrests In Protest After BART Cop Gets Bail
Court Document Outlines Defense Case (.pdf)
Eye On Blogs: Post Your Comments
Complete BART Shooting Coverage

Former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle stands as his attorney 
Michael Rains speaks to the judge during a bail hearing Friday.
CBS

Nine people were arrested in demonstrations Friday evening over a 
judge's decision to set bail for a former Bay Area Rapid Transit police 
officer accused of murder, authorities said.

The protesters left from the courthouse late Friday afternoon after 
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Morris Jacobson set bail for 
27-year-old Johannes Mehserle at $3 million, although he did not 
immediately post the bond and remained jailed Saturday.

About 100 protesters held signs that read, "Jail the Killer Cops," and 
"Justice for Oscar Grant" as they blocked traffic and marched down 
Oakland streets. Dozens of police officers in riot gear were also present.

Mehserle is accused of fatally shooting 22-year-old Oscar Grant III, of 
Hayward, on a train platform at Oakland's Fruitvale BART station early 
New Year's Day.

He has pleaded not guilty to one count of murder, and his attorney said 
at Friday's bail hearing that he may have mistakenly pulled his service 
pistol instead of a stun gun when firing.

Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason said four juveniles and five 
adults were arrested for failing to disperse in the protests that 
followed the bail hearing.

Additionally, one police vehicle was damaged and officers deployed tear 
gas at Seventh Street and Broadway, Thomason said. Protesters also 
prompted a brief closure of the 12th Street/Oakland City Center BART 
station.

Earlier Friday in court, Mehserle's attorney Michael Rains made the 
argument that Grant's shooting "was a tragic, tragic accident, nothing 
more" and requested bail of $100,000 for his client.

Amateur videos of the incident, widely viewed on TV and the Internet, 
showed the officer standing over Grant as he was lying facedown on the 
train platform and firing one shot into the man's back. Grant died of 
the gunshot wound to his torso.

Rains said that witness accounts indicated Mehserle meant to draw his 
Taser, but instead pulled his pistol. The lawyer blamed inexperience by 
the young officer, who joined the department in March 2007 and passed 
his Taser user certification test on Dec. 3, according to court 
documents filed in support of the bail motion that offered the first 
glimpse at Mehserle's defense.

"The bulk of the discovery, including witness and officer statements, 
seem to indicate that this young officer, who carried a taser for only a 
few shifts prior to this event, may have mistakenly deployed his service 
pistol rather than his taser, thus negating any criminal intent," Rains 
wrote in the filing.

The court documents contained statements from and reports by several 
officers who were on the platform with Mehserle at the time of the 
shooting. The officers who had just pulled several men, including Grant, 
from a BART train after reports of fighting described the scene as 
chaotic and the suspects as "combative in their verbiage and body 
language," the documents said.

As Grant lay on the ground, Mehserle told him to stop resisting and put 
his hands behind his back, according to a statement by BART Officer Tony 
Pirone, who was standing by the man's head. Several witnesses at the 
scene said Grant was refusing to take his arms out from under him.

Then, according to Pirone, Mehserle said: "I'm going to taze him, I'm 
going to taze him. I can't get his arms. He won't give me his arms. His 
hands are going for his waistband."

Mehserle then told Pirone to move, before firing the shot.

Pirone said he didn't know if Grant was armed at the time, but said 
Mehserle told him he had believed Grant may have been.

"Tony, I thought he was going for a gun," Mehserle said, according to 
Pirone's statement. Witnesses told investigators that Mehserle appeared 
shocked after the shooting.

Rain told the judge that prosecutors should have charged his client with 
involuntary manslaughter, not murder.

Deputy District Attorney John Creighton questioned Mehserle's story at 
Friday's hourlong hearing, saying the video of the shooting showed an 
officer losing his control and using lethal force.

The defense's account appears to conflict with prosecutors' contention 
that the video shows Grant already had his hands behind his back when 
Mehserle fired the shot. Creighton also questioned why after the 
shooting, Mehserle told a fellow officer that he thought Grant was armed 
rather than saying he thought he was firing his Taser.

Judge Jacobson said he was required to set bail for non-capital cases 
but chose the high amount because he believed the former officer was a 
flight risk after going to Nevada during the initial investigation. 
Mehserle was arrested Jan. 13 at a home in Douglas County, Nevada.

Jacobson also noted inconsistencies in the defendant's account of the 
shooting.

"He has the willingness to add to the story, to change the story, to 
make up something that's not true to avoid consequences," said Jacobson, 
who imposed a temporary gag order in the case until the next hearing on 
Feb. 10.

The case has outraged many residents and community leaders, prompting a 
number of protests, including some that have turned violent. The crowds 
that had gathered again outside the courthouse Friday chanted that 
Mehserle should remain jailed.

"The family is very, very disappointed," attorney John Burris, who is 
representing Grant's family in a $25 million lawsuit against BART, said 
outside the courthouse. "In a case of this magnitude, it was certainly 
our hope that no bail was set."

Burris said he believed that a big part of the case will rest on video 
footage of the shooting.

"Resisting or not, at the time he was shot he was on his stomach, his 
hands were behind him and he was under control. There was no basis to 
use a Taser, and there was obviously no basis to bring out a deadly 
weapon," Burris said. "This is not an accidental killing."







http://www.ktvu.com/news/18609795/detail.html

Nine Arrested During Noisy BART Shooting Protest
Posted: 10:33 pm PST January 30, 2009Updated: 10:56 pm PST February 1, 2009
OAKLAND, Calif. -- About 100 demonstrators took to the streets of 
Oakland following a protest Friday afternoon at the Rene C. Davidson 
Courthouse on Fallon Street near Lake Merritt.
The group headed for the city hail at 6th Street and Broadway, 
disrupting traffic along the way. Some protesters jumped on the top of 
an AC Transit bus.
Others screamed insults at police. When the crowd reached the 
intersection of 7th Street and Broadway, one protestor smashed the back 
window of an unmarked Oakland Police SUV. Police reacted by tossing 
"flash bang" grenades and using tear gas.
That cause the crowd to temporarily disperse.
A few minutes later they gathered at 14th Street and Broadway and then 
headed back toward the courthouse where just hours earlier a judge had 
set bail for former BART Police Officer Johannes Mesherle at $3 million 
dollars.
Even at that amount, some objected to the idea that Mesherle could be 
released. "Its unfair, its very unfair because if that was him or me or 
anyone out here we would not get bail", said marcher Consuela Patterson.
Officers dressed in riot gear prevented the protestors from reaching the 
courthouse. Police squeezed the crowd along 14th Street between Alice 
and Harrison Streets. Police then announced what was taking place was an 
unlawful gathering. But the protestors stood their ground until officers 
threatened to use tear gas.
The protest finally ended at about 5 p.m. Oakland police say they 
arrested nine people including five adults and four juveniles, all on 
charges of failure to disperse.








http://www.ktvu.com/news/18467698/detail.html

No Arrests During SF Protest Against BART Shooting
Posted: 10:21 pm PST January 12, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO -- There was no report of arrests or injuries during a 
demonstration in San Francisco Monday night, protesting the shooting 
death of Oscar Grant at the hands of a Bay Area Rapid Transit police 
officer on Jan. 1, a San Francisco police spokesman said.
However, San Francisco police Sgt. Wilfred Williams said a small trash 
can was set on fire during the protest and there were small amounts of 
graffiti in the area of Bush, Sansome and New Montgomery streets.
The demonstration started near BART's Civic Center station at about 5 
p.m. and came days after a violent march and protest in Oakland.
At about 6:30 p.m., there were more than 100 protesters near the Powell 
Street BART station, several wearing bandanas over their faces and some 
screaming, "No justice, no peace."
San Francisco police officers on foot and motorcycles accompanied the 
demonstrators, monitoring the protest.
Williams said the demonstration appeared to be over at about 9 p.m.






http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/15/MNK115ADNQ.DTL

18 arrested at Oakland protest of BART killing
Christopher Heredia, Carolyn Jones,Leslie Fulbright, Chronicle Staff Writers
Thursday, January 15, 2009

(01-14) 22:37 PST Oakland -- Protesters hit the streets of downtown 
Oakland on Wednesday evening to speak out about the shooting of an 
unarmed BART passenger a day after a former BART police officer was 
arrested on a murder warrant for the killing.

They marched from City Hall to the Alameda County Administration 
Building in a rally that remained peaceful for more than four hours 
until nearly 8:30 p.m., when a small group of lingering protesters 
turned violent, smashing windows in several businesses and dozens of 
cars as rally organizers pleaded with them to stop. Officials briefly 
closed the 12th and 19th Street BART stations as a precaution and police 
arrested 18 people, mostly for vandalism.
Protesters planned the rally before Tuesday's arrest of former BART 
police Officer Johannes Mehserle to demand action in the officer's 
killing of Oscar Grant. After Mehserle's arrest, organizers decided to 
go ahead with the protest, in part to demand a murder conviction in the 
case.
Police estimated the crowd size during the march at about 1,000; protest 
organizers said there were twice that number.
Organizers with the Coalition Against Police Executions demanded the 
conviction, the resignation of Alameda County District Attorney Tom 
Orloff, the names of all BART officers present at the shooting, the 
creation of a citizen review board for BART and a network of healing 
centers for young people in Oakland.
"Oscar Grant's death will not be swept under the rug. ... We're here to 
turn the switch on so the (district attorney) has no problem seeing the 
facts," Bishop Keith Clark of Word Assembly Church in Oakland said at 
the rally at City Hall.
"We want you to prosecute this officer just like you would any murderer 
of any other youth."
Protesters began gathering at City Hall at about 4 p.m. and listened to 
speeches and pleas for nonviolence from voices as diverse as Oakland 
Mayor Ron Dellums and Oakland rapper Too $hort.
In brief remarks, Dellums asked the assembled crowd to emulate the famed 
Chinese protester of Tiananmen Square, who halted a tank column by 
standing passively in front of it.
"What he did he did without saying a word. He simply said he had had 
enough. Let this day be a loud and profound statement that we came 
together for justice with a passion for peace," Dellums said.
Dellums' comments were met by cheers and a few scattered boos. Too 
$hort's comments echoed the mayor's.
"It would be so sad if this turned out to be violent," he said. "Let's 
do this one right - everyone is watching."
Monitors in orange vests accompanied the marchers down 14th Street as 
they passed closed businesses boarded and shuttered for fear of 
vandalism. They passed David Gombogau, who was standing sentry outside 
his restaurant, Asian Grill.
"I hope everyone remains peaceful," he said, pointing at a window in his 
business that was shattered in last week's protest. "Businesses should 
not be attacked. It's OK for them to be doing this, but we just don't 
want them to attack us."
At the protest, Tiye Jones, 18, an Oakland native on break from Temple 
University, said she takes comfort in Mehserle's arrest but added that 
officials must review police conduct standards and continue the 
investigation into whether other officers acted inappropriately on New 
Year's Day when Grant was shot to death.
"Innocent people are being executed left and right. It's my duty to come 
out and speak against injustice. I take some comfort in the officer's 
arrest, but we have a lot more work to do. More arrests need to happen," 
Jones said.
Police and local businesses worried about the potential for violence 
despite organizers' calls for peace. Just one week earlier, a protest 
that started off peacefully ended violently with 105 people arrested and 
nearly 50 businesses damaged.
Wednesday, the same message boards that spread word about the rally also 
were filled with debate about how the protest should be conducted. Some 
people called for "bringing the ruckus" against what they called 
"legitimate targets" such as McDonalds and Foot Locker. Others called 
for nonviolent demonstration.
Many downtown Oakland employees left work early in anticipation of the 
rally, which began with speeches, Native American drumming and chanting 
and a light police presence.
Police Chief Wayne Tucker said every officer in the city's police 
department was available to monitor the rally, although officials hoped 
that the arrest Tuesday of Mehserle would cool the crowd's tensions.
Denise Geare of Pleasant Hill, an employee of the state attorney general 
who works in Oakland, said as she left her office around 5 p.m. that she 
hoped Mehserle's arrest would prevent a repeat of past vandalism.
"I was at People's Park. I'm all for civil unrest," she said. "But I 
believe there are some people who come out to be part of a violent mob, 
which is unfortunate."
Protesters began to trickle away from City Hall about 7 p.m., closely 
watched by police in riot gear. Tempers flared when a woman accused a 
man of stealing her cell phone; protesters shouted angrily as police 
arrested the accused man.
"It's a complex issue," said Richard Knee, a writer from San Francisco, 
as he watched the tense situation unfold.
"Of course you don't like to see violence, but there are times when 
nonviolence has not worked. It builds and it builds, and eventually it 
bursts forth in some rather unfortunate ways," he said. "Personally, I 
don't like to see it, but sometimes it's just avoidable."
Tension grew later in the evening as a group of about 100 refused to 
obey organizers' calls to go home, staying around 14th and Broadway as 
police reopened streets. Organizers kept the crowd under control, 
pulling protesters off cars and away from windows, until about 8:20.
At that point, a group of several dozen broke away, shattering windows 
in a bus shelter, Wells Fargo Bank and several businesses in the City 
Center Plaza shopping mall.
"There wasn't probably more than 10 people causing all the trouble," 
said Dan Lindheim, Oakland's acting city administrator. "The security 
for the demonstration did a great job, but at a certain point they 
couldn't deal with that. The good news is the police and the 
demonstration worked really well together. The bad news is you can't 
really control people who want to cause trouble and weren't part of the 
demonstration."
At 8:56, the shrinking crowd was milling near Broadway and 13th. 
Baton-wielding police moved in shortly after 9 p.m.
"The city of Oakland is now closed," police announced. "Please go home."
Chronicle staff writers Matthew B. Stannard and Charles Burress 
contributed to this story. E-mail Christopher Heredia at 
cheredia at sfchronicle.com.





http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/16/local/me-bart-shooting16

Oakland shooting protest ends in violence
Some of those protesting the death of Oscar J. Grant III damage 
businesses and cars. A former transit police officer is charged in the case.
By Maria L. La Ganga and Maura Dolan
January 16, 2009
A demonstration outside Oakland City Hall to protest a shooting of an 
unarmed man in the back by a transit police officer ended violently 
after a group began damaging businesses and cars.
Hundreds of people gathered at City Hall on Wednesday and marched to the 
Alameda County Courthouse, shouting, "We will march, we will chant, 
until there's justice for Oscar Grant!" and "I am Oscar Grant!" 
Organizers also called for the resignation of county Dist. Atty. Tom 
Orloff, doubting his ability to successfully prosecute accused police 
officers. Police in riot gear were out in force.
The shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old African American, by a 
27-year-old white officer who recently resigned also sparked a protest a 
week ago that ended in more than 100 arrests and scores of damaged 
buildings and torched cars in downtown Oakland.
Addressing the group on Oak Street between the courthouse and the county 
administration building, Grant's grandfather rejoiced that "they got the 
man who killed my grandson." Oscar Grant Sr. also beseeched the crowd to 
"keep peace."
But despite his plea, the demonstration ended violently after a small 
group splintered off and damaged local businesses and several cars 
parked along the streets.
Johannes Mehserle was arrested Tuesday night in Zephyr Cove, Nev., 
nearly a week after resigning from the Bay Area Rapid Transit District 
police force in the wake of the New Year's Day shooting death of Oscar 
J. Grant III, authorities said Wednesday.
"At this point, what I feel the evidence indicates is an unlawful 
killing done by an intentional act," Orloff said Wednesday in announcing 
a murder charge against Mehserle in the case.
Legal experts said it was rare for an officer to be charged with murder 
in connection with an on-duty shooting, and that convictions are difficult.
Mehserle's attorney, Christopher Miller, said he expected that his 
client would eventually be cleared of the charges arising from "that 
chaotic night."
Mehserle "was a fine young officer with an excellent work history," 
Miller said at a Sacramento news conference, adding that "this case is 
not just about a video."
The shooting occurred two weeks ago, early on New Year's morning. Grant 
and his friends were heading home to the East Bay aboard a BART train 
after celebrating New Year's Eve in San Francisco when a fight broke out 
between two groups of riders. BART police met the train at Oakland's 
Fruitvale station and demanded that passengers disembark.






http://www.ktvu.com/news/18484579/detail.html

Oakland Protest Deteriorates Into More Vandalism
Posted: 9:01 pm PST January 14, 2009Updated: 9:07 am PST January 15, 2009
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland police say 18 people were arrested Wednesday 
night after a largely peaceful protest against the fatal New Year's Day 
BART shooting turned violent as vandals smashed windows throughout the 
City Center area.
Nearly 1,500 people gathered in the plaza in front of Oakland City Hall 
today to protest the shooting death of Oscar Grant III by former Bay 
Area Rapid Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle at the Fruitvale 
station on Jan. 1.
Attendees began departing shortly after 7 p.m., although a cluster of 
more than 100 people remained at the intersection of Broadway and 14th 
Street in downtown Oakland at about 8:15 p.m., chanting and waving signs.
Police re-opened the intersection to traffic shortly before 8 p.m. 
although crowds remained on each of the four corners. Dozens of people 
walked together down Broadway towards 12th street, disrupting traffic. 
Some individuals walking on the street carried signs that read "Jail All 
Racist Cops."
One man set a small fire in a garbage can on Broadway between 12th and 
13th streets. Additionally, police reported that windows of a Wells 
Fargo bank were smashed in at 12th Street and Broadway. Other windows 
were broken at business in the City Center area.
Police in riot gear responded to the vandalism with tear gas, pursuing 
the individuals responsible for the damage and arresting 15 people. An 
Oakland police spokesman also said there were three arrests during the 
protest: one for assault and two for possession of Molotov cocktails.
The protest prompted the closure of the 12th Street and 19th Street BART 
station at about 8:30 p.m., BART communications specialist Fred Evans 
said. Trains continued to run through the stations.
Protest monitors wearing orange vests were on the scene throughout the 
evening to diffuse tensions between unruly participants, onlookers and 
police. Monitors said they were volunteering on behalf of the groups 
that organized the protests.
"The protest has been quite calm and the organizers did a wonderful job 
controlling the crowd," said Dan Lindheim, Oakland's acting city 
administrator, around 7:30 p.m. His comments referred to the monitors in 
orange vests.
After the rally, Lindheim remained at the intersection of 14th and 
Broadway, monitoring the group. Alongside him were Oakland City Council 
members Desley Brooks and Jean Quan.
Nearby on 17th street, the site of much damage from last week's protest, 
business owner Gretha Hayes said the area was quiet and deserted. 
"Everything's pretty much closed," she said. Hayes said she only stayed 
at her boutique, A Diva's Closet, to catch up on work.
Many store owners closed early to avoid potential vandalism. On 17th 
Street, roughly half the windows in a three-block stretch were boarded 
from last week.
Earlier in the evening, speakers at the rally said they're glad that 
Mehserle, who resigned last week, has been arrested and charged with 
murder for the shooting death of Grant, a 22-year-old Hayward man, when 
Mehserle and other officers responded to reports that two groups of men 
were fighting on a BART train.
But they said they're still keeping a close eye on the legal system so 
that justice is done for Grant's death.
Bishop Keith Clark of the Word Assembly Church in Oakland opened the 
program by saying, "We come seeking justice" and "arrest isn't justice 
but conviction is."
Clark said, "We come knocking on the door of our legal system" and added 
"you must prosecute this man."
However, Clark also asked the protesters to be peaceful, saying, "We ask 
God that you will give us a peaceful protest."
At the rally, Councilwoman Brooks said, "I have no confidence in the 
district attorney and I will watch him every step of the way."
Brooks led a group of dozens of community members who met with Alameda 
County District Attorney Tom Orloff last week to urge that Mehserle be 
prosecuted, She said the charges against Mehserle "should have happened 
two weeks ago."
But Brooks also urged the protesters to remain peaceful, telling the 
crowd, "Let's not give the media the spectacle they want to see."
Dereka Blackmon, the co-founder of Citizens Against Police Executions 
(CAPE) and one of the rally's organizers, said Grant's mother, Wanda 
Johnson sent her greetings and said "have peace in the name of my son."
Blackmon said, "All of the (Grant) family is watching today" to make 
sure that the protest doesn't become violent, as did a protest last week.
Blackmon said, "There are Oscar Grants all over the country" who have 
been shot and killed by police officers and said there are similar 
protests in 15 other cities across the country today.
"Let Oscar Grant be the beginning of the end of police brutality," she said.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums, who was booed by a small number of people in 
the crowd, said, "Let's come together to bring real change because 
thousands of young people of color across the country are dying."
Dellums told the crowd, "Change is necessary and you have that power."
Oakland Police Chief Wayne Tucker, chief of staff Sgt. Michael Poirier 
and police spokesman Jeff Thomason were among many police officers who 
watched the speeches outside City Hall. Police did not immediately 
confirm whether anyone was arrested during the evening.
After the speeches ended, protesters marched down 14th Street toward the 
plaza in front of the Alameda County Administration Building, which is 
located on Oak Street between 12th and 13th streets near Lake Merritt.
Oakland police officers and Alameda County Sheriff's deputies were in 
riot gear to guard buildings in the area.








http://www.roguegovernment.com/index.php?news_id=13678

Protesters: Oakland Shooting A Modern Day Lynching Published on 
01-09-2009 Email To Friend Print Version

Source: Raw Story
Following Wednesday's riot in Oakland, California, which grew out of 
protests over the fatal shooting of a young black man by a transit 
officer, CNN obtained a clip of reactions by several protesters.

"That's not accident," said one young black man. "That's you doing what 
you wanted to do. You're abusing your authority."

"I see it as modern-day racism," began a second. "They killed that young 
black brother..."

"That's a modern-day lynching," others interrupted. "Modern day lynching 
right there."

This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast Jan. 9, 2009.






http://rawstory.com/news/2008/BART_cop_shooting_protests_escalate_turn_0108.html

Oakland protests turn violent as victim's mother pleads for peace
Diane Sweet
Published: Thursday January 8, 2009

Angry protests turned to rioting Wednesday night in response to the 
January 1 shooting of an unarmed man at a subway station in California's 
Bay Area.

Police made at least 105 arrests after cars -- including one police 
vehicle -- were vandalized, store windows were smashed, and fires blazed 
out of control on the streets. Approximately 300 stores were damaged in 
the fray, according to published reports.

In response to the violence, "State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San 
Mateo, and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, today announced 
their intent, with the support of San Francisco supervisor and former 
police commissioner David Campos, to author legislation requiring 
greater accountability and public oversight of BART police," reported 
CBS 5 in California.

"Clorox Corp and other businesses in Oakland, California, were sending 
employees home early on Thursday due to fears of more violence," said 
Reuters.

RAW STORY first reported the shooting of Oscar Grant, 22, who was killed 
by a single gun shot to the back after being pulled from a train along 
with some friends amid reports of an altercation on Monday, Jan. 5. 
Johannes Mehserle, identified as the officer who is alleged to have 
fired the fatal shot, has resigned amid alleged death threats.

The attorney for Grant's family, John Burris, said the timing of the 
officer's resignation didn't surprise him.

"He doesn't want to give a statement because BART could've ordered him 
to do so, and if he didn't, he could be terminated."

Wednesday night, the streets turned into 1980s West Beirut after 
protesters left the station area. Thursday, Grant's mother pleaded with 
Oaklanders for peace.

"I am begging the citizens not to use violent tactics, not to be angry," 
said Wanda Johnson, Grant's mother, at a press conference. "You're 
hurting people who have nothing to do with the situation. You're 
vandalizing their property, hurting their cars and breaking their 
windows. Please just stop it, please."

NBC's Bay Area News reports, "The protest Wednesday began peacefully at 
the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit station, but forced the closure of 
that station from about 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. before protesters moved through 
the city. At one point, reporter George Kiriyama was hit in the arm by a 
tear gas can. He explained live on television, 'I've been hit. I've been 
hit.' Kiriyama suffered a bruise to his arm."

One of the protest's organizers, Evan Shamar, blamed others for stirring 
things up.

"He said a group of anarchists, who were not part of the organizations 
hosting the rally, smashed a police vehicle before setting a garbage can 
on fire," the NBC affiliate reported.










[NOTE: This goon admits to seeing cops hitting people for standing their 
ground, trampling a bike, and making hit-and-run raids on the crowd, 
then calls them ?restrained?? what a moron]

http://cbs5.com/local/inside.oakland.riot.2.903374.html

Jan 8, 2009 1:38 pm US/Pacific
Inside The Oakland Riot: A First-Hand Account
Eye On Blogs: Post Your Comments, Reactions To Joe's Riot Account
Reporting
Joe Vazquez
OAKLAND (CBS 5) ?
Click to enlarge
The scene as police confront protesters in the streets of Oakland.
CBS
You've heard of a mob mentality. Well, I've just seen it in action.

Wednesday night's riot in Oakland developed quickly like a spark into a 
wildfire, and I was right in the middle of it.

It started with a peaceful demonstration at the Fruitvale BART station. 
Hundreds of demonstrators carried signs, shouted into megaphones and 
voiced their opinions.

Suddenly, a large segment of the crowd started walking off.

"Where are you going?" I shouted, and I got 10 different answers; all of 
them in downtown Oakland. Many just shrugged their shoulders and said 
they were just following.

About 6:15 p.m., the crowd arrived at the Lake Merritt BART station at 
800 Madison. They stopped and seemed confused, as if they were trying to 
understand why they were at a BART station and not BART headquarters.

Suddenly, a protester pointed at a police car. Someone started cursing 
at the officers who were standing behind it. The crowd surged. They 
rolled up a dumpster and set it on fire. It escalated. Someone else 
threw rocks; breaking the windshield. Traffic piled up and officers 
started shouting to the drivers, "Roll up your windows!"

The crowd surged several times. Once, CBS 5 photojournalist Patrick 
Sedillo was trampled. I was right behind him, and grabbed his coat 
before he hit the ground. We ran a short distance for cover.

About 3 dozen officers in riot gear and what appeared to be a SWAT 
armored personnel carrier lined up in formation. Officers fired tear gas 
into the crowd, and they quickly dispersed.

Protesters scrambled everywhere. They tried to regroup at Oakland Police 
Headquarters, but officers chased them off.

They reassembled at 14th and Broadway, near Oakland City Hall.

For the next hour, protesters gathered more and more strength; swelling 
to several hundred. Officers did the same, calling in more 
reinforcements in riot gear.

Demonstrators would occasionally disperse, but then instigators in the 
crowd who appeared to be anarchists called them back.

They wouldn't identify themselves, but those instigators wore bandanas 
on their faces and seemed more intent on provoking confrontations and 
throwing stuff at police than truly having their voices heard.

"Come stand with us," they implored. "Stand up for Oscar Grant!"

The crowd would then return. And they were getting bolder. Some 
protesters screamed just inches from the faces of officers. The cops 
stood still.

Others waved photos of Grant and called the officers "pigs" and 
"murderers." Other demonstrators lay face down with their arms behind 
their backs to demonstrate what Grant was doing when he was shot in the 
back by a BART police officer.

Shortly after 8 p.m., the Oakland Police gave the signal, and they 
slowly marched forward. Most protesters scattered; damaging cars and 
storefront windows on their way. They set trash cans and at least two 
cars on fire.

Glass started raining down. Bottles, trash ? anything protesters could 
get their hands on ? were flying at officers. They kept marching. 
Officers mechanically stomped over a woman's bike as they chased her 
off. Other protesters who stood their ground were hit with billy clubs.

Occasionally, officers would burst into the crowd to go after the folks 
throwing garbage at police. In a tactical maneuver reminiscent of my 
rugby days, the officers would send four officers sprinting into the 
crowd, tackle the suspected offender, then retreat with the arrestee 
back behind the formation.

Photojournalist Robert Moonan was nearly knocked over several times by 
these surging arrests, but managed to keep his feet and shot some 
amazing footage.

It was shocking to see, but the officers seemed to follow their training 
and were quite restrained, from my perspective.

To sum up the night, it was pandemonium that seemed uncontrolled, 
unplanned and unnecessary. Most of the protesters were not thrilled 
about having their peaceful demonstration thwarted by ugly behavior of a 
few. Seems to me most protesters were just mad. They followed blindly 
and got caught up in the moment.

The anger that spilled into the streets of Oakland was real. But the 
actions of the mob seemed surreal and, in the end, were counterproductive.







http://aidanmaconachyblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/oakland-riot-over-killing-of-oscar.html

Jan 8, 2009
Oakland riot over killing of Oscar Grant by BART cop

The recent fatal police shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22 year old 
supermarket worker, was marked by a protest in Oakland on Wednesday. The 
protest began at the Fruitvale Station in Oakland. This is where BART 
police officer, Johannes Mehserle, shot to death 22-year old Oscar Grant 
...story here .... video here.

Desley Brooks, councilwoman for East Oakland, called the shooting "an 
execution."

The protesters expressed outrage at discriminatory policing and 
abuse-of-power on the part of cops who are quick to reach for their 
guns. One protester described the killing of Grant as "a modern lynching."

After nightfall a group of about 200 protesters headed downtown and the 
protest began to heat up, drawing in hundreds of police in riot gear.

A demonstrator, Nia Sykes, said: "I feel like the night is going great. 
I feel like Oakland should make some noise. This is how we need to fight 
back. It's for the murder of a black male."

The anger generated by the conduct of a percentage of US police who act 
more like gangsters than people entrusted to serve and protect, makes it 
surprising that rioting hasn't become a bigger feature of life in 
American cities.

Some property damage occurred during the Oakland protest. When a riot 
breaks out indiscriminate damage usually occurs, it's the nature of a 
riot ... as one supporter of the Oakland protesters put it - "not nice." 
But what is "less nice" are cops who routinely abuse their authority - 
often exercising their power with a way-too-heavy emphasis on 
intimidation and force.

While the killing of Oscar Grant helped to get the demonstrators out, 
they were also reacting to what they perceive as police abuse-of-power 
in general. It's the kind of frustration that builds up when people feel 
the official routes simply don't produce the required results.

It's not only people in places such as Oakland who are pissed off. I 
know of at least one American who said he wouldn't drive in certain 
parts of Texas. He was afraid he might get pulled over and be given "an 
old school beating."

There is something seriously wrong with policing in some jurisdictions 
in the US. As one contact stateside who lives in a certain precinct in 
Louisiana put it - "it's kind of like dealing with the local Gestapo."







http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/09/BAV9156BB5.DTL

Oakland protest ends as police disperse crowds
Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, January 9, 2009

(01-08) 21:19 PST Oakland -- Oakland Police arrested two people tonight 
and dispersed a crowd of about 100 people at a downtown Oakland 
demonstration over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man by a BART police 
officer.
The demonstration, which began around 6 p.m., was about half the size of 
Wednesday's, which turned violent as protesters wreaked havoc on downtown.
Tonight, police in riot gear quickly shut down Broadway between 12th and 
16th Streets after protesters began stopping cars and buses and threw 
trash cans into the middle of the street. One woman protested by 
urinating in the middle of the street. Some protesters carried signs 
that read, "No justice, no peace." Others carried candles.
At Walgreens on 14th and Broadway, a protester threw a rock at the 
window. The window remained intact, but the manager came out, locked the 
front door and pulled a metal gate around the door and closed early for 
the night. A Rite-Aid across the street did the same.
By 7:30 p.m. a line of two dozen officers began advancing toward the 
crowd at 14th and Broadway. A bottle was hurled at the officers, who 
told people to move to the sidewalk.
"You all better think twice before you shoot an unarmed man," one man 
yelled as police advanced.






http://www.wbir.com/news/national/story.aspx?storyid=74044&provider=rss

Protest over Oakland police shooting turns violent
NBC News Updated: 1/9/2009 9:15:45 AM Posted: 1/9/2009 7:52:18 AM
A march protesting the killing of an Oakland, California man on New 
Year's Day turned violent Wednesday evening as a group of marchers 
attacked a police car and lit a dumpster on fire.
An estimated 700 people gathered at the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit 
station Wednesday afternoon to protest the shooting of Oscar Grant III 
by BART police.
Police were forced to respond to the crowd in riot gear after acts of 
vandalism and fires broke out.
At one point a police vehicle trapped in the middle of the crowd was 
jumped on by angry protesters.
As they hit the car with sticks, broke windows and another group of 
protesters pushed a burning dumpster towards the vehicle.
Protest organizers said a group of anarchists, who were not part of the 
original protest, attacked the police cruiser and set the dumpster on fire.
Police could not confirm the report.
Around 8:45 p.m., Mayor Ron Dellums met a group of protesters on 14th 
Street in downtown Oakland.
He spoke with the protesters and marched them down 14th Street towards 
Broadway near city hall.
The mayor asked police to leave the scene and he assured the protesters 
that an investigation was underway and any proper charges would be filed.
Dellums continued to speak with protesters at city hall for more than 30 
minutes, but around 9:35 p.m. Dellums abruptly left the crowd and walk 
into city hall after a disagreement.
The crowd booed the mayor as he walked away.
The Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer who shot and killed Oscar 
Grant III at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland early on New Year's 
Day has resigned.
BART spokesman Jim Allison said Officer Johannes Mehserle's attorney and 
his union representative submitted his letter of resignation at a 
meeting with BART investigators.
BART investigators have urged Mehserle to meet with them and to 
cooperate with the investigation, Allison said.






http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/716712/fatal-police-shooting-sparks-us-protests/?rss=yes

Fatal police shooting sparks US protests
16:31 AEST Fri Jan 9 2009
97 days 1 hour 53 minutes ago

Footage of a US police officer shooting dead a black man in San 
Francisco, have sparked protests.
In grainy mobile-phone videos played over and over on the internet, US 
police officers force an unarmed black man to the ground and hold him 
face-down on a crowded train platform in San Francisco.
Suddenly one of the officers draws his gun and fatally shoots the man in 
the back - then looks up.
The New Year's Day death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant has led to violent 
street protests amid allegations from the family's attorney that some of 
the officers used racial slurs.
The officer remains free and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. 
Some experts have questioned whether he fired his gun deliberately or 
mistakenly believed he was using his stun gun instead.
At a rally on Wednesday attended by hundreds of people, Shawanda Thomas 
held a fluorescent yellow sign that read: "Oscar Grant: Murdered! The 
Whole Damn System is Guilty."
Extra police were posted on Thursday at Bay Area Rapid Transit stations 
after a group of angry demonstrators smashed storefronts late on 
Wednesday, set fire to cars and clashed with officers equipped with riot 
gear and tear gas in downtown Oakland. More than 100 people were 
arrested and about 300 businesses were damaged.
Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums called for calm.
"Even with our anger and our pain, let's still address each other with a 
degree of civility and calmness and not make this tragedy an excuse to 
engage in violence," he said.
"I don't want anybody hurt. I don't want anybody killed."
At the mayor's request, the Oakland Police Department launched an 
investigation into the shooting on Thursday.
Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff, whose office also is 
investigating, said he probably would decide within two weeks whether to 
file charges.
Transit police officer Johannes Mehserle was initially placed on paid leave.
He resigned from the BART police force on Wednesday, but officials say 
he has refused to speak with the transit agency's investigators. He has 
not spoken publicly about the incident.
Mehserle's attorney, Christopher Miller, declined to comment on the 
investigations.
Grant's family has filed a $US25 million ($A35.3 million) wrongful-death 
claim against BART, the San Francisco Bay Area's commuter rail system, 
and relatives want Mehserle to be criminally charged.
"They want justice, but they don't want any more violence," said John 
Burris, an attorney for Grant's family.
"That officer hasn't been prosecuted ... That's why people don't have 
confidence in the system right now."
Local African-American leaders expressed outrage on Thursday at the 
shooting. And some Oakland residents have alleged it was racially 
motivated. Burris said he does not have any evidence that Grant was shot 
because he was black.
"There were racial slurs made by other officers to the group that Oscar 
Grant was with, but I have no evidence that this particular officer 
directed racial slurs toward Oscar Grant," Burris said.
BART officials said the agency is trying to conduct a thorough 
investigation, but that the public appears to be making judgments about 
the case based on raw video they saw online or on television.
"They see the answer before them playing out over and over on TV, but we 
have to follow the process and have to turn over evidence to the DA, and 
the DA decides what to do from there," said BART spokesman Linton Johnson.
The shooting unfolded in front of dozens of train passengers who were 
returning home after New Year's Eve celebrations.
Police officers arrived shortly after midnight on New Year's Day at the 
Fruitvale BART station following reports of young men fighting on a 
train. Grant was one of several who were ordered off the train, 
questioned and then restrained by Mehserle and other officers.
Videos shot by onlookers show Grant being pushed onto his stomach 
shortly before Mehserle fired his gun at Grant's back. The bullet 
ricocheted off pavement and pierced his lung, killing him.
The video footage has led to debate over whether the officer knowingly 
shot Grant, as the victim's family alleges.
Reports of police officers mistaking a handgun for a stun gun are rare, 
but not unheard of. In 2006, a sheriff's deputy in Washington state 
accidentally shot and wounded a disturbed man after mistakenly using his 
.40-calibre gun instead of his stun gun.
Bruce Siddle, a use-of-force expert who viewed the video clips, 
theorised that Mehserle was working under stress in a hostile situation 
and did not realise he was firing his pistol.
"I suspect he thought he was reaching for his Taser," said Siddle, 
founder of PPCT Management Systems, an Illinois company that trains 
law-enforcement officers in the use of force.
"If he was under stress, he would not be able to distinguish between a 
Taser and his firearm. You have video footage that seems to suggest that 
this officer made a tragic mistake."
But George Kirkham, a professor of criminology at the Florida State 
University who also viewed the footage, said he finds that hard to 
believe because most Taser stun guns do not look or feel like pistols, 
and the officer fired in a manner consistent with a handgun, not a Taser.
Kirkham, who works as an expert witness in criminal cases, speculated 
the officer fired because he thought he saw something in Grant's 
waistband or pocket that appeared to be a gun or other type of weapon.
"It's not believable that any officer can mix up a Taser and a firearm," 
said Kirkham, who has examined almost 500 police shootings over the past 
30 years.
"It's like looking for your steering wheel on the right side of your car 
rather than the left side."
Outrage over the shooting has been fuelled by raw video clips posted on 
YouTube and various news websites.
Over the past week, video of the shooting has been viewed more than 
500,000 times on the website of KTVU-TV, which has posted exclusive 
clips of the incident, said Bill Murray, who manages the station's website.
That is about twice as many video views as the site typically sees in a 
full month.
"Once a story gets national momentum, people want to come to it," Murray 
said.
"There's always been a certain voyeurism to online video. I think people 
want to see for themselves."






http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=6599577

Fatal Police Shooting Sparks Violent Protests
Videos of fatal police shooting in Oakland, Calif., spark violent 
protests, homicide probe
By TERRY COLLINS and TERENCE CHEA Associated Press Writers
OAKLAND, Calif. January 8, 2009 (AP)
The Associated Press

Police use tear gas to disperse protest over police shooting of an 
unarmed man.
In grainy cell-phone videos played over and over on the Internet, police 
officers force an unarmed black man to the ground and hold him face-down 
on a crowded train platform. Suddenly one of the officers draws his gun 
and fatally shoots the man in the back ? then looks up.
The New Year's Day death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant has led to violent 
street protests amid allegations from the family's attorney that some of 
the officers used racial slurs.
The officer remains free and has not been charged with any wrongdoing. 
And some experts have questioned whether he fired his gun deliberately 
or mistakenly believed he was using his stun gun instead.
At a rally Wednesday attended by hundreds of people, Shawanda Thomas 
held a fluorescent yellow sign that read: "Oscar Grant: Murdered! The 
Whole Damn System is Guilty."






http://wbztv.com/national/oakland.BART.shooting.2.902793.html

Jan 8, 2009 7:30 am US/Eastern
Violent Protests After Unarmed Man Shot In Oakland
Eye On Blogs: Comment On This Story
OAKLAND (CBS) ?
Click to enlarge
A vandalized police car sits next to a garbage dumpster set on fire in 
Oakland.

An Oakland protest over the fatal shooting of an unarmed man on a train 
platform by Bay Area Rapid Transit police turned violent Wednesday 
night, with fires set, cars vandalized, and windows smashed - just hours 
after the officer who fired the deadly shot resigned.

Police reported at least 15 arrests had been made in the rioting as of 
late Wednesday night, while Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums urged crowds to 
calm down.

"Even with our anger and our pain, let's still address each other with a 
degree of civility and calmness and not make this tragedy an excuse to 
engage in violence," Dellums said. "I don't want anybody hurt, I don't 
want anybody killed."

Protesters numbering about 400 had gathered at the Fruitvale BART 
station where the shooting occurred for a peaceful rally, and then took 
the streets of Oakland to condemn the incident and call for criminal 
charges against 27-year-old BART police officer Johannes Mehserle.

The protesters temporarily shut down three BART stations in Oakland 
during the evening commute. Then the crowd became violent as protesters 
set a large garbage dumpster on fire and attacked a police car, smashing 
the back window and attempting to overturn it.

Nearly 250 police officers in riot gear fired tear gas at the rowdy 
demonstrators, most of whom ran from the scene while a few stayed and 
threw bottles at officers. Smaller splinter groups of protestors 
continued their raucous march through the Lake Merritt and downtown 
areas - setting more fires, vandalizing vehicles and breaking windows at 
a McDonald's restaurant.

The rioting continued into the late-night hours as police continued 
moving in to shut down some city streets in the hopes of restoring order.

The uproar surrounded the shooting death of 22-year-old Oscar Grant of 
Hayward, who was lying face-down on the Fruitvale station platform when 
he was shot and killed early New Year's Day by Mehserle - one of several 
BART officers responding to reports about groups of men fighting on a 
train.

BART officials said Mehserle was urged to cooperate with a probe into 
the shooting. Mehserle was scheduled to meet with agency investigators 
on Wednesday, but did not show up. His attorney and union representative 
turned in his resignation letter, instead.

John Burris, an Oakland civil rights attorney hired by Grant's family, 
said the timing of the resignation was not a surprise to him: "He 
doesn't want to give a statement because BART could've ordered him to do 
so, and if he didn't, he could be terminated."

Now that he is not employed by BART, Mehserle can exercise his Fifth 
Amendment right against self-incrimination and not speak to investigators.

Mehserle's attorney did not immediately respond to calls for comment 
Wednesday, but BART spokesman Linton Johnson said Mehserle had received 
death threats since the shooting and has moved twice to ensure his safety.

"This shooting is a tragic event in every respect for everyone 
involved," Dorothy Dugger, BART's General Manager said after announcing 
Mehserle's resignation. "We recognize that the family and friends of 
Oscar Grant are in mourning and we extend our condolences."

The shooting case was also under investigation by the Alameda County 
District Attorney's office.

"Emotions around it are 100 percent understandable, but they can't 
determine the decision that is eventually made after an objective 
analysis," Alameda County District Attorney Tom Orloff told CBS station 
KPIX-TV in San Francisco after a meeting with some of Oakland's 
African-American city leaders.

Orloff said he would not provide a timeline for the investigation by his 
office, indicating that these types of cases usually take weeks.

"I've been telling people in general these things take weeks rather than 
days, but this is one where there's a high degree of interest so I'd 
like to get to a resolution as quickly as I can," Orloff said.

Grant's family has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against BART 
and also wants prosecutors to file criminal charges against Mehserle.

The shooting incident was captured on video cameras and cell phones by 
multiple train passengers. Some gave their footage to KPIX-TV and other 
media outlets, and the images have sparked an outcry from the community.

"This is an issue of grave concern in our community," said Oakland City 
Councilwoman Desley Brooks, who was among those who met with the D.A. 
"I've not seen anybody handcuffed on their knees begging for their life 
shot before. I would hope that it would be alarming to anybody who saw 
that."

Burris said Wednesday that one of the latest amateur videos of the 
shooting shows that Mehserle did have a Taser on his left side, but he 
went for a gun on his right side, instead.

"The video supports the position we are taking and eyewitnesses' 
testimony that the officer deliberately went for his gun and there's no 
mistake about it," Burris said. "He didn't reach across for his Taser. 
He couldn't have been thinking about that. He went directly for his gun."

However, Burris said he's not optimistic that Orloff will file criminal 
charges against Mehserle, saying that he doesn't know of any occasions 
in which the District Attorney's office has prosecuted a police officer 
for killing someone.

So, Burris said he also planned to send a letter to federal civil rights 
officials asking them to charge Mehserle under federal criminal statutes.

At a City Hall news conference shortly before the protest rally began, 
Dellums had called Grant's death "a tragic moment in our community's 
history."

"Our entire community grieves at the loss of Oscar Grant III," but the 
mayor added, "while the investigation now under way may shed light on 
specific details of the shooting, at the end of the day, establishing 
culpability will not bring back a life tragically lost."

Earlier in the day, about 700 hundred mourners attended a funeral for 
Grant, the father of a 4-year-old girl, at Palma Ceia Baptist Church in 
Hayward.

Sister Donna Smith of the church, said Grant "loved the Bible when he 
was growing up,'' and had the loudest voice in the church choir. The 
Rev. James Word added, "I thought Oscar was going to be a preacher but 
God had other plans.''

Word recalled that Grant, who worked as a butcher at an Oakland grocery 
store, came to his office one day to tell him how happy he was when he 
became an apprentice meat cutter.

The Rev. Ronald Coleman, who presided at the funeral service, said, 
"this is something that the world is watching. They wonder if we will 
start a fight or a civil commotion.''

But Coleman told the audience, "We must respond with prudence. I 
understand that some of you youngsters are upset, but nonetheless we 
have to trust in God. This is not your fight.''

But afterward, the hours-long protest that would turn violent began at 
BART's Fruitvale station, with rally organizer Evan Shamar proclaiming 
that Grant "was executed right here while he was hogtied" and vowed "we 
will not be silent."

There was a loud cheer when Shamar announced to the crowd that Mehserle 
had resigned, but added that he "should be prosecuted for second-degree 
murder."

"We want him charged in an American courtroom," Shamar said as the crowd 
chanted, "No justice, no peace!"

Shamar maintained late Wednesday night that a group of anarchists, who 
were not part of the organizations hosting the protest rally, were 
responsible for igniting the violence.







http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=127944&provider=rss

Shooting by Officer Sparks Protests in Oakland
Posted By: Cindy Krenek Created: 1/8/2009 11:33:04 AM Updated: 1/8/2009 
4:06:05 PM

OAKLAND, CA (AP) -- Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums urged residents to remain 
calm after protests turned violent in the fatal shooting of an unarmed 
man by a transit police officer.
What had started as a peaceful demonstration Wednesday over the Jan. 1 
shooting of Oscar Grant escalated into trouble. At least three cars were 
set on fire, many other automobiles were damaged, and windows were 
broken on some downtown stores.
Police in riot gear threw tear gas to try to break up the demonstration. 
At least 14 people were arrested before the unrest ebbed overnight.
Grant, 22, was killed on a Bay Area Rapid Transit station platform after 
officers went there amid reports about groups of men fighting on a 
train. He was one of a small group of men taken off the train, and 
officers had made him lie face down at the time he was killed.
The shooting and events leading up to it were captured on amateur videos 
that have been broadcast on television.
Officer Johannes Mehserle resigned from the transit agency shortly 
before he was supposed to be interviewed by investigators Wednesday. 
Mehserle's attorney did not immediately respond to calls for comment 
Wednesday.
Grant's family has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against BART 
and want prosecutors to file criminal charges against Mehserle.
Dellums went to the protest scene Wednesday night to urge for calm. He 
and several council members then led a group toward City Hall and 
further addressed them.
"Even with our anger and our pain, let's still address each other with a 
degree of civility and calmness and not make this tragedy an excuse to 
engage in violence," Dellums said. "I don't want anybody hurt, I don't 
want anybody killed."
Dellums had directed the city's police department to conduct a third 
investigation into Grant's killing and to treat the incident as a homicide.
During the protest, some people threw bottles, a window of a fast-food 
restaurant and other downtown stores were smashed. Police in riot gear 
threw tear gas to try to break it up.
"The crowd started to become more agitated, more hostile, started 
throwing stuff at the police," Oakland police spokesman Jeff Thomason 
said. "We gave a dispersal order four to five times over a 20-minute 
period, then we had our officers go in and start making arrests."
Police didn't immediate respond to a request early Thursday for an 
update on the number of arrests.
Organizers of the protest say they have another rally set for later 
Thursday during a BART board meeting.






http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/6570421.html

Protests over police shooting turns violent in U.S. city

14:59, January 08, 2009

Protests over a police officer's fatal shooting of an unarmed black man 
turned violent on Wednesday night in Oakland, local newspapers reported.

Hundreds of protesters took to the street in downtown Oakland, a city 
about 8 miles (13 kilometers) east of San Francisco. They set fire to a 
trash bin and rammed it against a police car, the Oakland Tribune said 
on its website.

The protests were triggered by Johannes Mehserle, a police officer of 
BART, the rapid-transit commuter rail system that serves the San 
Francisco Bay area, who fatally shot 22-year-old Oscar Grant early on 
New Year's Day at an Oakland BART station.

Mehserle resigned on Wednesday, but Sean Dugar, president of the 
California National Association for the Advancement of Colored People 
Youth and College Division, said that was "not enough."

"We demand he be prosecuted to the full extent of the law," Dugar was 
quoted by the Oakland Tribune as saying.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the protesters were confronted 
by dozens of police officers, who fired tear gas to break up the 
demonstration.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests, the newspaper said.

Source:Xinhua






http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=52969

BART Shooting Protest Turns Violent in Oakland
Posted By: Jason Kobely 3 months ago

OAKLAND, CA - A crowd on the streets of Oakland turned unruly Wednesday 
night in a demonstration that began peacefully at the Fruitvale Bay Area 
Rapid Transit Station to protest the shooting death of Oscar Grant III 
at the hands of a transit agency police officer.
Evan Shamar, an organizer of the protest, said the police presence was 
"extremely intense" at about 8:15 p.m., adding that officers used tear 
gas in effort to control the crowd.
He said a group of anarchists, that were not part of the organizations 
hosting the rally, smashed a police vehicle before setting a garbage can 
on fire.
Oakland fire Lt. David Brue said firefighters quickly extinguished a 
dumpster fire at 12th and Madison streets around 7 p.m. Another fire was 
later visible at Madison and 16th streets around 8:45 p.m.
Several blocks were closed to traffic in downtown Oakland and the 
windows of a McDonald's restaurant were smashed in at 14th and Jackson 
streets.
Restaurant employees standing inside the McDonald's looked through the 
windows at the unfolding event as a police helicopter hovered above the 
area.
Trash was spread along downtown streets.
The protest began at the Fruitvale BART station earlier today, closing 
that station from about 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., before protesters moved 
through the city. The Lake Merritt station was also closed for about 15 
minutes because of the protest, BART spokesman Jim Allison said.
Allison said the Oakland City Center/12th Street station closed at about 
7:15 p.m. and remained closed at about 8:15 p.m., but BART service is 
not otherwise affected.
Shamar said several arrests were made at the demonstration, but Oakland 
police were not immediately available to comment on the event.
At least 15 people were arrested.
27-year-old BART officer Johannes Mehserle resigned from the transit 
agency shortly before he was supposed to be interviewed by investigators 
Wednesday.
Mehserle is accused of shooting Grant, who was lying face-down on the 
station platform when he was shot and killed early New Year's Day. 
Mehserle was one of several officers responding to reports about groups 
of men fighting on a train.




From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 12:54:15 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:54:15 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] MADAGASCAR:  Anti-government protests and unrest,
	January 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF46F7.1020702@tesco.net>

26-28 January - unrest, looting and police killings as protesters seek 
to oust neoliberal president
Dissidents set fire to state radio station

28 January - protesters attend funeral
31 January - peaceful mass protest

* Protests and citizen journalism in Madagascar
* Voices from Madagascar







http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/29/madagascar.violence.riots/index.html?eref=rss_world

January 29, 2009 -- Updated 1139 GMT (1939 HKT)

Madagascar calms after rioting, deaths
? Story Highlights
? NEW: At least 48 people die in the violence in Madagascar, official says
? After two days of violence and looting, relative calms settles over 
country
? Further violence looms as anti-government protesters gather
? United States is calling for calm and pushing for dialogue between sides

(CNN) -- After two days of violence and looting that claimed the lives 
of at least 48 people, relative calm settled over Madagascar Wednesday. 
But the possibility of further violence loomed as anti-government 
protesters gathered in a central square, vowing future demonstrations.

At least 48 people were killed during the riots that broke out in 
Madagascar.
more photos ?

President Marc Ravalomanana and other senior government officials 
surveyed some of the damage Wednesday and vowed to restore order 
"whatever the cost," a government statement said. Ravalomanana ordered a 
member of his joint chiefs of staff to work with the protesters and 
opposition leader Andry Rajoelina to keep the calm.
Meanwhile, Rajoelina -- mayor of the capital, Antananarivo -- addressed 
the protesters at a downtown rally Wednesday afternoon, calling for two 
days of general strikes and another mass demonstration Saturday. The 
strikes would prevent stores and schools from opening.
On Tuesday the authorities tried to control protesters who set fire to 
the state-run media complex the day before. Ravalomanana said he 
initially held off on ordering troops to fight off looters, saying he 
wanted to avoid more casualties.
"It is better that equipment be destroyed rather than human lives," he 
said in the statement, adding that looters would not be prosecuted 
because he "understands the Malagasy people are poor and hungry."
A spokesman for Joseph Ravohanjy Hospital said 48 people were killed and 
more than 100 wounded in the violence since Monday. By Wednesday, a 
relative calm had fallen over the area and Rajoelina's rally at the 
square was peaceful, a Western observer told CNN.
The violence began when protesters stormed the government's radio and 
television station in Antananarivo, Monday morning in response to 
Ravalomanana shutting down Rajoelina's radio station hours earlier.
Ravalomanana's move came just weeks after closing Rajoelina's television 
station last month after the airing of an interview with ousted 
ex-President Didier Ratsiraka.
Viva Radio was back on the air Tuesday as the protesters broadened their 
focus from restoring freedom of speech to targeting businesses owned by 
Ravalomanana, including food distribution centers, according to an 
American community worker in Antananarivo.
By Tuesday afternoon, some of the protesters had broken from the group, 
looting private electronic shops and grocery stores that sat alongside 
the Ravalomanana-owned buildings, Christi Turner said.
"Today and yesterday, it's been a collective disappointment and shock 
and sadness for me and my friends and other aid workers," Turner told 
CNN on Tuesday night. "People have lost their heads in the mob mentality."
She added that the government "is not taking the most effective steps 
controlling the situation," noting that military and police didn't 
publicly address the looters until Tuesday.
Reports of injuries and deaths from resulting fires could not be 
immediately confirmed.

Rodney Ford, public affairs officer for the U.S. Embassy in 
Antananarivo, said the United States is calling for calm and pushing for 
dialogue between the president and the mayor. Both sides have offered to 
negotiate, which a group of ambassadors is working toward.
"We are worried about the loss of life," Ford said. "The Malagasy people 
need to work this out, it's not an issue outsiders can fix. The U.S. 
Embassy is calling for calm and restraint. We are working to mediate 
within both parties."






http://story.indiagazette.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/b8de8e630faf3631/id/459261/cs/1/

Madagascar demonstrations fuel looting
India Gazette
Tuesday 27th January, 2009
A mass opposition demonstration has created a tense situation in Madagascar.

On Tuesday police shot dead five looters in the capital Antananarivo.

On Monday, least 14 people were killed during a demonstration against 
the closure of a television station critical of President Mark 
Ravalomanana.

All anti-government demonstrations have now been banned.

President Ravalomanana has called for calm and has offered to hold talks 
with the mayor of Antananarivo, who has been instrumental in controlling 
the demonstrations.







http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/252579,extra-deaths-and-looting-as-madagascar-protests-further-escalate.html

EXTRA: Deaths and looting as Madagascar protests further escalate
Posted : Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:42:00 GMT
Author : DPA

Antananarivo - At least three people have been reported killed in 
anti-government protests that broke out in the island country on Monday. 
Looting has also spread across the capital Antananarivo, starting in the 
Chinatown business district.
The buildings of two television stations considered close to the 
government were set on fire, and according to the latest reports the 
city's central jail was stormed for the release of 3 youths arrested 
earlier for attacks on government buildings.
Government has called on the military to set up roadblocks, as a radio 
broadcaster reported demonstrators threatening to blow up the island's 
strategic oil reserves.







http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/252581,three-dead-looting-breaks-out-after-madagascar-protests--summary.html

Three dead, looting breaks out after Madagascar protests - Summary
Posted : Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:59:59 GMT
Author : DPA

Antananarivo - A mass anti-government rally in Madagascar on Monday 
ended with three people reportedly dead, state television buildings in 
flames and looting widespread. Tens of thousands of people had earlier 
taken to the streets of the capital Antananarivo to protest the rule of 
President Marc Ravalomanana, whom they accuse of being anti-democratic.
The demonstration in the city's May 13th square was called by 
Antananarivo's mayor and Ravalomanana's rival, Andry Rajoelina, on the 
first day of an open-ended general strike.
The strike call appeared to have gone unheeded by many in a country 
where most are too poor to go without pay.
By evening, the sky over the capital Antananarivo was covered by the 
smoke of fires at two pro-government television stations.
Looting, which started in the Chinatown business district, was reported 
to have spread across the capital.
The city's central jail was also stormed by protestors who sought to 
release 3 youths arrested earlier for attacks on government buildings.
Government has called on the military to set up roadblocks, as a radio 
broadcaster reported demonstrators threatening to blow up the island's 
strategic oil reserves.
Monday's demonstration was the latest in a series of opposition protests 
that began after the government shut down a television station owned by 
the mayor in December.
On Saturday, a similar march drew tens of thousands of people.
Ravalomanana had been due to attend a summit of southern African leaders 
in South Africa Monday but he cut short his visit on Sunday and returned 
home.
Rajoelina accuses the president, who was re-elected to a second 
four-year term in 2006 and has vast business interests, of being out of 
touch with ordinary Malagasy people and of trampling their rights.
Ravalomanana owns the country's biggest food company, a radio station, a 
television station, two newspapers and a construction company.
Rajoelina was elected mayor in December 2007 in a landslide victory over 
the ruling Tiako i Madagasikara (I love Madagascar) party candidate.
The government shut down the mayor's popular Viva television station 
after it broadcast an interview with ex-president Didier Ratsiraka.
Rajoelina responded in January by inaugurating a Democracy Square in 
Antananarivo in the presence of 20,000 supporters.







http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.ca5773c7bdf7b7857ea4b08b495215c7.681&show_article=1

Opposition rioters ransack Madagascar radio station

Jan 26 08:10 AM US/Eastern Comments (0)

A mob of opposition supporters ransacked and set fire to Madagascar's 
state radio station on Monday as political tensions boiled over on the 
Indian Ocean island.
Hundreds of rioters raided the Radio Nationale Malgache building in the 
capital Antananarivo after answering a weekend strike call by the city's 
mayor Andry Rajoelina, who has led a wave of anti-government 
demonstrations.
The mounting tensions have forced President Marc Ravalomanana, who came 
to power after disputed elections in 2001, to cut short a trip to South 
Africa.
The mob were among tens of thousands of demonstrators who had turned up 
earlier at a city square gathering, addressed by the mayor.
Some rioters looted furniture, computers and files from the building 
before setting it ablaze and damaging vehicles parked nearby.
Rajoelina has ratcheted up opposition to the government, which he brands 
a dictatorship, since last month when it shut down his television 
network Viva for broadcasting an interview with former president Didier 
Ratsiraka.
"Nowhere in the world has a military force ever succeeded in overcoming 
the force of the people," Rajoelina, standing on the back of a truck, 
told the crowd gathered earlier Monday in a main square in the capital.
"That is why we will continue even if they bring in foreign mercenaries 
to eliminate the mayor," he said, referring to himself, before promising 
to free all political prisoners "when I get to power."
"Power belongs to the people. They can seize it (but) the government is 
proving to be a dictatorship every passing hour," said Rajoelena, 
nicknamed TGV, or high speed train for his rapid-fire personality.
Rajoelina then joined the crowd and marched towards a court house where 
he said he was going to demand the release of a group of university 
students arrested on Saturday.
In other parts of town, protestors erected road barriers and blocked 
traffic, witnesses said.
Rajoelina defied government warnings to hold a major rally on Saturday 
in the capital at which he addressed more than 20,000 and called for a 
general strike.
Ravalomanana, who had been due to attend a regional summit beginning 
Monday in Pretoria, flew back on Sunday night and accused the mayor of 
calling for a revolt.
"The call for revolt and civil disobedience... corresponds to a coup 
d'etat," a statement from the president said, adding that it "tramples 
on the values of the constitution and the republic's institutions."
Several of Rajoelina's supporters taunted the president as his motorcade 
left the airport and at least two vehicles had their windows broken.
Rajoelina, 34, ran against Ravalomanana's party as an independent 
candidate in municipal elections in 2007 and since taking office has 
grown into the regime's most vocal opponent.
He has repeatedly condemned what he says are shrinking freedoms in 
Madagascar and also fiercely criticised a massive project to lease vast 
swathes of farmland to South Korean industrial giant Daewoo.
The Antannarivo mayoral seat has been a politically defining post in the 
country and it is where Ravalomanana rose to become president.
Madagascar has been dogged over the years by political turmoil. The 
run-up to the 2006 presidential elections won by Ravalomana were fraught 
with unrest, including a series of grenade explosions rocking the capital.
The vast Indian ocean island's 2001 presidential elections ended in 
violence and political crisis when then president Ratsiraka refused to 
accept defeat.
The impasse split the island in two -- with two capitals, two 
governments, and a divided army -- until Ravalomanana was officially 
proclaimed president in May 2002.






http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssEnergyNews/idUSLQ32846520090126?feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssEnergyNews&rpc=22

Madagascar protestors burn state media, two dead
Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:33am EST
By Alain Iloniaina
ANTANANARIVO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - At least two people died on Monday when 
tens of thousands of anti-government protesters flooded the streets of 
Madagascar's capital, burning the state-owned TV and radio station.
A security source told Reuters that a policeman and a 14-year-old child 
had been killed on the massive Indian Ocean island during the 
demonstration calling for President Marc Ravalomanana's government to 
resign.
"We know of two deaths," the source said.
A local journalist, Fano Rakopondrazaka, said 11 people had died in a 
stampede during the chaos.
"I saw 11 dead men. They were looters crushed in a stampede," he told 
Reuters from the scene.
That could not be independently confirmed.
The protests came on the first day of strikes called by the opposition.
They are angry at a government decision to shut down a private 
television station owned by the capital's maverick 34-year-old mayor and 
opposition leader, Andry Rajoelina.
Authorities shut the station last December after it broadcast remarks by 
the exiled former President, Didier Ratsiraka. The government deemed the 
remarks likely to incite civil disorder.
The government has accused Rajoelina of stirring up a revolt and called 
for calm and order across the capital Antananarivo.
"All this is the response of a population facing economic difficulties 
and an absence of democracy," one demonstrator told Reuters, as black 
flames billowed out of a supermarket behind him.
Witnesses told Reuters that angry youths looted shops and burnt 
buildings belonging to the local radio and national television stations.
Elsewhere in the capital, a mob ransacked the house of one senator 
closely allied to Ravalomanana.
Relations have deteriorated rapidly between the government and 
opposition in recent weeks.
The authorities accuse the mayor of running the capital poorly, while 
the mayor alleges he is being deliberately obstructed from fulfilling 
his mandate.
Jean Eric Rakotoarisoa, a lecturer of constitutional law at the 
University of Antananarivo told Reuters that the riots were the 
beginning of a political crisis in Madagascar.
"The closure of Viva TV was the final straw. Beyond that there is a deep 
crisis within Malgache society, created by growing hardships and a 
diminishing purchasing power," he added.
Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, has a population of 19 
million and a long history of political instability.
(Writing by Richard Lough; editing by Wangui Kanina and Jon Boyle)






http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-01/2009-01-26-voa33.cfm?CFID=173115474&CFTOKEN=44098256&jsessionid=0030da599d158ec2fd4829d3f534b714e682

Opposition Protests Turn Violent in Madagascar
By VOA News
26 January 2009
Rioting has broken out in Madagascar, where thousands of opposition 
demonstrators have looted and burned the state TV station and set other 
parts of the capital city ablaze.

Madagascar's state TV station burns in the capital, Antananarivo, as 
thousands of opposition supporters went on a rampage through the streets 
demanding a new government, 26 Jan 2009
Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina says at least two people were killed 
Monday during unrest in the capital, Antananarivo, although the casualty 
figures have not been confirmed.

He appeared on an independent radio station to appeal for calm. He also 
asked his supporters to rally in a main city square on Tuesday.

On a different radio broadcast, the country's prime minister, Charles 
Rabemananjara, said talks are underway between the government and the 
opposition to try to end the crisis.

President Marc Ravalomanana cut short a visit to South Africa late 
Sunday and returned home, vowing to restore order. He said the civil 
disobedience amounts to a coup d'etat.

At a rally earlier today, opposition leader Rajoelina called on the 
government to resign. He accused the president of growing authoritarianism.

After the rally, protesters blocked streets, demanding a new government 
and the return of an opposition TV station taken off the air last month.

Supporters of opposition leader Andry Rajoelina during a massive rally 
in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, 24 Jan 2009

Witnesses say fires erupted in several parts of the city, and heavy 
looting was reported. Residents said most radio and TV stations have 
gone off the air, although it was not clear why.

The unrest emerged after Rajoelina called for a general strike which 
boosted political tensions to their highest level in years.

The opposition leader is the mayor of the capital city, the same job Mr. 
Ravalomanana held before he became president in 2002.

The country was torn by political strife in the months before Mr. 
Ravalomanana took office, after his predecessor refused to leave office 
following disputed elections.







http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/811450

Madagascar opposition calls more protests
Reuters
Last updated 22:49 27/01/2009
Two people died on Monday when demonstrations against President Marc 
Ravalomanana's government turned violent, according to witnesses and 
security sources. Crowds set fire to a state media building and 
ransacked shops, with a policeman and teenager killed in the chaos and 
crushes.
Those scenes revived memories of past political volatility on 
Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island, and will not help the 
government's efforts to present the nation as a tourist haven and sound 
destination for investment in mining and oil.
Angry at the closure of his private TV station and denouncing 
Ravalomanana as a dictator, Antananarivo's 34-year-old mayor and 
opposition leader Andry Rajoelina is leading the demonstrations. He 
called late on Monday for a resumption of protests on Tuesday in the 
main square.
But he also urged peaceful demonstrations, and said he would hold talks 
with the president.
"I have accepted to talk with President Ravalomanana in the presence of 
ambassadors of countries who give financial support to Madagascar," he 
told Radio Antsiva.
"Keep calm because there are those that will profit from disorder ," he 
added in an appeal to supporters.
Relations between Ravalomanana, a 59-year-old dairy tycoon in power 
since 2002, and Rajoelina, deteriorated when authorities shut his Viva 
television station in December. The president accuses the major of 
trying to stir a revolt.
Residents of the capital said gangs continued to ransack shops linked to 
the president, who has a large business empire, under cover of darkness.
"The looting continued through the entire night", said the city's police 
commissioner Francis Randrianantoandro.
"We have arrested 27 people," he added.
The violence, and possible brewing political crisis, comes as Madagascar 
is going through an oil and minerals exploration boom. Major foreign 
companies investing in Madagascar include Rio Tinto and Sherritt 
International , who plan to extract nickel, bauxite, cobalt and Ilmenite.
Exploration companies are also looking for oil, gold, coal, chrome and 
uranium.
Madagascar has a long history of volatile politics.
In December 2001, both Ravalomanana and his predecessor Didier Ratsiraka 
claimed victory in presidential elections.
Eight months of political instability and sporadic violence followed 
before a court upheld Ravalomanana's victory. Ratsirika fled to France 
where he remains in exile.
Residents of Antananarivo fear a return to the political deadlock and 
economic decline of the early 2000s.
"If there is no dialogue then this will descend into total chaos," said 
one opposition supporter, who was unwilling to give his name because of 
fears of reprisals.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7852933.stm

Tuesday, 27 January 2009

Burned bodies found in Madagascar
Inside the looted shop in Antananarivo
More than 20 charred bodies have been found in a looted shop in 
Madagascar's capital Antananarivo, following violent anti-government 
protests, reports say.
The bodies are thought to be looters trapped in the burning shop when 
the roof fell in. There is no confirmation.
Police have shot in the air in an attempt to disperse angry crowds and 
looters in the city.
It was the fourth day of unrest amid a growing political confrontation 
between the city's mayor and the president.
'Macabre' scene
Firefighters said they discovered more than 20 bodies in the looted shop 
in the centre of the capital on Tuesday.
State TV headquarters was set on fire on Monday
"I can confirm we have found 25 bodies. They are burnt beyond 
recognition and will be hard to identify," a senior fire official told 
Reuters.
A correspondent working for France 24 TV station in Antananarivo 
described the scene as "macabre".
Meanwhile, both the opposition Mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, 
and President Marc Ravalomanana appealed for calm.
But the mayor imposed conditions on entering into talks with the 
president. He wants those responsible for shooting two protesters 
earlier this week brought to justice.
Mr Rajoelina's TV network Viva was closed last month, after broadcasting 
an interview with Mr Ravalomanana's foe, former President Didier Ratsiraka.
This led to the protests on Saturday, which turned violent on Monday 
when, the Malagasy Red Cross told the BBC, two people were killed and 17 
others were wounded.
The BBC's Christina Corbett in the capital, Antananarivo, says the 
protests have left people afraid of a return to the kind of political 
deadlock that followed Mr Ravalomanana's election in 2001.
Debris
Our correspondent says despite the presence of large numbers of police 
firing rounds into the air on Tuesday, many food and electrical shop 
have been broken into and fires are burning near the city's central 
market area.
Many shops have been looted
Smoke has continued to rise from buildings and warehouses attacked on 
Monday, and the debris left by looters fills the streets, she says.
Mr Rajoelina is refusing to meet the president until those who shot the 
protesters are arrested.
He has also called for a transitional government to be established.
President Ravalomanana has called for talks with Mr Rajoelina, who is 
the 34-year-old mayor of Antananarivo.
"I call on people to calm down. We need to put aside our pride, our 
egos. We need to talk," the president said on private Radio Antsiva, 
according to AFP.
The opposition called the protests after its TV and radio stations were 
shut down and tens of thousands of people gathered to hear a speech by 
Mr Rajoelina on Monday.
The state-owned TV and radio stations were then attacked and shops 
belonging to President Ravalomanana looted.






http://www.capetimes.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Cape%20Times&fArticleId=4811520

Deaths reported amid looting and fires as Malagasy protesters take to 
streets
January 27, 2009 Edition 2
Alain Iloniaina
ANTANANARIVO: Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of the 
Malagasy capital yesterday, burning the state-owned television and radio 
station.
At least two people died, a security source said.
The chaotic scenes seemed certain to dent the government's efforts to 
present the Indian Ocean island as a safe place for foreign investment, 
especially in mining, tourism and oil.
The security source said a policeman and a 14-year-old died during the 
demonstrations calling on President Marc Ravalomanana's government to 
resign.
A journalist, Fano Rakopondrazaka, said 11 people died in the chaos on 
the streets.
"They were looters crushed in a stampede," he said.
The violence broke out on the first day of strikes called by the 
opposition. The call followed the government's closure of a private 
television station owned by the capital's mayor and opposition leader, 
Andry Rajoelina, 34.
Authorities shut the station last month after it broadcast remarks by 
exiled former president Didier Ratsiraka.
The government has accused Rajoelina of stirring up a revolt and called 
for calm and order.
"All this is the response of a population facing economic difficulties 
and an absence of democracy," one demonstrator said as flames billowed 
from a supermarket behind him.
Witnesses said youths looted shops and set alight buildings used by the 
local radio and national television stations.
A mob ransacked the house here of a senator closely allied to 
Ravalomanana, and protesters attacked stores and other businesses owned 
by the prime minister.
The authorities accuse the mayor of running the capital poorly, while 
the mayor alleges he is being obstructed, preventing him from doing his 
job properly.
Jean Eric Rakotoarisoa, a lecturer in constitutional law at the 
University of Antananarivo, said the riots could be the start of a major 
political crisis in Madagascar, which has a population of 19 million.
"The closure of Viva TV was the final straw," he said. "Beyond that, 
there is a deep crisis in Malagasy society, created by growing hardships 
and diminishing purchasing power."
In December 2001, Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka, who had been head of state 
for 26 years, each claimed victory in presidential elections.
Eight months of political spats and sporadic violence ensued before the 
High Constitutional Court upheld Ravalomanana's victory and Ratsiraka 
fled to France.






http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82597

MADAGASCAR: Protesters on the streets in fourth day of violence

Photo: Christina Corbett/IRIN

Buildings throughout the capital have been burnt and ransacked
ANTANANARIVO, 27 January 2009 (IRIN) - Police fired into the air on 27 
January to disperse looters on the fourth day of civil unrest in 
Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo.

Many of the city's main food and electric stores have been broken into, 
and fires were burning near the city's central market area. The police 
kept a low profile at the height of the looting.

A spokesman for the Malagasy Red Cross told IRIN that two people were 
killed on 26 January and 17 wounded when anti-government protests turned 
violent.

Thousands of people calling for the removal of the government have taken 
to Antananarivo's streets in recent days in response to calls from the 
capital's outspoken mayor, Andry Rajoelina, 34, who has accused the 
government of stifling democracy and clamping down on press freedom. He 
has called for the president to step down, and for the formation of a 
transitional government, which he would lead.

At a rally on 25 January, which took place despite being banned by 
authorities, the mayor called for a general strike in Antananarivo. The 
following day he again addressed supporters, telling them, "Nowhere in 
the world has a military force ever succeeded in overcoming the force of 
the people. Power belongs to the people."

A demonstrator told IRIN, "It is time to change the regime. We want to 
return power to the small people."

President Marc Ravalomanana has called for calm, cutting short a trip to 
South Africa where he was attending a summit of regional leaders. He has 
urged people not to take part in what he has called a "revolt" incited 
by the mayor.

It could get worse

Madagascar has a history of political upheavals and recent events have 
left many people afraid that the current situation could deteriorate 
further.

A disputed presidential election in 2001, in which both former President 
Didier Ratasiraka and Ravalomanana claimed victory, resulted in 
widespread violence and six months of political deadlock that bought the 
country to a standstill. Ravalomanana was declared president after a 
court upheld his victory and was re-elected for a second term in 2006, 
winning 55 percent of the vote.

Political tension in Antananarivo has been on the rise since the 
authorities closed the VIVA television network, controlled by Rajoelina, 
in December 2008. But the relationship between the president and the 
mayor has been strained since Rajoelina was elected in 2007.

On 25 January VIVA's radio broadcasting arm was also closed, sparking 
the demonstrations. Madagascar's state-owned broadcasting complex was 
targeted by crowds demanding that VIVA broadcasts be resumed.
He is just being used by the old dinosaurs of Malagasy politics, who 
want to gain more power

Ravalomanana's personally owned broadcasting station was also attacked, 
and elsewhere in the city offices and warehouse complexes associated 
with the president's business interests were broken into, looted and 
burned.

The international community is urging Ravalomanana and the mayor to 
negotiate, and both men have called for calm. But the mayor has imposed 
conditions before meeting with the president, including that those 
responsible for killing the two protesters on 26 January be bought to 
justice.

Not everyone believes the mayor is the right man to lead the 
transitional government he has called for. "Rajoelina is too young and 
not competent enough to lead the country," a resident who wished to 
remain anonymous told IRIN. "He is just being used by the old dinosaurs 
of Malagasy politics, who want to gain more power."

An army veteran and supporter of Rajoelina told IRIN that dialogue was 
the best way forward. "The future for us is to be able to talk freely to 
the authorities. At the moment we can't do anything - we can't talk to 
the government or the authorities."

cc/oa/he








http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-01/2009-01-28-voa28.cfm?CFID=174175755&CFTOKEN=27821235&jsessionid=883088333936a1ca3eb4585a6a53b7485632

Thousands in Madagascar Attend Funeral for Protestor Slain in Riots
By Scott Bobb
Johannesburg
28 January 2009

Men carry the coffin of a 17-year-old boy, who was killed during violent 
riots in front of the headquarters of the private Malagasi television 
MBS in Antananarivo, 28 Jan 2009
In Madagascar thousands of people have attended Wednesday the funeral of 
a demonstrator who was killed during two days of anti-government 
protests. At least 39 people reportedly died in the violence, many of 
them as they looted burning buildings in the capital.

Diplomats and relief officials reported an uneasy calm had returned to 
Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo, and that an overnight curfew had 
been widely respected. Several hundred protestors gathered to 
demonstrate in the city's main square but dispersed quietly.

Nevertheless, many offices and stores remained closed.
Mayor led funeral services for supporter killed during violence

The mayor of the city, Andry Rajoelina, led funeral services for a 
supporter who was killed during the violence. He told French radio that 
his group would continue to demonstrate against what he called the 
authoritarianism and inequities of the government of President Marc 
Ravalomanana.

He says his group wants democracy and an easing of tensions. The 
solution is a transitional government.

President Ravalomanana visited the burnt-out building of Madagascar's 
national broadcaster where he responded to questions over why security 
forces were slow to react to the violence and looting.

He says he gave the order for the military to use restraint. The 
situation had to be properly managed otherwise it would have been a 
bloodbath.

Both leaders called for calm and dialogue but said no talks had begun as 
yet.

The violence began Monday in the capital and spread the following day to 
several provincial cities.
Closing of radio station prompted incidents

In Antananarivo protestors Monday sacked and set afire the national 
broadcasting station and a private station owned by Mr. Ravalomanana. 
They then began looting stores, many of which were owned by the 
president, one of Madagascar's wealthiest businessmen.

The incidents began after the government closed a radio station owned by 
Antananarivo's mayor, Andry Rajoelina. This followed a rally Sunday 
during which the 34 year-old mayor accused the government of corruption 
and authoritarianism.

The confrontation began last month when the government briefly closed 
down Rajoelina's television station after it broadcast an interview with 
former President Didier Ratsiraka.

Ratsiraka has been in exile in France since disputed elections in 2002 
divided the country for six months. The Supreme Court eventually ruled 
in favor of Mr. Ravalomanana. He won re-election two years ago.

The African Union Wednesday issued a statement expressing concern over 
the tensions and urging a resolution of the crisis through dialogue and 
respect for the constitution.





http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2009/01/29/thousands_protest_madagascar_decline/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+World+news

Thousands protest Madagascar 'decline'
January 29, 2009

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - Tens of thousands of opposition supporters 
protested against the president in Madagascar's capital yesterday, two 
days after an earlier rally descended into violence that killed nearly 
40 people.
"We are here to tell the president that there are many problems. This is 
a society in decline," said one demonstrator who asked not to be named, 
accusing President Marc Ravalomanana of dirty politics and unfair 
distribution of wealth.
Armed police were watching, but unlike the chaos and looting after 
Monday's opposition demonstration, the mood was calm.
Antananarivo Mayor Andry Rajoelina, a firebrand politician who calls the 
president a dictator, has been spearheading protests since the 
government shut his private radio and television station in December.
REUTERS






http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE50S1Z220090129?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=22&sp=true

Madagascar deaths rise to 44, shops heed strike
Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:37am EST

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Authorities in Madagascar said on Thursday the 
death toll from this week's unrest had risen to 44, and most businesses 
in the capital heeded a call by the opposition to stay shut as an 
anti-government protest.
"There are 44 bodies in the city morgue," Antananarivo's commander of 
police, Colonel Frederic Raqotonandrasana, told Reuters. "Thirty four 
are severely burned and families are in the process of trying to 
identify them."
Most of those killed were suspected looters caught when a three-storey 
clothes store went up in flames after an opposition demonstration on 
Monday degenerated into violence.
Opposition protests against President Marc Ravalomanana's government 
since the weekend have created a political crisis on the Indian Ocean 
island and brought the worst scenes of street violence for years.
The unrest, on the world's fourth largest island, is marring its image 
as a tourist haven and a secure environment for foreign firms to carry 
out oil and minerals exploration.
The opposition, led by Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina, is demanding 
that Ravalomanana step down to make way for a transitional government. 
He accuses the president of turning Madagascar into a dictatorship.
With the army on the streets, and the smell of burned buildings still 
filling the air, residents formed long queues outside the few stores 
still open to try to stock up on essentials such as oil and rice.
(Reporting by Alain Iloniaina, and Richard Lough in Mauritius; Writing 
by Andrew Cawthorne)






http://allafrica.com/stories/200901270797.html

Madagascar: Protestors On the Streets in Fourth Day of Violence
27 January 2009

Antananarivo ? Police fired into the air on 27 January to disperse 
looters on the fourth day of civil unrest in Madagascar's capital, 
Antananarivo.
Many of the city's main food and electric stores have been broken into, 
and fires were burning near the city's central market area. The police 
kept a low profile at the height of the looting.
A spokesman for the Malagasy Red Cross told IRIN that two people were 
killed on 26 January and 17 wounded when anti-government protests turned 
violent.
Thousands of people calling for the removal of the government have taken 
to Antananarivo's streets in recent days in response to calls from the 
capital's outspoken mayor, Andry Rajoelina, 34, who has accused the 
government of stifling democracy and clamping down on press freedom. He 
has called for the president to step down, and for the formation of a 
transitional government, which he would lead.
At a rally on 25 January, which took place despite being banned by 
authorities, the mayor called for a general strike in Antananarivo. The 
following day he again addressed supporters, telling them, "Nowhere in 
the world has a military force ever succeeded in overcoming the force of 
the people. Power belongs to the people."
A demonstrator told IRIN, "It is time to change the regime. We want to 
return power to the small people."
President Marc Ravalomanana has called for calm, cutting short a trip to 
South Africa where he was attending a summit of regional leaders. He has 
urged people not to take part in what he has called a "revolt" incited 
by the mayor.
It could get worse
Madagascar has a history of political upheavals and recent events have 
left many people afraid that the current situation could deteriorate 
further.
A disputed presidential election in 2001, in which both former President 
Didier Ratasiraka and Ravalomanana claimed victory, resulted in 
widespread violence and six months of political deadlock that bought the 
country to a standstill. Ravalomanana was declared president after a 
court upheld his victory and was re-elected for a second term in 2006, 
winning 55 percent of the vote.
Political tension in Antananarivo has been on the rise since the 
authorities closed the VIVA television network, controlled by Rajoelina, 
in December 2008. But the relationship between the president and the 
mayor has been strained since Rajoelina was elected in 2007.
On 25 January VIVA's radio broadcasting arm was also closed, sparking 
the demonstrations. Madagascar's state-owned broadcasting complex was 
targeted by crowds demanding that VIVA broadcasts be resumed.
Ravalomanana's personally owned broadcasting station was also attacked, 
and elsewhere in the city offices and warehouse complexes associated 
with the president's business interests were broken into, looted and burned.
The international community is urging Ravalomanana and the mayor to 
negotiate, and both men have called for calm. But the mayor has imposed 
conditions before meeting with the president, including that those 
responsible for killing the two protesters on 26 January be bought to 
justice.
Not everyone believes the mayor is the right man to lead the 
transitional government he has called for. "Rajoelina is too young and 
not competent enough to lead the country," a resident who wished to 
remain anonymous told IRIN. "He is just being used by the old dinosaurs 
of Malagasy politics, who want to gain more power."
An army veteran and supporter of Rajoelina told IRIN that dialogue was 
the best way forward. "The future for us is to be able to talk freely to 
the authorities. At the moment we can't do anything - we can't talk to 
the government or the authorities."






http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013874646

Madagascar Violent Protest Death Toll Up, Protesters Hold Peaceful Rally
January 28, 2009 9:54 p.m. EST

Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer
Antananarivo, Madagascar (AHN) - From 68 to 80 people have died from the 
rioting and looting in Madagascar's capital since Monday as thousands of 
anti-government protesters held a peaceful rally on Wednesday.
"There are now more than 80 dead in a few days, so the situation is very 
worrisome," French secretary of state for cooperation Alain Joyandet 
said, according to AFP.
Joyandet said France is monitoring the situation every hour because 
20,000 French nationals are in the African island nation.
A local police official put the number of deaths at 68. Burnt remains of 
37 people were found by firefighters Wednesday inside a department store 
that was looted and burned by anti-government protesters on Monday. The 
victims may be looters who got trapped while the building was burning, a 
fire official said.
Meanwhile, more than 40,000 opposition supporters gathered peacefully in 
Antananarivo on Wednesday following calls by the capital's mayor, Andry 
Rajoelina, for a general strike.
Rajoelina is seeking the resignation of President Marc Ravalomanana for 
closing his TV station in December and for allegedly ruling like a dictator.






http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2455688

Madagascar opposition protests, death toll climbs
Published: 1:37AM Thursday January 29, 2009
Source: Reuters
Tens of thousands of opposition supporters demonstrated in Madagascar's 
capital on Wednesday, two days after an earlier anti-government rally 
descended into violence that killed nearly 40 people.
Witnesses in the main square of Antananarivo, May 13 Plaza, estimated 
the crowd number as at least 40,0000, adding that armed police were 
watching closely but the mood was calm.
The rally was called by opposition leader and city mayor Andry 
Rajoelina. The 34-year-old firebrand politician accuses President Marc 
Ravalomanana, 59, of turning Madagascar into a dictatorship.
The president, a self-made dairy tycoon who used to hawk yoghurt on the 
streets of Antananarivo, accuses his rival of trying to overthrow the 
government.
"I appeal to people to remain calm," Ravalomanana said in a statement in 
front of the damaged state media compound in Antananarivo.
The death toll from Monday's violence rose when the fire service said up 
to 37 corpses of suspected looters had been found in a store burned 
during the unrest.
The macabre find in the shell of a former three-storey clothes store 
would take the death toll from this week's violence on the Indian Ocean 
island to 39.
"We have found perhaps as many as 37 bodies," said the fire officer in 
charge at the scene.
"It is hard to determine the precise numbers because the bodies are 
badly damaged, and there are limbs scattered all over the place," he 
added in a telephone interview.
Rajoelina and Ravalomanana have both called for calm, but are yet to 
start talks between themselves to resolve the impasse.
Tourism and mining
The political crisis is denting Madagascar's image as a popular tourist 
venue and a destination for foreign investment in its mining and oil 
exploration sectors.
Major foreign investors include global miner Rio Tinto and Canada's 
Sherritt International, which plan to extract nickel, bauxite, cobalt 
and Ilmenite. Companies are also looking for oil, gold, coal, chrome and 
uranium.
The top diplomat for the African Union (AU) said the unrest and deaths 
risked destabilising Madagascar and urged dialogue between the feuding 
sides.
Jean Ping "is deeply concerned by the prevailing political tension and 
the risk it poses to the stability of the country," said an AU 
statement. "He urges all stakeholders to resolve the current crisis 
through dialogue and respect for constitutional order and legality."
Rajoelina's supporters torched a state media building earlier in the 
week at the height of the street violence.
The president said an arrest warrant had been issued for Rajoelina's 
cabinet director General Dolin Rasolosoa and for Roland Ratsiraka, the 
nephew of ex-president Didier Ratsiraka.
The government shut the mayor's radio station last month after it ran an 
interview with the former president from France.
Paris, which controlled Madagascar from the late 19th century until 
independence in 1960, has called on the Malagasy authorities to show 
restraint in the search for "a peaceful and lasting solution," a foreign 
ministry statement said.
The world's fourth largest island, Madagascar has a history of political 
unrest.
In December 2001, both Ravalomanana and his predecessor Ratsiraka 
claimed victory in a presidential election. Eight months of instability 
and sporadic violence followed before a court upheld Ravalomanana's 
victory. Ratsirika fled to France.






http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/28/madagascar.violence.riots/index.html?eref=rss_latest

January 28, 2009 -- Updated 0400 GMT (1200 HKT)

Calm in Madagascar after violence leaves 34 dead
? Story Highlights
? NEW: At least 34 people have died in the violence in Madagascar, Red 
Cross says
? After two days of violence and looting, relative calms settles over 
country
? However, further violence looms as anti-government protesters gather
? United States is calling for calm and pushing for dialogue between sides
(CNN) -- After two days of violence and looting that claimed the lives 
of more than 30 people in Madagascar, relative calm has settled over the 
Indian Ocean island nation. But the possibility of further violence 
loomed as anti-government protesters gathered in a central square, 
vowing future demonstrations.

At least 34 people were killed during the riots that broke out in 
Madagascar.

President Marc Ravalomanana and other senior government officials 
surveyed some of the damage Wednesday and vowed to restore order 
"whatever the cost," a government statement said. Ravalomanana ordered a 
member of his joint chiefs of staff to work with the protesters and 
opposition leader Andry Rajoelina to maintain the calm.
The violence began when protesters stormed the government's radio and 
television station in the capital Antananarivo on Monday morning in 
response to the president shutting down Rajoelina's radio station hours 
earlier.
A Red Cross official, who declined to be named, said at least 34 people 
have been killed in the violence since Monday. By Wednesday, a relative 
calm had fallen over the area and Rajoelina's rally at the square was 
peaceful, a Western observer told CNN.
Meanwhile, Rajoelina -- mayor of Antananarivo -- addressed protesters at 
a downtown rally Wednesday afternoon, calling for two days of general 
strikes and another mass demonstration Saturday. The strikes would 
prevent stores and schools from opening.
Madagascar authorities on Tuesday tried to control protesters who set 
fire to the state-run media complex the day before. Ravalomanana said he 
initially held off on ordering troops to fight off looters, saying he 
wanted to avoid more casualties.
"It is better that equipment be destroyed rather than human lives," he 
said in the statement, adding that looters would not be prosecuted 
because he "understands the Malagasy people are poor and hungry."
The president's move to shutter the radio station came just weeks after 
the closing of Rajoelina's television station following the airing of an 
interview with ousted ex-President Didier Ratsiraka.
Rajoelina's Viva Radio was back on the air Tuesday as the protesters 
broadened their focus from restoring freedom of speech to targeting 
businesses owned by Ravalomanana, including food distribution centers, 
according to an American community worker in Antananarivo.
By Tuesday afternoon, some of the protesters had broken from the group, 
looting private electronic shops and grocery stores that sat alongside 
the Ravalomanana-owned buildings, Christi Turner said.
"Today and yesterday, it's been a collective disappointment and shock 
and sadness for me and my friends and other aid workers," Turner told 
CNN on Tuesday night. "People have lost their heads in the mob mentality."
She added that the government "is not taking the most effective steps 
controlling the situation," noting that military and police didn't 
publicly address the looters until Tuesday.
Rodney Ford, public affairs officer at the U.S. Embassy in Antananarivo, 
said the United States was pushing for dialogue between the president 
and the mayor. Both sides have offered to negotiate, which a group of 
ambassadors was working toward.
"We are worried about the loss of life," Ford said. "The Malagasy people 
need to work this out, it's not an issue outsiders can fix. The U.S. 
Embassy is calling for calm and restraint. We are working to mediate 
within both parties."






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/29/2477835.htm

Protesters turn Madagascan capital into ghost town
Posted Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:27pm AEDT
Updated Thu Jan 29, 2009 8:26pm AEDT
The Madagascan capital has been deserted as residents heeded a call by 
the city's mayor to turn it into a ghost town after anti-government 
protests that have killed at least 68 people.
Shops and businesses were shut, schools remained closed and the weekly 
Thursday market was deserted with only small stalls in local 
neighbourhoods open, an AFP correspondent reported.
However public transport was operating and cars passed intermittently on 
the practically deserted streets.
Antananarivo Mayor Andry Rajoelina had earlier urged residents to stay 
at home as he issued an ultimatum to the Government to punish those 
behind the killing of a protester on Monday.
Mr Rajoelina, a vocal government critic, called for a general strike 
against President Marc Ravalomanana's regime which he has labelled a 
dictatorship.
The demonstrations turned nasty Monday as protesters looted shops, set 
fire to the state radio building, and ransacked Mr Ravalomanana's 
private TV station.
The protests have posed the biggest political threat yet to Mr 
Ravalomanana who won a second term of office in 2006.
Mr Rajoelina has been at odds with the Government since his December 
2007 election.
The tense relations worsened last month when the Government shut his 
television station after airing an interview with former president 
Didier Ratsiraka.
-AFP






http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hfV75EHUookBtBk2OlprGZBpDTzgD960SFRO3

Madagascar leader to put radio station back on air
2 hours ago
ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) ? Madagascar's president made a 
conciliatory gesture Thursday, promising to put a radio station back on 
air after its closure sparked anti-government rioting that left at least 
43 dead.
President Marc Ravalomanana also said he was open to "dialogue and 
discussion," according to a statement his office issued Thursday.
On Monday, protesters set the government broadcasting complex ablaze, 
along with an oil depot, shopping mall and private TV station linked to 
Ravalomanana after the government blocked the station owned by the 
capital's mayor. The mayor, Andry Rajoelina, accuses Ravalomanana's 
government of misspending funds and threatening democracy.
Rajoelina says he has the military's support and is ready to take over 
an interim government. But the constitution requires a president be at 
least 40, and Rajoelina is 34.
The presidential statement said Ravalomanana chaired a Cabinet meeting 
Thursday to discuss the unrest on this Indian Ocean island off Africa's 
southeast coast.
"The president confirmed this private channel's broadcast would be 
restored," the statement said. Rajoelina's station has been back on air 
since being shut down early Monday, but the broadcasts have been weak 
and only intermittent.
The president had taken a harder line earlier in the week, saying "those 
who incited people ... are guilty" and calling for the arrests of a 
former army chief of staff and a nephew of a former president he accused 
of fanning the violence.
Western diplomats have pressed Ravalomanana and Rajoelina to talk out 
their differences.
Neils Marquadt, the U.S. ambassador to Madagascar, said Thursday: "The 
resumption of dialogue has to be the next step. We're waiting for the 
right moment and we're optimistic it's going to occur very soon."
French officials have rejected statements Rajoelina has made that the 
former colonial power backs him. Marquadt said the same about similar 
comments Rajoelina has made about the U.S.
"We are not on any side," the U.S. envoy said. "We are on the side of" 
the people of Madagascar.
Violence has subsided since Monday. The U.S. Embassy has advised 
Americans here to stay off the streets for now, calling the situation 
"still volatile."
At least 10,000 people gathered Wednesday for a rally at which Rajoelina 
called for a general strike.
Rajoelina has called for another rally Saturday.
Madagascar is known for its rare wildlife and eco-tourism ? but also for 
its history of political unrest and infighting.
Ravalomanana clashed with former President Didier Ratsiraka when both 
claimed the presidency after a disputed December 2001 election. After 
low-level fighting split the country between two governments, two 
capitals and two presidents, Ratsiraka fled to France in June 2002.
Ravalomanana won re-election in 2006, though two opposition candidates 
tried to challenge the validity of the vote. That year, a retired army 
general called for the military to take control of the former French 
colony.






http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2461985,00.html

1000s protest in Madagascar
31/01/2009 12:47 - (SA)

Antananarivo - Around 2 000 demonstrators heeded the call of 
Madagascar's opposition leader Andry Rajoelina Saturday to hold a 
protest against the regime in the centre of the capital.
Some protestors hurled rocks at security forces while the crowd, wearing 
the orange caps and tee-shirts of Rajoelina's movement, awaited the 
arrival of its hero on May 13 square, a symbol of the nation's 
democratic struggle.
Two trucks packed with anti-riot forces swiftly turned back when they 
were met by several hundred protestors, some of whom started throwing 
stones, an AFP correspondent reported.
The Indian Ocean island's capital was rocked by riots when tens of 
thousands turned out for a similar protest on January 25, while another 
demonstration was held peacefully on Wednesday.
At least 68 people have been killed across the country over the past 
week, according to security officials.
In recent days, Rajoelina, who is the mayor of Antananarivo, has become 
more vocal in his criticism of President Marc Ravalomanana, whom he 
describes as a dictator.
The 34-year-old mayor - a former DJ, a keen businessman and a gifted 
orator - has risen to the status of undisputed leader of the opposition.
On Friday, he announced he intended to lead the country in a two-year 
transition process aimed at ending the iron-fist rule of Ravalomanana 
and organising new elections.
- AFP






http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/253609,peaceful-mass-anti-government-protest-on-madagascar.html

Peaceful mass anti-government protest on Madagascar
Posted : Sat, 31 Jan 2009 14:59:52 GMT
Author : DPA

Antananarivo - Around 30,000 people on the Indian Ocean island of 
Madagascar took part in a peaceful demonstration against the government 
of President Marc Ravalomanana on Saturday. The rally was organized by 
Andre Rajoelina, the mayor of the capital Antananarivo. Heavily armed 
security forces were deployed at the start but later withdrawn.
Madagascar has been the scene of recent daily protests and unrest, in 
which more than 100 have killed and many injured.
Rajoelina and the opposition is accusing Ravalomanana of sliding into 
authoritarianism and of being out of touch with the plight of ordinary 
people.
Rajoelina has called for the establishment of a transitional government 
under his leadership.

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-01-29-madagascan-capital-a-ghost-town-after-protests

Madagascan capital a ghost town after protests
ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR Jan 29 2009 11:17

The Madagascan capital was deserted on Thursday as residents heeded a 
call by the city's mayor to turn it into a ghost town after 
anti-government protests that have killed at least 68 people.

Shops and businesses were shut, schools remained closed and the weekly 
Thursday market was deserted with only small stalls in local 
neighbourhoods open, an AFP correspondent reported.

Public transport was, however, operating and cars passed intermittently 
on the almost deserted streets.

Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina on Wednesday urged residents to stay 
at home as he issued an ultimatum to the government to punish those 
behind the killing of a protester on Monday.

Rajoelina, a vocal government critic, called for a general strike 
against President Marc Ravalomanana's regime, which he has labelled a 
dictatorship.

The demonstrations turned nasty on Monday as protestors looted shops, 
set fire to the state radio building, and ransacked Ravalomanana's 
private television station.

The protests have posed the biggest political threat yet to Ravalomanana 
who won a second term of office in 2006.

Rajoelina has been at odds with the government since his December 2007 
election. The tense relations worsened last month when the government 
shut his television station after airing an interview with former 
president Didier Ratsiraka. -- AFP






http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2009/01/protests-in-madagascar-and-the-importance-of-citizen-journalism-training028.html

Protests in Madagascar and the Importance of Citizen Journalism Training

by David Sasaki (Bio), January 28, 2009
Tagged: madagascar, mobileactive, protests, rising voices, south africa, 
training
As Juliana and I emphasized during a presentation at last year's 
MobileActive conference in South Africa, just because over three billion 
people are equipped with cell phones, which can be used as tools for 
reporting during emergencies, that doesn't mean the world has three 
billion citizen journalists ready and able to cover every natural 
disaster, political uprising, and news-worthy event they encounter.
The recent coverage of Tropical Storm Eric, Cyclone Fanele, and the 
ongoing protests and political turmoil in Madagascar by local citizen 
journalists reveals the importance of 1.) citizen journalism training 
programs, 2.) the translation and contextualization of local content for 
a global audience, and 3.) networks of media groups so that local voices 
can be amplified and understood when breaking news hits.
In the case of Tropical Storm Eric and Cyclone Fanele, which last week 
battered Madgascar's east and southwest coasts respectively, local 
bloggers filled the void left by the official Department of Risk and 
Disaster Management's complete lack of web presence. Cyclones are an 
annual issue for residents of Madagascar and, as local blogger Lomelle 
notes, while they can't be stopped, disaster preparedness can certainly 
improve. She photographed an evacuation exercise in the capital city, 
Antananarivo, as a model of how other cities and villages around the 
country can better prevent injuries and deaths when cyclones hit.
Lomelle, a student at the Mahajanka school of journalism and a fan of 
slam poetry, learned how to upload photos to the web and maintain a blog 
during a series of workshops hosted by Foko Madagascar, a Rising Voices 
grantee project. Foko aims to bring more of the world's attention to the 
Malagasy people - rather than just lemurs and Disney films - by training 
Malagasy citizens how to use citizen media to portray their daily 
realities and connect to the online global conversation.

Foko Madagascar bloggers Diana and Lomelle at last year's E-bit conference.
Long before the mainstream media reported any political tension in 
Madagascar, Lova Rakotomalala linked to two Malagasy bloggers covering a 
rally protesting President Marc Ravalomanana's decision to close the 
national television and radio stations run by Andry Rajoelina, the 
opposition leader and mayor of Antananarivo. Using his cell phone, 
Avylavitra shot this video of protesters running in the streets and 
uploaded it to Flickr:
The intensity of political protests then escalated. On January 26 
several radio and television stations stopped broadcasting, but Twitter 
users continued to get the word out in real time via text messaging and 
the mobile web. Writing on Global Voices, Lova Rakotomalala linked to 
previous posts in order to provide readers with enough context to 
understand how an island nation best known to outsiders as an ideal 
setting for Disney cartoon characters could become consumed by so much 
anger and violence:
? December 2007: Municipal elections in Antananarivo lost by governing 
party against a young self-made businessman, not unlike the current 
president.
? November 2008: Prospective land deal with Daewoo Logistics draws 
outrage nationally.
? December 2008: Conflict over the alleged improper broadcasting of 
political speech and its unsuing closing of the broadcasting television 
station.
? January 2009: Series of unusal prison Breaks all over the nation.
? January 2009: As tropical storms hit Madagascar, political 
demonstrations against government expand. In a cruel twist of irony, the 
regions hit by storms are also the ones closely involved in the 
prospective land deal.
All of this rich and real-time information would never have been 
possible were it not for the many citizen journalism training workshops 
held by the dedicated Foko Madgascar team. They also had the help of 
some visiting outsiders like Eddie ?vila of the Voces Bolivianas project 
who visited Madagascar last October and can be seen here showing Lomelle 
how to upload a podcast:

Two years ago the Malagasy blogosphere was nascent and its members 
resided almost entirely in the diaspora. Today when searching Google 
News for "Madagascar" two of the five most relevant stories come from 
Global Voices and feature the observations and opinions of local 
bloggers (the same is also true when searching the Spanish-language 
version of Google News):

As consumers of media it is important for us to recognize that 
Madagascar is rarely mentioned in major media outlets like the New York 
Times unless the article is about social unrest or the death toll 
following a cyclone. Madagascar, like other African nations, is much 
more than just a disaster story and the Foko Bloggers, in addition to 
proving themselves worthy citizen journalists during tumultuous times, 
have also spent much of the past two years painting a more holistic 
portrait of their country.
Juliana Rinc?n, who is involved in the HiperBarrio project in Medell?n, 
Colombia, points to three different videos made by Foko Madagascar 
participants which show a side of life in Madagascar that most of us 
would otherwise never see. Koloina, who focuses on Malagasy culture, 
shows the ingenuity of 11-year-old Toky and his recycled aluminum car toys.
Patrick, a Foko bloggers studying at the University of Tamatave, 
produced a video about a young boy who performs outside to make money. 
Theo, also studying at the University of Tamatave, employed his 
impressive English skills when interviewing a visiting South African 
pastor about thankfulness. Finally, Ariniaina decided to shoot a video 
of a 14-year-old boy who has spent the last five years of his life 
singing in the streets for money:
It has been 3 years now that, every evening after work, I have met this 
young guy singing on the stairs of Antaninarenina. It has been 3 years 
now that I am used to give him money 'cause he is so cute with his 
little guitar and his gospel songs. Today, I decided to talk to him and 
asked him a few questions. He smiled and looked down and finally agreed. 
I told him that I would talk about him on my blog and English Corner 
page so people who will meet him will recognize him and, maybe, will be 
nicer to him.







http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/01/25/madagascar-devastating-tropical-storm-makes-way-for-a-political-one/

Madagascar: Devastating tropical storm makes way for a political one

Sunday, January 25th, 2009 @ 03:20 UTC
by Lova Rakotomalala

A few days after passing Madagascar, the official toll from the damages 
caused by Cyclone Fanele have finally come in. President Ravalomanana 
president flew to one of the affected areas to assess the extent of the 
devastation.
Cyclone citizen media initiative
While the BGNRC (department of risk and disaster management) is still 
without an official website, reports pertaining to the damages are being 
aggregated on an open-source Google map by two bloggers, Marie Sophie 
Digne and Tomavana (fr).
Here is a summary of the damages, according to IRIN, via ReliefWeb:
New figures from Madagascar's National Office for Natural Disasters 
Preparedness (BNGRC) indicate that cyclone Fanele claimed eight lives 
and affected some 40,400 people [..] The BNGRC said a further 63,000 
people were at risk in Menabe if heavy rain continued to fall. Relief 
teams are still assessing the damage caused by the two storms, and 
figures are expected to rise as more information on the full extent of 
the damage is gathered.
Political turmoil
The Malagasy blogosphere was also buzzing with political news and 
commentary about a new massive political gathering today (Jan 24th) and 
a call for a national strike to demand the resignation of the entire 
administration.
Many bloggers have provided live blogging and images of the event 
(additional images on facebook).
Blogger Ariniaina provides a brief factsheet on the background of the 
turmoil:
Andry Rajoelina (or Andry TGV) had a TV Station named VIVA and still 
have a radio station with the same name. The minister of the 
communication has decided to close the TV station VIVA due to a 
documentary movie that this station had broadcasted. It was a message 
from the former President of Madagascar, Didier Ratsiraka [..] Since 
then, the Mayor ( of Antanarivo, Andry Rajoelina) gave an ultimatum to 
the government to re-open VIVA TV station before January 13 [..] As 
Andry didn?t get what he wanted, he invited the people of Tana to go on 
a strike AGAIN today, January 24.

( demonstration photo via ariniana )

Blogger Jentilisa provides in-depth analysis of the discourse on both 
sides of the political spectrum and cautions against the spreading of 
unverified rumors (mg):
Toy izany ihany koa nisy hazo nianjera tao amin'ny kianjan'ny 
demaokrasia, noho ny fahanterany mazava loatra (tatitra heno tamin'ny 
radio tana, kidaona maraina) nefa misy manadrohadro hoe ?lazao fa 
sabotazy ihany koa e!?; eo indrindra isika, fambara zavatra amin'ny hafa 
hatrany ny zavatra toy izany na dia tokony ho tsy misy dikany aza. Eo 
amin'ny toe-tsaina minomino foana mbola ananan'ny maro dia mbola 
fampitandremana aloha izay,
A tree fell on the square for democracy (where the meeting took place) 
because of the evident affluence ( message heard on the radio); still 
some claim ?say that it was a sabotage?. So here we are, talking about 
insignificant events instead. We are still so prone to believe anything 
we hear and I would like to caution against that.
Blogger Avylavitra reminds us that the government is also trying to 
terminate VIVA radio and that the reason it advances for it does not 
hold up. There is a law against private radio broadcasting all over the 
country. Yet, one pro-government radio MBS has been broadcasting 
nationally for 5 years without any threat of censorship (mg):
Tsy hoe fanenjehana ny MBS akory no ilazako izany fa filazana kosa hoe 
?Natao ho an?iza ny lal?na?'
I am not trying to single out MBS. I am just asking: ? Is the law only 
applicable for a few ??

( Malagasy activist yes we can shirt by avylavitra)
History repeating itself
Mialisoa Randriamampianina, a journalist and blogger, is dissapointed to 
see a replay of the events in 2002, with the same errors, same bellicose 
rhetoric and a democracy that is still far from mature (fr):
? d?faut d?une v?ritable culture politique, ce grand public se rabat sur 
la bonne vieille offuscation des ?ternelles victimes, le ton toujours 
plus haut, la prudence toujours brad?e [..] Ainsi faisait-on en 2002, 
ainsi fait-on en 2009 [..]: la rue est devenue le chemin forc?, la 
menace, le recours incontournable. Et au bout, une implosion qui n?est 
pas forc?ment utile. Il y a s?rement une juste mani?re de se faire 
comprendre, en dehors des intimidations un peu trop faciles et de la 
condescendance maladroite. En attendant un peu de sang-froid, on en est 
tous l?, en train de naviguer ? vue d??il ou ? l?aveuglette. Et on 
appelle cela ? une qu?te de la d?mocratie ??
Without a true political culture, the crowd is resorting to the old 
whines of eternal victims, the noise ever louder and prudence thrown out 
the window [..] So we did in 2002, so we will in 2009 [..] the street 
has become the only way, the leverage, the absolute recourse. 
Eventually, an implosion that may not be very useful. There has got to 
be a way to convey your message, without the easy intimidations and the 
awkward condescension. While we wait for a bit of perspective from 
cooler heads, we are here, trying to find our way out. And we called 
this ? a quest for democracy?
Randy also a blogger/journalist, agrees that Madagascar may still may 
not be ready for a true democratic process (fr):
Et c?est bien ce qui inqui?te une partie de l?opinion. Car, dans tous 
les pays du continent qui se sont livr?s ? ce jeu, c?est toujours par 
des manifestations d?une spontan?it? suspecte que commence la mise en sc?ne.
And that is what scares some. As was the case in most countries of the 
continent that tried the (democratic) game, suspiciously spontaneous 
public protests set the stage.
The irony of the current president threatened by a public tour-de-force 
reminiscent of his own ascendancy to power is not lost on blogger 
Rajiosy (fr):
L?ironie de l?Histoire veut que celui-l? m?me qui a outrepass? l?Etat 
nagu?re a eu pour t?che de restaurer l?autorit? de cet Etat et de 
stabiliser ses institutions. Il se retrouve aujourd?hui mis en demeure 
de conforter cette p?rennit?. T?che difficile on l?a vu face ? une 
partie de population versatile.
The irony of the story is that the same person who back then overrode 
the rule of law now has the task to restore the authority of the state 
and stabilize its institutions. He is now faced with trying to 
consolidate his position. A difficult task considering the volatility of 
public opinion.
Maturing twittosphere
An intriguing development during this political process was the 
emergence of an active Malagasy twittosphere who posted political 
development in a real time manner. One can follow a timeline of related 
tweets by searching for #madagascar:

Posted by Lova Rakotomalala
Print version




From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 13:02:12 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:02:12 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] BULGARIA:  Unrest at anti-government protest,
	Jan 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF48D4.3060108@tesco.net>

Plus coverage of a wave of protests at Parliament, and background 
articles on the unrest.






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100442

Sofia Protest Rally Turns into Riot
Society | January 14, 2009, Wednesday

Police are continuing to use force and to chase on foot part of the 
participants in the Wednesday protest rally in downtown Sofia, all 
Bulgarian information agencies reported. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova 
(Sofia Photo Agency)
Police are continuing to use force and to chase on foot part of the 
participants in the Wednesday protest rally in downtown Sofia, all 
Bulgarian information agencies reported.

After being dispersed with force form the square in front of the 
Parliament, one group of the demonstrators went in the direction of one 
of Sofia's main thoroughfares "Tsarigradsko Shosse", and was chased on 
foot by policemen in riot gear with teargas and batons.

About 150 of the demonstrators blocked for a while traffic on the 
boulevard, in the area of "Orlov Most" (Eagle Bridge). The Police 
managed to open the road for traffic half an hour later.

Many main roads in downtown Sofia are impassable - there are reports 
that the "Levski" boulevard in the direction of the Sofia University is 
inaccessible with 50 policemen in riot gear blocking the way.

The Darik radio reporter informs that a large group of people is moving 
on "Tsarigradsko Shosse" towards the Sofia "Mladost" district while 
another group is walking towards the National Place of Culture on 
Sofia's main "Vitoshka", Evlogy Georgiev" and "Maria Louisa" boulevards. 
The latest reports, however, say that the crowds are slowly dispersing.

The area near the Parliament where the clashes between Police and 
demonstrators began is currently clear and calm.

About 170 people have been arrested, there are reports of damaged police 
cars and public transportation buses and broken store windows while 
hospitals say 19 people have reported to their emergency rooms to be 
treated from injuries sustained during the Police beatings. Many more 
are believed to have been hurt by Police brutality.






http://www.canada.com/news/story.html?id=1176321

Anti-government rally becomes riot in Bulgaria


By Irina Ivanova and Anna Mudeva , ReutersJanuary 14, 2009

Riot police clear protesters from the square in front of the Bulgarian 
Parliament building in Sofia on Wednesday after an anti-government rally 
turned into a riot.
Photograph by: Stringer, Reuters
SOFIA - Hundreds of protesters clashed with police, smashed windows and 
damaged cars in Bulgaria's capital on Wednesday when a rally against 
corruption and slow reforms in the face of economic crisis turned into a 
riot.
The violence broke out during a peaceful protest in front of parliament 
of more than 2,000 people, including students, farmers and green 
activists, who said they were fed up with life in the European Union's 
poorest and most corrupt nation.
The riot in Sofia was the worst since 1997, when mass rallies and 
strikes toppled the then Socialist government for pushing the Balkan 
country into an economic meltdown. Organisers plan more protests in 
Sofia on Thursday.
On Wednesday, protesters demanded the Socialist-led government step down 
for its failure to tackle widespread graft and crime and speed up 
delayed economic reforms to shore up the country from the global slowdown.
Some shouted "Resign" and "Mafia." There has also been anger about gas 
being cut off due to a Moscow-Kiev row.
"We are fed up with living in the poorest and most corrupt country," the 
protest organisers said in a statement. "This is a unique protest which 
unites the people in their wish for change and their wish to live in a 
normal European country."
Demonstrators hurled snowballs and bottles at parliament and hundreds, 
including soccer fans and far-right activists, clashed with police about 
an hour after the rally started. Twelve policemen and at least 20 
protesters were injured.
"This government is a symbol of theft and corruption," said protester 
Alexander Atanasov, 31. "They simply have to go," said Tsetska Vachkova, 31.
When police tried to drive rioters away from parliament, some began to 
destroy cars and hurled metal bars and cobblestones dug up from the 
streets at shop and office windows.
Police chased rioters in central Sofia for about four hours and arrested 
154 people, some carrying home-made grenades, metal chains and rods.
Riots also broke out in fellow ex-communist Latvia on Tuesday after an 
earlier peaceful anti-government demonstration and following eruptions 
of anger in other economically troubled nations in Europe.
The global financial crisis threatens to erase economic gains achieved 
in the past decade in eastern Europe, raising pressure on governments 
and anger among people whose incomes remain well below those of their 
richer Western neighbours.
Opinion polls show over 70 percent of the 7.6 million population in 
Bulgaria want the government to quit and 75 percent disapprove of 
parliament's work, citing a lack of progress in the anti-corruption fight.
The EU last year punished Bulgaria for failing to put corrupt officials 
and crime bosses behind bars by suspending hundreds of thousands of 
euros in EU aid.
Last year's report by Transparency International portrayed Bulgaria as 
the most corrupt EU nation, taking the lead from neighbouring Romania.
Observers say accelerating protests ahead of this summer's elections are 
unlikely to topple the government, which has an overwhelming majority in 
parliament.
But it will probably see its support eroded as thousands are expected to 
lose their jobs mainly because Bulgaria's main export market, the EU, 
faces deep recession, analysts say.
Public anger is mounting against the government also due to a prolonged 
cut in Russian gas supplies, which left thousands without heating and 
forced some factories to shut down. Bulgaria is among the worst hit in a 
Moscow-Kiev gas row that blocked all Russian supplies to Europe via 
Ukraine a week ago,





http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013714136

Civic Protest In Bulgaria Turns Violent, 33 Hurt
ShareThis
January 14, 2009 9:48 p.m. EST

AHN Staff
Sofia, Bulgaria (AHN) - Thirty-three people, including a dozen police 
officers, were injured when protesters clashed with police outside the 
Bulgarian parliament in Sofia on Wednesday.
Police arrested 154 protesters, who were demanding the resignation of 
lawmakers and corrupt government officials, Bulgaria's interior ministry 
said in a statement. A 15-year-old boy was among those arrested for 
possession of three home-made bombs.
About 1,000 college students, environmentalists, and farmers joined the 
rally in front of the parliament building while a similar number of 
police were on guard.
Masked hooligans provoked the clash by throwing stones and snowballs at 
police officers and trying to break through the police cordon. The 
police responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the 
crowd.
The organizer of the rally, called the Association for Development and 
Civic Control, said it will hold another rally Thursday.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LE473019.htm

Bulgaria anti-government protest turns into riot
14 Jan 2009 11:50:45 GMT
Source: Reuters
SOFIA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Dozens of protesters clashed with police in 
Bulgaria's capital on Wednesday when an anti-government rally turned 
into a riot, police said.
The violence broke out during a peaceful protest in front of parliament 
of more than 2,000 people, including students, farmers and green 
activists, who said they were fed up with life in the European Union's 
poorest and most corrupt nation.
Protesters demanded the Socialist-led government step down for its 
failure to tackle widespread graft and crime and solve economic problems 
in the face of a global slowdown. Some shouted "Resign" and "Mafia".
Dozens of demonstrators hurled snowballs and bottles at parliament and 
clashed with police about an hour after the rally started. Some of the 
protesters were injured.
Police said they had arrested several people carrying hand-made 
grenades, without giving further details.
Riots also broke out in economically troubled Latvia on Tuesday evening 
after an earlier peaceful anti-government demonstration.
"We are fed up with living in the poorest and most corrupt country," 
organisers of the Sofia protest said in a statement. "This a unique 
protest which unites the people in their wish for a change and their 
wish to live in a normal European country."
Opinion polls show over 70 percent of the 7.6 million population want 
the government to quit and 75 percent disapprove of parliament's work, 
citing a lack of progress in the anti-corruption fight.
The EU last year punished Bulgaria for being too slow in cracking down 
on graft and organised crime by suspending hundreds of thousands of 
euros in EU aid.
Last year's report by Transparency International portrayed the Balkan 
country as the most corrupt EU nation, taking the lead from neighbouring 
Romania.
Protests are expected to accelerate ahead of this summer's general 
elections but are unlikely to topple the government, which has an 
overwhelming majority in parliament, observers say. (Reporting by Irina 
Ivanova, Oleg Popov, Tsvetelia Ilieva and Anna Mudeva)





http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100436

Anti-Government Protesters Clash with Police in Sofia
Society | January 14, 2009, Wednesday
More than 2000 people staged Wednesday an anti-government protest in 
front of the Parliament in Sofia and brief clashes with police erupted.

Some of the windows of the parliament were reportedly broken by 
hooligans and police forces started to disperse protesters.

Earlier the municipality and the police had received a warning by a 
source that a group intends to place a bomb near the building.

After the call Sofia Mayor Boyko Borisov decided to ban the protest.

The rally was initially organized by students protesting against the 
socialist-led government policies and the deepening social and economic 
problems in Bulgaria.






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/europe/2009/01/15/192088/Bulgaria-anti-gov%27t.htm

Thursday, January 15, 2009 10:09 am TWN, By Irina Ivanova and Anna 
Mudeva, Reuters
Bulgaria anti-gov't protest turns into riot
SOFIA -- Hundreds of protesters clashed with police, smashed windows and 
damaged cars in Bulgaria's capital on Wednesday when an anti-government 
rally turned into a riot.
The violence broke out during a peaceful protest in front of parliament 
of more than 2,000 people, including students, farmers and green 
activists, who said they were fed up with life in the European Union's 
poorest and most corrupt nation.
The riot in Sofia was the worst since 1997, when mass rallies and 
strikes toppled the then Socialist government for pushing the Balkan 
country into an economic meltdown.
On Wednesday, protesters demanded the Socialist-led government step down 
for its failure to tackle widespread graft and crime and solve economic 
problems in the face of a global slowdown. Some shouted ?Resign? and 
?Mafia.?
?We are fed up with living in the poorest and most corrupt country,? the 
protest organizers said in a statement. ?This a unique protest which 
unites the people in their wish for change and their wish to live in a 
normal European country.?
Demonstrators hurled snowballs and bottles at parliament and hundreds 
clashed with police about an hour after the rally started. Six policemen 
and some protesters were wounded. When police tried to drive rioters 
away from parliament, some began to destroy cars and hurled metal bars 
and cobblestones dug up from the streets at shop windows and buses. 
Police arrested at least 53 people and confiscated hand-made grenades, 
metal chains and rods.
Riots also broke out in fellow ex-communist Latvia on Tuesday after an 
earlier peaceful anti-government demonstration.
The global financial crisis threatens to the erase economic gains 
achieved in the past decade in eastern Europe, raising pressure on 
governments and anger among people whose incomes remain well below those 
of their richer Western neighbors.






http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-01-14-bulgaria-antigovt-protest-turns-into-riot

Bulgaria anti-govt protest turns into riot
SOFIA, BULGARIA Jan 14 2009 14:36

Dozens of protesters clashed with police in Bulgaria's capital on 
Wednesday when an anti-government rally turned into a riot, police said.

The violence broke out during a peaceful protest in front of Parliament 
of more than 2 000 people, including students, farmers and green 
activists, who said they were fed up with life in the European Union's 
poorest and most corrupt nation.

Protesters demanded the Socialist-led government step down for its 
failure to tackle widespread graft and crime and solve economic problems 
in the face of a global slowdown. Some shouted "Resign" and "Mafia".

Dozens of demonstrators hurled snowballs and bottles at Parliament and 
clashed with police about an hour after the rally started. Some of the 
protesters were injured.

Police said they had arrested several people carrying hand-made 
grenades, without giving further details.

Riots also broke out in economically troubled Latvia on Tuesday evening 
after an earlier peaceful anti-government demonstration.

"We are fed up with living in the poorest and most corrupt country," 
organisers of the Sofia protest said in a statement. "This a unique 
protest which unites the people in their wish for a change and their 
wish to live in a normal European country."

Opinion polls show more than 70% of the 7,6-million population want the 
government to quit and 75% disapprove of Parliament's work, citing a 
lack of progress in the anti-corruption fight.

The EU last year punished Bulgaria for being too slow in cracking down 
on graft and organised crime by suspending hundreds of thousands of 
euros in EU aid.







http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45540

BULGARIA: Protests Rise Above Parties, and Against Them
By Claudia Ciobanu

At the Jan. 21 protest in Sofia.

Credit:Jana Punkina

BUCHAREST, Jan 26 (IPS) - Protests have been taking place in Bulgarian 
capital Sofia almost every day since Jan. 14. Bringing together students 
and parents, farmers and environmentalists, the actions are directed 
against a political class which, in the words of the organisers, has 
"robbed" Bulgarians.

Even though participation has been at most 2,000-3,000, many take these 
protests as a sign that some sectors of Bulgarian society are becoming 
increasingly politically aware and active, leaving behind a period of 
post-communist citizen apathy.

Last year saw numerous albeit small protests called by students 
demanding better conditions, greens fighting against large-scale tourism 
development in protected areas, and farmers protesting the cutting of 
funds from the European Union on account of high-level corruption. At 
the end of December, leaders of the student protests were already 
announcing a bigger action for Jan. 14, when parliamentary sessions were 
scheduled to resume after the winter holidays.

Jan. 14 is an important day for Bulgarians, marking the beginning of 
month-long protests in 1997 that eventually brought down the Socialist 
government. Bulgaria experienced a financial collapse that year, which 
most people blamed on the irresponsible actions of the government. At 
the time, the centre-right opposition played a central role in the 
street actions, which were framed as a battle of "anti-communists" 
versus "communists", "blues" versus "reds".

This year's protests preserved some of the symbolism of 1997. Some 
people attended a metaphoric "funeral of democracy" Sunday last week, 
wearing dark colours and placing flowers in front of the parliament. A 
similar 'funeral' had been staged for the Socialists in 1997, echoing 
yet another symbolic funeral during anti-communist street actions in 
1990, when "communist success" was buried.

But in spite of the repetition, the 2009 protests are very different. 
Crucially, the centre-right opposition has not been included in the 
actions; it is in fact considered a target of protests, together with 
the Socialist government. This time, protesters are careful to emphasise 
that they have no partisan allegiance.

At a protest on Wednesday last week, more than 1,200 people turned their 
backs towards the parliament, to illustrate their rejection of the 
entire political class.

The 2009 protests seem to be less about replacing one government with 
another one. "The reason for these protests is the deep discontent of 
different social groups with the government and the pseudo-democratic 
political system in Bulgaria, even though this was not very well 
articulated, at least at the very beginning of the protests," political 
scientist Dragomir Stoyanov in Sofia told IPS. "They want a change in 
the way democracy is functioning in Bulgaria and a change within the 
elite."

Many have been quick to read the protests as a sign of crisis in Bulgaria.

Bulgaria media focused extensively on violence Jan. 14 when a core of 
extremists attacked the police, who then responded excessively, 
arresting over 150 people and injuring more than a dozen.

The main organisers of the protests were keen to distance themselves 
from the violence, and footage circulating on the Internet shows 
organisers trying to keep the violent rioters away from the police 
lines. Bulgarian media later reported that the attackers had been paid 
to cause trouble. Focus news agency quoted independent MP Maria Kapon as 
saying, "I'm sorry to say that the gathering was discredited by 
obviously commissioned vandalism by people who were sent to do just that 
- provoke the police."

In another example of distorted coverage of the events in Sofia, an 
article in the Jan. 18 edition of British newspaper The Guardian 
predicts a "spring of discontent" in Eastern Europe, with riots erupting 
everywhere in reaction to the effects of the global economic crisis and 
inefficient governments. But Bulgarian observers insist the protests in 
Bulgaria were not caused by the effects of the economic crisis, but have 
been related to specific, long-lasting problems in national politics.

Writing in Bulgarian daily Novinite, Ivan Dikov argues against a 
negativist take on the protests. According to Dikov, this year's street 
actions are not a sign of "deep political destabilisation, social strife 
and even racial tension as a result of the financial crisis," as The 
Guardian claims. Rather, they are "a troubled but still significant act 
of civic activism in a country with little civil society tradition, if 
any."

Speaking to IPS after last week's protests, political scientist Robert 
Phillips from the American University in Bulgaria said that the 2009 
actions can be seen as a sign of "institutionalisation of protest", even 
though the protesters still have much to learn about how to structure 
their message and coordinate their actions. He added that the mature way 
in which the environmentalists have been organising their own actions 
over the past years could serve as an example of collective grassroots 
action for all the other protesting groups.

Political scientist Ivan Krastev from the Centre for Liberal Strategies 
in Sofia also agrees that the street actions taking place this January 
are a new stage for citizen activism. Krastev told IPS that the Internet 
has played a crucial role in the organisation of this year's protests 
and that "the wave of digital protests accompanying the marches in front 
of the parliament can play a key role for the politicisation of the 
generation of young people born just before or after 1989 who until now 
were demonstratively not interested in politics."

According to Dragomir Stoyanov, the protests in Sofia "showed that a 
'born free generation' exists, which is not politically apathetic and is 
ready to defend democratic values using democratic tools."

While these observers are optimistic about the significance of the 
protests for the strength of civil society in Bulgaria, they also point 
out that activists have a long way to go.

According to Phillips, even though a part of the population is becoming 
increasingly politicised, very many are still passive. In addition, 
"protest in isolation will accomplish little. People need to be more 
active at the ballot box, to demand transparency from elected officials, 
to stop supporting corruption by participating in it." (END/2009)






http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_1255759665

Protesters concerned over soccer fans
Updated on: 14.01.2009, 10:52
Published on: 14.01.2009, 10:44
Author: Stefan Nikolov
Font size: a a a
The Association of young scientists "Kogito" expressed their concern of 
the possible presence of a multitude of different groups (including 
people from the fan clubs of several soccer teams) during today's protests.
This excites apprehensions that it might come to affrays, people from 
"Kogito" warn and call upon the management of the Internal Affairs 
Ministry to be responsible and to make the protests safe.
The Association states that when there are so many problems in the 
country, the intelligent civil society has the right to protest. This is 
an important corrective action and it must be heard.
At the same time they call upon protesters to have civil responsibility 
and not to downplay the power of their claims with acts of violence.







http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2009/01/15/nb-10

Peaceful protest in Sofia turns violent
15/01/2009
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- What began as a peaceful rally outside the parliament 
building Wednesday (January 14th) turned into a riot after a group of 
protesters tried to charge barricades in front of parliament. About 
2,000 students, mothers of large families, teachers, environmentalists 
and others gathered to protest the government's failure to deal with 
widespread corruption. It turned violent after nationalists and football 
fans in the crowd began throwing rock-filled snowballs at police. In 
all, 23 people suffered injuries and police made 170 arrests. (Sofia 
News Agency, Darik, Dnevnik, Focus, BTA, Reuters, AP, RIA Novosti - 
14/01/09)








http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100471

Sofia Police Outnumbers Demonstrators during Second Day of Protests
Society | January 15, 2009, Thursday

About 1,500 policemen in riot gear guarded the Thursday protest rally in 
front of the Parliament building in downtown Sofia, Bulgarian 
information agencies report. Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)
About 1,500 policemen in riot gear guarded the Thursday protest rally in 
front of the Parliament building in downtown Sofia, Bulgarian 
information agencies report.

The rally was officially brought to conclusion around 2:30 pm with it 
organizers adamant that the demonstrators would convene again on Friday. 
They also announced that they were trying to organize a Saturday protest 
to give the opportunity to those who had to be at work to attend and 
voice their civil position.

According to information from the Bulgarian Interior Ministry, about 
1,300 demonstrators came to the Thursday rally, organized by college 
students, farmers and environmental activists demanding the Cabinet's 
resignation.

In the aftermath of Wednesday's violence, the Police and the Sofia 
municipality undertook serious security measures by removing all traffic 
signs and any other metal objects, and cleaning all ice and everything 
in the area that could be used to attack the policemen.

The Police further listed Thursday personal data of the demonstrators 
while the Opposition Member of the Parliament Yane Yanev signaled that 
the measure illegally included minors.

The Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov accused the ruling Bulgarian Socialist 
Party of turning the Wednesday protest into a riot and widespread 
violence. Borisov's Deputy Yulya Nenkova issued Wednesday an order to 
the Police to disperse the demonstrators, basing it on an alleged bomb 
threat.







http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LF747856.htm

Bulgarians stage second day of anti-govt protests
15 Jan 2009 14:37:55 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds opposition party leaving parliament, paragraph 11)
By Irina Ivanova and Anna Mudeva
SOFIA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Thousands of Bulgarians renewed calls for the 
government to resign over corruption and a host of economic problems, 
including a cut-off in gas supplies, in a second day of protests on 
Thursday.
Police deployed in large numbers in front of parliament to try to 
prevent a repeat of Wednesday's unrest in which rioters, including 
students and farmers, clashed with police and smashed windows in some of 
the worst violence in Sofia in 12 years.
"We want the government to step down," said student Adriana Ivanova, 23, 
one of the protest organisers. "We want a better life in Bulgaria and we 
are ready to keep rallying until we see a change."
Many Bulgarians say they are fed up with the quality of life in the 
Balkan country of 7.6 million, which has the lowest GDP per capita in 
the European Union.
Much anger has been directed at the government's failure to stamp out 
endemic graft and organised crime, and its delay in pushing through 
reforms to cushion the impact of the global financial crisis.
A gas row between Russia and Ukraine, which has stopped flows to 
Bulgaria, has added to the discontent which analysts say is likely to 
grow before this year's parliamentary election.
"The average Bulgarian is in a very difficult situation because he has a 
very low income and almost no savings ..." said Ognyan Chipev, a 
53-year-old engineer. "The government kept saying we shouldn't worry ... 
This was frivolous and irresponsible," he added.
Anger over the authorities' handling of the global economic slowdown has 
also sparked riots in Latvia, Iceland and Russia.
MORE PROTESTS PLANNED
Students, farmers and green activists have threatened to hold more 
rallies in the coming weeks. Police are planning to protest over low 
salaries and poor work conditions on Saturday.
Opposition right-wing parties have also called for the cabinet to 
resign. The nationalist Attack party, which has 11 deputies in the 
240-strong chamber, said it was quitting the parliament as it no longer 
"represented people adequately".
Wednesday's riot was the worst since 1997, when 30 days of mass rallies 
and strikes toppled the then Socialist government for pushing Bulgaria 
into an economic meltdown.
Analysts said Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev's ruling coalition was not 
threatened, despite plummeting support, because it has an overwhelming 
majority in parliament.
"The government is obviously having serious problems ... but for now 
there are no signs of political destabilisation," said Rumiana Kolarova, 
political analyst at Sofia University.
"Whether the protests can topple the government depends on how they 
unfold and whether they manage to attract more people," she added.
The government took Bulgaria into the European Union last year, nearly 
halved unemployment to 5.8 percent, almost doubled pensions and public 
sector wages and has attracted 6 billion euros of foreign investment a 
year since it took power in 2005.
But growth is likely to slow by up to 2 percent this year as Bulgaria's 
main export market, the EU, faces a deep recession.
Brussels froze EU aid to Bulgaria last year over rampant graft and 
Transparency International portrayed the country as the most corrupt EU 
member. (Additional reporting by Tsvetelia Ilieva; Editing by Tim Pearce)






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100519

Sofia Protest Rallies Slowly Subside
Society | January 17, 2009, Saturday

About 200 people have gathered for the fourth day in a row in front of 
the Parliament building in downtown Sofia Saturday. Photo by Sofia Photo 
Agency
About 200 people have gathered for the fourth day in a row in front of 
the Parliament building in downtown Sofia Saturday to voice their social 
discontent over the current Cabinet, Bulgarian information agencies 
reported.

The police presence is also said to be much lesser than during the 
preceding days.

The protest are organized by student, environmental, farmer, parent, 
retiree and other civic organizations.

Despite their lower numbers, the demonstrators vowed again to continue 
their demonstrations until their demands were met. They wand the 
resignation of Interior Minister Mihail Mikov, over the police brutality 
exerted during the first day of the protest Wednesday, and dissolution 
of the Cabinet.






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100543

100 Protesters Mourn Bulgaria's Democracy before Parliament
Society | January 18, 2009, Sunday

Several dozens of protesters laid flowers before the Parliament Sunday 
mourning the Bulgarian democracy. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo 
Agency)
About one hundred people, mostly university student leaders and 
retirees, gathered Sunday for the fifth consecutive day of the daily 
protests in downtown Sofia.

The small number of protesters laid clove pinks and other flowers on the 
metal fences before the Parliamentary building, and lit candles "in 
memory of the stifled Bulgarian democracy and freedom of expression". 
They also wrapped some of the metal fences with toilet paper.

The impromptu mourning ceremony was guarded by a very small number of 
policemen, unlike the previous days of the protests.

The organizers have called off all protests for Monday and Tuesday but 
are expecting a huge protest rally before the Parliament on Wednesday.






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100643

Bulgaria Interior Min to Explain Police Actions at Bloody Anti-Govt Protest
Politics | January 22, 2009, Thursday
Bulgaria's Interior Minister is to give Thursday some explanations to 
the members of the Internal Security and Public Order Committee about 
the way the police acted during the protest against cabinet last week.

The hearing will be held at the insistence of the opposition who managed 
to gather enough signatures in support of the demand for organizing an 
extraordinary sitting of the committee.

On January 14, the first in a series of demonstrations against the 
present Bulgarian cabinet turned into a bloody mess and ended in many 
injured and more than 1,700 arrests.

The clashes occurred after some alleged provocateurs attacked the 
policemen guarding the building of the Parliament in downtown Sofia, 
where the protest was held.

The officers then used force to disperse the crowd. As a result many 
innocent citizens suffered serious injuries.







http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100595

Security Measures Tightened for Wednesday Protest before Bulgaria Parliament
Society | January 20, 2009, Tuesday
A total of 1,800 police officers and gerdarmes will guard the 
demonstrators to gather before Bulgaria's building of Parliament on 
Wednesday to stage yet another protest against the government.

There will be fixed check-points where policemen and representatives of 
the organizers are to supervise the demonstration, Interior Ministry 
announced Tuesday.

The protest will also bring some traffic restrictions in downtown Sofia. 
At different hours during the day, the authorities will cease the 
traffic at the central boulevards surrounding Narodno Sabranie and 
Nezavisimost squares.

The severe security measures comes after the rally that turned into a 
violent rally a week ago when clashes between police and demonstrators 
ended with serious injuries and about 1,700 arrests.

Organizers stated that more than 5,000 citizens from all over Bulgaria 
are expected to join the Wednesday's rally.







http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_1948667135

New wave of protests in front of the parliament
Updated on: 21.01.2009, 10:26
Published on: 21.01.2009, 10:20
Author: Stefan Nikolov
Font size: a a a
New civil protests are expected in the center of Sofia.
The meeting of students, ecologists, organizations and movements of 
mothers and farmers will start at 15 o'clock in front of the building of 
the National Assembly.
The summarized demands of all protesting organizations will be announced 
at the protest meeting. In a declaration, submitted in the National 
Assembly and the Ministerial council, protesters insist on the 
resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs Mihail Mikov, as well as 
urgent measures on the demands of all protesting organizations. The 
demands are for the implementation of a majority element in the election 
system and for the increase of civil participation in the management of 
the country. Results on their demands the organizers of the protest set 
a deadline - January 27.
Because of the forthcoming protests a part of the center of Sofia will 
be closed for traffic. The restrictions in the movement of automobiles 
will be for the area of square "Narodno sabranie" and square 
"Nezavisimost". Beginning 11.30 o'clock until the end of the protest 
actions, traffic on the route of the protesting students from "Hristo 
Botev" hall to the end bust stop of bus ?280 and square "Narodno 
sybranie" will be gradually stopped. Until the protesters are in front 
of the parliament, the entire traffic on boulevard "Tzar Osvoboditel" 
will be stopped, from boulevard "Vassil Levski" to "Raksovski" Street.






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100629

1 200 Bulgarians Protest by Turning Backs to Parliament
Society | January 21, 2009, Wednesday

A toilet roll placed by a protester on the metal fence before the 
Parliament. The writing reads: "Luxury toilet paper for your luxury 
bottoms". Photo by BGNES
More than 1 200 Bulgarians have gathered in front of the Bulgarian 
Parliament Wednesday afternoon to a protest rally organized by college 
students, young mothers, milk and grain producers, and environmentalists.

Instead of facing, the Parliamentary building, however, this time the 
protesters have turned their backs to it as a way of expressing their 
disapproval of the government and the MPs, and as a way of getting back 
at them, since in their words, the institutions had turned their backs 
whenever they addressed them with their problems.

The protesters read a declaration with their general demands which 
include the resignation of Interior Minister Mihail Mikov in seven days, 
and meeting the individual demands of the various groups organizing the 
protests, i.e. farmers, environmentalists, students, etc.

The civic organizations also want changes to the Referendum Act 
including the abolition of the requirement that at least 700 000 
signatures should be collected for the initiating of a referendum, and 
entitling the Ombudsman to initiate a referendum.

The protesters are in favor of the introduction of a mixed ballot 
system. While Bulgaria's present electoral system has purely 
proportional representation with at least 4% of the votes required to 
enter Parliament, they demand the introduction of a mixed system with 
majority representation elements such as preferential ticket ranking of 
the MP candidates by the voters, and the lowering of the threshold for 
entering Parliament to only 1,2% of the cast votes.

The organizers are threatening with continuing protests and civil 
disobedience unless all of their demands were met. Their declaration has 
been tabled to the Parliament.

Any fears of street riots instigated by paid provocateurs during 
Wednesday's protest - similar to the events a week ago - have failed to 
materialize. The police and the gendarmerie guarding the rally are about 
as many as the protesters themselves.







http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/university-students-support-police-protests/id_34081/catid_66

University students support police protests
Sat, Jan 17 2009 12:10 CET byPetar Kostadinov
Police officers will add to the fourth day of consecutive protest 
rallies in Sofia by staging their own demonstration on January 17 2009, 
Bulgarian-media said.

Since January 14 2009 university students, environmentalists, farmers, 
milk producers and pensioners have been staging protests against the 
current political situation in the country, inviting critics of 
Bulgaria's government to join them.

On January 14 2009 protests were brutally dispersed by police after they 
claimed to have received a bomb threat. On that occasion a group of 
young men, hiding their faces with scarfs, clashed with police. In the 
end police forcibly dispersed protesters, leading to accusations of 
brutality by the opposition.

Since then the protests, which university students have permission to 
stage until January 21 2009, have been conducted quietly but supervised 
by a heavy police presence.

Now, on January 17 2009, despite the accusations of brutality, 
university students said they would support protests by police officers 
who are demanding better working conditions and salary increases. This 
would be the third police officers' protest in 40 days. Police officers 
are banned from staging protests and making demands, but the law does 
not prevent them gathering when they are off duty.

Police officers' first protests took place on December 13 2008 in all 
major Bulgarian cities when thousands gathered to smoke. The group 
smoking was organised by police officers in an internet forum. It was 
prompted by the ministry's decision to cut police officers' Christmas 
bonuses because of the financial crisis.

The December 13 2008 "smoking" protest reaped dividends. The following 
week, the ministry decided to spend about 25 million leva on Christmas 
bonuses for 63 000 ministry employees.

However, this did not stop hundreds of police officers from protesting 
for a second straight weekend on December 21 2008. On this occasion they 
were demanding better equipment and salary increases. The second protest 
saw police gather to drink mineral water.

This, according to internet forums, will be on the agenda of the January 
17 2009 protest. Police officers are expected to gather outside the 
Interior Ministry building in Sofia and outside police departments in 
most cities.
According to Bulgarian-language Dnevnik, one of their demands is for a 
50 per cent salary increase. They also demand additional payment for 
nighttime duties and overtime as well as stricter punishments for people 
who offend or attack police officers. They also want more funds for 
food, clothing and equipment. They are also calling for a new police 
trade union be set up to replace the current one. According to internet 
forums, the Interior Ministry will be given one month to fulfil these 
demands.

Unlike the two previous occasions police officers said in their forums 
that in their upcoming protest they will form a group of negotiators to 
talk to the ministry. According to Dnevnik, however, Interior Minister 
Mihail Mikov will not be in Sofia today since he has gone to the small 
town of Belgoradchik to present the police department there with brand 
new police vehicles. However, the ministry said it was ready to talk to 
negotiators.

Meanwhile, another round of protests is scheduled for January 18 2009 by 
political movement Napred. Closely backed by energy tycoon Hristo 
Kovachki, together with trade unions, organisers expect several thousand 
people to gather in Sofia outside the National Palace of Culture (NDK). 
Protesters will demand the relaunch of units 3 and 4 of the Kozloduy 
nuclear power plant. These were shut down in 2007 as part of the deal on 
Bulgaria's accession to the European Union.

The possibility of reactivating the units is now back on the agenda amid 
the ongoing natural gas crisis. Both President Georgi Purvanov and Prime 
Minister Sergei Stanishev support the idea. The European Commission, 
however, has already expressed its opposition to the idea. Greece and 
Austria are firmly opposed, according to Economy and Energy Minister 
Petar Dimitrov.







http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100543

100 Protesters Mourn Bulgaria's Democracy before Parliament
Society | January 18, 2009, Sunday

Several dozens of protesters laid flowers before the Parliament Sunday 
mourning the Bulgarian democracy. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo 
Agency)
About one hundred people, mostly university student leaders and 
retirees, gathered Sunday for the fifth consecutive day of the daily 
protests in downtown Sofia.

The small number of protesters laid clove pinks and other flowers on the 
metal fences before the Parliamentary building, and lit candles "in 
memory of the stifled Bulgarian democracy and freedom of expression". 
They also wrapped some of the metal fences with toilet paper.

The impromptu mourning ceremony was guarded by a very small number of 
policemen, unlike the previous days of the protests.

The organizers have called off all protests for Monday and Tuesday but 
are expecting a huge protest rally before the Parliament on Wednesday.







http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/second-day-of-protests-in-sofia-ends-peacefully-amid-heavy-police-control/id_34052/catid_66

Second day of protests in Sofia ends peacefully amid heavy police control
Thu, Jan 15 2009 16:47 CET byPetar Kostadinov
The second day of protest outside Bulgaria's Parliament building, 
organised by university students, eco activists, farmers and pensioners 
ended peacefully, in contrast to the previous day when some participants 
clashed with police and 158 people were detained, Bulgarian media said 
on January 15 2009.
The January 15 protest, advertised by organisers as a forum for everyone 
to express discontent with the way Bulgaria is run, was well guarded by 
the police with checkpoints around Parliament. The checkpoints were put 
up by police in order to prevent people with criminal records joining 
the protests, to check people's identity documents and search for 
weapons, and in general to pre-empt any risk of conflict.
On January 14, a group of 15-20 people wearing scarves started throwing 
snowballs, and then stones, at police. Tensions rose sharply and when a 
municipal order was given to cut short the protest because of a bomb 
warning, there were clashes and arrests as police dispersed the crowd.
On January 15, MPs from the opposition joined the protests saying that 
they believed that their presence would discourage police from using 
force on protesters, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said.
The third day of protest is scheduled for January 16 2009, again outside 
Parliament, starting 11am.
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100540

Patching up Protest Apocalypse in Eastern Europe
Author: Ivan Dikov
Editorial | January 18, 2009, Sunday

Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)
T







http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/18/eu-riots-vilinius

Eastern Europe braced for a violent 'spring of discontent'
Riots and street battles are set to spread through Bulgaria, Romania and 
the Baltic states as inflation, unemployment and racism fuel tension, 
reports Jason Burke
? Jason Burke
? The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009
Eastern Europe is heading for a violent "spring of discontent", 
according to experts in the region who fear that the global economic 
downturn is generating a dangerous popular backlash on the streets.
Hit increasingly hard by the financial crisis, countries such as 
Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states face deep political 
destabilisation and social strife, as well as an increase in racial tension.
Last week protesters were tear-gassed as they threw rocks at police 
outside parliament in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, in a protest 
against an austerity package including tax rises and benefit cuts.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 people were arrested and at least 30 injured in 
widespread violence. More than 100 were detained after street battles 
between security forces and demonstrators in the Latvian capital, Riga.
According to the most recent estimates, the economies of some eastern 
European countries, after posting double-digit growth for nearly a 
decade, will contract by up to 5% this year, with inflation peaking at 
more than 13%. Many fear Romania, which joined the European Union with 
Bulgaria in 2007, may be the next to suffer major breakdowns in public 
order.
"In a few months there will be people in the streets, that much is 
certain," said Luca Niculescu, a media executive in Bucharest. "Every 
day we hear about another factory shutting or moving overseas. There is 
a new government that has not shown itself too effective. We have got 
used to very high growth rates. It's an explosive cocktail."
Major Romanian companies threatening massive job cuts include low-cost 
car-maker Dacia, where up to 4,000 posts could go if sales do not 
recover. A spokeswoman for Renault, which owns Dacia, said such deep 
cuts would only be considered in a "catastrophic scenario", but 
production in Romania has already been halted for two months after local 
demand plunged by more than half. Other major companies have already 
announced plans to relocate, with one Japanese wire factory heading for 
Morocco.
Marius Oprea, security adviser to the last Romanian government, said the 
economic crisis would mean "serious problems for the middle class". He 
added: "There will be a fall in tax revenue which will lead to major 
problems for state budgets. The numbers of state employees will also be 
cut right back and their salaries will be worth less and less."
Another problem in Romania, as elsewhere in the region, is that many new 
middle-class house owners have taken out mortgages in euros. With local 
currencies collapsing, repayment is becoming harder.
"We will try dialogue but if that does not work we will defend our 
members' interest however we can," said one Romanian trade unionist last 
week. "We want to be part of the solution, not the problem, but the 
situation is very serious."
Dr Jonathan Eyal, a regional specialist at the Royal United Services 
Institute thinktank in London, said eastern European countries were 
ill-equipped to deal with the impact of the global downturn and risked 
"social meltdown".
"These are often fragile economies ... with brittle political 
structures, political parties that are not very well formed and weak 
institutions. They are ill-prepared for what has hit them," Eyal said. 
"Last year it was the core western European countries which were shaky; 
now it is the weaker periphery that are getting the full blast of the 
crisis."
The reasons for last week's unrest are varied. Bulgarian students were 
protesting over the death of one of their number in an apparently random 
criminal attack, blaming the Socialist-led government for failing to 
ensure security. They were joined by farmers angry at low prices for 
their produce and problems with EU subsidies often diverted by corrupt 
administrators.
Tensions have been exacerbated by the gas crisis, in which Bulgaria has 
suffered severe heating and power shortages since Moscow turned off the 
taps following a dispute with Ukraine.
"We are fed up with living in the poorest and most corrupt country," the 
Sofia protest organisers said in a statement. "This unique protest 
unites the people in their wish for change and their wish to live in a 
normal European country."
In Latvia, years of strong economic growth have given way to recession, 
soaring inflation and rising unemployment. Trust in the state's 
authority and officials has fallen catastrophically, said President 
Valdis Zatlers last week, threatening to call snap elections.
Most of those arrested in last week's disturbances in Riga have now been 
released. According to security police chief Janis Reiniks, the detained 
were "jobless, workers, students and school children" and included "one 
[person] connected to the Latvian Democratic Party and one skinhead".
Last year Latvia was forced to ask the International Monetary Fund for a 
?6.25bn bail-out package, fuelling a jingoistic backlash against a 
perceived "national humiliation".
Some eastern European states appear to be resisting better, however. The 
Estonian government built up substantial currency reserves during years 
of rapid growth. "Everyone knows this year is going to be very tough. 
But in Riga and Vilnius they are exhausted and angry and have lost faith 
in their leaders; that is not the case here," said Raimo Poom, political 
editor of Tallinn-based newspaper Esti Paevaleht.
One fear is a rise in attacks on ethnic minorities. The Czech Republic, 
also hit badly by the crisis, saw its worst street violence for years 
recently when 700 members of the far-right Workers' Party clashed with 
1,000 riot police in the town of Litvinov whenthey were prevented from 
marching into a mostly Roma area. "The populist, nationalist political 
climate [in eastern Europe] is very conducive to anti-minority 
sentiment," said Larry Olomoofe of the European Roma Rights Centre in 
Budapest.
The recent history of the region aggravates the crisis, say experts. 
"You have people who were buoyed up through a very bad period after the 
collapse of the USSR, when their economies contracted by up to a third 
by a belief that joining the EU would bring them prosperity and 
stability," Eyal said.
"It is that aspiration that has been disappointed and that is very 
destabilising."
Europe's flashpoints
Bulgaria
Population 7 million. Troubled by corruption and political instability. 
Dozens of people, including 14 police, injured during riots in Sofia 
last week.
Latvia
Population 2.2 million. Centre-right government likely to call elections 
after riots over harsh conditions following IMF bail-out.
Lithuania
Population 3.5 million. Street clashes and 86 arrests after 7,000 people 
attended a Vilnius rally called by trade unions to protest at public 
sector pay cuts, reduced social security payments, an increase in VAT 
and an end to tax breaks on medicine and home heating.
Estonia
Population 1.4 million. So far calm, and government has more reserves of 
cash and public confidence than elsewhere, but a 3.5% contraction in the 
economy in the third quarter of last year is likely to cause problems. 
Support for the prime minister, Andrus Ansip, and his government is 
falling quickly.





http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100491

Sofia Municipality Extends Protest Permit by Five Days
Politics | January 16, 2009, Friday

The Sofia municipality has approved the holding of protest rallies and a 
human chain in front of the Parliament building in downtown Sofia for an 
extra five days. Photo by Sofia Photo Agency
The Sofia municipality has approved the holding of protest rallies and a 
human chain in front of the Parliament building in downtown Sofia for an 
extra five days.

The Municipality has authorized protests on January 17, 18, 19, 20 and 
21 from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm.

The request received by the City Hall has been signed by representatives 
of college students' and other civic and non-governmental organizations 
including the Union for Development and Social Control over College 
Dormitories and Cafeterias and the Civic Union for Protection of 
Students in the "Studentski Grad" (College Town) district.

The municipality further mandates that all demonstrations must be held 
outside the Parliament's security area.

Sofia residents should brace for heavy traffic during the work week 
because the City Hall informs that one of main thoroughfares in downtown 
Sofia - the "Tzar Osvoboditel" Boulevard will be closed for traffic from 
10:30 am until 7:30 pm during each day of the protests.

The demonstrators have declared that they would support the Saturday 
protest rally of Sofia's policemen, despite the violence and police 
beatings during the first day of the protests.

The main demand of the protests' organizers it the resignation of the 
Cabinet.






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/europe/2009/01/16/192268/Anti-gov%27t-protest.htm

Updated Friday, January 16, 2009 10:11 am TWN, AP
Anti-gov't protest held in Bulgaria for 2nd day
SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Bulgarians have held a rally outside parliament for 
the second day to demand that their government resign because of alleged 
corruption and a deepening economic crisis. Some 2,000 students, farmers 
and medical workers held Thursday's rally shouting, ?resignation? and 
?mafia.? Opposition lawmakers who have demanded an early election also 
left a parliament session and joined the protesters. The next 
parliamentary election is due this summer.
Hundreds of riot police cordoned off Parliament in an attempt to prevent 
a repetition of Wednesday's violence, during which protesters hurled 
stones and bottles at the building and clashed with police. Dozens of 
people were injured, including 14 police officers.





http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100463

Bulgaria Opposition Leaves Parliament, Joins Protest Rally
Politics | January 15, 2009, Thursday
The Bulgarian rightist Opposition left the Parliament building to join 
the protest rally as a sign of solidarity with the demonstrators, the 
Darik radio reports Thursday.

"While those ruling the country choose to hide behind the thick walls of 
the Parliament, we will be outside, with the demonstrators, " the Chair 
of Union of Democratic Forces Party (UDF) Martin Dimitrov stated.

Earlier, during the Parliamentary session, the leader of the Democrats 
for Strong Bulgaria Party (DSB) Ivan Kostov demanded the resignation of 
Interior Minister Mihail Mikov over the Wednesday police brutality and 
violence exerted by policemen while dispersing the demonstrators.

"Mikov bears full responsibility about the Wednesday violence," Kostov 
stated.

The representative of the ruling ethnic Movement for Rights and Freedoms 
Turkish Party (MRF) Lyutvi Mestan defended the Interior Minister by 
saying that it was not up to the Police to distinguish between peaceful 
protesters and hooligans."

In the mean time about 1,000 protesters, gathered for a second day to 
demand the Cabinet's resignation, shouted "Bring Them Out."







http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100455

Sofia Braces for Second Day of Protests
Society | January 15, 2009, Thursday

Students, farmers and representatives of environmental organizations are 
preparing a second day of protest in downtown Sofia Thursday. Photo by 
Yuliana Nikolova and Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)
Students, farmers and representatives of environmental organizations are 
preparing for a second day of protests in downtown Sofia Thursday.

The protest rally is scheduled again for 11:00 am and will be held in 
front of the Parliament building. Students expect that the Wednesday 
violence would not be repeated as they hope to eliminate actions and 
provocations that could trigger a strong police response.

Kuncho Dragnev from the college student organization Union for 
Development and Social Control over Student Dormitories and Cafeterias 
stated that the Wednesday riot brought the country back by 20 years.

"We believe the Police yesterday were prepared to exert violence on 
people. We appealed to them numerous times to isolate the provocateurs - 
they were on the left side of the Parliament building. About 20 masked 
people easily distinguished from the rest. The Police did not do 
anything to subdue them, but later attacked even the protest 
organizers," Dragnev said.

Adrian Tsakonski, the well known leader of the Bulgarian milk producers 
and organizer of numerous farmers' protests, has also confirmed their 
participation in the Thursday rally.

Representatives of student, environmental, rural, retiree, parent, 
youth, medical and other organizations gathered Wednesday in front of 
the building of the Bulgarian Parliament in Sofia to demand the 
resignation of the Cabinet and voice many other requests.

The violence was allegedly triggered by football fans trying to remove 
guarding fences and throwing them at the Police. Some policemen have 
been injured by flying rocks, bottles and homemade bombs, often used 
during football matches.

After an order issued by the Sofia Deputy Mayor, Police in riot gear 
used batons and tear gas to disperse the demonstrators from the square 
in front of the Parliament and pushed them into adjacent streets. 
According to eyewitness' reports, the Police "literally smashed" the rally.

The demonstrators then broke into several groups. One of them marched in 
the direction of the National Palace of Culture while the other walked 
towards one of Sofia's main thoroughfares "Tsarigradsko Shosse", and 
blocked traffic in the area of "Orlov Most" (Eagle Bridge). The Police 
managed to open the road half an hour later.

The area near the Parliament remained closed and fenced off all through 
the night with heavy police presence.

About 170 people (22 minors among them) have been arrested, there are 
reports of damaged police cars and public transportation buses and 
broken store windows while hospitals say 19 people have reported to 
their emergency rooms to be treated from injuries sustained during the 
Police beatings. Many more are believed to have been hurt by Police 
brutality.







http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_1346626901

SDS-Sofia demands renewal of protests
Updated on: 14.01.2009, 14:46
Published on: 14.01.2009, 14:10
Author: Stefan Nikolov
Font size: a a a
SDS-Sofia demands an immediate restoration of the issued by Mayor Boyko 
Borissov order for a ban of the meeting in front of the Parliament, 
which violates the civil rights of Sofia residents.
In a letter addressed to Borissov, the management of the party writes 
"If this order is not repealed - we will consider that through your 
actions You become a part of the status quo of the failed ruling party!"
"The repeal of the decision for protest sets the police loose and blood 
is being spilt on Sofia streets once again!" the announcement reads.






http://www.seeurope.net/?q=node/16810

BULGARIA: Downtown Sofia Braces for Mass Protest Rally
14.01.2009 Bulgaria | Politics
Rating
Student, environmental and rural organizations are staging a mass 
protest rally in front of the Parliament building at 11:00 am Wednesday.
Many other organizations - retiree, parent, youth, medical, etc. have 
also confirmed their participation.
The demonstrators have a total of 19 demands among them paying farmers 
all overdue amounts for 2008 by the end of the month, reducing the 
deadline for money transfer for an approved farming project from the EU 
Program for the Development of Rural Areas from 4 months to 1 month, 
direct participation of branch organizations in the "Agriculture" Fund, 
rescinding the "Natura 2000" changes.
On their part, college students request the creation of a strategy for 
higher education and scientific research with a March deadline and a law 
for academic autonomy, turning the so-called college towns into student 
campuses with increased security, control over State spending, end of 
all corruption practices.
Protesting policemen demand better pay and work conditions and increased 
social protection.
The common goal of all rally participants is the resignation of the 
current Cabinet.
Source: SNA






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100426

Downtown Sofia Braces for Mass Protest Rally
Politics | January 14, 2009, Wednesday

Student, environmental and rural organizations are staging a mass 
protest rally in front of the Parliament building at 11:00 am Wednesday. 
Photo by Sofia Photo Agency
Student, environmental and rural organizations are staging a mass 
protest rally in front of the Parliament building at 11:00 am Wednesday.

Many other organizations - retiree, parent, youth, medical, etc. have 
also confirmed their participation.

The demonstrators have a total of 19 demands among them paying farmers 
all overdue amounts for 2008 by the end of the month, reducing the 
deadline for money transfer for an approved farming project from the EU 
Program for the Development of Rural Areas from 4 months to 1 month, 
direct participation of branch organizations in the "Agriculture" Fund , 
rescinding the "Natura 2000" changes.

On their part, college students request the creation of a strategy for 
higher education and scientific research with a March deadline and a law 
for academic autonomy, turning the so-called college towns into student 
campuses with increased security, control over State spending, end of 
all corruption practices.

Protesting policemen demand better pay and work conditions and increased 
social protection.

The common goal of all rally participants is the resignation of the 
current Cabinet.







http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_295902949

Civil protest in front of the National Assembly
Updated on: 28.01.2009, 12:14
Published on: 28.01.2009, 12:08
Author: Stefan Nikolov
Font size: a a a
The next protest of students, ecologists, mothers, pensioners and 
cardiologists will take place at 15.00 o'clock on the square in front of 
the National Assembly.
The last national protest took place on January 21, when protesters 
demanded from the parliament to satisfy their requirements by January 
27, otherwise the will start civil disobedience.
Their main demand is the resignation of the Internal Affairs Minister 
Mihail Mikov, who according to the protesters is the major culprit for 
the bloody clashes from January 14.
The municipality announces that changes will be made in the organization 
of Sofia transport.
The organizers of the protest announced that measures will be taken 
against possible provocateurs and instigators of violence.
There will also be a protest in Varna from 16.00 on "Nezavisimost" 
square. "Electronic boundary" announced themselves against internet 
spying and insist that the total control of Bulgarian citizens is 
stopped. The creation of laws is not a "work done with client 
materials", but serious and responsible business with a thought the 
people", a special declaration of the association reads.






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100468

27 Bulgarian Hooligans Sentenced after Wednesday's Street Riot in Sofia
Crime | January 15, 2009, Thursday

27 hooligans have already been sentenced for instigating violence during 
what was supposed to be a peaceful protest before the Bulgarian 
Parliament on Wednesday. Photo by Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)
Twenty-seven of the some 180 persons who were detained by the police 
during Wednesday's street riot in downtown Sofia have been sentenced in 
quick trials, the Sofia District Court announced.

Seven district judges were summoned Wednesday night to three police 
departments in the Bulgarian capital to look at the charges on the spot.

Of the total of 37 persons, who were charged with stirred violence 
during the civic protest rally before the Parliament, 27 have been 
sentenced under the Ordinance for Combating Minor Hooliganism. Nine have 
been acquitted.

Four persons were sentenced to fines of BGN 30, eight got fines of BGN 
50, nine - of BGN 100, and five - of BGN 200. Only one of the charged 
persons got a sentence of a five-day imprisonment.

One of the detainees is underage, born in 1991, so his case has been 
sent to the Committee for Combating Anti-Society Acts Committed by Minors.

Dozens more of the alleged hooligans are going to be tried on Thursday 
at several police departments around Sofia. The District Court decided 
to send the judges on the spot in order to save the police time and 
efforts in transporting the suspects.







http://bulgarian.ibox.bg/news/id_1528338921

Massive demonstration of young people in front of the National Assembly
Updated on: 10.01.2009, 17:30
Published on: 10.01.2009, 17:15
Author: Diana Stoykova
Font size: a a a
Massive demonstration of students, Internet bloggers, environmentalists, 
non-governmental organizations and young scientists will flood Sofia on 
January 14, "Monitor" reports.
January 14 is the first day of work after the Christmas holidays for 
Bulgarians members of Parliament for 2009.
The demonstrators will state their demands at 11 a.m. in front of the 
National Assembly. For the last two days the Internet has been literally 
flooded by calls for everyone's joining the demonstration against 
corruption and political ineffieciency.
"For years we've been living on the bottom, we've been living in a 
country governed by the mafia, lawlessness and amnesia. We can take it 
no more! Let's show our politicians we care, and we are not asleep and 
we won't tolerate them any more!"
More than 1500 students are expected t take part in the second 
demonstration against violence in Students' Town.
"We have permission from Sofia Municipality. What the police has done up 
till now is not enough"
"The most urgent change needs to deal with the bars and clubs. Students' 
Town needs to be taken back to the students again!", Adriana Ivanova, 
speakswoman of the students organization "SROKSOZ" states.
The environmentalists also have their cause:
The reason for the protests this time is "the disgusting and criminal 
law, passed for second consideration by the Agriculture and Forests 
Committee against the forest of Bulgaria, which is to be voted for in 
the National Assembly in the first sessions by Bulgarian MPs", 
forthenature.org writes.








From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 14:16:32 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:16:32 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] Uprisings, Jan 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF5A40.7000907@tesco.net>


* TRINIDAD: Police murder sparks protest, roads blocked
* NEPAL: Office relocation sparks local unrest
* YEMEN: Protests, police killings continue in South
* GUINEA: Junta supporters protest sanctions
* NIGERIA: Motorbike workers take over streets in protest over helmet law
* GERMANY: Clashes in three cities at New Year events
* SENEGAL: Repression follows December unrets over jobs





http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161430453

Protest over police killing
Carolyn Kissoon South Bureau

Tuesday, January 27th 2009

hot spot: Rio Claro residents protest the police killing of George Ashby 
(inset) along the main road in San Pedro Village yesterday. Ashby was 
killed on Friday, after leaving a cook-out at his workplace. At right: 
Even this pensioner was part of the activity, as the villagers called 
for swift action and a probe into the killing. -Photos: DAVE PERSAD
POLICE were unable to remove burning debris which blocked the Guaracara/ 
Tabaquite Road in Rio Claro for several hours yesterday, as hundreds of 
angry residents formed a human barricade around the fire.
The protesters stood in the rain and refused to move, until officers 
threatened to arrest them.
The fiery protest was sparked by the shooting death of 52-year-old 
George Ashby. He was killed on Friday evening. He was shot in the chest 
by police.
The protesters, who came out around 4 a.m., used old vehicle parts and 
appliances to block the main road leading to San Pedro Village. Traffic 
backed up for miles and residents were unable to leave the village to 
get to work and school.
They held up placards which read: "Police Must Speak The Truth", 
"Innocent Killing" and "No Excuse For Killing Innocent Man-We Want 
Justice".
The protesters hurled insults and jeered at the policemen, who 
eventually removed the debris and allowed traffic to flow smoothly 
around midday.
"I was inside my house and I heard something dragging around 4 a.m. and 
when I looked outside I noticed people bringing out old cars and tyres. 
When I went outside I saw everyone coming outside for a protest," a 
villager, who asked not to named, said.
"This man is not anyone involved in drugs or crime. He is the sole 
breadwinner for his family and a father of four. I understand police was 
looking for a white Sunny car which was involved in a robbery and he had 
a car like that so they stopped him."
Ashby, a handyman attached to Tabaquite Comprehensive School, was shot 
by police around 7.30 p.m. He was shot three times.
Ashby had attended a cook-out at the school and was returning to his San 
Pedro home when police stopped his car. Police said they found a 
grass-cutting machine inside the car.
A Ministry of Education official said Ashby spent the evening with 
teachers at the school and was returning home.
"He was a good and genuine man and was not known to be involved in 
anything illegal. We are having a collection at the school to give to 
his family," he said.
The official said the grass-cutter which was found inside the car 
belonged to the school.
"He used this to do landscaping at the school," he said.
Ashby's brother-in-law, Peter Rolland, yesterday said if the authorities 
failed to respond, residents were taking the protest to Port of Spain.
"We want some answers and we want an investigation. We are not going to 
allow this to pass just so. He did not deserve to die like that. He was 
a good person and our investigation shows that George signed for the 
grass-cutter before he took it to his car. He borrowed it to do some 
work at home," he said.
Police said an investigation has been launched into the shooting.








http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/2009/jan/jan29/news16.php

Indefinite curfew in Jaleshwor after violent protests
The local administration in Mahottari has clamped indefinite curfew in 
the district headquarters Jaleshwor from 5 pm Thursday following violent 
protests by the locals against the government decision to shift the 
government offices there to Bardibas.
Earlier, there were frequent clashes between the protesting locals and 
the police in Jaleshwor. At least four dozen protesters and six 
policemen were injured in the confrontations, reports said.
Cadres of the Nepali Congress were also on the street in support of the 
protesting locals.
Meanwhile, Terai Madhesh Loktantrik Party enforced bandh (shutdown 
strike) in Sarlahi district amid preparations to move all government 
offices from district headquarters Malangawa to Hariwon.
The bandh badly affected transportation service and businesses, but 
there were reports of violence.
Protests erupted in some Terai districts soon after the government 
decided to shift the government offices from the district headquarters. 
nepalnews.com mk Jan 29 09






http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/195837.php

January 13, 2009
Yemeni Government Slaughters Protesters in Aden
Five seriously injured from gunfire, dozens ill from tear gas and over 
50 arrested.
IHT: Riot police in Yemen wounded five demonstrators in the southern 
city of Aden when they opened fire to disperse a crowd of thousands of 
army veterans demanding their old jobs back, said Yemeni hospital 
officials....After Yemen's 1994 civil war, many soldiers from the 
southern part of the country fled to neighboring Saudi Arabia, returning 
only when the government issued an amnesty and promised to readmit them 
to the army ? a promise southern Yemenese say has not been kept.
That's not actually what's going on. Since the civil war, southerners 
allege they have been treated like a vanquished enemy. Protests in the 
south broke out a year ago calling for an end to the discrimination and 
theft of property. The Yemeni regime, dominated by President Saleh's 
family and northern tribal allies, responded with violence and arrests, 
further inflaming tensions. Public opinion developed a strong separatist 
sentiment in light of the fact that the government is unable and 
unwilling to reform. Yemen is in the bottom five for poverty globally, 
largely a result of massive corruption, and child hunger is at a 
critical level. The following video shows people being shot in the 
street earlier today and is graphic. This happens at nearly every protest.






http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gKEbdGekMpjZTfAXy6i5hprbpc8A

Guinean youth protest sanctions
Jan 30, 2009
CONAKRY, Guinea (AFP) ? Up to 3,000 young supporters of Guinea's 
recently installed junta took to the streets of Conakry on Friday to 
protest economic sanctions imposed on the West African country.
The protestors -- 3,000 according to organisers, up to 2,000 according 
to local journalists -- rallied in support of the junta, the National 
Council for Democracy and Development (CNDD).
Young people, many wearing tee-shirts emblazoned with the image of junta 
leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, brandished banners and pickets with 
"No to sanctions" and "With CNDD, transparent elections are guaranteed".
In reaction to the December 23 coup, the United States earlier this 
month said it would suspend foreign aid to Guinea, but would continue to 
send humanitarian aid and aid aimed at democracy-building programmes.
The Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) then announced it 
would suspend Guinea from all of high-level meetings until it restored 
constitutional order.
The International Organisation of the Francophonie followed suit by 
temporarily suspending Guinean representatives.
The military junta, which seized power following the death of president 
Lansana Conte, announced a 29-member government in which soldiers will 
hold the defence, security, finance and justice ministries.






http://allafrica.com/stories/200901050188.html

Leadership (Abuja)
Nigeria: Okada Riders Stage Protest Over Helmet
Bernard Tolani Dada
5 January 2009

Uyo ? There was pandemonium across the city of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State 
capital yesterday as hundreds of commercial motorcyclists known as 
alalok took to the streets protesting the use of crash helmets.
The protest, which started at about 7.am Saturday, saw the Okada riders 
chanting war songs, carrying green leaves and forcing motorists to 
scamper for safety.
At Udo Umana Street , opposite the newly refurbished township stadium, 
protesters blocked the road with all sorts of objects but they did not 
make any burn fire but they were shouting and decrying the imposition of 
the crash helmet.
This reporter followed the trend of events to Oron road where another 
set of protesters, who were on rampage, caused panic by burning used 
tyres and other objects, thereby forcing innocent citizens to abandon 
the streets and shop owners closing their shops to avoid looting. 
However, the protesters later dispersed on seeing a lorry load of mobile 
policemen coming toward them.
Akaniyene Obot, who claimed he has been operating Okada for close to 
five years on the streets of Uyo, told our correspondent that the non 
availability of the helmet in the state coupled with the short notice 
given by the road safety commission was the reason for their protest.
Another cyclist, Imoh Iwok, who converted a craftily carved calabash 
painted in yellow colour as his own crash helmet, said the state 
government should have procured the crash helmets in large quantity so 
as to make it available for them.
According to him "what we buy in the market now is only the industrial 
safety head protector which is out of reach of most operators because 
they could not afford the price and not the type FRSC approves." He 
therefore, appealed to the authorities concerned to flood the market 
with the approved helmets.
When contacted over the issue, Akwa Ibom State sector commander of the 
Nigeria Road Safety Commission, Mr.Osas Osadebenwem, told our reporter 
that the protesters were only acting out of ignorance





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/248566,clashes-in-three-german-cities-mars-new-year-celebrations.html

Clashes in three German cities mars New Year celebrations
Posted : Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:45:10 GMT
Author : DPA

Berlin - Clashes in three German cities marred New Year celebrations, 
with police facing their toughest challenge from a crowd of mostly young 
revellers in the capital Berlin in the small hours of Thursday. One 
small breakaway group from that crowd, which numbered 1,000 at the peak, 
tried to fire a skyrocket inside a police station and invade it, police 
spokesman Frank Millert said.
The rocket lodged in a broken window and burned itself out, but several 
police were injured by the flying glass. Police arrested three on arson 
charges.
Earlier, elements from the same crowd in the Prenzlauer Berg district 
had smashed the windows of a passing tram and bombarded a police patrol 
car with firecrackers. The trouble abated about 3 am.
In the northern city of Hamburg, 150 youths first attacked firefighters 
trying to save a blazing wooden hut during the night, then hurled stones 
and bottles at riot police called to subdue them.
In the eastern city of Leipzig, seven police were injured in running 
battles with about 150 drunken youths.
Germany's most tragic accident on the sole night of the year when the 
general public are allowed to set off fireworks was the near blinding of 
a 12-year-old girl who had already lost one eye in an accident earlier 
in her life.
A firework exploded in her face in the northern city of Hamburg, causing 
facial burns and damaging her remaining eye.








http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LA545532.htm

Senegal jails young rioters who protested overjobs
10 Jan 2009 14:48:44 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Diadie Ba
DAKAR, Jan 10 (Reuters) - Eighteen young Senegalese have been jailed for 
between five and 10 years for taking part in riots triggered by 
unemployment and anger over local mining projects, officials said on 
Saturday.
At least one person was shot and killed and 35 wounded in street 
protests in the southeastern town of Kedougou on Dec. 23, when crowds of 
mostly young demonstrators attacked public buildings and clashed with 
armed police and gendarmes.
Local officials and human rights activists said the youths were 
protesting the impoverished southeast region of the West African state 
was not seeing benefits in terms of jobs or wealth from multiplying, 
mostly foreign-run gold mining projects there.
A court in Tambacounda late on Friday found 18 out of 29 accused guilty 
of public order offences, including damage to state property.
Eight of those convicted were sentenced to 10 years in jail, two to 
seven years behind bars, and eight more to five years. The rest were 
acquitted.
Defence lawyers, who said several of the accused were beaten while in 
police custody, criticised the offences as excessively harsh and said 
they would appeal.
The Dakar-based, Pan-African human rights organisation RADDHO accused 
police of waging "state terror" in Kedougou after the unrest, saying 
suspects and their families were subjected to beatings, torture and 
harassment.
Authorities denied any abuses.
Mining companies exploring in southeast Senegal near the Mali border 
include Australia-based Mineral Deposits Limited, Toronto-listed IAMGOLD 
<IMG.TO> and Randgold Resources <RRS.L>.
RADDHO called the exploitation of Kedougou's mineral resources by mining 
companies a "time bomb".
"Instead of contributing to the well-being and prosperity of 
populations, they become a real nightmare by despoiling land and failing 
to provide significant benefits to the people of that region, which is 
among the poorest in Senegal with massive youth unemployment," the 
rights organisation said.
ECONOMIC SQUEEZE
Senegal, a mostly Muslim former French colony, has since independence in 
1960 preserved a reputation for political and social stability in a West 
African region convulsed by decades of unrest, coups and civil wars.
But discontent under the rule of octogenarian President Abdoulaye Wade, 
who was elected in 200O and re-elected in 2007, has been on the rise as 
high food, fuel and electricity prices increasingly squeeze the 
livelihoods of ordinary people.
Wade and his government have also been accused by opponents and human 
rights activists of displaying an increasingly inflexible attitude 
towards dissent and criticism.
Senegal's justice system also came under fire this week for eight-year 
prison sentences recently handed down by a court to nine suspected 
homosexuals who were arrested in December at the home of a prominent gay 
rights and anti-AIDS activist.
The men were convicted of "indecent and unnatural acts" and "criminal 
association" in a case which U.S.-based Human Rights Watch said revealed 
an anti-homosexual bias that undermined efforts to educate people about 
the dangers of AIDS.
"These charges will have a chilling effect on AIDS programs," said Scott 
Long, director of Human Rights Watch's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 
transgender rights program.
"Outreach workers and people seeking HIV prevention or treatment should 
not have to worry about police persecution ... Senegal's sodomy law 
invades privacy, criminalizes health work, justifies brutality, and 
feeds fear," Long added. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have 
your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Writing 
by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Sophie Hares)




From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 14:48:34 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:48:34 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] CHINA:  Protests and unrest, January-June 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF61C2.7080401@tesco.net>

* Guangzhou - Residents gather to protest substation
* Hebei - Relatives of tainted milk victims protest at court
* Guangdong - Railway construction halted as displaced residents 
protest; five-day sit-in ends work
* Beijing - Parents petitioning over earthquake deaths stopped by police
* As unemployment rises, protests spread
* Guizhou - Police repression, scuffle over dragon route lead to 
demonstration, injuries; villagers clash with cops over embezzlement
* Shenzen - Workers protest as company folds
* Beijing - Silk market traders protest fake goods label
* How far is China from revolution?
* Beijing - Uighur, Tibetan dissidents self-immolate
* Beijing - Sit-in at export company
* Police undergoing anti-worker training as closures spread
* Qinghai - Tibetans attack police station
* Beijing - Evicted residents stage bold protest
* Beijing - Stockbrokers circulate fliers after collapse
* Hainan - Police station torched after failure to stop fight
* Chongqing - Three Gorges displaced clash with police over missing payments
* Beijing - Protest over claim that petitioners are mentally ill
* Baoding - Workers plan march to Beijing over job losses; factory boss 
fired
* Henan - Hui block roads in protets over racist killing
* Hunan - Taxi drivers' strike turns into mass revolt
* Beijing - Unpaid construction workers occupy building
* Chongqing - Workers block road over unpaid wages
* Beijing - Protest "honours" visiting American politician
* Nanjing - Students revolt over harassment by goons
* Beijing - Massive crackdown to prevent Tiananmen commemorations
* Hunan - Thousands clash with police over land dispute
* Hong Kong - Thousands march to remember Tiananmen
* AUSTRALIA/CHINA: Protest outside embassy
* Nankang, Jiangxi - Hundreds of furniture makers block roads over tax rule
* Courts urged to aid in resolving disputes to head off protests
* Beijing - Petitioners climb onto bridge; attacked by "angry locals" 
claims Chinese press
* Shishou, Hubei - 10,000 resist removal of body in suspicious death 
case; clashes with police "daily occurrence" in China
* Xinjiang - Police murder protester during attack on protest over real 
estate project
* Qinghai - Taxi strike over license change
* Guangdong - Quarry blockaded over compensation failings, home damage; 
police repulsed, taken hostage









http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/03/content_10595502.htm

Residents in China city continue to protest construction of transformer 
substation

GUANGZHOU, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- More than 500 residents in a community in 
the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou gathered again Friday night to 
protest the construction of a transformer substation in their neighborhood.
Dozens of police were dispatched to maintain order at the construction 
site near the west gate of the community called "Junjing Garden."
No clashes were reported between the protesters and police. According to 
a resident surnamed Wang living nearby, the residents of "Junjing 
Garden" began to gather at around 9:30 p.m. and left by 11:00 p.m.
The residents had gathered Thursday night, demanding a stoppage of 
building the transformer substation. They believed the transformer 
substation would generate radiation and damage their health.
China Southern Power Grid and Guangzhou Municipal Power Supply Bureau 
are in charge of the substation construction.








http://www.breitbart.com/image.php?id=iafp090101040511.y1napd26p2&show_article=1

Relatives of the victims of China's tainted milk scandal protest

Relatives of the victims of China's tainted milk scandal protest outside 
the court in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province on December 31, as the trial 
of former head of the Sanlu Group, Tian Wenhua, gets underway.







http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6570566.html

Railway construction halts in S China after villagers protest

20:01, January 08, 2009

A railway construction site in south China's Guangdong Province has 
halted work for five days as of Thursday as a result of protests by 
villagers who were worried about their resettlement.

Zhang Hong, an official with the China Railway No. 4 Engineering Group 
in charge of the construction site of the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway, said 
the company had planned to resume work Thursday, the fifth day since the 
halt began Sunday.

However, about 100 residents of Nangang Village in the suburbs of 
Guangzhou protested at the site, foiling attempts to resume construction.

Workers at the site had been forced to stop work for a week last month 
for the same reason, said Zhang.

"Villagers would throw bricks at our workers if they did not agree to 
stop work," he added.

A villager surnamed Ou said the villagers protested because more than 
100 families, who would have to move away and make room for the railway, 
were worried about their resettlement.

The families had not received any information about where and how they 
would be resettled, Ou told Xinhua.

China started building the 995-km railway between Wuhan, capital of the 
central Hubei province, and the southern Guangdong Province's capital 
Guangzhou in June 2005 and planned to finish it this year.

Source: Xinhua







http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6571450.html

Wuhan-Guangzhou rail work resumes after residents suspend protest

20:04, January 09, 2009

Work resumed Friday on a major railway project in south China after 
local residents agreed to end a five-day sit-in, an official of the 
contractor said.

Tong Guoqiang, an official with the state-controlled China Railway No. 4 
Engineering Group, which is building that portion of the Wuhan-Guangzhou 
Railway, said villagers agreed Thursday to suspend protests for a week 
after they met with local officials and the company.

The suspension cost the company "hundreds of thousands of yuan" a day, 
including wages and equipment costs, said Tong.

Villagers threatened to throw bricks at workers if they did not agree to 
stop work, according to another company official, Zhang Hong.

The residents of Nangang Village in the suburbs of Guangzhou, capital of 
Guangdong Province, protested because 110 households facing relocation 
hadn't received any information about resettlement, villagers said.

Work was suspended for a week last month for the same reason.

"They are likely to resume the protest if they do not get a reply on 
their resettlement in the next week," said Tong.

The line, which would run 968 km from Wuhan, capital of the central 
Hubei province, to Guangzhou, is the longest under construction in China.

Work began in June 2005 and was scheduled to finish at the end of this 
year. The cost is 116.6 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars).

Source: Xinhua






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/09/content_10630655.htm

Wuhan-Guangzhou rail work resumes after residents suspend protest
GUANGZHOU, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Work resumed Friday on a major railway 
project in south China after local residents agreed to end a five-day 
sit-in, an official of the contractor said.
Tong Guoqiang, an official with the state-controlled China Railway No. 4 
Engineering Group, which is building that portion of the Wuhan-Guangzhou 
Railway, said villagers agreed Thursday to suspend protests for a week 
after they met with local officials and the company.
The suspension cost the company "hundreds of thousands of yuan" a day, 
including wages and equipment costs, said Tong.
Villagers threatened to throw bricks at workers if they did not agree to 
stop work, according to another company official, Zhang Hong.
The residents of Nangang Village in the suburbs of Guangzhou, capital of 
Guangdong Province, protested because 110 households facing relocation 
hadn't received any information about resettlement, villagers said.
Work was suspended for a week last month for the same reason.
"They are likely to resume the protest if they do not get a reply on 
their resettlement in the next week," said Tong.
The line, which would run 968 km from Wuhan, capital of the central 
Hubei province, to Guangzhou, is the longest under construction in China.
Work began in June 2005 and was scheduled to finish at the end of this 
year. The cost is 116.6 billion yuan (17 billion U.S. dollars).

Editor: Yang Lina






http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/world/asia/09quake.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Police in China Halt Parents Seeking Investigation Into School Collapses

By EDWARD WONG
Published: January 8, 2009
BEIJING ? The local police stopped parents who were trying to travel 
secretly from southwest China to Beijing this week to ask the central 
government for a full investigation into school collapses that killed 
their children during the May earthquake, several of the parents said 
Thursday.
A leader of the grieving parents, Sang Jun, who lost his 11-year-old 
son, said in a telephone interview that he had been detained overnight 
and released only after more than 60 other parents gathered at the gates 
of the town government building to demand his release.
The restrictive measures taken by the local government show that the 
widespread destruction of schools during the devastating earthquake on 
May 12 in southwest China continues to be a delicate political issue. 
The number of students who died in the May earthquake is unknown, 
although estimates suggest the figure may be as high as 10,000. They 
died when schools crumbled during the powerful tremor, while in many 
cases buildings around the schools remained standing.
The parents who tried to leave for Beijing on Tuesday are from the town 
of Fuxin, in Sichuan Province, where the No. 2 Primary School collapsed, 
killing at least 126 children, according to the parents. Nearly 60 sets 
of parents from Fuxin joined together to file a lawsuit on Dec. 1 
against government officials and a construction contractor, but the 
court has declined to hear the case. The parents said in interviews in 
December that going to Beijing would be a last resort.
On Tuesday, five parents left Fuxin for the nearby city of Mianyang, 
where they had planned to take a train to Beijing. Police officers from 
the city of Mianzhu, which is in charge of administrating Fuxin, forced 
them to return to Fuxin, Mr. Sang said.
Mr. Sang said he was singled out and taken to another town in the area 
of Mianzhu. He said the police questioned him all night about his work 
as an electrician in a factory several years ago and accused him of 
stealing used factory cables to resell them.
?They said that I had contacted foreign media and called me anti-China, 
antipeople and antiparty,? Mr. Sang said, referring to the governing 
Chinese Communist Party. ?They said that I would never win in the battle 
against the Communist Party. I said I was not fighting against the party 
but only trying to demand that the people responsible for the death of 
our children be punished. I?m not scared, because many parents are 
backing me up.?
Because of China?s one-child policy, many of the parents were left 
childless by the quake and are now trying to rebuild their families. 
?About 80 percent of the women whose children died in the school in our 
town have become pregnant, and the authorities don?t dare to hurt them,? 
Mr. Sang said, adding that his own wife was pregnant.
After Mr. Sang was released, the authorities detained two men who once 
worked with him at the factory and also accused them of stealing cables, 
Mr. Sang said. The police told Mr. Sang that unless he dropped his 
activities, the men would not be released, he said. Mr. Sang said he 
agreed to stop for now, and the men were let go.
?We don?t know what to do now,? said Zheng Rongqiong, whose 10-year-old 
daughter also died in the Fuxin school collapse and who was among those 
filing suit. ?We were very careful about our plan, and no one knows how 
the government knew about it.?
Huang Yuanxi contributed research.






http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/12/AR2009011203014.html?wpisrc=newsletter

As China's Jobless Numbers Mount, Protests Grow Bolder
Economic Woes Shining a Light On Social Issues

By Ariana Eunjung Cha
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, January 13, 2009; Page A07
BEIJING -- For months, the Communist Party had been able to deflect 
anger about factory closings toward the companies themselves. The party 
managed to come off as the benevolent savior by handing out cash to make 
up for unpaid salaries. The strategy stopped working at the Jianrong 
Suitcase Factory in late December.
When offered 60 percent of their wages to disband their protest and go 
home, the workers pushed back at riot police sent to keep them locked in 
their factory compound in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan. 
According to several witnesses, more than 100 irate workers broke 
through the cordon, some shouting, "There are no human rights here!"
As a global recession takes hold and China's economy continues to slow, 
growing legions of unemployed workers are becoming increasingly bold in 
expressing their unhappiness -- expanding a debate over how to protect 
the Chinese economy into long-fought disputes over other issues such as 
freedom of expression and equality before the law.
During most of the past two decades, concerns about China's human rights 
record have been overshadowed by the speed of its economic development 
and growing political influence in the world.
But as the economic crisis has grown, so, too, have challenges -- both 
small and large -- to the state's power.
In late November, two men whose village was involved in a dispute over a 
land deal took ink-filled eggs and desecrated Communist Party and 
national flags in Chongqing, the largest of China's four 
provincial-level municipalities, in a protest that copied the infamous 
defacing of Mao Zedong's portrait in the capital in 1989.

In December, 300 academics and other intellectuals signed a declaration 
of human rights known as Charter '08 that circulated on the Internet, 
sending Chinese authorities on a nationwide manhunt for its author.
Labor rights activist Li Qiang said China's economic problems have put 
the spotlight on social issues that have long existed -- such as the 
growing gap between the urban rich and the rural poor and the fight for 
worker rights -- but were played down by the government during the 
recent boom.
"The crisis in the West is purely economic. But in China it's a huge 
political problem," said Li, director of the New York-based China Labor 
Watch.
The ripple effects of the sharp economic downturn are growing: Crime is 
rising, as are labor strikes by taxi drivers, teachers, factory workers 
and even investors unhappy that their stock market holdings are now 70 
percent off their peak.
Although Chinese authorities have been able to quickly disband the 
recent protests, there is concern that a single national-level event, if 
mishandled by authorities, could lead to a serious political crisis.
"Without doubt, we are entering a peak period for mass incidents. In 
2009, Chinese society may face even more conflicts and clashes that will 
test even more the governing abilities of all levels of the party and 
government," Huang Huo, a reporter for the state-run New China News 
Agency, warned this month in a magazine published by the news service.
The greatest threat may come from the newly unemployed.
Unemployment is now estimated to be at its highest levels since the 
Communist Party took over in 1949. Job creation and preservation has 
become a top priority of China's leaders, who are acutely aware of the 
role a deteriorating economy played in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
Economists say that if the growth of China's gross domestic product dips 
below 8 percent -- a healthy rate in most countries -- it would be a 
disaster here. The reason is that the demand for jobs would far outpace 
China's ability to create them.
Estimates by government research agencies for urban jobless top 18 
million, or 9 percent of the workforce -- a rate unimaginably high to 
those who remember the guaranteed cradle-to-grave employment during 
Mao's time. This figure doesn't include the growing number of jobless 
among the 160 million migrant workers who are mostly employed in 
factories. The rural unemployment rate could be as high as 20 percent. 
In addition, 1 million college graduates are not expected to be able to 
find jobs this year.
China's social security minister, Yin Weimin, has said that the 
employment situation in China is "critical," with people fighting for 
jobs that don't exist. This year as many as 24 million people will be 
competing for as few as 8 million newly created jobs.
To combat unemployment, the Chinese government in recent weeks has 
reinstituted controls that in some ways turn back the clock to the "iron 
rice bowl" era that China has tried so hard to leave behind during 30 
years of economic reforms.
Among the most radical measures is an order by some provinces and cities 
that prohibits companies from laying off workers without the explicit 
permission of the government. Other local governments are offering a 
subsidy of about $1,500 for every worker hired who had not already had a 
job elsewhere, and seed money for start-ups that will employ a certain 
number of people. The central government for its part has purchased 
millions of tons of cotton, soybeans, sugar and other products to 
prevent companies from experiencing financial problems that would lead 
to a reduction in their workforces.

And as part of its massive $586 billion stimulus plan -- roughly 15 
percent of its GDP -- China has embarked on several dubious public works 
projects.
A $3 billion metro rail system linking the southern manufacturing cities 
of Guangzhou, Dongguan and Shenzhen, for instance, has been criticized 
as a waste of money because there are already four railway lines linking 
the cities and the trains often run empty. Ditto a $4.5 billion highway 
connecting the Sichuan province cities of Chengdu, Zigong and Luzhou, 
because there are already highways from Chengdu to Zigong and from 
Zigong to Luzhou.
A bridge running from just outside Shanghai to a textile manufacturing 
center on the other side of a bay was also resurrected to create 
construction jobs. For years, its designers had been unable to get the 
$2 billion they needed to build it because its route would mostly 
duplicate that of another massive bridge that was already under 
construction.
That changed in November when at least six of the biggest employers at 
the other end of the bridge, in Shaoxing, went out of business. Even 
though there is less need because of the closures, blueprints for the 
second bridge were dusted off and, almost overnight, workers broke 
ground. The project is expected to employ about 250,000 people and 
indirectly provide jobs for 300,000 more.
Liu Bo, a 20-year-old salesman, said he hasn't seen any benefits from 
the government's efforts in his job search yet.
Technically speaking, Liu wasn't laid off but told by his employer, 
which provides sales help to companies during exhibitions, to take an 
unpaid "break" because there was no work. He has been sending out his 
r?sum? to company after company, but so far nothing. In previous years, 
Liu said, "I used to receive two or three interview invitation calls 
every day whenever I sent out my CV, but now there is really nobody who 
calls me." He is not hopeful about the government efforts: "I never want 
to depend on the government."
Liu is not the only one to discover the limits of China's deep pockets.
For all the help it is giving workers at factories in the export-heavy 
region of Guangdong province on the country's southern border, the 
government simply can't afford to pay every worker every yuan they are owed.
Now dealing with the third month of protests and sit-ins, the government 
has been gradually reducing its cash payouts to laid-off workers.
The workers at the Jianrong Suitcase Factory, who make an average of 
about $220 a month, finally accepted the government's money and went 
home after their bosses couldn't be located. But it was not without a 
fight that left workers with scrapes and bruises and, more important, 
resentment over their fate.
Still, the Jianrong workers are among the lucky ones. Tong Hengxin, a 
headhunter in Guangzhou, said some laid-off factory workers are getting 
back much less from the government, only a third of what they rightfully 
earned. With job prospects bleak, that money can't last long. As a 
result, Tong said, the mood is desperate: "Workers are always 
threatening to jump from the buildings and commit suicide."
Researchers Liu Liu, Liu Songjie, and Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed 
to this report.










http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9682AT80&show_article=1

Protests in southern China leaves handful in hospital: watchdog

Feb 9 07:41 AM US/Eastern Comments (0)

(AP) - HONG KONG, Feb. 9 (Kyodo)?(EDS: FIXING 2ND GRAF FROM BOTTOM)
A Hong Kong-based human rights watchdog said Monday a dispute between 
dragon dancers and police who demanded different dragon dancing routes 
in southern China's Guizhou Province on Sunday has left five people in 
hospital.
The Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy also said 
villagers in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south of Guizhou, 
protested Sunday over a land dispute and clashed with police, leaving 
three people in hospital.
In the scuffle in Guizhou over dragon dancing routes, about 50 people 
were injured, five of whom remained in hospital in the Dejiang county as 
of Monday.
Dragon dancing is a festive activity for the people in Dejiang on the 
14th and 15th day of the lunar new year.
When police barred the dragon dancers Sunday from performing in the 
middle of the street, chaos broke out and led to a massive demonstration 
outside the county government office.
The Hong Kong-based watchdog said as many as 10,000 people gathered at 
the building, damaging the building and two police cars. About 1,000 
police officers were deployed to handle the situation.
The government, on its website, said the dispute was resolved as a safe 
route was negotiated with the performers. The statement did not mention 
if anyone was injured or arrested, but rather it said claimed there was 
no public unrest.
The second incident, which occurred in Dakui village of Guangxi's 
Yangjiang City, 20 people were injured, including three seriously, in 
scuffles between some 2,000 protesters and 1,500 police officers who 
were deployed to the scene.
The protesting villagers accused the village committee of embezzling at 
least 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) in connection with sea 
reclamation projects, the watchdog said.
It said the villagers demolished the committee building, blocked major 
roads and threw rocks at police.






http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/02/workers-protest-as-italian-sofa-maker-folds-in-china/

Workers Protest As Italian Sofa Maker Folds In China
 From AFP:
Over 2,000 factory workers in China launched a protest after their 
employer, an Italian maker of luxury sofas, closed down in the wake of 
the global financial crisis, local authorities said Thursday.
DeCoro, a leather upholstery producer with a factory in the southern 
city of Shenzhen, ran into liquidity problems last year and from 
November was unable to pay wages on time, the Shenzhen government reported.
On January 8, the workers went on strike in protest over not having been 
paid for two months, according to a statement from the city government 
faxed to AFP.






http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/b-china/2009/02/07/195074/China-silk.htm

February 7, 2009 10:28 am TWN, Reuters
China silk market traders protest 'fake goods' label
BEIJING -- Stall owners at Beijing's Silk Street Market, for years 
famous for its knock-off designer ware, protested at a law firm 
representing trademark holders this week after seven were suspended for 
selling pirated goods.
Fifty people crammed the hallway and banged on walls at the 11th-floor 
office of IntellecPro, whose clients have an anti-piracy agreement at 
the market, an employee surnamed Peng said by phone.
?For the last two days they have disrupted our regular work schedule, 
making a scene and shouting,? Peng said.
The crowd demanded evidence that the suspended shopkeepers had sold 
pirated products and hung a sign on the wall reading, ?You want to get 
rich, we want to fill our stomachs,? the Beijing News said on Thursday.






http://chinadigitaltimes.net/2009/02/liang-jing-how-far-is-china-from-revolution/

Liang Jing, How Far is China from Revolution?
Overseas political commentator Liang Jing?s new piece, translated by Dr. 
David Kelly, China Research Centre, University of Technology Sydney:
Hu Jintao did two things over the Chinese New Year. First, he revisited 
Jinggangshan [legendary revolutionary base area]; [1] and second, he 
went to Nanchang Railway Station to ?look into rail tickets.? [2] Fun 
was poked at Hu?s visit to Jiangxi; my interpretation is rather that 
fear of a new revolution erupting has enveloped the hapless Hu.
Could another revolution take place in China? More and more people are 
pondering this question. No one, however, can have thought about it more 
and for longer than Hu Jintao. Terror was the main reason for Deng 
Xiaoping and the CPC patriarchs? reacting so irrationally to the 
demonstrating students and public on June 4th 1989, twenty years ago: 
they feared a revolution breaking out suddenly and divesting them of 
their power.
It now appears that Hu Jintao, who thanks to June 4 could assume the 
mantle of ?heir,? far back in the decade as ?Crown Prince? when he 
failed to establish anything or advance his knowledge, allowed the fear 
of losing his ?throne? and that of the Communist Party losing control of 
the nation to merge and suffuse his bloodstream. Seeing the growing 
split between rich and poor and official corruption out of control, Hu 
Jintao?s fear of the revolution continued to grow as well. I have been 
told that, on one inspection visit Hu, noticing the unbridled profligacy 
of local government, said using a Mao-laced phrase, ?this will send them 
up to the mountains,? meaning that this state of affairs would drive the 
people into the hills to oppose the Party.
The problem is that someone completely dominated by fear can accomplish 
nothing; and this is a clue to grasping the trajectory of Hu?s rule. In 
the last six years, the issues apparent to Hu Jintao prior to his taking 
power?economic imbalance, official corruption, harm suffered by the 
peasantry, pollution of the environment?have, far from being resolved, 
all become more serious. Now, the sudden global financial crisis has 
claimed the jobs of tens of millions of migrant workers, and it may well 
be that Hu Jintao?s fear of the outbreak of revolution has mounted to a 
new level, and revisiting Jinggangshan was an inscrutable choice driven 
by his subconscious fear revolution. Jinggangshan is symbolic of China?s 
Red revolution, what exactly was the political message Hu Jintao sought 
to convey on this occasion? The speculation on this visit is precisely 
that he in fact failed to convey any message whatsoever.
Going to Nanchang Station to ?see about rail tickets? was another none 
too adroit ?show of oneness with the people.? This choice too was 
connected with Hu?s fear of revolution. Everyone knows that if another 
revolution were to break out in China, the myriad migrant workers would 
be the main force. At present, the plight of large numbers of laid-off 
migrant workers may well become a factor triggering an explosive 
revolution. Hu Jintao?s concern about large numbers of unemployed 
migrant workers being stranded in the coastal cities is far from 
groundless, but the problem can the problem be solved by improving the 
sale of train tickets? The annual ?migrant worker tide? would moreover 
place an unbearable shock loading on any country?s normal capacity.
What is of real interest is, how many unemployed mainland migrant 
workers are stranded in the coastal region and major cities? How many of 
these are unable to return home because they can?t buy tickets? The 
cover article of the latest issue of Caijing magazine, ?Survey of 
migrant worker unemployment? provides us with important 
infadriotormation. [3] This investigation report, which Caijing?s 
reporter took three months and interviews conducted in six provinces and 
municipalities to complete, reveals the picture of migrant worker 
survival about which the Chinese government is itself unclear, and which 
it does not want the outside world to know.
Over 10 million migrant workers have gone home early, the report says, 
due to loss of employment. But the most shocking fact is that the figure 
for unemployed migrant workers who have not returned home is many times 
greater. It says ?the migrant workers? loss of employment seriously hits 
their income growth, reversing their over 6% income growth since 2004; 
the new generation of unemployed migrant workers hesitate in the 
urban-rural margin, bringing factors of instability to both urban and 
rural society; their return increases disputes and conflicts over rural 
land, exacerbating the man-land contradiction inherent in the 
countryside; governments at all levels have failed to make adequate 
preparation for migrant workers? employment and training, protection of 
their rights and interests, support of their business ventures, and so 
on; their unemployment and return home highlights the lag in 
urbanisation, and presents an obstacle to transforming China?s economic 
growth model.?
This means that there are tens of millions of unemployed migrant workers 
who don?t want to or can?t go back to their hometowns, and for whom 
governments at all levels in China are unprepared, because for more than 
a decade, they have always believed that the world demand for Chinese 
factories could only increase and not decrease; and even if the migrant 
workers lost their employment, they had a piece of land waiting for them 
at home, hence there was no need to worry about social problems brought 
about by large numbers of them stranded in the city.
Hu?s visit to Nanchang ?to see about tickets? showed that he can?t 
accept this fact, preferring to believe they were stranded due to their 
inability to buy train tickets. History has told us many times that if 
those in power lack the courage and ability to face real challenges, the 
possibilities they most fear are quite likely to become self-fulfilling 
prophecies. Today, the greatest danger of a revolution in China comes, 
in fact, is terror induced by the leaders? incompetence.
Following June Fourth, Deng Xiaoping and the CPC patriarchs, in their 
fear, made their most foolish decision: bestowing an unprecedented 
concentration of power on an unprecedentedly incompetent successor. If 
the CPC cannot shed the enormous danger to China brought about by Hu 
Jintao?s incompetence and fear, another revolution in China is really 
not far off. This revolution, however, will not proceed into the 
mountains to wage guerrilla war, but will ?first of all occupy the 
central cities.?
* ??: ??????????
[1] See ?Hu Jintao chongshang Jinggangshan rang Zhongguo hen niuqi? [Hu 
Jintao's revisit to Jinggangshan makes China quite bullish], Hongwang, 
26 January 2009 [? "??????????????"? ???2009?1? 26?.].
[2] See Bi Xiaozhe, ?Zongshuji huochezhan ?wenpiao?, nai ren xunwei? 
[General Secretary 'looks into tickets' at the railway station, provides 
food for thought], Zhongguo wang, 26 January 2009 [???????? "? 
?????"??"?????"? ????2009?1? 26?.].
[3] Chang Hongxiao, Ren Bo and et al., ?Nongmin gong shiye diaocha? 
[Survey of migrant workers' loss of employment], Caijing, 4 February 
2009 [??????? "???????"? ???2009?2? 4? .].







http://www.examiner.com/x-2086-NY-Foreign-Policy-Examiner~y2009m2d26-3-protesters-set-themselves-on-fire-in-Beijing

3 protesters set themselves on fire in Beijing

February 26, 11:15 AM ? Add a Comment

Tibetan exiles shout slogans against Chinese rule in Tibet during a 
protest march in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2009. (AP 
Photo/Manish Swarup)
Hong Kong Daily Ming Pao News reported the self-immolation of three 
people, two of which have been identified as Uighur (a Muslim minority 
in China), as well as a Tibetan. The three apparently drove a car into 
downtown Beijing and parked it less than a mile from Tiananmen Square. 
As police approached the vehicle, it burst into flames.
Reporters at the scene were apparently filming the event. Since 
Tiananmen Square is heavily guarded, it did not take long for police to 
arrive.
There is no doubt that this was a protest against Chinese treatment of 
both the Tibetan people and the Uighur tribes, on which they have 
cracked down quite severely. Though the report itself plays down the 
incident as one where three people wanted an audience for their 
"individual problems".
Chinese police rescued the 3 from the burning car, and they were taken 
to a nearby Jishuitan Hospital and treated for burns. According to the 
report, they are out of danger. The article concludes by calling this an 
'unfortunate incident' which the Chinese try to handle as quickly as 
possible so as not to disrupt the daily lives of citizens.
Ironically, the protest comes on the heels of China blasting the United 
States in what it sees as interference in its private affairs. See the 
AP full report here. Yesterday, the U.S. State Department released its 
annual report on human rights in which it cited China, Myanmar and 
Vietnam as having poor to dismal records insofar as human rights abuses 
are concerned. And yet, Secretary of State Clinton all but ignored the 
subject while she called on China last week.






http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ityI4hhbamYtzTIj86Z068KAJUTw

Chinese workers protest at Panasonic TV tube maker
5 days ago
BEIJING (AFP) ? A crisis-hit Sino-Japanese TV tube maker's restructuring 
plan that could lay off 1,000 people at a Beijing plant led to a sit-in 
by hundreds of workers, an employee said Tuesday.
More than 200 workers at Beijing Matsushita Color CRT, a joint venture 
with investments by Japan's Panasonic, held the protest last week after 
the plan to cut the firm's production lines from five to three was 
announced, an executive told AFP.
"The crux of the matter is that the plan to downsize conflicts with the 
employees' interests," he said, adding the scheme could cause around 
1,000 workers to lose their jobs.
Under the plan, workers were offered an average 10,000 yuan (1,465 
dollars) in severance pay for each year they have worked for the 
company, said the executive, who declined to be named.
But most employees thought the compensation too low, said the executive, 
who has worked for the company for 18 years and is also facing redundancy.
Toshihiko Shibuya, a spokesman for Panasonic, said the so-called 
"internal structure reform plan" was created because demand for cathode 
ray tubes, the company's main product, which is used to make TV sets, 
had slumped amid the global financial crisis.
He added that the joint venture, which currently employs 2,600 workers, 
booked losses last year and had halted production to reduce its inventory.
However, the restructuring plan would not be implemented before an 
agreement was reached with employees and the trade union, he said.
Panasonic reported a net loss of 378.96 billion yen (3.92 billion 
dollars) for the financial year to March, its first annual loss in six 
years.
The electronics giant, which is cutting 15,000 jobs and closing dozens 
of plants, said it expected to lose 195 billion yen in the current 
business year to March because of poor demand and the cost of restructuring.






http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-prepares-to-clamp-down-on-workers8217-protests-1628960.html

China prepares to clamp down on workers? protests
Police undergo training to deal with labour unrest as millions of jobs 
are lost in economic downturn
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Sunday, 22 February 2009

AFP
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meeting China's President Hu 
Jintao yesterday in Beijing
The Chinese authorities are training police forces around the country to 
deal with potential labour unrest as unemployment rises at its fastest 
rate for decades. President Hu Jintao has called on the army to remain 
loyal in the face of growing discontent at the first downturn many 
Chinese have ever experienced.
The global economic slump has already led to 26 million migrant workers, 
out of an estimated 130 million in China, losing their jobs. Collapsing 
export markets for Chinese toys, shoes and electronics have caused the 
closure of 670,000 small and medium-sized companies in the country, many 
of them based in the manufacturing areas of the south.
Workers have protested in the one-time boom towns of southern China?s 
industrial belt as foreign companies pull out. Outlook magazine, 
published by the official Xinhua News Agency, has warned that slowing 
economic growth may provoke anger, in particular among migrant workers 
and university graduates, and senior security officials have held 
conferences on how to stop instability taking hold.
Economic growth rates of about 8 per cent are needed to keep generating 
jobs in China, but the forecasts for this year are lower. The People?s 
Bank of China reckons remittances from migrant workers in the rich 
cities account for nearly two-thirds of an average rural family?s 
income, and the slowdown poses a major threat to stability in a country 
where the wealth gap between the urban rich and the rural poor is 
already wide. The Communist Party is concerned that the economic crisis 
could lead to unemployed farmers taking to the streets.
The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, who was in China yesterday 
during an Asian tour, said the new Obama administration would stress 
co-operation with Beijing on the economy and climate change, rather than 
human rights. Before her trip she said: ?When you think about the 
drastic rise in unemployment in China, many would argue that that?s a 
human rights issue. There?s going to be a lot of suffering that will 
come from that.?
Sun Chunlan, vice-chair of the government-controlled All-China 
Federation of Trade Unions, warned union leaders and local government 
officials that massive unemployment could seriously affect national 
stability. ?Be on guard for hostile forces from both home and abroad 
that use the problems that businesses are facing to infiltrate and 
undermine the migrant workforce,? she was quoted on the People?s Daily 
newspaper website.
This June sees the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. In 
1989 a faltering economy caused workers to join students seeking greater 
political freedoms, and an alarmed political elite sent in the tanks to 
crush dissent. This year, with up to seven million graduates coming on 
to a tight job market, the government is taking steps to ensure social 
unrest does not threaten single-party rule.
President Hu has made dealing with the economy the chief task of the 
Communist Party. Speaking at the headquarters of the People?s Armed 
Police at Chinese New Year, he made what was seen as a veiled reference 
to the threat of social unrest when he called on the police to ?engage 
in comprehensive military training, step up patrols, and boost their 
capability in handling emergency situations?.










http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hSkNASZnZPMtnqSjC0-M4XnO5Hwg

China police station attacked near Tibetan areas
8 hours ago
BEIJING (AFP) ? A police station in a part of northwestern China near 
Tibetan-populated areas was attacked early on Sunday, leaving two police 
officers hurt, state media reported.
The brief dispatch by Xinhua news agency said the incident occurred in 
Xining, capital of Qinghai province, which neighbours Tibet and has a 
substantial Tibetan population.
It gave no other details besides saying the incident was under 
investigation.
The report comes amid a heavy security crackdown in Tibet and adjacent 
Tibetan areas to prevent unrest during this month's 50th anniversary of 
an uprising against Chinese rule.
It also comes a day after China launched a new national holiday for 
Tibetans called "Serf's Liberation Day" to mark what the government 
calls the emancipation of Tibetans from the "feudal" rule of the 
now-exiled Dalai Lama.
Calls to police and government offices in Xining went unanswered on Sunday.
State media last week reported an incident on Tuesday in which three 
traffic police officers in Xining were surrounded and beaten by a group 
of men as they intervened to sort out a routine traffic accident.
The report, issued Thursday by China National Radio, said two of the 
officers were sent to hospital in stable condition, and that one of the 
assailants was arrested. The others were still being sought, it said at 
the time.
Violent outbursts by people upset with police or the government over 
perceived injustices are common in China.
But Sunday morning's incident comes amid high tension in Tibetan areas 
due to the March 10 anniversary of the failed 1959 uprising after which 
the Dalai Lama, the Himalayan region's spiritual leader, fled into exile.
On March 21, an angry mob attacked a police station in Rabgya, a 
mountain town about 300 kilometres (186 miles) from Xining that is known 
in Chinese as Lajia and home to a large monastery, Xinhua reported at 
the time.
It said 93 monks, most from the Rabgya monastery, were taken into 
custody by police following the incident.
China has ruled Tibet since 1951, after sending in troops to "liberate" 
the region the previous year, and Beijing has long maintained that its 
rule ended a Buddhist theocracy that enslaved all but the religious elite.
But the Dalai Lama and his followers allege China has carried out a 
systematic campaign of repression in Tibet that has nearly extinguished 
its unique Buddhist culture.
Last year, widespread anti-China demonstrations and riots erupted in 
Tibet and other nearby provinces with large Tibetan populations on the 
uprising's 49th anniversary.






http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=170133

Beijing protesters attempt bold march on capital

Chinese police on Thursday rounded up several dozen evicted home owners 
who planned to make a bold protest march to the nerve-center of the 
country's communist leadership.
The motley group of around 70 Beijingers, mostly elderly and middle 
aged, offered no challenge to well-prepared security forces who swept 
down before they had even set off, Reuters witnesses said.
But as economic turmoil stokes discontent across the country, their 
audacious attempt to submit a letter directly to populist Premier Wen 
Jiabao is likely to alarm China's rulers.
The heavily guarded Zhongnanhai compound, a modern Forbidden City that 
has been home to generations of communist leaders, has long been a risky 
magnet to people with grievances.
One of the largest protests was by the now-banned Falun Gong group which 
marshaled over 10,000 followers in 1999.
Their dramatic sit-in unnerved a government obsessed with stability. 
Beijing soon outlawed Falun Gong, labelled it an evil cult, and cracked 
down on anyone who refused to renounce it. Han Xiaofeng, an unemployed 
47 year-old who helped plan Thursday's protest, told Reuters he was not 
afraid.
The group says they were cheated of their homes by corrupt officials who 
said the land was needed for the Beijing Olympic Games, but then used it 
to build a luxury housing complex. "Even if we are arrested, I'm not 
worried. There are people in this country who care," he said.
20 March 2009, Friday
REUTERS BEIJING






http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=7119191

Beijing Protesters Attempt Bold March on City Heart
By Emma Graham-Harrison
March 19, 2009
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese police on Thursday rounded up several dozen 
evicted home owners who planned to make a bold protest march to the 
nerve-center of the country's communist leadership.
The motley group of around 70 Beijingers, mostly elderly and middle 
aged, offered no challenge to well-prepared security forces who swept 
down before they had even set off, Reuters witnesses said.
But as economic turmoil stokes discontent across the country, their 
audacious attempt to submit a letter directly to populist Premier Wen 
Jiabao is likely to alarm China's rulers.
The heavily guarded Zhongnanhai compound, a modern Forbidden City that 
has been home to generations of communist leaders, has long been a risky 
magnet to people with grievances.
One of the largest protests was by the now-banned Falun Gong group which 
marshaled over 10,000 followers in 1999.
Their dramatic sit-in unnerved a government obsessed with stability. 
Beijing soon outlawed Falun Gong, labeled it an evil cult, and cracked 
down on anyone who refused to renounce it.
Han Xiaofeng, an unemployed 47 year-old who helped plan Thursday's 
protest, told Reuters he was not afraid.
The group says they were cheated of their homes by corrupt officials who 
said the land was needed for the Beijing Olympic Games, but then used it 
to build a luxury housing complex.
"Even if we are arrested, I'm not worried. There are people in this 
country who care," he said.
Han used to rent out rooms, but since his home was confiscated he has 
been forced to earn a living picking through rubbish for waste that can 
be sold to recycling firms, he said.
"ONLY OUT FOR A STROLL"
Taking a leaf from middle-class professionals who have in the past two 
years successfully derailed a high-tech train project and forced a 
petrochemical plant to shift location, the mostly working-class 
protesters said they were only "out for a stroll."
They did not carry banners, or shout slogans.
"I'm just out walking, what is illegal about that?" Han asked a 
plainclothes policeman who cordoned off the group.
Most of the protesters were shepherded into the National Library and 
then taken to a police station. A few made it to Zhongnanhai but were 
told to get in a police van and driven off.
Protests about land turned over to development are common in rural 
areas, where corruption sometimes runs rampant and farmers deprived of 
their fields feel they have little left to lose.
But many Beijingers have also suffered in the scrabble to remake China's 
capital over the past two decades, evicted by unscrupulous developers, 
cheated of compensation, or paid so little they can afford only poor 
substitutes for former homes.
Han said he and more than 1,000 other families from their corner of the 
city's relatively prosperous eastern Chaoyang district are among those 
victims.
Some were given just 2,500 yuan ($366) for each square meter of their 
low-rise courtyard homes, while others were still waiting for 
compensation, said protester Wang Jingmei.
Chaoyang authorities declined immediate comment.
Many of the protesters say they are living in basements, tiny rented 
rooms, or squeezed in with friends and relatives, while the high-rise 
apartments that replaced their homes are selling for as much as 8,000 
yuan ($1,170) per square meter, Wang said.
The group went to complain to city authorities last December, but said 
they were laughed at by officials. When the office closed and they 
refused to leave, they said two women were assaulted.
(Additional reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie)





http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96RNTVO0&show_article=1

Chinese protestors scatter fliers after stock market loss

Mar 11 04:06 AM US/Eastern Comments (0)

BEIJING, March 11 (AP) - (Kyodo)?A group of Chinese men who suffered 
losses in the plunging stock market climbed to a building rooftop in 
Beijing on Wednesday and scattered fliers criticizing the country's 
stock market watchdog.
The group consisting of about 20 people threw several tens of thousands 
of copies of the pamphlets from a 11-story building in Beijing's central 
Xidan district, covering the streets below with the fliers before being 
detained by police about 30 minutes later.
The protestors called out to the public below saying "Everyone!" before 
throwing down the fliers, which fluttered down on the pedestrians.
The protestors had also hung a 30-meter sign criticizing the China 
Securities Regulatory Commission. Police immediately came to the area 
after the demonstration began, putting the area off limits to 
pedestrians and collecting the pamphlets.
According to the fliers, the protestors were angered by the issuance of 
warrants around 2006 by an airline totaling about 10 billion yuan ($1.46 
billion). Individual investors suffered major losses from them because 
of a subsequent drop in stock prices.
Stock prices in the Shanghai Stock Exchange hit a record-high in October 
2007 but subsequently lost about 70 percent of the gains in a year.





http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/417606/1/.html

Call for calm after violent protest in China
Posted: 25 March 2009 1314 hrs

BEIJING: Officials are scrambling to restore peace in a rural area of 
south China after a teenage brawl caused a violent riot with an angry 
mob setting a police station ablaze, state media said Wednesday.

Hundreds of people from a village in the tropical island province of 
Hainan gathered outside a local government building Monday claiming 
authorities had failed to properly intervene after the fight, the 
official China Daily said.

According to a local newspaper, the Hainan Daily, a student from one 
village had been slightly hurt by assailants that were suspected to be 
school children from a neighbouring village.

The student's relatives and friends subsequently descended on the local 
government building after going to the police, and the group attracted 
more and more onlookers, the local newspaper reported.

By Monday evening, the crowd had swelled to several hundred people, and 
some of the protesters set fire to parts of the local government and 
police buildings, and destroyed three cars and 10 motorcycles, the 
Hainan Daily said.

At least two bystanders were injured in the protest, the China Daily said.

Calm had since returned to the area, but financial losses from the 
protest were expected to exceed one million yuan (US$150,000), the paper 
reported.

China sees tens of thousands of demonstrations every year, many of which 
stem from dissatisfaction with local authorities.

- AFP/yb






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/24/content_7611805.htm

Local govt seeks to restore calm after violent protest
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-03-24 21:22
Comments(1) Print Mail
GANCHENG TOWNSHIP - The government of Dongfang City, Hainan Province, 
sent 12 work groups to calm villagers following a violent protest that 
stemmed from a high school brawl, a senior official said Tuesday.
A township government building and a local police station were damaged 
in the villagers' protest, the city's Party chief Wang Heshan said. At 
least two bystanders were injured in the incident.
Wang told Xinhua the work groups, totaling more than 100 officials, went 
into all villages under the jurisdiction of Gancheng Township, about 250 
km southeast of the provincial capital of Haikou, early Tuesday.
The provincial department of public security said police were not 
involved in dealing with the protest.
Hundreds of residents of Gancheng Village protested in front of the 
township government building Monday afternoon, after two or three middle 
school students from Gancheng and Baoshang Villages were involved in a 
fight, according to Fu Bo, the chief public relations official of 
Dongfang City.
Gancheng has had a troubled relationship with Baoshang for decades, with 
frequent brawls between residents of both villages, each having a 
population of about 10,000.
Gancheng villagers blamed the township government for not properly 
handling the village dispute in Monday's protest. The villagers claimed 
that several children had been beaten by unidentified people and the 
local government and police had not intervened.
The protest became violent at about 7 p.m. Monday when the Gancheng 
villagers damaged the government building and set fire to the local 
police station. The crowd had dispersed by 1 a.m. Tuesday.






http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10560229&ref=rss

Clashes as dam money goes missing
4:00AM Friday Mar 06, 2009

BEIJING - More than 2000 people displaced by construction of the Three 
Gorges Dam have clashed with police in central China during a protest 
over missing resettlement payments, leaving 30 protesters injured, a 
Hong Kong-based group said.
The Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said villagers in 
Jiannan township of Chongqing city blocked a road and clashed with 
hundreds of police, overturning two police cars.
The villagers suspected officials had embezzled 10 million yuan ($1.5 
million) in reimbursement owed to villagers for losing their homes to 
the Three Gorges Dam, the group said.
A man who answered the phone at the Jiannan public security bureau said 
he did not know anything about the incident.
More than 1.4 million people had to be moved to make way for the 
construction of the $22 billion dam, the world's biggest hydroelectric 
project, completed in 2006.
The dam was built to end flooding along the Yangtze River and provide a 
clean energy alternative to coal, but it has been riddled with problems, 
from resettlement to landslides.

- AP







http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/263588,chinese-petitioners-protest-mentally-ill-label.html

Chinese petitioners protest 'mentally ill' label

Posted : Wed, 08 Apr 2009 09:17:53 GMT
Author : DPA

Beijing - A Peking University professor apologized after hundreds 
protested in front of the campus against his claims that people who 
petition the government are mentally ill, local media reported 
Wednesday. Professor Sun Dongdong was quoted in the March 23 edition of 
China Newsweek magazine as saying that 99 per cent of people who 
repeatedly petition, or make complaints to the government, are mentally 
ill.
"Putting them in hospital is the best insurance we have, as they are a 
danger to society and themselves. The best way to protect their human 
rights is to keep them indoors, give them treatment and promote their 
spiritual recovery," he was quoted as saying.
Nearly 300 people rallied outside the university on Monday and Tuesday, 
according to activists quoted in the Hong-Kong based South China Morning 
Post.
Sun apologized in a statement on the China News Service on Monday 
afternoon.
"Some of the content, due to an inappropriate use of language, caused 
some dispute and misunderstandings. I deeply regret this. If some of the 
content hurt some people's feelings, then I sincerely apologize. I also 
truly hope they (the petitioners) will be able to solve their problems 
through legal channels," he said.
Under China's petition system, citizens are allowed to challenge 
government or judicial decisions by filing grievances with designated 
bureaus, which are then required by law to provide a response.
But there have been many reported cases of petitioners being sent to 
mental institutions by locals authorities to silence them.
The state-run Beijing News reported last December that residents of 
Xintai in Shandong province were institutionalized after complaining 
about local corruption and the unfair seizure of property.
They were released only after agreeing to give up their causes, the 
article said.






http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2009/04/12/2003440851

Professor draws more protests
BIAS:: Chinese petitioners and their supporters fear that Sun Dongdong?s 
essay would bolster the practice of placing petitioners in institutions 
for the insane

AP, BEIJING
Sunday, Apr 12, 2009, Page 4

Detained Chinese petitioners in a bus hold up a paper reading ?Unjust? 
near Peking University in Beijing, China, yesterday.
PHOTO: AP
Chinese security forces on Friday stopped and detained dozens of 
protesters who tried to storm a university to confront a professor who 
said nearly all petitioners are mentally ill and should be put away.
Law professor Sun Dongdong?s (???) comments, published in a March 
issue of China Newsweek magazine, triggered outrage among petitioners 
who routinely flock to Beijing by the thousands to air complaints after 
their local governments ignore them.

About 40 people gathered outside the elite Peking University gates on 
Friday morning, scattering leaflets and shouting for the professor to 
come out to talk to them. They tried to pass through the gates, but 
dozens of security forces stopped them. They were then put into buses 
and taken away.

The incident capped more than a week of demonstrations outside the 
university. So far, dozens of protesters have been sent away on buses or 
taken away by police, other protesters and state media said.

The situation has drawn fresh attention to the plight of petitioners ? 
mostly from China?s vast and poor countryside ? who have come to 
symbolize the country?s failure to build a justice system that ordinary 
Chinese consider fair.

More than a case of hurt feelings, petitioners and their supporters 
worry that Sun?s essay will be used to further lend a professional gloss 
to the practice of placing petitioners in mental institutions.

?There?s very good reason behind these worries,? said activist lawyer Li 
Heping (???), who has taken on many rights cases.

?Nowadays, there is an overflow of cases involving petitioners being 
forced into mental hospitals,? he said. ?After being labeled as a mental 
health patient, one loses all rights.?

The system has its roots in China?s imperial past, when people 
petitioned the emperor. It survived after the Communists took power with 
?letters and visits? to offices at every level of government to handle 
grievances. The number of people flooding into the capital in recent 
years has ballooned, as awareness of legal rights and their infringement 
by local officials has grown.

But local officials have resorted to various methods outside of the law 
to stop them, including sending thugs or police that place them in 
illegal detention centers in Beijing or force them to return home, 
fearing the grievances will reflect badly on them.

Late last year, the state-run Beijing News newspaper reported on the 
plight of petitioners placed in mental institutions in eastern Shandong 
Province, with some forced to take psychiatric drugs and told they would 
not be released until they signed pledges to drop their complaints.

The government says it receives between 3 million and 4 million letters 
and visits from petitioners each year, but rights groups put the figure 
in the tens of millions.

Sun is an associate professor at the law department and head of the 
university?s forensics department, which also helps court authorities 
evaluate the mental health of defendants. A well-known adviser to the 
Ministry of Health, he is also involved in drafting China?s first mental 
health law, state media said.

He quickly issued a public apology, but his critics have dismissed it as 
insincere. His department said he was not available for an interview on 
Friday.






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-04/10/content_7664367.htm

College protest against professor's 'insane' words
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-10 07:44
Comments(4) Print Mail
BEIJING -- More than 200 protestors have held an angry vigil at Peking 
University since Wednesday in response to a professor's controversial 
remarks on mentally-ill petitioners, and more than 50 have been removed 
by police, a university official said Thursday.
Sun Dongdong, head of the university's judicial expertise center, set 
off a firestorm by suggesting in the March 23 issue of China Newsweek 
that 99 percent of people who repeatedly petition the government were 
mentally ill.
Although he has since apologized, many would not let it go at that.
Protestors have rallied in front of the university with banners saying 
"We demand an explanation from Sun Dongdong" and some demanded to see 
Sun and the university's president, said Miao Jinxiang, a senior 
official with the university.
"Some protestors demanded that Sun should be fired," he added.
Miao said although Sun's letter of apology had been distributed to the 
protestors, they refused to leave.
"More than 50 protestors who refused to leave were taken away by police 
as of Thursday noon," he said.
In an online statement Monday, Sun said he had "absolutely no prejudice 
against those petitioners" and would take care with his words and 
behavior in the future.
Miao said no protestors had entered the campus.





http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/420063/1/.html

China workers' protest march stopped
Posted: 04 April 2009 1645 hrs

BEIJING: Authorities in northern China said Saturday they were trying to 
solve a job losses row that sparked protests by factory staff, but a 
protester said workers remained skeptical and angry.

More than 1,000 workers were prevented Friday from marching 140 
kilometres (90 miles) to Beijing from the city of Baoding to protest the 
closure of their textile factory.

"The government has now told us they will solve our problem but have 
given no timeframe," a former worker at Baoding Yimian Textile, who gave 
only his surname Yang, told AFP.

"They might just be using this as a pretext to stop us going to 
Beijing," he said.

The factory, which employs around 4,000 people, had been shut for a week 
when the march began, another worker said on Friday.

Employees angered by the closure of the factory set out on bicycle and 
foot from Baoding in Hebei province to Beijing to present a petition to 
the government, a centuries-old tradition.

They were angered by a factory restructuring plan that includes cutting 
jobs, and said a severance offer was insufficient.

Local authorities talked them out of the march and provided buses to 
bring them back to Baoding, demonstrators said.

Officials and protesters said there was no violence.

Zheng Ran, an official with Baoding's government, said authorities were 
meeting to discuss the issue.

Many factories in China's export-dependent economy have closed down or 
cut staff as worldwide consumer demand has dried up in recent months, 
prompting official fears of potential unrest as huge numbers of workers 
are laid off.

"The workers are unhappy but no one cares, so we decided to march to 
Beijing to petition," said Yang.

"Many workers were at the factory a long time and given only a small 
severance. How can you not get angry?"

- AFP/yt






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-04/04/content_11130848.htm

Party chief sacked after textile workers' protest march

SHIJIAZHUANG, April 4 (Xinhua) --Authorities in north China's Hebei 
Province fired the Party boss of a local textile factory after more than 
1,000 workers went on a protest march over privatization, job cuts and 
other grievances.
The decision to remove Wang Lijuan from the position of Party secretary 
of the Yimian Group, was read out by Lan Baoliang, head of the 
organization department of the Baoding City Committee of the Communist 
Party of China (CPC), at a workers rally Saturday morning.
Wang was replaced by Zhang Yanru, chief of the Baoding City State Assets 
Commission. The board of directors also suspended her job as its 
chairwoman.
More than 1,000 workers of the group began a 140-kilometer hike Friday 
from Baoding city to Beijing to protest the malpractice of the management.
The workers were stopped by government officials near Xushui county. All 
of them returned to Baoding early Saturday aboard buses at the 
persuasion of government officials.
Founded in 1994 on the basis of the Baoding No.1 Cotton Textile Factory, 
Yimian group was once among the top 50 textile companies in China.
The state-owned company was sold to Hong Kong-based Yafang group in 
January 2004.
The new owner promised to inject 50 million U.S. dollars into the 
company and properly handle its employees.
But according to vice mayor Liu Baoling, none of the promises were kept.
Before Friday's protest march, some Yimian Group workers aired 
grievances to the Baoding City Government and the company on March27 
about 400 job cuts and poor treatment. They also complained that the 
group always pays their salaries one month later.
Liu said at Saturday's rally that he had been interviewing workers about 
existing problems within Yimian for the past eight day.
Liu admitted problems in the privatization process and said: "The 
government will work together with the workers to press the Hong Kong 
investor to fulfill its responsibilities."
"We will try the best to solve the problems via negotiations. But if it 
has to be solved in the court, the government will bear the fees," said 
Liu.
He said it is wrong for the Yimian group to pay workers one month behind 
and that the group must correct this mistake immediately.
People from the departments for disciplinary inspection, public security 
and the procuratorate went to Yimian to make further investigations 
Friday, according to Si Cunxi, secretary for disciplinary inspection of 
the Baoding City CPC Committee.
Deputy Party Secretary of Baoding City, Li Jianfang, pledged to 
investigate into what he called an inherited problem and vowed to bring 
to justice whoever is responsible.
He appealed for workers' support to the government investigation, which 
he said will be fast and efficient.

Editor: Deng Shasha






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-04/04/content_7649092.htm

Long march to protest lay-offs
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-04 09:38
Comments(6) Print Mail
SHIJIAZHUANG: More than 1,000 people began a 140-km hike from Baoding, 
Hebei province, to Beijing on Friday to protest job losses at a textile 
company.
The hike started at 8 am, from the Hebei Baoding Yimian Group premises, 
which has about 4,000 employees.
The protesters, carrying luggage, headed to Beijing along National 
Highway 107 on foot and by bicycle. They planned to petition the 
government over the company's restructuring, said a protester who 
refused to be named.
Xinhua






http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1468433.php/Hui_protesters_block_roads_in_China_after_bus_death_

Hui protesters block roads in China after bus death
Asia-Pacific News
Apr 2, 2009, 10:56 GMT
Beijing - Protestors from China's Hui Muslim minority blocked three 
bridges in the central province of Henan after a Han Chinese bus driver 
accused of killing a Hui Chinese was released by police, sources said 
Thursday.
Up to 1,000 people took to the streets in Luohe, unhappy with the 
200,000-yuan (29,000-dollar) compensation offered to the family, 
according to a statement by the Information Centre for Human Rights and 
Democracy.
There have been ongoing conflicts between Hui and Han residents in 
Luohe, the Hong Kong-based human rights group said, adding that the 
protest, which it said occurred Tuesday through Thursday, was organized 
to coincide with a meeting between the local government and visiting 
Taiwan politician James Soong.
A local shopkeeper and witness who estimated protestor numbers to be 
several hundred, said she couldn't ride her bike across one of the 
blocked bridges.
A representative from the local police traffic bureau who refused to 
give his name confirmed the protest took place but said it was held only 
Wednesday.
He said the 'government had been quite patient' with protestors, adding 
that members of the Hui community would 'use any reason to make trouble.'






http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Asia/Story/A1Story20090412-134870.html

China police act as strike becomes riot

Sun, Apr 12, 2009
AFP

BEIJING (AFP) - - Police in the central Chinese city of Yueyang have 
detained 11 people after a massive taxi strike developed into a riot 
with drivers beaten and cars smashed, state media said.
The strike began Friday, when the drivers, unhappy with the amount of 
money they must hand over to their companies, parked their cars in front 
of city hall and refused to move, Xinhua news agency reported.
The situation developed Saturday, as more drivers joined the strike, 
some being dragged out of their cabs and forced to participate, 
according to the agency.
Some taxi drivers who refused to go along were beaten up while their 
cars were smashed, Xinhua said.
The striking drivers were angry because they must pay up to 7,100 yuan 
(1,040 dollars) every month to their companies, it reported.
Observers have warned that the global crisis and the economic downturn 
in China could lead to more instances of unrest.





http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/11-rioters-detained-in-China-cab-strike/articleshow/4391212.cms

Chinese police detain 11 in cab strike riots
AP 12 April 2009, 10:40am IST
BEIJING: Police in central China detained 11 people accused of rioting 
during a strike involving 1,000 cab drivers, state media reported.

Cab drivers in Yueyang, a city in Hunan province, went on strike to 
demand a reduction in monthly fees paid to their cab companies, the 
official Xinhua News Agency said late Saturday.

Xinhua said dozens of drivers started parking their cabs Friday in front 
of the city's government building. Rioting started when some of the 
drivers smashed cabs and hit other drivers who did not join the strike, 
Xinhua said.

Police had detained 11 people by Saturday, the report said. Each cab 
driver pays monthly fees to taxi companies that operate in the city, 
ranging from 6,400 yuan to 7,100 yuan ($940 to $1,040) a month, Xinhua 
said.

The report cited Han Jianguo, the city's vice mayor, as saying the 
municipal government has set up a team to study the problem.

Calls to the press office of the Yueyang city government and the 
propaganda department of the city's public security bureau rang 
unanswered Sunday.
Last year, mass strikes by taxi drivers partially shut down nearly a 
half dozen cities across the country, including the mega-city of 
Chongqing and the southern island resort of Sanya.

Chinese authorities are particularly worried this year about the 
possibility of mass unrest given the impact of the global financial 
downturn on the country's economy.





http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1470273.php/Unpaid_construction_workers_protest_in_Beijing_

Unpaid construction workers protest in Beijing
Asia-Pacific News
Apr 11, 2009, 3:04 GMT
Beijing - More than twenty construction workers occupied a 17-storey 
apartment block in Beijing, demanding their unpaid wages, state media 
said Saturday.
The workers occupied a residential building of real estate project 
Zhujiang Augusta in Beijing's Tongzhou district for three hours on 
Friday afternoon, the official news agency Xinhua reported.
Guo Yanjun, the workers' leader, was quoted as saying that they had not 
received any payment even though the project was almost complete.
Workers were owed 400,000 yuan (59,000 dollars) by the project owner, 
the report said.
Problems with unpaid wages are common in China's construction industry, 
which is staffed largely by migrant workers.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 5.8 per cent of the 
country's migrant workers had been affected by wage arrears as of the 
end of 2008.
The global economic crisis has raised concerns that more companies could 
default on wage payments.
'As the financial crisis bites deeper, some small enterprises that are 
struck the most try to reduce their economic losses by laying off 
migrant workers or refusing to pay them,' the state-run China Daily said 
in an earlier opinion piece.
'Those employers who deliberately rip off workers by refusing them their 
payments should be punished in accordance with the law,' the paper said.
In this latest case, Xinhua reported that the local government will help 
workers negotiate a solution.






http://english.sina.com/china/2009/0410/232953.html

20 workers occupy block of flats in Beijing wages protest
2009-04-10 16:02:17 GMT2009-04-11 00:02:17 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
BEIJING, April 10 (Xinhua) -- More than 20 construction workers occupied 
a 17-floor block of flats, demanding their wages, in Beijing on Friday.
The workers climbed up to a residence building of a real estate project 
called Zhujiang Augusta at 2:00 p.m., demanding their wages, police said.
The building, in Majuqiao Town of east Beijing's Tongzhou District, was 
surrounded by nearby residents and other workers. Fire engines, 
ambulances and police cars arrived at the site.
The workers left the building top by 5:10 p.m. after police tried to 
persuade them, police said.
No conflicts happened, police said.
The workers' head named Guo Yanjun tried to negotiate with the project 
owner.
The contractors had not paid the workers at all while the project was 
nearly finished, Guo said.
Guo said he had borrowed more than 400,000 yuan (about 59,000 U.S. 
dollars) to pay the wages for 100 workers, while the other 400,000 yuan 
had not been paid.
As of 6:00 p.m., the two sides were still negotiating.
The town's government said it will help to solve the problem.





http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D97I3LIO0&show_article=1

400 protest in S.W. China over unpaid wages+

Apr 14 02:27 AM US/Eastern
BEIJING, April 14 (AP) - (Kyodo)?A protest that started in southwestern 
China over unpaid wages grew on Tuesday as 400 workers blocked a road in 
the city of Chongqing, state media said.
The workers, from state-owned textile company Jindi Industry Group Co., 
claim that many among them had not been paid for the past three months, 
Xinhua News Agency reported.
It said some 300 protesters had started to gather on the road in front 
of the company on Monday night, but returned home because of low traffic 
volume. The workers returned on Tuesday and their numbers swelled to 
400, disrupting traffic, the agency reported.

Xinhua said the textile industry has been hard hit after demands for 
Chinese textile products dropped drastically as a result of the global 
financial crisis, and Jindi could not afford to pay workers' wages.
The economic downturn has seen an increase in the number of protests by 
workers around the country.
A strike by taxi drivers in the southern province of Hunan over the 
weekend saw violence break out, with state media reporting that striking 
drivers were protesting the high fees charged by taxi companies.
Amid growing government concern over unrest stemming from the economic 
slowdown, top officials last year stressed the importance of providing 
the public with more ways of airing grievances.







http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5607216

Beijing protest honours Pelosi's visit
AFP May 27, 2009, 10:23 pm

AFP
BEIJING (AFP) - At least 100 Chinese with grievances against their 
government staged a protest in honour of US congresswoman Nancy Pelosi 
in Beijing Wednesday, little more than a week before the Tiananmen 
anniversary.
The protesters, or petitioners, from all parts of China, gathered in 
front of the news office of the State Council, China's cabinet, passing 
out leaflets and scrawling graffiti on the office gates.
"Pelosi we warmly welcome you, Pelosi we love you," they wrote in red 
paint on the gate of the compound in central Beijing. "Human rights 
matter, down with corruption."
Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives and a vocal critic 
of China's rights record, is visiting China for meetings on the nation's 
climate change agenda.
The protests occurred as she held meetings Wednesday with China's top 
leaders, including President Hu Jintao, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and 
parliamentary head Wu Bangguo.
Up to 50 uniformed police and an equal number of plainclothes officers 
quickly cordoned off the area around the gate of the news office, 
dispersing the crowd and scrambling to pick up their discarded leaflets.
These appeared to mostly detail the petitioners' personal complaints, 
typically about land and economic disputes, police brutality and medical 
malpractice.
The protest came a week ahead of the anniversary of the June 4 crushing 
of the Tiananmen democracy protests, when the military violently ended 
six weeks of peaceful protests, killing hundreds if not thousands of 
unarmed citizens.
Protesters said up to 1,000 petitioners, who had come to Beijing to urge 
the central government to address their complaints, had attended the 
demonstration, snarling traffic in front of the news office.
The number could not be independently confirmed.
By the time AFP journalists arrived, more than 100 protesters were seen 
lingering outside the police cordon.
Several were seen being taken away by police, with protesters saying up 
to 20 had been carted off in police vehicles.
"You can't take her away," one protester, Han Dongmei, shouted as police 
tried to load her wheelchair-bound 11-year-old daughter into a waiting 
police van.
A group of six policemen eventually picked up the screaming Han, her 
sobbing daughter and the wheelchair and loaded them into the van.
Han has petitioned the government since 2005, when doctors in western 
China's Xinjiang region mistakenly gave her daughter an injection for 
cerebral spinal meningitis, which paralysed the girl from the waist down.
"After all these years, the government has not been able to resolve our 
problem," Han said in her petition document which she gave AFP.
"Instead our rights have been violated, and because we have been seeking 
justice, we have become criminals in the eyes of some officials."
China's parliamentary head Wu recently ordered local authorities to stop 
petitioners from bringing their grievances to the central government in 
Beijing -- a centuries-old tradition -- and ordered such issues to be 
resolved locally.
But petitioners say they have only brought their cases to Beijing 
because local officials refuse to adequately resolve their complaints.
Pelosi's visit comes as President Barack Obama's administration appeared 
to relax rights demands on China in an effort to work with Beijing on 
matters such as the economic downturn and the nuclear-weapons issues 
surrounding North Korea and Iran.






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-05/21/content_7914609.htm

Nanjing denies report of protest
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-21 09:50
Authorities in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, denied yesterday that 
university students had been victimized by "chengguan", or urban 
management officers, who were enforcing orders against sidewalk stalls.
"No university student was setting up sidewalk stalls on Monday night in 
the square (in Jiangning district)," the city's publicity security 
bureau said in a statement to China Daily.
Hundreds of students were reported to have protested following an 
incident on Monday night in which the "chengguan" allegedly attacked 
women university students who set up sidewalk stalls in the square.
The statement said no one was beaten or verbally abused.
"Some of the students had mistakenly thought that two people escorted 
from the scene by officers were students, which led to students and 
citizens forming a crowd," it said.






http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/05/world/asia/05beijing.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=global-home

Hong Kong Pays Tribute to Tiananmen Protesters While Beijing Stays Silent

Elizabeth Dalziel/Associated Press
Police stopped journalists from reporting near Tiananmen gate, across 
from Tiananmen Square, in Beijing on Thursday. More Photos >

By SHARON LaFRANIERE and KEITH BRADSHER
Published: June 4, 2009
BEIJING ? China blanketed Tiananmen Square with police officers on 
Thursday, determined to prevent any commemoration of the 20th 
anniversary of a military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that 
left hundreds dead.
Nicholas D. Kristof, an Op-Ed columnist who was Beijing bureau chief for 
The Times in spring of 1989, recalls the city's mood and the student 
protests leading up to June 4, 1989.
Visitors to the sprawling plaza in central Beijing were stopped at 
checkpoints and searched, and foreign television crews and photographers 
were firmly turned away. Uniformed and plainclothes officers, easily 
identifiable by their similar shirts, seemingly outnumbered tourists.
A few pursued television cameramen with opened umbrellas trying to block 
their shots ? a comical dance that was shown on CNN and the BBC. There 
was no flicker of protest. Other than the intense police presence and 
the government?s blockage of some popular Internet services, the 
scorching hot day passed like any other in the capital.
The scene was vastly different in Hong Kong: throngs gathered at a park 
on Thursday evening for an enormous candlelight vigil on the 20th 
anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests.
The organizers said 150,000 people joined the vigil, tying the record 
set by the first anniversary vigil in 1990 and dwarfing every subsequent 
vigil. The police estimated the crowd at 62,800, their largest estimate 
for any vigil except the one in 1990, which they put at 80,000.
Hong Kong, returned by Britain to Chinese rule in 1997, is still 
semiautonomous and is the only place in China where large public 
gatherings are allowed to mark the anniversaries of the 1989 protests 
and killings.
The peaceful assembly spilled out into nearby streets, shutting down 
traffic. Inside Victoria Park, thousands listened to songs and speakers 
who recounted the events on the night of the crackdown. A half-hour into 
the vigil, the lights in the park were extinguished and the attendees 
lighted a forest of white candles in inverted conical paper shields.
Around the park on Thursday, numerous banners in Chinese demanded the 
vindication of the students and other Beijing residents who perished 
during the Chinese government crackdown. There were people of all ages, 
from gray-haired retirees to young children whose parents accompanied 
them to explain why they felt so deeply about an event that took place 
before the children were born.
Gary Leung, a 42-year-old interior designer, went with his two 
daughters, ages 8 and 4.
?I want to see Tiananmen vindicated,? he said. ?I feel very old ? I hope 
the apology will come before I die, and if not, my children will 
continue the struggle.?
China?s government has tried hard over the years to obliterate the 
memory of the huge student-led protests that shook the Communist Party 
and captivated the world for weeks. It stepped up efforts on the 
mainland to enforce a public silence before the 20th anniversary.
In a report released Thursday, the rights group Chinese Human Rights 
Defenders said 65 activists in nine provinces had been subjected to 
official harassment to keep them from commemorating the anniversary. Ten 
have been taken into police custody since late May, while dozens of 
others are under police guard at their homes or have been forced to 
leave their towns, according to the report.
Nearly 160 Web sites have been shut down for ?system maintenance? to 
prevent users from mobilizing online, the report said.
A Chinese official reacted angrily to a call by Secretary of State 
Hillary Rodham Clinton for a full public accounting of the incident. 
?The U.S. action makes groundless accusations against the Chinese 
government,? a Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, told reporters at a 
regular briefing. ?We express strong dissatisfaction.
?The party and government have already come to a conclusion on the 
relevant issue,? he said. ?History has shown that the party and 
government have put China on the proper socialist path that serves the 
fundamental interests of the Chinese people.?
In a statement on Wednesday, Mrs. Clinton urged China to publish the 
names of the dead, missing or detained when the military crushed the 
protest, saying an accounting would help China ?to learn and to heal.?
?A China that has made enormous progress economically and is emerging to 
take its rightful place in global leadership should examine openly the 
darker events of its past,? her statement said.
She urged Chinese authorities to release all prisoners still jailed for 
taking part in the demonstrations and to stop harassing bereaved 
relatives, who have formed a group called Tiananmen Mothers.
The president of Taiwan, Ma Ying-jeou, who has fostered closer ties with 
the mainland, also urged China to confront the episode. ?This painful 
period of history must be faced with courage and cannot be intentionally 
ducked,? he said in an unusually strong statement.
Beijing newspapers were largely silent on the day?s significance. The 
state-run China Daily led with a story about job growth signaling 
China?s economic recovery.
Access was blocked to popular Internet services like Twitter, and to 
many university message boards. The home pages of a mini-blogging site 
and a video-sharing site said that they would be closed through Saturday 
for ?technical maintenance.?
Some Internet users tried to evade the censors by referring to June 4 as 
May 35 on electronic bulletin boards or message sites. Others proposed 
wearing white, the Chinese traditional color of mourning, as a form of 
protest.
One government notice about the need to seek out potential troublemakers 
apparently slipped onto the Internet by mistake, remaining just long 
enough to be reported by Agence France-Presse. ?Village cadres must 
visit main persons of interest and place them under thought supervision 
and control,? read the order to Guishan township, about 870 miles from 
Beijing.
Jiang Qisheng was imprisoned for four years in 1999 after he published a 
letter asking the government to reassess the June 4 crackdown. ?They 
started watching me in my apartment building on May 15,? he said in a 
telephone interview Thursday morning from his Beijing apartment.
Ding Zilin, a retired professor and activist whose son was killed in the 
crackdown, told The Associated Press: ?They won?t even allow me to go 
out and buy vegetables. They?ve been so ruthless to us that I am utterly 
infuriated.?
A former student leader of the demonstrations, Wu?er Kaixi, was detained 
Wednesday night at the airport in Macao, a special administrative region 
in China. On Thursday he was sent back to Taiwan, where he lives with 
his wife and two children.
Mr. Wu?er, 41, now an investment banker, said he wanted to surrender to 
Chinese authorities and face trial because he had not seen his parents 
in 20 years. ?I also want to be in a courtroom so that I can talk,? he 
said in an interview Wednesday night from an airport detention room.
?We dissidents in exile, that?s what we do,? he said. ?We try very hard 
to come home, all of us, but the door is shut very tightly.?






http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK265966.htm

Thousands clash with police in Chinese city -rights group
07 May 2009 02:44:11 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, May 7 (Reuters) - Thousands of protesters clashed with police 
in front of a municipal government building in south China in the latest 
in a series of land disputes, a human rights group reported. At least 20 
people were injured.
Tuesday's protest was triggered by a villager's death in the dispute in 
Liling, Hunan province, the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human 
Rights and Democracy said.
The Xiaoxiang Morning Post said a villager had been beaten to death by 
employees of a construction company which wanted to use vegetable fields 
to build a stadium.
"Some villagers went to municipal government to petition," the paper 
said. "Related departments are trying to prevent the situation from 
escalating."
China's Communist Party values stability above all else, especially 
ahead of sensitive anniversaries, such as the June 4 20th anniversary of 
the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's 
Tiananmen Square.
Protests and incidents of "mass unrest" have risen in China in recent 
years, sparked by grievances including official abuse of power, land 
seizures and labour disputes. (Reporting by Yu Le and Nick Macfie; 
Editing by Valerie Lee)









http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5629544

Hong Kong protesters mark Tiananmen anniversary
ABC June 5, 2009, 5:34 am
Organisers say more than 150,000 people have crowded into Hong Kong's 
Victoria Park for a candle-lit vigil to mark the 20th anniversary of the 
Tiananmen Square massacre.
The main stage had a huge huge banner with Chinese writing that said: 
"June the 4th, 20 years, passing the fire to the next generation."
The commemorative rally is the only event of its kind on Chinese soil, 
possible because Hong Kong enjoys semi-autonomy from the mainland.
It has become a touchstone both for the democracy movement in China and 
for the campaign to overturn Beijing's official verdict condemning the 
1989 protest.
Hundreds of people died, perhaps thousands, when Chinese troops moved 
against the protesters, although Being has never officially put a figure 
on the death toll.
Xiong Yan, a student leader in Tiananmen Square in 1989, says he was 
surprised to be allowed into Hong Kong on the weekend and is expected to 
speak at tonight's rally.
Other former Tiananmen protesters were denied access to Hong Kong.
The Chinese Government has attacked the United States over its attitude 
to the anniversary.
Hundreds, maybe thousands of people were killed two decades ago when 
Chinese Government used the People's Liberation Army to crush a mass 
student movement.
Chinese workers also joined the conflict, attacking the tanks with 
bricks and bottles.
It is not known how many people were killed.
Now United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on China 
to release the names of those who died.
But China's Government spokesmen Qing Gang has attacked the move.
"The US makes groundless accusations against the Chinese Government," he 
said.
"We express our strong dissatisfaction."





http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1022047/Protests-outside-Chinese-consulate

Protests outside Chinese consulate
04 June 2009 | 12:53:58 PM | Source: AAP

Protesters gather outside the Chinese consulate in Sydney to mark the 
twentieth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (AAP)

A convoy of cars has sounded horns outside the building on Thursday.

The 17 cars, some decorated with the slogan reading "Never Forget June 
4", had earlier left the Campsie home of former Chinese security guard 
Liyong Sun, who witnessed the massacre.

Other cars joined along the way before arriving at the consulate in 
Camperdown just before noon (AEST).

On June 4, 1999, soldiers of the Chinese army ruthlessly put down 
pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, killing hundreds 
of people.

Mr Sun said June 4 was always a sad day for him.

"I'm very angry about that time. On the evening of the third of June I 
saw the first injured person at Tiananmen Square," he told AAP.

"We never thought the Communist Party would use the regular army to kill 
civilians."

Mr Sun was imprisoned for seven years following the massacre, for 
issuing a public underground magazine called Democrat China, later 
renamed The Bell.

He joined the Tiananmen Square protest from April 7 to June 3, 1989.

On the evening of June 3, he felt bullets pass over his head.

"A lot of our Beijing civilians threw bricks at tanks," he said.

"The tanks moved rapidly at the civilians. They had to run away. The 
soldiers shot at us with sub-machine guns towards the street where we 
turned. We had to hide behind a building."

Mr Sun left the square at 9.30pm that evening.

He estimates 1,000 people were killed and between 5,000 and 10,000 injured.






http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5627985

Protests hit Chinese consulate in Sydney
AAP June 4, 2009, 4:45 pm
Protesters from Sydney's Chinese community dressed in white and carried 
banners bearing the names of people killed in the Tiananmen Square 
massacre to mark the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on students.
Hundreds, possibly thousands, of people were killed by soldiers of the 
Chinese army in the June 3-4 massacre in 1989 that ended seven weeks of 
pro-democracy protests at the Beijing square.
A convoy of 17 cars arrived at the Chinese consulate in Camperdown, in 
Sydney's inner west, just before midday (AEST) on Thursday.
The cars were decorated with white flowers, flags, photos of victims and 
slogans including "Never Forget June 4" and the drivers sounded their 
horns as they drove past the consulate.
Some of the cars began the journey at the Campsie home of Liyong Sun, a 
former security guard who witnessed the infamous massacre.
Other cars joined the convoy along the way.
Police looked on as about 50 protesters gathered outside the consulate's 
metal doors.
Many of the protesters wore white and had bandannas branded with the 
word "democracy" wrapped around their heads.
Mr Sun said June 4 was always a sad day for him.
"I'm very angry about that time. On the evening of the third of June I 
saw the first injured person at Tiananmen Square," he told AAP.
"We never thought the Communist Party would use the regular army to kill 
civilians."
After the massacre, Mr Sun was imprisoned for seven years for editing an 
underground magazine called Democrat China, later renamed The Bell.
On the evening of June 3, 1989, he felt bullets pass over his head.
"A lot of our Beijing civilians threw bricks at tanks," he said.
"The tanks moved rapidly at the civilians. They had to run away. The 
soldiers shot at us with sub-machine guns towards the street where we 
turned. We had to hide behind a building."
He used the anniversary to call for the release of eight political 
prisoners still being held in Beijing over the protest.
"They have been in prison for 20 years. Two of them are 70 years old," 
he said.
"We ask the Chinese regime to release them immediately and unconditionally."
Foreign journalists were barred from entering Tiananmen Square on Thursday.
On Wednesday news reports about the massacre were abruptly cut off with 
screens periodically going black on the BBC and CNN in China.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin-speaking former diplomat to China, 
said the Tiananmen protesters' demands for greater freedom in the 
communist state were yet to be fulfilled.
"These of course remain challenges with which the Chinese government 
today is grappling," he said in parliament in Canberra on Thursday.
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull expressed sorrow that there was still 
a reluctance in China to acknowledge the cause and effects of the 
"brutal crackdown" in 1989.
He called for the protesters to be remembered, and one day, honoured.








http://www.nowpublic.com/world/hong-kong-protest-timeline

Hong Kong protest timeline
Share:
by Steventhompson38 | June 5, 2009 at 02:23 am

Hong Kong's citizens have a long and proud tradition of taking their 
grievences onto the streets. Unfortunately, they have been wasting their 
time. The latest in a series of protests over the years has been about 
losses from Lehman Brother mini-bonds. Protesters set up shop in front 
of the branches of the banks that sold them these so-called toxic assets 
and make a large amount of noise (particularly during lunch time). The 
idea is to draw attention to their plight and to disrupt the business of 
the branch during its peak hour. Unfortunately, these mostly old folk 
are only inconveniencing other old folk, because only por pors frequent 
bank branches nowadays. The protesters have noticed this, and, so, at 
some less popular branches, they resort to simply playing a recording of 
their protest. The first picture in the attached video montage is of the 
Cenotaph in Central, adorned with banners and floral tributes to the 
fallen after the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. The event 
significantly changed the political landscape in Hong Kong, with greater 
calls for democracy ? the echoes of which are beginning to slowly fade. 
The photograph was taken on June 8, 1989. The next photograph, taken in 
the mid-1980s, shows one of several pensioners setting up their 
bi-lingual banners outside the Legco Building in Central. I believe they 
are protesting about the loss of their land. The next shot, from the 
early 90s, is of a protest in Central, which was organized every year. 
The demonstrators are asking for donations to fund various causes. In 
this case, they were planning to go without food for 30 hours in the 
name of democracy. More recently, Falun Gong protesters have been 
quietly camped on Battery Path in Central for quite a while now. They 
have to protest there for fear of being beaten by the thousads of 
patriots that cross th border into Hong Kong. The final picture is of 
Lehman mini-bond protesters outside Citibank's Pedder Street branch 
getting dressed up at lunch time for their daily bout of protesting. 
Bless 'em. They won't get a cent, but they won't listen. In fact, for 
all the protests mentioned above, none have really succeeded - but you 
can't say they didn't try. The photograph of the Fight for Queen's Pier 
was taken with a tinge of sadness because my wife and I set off on our 
journey to our wedding reception in a British Army launch from Queen's 
Pier, so the demonstrations to preserve the pier in 2007 had some 
personal significance. Unfortunately, as with anything more than 20 
years old, the pier was ripped down to make way for another highway that 
no one will use.





http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009302955_china05.html?syndication=rss

June 5, 2009 at 12:00 AM | Page modified June 5, 2009 at 9:12 AM
Throng of protests in Hong Kong
In Tiananmen Square, police were ready to pounce at the first sign of 
protest. In Hong Kong, a sea of candles flickered in the hands of...
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN and JEREMIAH MARQUEZ
The Associated Press
ED JONES / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Thousands attend a candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park on 
Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of Beijing's crackdown on 
protesters in Tiananmen Square.
BEIJING ? In Tiananmen Square, police were ready to pounce at the first 
sign of protest. In Hong Kong, a sea of candles flickered in the hands 
of tens of thousands who vented their grief and anger.
Two contrasting faces of China were on display Thursday, the 20th 
anniversary of the military's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy 
demonstrators ? from Beijing's rigid control in suppressing any dissent, 
to freewheeling Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China that 
enjoys freedoms all but absent on the mainland.
Tiananmen Square was blanketed by uniformed and plainclothes security 
officers ready to silence any potential demonstration, and there were 
few hints that the vast plaza was the epicenter of a student-led 
movement that was crushed on June 3-4, 1989, shocking the world.
Police barred foreign journalists from entering the square and 
threatened them with violence.
Chinese and foreign tourists were allowed in Tiananmen as usual, 
although security officials appeared to outnumber visitors.
Dissidents and families of victims were confined to their homes or 
forced to leave Beijing, part of sweeping government efforts to prevent 
online debate or organized commemorations of the anniversary.
But in Hong Kong's Victoria Park, a crowd chanted slogans calling for 
Beijing to own up to the crackdown and release political dissidents. 
Organizers estimated its size at 150,000, while police put the number at 
62,800.
"It is the dream of all Chinese people to have democracy!" the throng sang.
Hong Kong is one of the few places in China where the events of June 
1989 are not off-limits, because the territory ? returned by the British 
12 years ago ? operates under a separate political system that promises 
freedom of speech and other Western-style civil liberties.
"Hong Kong is China's conscience," Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker 
Cheung Man Kwong told the demonstration.
In the candlelight, speakers recalled the events in Tiananmen, where a 
military assault killed hundreds, if not thousands, who had gathered for 
weeks in the square to demonstrate for freedom and had erected a 
makeshift Statue of Liberty. Those killed were eulogized as heroes in 
the struggle for a democratic China, their names read aloud before the 
crowd observed a minute of silence.
"Hong Kong is the only place where we can commemorate, and we have to 
repeat this every year so our younger generations don't forget," said 
Annie Chu, 36, a Hong Kong tourism worker who says she has attended 
every vigil for the last 20 years.
Earlier, the central government ignored calls from U.S. Secretary of 
State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Taiwan's China-friendly president for 
Beijing to face up to the 1989 violence.
The extraordinary security in Beijing came after government censors shut 
down social-networking and image-sharing Web sites such as Twitter and 
Flickr and blacked out CNN and other foreign-news channels each time 
they showed stories about Tiananmen.
One student leader from 1989, Wu'er Kaixi, was forced to return to 
Taiwan on Thursday after flying to the Chinese territory of Macau the 
day before in an attempt to return home.
In Washington, D.C., Clinton said Wednesday that China "should examine 
openly the darker events of its past and provide a public accounting of 
those killed, detained or missing, both to learn and to heal."
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou urged China to lift the taboo on 
discussing the crackdown.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang dismissed Clinton's comments 
as a "gross interference in China's internal affairs."





http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/16/content_8287768.htm

Traffic resumes after hundreds of furniture dealers protest on highway
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-16 09:08
Comments(1) Print Mail
NANCHANG -- Traffic on the expressway in east China's Jiangxi province 
resumed on Monday night after hundreds of furniture makers and dealers 
blocked the road to protest over a proposed tax rule, said local police.
ost of the protesters have left by 11:45 p.m., and order was restored in 
the Nankang section of 105 national high way and the expressway linking 
the northeastern Heilongjiang province and the southern Guangdong province.
According to an unnamed official with the provincial government, cause 
of the incident was the new tax rule which was to take effect on Monday, 
as the city planned to tighten up tax enforcement on furniture makers 
and dealers.
"Protesters believed it increased their burden," he said.
Hundreds of furniture makers and dealers gathered along the road in the 
Nankang city, which was four hours drives from the provincial capital 
Nanchang, cutting traffic and smashing and overturning at least nine 
police cars at about 10 a.m..
Also, nearly 100 dealers went to the city government building to 
complain about the rule.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8100766.stm

Monday, 15 June 2009 15:16 UK
New tax plan sparks China protest

Protesters in the south-eastern Chinese city of Nankang have overturned 
police cars and blocked roads over plans to more strictly enforce 
payment of taxes.
Officials in Nankang said several hundred protesters blocked a major 
road while others delivered a petition to a local government office.
Video posted on the internet showed several overturned police cars and 
large crowds on a main street.
Nankang officials blamed the protest on a misunderstanding over the tax 
plan.
Decline in demand
"The whole incident revolves around a new campaign to reorganise the 
local furniture industry," said a statement on the Nankang government's 
web site.
"Starting from 15 June, the city is implementing a new approach to tax 
collection and management."
Some furniture-store owners "mistakenly thought that the municipal party 
and government wants the furniture industry to collapse," the statement 
said.
"A portion of them provoked others to hold up the traffic."
China's official Xinhua news agency said the local government's plan to 
more strictly enforce payment of taxes from the furniture makers and 
dealers has been suspended in the face of the opposition.
China's furniture industry has suffered in the global economic downturn 
from a decline in demand from export markets.
Thousands of similar protests over taxes, land disputes or corruption 
are reported in China each year.







http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/15/content_8286255.htm

Furniture dealers block highway to protest tax crackdown
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-06-15 20:51
Comments(0) Print Mail
NANCHANG - Hundreds of furniture makers and dealers in an eastern China 
city smashed police cars and blocked an expressway on Monday to protest 
a proposed tax crackdown, police said.
The dealers gathered along a section of national highway 105 in Nankang 
City, Jiangxi Province at about 10 am and cut off traffic, city police 
said. Nankang is a four-hour drive from the provincial capital Nanchang.
Most of the furniture shops are clustered along the highway section.
Also, nearly 100 dealers went to the city government building to 
complain about the rule planned to take effect on Monday.
Some police cars were smashed and overturned, but no casualties were 
reported.
The police said the city planned to tighten up tax enforcement on 
furniture makers and dealers, a proposal that led to a backlash from the 
industry.
Nankang suspended the implementation of the new rule and dealers were 
urged to keep calm.





http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jun/17/chinese-blogger-zhuihulu-disappearance

Chinese police arrest riot witness who posted pictures on internet
? Blogger Zuihulu disappears after uploading violence video
? Riot followed new tax on Nankang furniture industry
? Jonathan Watts in Beijing
? guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 June 2009 13.58 BST

An overturned Chinese police vehicle in Nankang, in eastern China's 
Jiangxi province, following demonstrations against tax measures. 
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Chinese police appear to have detained a blogger who posted images of 
the aftermath of a riot online, prompting concerns of a crackdown on 
citizen journalists.
The man, whose online name was Zuihulu, went missing yesterday after he 
uploaded video images of smashed, upturned police cars in Nankang, 
Jiangxi province, on Tudou, a Chinese video-sharing website similar to 
YouTube.
In the short video which has since spread widely through Fanfou, a 
Chinese form of Twitter Zuihulu appears to record events with his mobile 
phone as he rides past crowds of protesters on the back of a motorbike, 
describing what he sees in a thick regional dialect.
Contacted by the Guardian before he went missing, Zuihulu said: "I am 
just an ordinary netizen. I am here because I am interested in it. I 
will keep watching the situation. Please keep looking at my page on Fanfou."
The pictures have been published by the state media to illustrate the 
violent demonstrations that followed the government's efforts to impose 
a new tax and other restrictions on the furniture industry, a mainstay 
of the local economy.
Witnesses said a dozen police cars were overturned during the protest by 
hundreds of furniture workers on Monday.
In the face of this unrest, the local government has backed down on its 
taxation plans, but the authorities appear to have dragged in Zuihulu 
for questioning. He has not been heard of for 21 hours and his computer, 
phone and camera have been taken away.
The images he posted online have been blocked or deleted and a woman 
claiming to be his girlfriend posted a report asking for advice, saying 
she was unsure how the authorities would deal with the situation.
Bloggers have reacted with anger. "Pay attention to Zuihulu or next time 
there probably won't be anyone who will speak for you," said a Twitter 
contributor who goes by the name North Wind.
"What has Zuihulu done wrong to make the police take him away," said 
another called US.Army. "It was his live broadcast that made me realise 
that there is a place called Nankang where people produce furniture and 
aren't afraid of power."






http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6674723.html

Courts to help gov'ts reduce protests: SPC
11:22, June 09, 2009

Courts across the country will step up efforts to help local governments 
cope with an increasing number of mass incidents involving disputes over 
wages and management amid the economic downturn, according to Tuesday's 
China Daily's report.

The Supreme People's Court (SPC) Monday released a guideline saying "The 
courts will focus on dealing with a sharp increase in mass incidents 
especially in the mediation of demonstrations. If there is any trend 
seen in 'mass petitions', the courts should also work closely with local 
administrative departments".

Judicial departments should "establish an early warning mechanism" and 
direct their resources in line with law enforcement, the document said.

Courts will also closely monitor other major incidents that might affect 
social stability. In case of incidents that might result in violent 
conflicts, courts should inform local government departments in time to 
work out efficient solutions, it said.

Other measures include adopting caution in property seizures, detentions 
or freezing of assets, if affected enterprises are facing temporary 
financial strain.

The courts have also been urged to help beleaguered businesses tide over 
difficulties by mediating with their debtors.

In cases involving large- and medium-sized State-owned and State-holding 
enterprises, financial institutions and listed companies, the courts 
should voluntarily communicate with state assets management and 
supervision departments, to apply solutions that "avoid coercive 
measures leading to bankruptcy and social instability".

Yu Lingyu, director general of the SPC's enforcement bureau, said the 
global financial crisis had made a "huge impact" on the country's courts.

"The number of businesses going bankrupt continues to grow, leading to 
more disputes over salary claims and more cases involving vulnerable 
groups," Yu said.

Last year, 286,221 labor disputes were heard by the country's courts, a 
93-percent rise on 2007, while the number stood at 98,568 cases in the 
first three months this year, a 59-percent year-on-year rise, SPC 
figures showed.

Liu Junhai, chief of the commercial law research institute of the Renmin 
University of China, said the latest measures "were necessary".

In Fujian and Guangdong provinces, recent disputes over such issues 
involved hundreds of workers dragging companies to court.

"It is very important to handle such cases carefully as some large 
enterprises have divisional companies across the country. Court 
decisions in one place might lead to mass incidents in other places," 
Liu told China Daily.

The professor said joint efforts between judicial departments and 
administrative governments do not hamper citizens' rights and interests, 
"and only help lead to win-win situations".

"The best solution is to help enterprises tide over their current 
difficulties so that workers will not lose jobs in the long-run," Liu said.

Source:Xinhua






http://english.people.com.cn/90001/6671419.html

Petitioner uses belt in protest

09:06, June 04, 2009

A petitioner has used a belt to fasten himself to Haizhu Bridge and 
avoid becoming the second person to be pushed off by frustrated locals.

Residents are impatient with the rising number of petitioners who 
attempt to publicize their cause by threatening to jump from the 
downtown bridge.

Local police were again called downtown on Tuesday at 9 am, when the 
13th petitioner in two months climbed the bridge to draw attention to 
allegations that his store had been illegally repossessed.

Zhang Dingsheng, aged 60, from northern Shanxi province, fastened 
himself to the bridge to avoid being pushed off, as happened to the 12th 
climber, Chen Fuchao, who was injured in the fall.

Police and fireman grabbed Zhang after about one hour and dragged him to 
the ground, and traffic was once again allowed to cross the bridge.

"I don't think those climbers have any real intention to commit suicide. 
It is really unnecessary for the police to spend hours persuading them 
down while blocking the bridge," said Tang Xinmin, a local citizen in 
his 20's.

"I think the police and firemen did a good job forcing Zhang back to the 
inflated cushion."

Tang said he was late for work on two occasions in April because of the 
"bridge jumping show" and had been fined by his boss. He said that he 
now took the metro to work to avoid traffic delays caused by the 
petitioners.

"I dare not risk taking a bus across the bridge as the bridge has become 
such popular a venue for the jumping show," he said.

Zhong Jianqi, a middle-aged office worker in Guangzhou, said the 
petitioners were selfish.

"Their action not only disturbs the public order but also causes a great 
waste of police resources and their action affects thousands of people," 
she said.

"To be frank, I used to be sympathetic with them, but not anymore," 
Zhong said.

Local police are also frustrated with the petitioners.

"Whenever there is a climber, at least one rescue vessel, an ambulance, 
several police cars and fire engines have to respond and the bridge has 
to be blocked," said a police officer with the Haizhu branch of the city 
public security bureau. "That causes chaos in the community."

The petitioners can only be detained for about 10 days under Chinese law.

Source: China Daily





http://www.speroforum.com/a/19688/China-Clashes-with-police-are-a-daily-occurrence

China: Clashes with police are a daily occurrence
In Hubei, 10,000 people resist attempts by police to remove the body of 
a young man who died in mysterious circumstances. They fear the 
authorities might cremate it and eliminate the evidence of a crime
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
By Asia News
More than a thousand police agents in riot gear were sent to Hotel 
Yonglong in Shishou (Hubei) to remove the body of Tu Yuangao, a 
24-year-old man who died mysteriously on 17 June. They were stopped 
however at the entrance of the hotel by an angry crowd of more than 
10,000 local residents. In the clashes that ensued at least 200 people 
were injured, this according to the Information Centre for Human Rights 
and Democracy.
The authorities claim that the young man, who worked at the hotel as a 
chef, committed suicide. His body was found in the hotel lobby and 
police declared his death a suicide, ordering its removal and immediate 
cremation.
Mr Tu?s father refused, saying that his son would not take his own life. 
Instead he called for an investigation.
Upon police request the body was kept at the hotel, but last Friday 
anger boiled over and people began blocking streets and set up 
roadblocks around the area.
Yesterday residents told a newspaper the whole story and began talking 
about it on online discussion forums.
Unverified local sources said that senior cadres in the police, court 
and electricity bureau were shareholders in the hotel, which is also 
believed to be a place where drugs are sold.
Some residents told the South China Morning Post that Tu was killed 
after he threatened to disclose the drug deals carried out by the hotel 
owner when he demanded overdue pay.
Residents say the body of a girl was also found outside the hotel two 
years ago, dead under similar circumstances.
People are wondering why the police is not pursing the matter and is 
trying instead to retrieve the body and prevent the family from having it.
In China police is notorious for being at the service of ruling 
political groups rather than ordinary citizens. Often people end up 
acting out with force at expressions of such behaviour.
In Zhu village, at Huadu near Guangzhou residents were so mad that their 
reaction came close to open revolt and lynching.
When the government decided to acquire land to make way for a property 
development, residents rushed to build new houses and grow more plants 
in order to increase land values and the compensation they would receive.
However, when a government team was sent to stop the villagers, it was 
besieged for six hours by residents.
Clashes erupted when police was sent to rescue the government officials 
with villagers throwing bricks and stones at the agents
Nine police officers and several villagers were apparently injured in 
the clash, and at least two villagers were taken to hospital.
Crowds eventually dispersed hours later.





http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/200+hurt+in+death+protest+clashes/3222212

200 hurt in death protest clashes
Updated on 20 June 2009
Source PA News
More than 200 people were injured when protesters clashed with police in 
central China following the mysterious death of a young man at a city 
hotel, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said.
Residents said hundreds of people were still massed outside the hotel in 
Shishou city, angered by the death of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, and his 
body was still inside.
A local man who gave his last name as Wu said he saw about 20 to 30 
trucks carrying armed police entering the city in Hubei province.





http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1484878.php/Suspicious_death_sparks_riots_in_central_China_

Suspicious death sparks riots in central China
Asia-Pacific News
Jun 21, 2009, 4:50 GMT
Beijing - Armed police clashed with residents in central China's Hubei 
Province after the suspicious death of a chef at a local hotel sparked a 
three-day standoff, according to local reports Sunday.
The unrest began Wednesday evening after the body of 24-year-old Tu 
Yuangao was found outside the door of the Yonglong Hotel in Shishou 
City, where he worked as a chef, the Hong Kong-based South China Morning 
Post reported.
While police insisted that Tu committed suicide, Tu's father placed the 
corpse in the hotel lobby and demanded an investigation into the cause 
of his son's death, the report said.
When police tried to seize the body, onlookers gathered to prevent their 
entrance into the hotel. Some online reports put the number of 
protesters at 50,000 on Saturday.
Images online showed a large crowd in front of the hotel, as well as a 
vandalized fire truck and an overturned police car. A video showed 
protesters clashing with armed police.
State media at first reported that a burning vehicle and police cordons 
were the result of an inter-departmental fire drill.
The official Xinhua news agency later reported the riots and said that a 
suicide note was found with Tu Yuangao's body.
'Police didn't find life-threatening injuries on the surface of the 
body,' the agency reported.
However, local residents said Tu's death was suspicious and followed on 
from that of a girl who died in similar circumstances a few years ago.
While authorities claimed the girl's death was also suicide, locals said 
that the hotel was a known drug den and that senior officers in the 
police, court and electricity bureau were shareholders in the hotel, the 
South China Morning Post reported.
The semi-official China News Service reported that Tu's body had been 
taken to a funeral parlour early Sunday morning.





http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=93636

Published On: 2009-06-22
International
Protests in China over youth's death
Ap, Beijing

Hundreds of baton-wielding police yesterday dispersed protesters and 
cordoned off a city hotel in central China after a young man's 
mysterious death sparked unrest, a local official and a witness said.

More than 200 people were injured in the clashes between police and 
residents outside the hotel in Hubei province's Shishou city, according 
to a Hong Kong-based rights group, the Information Center for Human 
Rights and Democracy.

Hundreds had been angered by the death of 24-year old Tu Yuangao, who 
was found dead Wednesday evening in front of the Yonglong hotel.

Tu's relatives believe he was killed by the hotel boss, who is related 
to the mayor, the rights group said.

Discontent with local officials and police in China often leads to mass 
protests, which can gather size and force with remarkable speed. Mild 
frustration can turn into fury within minutes.

A local resident surnamed Chen said protesters started gathering outside 
the hotel Friday and by late Saturday had clashed five or six times with 
police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks. Chen said thousands of 
armed police forces with shields and batons were deployed in the area.

The crowd started dispersing early Sunday, but security was tight, he said.

"The area around the hotel is still cordoned off by hundreds of police 
with batons," Chen said in a telephone interview Sunday.






http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/22/content_8306649.htm

Cook's death sparks protests in Hubei
By Xie Chuanjiao (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-22 07:50
Comments(11) Print Mail
A hotel was torched, police cars overturned and officers pelted with 
rocks as thousands of people rioted over the weekend following the 
mysterious death of a cook in Hubei province, residents said.
Many police officers marching in formation used shields for protection 
and were backed by armored vehicles as they put an end to three days of 
violence in Shishou by dawn yesterday, a local woman surnamed Cheng said.
Cheng estimated that up to 10,000 people were involved in the riot but 
some media organizations said the figure was much higher.
Xinhua put the number at around 1,000 and said that there were no 
official reports of injuries.
Security was tight last night as police guarded roads surrounding the 
blackened Yonglong hotel after dispersing the crowd.
The violence followed the death of 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, a cook at 
Yonglong Hotel, who was found dead outside the hotel's gate on Wednesday 
evening.
Police said a suicide note left by the chef showed he was "pessimistic 
and hated the world".
A resident surnamed Chen told AP that protesters started gathering 
outside the hotel Friday and by late Saturday had clashed five or six 
times with police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks.
Chen said thousands of armed police forces with shields and batons were 
deployed in the area, AP reported.
Amateur video, which could not be independently verified, showed 
protesters pelting rocks and projectiles at riot police. Using a 
megaphone, police told protesters to drop their weapons and said that 
the demonstration was illegal and ordered the crowd to disperse.
Cheng told China Daily that local officials were involved with the 
hotel, which she said was "engaged in drug dealing".
Tu found out the truth and decided to resign, Cheng said.
She said he asked for his salary but was refused, and alleged that Tu 
was later beaten to death by hotel staff or gangsters.
Xinhua reported that some local people believe that gangsters killed Tu, 
and others blame the hotel boss, believed to be the mayor's brother.
A man surnamed Zhang in his 50s said "Yonglong hotel is a den for 
drug-addicts" and showed Xinhua reporters used syringes in the rubbish 
at the back of the hotel.
A man who answered the phone at the Shishou government office refused to 
comment on the allegations, saying that the cause of death was being 
investigated.
Tu's body was taken to the morgue yesterday morning after his family 
agreed to conduct a police-proposed autopsy.
Xinhua contributed to the story





http://english.sina.com/china/2009/0620/249895.html

Residents protest over chef's death in central China city
2009-06-20 15:41:28 GMT2009-06-20 23:41:28 (Beijing Time) Xinhua English
WUHAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Many local residents gathered in front of a 
hotel in Shishou city of central China's Hubei province, protesting over 
death of a chef from the hotel on Saturday.
At about 5 p.m., more than one thousand people still crowded at the 
six-storey Yonglong hotel, where the ulterior walls were blackened after 
a fire. Windows at the first floor facing the street were smashed and 
the street was blocked.
A fire engine and two police vehicles were battered by protestors, 
witnesses said.
According to the city government of Shishou, police received a phone 
call at 8:36 p.m. Wednesday. A man's body was found at the gate of the 
Yonglong hotel at Dongyueshan road.
Initial investigation showed that the dead was 24-year-old Tu Yuangao, a 
chef of the hotel.
Police didn't find life-threatening injuries in the surface of the body. 
A note left by the chef showed that he was pessimistic and hates the 
world. Thus the death was believed then as suicide.
Police suggested to have autopsy of the body so as to make out cause of 
the death, but the request was rejected by Tu's relatives, who were not 
convinced by the allegation of suicide.
Local residents blocked the Dongyueshan road and the Oriental avenue on 
Friday, alleging foul play.
According to the local authorities, someone set fire to the hotel at 
0:30 a.m. Saturday, which was put out at 3 a.m.
The body was in the first floor and some residents guarded the gate, 
saying that police tried to take the body.
Some local people believed that the chef was killed by gangsters.
"The Yonglong hotel is a den for the drug-addicts," said a man surnamed 
Zhang in his 50s. He showed Xinhua reporters the used injectors in the 
garbage at the back of the hotel.
A 16-year-old girl died in the hotel a few years ago. The death was 
later recognized by police as suicide, local people said.





http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/PEK69469.htm

Residents in central China protest over death
20 Jun 2009 08:46:46 GMT
Source: Reuters
BEIJING, June 20 (Reuters) - Police in central China's Hubei province 
have been called in to quash protests over the mysterious death of a man 
in a government-owned hotel, eyewitnesses told Reuters on Saturday.
"There are still a lot of armed police around," a local resident 
surnamed Chen told Reuters. "But they haven't convinced (the protestors) 
to go home yet."
On June 17, Xu Yuangao, a 24-year-old chef, was found dead at the 
Yonglong Hotel in the city of Shishou, and while the police say they 
found a suicide note, Xu's family continue to allege foul play.
Another resident said that local people were suspicious because of 
another incident that took place at the hotel several years ago.
"Yonglong Hotel doesn't have a good reputation because of its 
connections with the government and the death of a girl there a few 
years ago," she said.
She added that "around 10,000 people" have taken part in the protests, 
most of them local farmers angered by the way the case has been handled.
According to a short statement posted on the website of the Shishou city 
government, the police have kept in touch with Xu's family to arrange an 
autopsy and confirm the cause of death, but the family refused.
"A large number of uninformed people set up a roadblock at East Yueshan 
Road and Oriental Avenue in Shishou, disrupting traffic and creating a 
disturbance," the statement said.
Chinese sociologists have described the spate of riots and protests in 
the country's deprived hinterlands as "anger-venting social incidents" 
brought about by years of hardship and inequality.
Last year, the death of a 16-year-old girl in southwest China's Guizhou 
province led to riots involving 30,000 local residents, fired up by 
rumours that the girl had been raped and murdered. (Reporting by Beijing 
newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson)





http://www.roguegovernment.com/index.php?news_id=16157

China: Hundreds of Riot Police Battle the People of Shishou Published on 
06-22-2009 Email To Friend Print Version

Source: Cryptogon
The text below is an AP piece, but you should really click through to 
see the images and videos. This is just a sample.
Via: AP / East South West North:
Hundreds of baton-wielding police on Sunday dispersed protesters and 
cordoned off a city hotel in central China after a young man?s 
mysterious death sparked unrest, a local official and a witness said.
More than 200 people were injured in the clashes between police and 
residents outside the hotel in Hubei province?s Shishou city, according 
to a Hong Kong-based rights group, the Information Center for Human 
Rights and Democracy.
Hundreds had been angered by the death of 24-year old Tu Yuangao, who 
was found dead Wednesday evening in front of the Yonglong hotel. Tu?s 
relatives believe he was killed by the hotel boss, who is related to the 
mayor, the rights group said.
Discontent with local officials and police in China often leads to mass 
protests, which can gather size and force with remarkable speed. Mild 
frustration can turn into fury within minutes.
A local resident surnamed Chen said protesters started gathering outside 
the hotel Friday and by late Saturday had clashed five or six times with 
police, smashing six police vans and fire trucks. Chen said thousands of 
armed police forces with shields and batons were deployed in the area. 
The crowd started dispersing early Sunday, but security was tight, he 
said. ?The area around the hotel is still cordoned off by hundreds of 
police with batons,? Chen said in a telephone interview Sunday.
A man who answered the phone at the Shishou government said the crowd 
dispersed after local authorities persuaded them to leave and that there 
had been no conflicts since Saturday afternoon. The man, who refused to 
give his name, said authorities were investigating the death of Tu, 
whose body was moved from the hotel to a funeral parlor Sunday. Chinese 
media reported that police ruled out murder, saying they found a suicide 
note.
Amateur video clips of the protest posted online showed hundreds of riot 
police marching down a street to reinforce a human barricade formed by 
officers who held their shields above their heads, supported by police 
vans and fire trucks. In one clip, hundreds of protesters were seen 
surging toward police, picking up objects from the ground and hurling 
them at the officers, who retreated. The video appeared to be posted by 
a U.S.-based user on YouTube, which is blocked in China. It could not be 
independently verified.





http://tvnz.co.nz/content/2792613

Police retake Chinese city after riots
Published: 1:32PM Monday June 22, 2009
Source: Reuters

ONE NewsChina
Crowds that clashed with paramilitary police in a small town in central 
China have dispersed, leaving police in control, local residents and 
state media said.
Unusually, the protestors in Shishou, Hubei province, appear to have 
included local government employees, showing the depth of 
dissatisfaction in the city of 620,000.
Crowds set fire to the Yonglong Hotel on Saturday night after the death 
of 24-year-old chef Tu Yuangao. The man's family had refused to accept 
the hotel management's explanation that Tu had committed suicide by 
jumping out a window.
By Sunday, the confrontation had escalated into one of the most serious 
"mass incidents" in China since the alleged rape of a teenage girl found 
dead in Weng'an, Guizhou province, sparked riots last year involving 
30,000 angry locals.
Videos of the confrontation posted on Youtube show thousands of 
paramilitary police marching with riot shields over their heads, then 
beating a hasty retreat as the crowd pelted them with stones and other 
objects.
"If you have any problems, please bring them to the attention of the 
relevant authorities. They will research it and get back to you," a 
man's hoarse voice could be heard shouting through a bullhorn.
The video could not be independently verified.
Some police were injured after the crowd armed themselves with beer 
bottles and bricks, a local resident surnamed Chen said. The police 
responded with water cannons, he said.
Government officials approached the crowd, asking their staff to return 
home. In a sign of the seriousness of the incident, provincial Communist 
Party officials rushed to the scene.
Police were able to retake the streets and the remains of the hotel just 
before dawn on Sunday morning, the official Xinhua news agency said. 
Xinhua said the crowd "remained to watch the police campaign, rather 
than protest".
Shishou residents were told the police had been called in to suppress 
gangsters and members of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group, Chen said.
The Shishou government website was inaccessible on Monday.






http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iTBE4bqZfWga_stZ3cG-u2nM1bog

Police fatally wound man during protest in China's Xinjiang
(AFP) ? Jun 16, 2009
BEIJING (AFP) ? Police in China's western-most Muslim region of Xinjiang 
fired warning shots to disperse a crowd protesting against a real estate 
project Tuesday, fatally wounding a man, state media said.
The incident occurred in the regional capital Urumqi when a policeman 
identified as Kudelet Kurban accidentally fired his gun into a crowd of 
about 60 people, Xinhua news agency reported.
"Kurban fired two warning shots to disperse the crowd, but to no use," 
the report said.
"While he continued to try to handle the crowd, his gun was accidentally 
triggered off and shot Yao Yonghai, a supervisor with the Guanghui 
company, in the neck."
Guanghui is the real estate company in charge of the building project 
objected to by the protesters, the news agency said.
Xinhua, citing the local government, said Yao died in hospital a short 
time later.
Xinjiang is home to about eight million Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group, 
and many members of the mainly Muslim community say they have suffered 
under Chinese political and religious persecution for decades.
China has long claimed it faces a deadly threat from Muslim separatists 
as justification for extremely tight controls in Xinjiang.
Earlier this month, Chinese police announced that they had smashed seven 
terror cells so far this year in the region, which borders Central Asia.
It was not immediately clear if ethnic strife was linked to Tuesday's 
incident, but the name of the policeman appeared to be of a non-Chinese 
minority while the victim had a typical Chinese name.
The incident occurred as China's top law official, Zhou Yongkang, warned 
in remarks published Tuesday that social stability was under increasing 
threat from labour and business disputes in the midst of the global crisis.
China sees tens of thousands of protests or outbursts of violence every 
year, often stemming from dissatisfaction with local authorities, with 
attacks on police stations or government offices becoming increasingly 
common.
On Monday, hundreds of furniture makers and businessmen smashed police 
cars and blocked a highway in eastern China, protesting the 
implementation of proposed tax measures, officials and state press reported.






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-06/16/content_11553180.htm

Cabbies' protest continues in western China province, 35 arrested

XINING, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Protests by cab drivers in western China's 
Qinghai Province over operation rights continued Tuesday for a fourth 
day ,local government officials said.
On Tuesday, more than 150 drivers gathered at the city government 
headquarters in Xining, Qinghai's capital.
About 960 other taxis had resumed service, but Xinhua reporters said 
that most had removed the lights on top of their vehicles and covered 
their license plates.
Drivers across Qinghai Province were angered after a newspaper reported 
Friday that the provincial government would cut their license periods 
from 12 years to eight, meaning most of their licenses would expire now 
or in a year.
Yuan Fuyu, director in the transportation department of the provincial 
communication administration, Monday called the report "incorrect and 
misleading." He said the shorter period would only apply to new 
licenses, and that existing drivers would have unspecified advantages in 
renewing their licenses.
But some people interviewed by Xinhua, including a few staff members 
from local governments in Qinghai, agreed that the policy was ambiguous 
and might be hard to understand.
There was no indication that the policy would be changed. Local taxi 
drivers were being asked to sign a guarantee to stop striking and return 
to work. Those who don't agree face losing their operation rights, one 
driver said.
Police detained 35 people who had "taken the chance to make trouble," 
said Huang Shujiang, vice head of the Xining public security bureau.
On heels of the strike in Xining, there were taxi drivers' protests in 
other parts of Qinghai.
According to local officials, 228 taxis went on strike Monday afternoon 
in the Datong Hui and Tujia Autonomous County, which is some 65 km from 
Xining. The local government assured them in an open letter that no new 
measures were being taken and asked them to return to the road.

Editor: Yan







http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-06/20/content_8305153.htm

Villagers protest quarry operations in S China
By Zhan Lisheng (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-20 10:28
Comments(0) Print Mail
GUANGZHOU: Local villagers who are dissatisfied with the compensation 
given to them for damage to their houses from local quarry operations 
showed their frustration Wednesday by blockading the quarry and later 
causing a confrontation with the local police in Fengkai, a county in 
northwestern Guangdong province.
More than 60 villagers blocked the quarry of China Resources Cement 
(Fengkai) Ltd at about 2 pm to show their frustrations about the 
operation of the quarry and the damages to their homes. Three police 
officers who had rushed to the scene were held hostage for more than 
eight hours, according to a bulletin released by the county government 
of Fengkai on its official website.
The confrontation soon intensified when nearly 100 armed police officers 
hurried there to rescue their detained colleagues. Meanwhile more than 
300 other villagers joined in the protest.
"The police did not fight back and instead they retreated away from the 
spot to avoid further anger of the villagers. The confrontation was 
brought under control Thursday morning after local leaders' persuasion 
worked."
According to the bulletin, about 20 villagers are suspected to have 
organized the violence. Local police have arrested four suspects and 
have urged others to turn themselves in.
Some of the protesters say the quarry operations threaten their homes.
According to the bulletin, the county government and China Resources 
Cement (Fengkai) Ltd will jointly pool 50 million yuan ($7.3 million) to 
cover the expenses related to the relocation and reinforcement of the 
local villagers' houses.





From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 15:01:19 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:01:19 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] Crisis response unrest in LATVIA,
	LITHUANIA - January 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF64BF.8040305@tesco.net>






http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/17/world/fg-baltic-protests17

Protests spread in Europe amid economic crisis
Lithuanians opposed to a government austerity plan hurl eggs and rocks. 
The outburst follows similar incidents in Latvia and Bulgaria.
By Megan K. Stack
January 17, 2009
Police used rubber bullets and tear gas to quell demonstrators in the 
Lithuanian capital Friday, as economic hardship burst into street-level 
rage in another European country.
With dwindling budgets forcing unpopular spending cuts and tax hikes in 
many countries, the global financial crisis is steadily emerging as a 
political threat to governments. Demonstrations have erupted in 
Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria and Iceland as bread-and-butter anxiety 
turns into anti-government rage.
In Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, a peaceful protest against a government 
austerity plan degenerated into violence as thousands of demonstrators 
surged toward the Parliament building, hurling eggs and rocks. At least 
84 people were arrested and at least 14 wounded, including four police 
officers.
Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius, who just took office last month, was 
unflinching.
"We will only speak to those who unequivocally distance themselves from 
those who have staged riots, who sow chaos and who encroach upon the 
constitutional system," Kubilius said in a statement released to news 
agencies.
"The riot will not scare us," he said.
Lithuania's economy is expected to enter a recession this year. The 
protests were called in response to the government's attempts to curb 
the financial crisis, including widely unpopular tax hikes. "Thieves, 
thieves," some protesters shouted at the government Friday.
"The government has long neglected the social needs of the people, 
pensioners and others," Algirdas Paleckis, leader of the Frontas radical 
left party, told Reuters.
Lithuania isn't the only Baltic state where economic problems are 
causing unrest. Though the region has been generally peaceful since the 
dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the sudden threat of financial 
strife is driving ordinary people to unusual angst.
Lithuania's northern neighbor on the Baltic Sea coast, Latvia, is also 
churning. The largest party in its ruling coalition on Friday called for 
early parliamentary elections after a massive demonstration roiled the 
capital this week.
Once boasting the European Union's fastest-growing economy, Latvia was 
forced to seek loans last year from the EU and the International 
Monetary Fund. The government has dramatically cut social spending.
Festering anger boiled over in Riga, the capital, on Tuesday as a 
protest demanding early elections led to riots and looting. Youths dug 
cobblestones from the streets, smashed storefronts and destroyed police 
vehicles, news agencies reported. More than 100 people were detained in 
the worst violence to shake Latvia since the country gained its 
independence in the Soviet collapse.
Protesters also rioted outside Bulgaria's parliament this week as 
citizens of the EU's poorest country railed against their government.
Even Russia, which was riding high through much of the last year because 
of lofty prices for its oil and natural gas, has been rattled by 
financial tension. Police violently stifled demonstrations in recent 
weeks over a tax hike on imported cars.





http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1453887.php/Police_use_tear_gas_to_break_up_Lithuanian_demonstration

Police use tear gas to break up Lithuanian demonstration
Europe News
Jan 16, 2009, 13:19 GMT
Vilnius - Tear gas and baton charges were used in the Baltic states for 
the second time in less than a week on Friday when the Lithuanian 
capital, Vilnius, joined the Latvian capital, Riga, as the scene of 
violent clashes between police and protestors.
Around 7,000 people from across Lithuania on Friday gathered outside 
national parliament and government offices in Vilnius for a union-led 
demonstration against tax increases, job losses and public spending cuts.
Soon after the official start of the demonstration at midday, some 
elements in the crowd chanted 'Thieves come out!' and pelted the 
parliament building with a variety of missiles including snowballs, 
stones, bottles and vegetables, breaking several windows.
An unconfirmed report suggested a shot may have been fired from the 
crowd through one window.
Government minister Arturas Zuokas was hit by an egg when he attempted 
to speak to the demonstrators.
Soon afterwards, riot police reacted by arresting a group of the most 
aggressive protestors, who had attempted to break into the parliament 
building.
Tear gas was then used to disperse the rest of the crowd from the 
immediate vicinity, before protestors regrouped and made a second 
attempt to storm the parliament.
Again they were beaten away and teargas was deployed.
Early reports said around five people had been injured, including a 
policeman who lost part of a finger.
Demonstrators at other locations in Vilnius outside government buildings 
were less confrontational, contenting themselves with handing in 
petitions and waving banners.
However, the Baltic News Service reported that a large crowd in the 
northern city of Siauliai had surrounded a local government building and 
attempted to gain entry but found its way barred by police.
Political protests in neighbouring Latvia descended into violence 
earlier in the week and similar scenes were also witnessed in Bulgaria 
as anger over a bleak economic outlook and political mismanagement 
threatens to boil over.





http://irzikevicius.wordpress.com/2009/01/17/eggs-riot-in-vilnius/

Eggs riot in Vilnius
January 17, 2009

Riots in Vilnius Photo by Mindaugas A?usalis
See an update on the riots

There was no such a situation in Lithuania for ten years? these words of 
one of the top Police Chiefs said in press conferences. Some seven 
thousand protesters gathered in the front of the Parliament to protest 
against the new government?s anti crises plan today. The plan was 
adopted only few weeks ago, however it managed to upset few people in 
Lithuania. There were demos in Siauliai, Alytus, Panevezys, Alytus also.
However, only in Vilnius the demo erupted into rioting. There were some 
disturbances In Siauliai also. The special police forces are still on 
the guard in the streets surrounding the Parliament.
There a lot of details still emerging but there are some facts. 151 
rioters were detained, 15 people were injured. 2 million Litas of damage 
was done to Seimas. Some of the arrested had knifes, iron bars and 
Molotov cocktails. The police use tear gas and rubber bullets to 
disperse the crowd of rioters.
The Trade Union confederation the main organisers of the demos, have 
distanced themselves from the troublemakers. Despite riots in Riga only 
few nights ago, the organisers guarantied that the demo will be 
peaceful. However, it appears that that the peaceful, but noisy demo 
turned into riots once the main demonstrators began planned march to the 
Governmental building about two kilometres away.
The Police kept distance when the snowballs and eggs showered the 
parliamentarian building. However, the ammunition became more 
aggressive, and once the stones and other heavy objects began outnumber 
eggs and snowballs the police decided to intervene?
Absolute majority of the troublemakers were youth with hoods covering 
their heads. The biggest ?surprise? was that such youth actually came to 
the streets having in mind the apolitical nature of the Lithuanian 
youth. This youth was harvesting the results of the rapid Lithuania?s 
development in the last eight years and don?t resemble the ?hard times? 
in the 1990s. I would also assume that those rioters do not give a dam 
about the pensioners and the demos? causes.
The Prime Minister Kubilius mentioned that the riots were superbly 
organised, and mentioned ?forces unfriendly to Lithuania?s sovereignty?. 
President Adamkus compared Vilnius ?eggs riots? with Bronze Soldier 
events in Tallinn and recent riots in Riga. Professor of Politics Lopata 
advised to compare Vilnius, Riga, Sofia and Greece. Prof of Sociology 
Gaidys voiced his concern that Lithuania was caught unprepared: ?We did 
not realise that situation so bad? he admitted.
Those riots are wake up call to the new government that time has come to 
do some explanatory work about the reforms. Yes, there are 10.000 
unemployed registered last month alone, government has to borrow to pay 
pensions, and economy is going to have a negative GDP growth this year. 
The government has to explain reasons behind it anti crisis plan. And of 
course, authorities should tighten their belts also?However, in about 
twelve hours there is going to be another demo in Klaipeda. Lets see how 
long it will remain ?peaceful?.






http://news.aol.co.uk/protests-over-lithuania-government/article/2009011612340884610784

Protests over Lithuania government
Last Updated: Friday, 16 January 2009, 23:28 GMT
- Search: Lithuania protests

Police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-government 
protesters who were throwing rocks and eggs at Lithuania's Parliament.
The Interior Ministry said 15 people were injured, including four 
policeman. One protester lost a finger to a rubber bullet, police said. 
About a dozen windows on the Parliament building, in downtown Vilnius, 
were shattered.
Some 7,000 protesters had gathered outside Parliament on Friday morning 
to demonstrate against reforms aimed at easing the economic crisis. The 
violence started when police pushed away protesters who were demanding 
to see the parliamentary speaker.
By evening Vilnius was quiet. Police said more 82 people had been detained.
"According to police information, this is a well orchestrated action 
against Lithuania," Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius told journalists.
"There are forces that are interested in destabilisation and chaos in 
Lithuania, and they are using the public's dismay over painful reforms 
to achieve their hostile plans," Kubilius said, adding that police knew 
who was responsible.
Kubilius' centre-right coalition, in power less than two months, has 
been criticised for tax increases the government said were needed to 
shore up state finances. On Friday, Lithuania's Finance Ministry 
announced it intended to borrow $1.3 billion from the European 
Investment Bank to plug a yawning budget gap. The Baltic country's 
economy is expected to enter a recession this year.
Liucija Mukiene, a 63-year-old retiree, said the government was arrogant 
and corrupt.
"We are here today because this government is mocking us," she said. 
"They taking away our last money and providing nothing. I am fed up with 
the lies, corruption and those grinning, fat faces behind the windows of 
Parliament."
The clash echoes violent protests this week in Latvia and Bulgaria, and 
recent demonstrations in Greece, as a wave of discontent over economic 
woes, difficult reforms and government corruption sweeps through parts 
of Europe. In Latvia, police detained more than 100 people on Tuesday 
after protesters pelted police with rocks.





http://hubpages.com/hub/Worldwide-Economic-Protests-and-Riots

Worldwide Economic Protests and Riots
95
rate or flag this page
By AZGuy

Iceland Protester. Yes, those F-words mean what it looks like in English.

Credit Crunch and Recession sparks protests and riots
Economic related protests and riots are occuring around the world from 
Iceland to China. The mainstream media in the U.S. gives relatively 
little or no coverage to these events. On January 23, 2009, the Prime 
Minister of Iceland, Geir Haarde resigned from office following several 
months of protests over the banking collapse and credit squeeze. The 
resignation of the Minister of Business Affairs followed two days later. 
Economic conditions in Iceland and other parts of the world continue to 
deteriorate as the effects of the credit crisis affect the general 
economy. The world economy appears to be sliding deeper into recession 
and possibly something worse. Read more on the economic downturn here. 
Protests in Iceland are happening on a near daily basis and are becoming 
edgier as tensions mount amidst the declining economy. You can see more 
about Iceland's economic fallout and protests at the excellent blog 
(written and updated frequently by a native Icelander) here 
http://iceland-dori.blogspot.com/
Economic related rioting is also increasing in Eastern Europe. In 
particular, Latvia has seen some extremely violent rioting. Rioting has 
also been seen in Greece, France, Ireland, Bulgaria and Lithuania. See 
videos and article links below.
There were also major protests in the U.S. on Wall St. back in 2008, 
click here to see the very "colorful and spirited" protests that the 
U.S. media barely covered (strong language advisory): 
http://hubpages.com/hub/Protests-on-Wall-Street---what-the-news-media-isnt-showing-you
Likewise, there were major protests in London in 2008 that received 
modest coverage in Europe, but essentially nil coverage here in the U.S. 
See what you missed here (strong language advisory): 
http://hubpages.com/hub/Protests-in-London-Against-the-Financial-Bailout-Plan-for-Banks
There is a great deal of unrest in China, as the recession in the United 
States and Europe is drastically reducing demand for factory produced 
goods made there. In particular, the city of Guangdong, has seen large 
scale rioting by recently unemployed factory workers who were left 
desparate and destitute after factory closures. Most economists agree 
that China requires a minimum of 8% economic growth just to provide 
enough jobs to keep pace with the huge numbers of new people entering 
the workforce due to population growth. Recently, the growth rate dipped 
to 6.8% and projections indicate that it may decline to 5% which 
indicates severe economic problems and increased social upheaval. A 
recent article indicates that some 20 million Chinese have lost their 
jobs. See article below.
Below is a collection of videos and links regarding economic related 
riots around the world. This list will surely grow in 2009 as the 
effects of the banking collapse, credit crunch and ensuing recession (or 
economic depression) propagate throughout communities in the world.
Update Feb 21, 2009: Huge protest in Ireland erupts over the eonomic 
crisis. Middle class protesters are rallying against a levy on their 
retirement, which they say benefits the rich. See video below.
Also, protests in Greenwich, CT at bank CEOs luxury homes. Busloads of 
protesters descended upon the estates of bank CEOs and demanded justice. 
See video below.
Update April 13, 2009: Violent protests and riots are taking place in 
Thailand.





http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/17/Lithuanian-protesters-clash-with-police/UPI-11351232215289/

Lithuanian protesters clash with police
Published: Jan. 17, 2009 at 1:01 PM

VILNIUS, Lithuania, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Lithuanian protesters' snowballs 
were answered by police rubber bullets when an anti-government rally 
devolved into a riot in Vilnius, medical officials said.
Vilnius Emergency Hospital officials told the Russian news agency 
ITAR-TASS that one of the 11 protesters injured Friday had sustained had 
a head wound while others were hurt by rubber bullets fired by police.
The unsanctioned demonstration of Lithuanian economic policies called by 
trade unions turned violent when some of the approximately 7,000 
protesters allegedly threw snowballs at the Parliament's windows and 
demanded the appearance of Speaker Arunas Valinskas. Police squads and a 
special task force unit sent to the site responded with rubber bullets 
and tear gas, and clashes ensued, witnesses said.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius told ITAR-TASS before the 
rally that the government "is always ready for a dialogue" with trade 
unions, adding he hoped the protest would be held in an organized manner 
and without incidents.





http://www.dw-world.de/dw/function/0,,12215_cid_3952189,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

| 16.01.2009 | 19:00 UTC
Baltic anti-government protests spread to Lithuania
In Lithuania, police have used tear gas and rubber-tipped bullets to 
disperse anti-government protesters outside the country's parliament. 
The interior ministry said 15 people were injured, including four 
policemen. Police said about 7,000 people attended the rally in the 
capital Vilnius. The rally was called by trade unions to protest an 
austerity drive in which the centre-right government is seeking to slash 
public sector wages by up to 15 percent and raise consumption tax. The 
protest comes on the heels of similar demonstrations in neighbouring 
Latvia earlier this week.







http://freespeechlatvia.blogspot.com/2009/01/latvia-moves-from-speech-to-non-violent.html

Monday, January 26, 2009
Latvia moves from speech to non-violent resistance
After the January 13 street riots in Riga, subsequent threats of 
government repression and what is widely seen as continued government 
indifference to public opinion, an informal movement of non-violent 
resistance, called The Penguins (Pingvini). The term emerged from a 
remark by Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis, apparently in his New Year's 
Eve address to the nation (I was in the US at the time and missed it). 
Godmanis said that in hard (or cold) times, penguins squeeze together.
The penguin movement apparent started before January 13, since a 
contingent of mainly young people with placards bearing ironic "penguin 
slogans" was seen at the peaceful opposition rally at Riga's Dom Square 
that preceded the disorders.
Following statements that were seen as threats to freedom of assembly 
and speech by the Prime Minister immediately after the riots, 
journalist, blogger and radio personality (and my editor and colleague 
at LETA) M?ris Zanders said that the government had "declared war" on 
the public and the only reasonable response was to prepare for 
non-violent resistance. Transcripts of Zanders' radio commentaries have 
appeared on the home page of the Penguins www.pingviniem.info, putting 
him in the unwanted position of being an informal leadership figure for 
what is emerging as a non-violent, almost anarchist resistance movement.
Zanders has published a number of addresses and mobile phone numbers 
that he hints might be those of government ministers and has urged the 
public to call or send SMS to these numbers to express dissatisfaction. 
He has also listed some addresses and locations in Riga that can be 
understood to be the residences of the same ministers. The journalist's 
commentaries have been formulated in sufficiently vague terms so that no 
one can call them incitements to harass public figures. Press reports 
say that several ministers have been turning off their mobile phones 
after work or failing to answer calls from numbers they do not recognize.
Zanders has also suggested the people go on " peaceful strolls" in areas 
where the politicians live or where important meetings of the government 
and parliamentarians are taking place. One could even have a friendly 
"snowball fight", he said.
The penguin website is developing discussions of other non-violent and 
civil disobedience actions (silent vigils, refusals to disperse). There 
is, too, an undertone of concern that the authorities might use force 
against such protests and what, then, would be the reaction of the 
penguins and their supporters.
Aside from the penguins, Latvian farmers, especially dairy farmers, are 
threatening to obstruct roads with farm machinery and perhaps organize 
similar militant actions in Riga. The farmers are asking for government 
support to avoid bankruptcy during the economic crisis.
I think we are seeing the seeds of an extraparliamentary opposition in 
Latvia, ranging from non-violent demonstrators to civil disobedience, to 
possibly other forms of resistance if the state is the first to use 
force. I will try to keep readers informed.
Posted by Juris Ka?a at 9:33 AM






http://tallinn.cafebabel.com/en/post/2009/01/14/Latvia-After-the-Riots-What-Happens-Now

Latvia After the Riots - What Happens Now?

When a Minister publicly accuses a colleague of having been a "bastard" 
for the organization of an anti-governmental rally, we all realize that 
there should be something wrong. When it happens after the first nights 
of riots in the life of independent Latvia, then we all think that 
something out of proportions is really happening.
?Are you happy now??

These are the words Latvian Minister of Interior Marek Seglin? wrote on 
a note he sent to Aigars Shtokenbergs, leader of the anti governmental 
movement that organized yesterda?y.
A rally that, in few hours, officially killed the Latvian dream.

With 126 people arrested, 28 taken to the hospital, alcohol and tobacco 
stores looted by rioters and jackals, this has not been an easy morning 
for the population of the Capital. ?There was a nice event and then when 
it finished people decided to go and express their anger and destroy the 
parliament and then it all spread through Old Riga,? said Anna Gulbe, 
19, referring to the picturesque historic part of the capital city.

?Sadly, we woke up too late. We could see the financial mess that was an 
obstacle in our path, but it was too late to avoid it [?] It has been 
said that Latvia is currently experiencing one of the most dramatic 
operations for the rescue of a financial system in the history of modern 
Europe?, said the Latvian President to the Member of the European 
Parliament, finally admitting the enormous proportions of the financial 
breakdown the country is experiencing, but still avoiding to make a 
clear statement on what some 10,000 people asked him for some hours.
Otherwise said, his head.
Politically speaking, ?a va sans dire.

I did not take a position, true, but if anyone would ask me for a 
sincere guess, I would confess that I would not feel safe on betting on 
his career right now.

Whether his cabinet is guilty or not, or whether the risky policy some 
countries adopted since when they decided to lie on the economical 
bubbles they created finally turned out to be something less smart than 
what we all thought, Latvia moved from being the enfant prodige of the 
European growth to a shameful black sheep that other countries would 
prefer not to see.
And it all happened so rapidly that many people did not manage to 
realize it until yesterday, the night when the IMF loan shown its effect 
on the feelings of the citizens.
Latvia received a 7.5 billion-euro ($9.9 billion) international aid 
package in December from a group led by the International Monetary Fund, 
the European Union and the Nordic countries. The Latvian economy 
contracted 4.6 percent in the third quarter from the same period a year 
earlier and the government took over the country?s second-biggest bank.

Where will it all end up is hard to foresee.
A bit because the negative escalation of the last months showed us how 
it is not the moment for any ?creative? forecast anymore, and a lot 
because the lack of preparation of some of our highest-level politicians 
has been so gross that it even makes feel ashamed for the contribution 
we gave to all this during the past elections.

What is possible to foresee, though, is that after the funny hit-and-run 
scored by Pedro Almunia and Andrus Ansip ? which, once more, shown us 
the consciousness some people have of the whole economical issue and its 
priorities ? is that, as someone once said in Estonia, ?Gloomy times are 
ahead.?
on Wednesday, January 14 2009 By Giovanni Angioni






http://globalvoicesonline.org/2009/01/17/latvia-rioting-in-riga/

Latvia: Rioting in Riga

Saturday, January 17th, 2009 @ 02:17 UTC
by Veronica Khokhlova
In his post about the Jan. 13 peaceful anti-government protest followed 
by rioting in Riga, Aleks Tapinsh of All About Latvia wrote that Ivars 
Godmanis, the Latvian PM, had ?told the people in his New Year?s Eve 
address how penguins deal with severe winter - they huddle together to 
stay warm - the same way as Latvians ought to do when going through the 
economic turmoil.?
What happened in Latvia's capital on Tuesday has thus been labeled by 
some as the ?penguin revolution.?
Below are some of the accounts and opinions from the blogosphere.
More from All About Latvia's post linked to above:
Shattered glass. Blue paint on the building. Broken plastic bottles. 
Cobblestones. Ninety-eight detained.
[?]
But it started all so peaceful. Around 5 p.m. several hundred people had 
already flooded the Dom Square in the heart of the capital of Latvia. 
People of different ages, ethnicity, backgrounds appeared united in 
their disdain for the ruling coalition, and ? more importantly ? the 
culture of political cynicism.
Following the 90-minute event mostly young people moved toward the 
Saeima building. They tried to get in. Prevented from doing so by the 
riot police, they began throwing anything that they could lay their 
hands on - from snowballs to street cobblestones. [?]
An English-language interview with a protester, conducted by Aleks 
Tapinsh, is here. The man believes that ?new people? should be allowed 
into Latvia's politics for the country to prosper and talks about the 
effect that the ongoing crisis has so far had on his business.
A selection of relevant photo and video reports - at a Russian-language 
blog on the disturbances of Jan. 13: http://lvrevolucija.blogspot.com/.
Juris Ka?a of Free Speech Emergency in Latvia offers this assessment:
[?] On one level, the ruling coalition in Latvia had this coming to it. 
Regardless of what the law and the book of etiquette says, a riot is a 
form of political struggle, though less focussed and clear than a 
well-defined non-violent protest. Seeing eggs and rocks fly at the 
Saeima building as a symbol of the ruling elite and Latvian politicians 
made not only me but many others feel that they had this coming.
If there is more severe repression against future protests, it will most 
likely escalate to the West European model of periodic clashes between 
the police and young streetfighters.
While this is unfortunate, especially for those suffering collateral 
damage ? looted stores, injured police and bystanders ? it now seems 
inevitable that street violence will become part of the political scene 
here and the threat of such violence ? a likely excuse for curbing 
non-violent expression. Post-Soviet authoritarian thinking in Latvia is 
strong, and it will not diminish but find some self-justification after 
the Riga riots.
A pre-protest roundup on the political and economic situation in Latvia 
- defaulted bank loans, corrupt politicians, legislative chaos - in 
earlier posts at All About Latvia, here and here.
Juris Ka?a, in a Jan. 16 post, reports on the Riga City Council's 
decision ?[to deny] permits for two politically-oriented gatherings in 
Riga's Old Town? on Saturday and Sunday:
[?] There are comments and appeals circulating on the internet asking 
people to defy the ban on gatherings in the Old Town and hinting at a 
repeat of the January 13 disorders if the police attempt to disperse or 
interfere with any unsanctioned public meetings. [?]
A reader, however, refutes the information about the banning of the 
rallies in this comment to Juris Ka?a's post:
[?] Blanket ban of assembly in Old Town would, of course, be wrong and 
unlawful, and even ban on particular kind of gatherings would, I think. 
No such ban has been established, public comments of officials proposing 
to ban particular kind of gatherings notwithstanding. [?]
Riga-based LJ user xzirnisx posted several pictures and wrote this (RUS) 
the morning after the disturbances:
In all kinds of tourist booklets, they've always liked to call Riga the 
?small Paris.? Last night, the city turned into a small Athens, and I'm 
incredibly happy about it, because I used to think that for our people, 
who are patiently enduring all the troubles and deprivations, there is 
nothing that can force them to drag their behinds off the couch. But, it 
turns out, there is something.
Naturally, the mass media are trying to turn everything into farce, 
emphasizing the fact that the ?vandals have looted the Latvijas balzams 
(liquor) store,? but for some reason failing to mention the [five dozen] 
injured protesters, faces of girls adorned with running mascara and 
bruises, and pensioners who've also got a taste of black rubber.
Over a hundred people are now huddling at [police] stations all over the 
city. Most of them are not vandals. I still can't get through to my 
brother. The PM said that ?there'll be no more actions on the territory 
of the Old Riga.? Here it is, the true face of our pseudo-democracy ;)
In response to a reader's question, LJ user xzirnisx listed some of the 
reasons (RUS) for the people's discontent:
[?] We currently have the highest unemployment rates in the EU. In 
December, some 300 people were losing jobs every day - this with the 
population of 2 million. Per capita GDP is the lowest in the EU (or 
[it's the lowest] in Polans, which places us on the second place from 
the end). And what are the measures that the government is taking? They 
are raising the VAT to 21 percent and cut [state employees'] salaries by 
15 percent. In the private sector, salaries have also gone down - by 
about [a half] since October. In addition to all this, public 
transportation has become twice as expensive this year and costs Ls 0.50 
($1). They've also raised [natural] gas prices - and they are selling it 
to us at four times (!!!) the price that Russia is charging them for it. 
And the more expensive the gas, the more expensive the electricity and 
heating. [?]
Daugavpils-based LJ user aljena-beljaeva posted information (RUS) about 
a fundraising effort for Edgar Gorban, a 16-year-old protester who lost 
his eye during the rioting:
[?] They say the eye was hit either by a stone, or he lost it as a 
result of [tear] gas, but originally there was information about a 
rubber bullet. I don't know what really happened and I don't really 
care. One way or another, I saw this boy's crying mother on TV, an 
ordinary Russian-speaking woman, and I feel very sorry for her. Some 
people are now saying that we shouldn't be turning him into a romantic 
hero - he must have been throwing stones himself, so he is the one to 
blame. [?]
Riga-based LJ user kris_reid posted his policeman friend's account (RUS) 
of what had occurred on Jan. 13, addressing the entry to readers from 
Russia - who, according to the blogger, were likely to get the other 
side of the story - ?the protester's version? - from ?the zombie-box 
[Russian TV]?:
[?]
?[?] When [?] the number of people returning from the rally decreased 
and we were expecting to hear ?thank you for your work? over our 
walkie-talkies, we got information about groups gathering by the Saeima 
[Latvian parliament] [?]. And at 8 PM, a general alert was issued and an 
order came for all the free units and the reserves to go to certain 
points to get instructions. [?]
About the ?non-use of special devices? - lies. I myself was among those 
who used them. Got caught on [some videos]. [Beat up] one guy [who was] 
five meters away and about to throw a stone, and handed him to [the riot 
police guys], who [beat him up some more] and led him away [?]. Him and 
his cocky [girlfriend]. I heard from colleagues that flash/noise and gas 
grenades were being used by the Saeima.
[?]
Upd. [Rioters] were multinational. There were enough of both [ethnic] 
Latvians and [ethnic] Russians.
Can't say anything about the rally - didn't see it [?]. People leaving 
the rally made a good impression - more or less normal people. The whole 
mess happened because of the predominantly marginal youth, most of them 
[drunk]. [?] And the disturbances were of a totally European scale - 
with ripped out cobblestone. [?]?
Posted by Veronica Khokhlova






http://freespeechlatvia.blogspot.com/2009/01/crackdown-on-expression-could-follow.html

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Crackdown on expression could follow Riga riots
Latvian prime minister Ivars Godmanis said that it "is another Latvia" 
after the January 13 riots in Riga and that "other methods" would be 
used to quell violent protests. Speaking on a morning news show January 
14, Godmanis hinted that further mass rallies in Riga's Old Town could 
be restricted or forbidden. The peaceful rally ahead of the unrest was 
organized by a new opposition party and supported by various 
non-governmental organizations. It was called to demand that President 
Valdis Zatlers dissolve the Latvian Parliament, the Saiema.
Following the rally in Riga's Dom Square a large crowd moved on to the 
nearby Saeima building where confrontations erupted between a small 
police contingent guarding the entrance to the building and the 
demonstrators. Snow, ice and eggs were thrown, followed by paving 
stones, smashing several windows. There were a number of injuries on 
both sides.
The rioting spilled over into other parts of the historic downtown, with 
youths overturning several police vehicles, smashing windows at the 
Finance Ministry and several shops and offices. A liquour store was 
looted. Charges by riot police were met with showers of stones and other 
objects, including uprooted street signs tossed as spears at both the 
police and store windows.
My assessment:
On one level, the ruling coalition in Latvia had this coming to it. 
Regardless of what the law and the book of etiquette says, a riot is a 
form of political struggle, though less focussed and clear than a 
well-defined non-violent protest. Seeing eggs and rocks fly at the 
Saeima building as a symbol of the ruling elite and Latvian politicians 
made not only me but many others feel that they had this coming.
If there is more severe repression against future protests, it will most 
likely escalate to the West European model of periodic clashes between 
the police and young streetfighters.
While this is unfortunate, especially for those suffering collateral 
damage -- looted stores, injured police and bystanders -- it now seems 
inevitable that street violence will become part of the political scene 
here and the threat of such violence -- a likely excuse for curbing 
non-violent expression. Post-Soviet authoritarian thinking in Latvia is 
strong, and it will not diminish but find some self-justification after 
the Riga riots.

Posted by Juris Ka?a at 10:01 PM






http://allaboutlatvia.com/article/743/penguin-revolution/

?Nasing Spe?al - Penguin Revolution?
R?GA ? Shattered glass. Blue paint on the building. Broken plastic 
bottles. Cobblestones. Ninety-eight detained.
These are the preliminary results of the aftermath of the penguin 
revolution (when Godmanis told the people in his New Year?s Eve address 
how penguins deal with severe winter - they huddle together to stay warm 
- the same way as Latvians ought to do when going through the economic 
turmoil).
But it started all so peaceful. Around 5 p.m. several hundred people had 
already flooded the Dom Square in the heart of the capital of Latvia. 
People of different ages, ethnicity, backgrounds appeared united in 
their disdain for the ruling coalition, and ? more importantly ? the 
culture of political cynicism.
Following the 90-minute event mostly young people moved toward the 
Saeima building. They tried to get in. Prevented from doing so by the 
riot police, they began throwing anything that they could lay their 
hands on - from snowballs to street cobblestones. The first flood 
windows were shattered.
Commentators undoubtedly will analyze what had taken place ? whether the 
riot was a fruit of public discontent and anger at the ruling clique, or 
a product of alcohol and intoxication, or, perhaps, a combination of 
both. One thing for sure, regardless of the protest, the political 
cynicism lives on. The Interior Minister Mareks Segli??, who was nowhere 
to be seen near the riots, sent an SMS to Aigars ?tokenbergs, a party 
leader, who organized the protest, saying ?Now you can be proud.?





http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/14/2466271.htm

Police, rioters clash in Latvian capital
Posted Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:07pm AEDT
Hundreds of demonstrators have clashed with riot police in Latvia's 
capital, Riga, after an anti-government protest.
Police used mace and truncheons to disperse rioters who smashed shop 
windows and overturned a police van after failing to storm parliament.
The violence followed a peaceful rally in which some 10,000 people 
accused the Government of economic mismanagement and demanded new elections.
Latvia's economy is expected to contract by at least 5 per cent this year.
Until last year, it was one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.





http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/world/europe/15latvia.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Latvia Is Shaken by Riots Over Its Weak Economy

Ilmars Znotins/Agence France-Presse ? Getty Images
Military personnel faced off with protesters in Riga, Latvia, on Tuesday 
night.

By ELLEN BARRY
Published: January 14, 2009
MOSCOW ? Violent protests over political grievances and mounting 
economic woes shook the Latvian capital, Riga, late Tuesday, leaving 
around 25 people injured and leading to 106 arrests.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image

Reuters
Officers cleared demonstrators on Wednesday in Sofia, Bulgaria. Several 
countries have faced protests over economic issues.

Ilmars Znotins/Agence France-Presse ? Getty Images
A protester faced riot police officers on Tuesday in Riga, Latvia. About 
25 people were injured when the rally turned violent.
In the wake of the demonstrations, President Valdis Zatlers threatened 
Wednesday to call for a referendum that would allow voters to dissolve 
Parliament, saying trust in the government, including in its ability to 
deal with growing economic problems, had ?collapsed catastrophically.?
For years, Latvia boasted of double-digit economic growth rates, but it 
has been shaken by the global economic downturn. Its central bank has 
spent a fifth of its reserves to guard against a steep devaluation of 
its currency, the lat, and experts expect a 5 percent contraction of the 
country?s gross domestic product in 2009. Salaries are expected to fall 
substantially, and unemployment is expected to rise.
The violence followed days of clashes in Greece last month over a number 
of issues, including economic stagnation and rising poverty as well as 
widespread corruption and a troubled education system. In Bulgaria on 
Wednesday, separate riots broke out in the capital, Sofia, after more 
than 2,000 people ? including students, farmers and environmental 
activists ? demonstrated in front of Parliament over economic 
conditions, Reuters reported.
Mr. Zatlers has long been aligned with the governing coalition, so his 
threat to dissolve Parliament came as a surprise ? and was testament to 
nervousness about how economic troubles in the region could intersect 
with simmering political grievances.
The rioting broke out Tuesday after around 10,000 people protested in 
historic Dome Square over the economic troubles and grievances involving 
corruption and competence of the government.
Several hundred protesters lingered after most of the crowd had left and 
started throwing snowballs and cobblestones at government buildings.
Several demonstrators also threw Molotov cocktails, according to Mareks 
Mattisons, a spokesman for Latvia?s Interior Ministry. In a public 
statement on Wednesday, President Zatlers denounced the violence, but 
said it was more important to ask ?why people gathered in Dome Square.?
?We must not face further confrontation, we must do the things that are 
demanded by the public,? he said. ?I refer to constitutional amendments, 
a plan to stimulate the economy, and reform of the national system of 
governance.?
Krisjanis Karins, a member of Parliament and former leader of the 
opposition New Era party, said the violence showed that financial woes 
had injected a new vehemence into old political complaints.
Protests in Latvia, he said, tended to follow a pattern of ?standing, 
singing and just going home,? but the young protesters who showed up on 
Tuesday evening ?seem to think the Greek or French way of expressing 
anger is better,? he said.
?In our neck of the woods, this just doesn?t happen,? he said. ?But it 
did this time. Everyone is trying to figure out how much of this was 
provoked. Who are these people? Where did they come from??
Whatever the answer, he said, Tuesday?s protests seem likely to force 
political change.
?In six months, we?re going to look back and yesterday will be a 
watershed,? he said. ?I would be deeply surprised if it were not.?
President Zatlers made a series of strict demands of the Parliament, 
including a constitutional amendment that would allow voters to dismiss 
Parliament, and a new supervisory council to oversee economic 
development and the state?s use of loans.
He called for ?new faces in the government,? chosen for competence 
rather than ?their influence in the relevant party.? He said the changes 
must be made by March 31, or else he would propose a referendum that 
could dissolve Parliament.
?Only with such specific work can we calm the public down and offer at 
least a bit of hope that the process in this country will develop in a 
favorable direction,? he said.






http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008624354_apeulatviaantigovernmentprotests.html?syndication=rss

Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Latvia's president blasts politicians after riot
Latvia's president lashed out at lawmakers and threatened to dissolve 
Parliament after more than 40 people were injured in the worst rioting 
since the Baltic country split from the Soviet Union in 1991.
By GARY PEACH
Associated Press Writer
RIGA, Latvia ?
Latvia's president lashed out at lawmakers and threatened to dissolve 
Parliament after more than 40 people were injured in the worst rioting 
since the Baltic country split from the Soviet Union in 1991.
President Valdis Zatlers said Wednesday he would disband the legislature 
by March 31 unless lawmakers agree to a series of reforms to help 
restore political and economic order in the crisis-hit nation.
Latvia's economy was once the fastest-growing in the European Union, but 
it has undergone a dramatic reversal and is expected to contract 5 
percent this year. The Central Bank burned through about one-third of 
its reserves to defend the currency, the lat, and unemployment rocketed 
from 6 percent to 7 percent in December.
International lenders including the EU, the International Monetary Fund 
and Nordic countries have pledged $10.5 billion in financial assistance 
to help the nation of 2.3 million recover.
Zatlers' ultimatum came a day after an anti-government demonstration 
that included an estimated 10,000 participants turned violent when 
scores of angry protesters tried to storm Parliament and clashed with 
police.
More than 40 people were injured, mostly protesters but also six police 
officers and eight military police, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Sigita 
Pildava said. Police detained 106 people.
The rampage echoes similar clashes in Greece and Bulgaria, where 
protesters vented their anger at deteriorating economic conditions and 
widespread corruption.
In Latvia, government and opposition leaders blamed each other for the 
violence, but Zatlers said politicians must address "the catastrophic 
collapse of trust in authorities and state officials" that was expressed 
at the demonstration.
His ultimatum surprised many in the Baltic state considering the current 
coalition placed him in the president's chair. In Latvia, the president 
is elected by Parliament.
Latvians are irate about the country's deepening recession, and many 
blame Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis' center-right government for the 
economic woes.
Zatlers demanded lawmakers amend the constitution to give voters the 
right to dissolve the legislature between elections, and called for the 
creation of a council to oversee Latvia's economic recovery program.
He also told Godmanis that his Cabinet had to restructure the way the 
government works, including minimizing the number of ministerial posts.
"Both Parliament and the government have lost touch with voters," 
Zatlers told reporters.
The violence started as a peaceful anti-government demonstration ended 
in Riga's historic Old Town. Most of the demonstrators left the area but 
about 100 of them turned violent and tried to storm the Parliament 
building. Riot police kept them away, using tear gas and truncheons.
The rioters pelted officers with cobblestones and chunks of ice and 
vandalized three police vehicles. They smashed windows of boutiques, the 
Finance Ministry and a bank, and looted a liquor store.
Godmanis told the LNT TV station Wednesday that protest organizers bear 
responsibility for the violence, citing their decision to hold the rally 
despite tensions over the deepening economic crisis.
Opposition lawmaker Aigars Stokenbergs, one of the rally's main 
organizers, called the government incompetent for not providing 
sufficient security at the protest.
"What happened at Parliament was because of a lack of competence on the 
part of the Interior Ministry," Stokenbergs told The Associated Press. 
He called on Interior Minister Mareks Seglins to step down.





http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013699831

Protesters, Riot Cops Clash In Latvia
January 13, 2009 7:54 p.m. EST
AHN Staff
Riga, Latvia (AHN) - Some 10,000 protesters angered by the economic 
crisis in Latvia clashed with riot police guarding the parliament in the 
capital city of Riga on Tuesday as they demanded new elections and a new 
government.
Several people were injured when young protesters hurled rocks and 
snowballs, broke windows and ripped up cobblestones while baton-wielding 
policemen fired tear gas and charged the demonstrators.
The rally organized by opposition parties and labor unions sought the 
ouster of centre-right Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis as the Baltic 
country once touted as an "economic tiger" of the European Union 
struggle against double-digit inflation, budget deficit, a 15 percent 
slash in state employees' pay and corruption.





http://www.iii.co.uk/shares/?type=news&articleid=7113451&action=article

(AFX UK Focus) 2009-01-13 18:33
Riot police clash with protesters in Latvia
RIGA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Latvian riot police used teargas and truncheons 
after dozens of anti-government demonstrators tried to break into 
parliament on Tuesday.
The clashes broke out after an earlier peaceful protest attended by 
thousands of people to call for early elections in a country which has 
had to take a 7.5 billion euro ($9.97 billion) loan from the IMF and 
European Union after hitting recession.
"Dissolve parliament, dissolve parliament" chanted protesters as dozens 
of burly men rushed a line of anti-riot police outside the parliament 
building.
Several hundred other people looked on and chanted. People threw bottles 
at parliament smashing windows and eggs were hurled at police. As 
demonstrators pushed forward, police sprayed them with teargas.
The larger earlier peaceful demonstration, which included singing of 
patriotic songs, was similar to protests late in 2007, which eventually 
forced the then prime minister to resign.
However, the same four parties stayed in coalition and the organisers of 
the demonstration accused them and Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis of 
mismanaging the country.
"We have only one demand to the president: to call early elections and 
to dissolve parliament," Artis Pabriks, a former foreign minister and 
now an opposition parliamentarian, told the crowd in a central city square.
Latvia was the European Union's fastest growing economy until last year, 
when the credit crunch dried up its consumer fuelled boom. The 
government had to call for international aid as its budget revenues sank.
(Reporting by Patrick Lannin)






http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LD223079.htm

Latvian anti-government protest turns into riot
13 Jan 2009 22:26:17 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds quotes, details)
By Patrick Lannin and Jorgen Johansson
RIGA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Hundreds of youths destroyed police vehicles, 
smashed windows and looted stores in Latvia's capital on Tuesday when an 
anti-government protest turned into a riot.
The violence, after a peaceful protest by thousands calling for early 
elections in a country which last year had to seek a multi-billion 
economic rescue deal, was the worst seen since the collapse of the 
former Soviet Union in 1991.
Hundreds of protesters marched on the parliament of the EU and NATO 
nation. Some tried to storm the building but were dispersed by riot 
police using teargas and truncheons.
"There was a nice event and then when it finished people decided to go 
and express their anger and destroy the parliament and then it all 
spread through Old Riga," said Anna Gulbe, 19, referring to the 
picturesque historic part of the capital city.
Once police had control of the area around parliament, a large group of 
rioters began roaming through the city centre, smashing storefronts and 
office windows with cobblestones dug up from the streets. Windows at the 
Finance Ministry and several other buildings were shattered.
A liquor store and a tobacco store were looted.
Rioters, a mixture of Russian-speaking and Latvian youths, overturned a 
police van and a police car before pounding it to pieces with wooden 
planks and makeshift weapons.
The riot fizzled out after about three hours when police reinforcements 
arrived and gradually drove the rioters away. A police spokeswoman said 
126 people were arrested. Five protesters and three policemen were 
injured, she added.
"The state is in crisis and people have just started to get into a bad 
mood about everything. There has never been such a big riot in Riga, 
I've never seen anything like it," said Ance Brasma, 20, a student.
Latvians want change as the economy, formerly the EU's fastest-growing, 
crashed and it had to take a 7.5 billion euro ($9.97 billion) 
International Monetary Fund and EU loan.
Under the deal, the government has to slash public spending, though it 
has pledged to preserve social spending in the country of 2.3 million.
"Dissolve parliament, dissolve parliament," the protesters chanted when 
dozens of burly men rushed a line of anti-riot police outside the 
parliament building.
People threw bottles at parliament. As demonstrators pushed forward, 
police sprayed them with pepper spray.
The larger, earlier demonstration, which included singing of patriotic 
songs, was similar to protests late in 2007, which eventually forced the 
then prime minister to resign.
However, the same four parties stayed in coalition and the organisers of 
the demonstration accused them and Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis of 
mismanaging the country.
"We have only one demand of the president: call early elections and 
dissolve parliament," Artis Pabriks, a former foreign minister who is 
now an opposition parliamentarian, told the crowd in Old Riga's central 
square. (Editing by Alison Williams)




From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 15:07:02 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:07:02 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] Anti-neoliberal,
 anti-capitalist and anti-corporate protests, January 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF6616.40602@tesco.net>



* ECUADOR: CONAIE lead indigenous mobilisations against mining law, 
block roads
* NIGERIA - Niger Delta - Protest against marginalisation in Warri
* SWITZERLAND: Clashes at Davos summit protests as anti-capitalists 
stand up to repressive police, protest ban
* ICELAND: Protests over crisis bring down government
* BRAZIL: Tens of thousands attend World Social Forum
* MALAYSIA: Protest against hypermarket project
* PHILIPPINES: Repression against anti-mining protesters during leader's 
visit
* US - California: Budget cuts bring out protesters
* MEXICO: Rally over economic crisis
* FRANCE: Supermarket raids against consumerism, crisis
* US: Vermont - Cuts draw budget protest
* RUSSIA: Activists arrested at car import tax protest
* LITHUANIA: Austerity plan sparks protest, unrest
* LATVIA: New resistance movement emerges after unrest in Riga
* FRANCE: Millions take part in anti-neoliberal strikes, protests
* SWITZERLAND: Bank paintbombed
* Articles on crisis protests across Europe






http://ecuador-rising.blogspot.com/2009/01/indians-block-ecuador-highways-to.html

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Indians Block Ecuador Highways to Protest Mining
LAHT, January 20, 2009
QUITO -- Indian groups in Ecuador started blocking highways before dawn 
Tuesday in protest against the new mining law, while Interior Minister 
Fernando Bustamante asked that the demonstrations be carried out peacefully.

The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador, or Conaie, and 
some environmental groups called for nationwide protests against the new 
law, which they believe will harm the environment and favor 
multinational mining companies.

According to media accounts, indigenous groups began blocking highways 
at sunrise, above all in the country's Andean region, although 
government officials said that these demonstrations were not really 
significant.

North of Quito some 1,000 Indians stalled traffic before dawn on the Pan 
American Highway with tree trunks and stones, witnesses said.

Those blockades and similar actions have not resulted in any serious 
clashes with police, authorities said.

Miguel Torres, an Indian leader in the northern province of Imbabura 
where the police have kept the road to the capital from being cut off, 
said on Radio Quito that "the blockades will be progressive."

Another Indian leader said on the Teleamazonas network that police 
stopped demonstrators from entering the capital for a planned 
demonstration and march to Congress.

"Groups that want to protest against the mining law or anything else can 
do so, they have the right, they have freedom of expression and can give 
their points of view, but we are going to require that they do so with 
respect for law and order," the interior minister said in an interview 
on Sonorama radio.

"If they block highways or take any other action that keeps people from 
carrying on with their normal lives, we'll have to intervene and do what 
the law requires in such cases," Bustamante said.

After the statement President Rafael Correa made Monday that there are 
groups out to destabilize the government, the minister said that "some 
leaders" of these groups may have such an intention, but he doesn't 
believe "that together the demonstrators have that idea."

Correa, a left-leaning, U.S.-trained economist, says the new mining law 
includes environmental safeguards and accuses the measure's opponents of 
engaging in "childish leftism and environmentalism."






http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=324778&CategoryId=14089

Ecuador Residents Protest Against Mining Without Environmental Protection

QUITO -- Hundreds of peasants in Ecuador's southern Andean region 
blocked roads on Monday to protest lawmakers' expected approval of a new 
mining law that opponents claim doesn't do enough to protect the 
environment and rural communities.

The militants piled sticks, rocks and piles of burning tires on the 
three main routes into Cuenca, the biggest city in the southern highlands.

Four protesters were arrested, three police officers injured and an 
ambulance set on fire in Molleturo, near Cuenca, reporters said.

The president of the Union of Water Systems in Azuay province, Carlos 
Perez, told journalists that the roadblocks will continue until 
Ecuador's Congress either shelves the proposed legislation or sends a 
commission to the region to see the environmental harm done by existing 
mining projects.

The 120 police deployed to Cuenca were unable to clear the roads.

Separately, scores of independent miners arrived in Quito to demand that 
the congressional committee now reviewing the bill amend the text to 
include provisions legitimizing small mining cooperatives.

President Rafael Correa's leftist government says the peasants' 
objections to the proposed law are unwarranted, as the measure includes 
strict environmental safeguards.

The administration criticizes the demonstrators as "childish," asserting 
that mining, if properly regulated, can be part of lifting Ecuadorians 
out of poverty.

Though the Andean nation produces nearly 600,000 barrels of oil per day, 
roughly 70 percent of the population remains poor.






http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45513

ECUADOR: Indigenous Groups Protest Government Policies
By Kintto Lucas

QUITO, Jan 22 (IPS) - Since the start of his term in January 2007, 
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has had touchy relations with the 
indigenous peoples' movement, in spite of the fact that it backed his 
election. But passage of a mining law has deepened the rift between them 
and triggered protests.

In his report this week to the country's interim Congress, a temporary 
legislature installed after the country's new constitution was approved 
in September 2008 and that will function until a new Congress is 
elected, the centre-left president criticised leftwing sectors and 
indigenous leaders who are opposed to the mining law.

"Where does the biggest danger to the citizen revolution lie? In the 
infantile left, the infantile pro-indigenous movement, the infantile 
ecological movement, which have become active again, holding meetings to 
push for an uprising opposed to mining," the president has stated.

In a speech from the balcony of the seat of government to hundreds of 
people this week, Correa said he would accept protests if they were 
peaceful, but emphasised that he would not allow roadblocks, like those 
carried out by the indigenous movement in different parts of the country 
on Tuesday.

"With this law in hand, we will not allow these abuses, we will not 
allow uprisings, roadblocks, attacks on private property, or obstacles 
to an activity (mining) that is legal and that is being regulated," he 
said.

The indigenous movement is opposed to the new mining law because they 
argue that it is based on a model of large-scale extraction which will 
affect the environment, pollute water and plunder the natural wealth of 
the country while providing hardly any benefits to Ecuadoreans, and only 
benefiting foreign corporations.

The business community is also critical of the mining law, but in their 
case because they believe it puts mining in Ecuador at a disadvantage 
compared to competitors in Peru and Chile, for example.

But the government considers that extractive industries such as gold and 
copper mining are of essential importance to the country's development.

Humberto Cholango, the head of Ecuarunari, an association of Quechua 
peoples from the Andes highlands and the largest member organisation of 
the powerful Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador 
(CONAIE), told IPS that "unfortunately" the government has not been 
willing to enter into dialogue and the president is surrounded by 
"rightwing" leaders.

CONAIE, which represents 90 percent of the indigenous peoples' movement, 
is divided into three regional branches, for the highlands, the coast, 
and the Amazon jungle areas - Ecuador's three main geographical divisions.

"The president has only to look around him if he wants to see 
representatives of the right," said Cholango, referring to certain 
ministers and secretaries who were formerly linked to rightwing sectors.

"The indigenous peoples' movement has fought against the neoliberal 
model for many years. It has faced repression and members have been 
killed under different governments, but it has maintained its dignity," 
he said, clarifying that Tuesday?s protest was not organised to 
destabilise the government, but to urge it to "correct its course."

Cholango said Correa raised hopes when he took office two years ago, but 
that he has been incapable of understanding the country?s indigenous 
people.

"We are open to dialogue. This protest demonstration is against the 
neoliberal model and against laws that oppose change, like the mining 
law which endangers water sources, or the food sovereignty law which 
favours agribusiness monopolies," he said.

He said the protesters were demanding, above all, discussion of the 
draft water law presented by the indigenous movement, which seeks to 
conserve and protect water resources.

"We do not accept that a government that says it is in favour of 
marginalised people should not take their views into account when it 
makes laws. It's inconceivable that laws as important as those on mining 
or food sovereignty should be passed without public debate, or that they 
should contain articles that run counter to the constitution itself, 
which enshrines the rights of nature," he said.

Urban and youth movements as well as environmental and human rights 
organisations joined in CONAIE's protest on Tuesday.

The Council of Evangelical Indigenous Peoples and Organisations of 
Ecuador (FEINE), the second-largest indigenous group, expressed 
agreement with CONAIE's demands. Its head, Marco Murillo, complained 
about the total lack of social participation in lawmaking and in the 
government.

The other, and final, component of the indigenous peoples' movement is 
the National Federation of Peasant, Indigenous and Black Organisations 
(FENOCIN), linked to the Socialist Party, which has a much weaker social 
influence. Some of its leaders occupy mid-level government posts.

Political analyst Alejandro Moreano said Ecuador?s indigenous movement 
is the country?s largest social movement and one of the most powerful in 
Latin America.

"It was the indigenous movement that kept the fight against 
neoliberalism alive in the 1990s, and it has a very substantial social 
base," he told IPS.

Tuesday?s protests included roadblocks at different points of the 
highways joining the highlands with the Pacific coast and Amazon 
regions, and were deemed a success by indigenous leaders. Four 
protesters and six policemen were injured in clashes, according to local 
press reports. (END/2009)







http://allafrica.com/stories/200901120807.html

Nigeria: Itsekiri People Protest Over Marginalisation By Desopadec
Emma Arubi
12 January 2009
HUNDREDS of aggrieved men, women and youths from eight Itsekiri riverine 
oil bearing communities in Warri South council, yesterday, marched 
through major streets of Warri, protesting what they described as "Total 
and gruesome marginalization and neglect of their communities by the 
Delta State Oil Producing Areas Development Commission (DESOPADEC) in 
the distribution and execution of projects in the state."
The placard-carrying protesters under the aegis of Obi-Eri for Peace 
Movement in a letter addressed to the Executive Chairman of DESOPADEC, 
Chief Wellington Okirika, alleged that since the creation of the 
development agency for the oil bearing communities in the state, "They 
have been totally disregarded and ostracized," just as they further said 
that the Itsekiri representative on the Board of the Commission has been 
unhelpful to their case.
The Obi-Eri for Peace Movement comprises communities like Atankporo, 
Aja-Osolo, Otumara, Ugboritseduwa, Okogho, Ugbosien, Obontie, Ubagboro 
and others.
The letter signed by Messrs Thomas Atsedosan, Tony Akoma, Benson 
Uremure, Daniel Eyikimiaghan, David Asifor, Edwin Fenemigho, Sunday 
Edema for the various communities and Johnson Onire, Chairman and Paul 
Oniyegwarion, Secretary respectively, of Obi-Eri for Peace Movement said 
their well- thought out dreams and aspiration at the birth of DESOPADEC 
as a development instrument for the oil communities have been thwarted 
as no project exist in these communities that produces a large quantity 
of oil and gas in the state.
While calling for a good percentage of patronage in the distribution of 
the micro-credit facility to people from these affected communities, 
they warned that as patriotic Itsekiris and ardent supporters of the 
Governor Uduaghan administration they are entitle to benefit from both 
the human and infrastructural development programmes of DESOPADEC, just 
as they would no longer keep mute while their oil wealth is being used 
to develop other areas.
The statement reads in part: "We will have no other cause than to resort 
to the law and seek an injunction restraining DESOPADEC from carrying 
out any development in any area of oil producing communities if we are 
excluded from further benefiting from development, just as we may wish 
that development does not exist at all in the entire organization of 
DESOPADEC."






http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gOWXfPlV8HTPVu_Zn-mrBT8Bdalg

Swiss police clash with anti-Davos protesters, arrest 60
4 days ago
GENEVA (AFP) ? Swiss police clashed with demonstrators against the Davos 
forum on Saturday, firing tear gas in central Geneva after officers were 
pelted with bottles and fireworks.
Sixty people were arrested after hundreds of protestors converged on the 
centre of Geneva to protest against the World Economic Forum in Davos in 
defiance of a ban imposed by local authorities, a police spokesman said.
Organisers had appealed for calm, while attacking the ban on the march.
But bottles and firecrackers were thrown at the riot police who charged 
the demonstrators, using teargas grenades.
"Around 60 people were arrested, of whom 20 have already been released," 
police spokesman Jean-Philippe Brandt said two hours after the start of 
the protest.
He said no injuries had been reported on either side, adding that most 
demonstrators had been dispersed and only a hard core of some 100 
radicals were being contained by police.
After tentatively allowing the rally to go ahead, the regional 
government said earlier this month the organisers of the demonstration 
had been unable to provide sufficient security guarantees to stage the 
event in the western Swiss city.
Police equipped with a water cannon had blocked the planned route of the 
march, while participants were systematically checked and their bags 
searched.
In Davos itself, a group of several dozen protestors marched through the 
snow-covered Alpine village, holding a giant banner that read "You Are 
The Crisis".
Another small group chanting "No To the WEF" threw fake blood on 
security barriers and ripped down sheeting on the perimeter.
Anti-globalisation groups frequently protest against the annual meeting 
of the select group of the world's business and political elite in the 
eastern mountain resort of Davos, although demonstrations have subsided 
in recent years.
Laurent Moutinot, the Geneva canton's minister in charge of home affairs 
and policing, said last week, "We're not facing a popular movement, but 
a group of people who deliberately aim to come here for a bust-up."
Banners being carried Saturday called for freedom of expression and 
attacked the "capitalist swindle", claiming that "the blackmailers of 
the WEF are mortgaging our future."
Some demonstrators disguised as clowns attempted to provoke the police 
by ridiculing them.
Later Saturday a "large group" returning to the capital Bern from the 
Geneva protest tried to hold a demonstration but were dispersed by 
security forces who used teargas and rubber bullets, Bern police 
spokesman Franz Maerki said.
Organizers protested strongly over the banning of the Geneva 
demonstration, with Eric Decarro of the Solidarites union declaring: 
"The government of Geneva canton banned a demonstration for the first 
time in 35 years."
Earlier this month a Swiss group of "anarchist and communist political 
forces" put out posters depicting fiery images of masked protestors, 
calling for people to join the "revolutionary block" or to "smash WEF."
That stirred up memories in Geneva of protests against a meeting of G8 
industrialised countries in nearby France in 2003, which turned into 
running overnight battles between rioters and police and left shops 
ransacked.
Although the Davos meeting takes place on the other side of the country, 
the WEF's administrative headquarters are just outside Geneva and the 
prosperous city's private banks and commodity traders are taken as 
something of a symbol for capitalism.
Davos, perched high in the Alps, is also cordoned off by a massive 
security operation during the event, but a small authorised 
demonstration of a few dozen people took place there Saturday.
Police kept a low profile, and only some symbolic snowballs and a few 
shoes were thrown by the protestors.





http://www.inthenews.co.uk/news/autocodes/countries/switzerland/davos-protest-turns-violent-$1265206.htm

Davos protest turns violent
Saturday, 31 Jan 2009 18:37

Protest in Geneva against Davos turns violent
Printer friendly version
A protest in Geneva against the annual Davos economic meeting turned 
violent after bottles were thrown at police.

Geneva authorities had denied the anti-capitalist protestors a permit to 
hold their demonstration but the group went ahead with a march toward 
the city centre.

Witnesses at the scene said the event was largely peaceful until police 
blocked the crowd from entering the centre.

Bottles and fireworks were reportedly thrown from within the 
1,000-strong group and police responded with tear gas and a water cannon.

Protestors carried banners that said "You are the crisis", accusing the 
delegates of being the cause of the problem rather than the solution.

Protester Alex Heideger, a member of the Davos Green Party, told 
Rueters: "It's the same people who came last year and said the world 
economic situation is fine, and now we're in a financial crisis. Now 
it's the taxpayer who has to solve the whole problem.

Geneva police said about 60 people were detained temporarily for checks 
but there have been no arrests.





http://uk.reuters.com/article/gc08/idUKTRE50L2IC20090122

Anti-Davos protest ban could spark violence
Thu Jan 22, 2009 11:42am GMT
By Robert Evans
GENEVA (Reuters) - Left-wing parties and anti-capitalist groups 
denounced a "dictatorial" ban on a demonstration planned for January 31 
in Geneva against the Davos World Economic Forum and said the move could 
cause violence.
One group planning to march through the city center said on Thursday 
that the organizers would meet soon to discuss how to react to the 
decision by the Socialist-controlled government of the canton of Geneva.
"The decision risks producing the opposite effect to what was intended 
and provoking incidents, because some people will not submit to this 
dictate," said a statement from the small Les Communistes party.
The Solidarite grouping which links radical left parties in Geneva's 
cantonal parliament, or Council, and had declined to take part in the 
march, said it opposed the ban -- demanded by right-wing parties -- as a 
violation of public freedoms.
Announcing the ban earlier this week, the Socialist President of the 
Council -- effectively head of government -- Laurent Moutinot said he 
felt he was not banning a protest "but taking measures against a 
gathering of rioters."
Geneva officials, on the moderate left as well as from centrist and 
right parties, feared that the protest would bring a repetition of 
violence during another anti-capitalist march in 2003 against a summit 
of the G8 group of rich countries.
One reason given by Solidarite for staying out of the demonstration was 
that it had been organized by groups largely based outside the Geneva 
canton.
The Forum in Davos, at the other end of Switzerland and where protests 
have been banned over the past few years, has been an annual event since 
the 1970s and is being held this year from January 28 to February 1.
On Wednesday, the Geneva-based Forum said business and political leaders 
from around the world will gather there in record numbers to chart a way 
out of the economic crisis.
Anti-Forum groups argue that it is a focus for capitalist leaders from 
government and industry to plan how to maintain domination of the global 
economy and pursue exploitation of workers in the West and the peoples 
of poor countries.
(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Elizabeth Piper)





http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LE726797.htm

Protesters to blame Davos elite for global crisis
14 Jan 2009 14:32:02 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Robert Evans
GENEVA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Hard-left and anarchist activists plan a 
major anti-capitalist demonstration in Geneva to coincide with the 
annual World Economic Forum in Davos at the end of the month, organisers 
said on Wednesday.
And while right-wing and centrist political parties are calling for the 
Jan. 31 protest to be banned for fear of violence, Geneva police are 
threatening to refuse extra duties on the day over a pay dispute.
"Having a major demonstration in Geneva at a time when world capitalism 
is in crisis has real meaning because this city, the stronghold of 
private bankers and of commodity trading houses, is at the centre of the 
system," a statement by protesters said.
The Davos gathering, it added, will be the scene of efforts "by those 
who have created and profited from the economic crisis to work out a 
short-term solution that will protect their interests....in a huge 
operation of exploitation and theft." Radical leftist groupings regard 
the Forum, which has its headquarters in Geneva although the regular 
January meeting of global economic and political leaders is at the 
opposite end of Switzerland, as a nerve-centre for global capitalism.
The Forum, set up in the 1970s, describes itself as "an independent 
international organisation committed to improving the state of the world 
by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and 
industry agendas."
PUTIN TO ATTEND
It says some 42 national leaders -- including prime ministers Vladimir 
Putin of Russia, Wen Jiabao of China and Angela Merkel of Germany -- 
will attend this year's Jan. 28 to Feb. 1 meeting alongside developing 
country leaders, top company and banking figures and labour union 
representatives.
The protesters' statement, from the anti-globalisation ATTAC group, said 
the opening speech from Putin -- whom it described as "the butcher of 
Chechnya" -- would set the tone for a meeting of "the elite of world 
capitalism." Protests, which often turned violent, were held in Davos 
itself during the 1990s, but were later banned and organisers switched 
them to Zurich or the Swiss capital Berne.
Officials in Geneva fear that bringing them there might lead to a 
repetition of widespread violence in June 2003 during huge 
demonstrations against a meeting in nearby Evian, France, of leaders of 
the G8 group of industrialised countries.
Organisers then -- as now -- said they aimed to keep the protest 
peaceful, but anarchist groups attacked city centre shops, banks and 
offices, many of which were boarded up for three days beforehand, and 
burned vehicles.
The work-to-rule warning from Geneva police, who in 2003 called on 
reinforcements from France as well as other parts of Switzerland, came 
because they were not paid extra for overtime during last summer's 
European Soccer championship.
But Geneva newspaper reports suggest that they are unlikely when the 
time comes to refuse to turn out in force on January 31. They were given 
additional pay for policing the 2003 protests, in which a number of them 
were injured.
Several European countries have seen outbreaks of popular anger since 
the start of the global financial crisis, with three weeks of riots in 
Greece last month, protests in Iceland and Russia, and street violence 
this week in Latvia and Bulgaria. (Editing by Mark Trevelyan)






http://en.rian.ru/world/20090131/119906654.html

Protesters rally against Davos forum in Geneva, police fire tear gas
19:04 | 31/ 01/ 2009

GENEVA, January 31 (RIA Novosti) - Police used tear gas and water 
cannons against protesters rallying in Geneva on Saturday against the 
World Economic Forum in Davos after the rally participants started 
throwing bottles.
Hundreds of protesters reportedly went out of control after authorities 
banned them from demonstrating on a central street.
Some protesters were dispersed by police, but groups of young people 
were continuing to attack policemen.
The demonstrators accuse the participants of the Davos forum, which is 
an annual meeting of top businessmen, world leaders and journalists to 
discuss the most important global issues, of failing to prevent the 
current economic crisis.





http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090131.wdavosprot0131/BNStory/International/home

Police fire tear gas at protesters in Geneva
Associated Press
January 31, 2009 at 10:45 AM EDT
GENEVA ? Riot police fired tear gas at bottle-throwing demonstrators in 
Geneva protesting the annual World Economic Forum.
An Associated Press reporter on the scene says the protest was largely 
peaceful until police blocked the protesters from walking to the centre 
of the city.
Some in the crowd of about 1,000 people threw bottles and police 
responded with tear gas.
Geneva authorities had denied the anti-capitalist protesters a permit to 
hold their demonstration Saturday.

Protestors hold signs during a demonstration against the ongoing World 
Economic Forum in Geneva on Saturday. (Reuters)

Police were attempting to corral protesters into a tight area near 
Geneva's train station when the trouble started.
The forum ? an annual gathering of the world's business and political 
elite ? is taking place on the other side of Switzerland in the elegant 
Swiss Alps resort of Davos.






http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-01/2009-01-31-voa22.cfm?CFID=176073345&CFTOKEN=94473588&jsessionid=de309c8ec4a0d493f9793b7e6e77606c1f6a

Swiss Police Clash with Protesters at Davos Economic Meeting
By VOA News
31 January 2009

Demonstrators clashes with riot police to protest against the Davos 
World Economic Forum, in Geneva, Switzerland, 31 Jan 2009
Protesters upset about the handling of the global economic crisis are 
clashing with police in Switzerland.

Police say groups of demonstrators marched through the Alpine ski resort 
town of Davos Saturday, some throwing objects at security barriers 
erected to protect leaders who are meeting at the World Economic Forum.

Other protesters carried signs or chanted, blaming officials for the crisis.

In Geneva, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in defiance of a 
government ban.

Officials say the crowd pelted police with bottles when their route to 
the center was blocked, forcing police to repel the crowd with tear gas 
and water cannons.

One official says 60 people were detained, though some have been released.

The World Economic Forum has administrative offices near Geneva. The 
city is often a targeted by protesters as a symbol of capitalism.






http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/icel-j28.shtml

Protests over economic crisis topple Icelandic government
By Barry Grey
28 January 2009
The Icelandic government fell on Monday, becoming the first regime to 
collapse as a direct result of the global economic crisis and resulting 
popular opposition. Months of street protests over the devastating 
social impact of the collapse of the country's currency and banking 
system reached a crescendo last week, when thousands of demonstrators 
rallying outside the parliament building pelted right-wing Independence 
Party Prime Minister Geir Haarde with eggs, paint and rolls of toilet 
paper, and police responded by firing tear gas, the first time tear gas 
was used against the public in Iceland since 1949.
On Friday, Haarde announced that he would step down as prime minister, 
citing a recent diagnosis of throat cancer, and agreed to hold early 
elections, which he set for May 9. His coalition government with the 
Social Democratic Alliance Party had been scheduled to remain in power 
until elections in 2011.
However, Haarde insisted that his government would not resign, arguing 
that political instability would compound the worsening economic crisis, 
which has seen prices and unemployment soar and the savings of many of 
the country's 320,000 residents vanish. A fresh anti-government 
demonstration on Saturday, involving some 5,000 people, led to a 
fracturing of the ruling coalition and forced Haarde to reverse course. 
On Monday he formally announced the resignation of the government.
On Tuesday, the president, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, asked the Social 
Democratic Alliance to form a new interim government, to rule until 
elections are held in May, or perhaps even earlier. It is expected that 
the Social Democrats will form a minority government in coalition with 
the Left-Green Movement Party, which had supported the anti-government 
demonstrations.
There is little prospect that a new center-left government will 
stabilize the economy or silence the mounting opposition of workers, 
youth and middle-class people who are being impoverished by the collapse 
of the heavily indebted economy. The Social Democrats are fully 
implicated in the "free market" speculative policies that brought the 
country to economic ruin, and the Left-Green Movement demonstrated its 
loyalty to the state and the capitalist ruling elite by offering to join 
a national government when the country's three major banks collapsed 
last October.
There are also unresolved policy differences between the two parties. 
The Social Democrats favor closer ties to the European Union, including 
a possible application to join, and have endorsed the severe austerity 
terms of a bailout organized by the International Monetary Fund in 
October. The Left-Greens have called for renegotiation of the $2.1 
billion IMF loan and opposed entry into the EU. However, the head of the 
Left-Greens, Steingrimur Sigfusson, indicated that he would be willing 
to alter these positions in return for entry into government.
The collapse of the right-wing Haarde government is the sharpest 
expression to date of the growing social and political turmoil across 
Europe arising from the economic crisis. Iceland was hit hardest by the 
financial meltdown that followed the collapse of the Wall Street 
investment bank Lehman Brothers last September because nearly two 
decades of "free market" policies and financial speculation that 
transformed the country into a center for "hot money" from international 
investors had left its banking system highly leveraged and entirely 
dependent on foreign capital.
However, similar conditions prevail in many European economies and 
recent weeks have seen a wave of sometimes violent protests fueled by 
the impact of the economic breakdown. Earlier this month Greek students 
and youth held daily mass protests for several weeks following the 
police killing of a 15-year-old youth. The Greek protests were sustained 
by anger over conditions of mass unemployment and poverty, especially 
among young people, that have been intensified by the economic crisis.
Mass demonstrations and riots have shaken a number of Eastern European 
countries that have been devastated by the financial crisis, including 
Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria. Hungary and 
Ukraine have both resorted to IMF loans in an attempt to stave off 
national bankruptcy.
In all of these countries, the governments have imposed austerity 
policies in an attempt to slash expenditures so as to meet debt payments 
to international banks and creditors. In Latvia, for example, the 
government this month announced wage cuts and reductions in social 
spending combined with tax increases.
Other European countries have also seen mass protests. In Spain, which 
was heavily invested in the housing and credit bubbles that have now 
imploded, tens of thousands of workers and youth demonstrated last week 
in the city of Zaragoza to demand relief from soaring unemployment 
resulting from the collapse of the country's construction and retail 
industries.
Other European economies with outsized banking systems that are 
immediately at risk include Austria and Ireland. Even in Britain, whose 
currency has fallen by 30 percent in recent months, public speculation 
is growing over the prospect of state bankruptcy.
Simon Johnson, former chief economist at the IMF and senior fellow at 
the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, 
commenting on the collapse of the Icelandic government, told the 
Washington Post, "I think it's going to spread. We're in a phase now 
we're beginning to see the political fallout."
A worried New York Times in its account of the Iceland crisis 
characterized the demonstrations that have broken out in Europe "in all 
cases" as being "anti-capitalist."
The global economic crisis has broadly discredited the ideology of the 
capitalist market, but perhaps nowhere more suddenly and explosively 
than in Iceland. The Independence Party has ruled since 1991, with David 
Oddsson, now the governor of the central bank, heading the government 
until 2004. Under Oddsson, the international operations of the major 
banks grew massively, building up liabilities many times the size of the 
country's economic output. The country's big banks borrowed $120 billion 
on international markets early this decade, six times the size of 
Iceland's gross domestic product. The country's foreign debt peaked at 
ten times GDP.
The speculative policies of the government and the banks fueled an 
economic boom that lifted Iceland's per capita GDP to one of the highest 
in the world. Iceland topped the most recent United Nations Human 
Development Index.
But when the credit crisis erupted, the banks could not make their 
payments and the central bank lacked the foreign currency to bail them 
out. The collapse of the banks sent the currency, the krona, into free 
fall. Since most consumer goods are imported, prices soared. 
Unemployment shot up. Government statistics show the jobless rate up by 
45 percent in December from the previous month. The finance ministry 
forecasts a contraction of 9.6 percent in GDP for this year and 2010 and 
an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent next year, although this figure is 
widely believed to be an underestimation.
A recent survey indicated that 70 percent of Icelandic companies are 
technically bankrupt, raising the likelihood of an explosive growth of 
unemployment. The same survey put the rate of personal bankruptcies at 
40 percent of the population. About a third of the population is 
believed to have lost all or part of their savings.
In a commentary published Monday, the Guardian characterized Iceland as 
"the world's biggest hedge fund" and noted:
"Iceland had relatively high interest rates, so investors borrowed 
heavily in Japanese yen and bought Icelandic bonds. Money flowed into 
Iceland... The financial crash has put paid to Iceland's get rich quick 
scheme?known as the yen carry trade?and left Iceland saddled with debts 
it has no hope of paying without impoverishing its people for decades to 
come."





http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2009/01/25/124598c4c462

Protesters demand Iceland government quits now
Updated at 7:57am on 25 January 2009
Thousands of protesters called on Saturday for Iceland's government to 
step down immediately, dismissing the prime minister's promise to resign 
and call an early election.
Prime Minister Geir Haarde said on Friday he would quit under the cloud 
of the country's economic collapse and called for an election on 9 May, 
about two years earlier than scheduled.
Police estimated as many as 6,000 demonstrators stood on the square 
outside Iceland's Althing parliament, some carrying signs demanding "a 
new democracy".
It was the fifth straight day of protests, and the demonstration was a 
big as any since regular Saturday protests started in October.
Mr Haarde voiced "contempt" on Saturday for some of the actions by banks 
that triggered the country's financial crisis.
"I would like to use this opportunity to state my disbelief and contempt 
for some of the things that have been coming into the daylight in 
regards to the banks," he told national radio, but declined to comment 
on whether the actions of the banks had been criminal.
Mr Haarde has announced he is going abroad soon for surgery on a 
malignant tumour of the oesophagus.
Iceland, one of the richest countries in the world per capita in 2007, 
plunged into crisis in October when it fell victim to the global credit 
crunch. Its currency collapsed as its financial system imploded and 
unemployment in the island nation of 320,000 is surging.






http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,603244,00.html

01/23/2009

ICELAND'S EARLY ELECTION
Prime Minister Steps Down amid Violent Protests
Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde on Friday called early elections 
following violent protests on the streets of Reykjavik. Meanwhile, 
Europe's top politicians are on edge following clashes in Bulgaria, 
Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Greece.
Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde, rattled by the financial crisis 
and widespread anti-government protests, called early national elections 
for May 9 on Friday and announced he was stepping down.
Haarde, 57, said he would not seek re-election because he has a throat 
tumor. The new timetable brings forward elections which were due in 2011.
Iceland, the epicenter of the banking crisis, saw huge debts toppling 
its banks last autumn. Its fragile economy is expected to contract by 10 
percent this year. Faced with rocketing unemployment and rising 
inflation, Icelanders have increasingly taken to the streets to voice 
their anger.
Tensions in Reykjavik peaked on Thursday night when police used tear gas 
to control rioters for the first time since 1949. Demonstrators say the 
ruling Independence Party have brought financial ruin to a once wealthy 
island. In recent days, crowds of 2,000 -- from a population of 320,000 
-- have gathered in front of the parliament to rail against the government.
Polls suggest a new election would likely spell a swing to the left with 
the Left-green party profiting from the tide of anti-capitalist sentiment.
Icelanders haven't been the only ones in Europe taking to the streets to 
voice their disgust at worsening economic conditions. People in 
Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Greece have likewise been 
voicing their frustration.
Indeed, with the European wave of social unrest gathering speed, there 
have been signs of concern among top European Union politicians. In 
March, a summit of European leaders will focus on the rising protests, a 
senior European Union source told the British newspaper The Daily 
Telegraph on Thursday. "There are concerns. The EU shares them. It is 
one of the major challenges for the Spring Council," the senior European 
source said.
NEWSLETTER
Sign up for Spiegel Online's daily newsletter and get the best of Der 
Spiegel's and Spiegel Online's international coverage in your In- Box 
everyday.

In December, French President Nicolas Sarkozy even went so far as to 
warn of "May 1968" protests spreading across Europe. Since then 
"intensive sharing of information" is under way among a number of EU 
governments, including France and Germany. Concern has risen as riots in 
various countries in Europe have grown more dramatic among soaring 
unemployment and slashed government spending.
Last week, Lithuanian police fired tear gas at demonstrators who threw 
stones at the parliament in protest at government social spending cuts. 
Meanwhile in Bulgaria, hundreds protesters smashed windows, fought 
police and damaged cars when an anti corruption protest escalated into a 
riot.
jas -- with wire reports







http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LT740088.htm

Iceland nears deal on new coalition; protests go on
29 Jan 2009 13:56:22 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds central bank forecast, quotes)
By Kristin Arna Bragadottir
REYKJAVIK, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Icelandic politicians said on Thursday 
they were close to agreeing a deal on cabinet posts and a government 
policy statement, and fresh economic data on Thursday underlined the 
urgency of tackling the nation's crisis.
The president has asked the Social Democrats and the opposition 
Left-Green Party to form a new government to replace the administration 
of Geir Haarde, who resigned as prime minister on Monday under pressure 
from violent public protests. His centre-right Independence Party is not 
being included.
"We might present a statement of government policies and the division of 
offices tomorrow if all goes well," Social Affairs Minister Johanna 
Sigurdardottir, a social democrat, told Reuters during a break in the talks.
"I assume there might be a formal changing of governments on Saturday," 
she said.
Social Democrat leader Ingibjorg Gisladottir has proposed Sigurdardottir 
become prime minister in a new cabinet while Gisladottir takes sick 
leave to recover from a benign brain tumour. Gisladottir was not at 
parliament on Thursday.
Earlier, the central bank said the jobless rate was likely to rise to 11 
percent in the first quarter of 2010 and stay high for a longer time 
than it previously thought. Output is seen falling more than 10 percent 
this year, the bank said, as it chose to leave interest rates unchanged 
at a record 18 percent.
The global financial crisis hit Iceland in October, ending a decade of 
rising prosperity in a matter of days by triggering a collapse in the 
currency and financial system. Prior to October, unemployment had been 
around one percent in the small North Atlantic nation of 320,000 people.
To stay afloat, Iceland secured $10 billion loan from the International 
Monetary Fund and several European countries.
The crisis sparked protests as Icelanders blamed Haarde and other top 
officials for failing to stave off economic mayhem.
Police used pepper spray and arrested six protesters on Wednesday 
evening at a demonstration outside a NATO meeting in the capital Reykjavik.
SHRINKING ECONOMIC OUTPUT
The Social Democrats were the junior party in the outgoing coalition, 
while the opposition Left-Greens now lead opinion polls. The inter-party 
talks need to find common ground on many issues, including whether to 
apply to join the European Union.
Leaders of both parties have said they hope to iron out their 
differences by the weekend.
Ossur Skarphedinsson, also a senior Social Democrat, told Reuters, 
"There is not much that we are not in agreement with, we have little 
left now."
The Left-Greens are more cautious about EU membership than the Social 
Democrats, although the parties broadly agree there should be a 
referendum on whether to open EU accession talks. The issue is further 
complicated by the timing of an early general election, which could come 
between April and June.
Left-Green leader Steingrimur Sigfusson has also called for a 
renegotiation of the IMF loan.
Sigfusson was expected to comment on the talks at about 1700 GMT on 
Thursday. (Writing by Kim McLaughlin; Editing by Louise Ireland)





http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7013847922

Iceland Leader, Government Quit Amid Economic Meltdown, Protests
ShareThis
January 26, 2009 11:17 p.m. EST


Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer
Reykjavik, Iceland (AHN) - Iceland's prime minister and government on 
Monday resigned amid public protests and to take responsibility for the 
collapse of the country's currency and banking systems in October.
The resignation of Prime Minister Geir Haarde earned him the distinction 
of becoming the first leader to be forced out of office by the global 
credit crisis.
Haarde on Friday said his coalition government will lead the country 
until early elections on May 9. But he changed his position Monday when 
his Independence party's partner, the Social Democratic Alliance, wanted 
to take over the premiership.
"We couldn't accept the Social Democratic demand that they would lead 
the government. That is not something we agreed on in 2007," said 
Haarde, according to the Guardian. The coalition government was formed 
in 2007 and its term was until 2011.
"We would become like a divorcing couple, shouting at each other, if we 
continued like this. That's not my style," said Ingibjorg Solrun 
Gisladottir, the head of the Alliance party.
Meanwhile, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has asked members of the 
administration to continue doing their job until a new government is formed.
The island country's three major banks collapsed in October for failing 
to finance its debts and losing deposits due to a bank run in the U.K. 
This was followed by the devaluation of the national currency and the 
sharp drop of the stock exchange' capitalization. High inflation and 
unemployment followed.





http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=165114

Protesters want Iceland gov?t to step down now

Thousands of protesters called on Saturday for Iceland?s government to 
step down immediately, dismissing the prime minister?s promise to resign 
and call an early election following the country?s economic collapse.

Police estimated as many as 6,000 demonstrators stood on the square 
outside Iceland?s Althing Parliament, some carrying signs demanding ?a 
new democracy.? It was the fifth straight day of protests, and the 
demonstration was a big as any since regular Saturday protests started 
in October. Prime Minister Geir Haarde, sick with cancer, said on Friday 
he would quit and called for a May 9 election. On Saturday he voiced 
?contempt? for some of the actions by banks that triggered the country?s 
financial crisis. Iceland, one of the world?s richest countries per 
capita in 2007, plunged into crisis in October when it fell victim to 
the global credit crunch. Its currency collapsed as its financial system 
imploded and unemployment in the island nation of 320,000 is surging.

26 January 2009, Monday
REUTERS REYKJAVIK






http://www.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/8-year-old-girl-speech-protest-today

8 year old girl speech at the protest today
Share:
by dorisig007 | January 3, 2009 at 04:39 pm
8 year old girl speach at the protest today -Video-01
Today,at the protest in Reykjavik -- a 8 year old girl held a speach 
critzising the banking investors and the goverment - and her name is 
Dagny Dimmbla.
Her is her speach,with subtitles.

The protest was peaceful and good.
The weather was foggy and damp






http://www.roguegovernment.com/index.php?news_id=13923

Icelandic Police Fire Pepper Spray On Protesters Published on 01-21-2009 
Email To Friend Print Version

Source: Reuters
Icelandic police fired pepper spray on Tuesday to control protesters 
demanding that the government resign for overseeing the country's 
economic collapse.
A crowd estimated by police at more than 1,000, some hammering on pots 
and pans, gathered around the Althing parliament building in the capital 
Reykjavik.
"About 20 persons have sought assistance from medics, stationed by the 
Althing, to get treatment after having been sprayed with pepper spray," 
Icelandic police chief Sigurbjorn Jonsson told Reuters.
State radio said 20 people had been arrested. Jonsson said police would 
comment on arrests once the protest was over.
Iceland's currency plunged and its financial system collapsed in October 
under the weight of billions of dollars of foreign debts incurred by its 
banks. The volcanic island's economy is expected to suffer a huge 
contraction this year while unemployment, once close to zero, is set to 
soar.
Protests against Prime Minister Geir Haarde's government and the central 
bank have become a regular fixture in the once-tranquil streets of the 
capital. A parliament official said the demonstration had caused a 
15-minute delay to Tuesday's session.
Popular discontent over the impact of the global financial crisis has 
contributed to violent protests in several European countries, including 
Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania and Greece, which saw a wave of riots in 
December.





http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24951316-12335,00.html

Crisis-hit Iceland's ruling party sees early vote
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By Omar R. Valdimarsson and Kristin Arna Bragadottir | January 23, 2009
Article from: Reuters
ICELAND'S main ruling party, struggling to overcome a catastrophic 
economic crisis, said it expected early elections this year, after a day 
of violent anti-government protests.
Prime Minister Geir Haarde has so far vowed to stay on, saying a snap 
election would disrupt efforts to stabilise an economy rocked by the 
collapse of its banks last year following a decade-long boom fuelled by 
cheap foreign funding.

But protests turned violent today, with demonstrators wanting Haarde, 
the central bank governor and other senior officials to quit, accusing 
them of "incompetent rule" and cosy ties to the business elite.

The Independent Party's deputy leader Thorgerdur Gunnarsdottir told 
parliament that the party expected an election this year, two years 
ahead of time.

Independent Party parliamentarian Illugi Gunnarsson told Reuters it was 
"obvious" that early elections would take place, but that the party had 
not discussed any specific dates.

"Whether the elections will be this September, October or in May (2010), 
the most important thing right now is to get the wheels of the economy 
rolling again," Gunnarsson said.

Haarde's office declined to comment on election issues, and he did not 
mention early elections during a speech to parliament on measures to 
bolster the economy.

Overnight, police used tear gas against demonstrators for the first time 
in Iceland since protests over the Atlantic island's entry into the NATO 
military alliance in 1949.

Yesterday afternoon, about 80 protesters stood outside parliament, 
chanting for the "disqualified government" to resign. Latvia, Bulgaria 
and other European countries hit hard by the global economic meltdown 
have also seen unrest.

Police spokesman Gunnar Sigurdsson said of the situation overnight, 
"There were a couple of hundred (protesters) when they had to use the 
gas. It went on for two hours or so. There were no arrests. Some 
injuries, but not serious."

Besides its economic woes, Iceland also faces a strategic, long-term 
question over whether to join the European Union or remain outside. The 
crisis has buoyed public support for joining the EU and adopting the 
euro currency.

Baldur Thorhallsson, political science professor at the University of 
Iceland, said next week's Independent Party congress could hold the key 
to the cabinet's longevity.

Haarde's traditionally eurosceptic group may change tack and propose to 
launch EU accession talks, trying to appease the government's junior 
partner, the pro-EU Social Democrats.

"The government stands on very wobbly feet right now," Thorhallsson 
said. "The Social Democrats gave the Independent Party an opportunity to 
change their (EU) course, and will probably wait with any actions until 
after their congress."

Iceland's economy is set to shrink 10 percent this year and unemployment 
is surging. To stay afloat during the worst of the crisis, Iceland 
negotiated a $10 billion aid package crafted by the IMF and effectively 
froze trade in its hobbled currency.

"The main thing now is that we have to go ahead with the IMF plan," said 
Asgeir Jonsson, heard of research at New Kaupthing Bank.

"We really need to open the currency market and also we have to get the 
new state-owned banks working."






http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LL97664.htm

Iceland protests grow, premier vows to stay on
21 Jan 2009 23:49:51 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds Social Democrat resolution, comments)
By Omar R Valdimarsson
REYKJAVIK, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Angry Icelandic protesters clashed with 
riot police as they called for a new government on Wednesday and the 
country's prime minister said he had the support of his coalition partner.
Iceland Prime Minister Geir Haarde, speaking after his limousine had 
been pelted with eggs and cans by demonstrators, said the government was 
"fully functional".
The government is coming under fierce pressure from Icelanders who are 
frustrated by the handling of a financial crisis that has wreaked havoc 
with the island's economy. Opposition politicians and demonstrators have 
called for Haarde and other senior officials to resign.
"The government is still fully functional and the coalition parties are 
going to continue their cooperation as confirmed to me today by 
Ingibjorg Gisladottir," he told journalists after meeting with lawmakers 
from his Independence Party.
Foreign Minister Gisladottir is head of the Social Democratic Alliance, 
which forms a coalition government with the Independence Party.
That support was not matched by some party members in Reykjavik who 
passed a resolution demanding the party leave the government.
The vote by the party's biggest and most influential district, was 
approved at a late-night meeting surrounded by hundreds of 
anti-government protesters. It also demanded that general election be 
called no later than in May.
"The message this large body within the party is sending its leadership 
is very clear," said Agust Olafur Agustsson, vice chairman of the Social 
Democratic Alliance.
"This body is calling for an election, but until anything else is 
decided, we will continue to work faithfully with the Independence 
Party," he told Reuters after the meeting.
Anti-government and central bank protests are now regular fixtures in 
the once-tranquil capital after sharp currency falls and the collapse of 
the financial system in October caused by billions of dollars of foreign 
debt being incurred by banks.
Television footage from channel RUV showed protesters banging on 
Haarde's black limousine and then pelting it with eggds outside the 
government building.
The vehicle managed to drive away after riot police arrived.
PARLIAMENT PROTESTS
The protest also left the government building splattered with eggs and 
paint. The demonstrators then moved off to parliament and by evening 
about 3,000 protesters had gathered to face riot police surrounding the 
Althing, hurling fire crackers at the building and chanting 
"disqualified government".
One demonstrator scaled the face of the parliament building, reaching a 
balcony from which he hung a sign reading "Treason due to recklessness 
is still treason".
The volcanic island's economy is expected to suffer a huge contraction 
this year while unemployment, once close to zero, is set to soar.
"People feel that it is incredible that after such a policy disaster 
that we faced last year, there has been no resignation, no minister, no 
one has resigned or responded, or taken responsibility for what 
happened," said Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, a political scientist at the 
University of Iceland.
Kristinsson said there was a substantial likelihood the government would 
not survive the coming two weeks.
"I think it is more likely than not. It could happen today, next week or 
the weekend at the end of the month, especially since the Independence 
Party convention will be held next weekend," he said.
Haarde's Independence Party is due to begin a national congress of its 
members on Jan. 29 to discuss issues which include revisiting the 
party's long-standing opposition to Iceland seeking membership in the 
European Union. (Reporting by Omar R Valdimarsson; additional reporting 
by Patrick Lannin in Riga, Victoria Klesty in Stockholm and Wojciech 
Moskwa in Oslo; Writing by Niklas Pollard; Editing by Matthew Jones)






http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/731388/protests-over-icelandic-economic-crisis/?rss=yes

Protests over Icelandic economic crisis
14:54 AEST Wed Jan 21 2009
87 days 23 hours 54 minutes ago

The dire state of Iceland's economy is causing a wave of protests in the 
capital Reykjavik.

Icelandic police used tear gas to disperse protesters outside parliament 
during its first session for the year, broadcaster RUV reported.
Iceland has experienced a wave of protests since October when the 
country's three banks were nationalised when they faced collapse in the 
wake of the global credit crunch.
The North Atlantic nation of some 320,000 people is facing a severe 
contraction of its economy with unemployment due to rise sharply.
A paper prepared by the finance ministry said unemployment had reached 
1.7 per cent in the fourth quarter 2008, and was predicted to increase 
this year to 7.8 per cent.
Fresh figures from the Directorate of Labour suggest that unemployment 
among the youth - 16 to 24-year-olds - was rising more rapidly than 
among older workers.
Interest rates are at 18 per cent and the country recently secured a 
$US2.1 billion ($A3.24 billion) bridging loan from the International 
Monetary Fund.





http://story.floridastatesman.com/index.php/ct/9/cid/3a8a80d6f705f8cc/id/456540/cs/1/

Icelandic citizens gather to protest
Florida Statesman
Wednesday 21st January, 2009
The Icelandic capital Reykjavik has been the scene of new riots.

The police have used pepper spray to disperse about 1,000 demonstrators 
who were massed outside the parliament building.

Twenty protesters were later arrested and some were injured, needing 
medical attention.

Reykjavik has for weeks been the scene of demonstrations targetting 
Prime Minister Geir Haarde's government for its handling of the 
financial crisis.

Iceland's economy is under huge pressure following the collapse of its 
financial system.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7843327.stm

Wednesday, 21 January 2009

Protesters pelt Iceland PM's car
The Icelandic prime minister's car is attacked by anti-government protesters
Angry protesters surrounded Icelandic Prime Minister Geir Haarde's car 
on Wednesday, banging on the vehicle's windows and pelting it with eggs.
Television footage showed Mr Haarde hurriedly getting into his car 
outside the government building in Reykjavik before a crowd descended on 
it.
He managed to drive off only once his bodyguards and police pushed them 
away.
On Tuesday, police arrested 20 people at a protest demanding Mr Haarde 
resign over his handling of the economy.
About 2,000 people attended the demonstration outside parliament in 
Reykjavik, in a bid to disrupt the first session of the year.
Some people hammered on the windows of the parliament, the Althing, 
breaking several on the ground floor. Others set off smoke bombs and 
threw snowballs at riot police stationed outside.

Protests against the government have become a regular fixture in Reykjavik
Chief police inspector Johann Thorisson said the force had not detained 
anyone after the attack on the prime minister's car on Wednesday because 
he had not been physically attacked.
"There is still turbulence, but we are going to try and take it easy and 
not arrest anyone. Now they just throw snowballs, banging on drums and 
making noise," he told the Reuters news agency.
Correspondents say protests against the government and central bank have 
become a regular fixture in Reykjavik since October, when Iceland's 
financial system collapsed in the global credit crunch.
The country's currency has since plummeted, while unemployment - once 
close to zero - is soaring. The economy is meanwhile forecast to shrink 
by 9.6% this year and see no growth in 2010.






http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE50J54E20090120?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Iceland protesters demand government step down
Tue Jan 20, 2009 4:09pm GMT

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Icelandic police fired pepper spray and made 
arrests at a demonstration outside parliament on Tuesday where 
protesters demanded the government that oversaw the country's economic 
collapse step down, local media said.
Several hundred demonstrators, some hammering on pots and pans, gathered 
around the Althing, amid calls for the Icelandic government to step 
down, a Reuters witness reported.
Icelandic daily Morgunbladid on its Website said up to 10 people had 
been arrested and the police had fired pepper spray at the demonstrators.
Iceland succumbed to the global crisis as its currency plunged and its 
financial system collapsed in October under the weight of billions of 
dollars of foreign debts incurred by its banks.
The volcanic island's economy is expected to suffer a huge contraction 
this year while unemployment, which in recent years has rested close to 
zero, is set to soar.
Protests against Prime Minister Geir Haarde's government and the central 
bank have become a regular fixture in the once-tranquil streets of the 
capital ever since the collapse of the island's main commercial banks 
last year.
A police official estimated more than a thousand protesters had gathered 
around parliament, but said he had no information about arrests.
(Editing by Michael Roddy)





http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/davos/7857309.stm

Wednesday, 28 January 2009

Brazil holds 'alternative Davos'
By Gary Duffy
BBC News, Sao Paulo

Amazonian indians have taken part, concerned with their plight
Tens of thousands of social activists and environmental and political 
groups have gathered in the Brazilian city of Belem for the World Social 
Forum.
The event is timed deliberately to coincide with the World Economic 
Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Organisers say the global financial crisis has given the six-day meeting 
new importance in providing an alternative perspective.
Environmental issues are featuring prominently in the discussions.
Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will join four other 
presidents from across South America at the forum later this week.
Amazon's future
The city of Belem, not far from the mouth of the Amazon River, is a 
location of symbolic importance for the tens of thousands of political 
and environmental activists who have gathered there.
The future of the Amazon itself is a key concern for those taking part 
in the World Social Forum, among them representatives of Brazil's 
Indigenous population.

The protesters are making the most of Belem's moment in the spotlight
There has already been a chaotic protest as Indian groups along with 
many thousands of demonstrators marched and danced through the streets 
of city, calling on the world to protect the rainforest.
The World Social Forum was first held in Brazil in 2001, and as in 
previous years the gathering has been timed to present an alternative 
view to the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland.
The theme of the forum in Brazil is that "another world is possible" and 
that during a period of economic crisis for many countries the time is 
right for change.
The broadly-based gathering has attracted a range of individuals and 
groups from faith healers to communists and peace activists.
The economic crisis has undoubtedly raised the profile of the social 
forum. Local officials believe that as many as 100,000 people are in 
Belem for what organisers say has grown to become the biggest 
anti-globalisation event on the planet.






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/28/content_10728526.htm

1,000 protestors: Save Amazon

An aerial view shows people protesting against Amazon deforestation 
during the 2009 World Social Forum near the mouth of the Amazon River in 
the city of Belem January 27, 2009. About 1, 000 protestors made a 
formation in the shape of an Amazon Indian man holding a bow and arrow. 
The words read, "SOS Amazon". (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)










http://english.sina.com/world/2009/0131/215049.html

Carrefour project runs into protests in Kuala Lumpur
2009-01-31 16:34:31 GMT2009-02-01 00:34:31 (Beijing Time) xinhuanet
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Some 50 residents of Kuala Lumpur, 
Malaysia, gathered at a construction site of Carrefour Hypermarket near 
here on Saturday to protest the resumption of its development, claiming 
it would affect their daily life.
The peaceful protest was seen after local state assemblyman Mohd Nasir 
Hashim held a press conference and expressed his disappointment for the 
project allowed to continue despite objections, Malaysia's national news 
agency Bernama reported.
Mohd Nasir said that he did not receive any formal letter from the 
Petaling Jaya Municipal Council on the resumption of the project and he 
would continue to support those residents and fulfill his 
responsibilities towards them as the project would have adverse impact 
on their life.
The hypermarket development reportedly was near a school and surrounded 
by residential areas, and not a part of the town planning.
Some local residents hoped the government would consider relocation of 
the project due to possible security hazards, traffic congestion, the 
school and residents' welfare.






http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20090110-182610/Presidents-guards-harass-protesters

President?s guards harass protesters
By Dona Pazzibugan
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 18:43:00 01/10/2009

Filed Under: Government, Civil unrest, Politics, Mining and quarrying, 
Security (general), Defense
MANILA, Philippines -- Members of the Presidential Security Group forced 
three church workers to strip their shirts that bore anti-mining slogans 
during President Macapagal-Arroyo's recent visit to Midsalip, Zamboanga 
Del Sur.
Shortly before Arroyo arrived in the mineral-rich municipality last 
January 6, three PSG elements accosted three men, who turned out to be 
workers of the San Jose Parish Church.
The PSG operatives ordered the three men to take off their shirts that 
bore the words "Stop Mining and Corruption."
The incident has reached the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the 
Philippines, which reported the news on its website on Saturday.
A spokesman for the Ecclesiastical province of Dipolog, Iligan, Ozamiz, 
Pagadian, Ipil, and Marawi?s committee on mining issues said it was 
withholding the names of the three church workers until after the 
"inquiries have been finished."
The CBCP website said Church officials condemned the PSG's harassment, 
which was unexpected.
San Jose Church parish Fr. Raymund Ugwu said he personally heard the 
accounts made by the three men who were made to take off their shirts.
During her trip to Midsalip, Arroyo also canceled her scheduled visit to 
the local parish where she was supposed to meet with Fr. Ugwu and the 
assistant parish priest Fr. James Kutal.
"The priests would have aired the people's concern against the influx of 
mining companies in the town," said Benita Clamonte of the Justice and 
Peace and Integrity of Creation-Mindanao, an anti-mining and 
anti-logging campaign under the Columban Missionaries.
She said several Malaca?ang emissaries met with local church officials a 
month ago to arrange the President's visit to the San Isidro parish.






http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=53289

Budget Cuts Bring Out Protestors
Posted By: C. Johnson 3 months ago
SACRAMENTO, CA - Upset over proposed budget cuts to state programs, 
people from all walks of life have decended on the State Capitol to protest.
Several busloads of seniors, students, educators, disabled and home 
healthcare workers are protesting the budget impasse adding to 
California's fiscal woes.
Saying they've already borne $10 million in cuts, demonstrators like 
Herb Meyer of Marin County say additional reductions are unacceptable. 
Relying on state-paid in-home help since an accident 16 years ago, Meyer 
said cuts have already reduced the hours of his in-home helper. "I need 
in-home services. They get me out of bed. They dress me. They prepare my 
meals," Meyer said. "With more cuts happening, there will be no 
alternative for people like myself to live independently. We'll be 
forced to go into a skilled nursing home and that will cost the 
government three to four times as much as it does now."
and further reductions could force him to move out of his home. "I need
Gov. Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have been meeting again this 
week to come up with a fiscal plan. No deal has been announced.
Last week the govenor vetoed an $18 billion bill sponsored by Democrats.
California is facing a $14.2 billion shortfall the rest of this fiscal 
year and a deficit close to $42 billion in the next 17 months.
News10/KXTV





http://www.sacbee.com/capitolandcalifornia/story/1543492.html

Contesting cuts: Protest staged at Capitol
ShareThis
Published: Thursday, Jan. 15, 2009 - 12:00 am | Page 1A
While state leaders debated California's budget, a rally outside the 
Capitol on Wednesday brought out several hundred people ? many who said 
that during an economic downturn, state budget cuts are wrong:
Children's resources
Steve Weaver, 43, Auburn. Parent of two children, one with a disability, 
and Auburn Union School District trustee.
"Regional centers give us services that support our child's needs so 
that she can be an active part of the community. Also, schools very well 
may be cut. Music, libraries, computer labs could be cut again."
College tuition
Whitney Thompson, 22, Fresno. Fresno State University college student 
and waitress.
"I'd like to be a teacher. I'm in a crazy amount of debt and the fees 
are rising every year. I have to work more, which hurts my grades."
________________________________________
Medi-Cal
Beverly Griffith, 50, Oakland. Housekeeping worker at Sutter Alta 
Bates/Summit Medical Center
"If we don't have Medi-Cal then we are going to see more cuts at our 
hospital and see patient care affected. We have quality care now."
________________________________________
Home health care
Ramiro Montoya, Berkeley, 53, advisory board member In-Home Supportive 
Services, HIV positive
"I have a terminal illness. My attendant has saved my life three times. 
I definitely need someone to help me with my daily routine. If they cut 
my attendant's salary, how will I survive?"
________________________________________
Public schools
Anne McCaughey, Stockton, 51. President, Stockton Teachers Association
"Cuts could almost decimate public education. We are already struggling 
for materials, technology. We are using outdated equipment and our 
classrooms are in disrepair. It is getting harder and harder to recruit 
the best and the brightest into the teaching profession."
? Bill Lindelof





http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=53204

Welfare Recipients Protest Proposed Cuts
Posted By: Karen Massie 3 months ago

SACRAMENTO, CA - Children from around California who joined their 
parents at the State Capitol on Monday brought several dozen pairs of 
shoes with them.
"We won't have enough money for shoes if you cut CalWorks," yelled one 
protester.
"I feel you're cutting money that kids need," said Jenesis Hayes. She 
came to the protest with her brothers, ages 15 and 12, and her mother, 
Felicia Hayes.
"I didn't have any compassion for people on welfare before because I 
didn't know anything about it," Felicia Hayes said. "But I understand it 
now after going through it myself."
Hayes said a divorce forced her on to welfare rolls. The welfare-to-work 
program known as CalWorks helps pay for her food, housing and college.
"I should be done with my degree in a couple of years but only through 
CalWorks," Hayes said. "Only through CalWorks have I been able to make 
it. I get $863 plus food stamps."
She said if her benefits are cut she can't turn to her ex-husband for 
help. ""I need this money because he lost his job and can't help with 
child support and spousal support," Hayes said.
Hayes is not alone, according to Diana Spatz with Lifetime (Low-income 
Families' Empowerment Through Education).
"The governor's proposed budget cuts will put kids on the streets and 
lead to homelessness," said Spatz. "This is penny-wise and pound 
foolish. In the long run, foster care is significantly more expensive 
than keeping families together using CalWorks."
After demonstrating on the capitol steps, protesters took their cause to 
the governor's office.
"The governor is aware of the impact proposed budget cuts will have on 
people," said Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's press secretary. "The fact 
is, we have a $42 billion deficit that gets worse every single day. So 
we're just running out of good options."
Spatz eagerly accepted when McLear asked if she and some of the 
protestors wanted to meet with a member of the governor's staff.
The discussion lasted about 45 minutes. When Spatz emerged, she said, 
"Our message to the governor was don't target children. Don't cut 
benefits for low-income children. They're the ones with the most to lose 
and the least to give."
News10/KXTV






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7862294.stm

Saturday, 31 January 2009

Protesters rally in Mexico City
Mexicans demonstrate in the capital
Thousands of people in Mexico City have protested against what they say 
is the inadequate response by the government to growing economic 
problems in Mexico.
The protesters - most of them from rural areas - were angry at President 
Felipe Calderon's recent move to freeze the price of petrol but not diesel.
They said the costs of running farm machinery had become prohibitive.
The country's economy has also been hit by a fall in the amount of money 
sent home by Mexicans living abroad.
Remittances that Mexicans living abroad - mainly in the United States - 
have fallen for the first time since records began in 1995, the BBC's 
Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City says.
After oil, the money is the country's second largest source of foreign 
income, our correspondent says, although it represents less than 3% of 
Mexico's GDP.





http://www.buzzle.com/articles/247443.html

French Left Pioneers a Radical New Tactic: the Picnic Protest
Activists take food off the shelves and invite shoppers to dine with 
them to highlight the plight of 'Generation Y'
In exactly a week's time, in a supermarket somewhere in or around Paris, 
a couple of dozen young French activists are going to choose an aisle, 
unfold tables, put on some music and, taking what they want from the 
shelves, start a little picnic. The group "L'Appel et la Pioche" (The 
call and the pick axe) will have struck again - fruit and veg, dairy or 
the fish counter will have been transformed into a flash protest against 
global capitalism, rampant consumerism, bank bail-outs, poor housing, 
expensive food, profit margins and pretty much everything else that is 
wrong in the world.

The "supermarket picnic" will go on for as long as it can - before the 
security guards throw the activists out or the police arrive. Shoppers 
will be invited to join in, either bringing what they want from the 
shelves or just taking something lifted lightly from among the crisps, 
sweets or quality fruit already on the tables.

"L'Appel et la Pioche" have struck four times so far and have no 
intention of stopping what they claim is a highly effective new way of 
protesting.

"Everyone is bored of demonstrations. And handing out tracts at 6am at a 
market is neither effective nor fun," said Le?la Cha?bi, 26, the leader 
of the group. "This is fun, festive, non-threatening and attracts the 
media. It's the perfect way of getting our message across."

Linked to a new left-wing political party committed to a renewal of 
politics and activism, Cha?bi's group represents more than just a 
radical fringe and has been gaining nationwide attention.

A veteran of fights to get pay and better conditions for young people 
doing work experience, Cha?bi claims to represent millions of young 
Frenchmen and women who feel betrayed by the system.

"We played the game and worked hard and got a good education because we 
were told we would get a flat and a job at the end of it. But it wasn't 
true," said Victor, 34, another member of the group. "We have huge 
difficulty getting a proper job and a decent apartment."

Cha?bi, who works on short-term contracts in public relations and is 
currently looking for work, told the Observer that the group's 
aspirations were limited. "I am not asking for thousands and thousands 
of euros a month as a salary or a vast five-room apartment. Just 
something decent."

In recent years, the problems of France's "Generation Y" or "babylosers" 
have made headlines. As with many other European societies, after 
decades of growth, this is the first set of young people for centuries 
who are likely to have standards of living lower than their parents. 
According to recent research, in 1973, only 6% of recent university 
leavers were unemployed, currently the rate is 25-30%; salaries have 
stagnated for 20 years while property prices have doubled or trebled; in 
1970, salaries for 50-year-olds were only 15% higher than those for 
workers aged 30, the gap now is 40%. The young are also likely to be 
hard hit by the economic crisis.

New ways of working mean new ways of demonstrating, too. "We are already 
on precarious short-term contracts, so there's no point in going on 
strike," said Cha?bi. "But a supermarket is very public and we make sure 
the media are there to cover our actions."

So far reactions have been good, the group claims. In one supermarket in 
a suburb of Paris, the activists say they got a spontaneous round of 
applause from the checkout workers. Elsewhere, security guards have been 
"friendly". Everywhere in France, the problem of a weakening "pouvoir 
d'achat" - the buying power of static wages - is a cause for resentment.

The economic crisis is further fueling anger. Though not yet as badly 
hit as the UK, thanks to tighter regulation and much lower levels of 
personal borrowing, French businesses have still been laying off staff 
amid predictions of a massive rise in unemployment this year. Unions 
have been largely passive in the face of threatened redundancies, 
accepting go-slows to preserve jobs.

With the French Socialist party in disarray, alternative forms of 
political protest on the left, particularly a breakaway communist 
faction led by charismatic postman Olivier Besancenot, have made 
inroads. Protests about the homeless or against the expulsion of 
immigrants have largely taken place independently of the Socialist 
party, which is mired in feuds and ideological incoherence.

One new group is the Jeudi Noir, which organizes heavily publicized 
squats of vacant buildings in Paris. Named Black Thursday after the day 
classified advertisements for flats appear, activists recently took over 
a clinic that has lain empty at the heart of the Left Bank for nearly 
five years.

"This is not just about finding myself somewhere to live," said Julien 
Bayou, 28, who is now living in one of the former clinic's offices. "We 
are making a political point. We just think it is wrong that a building 
in perfect condition should be empty for years when so many people need 
somewhere to live."

Cha?bi sat in the kitchen of the former clinic. "It's not just about the 
supermarkets," she said. "It's about fighting the system."






http://www.wcax.com/global/story.asp?s=9723941

Governor's Proposed Cuts Draw Protest

Montpelier, Vermont - January 23, 2009
A day after the budget speech-- harsh and quick criticism to the 
governor's cuts from many groups, ranging from advocates for seniors, 
kids and the disabled.
"Our message to the governor is this: Stop," said Carlen Finn, of Voices 
for Vermont Children.
The governor proposed $34 million in reductions to Human Services and 
higher premiums for people on state health care programs.
"They want to slice dental coverage from $495 to $200 a year," said 
Nicole LeBlanc of Montpelier. "Can I get all the dental care I need in a 
year for $200? I'm worried because it's cheaper to pull a tooth than 
fill a cavity."
They weren't here just to complain but to offer a solution-- taxes. They 
want the state to raise the tax on cigarettes by $1 and raise income 
taxes on Vermonters making over half a million dollars a year. Combined 
that would generate over $20 million. They say the rest should come from 
the federal stimulus package and they're opposed to any cuts.
"Somebody needs to explain to the governor that the word tax is not a 
four letter word," said Christopher Curtis of Legal Aid.
"If you look at our structural issue of $200 million-- that would be an 
awful lot of taxes," said Sen. Susan Bartlett, D-Lamoille County.
And both Democrats and the governor are wary about relying too heavily 
on the federal stimulus since so much is up in the air.
But lawmakers are looking at some taxes. Sen. Bartlett chairs the 
Appropriations Committee and today said she supports a gas tax to pay 
for transportation projects. Details are still being worked out.
"And when you hit a certain point when you don't need any more revenue 
you cap it and you don't-- and you are not paying over a certain 
amount," Bartlett said. "That to me is a very logical way to deal with 
the structural problems in the transportation fund."
But an obstacle is Gov. Douglas who reinforced in his budget address 
he's against any tax increases.
"With one of the highest tax burdens in the nation, raising these taxes 
now would slow a recovery and offset any gains achieved through the 
federal stimulus," Douglas said.
Another group hoping to avoid cuts-- the state employees union. The 
governor proposed eliminating 660 state workers.
"So I think it's going to put even more of a strain on a tough economy," 
said Jes Kraus of VSEA.
It could also mean longer waits for Vermonters needing service. One idea 
to save jobs is to reopen the contract and negotiate lower salaries.
"Because of the lack of information these conversations are just 
beginning with the membership and that will be something they have to 
weigh-- the different alternatives that are available and the options 
they have," Kraus explained.
Lawmakers will now get down to work on the budget and with a strong 
democratic majority in the legislature, it is expected they will make 
changes to the governor's proposal.
Kristin Carlson - WCAX News





http://www.rferl.org/Content/Opposition_Activists_Detained_At_St_Petersburg_Tax_Protest/1368161.html

Opposition Activists Detained At St. Petersburg Tax Protest
January 09, 2009
ST. PETERSBURG -- Two activists were detained in St. Petersburg as they 
protested a tax increase on the import of foreign cars, RFE/RL's Russian 
Service reports.

The January 8 demonstration was to include a parade of cars, but the 
street to the rally was blocked by city authorities.

Activist Vladimir Ivanhik was arrested for displaying a black flag 
showing a hammer and sickle, even though a court recently ruled that 
such a flag can be shown in Russia.

Olga Kurnosova, head of St. Petersburg's branch of the United Civil 
Front, was also detained at the end of the rally. She told RFE/RL that 
her arrest was punishment for her slogans "Russia Without Putin" and "We 
Need Another Russia."

The demonstration was held ahead of the January 12 nationwide protest 
against an increase on the import tax for foreign cars.







http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/breaking-news/world/europe/two-million-take-part-in-french-economic-protests-14163008.html?r=RSS

Two million take part in French economic protests
Friday, 30 January 2009

Around two million people are believed to have taken part in public 
demonstrations across France yesterday to protest at the Government's 
handling of the economic crisis.
A nationwide general strike was arranged by trade unions to demand more 
action from President Nicolas Sarkozy to protect jobs and wage levels.
The unions say large numbers are unhappy with the fact that Mr Sarkozy 
has found billions of euros to bail out reckless banks, but is not 
spending enough to protect workers and consumers.
Yesterday's strike crippled transport, education and hospital services 
across France.
Clashes broke out between police and protesters at the end of the day, 
with some people throwing bottles and starting fires in Paris.






http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-01/30/content_10735335.htm

France hit by strikes and mass protests

Public and private sector workers demonstrate with banners and giant 
balloons during a protest march in Paris January 29, 2009. Hundreds of 
thousands of French workers staged a nationwide strike on Thursday to 
try to force President Nicolas Sarkozy and business leaders to do more 
to protect jobs and wages during the economic crisis.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)






http://www.vancouversun.com/business/fp/story.html?id=1230849

French shut transit, schools in protest

Residents take to streets to send Sarkozy message

By Peter O'Neil, Europe Correspondent, Canwest News ServiceJanuary 29, 2009

A demonstrator holds a banner reading 'social emergency' during a 
protest march of public and private sector workers in Paris Thursday. 
Hundreds of thousands of French workers staged a nationwide strike to 
force the government to do more to protect jobs and wages during the 
economic crisis.
Photograph by: Charles Platiau, Reuters
PARIS - A uniquely French day of public fury hit the country Thursday as 
hundreds of thousands of workers partly shut down the transit system and 
some schools to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy?s handling of the 
global financial crisis.
The so-called ?Black Thursday? demonstration had the kind of widespread 
popular support unimaginable in Canada, where such demonstrations that 
impair public services are typically dominated and supported by unions 
and left-wing political supporters.
The protests, led partly by communist unions, had a scattergun message 
that included complaints about government reforms, cuts in the teacher 
workforce, and Sarkozy?s handling of the global financial crisis.
The government has contributed $575 billion to bail out the struggling 
banking sector, while $42 billion has been committed to an economic 
stimulus package.
Union leaders say he should follow Britain?s example and offer help for 
consumers. ?For several months now, especially since the crisis 
exploded, we have been asking the government for various measures, 
notably help to boost consumer spending,? said Jean-Claude Mailly, head 
of the Force Ouvriere union. ?Up until now we have not had any response 
and when you don?t get dialogue you get a show of force,? he said. The 
unions have a point to prove to Sarkozy, who said in July that ?these 
days, when there is a strike, nobody notices.?
Polls in France indicate that as many as three out of four citizens - 
many of them sympathetic to right-of-centre parties like Sarkozy?s Union 
for a Popular Movement - backed the initiative. As few as 12 per cent 
were opposed.
A Canadian historian said the popular street uprising reflects three 
French factors - a sense of entitlement in a country that expects 
coddling from the state, a profound lack of faith in political 
institutions, and nostalgia for France?s history of grand public uprisings.
?There?s a certain romance in taking it to the street and imagining that 
you are riding on a great historical continuum stretching back to 1789 
and the storming of the Bastille,? said Timothy Smith, a Queen?s 
University professor and author of France in Crisis.
But Thursday?s demonstrations, bore no resemblance to that bloody 
revolution or even the May 1968 drama in which masses of students and 
workers tore up streets, paralyzed the country and almost brought the 
government to its knees.
Many trains and metro lines were operational Thursday and two-thirds of 
teachers showed up to work, according to officials.
Still, it was meant to send a message to Sarkozy.
?He?s helping his rich friends but what is he doing for the people?? 
said newspaper vendor Ali Bourdache.
Smith said in an e-mail exchange that the French take to the streets in 
part because it?s the only way to bring change.
?The French parliament is the weakest in the rich world; even weaker 
than Canada?s,? he wrote.
?People don?t bother writing to their representative because little will 
come of it.?
Demands that Sarkozy protect jobs and wages, in the midst of a global 
financial collapse, also reflect the heavy role of, and support for, the 
state in a country where more than half the population either works for 
the government or are directly related to a civil servant.
?Most French people - from civil service workers to private sector 
employees - distrust the market. They expect that the state will 
guarantee a certain level of material comfort,? said Smith.
In a 2003 book on France?s unique political culture, Canadian authors 
Julie Barlow and Jean-Benoit Nadeau wrote that France?s affinity for 
protest is due in part to geography.
France is a unitary state with political and economic power concentrated 
in a single city. It is easy for transportation unions to blackmail 
decision-makers because all corridors lead to Paris.
In Canada and the U.S., by contrast, economic and political power are 
diffuse.
The French also glorify defiance of authority, they wrote.
?Since the Middle Ages the Paris mobs have triggered countless political 
crises,? the authors state in Sixty Million Frenchmen Can?t Be Wrong.
?Rich or poor, bourgeois or working class, the French have no 
inhibitions when it comes to taking their views to the street, grabbing 
a sign, chanting slogans, forming human chains around towns, or cracking 
fireworks in front of bored riot squads.?
Sarkozy is highly sensitive to this history. He recently spoke of Louis 
XVI, France?s king during the revolution, and his pretty young queen 
Marie Antoinette.
?France is one of the most difficult countries to govern. Louis XVI, 
with his young wife, was one of the most loved kings for 10 years. Both 
of them ended with their heads on the block.?
With files from Reuters






http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/30/2478137.htm

French protest against Govt's handling of economic crisis
By ABC correspondent Philip Williams
Posted Fri Jan 30, 2009 10:25am AEDT
? Video: French protest over economy (ABC News)
French trade unions say 1 million people have taken to the streets in a 
day of protest against the Government's handling of the economic crisis.
While there is argument about the numbers taking part the message was 
clear.
Unions want the Government to put more emphasis on saving jobs and 
protecting the weaker sections of the community like pensioners.
There is anger and frustration with the Government's handling of the 
crisis which has seen billions of euros pumped into the French banking 
system.
Transport, education and postal services were all affected by the strike 
though the total shutdown promised by the unions did not eventuate.
It is predicted unemployment in France could reach 10 per cent by the 
end of the year.
The protesters were calling on the Government to focus on job protection 
rather than cost cutting.





http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090081873

France protests against Sarkozy's economic policies
Noopur Tiwari
Friday, January 30, 2009, (Paris)
As many countries of the world slip into recession and jobs are lost 
people are getting restless.

France came to a near standstill on Thursday as two and a half million 
people took to the streets to protest against French president Nicolas 
Sarkozy's handling of the financial crisis.

"Everyone's simply protesting against Sarkozy's politics," said a protester.

The French constitution gives its citizens the right to strike and they 
seemed to know how to use it well. Even though the government felt it 
was a time to express solidarity, and not stop work to come out into the 
streets, the citizens disagreed.

"It's the only way to act and get the government to its knees," said a 
French citizen.

The French have been worrying about their economic situation now for 
nearly a decade. But the global financial crisis and the tough reforms 
lined up by Nicolas Sarkozy have turned that worry into real fear.






http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=241633
France hit as workers protest
Posted on ? Friday, January 30, 2009
PARIS: More than a million French workers took to the streets yesterday 
during a strike to mark rising anger over President Nicolas Sarkozy's 
handling of the economic crisis.
Billed as a "Black Thursday," the nationwide day of action caused less 
transport disruption than expected but the strike was well supported, 
with a quarter of France's five million public sector workers downing tools.
The demonstrations were the biggest since the right-wing president 
arrived in office in May 2007, and came amid mounting public anger at 
his policies, in particular his plans to cut public sector jobs.
Marchers thronged the boulevards of eastern Paris - 300,000 according to 
the organisers, 65,000 according to police - to demand protection for 
jobs threatened by the global slowdown.






http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=WER20090129&articleId=12083

The European Protest Movement
Is Europe in "Pre revolutionary" Mode?

by Michael Werbowski

Global Research, January 29, 2009

?Off with their heads? and ?man the barricades? the cries of the famed 
?sans culottes? rang out and sent shivers down the spines of the doomed 
Bourbon dynasty way back then. These poor yet determined revolutionary 
men fighting for a semblance of social justice and disparagingly 
referred to as ?without knee breaches? by the ruling royals and 
aristocracy seem to reverberate in today?s urban European settings.

220 years after the French revolution, scenes somewhat reminiscent of 
the almost long forgotten revolts, are again visible on the streets of 
Paris. They appear to be pre revolutionary in their scope and political 
impact. The fall out from all this maybe like a horror film come true 
for those at the top.

Unions of all sorts have mobilised in protest of what is perceived as 
anti social government policy of President Nicolas Sarkozy, or a final 
assault on what remains of the welfare state, decimated by decades of 
rampant and reckless ultra liberalism which has since run amok. This has 
paralyzed the country by widespread strike action. From rail to air, 
transport has been virtually halted. Public employees and their union 
members fearing for the security of their jobs and anticipated state 
imposed reforms in the public sector have made many in French angst ridden.
Is Europe in all out revolt or this a dress rehearsal for the real thing?
On Thursday in Spain, echoing the current social unrest in France, 
unions have taken the cue from their French counterparts and announced 
upcoming mass protests to denounce huge lay offs and egregious abuses in 
the name of personal gain and profit in the world?s banking sector on 
both a national and global banking scale. Spain now holds the 
ignominious title of having the highest unemployment rate (unemployment 
is over 4 million in 2009 so far) in all of Europe. An unflattering 
distinction which it had not held since its pre EU membership days.
The country is experiencing massive layoffs in the construction 
industry, mainly due to an American style bursting of a speculative 
property bubble, related to over inflated housing prices and unbridled 
development. The scale of the anticipated protest may not be a big as 
those in France but social tensions are apparently as high or at the 
boiling point and about to blow over.

A Greek tragedy in the making
The upheaval in France and Spain follows weeks of social disturbance in 
other parts of Europe this month, including the Baltic States, Bulgaria 
and overall Greece where very violent protest headed by so called 
?anarchists? and other ?leftist? or what official might refer to as 
?riff raff? took place. A new wave of protests has begun this week. The 
violent protests seem to be sparked but decades of neo liberal policies 
imposed from above coupled by the sudden drastic and devastating 
socially downturn in many EU member state economics. There are now, news 
reports coming out of Greece of ?arsonists? and ?anarchists? attacking 
foreign car dealerships.
Certainly this is all quite troubling for the government. Those in power 
should ask themselves this: ?Are the assailants targeting the symbols 
associated with a luxurious lifestyle led by a select few fellow 
citizens?? Or this : ?Are the attacks against police stations, the 
exclusive Athens boutiques and their private security companies (or 
goons) all part of an overall general exasperation with current policies 
which have bred intolerable social inequity , and are part of a popular 
uprising against the ruling classes and their valets the law enforcement 
stooges? ?.

Whatever the causes may be, the protests have spread beyond the cities 
and now paralyse the Greek countryside as well. This week farmers staged 
a huge protest using 5,000 tractors to block road and border crossing to 
neighbouring states, in protest of dropping agricultural prices for 
their goods and most likely as well their increasingly precarious way of 
life. The ongoing protests threaten the distribution of food supplies in 
the country and beyond.

Out in the cold but not alone: Iceland?s Revolution

The long tolerated excesses of the so called ?super rich? continue to 
shake up Europe amidst the worst economic crisis not seen since the 
great depression. The aftershocks of the collapse of the global banking 
sector can be seen in Iceland. The once prosperous and stable island is 
now in total disarray. Recent, streets protest in the quite fishing port 
of Reykjavik, have led to the fall of the government.
Icelanders are apparently apoplectic about the recent implosion of their 
national economy thanks to over leveraged lending and excessive 
deregulation or laissez faire policies greed driven bankers adopted , 
which led to overexpansion aboard and eventually the bankruptcy of the 
country, when local banks became inundated with ?toxic loans? generated 
during the sub prime mortgage boom years. This week the government fell 
to be replace by Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, whose Social Democratic 
Party is talking with the Left-Greens on a new administration after 
protests helped force out her predecessor, Geir Haarde of the 
Independence Party.







http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12974153&fsrc=rss

France
A time of troubles and protest
Jan 22nd 2009 | POISSY
 From The Economist print edition
As European economies sink, fears of social unrest rise. This article 
looks at France; the next two at eastern Europe and Spain

AFP
A FROSTY weekday at the end of the morning shift, and car workers are 
streaming out of the factory gate, coats buttoned up against the winter 
chill. But these employees, at the Peugeot car plant in Poissy, just 
west of Paris, will not be returning to work the next day. The factory 
is now operating short weeks, due to a slump in car sales. It shut down 
completely for four weeks over Christmas. And these workers are the 
lucky ones: they still have jobs, whereas 700 colleagues on temporary 
contracts have lost theirs. ?There?s a real fear that redundancies could 
be next,? says Georges Martin, a union official who has worked here for 
33 years.
The French may not be troubled by heavy mortgages or credit-card bills, 
but fears of unemployment are rising as recession takes hold. In 
November France?s jobless total reached 2.1m, an 8.5% rise on a year 
earlier. Other European Union countries such as Spain and Ireland are 
seeing even sharper rises in unemployment, as Europe?s economies head 
into what European Commission forecasts suggest may be their worst year 
since the 1970s (see chart). French unemployment, now 7.9%, could top 
10% by 2010. Joblessness is growing fastest among under-25s, many of 
whom are being laid off as firms cut those on short-term contracts.

The government is most worried about the car industry, which directly 
employs 700,000 people in France (6,600 of them in Poissy), and 
indirectly 2.5m. This week Fran?ois Fillon, the prime minister, told 
car-industry bosses that state help would go only to firms that kept 
production (and jobs) in the country. The Europe-wide concern that 
rising unemployment could provoke social unrest is particularly acute in 
France, where even in good times protesters take readily to the streets.
There have been various outbursts in recent weeks. When President 
Nicolas Sarkozy dropped in on a town in Normandy, the police had to use 
tear-gas to control a crowd of protesting students and teachers. 
Militant unions in Paris forced the closure of a railway station, 
Saint-Lazare, for a day, and have paralysed public transport in 
Marseille. In December Mr Sarkozy postponed a school reform out of 
fears, prompted by riots in Greece, that French high-school protests 
could get out of hand and even set off a rerun of May 1968.
In the industrial town of Poissy, which grew up around the car plant 
that opened in 1938, there is a palpable sense of unease. ?There is a 
lot of anxiety and stress, even depression, particularly among the 
young,? says Fr?d?rik Bernard, the Socialist mayor. ?When Peugeot is in 
difficulty, so is the town.? Some 400 temporary workers laid off at the 
factory live locally, and their chances of finding new jobs are slim. 
Even before the recession, France?s two-tier labour market overly 
protected permanent jobs and so prompted firms to hire only on flexible 
short-term contracts. These are the jobs, often held by the young, that 
are now being shed.
Could the jobs malaise translate into unrest? Two things cause concern. 
The first is the student movement, which in France includes high-school 
unions. Many politicians on the left emerged from student politics, 
which at university level is a potent lobby. Campus sit-ins in 2006 
forced the then government to back down from a proposed flexible job 
contract for the young. Mr Sarkozy is even more worried about 
high-school unions. They are more unpredictable, and more easily 
influenced by hard-left or anarchist groups, or by teachers, who lose 
pay for days on strike and so prefer the students to come out instead. 
Should trouble break out in France, or elsewhere in Europe, there will 
be genuine fears of contagion.
Up on the hill above Poissy, opposite a rain-streaked low-rise housing 
estate, the Lyc?e Le Corbusier was periodically blockaded by pupils last 
autumn, as part of the countrywide protests that forced Mr Sarkozy?s 
climbdown. The students are against cuts to teaching staff, as well as a 
proposed new curriculum. But at Le Corbusier they are quick to point out 
that the reform has been postponed, not dropped. Pauline Jagu-David, a 
student leader who packs flyers alongside economics textbooks in her 
bag, says that students are still angry. ?We know we?re a strong force, 
and that we frighten the government.?
The second cause of unease is the rise of a militant union, Solidaire 
Unitaire D?mocratique, or SUD. Loosely linked to hard-left Trotskyist 
and revolutionary communist groups, it belongs to a tradition that the 
French call anarcho-syndicalisme. It is anti-establishment, not being 
one of the five official unions that deal with the government. It is 
non-hierarchical and has no official leader. Yet, with a strong 
following among workers for the SNCF rail company, where it is the 
second-biggest union, and a deft ability to find loopholes in the law, 
it has disrupted train services into the Gare Saint-Lazare for weeks, 
affecting hundreds of thousands of angry commuters. Ahead of internal 
company elections to works councils this March, it is keen to make its 
voice heard, cause trouble and recruit support.
One of SUD?s feats is to have made the Conf?d?ration G?n?rale du Travail 
(CGT), France?s powerful communist-backed union, seem moderate. In the 
caf? next to the car factory in Poissy, CGT officials, their blue union 
jackets over grey Peugeot overalls, outline proposals to management on 
pay and working practices. ?They are using the crisis as an excuse to 
cut pay and intensify the workload,? says Farid Borsali, the CGT general 
secretary at Poissy. He is scandalised that the government is handing 
money to banks when workers? pay is stagnant. But the union is 
organising nothing more sinister than buses to take workers to join a 
national day of action next week.
Such organised protests are meant to be peaceful. French public opinion 
is not behind radicals such as SUD. Callers to radio talk-shows during 
the one-day station closure were furious, pointing out that the union 
had the luxury of combining troublemaking with public-sector job 
security. But as the recession bites, the chances of rallying disparate 
protest groups around an anti-capitalist ideology could rise. In Poissy 
the CGT?s Mr Martin is glum. ?You saw what happened in Greece,? he says 
darkly. ?There?s a social bomb waiting to explode here too.?







http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90783/91321/6577029.html

January 19, 2009

Protesters hurl paint against UBS headquarters

Workers clean off red and green paint from the headquarters of the Union 
Bank of Switzerland (UBS) in Zurich Jan. 18, 2009. According to Zurich's 
city Police, a group of unidentified protesters hurled paint against the 
building on Saturday evening.






http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jan2009/eeur-j26.shtml

Economic crisis unleashes violent protests across Eastern Europe
By Markus Salzmann
26 January 2009
The international economic crisis has hit Eastern Europe with full force 
and brought long-simmering social and political tensions to the surface.
Last week approximately 10,000 people protested in Latvia against the 
rampant corruption and incompetence of those in the highest public 
offices. The demonstration, which had been called by the opposition 
parties and trade unions, was followed by scenes of violence, with over 
100 arrested.
In the Bulgarian capital Sofia, approximately 2,000 demonstrated against 
the government. Anger with the grand coalition under Prime Minister 
Sergei Stanishev has been strengthened by the acute gas crisis; this 
Balkan state is entirely dependent on Russian supplies of gas via 
Ukraine. When supplies were cut off last week, Bulgarians suffered under 
the icy temperatures.
Last Friday there were also violent protests in Lithuania. Protests also 
took place in five other Lithuanian cities, as well as the capital, with 
more than 20,000 taking part.
In Lithuania anger was directed against the conservative government of 
Andrius Kubilius. His party, the Homeland Union-Lithuanian Christian 
Democrats, which governs in a four-party coalition, recently agreed 
measures to deal with the financial and economic crisis that are 
entirely at the expense of the general population. The government wants 
to cut expenditure in the public sector and on social security by 12 to 
15 percent, at the same time raising taxes while cutting subsidies for 
medicine and heating.
Any end to this series of protests is not in sight, and observers are 
predicting similar protests for Estonia, where the government of Andrus 
Ansip is rapidly losing support, and also in Romania.
Last week thousands of workers at the Renault subsidiary Dacia in the 
southern Romanian city of Pitesti demonstrated in defence of their jobs. 
The workers demanded that the continual production breaks be lifted and 
that their jobs be guaranteed. Last year, Pitesti had seen strikes for 
higher wages lasting for weeks. Meanwhile, Dacia management are planning 
a fourth production break from January 26 for two weeks, due to 
"dramatically falling" demand. Only on Monday Dacia terminated a 
one-month interruption of work.
Management are considering sacking a quarter of the workforce due to the 
collapse of demand in January. This was confirmed in the press by Dacia 
general manager Francois Fourmont. If the "plan to deal with the 
consequences of the crisis" does not bear fruit by the spring, he said, 
some 3,000 to 4,000 of Dacia's 13,000 workers will be dismissed.
Dacia's suppliers have already been hard hit. Cable manufacturer Leoni 
is closing its plant in Pitesti, one of its four factories in Romania, 
making about 220 workers there redundant. The management have justified 
this by saying that production exceeds demand. Workers at the Nokia 
factory, opened only last year in Klausenburg, are facing dismissals. 
According to trade union sources, Nokia has already sacked about 600 
workers.
Anger here is also being directed ever more directly against the 
government in Bucharest. Shortly before the end of the year, the 
government trebled the "eco-tax" on imported used cars, with the aim of 
protecting the domestic automobile industry. But many drivers protested 
against the measure by mounting road blockades.
The struggle between the population and the political elite will 
inevitably increase because of the mounting economic crisis. The 
governments in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania have already announced they 
will implement further austerity measures to stabilize the state 
finances. All political parties, whether nominally calling themselves 
socialist or right-wing reformist, are agreed that the burden of the 
crisis must be placed upon the general population.
Eastern Europe?"source of the fire-storm"
Over the recent past, the economies in the former Eastern bloc countries 
have experienced a rapid growth, reaching double-digits in some places. 
Following the "high-altitude flight," however, instead of the "soft 
landing" experts had hoped for, an abrupt crash is predicted.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Stalinist regimes in 
Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, local industries were largely shut 
down or sold off at bargain basement prices to foreign investors. 
Transnational corporations such as Volkswagen, Renault and Nokia tried 
to reduce their costs by developing factories in the low-wage countries 
of Eastern Europe. They were supported by a corrupt, compliant elite 
that mainly stemmed from the old Stalinist cadres, which provided a 
crucial element to removing all political obstacles to exploitation.
Economic success depended entirely on the supply of capital from abroad. 
The sudden drying up of these capital flows as a result of the 
international financial crisis caused massive problems for the Eastern 
Europe states. Only international support has enabled a complete 
collapse to be avoided, so far.
Last year Hungary was saved from bankruptcy by a cash infusion from the 
IMF. And now Latvia has also been granted a credit package. Poland and 
Estonia, whose economies face imminent failure, have been assured a 
total of $400 million. The failure of any Eastern European state would 
inevitably have dramatic consequences for the entire region.
The situation of Ukraine is particularly precarious. According to some 
observers, state bankruptcy threatens the country. "Market data points 
to a payments failure," Die Welt quotes strategist Tom Fallon at La 
Fran?aise des Placements in Paris. The country's currency, the hrywnja, 
has lost 30 percent of its value in the past three months, recalling the 
collapse of the Asian currency markets during the Asian crisis of 1997.
The country's indebtedness is crushing. According to financial press 
agency Bloomberg, Ukraine has debts of $105 billion on the international 
credit markets, a massive amount for a country whose annual economic 
output is approximately $140 billion. In December industrial production 
fell by over 26 percent. The price of the country's most important 
export product, steel, has fallen by 56 percent since the summer. At the 
stock market in Kiev, brokers are speculating on a huge shock. The main 
stock index has lost 85 percent in value in less than a year.
Under the headline, "The Next Source of the Fire-storm is Eastern 
Europe," Financial Times Deutschland pointed to the consequences for 
Western Europe. If European Union members such as Hungary or Estonia get 
into a predicament, FTD writes, this will also affect the state budgets, 
banks and investors in the other EU countries.
"A dramatic meltdown of wealth," reports FTD, and points to the example 
of the Griffin Eastern Europe Fund, which has lost 63 percent in value 
within one year. "The Julius B?r Black Sea Fund, which invests in stock 
markets around the Black Sea, has even managed to destroy 80 percent of 
investors' capital in 12 months."
According to the article, Eastern Europe business presently ranks among 
the greatest risks for Western banks. The banks' commitment in these 
countries amounts to some $1,500 billion. Financial institutions from 
Austria, Italy, France, Sweden and Greece are particularly affected. 
Austrian banks alone have outstanding credits of ?224 billion in Eastern 
Europe, corresponding to 78 percent of Austria's entire economic output.





http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24949612-26040,00.html

Protests tip of iceberg as Europe braces for chaos
? Font Size: Decrease Increase
? Print Page: Print
Roger Boyes | January 23, 2009
Article from: The Australian
ICELAND has no army, no navy and no air force -- but it does have riot 
police.
The troopers came out to quell the latest riots in Reykjavik, which 
erupted in front of parliament this week over the country's massive debt 
and inability to deal with the financial crisis.
The building was splattered with paint and yoghurt, the crowd yelled and 
banged pans, shot fireworks and flares at the windows and lit a fire in 
front of the main door.
The protesters gathered again yesterday, hurling eggs at the car of 
Prime Minister Geir Haarde and banging cans on its roof.
The transformation of the placid island into a community of seething 
anger -- triggering half a dozen riots in recent weeks -- is more than a 
regional oddity.
In Riga last week, 10,000 protesters laid siege to the Latvian 
parliament; hundreds of Bulgarians rallied on Wednesday to demand that 
the Socialist-led Government should take action or step down, in a 
second week of demonstrations, and last month the police shooting of a 
15-year-old Greek boy led to days of running battles in the streets of 
Athens and Salonika.
The protests went beyond the usual angry reflexes of societies braced 
for recession. The Greek riots heralded sympathetic actions across the 
world, from Moscow to Madrid, and in Berlin the Greek Consulate was 
briefly stormed. The Riga unrest spread rapidly to Lithuania. It is, 
some say, just the beginning: 2009 could become another 1968 -- a new 
age of rebellion.
Robert Wade, of the London School of Economics, addressed about 1000 
Icelanders recently at a protest meeting in a Reykjavik cinema, warning 
that large-scale civil unrest was on the way. The tipping point, he 
said, would be this northern spring.
"It will be caused by the rise of general awareness throughout Europe, 
America and Asia that hundreds and millions of people in rich and poor 
countries are experiencing rapidly falling consumption standards; that 
the crisis is getting worse, not better, and that it has escaped the 
control of public authorities, national and international," he said.
The global liquidity emergency became a full-blown crash so quickly that 
there was no time to hold governments to account. Unemployment is 
starting to soar and cuts in public spending are hurting hospitals, 
schools and universities. Personal bankruptcies are at record levels.
Every segment of society has been hit, but it is the young who feel the 
pain most -- and just as in 1968, it is they who are leading the rebellion.
In the EU, migration was a way out of a tight domestic labour market. No 
more: the magnitude of the recession means there is no easy escape. 
There are reports of anti-immigrant trouble brewing in Spain.
Each flare-up touches on a separate aspect of the crisis. In Greece, it 
was partly about the failure of the education system. In Vilnius it was 
over high taxes. In Russia, unrest was about dearer car import duties.
But there are common threads. And there is a shared shock that the good 
times have gone. "The explosion conceals a compressed desperation," 
Greek psychology professor Fotini Tsalikoglou said of the outburst in 
Athens.
"Many young people live with the unbearable knowledge that there is no 
future."
The Times



From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 16:57:10 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:57:10 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] Protests - food, electricity, gas, water,
	transport - January 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF7FE6.2020909@tesco.net>


* CHAD: Charcoal fuel ban sparks protests
* SOUTH AFRICA: Service delivery protest in Limpopo, road blocked
* SOUTH AFRICA: Gauteng road blocked in delrivery protest
* SOUTH AFRICA: Azapo in service delivery protest in Gauteng
* US: Massachusetts - Power cuts protest hits power station
* PAKISTAN: Residents block Rawalpindi airport road over gas supplies
* PAKISTAN: Massive protest against Lahore power crisis
* PAKISTAN: Police violence against power protesters in Faisalabad
* NEPAL: Students shut down power supply, storm office over power cuts
* INDIA: Andhra Pradesh - Roads blocked after power cut dispute
* INDIA: Tamil Nadu - Protest over ration card cancellation
* INDIA: Andhra Pradesh - Protest for job scheme
* INDIA: Andhra Pradesh - All-party protest demanding rice price, payments
* INDIA: Tamil Nadu - Washing clothes as sign of protest over drinking water
* TAIWAN: Protests over gas price hike
* NIGERIA: Protest at poor state of roads
* MALAYSIA: Protest for railway crossing
* NEPAL: Ongoing protests in capital over load-shedding
* INDIA: Andhra Pradesh - Rightists protest over water shortages
* INDIA: West Bengal - Near-total shutdown in Phulbani over commodity 
supplies
* INDIA: Andhra Pradesh - Residents lock government offices in water protest
* INDIA: Kerala - Fuel price protest
* INDIA: Karnataka - Protest over ration card delay
* BULGARIA: Trade unionists protest at Ukrainian embassy over gas crisis
* TRINIDAD: Fiery roadblock protest over bad roads
* INDIA: Karnataka - roadblock protest over roadwork delay
* UK: "Mass squat" toilet protest for global poor
* PAKISTAN: Protest for road construction
* PAKISTAN: Road blocked over poor condition
* US: Local protest over unaffordable water bills
* NEPAL: Electric vehicle drivers protest load shedding
* UKRAINE: Russian flag burnt over gas crisis
* TURKEY: Road safety protest leads to blocked road
* UK: Commuters urged to join rail protest
* INDIA: Jharkhand - Maoists protest plight of poor
* BANGLADESH: Clash with police over road death
* INDONESIA: Lapindo disaster survivors continue protests, block road
* INDIA: Kolkata - Market fire survivors protest
* INDIA: Kolkata - SUCI band over bus fares draws mixed response; roads 
blocked, clashes with police
* INDIA: Rudra Sena social organisation stages bandh
* INDONESIA: Protesters block road to demand port repairs







http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82436

CHAD: Panic, outcry at government charcoal ban

Photo: IRIN

The Chadian government says its ban on tree-cutting for household fuel 
is essential to fight desertification (file photo)
N'DJAMENA, 16 January 2009 (IRIN) - A government ban on charcoal in the 
Chadian capital N?djamena has created what one observer called 
?explosive? conditions as families desperately seek the means to cook.

?As we speak women and children are on the outskirts of N?djamena 
scavenging for dead branches, cow dung or the occasional scrap of 
charcoal,? Merlin Totinon Ngu?b?tan of the UN Human Settlements 
Programme (HABITAT) in Chad, told IRIN from the capital. ?People cannot 
cook.?

?Women giving birth cannot even find a bit of charcoal to heat water for 
washing,? C?line Narmadji, with the Association of Women for Development 
in Chad, told IRIN.

Unions and other civil society groups say the government failed to 
prepare the population or make alternative household fuels available 
when it halted all transport of charcoal and cooking wood into the 
capital in December in a move, officials said, to protect the environment.

Charcoal is the sole source of household fuel for about 99 percent of 
Chadians, N?djamena residents told IRIN.

With the government blocking all entry of charcoal into N?djamena, and 
reportedly confiscating any found in the city, charcoal has become 
nearly impossible to come by, aid workers and residents said. And when 
it is found, a bag that used to cost about 6,000 CFA francs (US12) is 
now sold, clandestinely, at about four times that.

Climate change

Government officials said the charcoal ban was part of an effort to halt 
tree-cutting for fuel, which they said was essential to fight 
desertification. The government has attempted to block tree-cutting in 
the past but has severely cracked down in recent weeks, aid workers and 
residents told IRIN.

?Chadians must find other ways to cook and forget about charcoal and 
wood as fuel,? Environment Minister Ali Souleyman Dabye recently told 
the media in N?djamena. ?Cooking is of course a fundamental necessity 
for every household. On the other hand...with climate change every 
citizen must protect his environment.?

Officials said the ban includes only charcoal made from freshly-cut 
trees, not that made from dead wood lying about. But all wood and 
charcoal is being blocked from entering N?djamena, residents said.
...Women giving birth cannot even find a bit of charcoal to heat water 
for washing...

Amid panic and protests over the ban another government official said at 
a 14 January press conference that the government made a mistake in not 
preparing the public, but he announced no change. ?It is a gaffe; to err 
is human,? said Nouradine Delwa Kassir? Coumakoye, president of the 
government?s Social, Economic and Cultural Council.

He called on Chadians to stay calm, saying: ?The government can resolve 
this crisis and find a solution.?

The Chadian Prime Minister on 15 January met with the leader of a 
national consumers? rights association, according to the government 
website.

?Crying out?

Residents and aid experts told IRIN the charcoal ban has complicated 
already dire living conditions in the city.

?All families in N?djamena are crying out,? Delphine Djiraib? Kemneloum, 
coordinator of the Monitoring Committee for Peace and Reconciliation, 
told IRIN.

UN-HABITAT's Ngu?b?tan said: ?This is quite a grave situation because 
Chadians have always used charcoal for cooking and for heating water." 
Many Chadians also make a living from selling charcoal.

?We all agree that desertification is a serious problem that Chad must 
address,? he said. ?But the government must supplement its measures with 
alternatives for the population.?

The government has mentioned alternatives such as propane but ?only 
abstractly,? Ngu?b?tan said.

Residents said few people use propane in N?djamena, and it is scarce. 
People who can afford to are traveling across the border to Cameroon to 
buy gas.

Protest put down

Soldiers and police on 14 January dispersed crowds who gathered in the 
capital to protest the government?s action as well as the overall high 
cost of living, people in the capital told IRIN.

?They hit demonstrators, who were mostly women,? said the women?s 
association?s Narmadji, who was among the marchers.

?Until the government makes a change we will not give up,? she said. 
?Better to die swiftly and en masse than to continue dying slowly as we 
are now.? Then she added: ?We are already dead.?

dd/np/aj






http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82550

CHAD: Banging pots and pans to end charcoal ban

Photo: Celeste Hicks/IRIN

One of several vehicles recently torched just outside N'djamena. 
Residents said it is not known who burned the vehicles, which were 
reportedly transporting charcoal
N'DJAMENA, 24 January 2009 (IRIN) - On 23 January in some Chadian cities 
day broke with the sound of citizens banging together pots and pans.

Prohibited by the authorities from demonstrating in the streets, 
Chadians banged their utensils from inside their homes to protest the 
government?s ban on charcoal, which has people in a panic, burning 
roots, furniture and anything they can find in order to boil water and cook.

?Since we cannot go out into the streets, we hope everyone will join us 
in this ? tap, tap, tap!? Larlem Marie, coordinator of the Chadian 
Fundamental Liberties Association, told IRIN.

The protest idea came from the Coalition of Parties for the Defence of 
the Constitution, an umbrella group of opposition political parties. 
Clanging was heard in the capital N'djamena and the protest was 
reportedly widely observed in Chad's third largest city, Sarh, in the 
south. Chadians planned to carry out the banging for three consecutive days.

When people tried to march in N?djamena earlier this month -- against 
the charcoal policy and the high cost of basic goods -- police and 
military dispersed the crowds, beating some demonstrators, a woman who 
was among the protesters told IRIN.

The charcoal ban ? which government officials say is essential to fight 
desertification ? has highlighted the need for alternative household 
fuels in the country, much of which is rocky desert. Residents and aid 
workers say just about the entire population uses charcoal as household 
fuel. A consumers' rights association is urging the government to 
promote renewable energy use.

But this group and others are calling for a suspension of the ban until 
alternatives can be made available.

For now Chadians are burning whatever they can find.

?I am using plants such as palm fruits,? N?djamena resident Nangali 
Helene told IRIN on 22 January. ?But they make us ill. They do not burn 
properly and they give off a horrid smoke and smell.?
...We understand the need to protect the environment but we find it 
bizarre that the measures are so sudden and so brutal...

She said: ?Last night we started burning the beams from the roof of our 
outhouse. Our children are suffering. We cannot even wash them with warm 
water in the morning. The government needs to know what things are like 
for us.?

Currently the morning temperature in N?djamena averages around 17 
degrees Celsius.

The Chadian Association for the Defence of Consumers' Rights, whose 
president Daouda Elhadj Adam met with the Prime Minister on 15 January, 
said in a memorandum to the head of government: ?To fight reckless 
tree-cutting for charcoal, the government took a brutal and radical 
measure of prohibiting the sale of charcoal and wood as household 
fuel....Families do not know which way to turn to cook their meals.?

The group recommends the government suspend its ban for at least six 
months during which time alternatives can be developed. It calls for a 
look at the supply and demand of propane as one option, as well as the 
promotion of energy-efficient cookers.

Many Chadians are not familiar with using propane and would have to 
learn to use it properly, N?djamena residents told IRIN. Fear is a 
factor, as several Chadians have been killed or injured in accidents 
involving gas cylinders.

The government should ?promote renewable energy sources, with subsidies 
for solar energy,? the consumers' rights group says in its memorandum.

Aid groups have distributed solar stoves or other energy-efficient 
cookers to refugees in eastern Chad, but N'djamena residents say such 
items are not readily available to Chadians.

Rights advocate Larlem said: ?We understand the need to protect the 
environment but we find it bizarre that the measures are so sudden and 
so brutal.?

A government official acknowledged in mid-January that ordering the ban 
without ensuring available options was ?a gaffe?, but to date the policy 
remains in place.

ch/np/aj







http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20090104153638329C106551

Limpopo protest turns violent

January 04 2009 at 04:46PM

Limpopo police arrested 20 people during a service delivery protest in 
Jane Furse on Sunday morning.

Superintendent Mohale Ramatseba said they were arrested for public 
violence and malicious damaged to property after Mamone residents 
barricaded the Lebowakgomo-Nebo road with stones and burning tyres.

Among their grievances was a tar road which had not been built in Mamone.

They were asked to disperse and, when they failed to do so, police fired 
rubber bullets.

The roads had since been cleared.

More arrests were expected. - Sapa






http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_News&set_id=1&click_id=79&art_id=nw20090108091627476C815282

Protesters block Gauteng road

January 08 2009 at 09:18AM

Around 100 protesters from Emfuleni blocked a road between Johannesburg 
and Vereeniging on Thursday morning, said Gauteng police.

"People were protesting against [poor] service delivery," said Constable 
Teboho Lephoto.

Lephoto said that they had gathered at about 4am on Thursday. They 
blocked Johannesburg Road near Rothdene with burning tyres and other 
materials.

At 8am, the mayor of the local municipality arrived and accepted a 
memorandum from the protesters, who then dispersed.

Lephoto said the protest was peaceful. - Sapa






http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_South%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=nw20090127170330774C733212

Azapo in service delivery protest

January 27 2009 at 11:34PM

The Azanian People's Organisation handed a memorandum to the office of 
the premier of Gauteng and to the City of Johannesburg on Tuesday in 
protest against corruption, crime and poor service delivery

The memorandum focused on a lack of housing delivery, land ownership, 
development of infrastructure (such as roads, electricity, water and 
sanitation) and against corruption in municipalities in the informal 
settlements in Gauteng.

The vocal group of marchers first went to the Civic Centre in Loveday 
Street and handed the memorandum over to the office of the speaker, 
represented by Peter Kute, who promised to open a file for the 
memorandum and to give feedback within a week.

The crowd of around 300 people then proceeded to the premier's office in 
Simmonds Street.

Here various community representatives raised their concerns before 
Girish Magan accepted the memorandum on behalf of premier Paul Mashatile.

Magan promised to send a copy of the memorandum to Mashatile, the 
various municipal departments, to the housing department and to members 
of the municipal councils of the areas.

He said Azapo would receive a response within two weeks.

The memorandum called for informal settlements to be formalised by land 
expropriation and title deeds given to residents.

"Government is providing less than a tenth of the houses needed to catch 
up with the housing backlog by 2014," the memorandum read.

Protesters demanded electricity, water out of taps, proper roads, proper 
sanitation and an end to the bucket system.

The memorandum included memoranda from the various communities, five out 
of ten specifically demanded an end to corruption (especially in regard 
to the housing lists) and an end to nepotism or favouritism (including 
"internal vacancies") in municipalities.

The issue of corrupt councillors was often raised during the 
presentations by the various communities with Kliptown saying: "We are 
forced to relay this memorandum to you because in Kliptown, the Mayor 
does not consult the community."

Azapo national spokesperson for local government and housing Stan 
Sigotyana said the waiting list for houses was too long.

He said there was no fairness in the manner in which houses were allocated.

"Government must stop promising what they cannot deliver," said 
protester Mziyanda Bulani

Gauteng Azapo spokesperson Lehlohonolo Moagi said the memorandum was a 
challenge to the highest office in the province because all the previous 
premiers including Tokyo Sexwale and Mbhazima Shilowa had failed the people.

"The people have lost patience," he said.

"We are asking that when people vote they must vote wisely, not with 
their hearts but with their minds."

Moagi thanked Magan for receiving Azapo's demands before the march 
returned to the Library Gardens and dispersed.

The memorandum had been handed over to the Ekurhuleni mayor in June 
2006, presented to the Gauteng premier in April 2007 and given to the 
president's office in 2008 but no responses were received, the 
organisation said. - Sapa






http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO100388/

Lunenburg residents protest power company, 'Blackout Unitil'

LUNENBURG, Mass. -- Residents who lost power during last month's ice 
storm took their anger to the streets, protesting the local power company.
Customers of Unitil Power Company faced outages that lasted twelve days 
in areas of Lunenburg, Fitchburg, Townsend, and Ashby.
Many were in the dark without heat for the entire holiday season.
Electricity and heat has since been restored, but demonstrators gathered 
in the town center holding placards and passing around a petition to 
have Unitil removed as the town's power company.
One couple told 7News that Unitil did not respond quickly to phone calls 
even when a live wire was lying on their lawn.
"So I called Sunday, Monday, and my husband called ... all of a sudden 
on Unitil's message it says if the wires are off your house, it's your 
problem."
On December 31st, Unitil issued this apology: "During the storm, 100% of 
our customers in Massachusetts lost power. While every effort was 
extended to restore service as soon as possible, nearly 20% remained out 
for 7 days and 4% were out for as many as 12 days. For this unfortunate 
situation we sincerely apologize."
Residents who voiced their frustration say they are prepared for the 
worst if another storm strikes and many have already purchased generators.







http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=154947

Protesters block Airport Road in Rawalpindi Police baton charge, teargas mob

Thursday, January 01, 2009
Obaid Abrar Khan

Rawalpindi

Hundreds of protesters including women and children Wednesday blocked 
the Airport Road near Dhoke Hafiz area and staged a demonstration 
against the non-availability of Sui gas in the locality.

Police baton charged and fired tear-gas shells to disperse the 
demonstrators. Residents of Gulzar-e-Quaid, Fazal Town and Dhoke Hafiz 
staged the protest against Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limiited (SNGPL) 
for loadshedding of gas in their area.

Protesters said the supply of Sui gas remains suspended during morning 
and evening timings and it?s become very difficult for us to even cook 
meals.

It was a peaceful protest but the situation become worst when police 
started baton charging and shelling of tear gas to disperse the 
demonstrators. Police started misbehaving with women and stopped media 
persons to cover the protest.

The demonstrators blocked the road for around four hours after the 
police misbehaved with women. CPO Rao Muhammad Iqbal taking notice of 
the police misbehaviour with the women suspended SHO Airport Police Raja 
Abdul Rasheed, Sub-Inspector Rana Latif and a reader.

MPA Chaudhary Sarfaraz Afzal reached on the spot and started talks with 
demonstrators. Nazim Union Council Chaklala Raja Shahid Yaqoob was also 
present there.

All the demonstrators recommended to the Sui Gas authorities to make a 
schedule of CNG station in the area and should close them for four hours 
in morning and evening so that the residents could get frequent flow of gas.

Razia Bibi, a demonstrator, told ?The News? that supply of Sui gas in 
their area remained suspended in the morning and evening timings. It is 
very difficult for us to prepare breakfast for my family members.?

?In this freezing cold it?s very difficult for us to maintain the 
temperature in our houses without gas supply. My children are suffering 
from flu and cold but I am helpless and can?t use heaters in my house 
because of loadshedding of Sui gas,? said Tahira Naveed, a protestor.

PPI adds: The prolonged power breakdown and frequent Sui gas suspension 
irked residents of the metropolis and its adjacent areas of Saddiqabad, 
Magistrate Colony, Chaklala Village and along Tanch Bhatta in this 
chilly weather.

Talking to this agency, the residents of the various areas complained 
they were facing that they were facing many problems because of the load 
shedding of Sui gas as well as electricity in this chilly season 
particularly at morning time where in many cases children left for 
schools without having breakfast.

The residents said that the continuous power break down and now the 
suspension of Sui gas have badly affected their kitchens? work.

They demanded the government to take back the announcement of load 
shedding of electricity and also ensure supply of Sui gas without any 
break in this chilly weather.






http://www.nowpublic.com/world/massive-protest-against-power-crisis-pakistan

Massive protest against Power crisis in Pakistan
Share:
by Sanjay Jha | January 2, 2009 at 01:28 am

Cold wave has intensified in the South Asia bringing chilly winds and 
demand for the electricity has peaked up but Power crisis has deepended 
in Pakistan.

A LARGE numbers of Lahorites staged protest demonstrations against 
Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) over unscheduled prolonged 
loadshedding in different localities in the metropolis on Thursday.

The protestors burnt tyres, blocked roads and chanted slogans against 
Wapda, Lesco and over the slumber of rulers regarding basic amenities. 
Locals demanded immediate solution of prolonged loadshedding and warned 
that if any better solution was not provided to the issue, they would 
attack Lesco installations and offices.
The ongoing power crisis in the country has intensified, compelling 
people to take to the streets against the prolonged and unscheduled 
loadshedding.

Electricity has vanished from the hospitals while other industries are 
on the verge of closure.

The saving policy of the Karachi Electricity Supply Corporation (KESC) 
has further aggravated the problem in the metropolis. Apart from 
domestic consumers, industrial and traders are also adversely affecting 
from the looming power crisis. The continuous power outages are 
affecting the hospitals too where doctors are finding it hard to perform 
operations and other necessary medical procedures.

The situation is no different in markets where shopkeepers and traders 
are sitting idle. The say that they will have to shut the business if 
situation remains unchanged.

On Thursday, People across the country staged protest demonstration 
against the unscheduled prolonged loadshedding and drop in gas pressure.

Lahore-based industrialists have threatened to shut their factories for 
not issuing loadshedding?s schedule.






http://www.dawn.com/2009/01/03/rss.htm#e9

Police use tear gas to break up power protests Saturday, 03 Jan, LAHORE: 
Police in Pakistan's industrial hub of Faisalabad launched tear gas 
shells and fired in the air Saturday to disperse hundreds of protesters 
angered by months of rolling blackouts, witnesses said. Angry mobs 
burned tyres in the streets and pelted police with stones during a day 
of protests across Faisalabad, which is located 250 kilometres south of 
Islamabad. More than 30 people were arrested. Many of the protesters 
were workers at local textile factories, which have suffered badly 
during the months of electricity load-shedding, or rolling blackouts, 
due to a nationwide power shortage. 'The protesters attacked offices of 
the state electricity company and torched office records and furniture, 
prompting the police to fire tear gas shells and baton-charge the 
people,' local police official Rommen Akram said. (Posted @ 16:58 PST)





http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Students_protest_against_power_cuts/articleshow/3918307.cms

Students protest against power cuts
1 Jan 2009, 0155 hrs IST, AP

KATMANDU: Students stormed an electricity transmission office and shut 
down power in western Nepal affecting hundreds of thousands of residents 
in a protest against government imposed power outages.
Government administrator Kaladhar Deuja said, ?Students occupied the 
Nepal Electricity Authority's transmission office at Mahendranagar, 
about 375 miles (600 kilometers) west of the Nepalese capital, Katmandu, 
on Monday, and forced engineers to switch off the power then locked the 
offices.?
Officials have not returned for fear the students will stage more 
protests. ?Businesses and schools have had to close because of the 
protest shutdown?, Deuja said. ?Hospitals were still open but had to 
rely on their own generators, if they have them?, he said.
For months consumers faced several hours per day of organized blackouts 
to conserve energy, and then the state-run Nepal Electrical Authority 
announced that they would be increased to 12 hours per day.
Nepal produces only about half the electricity it needs, in part because 
of unusually low levels this year in reservoirs that feed the country's 
hydroelectric plants. The amount of power that Nepal imports from 
neighboring India is not enough to make up the shortfall.
Nepal's communist-led government has announced an ``electricity 
emergency'' and said it will set up diesel-operated power plants early 
next year to help meet demand. A decade-long communist insurgency that 
ended in 2006 hampered development
work in Nepal, including the building of new power plants.






http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/videos/2009/jan/jan11/video04.php

NSU organises protest against load-shedding

Nepali Congress (NC) student wing Nepal Students Union organised a 
candle light rally in Kathmandu on Sunday against the load shedding. The 
protests were organised as the Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has 
extended the daily load shedding to 16 hours from 12 hours.






http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/videos/2009/jan/jan15/video03.php

Different organisations stage protest in front of NEA
Different organisations including Electric Vehicle Association of Nepal 
organise protest in front of the central office of Nepal Electricity 
Authority (NEA) on Thursday, demanding end to the ongoing load-shedding.







http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/250714,thousands-protest-crippling-power-cuts-in-kathmandu.html

Thousands protest crippling power cuts in Kathmandu
Posted : Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:31:01 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : India (World)

Kathmandu - Thousands of people demonstrated in the Nepalese capital 
Kathmandu Thursday, protesting crippling power cuts that have badly 
affected industries and businesses. On Sunday, the government announced 
16-hour power cuts across the country, saying electricity production and 
supply was just a third of the total demand.
About 5,000 people representing small-scale industrialists and operators 
of three wheeler electric vehicles known locally as Safa Tempos or 
"Clean Vehicles," locked up the main office of the government-owned 
Nepal Electricity Authority that distributes power.
The protestors said the power cuts were severely hampering their 
business and many are on the verge of closure.
The hardest hit have been the electric vehicles that are used to 
transport commuters across the city.
About 300 Safa Tempo drivers parked their vehicles on the main roads in 
the commercial district of Kathmandu, bringing traffic in several parts 
of the city to a virtual standstill for most of the day Thursday.
"The battery run vehicles need an average of 18 hours to recharge," said 
Bijayman Sherchan, chairman of Electric Vehicle Association of Nepal. 
"With just eight hours of power, the batteries aren't even charged to 
half the capacity."
"Without alternative source of electricity we will no longer be able to 
provide services to the people," Sherchan said.
Safa Tempos were introduced in the late 1990s to replace the tradition 
petrol power three-wheelers that were blamed for growing pollution in 
Kathmandu Valley.
It is estimated that nearly 130,000 people depend on the electric 
vehicles each day to commute to and from work in Kathmandu.
In December, the Nepalese government announced "national energy crisis" 
and announced measures to reduce power cuts over the next several months.
Nepal's current electricity demand is 800 megawatt but only 250 megawatt 
was being supplied, the authorities said.
"The water levels in reservoirs and rivers that feed the hydropower 
stations are alarmingly low and that has forced us to cut production," 
said Sher Singh Bhat, chief of load distribution unit of Nepal 
Electricity Authority.
Industries say the power cuts have severely reduced output and will 
impact the country's economy, which is only now beginning to recover 
after years of insurgency.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/12/stories/2009011254640500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Farmer?s death leads to protest
Staff Reporter
SANGAREDDY: A farmer, Balakishti (45), died of cardiac arrest while 
arguing for power supply with a lineman at Zaheerabad on Sunday. This 
led to staging of ?rasta roko? by all party leaders and their subsequent 
arrest.
According to information, the officials cut power supply to some areas 
in Benzole village as the arrears were not paid by farmers.
Not knowing this Balakishti sowed sugarcane and was waiting for power 
supply so as to water his field. As the officials at the top level did 
not respond, he approached the lineman Khaleel staying at Zaheerabad. 
Balakishti?s repeated appeals did not yield any result. Down with 
frustration Balakishti collapsed.
Declared brought dead
Doctors declared him brought dead when was shifted to the hospital.
On learning about the incident, leaders of all parties held dharna and 
?rasta roko? on the NH.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/09/stories/2009010950280300.htm

Tamil Nadu

Protest staged against cancellation of ration cards
Staff Reporter
AMBUR : Ration card-holders ghearoed a ration shop at Mottukollai as 
their cards were cancelled without prior information.
Sources said that the Civil Supplies Department had cancelled 134 ration 
cards attached to the shop at Mottukollai.
The card-holders were agitated because the action was taken without 
prior notice.
As a result, they could not purchase essential commodities.
They wanted Civil Supplies officials to explain the reason for the 
cancellation.
On Tuesday, as no officials were available, they ghearoed the ration 
shop and raised slogans.
On Wednesday, they protested again near the shop. Civil Supplies 
officials from Vellore pacified them saying that they would discuss the 
issue with Collector C. Rajendran.
The cards had been cancelled for verification to check if any duplicates 
had been issued, officials said.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/19/stories/2009011953220300.htm
Andhra Pradesh - Kurnool

CPI(M) to launch protest for job scheme
Special Correspondent
KURNOOL: The CPI (M) would launch a protest urging the district 
administration to start NREGS programme to check migration of workers. 
District secretary Shadrak said they would protest in mandals for three 
days before taking out a rally on the Republic Day with an appeal to 
stop hunger and provide work.
Mr. Shadrak said only 2 lakh persons were provided employment in the 
district which had a worker population of 7.8 lakh. He said so far 1.30 
lakh workers migrated to different places in search of work. The problem 
was prevailing in 18 mandals of the district.
He said arrears due from the administration for the work rendered last 
year mounted to Rs. 45 crore. The poor families could not put up with 
such huge loss of wages due to faulty accounting.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/19/stories/2009011959590500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

All-party protest for good price for discoloured paddy
Staff Reporter
MACHILIPATNAM: The opposition parties, including the TDP, the CPI (M) 
and the CPI, threatened to further intensify their protest programmes 
demanding minimum support price for paddy and purchase of paddy that had 
discolouration up to 50 per cent.
Leaders continued to throng the protest camp in front of the District 
Collectorate here on Sunday, even as the parties decided to organise 
similar protests in all corners of the district steadily. The opposition 
parties? district units were stepping up pressure on the Government to 
bow to the farmers? demands.
?This protest will continue till the demands are met. There is no way 
the Government can escape from its responsibilities this time,? said TDP 
MLA Devineni Umamaheswara Rao. He said injustice had been done to 
farmers in all aspects and the Congress leaders should be blamed for all 
this. He accused the district ministers of ignoring the farmers? 
interests without bothering to resolve their problems.
The all-party leaders decided to hold protest programmes simultaneously 
at all paddy purchase centres in the district on Monday. Similar protest 
programmes would be held in front of Tehsildars? offices on Tuesday.
The opposition parties demanded that the subabul farmers be paid Rs. 
1,600 a quintal and arrears be paid to cotton farmers. They also sought 
immediate steps for payment of compensation for crop damages suffered by 
farmers in cyclones.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/22/stories/2009012258010200.htm
Tamil Nadu - Tuticorin

Novel demonstration
Staff Reporter
Over wastage and stagnation of drinking water
? Photo: N.Rajesh.

A hindrance: Damaged drinking water pipeline causing stagnation at VVD 
Junction in Tuticorin on Wednesday.
Tuticorin: Members of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) 
staged a demonstration here on Wednesday in protest against wastage and 
stagnation of drinking water thus affecting free flow of traffic.
They washed clothes as a mark of protest and exposing the inaction of 
the corporation officials. Over 50 people took part in the 
demonstration. It was led by M.S. Muthu, town secretary, DYFI. P. 
Puviraj, district secretary, was present.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/20/stories/2009012051520300.htm
Tamil Nadu

Residents stage demonstration
Staff Reporter
OMALUR: Residents of Omalur town staged a demonstration in front of the 
town panchayat office here on Monday in protest against the erratic 
supply of drinking water.
They pointed out that several residential areas in the town were facing 
severe water shortage. They demanded the local body to ensure adequate 
supply of water to all the parts in the town. Police personnel and local 
body officials pacified the agitators.








http://www.chinapost.com.tw/business/asia/b-taiwan/2009/01/03/190354/LPG-price.htm

January 3, 2009 9:38 am TWN, CNA
LPG price hike draws protest amid drop in int'l gas prices
TAIPEI, Taiwan -- A hike in domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) price 
drew public criticism yesterday, with Consumers' Foundation Chairman 
Hsieh Tien-jen denouncing the price increase, which comes amid a decline 
in global natural gas prices, as ?absurd.?
The state-run petroleum refiner CPC Taiwan, Corp. announced Thursday 
night that it will raise the LPG wholesale price by NT$1.4 per kilogram. 
The new price took effect from Friday.
Under the adjustment, the price for a 20kg cylinder of LPG for household 
users, which include people operating food stands on street markets, was 
raised by NT$28 (US$0.85), or 12.6 percent.
CPC said the price hike was justified due to increasing demand during 
the winter season, and a rise in the international contract price for 
LPG from US$337.5 per ton in December to US$380 in January.
Hsieh, however, said he cannot understand why a hike in demand in the 
winter can be an excuse for the price adjustment.
Besides, ?it has been nearly two months since winter came, ? he said.
Since LPG users are mostly street vendors whose incomes are relatively 
low, it is inappropriate for the government operated gas company to 
raise the LPG price, Hsieh said. Instead, it should cut the price, he said.
However, according to the CPC, after the adjustment Thursday, the 
pre-tax wholesale price of LPG for household users in Taiwan stood at 
NT$16.08 per kilogram, which is still much lower than the lowest level 
among neighboring Asian countries, including South Korea's price, which 
was at the NT$39.96 per kilogram.
CPC's latest price increase was its first hike on LPG price for 
household users after it cut prices over past two months.







http://allafrica.com/stories/200901020734.html

Nigeria: NLC, Women, TUC and Others Protest State of Benin-Ore Road
Simon Ebegbulem
2 January 2009
THOUSANDS of youths and women, in collaboration with the Edo State 
chapters of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Trade Union Congress 
(TUC) and Civil Society Organisations, yesterday, protested the 
deplorable state of the Benin-Lagos expressroad and the Benin-Okene 
expressroad.
The protest which was co- ordinated by a multi national organisation, 
One Love Foundation, paralyzed activities in Benin City and the state 
Government House as the protesters lamented the incessant loss of lives 
due to accidents at the two express roads and called on the Federal 
Government to take urgent steps in addressing the problem.
The protesters visited the State House of Assembly and Government House, 
where they appealed to Governor Adams Oshiomhole to prevail on the 
Federal Government to reconstruct the Benin-Lagos expressroad and also 
dualize the Benin-Okene expressroad.
In his address, the President of One Love Foundation, Chief Patrick 
Eholor stated that "we have flagged off a consistent process to bring 
the Federal Government and those concerned to pay urgent attention to 
the total repairs and constant maintenance of the Lagos-Benin 
expressroad, as against the current situation of makeshift 
rehabilitation or total neglect.
"This is with the determination to drastically reduce, once and for all, 
the incessant loss of lives through road accident, armed robbery attacks 
and loss of property, as a result of the bad state of the roads.
However, our approach is through collective public engagement, along the 
principle of non-violence agitation which Mahatma Ghandi, Rev. Jesse 
Jackson and others had effectively adhered to," he said.
He stressed that there was every reason to " be alarmed at the human 
carnage and the loss of property on the Lagos-Benin express road, in 
particular.
Or instance, a skeletal data o human casualty by SAVAN, a Benin based 
para-medical NGO, on the Edo section o the road is very high and most 
disturbing. But unfortunately, the concerned government officers and our 
elitist class chose to disregard the deplorable state of the road.
"But we make bold to say that we may resort to continuously picket the 
Benin airport and subsequently more airports in the Niger Delta, South 
East and else where in the country I the Lagos-Benin express way and 
others in the country are not paid attention to.
We urged President Yar'Adua and the Ministers to take a trip on this 
road and enjoy the comfort" he stated.





http://www.dailyexpress.com.my/news.cfm?NewsID=62033

Protest over Petagas crossing
Published on: Friday, January 02, 2009

PETAGAS: More than 10,000 residents of Kampung Petagas, here, are up in 
arms over alleged failure of the contractor appointed to upgrade the 
railway tracks to provide a proper and safe crossing at the main 
junction from the main road to their area.
Some 100 representatives of the residents staged an hour-long protest at 
the site of the crossing being built along Jalan Petagas, about 15 
minutes' drive from the city centre, Thursday morning.
They claimed the crossing being built by the contractor's workers was 
causing more problems, including risk of accidents, than safety to the 
residents.
"The crossing was raised to the same height as the Petagas-Putatan main 
road, causing motorists entering the junction into the village unable to 
see the road which has now become too low on the other side (Kg Petagas 
road).
"As a result, vehicles going in or out through the junction crossing now 
are unable to see the oncoming vehicles."
Just two nights ago, there was an accident involving three vehicles 
there, they said.
"Although it only involved damages to the vehicles, still it shows how 
serious the problem or risk is to the residents," said Haji Mahlan 
Zinin, the private secretary of Petagas Assemblyman Datuk Yahya Hussin, 
who was also at the site.
He said the residents concerned wanted the State Government to stop the 
crossing until proper improvements on its safety aspects were made.
"If there is no proper solution, they (the residents) hope the whole 
railway upgrade project in Putatan and Petagas would be cancelled, and 
that the main railway station be closed and rebuilt in Lok Kawi or 
Kinarut," he added.
Under the railway upgrade project, he said 52 main crossings were 
proposed along the tracks from the Kepayan railway station in Kota 
Kinabalu to Putatan town.
Apart from the "dangerous" crossing, he said the residents were also 
furious over the alleged act of the contractor's workers who took out 
all the public directional signboards at the Kg Petagas junction.
Saying he had briefed Yahya about the development and expected the 
matter to be brought to the State Cabinet for discussion, Mahlan said 
the residents concerned were not against development but wanted it to be 
done properly taking into account all aspects.
Thursday's protest drew the attention of many people, including 
motorists plying the busy main road which links the city to other 
districts in the southern west coast, until a police team from Putatan 
and Penampang was called in to monitor peace and order.
Among those who stopped by were Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) President 
Datuk Yong Teck Lee and several party leaders who happened to be passing 
the area.
Yong, who also agreed with the danger posed by the crossing being built 
at the Kg Petagas junction, said it showed there was total lack of 
co-ordination between the relevant departments and the appointed 
contractor involved.
Calling for an urgent review of the whole situation, he said the protest 
showed the people were really angry, frustrated and desperate for a 
positive solution.





http://www.nepalnews.com/archive/videos/2009/jan/jan11/video02.php

Protests continue as NEA extends load-shedding
Protests against the load-shedding continue in the capital on Sunday as 
the Nepal Electricity Authority extended the load-shedding to 16 hours a 
day from 16 hours.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/06/stories/2009010658390300.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

BJP stages protest at HMWSSB
Staff Reporter
?Take up the third phase of Krishna drinking water project as per the 
master plan?
- PHOTO: NAGARA GOPAL

End water woes: BJP State president Bandaru Dattatreya at the dharna 
outside HMWSSB office at Ameerpet on Monday.
HYDERABAD: Police took into custody scores of BJP workers and their 
leaders on Monday after they tried to gatecrash into the office of the 
Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB) 
demanding that the government take up the third phase of Krishna 
drinking water project as per the master plan.
The arrested included State BJP president Bandaru Dattatreya, 
Himayatnagar MLA G. Kishen Reddy and BJP Greater Hyderabad unit 
president Chintala Ramachandra Reddy.
Police presence at the Board office in Ameerpet was heavy and the 
demonstration had a telling impact on the movement of the vehicular 
traffic on the busy arterial road. The BJP workers raised slogans and 
jostled with police while trying to prevent the arrests.
Inadequate supply
?While the city?s requirement is 500 mgd water, only 305mgd is supplied 
from various sources like Osman Sagar, Himayath Sagar, Manjeera, Singuru 
and Krishna phase-I and II,? Mr. Dattatreya told newspersons.
The combined consumption of domestic, commercial and industrial sectors 
stood at 180-280 litres per head a day, which totals to 500mgd, he 
explained.
The BJP leaders also criticized the State government for going ahead 
with Godavari water project while abandoning the third phase of Krishna 
water project.
?The government has gone ahead with Godavari water project costing Rs. 
3,375 crore for just 10 tmcft while ditching third phase of Krishna 
water project that would have cost just Rs.800 crore for 5.5tmcft,? Mr. 
Ramachandra Reddy said.
He added that the city also needed Godavari water and said the 
government should immediately implement Krishna third phase while at the 
same time expedite works on Godavari water diversion projects.
The BJP leaders also said infrastructure for water distribution for 
Krishna Phase II was not in place.
Although the main pipeline was built, interior pipelines for 
distribution, tanks, sumps were not yet constructed.
Although Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy promised daily water 
supply to all areas in old municipal corporation limits, many areas are 
still not getting the same, said Mr. Ramachandra Reddy.
He also highlighted how drinking water was supplied to certain areas at 
unearthly hours - midnight and early hours ? inconveniencing housewives, 
office-goers and the middle class.
The BJP leaders also demanded that water requirements of all areas 
coming under Greater Hyderabad region including Cantonment be undertaken 
by HMWSSB. These areas should also be supplied daily water, they urged.
Among their other demands were bill collection of apartment residents 
according to meter tariffs and complete reduction of reliance on 
groundwater supply.





http://www.welcomeorissa.com/orissa_news.php?opt=view&id=18315&ChosenDay=21&ChosenMonth=01&ChosenYear=2009

Archived News [ January 21, 2009 ] ...
Near total shutdown in Phulbani
PHULBANI : Phulbani, the district headquarter town of troubled Kandhamal 
district observed a near total bandh today in response to the call given 
by the District Bar Association. Streets wore a deserted look as all 
commercial establishments and banks remained closed right through the 
12-hour bandh. The Bar had given the call to protest against the failure 
of the administration in ensuring proper supply of essential commodities 
including LPG over the last three years and the recent cancellation of a 
gas dealership. Lawyers picketed a different points of the town ensuring 
closure of the market and educational institutions. It may be noted that 
on 11 January, protestors had demonstrated in front of a oil company 
godown. The district administration had intervened and ensured supply of 
LPG for three days. The district collector Dr Krishan Kumar had convened 
an emergent meeting to try and sort out the problem yesterday but the 
members of the Bar Association did not turn up . The district 
administrative authorities in general and supply officials in particular 
who have shown apathetic attitude towards solving this artificial 
scarcity are responsible for the situation, said Mr Biraja Prasad Nahak 
President, Phulbani Bar Association.






http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=LPG+distribution:+bandh+normal+life&artid=SkaVTDKJPAQ=&SectionID=mvKkT3vj5ZA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=nUFeEOBkuKw=&SEO=

LPG distribution: bandh normal life

Express News Service
First Published : 20 Jan 2009 04:16:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 20 Jan 2009 03:17:17 PM IST

PHULBANI: Normal life in Phulbani was affected today in the wake of the 
12-hour bandh call given by members of Kandhamal Bar Association 
protesting unfair trade practice by the lone LPG distributor of Phulbani.
They demanded cancellation of licence of the LPG dealer and ensure 
transparency in the distribution of LPG cylinders. Sources said time and 
again, there has been unrest over irregular supply of the cylinders.
Despite reminders by the denizens, the district administration did 
nothing to streamline the distribution.
While vehicles remained off the roads, business establishments downed 
their shutters.
The district administration had made adequate security arrangements to 
avoid any untoward incident.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/29/stories/2009012957340300.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Alampur residents lock up government offices in protest
Correspondent
MAHABUBNAGAR: Protesting against non-supply of drinking water, residents 
of Alampur in the district on Wednesday locked up government offices and 
did not allow the officers to open them till evening.
Work was paralysed in the offices of the MRO, MPDO, Registrar and 
others. The agitation was led by all political parties including the 
Congress, TDP, BJP, TRS and the Left.
The residents alleged that the authorities failed to supply drinking 
water in the town even after 15 days. The leaders said that though the 
town was located on the banks of Tungabhadra, the authorities failed to 
solve the drinking water problem.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/11/stories/2009011157280400.htm

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

DYFI protest
Thiruvananthapuram: The DYFI organised campaigns before petrol pumps in 
several parts of the State on Saturday to protest against the Centre?s 
failure to reduce fuel price in proportion to the fall in crude oil 
price in the international market. It also collected signatures from the 
public in support of the cause. ? Special Correspondent






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/26/stories/2009012657630300.htm

Karnataka - Udupi

Congress protests against BJP
Staff Correspondent
Udupi: Members of the Congress party held a protest meeting against the 
alleged ?anti-people policies? of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 
government in the State here on Saturday.
Former Minister Vasanth V. Salian said that no attempts were being made 
to clear the nearly 1.25 lakh applications for mutation pending at the 
Udupi Taluk Office. The delay in providing ration cards to the poor had 
hit them hard, he added.






http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=100280

50 Bulgarian Trade Unionists Protest before Ukraine's Embassy over Gas 
Crisis
Politics | January 8, 2009, Thursday

50 Bulgarian trade unionists staged a protest rally before Ukraine's 
Embassy on Thursday over the natural gas shortage crisis. Photo by 
Yuliana Nikolova (Sofia Photo Agency)
About 50 members of Bulgaria's two main trade unions, the Confederation 
of Independent Bulgarian Syndicates, and the Podkrepa Labor 
Confederation, protested Thursday noon before Ukraine's Embassy in Sofia 
over the terminated supplies of Russian natural gas.

The Chair of the Podkrepa Labor Confederation Dr. Konstantin Trenchev 
said Ukraine's actions were in violation of the International Energy 
Convention, which had been ratified by the Ukraine, and had been signed 
even though not yet ratified by Russia.

"The Convention contains explicit clauses stating that no transit state 
for energy resources could hinder the transit. Of course, we do not 
believe the Russians have no blame. Don't think that we won't stage a 
protest before the Russian Embassy, and before Bulgaria's Council of 
Ministers, for that matter, if the crisis is not resolved", Trenchev 
declared.

The protesting syndicates did say that all sides involved - the 
Russians, the Ukrainians, and the Bulgarian government - were to blame 
for the gas shortage.

They demanded that Bulgaria's secret contract with Gazprom for gas 
deliveries be made public.

On Wednesday, the syndicates demanded that the government impose 
economic and political sanctions on the Ukraine. The Russia-Ukraine gas 
prices dispute left Bulgaria without Russian natural gas early on 
January 6 as the supplies destined for the Balkans were cut off at the 
Ukrainian-Romanian border. On January 7, the dispute led Russia to 
declare it stopped all supplies for the EU until the conflict was resolved.

Trenchev said Wednesday the protests against the damages that the 
Bulgarian economy was suffering because of the gas prices had to be 
directed at the Ukraine. Trenchev vowed to hold the Bulgarian 
authorities accountable as well.

"The gas dispute hasn't just started but has been going on for years. A 
number of countries are affected by it now but it turned out that some 
are ready to face such a problem whereas we turn out to be completely 
unprepared", he said.

Trenchev also pointed out the government must be held accountable over 
the availability of gas reserves at the Chiren Storage Facility. In his 
words, it was now to become clear whether Bulgaria did in fact fulfill 
EU's requirements for gas reserves, or presented fake data about them.

While Bulgaria's syndicates are out on protest before the Ukrainian 
Embassy Thursday morning, Ukraine's Ambassador Viktor Kalnik is going to 
give a press conference on "The Situation with Natural Gas Transits for 
Europe".







http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,92906.html

Protest over bad roads
By Stacy Moore Tuesday, January 6 2009
click on pic to zoom in

BAD ROAD: Villagers at Mendez Village, Siparia, protested the bad 
condition of the roads in their area yesterday. ...
PARENTS kept their children home from school and instead embarked on a 
fiery protest at the three main roads in Siparia, yesterday, to voice 
their disgust with the condition of the roadway.
 From as early as 4 am, villagers, accompanied by their children, 
marched with placards at Mendez Trace, Scott and Moldable Road.

They demanded that their roads be fixed, and their mantra was ?Fix our 
roads. We want our roads fixed.?

One resident described the roads as ?mud traces.?

Several of the protesting villagers said the roads have not been paved 
for the last 40 years and each year the condition worsens.

?Since I was a little boy growing up in Mendez Village, the roads have 
been like this.

And nothing has changed although we have complained several times,? 
Kimchan Kunjal said.

He said there were ?countless potholes? on the roads.?There are schools 
all over in the area and children have to walk these roads with 
potholes. If some of these children happen to fall into these potholes 
they will be injured.? he said.

The frustrated villager also said that taxi drivers have refused to 
enter the area because of the roads? condition.

?Just imagine taxis don?t want to drive along the roads, so many of us 
have to walk,? he said, adding that the few taxi drivers who venture in 
the area were forced to change tyres regularly. ?At a time like this, 
people cannot afford to buy new parts for their cars on a weekly basis. 
But now they have to because of the state of the roads.?

Sunil Ramlakhan said he had to spend a lot of money on his car because 
of the damage sustained due to the road?s condition.

?It is not fair to be spending money to fix your car because of the 
condition of the roads,? he said.






http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_news?id=161421086

Burning debris blocks pupils
Protest horrors on first day...
Phoolo Danny-Maharaj South Bureau

Tuesday, January 6th 2009

ablaze: A Penal resident runs past burning debris yesterday at Scott's 
Road during residents' protest over the state of the roads in the area 
and the lack of a regular supply of pipe-borne water. -Photo: DAVE PERSAD
BURNING debris on roads from Mendez Village, Siparia, to Scott's Road, 
Penal, yesterday prevented hundreds of pupils from attending the first 
day of classes for the year.
The debris, including tyres, barrels and tree branches, also thwarted 
the free flow of traffic, preventing workers from getting to their jobs.
The early-morning protests, which caused a full turnout of armed police 
and firemen, were described as expressions of villagers' frustration 
over deplorable roads. The police monitored the protest while 
firefighters eventually put out the blazing debris.
"These roads have not been paved for over 30 years. Every time election 
comes around, they come and patch the roads and promise to pave it 
later, but that never happens," villager Khimchan Kunjal said.
He added: "From Mendez to Scott's Road is pothole bigger than man. Parts 
of the roads have pavement and others do not, so the children are also 
at risk, especially when it rains and drivers swerve to miss the 
potholes. The cost to repair vehicles is very high."
Kunjal said, three months ago, he dropped a petition with the Siparia 
Regional Corporation, "but I never received any responses".
He swore: "If nothing is done to repair the roads, the villagers would 
continue the protests."
The Penal Quinam Government School remained closed yesterday because of 
the protests.
Member of Parliament for Siparia, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, said she had 
raised the issue several times in letters to the Minister of Works and 
also for it to be considered in the national Budget, but that did not 
happen.
"So the Government continues to neglect the rural areas in our 
constituencies. Now, a company has been established to look after road 
repairs, so the regional corporations have no control of road repairs," 
she told the Express.
She added: "I empathise with my constituents. I understand the 
situation. Those roads are in very, very bad condition and totally 
neglected. Their protest is a reflection of people power. They were 
forced to take action to demand attention and I do hope that the 
Government would respond."







http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/04/stories/2009010454230500.htm

Karnataka - Tumkur

CPI protests delay in roadworks
Staff Correspondent

Activists of the Communist Party of India staging a rasta roko in Tumkur 
on Saturday.
TUMKUR: Members of the Communist Party of India (CPI) staged a rasta 
roko here on Saturday against the delay in the implementation of 
roadworks in the city.
Fifty members of the CPI gathered in front of the Kodi Basavanna Temple 
at Amanikere Circle and staged a rasta roko on Bangalore-Pune national 
highway. Traffic on the highway was disrupted for sometime. Freedom 
fighter and veteran trade union leader T.R. Revanna led the agitation.
District unit secretary of the CPI K. Kambe Gowda, convenor of All India 
Youth Federation Vasudeva Kumar and K. Girish, secretary of All India 
Trade Union Congress addressed the members.
Mr. Kambe Gowda told presspersons that the Congress and the BJP were 
responsible for the delay in the implementation of roadworks.
While the Congress defended the encroachments upon the road by members 
of a minority community, the BJP supported the encroachers from a 
majority community, he alleged.
He said the CPI would intensify its agitation against the delay in 
roadworks.







http://news.scotsman.com/uk/80-people-use-London-pavement.4902138.jp

80 people use London pavement as toilet in mass protest
Published Date: 22 January 2009
Protesters made a bid for better toilet facilities for the world's poor 
by staging a mass "squat".
About 80 people gathered to squat on the pavement on London's South 
Bank, facing the Houses of Parliament, for two minutes before leaving 
behind a fake reminder of their visit.

They were marking the end of the International Year of Sanitation, in 
2008, which the End Water Poverty (EWP) Campaign claims has been ignored 
by those in power.







http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=157817

Protest against delay in road construction work Sunday, January 18, 2009
Obaid Abrar Khan

Rawalpindi

The inhabitants of Dheri Hassanabad Saturday staged a protest 
demonstration against the slow pace of development work on an excavated 
road in the area for the last one-month.

They demanded of Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) to complete the work at 
the earliest to end their miseries.

Talking to ?The News? the shopkeepers of the area said we are suffering 
business loss because customers avoid visiting this market.

Javed Saleem, a shopkeeper said, ?We are facing business loss, as 
customers can?t enter the shops because both sides of the road are also 
dug up for laying down of gas and water pipelines.?

Mumtaz Ahmed, another shopkeeper said, ?The concerned authorities should 
take serious notice of the issue and complete this work as soon as 
possible. The construction work in

Dheri Hassanabad has aggravated the miseries of the shopkeepers as well 
as the residents.?

Pervez Sajid, a shopkeeper said, ?We have been facing electricity 
loadshedding and low gas pressure and now slow construction work has 
aggravated our problems, as we can?t even move on this road.?

Naila Syed, a housewife said, ?It has become very difficult for us to go 
out of our home because of this construction work. We can?t park our car 
inside our home, because a huge trench has been dug outside our home. 
Its good that the concerned authorities are making new roads and laying 
down gas and water pipelines to facilitate public, but they should 
complete the work early instead of moving at snails pace.?

A high official of Chaklala Cantonment Board on condition of anonymity 
told ?The News? that the delay in completion of work was because of Sui 
Northern Gas Pipeline, as they have to lay down their gas pipes. He said 
that the road in Dheri Hassanabad was excavated around 25 days back, and 
it would be complete in around 30 to 40 days.







http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=158509

Residents of Dhoke Syedan stage protest Thursday, January 22, 2009
Khalid Iqbal

Rawalpindi

Lodging a strong protest against dilapidated condition of Dhoke Syedan 
Road, the residents Wednesday blocked the traffic on the road for almost 
half-an-hour.

They demanded of the concerned authorities to start repair work within a 
week otherwise they would block the traffic on the road for 24 hours.

They also lambasted the local MNA and MPA for promising them repair of 
the Dhoke Syedan Road before election and not fulfilling their promise 
after the polls.

Addressing the protesters, Anjuman-e-Tajran Dhoke Syedan Road President 
Shafiq Rao said that residents of the area are facing great difficulties 
due to dilapidated condition of the road particularly during rainy season.

He said light and heavy traffic from Misriyal Road, Dhamyaal Camp Road 
and Chakrri Road passes through Dhoke Syedan Road, but due to its 
dilapidated condition traffic remains blocked for hours and people face 
hardships in reaching their destinations on time.

Anjuman-e-Tajran Dhoke Syedan Road General Secretary, Gafoor Kiani, said 
that people particularly business community was suffering due to 
dilapidated condition of the road, as people avoid coming to the road 
from other areas for shopping.

Azra Bibi, a resident of the area told ?The News? that rickshaw or taxi 
drivers avoid Dhoke Syedan because of dilapidated condition of the road.

Later on police and traffic wardens controlled the situation and 
dispersed the protesters.







http://www.al.com/news/press-register/metro.ssf?/base/news/1232187344208260.xml&coll=3

Marchers protest utility rates in Prichard
Saturday, January 17, 2009
By DAVID FERRARA
Staff Reporter
Facing water bills they cannot afford, more than two dozen people 
marched through downtown Prichard on Friday, four days after the city's 
Water Works and Sewer Board approved pay raises for employees and the 
superintendent.
A water and sewer bill for Paul Washington and his wife, Cassandra 
Scott, was once so high, they said, that they needed to borrow money 
from their church to pay it.
She teaches preschool-age children and he performs industrial work. They 
live in a single-family home with five children, and their bills from 
the Prichard Water Works and Sewer Board regularly run more than $80. 
Most recently, Scott said, their bill was $115.
"We can't afford a lot of things we're used to having around the house," 
Washington said. "And we don't even use that much water."
Rosa Blackston, a lifelong Prichard resident, said she receives bills so 
high that she wonders whether she can regularly treat her high blood 
pressure and diabetes.
"Every month it's a different price, and it doesn't make sense," she 
said. "I have to think about what to do ? pay my water bill or get my 
medication."
They were among a group of about 30 people who gathered for a march 
through downtown Prichard on Friday morning to protest recent rate
increases and other fees imposed by the board that they considered 
excessive. For instance, according to the board's attorney, Willie 
Huntley, the board charges $275 for copies of meeting minutes.
Willie Huntley said a 5 percent salary increase the board approved 
Monday for eight employees was mandated by the Mobile County Personnel 
Board. The charge for copies of meeting minutes, he said, included 
"copying costs, employees having to stop what they're doing, and 
attorney time to review the information before it's released."
While Alabama meeting law states that records of meetings must be made 
and made available to the public, state law is largely silent about what 
sort of fees can be charged for minutes. The director of the Alabama 
League of Municipalities in Montgomery has said fees for copies of 
public records ought to be reasonable.








http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/stories/2009/01/15/water_plan_protested.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=13

Metro Atlanta water plan draws protesters
By STACY SHELTON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The last of three public hearings on metro Atlanta?s long-term water 
plan drew about 30 umbrella-carrying protesters into sunny downtown 
Atlanta on Wednesday.
?The metro district plan is basically ?hope and wish for more rain,?? 
said Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattahoochee 
Riverkeeper, a clean water advocacy group.
Enlarge this image

VINO WONG / vwong at ajc.com
Sally Bethea, executive director of the Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper, 
a clean water advocacy group.

The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District is finalizing an 
update to its original 2003 water and wastewater plan that includes 
conservation goals, six new water-supply reservoirs and increased 
withdrawals from drought-depleted Lake Lanier and the Chattahoochee 
River through 2035.
Environmentalists say the plan relies too much on expensive 20th-century 
technology ? reservoirs and transferring water from one basin to another 
? while shorting less expensive conservation methods.
Water planners counter that the proposal includes the most effective 
conservation tools available, from increasing the price of water for 
sprinkling lawns to requiring car washes built in the future to use 
recycled water.
Pat Stevens, the region?s environmental planner, said the water district 
is doing more in terms of requiring county and city governments to adopt 
conservation measures than any other metropolitan region in the country.






http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/1232043422.34/

Ukrainian nationalists burn Russian flag in gas protest
16 January 2009, 00:28 CET
(LVIV) - Ukrainian nationalists burned a Russian flag outside Moscow's 
consulate in western Ukraine on Thursday and threatened to cut off its 
gas supply unless Russia resumed its gas supplies.
About 50 people protested outside the consulate in the city of Lviv 
against the cutting of Russian gas supplies to Ukraine and the stopping 
of gas flows through Ukraine to Europe in a bitter dispute between 
Moscow and Kiev.
"This protest is a warning. If the Russians do not react, we are going 
to cut the gas to the consulate," a leader of the Ukrainian Party, Ostap 
Stakhiv, told AFP at the protest.
Lviv is a bastion of nationalist and anti-Russian sentiment in Ukraine.
Russia cut off supplies to Ukraine's domestic gas market on New Year's 
Day in a payment dispute. Supplies to Europe were subsequently cut off 
after Russia accused Ukraine of illegally siphoning gas -- a charge 
denied by Kiev.






http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=165267

Protestors block highway over lack of safety

A group of demonstrators blocked the Cizre Highway yesterday in protest 
of a fatal accident in southeastern ??rnak province on Monday that 
resulted in a number of deaths and injuries.

An oil tanker collided with several vehicles on Monday in ??rnak; four 
people were killed and 13 others were injured in the accident. A group 
of around 100 protestors blocked the Cizre Highway yesterday, protesting 
the deadly accident. The group barricaded the highway with trash bins 
and rocks, stopping the flow of traffic. The group shouted slogans 
denouncing the inadequacy of traffic safety measures in place to protect 
the people in the city. Police stepped up security in the vicinity of 
the demonstration and clashed with protestors after the demonstrators 
started to throw stones at them. Police officers fired warning shots in 
the air and used tear gas on the protestors. The highway was opened to 
traffic after two hours of blockage.






http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/commuters-urged-to-join-rail-union-protest-1518373.html

Commuters urged to join rail union protest
By Alan Jones, PA
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Rail union leaders today called on commuters to join their campaign 
against plans to cut ticket office opening hours.
Members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union met passengers at 
London's King's Cross station and urged them to object to the proposals 
by First Capital Connect.
The union warned that ticket office opening would be slashed by 800 
hours a week if the proposals went ahead.
General secretary Bob Crow said: "This is an attack on passenger service 
and safety and an attack on our members' jobs at the worst possible time.
"Like all the other private rail operators, FCC have just imposed 
massive inflation-busting fares hikes despite raking in huge profits, 
and hot on its heels comes another blow to passengers and rail workers 
alike.
"But these cuts can be beaten, and the rail watchdogs have the power to 
ask the Government to block them, so the more passengers who object the 
clearer it becomes that people want to see more staff on stations, not 
fewer."
Val Shawcross, chairman of the Greater London Authority's transport 
committee, said: "I know that station safety is a key concern. 
Passengers feel reassured knowing that a real human being is on site in 
the event of any incident.
"This move will affect some stations in my own constituency and I very 
much hope that FCC will see sense and put passenger security above 
saving money."






http://www.indianpoliticalmail.com/nws09/nws09jan/nws2609jan/nws2609jan006.html

Maoists hoist black flag in Jharkhand's Palamu
Ranchi: As the nation marked the 60th Republic Day on Monday in 
different parts of the country, maoists in Jharkhand's Palamu district 
hoisted black flags atop several building and institutions to protest 
against the government's policies on this occasion. Black flags were 
seen flying over several government offices across the district. 
Earlier, maoists had also given a public call for a boycott of the 
Republic day celebrations. "We are protesting against the government 
which has done little to address the plight of the poor. The poor are 
still being exploited and living in penury, we do not consider it as 
independence," said Pramod, one of the maoists. Palamu is considered to 
be the den of naxal activities with several maoist training camps 
operational in the dense forests here.






http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=103418

BANGLADESH: 11 policemen among 50 hurt in clash with mob
ATN Bangla and 'Naya Diganta' reporters sustain injuries while covering 
a mob protesting the death of a local man
The Daily Star
Thursday, January 15, 2009
At least 50 people including 11 policemen and three newsmen were injured 
in clashes marked with firing of rubber bullets by police yesterday.
Police tried to remove a barricade on Nilphamari-Saidpur highway, raised 
by locals protesting death of a man under the wheels of a bus.
The injured included ASP Sazzadur Rahman.
A police van and an ambulance were also damaged as police clubbed the 
protesters who barricaded the road for over three hours, creating a 
snarl-up of vehicles on both sides.
Locals and police sources said betel leaf trader Abdul Jabbar, 18, son 
of Habibar Rahman of Nagor Darwani Molla Para village in Sadar upazila, 
was killed on the spot and another man was seriously injured when a 
Saidpur-bound mini bus carrying passengers dashed his rickshaw van from 
behind at Darwani Textile Mill gate market.
The driver fled away with the mini bus towards Saidpur.
Several hundred people gathered there and blocked the highway as this 
was the third death on the spot under wheels.
The officer-in-charge of Sadar police station said as locals raised the 
barricade, police team was dispatched, who tried to clear the road but 
the protesters pelted brickbats at police, injuring ASP Sazzadur Rahman 
and 11 police men.
Police at first charged batons to disperse them, fuelling the violence. 
Then police fired at least 15 rubber bullets.
Three local newsmen were also injured. They are Ratan Sarkar of ATN 
Bangla, Anjarul Islam Jewel of Bangla Vision and the daily Naya Diganta 
correspondent.
The injured ASP, 10 police men and six locals were admitted to 
Nilphamari Sadar Hospital. Others were taken to other hospitals.
Later, local lawmaker Asaduzzaman Noor of Awami League and high police 
officials rushed to the spot. They persuaded the agitated people to 
withdraw the road blockade at about 1 pm.
Police filed a case with Nilphamari police station accusing 300 unnamed 
people, detained the mini bus and arrested its driver from Saidpur.
Date Posted: 1/15/2009
---------------------------------------------------



Lapindo victims demand to meet president



Tempo Interactive - December 2, 2008



Rohman Taufiq, Jakarta -- Around one thousand

victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster from the

Tanggulangin Anggun Sejahtera housing complex,

Sidoarjo, came to the Presidential Palace this

morning (2/12).



As planned, they are now gathered at the Istiqlal

Mosque and will demand that the president to push

Lapindo Brantas Inc. to fulfill its commitment as

regards paying them compensation.



"We just want to meet with the president today. So

far, we have only met with a minister who cannot

apparently make any decision," said Sumitro, the

action leader.



Several of the victims said they were disappointed

because during their meeting with the Public Works

Minister yesterday, they were asked to leave.

Nothing satisfactory was resolved during the

meeting as far as the victims were concerned.



A direct meeting with the president is expected to

be able to answer their concern as they have not

received any confirmation regarding the

compensation up until today.



"The President issued the presidential regulation

regarding the compensation. Therefore, he should be

the one implementing it," added Sumitro.



---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------



Mudflow victims jaded over 'lying' Lapindo,

government



Jakarta Post - December 5, 2008



Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo -- Despite a

compensation agreement in Jakarta on Wednesday,

thousands of mudflow victims staged a massive rally

along the Porong highway on Thursday, paralyzing

the main road between Surabaya and Malang.



Carrying banners and distributing pamphlets

branding energy company PT Lapindo Brantas Inc. and

the government liars, protesters blocked a large

section of the road, forcing police to redirect

traffic through Krian. Thousands of commuters,

buses and trucks had to return to Surabaya and take

alternate routes to Pasuruan, Malang and Batu.



Arguments between protesters and the police broke

out when the latter tried to stop the demonstrators

from impeding traffic on the Pasuruan-Malang

intersection. After a drawn-out negotiation with

police, the demonstrators agreed to cease their

blockade of the Porong bridge and move to a nearby

mudflow site.



The protesters were expressing their dismay over

negotiations with Lapindo and the government, who

had promised to pay 20 percent of victims their

compensation by Monday.



"Of the 500 families who signed a deal with

Lapindo's subsidiary PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya in

September, only 50 have received compensation,"

said Pitanto, deputy chairman of the Renokenongo

mudflow victim association.



Hundreds of mudflow victims from different villages

staged a rally in front of the Presidential Palace

in Jakarta on Wednesday, demanding Lapindo pay the

remaining compensation immediately.



In a meeting later in the day, the victims of the

mudflow disaster reached a deal with Lapindo and

the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS) to

settle the remaining 80 percent of the compensation

through monthly settlements of Rp 30 million

(US$2,500) to each affected family.



The deal was reached ater President Susilo Bambang

Yudhoyono reportedly lost patience with the

company's failure to pay the compensation.



The company was supposed to pay the remaining

compensation in a lump sum by December, but the

global financial crisis and debt troubles within

the Bakrie family business empire slowed down the

process, officials said.



Pitanto said the two candidates campaigning in the

East Java gubernatorial election had made no

political commitment to deal with the social impact

of the mudflow disaster.



"Neither the candidates nor the President, who wept

when he visited the area two years ago, can solve

the problem or press the Bakrie family to pay the

compensation," he said.



Minarak spokeswoman Yuniwati Teryana appealed to

the mudflow victims to exercise patience, saying

the company was facing financial difficulties due

to the global economic slowdown.



"We will pay the compensation in accordance with

the presidential instruction, but payment cannot be

carried out at the moment because of the financial

crisis," she said.



The muflow disaster, which engulfed several

villages and hundreds of hectares of farmland that

began spewing from Lapindo's gas exploration site

in Sidoarjo, near Surabaya on May, 2006.



---------------------------------------------------
Mud flow victims blockade Raya Porong highway



Sidoarjo -- Hundreds of victims of the Lapindo

Brantas mud disaster in East Java blockaded the Raya

Porong highway on December 4 demanding the payment

of outstanding compensation money.



The protest, which was carried out by residents from

10 villages whose houses and land have been

inundated by the mud flow, was held to express their

disappointment with the government that has only

agreed to pay compensation in 30 million rupiah to

each resident in monthly installments.



As a result of the blockade, a two kilometre traffic

jam occurred on the main highway connecting the East

Java cities of Sidoarjo and Malang. Hundreds of

police could be seen watched over the protest

although they made no attempt to remove the

blockage. (Detik.com, 4/12/2008)

Lapindo mud disaster victims scuffle with police in

Jakarta



Jakarta -- Disappointed by being unable to meet with

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, on December 3

victims of the Lapindo mud disaster tried to close

of Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara in Central Jakarta. A

scuffle with police was unavoidable.



Initially the protesters demonstrated by occupying

one of the lanes on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara. However

after there was no information about whether the

president would meet with them, they decided to

blockade the entire road.



During the ensuing scuffle with police, one of the

protesters collapsed and had to be carried to the

pavement. Fortunately, the situation was diffused

after one of the speakers called on protesters

return to main crowd. (Detik.com, 3/12/2008)







http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata_/Trade_bandh_over_Nandaram_apathy/articleshow/3965718.cms

Trade bandh over Nandaram apathy
TNN 12 January 2009, 04:42am IST
KOLKATA: The smoke has vanished, the embers have died down. But the 
tragedy that was the Nandaram Market fire has left scars that may not 
heal in a lifetime.

Remembering the disaster and protesting against government apathy, the 
displaced traders have called a trade bandh on Monday, a year after the 
fire broke out at the adjacent Tripal Patty and then spread to the 
13-storey market complex. As the fire engulfed floor after floor, 
firefighters fought the blaze over the next four days. By the time it 
was brought under control, 1,100 traders had lost their livelihood and 
several thousand were left jobless.

A year later, many are still waiting for aid. In many cases, help has 
come from private trusts and not from the government. "We got Rs 2 lakh 
from Birla Trust," said Deepika Baid, who lost her father Tej Kiran on 
January 13, 2008. Tej, a cloth trader, had a heart attack as he watched 
the flames engulf his godown on the eighth floor. No government agency 
has got in touch with his family yet.

At present, people have access to only the first six floors. The upper 
storeys have been gutted badly. "Traders are yet to get any aid from the 
government. During a meeting with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee 
and finance minister Asim Dasgupta on January 19, 2008, we were assured 
monetary aid," said Samar Choudhury, general secretary, Nandaram Market 
Disaster Management Welfare Committee, which has called Monday's strike.

"We are fed up with the government's attitude. I lost my business in the 
fire and now work as a supplier for others," said C R Rathi, a trader 
who had a room on the 12th floor. Madan Nahata, another displaced 
trader, recounted his travails over the past year. "I come here every 
day. I don't have a place to sit, so I spend my time at other traders' 
shops," he said. Another trader, Sunil Agarwal, said he lost investments 
worth Rs 30 lakh in the fire. His shop was on the 11th floor.

Ram Bhajan, a porter working in the area for decades, remembered that 
even a year ago, his daily income was around Rs 300. Today, he earns 
merely Rs 20-30 on most days. "Hum aag mein mar gaye (the fire killed 
me)," he says aloud.

The displaced traders have now decided to block the road and sell their 
wares on the streets in protest.

Local CPM MP Sundhangshu Sil said there was a plan to set up a shopping 
complex as a joint venture. "The plan is to demolish 12 buildings in the 
area, including Nandaram Market and others on Jamnalal Bajaj Street. But 
as traders aren't too keen, the matter could not be taken forward," he 
said.






http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200901221321.htm

Normal life partially hit by bandh in West Bengal
Kolkata (PTI): Normal life was on Thursday partially disrupted by a dawn 
to dusk shutdown called by left opposition party Socialist Unity Centre 
of India, with bandh supporters clashing with police and blocking road 
and rail traffic at some places.
Though government buses were on the roads, private buses starting from 
adjoining districts, particularly South 24 Parganas where the SUCI has a 
presence, were very few, but taxis and minibuses ran as usual, police said.
Railway sources said train services in Eastern Railways Sealdah 
division, especially on the Sealdah South section and partially in 
Howrah division were disrupted as bandh supporters threw banana leaves 
on overhead wires.
There were obstructions by bandh supporters at some stations since early 
morning, the sources said.
In the metropolis, bandh supporters were involved in a scuffle with the 
police at Hazra in south Kolkata and Shyambazar in north Kolkata before 
courting arrest, police said.
SUCI leader Swapan Ghosh claimed the police baton-charged supporters in 
Habra in North 24 Parganas, Farakka in Murshidabad and at the Bankura 
district headquarters town while they were picketing in support of the 
shutdown.
Ghosh said there were clashes between supporters and those opposed to 
the bandh and the police at Toofanganj in Cooch Behar.
Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said the bandh 
evoked 'limited response' in the districts. Kanojia said 40 bandh 
supporters were arrested for blocking road and rail services in the 
districts.






http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/suci-calls-for-a-bandh-today-mamata-opposes/413855/

SUCI calls for a bandh today, Mamata opposes

Express News Service
Posted: Jan 22, 2009 at 0224 hrs IST

Kolkata Back in business ? the state will experience its first bandh of 
2009 on Thursday. Courtesy: the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) ? 
a small Left party and an ally of Mamata Banerjee?s Trinamool Congress ? 
who has called the 12-hour Bangla bandh protesting against price rise 
and demanding reduction in bus fares.
Though Mamata has opposed the bandh, SUCI believes that the bandh will 
by and large be successful. ?We do not want to go for a bandh. SUCI is a 
different political party and can call a bandh on its own,? said Mamata.
The party plans to disrupt railway services and has asked its cadres to 
block busy roads throughout the city.
The SUCI had joined Trinamool-led West Bengal Democratic Secular Front 
and had shared seats in the May 2008 panchayat polls.
The SUCI has taken strong exception to Mamata?s decision of not 
supporting the bandh even though the party was now a part of the common 
platform Mamata had launched to fight the CPM in the state.
The SUCI, on the other hand, is being criticised by a number of Left 
Front partners for calling the bandh in a very calculated manner.
?The bandh has been called on Thursday, when Friday is a holiday owing 
to Netaji?s birthday. Saturday, too, is government holiday. This will be 
followed by Republic Day celebrations,? said Jyotiprasad Basu, leader of 
CPM backed state government employees union.
?The SUCI has taken advantage of this and called the bandh on Thursday 
to enable the government employees to enjoy their holidays,? he added.
To this, Prabhas Ghosh, a SUCI leader said: ?We wanted to hold the bandh 
on January 19. But a state government employees organisation had 
requested us to call the bandh on Thursday as they had some agitation 
programme slated for January 19.?
The CPI (Maoist) has also called a 24-hour bandh on the same day 
condemning police actions in Lalgarh and other parts of West Midnapore.
The traders, meanwhile, fear that normal business will be disrupted to a 
great extent. Mahesh Singhania, chairman of West Bengal Federation of 
Trade Association, said: ?We are opposed to the bandh. Traders will be 
forced to shut down their shops. Though some of the demands of the 
protestors may be reasonable, but bandh is not the solution.?






http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090123/jsp/calcutta/story_10426941.jsp

Bandh for babudom...
...not for rest of the city
A STAFF REPORTER
YAAWWWWN!

Rows of empty chairs told the story at Writers? Buildings on Thursday 
afternoon. (Sanat Kumar Sinha)
Much of Calcutta went to work as usual during the SUCI-sponsored bandh 
but half of babudom didn?t, proving that where there is no will there is 
no way.
Attendance in the Sector V offices of almost all IT companies was close 
to 100 per cent on Thursday but Writers? Buildings wore a deserted look 
with 50 per cent of the employees deciding to start the January 23-26 
weekend two days early.
A section of those who did turn up at Writers? Buildings and the 
Calcutta Municipal Corporation left after signing the attendance registers.
Metro Railway ran without a hitch and other forms of public transport ? 
buses, taxis and autos ? were available to people who wanted to reach 
their offices.
But a random survey by Metro at 12.30pm revealed only one-third of the 
government workforce was at work.
?I am leaving for Santiniketan later in the afternoon and won?t be back 
before Monday evening. The SUCI bandh has added an extra day to my 
trip,? a clerk in the municipal affairs department said.
In contrast to the nonchalance of the babus, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?s 
blue-eyed techie and BPO brigade at the Salt Lake IT hub were out in 
full force. ?Nobody faced any problem in reaching their workplaces,? 
said S.A. Ahmed, the chairman of the Nabadiganta Industrial Township 
Authority.
Officials of IT companies confirmed that it was business as usual for 
them. ?We had almost 100 per cent attendance. Only a handful who commute 
from the suburbs by train did not report for duty,? a TCS superviser said.
BUSINESS AS USUAL

Sector V was as busy as ever with big IT companies recording ?nearly 100 
per cent? attendance. (Amit Datta)
Train services in Eastern Railway?s Sealdah division and South Eastern 
Railway?s Kharagpur division were affected by bandh supporters.
Police arrested 67 SUCI supporters for putting up roadblocks at the 
intersections of Lenin Sarani and JL Nehru Road, Hazra Road and SP 
Mukherjee Road, and at the Shyambazar five-point crossing. ?More than 
4,500 policemen and 76 police jeeps were patrolling the city,? said 
Pradip Chatterjee, the joint commissioner of police (administration).
The airport was busier than usual despite ? or rather because of ? the 
bandh. ?The footfall was nearly 10,000. Normally the number is between 
7,000 and 8,000,? airport director V.K. Monga said.
Airline officials attributed the rush to the extended weekend ahead. 
?There was a flood of last-minute bookings for the Republic Day 
weekend,? said Anil Punjabi, the chairman (east) of the Travel Agents 
Federation of India.
Howrah station, too, witnessed frenetic footfall of the getaway gang. 
?There is a heavy rush on north Bengal and north India-bound trains. 
Darjeeling Mail was the top draw,? said an Eastern Railway spokesperson.






http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowDistrictNews.asp?id=10355

Ganjam bandh called by Rudra Sena peaceful
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Report by Manoj K.Dash; Berhampur: Today the annuncement by RUDRASENA 
Ganjam Bandh was partly success. Bus communication and School,Colleges 
were closed.
Rudrasena activators demonstrate at old Bus stand.Railway service was 
useal but some major Market area was closed.While discussing with 
Inspector In-charge B.N.Pur he stated on a table discussion to this 
reporter that the Bandh was overall peaceful.Adequete police were 
deployed in different senitive areas. At evening Market was opened.








Residents blockade road, paralyse access to Belawan

port



Medan -- Fed up because the road never gets

repaired, on November 9 hundreds of residents from

the Medan Belawan sub-district in North Sumatra

blockaded the road and totally paralysing access to

the Belawan port. The action was held as a form of

protest against the government that has failed to

pay attention to infrastructure on the highway

heading towards the port.



One of the residents, Muhammad Raiz, said the Medan

municipal government and the North Sumatra

provincial government should take care of the road.

??The Belawan port contributes a large amount of PAD

(locally generated revenue) for the government. But

the road is like a pool. Many residents have become

victims [of accidents on the road]??, said Raiz.



According to the residents, if the government does

not respond to the blockade, they will mobilise even

more people. The blockade ended after negotiations

with police and vehicles were able to begin moving

again. One of the truck drivers said that while they

supported the action, holding it at mid-day

disrupted their delivery of goods to the port.

(Detik.com, 9/12/2008)



From onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca  Mon Nov  2 17:12:07 2009
From: onthebarricades at lists.resist.ca (global resistance roundup)
Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:12:07 +0000
Subject: [Onthebarricades] Land grab and land rights protests, January 2009
Message-ID: <4AEF8367.8070605@tesco.net>


* SOUTH AFRICA: Marathon disrupted over land grab
* INDIA: Protest against land grab for tiger reserve
* TRINIDAD: Informal traders demand places in market
* NAMIBIA: Protest at plans for reserve on diamond site
* MANIPUR: Vehicles smashed in bandh against airport expansion
* INDIA: Bandh in Hotwar over land grab for sports arena
* INDIA: Karnataka - Protest against "encroachment" on island
* UGANDA: Protest over compensation for university land
* INDIA: Orissa - POSCO protests continue
* INDIA: Protest over housing allocation corruption
* INDIA: Kerala - Protest for compensation for container port evictees
* INDIA: Tamil Nadu - Roads blocked in protest against anti-squatter drive
* INDIA: Chhattisgarh - Tata Steel land grab protested
* INDIA: Delhi - Flat allottees demand immediate provision
* INDIA: Tamil Nadu - Protest against road widening scheme, impact on stores
* INDIA: Kerala - Villagers protest against land grab for rail site
* INDIA: Kerala - Rehoused slum dwellers protest lack of facilities in flats
* INDIA: Karnataka - Farmer suicide in protest at land grab
* INDIA: Kerala - Protest against survey for land grab
* INDIA: Tamil Nadu - Protest against airport expansion
* INDONESIA: Protest against hotel building
* INDONESIA: Sumatra - Villagers demand release of farmers in land dispute
* UK: Squatters take over London mansions
* SCOTLAND: Campaigners protest over empty homes
* US: Florida - Eco-protesters demand swamp be opened to public
* INDIA: Tamil Nadu - Protest over railway land grab
* INDIA: Karnataka - Protest for facilities for poor
* US: New Orleans - Police used to smash diocese vigil over church closure
* UK: Man vows 10-year protest for park
* US: Rhode Island - Rally against foreclosures
* AUSTRALIA: Student squatters evicted, protest on footpath
* US: Arizona - Residents protest subway relocation
* US: Providence - Tent camp created to demand homes for homeless people







http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_Crime%20And%20Courts&set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20090119070920264C524671

Dusi protest quelled by police

January 19 2009 at 07:47AM

By Yusuf Moola

Members of the Qadi clan tried to stage a protest during the Dusi Canoe 
Marathon, despite eThekwini municipal authorities denying them permission.

Metro and South African police stopped members of the clan at the Inanda 
Dam crossing on Saturday.

O'Brien Gcabashe, spokesperson for the Qadi families who were forcibly 
removed in 1986 to make way for the Inanda Dam, said that after the 
rejection of the application for a permit to hold a large protest, the 
police had repressed a small group of protesters.

He said there had been fewer than 15 protesters - complying with the 
Gatherings Act - but the group had been stopped about 1km away from the dam.
"We were on the Hillcrest road at 7.30am when roughly 50 police officers 
in 15 vehicles stopped us.

"The police did not listen to us and we were told that we would be 
arrested if we demonstrated on the road, showed our signs or danced - 
all of which are permitted in our constitution."

Gcabashe said the protesters were detained on the side of the road until 
10am when the canoeists had left Inanda Dam.

"Our intention was simply to draw the public's attention to illustrate 
that the land below the water originally belonged to us. We wanted the 
canoeists and media and citizens to know of our plight."






http://www.witness.co.za/index.php?showcontent&global[_id]=18484

Protesters vow to disrupt Dusi race
14 Jan 2009
Bheki Mbanjwa

Despite assurances from Dusi Canoe Marathon organisers that there will 
be no disruptions to the race, the members of the disgruntled Qadi 
communities have vowed to continue with their planned protest, which 
they hope, will achieve the contrary.

These protests are planned to coincide with the race and to disrupt it 
so as to draw attention to the plight of some 317 families who were, in 
1986, displaced from the land to make way for the construction of Inanda 
dam.

O?Brien Gcabashe, the leader of the disgruntled and dispossessed 
families, said that even if they are refused permission to protest they 
will continue with their planned protests. ?We applied for permission 
[to stage the protest] out of courtesy. You cannot really expect us to 
ask for permission to convene for whatever reason on our rightful land,? 
he said.

Gcabashe said he has received requests for a meeting from stakeholders 
in the Inanda dam including Umgeni Water and uMsinsi nature reserve.

But he said only one thing can avert the planned protests. ?We will only 
put our plans on hold if these stakeholders and the Dusi organisers can 
assure us that they will assist us with our legal fees as we want to 
take the government to court over the non-payment of compensation due to 
us.?

He continued: ?We want monetary assistance from them as they continue to 
make profits from the land that was taken from us. We believe no one 
should continue making profits while the displaced families suffer.?

Gcabashe explained that taking government to court is a last bid by the 
Qadi families in their protracted struggle to get monetary compensation 
for their land from the government.

Although about R5,6 million in compensation was paid by the Land Affairs 
Department, the money never reached the rightful and intended 
recipients. Instead of being paid into a trust for the 317 families the 
funds were allocated to the late Inkosi M?zunjani Ngcobo.

Ngcobo reportedly refused to allocate the funds to the displaced 
families claiming that they were intended for the whole tribe and not 
just for the 317 families.

Numerous attempts by Gcabashe to recover the funds have all proved 
fruitless. He has even appeared before the provincial legislature?s 
Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) where he presented the 
case of the displaced families.

?We feel that we have exhausted all other avenues this is why we will be 
staging the protest on Saturday and will take the matter to court if we 
feel we are not making any progress,? he said yesterday.

He said that the protests will take the form of a prayer gathering on 
the banks of Inanda Dam and on the road leading from the dam, in the 
hope that this will disrupt the Dusi.

According to Dusi organisers, they have received confirmation from the 
Ethekwini Municipality and the SAPS that the land claim protest set to 
take place around the Inanda dam area will not affect the Dusi.

bmbanjwa at witnbess.co.za






http://www.mathaba.net/rss/?x=614456

Resolutions passed during massive protest against illegal tiger project
Posted: 2009/01/01
From: Submitted

Makkal Vazhvurimai Padukappu Iyakkam
(People's Livelihood Rights Protection Movement)

On 30.12.2008 in Gudalur, at a mass rally and public meeting with more 
than one lakh participants held in condemnation of the illegal tiger 
reserve scheme in Mudumalai and the illegal actions of the Forest 
Department, the following resolutions were passed and are hereby being 
sent to the Central and State governments.

About 4 lakh adivasis, small farmers, estate workers and people of many 
other communities live in the Gudalur area. They have built residences 
on the cultivated lands in their possession, and are living on their 
income from agriculture on these lands. These lands, which once belonged 
to the descendants of the Nilambur Kovilagam in Kerala, were taken over 
by the Tamil Nadu government in 1969 through the zamindari abolition law 
(Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 
1969 ? Act 24/69).

The large estates cultivating this land on lease challenged this Act in 
court. The case continued in the Supreme Court for 28 years before it 
was dismissed on August 18th, 1999 (CA No. 8367 ? 75 of 1977). The Court 
directed the Tamil Nadu government to settle the land problem on these 
lands within a specified time. But till date the Tamil Nadu government 
did not take any decision on this matter. The people who live on the 
cultivated lands taken over by the government lost the rights they had 
had. In particular, they are denied all basic facilities like 
electricity connections, registration of their lands, the right to 
construct houses, drinking water, educational facilities, hospitals, 
roads, etc., and as a result today have become impoverished and 
destitute people. Government agencies claim that these development works 
are illegal.

For more than forty years, the Forest Department has been inflicting 
illegal harassment on the people of the area. Destruction of cultivated 
crops without warning, demolition of houses, looting of property and 
goods, extortion of money through threats, arresting and jailing people 
on false charges and similar atrocities have been continuously 
perpetrated by the Forest Department. For many years the people of this 
area organized many protests against these actions by the Forest 
Department. Martyrs have given up their lives in protest, unable to 
stand the atrocities of the Department.

For the past forty years, the people have demanded pattas for their 
lands; this has yet to be accepted. In this situation, the Forest 
Department has sought to take away their remaining livelihood resources 
by illegally notifying a ?Critical Tiger Habitat? through GO Ms 145. 
Similarly, the Department is making more and more efforts to seize even 
patta lands in the name of an ?Elephant Corridor.?

A situation has now come about where people's livelihood rights are 
threatened in the name of supposedly protecting the tiger, in violation 
of the ?Wild Life (Protection) Amendment 2006? and the ?Forest Rights 
Recognition Act 2006.?

Researchers proved that, despite spending many crores on Project Tiger, 
the scheme had failed to achieve its intended goals in terms of tiger 
conservation. The Central government therefore amended the 1972 Wild 
Life (Protection) Act through the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment 2006. 
As per sections 38V(4) and 38V(5)(ii) of this law, henceforth the 
declaration of ?critical tiger habitats? requires the consent of the 
village people of that area expressed through a gram sabha resolution. 
Further, they should be decided on a scientific basis through a case by 
case examination and a process of public consultation. The notification 
of the critical tiger habitat can take place only after this is 
complete. Without complying with these procedures and the requirements 
of law, the Forest Department is illegally violating people's human 
rights and trying to take away their livelihoods. In this situation, the 
Forest Department's claims to have complied with the law by taking the 
consent of some gram sabhas ? without informing them of the situation ? 
is laughable.

The area within a five kilometer radius around the boundaries of the 
illegal Critical Tiger Habitat is to be declared a buffer zone. The 
lands of 67 villages in nine panchayats and town panchayats, including 
the cultivated lands and patta lands of thousands of farmers, are 
thereby being included in the Tiger Reserve. Moreover, many villages lie 
within the Critical Tiger Habitat itself; these villages will have to be 
relocated. Further, more than 30 secondary and higher secondary schools, 
four hydroelectric projects, many tea factories and tea estates, and 
many temples have thus been illegally included in the boundaries of the 
Tiger Reserve.

Similarly, the Forest Department has announced that, in order ostensibly 
to recover an elephant corridor, both patta lands and all other lands 
will be taken over by the Department and the buildings on those lands 
demolished. The news that the survey work for this has begun in 
Masinagudi and many other areas in the district has hit the people 
living in this area like a thunderbolt. There was no scientific 
verification of whether or not the targeted areas actually are an 
elephant corridor.

After living under Forest Department atrocities for forty years, the 
people of the area are now living in fear that their livelihoods will be 
further imperiled by the illegal tiger reserve, the elephant corridor 
and similar projects. As a result, in the panchayats of Masinagudi, 
Srimadurai, Thorappalli, Gudalur Nellakottai and Devarsholai, thousands 
of people have joined mass rallies, public meetings, general strikes and 
shutdowns in protest. In this situation, all political parties and 
people's organisations have joined hands under the banner of the Makkal 
Vazhvurimai Padukappu Iyakkam and called for a rally of one lakh people, 
a public meeting, a shutdown of all shops and a general strike in the 
town of Gudalur. This protest demands an end to the illegal actions of 
the Forest Department and the withdrawal of GO 145. Further it calls 
upon the government to withdraw the Tiger Reserve and to fully implement 
the Forest Rights Recognition Act 2006 passed by Parliament. Further it 
demands that action be taken against the forest officials who have 
blocked development works. Criminal cases should be filed against these 
officials under section 7 of the Forest Rights Recognition Act 2006. 
Pattas should immediately be granted for the lands in Gudalur, Pandalur 
and Ooty talukas that have been under cultivation for decades.

This rally and public meeting of one lakh people was joined by the 
Hon'ble Minister for Khadi K. Ramachandran, Shri R. Prabhu, the Member 
of Parliament from the Nilgiris, former Minister Thiru A. Millar, Thiru 
K. Gopal, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Ooty, and Thiru 
Soundarpandian, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Coonoor.

Through this rally and public meeting, the following demands are hereby 
being passed as resolutions for immediate action by the authorities and 
are being sent to the Central and State governments.

1. The notification of the Critical Tiger Habitat through G.O. Ms 145 
was illegally done without the consent of the gram sabhas, without any 
public consultation and in the absence of any scientific investigation. 
It was therefore in violation of section 38V(5)(ii) and section 38(V)(4) 
of the Wild Life (Protection) Amendment, 2006. This has produced a 
situation where the rights of adivasis and forest dwellers will be 
violated. Hence we demand that the Tamil Nadu government withdraw GO Ms 
145 and desist from declaring this area a Tiger Reserve.

2. The Forest Rights Recognition Act of 2006, which recognises the 
livelihood rights of the people and protects their traditional rights, 
should be immediately implemented. Under this Act, the people of the 
area have the right to use and protect all common and community 
resources. In keeping with this, the Elephant Corridor, which is being 
declared with no scientific basis or legal procedure, should be 
withdrawn. Moreover, action should be taken under section 7 of the 
Forest Rights Recognition Act against the Forest Department officials 
who have violated this law. The illegal destruction of forest in 
connivance with the Forest Department must be immediately stopped and 
action taken against the responsible forest officials.

3. People living in panchayats, town panchayats and townships in the 
area have been illegally deprived of basic facilities like drinking 
water, electricity, housing, roads, schools etc. by the Forest 
Department, which has misused the name of the Supreme Court to this end. 
The lack of these basic facilities has caused great hardship to the 
people of this area. Therefore, the illegal restrictions placed by the 
Forest Department should be withdrawn and basic facilities provided to 
the people. Action should be taken by the government against the forest 
officials responsible for the illegal restrictions on providing basic 
facilities to the people.

4. As per the Forest Rights Recognition Act 2006, the government should 
recognise that any project related to the forests of the community must 
be implemented by the local gram sabha and village and further that the 
people now have the power and the right to protect and conserve the forests.

5. Small farmers have been cultivating the lands under their possession 
for decades and all such farmers should now immediately be granted 
pattas for their lands. The Tamil Nadu government should issue the 
necessary orders for this to be done.

All the political parties, people's organisations and panchayat 
presidents gathered under the banner of the Makkal Vazhvurimai Padukappu 
Iyakkam call upon the authorities in Gudalur to ensure that the Tamil 
Nadu government recognises the above demands and immediately take 
necessary actions required to address them.

All political parties, people's organisations and panchayat presidents 
as undersigned

1. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK)
2. Indian National Congress
3. All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)
4. Communist Party of India (Marxist)
5. Indian Union Muslim League
6. Communist Party of India
7. Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK)
8. Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK)
9. Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK)
10. Dalit Panthers
11. Vivasayigal Thozhilargal Munnetra Sangham
12. Traders Union
13. Vehicle Drivers' Union
14. Mudumalai Pazhangudiyanar Nala Sangam (Mudumalai Adivasis Welfare 
Association)
15. Panchayat presidents:
1. District panchayat (zilla parishad) president
2. District panchayat (zilla parishad) vice-president
3. Taluka panchayat (panchayat samiti) president
4. Township presidents
5. Town panchayat presidents
6. Panchayat presidents #







http://www.trinidadexpress.com/index.pl/article_business?id=161425001

Debe vendors to protest today
After being relocated...
Ariti Jankie South Bureau

Wednesday, January 14th 2009

Clothes and haberdashery vendors will lead a protest demonstration today 
outside the Southern Wholesale Market, Debe, from 8 a.m.
The vendors are demanding space in the market where they had been 
selling for years.
They said they were served notices to vacate the area yesterday.
One vendor said she depended on daily sales to support her family and 
felt victimised by the National Agricultural Marketing and Development 
Corporation (Namdevco). "We are barely surviving and now our livelihood 
is being taken away," she said.
Namdevco's communications, public and stakeholder relations manager, 
Asha Samaroo, confirmed the vendors were moved. She said clothes and 
haberdashery vendors will be relocated to another part of the market 
following the completion of improvement works.
"Namdevco has no intention of evicting any vendor-haberdashery or 
otherwise. This relocation will be done on a phased basis during the 
rationalisation process," she said.
"The southern wholesale market is the head office of Namdevco and it 
stands to reason that we should start the improvement process at home," 
Samaroo said.
She said that the vendors were removed to clean up the "shanty-town" 
look of the market and to bring it to its original intention as a 
Farmers' Market for fresh fruits, vegetables and meats".
She said the Southern Wholesale Market was not a municipal market.
"It is a Namdevco Market to facilitate farmers," Samaroo said, adding 
that haberdashery and clothes vendors occupied large segments of prime 
location in the market, while a long list of farmers have applied for 
space to sell produce and cannot be accommodated.
Samaroo said Namdevco was responsible for improving food safety and the 
handling of food items. "It is our intention to bring all markets that 
are under our control to international standards. We also have to 
conform to health and safety regulations and, as such, all unauthorised 
shabby-looking structures will be removed," she said.







http://allafrica.com/stories/200901300506.html

Namibia: Luderitz Residents to Protest Sperrgebiet National Park
Luqman Cloete
30 January 2009
PEOPLE at Luderitz plan to stage a demonstration today to protest 
against the transformation of the Sperrgebiet diamond-mining area into a 
national park.
The march, spearheaded by the Paradise Inhabitants Development 
Association (PIDA), is set to start at the State Hospital at 13h00. The 
protesters plan to hand over at a petition at the regional councillor's 
office and Namdeb's Luderitz office. PIDA Chairman Jacobus Johannes Le 
Hanie yesterday told The Namibian that residents are unhappy because 
they were sidelined during negotiations to have the Sperrgebiet declared 
a national park, although they were affected by the Sperrgebiet 
ordinance. He said turning the once forbidden area into a park would not 
benefit the local people because all prospective tourism gains have been 
earmarked for "the elite". "We don't want L??deritz to become another 
ghost town," Le Hanie said. The Minister of Environment and Tourism, 
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, is expected to inaugurate the Sperrgebiet 
National Park on February 6.







http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=30..200109.jan09

Five vehicles broken as indefinite Tidim road bandh begins
Source: Hueiyen News Service
Imphal, January 19 2009: WINDSHIELDS OF at least five vehicles, three 
buses and two trucks, have been broken by the protestors as the 
indefinite bandh along the Tidim road called by a JAC against the 
expansion of Imphal Tulihal Airport commenced today.

This morning, bandh supporters took to the street at Utlou area on the 
Tidim road and security forces also conducted search for the bandh 
supporters who were involved in the stoning and breaking of the 
windshields of the vehicles this morning.

The JAC has claimed that on the first day of the bandh, its volunteers 
had broken windshields of at least five vehicles including three buses 
and two trucks plying on the road violating the bandh.

They also threatened to intensify the bandh from tomorrow.

Medical and essential services and matters related with religion are 
outside the purview of the bandh, said the JAC.

A statement of JAC also appealed to the people not to attend to the 
offices located within the area covered by the JAC while stating that 
the bandh will continue till there bring about an amicable solution with 
the government.






http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=10..160109.jan09

Tiddim bandh against Airport expansion
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 15 2009: Taking strong exception against the continuing 
land acquisition process for expansion of Imphal airport which is 
contrary to the joint understanding between the CM, the Transport 
Minister and the JAC Against the Acquisition of Land for Expansion and 
Extension of Imphal Airport, the JAC has threatened to impose total 
bandh along Tiddim road indefinitely from January 19 in case the Govt 
fails to respond by January 18.A release issued by the JAC also noted 
the fast shrinking agricultural land of the State due to the so called 
development and modernisation projects.

The Govt's initiative to acquire 700 acres of land for Imphal airport 
expansion includes a large tract of agricultural land.






http://www.kanglaonline.com/index.php?template=headline&newsid=45020&typeid=1

NH-150 bandh indefinite, says JAC
The Imphal Free Press

IMPHAL, Jan 23: The JAC against Expansion and Extension of Imphal 
Airport which began its indefinite bandh on the National Highway-150 
passing through the Imphal airport from the 19th of this month has 
reminded that the bandh is an indefinite one.

Over the last 4 to 5 days, the bandh has been successfully implemented 
with very few vehicles on the road. The government`s armed personnel 
have been keeping strict vigil and have been trying to thwart the call 
of the people. Despite such difficulties, farmers, women groups and all 
affected people from more than six villages have resolutely stood firm 
in making their position clear on their demand, it said.

The JAC while condemning the use of government security forces against a 
democratic movement of the people, requested the government to mend its 
ways of dealing with affected people.

The JAC once again calls for a more democratic and transparent process 
when large scale projects are brought in the state. The current airport 
expansion move is nothing but the outdated top down approach where the 
people (including the affected people) are supposed to remain as silent 
spectators and suffer, it said.

Despite four days of continued bandhs the government has not acted on 
the demand of the JAC. In view of this, the JAC has collectively decided 
that all political parties, in particular the Congress and the allies of 
the present government, will not be allowed to function in the Naoriya 
constituency (project affected area), and all government and offices 
related to airport (including Airport Authority of India) will no more 
function in this area until an acceptable solution is arrived between 
the JAC and the government.

The JAC also noted that if any of the offices or office functionaries 
are found violating this call, fitting action would be taken up. The JAC 
shall bear no responsibility for any unwanted happenings, it said






http://www.e-pao.net/GP.asp?src=Snipp6..260109.jan09

Bandh suspended
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, January 25 2009: The ongoing indefinite Tiddim Road bandh called 
by JAC against expansion of Tulihal Airport has been suspended until 
next deliberation.

According to a press release of the JAC, the decision of suspension has 
been made following assurance given by local MLA RK Anand of making an 
arrangement to deliberate on the issue with CM, Transport Minister and 
JAC representatives.






http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090120/jsp/northeast/story_10412515.jsp

Blockade over land
OUR CORRESPONDENT

Security personnel frisk commuters at Paona Bazar near Imphal on Monday. 
Picture by Eastern Projections
Imphal, Jan. 19: Farmers and landowners protesting the government?s plan 
to acquire land for expansion of Imphal airport today damaged four 
vehicles on Imphal-Airport Road during a bandh imposed by them.
The expansion project will swallow paddy fields, fish farms and more 
than 100 plots of household land, once the Okram Ibobi Singh government 
has acquired 700 acres on the east, south and north of the airport, 
located at Tulihal in Imphal West.
Once upgraded, the airport will have night landing facilities. As the 
government began the acquisition procedure, the affected farmers, under 
a joint action committee, began a series of agitation programmes.
They have already submitted their objections to the revenue department 
and followed it up with bandh along the Imphal-Airport Road, a part of 
the National Highway 150, which connects Imphal with Aizawl, from 5am today.
Though the government had deployed adequate police personnel on the 
airport route, the protesters managed to damage four vehicles.
Besides the vandalism, the bandh did not have much of an impact.
?The government has not made a clear rehabilitation and compensation 
package for the affected farmers and landowners. It is interested only 
in acquiring the land. How can we make a living after they snatch our 
land?? a farmer asked.
On April 1, too, the action committee had observed a bandh on the road 
against expansion.
The bandh against the airport project came a day after farmers held a 
sit-in at Chingarel Tejpur against the government?s plan to set up an 
industrial growth centre by acquiring 215 hectares of prime agriculture 
land in Imphal East.







http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090117/jsp/jharkhand/story_10402218.jsp

Hotwar bandh over Games eviction
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Ranchi, Jan. 16: The displaced villagers of Hotwar, where the mega 
sports complex for the 34th National Games-Khelgaon is coming up, have 
called a bandh on January 19.
The bandh would be enforced only in Hotwar.
At a meeting today, displaced villagers decided that they needed to 
highlight their demands for jobs and other government benefits. They 
also demanding recruitment of educated youths at the sports complex and 
in the government offices as well.
?The government is yet to give us any jobs in exchange of our land. 
After the bandh, we would again meet government officials and place our 
demands. If we do not get any assurance, we may disrupt construction 
work at the mega sports complex,? said Rajesh Kujur, a member of the 
Visthapit Sangharsh Morcha.
The state government has acquired 148 acres of land from Khatanga, 
Mahuatoli, Gadihotwar, Lalganj, Sugnu and Bakantoli. However, the land 
acquired for animal husbandry purposes was transferred to sports 
department for the construction of the sports complex.





http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/12/stories/2009011254410500.htm

Karnataka

Protest against ?encroachment?
Karwar: Activists of Hindu Jagarana Vedike went on rampage in Kurmagad 
island (Tortoise Island) near Karwar against the alleged ?illegal? 
encroachment of the island by a person from a Chikmagalur. The island is 
situated about four km from Karwar and situated in the Arabian Sea. The 
vedike alleged that a person from outside the district had manipulated 
the land records and had illegally taken the island into his control 
with help of some officials. The island is visited by thousands of the 
Hindu devotees during the jatra day of Narasimha temple in the island 
once in a year. ? Correspondent






http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/17/666903

Mbale residents protest poor land compensation Sunday, 4th January, 2009

Concerned residents of Nkoma in Mbale wave placards during a 
demonstration last week
By Daniel Edyegu

RESIDENTS of Nkoma in Mbale municipality last week protested what they 
called poor compensation by the Government.

In a peaceful demonstration, the residents said they offered 218 acres 
of land to the Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU) years ago, on the 
understanding that they would be adequately compensated.

They said, they were instead being given pea-nuts.

The residents said the university secretary, Waswa Masokoyi, was paying 
out as little as sh28,000 to some beneficiaries.

?The constitution stipulates that land belongs to the people. We are not 
refusing to vacate but the Government must adequately compensate us to 
enable us buy land elsewhere,? Muhammed Balemya, a protester, said.

He said the university had given them six months to vacate or be evicted.

?I have lived on this land since 1978. I take care of eight 
grand-children. I was paid only sh850,000 for one acre. Where will I get 
land at that price to resettle?? said Rashid Nuru, a 68-year-old woman.

When asked to comment on the matter, Masokoyi referred The New Vision to 
Jacob Oboth, the chairperson of the compensation committee.

Oboth?s phone, however, was switched off.

Tidala Oludala, the area LC3 councillor, said over 1,000 residents would 
be rendered landless if the university effected the eviction without 
addressing their needs.

However, the Mbale deputy resident district commissioner, Henry 
Nalyanya, who is also a member of the compensation committee, said all 
the 197 families received partial compensation in 1996.

?The ministry is clearing the balances. It is a done deal and there is 
an agreement signed to that effect. The discontent is arising because 
the compensation was done basing on the market value of land then,? said 
Nalyanya.

?What they can do is to negotiate better terms with the Government, but 
not to resist the order to move out.?







http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/orissa-clears-mining-lease-for-posco-amidst-protest_100140968.html

Orissa clears mining lease for Posco amidst protest
January 11th, 2009 - 3:09 pm ICT by IANS -
Bhubaneswar, Jan 11 (IANS) Orissa Sunday said it has again recommended 
South Korean steel major Posco, which is building a steel plant in the 
state, for Khandadhar iron ore mines despite opposition from other 
companies and locals.?We have recommended the name of Posco for 
prospective licence of Khandadhar mines,? state steel and mines 
secretary A.M.R. Dalwai told IANS.
The recommendation letter to the central government for mining of over 
2,500 hectares was sent Friday, the official said.
The state government had earlier made similar recommendation, which was 
challenged by many other companies for ignoring their applications.
The central government had directed the state to recommend name for the 
licence after giving equal opportunities to other applicants.
The latest recommendation was made after the state government found 
Posco meritorious among all the applicants, Dalwai said.
Saroj Mohapatra, a senior Posco official, said: ?I am not aware of the 
development. If the state has government recommended our name it is a 
positive step.?
Posco plans to build a $12-billion steel plant in Jagatsinghpur district 
in one of the largest foreign direct investments in India.
The world?s fourth largest steel maker signed a deal with the state 
government in June 2005 to build the plant by 2016 near Paradeep port, 
some 100 km from here.
The company had proposed to carry out mining in an area of about 6,000 
hectares in iron ore rich Khandadhar hills range in the district of 
Sundergarh, which is a major attraction among the state tourist for its 
two waterfalls.
However, over 20,000 people from around 15 nearby villages have been 
protesting, saying the project would take away their homes and livelihood.
Posco claims the plant would affect only 500 families but would create 
thousands of jobs.
Jual Oram, a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP, said he will not 
allow the company to mine Khandadhar.
?We will launch a massive protest,? said Oram, who is spearheading the 
protest in the region against the proposed mining project.






http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=RSSFeed-India&id=7952382b-242a-4b7f-ab77-e8f6e9d4afe0&Headline=DDA+allottees+plan+protest+tomorrow

DDA allottees plan protest; scrap draw, say failed applicants
Press Trust Of India
New Delhi, January 11, 2009
First Published: 16:04 IST(11/1/2009)
Last Updated: 16:09 IST(11/1/2009)
With DDA hinting at indefinite delay in handing over flats after the 
controversy over its housing scheme, successful applicants will stage a 
protest on Monday demanding early possession and justice to the 
"genuine" candidates.
A large number of allottees of DDA Housing Scheme 2008, who argue that 
they had applied through genuine papers, have appealed to the Union 
Urban Development Ministry and the agency not to "penalise" them for the 
acts of some persons who indulged in fraudulent activities.
The harried allottees have formed the 'DDA Housing Scheme 2008 
Allottees' Association' to press their demand of timely handover of the 
flats. They will stage a protest at the DDA headquarters here in support 
of their demands. "Most allottees of this scheme are genuine. There may 
be some bogus applicants among over 5,000 allottees. While we demand 
stringent action against such crooks, we also demand DDA not to delay in 
handing over flats to genuine candidates," association's coordinator 
Suresh Kumar said. The allottees have opposed Union Minister of State 
for Urban Development Ajay Makan's statement that the whole draw may be 
scrapped if large scale irregularities were found. "If even one per cent 
of the allottees have got the flats through fair means, cancellation 
would mean violation of their natural rights," said Ghulam Nabi, a 
successful applicant. However, the 'DDA Flat Applicants Association', a 
body representing the unsuccessful candidates, have demanded immediate 
cancellation of the draw and winding up of the DDA, which they allege 
has become "synonymous to corruption.







http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/06/stories/2009010660550300.htm

Kerala - Kochi

Protest against delay in rehabilitation
Staff Reporter
KOCHI: Laha Gopalan, president of Sadhu Jana Vimochana Samyukta Vedi and 
leader of the Chengara protest, will inaugurate the public meeting to be 
held on Tuesday at High Court junction to protests against the delay in 
the rehabilitation of the evictees of the proposed International 
Container Transhipment Terminal at Vallarpadam.
Even though the last date set by the High Court for completing the 
rehabilitation process ends by January 15, the district administration 
has not taken any step towards this. Also, the provision of rent, as 
recommended in the Moolamppilly rehabilitation package announced by the 
State government, ended last month, said Francis Kalathunkal, general 
convenor of the coordination committee for those displaced by 
development projects.
Various social rights activists and representatives of political parties 
will address the meeting.
A documentary on the eviction done at Moolamppilly Island will also be 
screened on the occasion.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/06/stories/2009010659060400.htm

Tamil Nadu

CPI (M) members, residents held for protest
Special Correspondent
They blocked traffic, opposing government?s drive against encroachments
? Photo:A. Muralitharan

In protest: Residents of southern suburbs and members of the Communist 
Party of India (Marxist) along Grand Southern Trunk Road in Tambaram on 
Monday.
TAMBARAM: More than 500 persons living in different places in the 
southern suburbs of Chennai and members of Communist Party of India 
(Marxist) were arrested on Monday morning when they sat on Grand 
Southern Trunk Road in Tambaram as part of a State-wide protest opposing 
the State government?s drive against encroachments.
Several hundred persons who feared displacement during the on-going 
government?s drive against encroachments took part in a meeting 
organised by the CPI (M), led by Bhima Rao, its secretary of the South 
Chennai unit of the party.
They had gathered outside the office of Tambaram Tahsildar, and soon 
after a public meeting and after raising slogans, they gathered on GST 
Road, opposite Madras Special Economic Zone ? Special Economic Zone, 
surprising the strong police contingent.
Traffic came to a halt, but the police acted swiftly by allowing two-way 
flow of traffic on one carriageway as the other was blocked by 
protestors. Soon, the protestors were taken in police vehicles and 
lodged at a private marriage hall.
The party men said that the drive against encroachments was not only 
unjust but also against government policy and certain provisions that 
had guaranteed housing rights, especially to landless and homeless poor 
living on government property for a certain period of time.
Depriving them of housing rights based on norms created during the 
British days was unfair, the party members said. The land in which poor 
families have built should be re-classified and ?pattas? distributed to 
them, they said, adding that those families whose houses were demolished 
during the recent drive against encroachments should immediately be 
provided with alternate housing sites.
In Tambaram Taluk alone, the extent of land occupied by the landless and 
homeless poor was negligible compared to the occupation of government 
land by the private sector.






http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/Business/20090127/1162434.html

Farmers' protest against Tata Steel's Chhattisgarh project
Bastar (Chhattisgarh) | January 27, 2009 4:20:18 PM IST

Moves by Tata Steel, India's largest steel maker, to start a steel 
project in the Lohandiguda Block of this district, has been condemned by 
the farmers' community.
Tata Steel has offered a compensation package that includes giving jobs, 
Rs.100, 000 per hectare of barren land, Rs.150, 000 per acre of single 
crop-land and Rs.200, 000 per acre of multi-crop land.
The steel major has also promised one acre and a maximum 2.47-acre land 
under `land for land compensation scheme' for those who are losing 75 to 
100 percent of their land.Tata Steel had inked the deal with the 
Chhattisgarh Government in June 2005 to set up a five million ton per 
annum green field integrated steel plant in two-phases with the help of 
Rs.100 billion investment. The Chhattisgarh steel project needs 2063.06 
hectares or 5098 acres land in the Lohandiguda block, which falls under 
the Chitrakote assembly segment in Bastar district, and is located 325 
km from state capital Raipur..
Mahngu Ram of Dhura village told ANI: "I would not hand over my land to 
Tata at any cost because land is my only source of income."
Mahgu Ram has 33-acres of land to give TATA for this project.
Jai Singh is another village whose family has lost 70-acres of land to 
Tata for this project.
He also told ANI that he was protesting against this project.
Toka Ram, another villager, said he too would not hand over land to Tata 
Steel. Out of total 2063.06 hectares meant for the project, 86.5 percent 
or 1,784.22 hectares is private land, while 173.03 hectares (8.4 
percent) is government land. The balance 105.81 hectares (5.1 percent) 
is revenue and forestland.
The Tata project will cover 10 villages- Badanji, Bade Paroda, Belar, 
Beliyapal, Chindgaon, Dabpal, Dhura gaon, Kumhali, Sirisaguda and 
Takraguda- mostly dominated by Gond, Muria and Halba tribes, besides 
poor families belonging to the Other Backward Castes (OBCs).
The Lohandiguda block is considered one of the most fertile areas in 
entire Bastar region. (ANI)






http://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20090116/1153919.html

DDA flat allottees stage demonstration in front of Vikas Sadan
New Delhi | Friday, Jan 16 2009 IST

A large number of DDA flat allottees today staged a demonstration amid 
heavy security in front of Vikas Sadan, the headquarters of the housing 
agency, demanding that they be handed over the possession of their flats 
immediately according to the draw of lots held exactly a month ago.
The protestors, carrying placards and chanting slogans, said they were 
not to be blamed for the DDA scam and why should they suffer because of 
wrongdoings of a handful of people. They also asked for the direct 
intervention of Union Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy, his 
deputy Ajay Makan and the CBI, saying when the entire scandal was spread 
far and wide, it should be inquired by no less than the central agency.
''What is our fault, if some people in connivance of a few DDA officials 
committed irregularities in the DDA flat allotments. We are genuine 
allottees and we should be given possession of our respective flats 
without any delay,'' they added.
Some of the women protestors were even carrying infants with them during 
the demonstration.
Talking to UNI, Ramlal Meena of Sawai Madhopur district of Rajasthan, 
one of the allottees, said, ''I got a letter from the DDA informing me 
that I have been allotted a flat and that is why I came to Delhi. But 
after the scam came to light, all allotments have been stalled. Tell us 
if the DDA could not plug loopholes in its allotment mechanism, what is 
our fault?'' ''We are not saying an inquiry should not be conducted into 
the scandal, but just for the sake of the inquiry why the original 
allottees should suffer?'' he rued.
Rajni Aggarwal of Mandakini Enclave, also one of the allottees, said she 
followed the due procedure while applying for a DDA flat and she was 
even lucky enough to have been allotted one, but she still was awaiting 
possession of it.
Though the allottees were scheduled to stage the demonstration right in 
front of the DDA headquarters, the Delhi Police, present in large 
numbers, did not allow them to stage the sit-in exactly in front of 
Vikas Sadan and shifted them some metres away from the earlier planned 
venue.
Meanwhile, a team of the Economic Offence Wing(EOW) of the Delhi Police 
today left for Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and another, along with 
Deepak, the whistle blower in the scandal, for Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan.
The EOW has till now made four arrests in the entire scam, claiming the 
links to the scandal travel from Rajasthan to the North-East, Jharkhand 
and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.
One of the accused and former DDA employee M L Gautam is accused of 
having applied for 1200 flats and he ended up getting 38 flats in the 
draw of lots.
-- (UNI) -- 16DI15.xml






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/28/stories/2009012859030400.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Protest against road widening project
Staff Reporter
? Photo: K.Pichumani

Members of the Federation of Traders, Building Owners and Residents 
taking out a rally on Tuesday.
CHENNAI: Traders and building owners along the stretch of 
Chennai-Tiruvallur High (CTH) Road took out a rally on Tuesday from the 
Munroe statue here in protest against a project to widen the road.
Members of the Federation of Traders, Building Owners and Residents 
between Padi and Thiruninravur said hundreds of traders, residents and 
even doctors from hospitals along the stretch, that would be affected by 
the project participated in the rally.
About 30,000 shops along the CTH Road from Padi to Thiruninravur 
remained closed in support of the protest, they said. The rally 
culminated at Government Guest House, Chepauk, where a meeting was held.
President of the Federation A. Mohan said the project, to be implemented 
by National Highways Authority of India, envisages widening of the road 
to 150 feet.
The Tiruvottiyur High Road is to be widened to 60 feet, a four-lane 
road. Similarly, the CTH Road could also be widened to 80 feet. The move 
to make it a toll road would also affect those living in the residential 
areas along the road from Padi, Ambattur to Thiruninravur. Traffic 
congestion in the area could be avoided by diverting the heavy vehicles 
from the CTH Road to other roads, he said. After the rally, the 
Federation submitted a memorandum at the Chief Minister office.






http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/india-news/kerala-villagers-protest-against-proposed-rail-coach-factory_100142114.html

Kerala villagers protest against proposed rail coach factory
January 14th, 2009 - 2:02 pm ICT by ANI -
Kanjikode (Kerala), Jan 14 (ANI): Hundreds of residents of Kanjikode 
village in Kerala staged a protest against a proposed rail coach factory 
by acquiring their lands.
The agitated villagers also warned the State Government of Kerala and 
the Central Government that they would organise a massive protest and 
even commit suicide on the day when the authorities intend to lay the 
foundation stone for this factory.
Earlier, a technical team of Railway had inspected the proposed site and 
granted its green signal.
Further, the Railway Board has also approved the proposed rail coach 
factory spread over 900 acres near the Gramalakshmi Mudralayam in Kanjikode.
However, the land acquisition became problematic in the face of stiff 
opposition from the villagers.
The villagers have accused the State Government of neglecting them.
?There are around 450 houses and in that more than 700 families reside. 
But as per the government??s survey, there are only 40 houses, which is 
a wrong report. There has been no response till date regarding the 
complaints made by the action committee. No discussions on 
rehabilitation have been done with the villagers. Even the Chief 
Minister visited the place and announced that only 40 families have to 
be relocated,? said C. Krishnan, President, Action Committee against 
Coach Factory, Kuddiorzphu.
Meanwhile, the agitating villagers are being supported by the Bharatiya 
Janata Party.
?There is enough land lying nearby for the coach factory which is 
uninhabited and instead of acquiring that land, the land of the poor is 
being taken which is not correct. It is learnt that few people of CPM 
close to Achuthanandan have land here. If it happens then this can turn 
out to be another Singur model of acquisition. We will protest against 
it,? said C K Padmanabhan, BJP leader, Kerala.
Despite this agitation, the Central Government under which the Railways 
function has decided to acquire land under the fast track process so 
that work could begin at the site.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad is expected to lay the foundation stone of 
the factory later in January. (ANI)







http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/22/stories/2009012260140400.htm

Kerala - Thrissur

Rehabilitated protest poor living conditions
Staff Reporter
Thrissur: Slum dwellers, who have been rehabilitated by the Thrissur 
Corporation to newly-built flats at Mattampuram, 10 km from the city, 
are up in arms against lack of facilities there.
The 60-odd families, who moved to 135 sq.ft. flats last May, complain 
that many promises of the Corporation while rehabilitating them remain 
on paper.
?We have no political agenda. We seek basic needs for our survival. We 
took out a march to the Collectorate when our pleas fell on deaf ears,? 
said Babu Solomon, representative of the residents. ?The congested flats 
do not have even kitchens. We are yet to get cooking gas connections 
promised by the Corporation,? said Mimoona Akbar, a resident.
The residents now cook in a common kitchen built by the Corporation. 
?Flat residents have a single water source?a borewell. Water from the 
borewell cannot be used for cooking. Rice cooked in the water gets 
spoiled in a few hours,? said Omana, a housewife. The KSEB has 
reportedly threatened to snap power connection to the flats. ?A 
temporary connection was taken from the transformer of a private 
company. The Corporation should deposit the requisite amount with the 
KSEB for getting an additional transformer installed,? Mr. Solomon said.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/22/stories/2009012252460300.htm

Kerala - Thrissur

Rehabilitated slum dwellers protest poor living conditions
Mini Muringatheri
Flats given to them are devoid of basic amenities
? Photo: K. K. Najeeb

Despaired: Slum-dwellers rehabilitated to flats in Mattampuram in 
Thrissur complain of lack of amenities.
Thrissur: Slum dwellers, who have been rehabilitated by the Thrissur 
Corporation to newly-built flats at Mattampuram, 10 km from the city, 
are up in arms against lack of facilities there.
The 60-odd families, who moved to 135 sq.ft. flats last May, complain 
that many promises of the Corporation while rehabilitating them remain 
on paper.
?We have no political agenda. We seek basic needs for our survival. We 
took out a march to the Collectorate when our pleas fell on deaf ears,? 
said Babu Solomon, representative of the residents. ?The congested flats 
do not have even kitchens. We are yet to get cooking gas connections 
promised by the Corporation,? said Mimoona Akbar, a resident.
The residents now cook in a common kitchen built by the Corporation. 
?Flat residents have a single water source?a borewell. Water from the 
borewell cannot be used for cooking. Rice cooked in the water gets 
spoiled in a few hours,? said Omana, a housewife.
The KSEB has reportedly threatened to snap power connection to the 
flats. ?A temporary connection was taken from the transformer of a 
private company. The Corporation should deposit the requisite amount 
with the KSEB for getting an additional transformer installed,? Mr. 
Solomon said.
?If there is no power connection, we will not be able to draw water from 
the borewell,? the residents said. They also complain about the bad 
condition of the two-and-a-half kilometre-long road to the flats. 
?Operators refuse to take their vehicles along the road. If a resident 
falls ill, we will have to carry him to the main road,? said Jameela. 
Daily commuters from Mattampuram to the city rely on two bus services. 
Mayor R. Bindu has said that the protest by the residents was a 
political stunt spearheaded by the Opposition ahead of the Ayyanthole 
Division bypoll.
Mr. Solomon has refuted the Mayor?s allegation, stating that most of 
them were CPI (M) supporters. She said the Corporation had spent Rs.50 
lakh for providing infrastructure to the flats. Cooking gas connections 
had been delayed due to the Centre?s restrictions, she said.
The flats were built on 16 acres of Corporation land by NRI entrepreneur 
C.K. Menon. With the Corporation not showing enough enthusiasm, 
Mattampuram residents are finding it tough to get their needs fulfilled.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/14/stories/2009011454350400.htm

Karnataka

Farmer ends life in protest against project
Special Correspondent
________________________________________
It was reported that his farm would be submerged in the backwaters of 
the project
There was tension in the town when farmers staged a protest and blocked road
________________________________________
Sorab (Shimoga District): Shivappa (52), a farmer belonging to Mudagodu, 
committed suicide by consuming poison in protest against the 
implementation of the Dandavathi Irrigation Project near Sorab. The 
foundation stone for the project was laid on Tuesday.
Shivappa consumed poison around 2.30 a.m. at a tent pitched up by the 
villagers at Marur near here, the dam site of the proposed project.
Shivappa was immediately shifted to the government hospital where he was 
declared dead.
Farmers upset
Farmers from different parts of the taluk started gathering at the 
hospital as the news of Shivappa?s death spread.
There was tension when police refused to allow the body to be carried to 
the venue of the foundation laying.
The protesters, led by the Samajawadi Party general secretary Madhu 
Bangarappa, raised slogans and refused to leave the place despite pleas 
from the police.
Later, the former minister and senior Congress leader Kagodu Thimmappa 
addressed the irate crowd at the hospital and appealed to them to remain 
quiet.
He said it was unfortunate the Government chose to implement the 
controversial project without appreciating the opposition to it from the 
people of the taluk. He hoped that the Government would reconsider its 
decision in the matter in view of the unfortunate death of a farmer.
Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Superintendent of Police S. 
Murugan and Additional Superintendent of Police Kunigal Srikant had a 
tough time in controlling the surging crowd.
It was stated that the piece of land of Shivappa was identified as part 
of the area of submersion under the project which reportedly forced him 
to take the extreme step.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/30/stories/2009013055060300.htm

Kerala - Kozhikode

Protest against survey for IT park
Special Correspondent
Owners say proper notice not issued to them; form action committee
________________________________________
Call off survey, demand owners
Seek compensation at market rate for land to be acquired
________________________________________
KOZHIKODE: Objections have been raised against surveying the land to be 
acquired for a cyber park in Kozhikode.
Owners of the land that will be acquired to establish the IT park have 
formed an action committee to press their demands. It demanded that the 
survey be called off since a proper notice had not been issued to all 
those who would have to give up their land.
It demanded compensation at market rate for the land to be acquired for 
the IT park. Survey of the land needed for the park is under way at 
Nellicode, Kovoor and Pantheerankavu.
In a statement, it alleged that the notification issued for the survey 
was ?inconclusive and vague? and the families to be affected had been 
kept in the dark about the land that would be taken away from them. The 
land-owners had not been issued notices before the survey started, the 
committee alleged.
It said ?the lack of transparency about land acquisition proceedings? 
had given rise to suspicions that there was a planned move to deny the 
uneducated people residing in the region their legitimate right to 
express their grievances.
The committee said that the rehabilitation of all those who would be 
affected would not be possible. It also complained that the people 
residing outside the land to be acquired for the IT park would face a 
number of problems when the cyber park was established. So, steps should 
be taken for their safety, roads and drinking water requirements. The 
committee demanded that the survey be stopped forthwith since 
?sufficient notice had not been given? and warned ?it would take legal 
action if compensation for acquired land was not given at market rates.?






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/03/stories/2009010360180900.htm

Tamil Nadu

Demonstration against airport expansion
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: State governments and the Airports Authority of India should 
take the public view into account before implementing any development 
projects that required land acquisition, said Medha Patkar, founder of 
Narmadha Bachao Andholan and National Alliance of People?s Movements 
here on Friday.
Ms. Patkar, who participated in a demonstration organised by the United 
People?s Forum for Survival against airport expansion project at the 
junction of Manappakkam ? Ramapuram on Mount Poonamallee Road, said 
expansion projects did not help people and it was done without their 
consent. She said this was against the principles of development and 
there should be no displacement in the name of development. Members of 
the Forum urged the government to reconsider the decision.








---------------------------------------------------

Residents protest hotel construction

Jakarta Post - January 30, 2009

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung -- Residents from

Rancabentang, Ciumbeuleuit in Bandung, staged a

rally Tuesday at the Bandung Municipal Legislative

Council protesting its indecision on the

construction of the Four R Hotel.

The crowd protested in front of the council

building while beating drums, cans and plastic

bottles.

A protester, Sugandaria, said they had objected to

the hotel during a rally on Jan. 19, when they

disputed the signatures of 100 residents from the

project's public awareness campaign in 2007. The

signatures were later used in a residents'

agreement with the municipality to issue a building

permit for the planned 15-story hotel.

Residents realized their signatures were forged,

after trucks and heavy machinery entered the site

in June 2008. Backed by prominent lawyer Adnan

Buyung Nasution, who owns a house near the

construction site, residents eventually aired their

grievances publicly.

Previously, Nasution and a group of residents took

the case to the Bandung State Administrative Court.

The court, however, ruled in favor of the hotel

owner, jeans producer Henry Husada, on the grounds

that the signatures had strengthened his position

and that he had satisfied all of the legal

procedures.

"Today, the city councilors promised that they

would come here and see the violation firsthand,"

Sugandaria said. "But the visit was canceled and we

are clearly disappointed."

City Council spokesperson Hetty Sofiati said the

visit was canceled because Council Speaker Husni

Mutaqien was engaged in party affairs.

Hotel owner Henry said he felt he had gone through

the proper procedures.

"We won the appeal for the hotel construction at

the Administrative Court in December. We don't

understand why they think we are in the wrong,"

Henry said.

---------------------------------------------------

---------------------------------------------------

Villagers demand release of residents in land row

Agence France Presse - January 22, 2009

Dozens of villagers in Sumatra began an eight-day
protest on Wednesday over the detention of 76
residents in a land dispute that has been raging
for years, a farmers' union leader said.

The eight-day march followed a district court
ruling on Friday that ordered 76 residents of Suluk
Bongkal village in Riau Province to remain in
detention for occupying land that did not belong to
them.

The villagers were arrested after protests in mid-
December, during which police fired bullets and
tear gas. Two children were reported to have died
and hundreds of homes destroyed.

"We are protesting at the methods used by police to
seize the land from villagers who have been staying
there for years," said Rinaldi, a member of the
farmers' union organizing the protest.

The villagers, who have been occupying the land for
years, have been in dispute with pulpwood supplier
PT Arara Abadi since 1996, when the Ministry of
Forestry awarded the company rights to develop the
area.

The activists began a 300-kilometer walk from Tasik
Serai village to Mandiangin village in Riau, in
central Sumatra.

---------------------------------------------------

Villagers demand release of those held in Indonesia
land row

Agence France Presse - January 22, 2009

Jakarta -- Dozens of villagers on Indonesia's
Sumatra island began a protest march Wednesday to
demand the release of 76 people arrested in a land
dispute, a farmers' union leader said.

The eight-day march is being held after a district
court ruled Friday that the 76 residents of Suluk
Bongkal village in Riau province would remain in
detention as they had been caught occupying land
that didn't belong to them.

The resident were arrested after clashes in mid-
December in which police fired bullets and tear
gas. Two children were reported to have died and
hundreds of homes destroyed.

"We are protesting the method used by police to
seize the land from villagers who have been staying
there for years," said Rinaldi, a leader of Serikat
Tani Riau, which is organizing the "Long March"
protest.

The villagers of Suluk Bongkal have been disputing
the land's ownership with pulpwood supplier PT
Arara Abadi since 1996, when the forestry ministry
awarded the company rights to develop the area.

Carrying Indonesian flags and banners that said
"Sack Riau Police" and "Free 76 Farmers," 38
farmers and activists began the 300-kilometer (187-
mile) walk after dawn from Tasik Serai village to
Mandiangin village in Riau province in Central
Sumatra.

Their last stop would be the provincial police
station, the governor's and parliamentary offices
in the provincial town of Pekanbaru, Rinaldi said.
"We will be passing by 11 to 12 villages, and hope
to have 100 more people joining us in this march,"
he added.

---------------------------------------------------









http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/28/mayfair-squatters-evicted

Squatters evicted from London mansions
Houses in Mayfair and Park Lane vacated after court orders
? Helen Pidd
? guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 28 January 2009 16.18 GMT
? Article history

The Da! Collective moved into the ?22.5m Clarges Mews house after being 
evicted from this ?6.5m property on Upper Grosvenor Street. Photograph: 
Graeme Robertson
Squatters occupying a number of multimillion-pound London mansions were 
evicted today after being ordered out by the courts.
A group of young artists had been living in a ?22.5m property in Clarges 
Mews, Mayfair, since before Christmas. Just around the corner on Park 
Lane a second group had been living in two adjoining blocks overlooking 
Hyde Park. The leasehold on these two derelict mansions sold for ?5.56m 
each in October last year, according to the Land Registry.
The Clarges Mews squatters have become notorious for occupying a series 
of properties in Mayfair, Kensington and other upmarket areas of the 
capital in the past few years. The group of artists sometimes goes by 
the name the Da! Collective, but were squatting under the banner of the 
Temporary School of Thought at their latest address, where they held 
weeks of workshops and activities. They invited members of the public 
into the sumptuous property to learn new skills ? there were free 
classes on everything from Hungarian folk singing to treehouse building 
and how to dance the Charleston.
The first eviction battle began after the owners of the Clarges Mews 
property, Timekeeper Ltd, spotted a Christmas tree in a window at the 
end of last year and launched an application to have the squatters evicted.
Earlier this month the squatters won a stay of execution when the 
hearing was adjourned, but yesterday their dismissal was confirmed at 
Central London county court. Today the squatters left the Grade 
II*-listed property as builders moved in to begin renovations.
The squatters who have been occupying the Park Lane mansions were also 
ordered out by a judge today.
Two companies who own leaseholds on the houses successfully applied to 
the county court for an order to take back possession of the buildings.
Judge Marc Dight granted their request forthwith ? meaning the squatters 
could be evicted immediately.
Michael Buckpitt, for leaseholders Weleta Ltd and Konzeo Ltd, told the 
court: "The claimants are entitled to possession of the property as 
long-leasehold owners."
Following the decision some of the six squatters who attended this 
morning's hearing claimed they could be left homeless.
During the short hearing one of them, Andreas Grant, asked the judge for 
leniency, saying: "Since there about 40 people living there who are 
without any other options for accommodation, they will be homeless now. 
Perhaps we could delay for a few days so they could find alternative 
accommodation."
Outside the Park Lane properties yesterday the squatters threw carpets 
out of the windows as they waited for bailiffs to arrive.






http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/Campaigners-protest-over-empty-homes.4838455.jp

Campaigners protest over empty homes

Published Date: 02 January 2009
CALTONGATE campaigners have held a protest about the number of empty 
council homes on the Royal Mile.
An estimated 18 properties on the Canongate are empty ahead of 
demolition work for the Caltongate project.

Members of the Canongate Community Forum say the city council has 
refused to tell them exactly how many homes are empty and what this has 
cost the local authority in lost revenue, despite repeated freedom of 
information requests.

Catriona Grant, chairwoman of the Canongate Community Forum, said: "The 
Homecoming year should be about all the people living in Scotland coming 
home to a home.

"The Year of Homecoming 2009 must insist that homes are built in our 
city and that existing empty homes are opened up.

"It should not be used as a justification to build more hotels and more 
homes becoming holiday lets."







http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/florida/news-article.aspx?storyid=128198&provider=rss

Protesters Arrested Near FPL Swamp
Created: 1/11/2009 12:03:31 PM Updated: 1/11/2009 12:04:38 PM

PORT MAYACA, FL (AP) -- Deputies arrested 17 protesters who were 
demanding Florida Power & Light officials open a Martin County swamp to 
the public.
Members of EarthFirst! say they had been camping near the 455-acre 
Barley Barber Swamp for about a week when they were arrested Saturday. 
They say reports from independent scientists prove an FPL plant has been 
draining the wetlands, and FPL officials have broken their promise to 
reopen the area to the public.
An FPL spokesman says the draining allegations were false. He says FPL 
entered into an agreement with the South Florida Water Management 
District in 1983 committing to maintain appropriate water levels.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office says seven women and 10 men were 
charged with trespassing and resisting arrest.






http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/local_news/epaper/2009/01/10/0110protest.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=76

17 protesters arrested at Barley Barber swamp, demand FPL open area to 
the public
By DAPHNE DURET
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Saturday, January 10, 2009
PORT MAYACA ? Deputies arrested 17 protesters on trespassing and 
resisting arrest charges Saturday near the Barley Barber swamp, where 
members of an activist group have camped out for nearly a week, 
demanding Florida Power & Light officials open the swamp to the public.
Members of EarthFirst! said six of their colleagueswere arrested after 
they entered the swamp area and refused to leave the boardwalk area 
until FPL officials met their requests. The rest were taken into custody 
in an adjacent area, said group member Russell McSpadden.
Previously: Feb. 2008 protest at 20 Mile Bend
The group - which has been camping around-the-clock outside the 455-acre 
swamp since Monday - contends that independent scientists' reports prove 
the FPL plant has been draining the wetlands and FPL officials have 
reneged on their promise to reopen the area to the public.
FPL spokesman Mayco Villafana in an email said the draining allegations 
were false, adding that FPL in 1983 entered into an agreement with the 
South Florida Water Management District under which they made a 
commitment to maintain appropriate water levels.
"We're disappointed that this group has resorted to illegal activity and 
are leaving the matter in the hands of law enforcement," FPL spokesman 
Mayco Villafana said. "We are concerned for anyone who enters the swamp 
without taking the appropriate precautions."
Villafana said that since last year, FPL officials have been working 
with state and local agencieson plans to reopen the preserve, which 
closed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
According to Martin County sheriff's deputies, the group of seven women 
and 10 men were being booked into the Martin County jail. The people 
facing trespassing charges will be held in lieu of $750 bail, the ones 
facing trespassing and resisting arrest without violence will be held on 
$1,500, sheriff's officials said.







http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/10/stories/2009011061040600.htm

Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi

CPI(M) members stage protest
Staff Reporter
TIRUCHI: Members of the Ponmalai unit of the Communist Party of India - 
Marxist (CPI-M) and residents of Mudukkupatti in Ward 26 in the city 
staged an agitation at the Khadi Kraft junction here on Friday, 
protesting the issuance of notices by the Railway Department to the 
vacate their houses.
Led by the Ponmalai unit secretary of CPI(M) S. Ramadoss, they raised 
slogans urging the Railway Department to withdraw the notices immediately.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ramadoss said that the site at 
Mudukkupatti fell well under the porambokke classification of the 
Revenue Department and not the Railway Department.
About 125 hut-dwellers, all belonging to the economically weaker and 
unorganised labourer sections, had been residing in the area for several 
decades.
A petition had already been submitted to the district administration to 
effect due change in the classification of the site from the present 
water-course porambokke category.
A delegation of the party representatives and local residents submitted 
a memorandum to the Divisional Railway Manager.
The district secretary of the CPI(M) Sridhar was among those who 
participated.






http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/30/stories/2009013053580400.htm

Karnataka

24-hour CPI(M) protest begins
Special Correspondent
CHICKBALLAPUR: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday 
commenced a 24-hour dharna in front of the Chickballapur district Deputy 
Commissioner?s office in support of its demands.
Hundreds of people from all over the district took out a procession in 
the town, under the leadership of former Bagepalli MLA G.V. Srirama 
Reddy, before proceeding to the Deputy Commissioner?s office at 
Chadulapura, on the outskirts of Chickballapur.
The CPI (M) has launched the agitation seeking various facilities for 
the poor, who have been hit by the ?anti-poor economic policies of the 
State and Central governments.? The CPI (M) has sought title deeds for 
poor farmers who were cultivating on government lands, stopping eviction 
of farmers cultivating crops in forest lands, issuing BPL cards at the 
earliest and increasing the quantity of ration supplied to BPL card 
holders under public distribution system, among others.







http://www.wwltv.com/topstories/stories/wwl010609cbparishioners.4431c43d.html

New Orleans police sent in to remove protesting parishioners; arrests made
04:22 PM CST on Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Bill Capo / Eyewitness News

WWL-TV
Police were brought in by the archdiocese to end vigils.
NEW ORLEANS -- At Our Lady Of Good Counsel church, Harold Baquet, one of 
the leaders of the protest against the church closing order, was led out 
by New Orleans Police, and placed in a police car.
"It's unbelievable; you know, Harold Baquet is a cancer patient. He 
undergoes chemotherapy treatments. It is just terrible it had to come to 
this -- that Archbishop Hughes would not speak with us, would not meet 
with us,? said Barbara Fortier, a protest leader.
He was not taken to jail, but was driven home instead, but the 
experience left him stunned.
"There was really no reason for them to come out and handle us this way, 
and it really was a physical, it was physically abusive, and not only to 
us personally and physically, but to our home,? said Baquet.
There were tears, anger and arrests outside of Our Lady of Good Counsel 
Church, where two people were taken away in handcuffs after police moved 
in to remove the protesting parishioners
One of them was author and parishioner Poppy Z. Brite.
?I?m having a wonderful time,? Brite said as she was taken away in 
handcuffs. ?I?m serving my church. I?m saving my church.?
"It was necessary for the police to break-in to Our Lady of Good Counsel 
because those inside refused entrance to either archdiocesan 
representatives or the police," said Sarah Comiskey, the spokeswoman for 
the Archdiocese.
The vigil started around the clock in Our Lady of Good Counsel in 
October. It was one of a number of churches that were closed and 
consolidated as a part of a city-wide pastoral plan.
Archdiocese officials showed up at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church at 
midmorning Tuesday. The officials said they were there to reclaim church 
property, with the parishioners inside asked to leave peacefully ? 
otherwise, officials said, they would be arrested.
"It has always been the intention of the archdiocese to bring these 
vigils to a peaceful conclusion. This forced closure involving the NOPD 
is the result of the actions of protestors at the former parishes," said 
Comiskey. "This decision was made reluctantly after exploring every 
possible alternative, including multiple attempts to persuade the people 
to leave the building on their own. These initiatives are unfortunate 
but made necessary now to ensure the safety of the people and security 
of the buildings."
There were about six or seven people inside the church ? one of them was 
72-year-old Dorothy Payton.
"This church belonged to us. It belonged to the community," Payton said. 
"We think we have a right. I don?t think they have a right to close the 
church the way that they did. This church was not damaged. We were doing 
our financial obligations, and we did more than we were asked."
Payton was not taken out in handcuffs, but she said she was told she was 
under arrest.
?They were just trying to tell us we didn?t belong in there, and the 
police said they didn?t have anything to do with this, they could 
understand that we wanted to stay in our church,? Payton said. ?And 
that?s what we were trying to do. We wanted to stay in our church."
"I'm extremely disappointed, but to be honest with you, I'm not 
surprised,? said Julie Martello.
"I think it is a shame before God, and I think this archbishop really 
needs to have a conversation with God, and have his conscience weighed 
against what he is doing. After Katrina, this is just unthinkable,? said 
Arthurine Payton.
At the same time, the archdiocese also moved to end the vigil here at 
St. Henry's, the other church conducting organized protests against the 
closings.
Police accompanied archdiocese officials as they ordered congregation 
members to leave, and closed the church. Protest leader Cynthia Robidoux 
was issued a court summons on a trespassing charge, and watched the 
closure in disbelief.
"I am just so broken hearted,? she said. ?I mean, I can't even explain 
how empty I feel to know that this is the archdiocese."
Archdiocese officials say they have visited the churches, and repeatedly 
asked the protestors to leave. But when asked why the arrests and 
summons were believed necessary a spokeswoman for the archdiocese was 
booed by protest sympathizers.
"Unfortunately the circumstances that came about in the last few days 
have forced this decision,? said Comiskey.
An official statement expressed hope that the Catholic community may now 
heal and move forward. Members of both congregations are now trying to 
determine what to do next, as the churches they tried to keep open were 
locked up.






http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/7835343.stm

Saturday, 17 January 2009
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version

Man pledges 10-year site protest

David Barker said he would camp there for ten years if necessary
A man camped on the derelict site of Stoke City's former football ground 
says he will stay there for 10 years in a bid to turn the land into a park.
David Barker has been living in a tent on the Victoria Ground site since 
Christmas in sub-zero temperatures.
He said he would use the law of adverse possession to gain control of it 
and then turn it over to park use.
To do that he must keep leaseholders St Mowden off the site. But St 
Modwen said they would evict him soon.
Planning consent
Mr Barker, who is currently unemployed, said he was taking a stand for 
the community because the site had been left derelict for more than 11 
years.
Developer St Mowden applied for planning consent to convert the site for 
housing but announced in December that market conditions were not right 
for a residential development.
Stoke City played at the ground since 1878 until the club moved to the 
Britannia Stadium in 1997.
Mr Barker said he had been litter picking the site every day, because to 
gain legal possession he has to show he has made an improvement to the 
land.






http://www.projo.com/news/content/TENANTS_PROTEST_FORECLOSURES_01-15-09_P3CV9S9_v185.3defd09.html

Tenants, advocates rally to stop foreclosures in Rhode Island
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, January 15, 2009
By Lynn Arditi

Journal Staff Writer

Daniel Daley is among the tenants, homeowners and advocates at a protest 
at the Rhode Island State House Rotunda calling for greater protection 
for families being evicted as a result of foreclosure.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah
PROVIDENCE ? Louisa Pimentel planted herself in the midst of a protest 
in the State House rotunda yesterday, and gazed up at the ceiling, all 
white marble and murals.
At 48, she had never set foot inside the halls of state government, or 
considered participating in a demonstration.
That changed, though, when she learned that the rental house in the 
city?s West End where she lives with three of her children is in the 
process of foreclosure.
Yesterday, less than 48 hours before her house was scheduled to be sold 
at a foreclosure auction, Pimentel joined about a dozen other members of 
a new tenants? group ? the RI Bank Tenant Homeowner Association ? along 
with advocates for the homeless and housing advocates to demand that 
state lawmakers declare a moratorium on foreclosures in Rhode Island.
Chanting ?Stop Evictions! Now! Stop Foreclosures! Now!? the protesters 
said that tenants who lose their homes to foreclosure are, in some 
cases, unable to come up with enough money for a security deposit on a 
new rental, and wind up homeless.
Calls for a foreclosure moratorium follow similar efforts across the 
country last year. Several states, including Massachusetts and 
Connecticut, attempted to stem rising foreclosures by introducing 
legislation to stall or stop the foreclosure process. But so far, none 
of those proposals has become law, according to Heather Morton, a 
legislative analyst for the National Conference of State Legislatures.
President-elect Barack Obama has said that he supports a 90-day 
moratorium on foreclosures. But he is likely to face stiff opposition by 
lenders, who argue that even a temporary freeze on foreclosures could 
delay the sale of bank-owned property which, in turn, would make banks 
less likely to make new loans.
Bill Farrell, a lobbyist for the Rhode Island Mortgage Bankers 
Association who watched the protesters yesterday, said he fears that a 
foreclosure moratorium is the sort of restriction that would discourage 
investors from buying loans in Rhode Island. Investors might demand more 
money for down payments or require borrowers to meet higher income 
standards. That, in turn, would make it more difficult for ?fringe? 
borrowers to obtain loans, he said, and hurt efforts to expand 
affordable housing.
Even some of the advocates who support more protections for tenants 
concede that a moratorium may be difficult to enact in Rhode Island 
because, unlike states such as Massachusetts, there is no law requiring 
banks to obtain court orders before they begin foreclosure proceedings.
?The practical reality is it?s not clear who has the authority to [stop 
foreclosures] in Rhode Island,? said Brenda Clement, director the 
Statewide Housing Action Coalition. ?The moratorium may not be the right 
tool ? but it?s an attempt to draw attention and focus to the issue.?
Noreen Shawcross, executive director of the Rhode Island Housing 
Resources Commission, said that a foreclosure moratorium would be a 
?Band-Aid? approach, and that a more effective measure is to assist 
homeowners in getting lenders to agree to work out their mortgages.
In the absence of any federal mandate on foreclosures, however, the 
protesters ? including the Housing Action Coalition and the Rhode Island 
Coalition, the R.I. Coalition for the Homeless and DARE ? say they need 
help from state lawmakers.
Just over 100 families who were homeless between April and December had 
been displaced due to foreclosures, said Coalition for the Homeless? 
executive director, Jim Ryczek.
Pimentel, the single mother who was attending her first protest, says 
she is worried that her family could wind up among them. An immigrant 
from the Dominican Republic, she has no job and is supported by her 
18-year-old daughter, Idaliza, a student at the University of Rhode 
Island who works part-time at a Wendy?s. Pimentel and three of her four 
children moved to a first-floor apartment at 10-12 Massie Ave., 
Providence, two years ago, when their previous landlord fell into 
foreclosure.
If she manages to get the money to move again, she worries that house, 
too, might fall into foreclosure. ?I don?t want to have to worry,? she said.
Nearby was Yolanda Cruz, another single mother, who had joined the 
protest. Three months ago, she said, the house where she rented an 
apartment fell into foreclosure and the gas and water were shut off. The 
apartment became infested with cockroaches and mice. Cruz said she 
pawned her jewelry to come up with the $800 she needed three months ago 
to rent another apartment.
?At least,? Cruz said to Pimentel?s daughter, Idaliza, ?you?re lucky 
they don?t turn off the water.?






http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24911097-2862,00.html
Student squatters evicted from Melbourne University properties
Article from:

January 14, 2009 09:05am
UPDATE 11:44am STUDENT squatters say they're homeless after their dawn 
eviction from Melbourne University-owned houses.
The students, who have occupied the Faraday St terrace homes in Carlton 
for the past five months, have now set up camp on the footpath to 
protest against the eviction.

Spokeswoman Anja Kanngieser said some students have nowhere else to go, 
and vowed the group would continue their campaign.

?There?s a lot of homeless students at the moment that really have 
nowhere else to go,? Ms Kanngieser said.

?Where else are they going to sleep if they don?t have a roof over their 
head any more??

"We?re going to continue the campaign."

About 14 students in the three Melbourne University properties were 
evicted this morning.

The group is part of the Student Housing Action Cooperative, which says 
it took direct action to prevent homelessness.

Victoria Police said students who had been living in the terrace houses 
left peacefully after an eviction notice was served by the Sheriff's 
office about 6am today.
Up to a dozen officers raided the back of the properties while a crew of 
police knocked on the front door demanding the students vacate the 
premises.

Once inside, police opened the front door and a group of students piled 
out holding backpacks, mattresses and other belongings.

They then sat outside the Faraday St terrace houses where they hoped to 
stage a rally with other supporters.

Students say they have been squatting in the houses to highlight 
Melbourne's shortage of affordable rental properties.

But the Supreme Court last week gave Melbourne University the right to 
evict the squatters and reclaim the houses.

University workers were also at the squat this morning.

Two international students among the first evicted said they did not 
have anywhere permanent to live.

University staff, with locksmiths, were also at the squat this morning 
but refused to comment.

Melbourne University's senior media officer, Christina Buckridge, 
confirmed the eviction.

?The squatters didn?t volunteer to leave despite the many opportunities 
we gave them and they were evicted this morning,?? Ms Buckridge said.

?The university is very disappointed it had to come to this,?? she said.
- Anthony Dowsley, Shannon Deery, Matthew Schulz






http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/29/20090129sr-solis0129-ON.html
Despite residents' protests, substation to be moved
16 comments by Lynh Bui - Jan. 29, 2009 10:31 AM
The Arizona Republic
The Scottsdale City Council approved an alleyway abandonment that will 
make way for the relocation of an SRP electrical substation to 68th 
Street and Indian School Road.
The 5-2 vote in favor of the abandonment came close to midnight 
Wednesday after the council heard hours of public testimony and 
presentations on controversial topic.
The developer of Solis Scottsdale Resort and Residences, Scottsdale 
Canal Development, LLC, had requested the abandonment to move the 
substation from Scottsdale and Camelback roads to 68th Street and Indian 
School to make way for a luxury hotel project.
The abandonment has been controversial. Residents around the area of the 
new substation have protested the relocation, fearing it will bring an 
eyesore to their neighborhood.
Shortly after midnight on Thursday, the City Council approved by a 5-2 
vote the developer's rezoning request, which will allow for the resort 
project on Scottsdale and Camelback roads.






http://www.projo.com/news/content/PROVIDENCE_TENT_CITY_DAY_2_01-26-09_3PD3773_v18.31f6a23.html

Homeless spend night in tents to protest against city of Providence
07:17 AM EST on Monday, January 26, 2009
By Cynthia Needham

Journal State House Bureau

John Joyce, a member of the Homeless People?s Action Committee, and 
Megan Smith, a Brown student who works with a Brown housing program, 
spent the night under the Crawford Street Bridge in tents.
The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires
PROVIDENCE ? It?s been four months since Jeff Mayers last slept indoors.
He spends most nights on the streets of the capital city, covered in 
blankets, plastic ?? anything he can find to keep the wind out.
?I?ve been in the military, so I know how to somewhat survive out in 
this weather,? he said yesterday, his voice quavering from the cold.
For Kris Lapp, it?s been almost as long. Lapp is pregnant. And yesterday 
was her 24th birthday.
?What a way to spend a birthday, on the streets,? she said.
The two were among the half-dozen homeless and their advocates who 
huddled in blankets and coats beneath a now-closed Route 195 off-ramp 
for the second consecutive day yesterday. They spent the night in 
2-degree temperatures, knotted together in a frigid enclave of tents 
erected partly in memory of a friend and partly as a protest against the 
City of Providence.
Less than a month ago, Paul Langlais, 56, formerly of Coventry, died 
beneath that bridge during a night of bitter cold. An autopsy determined 
that the cause of death was heart disease.
Though they have no permit, the group pledged to stay in the makeshift 
camp on city property until authorities and the public acknowledge they 
need to do more to fight homelessness.
?There are cracks in the system right now between service providers, the 
State of Rhode Island and, obviously, the city. There are people 
sleeping outside in the city of Providence every night,? said John 
Joyce, a member of an organization that has billed itself as the 
Homeless People?s Action Committee. ?It?s morally wrong that people in 
the city of Providence are sleeping outside ? Obviously the economic 
times are awful, with the unemployment rate and cuts in the budget last 
year. And we?ve got a foreclosure crisis going on.?
In the long term, the group says the state needs to improve its help 
network, build more affordable housing and assign case workers to help 
those whose addiction problems have driven them to the streets.
More immediately, they say, Rhode Island must work harder to get 
homeless people off the streets on the coldest nights, providing more 
transportation to shelters and churches.
By yesterday afternoon, the group had not heard from or seen any 
Providence officials. To stay warm, they walked around in the snow and 
sipped icy coffee left over from a delivery someone made Saturday night.
At least the sun was shining, Mayers said, his smile weak.
But for Lapp, the cold was too intense. She stayed inside the tent, in a 
sleeping bag.
A spokesman for Mayor David N. Cicilline did not return a call for 
comment yesterday.
Joyce said the group had no plans to leave.
?Our feeling is if we?re all together, we can watch each other?s backs,? 
said Joyce, his hands shaking as he dragged on a cigarette. ?Paul didn?t 
have to die alone here. If we had these tents set up, someone could have 
watched him. It?s just tents, but it?s shelter.?
With reports from Frieda Squires