THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Hundreds of people are detained in Moscow and St Petersburg in what authorities say is a move to prevent new outbreaks of ethnic violence. Video courtesy of Reuters.
Showing posts with label street violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label street violence. Show all posts
Friday, December 17, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
THE GLOBE AND MAIL: Vigil at detention centre broken up by police; more than 400 arrested Saturday as storefronts vandalized, at least three police cars burned
More than 400 people have been arrested in connection with G20-related protests, and skirmishes between riot police and protesters continued into the early morning Sunday in downtown Toronto, only hours before leaders of the G20 are scheduled to begin their summit.
Police officers, with batons out, were searching bushes around a University of Toronto building near Russell Street and Spadina Avenue, in what appeared to be a major raid. At least two police buses were on the scene, along with more than 10 other police vehicles, mostly unmarked minivans. One bus was a "prisoner bus," a police officer said.
Several dozen police officers were searching trash cans. At least two people were seen with handcuffs on. More than 50 people had been arrested for wielding "street-type weaponry", such as bricks, police said. Some of thopse arrested looked much older than typical university students. The raid was at the Bancroft Building, the Earth Science Centre and the Graduate Students Centre.
After more than 14 hours of sometimes-violent confrontations between protesters and officers, the downtown core was largely quiet; discarded water bottles and plastic zip-tie handcuffs littered streets that had been the scenes of standoffs hours before. >>> Anna Mehler Paperny and Chris Hannay | Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Thailand has imposed three more days of curfew in Bangkok and 23 other provinces as the military extended its operations to crush an anti-government protest movement.
One day after the army moved into the Red Shirt protestor encampment in the centre of the capital, sparking a night of violence in which 35 buildings were torched, residents of Bangkok were struggling to regain some sort of normality.
But the extension of the first curfew in 18 years was a sign that the chaos of recent months and days had not been banished by the extensive army deployment.
In announcing the curfew would stretch until Sunday, officials said rioting of the part 24 hours had been systematically planned. Col Sansern Kawekamnerd, an army spokesman, said a cache of bombs, "war ammunition" and guns including AK-47 and M-16 automatic rifles in the crackdown had been found at opposition strongholds.
"Such violence couldn't happen without systematic planning," said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. "The security forces will continue operations to restore order and arrest those involved in terrorism." >>> Damien McElroy in Bangkok | Thursday, May 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Thailand is torn between two rival camps, best characterised as competing patronage networks.
Since March 12, tens of thousands of red-shirted demonstrators have occupied central areas of Bangkok, demanding the resignation of the Oxford-educated prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the dissolution of parliament. The violence peaked on April 10 – when more than 20 people were killed – and has flared up again, as the military have tried to clear out the Redshirts' encampment.
At times, the security forces have fought pitched battles with protesters. The fatalities have included a Japanese cameraman, and several foreigners have been injured, including a Canadian journalist. In recent days, snipers have been shooting people from high buildings.
This has been portrayed as a struggle between poor farmers from the countryside and an undemocratic Bangkok elite. Yet despite the sympathetic coverage for the Redshirts in much of the international media, this is not a classic "pro-democracy" struggle between good guys and bad guys. It is a savage and dispiriting civil conflict, from which nobody emerges with much credit. Read on and comment >>> Duncan McCargo | Wednesday, May 19, 2010
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BANGKOK—Hard-line Thai protesters set fire Wednesday to the country's stock exchange, shopping malls and a television station, while Thai authorities called an 8 p.m. curfew, casting doubt on the prospects for a resolution to the country's weeks-long political crisis despite the surrender of protest leaders earlier in the day.
Thai Red Shirt protest leaders called off their marathon rally and surrendered to police Wednesday after an early morning army assault on their heavily fortified camp in the center of Bangkok.
But in the midafternoon, smoke could be seen billowing from the Stock Exchange of Thailand's headquarters as helicopters buzzed in the sky above. Though trading has been taking place at a different, undisclosed location in recent days, stock-exchange officials said markets would be closed Thursday. Earlier in the day, Thailand's benchmark index finished up 0.7% on hopes for a quick resolution. Authorities also said commercial banks around the country would be closed Thursday and Friday.
Thick plumes of smoke rose across other locations in the city as militant protesters targeted some of Bangkok's main commercial centers. In other parts of Thailand, local television broadcast pictures of antigovernment demonstrators setting alight a provincial government building in northeastern Khon Kaen. >>> James Hookway | Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Thailand's anti-government protesters brought anarchy to a swath of Bangkok last night in defiance of a government deadline to disband mass demonstrations at the heart of the capital.
Mobs set fire to office towers and expensive blocks of flats across a three-mile zone of chaos in one of south-east Asia's richest cities.
Army reinforcements established road blocks and checkpoints but failed to deter the spread of the Red Shirt movement, which is loyal to exiled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra.
An afternoon deadline for the clearance of Ratchaprasong, the main demonstration site, passed with a 5,000 strong crowd defying a warning that it was "no longer safe".
The deadline, set by Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand's Eton-educated prime minister, was dropped after encountering the opposition of the country's military high command. >>> Damien McElroy and Ian MacKinnon in Bangkok | Monday, May 17, 2010
THE BOSTON GLOBE: Leadership rejects protesters’ call for UN mediation
BANGKOK — Antigovernment unrest boiling over in downtown Bangkok spread to other areas of the capital and Thailand as the military defended its use of force in a crackdown that has left 36 people dead in four days. Thai leaders flatly rejected protesters’ demands that the United Nations intercede to end the chaos.
Rapid gunfire and explosions echoed before dawn today outside the luxury hotels bordering the barricaded protest zone, where the military has attempted to seal in thousands of demonstrators camping in the downtown streets. Guests at the upscale Dusit Thani hotel were rushed to the basement for safety.
Yesterday, plumes of black smoke hung over city streets where protesters set fire to tires, fired homemade rockets, and threw gasoline bombs at soldiers who used rubber bullets and live ammunition to pick off rioters who approached their lines. Army sharpshooters crouched behind sandbags and fired to keep attackers at bay.
Leaders of the protesters, who have dubbed themselves Red Shirts, said they wanted talks mediated by the UN, provided the government agreed to an immediate cease-fire and pulled its troops back. >>> Chriss Blake | Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Greece came to a standstill today as a nationwide strike piled pressure on the government as it struggled to deal with the worst rioting in decades.
Banks, schools and public transport were shut and hundreds of flights in and out of the country were cancelled as air traffic controllers also went on strike.
Stathis Anestis, spokesman for a federation of private sector unions, said: "Participation in the strike is total, the country has come to a standstill."
The opposition Socialist party repeated calls for the centre-right government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis to resign and call early elections.
"He and his government are responsible for the widespread crisis that the country, that Greek society is experiencing," said Socialist party spokesman George Papakonstantinou.
Newspapers added to the pressure on Mr Karamanlis's beleaguered administration, with the headline in the popular daily Ta Nea warning: "Government and police on the brink of collapse".
The paralysis came as police clashed with demonstrators in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioaninna and on the Aegean island of Rhodes for the fourth night in a row. At least seven officers were injured.
In the capital, students hurled petrol bombs and riot police responded with tear gas a few blocks from where 15-year-old schoolboy Alexis Grigoropoulos was shot dead by a police officer on Saturday night, plunging Greece into its worst civil unrest for decades.
"The winds of destruction are blowing through our city," said Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis. >>> By Nick Squires In Athens | December 10, 2008
leJDD.fr: Tension maximale à Athènes
Pour la quatrième nuit d'affilé, Athènes et les grandes villes grecques ont connu une nuit de violence, après qu'un adolescent a été tué samedi par un policier. La capitale est sous haute surveillance mercredi car un grand rassemblement s'y tient dans la matinée, marquant le début de la grande grève générale de 24 heures. Mais des affrontements ont déjà eu lieu.
C'est la journée de tous les dangers pour les forces de l'ordre grecques. La grande grève générale de 24 heures débute ce mercredi matin, par un grand rassemblement dans la ville d'Athènes. L'ambiance est électrique dans la capitale. Depuis quatre nuits, une vague de violences urbaines secoue le pays, animée par des étudiants, des anarchistes, ou de simples citoyens, qui protestent contre le gouvernement après qu'un jeune adolescent a été tué samedi par un policier.
Cette grande manifestation avait été annoncée avant samedi, lancée par les syndicats du public et du privé, qui entendent dénoncer la politique économique et sociale du gouvernement conservateur. Dans le contexte tendu, le Premier ministre Costas Caramanlis a demandé aux organisateurs d'annuler le mouvement, en vain. Des milliers de personnes ont commencé à se rassembler devant le Parlement, là même où les émeutiers se réunissent la nuit. D'ailleurs très vite, des affrontements ont eu lieu entre des émeutiers et les forces de l'ordre. Les premiers, armés de pierres, de bouteilles et de bâtons se sont opposés aux policiers qui ont répliqué avec des tirs de gaz lacrymogène. Les syndicalistes ont toutefois lancé un appel au calme pour que la manifestation se déroule sans incidents. La Grèce fonctionne au ralenti, les services publics, les transports et de nombreuses entreprises sont affectés par l'appel à la grève lancé par les deux grandes centrales. "La participation à la grève est totale, le pays est à l'arrêt", se réjouissait Stathis Anestis, porte-parole de la GSEE, fédération syndicale du secteur privé. >>> Par Maud Pierron (avec Reuters) | Mercredi 10 Décembre 2008
NZZ Online: Folgen eines versäumten Strukturwandels: Griechenland wird von seinen zivilen Unterlassungen eingeholt
Seit Tagen ist Hellas in Aufruhr. Auf die Krawalle und Plünderungen in einigen Städten folgte das politische Stimmengewirr, in dem die gegenseitige Schuldzuweisung der politischen Kräfte Urständ feiert. Die Gründe für die missliche Lage der Nation liegen tiefer.
«Europa sind die anderen», lautet ein geflügeltes Wort in Griechenland. Es hat seine Gültigkeit auch nach dem EWG-Beitritt des Landes (1981) behalten und gilt ohne weiteres bis in die heutigen Tage der EU.
Was mit diesem gerade hier etwas eigensinnig anmutenden Satz zum Ausdruck gebracht wird, ist ein tiefer Argwohn gegenüber dem Lebensstil in «Westeuropa», den modernistischen Überzeugungen im westlichen Zentrum, mithin den Verheissungen der offenen Gesellschaft.
Die zivilgesellschaftlichen Institutionen haben es auch seit dem Untergang der Diktatur (1974) schwer in Griechenland. Tiefe Gräben durchziehen die griechische Gesellschaft. So folgen etwa die politischen Akteure einer längst überkommenen Interessenstruktur: Kapital vs. Staat vs. Agrarbevölkerung vs. Gewerkschaften usw.
Was darüber versäumt wurde, ist der bewusste Aufbau einer Zivilgesellschaft. Die Misere des Bildungswesens etwa ist nicht nur an den griechischen Universitäten zu erkennen, an denen ein Studium nach europäischen Kriterien durch monatelange Streiks wechselweise der Professoren und der Studenten seit Jahren unmöglich geworden ist. Vor allem der sekundäre Bildungsbereich und die Berufsausbildung (das anderswo längst bewährte duale System) stecken in den Kinderschuhen, falls sie die Fusswickel je abgestreift haben. >>> Von Perikles Monioudis | 10. Dezember 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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