6 Palestinians injured in clashes with Israeli police over house demolitions

peopledaily

28/07/2010 - Six Palestinians were injured and four others were arrested during clashes with Israeli police in East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, witnesses said.
The witnesses said angry Palestinian young men threw stones at Israeli police and settlers who came to inspect a site where the municipality of Jerusalem is planning to build an entertainment place.
The Israeli police used rubber-coated metal bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowds, the witnesses added.
The municipality of Jerusalem approved in June a plan to demolish 22 Arab-owned houses in Silwan to build an archeological garden in the neighborhood.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops arrested seven Palestinians in the West bank city of Hebron and led them to an unknown location, witnesses in the area told Xinhua.
The Israeli soldiers arrested the Palestinians during house search operations in the city’s neighborhoods, the witnesses added.
Israeli forces have been storming the settlement-dotted West Bank cities to arrest « wanted activists », while the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) has been complaining that such attacks hindered its forces from maintaining law and order in the territory.

Moscow, Khimki forest - demonstrators hurl smoke bombs and smash windows in protest against highway

AFP

MOSCOW — Russian demonstrators hurled smoke bombs and smashed windows in a rare violent protest against the building of a road through a forest outside Moscow, officials said Thursday.
Pictures broadcast on Russian television and the Internet showed the administration building in the town of Khimki engulfed in smoke and surrounded by broken glass after the protest by hundreds of people late on Wednesday.
Such violent protests are extremely rare in Russia, where police normally rapidly clamp down even on peaceful demonstrations that are unauthorised.
Police said an initial group of 90 people suddenly appeared outside the administration building in the early evening. Reports said the numbers then swelled to around 500.
"They shouted slogans in support of the Khimki forest. Shots were fired and glass bottles were thrown," Moscow police spokesman Yevgeny Gildeyev told the Moscow Echo radio station
He said that when police arrived at the scene the protestors had dispersed but they were now trying to arrest those behind the unrest.
"Several police units were dispatched but when they arrived on the scene they found no one," Gildeyev said. "We have information that they (the protestors) went to the station and left for Moscow."
The protestors travelled to Khimki by train after gathering at a concert in central Moscow, Kommersant newspaper reported.
A video posted on the town's municipal web site showed hundreds of protestors, some wearing masks, marching through the town centre, meeting no resistance.
The protestors scrawled slogans including "Save the Russian forest" on the municipal building and smashed several windows, but did not go inside. There were no reports of any injuries.
NTV television said that air pistols and stun guns were among the weapons employed in the protest. The Kommersant daily said that 400-500 people from "anti-fascist" and anarchist groups were involved in the action.
The authorities of the Moscow region are "outraged by such acts," a spokesman for the Moscow region governor Boris Gromov told the ITAR-TASS news agency.
Police on Wednesday evening detained nine environmental activists at the road construction site in the forest, including their leader, Yevgeniya Chirikova, the Interfax news agency reported.
Chirikova and other activists were released later in the day after paying a 700-ruble (23-dollar) fine for making a fire in the forest, Moscow Echo said.
Chirikova had teamed up with leftwing umbrella group Left Front in anti-road protests.
Ecological activists who have been protesting against the razing of the forest in recent weeks insisted they had no role in the violence which they said had been perpetrated by extremists.
"I am truly disappointed that extremists and provocateurs are more and more mixing themselves up with the true ecologists and genuine defenders of the Khimki forest," lawmaker Anton Belyakov told Moscow Echo.
The new Moscow-Saint Petersburg highway planned through the forest is aimed at relieving chronic traffic congestion in the area close to the Sheremetyevo airport.

Warsaw - Solidarity protest against Carrefour 'red dots'

noblogs



Workers in Carrefour supermarkets around Poland are complaining about the introduction of a new element in the "organization of work": a large red circle found on the floors of markets where workers are supposed to stand to "discuss issues" with the management. Workers in one Lublin market were the first to expose that, among the reasons workers should stand on the circle is to get permission to go to the toilet.
Workers have pointed out the absurdity of the situation where they have to stand 5-10minutes waiting for a manager to show up at the red circle and give them permission to use the toilet when it is faster just to take a break. People are complaining that the procedure is totally humiliating.
Failure to stand on the red circle also has its consequences: if an employee takes a break to go to the toilet without doing so, it is considered an "unjustified absence from work", which could even be the pretext for dismissal.
A facebook group was set up to support the workers and protest against the red circle. Various organizations, including ZSP (whose members are already sabotaging the circles), have called on people to send protests to Carrefour through its website. .
www.pracownik.net.pl

On July 24, more than a dozen people went into the Carrefour carrying red dots and paraded around the supermarket. As the protest was announced, and Carrefour found out about it, they specially hired extra plainclothes security, brought in more security guards (either from other shifts or shops) and called the police. In total, at least 30 hired guards were following the protestors and harrassing them. A few French people from Carrefour management also appeared.
During the protest we heard how guards were instructed to keep an eye on and out for Carrefour workers. If any were to join us (or perhaps even talk to us), they would be fired. Of course we have been aware of such terror tactics in the shop since we know and talk to employees there regularly. It also turned out that a few employees said good words to the protesters.
People in general also expressed their support of the action. We particularly enjoyed the comment of one passerby whi said "The people asked for capitalism, they got it. They believe in God too, so let them pray to him now."
Despite the heavy security presence, the management apparently decided it would be a much worse scene if the security started to beat us and drag us out, so we just ignored what they were saying to us and carried on the protest. People from ZSP and MS took part.

Pisa, Italy - Classic escape from Don Bosco prison

culmine

Two Albanian prisoners manage to escape from Don Bosco prison in Pisa with the classic method of the sheet!

Akowonjo, Lagos - police violently attacked after shooting bus driver

sunnewsonline

July 28, 2010 - Hell was let loose yesterday at the Akowonjo area of Lagos when a police constable allegedly shot dead a commercial bus driver and wounded a vulcanizer. The policeman was instantly lynched by a mob who overpowered him. Daily Sun gathered that a commercial bus fully loaded with passengers was flagged down by a police patrol team, which was reportedly busy extorting money from bus drivers.
The bus driver allegedly indicated that he had already paid his toll and refused to stop. The constable was said to have fired at the vehicle, killing the driver instantly while other passengers including a vulcanizer suffered gunshot wounds.
Sympathisers who witnessed the incident could not hold back their anger as they went after the police team.
Members of the police patrol team were said to have taken to their heels but the mob, which was desperate to avenge the death of the driver, simply identified as Kazeem, went after the team and succeeded in apprehending the constable.
The mob descended on the policeman and beat him to a state of coma. However, his colleagues called for reinforcement and about 10 patrol vehicles stormed the scene and took away the constable.
Daily Sun reliably gathered that he gave up the ghost on the way to the hospital. However, the mob, which took over the Akowonjo area, barricaded the road, chanting songs condemning the police.
Street urchins popularly called Area Boys hijacked the protest and wreaked havoc on vehicle owners suspected to be either military or police personnel. The protesters were chanting, “Enough is enough,” “Withdraw police from our roads.”
A commercial bus driver who identified himself simply as Wasiu alleged that police extortion on Lagos roads was becoming too much. “They now collect N50 instead of N20. It is not one checkpoint; we have up to 15 checkpoints from Iyana-Iba to Akowonjo. So, you see our predicament,” he said.

Phnom Penh - Riot police with assault rifles attack 3,000 women and force them back into factory supplying Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma etc.

dailymail

27th July 2010 - Riot police used electric shock batons to beat women sweatshop workers when they stopped producing fashion labels for the UK and other Western nations in Cambodia today.
The image of heavily-armed police in protective clothing using their shields and batons to crush a strike by poverty-stricken women workers will do nothing to improve the tarnished image of designer label companies who run Asian sweatshops.
At least nine women were injured when more than 100 police, more than half in riot gear and armed with assault rifles, tried to force 3,000 women workers back into their factory.
Some women, who earn less than £1 a day, fell to the ground where they were attacked and stunned by police batons.
Workers in Cambodian sweatshops have risen up in recent protests against low pay and harsh working conditions, but today’s walk-out was over the suspension of a local union official.
The factory, on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, is owned by a Malaysian firm and produces garments for the big names of fashion and sport – Gap, Benetton, Adidas and Puma. The factory contributes to Cambodia’s clothing, textiles and shoes exports which were valued at more than £1 billion last year.
All four clothing and sporting companies linked to the factory have come under severe criticism from investigators for the harsh conditions endured and low wages given to their Third World employees.
..It is the sportswear and garment industry that employs mostly women – and the demonstration at the Cambodian factory yesterday was evidence of that as by the hundred they poured out of the premises in support of their suspended union official.
Riot police rushed to the factory after a court order was given to them to clear the roads and force the women back to work.
The brutality the women suffered brought an end to their strike and they returned to the factory, part of an estimated 300,000 people who work in the garment manufacturing sector.
When they have saved enough of their meagre wages, they send what they can back to their impoverished rural villages, where people struggle on as little as 50 pence a day.

Brazilian Tribes Occupy Power Plant

Reuters

July 26, 2010 - BRASILIA - Brazilian native Indians on Sunday took 100 workers hostage at the construction site of a hydroelectric plant in the southern Amazon region, local media reported.
As many as 400 Indians from several different tribes occupied a power plant they say was built on an ancient burial site.
"They didn't take into account the situation of the Indians. The company used dynamite to blow up part of an archeological site," Antonio Carlos Ferreira de Aquino, a local administrator with the government's agency of indigenous affairs, Funai, told Folha.com.
Armed with bows and arrows, the Indians occupied the site at dawn on Sunday and confined the construction company's employees to their barracks.
There were no reports of injuries.
The Indians are demanding that government officials help negotiate a settlement with the construction company.
"We want to be compensated for the construction of the plant. The site is 30 kilometers (19 miles) from our reserve and has caused great cultural and social impact in our community, not to mention environmental damage," Aldeci Arara, a tribal leader, told the G1 news portal.
The Dardanelos dam on the Aripuana river, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the Mato Grosso state capital Cuiaba, was due to come online in January 2011, the media reports said.
The construction company told G1.com that it has been in touch with Funai to define a community development program for the local native Indians.
The company was not immediately available for comment.
It is one of nearly a dozen hydroelectric power plants the administration of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been promoting in the Amazon region.
Earlier this year the government took bids for the construction of the $17 billion Belo Monte dam on the Xingu river. The project triggered an international outcry over potential environmental damage and impact on native Indian tribes.

Trikala, Greece - 500 prisoners on hunger strike

actforfreedom

27/07/2010 - According to "eleutherotypia" newspaper : "For a ninth day prisoners in Trikala prisons are continuing their hunger strike, they are protesting the denial of a large majority of prisoner applications for days out by the prison authorities and the bad behaviour of the prison guards.
Today, as well the number of prisoners on hunger strike rose from 200 to 500" solidarity to the all prisoners!

Tours, France - 17 year old prisoner escapes from old jail

cette semaine

AFP 26/07/2010 - On Saturday a 17 year old prisoner escaped from jail of Tours by removing the bars from his window and going through the main gate, said an official source. The prison management confirmed that there had been an escape Saturday morning but did not specify the conditions.
According to the union of prison guards (SPS), a majority in the house arrest of Tours, the prisoner watched the entrances and exits from his cell on the second floor overlooking the main entrance.
"Slipping between the frame and the bars of his window, the minor, of slight build, escaped from his cell in the morning and landed without difficulty between the two walls," said SPS in a statement. "He managed to pry the bars open..."
Doubtless using a safety net to cushion his fall, the prisoner then hid behind a tree near the main door and waited for the passage of a truck of the administration to take to his heels. "Slender", around 55 kilos, and "sporty", the young man had "carefully considered" his escape, the SPS added.

Florence, Italy - Damage and occupations. 19 anarchists charged

culmine

Source: corrierefiorentino 23/07/2010 -
A raid causing damaged to the offices of ENEL, the occupation of a municipal building, graffiti on buildings against the then commissioner for safety, Graziano Cioni. These are some of the alleged acts in Florence and 19 people of the anarchists, who were referred for trial by the court. For all, the prosecution accuses the association with aims of terrorism and subversion of democracy.
According to the indictment, since October 2005 the group has been carrying out the invasion of a number of buildings, caused theft and damage, threatened journalists, local politicians and administrators, including former city councilor security Graziano Cioni, who claimed damages. Among the accusations aggravated violence and resistance "against public officials in order to create social tension and clashes in the public streets against police." The nineteen defendants - defended by lawyers Sauro Poli and Massimo Lombardi - are aged between 23 and 55 years. "

Israeli forces crush West Bank demo, injuring three

news.xinhuanet

RAMALLAH, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Three people, including a British activist, were injured Saturday afternoon when Israeli forces dispersed a demonstration in the West Bank, witnesses said.
Tens of Palestinian demonstrators were protesting against Jewish settlement in Beit Umar town to the north of Hebron city when Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and stun grenades against the protestors, the witnesses said.
The pro-Palestinian British campaigner was hit by one of the grenades, and two Palestinians, including a local journalist, fainted after inhaling tear gas, according to the witnesses.
The Palestinian demonstration takes place on weekly basis against Israeli plans to expand a Jewish settlement and a road leading to the settlement at the expense of Palestinian land.
The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) supports these rallies that are considered as part of the "peaceful resistance."

Kashmir - hundreds of stone-throwing protestors break curfew

AFP

32/07/2010 - Security forces fired teargas at stone-throwing protesters in Indian Kashmir as fresh protests against Indian rule broke out Friday, police and witnesses said.
A major clash took place in the northern town of Kupwara, where hundreds of residents took to the streets in defiance of a strict curfew, prompting volleys of teargas shells and baton charges from police.
There were also sporadic clashes in Kashmir’s main city Srinagar, and the northern towns of Palhalan and Baramulla.
Earlier, security forces had sealed off neighbourhoods in Srinagar with barbed wire.
« There is no curfew but strict restrictions are in force in some sensitive parts of Srinagar, » police officer Pervez Ahmed said.
Muslim separatists had urged Kashmiris to march to a holy shrine for a protest rally, but the site was sealed off by police.
The Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley has been in turmoil since a 17-year-old student was killed on June 11 by a police tear-gas shell.
Since then, security forces have been accused of killing 16 more civilians — mostly teenagers — as they struggled to contain growing anti-India protests.
The region has been under curfew for most of the past six weeks, with a separatist-called strike adding to the disruption of normal life.
A two-decade insurgency by militants who oppose New Delhi’s rule in Indian Kashmir has claimed more than 47,000 lives, according to an official count. Human rights groups say the toll is twice as high.

Athens - Panagiota Roupa gave birth to a boy yesterday with proper care from the doctors and and without the presence of anti-terrorism cops!

from :actforfreedomnow!
25/07/2010, 17.42 - A couple of hours ago today, 25 July the hunger strike of comrades Nikos Maziotis and Kostas Gournas and the abstinence from prison food of about 90 prisoners across the country in solidarity with Nikos Maziotis to see his newborn child, all ended.
Nikos was transferred this morning to Alexandra hospital to see his partner Panagiota Roupa who gave birth to their son yesterday with PROPER CARE from their doctors and WITHOUT THE PRESENCE OF ANTI-TERRORISM COPS AT ANY STAGE.
Almost certainly the second request, to visit Pola at Korydallos women's prison, is being considered.
The mobilization succeeded. The hunger strike and abstension from prison food has ended.
Our best wishes to the baby!!
Solidarity to all the comrades!

Guelph: Royal Bank of Canada Smashed Up

anarchistnews

On the evening of July 21, 2010, the atms of an RBC in Guelph,On. were smashed up and the money slots filled with adhesive.
RBC, as many may know by now, is a financial backer with the tar sands as well as the Toronto South Detention Center, a 1,650 bed super maximum prison facility being built in Mimico, Ontario.
Fuck you RBC.
Solidarity with friends and comrades dealing with court, house arrest, police,etc.
Solidarity with Nikos Maziotis currently on hunger strike, and Panagiota Roupa imprisoned in Greece during the birth of their child.
Solidarity with the west coast for hating the cops and for showing it..

FTP!

Athens - Letter of comrade Pola Roupa of 9 July

actforfreedomnow!

http://fotiastakelia.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-am-in-prison-for-involvement-in.html

Lucca, Italy - anarchist comrade Leo Landi sentenced to 6 years

culmine

21/07/2010 - Yesterday July 20 last day of Leo's trial took place in Lucca.
The public prosecutor requested 6 years for robbery 'with the aggravation of terrorism'. The court however, excluded the aggravation but confirmed the sentence of 6 years imprisonment.
A long trial, a decision already decided, not just in the five minutes of deliberation that served the judges to decide, but for the repressive atmosphere that has characterized Tuscany for many years now and for the more general trend that sees power increasingly able to impose itself in trying to eliminate every enemy that stands more or less consciously in front of it.
It inevitably makes us angry to know that Leo will remain in jail, not surprised that they wanted to charge him with being an anarchist, to have always carried forward his ideas with pride, struggles with determination, his love of freedom in practice.
Very often we have had to speak out about and deal with repression when we would rather be devoting our energies to struggles without "chasing" the deadlines that were "imposed".
But these years have made us think much about what was and is fundamental active and concrete solidarity to comrades and companions, especially if they are imprisoned.
They, in fact, are made to pay the price of a declared war against unacceptable reality.
We support them and still prefer the attack on the enemy to the sterile whining about its ugliness. We prefer not stop powerless in the face of obstacles we encounter in our path, but to find a way to overcome them.
Freedom is not begged it is conquered!
When they hit one of us they mean all of us!
The anger is not subsiding, minds and hearts to Leo.

Anarchists of via del cuore

New York - Man in Darth Vader mask robs NY bank

huffington post

A man dressed as Darth Vader stormed a Long Island bank around 11:30 this morning, brandishing a gun and demanding cash from a teller.
Despite the getup, the robber yelled at the cashiers and customers, "This is not a joke!"
The Dark Lord of the Sith made off with an undisclosed amount of money from the Setauket Chase Bank branch.
This is just the latest in a string of odd robberies around New York.
On Wednesday police arrested a man for allegedly robbing a bank using a bouquet of flowers. A woman wearing a cat mask also recently held up a Manhattan shoe store, and an elderly man died in a car crash just days after attempting to rob a store, oxygen tank in tow.

Assam: 3 students killed in police firing

newkerala
Guwahati, 21/07/2010 - At least three students were killed and over 20 others injured in when then police opened firing to quell a mob, which tried to set ablaze a government office and damaged vehicles and shops, in Assam's Barpeta district on Wednesday, police said.
More than 4000 students led by All Assam Minority Students Union (AAMSU) took to the streets of Barpeta town, protesting the government proceedings of updating National Register of Citizens (NRC).
"Suddenly, the protesters became violent and attacked private vehicles, shops and tried to set ablaze the district magistrate office," a senior police official said.
''The security forces first resorted to baton charge and then opened fire in the air. But the mob refused to stop violence. Police had to open fire to disperse the mob. Three protesters were killed and over 20 others injured,'' he added.
The injured persons were admitted to Barpeta Civil Hospital.
The mob damaged at least 20 private vehicles and 28 shops, the official added.
The AASU is demanding cancelation of the process of updating NRC, which has been undertaken as a pilot project in Barpeta district. This process of updating NRC needs citizens to attach some documents as a proof of their Indian citizenship.

Birmingham, Alabama - fibre optic cables cut disabling traffic cameras

signalfire

State transportation officials believe vandalism is to blame for a cut to a fiber optic cable in downtown Birmingham that disabled its area traffic cameras and the department’s ability to remotely control local highway message boards this week.
The Alabama Department of Transportation has 77 traffic cameras and 14 overhead message boards along highways in the Birmingham area, said Tony Harris, spokesman for the department. Views from 39 of the cameras are accessible to the public through ALDOT’s website and the remainder can only be viewed by ALDOT’s traffic management center.
Message boards are used to relay to motorists messages, including traffic delays, detours, and travel times.
Links to the cameras and message boards were cut sometime Monday morning, Harris said.
The cut was located Tuesday, just before lunch, Harris said. The exact location of the cut is not being disclosed for security reasons, he said.
Transportation officials from Birmingham and Montgomery studied the cut, Harris said. “They have concluded it appears to be the work of vandals rather than some accidental cut,” he said.
The repairs, which begin today, will cost at least $10,000, Harris said. “We hope to have all the services that are linked to that fiber optic cable restored by early next week,” he said.

Ashulia, Bangladesh - Workers attack readymade garments factory, 40 injured

bdnews24.com

Savar, 22/07/2010 – Workers have vandalised a readymade garments factory at Ashulia to press for the suspension of seven officials, including its manager for bad behaviour and « the molesting of female workers ».
At least 40 people, including RAB and police personnel and garment workers, were injured in the clash that ensued at Nasa Basic Limited in Nishchintapur.
The workers were also demanding the withdrawal of the cases that had been filed against them following the period of industrial unrest that took place in Ashulia in late June in demand of a higher minimum wage.
Authorities of four factories including Nasa Basic Limited, a subsidiary of Nasa Group, and two other of its sister companies, closed their operations for the day fearing further agitation.
Additional police have been deployed in the industrial zone to keep the situation under control.
The incident on Thursday was rooted in the events of the previous day.
On Wednesday morning, workers of Nasa Basic Limited demanded the suspension of the factory manager Anwar Hossain, the production managers Siddiqur Rahman, ‘Raju’ and Shah Alam, the administration officer ‘Imran’, the manager (quality) ‘Apan’, and the quality controller in charge ‘Arif’ for bad conduct towards them and in particular towards the female workers.
Workers at Nasa Global and Nasa High-tech, two other factories in the group, expressed solidarity with these demands – and workers of all three factories suspended their work at around 4pm on Wednesday and walked out of the factories.
Ashulia police chief Shirajul Islam told bdnews24.com that at about 8am on Thursday, workers employed at Nasa Basic Limited again placed the same demands before the factory authorities. However, due to inaction on the part of the factory authorities, the workers began to vandalise the factory.
The police rushed to the factory but were unable to keep the situation under control. « At one stage, » Islam said, « the workers attacked the factory officials with iron rods and bamboo sticks leading to a violent clash between the two sides. »
He went on to say that when workers of Nasa Global Limited and Nasa High-tech heard about the clash and ran to Nasa Basic Limited to support the fighting workers.
The police said that its men were then forced to charge the workers with batons. « At least 40 people were injured in the clash between law enforcers, workers and garment officials, » Islam added.
Following the incident, workers took out a procession from the factory and proceeded to hurl brickbats at an adjacent factory, ‘Jon Ron Sweaters’. Frightened by the violent events, the three Nasa factories and ‘Jon Ron Sweaters’ closed their operations for the day.

Nancy, France - Two attacks on prison guards at Maxéville

Nancy-Maxéville "prison of the future"
cette semaine

July 19, 2010 - Two successive attacks on prison guards occurred at the Nancy-Maxéville prison yesterday, provoking the anger of the unions.
Three people aboard a vehicle blocked the road to the detention centre on Sunday morning, preventing a guard from going to the prison. "They got on to the guard's car and insulted him," reported Secretary General of the Federal Prison Union (UFAP). Ten minutes later, the attackers "beat up" a second guard, who was traveling by bicycle.
The detention centre Maxéville Nancy, which has 690 cells (currently occupied by about 640 prisoners) for 280 prison staff had been described as "modern, innovative and humane" by the Justice Minister, Rachida Dati, during his inauguration June 9th, 2009. Ouest France.

Rekkem, Belgium - car transporter destroyed by fire

from suie e cendres

20/07/2010 - REKKEM - In a parking spot near the border with France, a truck transporting brand new SAAB cars was put on fire. The whole truck and all the cars burned, a second truck, loaded with oil, also burned.
A few days before, another truck loaded with cars burned not far from there. Police are investigating if this was also an arson.

19.07.2010
TURNHOUT - During the night, vandals attacked 10 busses and a service car of De Lijn, the public transport company (also accomplice in the deportation of people without papars, note) with paint. They especially put paint on the front windows and the mirrors, causing serious amounts of damage and preventing the buses from being used the next morning.

17/07/2010
Roeselare - Sunday afternoon, when the commercial centre was closed, three fires were put at different spots around the commercial centre, each time putting fire to garbage containers. At one place, the fire entered the building and destroyed part of a shop, on the other spots damage was more limited.

Hamilton, Ontario: Demonstration in Solidarity with Hunger Strike at Korydallos, and against all prisons

Infoshop News

July 19th, 2010 -- A noise demonstration took place outside of the Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre (Barton Jail) in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. Around 25 people marched around the prison, chanting slogans (the passion for freedom is stronger than all prisons; no prisons, no borders, fuck law and order; they might take our lives away but not our dignity, our hearts will pound against their walls until we all are free; smash the borders, fuck the state, all these walls are going to break; no justice, no peace, fuck the police; etc), shooting off fireworks, and making speeches.
This demonstration was held to continue creating a visible presence and tension against prisons and the world that needs them, as well as to take direct action in solidarity with the insurgent spirit: with everyone who chooses the dignity of struggle above the servility of obedience.
The 19th of July marked the beginning of a hunger strike in Saint Paul’s Hospital (the infirmary ward of Korydallos prison near Athens, Greece). Below is a translation of a communication about this hunger strike. Solidarity with prisoners in revolt, inside and outside the jails of this prison-world!
“On Monday, July 19th, prisoners will start refusing food with a demand to address and solve the problem of prolonged detention of people with chronic and incurable diseases, who (due to their state of health) should have their sentences reduced.
The human ''dump", as the prisoners of this institution call it themselves, is simply tragic, as we have also heard from comrade Simos Seisidis presently being held there. People with disabilities, strokes, and fatal diseases are thrown into this vile, dirty environment full of shortcomings.
The Secretary for prison policy visited some time ago, and stated that a legislative bill would resolve the matter in February or March. Naturally, he was telling lies.
The prisoners themselves, in their statement to the Minister and the media say:
‘Powerless to react differently, and anyway lacking our health, we are offering what is left of our lives to sacrifice them to your inhuman indifference, not because we hope you will change, but because we refuse to live like beasts, like waste from a system and society without humanity, ethics, or honour.
So, from Monday, July 19th, all those who are able to will abstain from food and all medication and treatment, as a last sign of dignity and self-respect...’
Our comrade Simos Seisidis will participate in this mobilization.”
Until we are all free!
Destroy all prisons!

France, Nord Pas de Calais: sabotage deprives viewers of TV news

cette semaine

19/07/2010 - Following an act of vandalism, France 3 once again did not transmit the regional news editions on television.
Removal of sheaths of fibre optics in the region once again prevent the spread of the edition of 19/20.
...
France 3 Nord Pas de Calais, 09/07/2010 | 5:27 p.m.
An act of vandalism prevented the delivery of regional programs of France 3, Nord Pas de Calais on the analog and digital television.
"This incident, totally beyond our control, follows an act of vandalism Broadcasting of France.
A cable break between the diffusion operator and transmitters, prevented the dissemination of regional programs. Technical means have been put in placeto quickly restore the link and allow viewers to see the regional newspapers in France 3.

Machinery sabotaged at a coal mine near Manchester, England

UK/Northern Indymedia

21/07/2010 - Activists entered the Cutacre coal mine in the early hours of a June morning, & sabotaged 7 monster-trucks, used to transport coal around the site.
They report that metal hair-pins were cut to length, coated in superglue & inserted deep into the locks of the vehicles. Another healthy dose of glue followed for good measure.
It is not known how long the vehicles were out of action - oddly nobody hung around long enough to find out.
The site is located in the Greater Manchester area, & is operated by "lets trash the planet" UK Coal. It is on land owned by " lets sell our mums for money" Peel Holdings.
The activists say they were inspired by fine examples of sabotage at Mainshill, & hope that all over the country, people will resist the destruction, & sabotage machinery.
Nobody was arrested.

Euskadi - molotov attack against estate agent

aiferricorti

July 16, 2010 - An assault committed with the launch of Molotov cocktails during the night caused significant damage at a property of Hendaye on the French Basque country, French police said.
The attack is attributed to groups operating under the slogan "Euskal Herria ez da salgai" (Euskal Herria is not for sale.)
The attack was carried out by a group of individuals around one last night. Militants first attacked real estate offices Maitena, located at 12 Avenue of the Malls, in the centre of town.
The devices caused a serious fire that forced families who occupied the upper floors of the building to leave.
Almost simultaneously, attackers torched a car in the estate, which was parked a few metres from the premises and was identified by a sticker of the company. The flames destroyed the vehicle and also struck a second car parked nearby.
Damage caused in the attack were very great, both in the offices and the car, which was destroyed.
Police have launched an investigation and taken statements from locals who may have witnessed the presence of the group of attackers.
The sources stressed that the attack was committed by a procedure identical to that used by ETA environment in the Spanish Basque Country. Maitena estate agency, established in 1985, is dedicated to the sale and rental of houses and apartments in the border town.

Athens - 60 Korydallos prisoners abstain from prison food against conditions and in solidarity with Simos Seisidis, Nikos Maziotis and Pola Roupa

UPDATE FROM KORYDALLOS HOSPITAL ST PAULS PRISON 20/7

From yesterday prisoners with chronic diseases began to abstain from prison food in protest against the continued torture of the comrade Simos Seisidis, the delays of the 'antiterrorism' for accompanying him to have an artificial leg fitted.
Also 60 prisoners of Korydallos prison are abstaining from prison food from yesterday for the above reasons and in solidarity with the demands of Nikos Maziotis and Panagiota Roupa

Trikala, Greece - prisoners on hungerstrike from today

actforfreedomnow!

Today, Tuesday, 20 July, about 200 prisoners of Trikala prison
have begun a hunger strike after 2 weeks of abstaining from prison food. The Members of the Initiative for Prisoners' Rights have made it known that “they are going on hunger strike for three particular demands:
That applications for authorisation for days out be granted, at the moment 97% are rejected. When granted, to be done without probation, or prison social workers because although their role is to defend the prisoners, they “have passed into the enemy camp”, that of repression. And concerning the serious conditions inside the prison.

How to deal with the media

Warning sign left by the mother of 'barefoot bandit' Colton Harris-Moore
(see below)

Montreal - Night attack on federal government building

CBC News

19/07/2010 - Police have opened an investigation after a federal government building was vandalized early Monday morning in Montreal's Saint-Henri district.
Several windows were smashed on the building, located at the corner of Saint-Jacques and Rose-de-Lima Streets.
The building houses various federal government offices, including for the Department of National Defence, and the RCMP.
Police said three suspects, wearing dark clothing and with covered faces, were seen fleeing the scene at about 2:10 a.m.
No arrests have been made.
It is too soon to determine what the motive might have been, said Montreal police Const. Yannick Paradis.
"Everything has to be considered in the investigation," Paradis said. "We'll know later on if there was connection or not to link it to the G20, or even what happened in Trois-Rivières a couple weeks ago."
Members of Montreal's activist community have recently held protests to denounce the hundreds of arrests during protests against the recent G20 summit in Toronto. A number of Quebecers were among those arrested.
The incident that Paradis was referring to in Trois-Rivières was the bombing of a Canadian Forces recruitment centre on July 2.
A group calling itself Résistance Internationaliste has claimed responsibility for the bombing.
The group has previously claimed responsibility for the bombing of a Hydro-Québec tower in 2004 and the firebombing of a car belonging to an oil-industry executive in 2006. No one was injured in either incident.
The vandalism of the building in Montreal is being investigated by an integrated national security enforcement team, including members of the RCMP, local police forces and federal law enforcements agencies.

US - 'Protecting Cyberspace' - 73,000 blogs shut down

eutimes

Once again, the Obama administration has violated the Bill of Rights. Earlier this month, the feds took down a free WordPress blogging platform and disabled more than 73,000 blogs. The action was completely ignored by the corporate media. The site, Blogetery.com, was told by its hosting service that the government had issued orders to shut down the site due to a “a history of abuse” related to copyrighted material
.... “They say it’s because of copyright infringement, but is it really?… it would seem that only sites/blogs which were streaming movies and TV shows were shut down initially, but upon further perusal, it seems like the Feds just arbitrarily shut down a server with several tens of thousands of bloggers on it without due process as is usual with this administration,” writes Smash Mouth Politics. “How soon before they find some reason to shut down other servers or networks? What’s probably infuriating to the bloggers who were shut down is that they have no recourse. They have no idea why the server was shut down.
... In October, 2004, more than 20 Independent Media Center websites and other internet services were taken offline, not in response to alleged copyright infringement but for political reasons. The disappearance of the Indymedia servers was shrouded in secrecy and the ISP and government would not provide an explanation.
...It was later discovered that the ISP had shut down IndyMedia’s websites after they were contacted by the FBI. The FBI said a particular article on the website nantes.indymedia.org contained personal information and threats regarding two Swiss undercover police officers. It was later determined that the article contained neither threats nor names or address information and contained instead photographs of police agents provocateurs masquerading as anti-globalization protesters.
... In June, a Senate committee approved a dictatorial cybersecurity bill that would allow Obama to shut down the internet. The bill, known as the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, would grant Obama the authority to carry out emergency actions to protect critical parts of the internet, including ordering owners of critical infrastructure to implement emergency response plans, during a government declared cyber-emergency.

Athens - Tabloid journalist shot dead at 5.20 am in front of his house

act for freedom now!/from the Greek streets

19/07/2010 - Journalist Sokratis Giolias was shot dead at 5.20 this morning, in front of his house in the area of Ilioupoli.
According to the information that has been confirmed until now, one of the assailants - the police estimates that they were two or three - rang Giolias' doorbell and told him that his car was being stolen. When Giolias arrived at the front door of his apartment building, the assailants killed him with 6 bullets at least. Police has reportedly collected more than 20 shells from the scene of the crime.
Police believe the assailants escaped the scene with a stolen car which was found burned a few hours later, not far of the area of the crime.
Giolias was 37 years old and currently working at the Proto Thema radio station. He was also linked as one of the creators of the blog "Troktiko".(a popular news blog with ties to the police and far-right groups)
According to the police, Golias was shot with weapons that have been previously used by the group “Revolutionary Sect” – and so this group is so far treated as the main suspect for the attack.

Torrelodones, Spain - Youths in pitched battle with Guardia Civil

notes from elpais

Riots tookplace two nights in a row, coinciding with the celebrations of Our Lady of Mount Caramel, turning the area into a battlefield, with containers on fire, barricades and youths throwing rocks at police (Guardia Civil) and burning tyres. The young people were angry because they had been forced to leave the fairground, the scene of the festivities. Others, however, assured yesterday that the police charge against the riot was disproportionate. The ruckus ended with four youths, two of them minors, arrested for public disorder, among other crimes. "I woke up at four in the morning. You could hear shouts, firing rubber bullets, police sirens...", "They burned all the containers of this street." The City Council withdrew most of them, but yesterday afternoon there were still a couple in front of the parish.
The Civil Guard seized brass knuckles and other prohibited weapons.
The riots began when people were told to leave at 2 in the morning. Las fiestas del Carmen are held in the fairgrounds, a space with stalls and a funfair which also is a wooded area on a hill, very popular among young people. This year, for the first time, the parties were closed.
According to the Civil Guard and the City of Torrelodones (21,800 inhabitants), young people protested when asked to leave and ended up facing the agents, who seized prohibited weapons such as nunchakus, brass knuckles and pepper spray.
The first riots occurred early Friday to Saturday. The 300 youths present (about 200according to Civil Guard) were not prepared to end the party, they began to protest. Some went further and started throwing glasses against the officers. The Civil Guard moved to the two units at the entrances had Torrelodones: Public Safety Unit (USEC) in Madrid Command Security rural groups. The officers got out of the van when they more objects were thrown. The guards fired several rubber bullets and dispersed the crowd after they torched at least two containers. Two youths of 18 and 20 years were arrested.
The early hours of Sunday was worse, according to the Guardia Civil. Problems reproduced just as music was cut at 3:00. This time the number of young was lower, but they were better organized. When the riots began, there were about 200 people. Three groups of about 30 youths dispersed in the town. At least 15 containers were burned and, according to the Civil Guard, the windows of a branch of Banco Popular were broken. The riots did not stop until 6:30.
The civil guards charged and fired rubber bullets. They arrested two minors, aged
17, residents of Torrelodones. "We anticipated that there would be riots," said a representative of the City Council. Several residents warned that the protest was called over the Internet, through social networks.

Loir-et-Cher, France - Fifty travellers attack police station and tollbooth after police chase killing

le parisien.fr

The town of Saint-Aignan, 3400 inhabitants, near Blois (Loir-et-Cher), France, was awakened Sunday morning by a face-to-face encounter between police and the community of Travellers. Angry about the death of one of them during a police chase, some fifty Travellers attacked the police station and highway toll booths of Saint-Romain, according to the prefecture of the department.
"Some were wearing masks, armed with axes and iron bars," says the mayor of Saint-Aignan, Jean-Michel Billon. They they turned on the town: "Traffic lights were destroyed with an ax, trees cut down and three cars were burned," said the mayor.
The mayor of Loir-et-Cher said that on Sunday evening about 300 military were deployed around Saint-Aignan and will ensure the security and control of the area and "oppose any resumption of violence," according to his statement.
On Friday evening, a motorist drove through a road checkpoint, according to a source close to the investigation.
The police then pursued vehicle and used their weapons at 22 hours in the town of Theseus. The lifeless body of the young driver was found about ten miles from where the shooting took place, in Saint-Romain-sur-Cher where there is a large community of travelers. An administrative and judicial inquiry has been opened, but for now, circumstances of the tragedy have not been specified.

Buenos Aires - Incendiary attacks on buses of the exploiters

culmine

16.07.2010 - Yesterday, the Juan Smith nucleus in collaboration with Clasista comrades dealt a blow to the exploiters of TATA (Empresa de Transporte) transport company, burning 9 buses, and to UTA's union bureaucrats who reached an agreement with the slave driver bosses, for which our comrades set fire to their buses in the company depot in Calle Rio Cuarto, between Heredia and Vyeites at Barracas in Malos Aires, may no exploiter remain unpunished, nor any bureaucrat without warning from the moment their actions are observed by the proletarian working mass.

Nucleus Juan Bianchi
Clasista Colectivo 22 de Agosto
Brigada Luciano Arruga

Athens, Koridallos prison - comrade Nikos Maziotis' declaration of hunger strike in the face of the revenge of the State against his unborn child

actforfreedomnow! / From the Greek Streets
July 17, 2010 -
Hunger strike against vengeance.
The treatment that the state reserves for imprisoned revolutionaries and its political enemies is a given. Vengeance, sadism, physical and psychological violence, disrespect for human dignity, indifference about their health, their physical wellbeing, for human life itself.
For the security of the state and power, the denial of freedom is above everything, above life itself and "human rights".
For state officials, the political and financial elite and the rich, "human rights" only concern themselves and those of the same class.
They do not concern the people, the poor, the workers, the unemployed, the veterans of work, the immigrants, those who search in the garbage of the local markets to eat.
Neither do they concern prisoners - social prisoners, of which the overwhelming majority come from the poor social strata and whose life is worth absolutely nothing for the system.
And they do not concern, of course, revolutionaries and political prisoners, for which the system has always pursued their physical and ethical annihilation.
In this framework, my partner, comrade and co-fighter Panagiota Roupa and myself, who are members of Revolutionary Struggle, are denied the right of prison visits thanks to the attorney of Koridallos prison, who has rejected for "reasons of security" my transfer to the maternity clinic "Alexandra" in order to visit my partner, who will bring our son into the world, the youngest political prisoner of Greek "democracy".
She has also rejected, for the same "security reasons", my application to visit the female section of Koridallos because, due to her condition, my comrade is unable to visit the male prison as would normally happen.
Demanding, therefore, the "obvious" as a partner and as a father to visit my partner-cofighter and our son, I am going on hunger strike from the 15th of July in order for my two following demands to be met:
1. To be transferred for a visit to the maternity clinic "Alexandra" on July 25th in order to visit my partner Panagiota Roupa and our son, since the birth has been planned by Caesarean section for July 24th and she will remain in the clinic for a few days and
2. That I be transferred for visits to the female prison for the first period after the birth because my partner and our son will inevitably be too weak to be moved.
If the repressive mechanisms believe that by imprisoning us they’ll get done with us, they are wrong.
Either outside or inside the prisons the struggle for us is a question of honour and dignity; it will continue.
Revolutionary struggle continues.
NIKOS MAZIOTIS

Grenoble - Rioters torch cars and shoot at police after fellow Villeneuve resident shot dead by police following robbery

reuters

Rioters torched cars, looted shops and shot at police in the French Alpine city of Grenoble Saturday after police shot dead a man who allegedly held up a nearby casino the night before.
The riots began around midnight in the Villeneuve suburb of Grenoble, after a memorial to 27-year-old Karim Boudouda, the alleged robber, who was a Villeneuve resident.
The violence flared when police tried to intervene in the attack of a streetcar held up by brushfire, police spokeswoman Brigette Julien told the AFP news agency. A group of about 30 youths had attacked the tram with baseball bats and iron bars, forcing out passengers.
After police arrived, the youths began burning cars, setting between 50 and 60 vehicles ablaze. Gunfire ensued, with police returning fire four times.
No one was injured in the riots, according to police, who arrested two men aged 18 and 20 for burning cars and three others for attempting to loot shops.

Nice - police violently charge firemens' demo, 5 wounded

lepost.fr

On Friday morning, firemen were demonstrating in the central square of Nice in the Alpes-Maritimes, LCI reported.
Firemen have been protesting since mid-June against the pension reform that does not take into account, they say, the arduous nature of their work.
During this event clashes occurred between police and firemen. Result: two firemen and three police were wounded.
The police have arrested five firemen, including Andre Goretti, the president of the Autonomous Federation of Firemen. One of the injured firefighters was hospitalized.
According to firemen at the scene after the incident, the police violently charged the demonstrators, numbering about 200, without being provoked. Some witnesses at the site confirmed the statements of the firefighters: "They(the policemen, ed) were seven around him (a fireman, ed.) They kicked him in the head when he was down. "

China, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region - thousands of villagers protest aluminium plant

TibetanReview

(Jul17, 2010) Thousands of people threw rocks at police and blocked roads in Jingxi county of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region near the border with Vietnam in southern China on Jul 13 in protest at pollution from a plant owned by one of the country's largest private aluminium producers, reported China’s official China Daily newspaper and AsiaNews.it Jul 15.
"Almost all the residents in Lingwan village were involved in blocking the road to Jingxi county on Tuesday (Jul 13) afternoon, and some villagers threw stones at police who had been sent by the Jingxi government," the China Daily report cited a government statement as saying. "One official hit by stones was sent to the hospital, but no other injuries were reported," the newspaper added.
However, AsiaNew.it said more than 100 people were injured and at least 10 vehicles, including a police car and an armoured vehicle, were set on fire by angry villagers in the protest. It added that more protesters were injured on Jul 14 morning as the protest continued.
The AsiaNews.it report said the residents blocked roads and a railway line and surrounded the county government's headquarters, where they faced off about a thousand riot police.
“The road leading to the County government building, which is several kilometres long, was packed with villagers holding slogans, and armed policemen fired into the air to warn the furious protesters," it quoted Huang An, a Zhuang from Lingwan village, as saying.
It said that earlier, on Jul 11, several thousand angry Zhuang burst into the plant, smashing equipment at the Shandong Xinfa Aluminum and Power Group plant, one of the three largest producers in Jingxi.
Villagers have been very unhappy for a long time about the pollution caused by the plant. “The water is red and heavily polluted by untreated industrial sewage discharged from the plant. We don't dare drink water from it," one villager said.

Athens - From Monday, July 19, prisoners in Saint Paul's hospital, Korydallos prison, will abstain from prison food

actforfreedomnow!

On Monday, July 19, prisoners will start refusing food with a demand to address and solve the problem of prolonged detention of people with chronic and incurable diseases who, due to their state of health, should have their sentences reduced.
The human ''dump", as the prisoners of this institution call it themselves, is simply tragic, as we have also heard from comrade Simos Seisidis presently being held there. People with disabilities, strokes, fatal diseases are thrown into this vile, dirty environment full of shortcomings.
The Secretary for prison policy visited some time ago, and stated that the matter would be resolved by a legislative bill in February or March. Naturally, he was telling lies.
The prisoners themselves, in their statement to the Minister and the media say:''powerless to react differently, anyway lacking our health, we are offering what is left of our lives to sacrifice them to your inhuman indifference, not because we hope you will change, but because we refuse to live like beasts, like waste from a system and society without humanity, ethics or honour.
So, from Monday, July 19, all those who are able to will abstain from food and all medication and treatment, as a last sign of dignity and self-respect. ..''
Our comrade Simos Seisidis will participate in this mobilization.

Belfast - rioting for fun

signalfire

Clashes between nationalist rioters and police dragged on for a fourth consecutive day in Belfast on Wednesday, with protesters throwing rocks, concrete slabs and petrol bombs at police, who responded with rubber bullets and water cannons. 82 police officers were injured in the violence.
Unrest often erupts in Northern Ireland during the province’s marching season, when Protestant marchers – who favour continued British rule – pass through areas populated by Catholics to commemorate Prince William of Orange’s July 12, 1690 victory over the Catholic King James II. Catholics, who are generally opposed to rule from London, view the marches as a deliberate provocation.
While in previous years authorities blamed terrorist groups like the Real IRA [Irish Republican Army] for the riots, Northern Ireland police chief Matt Baggott described this year’s unrest as “recreational violence with a sinister twinge” perpetrated by a small group of troublemakers.
Even though violence flares up recurrently at this time of year, there has been a significant change in the motivation behind the riots since last year. In the past, terrorist groups like the real IRA were clearly pulling the strings. This year, although there may be a few IRA rioters, most of the violence is occurring at the hands of a relatively small group of young troublemakers with no overt political motivation. Old IRA leaders used to have the power to direct the protesters, to turn the violence on or off. This year, though, their influence on the troublemakers is virtually inexistent.
These youths, (children, really – some are no more than 8 or 9 years old!) seem to be using the Orange Order parade as an excuse to perpetrate criminal actions. The question is: why do these children think it is ok to go out in the street and throw stones or petrol bombs at police? It’s clearly now a social problem more than a political or constitutional one. The rioters are mostly youths from low-income, socially isolated backgrounds, and the parade is just the spark that sets off their anger and frustration.

Angry news from Belgium

from suie e cendres

16/07/2010
DIEGEM – Vandals worked hard during the night of Tuesday to Wednesday on a construction site in the Broekstraat. They destroyed the windows of engines and cut the wiring.
[In the Broekstraat, there’s currently a huge construction site for the Brussels mobility project Diabolo, executed by the companies BAM and VALENS. BAM is also candidate for the construction of new prisons in Belgium while Valens, part of the EIFFAGE Group, is building a new detention centre for immigrants in Steenokkerzeel. Nvdr.]
16/07/2010 - SINT-STEVENS-WOLUWE – In the Frans Smoldersstraat, firemen had to come out during the night of Wednesday to Thursday for a burning antenna for mobile phones. The antenna was completely burned.
16/07/2010 - TILBURG – A prisoner in Tilburg put his cell on fire. The prison of Tilburg is actually being rented by the Belgian State to provide extra cells for Belgian prisoners. Belgian prisons are overfull. It’s not the first time that the ‘Belgian’ prisoners in Tilburg are protesting.
16/07/2010 - GHENT – A van was put on fire around 4h30. Two vehicles next to it were also damaged. GENK – Around 10h in the night, a car was put on fire in the Trichterweg. HALLE – Around 2h in the night, a BMW car was put on fire in the Labbeekstraat. Police found traces of inflammable material.
15/07/2010 - BILZEN – Vandals damaged four buses of the public transport company De Lijn parked on their parking lot in the Stationlaan.
[De Lijn also known for collaborating with raids against people without legal papers on their transport network, nvdr.]
14/07/2010 - BRUSSELS – A person without papers who was squatting an empty factory building, was arrested for interrogation concerning a fire in an empty building. Arrived at the police station, he started to beat two cops with his fists and feet.
12.07.2010 - LA LOUVIERE – Vandals put fire to two prefab container school classes in the school rue de l’Abattoir in the afternoon. The prefabs have been destroyed.
12/07/2010 - GENK – On a industrial commerce terrain, around 1h50 in the night a vehicle burned. The vehicle was parked on the parking lot of a company.
12.07.2010 - LIEGE – Around 4.30am, firemen were called to the industrial commerce terrain in Rocourt. In the rue Vicinal, at the company MF Transports, three trucks were on fire. Police are sure that it was arson. The author(s) cut through the fence to get to the trucks. Also the entrance of the company was damaged by flames.
13/07/2010 - LIER – On the National Day of Flanders, a Flemish flag was burned in Lier. A bit before, also a Belgian flag was set on fire.
10.7.2010 HOUTHALEN-HELCHTEREN – Vandals threw a Molotov cocktail against the renovated catholic Parish Centre in the Bremstraat. Damage was limited. Two days later, another fire was started. This time, the author(s) broke a window and set fire to the curtains, causing limited damage.
8/7/2010 - LIEGE – Around 2 ‘o clock in the morning, a fire destroyed several pieces of industrial machinery and material. A part of a hangar belonging to the company AMV in the Avenue des Métallurgistes was completely consumed by fire.
6-10/7/2010 - Vehicles burning in four cities: LIEGE – On the 6th of July, three cars burned in the rue de Carmes. The heat of the fire made several shop windows explode.LA LOUVIERE – On the 8th of July, a car was put on fire. LIEGE – On the 9th of July, in several places in Liège, at least three vehicles were burned by Molotov cocktails. Also a publicity panel suffered the impact of a Molotov. MONS – On 10th July, in two different places in the city, two cars were burned.
8/7/2010 - TOURNAI – The ATM terminal of a gas station at the Boulevard des Nerviens was voluntarily destroyed.
6/7/2010 - BRUSSELS – The first day of the opening (or should we say, closing) of the entrance control gates in a metro station has been chaotic. Lots of passengers were blocked in front of the gates, trapped in the middle or just didn’t understand the bloody thing. Stewards, who had to accompany this change, were overrun by questions, situations and insults. Starting from now, the STIB, the public transport company, is closing off two metro stations with control gates a week.
6/7/2010 - TOURNAI – Molotov cocktails put on fire a schoolbus of the Royal Atheneum of Lessines.

Great news from Lisbon concerning the verdict of the trial against those arrested at the anti-authoritarian demo of April 25th 2007!

14 July 2010 - Lisbon.
Today, July 14th, ended the trial against the 11 arrested (one girl unfortunately died in the meantime) at the anti-authoritarian demo against fascism and capitalism of April 25th 2007.
Due to of lack of evidence, contradictory evidence or doubt, the court decided as non proven the facts presented by the public prosecutor as having been committed by the defendants, and which fitted the categories of qualified aggravated physical offense, aggravated verbal offense and coercion and resistance over a state agent (all crimes against police officers). All of the defendants were acquitted of all charges.

Salliqueto, Argentina - riot after 21 year old 'suicided' in police cell

larazon

The boy, 21, was arrested outside a bowling alley and two hours later, was found hanged in his cell. A demonstration outside the police station ended in chaos: people burned tires and a car and the police cracked down with rubber bullets and tear gas.
Neighbours in the town of Salliqueló in western Buenos Aires province, protested last night outside a police station to ask for an investigation into the death of a young man of 21 who was strikingly found hanged in a cell after being arrested for an alleged fight at a bowling alley. The demonstration ended with serious incidents, which included the burning of tires, a car and then a shock to the police, who dispersed it with rubber bullets and tear gas.
The suspicious death of Gilberto Giménez, a boy who had come from Mendoza few months ago and worked as a bricklayer caused a stir among the inhabitants of Salliqueló. According to reports, the boy was arrested on Sunday for incidents on public roads, and two hours later, was found hanged in his cell.
Fabian Attorney investigating the cause Arcomano revealed this morning that the autopsy report "clearly indicated" that the cause of death was "suicide by hanging." That matches the version supported by the police. However, the victim's father, Carlos Fernandez, it was not a suicide. "My son was bruised all over. They had cut his neck and disfigured him," the man told the cable channel Todo Noticias (TN).
The contestation caused commotion among the inhabitants of the town, located 500 kilometers west of Buenos Ayres. The protest began last night, near 22 hours in front of the police concerned. First 150 people gathered, but that number was increasing over time. There were burning tires and a Ford k, so firemen had to go to work.
"We put out the fire but the people, who were very angry, tried to stop us. The fire did not affect any property ", was effective.
The protest was initially suppressed with tear gas, but continued to grow. Until later, police received reinforcements from other cities of Buenos Aires which added gas and rubber bullets, and dispersed the neighbours in the midnight hours.

Argentina: Police Academy and Telefónica office bombings claimed

thisisourjob

From Liberación Total (July 14, 2010):
Communiqué: Today, July 13, 2010, this Brigade’s Bonefoi-Carrasco Unit carried out bombings at the Rio Negro Police Academy in Cipolletti and the local office of Spanish company Telefónica in Furiloche. A cautionary package was also left at the home of a BORA (Special Operations, Rescue, and Anti-Disturbance Squad) police officer at the “400 Apartments” building in Furiloche.
On the same day, in Cutral Có, the Cardenas-Fuentealba Fighting Unit machine-gunned the home of a corrupt Social Services official in retaliation for the prevented distribution of food and aid to MPN (Neuquén People’s Movement) supporters.
—Luciano Arruga Brigade

Rio Negro, Argentina - Police Academy and Telefónica bombings leave one dead

thisisourjob

From Liberación Total (July 14, 2010): A bomb exploded on the doorstep of the Police Cadet Academy on Tuesday, killing 60-year-old street cleaner José Domingo Maciel, who was working on Calle Fernández Oro. When Maciel tried to move the bag containing the bomb, he inadvertently triggered its detonation mechanism, causing it to explode prematurely.
Minutes later, a phone call alerted police to the presence of a suspicious backpack in the window of the Telefónica offices on Calle Miguel Muñoz. Specialists deactivated another bomb found there.
The explosion that killed Maciel produced a shockwave strong enough to break all the windows on the second floor of the Cadet Academy and damage the doors on the first floor. The blast could also be heard some distance away, including at Criminal Investigation Squad headquarters, which is right next to the officer training center.
When the second bomb was found, the entire area surrounding the Telefónica offices was evacuated.
Shortly thereafter, the Neuquén police Radio Communications Squad received a call alerting them to the presence of another suspicious package at an apartment in the “400 Apartments” building. After an exhaustive search, officials concluded that it was a false alarm.
Meanwhile, police deployed roadblocks throughout the region and carried out sweep operations in different cities.

Barcelona - action against Catholic radio

culmine

During the warm summer night of July 4 some of the windows of Radio Estel (Barcelona), a radio directly linked to the Catholic Church, were smashed. Some unknown persons used a little offensive violence against one of the many means of intoxication that alienate people to the most traditional conservatism. We don't always wait for them to be mobilized to attack us. However, we cannot forget that campaigns as powerful as their anti-abortion one are always latent. Nor do we forget that we must never allow the privileged to enjoy their wide economical and political aspirations in peace.
In the tense present social context, with social cutbacks being made by the State for the banks and the bosses, we do not forget any kind of existing oppression and exploitation.
And it is a given that we will not let whoever promotes patriarchy and other submission continue to gain ground without the anger we feel touching them.
We won't ask them to leave, but humbly take and destroy of them what we can, simply because they make us feel sick and do not let us move forward.
Despite our small contribution, we believe that direct action is only a part of what we can do to make ourselves heard and is something vital that we must put into practice for them to stop continuously trampling on us.
Let's extend our fury!
The only church that illuminates is the one that is destroyed!

Calgary - Vandal attacks investigators with slingshot

signalfire

Calgary police and fire investigators dodged metal screws fired from a slingshot as they responded to a vandalism spree in Bridgeland early Monday.
The damage began with a vehicle that was parked in the 400 block of First Avenue N.E. being smashed with a hammer and then set on fire, said police on Tuesday.
The suspects then proceeded to the Calgary Italian Club nearby and toppled over two stone statues. The heads of the statues are missing, said investigators.
Neighbours then reported two more fires in back alleys.
Police arrested one man who was walking near the scene. A second man began shooting screws from a slingshot at police and fire investigators. No one was hurt.
He was arrested later that morning and charged with assault with a weapon and assault of a police officer.
Both men, aged 30, are also charged with arson and property damage.

Seattle - Another attack on police drop-in station

anarchist news dot org

Our news partners at The Seattle Times are reporting that the SPD drop-in location at 23rd and Union suffered its second violent attack within a week when a man and woman broke out three windows with a sledgehammer:
"At least four witnesses called 911 just before 11:30 p.m. Sunday to report hearing loud thuds as two people swung sledgehammers at the windows of the substation at the corner of 23rd Avenue and East Union Street, said police spokesman Jeff Kappel."
The suspects were spotted near 25th & Cherry, ID'd by the witnesses, and arrested for felony malicious mischief.

Spain - Syngenta GM Maize trials sabotaged at Torroella de Montgrí

foodfreedom

Communique issued by anonymous activists
Today, 12th July 2010, dozens of people came together to sabotage two experimental GM Maize trials belonging to Syngenta, located in the municipality of Torroella de Montgrí (Baix Empordà, Girona, Catalunya).
We destroyed Syngenta’s open-air genetic experiment because we understand that this kind of direct action is the best way to respond to the fait accompli policy through which the Generalitat, the State and the bio-tech multinationals have been unilaterally imposing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in our agriculture and our food.
The Spanish State, with more than 75,000 hectares sown in 2009, represents a concentration of approximately 80% of the surface area of GMOs harvested in Europe. [1] After Aragon, Catalonia is the area of Europe that harvests the largest area of GMOs, around 27,000 hectares. In recent years, 42% of the experimental GMO field trials OMG in the EU have been planted in the Spanish State. [2]
Syngenta is the third largest seed corporation in the world (after Monsanto and Dupont). Their objective is to gain a monopoly domination of the global seed market so that all farmers and all agricultural production on the planet depends on their seed sales. [3] Syngenta, and other transnational corporations (TNCs) that control a) the global market in agricultural goods (seeds, fertilizers, agro-chemicals…) [4], b) the circuits for the distribution and commercialization of food and agricultural raw materials, and c) the global market in final products, is one of the principal promoters and beneficiaries of the corporate industrial model that currently dominates. [5] After having been imposed for decades on a planetary scale, more and more voices indicate that 1) this devastating social and productive model is one of the principal causes of the food, ecological and climate crises that humanity currently faces, [6] and 2) genetically modified crops represent a new turn of the screw
of the agro-industrial model, which does nothing more than deepen the devastating social, cultural and environmental impacts associated with transnational agro-business. [7]
read more...
http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/uprooting-ecoterrorism-syngenta-gm-crops-sabotaged-in-spain/#more-2751

Arson at the Hign Court of Strasbourg

DNA

13 july 2010 -The Tribunal de Grande Instance of Strasbourg, located Finkmatt Dock, was the target of an arson attack last night. The fire started shortly before 4 am in the basement of the building, in a storage room used for storing equipment to be destroyed. The rapid intervention of firefighters helped limit the damage to this single room of approximately 15m2. The court was empty at that hour of the night, and no injuries were reported.
According to preliminary results of the survey, carried out by the Crime Branch of the safety of Bas-Rhin département, an individual would have thrown a projectile in a ground floor window in the garden behind building, before launching an incendiary device. It would be a man of thirty years, currently a fugitive.

London - campaign against cctv smart cars in camberwell continues, racist undercover police rough up a local shopkeeper.

uk indymedia

12 July 2010 - activists have been campaigning in camberwell over the last week at the arrival of council cctv 'smart' cars snooping under the guise of recording minor traffic violations.
local police have previously attended disruptive protests, but not got particularly involved, and activists have succeeded in forcing the cars to abandon their shifts on several occasions. previous accounts here and here.
you may also have heard of a large number of cctv cameras being funded recently by money earmarked for terrorist investigations in the birmingham area. the cameras were positioned in a largely muslim area, and as the truth was uncovered by activists, a so far successful campaign has managed to stop the surveillance pending a judicial review (guardian story)
this morning things got ugly in camberwell.
the owner of a local bakery, a muslim man, was issued with a ticket after the cctv camera caught him "illegally" unloading bread at his shop. as this was not the first time he had received a hefty fine, and as there is no "legal" way for him to briefly park to get necessary produce to his shop, he started shouting at the council snoops.
suddenly, and wholly disproportionately, undercover police appeared and grabbed the man. winesses heard them making clearly racist comments and threatening remarks telling him to "shut his mouth as he was a muslim who doesn't have any say in this country".
as a crowd began to gather, more police re-inforcements turned up, but the man was held in a stress position with police pulling at his handcuffs to hurt him each time he tried to defend himself verbally. he was subject to assault and abuse for nearly 30 minutes before finally being taken away in a police van.
the cctv activists have so far been receiving plenty of support from the community in their campaign, and they see today's events as an unwelcome escalation from the authorities to protect their surveillance operation at any cost. they have promised to continue with the campaign and not back down.

Ludic violence in Northern Ireland

excerpts from belfast telegraph

13 July 2010 - Violence broke out across many parts of Northern Ireland as tensions simmered following Twelfth of July parades.
In Belfast a bus was hijacked by masked men who claimed to have planted a bomb on board.
Two hijackers boarded the bus at Glencolin Walk shortly before 4.30pm and said a device had been left on the upper deck.
They ordered the driver to take the vehicle to Woodbourne PSNI station in the west of the city and made off towards the nationalist Lenadoon estate.
A number of roads near the station had to be sealed off as Army bomb experts examined the vehicle, however the alert was declared an elaborate hoax and all roads were re-opened several hours later.
In north Belfast two vehicles were hijacked on the Oldpark Road. One of the cars was found on Alliance Avenue shortly before 5.30pm and diversions had to be put in place between Berwick Road and Etna Drive while police examined it.
Police were also attacked with paint bombs, missiles and at least five petrol bombs as a feeder parade passed the Ormeau Bridge area of south Belfast. Two men and a woman have been reported to the Public Prosecution Service in connection with disorderly behaviour and assault after trouble flared at Botanic rail halt.
Meanwhile, in Lurgan a crowd of youths attempted to hijack and torch the cross border Enterprise train at a level crossing on Lake Street. All 55 passengers on board the train escaped unhurt after the driver was able to re-start the vehicle.
A spokeswoman for the PSNI confirmed there were no reports of any injuries or damage.
Also in Lurgan, a crowd of up to 50 youths hurled at least seven petrol bombs and a number of stones at police in the Kilwilkie estate, a white van was hijacked at Lake Street and a number of petrol bombs were thrown on the Antrim Road.
Police were also called to deal with a hostile crowd at Killyleagh Road, Armagh, where at least one vehicle was burnt out by a large crowd.
Yesterday’s trouble followed a night of rioting in north and west Belfast during which 27 police officers were wounded.
In Ardoyne, youths staged a rooftop protest .. Brandishing a stick, a young boy, aged around nine, pulled a hoodie over his head to cover his face and began shouting expletives at police.
These officers were kitted out in full riot gear, with batons, shields and some armed with baton rounds, but that did not extinguish the boy’s bravado in front of them.
A group of young males took up position on the roof of commercial premises and began throwing petrol bombs, bricks and bottles down at police, oblivious to the fact that they were also striking members of their own community.
Police deemed their actions so serious that two officers fired at least two baton rounds in their direction.
As the officers took aim crowds of bystanders warned the males to watch out. When their missiles missed police the same bystanders yelled “nearly”.
And so it became a game to the young males on the roof who seemed to be relishing the attention from the ground.
When the water cannon was deployed they ducked, only to jump up seconds later jeering and laughing. If the situation had not been so dangerous it could almost have been comical.
Older residents said they were fed up with the violence, while younger ones loved the entertainment.
“Mum, can I stay out for another half hour, “ one asked his mother.
“Ok, just don’t get arrested,” she replied.

Chile - Claim for deafening bombs in extermination centre of Santa Cruz

statement sent to Hommodolars.org

Tuesday, July 13, 2010 - A promise is a promise. Last year at this time, we wrote that: "Furthermore, we note that our next objective is the extermination centre of Santa Cruz" (statement issued July 24, 2009, sent to the site Liberación Total). Therefore, we decided to carry out this action, and clarify that it wasn't or won't be the last, because it fits in with others we have done in the region and did not get the same coverage due to the results obtained.
Our compact and strong group has had this place as an objective for a long time, a place where you feel the nauseating smell of pigs jailers and the living death in the lives of the prisoners who are victims of the (in)justice of this world. Walking dead, who walk behind the bars and see everything as lost in this disgusting social "order", but for us, we already know that this social pyramid lives feeding off "those from below" in order to survive, is not new. For us, for whom every prisoner is a political prisoner, our only weapon is solidarity that seeks to tighten links with the other comrades who are fighting and clashing in this social war. Comrades locked up in different jails throughout the world, all of you a brotherly hug and may this "roar" of hope turn into a metaphor of the approaching explosion of the State-Capital.
Our full support to anarchists prisoners in this region of the world, and now also to Juan Aliste, arrested in Argentina. Our subversive salute to the peñis and the lamnien Mapuche arrested by the Chilean State, which does not recognize them as a people.
Down with the prison walls
Fire to capital and money
For true selfmanagement
Freedom to the Mapuche political prisoners and anarchists
A.A.O.

France - 392 arrests for the night of July 14. Number of burnt cars to remain State secret

reuters

According to Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, French police arrested 392 people on the night of July 13 to 14, the night of the national holiday traditionally conducive to excess, or 152 more than last year.
Some 306 of them have been brought to justice, compared to 190 in 2009, says in a statement. The minister, however, ensures that "no major incidents were reported".
He refused to disclose the number of cars burned, now traditional events in the nights of urban violence.
"No number of burnt cars will be released for the night of July 13 to 14 to stop this unhealthy tradition consisting each year of glamourising criminal acts," he said.
He said that instructions were given to prefectures not to communicate the number of vehicles torched in their department. "Now, only an annual reviews will be made public," said Brice Hortefeux.
A similar night of violent incidents during the last New Year's Eve had led to a battle of statistics between the authorities and media, the latter through surveys prefecture by prefecture, reached a national total of 1,137 vehicles torched and 549 arrested were minus figures.
These nights of incidents at commemorative events, especially the suburbs, have for several years been on a national scale. "

Paris - Bouygues proceedings against webmasters quashed

mmpapeur

10 July 2010 - The Paris Criminal Court quashed proceedings against group of webmasters who had called for sabotage of the Bouygues company in 2004.
"We wanted the case to be considered on its merits. At least it would have helped clarify things." An astonishing statement from a former defendant just acquitted of the criminal proceedings against him.
The webmaster, who wished to remain anonymous, was charged along with three others for posting in December 2004, calls for a week of action against the Bouygues group. At the time, they intended to protest against the construction of the giant of detention centres in Europe. Prosecutors said dozens of stores of the group had then been ransacked.
If the link between the damage and various publications targeted sites (anti-advertising Brigade, Paris Indymedia, Pajot, CNT) has not been proved, it is not on this basis that the court pronounced the invalidation proceedings. The court identified two particular points of pure form. Firstly, before trial, the defendants had not been told of the penalties they risked. Then, the excessive time waiting for trial : 4 years and 3 months.

Buenos Aires, Argentina - Expropriations of banks and security companies

Liberación Total / thisisourjob

July 8, 2010 - Via this communiqué, the Luciano Arruga Brigade—operating through the Diego Petrissans and Leandro Morel Nuclei—claims responsibility for the expropriation of ill-gotten gains from international and state loan sharks during the robberies of the Banco Provincia in Buenos Aires today, July 8, 2010, and the Standard Bank at 1064 Calle L.N. Além two weeks ago. On both occasions, we took money from the tellers and—after a hasty retreat—left behind fake bombs in order to delay the pigs.
In the struggle against the bourgeoisie and the exploiters, the Luciano Arruga Brigade welcomes the addition of the Juan Bianchi and Simon Radowitsky Nuclei, which have expropriated weapons from private security company employees in General Pacheco and Quilmes.
We also salute the August 22 Classist Collective, which strengthens our comradely ranks in the struggle against the bourgeoisie and the union bureaucracy, and which has begun to attack certain yellow unions in the south.
Additionally, we salute the comrades in Neuquén and Bariloche who have clashed with the forces of repression and suffered the losses of young comrades.
Their deaths will be avenged, and the blood of their executioners will water the soil of Bariloche and wherever it is spilled.
Freedom for Social Fighter Martino of the FAR.

—Revolutionary Cells
—Luciano Arruga Brigade
—Diego Petrissans Nucleus
—Leandro Morel Nucleus
—Juan Bianchi Nucleus
—August 22 Classist Collective
—Simon Radowitsky Nucleus

PANAMA CITY - second person killed in clashes between striking banana workers and riot police

signalfire

PANAMA CITY, Jul. 10, 2010 (Xinhua News Agency) — A second person was killed on Saturday in clashes between striking banana workers and riot police in the western Panamanian city of Changuinola.
The victim, a worker who participated in the street protest for better payment and rights, was shot by police buckshot and died in hospital.
So far the conflict has caused two deaths. And at least 105 people were injured while another 115 were arrested.
The cause of the first victim who died on Thursday has not yet clarified.
TV footage showed there were dozens of bleeding gun-wounds on the back of a worker and many people had been shot in their eyes. At least 47 workers were sent to the capital Panama City for treatment because of eye injuries.
Protesting workers required President Ricardo Martinelli to go to Changuinola and to have dialogue with them.
The three police officers who had been held hostage by striking workers since last Thursday have been released.
Panama’s labor union announced a nationwide strike on Tuesday to support Changuinola’s striking workers. But more than 100 of those participating in the discussion over the national strike were arrested immediately after the meeting.
Changuinola, with a population of 50,000, is the capital of the western province of Bocas del Toro. In the past three days more than 7,000 banana workers have clashed with riot police.
The workers are demanding better payment and the repeal of the so-called “law chorizo” which was recently approved by the government. The law includes restrictions on the right to strike and limits the rights of workers to join trade unions.