MANITOU: Riots

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Mittwoch, 15. Dezember 2010

Greece is striking and celebrating a great molotov party against European austerity

From the Greek Streets, UK, reports this from today's General Strike in Athens :

"More than 100,000 people marched in central Athens today against the freshly-voted labour relations law and the austerity measures imposed by the government and the EU/IMF/ECB troika. One of the biggest mass demonstrations the city has seen in recent times was met by brute police violence; the police, nevertheless, proven unable to quell peoples’ anger. A former conservative minister, Kostis Hatzidakis, made the unfortunate decision to be present at Stadiou Street at the time of the demonstration and felt the anger of the demonstrators, quickly leaving the scene injured. Street-fighting erupted across the city, which saw chaotic scenes for hours. Barricades were erected across Patision Avenue, which leads to the Polytechnic School; waves of demonstrators arriving at Syntagma square, outside Parliament, fiercely fought with the police. An – eventually unsuccessful – attempt by demonstrators to occupy the building of GSEE (the country’s mainstream trade union) saw people fighting off the notorious Delta motorcycle police and two of their bikes were set ablaze.

From reports coming in so far, 23 people were detained in Athens today and of those 10 are arrested and face charges. There will be an update on the arrested tomorrow.

One of the most empowering elements of today’s demonstration was peoples’ sheer anger and their willingness to fight back at the police repression and to defend their right to be on the streets. New tactics, including the incredibly successful use of fire extinguishers in keeping police away from demonstrator blocks, is surely a legacy for the struggles to come.

A good selection of photographs on Athens IMC: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 [some English picture legends here]

Apart from the spectacular images circulating around global and local media, an astonishing feeling in the streets of Athens is the rage felt by ordinary people toward authority, the police and of course, the people who have lead us all to today’s situation."

Parrhesia = Free Speech. Not all cops are bastards, if you can't beat them, talk to them ...

This man’s placard reads: “They are bringing us the [Axis] Occupation, 1940-1944″

From Free Voice Network via Europeans against the political system:

Huge protests and mass strikes stormed Greece today. Rallies and marches ran not only in the major big cities but even in smaller towns. Workers, trade unionists, anarchists and people from all kinds of political parties expressed their anger against the austerity measures of the government and the stance of the European Union. For once again what we see, is the reactionary broadcasting from the Western media. Here is a screen-shot of what the BBC has broadcasted today, definitely one of the most outrageous lies ever seen about Greece:

[Apparently the merry old aunt BBC has meanwhile elaborated her text, so I have copied this revised version:]

BEGINNING REVISED BBC TEXT

"Greek police have clashed with protesters in the capital Athens as unions stage a general strike against government austerity measures.

Demonstrators threw petrol bombs and police responded with tear gas as the violence flared outside parliament.

A former minister was chased and beaten by a mob and forced to seek shelter in a building [Reuters Video, and other here].

The day of action has grounded flights, disrupted public transport and closed schools across the country.

It is the seventh general strike this year following tough reforms needed to receive a 110bn euro (£84bn) bail-out from international organisations.

Police said about 15,000 people were taking part in marches in Athens.

Protesters started fires around luxury hotels in Syntagma Square, outside parliament, and cars were set ablaze. Riot police fired several rounds of tear gas in response.

The BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens says the scenes are some of the ugliest in a year of protests marking the country's economic crisis.

He says a lynch mob atmosphere developed as former conservative minister Kostis Hatzidakis emerged from parliament and was chased by dozens of protesters.

Former conservative minister Kostis Hatzidakis was surrounded and beaten by a crowd.

The opposition MP was pictured surrounded by a mob and with blood pouring from a head wound. Mr Hatzidakis's office said he was unable to reach hospital because of the crowds.

Witnesses said demonstrators shouted at him: "Thieves! Shame on you!"

Police said at least 10 people had been detained and three had been injured.

Roads jammed

With public transport at a standstill, major roads connecting the centre of Athens were jammed as motorists struggled to get to and from work.

Journalists were also on strike, affecting news bulletins on TV and radio.

Teacher Anastasia Antonopoulou, 50, travelled from the Ionian island of Zakynthos to join thousands marching through Athens on Wednesday.

"I can't sit on the sofa and watch my country go down. I'm here to shout and struggle," she said.

"Many of my students' parents are jobless."

On Tuesday, the Greek parliament voted through key economic reforms stipulated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union, which are funding the bail-out.

The new legislation will cap the salaries of workers in state-run companies such as the public transport networks.

In the private sector, employers will no longer have to abide by union-negotiated agreements and can set their own wages.

Prime Minister George Papandreou said the measures were designed to keep struggling companies afloat.

But union leaders have condemned the moves.

"We need to send the government a message that we will not accept measures that lead us only to poverty and unemployment," Ilias Iliopoulos, general secretary at the civil servants' union Adedy, told Reuters news agency.

Our correspondent says opposition groups are angry with the government for taking just 10 hours to debate such major changes to employment law.

However, as a result Greece is now more likely to receive its fourth instalment of financial aid due in the New Year, he adds.

Wednesday's strike is part of a European day of action against economic reforms.

Workers have been rallying against austerity measures in countries including Spain and Belgium, ahead of a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday."

END REVISED BBC TEXT

The BBC shamefully mentions only what the police claims ignoring any other source. The protesters in Athens were not only 15.000 but according to local people 100.000. Many claim that the number is much higher, close to 200.000! It is very obvious that BBC reproduces cheap pro-capitalist propaganda trying to show that the clashes between Greek protesters and the police are the actions of a minority while the majority of the people support the austerity measures which is not true at all! Only in the second major city of Greece, Thessaloniki, there were more than 10.000 protesters. In Volos it is estimated that more than 2.500 people marched. 4.000 also gathered in Patra, 2000 in Heraclio (Crete), 2.000 in Ioannina, 1.500 in Xanthi (the numbers are approximate). Rallies took place also in small islands such like Skopelos and Naxos.

The BBC instead of being focused on police brutality where repression forces attacked even peaceful protesters, spends too much of its analysis for what happened to Kostis Hatzidakis, a conservative MP who was beaten up by an angry crowd. He was nothing more but a person who belonged to the previous conservative government of New Democracy, one of the most corrupted governments in the history of Greece. He knew that thousands of angry people were gathered in the Athens city centre, he knew that all of them are very hostile towards any Greek politician but instead of avoiding the “battlefield” area decided to cross this crowded street ignoring the possible consequences.

Around 14:00 in Athens, members of the riot police attacked people who were standing around Sina area. There are serious witnesses that a couple was brutally beaten up by 4 policemen. In the same area, police threw tear gas against the student’s block. The atmosphere was suffocating. The block of the trade Union GSEE has been also targeted by the riot squad as well. When a group of people reached the GSEE building and opened the main door, members of the riot squad entered, trying to kettle, many of them pulling out even guns. However, at the same time another angry crowd appeared and attacked the riot squad which finally retreated due to the huge number of gathered people.

Heavily armed police forces followed strict orders to evacuate Parliament square because patrol cars and police vehicles offered help to some MPs who wanted to escape. Rumours say that the evacuation of the Parliament square happened in fear of a rebel invasion into the Parliament House.

In Athens, “everything smells like a junta” says a protester. Close to the office of “Deposits and Loans” the police arrested a 55 year-old photographer without any single reason despite the reaction of many bystanders who did everything possible to liberate him but with no success. Another has been insulted for taking pictures and there are witnesses of the arrest of a girl with a camcorder. “Suddenly, a red car appeared coming down the university. When the people realised that it was taking pictures the driver rushed with speed against the protesters! People could have been killed because of that” said another protester.

Ordinary people chased a group of about 20 police undercover forces while others were setting barricades at the Polytechnic school. When the crowd started shouting against the police, the riot squad fled. The undercover forces run away towards the area of Exarcheia but one of them who did not escape from the angry crowd, was beaten up. Later on, a girl was taking pictures while a policeman was dragging a person outside of the University and members of the riot squad confiscated her camera.

In Thessaloniki several people called for first aid in a local pharmacy while some were taken away by an ambulance. As it is estimated that they have been brutally attacked by the riot squad. 28 people have been arrested while later on, 17 of them were released. Many protesters also condemned the actions of some trade unionists, accusing them for being “sold off to the government”.

CNN Reporting: John Psaropoulos, Athens, interviewed by Charles Hodson, London, with Reuters Pictures. Or the other way round. A joint venture, I suppose ...

Turkish TV Live Reporting

Greek Video with a Street Fighting Scene

Dienstag, 14. Dezember 2010

Berlusconi buys time and sparks urban guerrilla warfare in Italy

From the blog Act for Freedom Now ! (by Severrino):

"14 December 2010 - Thousands of college students demonstrated today in Rome and major cities in a day of action against the Gelmini reform and in support of the no-confidence vote against Berlusconi. Among them, however, were also social centres and the militant black bloc. And after the confidence in the House, the violence broke out.

Black Bloc activists and militants from the social centres, who had joined the student marches in the morning, reached corso Rinascimento, a step away from the Senate, presided over by the police. Against the police cars paper bombs, firecrackers, cobblestones, bottles and eggs rained down. There were riots and fights in different areas of the centre between Via del Corso and Piazza del Popolo, with charges of tear gas in response to improvised barricades with trash bins on fire, road blocks, broken windows, and assaults on armoured forces of law and order with sticks and hammers. A dozen young men with their faces covered raided the offices of civil defense in via Ulpiano smashing windows and throwing eggs, no injuries among employees. The wounded in the street however were at least 40. Among them a journalist of the Agi, hit in the face by a stone.

At Porta del Popolo police charged protesters engaged in heavy stone-throwing, to back them off to the Tiber. The bulk of the procession is split: one part is directed at the Flaminio district, the other Prati. A difficult day today for the Capital. In the streets, on the day in Parliament voted confidence in the Berlusconi government, university and high school students, along with temporary workers, workers, researchers, Aquila earthquake survivors and activists from struggles for housing and social welfare gathered under the name "united against the crisis."

From the blog Italy Calling (by a Partisan Woman):

"It’s difficult to make out a clear picture of what’s been happening today, when Italian websites and blogs are still being inundated with of updates, reports, pictures and videos. While Berlusconi was narrowly winning a vote of confidence in Parliament (314 to 311…3 fucking votes!), thousands of people took to the streets to protest once again against the Gelmini reform and the government.

Demonstrations started in the morning and went on till late afternoon. In Rome at least 100,000 protesters have been estimated, from all sorts of groups: students, precarious workers, factory workers, social centres, migrant groups, groups of residents from L’Aquila.

Milan, and Rome in particular, have seen scenes of total urban guerrilla warfare. In Rome protesters tried to break into the Parliament buildings and were violently charged by the police. Riots went on for hours in central Rome and blocked the whole city centre. Italy Indymedia says at least 41 people were arrested and 57 injured among the police.

Alemanno, Rome’s right wing mayor, and his close friends from the right wing party Alleanza Nazionale, were seen around enjoying the charges and the beatings.

In Milan protesters invaded the Stock Exchange, and attacked banks, party HQ’s and other buildings.

Protests have also been held in other European countries by Italian students studying abroad."

Aus dem Arcor.de-Newsticker:

"15.12.2010, 03:45

Randale nach Erfolg für Berlusconi bei Misstrauensvotum

Nach dem knappen Sieg des italienischen Ministerpräsidenten Silvio Berlusconi bei einem Misstrauensvotum ist es in Rom zu schweren Ausschreitungen gekommen. Einige hundert Demonstranten verwüsteten bei Straßenschlachten mit der Polizei Teile des historischen Stadtzentrums. Mehr als 100 Menschen wurden verletzt. Berlusconi hatte den Misstrauensantrag der Opposition im Abgeordnetenhaus mit nur wenigen Stimmen Vorsprung abgewehrt. Kritiker werfen ihm Stimmenkauf und Bestechung vor."

Montag, 13. Dezember 2010

Bangladesh: Four people killed and hundreds injured during garment workers protests

Bangladesh garment workers are protesting since Friday for the implementation of a minimum wage law which should already come into force in November (The photo, dating possibly from an earlier demonstration, is from the European Pressphoto Agency via Al Jazeera - See video about similar protests in Summer)

From today's Agence France Press:

"Bangladesh garment protests spread after deaths

DHAKA — Protests by Bangladeshi garment workers over low wages spread on Monday, a day after four people were killed in violent clashes between demonstrators and the police.

More than 4,000 garment factory staff blocked roads and staged a sit-in in the northern district of Gazipur, one of the country's main manufacturing areas which produces clothes for many Western brands.

On Sunday, four people were killed in the southeastern port town of Chittagong, where police fired live bullets and tear gas shells to control riots.

Dozens of people were also injured at protests in the capital Dhaka.

Bangladesh's garment workers have been angered that a government hike in wages has not yet been implemented by some employers, while senior staff complain they will not benefit from the new pay structure.

"They have blocked the main highway linking Dhaka to the north of the country," Khandaker Shafiqul Alam, police inspector at Gazipur, told AFP.

"The protests are led by senior workers who are frustrated that they have lost out under the new wage scheme," he said, referring to the new minimum wage plan introduced in November.

Bangladesh's 4,500 garment factories, many of which produce clothes for retailers such as Wal-Mart, H&M and Levi Strauss, must now pay workers at least 3,000 taka (43 dollars) a month -- up 80 percent on the 2006 minimum wage.

In Chittagong, 30 people have been arrested and criminal cases have been lodged against a further 3,000 over involvement in the recent violence, Kusun Dewan, deputy commissioner of police in Chittagong, told AFP.

Garments accounted for 80 percent of the country's 16.2 billion dollars of annual exports last year. Bangladesh's factories employ more than three million workers, about 85 percent of them women."

See also

Bangladesh police shoot striking garment workers (World Socialist Web Site)

Garment Worker Riots in Bangladesh Continue After 4 Killed (Time Magazine Newsfeed /Krista Mahr)

Labor violence in Bangladesh (The Donga-Al Ilbo, South Korea)

Six Korean firms hit by Bangladesh protests (The Korea Herald via Asia News Network)

Deadly wage protests in Bangladesh (Al Jazeera)

Bangladesh police break up workers protests: three dead (Reuters India)

Bangladesh raids militant hideout, detains five (Reuters India)

Proteste der Textilarbeiter in Bangladesch weiten sich aus (AFP Germany)

Tote bei Arbeiterprotesten in Bangladesh: Viele Verletzte bei gewaltsamen Ausschreitungen (LabourNet, Germany, mit umfangreichem Dossier)

Fleeing Catastrophe, Stuck in the Slums of Bangladesh (Time Magazine Video)

Photos from this weekend's protests: AFP via The Peninsula Qatar, Getty Images via Time Magazine and APA/EPA via Der Standard

Donnerstag, 9. Dezember 2010

UK student protests turn into heavy riots, as tuition hike passes in Parliament

9/12/2010 - The UK student protests reached a new climax Thursday with heavy riots around Westminster, as the House of Commons approved plans to increase tution fees for students in England to up to £9,000 per year. The move was carried by 323 votes to 302, which means that the Conservative-Liberal coalition government's notional majority narrowed of 84 to 21. Although all 57 Lib Dem MPs said before the election that they would oppose any rise in tuition fees, 28 of them voted for the hike, while even 6 Tory backbenchers voted no.

The day had begun with new demonstrations and sit-ins throughout Britain followings weeks of nationwide protests, university occupations and direct actions lobbying or targeting MPs. Maybe 25.000 students were marching through central London, repeatedly attempting to break through police lines or rushing down side streets, determined to reach parliament. Although it was announced that protesters would not be allowed into Parliament Square, students surged in, getting close to the House of Commons, while the police began to “kettle” people then tore into them. They started with baton charges then galloped in on horseback (aerial view video), whereby one rider fell from his horse (Video from Sky News)

A live protest map also here

Subsequently students launched themselves at police lines and barriers, and tore down the fencing around the grass in Parliament Square (Video), forcing the police to retreat behind barricades as the Parliament Square and the surrounding streets were finally occupied (see Video roundup , Video). A group of around 150 students, furious at being stopped from joining the protest outside parliament, occupied the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square, others set off to march through central London .

When the Commons' vote finally became known in the early evening, some protesters tried to ram their way through the doors of the Treasury, chanting "One solution, revolution", and started using concrete blocks and metal poles to smash windows of the building on Great George Street while being contained inside the square. Others attacked the Supreme Court or vandalized statues in Westminster Square, including one of Winston Churchill.

Three quarter hours before the attack on the Supreme Court, around 7:15 p.m., Prince Charles and Camilla entered the scene, as if the royal protocol wished to reserve them also a little role in this riot theatre: Their limousine, a 1977 Rolls Royce Phantom VI, was attacked by protesters in Regent Street as they travelled to London Palladium for a Royal Variety Performance. A rear window was smashed and paint bombs were hurled at the vintage car, but the princely couple stayed unharmed (Video, Amateur footage & witnesses). The Duchess of Cornwall tried to brave the situation even with historic sense of mind: “There’s a first time for everything,” she told reporters before the couple drove off in an armored police truck after the performance.

At nearly the same time, around 7:25 p.m, a group of up to 1,000 students were marching down Oxford Street, chanting "General strike now". A branch of Topshop, owned by billionaire Philip Green, who has been targeted for not paying taxes on company dividends in the United Kingdom, was savaged on the way, while bins were overturned and police were attacked on Oxford Street, causing panic among shoppers.

Altogether some 38 protesters and 10 officers have been injured according to official reports. Six officers required hospital treatment and four suffered minor injuries. So far 20 people have been arrested: nine for violent disorder, two for arson, two for assault on police, two for criminal damage, one for being drunk and disorderly and four for burglary.

Meanwhile, a law professor, Ian Grigg-Spall, said he lodged a legal complaint calling for Lib Dem leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to be prosecuted for fraud over the controversial tuition fees under Section 2 of the Fraud Act.

Students lay siege to House of Commons (Socialist Worker Online, UK, with links, timeline etc.)

Britain: the student revolt (In Defense of Marxism, large roundup)

For whom the fee tolls - The Debt Generation fights back, as Parliament votes on fees (SchNEWS, UK, compact story of events)

Police brutally attack protesters as UK parliament backs university fees hike (World Socialist Web Site)

Da Londra: L'avanguardia balla il dubstep (Mercato Occupato, Bari, Italy)

Royal car attacked in protest after MPs' fee vote (BBC, roundup with video)

Tuition fees: government wins narrow victory as protests continue (The Guardian)

Protesters Attack Car Carrying Prince Charles (New York Times)

police/media lies - student protest pics & report (Indymedia London)

London tuition fee protest (Boston Globe, The Big Picture, big-formated photos)

Students smash the police in London (Anorak.co.uk, 66 photos)

Protesters attack royal couple yes! and yes! British students riot in London (Act for Freedom Now, photos)

Prince Charles and Camilla caught up in tuition fees protest violence (Liverpool Daily Post, UK)

Sarah Teather votes for tuition fee hike (Willesden & Brent Times)

UK backs tuition hike amid furore (Al Jazeera)

Cameron condena la violencia de "una minoría" en las protestas estudiantiles (El País, Spain)

Londres: manifestations violentes sur fond de débat parlementaire (Agence France Presse)

Londra: 20mila persone assediano la Camera dei Comuni e assalto all’auto di Carlo e Camilla (La Repubblica, Italy, via Contro l'Informazione Manipulata)

Englische Uni-Reform : Wütende Studenten attackieren Limousine von Prinz Charles (Der Spiegel, Germany)

Studentenproteste: Randalierer greifen Charles und Camilla an (Focus, Germany)

"An Opposition, on coming into power, is often like a speculative merchant whose bills become due. Ministers have to make good their promises, and they find a difficulty in so doing. They have said the state of things is so-and-so, and if you give us the power we will do thus and thus. Of course, something must be done: the speculative merchant cannot forget his bills." (Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867, Chapter V)

"The House of Commons is thronged with people who get there merely for 'social purposes', as the phrase goes; that is, that they and their families may go to parties else impossible." (Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, 1867, Chapter II).

"In all cases it must be remembered that a political combination of the lower classes, as such and for their own objects, is an evil of the first magnitude; that a permanent combination of them would make them (now that so many of them have the suffrage) supreme in the country; and that their supremacy, in the state they now are, means the supremacy of ignorance over instruction, and of numbers over knowledge. So long as they are not taught to act together, there is a chance of this being averted, and it can only be averted by the greatest wisdom and the greatest foresight of the higher classes." (Walter Bagehot, The English Constitution, Introduction to 2nd ed., 1872)

Photo No. 2: The Open Society and Its Enemies: Liberal Democrats Party Leader Nick Clegg and Vince Cable on 11th April 2010 as they put the finishing touches to the Liberal Democrats party election manifesto at Mr Clegg's Putney home.

Mittwoch, 10. November 2010

British Students Protest Massively Against Cuts and Storm the Tory Headquarter

London, 10 November, in early afternoon: Out of a protest march of more than 50.000 people, students and activists with red-and-black flags have boarded the rooftop of Millbank Tower, the headquarter of the ruling Conservative Party

(see Videos from Daily Telegraph & BBC - Video from Russia Today - German Videos from AP & Reuters)

Tens of thousands of students and lecturers marching on parliament - Chronology of the events until 16:30 (Socialist Worker)

2010 student protest in London (Wikipedia - Speed Record !!!)

Students smash Tory headquarters (Indymedia UK via Libcom)

Inside the Millbank Tower Riots (New Statesman)

Fury about more than tuition fees (The Independent)

Student riot marks end of Coalition's era of consensus (The Independent)

London tuition hike protests turn violent (New York Times)

Student protests create an Edgar Allan Poe moment (The Guardian)

Update from occupied Tory Headquarter (Indymedia UK, 18:43)

Parliament square occupied - Free University open (Indymedia London, 20:34)

PLEASE SIGN: Statement of solidarity with students arrested at Millbank (Indymedia UK)