In a stunning turn of events today in Thailand, riot police yielded to the peaceful protesters they were ordered to harass and block.
The police removed barricades and their helmets as a sign of solidarity.
The protesters explain that their goal is to destroy the political machine of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is accused of widespread corruption and abuse of power. Thaksin’s sister, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, is currently in power, and is seen as a puppet of her brother.
Last week, Amnesty International released a report on U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan, concluding that as many as 900 civilians might have been killed and 600 seriously injured in the attacks since 2004, when the controversial program began.
The United States launched between 330 to 374 drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and September 2013, according to the report. And those strikes have created a culture of fear on the ground.
"I wasn't scared of drones before," Nabeela, an 8-year-old whose grandmother, Mamana Bibi, was killed by a 2012 drone strike, says in the report. "But now when they fly overhead I wonder, 'Will I be next?'"
Thousands of people worldwide are expected to join the Global Frackdown protest on October 19. ‘Fracktivists’ from over 26 countries will gather to demand an end to fracking and “dangerous” shale gas drillings.
Numerous events are scheduled to take place mainly across the US and Europe with some rallies already having kicked off in the UK, Romania, France and Spain.
The global movement will be also joined by activists from Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Indonesia. So far, a total 26 countries are listed to be taking part in the protest.
Thousands of Spaniards have taken to the streets of the capital to protest against the country’s monarchy.
The march was held on Saturday in Madrid, where people called for the abdication of King Juan Carlos, an end to the monarchy and an establishment of a republic.
Protesters walked with banners reading, “Checkmate to the King,” and chanted, “Tomorrow, Spain will be a Republic.”
Critics consider the monarchy to be illegal since it was appointed by General Francisco Franco.
Protesters hold pictures of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a rally at the coastal town of Qatif, against Sheikh Nimr's arrest July 8, 2012 (Reuters / Reuters / Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
Saudi Arabia, a major supporter of opposition forces in Syria, has increased crackdown on its own dissenters, with 30,000 activists reportedly in jail. In an exclusive interview to RT a Saudi prince defector explained what the monarchy fears most.
“Saudi Arabia has stepped up arrests and trials of peaceful dissidents, and responded with force to demonstrations by citizens,” Human Rights Watch begins the country’s profile on its website.
Political parties are banned in Saudi Arabia and human rights groups willing to function legally have to go no further than investigating things like corruption or inadequate services. Campaigning for political freedoms is outlawed.
One of such groups, which failed to get its license from the government, the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), was cited by AFP as saying the kingdom was holding around 30,000 political prisoners.
Prince Khalid Bin Farhan Al-Saud
Saudi Prince Khaled Bin Farhan Al-Saud, who spoke to RT from Dusseldorf, Germany, confirmed reports of increased prosecution of anti-government activists and said that it’s exactly what forced him to defect from his family. He accused the monarchy of corruption and silencing all voices of dissent and explained how the Saudi mechanism for suppression functioned.
“There is no independent judiciary, as both police and the prosecutor’s office areaccountable to the Interior Ministry. This ministry’s officials investigate ‘crimes’ (they call them crimes), related to freedom of speech. So they fabricate evidence, don’t allow people to have attorneys”, the prince told RT Arabic. “Even if a court rules to release such a ‘criminal’, the Ministry of Interior keeps him in prison, even though there is a court order to release him. There have even been killings! Killings! And as for the external opposition, Saudi intelligence forces find these people abroad! There is no safety inside or outside the country.”
The strong wave of oppression is in response to the anti-government forces having grown ever more active. A new opposition group called Saudi Million and claiming independence from any political party was founded in late July. The Saudi youths which mostly constitute the movement say they demand the release of political prisoners and vow to hold regular demonstrations, announcing their dates and locations via Facebook and electronic newspapers. Human rights violations are driving people on to the streets despite the fear of arrest, according to activist Hala Al-Dosari, who spoke to RT from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. read more
Thousands of Argentineans have taken to the streets in the capital to protest against rising inflation and corruption, ahead of key legislative elections Press TV reports.
Anti-government protesters gathered on Thursday at the national monument Obelisk in Buenos Aires and marched to the Plaza de Mayo square located in front of the Casa Rosada government house.
“Corruption kills because we have less hospital and less security and weaker education, it kills because we are leaving our children defenseless. Everything these people are taking away should be used to develop our country,” said one protester.
Private sector analysts estimate the inflation rate at 25 percent.
In addition, they voiced anger at the alleged government attempts to control the judiciary system and to reform the constitution to facilitate the re-election of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
The rally was the second anti-government protest in four months and it was held days ahead of PASO primaries, when Argentineans will decide which political parties and candidates are going to compete in October’s legislative elections.
Police have made 15 arrests a protest against plans by the fracking company Cuadrilla to explore for oil and gas just 40 miles (64km) from London grew into clashes with law enforcers.
Cuadrilla has been granted a government permit for the exploration of oil and gas near the middle class village of Balcombe, in East Sussex, just this week.
The protests against the drilling began back on Thursday morning, as well-to-do villagers set up gazebos and bunting by the roadside. Mothers were there with their children, tea cakes were handed out to passersby, and there was a sing-along.
Several hours later, the villagers were joined by more organized and hardened anti-fracking activists. They blockaded gates to the proposed fracking site, formed a human chain and used tree trunks to stop trucks going in.
The unusual alliance of villagers and environmentalists succeeded in turning away at least one vehicle carrying drilling parts for the operation.
On Friday, however, police drew in more forces and the protesters were warned that they would be committing an offence if they stopped trucks from entering the site.
“A human chain was formed in front of the gates and the police have made the first arrests. People are really shocked it escalated so quickly,” Andrew West from the campaign group Frack Off told the Guardian.
Up to 75 police officers marched down the road in formation and then began to arrest the environmentalists who blocked their path.
“They just started taking people out one by one. Not everyone went voluntarily and there were some struggles. The police seemed to be quite rough,” Lilias Cheyne, an anti-fracking activist who witnessed the arrests, told the Guardian.
Helen Savage, one of the villagers, said they were not willing to be arrested, but planned to keep protesting in any legal way possible.
“We are completely committed to protesting through every legal channel we can. This goes beyond Balcombe. It is against government policy, which is to frack nationwide. It means a fracking rig every two miles. It will industrialize the landscape,” she told the Telegraph.
About half an hour after the arrests were made, the first truck made its way onto the site, more than 24-hours after the blockade started on Thursday morning.
A source in Sussex police defended his officers’ actions.
“Sussex police fully supports the right to demonstrate peacefully and within the law and also facilitate the contractors to carry out their business,” Superintendent Steve Whitton told the Guardian.
But Ashley Williams, who witnessed the arrests, said the police used disproportionate force.
“This is a totally disproportionate response. The community is standing up for themselves against a company that is trying to poison them. As soon as regular people put their head above the parapet the state jumps in to defend the interests of a wealthy few,” she said.
Cuadrilla insists that the rigs are only being brought in for exploratory drilling, and that fracking or hydraulic fracturing, could only happen at a later date if viable and if approved.
The local Conservative MP for the area, Francis Maude, said that Cuadrilla should be allowed to drill exploratory wells, but that more consultations were needed before the start of any commercial extraction.
Cuadrilla already operates fracking rigs in Lancashire, which have seen several protests by environmentalists and locals.
Opponents to the controversial process fear that water sources could be polluted, small country roads will be congested with trucks and that there could even be earthquakes.
The process of fracking involves blasting water mixed with toxic chemicals into rocks deep underground to release oil and gas trapped inside. In the US, where the process in widespread, it has been linked to water pollution, as well as ill health and methane leakage into neighboring water sources.
Tabitha Smith, an activist from Frack Off, said that protesters from other parts of the country planned to come to Balcombe.
“This is a battle which I think will be repeated across the country,” she said.
Thousands of people have protested across New Zealand against the new surveillance bill that would enable the country’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) to spy on its citizens.
The protests were held in 11 cities and towns. with the strongest turnouts in Auckland and Wellington, showing the growing level of New Zealanders’ concern over the GCSB bill, the NZ Herald reports. Once passed into law, the bill will extend the bureau’s powers granting the agency a right to eavesdrop on telephone conversations.
Protesters took to the streets in Auckland blocking the traffic in the central part of the city. A march down Queen Street attracted an estimated 2,000 people.
MegaUpload founder Kim Dotcom joined the rally, addressing the people in a speech at Auckland's Aotea Square. He told the crowd that the government had invaded his privacy and "if they can do that to me they can do that to any of you."
It would be an "uphill battle" to stop the passage of the pending bill, said Labour Party leader David Shearer, adding that “there's now a lack of confidence by New Zealanders in our intelligence agencies,” as quoted by the NZ Herald.
In Wellington more than 500 protesters marched to the steps of parliament, many wearing stylized Guy Fawkes masks, adopted as a universal symbol against tyranny. The people held signs and chanted slogans like "we don't want your spying state'' and "surveillance is for war."
Chief executive of Kim Dotcom's new Mega website and the former head of Internet NZ, Vikram Kumar, was met with a resounding "no'' when he asked the crowd whether they want to be spied on, the Herald said.
"The land of the long white cloud becoming the land of the NSA spy cloud? No!''
Civil liberties campaigner and Tech Liberty co-founder Thomas Beagle said the GCSB bill was about “mass surveillance” that gives extensive power to the state.
"It's about spying on everyone, no matter what they've done, no matter what they're going to do,” he said. "This sort of mass surveillance changes the balance of power in our society away from the people and towards the state.''
Prime Minister John Key has been defending the bill, saying that it would give greater oversight and was "a strengthening of the previous legislation.”
"I accept there are some that will always feel a bit nervous about privacy and their own rights, but I can give you the best assurance I can that we're very careful and cautious about what we do as a state. But in the end we do have to protect the interests in New Zealanders,'' he said during a visit to South Korea.
The pending bill is expected to pass through parliament with a majority of one. If passed into law, more power would be given to New Zealand’s domestic and foreign intelligence agencies - the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) and the GCSB. MPs have said that both surveillance agencies require additional resources to protect national security.
Anti-corruption protests that have been peacefully going on for 40 days reached a climax in Bulgaria when demonstrators trapped a hundred ministers, lawmakers and journalists inside the parliament for over eight hours, urging the government to resign.
Police with shields formed a pathway through hundreds of Bulgarians to finally get all those trapped out of the building, pushing away the anti-government demonstrators. High-ranking officials were escorted outside in the capital, Sofia, at around 3am in police vans.
Twenty people, including 3 policemen, were injured, hospital sources said.
Anti-government protests escalated on Tuesday evening when several hundred demonstrators trapped the deputies and ministers inside Parliament hoping to oust the left-leaning government.
A total of 109 people - including three ministers, some 30 MPs, journalists and parliamentary staff were trapped inside the building, according to national television.
When a bus arrived at the site to escort the officials out, the demonstrators formed a human chain and threw bottles and stones at the bus, refusing to let the vehicle leave.
They shouted "Murderers!", "Mafia!", "Resign!" as dozens of police in riot gear pushed and clubbed them to clear a path for the bus. The people hurt included some with head injuries.
"Police reacted very adequately, policemen did their job perfectly although protesters behaved extremely aggressively," Interior Minister Tsvetlin Yovchev told reporters.
"We will try to find those who threw stones at police and deputies," he added.
President Rosen Plevneliev earlier issued a statement calling upon the protesters to keep the rally "peaceful and civilized."
"For the first time since the start of the protests we have now witnessed tension and attempts for provocation," Plevneliev said, urging for "calm and order."
Parliamentary Speaker Mihail Mikov suggested canceling Wednesday's planned parliamentary session, saying the deputies should not turn up for work until order was restored.
A member of the European parliament and former foreign minister, Ivailo Kalfin, wrote on Facebook: "With apologies to the millions who voted two months ago, we need new elections."
The Socialist-backed government took office after snap election in May, following the resignation of the previous cabinet provoked by anti-austerity protests.
The appointment of controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski as head of the national security agency initially sparked public outrage, with daily protests going on since June 14. Although the appointment was instantly revoked, demonstrators argued that the government is corrupt and must resign.
Recent public-opinion polls show they are supported by about two-thirds of Bulgaria's 7.3 million people, who have the lowest incomes in the European Union.
The Egyptian army fired tear gas and clashed with supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo as thousands of pro-Morsi demonstrators marched towards the presidential palace.
Military forces fired tear gas in Cairo Friday evening, as a group of pro-Morsi protesters aimed to break through the army line. According to state news agency MENA, the soldiers attempted to hold back the crowds from a nearby street, where rival anti-Morsi demonstrators are rallying.
Earlier, scuffles were reported near Al-Azhar University in Cairo after unknown men threw rocks at pro-Morsi demonstrators marching from Al-Azhar mosque, according to Al Jazeera.
Tens of thousands of Morsi supporters have been stopped en route from Rabaa Al-Adawiya Mosque to Abbassiya, where Egypt’s Ministry of Defence is located, Ahram Online reports.
The Egyptian media reported that the demonstrators were marching to the Republican Guard House in Cairo.
Some of the pro-Morsi protesters have stormed Abbasiya Hospital for Mental illnesses, climbing through fences and setting up camp in the hospital’s garden.
Traffic was grounded on nearby Salah Salem Road, as some 5,000 demonstrators gathered around the hospital.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian army has reportedly blocked streets leading to the Republican Guard House. The military blockaded the roads in order to prevent Morsi supporters from reaching the building, according to Al Arabiya.
There were also scuffles with security forces near Al-Azhar mosque, after Morsi’s supporters began shouting chants against Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, Commander-in-chief of the Egyptian armed forces.
“Tonight, tonight, tonight, Sisi is going down tonight,” some of the protesters shouted.
Police fired shots in the air to disperse Muslim Brotherhood supporters after they attacked opponents with rocks and fists. No casualties were reported.
Morsi’s supporters also began a round-the-clock vigil outside a mosque in the Cairo suburb of Sadr City, with thousands flocking there after noon prayers on Friday.
At least 400 protesters marched through the Sinai Peninsula’s main city of el-Arish on Friday. Pro-Morsi supporters also took to the streets of Alexandria and other Nile delta cities.
The Muslim Brotherhood – from which Morsi hails – has called for demonstrations across Egypt, accusing Sisi of deliberately staging a coup to remove Egypt’s first freely elected president from power.
Morsi’s supporters said they came from across the country to join Friday’s rallies, underlining the deep level of support for the Muslim Brotherhood in provincial areas of Egypt.
“We are coming out today to restore legitimacy. We consider what happened secular thuggery. It would never happen in any democratic country,” protester Tarek Yessin, from the southern city of Sohag, told Reuters.
Anti-Morsi protests are also planned for Friday, with Tamarod planning a demonstration close to the Brotherhood’s Nasr City vigil. Tamarod is the youth movement responsible for organizing huge anti-Morsi protests which started on June 30.
They have called their protest “the people against terrorism” and have blamed Morsi’s supporters for the deaths of at least 99 people who have died in violence since Morsi’s removal. More than half of them were killed when troops fired on Islamist protesters outside Cairo barracks on July 8.
On Friday, ten armored personnel carriers were parked on the Nile Bridge - a route Islamist protestors must cross in order to reach the anti-Morsi camp on Tahrir Square.
Earlier in the day, two formations of fighter jets and nine military helicopters circled over Cairo.
The army has fiercely defended its actions to remove Morsi and the Brotherhood from power, saying its decision reflected the popular will of Egyptians, and that Morsi had become incompetent and partisan.
The military has installed an interim cabinet, led by acting president Adly Mansour, which does not include any Brotherhood members or people from other Islamist parties.
Acting president speaks of ‘protecting lives and human rights’
President Mansour gave his first address to Egypt on Friday, saying the country is going through a “decisive period.” He also accused some elements of society of trying to drag the country toward chaos.
“They want this period to be an introduction to violence and blood, and we want it to establish for the concept of protecting lives and human rights,” Mansour said in the eight minute pre-recorded broadcast.
He didn’t name those people he said were “pushing the nation towards an abyss,” although the statement was presumed to be directed at Morsi supporters.
Mansour did, however, appear to offer an olive branch to the Muslim Brotherhood, saying that justice and reconciliation will be for all “without exclusion or exception.”
Morsi and many members of his former government have been in detention since the army removed him from office on July 3. There have been no clear indications regarding how many people are being held, or where they are located. Hundreds of Brotherhood followers have been rounded up, and arrest warrants issued for most of its leaders.
Meanwhile, the UN is pushing for the interim government to explain why the army detained the ousted president and his aides, and whether it plans to put them on trial. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, recently asked Egypt’s ambassador to clarify the legal basis for their detention. Rupert Colville, a spokesman for Pillay, said that the Egyptians have so far given no reply.
Pillay also said that the UN hopes to send a team to Egypt to further investigate a July 8 shooting which left more than 50 people dead.
Russian riot police detained dozens of protesters during unauthorized but peaceful rallies held in several Russian cities after anti-corruption blogger Aleksey Navalny was sentenced to five years for embezzlement on Thursday morning.
Around 2,500 supporters of the anti-corruption blogger Aleksey Navalny took to the streets in the heart of Russia’s capital for an unauthorized rally, according to Moscow police. The organizers of the protest however put the number of participants at over 10,000.
Police sources said that in total some 160 people were detained across Moscow, but protesters claim well over 200 were apprehended. Reports added that the riot police were mainly detaining the most strident protesters who were trying to disrupt the traffic and block the streets and those standing with banners. The detained were put into buses and taken to police stations. Some of the protesters were soon released due to lack of space in prison vans.
The people who were attempting to gather at Manezhnaya Square in the center of Moscow were clapping hands and shouting slogans like “Freedom to Navalny!” and “Shame!”
After the protesters were pushed back from Manezhnaya Square, a part of the crowd organized decentralized protest “promenades” in central Moscow streets with groups of several hundred people gathering in different places in central Moscow.
The most devoted Navalny’s supporters continued to demonstrate in Kitai-Gorod for several hours after the main crowd dispersed.
Riot police cordoned off the area of Manezhnaya Square and the adjacent Tverskaya and Mohovaya streets, forming columns to prevent the people from blocking the traffic. Crowds of people surrounded the State Duma building, as well as Hotel National and Moscow Hotel opposite Red Square.
Meanwhile, Navalny’s electoral team has urged activists to bring water and food to the protesters and called for the protest to continue overnight.
Another unauthorized rally was held in the northern city of St. Petersburg where more than 800 people gathered on Malaya Sadovaya Street. At least 30 people have been detained, Itar-Tass news agency reported adding that the police were only taking away those chanting slogans.
Following the court’s verdict to the anti-corruption blogger, the first spontaneous demonstrations took place in the city of Kirov, where Navalny’s trial was held and where the opposition activist is currently being held at a detention facility. About a hundred people gathered outside the court, holding banners criticizing the verdict. Several have been taken into custody including one of the leaders of Navalny’s support team, Nikolay Lyaskin.
Smaller protests have been taking place in several other Russian cities including Samara, Kazan and Voronezh.
On Thursday morning a Kirov court sentenced Aleksey Navalny to 5 years in prison for embezzlement. The court ruled that Aleksey Navalny and his accomplice, Pyotr Ofitserov, caused 16 million rubles ($500,000) in damages to the state-owned Kirovles timber company.
“Any attempts to hold unauthorized actions will be thwarted in accordance with the current law,” Moscow police had warned prior to the gathering. They further said those calling for such protests could be persecuted.
Dozens of people were reportedly injured in Bahrain early Friday, after police fired birdshot to disperse hundreds of anti-government protesters in several Shiite villages.
A policeman was also wounded after being shot by a homemade gun.
The protests, which erupted late Thursday and lasted until the early hours of Friday, were called by the opposition February 14 Coalition youth group, according to witnesses cited by AFP.
“We will remove you [King] Hamad,” was reportedly the banner slogan issued by the group to rally protesters against the Sunni monarch.
Activists said that dozens were injured in clashes as police responded to protests by firing birdshot. Meanwhile, the Bahraini Ministry of Interior posted on Twitter that “security forces confronted a terror group” near Manama, and that a policeman was wounded after being shot with a homemade gun. AFP quoted witnesses confirming both the police fire and the shooting, but said that an official list of casualties was not immediately available.
Demonstrators have repeatedly clashed with security forces since the start of protests against the Sunni dynasty. The demonstrations have not ceased, despite a 2011 crackdown backed by Saudi-led Gulf troops.
The Bahraini government has often referred to protesters – mostly Shiite Muslims - as “terrorists,” and recently used a car bomb explosion outside a Sunni mosque as a pretext to ban the opposition protests in several Shiite villages.
At least 80 people have been killed in Bahrain since the uprising began, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
In 30 cities across Spain thousands of people protested government corruption and called for Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s resignation. In solidarity with the demonstrations, hacktivist group Anonymous knocked out the ruling People’s Party website.
More than 1,000 people gathered outside the headquarters of the People’s Party (PP) in Madrid. They brandished banners and chanted “Hands up, this is a stick up!” “The treasurer has our money!” and “They do not represent us!”
One person has been arrested, while seven police and five protesters were injured in the massive demonstrations.
Furthermore, in Barcelona, Valencia, Zaragoza, Malaga y La Coruna on Thursday masses of activists protested outside party headquarters. Outside PP offices in Valencia demonstrators wrote “Democracy has died here” on the tarmac.
A few hours before the protests began on Thursday, hacktivist group Anonymous infiltrated the People’s Party website. They emblazoned their logo on the homepage of the website under the banner “Government Resignation.” The hacker group published the news on its Twitter feed under the hastags #OpDimisión (Resignation) #FueraLaMafia (Out with the Mafia).
A wave of public indignation was triggered following the latest revelations in a government corruption case that has scandalized Spain. It concerns the PP’s former treasurer Luis Barcenas, who stands accused of a creating a slush fund containing millions of euro which was used to pay out “gifts” to party officials and illegally finance the party.
Spanish newspaper elMundo reported this week that senior party officials had shared 8.3 million euro ($10.9 million) between them from 1990 to 2008, citing court documents.
The PP has disowned Barcenas, who is currently awaiting trial, but the former treasurer has threatened to reveal the full extent of the legal payments and name names. He has already alleged that Prime Minister Rajoy received illegal payments before he became prime minister.
Rajoy has denied the allegations and claims they are blackmail and an attempt by Barcenas to obligate the government to intervene in his trial.
Barcenas maintains his innocence and says that the funds came from lucrative private ventures, including art dealing. Swiss authorities have frozen the former treasurer’s bank accounts which currently hold 17.5 million euro.
The political scandal has enraged the Spanish public who are already disillusioned at the government’s failure to drag the country out of the current economic crisis.
I know how you feel. Under attack & busy trying to control the ´peace´ in Turkye.
The US imprinted you -and others- to be afraid of the Russian Army. Well, they are no thread at all to you. I know from experience that Russian people are caring, loving and thriving people the same you'll find anywhere on the planet.
The Kurdish people just want a piece of peace for their own. Let them be and they let you thrive too.
In your other backyard on the Syrian border, Turkish & Syrian people need serious help. Give them what they need on a daily bases and they'll support you all the way.
Instead of helping these hundreds of thousands of people what do you do now?
Neglecting these people and attacking your own population with your teargas-policeforce and not even listening to them?
You can try to fight an invisible enemy on these multiple battlefields.
You saw what happened earlier in Egypt. And you know how thàt ended.
Anyone in your position will be scared sometimes too. But you can turn these things around. In the favour of your people & yourself.
The people protesting on your streets are not terrorists but civilians with a voice. Can you hear that voice? Listen to them, please...
If this is so much of importance to só many people, can you please make an effort to just listen to them? Your ultimate solution is then already at 50%
The other 50% must really go from your heart to the people. What do you think what happeness if you really help the people? c'mon, it's your job.
How would you feel if everyone in and around Turkye loves what you are doing for them? If you really take good care of everyone in your region then trust me...
they will take care of you.
If you fail to do so, you know where this ends...
Now...what do you want?
It's in your hands.
You can turn it around.
Make a difference and be a hero!
or a zero..
After the earlier report with statements of Amnesty International & Anonymous on the outrageous behavior of the Turkish police against peacefull & unarmed civilians -and both throwing 'lifelines' to Turkish people- now Human Rights Watch (HRW) joins in and condemned Turkish' police unlawfull & incorrect use of teargas against the population.
Journalists' offices have been raided by police, taking photograph archives, press cards, recorders, and even the kitchen equipment. Also dozens arrested in Turkey over protest tweets, accused of 'inciting hatred'. Erdogan's police force even attacking people in hospitals:
Turkish police fired teargas canisters at close range and directly at people during the Gezi Park protests causing serious injuries, says a report by the Human Rights Watch. Those hit by canisters lost eyes and received life threatening skull fractures.
The Turkish authorities “should immediately issue improved guidelines on when and how teargas may be used that included a prohibition on firing teargas canisters in confined areas or directly at people,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.
The report titled “Turkey: End Incorrect, Unlawful Use of Teargas,” which has been published on the group’s website, also calls to “strictly enforce” such policies, and hold non-compliant police officers accountable.
“Teargas canisters can inflict serious ‒ even life threatening ‒ wounds when fired directly at demonstrators, and that happened over and over again at Gezi Park,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The police and their commanders who used these canisters in such an irresponsible way should be held to account for inflicting unnecessary harm and endangering lives.”
At least 11 people lost an eye after being hit by a teargas canister or a plastic bullet in Turkey up to June 27, says the statement by the Medical Association quoted in the report. Dozens of others received serious head or upper body injuries.
Interviews of victims, witnesses, lawyers, and medical personnel cited in the report suggest that such injuries were caused by police firing tear gas from launchers directly at people, often at close range. The “scale and consistency” of such accounts point to “a clear pattern of misuse of teargas by Turkey’s police force,” HRW states.
Ten accounts of victims who were seriously injured in police tear gas attacks have been documented in the report. Those include a university lecturer who lost his eye as he was walking down the street in Istanbul’s rioting Besiktas district; a long time Taksim square protester who got an 8 centimeter skull fracture and a psychological trauma; a woman taking part in a peaceful sit-in protest who was shot unconscious, had her skull fractured, and was held in an induced coma for 24 days after; as well as a 14-year-old boy apparently caught in close-range police fire near his family home, who suffered from intracranial bleeding and has remained in critical condition for over four weeks.
Shooting directly at people ‘a systematic policy’
Burak Unveren, 31, who lost his eye in Besiktas on June 1 after being fired at by a police officer some 40 meters away, told HRW he was “almost sure that this act of violence was deliberate.” The police fired tear gas canisters horizontally, rather than trying to launch them at a 45 degree angle, he said. While in hospital, he also met several people “shot in their faces in the same way.”
“Shooting in this way directly at people is a systematic policy of the Turkish police,” Unveren believes.
Okan Gocer, 23, who was taking part in a peaceful June 1 protest several hundred meters from Taksim Square, said he was telling people to stay and not to be intimidated by a heavy police presence, when a tear gas attack was launched without warning.
“They just popped out. There were no warnings. They just attacked right away. There were many shots ‒ they just opened fire. One of them hit me in the head. I think the police might have targeted me because I encouraged people to stay,” Gocer said.
The teargas canister that struck the protester rendered him unconscious and caused a 7-8 centimeter fracture to his skull. Gocer had to undergo emergency surgery and was kept in an induced coma for more than two weeks. Nearly a month after the incident he said he still struggled with the pain, and that he was no longer a “cheerful” person “full of hope and optimism” that he used to be.
‘There was no place to hide’
Secil Sucu, 21, a female protester who witnessed an earthmover used against the police vehicle in Istanbul’s Besiktas district, was trying to leave the area of violent protests, but was blocked by the tear gas firing police in one of the side streets.
“We were blocked in. When I turned to see how far away the police were, one policeman rushed toward me, aiming at me with his teargas launcher. He was perhaps 10 meters away. There was no place for me to hide so the only thing I could do was to try to protect my head. I had started to turn away when the teargas canister hit my goggles, breaking them. My head was ringing and then all went quiet and white. I thought that this is how people die,” Sucu said.
Later in the hospital, Sucu was told she had a six-centimeter skull fracture and that it would take her months to recover. She now admits to having “panic attacks” and being afraid to stay at home alone.
For Lobna Allamii, 34, the life changed forever after the brutal crackdown on peaceful sit-in protest in Taksim square on May 31. Following the sudden police attack the woman was found lying on the ground unconscious and having seizures.
Allamii was operated on twice after the doctors found a fracture in her skull, a severe injury on the left side of her head, and intracranial bleeding on the right side. The woman was kept in an induced coma for 24 days, had her right arm partially paralyzed, and her speech and eyesight damaged.
According to the HRW report, the circumstances and the nature of Allamii’s injuries “point to a teargas canister fired from close range as the cause.”
A 14-year-old boy, Berkin Elvan, who sustained serious head injuries and has remained in critical condition for more than four weeks, was not taking part in protests, but got caught in a police attack in Istanbul’s Okmeydani neighborhood on June 16.
According to accounts by family members and friends, the boy went out to buy bread from a nearby bakery when the police started firing rounds of tear gas at the protesters that had gathered in the area.
Berkin’s lawyer has quoted a witness saying the police hit the boy with a teargas canister from a distance of 10 to 15 meters. Doctors of the hospital where Berkin was taken for surgery also noted the boy smelled of gunpowder – another possible indication of a close-range fire.
The boy’s case went viral in Turkey, and several actions in his name have been organized, with a protest march for Berkin Elvan taking place on Wednesday. He is still in intensive care.
‘Police aim was to punish’
Having seen a large number of injuries resulting from teargas canisters hitting people in the head and upper body, Dr. Hüseyin Demirdiken of the Turkish Medical Association concluded that for the Turkish police “the aim was not only to disperse the crowds, but also to punish.”
Turkish journalist Ahmet Shik, who has been covering the Istanbul protests, is said to have been “deliberately” hit by a tear gas canister in the head, as noted by his friends on Twitter. He said that although some policemen fired tear gas canisters “in a correct way,” most others “fired them directly at the protesters, often from close range.”
Reports said that the Turkish police used 130,000 teargas canisters over three weeks in June. In total, Turkey imported 628 tons of tear gas and pepper spray between 2000 and 2012, Turkish newspaper Sozcu reported, quoting Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici.
On July 16, 2013, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case of Abdullah Yaşa and Others v. Turkey that “improper firing of tear gas by Turkish police directly at protestors, injuring a 13 year old, had violated human rights,” and called for stronger safeguards to minimize the risk of death and injury resulting from its use.
Activists are beginning to gather outside Bohemian Grove in Monte Rio to protest the annual meeting of the global crime syndicate, existing of politicians, bankers, media moguls and CEO’s, which takes place from July 13 to July 28.
The secretive, all-male club, founded over a hundred years ago in 1872, has historically claimed some of the worlds most powerful men as members including Henry Kissinger, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Donald Rumsfeld, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney.
Harvey_Hancock_at_Bohemian_Grove_1967
Besides an ‘off the record’ meeting between some of the world’s most powerful men, one of the most controversial aspects of the two-week gathering revolves around the ‘Cremation of Care’ ceremony that depicts a mock child sacrifice performed in front of a forty-foot stone owl called Moloch, which many believe is Satanic.
Following on from last months’ Bilderberg meeting which received widespread media attention – a victory for protesters and alternative media activist, you would be forgiven for believing that these kind of unethical and secretive meetings are becoming mainstream news.
However Bohemian Grove still remains ignored, which serves as a reminder of how controlled the media actually is and just how much work we have left to do in exposing secret meetings that allow for the lobbying and formation of global policy.
Take a look at last years protests:
This operation will focus on the Dutch Government. In the video there is also told that they are planning to activists from around the world to Netherlands.
The date will be Friday 20 September 17: 00 place: the Hague, Location still unknown.
SYSTEM FAILS!!!
Sign up, join the fight against the Government, this is NOT a demonstration, this goes on, we'll take an example in the occupation of Istanbul's Taksim Square.
We occupy a square in the Hague go, and there continue to be a party, camping, a party where the Government wake up by lies down.
Meanwhile, someone is offered to the music to take care of, there comes a kind of drive-in. All top!!
The purpose of this event is that there is going to be listened to us, we are engaged in to a list of points where the Government will have to do. Our spokesperson will the conversation to have to go with the Government.
I am convinced that if this is going to be on a massive scale that the Government should come up with something, as this can if not longer.
Ask anyone you know with it, we need everyone.
A number of important points of view of what we want is going to be adjusted:
1. tax reduction instead of increase, so the burden relieve for the citizens who suffer the crisis caused by bad policy of banks and politicians.
2. withdrawal from the European Parliament. The EU is a money devouring machine, in which the money disappears into the pockets of MEPs and bankers who have caused the crisis. The money is intended to help southern European countries from the crisis does not come in to the citizens of those countries, but finds herself at the corrupt bankers and politicians.
See here where your tax money goes: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v = iK8ue7-Shpc
3. all the cuts that are going to be announced yet for 2014 that the already heavily loaded to be cancelled again take citizens serve.
4. multinational companies in Netherlands tax dodging. Multinationals pay likewise hardly taxes in our country. By mailbox companies in Netherlands to settle pay them 1.9% tax on their profits made outside America, while they are in their native country have to pay 35% of tax.
See here the source from which this is taken off: episodes http://tegenlicht.vpro.nl//2012-2013/tax-free-tour. html
5. Minimum wage increase instead of decrease, decrease instead of increase top salaries.
6. bonuses for ' top ' directors should be abandoned. In recent years millions of bankers got home, while the staff was fired.
See here the video of always what bookmark: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v = zG_zXwoZNuQ
7. reduce the salary of the Prime Minister as he himself has said that he doesn't have to cut down, while he does have broken the country cuts down.
See here the video in which Rutte himself says that he doesn't have to cut back:http://www.youtube.com/watch? v = kCe7k17u4Ds
These are not the only 7 points where we are fighting for, know you have any good points of view? Please let us know.
Just for clarity. We have enough people in the Organization to make this a great success, and we appreciate all the help we get offered but at this point we can only use for further help the promotion of this event. And what we still can use is a central/mobile kitchen, coffee facilities, Dixy's and Wi-Fi, large sleeping tents, voedselsponsers, water supply, that sort of thing. and maybe there are people who have a coach to people from certain points in Netherlands to pick up.
So if anyone can help with that we hear the likes.
CONTACT: Iptrap@hotmail.nl
We hebben inmiddels ook 4 soorten Flyers/Posters, via onderstaande links te downloaden.
The international resistance against Monsanto and the genetic manipulation of the food supply has advanced to an all new level, with countless citizens around the world taking the fight online and partaking in the Monsanto Video Revolt grassroots movement.
Though scheduled to officially take place on July 24th, we’ve seen thousands of citizens around the world upload their videos exposing Monsanto from as far away as Nigeria and Thailand.
The massive response to the campaign, which I just announced last month with my friends and alternative news titans Mike Adams of NaturalNews and Dr. Edward Group of Global Healing Center, signifies a massive shift in global response to Monsanto’s food abominations. While for years we have been sounding the alarm and growing the number of individuals who were aware of GMOs, we now have the opportunity to make history — the right way.
It’s time now to kick Monsanto out of the food supply and dig up the corporation’s infected roots from deep within our ever-depleting soil. Now is the time to make this a reality, as we take the fight online like never before. And unlike physical demonstrations where the mainstream media can choose to ignore them despite massive turnouts, completely blasting the net with information like never before through this Monsanto Video Revolt (connect on Facebook to get the word out) will be like posting up a billboard on the front page of virtually all social media and video upload websites.
Anyone can participate with ease and in the comfort of their own home; all you need is a webcam, phone, or video camera.
Step 1 – Create a video of any length detailing why you stand against Monsanto and GMOs at large. The video can be as long as you want – it’s your choice.
Step 2 – Upload your video to major video websites like YouTube, Vimeo, LiveLeak, DailyMotion, NaturalNews.TV (where it will not be censored), etc.).
Step 3 – Spread the word about Monsanto and be the final stake in their vampire heart. Share your video any way possible, through Facebook, Twitter, or any other platform you can think of.
In other words, we now have enough concerned citizens and activists to properly expose Monsanto on a major level like never before — and it’s time to organize this power of truth telling into one coordinated campaign.
I encourage all of you to join the Monsanto Video Revolt today and on July 24th. We will be running a livestream on the 24th documenting the videos coming in (which includes some awesome music videos and mini documentaries made by talented and creative activists just for the revolt) and much more. Be on the right side of history and kick Monsanto out of the food supply!
Police in London have confirmed that 57 people have now been arrested in protests ahead of the G8 summit next week.
Around 150 protesters paraded through central London yesterday, banging drums in a “Carniaval Against Capitalism” organised by the group Stop G8.
There were several scuffles between demonstrators and dozens of riot police at the scene.
Protesters hung a large banner reading “Make extreme wealth history” onto the famous statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus.
Another group of demonstrators, who had covered their faces with black scarves, marched with a sign saying: “No borders, no prisons, no capitalism”.
There were just over 1,200 officers on duty as part of the Metropolitan Police’s operation around the G8 yesterday. Protesters were arrested for various offences including violent disorder, possession of pointed/bladed articles and a variety of public order offences.
At one stage riot police forced their way into two buildings, one a former police station, in London occupied by anti-capitalist protesters to remove them. In a statement, Metropolitan Police said they had “a search warrant relating to intelligence that individuals at the address were in possession of weapons and were intent on causing criminal damage and engaging in violent disorder”.
Today police said they expect further protests in London and officers will be deployed at key locations and “also act as a flexible reserve acrossLondon that can be quickly moved to respond to any incidents”.
Police said that they sought to engage with protest groups “but at this stage no groups or individuals have engaged with us”.
“We would continue to ask anyone who wants to protest in London around the G8 Summit to contact us so that we can work with them and facilitate peaceful protest,” they said.
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