Bahrain 'Targets' Wounded Protesters
THE INDEPENDENT: Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Bahrain authorities were harassing and isolating hospital patients wounded in anti-government protests when security forces began a crackdown in the kingdom two weeks ago.

Bahrain's Sunni rulers this month imposed martial law and brought in troops from Sunni-led Gulf neighbours, including Saudi Arabia, to quell weeks of unrest during pro-democracy demonstrations led mostly by the state's Shi'ite majority.

Twenty-four people were killed in the ensuing clashes, the government said on Tuesday. The opposition Wefaq party says 250 people have been detained and another 44 have gone missing since the crackdown.

The security measures were condemned by Iran, the main Shi'ite power in a region dominated by Sunni Muslim rulers, which said they could lead to a wider conflict.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled al-Khalifa said Iran should stop its "offensive" against Bahrain, telling pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that political dialogue could only start once security had been restored in the island kingdom. Opposition parties reiterated denials of any foreign backing on Wednesday.

US-based Human Rights Watch said it was concerned Bahrain forces were targeting hospital patients who were protesters or bystanders in scattered demonstrations that broke out last Friday in a planned "Day of Rage" that police quickly quashed.

"Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented several cases in which patients with protest-related injuries were transferred to or sought treatment at Salmaniya and were then severely harassed or beaten," it said in a statement. » | Erika Solomon, Reuters | Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Yemen Bomb Plot: Protests After Woman Arrested
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: A female engineering student has been arrested in Yemen on suspicion of posting the packages containing bombs found on two cargo jets in Dubai and Britain.

Women protest outside the university in Sana'a where Hanan al Samawi is studying medicine. Photo: The Sunday Telegraph
The 22-year-old woman, named locally as Hanan al Samawi, was traced through a phone number left with a cargo company. Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen's president, said the information that identified her was provided by the US and the United Arab Emirates.

She was arrested at a house in a poor area in the west of Sana'a, where she is studying medicine at the university. Her mother was also arrested, but is not a prime suspect according to her lawyer.

A group of women gathered outside the university carrying banners, some of them written in English, saying the arrested women is being used as a scapegoat.

The bomb intercepted in Britain on its way to America was designed to explode in mid-air and may have been targeted at the UK.

David Cameron said he believed the device was constructed to detonate while the aircraft was in flight.

He said a plot to blow it up over British soil could not be ruled out.

The Prime Minister's dramatic intervention came as the investigation into the plot was centring on one of al-Qaeda's most senior commanders.

US and British security officials believe Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born figurehead of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) was behind the foiled attack in which two ink cartridge bombs, posted in Yemen, were intercepted in Britain and Dubai on the way to America.

Al-Awlaki, who is in hiding in Yemen, is regarded by the CIA and MI6 as the driving force behind the transformation of AQAP from a regional group into an international terrorist organisation.

Fears of more plots emerged after investigators in Sana'a, the Yemeni capital, said they were examining 24 other suspect packages. Read on and comment >>> Sean Rayment, Patrick Hennessy and David Barrett | Sunday, October 31, 2010

France Burns as Strike Descends into Violence
THE INDEPENDENT: President Sarkozy vows to crush petrol blockades crippling country

Protesters in Lyon set fire to the city as riot police look on. Photograph: The Independent
France teetered on the edge of a complex and multi-layered crisis yesterday as petrol shortages worsened and violence by disaffected suburban youths spread and intensified.

Around 3.5 million people, according to unions – about the same or marginally fewer than last week – joined marches around the country to protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy's plans to raise the retirement age to 62. One-day strikes in the public sector disrupted rail and air services but were patchily observed by workers in other sectors.

The sense of crisis threatening the country came not from these "official" protests but from spreading blockages of schools and universities by students and by continuing strikes at oil refineries and the picketing of fuel distribution depots by hardline union branches.

Mr Sarkozy promised rapid action to lift the fuel blockages as the government admitted that 4,000 – almost one in three – petrol stations were "waiting for supplies" (in other words empty).

The Prime Minister, François Fillon, said that "no one has a right to take an entire country hostage" and promised emergency action to restore petrol supplies to normal within five days. Potentially even more seriously, there was a second day of violent clashes between police and hooded youths in Lyon, in Nanterre, west of Paris, and in a score of other towns and suburbs. In Lyon, 200 youths – apparently unconnected to any pension protest – rampaged down the city's main shopping street, burning and overturning cars and looting and smashing shops. Read on and comment >>> John Lichfield in Paris | Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Not a Whiff of Allah’s Compassion and Mercy in the Islamic Republic of Iran
TIMES ONLINE: Nine more dissidents will be executed soon, a senior member of Iran's judiciary declared today, as the regime stepped up its efforts to deter another huge opposition rally planned for next week.

The regime is sufficiently worried that it has ordered state television not to broadcast the usual historic television footage of insurrection on the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the Shah, lest the scenes incite today's opposition to follow suit.

Last Thursday it hanged two men for allegedly plotting against the regime - a move condemned internationally but praised by Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, a hardline cleric, during Friday prayers in Tehran. "May God not have mercy on those who are lenient with the corrupt on earth," he said. "There is no room for clemency. It is time for severity."

On Saturday the regime broadcast the trial of 16 opposition supporters, two of them women, for allegedly plotting against the Islamic Republic and conspiring with its foreign enemies.

Today Ebrahim Raisi, a senior member of the judiciary, announced that nine more alleged members of "anti-revolutionary" groups would be hanged soon. "They had participated in riots with the aim of creating disunity and toppling the system," he said. Nine to be executed as Iran plans crackdown >>> Martin Fletcher | Tuesday, February 02, 2010

Iranian Activists Hanged at Dawn
The protesters clashed with police and Islamist militiamen. Photograph: Times Online
This is just another manifestation of Islam’s credentials to be called the ‘religion of peace’! Geert Wilders in the Netherlands is on trial for highlighting its excesses and weaknesses of this self-same religion. And it is this self-same religion whose book, the Koran, in all its surahs (chapters) bar one, begin with the injunction, 'In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful'!

If Allah is so merciful and compassionate, I wish that Muslims would remember this when they pass sentence on hapless individuals who feel cheated by the repressive Islamic régimes they live under. If Muslims want Allah to show compassion and mercy on them, then maybe it’s time for them to show compassion and mercy on their brothers in Islam!

As for the Netherlands… What can one say about a country, any country, that puts one of its citizens, still less one of its leading politicians, on trial for telling the truth, as Douglas Murray has pointed out. Surely if things go on like this here in the West, a revolution cannot be far off the horizon. – © Mark

TIMES ONLINE: Two Iranians convicted of being "enemies of God" and trying to topple the Islamic regime were hanged at dawn today.

It was the first known execution of opposition activists since June's disputed presidential election prompted massive street protests - although the lawyer of one of the two men insisted that her client was arrested at least two months before the election and was not involved in any demonstrations.

The ISNA news agency said that Mohammad Reza Ali Zamani and Arash Rahmani Pour were "hanged on Thursday morning" after their sentences were confirmed by a Tehran appeals court, were hanged on Thursday morning”.

Both were convicted of being "Mohareb" - enemies of God - and of trying to overthrow the "Islamic establishment". They were also convicted of belonging to armed opposition groups.

Iran has tried more than 100 political activists and protesters since August. According to official media reports, five have been sentenced to death and more than 80 to prison terms ranging from six months to 15 years.

Reports today suggested that nine more had been sentenced to death in those trials and an appeals court is reviewing their cases.

Some of the latest nine death sentences were reportedly related to deadly clashes on December 27, when at least eight people were killed in the most violent day of protests since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed a resounding re-election win. >>> Philippe Naughton | Thursday, January 18, 2010

THE TELEGRAPH: Iran executes two dissidents and sentences to death nine more: Iran delivered a chilling message of intent to the country's reform movement yesterday when it hanged two men accused of participating in protests following last year's disputed presidential election and sentenced to death nine more. >>> Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent | Thursday, January 28, 2010

BNP on BBC's Question Time: Protesters Breach Police Cordon
THE TELEGRAPH: Anti-fascist protesters demonstrating against BNP leader Nick Griffin's appearance on Question Time have broken through a police cordon outside BBC Television Centre.


About 30 people managed to get past police lines during struggles with officers drafted in to protect the entrance to Television Centre in White City, west London.

Some appeared to have gained entry to the building where they were pursued by police.

About 50 officers were deployed to police the demonstration
Scores of protesters converged on Television Centre ahead of the filming of the programme, which is due to be screened on BBC1.

A police helicopter circled overhead as officers guarded the front entrance.

Speaking after entering the building, Mr Griffin said of the protesters: "I was rather expecting that.

"The Labour Party financed groups from all over the country bringing a mob down here today. It was always going to be a fairly big event."

Police claimed they had more than enough resources to deal with the crowd, which was expected to grow throughout the evening. >>> | Thursday, October 22, 2009

TIMES ONLINE: At least 30 anti-BNP protesters break into BBC Television Centre >>> Nico Hines, Richard Kerbaj and Patrick Foster | Thursday, October 22, 2009

Muslim Uighurs Riot as Ethnic Tensions Rise in Western China
THE GUARDIAN: Protests over deaths of workers turn violent as mobs burn buses and attack residents from minorities in western province

Three people were killed during rioting in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, as thousands of Muslim Uighurs took to the streets during the biggest display of ethnic unrest in recent memory.

The protesters smashed up buses, threw stones through shop windows and assaulted Han Chinese passers-by, according to a witness, who said the spark was the recent killing of Uighur migrant workers in Guangdong, southern China.

Xinhua, the state news agency, said those killed were "three ordinary people of the Han ethnic group." It did not say how they died.

Vehicles were set on fire and traffic guard rails overturned. Bloodied victims were rushed to hospital in the regional capital, Urumqi, as armed riot police moved in to restore order with tear gas, armoured vehicles and road blocks, according to a foreign student in Xinjiang.

A large section of Urumqi was shut off to vehicles tonight , with police manning roadblocks at the perimeter. Witnesses reported large numbers of armed officers inside the cordon. Mobile phone networks appeared to get cut off sporadically.

"There were big ethnic riots - there was a lot of fighting," said one Han resident. "It's not safe – you can't go anywhere near there. They've blocked it all off. You have to be careful." >>> Tania Branigan in Urumqi and Jonathan Watts in Beijing | Sunday, July 05, 2009

Iran Protesters May Have Last Laugh on Ageing Regime
THE NATIONAL (UAE): Some years ago, Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president, revealed something that speaks volumes about the bare-knuckled quality of politics currently on display in Tehran.



In late 1978, with protests mounting against his abusive reign, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi went on television and expressed contrition. “He admitted to past transgressions and past sins and said ‘I’ve heard the voice of your revolution’,” Karim Sadjadpour, an expert on the Middle East republic, told a conference held recently at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He believed that was going to appease the crowds and silence the unrest.

On the contrary. In hard-boiled Iran, the Shah's mea culpa was a fatal show of vulnerability. "That's when we smell blood", said Mr Rafsanjani. "That's when we pounce."


Mr Rafsanjani’s aside explains the uncompromising stance staked out by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, as his regime faces the most serious threat to its legitimacy since the Shah’s removal. “What Khamenei has long believed is that you never compromise when you’re under siege,” Mr Sadjadpour said at the Carnegie briefing. “That projects weakness, which invites even more pressure.”

The Iranian regime is indeed weak, and has been long before it struggled to win the latest election with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad apparently receiving more votes cast. If anything, the events of the past 10 days have revealed the Iranian government to be the hollow shell that it is, and not a rising power as it was so ludicrously portrayed by George W Bush, the former US president, and his neoconservative cadres. >>> Stephen Glain | Sunday, June 28, 2009

Iran Police 'Use Gas' on Protesters
AL JAZEERA: Iranian police have reportedly used tear gas and water cannon against thousands of people gathering to protest against the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president.



Protesters tried to reach Revolution Square in the centre of the capital Tehran for a planned protest on Saturday, despite warnings from police that they would be arrested.

Police had blocked access to the square and Ahmadreza Radan, the deputy national police commander, had said they would "strongly confront any illegal gatherings and those without permission".



"Those who pull people to the streets should know that by a judicial decree they will be prosecuted by law and they will be arrested." Roads blocked >>>

Protesters Take to London’s Streets
FINANCIAL TIMES: Thousands of anti-capitalist protesters have gathered around the capital on Wednesday morning for a day of action ahead of the G20 summit.

By 11am four marches, led by representations of the horsemen of the apocalypse, were preparing to depart to advance on the Bank of England.

Amid a huge police operation, the mood was largely good natured as protest groups assembled, shouting slogans and carrying banners.

But there were early signs of friction as police contained demonstrators within barricades outside Liverpool Street station, who started screaming ”let us go”.

About 100 cyclists sped down Bishopsgate ”pedalling for the planet”. One cyclist was asked why he was taking part. ”It’s a day out of the office,” he said.

Olivier Dale, a 28 year old attending the demonstration said: ”I am sick of these bankers and this greed. It has got to stop. We have to make a stand. But we want it to be peaceful.”

One protester wearing a balaclava and carrying a sign saying ”welcome to pig city” and who declined to be named said: ”I am an anti-capitalist, I am an anarchist. It’s a rich man’s club. I believe in class war. It is poor versus rich, as simple as that. ” >>> By FT Reporters | Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Protesters to Peres: Eliminate Israel
THE JERUSALEM POST: While the French state welcomed President Shimon Peres in official ceremonies of unprecedented pomp, some Frenchmen were less enthusiastic: Dozens of people in Lyon protested against Peres's tour of the city on Wednesday, holding signs with the slogans "Eliminate Israel" and "Israel is unlawful."

French security forces arrived on the scene and forcibly dispersed the crowd, the report said.

The protest led by Palestinian demonstrators, outside Le musée de la resistance was a dissonant note in a lengthy visit during which Peres was mostly warmly welcomed. Protesters to Peres: Eliminate Israel >>>

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)