MAPUCHE STRUGGLE

August the 1^st 2010

In regard to the hunger strike that is being carried out by our Mapuche brothers in the prisons of Angol, Concepcion and Temuco following their unfair imprisonment by the Chilean “Justice”, the Association of Mapuche Communities fro the Teodora Schmidt commune “Lafken Mapu Newen” would like to say the following to the public opinion.

1. We energetically/totally back up/support the decision made by our brothers, since unfortunately this is the only way we have left now a days to express by forceful means our utter discontent and contempt towards the injustice that is being perpetrated against the fair demands of our Mapuche people and nation.
2. We declare that our brethren have been arrested without no evidence that could possibly provided (in terms of) by the country's common law. Nonetheless they have now to go through a long time of reclusion/imprisonment without a trial which might have guaranteed a certain procedure of transparent and egalitarian/equal “justice”. All this been done with a humiliating attitude by the Chilean state. This is why our brothers continue to get locked up by means of highly dubious declarations made by “protected” and faceless witnesses and through fabrications engineered by the political and judiciary powers.
3. We declare that today the hunger strike has being going on for 20 days and is bringing about a serious worsening of our “penilangems” (COMRADES?) physical and mental health and integrity. However, neither the current government nor the judiciary have shown any concern towards this situation.
4. We have witnessed with sheer worry and surprise how the president of the Chilean Republic does not hesitate in showing/paying heartfelt consideration towards people from another countries in the same situation as our Mapuche brothers (such as in the case of Cuban political prisoners) while failing to do anything in order to stop the mistreatment and Human Right violations exerted these days upon our Mapuche community.
5. We believe that this government should change the ways in which approaches its relations with the Mapuche since it will never be able to imprison our people's consciousness through fear and repression. This is as trying to cover up the sun with just a finger and only promotes the uprising of our communities which will carry on in their struggle for their rights.
6. We keep following all the current affairs/events as well as seeking the way to publicly denounce them in favour of our rights.
   
   
   
   Signed by:
   Association of Mapuche communities Lafkenche; which gathers 14 Mapuche communities from the “Comuna” (Commune) Teodoro Schmidt.
   “Lafken Mapu Newen”
   
   

Bomb Goes Off at Chile Shopping Mall, No One Hurt

August 20th, 2010 

SANTIAGO – No one was injured Thursday when a homemade bomb went off in the underground garage at a shopping mall in the Chilean capital, police said.
Three other bombs were found and defused, according to a report from the Carabineros, Chile’s militarized national police.
Left at the scene were leaflets referring to special prosecutor Alejandro Peña’s case against 15 anarchists accused of carrying out more than a score of bombings over the past few years.
A court in Santiago ordered Tuesday that eight of the 15 suspects in that case be held pending trial.
Six other defendants were allowed to remain at liberty, but ordered not to leave the country and to stay away from each other. The 15th suspect, Gustavo Fuentes Aliaga, is already in jail in connection with other offenses.
The court gave prosecutors 180 days to complete the investigation of the 23 bombings covered by the indictments.
The attacks targeted banks, the offices of foreign companies, embassies, churches and police stations, mainly in Santiago. The sole fatality was an anarchist killed when a bomb exploded as he was transporting it on a bicycle. EFE

Chilean police lob tear gas protesting students

Chilean police used tear gas and water cannons to quell a crowd of nearly 2,000 students on Wednesday (August 18) as they protested against what they see as government plans to privatise the education system in the Latin American country. The protesters, who were made up of both university and secondary school students, also called for increased government spending on state schools and universities. "We want to make a stand in front of the media that this is a march that has a peaceful character and we are not responsible for the provocation," said Julio Sarmiento, the President of Chile University Student Union as he addressed the crowd of protesters. As the crowd marched through the capital Santiago they were met by a heavy contingent of riot police who used tear gas and water cannons to quell the crowd. At least 20 students were detained by police.

South Africa Police, State Workers Clash on Strike’s Third Day

from signalfire blog.

August 20




Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) — South African police clashed with state workers who protested outside government buildings as a wage strike entered its third day.
Police used water cannons to disperse protesters at Johannesburg’s Helen Joseph hospital today, according to video televised by Cape Town-based e News Channel. Officers broke up a group of strikers who blocked roads to a hospital and a courthouse and in eastern KwaZulu-Natal province’s town of Chatsworth, police said.
“We have got our crowd-management teams deployed in all nine provinces,” police spokesman Phuti Setati said in a telephone interview from Pretoria. “Those who are breaking the law will be dealt with. We have got to protect lives and property.” Officers are still investigating incidents of violence, he said.
While state employees are demanding an 8.6 percent increase in pay and a housing allowance of 1,000 rand ($136) a month, the government says it can’t afford to raise its offer of a 7 percent increase and a 700 rand allowance. South Africa’s annual inflation rate is currently 4.2 percent.
The Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference expressed “horror at the incidences of violence and intimidation perpetrated by participants” in the strike.
“In particular we abhor the inhuman conduct of denying doctors and patients access to hospitals and teachers and pupils access to their schools,” the group said today in a statement issued to the South African Press Association. “Care is being denied to the weakest and most vulnerable.”

Soweto Hospital
Police fired rubber bullets yesterday to disperse workers who entered the grounds of the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto township, south of Johannesburg, police spokeswoman Nondumiso Mpantsha said.
Union officials are due to meet with Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi at 2 p.m. local time today to discuss ways of resolving the impasse, Chris Klopper, chairman of the Independent Labor Caucus, which includes 10 unions representing 460,000 workers, said by telephone from Pretoria.
Unions representing about 1.3 million state workers say their members can’t survive on their current salaries and that the strike will continue until their demands are met.
“The strike will be intensifying all around the country,” Sizwe Pamla, a spokesman for the 250,000-member National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, said today in an interview. “Our members have reacted positively to calls for a strike.”

Struck in 2007
Government employees last struck in 2007, when schools, hospitals and immigration offices were disrupted for 29 days, the longest-ever walkout by state workers.
South African laws prevent strikes by certain categories of workers who provide essential services, accounting for about a third of state employees. Even so, many nurses have joined the labor action, said Fidel Hadebe, Health Ministry spokesman.
“The impact of the strike has been quite severe in a number of facilities,” he said today by telephone from Pretoria. The provinces of “Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Kwazulu- Natal have been worst-affected.”
Members of the South African Defense force were deployed to several hospitals to fill in for striking workers, while critically ill patients who were unable to access treatment at state facilities were transferred to private hospitals.
Several newspapers said patients had died because they had not been treated or received medication. The health department was still investigating the reports, Hadebe said.

‘Right to Strike’
“As much as we offer our condolences to those families, we don’t want our members to be blackmailed when they have a legitimate right to strike,” Pamla said. “Hospitals by their nature are places that people go to get saved, but it doesn’t always happen that way” and it can’t be proven that strikers caused the deaths, he said.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, representing 70,000 workers, said today that car and fuel retail-industry workers plan to strike from Sept. 1 after employers failed to meet their demands for a pay increase. Numsa members in the tire and rubber industries will begin a walkout on Aug. 30, the union said.

5,000 migrants riot at Malaysian factory

Malaysia.jpg

More than 5,000 migrant workers tore down a guard tower during rioting at the facility where they were staying in Malaysia’s industrial city of Johor Baru today.

During the struggle rubbish and stones were used against over 200 riot police, with fire extinguishers being torn off the walls and allegedly used to spray bystanders.
The fighting, which was eventually contained in the early evening after seven hours, was sparked after an injured staff member died when employers delayed sending them to hospital.

Have you read today newspaper regarding the protest of five thousand factory foreign workers, relate to a death of a Nepali worker happened recently in Tebrau Industrial area? They are mainly from India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Nepal and Myanmar.
They destroyed the guardhouse, threw objects like stones and rubbish at bystanders, used fire extinguishers against bystanders and chased down a vehicle fetching two health inspectors…
Whoever fault it is about the death case, the foreign workers have gone over their limit!!!

Luxury cars aflame in Germany

HUNDREDS of luxury cars are still being torched every year in Germany as part of a radical uprising against the capitalist system.

The latest reported incident saw an upmarket vehicle in Prenzlauer Berg set on fire on Wednesday this week, reports directactionde.ucrony.net

There is a website calling 'burning cars' (Brennende Autos) which plots arson attacks on a Google-powered map.

The featured area is centred around Berlin, but there are so many incident flags on the map that the city is obscured, apparently overwhelmed by the rampaing fires.

The 2010 SS Act in Greece

Copyleft 2010 Contra Info link

The new ‘Social Security’ Act imposed by the IMF-EU-ECB ‘troika’ and the Greek government: A brief description of the most significant recent changes (August 2010)

Layoffs – Compensations – Overtime

• They increased the limit layoffs (from today’s 2%) to 5% per month, and up to 30 employees regarding companies which are staffed with more than 150 workers. Companies with 21 to 150 employees may now lay off up to 6 persons per month, while companies with less than 20 workers have no limit layoffs.

• They reduced the allowances due to redundancy.

For employees who have been working 2 to 12 months, a one-month notice by the employer is now considered sufficient before their dismissal, in order to receive a reduced compensation.

They gradually enforce six-month notice before dismissal in the case of an employee who has fulfilled over 20 years of labor and, as a result, smaller compensation.

Allowances will be paid in installments to redundant! The initial amount will be given on the day of dismissal, while the remainder will be paid in bi-monthly installments. Unless the amount remaining for the full payment of compensation is not lower, each of these installments will be equal to at least two-month wages.

• They reduced overtime allowances and worsened the excessive-work conditions.

Those who work 40 hours a week may not refuse to work 5 hours overtime per week.

Those who work 6 days a week are now forced to work up to 8 hours overtime per week, if so requested by their employer.

In fact, the eight-hour day officially becomes nine- or ten-hour day. Even worse, the Minister for Employment, after an Opinion by the Supreme Council for Employment, will have the right to grant permission to the private and the broader public sectors to impose additional overtime than the above!

Salaries – Benefits

• Employers are now entitled to give 84% of the minimum daily wage or salary to young people under the age of 25 who enter the labor market for the first time. In addition, employers now have the privilege to gain portion of the contributions of these workers by the Manpower Employment Organization (OAED).

Things are even worse for young people 15-18 years old, as the new Act provides ‘special apprenticeship contracts’ of one-year duration. For one-year wage slavery, youngsters shall receive 70% of the minimum daily wage or salary. Unprotected by labor legislation – with the exception of provisions for health care and social security – the younger workers will endure an actual slavery regime.

• They eliminate the 13th and 14th salary in the wider public sector.

Those with gross earnings of more than €3,000 (nearly €2,000 net income) will not get Easter and Christmas bonuses nor vacation allowances.

Employees below this threshold may receive €250 Easter bonus, €250 vacation allowance, and €500 Christmas bonus…

• They enforce extra 8% reduction of benefits and allowances in the narrow public sector.

They abolish all benefits of public servants who have gross earnings exceeding €3,000.

In the case of the wider public sector – where benefits are not provided – the salaries and allowances fell by extra 3%.

• They cut the last installment of the Social Solidarity Benefit for 2010!
  They are examining its short-term abolition!

• They shrinked unemployment benefits; it’s now lower than 60% of the basic salary (instead of 80% of the final salary before unemployment).

• They reduce the number of social security funds to three by the year 2018 (IKA for employees, OAEE for freelancers, OGA for farmers).
  All public sector employees who will be hired from 1st March 2013 will also contribute to IKA (rather than the recent social fund of the public sector).

• They impose three-year freeze of wages and pensions in the wider public sector (until 2013).

There will be no increase in salaries and pensions as long as the Greek State is monitored by the IMF-EU-ECB ‘troika’.

The new measures are those of the first phase (2010 – May 2013) of the ‘bailout and austerity programme’. However, the freeze of wages and pensions can be extended if the close monitoring by the troika will continue in Greece!

As far as the private sector is concerned, the increase will be 1.5% for 2011, and 1.7% for 2012 – well below the official inflation rate!

Pensions

• The so-called ‘basic pension’ will reach… €360 per month (based on 2010 data)! This pension will be given for 12 months a year. Hence, they have abolished the 13th and 14th pensions in all social funds.

Those who receive a pension that does not exceed gross €2,500, will receive €200 Easter bonus, €200 summer allowance and €400 Christmas bonus (that is €800, instead of the former two additional pensions)… This money will be a retirement allowance, therefore in the future could be easily reduced or even eliminated.

• The State’s obligation to retirees is now limited to a pension of hunger.

The so-called ‘guaranteed pension’ for those who have reached 65 years old will be paid provided retirees meet certain income standards. In particular, social security members must have been residing at least 15 years in Greece, and during the preceding financial year their personal income should not exceed €5,040 or their family income should not exceed €10,080.

The height of the so-called ‘basic pension’ will be constantly changing, and it is not at all certain that in the future it will have the current purchasing power. It will be determined by the consumer price index, the evolution of gross national product and the economic situation of the social funds…

Any clause of the legislation in force today, which provided for increases in pensions or adjustments in a different way than mentioned, is being abolished from year 2014 under the new measures!

For those who wish to receive this pension of hunger before reaching 65 years old, the €360 will be cut by 0.5% for each month that remains until the age of 65. Therefore, if someone retires at the age of 60, he or she loses 30% of the retirement and will receive as basic pension €252 per month!

• The ‘proportional pension’ will be calculated from the pensionable earnings and the percentage of replacement.

Firstly, as already mentioned, the State no longer guarantees this pension.

Secondly, the pensionable earnings were formerly calculated based on the last year of labor, the last 2 years, and the 5 best of the last 10 years of labor. They will now be computed on the basis of all the years of contributions (all the years of labor). It is thus clear that the income listed for the pension’s calculation is lower. Meanwhile, the coefficient of readjustment, that is used arbitrarily by the State to calculate pensions, is reduced.

The second factor – after the pensionable earnings – which will be included when calculating pensions are the coefficients of replacement (the percentages by which pensionable earnings are multiplied in order to calculate the final pension), particularly for those who have contributed from 25 to 40 years in labor.

Previously, it reached 70% (80% in the public sector) of the average wage of the 5 best of the last 10 years of labor.

In order for a worker to ensure the same coefficient of the previous regime, he or she now has to work 3 to 5 years in addition. Even so, the worker will not receive the same pension, because it is very doubtful if he or she will have the same pensionable earnings.

Actually, from now on, all pensions will be calculated as determined in the private sector:
For 39 (instead of 40 years of contributions) the proportional pension (other than basic) falls to 55% of the pensionable earnings for the entire working life.
For 35 years of work the pension drops to 45%.
For 40 years it reaches 60%, disregarding the basic pension.

• Supplementary pensions will be formed according to the economic sustainability of each of the plucked social security funds.

The Boards of Directors of these social funds will determine, as of early 2012, the percentages of replacement.

From 2011, the State will not cover any deficit in supplementary funds. Wherever and whenever there is a deficit, pensions will ‘adapt’, that is they will slash!

• From 2011 and every two years, the National Actuarial Authority will plan and publish studies according to which pensions will be ‘redetermined:’ Nothing is ensured for workers, not even the amount of the minimum pension.

• The public sector’s pensions exceeding €1,400 will henceforth be subject to LAFKA tax, where LAFKA is ‘Solidarity Account for Social Security Agencies.’ This extra tax ranges from 3% to 10%, depending on the amount of pension.

They will impose LAFKA tax for the sum of earnings in the case of pensions which exceed €1,400. The total reductions in current pensions range from about €500 a year (for a monthly pension of €1,400) to about €4,200 a year (for a monthly pension larger than €3,500).

• They revised the context of granting disability pensions.

Indicatively, a holder of a disability pension, according to the new Act will be entitled to 75% of the basic pension (€270!) if the percentage of disability ranges from 67 to 80%, and 50% of the basic pension (€180!) if the percentage of disability ranges from 50 to 67%.

• They increase the retirement age of women who work in the public sector, at 65 years gradually until the end of 2013.

In the public sector, the equalization of the retirement age for men and women (always increasing) will begin in 2011 with a three-year adjustment period.

Reduced pension can be granted at 60 years old (instead of 55, as was previously valid).

With regard to early retirement for men and women, 5 years of less labor lead to more than 30% reduction of pensions.

Under the new Act even the age limit of 65 years and generally the limits of the retirement age should not be taken as granted, since they will be ‘redefined by the change in life expectancy of the population’!

• For workers who shall enter the social security system from 31st December 2010, their pension is calculated in two ways:
  The first part is calculated according to the previous system for the years of contributions until the end of 2010.
  The second part, from 1st January 2011 until the date of retirement, will be calculated with the new, far most unfavorable conditions.
  In both cases, the final pension will be reduced up to 50% over the current system.

• Mothers with an under-age child or at least 3 children and 25 years of contributions, may not retire at the age of 50, as was previously valid.

After year 2013 this right is lost:
They may receive a reduced retirement at the age of 60 with more than 5,500 social security stamps, whereas until now they could retire at the age of 50.
In order to get full retirement, they will have to be 65 years old (provided that their child is still underage…) while until now they had the right to retire at their 60.
Women who haven’t reached 50 years old in 2012 but have completed 25 years of service, will have to work 5 more years in order to retire at the age of 55.
From 2013 men and women with 3 children or a child with at least 67% disability, will retire at 65, rather than 56 years as was the case before.
The mothers of 3 children may purchase up to 5 years of the so-called ‘notional time of social security‘. This means that each aspiring retiree will dearly pay her procreation.
Also, the new Act suspends the right of men and women with at least 3 children to retire regardless of age limit.

• The men that have entered the social security system before 1993 and have completed 35 years of full working experience, from 2012 will retire later than expected until now.Gradually from 2012 to 2015, they will be forced to work plus one semester per year.
  Thus, from 2015 they will retire with reduced pension at the age of 60 with 40 years of service, rather than at 58 with 35 years’ contributions, as was previously valid.

• They increase the minimum contribution period (of 35 years) to 40 years, gradually until 2013.

Hence, a retiree must have completed 40 years of contributions or have reached 65 years of age.

Up to 7 years of contributions will be recognized, if the years of military service, the period of absence due to illness or regular unemployment, the years of study, sabbatical or leave without pay, etc. will be purchased. This means that the employee is called to pay an expensive ‘notional time of social security.’

• The new SS Act contains cuts in the list of heavy and unhealthy occupations.

In addition, in the public sector the retirement age in these professions is increased gradually until 2013 (from 55) to 60 years for men and 58 years for women.

Here too there is total insecurity, since the new measures provide for the amendment of this list every 3 years!

• From year 2011, unless they are disabled or students, adult unmarried daughters will not be entitled to the pension of their deceased parents.

These pensions are reduced from what they were entitled so far, since the new Act puts strict income criteria. Their gross monthly income (except basic and supplementary pensions) must be less than 30 times the daily wage of an unskilled worker (recently €34). If this income is 30 to 40 times higher, they will receive 2/3 of the pension; if 40-50 times higher, 1/2; if 50-60 times higher, 1/4, while the pension is completely cut if they earn more than about €2,040 (60 times the minimum daily wage).

Phone Blockade English Defence League coach company Johnsons Coaches

Blockade English Defence League coach company Johnsons Coaches | 17.08.2010

The English Defence League are a violently racist, Islamophobic and Zionist gang of hooligans with connections to racist groups such as combat 18, Blood & Honour, BNP, NF and UKIP. They have attacked communities, placed pigs heads on Mosques, pulled off Muslim women's clothes, smashed up shops, cars and homes in racially motivated riots in the UK.

The English Defence League have rioted in towns and cities including the small picturesque town of Dudley which has seen some of the worst rioting by the racists.

The racist, Islamophobic and Zionist EDL have been transported to riot in coaches hired from Johnsons Coaches based in the West Midlands.

We are asking Johnsons Coaches to stop taking the hooligans to riot in their coaches. The EDL have been involved in stabbings and have tried to return home covered in blood. Some of the hooligans have violently attacked the police which has also left them bloodstained. Do Johnsons really want these bloody racist idiots and thugs on their coaches? Do Johnsons approve of the rioting? How would they like it if anti fascist protesters demonstrated in Henly in Arden where Johnsons are based?

Telephone Johnsons Coaches and tell them not to transport the racist rioting thugs. Blockade the lines all day tomorrow Wednesday 18th August.

Tel : 01564 797 000
Tel : 01564 797 010
Tel : 01564 797 020
Tel : 01564 797 030
Tel : 01564 797 040
Tel : 01564 797 066

Fax : 01564 797 050

 info@johnsonscoaches.co.uk

 http://www.johnsonscoaches.co.uk/

Johnsons Coaches
Liveridge House
Liveridge Hill
Henley-In-Arden
Warwickshire
West Midlands
B95 5QS


Pictured here are the EDL around a Johnsons Coach with the police, rioting and a Camden EDL Division member with a specially hand crafted placard alongside the Zionist SOIE in Harrow.

Blockade English Defence League coach company Johnsons Coaches

Cop On Fire at bookfair after-party

bristolanarchistbookfair at riseup dot net

Thanx to Kebele sound & friends, and Classics for this one!

After a long hard day at the bookfair, let your hair down at the bookfair after-party fundraiser, just down the road...

dress code: Party! (you dont have to wear black)

Saturday 11 September - 8pm. £4/5 on door
Classics Freeshop, 35 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3PH

Featuring live:
Cop on Fire (rolling ska wizards, Belgium)
Donderhod (dark & dangerous gypsy dance, Belgium)
The Dagger Brothers (live 80's dance but not as you know it, electro Bristol)

plus DJs playing ska, reggae, hip hop and drum n bass.

Full bookfair info at http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org
More cool gigs from Kebele sound at http://kebelesound.wordpress.com

FUNdraisers help keep the Bristol anarchist bookfair free to all. Any spare cash afterwards gets spread around local groups & campaigns.

Related Link: http://www.bristolanarchistbookfair.org

not the band silly, but a Greek cop on fire during riots after they shot dead a teenager

afterpartyposter.pdf 0.16 Mb

Santiago, Chile - 25 anarchists arrested before comrades appear in court

 

 

laht

SANTIAGO – At least 25 people were arrested on Tuesday before the first court appearance of 15 suspects in a series of bombings in Santiago and other cities in Chile, police said.
The protesters, the majority of them fellow anarchists, were arrested for damaging public property and disturbing the peace.
Fourteen of the suspected anarchists appearing at the hearing were arrested last weekend in operations in Santiago and Valparaiso that included searches of squatter settlements in the capital and residences. The 15th defendant is an anarchist already serving prison time for previous offenses.
The courthouse in Santiago was surrounded early in the day by three security rings manned by about 150 police officers equipped with water cannons and tear gas. The security perimeter was extended to a nearby Metro station, where a checkpoint was set up to check the identification of people using the facility.
The tight security for the hearing, allowing only one relative of each of the suspects to be present, as well as only one reporter from each news outlet, caused a delay of more than one hour in the start of the proceedings.
Special prosecutor Alejandro Peña, who is in charge of the case, ordered last Saturday’s operations after investigating the attacks for several months.
Physical evidence, such as traces of explosives on the skin and clothing of some of the defendants, links the suspects to the bombings, prosecutor Marcos Emilfort, who is working with Peña, said Tuesday.
Rodolfo Retamales and Pablo Morales, two former members of the leftist Grupo Lautaro that fought the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, are among the suspects in the case. Retamales and Morales spent more than 12 years in prison for crimes committed after the restoration of democracy. The press has identified the two men as the masterminds behind the series of bombings that killed one person, an anarchist who was carrying a bomb on a bicycle in Santiago last year. The bombings targeted banks, the offices of foreign companies, embassies, churches and police stations in Santiago and other cities. Retamales’s lawyer, Alberto Espinoza, criticized the extensive media coverage of his client, saying that it “weakens the right to a defense a lot.” EFE

Madrid - Police Academy and a Benetton store attacked in solidarity with the Mapuche prisoners

madrid.indymedia 9/8

Last night the Benetton store (the company that in collaboration with the Chilean State steals land from the Mapuche people, and exploits them as cheap labor, confining them in kind of concentration camps) in calle Fuencarral, in Madrid was attacked again. The door was destroyed by a large stone and the inscription: "Here we exploit the Mapuche people" left at the secene. A police academy near Atocha was also attacked, this time the window of the entrance door was smashed with a hammer. The words: "Solidarity with the Mapuche people" and "animal killer".
For the defence of the earth, for the defence of all animals.
Solidarity with the Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike.
For the destruction of the means of production.
We have nothing to self-manage (and even less stupid celebrations of consumption).

Repressive strike in Chile. Solidarity now!

/sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/08/agents-of-bipe-police-of-investigation.html

culmine

Agents of the BIPE (Police of Investigation) and the ERTA (equivalent to the SWAT) on the other side agents of the GOPE (Especial forces of the Normal Police), LABOCAR (CSI) and the department of intelligence of the police and a series of helicopters and police cars was the armoury used by the police for the 17 raids, in Santiago and Valparaiso, at dawn on Saturday August 14. Among the 17 houses were 3 Squats and Social Centres, the squats being La Crota Bike Punk and the Squat Social Centre and the Sacco and Vanzetti Library in downtown Santiago and the Autonomous Social Centre Johny Cariqueo in the Pudahuel municipality. Two houses were raided in Valparaiso. The excuse for this police operation lies in the “Bomb Case”, and 23 of the attacks with explosives registered in Santiago, which according to the police version would have direct links with the arrested.The first raid was in the squat La Crota Bike Punk by the GOPE where the result was 6 companions arrested. Of the six held three were kidnapped, a female comrade with an arrest warrant and for the other two the police invented traces of TNT on their hands. Then was the turn of the SSC and the Sacco and Vanzetti Library, by the ERTA and the BIPE, wheothey took out the metalic grid of the window with a police car. The agents also carried out shootings with rubber bullets, hitting the body of two companions. From this space were arrested 5 companions one of whom remain kidnapped.
At the same time the Libertarian Library Johnny Cariqueo was raided in the Pudahuel municipality, in this space the police breaking in smashing access doors and no one was arrested. The police also raided 14 houses, 12 in Santiago and 2 in Valparaiso.
With a total of 17 raids realized by the defenders of order and 14 companions kidnapped.
Formalization of the hostages.
This Saturday around 16:00 pm the companions where brought before the 11º Santiago Court Guarantee where the southern prosecution request extended their detention until next Tuesday, 17 August, where they would be charged with "installation of explosive or incendiary devices and terrorist conspiracy" (law made by Pinochet), a request which the Ministry of Interior would also make, risking 20 years. During the hearing, once again the circus nature of the Chilean courts was demonstrated. Judge Lidia Bruna agreed to each and every one of the requests of the Prosecutor and the Ministry of Interior (press presence, extending the period of detention for three days, isolation of the companions among themselves and from the outside, and also the order to bring the police collaborator Gustavo Fuentes "El Grillo" to the audience next tuesday, to formalize with the rest of the alleged members of this "terrorist conspiracy." The vultures of the bourgeois press were all in the courtroom and fired their flashes once the judge gave the signal for the guards to bring in the companions.
The arguments of the defence were heard and denied one after another. The judge had everything ready for each resolution automatically read it with her voice of old bitch from a paper on her desk. When they ask to a companion if they had anything to say in relation to detention, he said he had been repeatedly been threatened with death, and she responds “that’s all?”. Neither did the story about the destruction of particular houses of the companions seem to attract much attention. The Prosecution justify the injuries cause by the police to a companion of the Sacco and Vanzetti (a rubber bullet his head and he was kicked on the nose) in the fact he would have been looking out of a window of the building throwing things and destroying evidence, thing that the companion denied this version immediately calling it “Imaginative”, was reprimanded for showing disrespect to the prosecutors. So beating and threatening people with death and unnecessarily smashing into houses is part of the norm that judges uphold, but any questioning of the repressive apparatus cannot take place in this circus. This lady continued with the same attitude when the defense counsel talked about an "orchestration" between the different media to blame our comrades.
When it became clear that the show was already coming to an end on Tuesday at 9:00pm, they began to hear the cheers of support, very welcomed by the spirits of our companions. Banners spread outside the courtroom, songs of support were sung ("Free the prisoners to fight"), the expression of the old fascist lady was that of disgust and horror, some bodyguards immediately surrounded the prosecutor Alejandro Peña.
After wrangling between those who went to support our comrades with two types of police dogs (police and press), the fascist judge made another for the 14 comrades to be taken inside and then, from the cells area, came a contingent of furious policemen armed with sticks and shields, that flew over the benches of defendants and lawyers with the clear intention of beating up friends and relatives of the detainees.
Of course, the bourgeois press has noted that all the comrades who came to support, well as the accused, attacked the press and other guardians of the capitalist order, but the truth is that the aggression came from the guards, while police and journalists beat many people savagely, and outside the enclosure were joined by riot police launching a manhunt that was not intended to arrest anyone but to punish directly. The companion Luisa Vergara had a traumatic brain injury, the mother of one of the detainees had minor injuries caused by a fucking journalist, and luckily most of the windows of this temple of shit (the court) were destroyed to be used against the officers.
Also, several journalists were beaten and their cameras damaged. No companion was arrested but many were beaten by the agents. Once outside the courts the companions found out that the SSC and Library Sacco and Vanzetti was being closed by a joint operation by the two police deparments. During the afternoon, the building had been guarded by a truck from the PDI (Police Of Investigation), whose occupants at first denied entry to a group of companions, but later agreed to let them in and take some things, warning that there was an order not to let the building be reoccupied. Hours later, at about 18:30, police hentered the squat and were carrying out work to close all access. The Library and all the other things that were not seized (this time they took little in the raid) remained sequestered there. The police did not exhibit any eviction order or anything, and said it was orders of the prosecutor. They also said the squat would be recovered by their legitimate owners, the ISP (Internal Revenue Service). A quick operation that took them by surprise yielded a number of books that were put to safety, sparking a short police chase in the area without anyone being arrested.The Kidnapped Companions are:
-Pablo Morales: Ex-Lautarista (A military political organization that operates in Chile at the end of the dictatorship and the beginning of democracy). Arrested at his house in Santiago.-Rodolfo Retamales: Ex-Lautarista. Arrested at his house in Santiago. Also was raided their parent’s house.-Omar Hermosilla: Ex-Lautarista. Arrested at his house in Santiago.-Andrea Urzùa: In 2008 the police say that and Marcelo Villarroel (companions in trail for a bank robbery) were held. Arrested at his house in Santiago-Felipe Guerra: Arrested in SSC and Library Sacco and Vanzetti. Also was raided his mother’s house. The companion was injured by agents of the ERTA.-Cristian Cancino: He was arrested in the squat “La Idea” after the death of Mauricio Morales (comrade killed by his own bomb on May 22, 2009), where the police charged him with almost 500 grams of black gunpowder. Cristian decided to assume his guilt in a short trail to get out of jail.-Carlos Riveros: Arrested at his house in Santiago.-Camilo Perez: Arrested at his house in Santiago.-Ivan Goldenberg: Arrested at his house in Valparaiso. Police say the gun that Mauricio Morales was carryingat the time of his death, was owned by the grandfather of Ivan.-Candelaria Cortès-Monroy: Arrested at his house in Santiago. Candelaria in 2008 was stabbed by Gustavo Fuentes aka "El Grillo" who was his partner and who is accused of placing bombs.-Francisco Solar: Arrested at his house in Valparaiso.-Monica Caballero: Arrested at the squat “La Crota”.-Diego Morales: Arrested at the squat “La Crota”. The police invented that Diego has in his hands traces of TNT.-Vinicio Aguilera: Arrested at the squat “La Crota”. The police inveted that Vinicio also has in his hands traces of TNT.
All male companions are in the high security prison and female comrades in Women's Counseling Center.
Immediate Solidarity with our comrades kidnapped by Power!
The “terrorist conspiracy” exists only in the head of the prosecutor Peña!
More info, pictures and video: (In Spanish) http://hommodolars.org/web/spip.php?article3395

Actions against union bureaucrats and Metropolitan Police in Argentina

18 08 2010 From Liberación Total: (August 16, 2010):
Communiqué:
July 29, 2010
We welcome the class-conscious comrades from the Hilda Guerrero de Molina Unit of the August 22 Class-Conscious Collective in Tucumán, who are joining forces with us against the exploiter capital, the state, the Mercenary Police, and the union bureaucracy. Said comrades carried out an attack on a union bureaucrat from the Provincial Transportation Union in Tucumán—a real mafia in the service of the Alperovich government—by opening fire on the hit-man’s home, leaving him a clear warning: If he continues his union activity and his bullying of class-conscious members of the Union, he will be punished for his actions.
Anarchist comrades also attacked the Truckers’ Union headquarters in Salta, causing destruction and leaving graffiti inside that refuge for the union bureaucrats who are used as salteño dictator Romero’s gang. After the attack, the Union asked the Salta Secretary General—that representative of state exploitation, for whom the Union acts as the usual thug—for protection.
Finally, the Simon Radowitzky Unit of the Luciano Arruga Brigade planted two bombs at the Metropolitan Police training center early Saturday morning. Sadly, the bombs were deactivated by Federal Police monkeys. We’ll have better luck next time, and we’ll blow the hands off those slaves of the system.

Freedom for Martino, La Galle, and other prisoners of the Social War

—Luciano Arruga Brigade
—Simon Radowitzky Unit
—Hilda Guerrero de Molina Unit

A cell-phone video, showing a suspected robber screaming in pain as an alleged police chief yanks on a rope tied to the victim's genitals ...

same things in Greece MPATSOI GOUROUNIA DOLOFONOI!

T he 31-year-old Mexican who escaped from Korydallos Prison on Monday was recaptured early yesterday. The fugitive, who had been serving a life sentence for drug trafficking, was found in the basement of an apartment in Korydallos, southern Athens, and arrested by local police officers. He escaped on Monday after hiding in a garbage truck that had entered the prison yard to collect trash. His disappearance was only discovered when prison guards conducted a head count.




A 31year old Mexican escaped from the psychiatric wing of Koridallos prisons Athens today where he was serving a life sentence for drug dealing.

According to the police, he managed (no one knows how) to get away from the guards and hide under a garbage truck.

Police think he hid in a spot near the engine and when the truck got outside the prisons he jumped out and ran away.

As well they believe that the Mexican man, a circus acrobat, is still in the area.

Good luck man

FIRE TO THE PRISONS

Patra struggles with migrants Greece

Truck drivers clashed yesterday with illegal immigrants in the port of Patra, which has again become a hub for undocumented people seeking to stow away on passenger ferries heading for Italy. Yesterday’s clashes were prompted by migrants trying to hide on trucks that were waiting to board ferries. Sources said that this sort of incident has been happening regularly lately. It is estimated that there are some 700 illegal immigrants currently living in Patra. About 250 are Afghans who live in the northern part of the city, some 300 are Africans who live in the southern areas and the rest are North Africans who have found temporary shelter in old, abandoned buildings. It has now become common for these migrants to stand outside bakeries or supermarkets in the hope of gleaning some scraps to eat. Some also rummage in trash dumpsters, as a decision by the Achaia Prefecture to provide the immigrants with one meal a day has yet to be acted upon. greek media..

IDF soldiers suspected of theft from Gaza flotilla ship

Published 23:37 18.08.10
Latest update 23:37 18.08.10
IDF soldiers suspected of theft from Gaza flotilla ship
At least four soldiers being detained on suspicion of stealing and selling laptops belonging to activists aboard the Mavi Marmara ship, Israeli media report.
By Haaretz Service
Tags: Israel news Gaza flotilla IDF
Military Police arrested an Israel Defense Forces officer suspected of stealing laptop computers from activists aboard the Gaza-bound aid ship raided by Israeli commandos in May and selling them to other officers.
The officer allegedly sold the computers to a friend, who in turn sold them to friends of his. Three officers who are suspected of having bought the computers have also been detained for questioning.
  The Mavi Marmara, aboard which Israel's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla resulted in the deaths of 9 Turkish activists, leaving Haifa on August 5, 2010

Photo by: AP
The officer, who holds the rank of first lieutenant, allegedly stole between four and six computers from activists on the Mavi Marmara, which was trying to break the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip when Israel raided it, leaving nine Turkish activists dead.
Israel Navy commandos boarded six ships that made up the Gaza-bound flotilla on May 31, in an effort to prevent them from breaking through an Israeli marine blockade and reaching Gaza.
The naval commandos who boarded the sixth ship - the Mavi Marmara - were met with violence and nine Turkish activists were killed in the subsequent clashes.
News of the officers' arrests was first reported by Ynet, which quoted a high-ranking officer who said, "The investigation has just begun, but as it appears now it will prove embarrassing and shameful. These are soldiers who don't understand what their uniform represents."
Israel Radio reported that cellular phones were also stolen from the activists.
The IDF Spokesman’s Office said the Military Police had opened an investigation, but said it remains unclear if the computers in question were indeed stolen from the Mavi Marmara activists.
In June, an Italian journalist who was detained by the IDF following the raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla says his credit card was used to purchase items after it was confiscated by the Israeli authorities.
www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-soldiers-suspecte...

RAW VIDEO OF SUSPECT BRUTAL TORTURE IN MANILA PRISON - MAN BELIEVED DEAD NOW

Bomb house: arraignment of the 15 defendants in the midst of extreme security

August 17

Amid tight security and great expectations in journalism, was held yesterday the formalization of the 14 people arrested during the weekend accused of links to anarchist groups and the planting of bombs in different parts of Santiago, as well as Gustavo Fuentes Aliaga , alias “El Grillo”, who was taken into custody for other crimes.
At the request of the President of the Court of Appeals of Santiago, Juan Manuel Muñoz Pardo, and the Public Ministry, was made a ring of security on campus and three blocks of it, which included a helicopter, cars and water cannons Lanzaga plus 150 police officers from different units.
At the time, the Ministry of Interior decided to bring suit against 15 individuals accused.
In this instance, at the Centre of Justice, was also known that during four years of investigation the police conducted 60 000 wiretaps, some of which will be presented at this conference.
It was the same chief prosecutor of the Southern Zone, Alejandro Pena, who formalized individuals for terrorist conspiracy from July 2005 and the bombings that hit the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Church of the Sacrament, the State Defense Council (CDE), the branch of Chilectra at La Cisterna, in Atal Cars and the School of Gendarmerie.
As noted, defendants are investigated for a total of 23 bombings that have occurred in Santiago.  Also were accused leaders of the organization Fuhrimann and Rodolfo Morales Pablo Retamal Leiva, while the rest of the group is divided between facilitators and media partners for the realization of the attacks.
All the detainees said they did not understand any aspect of the formalization of objections by the prosecutor, as his lawyer, Alberto Espinoza said that this runs counter to the right of defense of its representatives and requested the annulment of the procedure that, for now, is estimated to last about six hours.
In the lengthy meeting, the chief prosecutor of the Southern Zone, Alejandro Peña, called for the detention of all defendants, which concluded for the crimes of terrorist conspiracy and explosive devices.
17 videos and traces of TNT
The Public Prosecutor’s representative delivered a series of backgrounds of expertise made after massive raids on 14 August.  Among these mentioned that police found traces of black powder and TNT in the clothes of some of the detainees, and found videos of 17 bomb attacks in Santiago.
She said that the films were in the hands of Felipe Guerra arrested and were found in the squatted house  Sacco and Vanzetti, on Calle Santo Domingo, almost reaching Bulnes.
The man is accused of having participated in the attack that killed the anarchist Mauricio Morales, opposite the Gendarmerie School.  He was found with photographs of the facility that were taken before the attack, which demonstrates his trial attorney’s performance at the event.
The prosecutor further noted that the raid was found documents prove that the anarchist group received financing from abroad, but did not specify what form they took the papers.
Wiretapping and submitted during the hearing of formal charges against those arrested for the bombings case, show evidence of the direct link between a former official of the Metropolitan and Rodolfo Quartermaster Retamales, accused of being one of the leaders of the anarchist organization.
Carola is Lizárraga, who intercepted a call in cell Retamales asked to meet with him to report “one thing I told you and I need to tell”, to which he replied that they are in the Calle Bandera.
According to the prosecutor in charge of the case, Alejandro Pena, the link between them is a sign that the woman was paying collaboration on the subject, but did not say whether an investigation will begin to clarify this link.
According to police sources, 41 detainees left the clashes between police and nearly 15 defendants in the vicinity of the Justice Center where he developed the vast audience of formalization.

At the request of the Chilean authorities, the BND help to identify Italian who sent money to campaigners.

The Bundesnachrichtendienst or German Federal Research Service (BND) is following in the footsteps of Matthew Rossi’s Italian citizen, suspected of having sent money to Chilean anarchist groups involved in the placement of explosive devices.
The collaboration of the Germanic body is made on the basis of a request for Chilean authorities under the government case against 14 suspected members of the network involved in the attacks. According to reports, the petition alleges that the BND has large databases of European anarchists and the Italian suspect had lived in Germany.
After lifting bank secrecy in the investigation, the Attorney South Metropolitan gained access to an account in the name of former Lautaro Omar Hermosilla, aka “Mouse”, one of the anarchists arrested during the weekend.
Thus it was established that the former had received a subversive euro transfer from an account in Switzerland for $ 712 000. El dinero, según sostiene la fiscalía, era para incrementar la intensidad de los atentados explosivos. The money, as argued by the prosecution, was to increase the intensity of the bombings.
For this situation, two people are in custody.
One is Omar himself Hermosilla.  The other alleged anarchist Carlos Riveros Lüttge, known as “Carlangas.”
The name of the latter came to the research through an informant for the National Police Intelligence Chief (Jipol) of the PDI.  The aide would have had access to the communications network of suspects and revealed that there was an email received by Riveros in which he detailed alleged Italian citizen and that this transfer was to be deposited in the bank account of former subversive. According to data released yesterday in concluding, “Carlangas” requested the money to assume a “more radical”.
So far there are two theories about the identity of Italian: Matthew Rossi is his real name or is a forgery.
if the first is the case, one would have established that the alien was in Chile in 2008 and met with local anarchist collective.The police have a history that Rossi was born in Piedmont, northwest Italy and it would be a known anti-system activist.
However, research data exist to suggest that this could be a false identity used by an activist to avoid being recognized. The verification of the suspect’s real identity is the focus of the collaboration by the German intelligence service requested by representatives of the Chilean government.
Yesterday was unaware of the existence of a letter found in possession of one of the detainees, Felipe Guerra. The message referred to a sum of money was coming from Italy and emphasized: “Very important is no word of this to anyone, . Faced with a possible arrest, say nothing.”  It is possible that the prosecution request to interrogate the suspect abroad through an international warrant, or even come to seek his extradition for funding terrorist groups.

25 Protesters Arrested Before Bomb Suspects’ Hearing in Chile

SANTIAGO – At least 25 people were arrested on Tuesday before the first court appearance of 15 suspects in a series of bombings in Santiago and other cities in Chile, police said.
The protesters, the majority of them fellow anarchists, were arrested for damaging public property and disturbing the peace.
Fourteen of the suspected anarchists appearing at the hearing were arrested last weekend in operations in Santiago and Valparaiso that included searches of squatter settlements in the capital and residences.
The 15th defendant is an anarchist already serving prison time for previous offenses.
The courthouse in Santiago was surrounded early in the day by three security rings manned by about 150 police officers equipped with water cannons and tear gas.
The security perimeter was extended to a nearby Metro station, where a checkpoint was set up to check the identification of people using the facility.
The tight security for the hearing, allowing only one relative of each of the suspects to be present, as well as only one reporter from each news outlet, caused a delay of more than one hour in the start of the proceedings.
Special prosecutor Alejandro Peña, who is in charge of the case, ordered last Saturday’s operations after investigating the attacks for several months.
Physical evidence, such as traces of explosives on the skin and clothing of some of the defendants, links the suspects to the bombings, prosecutor Marcos Emilfort, who is working with Peña, said Tuesday.
Rodolfo Retamales and Pablo Morales, two former members of the leftist Grupo Lautaro that fought the 1973-1990 military dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, are among the suspects in the case.
Retamales and Morales spent more than 12 years in prison for crimes committed after the restoration of democracy.
The press has identified the two men as the masterminds behind the series of bombings that killed one person, an anarchist who was carrying a bomb on a bicycle in Santiago last year.
The bombings targeted banks, the offices of foreign companies, embassies, churches and police stations in Santiago and other cities.
Retamales’s lawyer, Alberto Espinoza, criticized the extensive media coverage of his client, saying that it “weakens the right to a defense a lot.” EFE

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Early in the morning of Saturday, August 14, in Santiago, agents of the Chilean state raided the self-organized social center Jonny Cariqueo and the squatted social center and library Sacco and Vanzetti, shutting down the latter. Several homes were also raided, and 14 comrades taken into custody, with charges of illicit association and placing bombs.
The raid is the work of the new State’s Attorney Alejandro Peña, who claims to be going after a terrorist anarchist organization, which he has largely invented with the complicity of various judges. Under his watch, international solidarity has become “terrorist financing” and anarchist libraries have become safe houses or centers of power.
For some time now, the Chilean state has presented the anarchists as public enemy number one. These arrests and all the fear-mongering carried out by the media, as always complicit with Capital, is meant to distract people from the plight of the 33 miners and their families, and from the Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike in struggle for their lands and freedom.
The State/Capital wants to cover up its inability to catch anyone for the over 100 bombs that have been placed throughout Santiago against targets of the powerful, as part of the ongoing social war in Chile.
The day before, on August 13, agents of the State disarmed a bomb set to go off at an elite restaurant in Santiago. The communique claiming responsibility for the bomb stated that members of the institutions of the powerful should no longer feel safe, as they carry out massive violence and repression against all those who struggle.
The social center Jonny Cariqueo calls for solidarity and says it will struggle to remain open and mobilize and agitate in the struggle against State and Capital, and in particular against the Anti-Terror Law.
Excerpted, translated, and paraphrased by porlos from an article on hommodolars
Check out: anarcopunknoticias.blogspot.com/
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Israeli abuse pictures 'common'

August 17, 2010 Israeli soldiers are routinely taking degrading photographs of dead and captured Palestinians and posting them on the internet, human rights groups have said. The claims come a day after the Israeli military attempted to quell controversy over photographs showing a female soldierposing provocativelywith blindfolded Palestinian detainees. The Israeli military said on Monday that the pictures were "disgraceful" and insisted that the incident was in "total opposition" to the army's "ethical code". But on Tuesday an Israeli rights group released a fresh batch of photographs, apparently showing Israeli troops posing with dead, wounded and captured Palestinians, which they said cast doubt on the official line that such incidents are rare.  Breaking the Silence, an organisation that collects testimony from former soldiers, posted a folder on the internet containing nine pictures obtained from army veterans. It is unclear when and where the pictures were taken, but the photographs appear to show armed Israeli soldiers posing with prisoners and bodies of dead Palestinians.   Common practice Rights activists say that the phenomenon of taking so-called 'souvenir pictures' is widespread within the Israeli military.      "While I was lying on the ground, the soldiers took pictures of me on their mobile phones" Muhammed Id'is, Palestinian driver "We released these because it seemed as if the IDF was presenting the pictures that came out yesterday as a one-off case," Mikhael Manekin, a campaigner from Breaking the Silence, told Al Jazeera.  "Pictures of soldiers with detainees are highly normative. The soldiers themselves aren't even embarrassed about these pictures, which shows how normative they are." Meanwhile, Israeli human rights group B'tselem said  testimony from Palestinians corroborates anecdotal evidence that such pictures are not unusual. In an incident in September last year, Muhammed Id'is, a Palestinian driver, says he was attacked by Israeli soldiers who took pictures on cell-phones while they beat him with their weapons and threatened to kill him. "I wasn't able to walk and fell to the ground. The two soldiers kicked me in the stomach and back," he told B'tselem. "While I was lying there on the ground, the officer and the first soldier took pictures of me on their mobile phones." In separate testimony gathered by the group, detainees reported hearing the click of camera shutters after being blindfolded by Israeli troops who had arrested them.  Michelle Bubis, a spokesperson for B'tselem, told Al Jazeera that the emergence of the new photographs suggests that these "are not isolated incidents." "Regarding the pictures published, B’tselem cannot corroborate the precise incidents in which they took place, but reiterates that they are a clear violation of detainees right to dignity and an abuse of power by soldiers," she said.  Special monitoring unit Activists say the pictures are violation of human rights The growth in popularity of social networking sites in recent years has been a source of concern for the Israeli military, which has been hit by a series of setbacks caused by material its soldiers have posted online. In March, officers were forced to call off a raid in the West Bank after a soldier published details on Facebook of the forthcoming operation. In an effort to prevent similar incidents, the Israeli military has implemented strict rules on the type of information that soldiers can upload to the internet. In addition, a special unit to monitor information posted online has been created in an effort to tackle the problem. Members of the unit scan websites including Facebook, Twitter and MySpace looking for sensitive or embarrassing material posted by soldiers. Troops found to have uploaded inappropriate information can face disciplinary action within the military, or criminal proceedings, depending on the sensitivity of the material in question.

Palestinian baby caught in checkpoint turnstile; face cut, hand fractured

Tuesday August 17, 2010 - A 10-month old baby was injured Monday when he was caught in a turning metal slatted turnstile in an Israeli checkpoint near Bethlehem, where his face was repeatedly slammed into the iron bars until he fainted and fell to the ground. Witnesses said that 10-month old Mu'min Qasrawi's mother was holding him, and about to cross through the turnstile, when the baby's arm was caught between the metal bars, wresting the baby from her arms and jerking him through the turning metal, where his hand was broken and face and body bashed until he became unconscious. According to the baby's mother, Shirin Qasrawi, "As I attempted to get the baby out of the carousel, he was crying and his hand was fractured. The soldiers saw the carousel rotating with the baby inside, but they waited until he fainted and fell to the ground". The turnstile is located in the middle of Bethlehem checkpoint, which is usually very crowded with Palestinian workers who have permits to work in Jerusalem. The checkpoint was constructed in 2005, and consists of a large building, a door through the Israeli Wall, and several holding pens and metal turnstiles, as well as observation decks, metal detectors, interrogation rooms and multiple ID and permit checking stations. The baby was taken to al-Makased Hospital in Jerusalem for treatment.