[Onthebarricades] Uprisings and unrest, October 2008

[global resistance roundup]

* GUINEA: Protesters blockade bauxite trains over poor public service; 
police murder 1
* PERU: Unrest across five provinces
* FRANCE: Youth unrest after police killing
* NIGERIA: Trade unionists shut down parliament over constitutional reform
* KENYA: Vicious crackdown on Mungiki, police murders lead to protests, 
strike
* DR CONGO: Goma - protesters storm UN HQ over clashes, stone 
"peacekeepers" - 1 killed
* NORTHERN IRELAND: Craigavon - vehicles torched in night of unrest
* BANGLADESH: 25 injured as students protest admissions curb
* MAURITANIA: Protesters stone police in anti-coup protest
* EGYPT: Protest after police murder pregnant woman; roads blocked tyres 
burnt
* KURDISTAN - TURKEY: Kurds revolt over Ocalan detention, PM visit, 
police kill 1
* KURDISTAN - FINLAND: Turkish embassy firebombed
* NIGERIA - NIGER DELTA: Clashes between army and MEND
* SPAIN - EUSKAL HERRIA: Basques protest vote ban
* INDIA - GORKHALAND: Protests for new state shut down tea district







http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L1227450.htm

Guinea bauxite trains restart after protest ends
01 Nov 2008 18:19:23 GMT
Source: Reuters
(Adds details, background)
CONAKRY, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Trains used by Guinea's main bauxite exporter 
Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinee (CBG) resumed work on Saturday after a 
protest that had blocked the line since Friday ended, a company official 
said.
"Traffic has restarted. The first 120-wagon train arrived this 
afternoon," said the official, who asked not to be named.
One person was killed during the protests in which local people in Boke, 
where the world's largest bauxite exporter CBG digs the aluminium ore, 
erected barricades on the railway line to protest over electricity 
shortages.
U.S. metals giant Alcoa <AA.N>, part-owner of CBG, said late on Friday 
that production had not been affected by the protest.
Guinean President Lansana Conte personally intervened to end the 
protests, the company official said.
"He (Conte) brought together the local authorities and they spoke. The 
people understood and agreed to let trains pass," he said.
Protests about poor public services are common in the west African 
country, where most people live in poverty despite Guinea's lucrative 
natural resources.
Demonstrations about inadequate electricity supply often target bauxite 
operations as these tend to generate power for surrounding towns under 
their deals with the government.
In October, one person was killed during a five-day power protest in the 
town of Mambia that stopped trains carrying bauxite for Russian 
aluminium firm UC RUSAL.
Alcoa and Rio Tinto Alcan <RIO.L> control the Halco joint venture that 
owns 51 percent of CBG, and the Guinean government holds the remainder.
In July, the Guinean government said it was replacing Alcoa as manager 
of CBG with an interim committee. [ID:nL18903866]
As well as bauxite, Guinea has large reserves of steel-making raw 
material iron ore. Rio Tinto is majority owner of the $6 billion 
Simandou iron ore project, which the firm says is the world's best 
unexploited resource. (Reporting by Saliou Samb; Writing by Daniel 
Magnowski; editing by Keith Weir)








http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15229

GUINEA: One killed in Guinea protest over bauxite trains

Reuters Africa
October 10th, 2008
At least one person was killed when police in Guinea cleared protesters 
from a railway carrying bauxite for Russian aluminium company RUSAL, 
police and industry sources said on Friday.

The trains, which have been blocked since Monday, had still not 
restarted, the sources added.

Local residents demanding mains electricity and regular running water 
supplies blocked the railway at Mambia, between RUSAL's Kindia mine and 
the port of Conakry, the coastal capital of the West African state.

Armed police moved in on Thursday to clear the demonstrators and at 
least one person was killed and several were wounded, police and 
witnesses said.

"All of the barricades have been removed ... but for security reasons, 
since there was one person killed yesterday, the train shuttle has not 
restarted yet," an employee of RUSAL's Compagnie des Bauxites de Kindia 
(CBK) told Reuters.

Asking not to be named, he said authorities were worried about possible 
sabotage against the railway by angry locals.

RUSAL did not immediately respond to emailed requests for an update on 
the situation.

The company had said on Wednesday the blockage of the trains "does not 
affect the company's overall performance targets".

Guinean government officials flew to the area to talk with local people 
about their grievances.

Although Guinea is the world's top exporter of bauxite, the ore used to 
make aluminium, most Guineans live in extreme poverty despite the 
country's mineral riches.

While resource firms are keen to launch operations there, analysts say 
political instability is a concern for investors.

As well as RUSAL, U.S. aluminium company Alcoa and London-listed Rio 
Tinto dig bauxite in Guinea. Rio is also majority owner of Simandou, 
which it says is the richest unexploited iron ore deposit in the world.









http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/world/americas/30briefs-DEMONSTRATIO_BRF.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Peru: Demonstrations Flare in Provinces

By REUTERS
Published: October 29, 2008
Thousands of people demonstrated in five provinces on Wednesday, 
threatening politicians in one, setting a police station on fire in 
another and demanding a larger share of the taxes generated by local 
mines in several others. During the unrest, which began earlier this 
week, dozens of people have been injured in clashes with the police, who 
have shot tear gas into the crowds at times. Three police officers who 
had been taken hostage in Moquegua were released on Wednesday. President 
Alan García overhauled his cabinet this month in an attempt to end a 
series of political protests this year and to quell a corruption 
scandal. He also hoped to lift his popularity rating, which hovered 
around 20 percent, according to recent surveys.








http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/europe/01paris.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

French Police Clash With Youths

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: September 30, 2008
ROMANS-SUR-ISÈRE, France (AP) — A French police officer was shot and 
wounded during clashes with youths that broke out after a teenager was 
killed in a car crash while fleeing the police, the authorities said 
Tuesday.
The police used tear gas and rubber-coated pellets to push back about 50 
people during clashes late Monday and early Tuesday.
In an effort to prevent a second night of violence, about 300 riot 
police officers and gendarmes took up positions around the center of 
Romans-sur-Isère, 60 miles east of Lyon in the Rhone Valley.
Some officers were brought in from neighboring regions.
The wounded officer appeared to have been shot in the leg with a hunting 
rifle, the police prefecture said. The officer’s life was not in danger. 
Dents from bullets and buckshot were also found in police vehicles nearby.
The violence broke out after a 16-year-old was killed after driving a 
stolen car into a wall while fleeing the police. Four other minors in 
the car were injured.
Accidents involving the police and youths have been potentially 
explosive in France since riots in 2005 that were set off by the deaths 
of two teenagers electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from 
the police.
Jean-Pierre Nahon, a prosecutor in the regional capital, Valence, said a 
police watchdog agency would investigate the latest episode.
Mr. Nahon said that, according to a preliminary investigation, the five 
teenagers had stolen the car overnight and were driving at high speed 
through the center of Romans-sur-Isère when the police began chasing 
them. The driver took a sharp turn and lost control of the car, running 
into a wall.







http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_World&set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20080930151545114C884616

French policeman wounded during clash

September 30 2008 at 03:16PM


Grenoble - A French police officer was shot during clashes with youths 
that broke out after a teenager died while fleeing police in 
south-eastern France, police said on Tuesday.

The officer appeared to have been shot in the leg with a hunting rifle, 
the police prefecture in the south-east town of Romans-sur-Isere said. 
His life was not in danger. Dents from bullets and buckshot were also 
found in police vehicles nearby.

Police used teargas and rubber pellets to push back 50 youths during 
clashes late on Monday and early on Tuesday. Several cars were burned 
and about 15 shop windows were smashed.

The violence broke out after a 16-year-old died after driving a stolen 
car into a wall while fleeing police. Four other minors in the car were 
lightly injured.

Accidents involving police and youths have been particularly sensitive 
in France since riots in 2005 that were sparked by the deaths of two 
teens electrocuted in a power substation while hiding from police.

Jean-Pierre Nahon, a prosecutor in the regional capital, Valence, said a 
police watchdog agency will investigate latest incident.

Nahon said that, according to a preliminary investigation, the five 
teenagers had stolen the car overnight and were driving at high speed 
through the centre of Romans-sur-Isere when police began chasing them. 
The young driver took a sharp turn and lost control of the car, running 
into a wall. - Sapa-AP







http://allafrica.com/stories/200810170995.html

Leadership (Abuja)
Nigeria: Nulge Protests Plans to Expunge LGs From Constitution
Andrew Oota
17 October 2008
The business of the Senate was yesterday brought to a quick close as 
protesting members of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees 
(NULGE) stormed the premises of the National Assembly to protest 
attempts by some senators to expunge the local government 
administrations from the 1999 Constitution through the proposed review 
of the subsisting Nigerian constitution.
The angry NULGE members, who broke the National Assembly security 
network, shouting "ALUTA" songs barricaded the two main gates of the 
nation's highest lawmaking institution, calling on the lawmakers not to 
truncate democracy by embarking on an exercise that would be anti-people.
The placard-carrying NULGE delegation to the National Assembly in their 
thousands did not hide their demands, aside condemning the call by the 
Southern Senators Forum for expunging the local governments from the 
constitution; they urged the National Assembly to amend the constitution 
in a manner that the joint accounts between state governments and local 
governments are expunged.
Miffed by the presentation of NULGE, the police moved into action, 
mercilessly tear-gassing the union members who held the National 
Assembly hostage for over six hours.
National President of NULGE Prince Kingsley Ugo Ogba explained: "We are 
definitely worried that our over two million members will be thrown into 
the already suffocating unemployment market with the attendant 
implications on the lives of over ten million dependent relatives.
"We are also worried that the burden of funding primary education in 
Nigeria has been left for local governments alone against the spirit and 
letter of the 1999 Constitution and in utter disregard of a subsisting 
Supreme Court ruling on the matter. Our government service, which was 
brought into place under the famous 1976 government reforms, has been 
destroyed through deliberate misinterpretation and misappropriation of 
the 1999 Constitution by the states."
The National President of NULGE continued: "We therefore wish to caution 
that the politics of local government creation and derivation principle 
should not be mixed with the overriding need to guarantee the existence 
of the local governments under the nation's constitution.
"It is therefore our resolve that the status of the local government as 
a third tier of administration in Nigeria should be clearly and 
expressly recognised in the nation's constitution. To this effect, 
section 7 of the 1999 constitution should be amended accordingly.
"The new constitution should guarantee direct funding and financial 
autonomy to the local government with the state government having 
possible oversight roles through the state House of Assembly and the 
Office of the Auditor General for the Local Government.
" That section 162 (6) of the 1999 constitution which provides 
Government Account be expunged since it has proved to be nothing but a 
conduit pipe for siphoning local government funds by some state governments.
Addressing the protesting crowd, the Deputy President of the Senate, 
Senator Ike Ekweremadu, pleaded with the protesters comprising leaders 
of NULGE across the 774 local governments of the country to sheathe 
their swords in the mean time.
The Deputy Senate president also urged NULGE to make their presentations 
and demands when the Joint Committee on the National Assembly begins 
public hearings across the country.






http://allafrica.com/stories/200810170934.html

Daily Independent (Lagos)
Nigeria: Nulge At Nass Protests Moves to Scrap Councils
Innocent Oweh
17 October 2008
Members of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) on 
Thursday protested at the National Assembly premises to register their 
grievances over alleged attempt to abolish local government 
administrations in the country.
They accused some Governors of championing the move.
The protesters, however, met with stiff opposition from the Nigeria 
Police as well as some State Security Services (SSS) personnel, who 
initially denied them entry into the premises of NASS with tear-gas at 
about 10:35 a.m.
Leading the protesters was President of the union, Kingsley Ogba, who 
said, "Instead of scrapping local government administrations from the 
Constitution, they should be made autonomous. The existence of local 
governments should be guaranteed in the Constitution, we are not arguing 
whether we are federating or not, after all, what is wrong in dissolving 
the states and leaving the local governments to exist?
"You cannot compare the functions of the state to that of the local 
government because it is nearer to the people, how will the people be 
given opportunity to be represented?" Ogba asked.
Some of the protesters carried placards that read, "The Intention to 
Scrap Local Government is Demopholy", "The Third Tier of Government 
Deserves Full Autonomy", etc.






http://allafrica.com/stories/200810100213.html

Kenya: Protests As Police Hunt for Mungiki
Sammy Cheboi And Fred Mukinda
9 October 2008
Nairobi — Matatu operators and traders in Nairobi's Kayole estate 
protested against a police operation on suspected Mungiki sect members 
Thursday.
Public transport was paralysed and business at the main Saba Saba Market 
closed for the better part of the day.
The protesters had placed old tires on the roads but were dispersed by 
police before they could set them on fire.
The officers also maintained vigil on the roads to prevent youth gangs 
from stoning vehicles operating on routes not affected by the protest, 
but passed through Kayole.
Others continued
"Only matatus plying route 17 and 19 failed to operate, the others 
continued with business," said area deputy police commander George 
Tonui.Thursday's protest started after police raided the main market at 
5am, arresting a trader Mr James Mbogo.
According to witnesses, Mr Mbogo, a tomatoes broker, was picked up by 
police who had been hunting him.
They claimed he was one of witnesses cited in the Kenya National 
Commission on Human Rights report which accused police of carrying out 
extra-judicial killings.
The protesters also claimed Mr Mbogo's evidence to human rights bodies 
had implicated the police in the disappearance of youths in the area.
Other youths were said to have been arrested in Soweto area at the same 
time, but the actual number could not be established. Matatu crew who 
were interviewed accused the police of harassing them in the name of 
hunting down Mungiki followers.
"We decided to remove our vehicles from the road to demand the release 
of those arrested. Many have been apprehended but were never seen again. 
We are no longer safe from the police," said one who declined to give 
his name for fear of police reprisal.
Attempts by some demonstrating youth to block the road at Saba Saba were 
thwarted by plain clothes police who fired in the air to disperse them. 
Police officers patrolled the estate to prevent any chaos from breaking out.
Mungiki spokesman Gitau Njuguna Gitau told the Nation that another man, 
Mr Peter Theuri Kihoro, was arrested at the market last Thursday."Since 
then, he has not been seen and we don't know where he is," he said.
Mr Njuguna said area residents would carry out a public arrest if the 
Government failed to arrest officers he said had been picking up youths, 
who were later found killed.






http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_2416657,00.html

Congo protesters stone UN HQ
27/10/2008 14:35 - (SA)

Goma - Thousands of protesters are attacking the UN headquarters in 
eastern Congo.
They are lobbing stones and rocks over the wall surrounding the UN 
offices in the provincial capital of Goma. UN spokesperson Sylvie van 
den Wildenberg says cars are being damaged and windows shattered.
People in eastern Congo are angry that the United Nations' 17,000-strong 
peacekeeping force has been unable to protect them from a rebel attack 
just 40km north of the city. Tens of thousands of civilians have 
abandoned their homes.
Hundreds of soldiers pulled back from the front on Monday in tanks, 
jeeps, trucks and on foot in what appears a retreat of government forces 
under attack by fighters of renegade General Laurent Nkunda.
- AP






http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/10/28/africa/28congo.php

People walk past a convoy of Congolese army tanks as they flee fighting, 
near Kibumba, some 40 kilometers north of Goma in Congo. (Karel 
Prinsloo/The Associated Press)
Congo rebels advance; protesters hurl rocks at UN compound

By Jeffrey Gettleman and Neil Macfarquhar
Published: October 28, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya: Hundreds of furious protesters hurled rocks at a United 
Nations compound in eastern Congo on Monday in frustration that 
peacekeepers had not halted the rebel advance through the countryside, 
while the Spanish general leading the peacekeeping mission abruptly 
resigned.
Jaya Murthy, a spokesman for Unicef in the eastern Congo city of Goma, 
said heavy fighting between government troops and rebel forces was 
spawning a vast wave of internally displaced people, with tens of 
thousands evacuating several battle zones, often for the second or third 
time in recent months.
As many as 250,000 people have been driven from their homes since 
August, with the collapse of a peace deal between the government and 
rebels under the command of Laurent Nkunda, a renegade general who says 
he is fighting to protect ethnic Tutsis.
Several Western aid workers who spoke by phone from Goma on Monday 
described a panicky atmosphere, with the rebels gobbling up territory in 
the hills above Goma and Westerners hunkering down in their compounds, 
fearful of stepping outside.
"We're on alert," Murthy said. "We're not sure what's in store for the 
future, but whatever it is, it's not good."
The general who resigned, Lieutenant General Vicente Díaz de Villegas y 
Herrería, was officially appointed just seven weeks ago to lead the 
United Nations' Congo mission and had been in the country for only three 
weeks.
The announcement in New York that he was stepping down, from the 
spokeswoman for Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said only that Díaz was 
leaving for "personal reasons."
But some United Nations officials described his oral resignation as an 
emotional one. Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because 
they were not authorized to disclose details of the resignation, said he 
had criticized the lack of a coherent strategy, the lack of a mandate 
and the lack of resources needed to get the peacekeeping job done.
Díaz's departure is expected to increase tension between the African 
forces serving with peacekeeping operations on the continent and United 
Nations headquarters, which has been lobbying heavily for the African 
Union to be more flexible about accepting outsiders. His appointment as 
force commander had been a significant test case in those efforts.
The rebel leader, Nkunda, has rejected several cease-fires brokered by 
the United Nations. Recently, he threatened to take his war all the way 
to Kinshasa, Congo's capital, on the other side of the country.
His forces are much better trained and equipped than the government 
troops, who are notorious for turning their rusty guns on civilians and 
for fleeing when faced with a real threat. On Sunday, Nkunda's forces 
seized an army base, for the second time in recent weeks.
According to United Nations officials, the protest started Monday 
morning around 9 after Congolese activists organized a large crowd to 
march on the United Nations compound in Goma. The protest quickly 
degenerated into violence, with demonstrators pelting the compound and 
nearby United Nations cars with large stones.
There were unconfirmed reports about casualties, with some Congolese 
officials reporting that the United Nations peacekeepers had killed two 
protesters in an attempt to quell the crowd. A spokesman for the 
peacekeepers could not be immediately reached.
The violence in eastern Congo has continued unabated for several years 
now, despite the presence of the United Nations' largest peacekeeping 
force, with more than 17,000 troops. Brigadier General Ishmeel Ben 
Quartey of Ghana will lead the mission for the moment, the United 
Nations said, and General Edmond Mulet of Guatemala, the assistant 
secretary general for peacekeeping, is in Congo.
"The population is not happy with the UN," Murthy said. "They feel they 
are not protected. They are getting extremely angry."
Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Nairobi, Kenya, and Neil MacFarquhar 
from the United Nations.






http://articles.latimes.com/2008/oct/28/world/fg-congo28

Archive for Tuesday, October 28, 2008
1 dead after citizens stone U.N. compounds in Congo
Angry civilians blame the international body for failing to stem 
violence in the rebellion-plagued region.
By Edmund S and Ers
October 28, 2008
One person was killed today after hundreds of angry civilians stoned 
U.N. peacekeeping bases in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, 
blaming the international body for failing to stem violence in the 
rebellion-plagued region.
Protesters, including mostly children, descended upon several U.N. 
compounds in the city of Goma, spurring U.N. soldiers at one facility to 
fire in the air to disperse the crowds, according to U.N. spokeswoman 
Sylvie van den Wildenberg.
She said it was unclear whether the civilian was killed by a falling 
rock or a bullet.
“We were assaulted by a rain of stones,” she said. “We understand 
perfectly the frustration of the population. We understand they are 
panicking. But the violence of this morning was unacceptable.”
U.N. officials, who oversee a 17,000-soldier peacekeeping force, met 
today with local leaders in an attempt to calm the situation.
In a statement released today by the U.N.’s New York headquarters, the 
newly appointed force commander for U.N. troops in Congo, Lt. Gen. 
Vicente Diaz de Villegas y Herreria, announced he would resign. It was 
unclear whether the resignation was related to the recent fighting 
between government troops and rebel militias. Officials cited “personal 
reasons” for the decision.
Frightened residents say the peacekeeping force, currently the largest 
in the world, has done little to stop the spread of fighting.
Joseph Mukulima, 42, a pastor in Goma and father of six, said U.N. 
officials appear to lack the resolve to end the conflict.
“It’s not in their interest, because if there is no [fighting] then they 
won’t have a job,” he said. “What’s going to happen will happen and [the 
U.N.] presence won’t change anything. It’s better if they just leave.”
Today’s stoning attack followed a similar incident last week in which a 
U.N. commander was hit in the face with a rock while driving back to camp.
Tensions have been rising as fighting intensifies between government 
troops and rebels loyal to Gen. Laurent Nkunda, who leads a large, 
well-armed militia that has vowed to overthrow the government.
On Sunday, rebels overran a government army base north of Goma, sending 
thousands of civilians fleeing toward the city. Skirmishes continued 
today, officials said, reaching as close as 10 miles from Goma.
U.N. helicopters attacked rebel positions in the village of Kibumba 
after fighters ignored warning shots and continued their advance, 
officials said. Casualties among the rebels could not be determined.
Elsewhere rebels began moving toward giant displacement camps around the 
edge of the city, forcing families that had already fled their homes to 
pick up and run again.
Government soldiers were seen retreating from the area, raising fears 
that Nkunda might attempt to seize control of Goma. His forces attacked 
the city last year, but were rebuffed by U.N. troops.
U.N. officials are calling on Nkunda’s forces to respect a January 
cease-fire agreement and abandon the government military base. Nkunda 
has accused the government of starting the recent conflict by harassing 
his troops.
When U.N. forces tried to investigate Sunday’s attacks, Nkunda forces 
fired on them, forcing the U.N. soldiers to retreat, Wildenberg said.
“That left the population with the perception that we left them and 
didn’t do anything to protect them,” she said.
Sanders is a Times staff writer. Special correspondent Fidel Bafilemba 
in Goma contributed to this report.








http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7687092.stm

Thursday, 23 October 2008 15:41 UK
Vehicles burnt in N Ireland riot
A clean-up operation is taking place after a night of rioting in 
Craigavon, Northern Ireland.
A number of vehicles were set alight including a bus, after masked men 
ordered passengers off it.







http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=226493

DU VC orders crackdown as madrasah students protest admission curb

25 students injured in police action

Monday October 20 2008 01:05:01 AM BDT

At least 25 students of Dhaka University (DU) were injured on the first 
day of admission forms distribution yesterday, as police charged batons 
on agitating students for the first time after the August violence in 
2007 in line with the directive of the university's vice-chancellor to 
crack down on demonstration.(The New Nation)

Of the injured, Sohan Sobhan, Biplob Mandol, Sohel Rana, Mumtahina, 
Shikha and Rahat Ahmed of Progressive Students' Alliance (PSA) and 
Habibur Rahman, Mujahidul Islam, Farhad, Shamimul Islam, Umar Faruk and 
Al-Mamun of Madrasah Students' Rights Preservation Committee (MSRPC) 
were admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital and DU medical centre in 
critical condition.

MSRPC convener Md moniruzzaman said police swooped on them when they 
were entering the TSC premises in a procession to stop sale of 
first-year honours admission forms demanding withdrawal of restrictions 
on madrasah students to get admitted to eight departments of DU.

Mita of Chhatra Union alleged that police beat up their activists 
without any provocation when they rushed to the same place in another 
demonstration demanding a decrease of Tk 50 on each admission form from 
Tk 300.

On-duty police officer Suruzzaman told reporters that they charged 
batons on the agitating students, as police was asked by the university 
authorities to help the bank authorities sell admission forms without 
any hindrance.

Earlier, DU Vice-Chancellor SMA Faiz on Saturday directed the law 
enforcing agencies to assist the bank authorities by hook or by crook so 
that they could sell admission forms uninterruptedly.

However, the bank authorities, the Janata Bank branch in particular, 
couldn't sell admission forms for long, as sporadic clashes took place 
between police and the agitating students till the noon.

Admission seekers, who came to the campus to collect admission forms, 
had to suffer a lot, as they had to wait in the long queues for long due 
to the clashes.








http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28214

First Published 2008-10-08

Police tried to break the demonstration with tear gas

Anti-coup protesters clash with Mauritania police

Dozens of demonstrators responded to police by pelting Mauritania 
security forces with stones.

NOUAKCHOTT - Police in military-ruled Mauritania clashed Tuesday with 
protesters supporting ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, as 
the African Union urged the junta to reinstate the elected leader.
Violence erupted in the capital Nouakchott when riot police tried to 
break up an anti-coup demonstration with tear gas. Dozens of 
demonstrators responded by pelting the security forces with stones.
The protest was being held in defiance of a ban on demonstrations 
imposed by the new military regime headed by General Mohamed Ould Abdel 
Aziz.
After calling for peaceful protest marches earlier Tuesday, six 
Mauritanian unions announced in the afternoon that they had changed tactics.
"Today we have decided to go ahead with our planned protests but we have 
changed strategy and instead of a peaceful march we will seek a 
confrontation," union leader Samory Ould Beye said, ahead of the clashes.
Meanwhile a junta delegation met with African Union officials in Addis 
Ababa, one day after an AU deadline for reinstating the deposed 
president passed unheeded despite the threat of sanctions.
AU chief Jean Ping "took the opportunity (...) to reiterate the African 
Union's standpoint" that Mauritania should reinstate Ould Cheikh 
Abdallahi, the organisation said in a statement after the meeting.
The statement added that "in the face of the absence of a return to 
constitutional order" in the west African country, its Peace and 
Security Council would make propositions "at the right time" on how to 
move forward.
The AU had demanded that the junta reinstate the president by Monday or 
face possible sanctions.
Sanctions could take the shape of travel restrictions and asset freezes 
such as those the AU imposed in the Comoros isle of Anjouan on Mohamed 
Bacar, the renegade leader who was ousted by AU forces earlier this 
year, officials say.
The continental body has also been pushing for the release of the ousted 
Mauritanian president. The army says he has been kept under house arrest 
but his daughter says his whereabouts are unknown.
Mauritania's first democratically-elected president was ousted on August 
6 hours after he issued a decree firing the military's top brass, 
including Ould Abdel Aziz, who was the commander of the presidential guard.
Since the coup, the junta has taken over the powers of the president and 
formed a new government with the support of a majority of the deputies 
in parliament.
The new leadership has promised to hold elections quickly, but no date 
has been set and parliament has voted to delay a presidential vote by at 
least a year.





http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_West%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20081008113032913C197855

Police disperse anti-coup protesters

October 08 2008 at 11:52AM

Nouakchott, Mauritania - Police fired tear gas and used batons to beat 
back union activists who marched to demand the reinstatement of 
Mauritania's deposed president.

Four of the country's unions went ahead with the unauthorised march on 
Tuesday, violating the ruling junta's ban on demonstrations.

Union leaders said they were willing to brave police brutality in order 
to protest the August 6 coup. The country's first democratically elected 
president in over two decades was put under house arrest and a military 
junta instated.

"We wanted to show that their refusal to authorise our marches will not 
stop us from marching," said Samory Ould Beye, secretary-general of the 
Free Confederation of Mauritanian Workers.
No injuries were reported in the police action Tuesday. - Sapa-AP







http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE4942SF20081005?feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews

Mauritanian forces gas and beat anti-junta protestors
Sun Oct 5, 2008 8:45pm BST

By Vincent Fertey
NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Mauritanian security forces beat and fired tear 
gas at opponents of the ruling military junta on Sunday when they defied 
a government ban on street demonstrations, Reuters witnesses said.
Scores of supporters of ousted President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh 
Abdallahi, who has been under house arrest since military chiefs ousted 
him in August, gathered near Nouakchott's main hospital and tried to 
block roads using cars emblazoned with his portrait.
"Long live President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi," protesters 
shouted before paramilitary gendarmes fired tear gas at them and beat 
some of them with batons. Gendarmes also broke up several smaller groups 
of 10 to 20 protesters.
Top military chiefs led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, seized power 
in the iron ore-mining Islamic Saharan state on August 6 after Abdallahi 
tried to sack them.
The officers formed a ruling military "High Council of State" and 
accused Abdallahi, Mauritania's first democratically elected leader, of 
overstepping his authority during a power struggle with parliament in 
the weeks leading up to the coup.
The junta has promised to hold a free and transparent presidential 
election but has refused to release Abdallahi or give any guarantee that 
Abdel Aziz will not stand as president.
The United Front for the Defence of Democracy (FUDD), a group of parties 
opposed to the coup, called Sunday's protest.
Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Laghdaff has outlawed all public 
demonstrations ahead of a series of planned "national days of 
consultation," designed to pave the way for elections.
The protest came ahead of Monday's deadline, set by the African Union, 
for the junta to release Abdallahi from detention or face possible 
sanctions from the continental bloc, which has already suspended 
Mauritania over the coup.
It is unclear what sanctions the AU would impose, especially as several 
of its members in the region have given their tacit approval to the 
coup. But overseas donors including the United States, France and the 
World Bank have acted quickly to cut aid.
The European Union has begun proceedings under its Cotonou Agreement 
with developing former colonies that could lead to further aid cuts. 
Prime Minister Laghdaf said last week Mauritania could turn to its Arab 
partners for help instead.
Even so, Abdel Aziz's military junta is isolated at a time Mauritanian 
forces are struggling to stem the spread of al Qaeda, whose North 
African arm has launched a series of attacks in the past year, fuelling 
fears it is expanding south.
After the most recent attack, 11 army soldiers and their civilian guide 
were found with their heads cut off near the country's main iron ore 
mine in the remote northwestern Sahara.
"I wish the soldiers were on the borders defending the country instead 
of assuming they have the right to ride roughshod over the fundamental 
right to demonstrate," university lecturer Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah 
Ahmed said at the protest.
(Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Louise Ireland)






http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?from=rss_West%20Africa&set_id=1&click_id=86&art_id=nw20081005083253221C586586

Anti-coup coalition set to protest

October 05 2008 at 05:45PM

Nouakchott - Mauritanian pro-democracy parties were set to defy a ban 
and hold an anti-coup demonstration on Sunday, one day before an African 
Union deadline for the junta to reinstate the ousted president.

The west African country's junta-appointed prime minister, Moulaye Ould 
Mohamed Leghdaf, announced earlier this week that all demonstrations 
would be banned, saying Mauritanians had "protested enough".

The National Front for the Defence of Democracy, a coalition of five 
political parties opposed to the coup, said the military leadership 
"will be responsible in case of clashes" during the protest dubbed "Day 
for Democracy".

The August 6 coup was widely condemned by the international community 
and the African Union (AU) has issued an ultimatum for the junta to 
return ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi to power "no later 
than Monday October 6".
Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who was Mauritania's first democratically-elected 
president, has been held under house arrest since the coup.

The African bloc has warned the military regime that it risked 
"sanctions and isolation" if it failed to yield to its demands, but the 
junta has resisted all diplomatic pressure to restore the elected 
government.

Still, observers in the capital Nouakchott believe that the military 
leadership could free the president as a goodwill gesture ahead of their 
mid-October visit to Brussels for talks with the European Union.

The military leadership headed by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has 
categorically rejected the idea of returning Ould Cheikh Abdallahi to power.

"It's unrealistic and illogical", the junta leader said on September 27, 
five days after the AU set its ultimatum. "He is a former president. ... 
We cannot return to the past."

The president was ousted on August 6 just hours after he issued a decree 
firing the Mauritanian military's top brass, including Ould Abdel Aziz, 
who was the commander of the presidential guard.

Since the coup the junta has taken over the powers of the president and 
has formed a new government with the support of a majority of the 
deputies in parliament.

The junta has promised to hold elections quickly but no date has been 
set and parliament has voted to delay a presidential vote by at least a 
year. - Sapa-AFP






http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2008-10/2008-10-05-voa22.cfm?CFID=92127480&CFTOKEN=60159538&jsessionid=8430f3a4551d402cf5de5f6c3233f593d516

Mauritanians Protest New Military Government
By VOA News
05 October 2008

Policemen disperse protesters in Nouakchott, 5 Oct. 2008
Security forces in the west African country of Mauritania have used tear 
gas to break up a crowd that defied a ban on street demonstrations and 
protested against the August military coup.

A coalition of pro-democracy groups, the National Front for the Defense 
of Democracy, organized Sunday's march in the capital, Nouakchott. 
Protesters chanted "no to dictatorship" and held pictures of ousted 
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

Police broke up the larger protest in Nouakchott and a number of smaller 
marches. No injuries are reported.

Mauritania's military rulers face a Monday deadline by the African Union 
to free President Abdallahi from house arrest or face sanctions.

Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi (file)
Mauritanian military leaders overthrew Mr. Abdallahi on August 6 when he 
fired top army officers. They accused the president of bungling the 
economy and being lenient with terrorists. He is Mauritania's first 
democratically elected president.

The military government already has named a cabinet headed by newly 
appointed Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf. The government 
has promised new elections, but has yet to announce a date.

Much of the international community has condemned the military coup. But 
three-fourths of the Mauritanian parliament signed a declaration backing it.






http://www.mg.co.za/article/2008-10-06-mauritanian-police-gas-protesters

Mauritanian police gas protesters
AHMED MOHAMED | NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA - Oct 06 2008 14:23

Police broke up an anti-government march by beating protesters with 
clubs and launching tear gas into the crowd in Mauritania's capital,.

The 50 or so protesters had gathered late on Sunday in Nouakchott 
despite a ban on demonstrations, which ruling junta officials said on 
Monday was necessary for security reasons.

The protesters demanded that President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi be 
reinstated, after he was ousted in an August 6 coup led by Genewral 
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

"No to the coup! Yes to democracy!" the protesters shouted before they 
were forced to disband.

An Associated Press reporter saw police pounding people with clubs and 
shooting tear gas into a crowd.

The ruling junta last week prohibited demonstrations and marches for 
"reasons of security" after recent attacks by an al-Qaeda affiliate in 
the country's northern desert, Nouakchott Governor Mohamed Lemine Ould 
Moulaye Zeine said on Monday.

One of the protest organisers, Oumar Ould Yali, said the demonstrators 
"refuse to renounce the right to march in the street to call for the 
return to constitutional order and of the legitimate president".

Abdallahi was Mauritania's first democratically elected president in 
more than two decades. The coup leader, Aziz, has accused him of 
corruption and being soft on terrorism.

But Abdallahi's supporters say the allegations are false and being used 
by the junta to justify the coup.

Many in Mauritania had hoped Abdallahi's 2007 election would end the 
pattern of political upheaval in the West African country, which has 
been wracked by more than 10 coups or attempted coups since its 1960 
independence from France.

The junta has said a transitional government will lead Mauritania until 
new elections can be held, but no voting date has been set. -- Sapa-AP







http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7654148.stm

Monday, 6 October 2008 11:30 UK

Mauritania coup protest broken up

The authorities said they had not given permission for the demonstration
Police in Mauritania's capital have used tear gas to disperse scores of 
protesters calling for the release of the president ousted in August's 
coup.
The demonstration came ahead of the African Union's Monday deadline for 
Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi to be freed and restored to power.
The AU has already suspended Mauritania's membership over the coup and 
has warned of further sanctions.
But the army coup leader has dismissed the AU's demand as unconstructive.
General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz has appointed a transitional government 
to stay in power until new elections, to be organised in 14 months time.
Villa arrest
Sunday's protest came in defiance of a ban on demonstrations imposed by 
the country's military rulers.

Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is being kept under house arrest
Local journalist Hamdi Ould Mohamed el Hacen told the BBC's Network 
Africa programme that police used tear gas and bludgeons to disperse the 
protesters, but no arrests were made.
He says Mr Abdallahi, who became Mauritania's first democratically 
elected leader in 2007 after a coup two years earlier, also partly 
instigated by Gen Abdelaziz, is believed to be in good health.
He is being kept under house arrest in a villa in the capital, 
Nouakchott, the reporter says.
But the military junta say they will never consider Mr Abdallahi's 
return to power.
Cash strapped
The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa, where the African Union is 
based, says the continental body is trying hard to shake off its old 
image as a "dictators' club".

It wants to enforce at least some minimum standard of constitutional 
legitimacy for its members and it has already had one success, she says.
When the long-standing president of Togo, Gnassingbe Eyadema, died, his 
son was hastily sworn in to succeed him.
There was such an outcry that the young Faure Gnassingbe was persuaded 
to go through a form of election before assuming power.
Judging by that election, the standard of democracy demanded by the AU 
is not very high - but even so, Mauritania's new rulers seem unwilling 
to compromise, our reporter says.
Rafiq Hajat, executive director of the Malawian-based think tank 
Institute for Policy Interaction, says the generals are unlikely to be 
worried by its censure.
The organisation can apply diplomatic pressure through donors, but 
military action is extremely unlikely given its limited resources, he says.
"The ultimate decision is not with the AU, it's not with America, it's 
not with the EU, it is with the people of Mauritania and what they 
desire," Mr Hajat told the BBC.







http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/10/06/africa/AF-Mauritania-Protests.php

Mauritanian police beat, gas protesters

The Associated Press
Published: October 6, 2008

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania: Police broke up an anti-government march by 
launching tear gas and beating protesters who were demanding 
Mauritania's deposed president be reinstated.
The 50 or so protesters had gathered late Sunday in Nouakchott despite a 
ban on demonstrations, which ruling junta officials said Monday was 
necessary for security reasons.
The protesters demanded that President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi be 
returned to office, after he was ousted in an Aug. 6 coup led by Gen. 
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.
"No to the coup d'etat! Yes to democracy!" the protesters shouted before 
they were forced to disband.
An Associated Press reporter saw police pounding people with clubs and 
shooting tear gas into a crowd.
The ruling junta last week prohibited demonstrations and marches after 
recent attacks by an al-Qaida affiliate in the country's northern 
desert, Nouakchott Gov. Mohamed Lemine Ould Moulaye Zeine said Monday.
Abdallahi was Mauritania's first democratically elected president in 
more than two decades.
The coup leader, Aziz, has accused Abdallahi of corruption and being 
soft on terrorism, but Abdallahi's supporters say the allegations are 
false and being used by the junta to justify the coup.
Many in Mauritania had hoped Abdallahi's 2007 election would end the 
pattern of political upheaval in the West African country, which has 
been wracked by more than 10 coups or attempted coups since its 1960 
independence from France.





http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/236188,egyptian-villagers-protest-police-killing-of-pregnant-woman.html

Egyptian villagers protest police killing of pregnant woman
Posted : Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:24:08 GMT
Author : DPA
Category : Middle East (World)

Cairo - Hundreds of Egyptian villagers protested early Thursday after 
police killed a pregnant woman in a house raid, a security source told 
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The 26-year-old pregnant woman resisted 
police who came to arrest her brother, who is being investigated in a 
robbery case.
Police hit the woman, who died after she was moved to a hospital in 
Samalout.
Samalout is located some 217 kilometres south of Cairo.
Villagers burnt car tyres and blocked an agricultural road after they 
attempted to set several police cars ablaze.







http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=28239

Egypt town riots after woman death

Hundred Egyptians attack policemen with rocks after pregnant woman dies 
during police search at home.

CAIRO - More than a hundred Egyptians attacked policemen with rocks and 
sticks in a town south of Cairo on Thursday after a pregnant woman died 
during a police search of her home, a security official said.
Mervat Salam Abdel Fatah, in late pregnancy, died of internal bleeding 
when police shoved her to the floor after she refused to allow them into 
her home, the official said.
Police had a warrant for her brother-in-law, accused of theft.
Residents of the town, Samalut, rioted when they heard of her death, 
pelting police with stones and setting fire to a police truck. An 
officer was taken to hospital with injuries.
Police responded with tear gas.
First Published 2008-10-09






http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Protestor_killed_in_Kurdish_demo_in_10202008.html

Protestor killed in Kurdish demo in eastern Turkey: police

Published: Monday October 20, 2008

A protestor was killed on Monday in eastern Turkey as police clashed 
with Kurdish demonstrators decrying alleged abuses against jailed rebel 
leader Abdullah Ocalan, officials and media reports said.
Unrest also greeted Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Diyarbakir, 
the largest city of the predominantly Kurdish southeast, where he 
arrived later for a one-day visit.
"One person is dead," a police officer told AFP by telephone from the 
town of Dogubayazit, without giving other details.
The clashes erupted when the protestors, shouting slogans in favour of 
Ocalan and his separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), attempted to 
hold a march, refusing police orders to disperse, the Anatolia news 
agency reported.
The demonstrators pelted officers with stones while police fired shots 
in the air and used tear gas and water cannons against the group, the 
agency said.
It was not immediately clear how the victim, a man, died, but 
unconfirmed reports said he was shot.
A police officer was also injured in the fighting while many 
demonstrators were taken into custody, Anatolia said.
Kurds demonstrated across Turkey at the weekend after Ocalan's lawyers 
reported he had been assaulted by a guard and threatened with death in 
his cell on the prison island of Imrali, in the northwest, where he is 
the sole inmate.
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin firmly denied the allegations of 
mistreatment on Sunday.
The unrest however spread Monday to Diyarbakir as Erdogan arrived in the 
city to attend the opening of the academic year at the local university 
and inaugurate a medical centre.
At least 20 people were detained as hundreds of Kurdish protestors 
gathered in the streets, chanting pro-PKK slogans, pelting the police 
with stones and hurling petrol bombs at schools.
The police, reinforced with special riot units from neighbouring 
provinces, used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds as 
armoured vehicles controlled the streets and helicopters flew over the city.
Most shops remained closed -- a traditional Kurdish protest method 
against the government -- as public bus services in downtown areas were 
cut and the municipality, held by the Kurdish Democratic Society Party, 
did not collect the garbage.
Similar reports about Ocalan's prison conditions have stirred anger in 
the past among Turkey's Kurds, many of whom view the rebel chieftein as 
a hero.
Arrested in Kenya in February 1999, Ocalan, 60, was originally condemned 
to death but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 
after Turkey abolished the death penalty.
The PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union 
and the United States as well as by Turkey, picked up arms for self-rule 
in the mainly Kurdish east and southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict 
that has claimed some 44,000 lives.






http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LK337226.htm

One dead as clashes escalate in eastern Turkey
20 Oct 2008 11:52:09 GMT
Source: Reuters
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, Oct 20 (Reuters) - One protester died of gunshot 
wounds on Monday after clashes with police in eastern Turkey at a 
demonstration in support of jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, 
hospital sources said.
Hundreds of supporters of the banned separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party 
(PKK) have been protesting across southeast and eastern Turkey since 
Saturday, alleging mistreatment of Ocalan. Dozens have been arrested.
Clashes between protesters and police intensified on Monday, ahead of a 
visit by Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to Diyarbakir, the region's 
largest city.
One man died in hospital after being shot in Dogubeyazit during clashes 
between police and Kurdish demonstrators, hospital sources said. No 
further information was immediately available.
The authorities deny any mistreatment of Ocalan, the former leader of 
the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United 
States and the European Union. He is serving a life sentence on an 
island in the Marmara Sea.
Bus services were halted and shops were shuttered in Diyarbakir on 
Monday after the PKK urged locals to protest against Erdogan's visit.
Tensions have risen in Turkey's poor, mostly Kurdish southeast after a 
series of deadly attacks on soldiers by the PKK. The military has 
responded by pounding suspected PKK positions inside Turkey and across 
the border in northern Iraq, where many of the rebels are believed to be 
based.
Some 40,000 people have died in PKK-related violence since 1984, when 
the group took up arms to try to carve an ethnic Kurdish homeland out of 
southeast Turkey. (Writing by Thomas Grove; Editing by Kevin Liffey)







http://www.worldpress.org/feed.cfm?http://iafrica.com/news/worldnews/1238225.htm

19 Oct 2008
Kurds clash with cops
Sun, 19 Oct 2008 08:02
Kurds demonstrating in support of jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan 
clashed with police in Istanbul and other Turkish cities following 
allegations of his mistreatment in prison, press reports said on Saturday.
Dozens of people were detained in two cities in the largely Kurdish 
southeastern region of Turkey.
In Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, more than 5000 
slogan-chanting demonstrators protested. Police did not initially react 
but charged when they were attacked with stones. Several dozen people 
were detained.
In a separate incident at Yuksekova, an isolated small town near the 
borders with Iraq and Iran, police used teargas and water cannon to 
disperse a crowd of several thousand people who set up road blocks and 
burned tyres, the Anatolia news agency reported.
It said police had made "numerous" arrests but gave no precise figure. 
Shops in the town remained closed on Saturday, it said.
On Friday, police and Kurdish demonstrators had clashed in Istanbul and 
other cities.
Police used water cannon to disperse Kurds in the Istanbul district of 
Umraniye, while in nearby Kucukcekmece petrol bombs damaged a shopping 
centre, the Anatolia news agency reported.
The pro-Kurd news agency Firat for its part said police quashed protests 
in the cities of Mersin, in the south, Sanliurfa in the southeast — 
where vehicles were set on fire — and Van and Varto in the east.
Ocalan's lawyers had reported he had been assaulted by a guard and 
threatened with death in his island prison of Imrali, in the northwest, 
where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.
Similar reports in the past have stirred anger among Kurds who look on 
Ocalan, head of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, as a hero.
Arrested in Kenya in February 1999, he was sentenced to death by a 
Turkish court but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 
after Turkey abolished the death penalty.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union 
and the United States as well as by Turkey. Some 44 000 people have died 
since its conflict with the Turkish state began in 1984.
AFP







http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/newsbriefs/setimes/newsbriefs/2008/10/21/nb-06

One dead in street protests against Erdogan's visit to southeast Turkey
21/10/2008
ANKARA Turkey -- One protester died on Monday (October 20th) in clashes 
with police during Kurdish protests against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 
Erdogan's visit to the southeastern town of Diyarbakir. Supporters of 
the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party and suspected members of the 
terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) set fires on the streets of 
Diyarbakir, the latest in a series of rallies in support of imprisoned 
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan following allegations of his mistreatment in 
prison. Authorities deny the claims.
Also Monday, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan announced that Turkey is 
considering three-way consultations with Iraq and the United States to 
step up actions against PKK bases in northern Iraq. Iraqi President 
Jalal Talabani proposed the talks.
Meanwhile, Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish autonomous region 
in northern Iraq, said on Monday he is ready to accept establishment of 
a buffer zone between Iraq and Turkey. Leaders hope the zone will 
prevent PKK incursions. (Zaman, Milliyet - 21/10/08; Anadolu news 
agency, AFP, Hurriyet, NTV - 20/10/08)






http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2008/10/20081020161213236897.html

Kurdish protester killed in Turkey


Demonstrators clashed with police during a visit by Turkey's prime 
minister in Diyarbakir [AFP]

A Kurdish demonstrator has died after protesters clashed with police in 
eastern Turkey, according to the country's state news agency.
The man, identified as Ahmet Ozkan, was killed after police fired into 
the air and used tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters in the 
town of Dogubayazit, near the border with Iran, the Anatolia news agency 
said.
The protesters were denouncing the alleged ill-treatment of Abdullah 
Ocalan, the imprisoned leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party 
(PKK).

Some demonstrators ran into side streets, forming barricades and 
blocking traffic, while one police officer was injured when protesters 
hurled stones, Anatolia said.
The protest in Dogubayazit was just one of several held across Turkey by 
Kurds over the past three days, following allegations that Ocalan was 
mistreated in prison.
In Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, 
demonstrators burned tyres and formed barricades during a visit by Recep 
Tayyip Erdogan, the country's prime minister, on Monday.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries.
Meanwhile, police in the city of Van detained dozens of people following 
a protest there, while in nearby Hakkari, protesters hurled stones at 
the local headquarters of Erdogan's ruling party.
Lawyers' claims
Ocalan's lawyers said last week that he was removed from his cell by 
guards carrying out a search, was forced onto the ground when he 
objected and was threatened with death.
The government has denied the claims.
Mehmet Ali Sahin, Turkey's justice minister, said: "We ordered an 
investigation. He has not been mistreated, he has not been subjected to 
any kind of negative treatment, he was not tortured."
Ocalan is serving a life sentence on a prison island off Istanbul for 
leading a war for autonomy for the country's Kurdish minority in the 
southeast.

The conflict has left tens of thousands of people dead since it began in 
1984.






http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=156589

PKK supporters continue violent protests

Tensions sparked in Turkey's Southeast during the weekend over alleged 
maltreatment of jailed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah 
Öcalan continued Tuesday, jumping to İstanbul, Turkey's most crowded city.
Kurdish citizens have been holding demonstrations since the weekend in 
protest of what they say are illegal practices against Öcalan, who is 
serving a life sentence on İmralı Island in the Sea of Marmara. In 
Diyarbakır yesterday, PKK supporters threw stones at an ambulance that 
was en route to the hospital carrying a pregnant woman. Faruk Seven, the 
driver of the ambulance, was injured in the attack. He said the 
ambulance was attacked by three separate groups of protestors.
"The first group was children aged 10 to 12. The second group was 
adults, and I had to stop the ambulance. They broke the windows of the 
ambulance by throwing stones. I told them I was carrying a patient with 
an urgent condition. They did not listen to me. Then I continued 
driving," Seven said. "The third group of protestors were around the age 
of 18. I told them about the condition of the patient, and they allowed 
me to go."
In demonstrations in Şanlıurfa's Viranşehir district, two police were 
injured when they clashed with protestors who wanted to hold an illegal 
rally. Police detained nine protestors who marched to the city center 
chanting pro-PKK slogans and carrying posters of Öcalan. Police used 
pepper gas to disperse the crowd.
In the Başkale district of the eastern province of Van, store owners did 
not open their shops when PKK supporters threatened them with violence.
The authorities deny any mistreatment of Öcalan, who began serving a 
life sentence after he was captured in 1999.
Tensions continued Tuesday in Ağrı's Doğubeyazıt district, where one 
protester died of gunshot wounds on Monday when Kurdish demonstrators 
fought police. The incident coincided with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 
Erdoğan's visit to the region.
Shopkeepers in the city also remained closed, fearing violence. Police 
teams took intensive security measures in the city.
In Mardin, a group of demonstrators attacked several bank buildings and 
the Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) former provincial building.
Additional security teams were dispatched to the region. During the 
clashes, Police Chief Alim Karakılıç sustained a head injury when 
protestors attacked him with stones. Police took several demonstrators 
into custody.
Tension moves to İstanbul
On Monday night, İstanbul was the scene a number of separate arsons and 
Molotov cocktail attacks perpetrated by suspected PKK supporters.
Among the acts of property destruction were the torching of workplaces 
and cars and an attack on a health clinic.
A health clinic in Bağcılar's Kemalpaşa district was attacked with 
Molotov cocktails around 12:30 a.m. The assailants reportedly threw the 
explosives at the doors and stairs of the clinic and then fled.
As firefighting teams responding to the scene intervened, police teams 
checked trash bins in the area for possible explosives. They found a bag 
in a trash can on a nearby street that contained paper and cloth soaked 
in gasoline and other materials that could be combined to create a 
Molotov cocktail. Three suspects were taken into custody in connection 
with the incident.
Around 1:20 a.m., Molotov cocktails were thrown at a market on Maslak 
Street in the Bağcılar district. The ensuing fire resulted in damage to 
the storefront.
Cars burned in Küçükçekmece, Maltepe
Another arson took place in the Küçükçekmece district, where a car 
parked on the street was doused with gasoline and set on fire. Despite 
firefighters' efforts, the vehicle was damaged beyond repair.
In the Maltepe area, a car belonging to Mehmet Demir with a Turkish flag 
displayed in its back window was set aflame. Demir noticed that the car 
was on fire around 1 a.m., and upon being unable to extinguish the 
blaze, called firefighters for help. After firefighting teams 
extinguished the fire, as Demir told reporters that he did not know why 
his car was set on fire, his mother interjected: "Because they want to 
divide Turkey -- God willing, they will be divided. They burned Mehmet's 
car because of the Turkish flag."
8 cars set ablaze in Pendik
Eight vehicles were also lit on fire last night off Girne Street in 
Pendik's Kaynarca neighborhood by unidentified perpetrators. 
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a white Şahin brand automobile driving 
around the neighborhood and said the passengers of the vehicle set the 
fires.
The arsons took place at around 2:30 a.m. A group of youths in a vehicle 
drove onto a street and poured ignitable fluid onto cars before setting 
them ablaze. Immediately afterward, they reportedly fled the scene in 
the same vehicle they arrived in. The torches they created from pieces 
of cloth were left at the scene, and police have begun investigating the 
possibility of extracting fingerprints.
When they became aware of the fires, the owners of the torched vehicles 
put out the flames with buckets of water. Police teams dispatched to 
search the area for evidence found the car that the suspects allegedly 
used, but the car had been burned -- doused with gasoline, set on fire 
with a torch and attacked with a Molotov cocktail. Police have launched 
an investigation into the arsons.

22 October 2008, Wednesday








http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Turkish_police_hold_scores_in_Kurdi_10182008.html

Turkish police hold scores in Kurdish demos

Published: Saturday October 18, 2008

Kurds demonstrating in support of jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan 
clashed with police in Istanbul and other Turkish cities following 
allegations of his mistreatment in prison, media reported Saturday.
Dozens of people were detained in two cities in largely Kurdish 
southeastern Turkey.
In Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region, more than 5,000 
slogan-chanting demonstrators protested. Police did not initially react 
but charged when they were attacked with stones. Several dozen people 
were detained.
In a separate incident at Yuksekova, an isolated small town near the 
borders with Iraq and Iran, police used tear gas and water cannons to 
disperse a crowd of several thousand that had set up road blocks and 
burned tyres, the Anatolia news agency reported.
A car bomb which detonated during the protest injured a 28-year-old man, 
Anatolia said, adding police had launched an investigation into what 
type of explosive had been used.
It said police had made "numerous" arrests but gave no precise figure. 
Shops remained closed Saturday in the town, it said.
On Friday police and Kurdish demonstrators had clashed in Istanbul and 
other cities.
Police used water cannons to disperse Kurds in the Istanbul district of 
Umraniye, while in nearby Kucukcekmece petrol bombs damaged a shopping 
centre, Anatolia reported.
The pro-Kurd news agency Firat for its part said police quashed protests 
in the cities of Mersin, in the south, Sanliurfa in the southeast -- 
where vehicles were set on fire -- and Van and Varto in the east.
Ocalan's lawyers had reported he had been assaulted by a guard and 
threatened with death in his island prison of Imrali, in the northwest, 
where he has been held in solitary confinement since 1999.
Similar reports in the past have stirred anger among Kurds who look on 
Ocalan, head of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, as a hero.
Arrested in Kenya in February 1999, he was sentenced to death by a 
Turkish court but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2002 
after Turkey abolished the death penalty.
The PKK is blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the European Union 
and the United States as well as by Turkey. Some 44,000 people have died 
since its conflict with the Turkish state began in 1984.






http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=6076834
Arson Attack on Turkish Embassy in Finland
Arson attack on Turkish Embassy in Finland after Kurdish demonstration
HELSINKI, Finland October 21, 2008 (AP)
The Associated Press

Finnish police say there was an arson attack on the Turkish Embassy in 
Helsinki.
Officers say the front door of the embassy in the Finnish capital was 
burned in the attack. The fire spread indoors before it was extinguished 
by fire fighters.
An embassy worker was treated for inhaling smoke.

The early morning attack on Tuesday came hours after a peaceful 
anti-Turkey protest outside the embassy by a few dozen Kurdish 
demonstrators.
Police spokesman Jussi Huhtela says officers have detained four men on 
suspicion of the attack. Huhtela says the attack could have been 
politically motivated and that some of the men had a Turkish-Kurdish 
background. He gave no more details.





http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ieugEHF4vifnO8CtUw0XNkU8YgNA

Nigerian troops clash with militants in oil region
Oct 16, 2008
LAGOS (AFP) — One soldier was wounded when Nigerian troops clashed with 
militants in the restive oil-rich Niger Delta, an army spokesman said on 
Thursday.
Lieutenant-Colonel Musa Sagir told AFP the militants had come in six 
speed boats to attack the Joint Task Force, protecting oil facilities 
and personnel around the Bonny river on Wednesday.
He said the soldiers repelled the attack, sinking two of the boats with 
all its occupants, but did not specify how many insurgents were in the 
boats.
Since the beginning of 2006, militant attacks in the volatile region 
have cut Nigeria's oil output by more than one quarter.
Production currently veers between 1.8 and two million barrels a day 
against 2.6 million barrels two years ago.





http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/2231903

Spain's Basques protest vote ban
1:25PM Sunday October 26, 2008

Thousands of people demonstrated throughout the Spanish Basque Country 
on Saturday against a ban on a referendum-style vote on the region's 
links with the rest of Spain.
Saturday was to have been the date of the vote, until it was declared 
illegal by Spain's constitutional court.
Demonstrators gathered in towns throughout the northern Spanish region. 
Organisers said 20,000 people joined in, news agency Europa Press reported.
The moderate nationalist government of the Basque Country had planned a 
vote on "the right to decide" of the Basque people - a coded reference 
to the question of independence from Spain.
The head of the Basque Country government, Juan Jose Ibarretxe, has 
pledged to continue to seek a way for Basques to decide their 
relationship with the rest of Spain if he wins regional elections next year.
Early on Saturday, bombs ripped through two train stations in the Basque 
Country towns of Berriz and Amorebieta without hurting anyone.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility but Basque separatist 
rebels ETA have regularly planted bombs in their four decades of armed 
struggle for the region's independence, during which they have killed 
more than 800 people.
The Basque Country already has considerable autonomy over areas such as 
health and education and polls do not show a majority in favour of 
independence.





http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/world/protests--tea-tourism-india-darjeeling-6084.html

Protests Hit Tea, Tourism in India's Darjeeling
Reuters Oct 23, 2008

KOLKATA, India—Fresh protests for a separate state in India's famous 
Darjeeling hills are threatening its tea and tourism industries, traders 
said, as the Gorkha community continues to press its demand for autonomy.
Gorkhas, who are ethnic Nepalis, are demanding a separate state of 
"Gorkhaland" be carved out of West Bengal state's Darjeeling region to 
protect their Himalayan culture and heritage, and protests have picked 
up again this month.
The communist state government in West Bengal opposes the idea, as do 
Bengali groups in the foothills to the south of Darjeeling. There have 
been sporadic outbreaks of unrest between ethnic Nepalis and Bengalis as 
a result.
Caught in this battle are tea traders, who say exports of premium 
Darjeeling tea may fall 20-25 percent this year due to political unrest 
in the hills.
The region's vast tea gardens ship highly prized and fragrant brews 
around the world, churning out about 10 million kg a year.
"This third protest in the past few months has left the garden managers 
and workers jittery and we estimate 20 percent loss in production in tea 
gardens," Rajiv Lochan, secretary of the Siliguri Tea Traders' 
Association, told Reuters.
Tea gardens in some areas were deserted and officials said regular 
protests had hampered plucking, a Reuters photographer said.
Exports of Darjeeling tea had been expected to rise 20-25 percent over 
last year's 6 million kg, but now the industry is staring at substantial 
losses.
The Gorkhas have rejected offers by state and central governments to 
talk about increased autonomy, saying only statehood would solve their 
problems.
At least 1,200 people died in the first Gorkhaland campaign in the 
1980s, but protests ended a few years later after Gorkha leaders 
accepted limited autonomy.
"We will not settle for anything less than a separate Gorkha state this 
time," said Roshan Giri, a protest leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha 
(Gorkha People's Liberation Front).
Hundreds of protesters took to the streets this week and forced car 
owners to replace the government licence plates with ones saying 
"Gorkhaland".
Tourists have also been avoiding the Darjeeling hills, with thousands of 
cancellations reported since April this year.
"The tourist inflow is 20 percent less and we are estimating an annual 
loss of 200 million rupees ($4 million)," said Anil Punjabi, who heads 
the eastern India unit of the Travel Agents Federation of India.
Most hotels were empty and profits were down by almost 50 percent in the 
region, Raj Basu, the owner of a dozen hotels said.