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Archive for the ‘Protests’ Category

‘Spy cameras’ are used to target student protesters

May 31, 2011 Comments off

independent.co.uk

Some fear the police are trying to ‘criminalise’ protesting by using CCTV

Police are using CCTV images taken on university and college campuses, sometimes with the collusion of university authorities, to “spy” on student demonstrators as young as 16, it was claimed yesterday.

University lecturers are demanding an independent investigation into the “over zealous” use of surveillance techniques against students during the policing of demonstrations against fees rises and public spending cuts.

A motion tabled for the University and College Union’s (UCU) conference this weekend condemns what it terms attempts to “criminalise protest” through “state surveillance of higher education and further education institutions for elicting intelligence regarding protest activities”.

Cases include the arrest of Read more…

Categories: Big Brother, Protests, United Kingdom Tags: , , , , ,

Some areas in China under martial law after protests

May 30, 2011 Comments off

cnn

More of this story was published last week.

Anti-riot police line up as a crowd gathers in northeastern China/southern Mongolia on Monday, May 23.

Anti-riot police line up as a crowd gathers in northeastern China/southern Mongolia on Monday, May 23.

(CNN) — In an apparent response to days of protests, Chinese authorities have declared martial law in parts of the northeast’s inner Mongolia autonomous region, according to Amnesty International.

The region has long been the scene of ethnic tension between Mongolians, who have lived in the area for centuries, and the Han people, who arrived in larger numbers after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Han people are the majority ethnic group in China.

In the report released Friday, Amnesty International detailed protests in and around the city of Xilinhot.

CNN contacted officials in the affected areas, but they declined to comment.

According to the human rights organization, 2,000 Mongolian students took to the streets Wednesday in Xilinhot, in a show of solidarity with an ethnic Read more…

Categories: China, Protests Tags: , , , , ,

People disappear in Georgia after violent dispersal of opposition rally

May 27, 2011 Comments off

rt.com

Tbilisi: An injured man walks in front of the ranks of the Georgian riot police officers dispersing opposition rally (AFP Photo /Zura Tvauri)

Tbilisi: An injured man walks in front of the ranks of the Georgian riot police officers dispersing opposition rally (AFP Photo /Zura Tvauri)

Opposition leaders urge Georgian government to investigate the disappearances of protesters in Tbilisi after the brutal police crackdown of the peaceful rally. They also vow to stage more protests to free the country from the ‘tyrant’ Saakashvili.

Giya Tsagareishvili, a member of the Georgian parliament from the opposition party of Free Democrats, named ten protesters that vanished after the protests in Tbilisi on May 26. None of them could be found among those detained by the police or in any of the hospitals in the capital city of Tbilisi.

“All of this was happening in Tbilisi, in the capital of the country that, according to Mikhail Saakashvili, came this close to the doorstep of the European Union.” Tsagareishvili said. “Well let me remind Mr. Saakashvili that there, in Paris, London, Berlin and Tallinn, protests are not drowned in blood and people do not disappear.”

Giya Tsagareishvili is not the only opposition leader that draws attention to the strange occurrences which took Read more…

Categories: Georgia, Protests Tags: , , ,

Escalating violence may push Yemen towards civil war, warns UN human rights office

May 27, 2011 Comments off

un.org

Yemenis protesting against the government in Sana’a

27 May 2011 – The United Nations human rights office today voiced alarm at the escalating violence in Yemen, which it said may push the country to the brink of civil war, and called on the Government to stop its deadly crackdown.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said it is trying to confirm reports it has received of dozens of civilian casualties, including women and children, in the fighting over the past few days, as well as reports of shelling by Government troops in residential areas.

The death toll has reportedly approached 100 since fighting began Monday after Yemen’s President, Ali Abdullah Saleh, refused for a third time to sign a deal to transfer power amid the pro-democracy protests that began earlier this year.

“The dangerous escalation of violence in Yemen over the past few days is very Read more…

Categories: Protests, Yemen Tags: , , , , , , ,

UN Experts to Consider Proposal Condemning Syria

May 26, 2011 Comments off

voanews

An image grab taken from a video posted on YouTube, May 20, 2011, shows a Syrian soldier pointing his rifle and firing at anti-regime protesters during a demonstration in Hama, north of Damascus

Photo: AFP An image taken from a video posted on YouTube, May 20, 2011, shows a Syrian soldier pointing his rifle and firing at anti-regime protesters during a demonstration in Hama, north of Damascus

U.N. Security Council experts are expected to discuss a draft resolution on Thursday that would condemn Syria for its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

The draft – put forth by Britain, France, Germany and Portugal – appeals for an immediate end to violence in Syria. It also condemns what the European sponsors call  a “systematic violation of human rights” that includes killings, arbitrary detentions, disappearances and the torture of peaceful demonstrators.

Rights groups estimate that roughly 1,000 people have died since the government started a crackdown to stop protests against Read more…

Categories: Protests, Syria, United Nations Tags: , , ,

Israeli forces open fire at Palestinian protesters

May 16, 2011 Comments off

bbc

Israeli soldiers confront protesters near the northern Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights
Israel’s army said it faced a “serious” incursion at Majdal Shams in the occupied Golan Heights, where a number of people were reported killed and injured.

Jon Donnison in Ramallah: “Palestinians are feeling emboldened and inspired by the uprisings elsewhere [in the Middle East]”

Israeli forces have fired on groups of protesters at borders with the Palestinian territories, Syria and Lebanon.

Reports say that at least 12 people have died and dozens more have been injured.

In one incident, thousands of Palestinian supporters from Syria entered the Golan Heights, Israel says.

Palestinians are marking the Nakba or Catastrophe, their term for the founding of the Israeli state in 1948.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced out of their homes in fighting after its creation.

Responding in a televised address to Sunday’s violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped “calm and quiet will quickly return, but let nobody be mistaken, we are determined to defend our borders and sovereignty”.

Impetus

Clashes have been taking place at four separate borders or crossing points – at Erez in Gaza, near Ramallah in the West Bank, on the Golan Read more…

Categories: Palestine, Protests Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Greece ‘runs out of tear gas’ during violent protests

May 12, 2011 2 comments

telegraph

 Greece has issued an international appeal for more tear gas after supplies ran low because police fired so much of it during a week of violent protests across the country.

Demonstrators, in a cloud of tear gas, hurl rocks at police during clashes in central Athens Photo: AP

Officers released 4,600 capsules of tear gas during confrontations in Athens and nearly a dozen other cities since riots erupted over the fatal shooting of a 15-year-old schoolboy by a policeman last Saturday.

The greek government is urgently seeking fresh supplies of tear gas from Israel and Germany, the police said.

Yesterday, a report disputed claims by lawyers for the policeman accused of killing Alexandros Grigoropoulos that the bullet hit the boy after ricocheting.

The Kathimerini newspaper said that the results of forensic tests on the bullet indicated that it had been fired directly at the teenager.

Athens Bar Association condemned the policeman’s lawyer, Alexis Kougias, for “desecrating the dead” by claiming that the Read more…

Categories: Greece, Protests Tags: , , , , , ,

Yemen crisis: Protesters keep up pressure on Saleh

April 25, 2011 Comments off

bbc

Thousands of anti-government protesters are standing their ground in the capital of Yemen, despite a deal that would see the president step down.

Protesters occupying a permanent camp in Sanaa say they don’t trust President Ali Abdullah Saleh to keep his promise to leave office.

Mr Saleh agreed on Saturday to hand over power to his deputy within 30 days in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Protesters say he must go immediately.

There were fresh demonstrations in Sanaa and in other parts of the country on Sunday.

Witnesses say the protesters in Sanaa are ringed by army units that defected to join and protect them. Uniformed soldiers were seen chanting alongside the demonstrators and flashing victory signs.

At least 130 people have died during two months of protests inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.

Despite the protesters concerns, a coalition of seven opposition parties has generally accepted the deal, brokered by the Gulf Read more…

Categories: Protests, Yemen Tags: , , , ,

Thousands of protesters demand “A New Morocco”

April 25, 2011 Comments off

newsdaily

CASABLANCA, Morocco, Apr. 24, 2011 (Reuters) — Thousands took to the streets of Morocco on Sunday in peaceful demonstrations to demand sweeping reforms and an end to political detention, the third day of mass protests since they began in February.

People gather for a protest in Casablanca April 24, 2011. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal

Desperate to avoid the turmoil that toppled leaders in Tunisia and Egypt, authorities have already announced some changes to placate demands that King Mohammed cede more powers and limit the monarchy’s extensive business influence.

Some 10,000 people joined the protest in Casablanca, the largest city in one of the West’s staunchest Arab allies. Marchers in the capital Rabat also denounced corruption and torture as well as unemployment, very high among youths.

Policing has been low-key for protests by the February 20 Movement, named after the date of its first march, particularly compared to the turmoil elsewhere in North Africa.

“This is more about the young ones than it is about us,” said Redouane Mellouk, who had brought his 8 year-old son Mohamed Amine, carrying a placard demanding “A New Morocco.”

“Our parents could not talk to us about political issues. They were too afraid. This must change,” said Mellouk.

Although levels of popular anger have risen, ratings agencies assess Morocco as the country in the region least likely to become embroiled in the type of unrest that toppled Tunisian and Egyptian regimes and led to the conflict in Libya.

In Rabat, several thousand people marched through poor districts with high levels of unemployment and away from the center, where the previous monthly demonstrations have been held. There was no sign of trouble.

DISAFFECTED YOUTH

A 74 year-old man in Casablanca who gave his name only as Ahmed said Morocco’s youths were right to protest. Read more…

Categories: Morocco, Protests Tags: , , , , , ,

Authorities gun down protesters in Syria and Yemen

April 18, 2011 Comments off

http://www.dw-world

Thousands of mourners at a funeral in SyriaThousands of Syrians called for the ouster of President Assad, while Yemenis demanded their leader step down. In both countries, protesters were shot by security forces.

Thousands of Syrian mourners chanted slogans calling for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad at the funeral of a soldier killed during a recent clash between demonstrators and government troops.

Eyewitnesses and activists said at least two people were shot dead during an anti-government protest in central Syria. The actions could not be independently confirmed, but witnesses said gunmen wearing black clothes opened fire on hundreds of people gathered in the town of Talbiseh, north of Read more…

Categories: Protests, Syria, Yemen Tags: , , , , ,