greece , Thessalonike ,today 10/9/10

• In Thessalonike the second biggest city of greece with 1  Million people we have the “international exhibition of thessalonike ” were many years now the prime minister talks and debates about economy and the new year that starts and what his government do
• every year we have protests outside the area where the exhibition is happening
• it is a really big deal for everybody the next 2 days here in greece
• there are more than 4.500 policemen there …
• the “big” protest it is on saturday and we will have some information from there with pictures .
• today around 12 near the port  police blocked  some leftists protest in the street with some fighting  .
• people report :  police state in Thessalonike 4.500 police  it is a lot
• festivals , concerts and parties   for  tonight

Police Brutality

A Scots police sergeant who injured a woman when he assaulted her in a cell in Wiltshire has been jailed for six months.

Sergeant Mark Andrews was caught on CCTV dragging Pamela Somerville, 59, across the floor of Melksham police station before shoving her into the cell.

Sergeant Mark Andrews was caught on CCTV dragging Pamela Somerville, 59, across the floor of Melksham police station before shoving her into the cell.

Ms Somerville was arrested in July 2008 after being found asleep in her car. She was detained for failing to provide a sample for a breath test.

The CCTV footage shows her lying on the floor for a minute before struggling to get up with blood pouring from a head wound.

Former soldier Andrews was convicted of assault causing actual bodily harm after a trial at Oxford Magistrates' Court in July.

The 37-year-old, who was suspended on full pay after his conviction, was sentenced at the same court.

Ms Somerville was taken to Royal United Hospital in Bath and needed stitches in a gash above her eye.

'Trusted position'

Passing sentence, Deputy District Judge Peter Greenfield said Andrews had abused his position of trust and only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

He said: "In my view, you presided over an atmosphere of bullying and intimidation upon Ms Somerville which culminated in the cell later that morning."

The judge continued: "I regard that a gross breach of trust placed upon you by Ms Somerville. I consider that right thinking members of the public will be appalled and totally saddened by your actions as a police officer."

Balding Andrews, wearing a dark suit, was led from the court in handcuffs by two dock officers. Jeremy Barton, defending Andrews, immediately submitted papers for an appeal.

The court heard that Andrews, who is married with children aged four and two, joined Wiltshire Police around eight years ago and was promoted to sergeant in 2005.

Prior to joining the police, he had spent around nine years in the Army, reaching the rank of sergeant.

Bristol Anarchist Bookfair 2010 - This Saturday!

Updated! Bristol Indymedia are hosting a room at the event - details here.

the bookfair collective writes: The 2010 Bristol Anarchist Bookfair is on Saturday 11 September, from 10.30am to 6pm. At Hamilton House, 80 Stokes Croft, Bristol BS1 3QY (fully accessible via ramp & lifts)

At the bookfair we offer you: 48 tables of stalls over 2 floors, 28 separate meetings/workshops/films spread over 4 rooms (including a Bristol Indymedia room and a Radical History Zone), a kids space, and an all day vegan cafe. All are welcome - come along and find out more, just step inside the door!

This year’s Bristol Bookfair will take place in the midst of the most serious ongoing crisis of capitalism for 80 years, against a background of drastic austerity measures (cuts, unemployment, tax rises, wage freezes, inflation) and worsening environmental mayhem. The class war waged against us by the ruling class has come up with an old trick, the coalition governent, this time of the self-serving LibDems and our class enemies the Tory toffs. Their Big Society is nothing but a Big Con, as they seek to roll back a publicly accountable state (well a bit accountable!) and replace it with a privately run corporately controlled one. Behind their PR bullshit of respect, sustainability and freedom lurks the iron fist of authoritarian capitalism making our lives subservient to their profits, our choices dictated to us by them. They tell us we must all share the pain of this crisis, we hope this bookfair will play its part in ensuring that they do indeed share some of our pain.

The aim of the bookfair is to provide a wide range of anarchist and radical literature, ideas, history, debate, theory, meetings, workshops and films, and merchandise. The event will provide a serious taster of anarchist ideas & practices to those people new to such ideas and looking for an alternative to the way things are, but do not have to be. The bookfair also acts as a get together for existing anarchists & radicals - to debate, discuss, network, plot and plan, and of course socailise!

Full Story | Bristol Indymedia @ Bookfair | Bookfair Website | Bookfair Programme

anonymous report from finoallafine.info (translation):

"Broken windows, locks blocked up and slogans written on the walls of two outlets of the real estate agency Immobildream in Cerenova (Roma). In solidarity with animal and ecological prisoners.
Earth Liberation Front "

Italian:
"Vetri infranti, serrature bloccate e scritte sui muri di 2 punti vendita dell'agenzia immobiliare Immobildream a Cerenova (roma). In solidarietà con i prigionieri animalisti e ecologisti.
Fronte di Liberazione della Terra"/www.directaction.info/news_sep07b_10.htm

Bomb Explodes Outside Church in Southern Chile

SANTIAGO – A small bomb exploded early Tuesday outside a Catholic church in the southern Chilean city of Temuco, destroying the front door and shattering windows, police and press reports said.

The blast occurred at 3:05 a.m. outside the Iglesia del Buen Pastor in downtown Temuco, the capital of La Araucania region, some 672 kilometers (about 420 miles) south of Santiago.

The explosion also damaged some nearby houses, Radio Cooperativa said.

Some pamphlets from a group calling itself Kaos Nativo Orquestal were left outside the church, investigators said.

Initial indications are that bomb was fashioned from a fire extinguisher packed with explosives.

The bomb was similar to those used in previous attacks in Temuco and Santiago that were blamed on anarchist groups.

A bomb damaged a bank branch early Saturday in the capital.

More than two dozen bombings have been staged in Chile in the past few years.

Responsibility for the blasts is usually claimed by anarchists or anti-globalization groups, some of them linked to Chile’s disgruntled Mapuche Indians.

A member of one of the anarchist groups linked by authorities to the attacks died in mid-2009 in Santiago when the bomb he was carrying in a backpack exploded while he was riding a bicycle.

A special prosecutor is investigating the bombings, which occur periodically.

The detonator on a bomb planted at the Regional Justice Secretariat in Temuco failed on New Year’s Eve.

Asel Luzarraga, a Spanish writer and front man of an anarchist punk group, was arrested in connection with the failed bombing.

Luzarraga participated in protests supporting Mapuche land claims in the region. EFE

SANTIAGO – A homemade bomb caused damage but no injuries at El Mercurio newspaper’s regional bureau in the coastal city of Viña del Mar, Chilean police said Thursday.

Bomb Damages Offices of Chile’s Major Daily

The explosion occurred at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday and the blast wave extended 30 meters (98 feet).

“The device was placed beside a column of the building and it reached windows of the El Mercurio offices and of contiguous apartments,” police Col. Fernando Bywaters told reporters.

No one was hurt and there has been no claim of responsibility for the bombing, he said.

The blast took place one block from Viña del Mar city hall and in the vicinity of two educational institutions.

Fifteen Chilean anarchists – including one serving time for other offenses – are currently accused of carrying out 23 bombings in Santiago and other cities.

The attacks targeted banks, offices of foreign companies, embassies, churches and police stations, mainly in the capital. The sole fatality was an anarchist killed when a bomb exploded as he was transporting it on a bicycle.

Santiago-based El Mercurio is Chile’s most influential newspaper and a pillar of the Andean nation’s conservative establishment. EFE

The criminalization of poverty and the resistance in the case of the Tsouvalaki brothers.

Tuesday 1st of September 2010. For the theft of two laptops and a few mobile phone batteries of small value, from shops of a large company, “repeated thefts, occupation thieve and by habit”, the court of appeals of athens gave a sentence of 6 years to Nikolaos Tsouvalakis, who according to defence witnesses has the responsibility of taking care of his sick brother and his other three brothers that are locked in psychiatric clinics, and 4 years To Theodoros Tsouvalakis, who has 67% disability from a stroke he had in 2000 and can barely take care of himself, with the mitigation of “good behaviour after the action”. According to the decision the two brothers have to serve the sentences given to them. Nikolaos Tsouvalakis returned to Trikala prisons were he has been kept for 20 months now, while disabled Theodoros was taken to Hania prisons despite the decision of the first court to postpone his sentence of 7 years until the second court. Since friday august 20th N.ikos Tsouvalakis is on hunger strike in Trikala prisons protesting the justice procedures and for the granting of his demand to be moved to Agia prisons in Hania, to be near his brother. Note that his organism is worn down he has high blood pressure and suffers from respiratory problems and the decision to absent from food is dangerous for his life. Nikos Tsouvalakis belongs in the category of citizens that resist. On 22/4/2009 he wrote to the superior of the prosecutors of appeals of athens, a year ago: -Society is not in danger from me, its in danger from the governing parties, who as you can see, the social decadence, corruption and the jungle of violence that have become the regime and the theft and criminal self interest and repeated fraud by the political and economical mafia of the country remain in the penal unaffected, despite the fact that they wasted and looted, with their quarrels and the vicious “pimps”, all the budgets and public money-. During his imprisonment in korridalos he did three hunger strikes: two for the barbaric prison conditions and one in solidarity with the imprisoned (from the december 2008 events) Thodori Iliopoulos. The initiative for the rights of prisoners supports the demand of the brothers to serve their sentence in the same prison and near their family environment. It is self evident, just like its self evident the state will restore the injustices against the poor and unprotected people. The case of the Tsouvalaki brothers comes to confirm the passage from the state of welfare to a state of punishment as well as the position of prison in the new directory of disgust for the intensification of detention for socially outcast workers. The hunger strike is the ultimate resistance to a system that criminalizes poverty and leads the prisoners to annihilation.

In the largest facility of Rostov region starving 1,000 prisoners

Sat, 04/09/2010

In the Rostov region in Novocherkassk remand about 1 thousands of inmates staged a protest after checking their employees GUFSIN.
According to Life News, the commission seized from inmates prohibited items in their cells. This caused discontent among those under investigation. They began a hunger strike without an official announcement.
Insulator in Novocherkassk is one of the largest detention centers in Rostov Oblast. According to the agency, in the cells of many prisoners found and seized mobile phones, iron and glassware.
"We have come into the chamber staff GUFSIN and riot police - told one of the prisoners. - Among other things took color bedding and personal belongings. We rebelled.
In protest, 1,000 inmates refused to eat. To defuse the situation and explain the rebels of their rights in prison have left leadership of the regional GUFSIN and the police department, prosecutor's office.
"The situation is tense - commented in GUFSIN. - Can they refused to eat, but the official announcement about the hunger strike was not.Usually in such cases is written appeal to the prosecutor, hunger is placed in a separate room, being watched doctors. I ride them in any case is brought to leave at 2:00, and then taken away. The situation heated and relatives of the prisoners.

The case of the attack on the Russian Embassy downgraded to a heavy article of the Criminal Code, the period of detention issues

According to Indymedia-Belarus and several other portals criminal investigation into the attack on the Russian Embassy in Minsk turned into a more serious crime. It also reported that despite the fact that the charges were brought against nobody and there is no evidence base, the sentence detained activists extended for another 3 days. As the head of the Department of Information and Public Relations Alexander Lastovsky Minsk police are now investigating the crime are under fire. " Previously, a criminal case was instituted under "hooliganism". Under the Criminal Code of Belarus, the maximum penalty for disorderly conduct - three years imprisonment. For arson - up to eight years in prison. In the criminal case of Belarus special services detained seven activists of the anarchist movement, which is suspected of involvement in the incident at the Russian embassy. The names of the detainees:

• Igor Bogachek
• Valeria Khotin
• Sergei Slusar
• Nicholas Dzedok
• Alex Zhingerovsky
• Alexander Franzkevich
• Anton Laptenok

All detainees are held in remand prison in the street Akrestsin. Also today , September 6 at 12 am, law enforcement officials detained Tatiana Semenischevu.It remains to show whether or not to any charges. Following the extension of detention, it became clear that the authorities have no evidence of involvement of our friends in this incident! Therefore, we demand the immediate release of all prisoners! Friends and relatives of the detainees. Links: Attack of the anarchists in the IVS on the street.Akrestsina Street Australia: second day of the six detainees social activists are in detention center of Minsk on the street. Akrestsin Belarus: the kidnapping of social activists, members of "Law & quot; bodies

Protesters, police clash over L.A. immigrant death

22 arrested as crowd protests knife-wielding man's fatal shooting by officer

LOS ANGELES — Protesters on Tuesday night pelted a police station with eggs, rocks and bottles despite Police Chief Charlie Beck's plea for calm earlier in the day and his promise to thoroughly investigate an officer's fatal shooting of a Guatemalan immigrant wielding a knife.

Police reported 22 arrests late Tuesday, mainly for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, Officer Karen Rayner told The Associated Press. Officers fired at least two volleys of nonlethal foam projectiles at demonstrators, she added.
The demonstrators, including families with children, bolted down the street and into alleyways as the shots were fired, The Los Angeles Times reported. During the ruckus, witnesses told the Times, a man fell off his bicycle and struck his head.

Condo development attacked, bank sabotaged in Seattle

www.anarchistnews.org/?q=node/12133

A Bank of America's atm slots were superglued, and a nearby vacant condo development was decorated with graffiti reading:NO CONDOS, NO PRISONS, FOR CHILE (A) An outside hose was also left running into a sliding door in order to flood the lower level. DWELL Development tears down existing homes and replaces them with expensive "eco-friendly" condos that further the gentrification of Seattle's neighborhoods. We find it ludicrous that these condos are located mere blocks from one of the most recent sites of Nickelsville, Seattle's tent city. And, in a world of dying ecosystems, the construction of "extremely energy efficient and environmentally friendly" condos means absolutely nothing.

Bank of America is one of the three joint financial advisers (including Merrill Lynch and Barclays Int.) for GEO Group Corp. The GEO Group Corp. is a private prison firm that is paid millions by the U.S. government to detain undocumented immigrants and other prisoners. This corporation runs the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma.
We hold no illusion that these acts of sabotage will cause these corporations to financially collapse tomorrow. Instead, we attack in order to bring about a small rupture in the social fabric of our daily lives, allowing us to express our own personal rage, and knowing that to remain on the offensive is crucial to both our struggle and our spirits.
In solidarity with all prisoners,
In solidarity with our comrades facing heavy repression in Chile,
In solidarity with the victims of police violence in Seattle and everywhere,
- some anarchists

Chronicles of a summer of revolts in Italian detention centres

After last year, 2010 brought another fiery summer in Italy’s detention centres for migrants (C.I.E.), where people are detained waiting to be deported. At the beginning of the summer the length of time of detention increased to 6 months, thanks to new “Security Package” approved by the government. Also, the Italian government has made a special agreements with Algeria and Tunisia to speed up the deportations of migrants coming from those countries. In many CIE’s Tunisians especially have been on the front line of revolts. Here follows a brief and incomplete chronicle of the past few months:

Trapani, 14th July
At least 15 people manage to escape. The news of the break only comes out after a couple of days: 27 people would have tried to escape, 12 caught straight away. According to other sources, it was about 40 people…4 of the migrants involved get blamed for the events and are immediately transferred to prison. For a change and some fresh air.

Turin, 14th July
Turin is home to one of the most “famous” (not for good reasons) CIE. The revolts begin when a group of migrants try to stop the deportation of 3 of them. In the end the police takes away 2 of those people. The remaining start breaking objects in the cells and setting fire to the mattresses. Some climb up on the roof.

A solidarity picket is quickly organised outside the CIE. When the news is heard that some injured migrants have been left unattended, a group of activists occupies the yard outside the main Red Cross’ office. The occupation only stops when finally a doctor is sent to the CIE to take care of the injured. One of the migrants, Samir, who has cut himself gets sedated and taken away, only to wake up next morning in another CIE in Rome.

Gradisca, 17th July
As in Turin, the revolts begin after an attempt of deportation of a group of Tunisians. Some of the detainees climb up on the roofs, the police responds with teargas. In another wing of the centre, detainees drag mattresses into the yard and set them on fire to distract the police. One of the migrants on the roof gets hit by a teargas stick and falls onto the mattresses on fire – he gets taken away to hospital. The following Tuesday the detainee who had resisted his own deportation gets 9 months in jail, for resisting a public officer.

Turin, 19-22 July
A Tunisian migrant, Sabri, climbs on a roof to protest against his imminent deportation. He’s amongst those who took part in the previous revolt. A group of activists gather outside the CIE. Sabri stays on the roof for 3 days and 3 nights, while the picket carries on and activists support his struggle by flyering, radio shows and other.

On the 3rd day the police, helped by the firemen, drags Sabri down, twisting his ankle. In the streets the picket activists try to block the 2 main entrances to the CIE, and they get charged and beaten up. In the evening a march of at least 500 people walks around the CIE.

Sabri didn’t make it, but thanks to his struggle his story and the migrants’ stories have travelled beyond the cells and bars of the CIE.

Roma, 23rd July
Samir, the guy who had cut himself on the revolt of 14th July in Turin and had been transferred to Rome, climbs on a roof and swallows bits of glass. He is released on the last of his detention days.

Bari, 30th July
At least 50 people try to escape, only 6 manage it. Another 30 climb on the roofs, throwing things at the police, carabinieri, and even army officers below. 18 people get arrested and charged with “devastation, looting, and resisting public officers”.

Brindisi, 5th August
16 people try to escape, 8 manage it. 2 army officers get injured in the riots. Between May and July 33people have escaped from this centre.

Trapani, 6th August
Some detainees attack the guards and try to escape. 50 army officers get sent to the place to put down the revolt. The decision of using the army in detention centres is due to MP Maroni, who has managed to get another one of his brilliat programmes approved just the day before (“Safe Streets”, it’s called…)

On the same day – 5th August – the Parliament has approved a new law about military missions abroad. The law includes new agreements with Libya that allow the Italian Finance Guard to patrol the seas between the 2 countries.

The war against the poor continues…
the Resistance, too!

Italy Calling
e-mail: italycalling@riseup.net
Homepage: http://italycalling.wordpress.com

Six anarchists were detained in connection with the case of the arson of the Russian Embassy in Belarus

The officers of Belarusian law enforcement agencies detained six activists of anarchist movement.
BelaPAN reports, Ihar Bahachak, Valeriya Khotina, Siarhei Slyusar, Nikalai Dzyadok, Alyaksei Zhinherousky and Alyaksandr Frantskevich were detained on September, 3 about 6 a.m. by the officers of law enforcement agencies and are still under arrest in the detention center in Akrestin Street in Minsk. The detainees are interrogated on the subject of their involvement in the incident near the RF Embassy in Minsk, at the territory of which Molotov cocktails were pelted.
The agency reports, the young people were jointly renting a flat in one of the Minsk districts. Early in the morning the door bell rang in their flat and one of the young men opened the door. Law enforcement officers in civilian clothes burst into the flat and transported young men who were there to GUBOP Interior Ministry of Belarus for interrogation. The flat was searched; five computers, two laptops, mobile phones, money, posters and magazines were confiscated.
Maximal detention term without arraignment makes up 72 hours in Belarus. The prosecutor may prolong this term up to 10 days.
Law enforcement agencies do not comment the situation still.
The incident near the Russian diplomatic mission in Minsk took place in the evening on August, 30. At 22.20 the officers of Safety Department of Interior Ministry disclosed a burning service vehicle Mazda-3 while their walking around the territory of the embassy. At the place of the incident a glass bottle with the capacity of 0,33 liter with the remaining of combustible mixture and fragments of a broken glass bottle with the remaining of the fuse. The crime case according to article “Hooliganism” has been initiated on the fact of the incident.
On September, 2 internet resources belarus.indymedia.org and belarus.avtonom.org allocated a statement, which said that anarchists take upon themselves the responsibility for the attack of Russian Embassy in Minsk that took place in the evening on August, 30. “By this action we express our anger and protest against arrests of social activists who stood up for Khimki Forest in Moscow”, — the statement noted.
The statement was disproved by Russian activists, who stand up for Khimki Forest. They called it a provocation.

Assailants attack Russian embassy in Minsk with fire bombs

Assailants attack Russian embassy in Minsk with fire bombs

08:54 31/08/2010

© Photo Website of the Russian Embassy in Belarus

Unknown assailants attacked the Russian Embassy in the Belarusian capital of Minsk with fire bombs late on Monday, a local emergencies spokesman said.
"At around 10:50 p.m. local time (19:50 GMT), two fire bombs were thrown onto the territory of the Russian Embassy," the spokesman said. "One of them hit a car parked on the premises."
There were no casualties, he added.

The Russian Embassy in Minsk attacked anarchists

Thu, 02/09/2010 - 21:19 — editor

Responsibility for the recent attack on the Russian embassy, caused a stir in the press, claimed a group of Belarusian anarchists. Quote the statement posted on the website of Indymedia: In the evening on August 30 a group of anarchists was conducted attack with Molotov cocktails at Russian embassy in Minsk. Was damaged one of the official cars. By this action, we express our anger and protest against the arrests and repression against social activists, who defended forests Khimki Moscow. Our friends are beaten by mercenaries from among the fascists, riot police chases and screws all in a row, threats, detentions and arrests have become the norm.Our friends are forced to endure the hardships in the dungeons and live in fear of being planted, because it stood for truth, for the people, for the right to a normal environment. But bureaucrats and capitalists concerned only kickbacks and profits, they do not care what will happen tomorrow and they are ready to virulent measures to suppress any protest, any dissatisfaction. What's next, death squads? We stand in solidarity with our comrades, and support only direct methods of struggle, because they are afraid only of force on the rest of them do not care. It's funny to read reviews and discussions about the campaign on Internet forums.We are equally repugnant to all the mafia clans under the names "the rulers of Belarus" and "the rulers of Russia." A simple working people of both countries does not shine anything good from this political bickering for power, should not behave like this mendacious politicians. People, wake up! Can not do without conspiracy theories to justify any act of protest and discontent? Every day we see theft and lawlessness, but around only downcast glances and timid kitchen conversations.It's time to gather their strength and to believe that we deserve a better life. Freedom for all prisoners! No political repression! Down with the officials, gangsters and cops! Human rights and social justice!

http://belarus.avtonom.org/?p=15171

The third world prisons of Korridalos Athens

Garbage everywhere, unbearable stink, conditions of asphyxiation and abandonment transform the cells into warehouses for souls. Prisoners sleep on the floor, patients... travel so a doctor can see them, toilets without doors or light... The living and medical conditions in the country's prisons remain third world and inhuman. The photos are revealing images of the shame that exists in the prisons: overpopulation, conditions of asphyxiation and abandonment transform cells into warehouses of souls... In the only hospital inside of Koridallos, 12 patients are treated in one room, without the basic hygiene, medical care and... space to move around. The photos were taken at the end of August, with the help of ex prisoner Panagiotis Gewrgiadis and the support of the Initiative for the Rights of the Prisoners, that for years now has fought for decent conditions of living in the prisons. “The third world conditions that are documented in the photos are a small example”, the ex prisoner said. Panagiwotis found himself imprisoned with 100 warrants, decisions and charges about car theft. Later on, 96 of them were dropped, since it was proven that they were about some other people with the same first and last name, but with different father and mother name! He managed to get released about four months ago. The four warrants, which are still not gone, are delaying the examination of the application for the identity mistake which has not yet been determined. Sleeping on the floor during his 9 years of imprisonment, mr.Gewrgiadis suffered more than 100 transfers, so he has seen the situation in most prisons of the country. Most prisoners, he describes, sleep on the floor because the mattresses are dirty and have bugs and other... insects. The conditions are dramatic, especially in the summer months. “You know how many times I thought I wont survive the heat in prison? The atmosphere is suffocating. No brooms or mops or cleaning products were given to us to clean. In the hospital even if your dying, a doctor wont come near you. You have to walk a long hallway for a doctor to see you. They don't come in not out of fear but out of disgust...”. He said. The long hallway is seen clearly in the photos, just as the overpopulation in the hospital. The patients with wheelchairs are obligated to move from bed to bed to get to a point where they can get into the wheelchair... The lack of medical and nurse staff complete the scene of shame. “Garbage everywhere, toilets that are only... a hole, that cannot be cleaned and dont even have a door!”, describes Ioanna Drosou from the Initiative for the Rights of the Prisoners. “A main demand of the prisoners is that the Saint Pauls hospital of Koridallos prison should be part of the National Health System. Despite the fact that two years ago, it was decided that the hospital will become part of this system, in reality this is still not happened”, she explains. Leave days An institution that is slowly disappearing After the attempt of known prisoner Vaggelis Pallis last saturday to end his life because he received another negative answer to the application he had made for leave days, the topic of the prisoners leave days comes back to the spot light. “The institution of leave days is the most important channel of contact the prisoners have with the outside world and it helps with social rehabilitation. With the excuse of “bad use of leave days” the rise of the exceptions to the rule, this institution seems to becoming extinct. Although, from its beginning until today only a small percentage of prisoners, less than 4%, use their leave days wrongly” the Initiative sais. Recent legislation changes, like law number N.3772/09 that was voted while Dendias was minister, restricts the practice of leave days relevantly defines the criteria, resulting, as the members of the “Iniative” say, to the cutting without reason or even with the usual reasons. It also remains the problem of the convicted of the drug law, since with the legislation N.3811/09 they still are not eligible for benefits such as leave days or transfer to a farm prison after they serve 1/5 of their sentence.  boubourAs translation for actforfreedomnow!

Pascual Pichún Collonao, a Mapuche political prisoner

The VJ Movement interviews Pascual Pichun Collonao, a 27-year-old journalist and fourth-year student at La Plata National University in Argentina. One of 70 Mapuche political prisoners in Chile, Pascual is currently serving a five year sentence for allegedly setting fire to a logging truck in 2002. Background, courtesy of mapuche.nl.
Pascual Pichún Collonao is a 27-year-old Mapuche communicator and student of the Faculty of Journalism, La Plata National University, Argentina. Pascual had been in Argentina since 2005, where he obtained a temporary residence permit from the Argentine authorities. He is a fourth-year student, works ad honorem in the Human Rights Secretariat of the Faculty of Journalism, and is involved in a number of the university´s community outreach projects. As an indigenous communicator he participates in several dialogue platforms in defense of indigenous peoples´ rights.
On February 26 of this year, Pascual was arrested by police intelligence personnel in Temuco, Chile, and he is now being held in the jail of Traiguén, along with other Mapuche political prisoners.
Chile has an anti-terrorism law in place imposed by Pinochet. Unfortunately, this law is currently being used in political conflicts and is considered by human rights organizations as a tool for persecution and repression that has raised the number of Mapuche detainees to over 70. This law violates the guarantee of due process, and allows military courts to judge civilians using "faceless" witnesses, which openly violates the independence and impartiality required by the human rights treaties ratified by Chile, including the Pact of San José, Costa Rica. At the same time, other legal instruments that safeguard the rights of the Indigenous Peoples at the international level such as ILO Convention 169, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, are disregarded.
Mr. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, Special Rapporteur of the UN Human Rights Council on indigenous peoples, urged the Chilean government not to apply charges such as terrorism to other contexts, such as "acts related to social struggle for land and legitimate indigenous claims".
Pascual is considered a fugitive from Chilean justice since 2003, when he was sentenced to five years and one day in prison, along with his brother Rafael. He was convicted in a clearly unfair trial, accused of setting fire to a logging truck in 2002 near the village where he lived with his family.
Similarly, Pascual´s father had been sentenced under the anti-terrorism law which imposes penalties that are three times higher than the ones for ordinary crimes. Today, Mapuche communities denounce this law as being used exclusively for cases related to the mobilization of the Mapuche people in Chile, and identify the case of the Pichún family as one of the most emblematic examples of unjust judicial and political persecution by the Chilean state.

Send a Letter in support of Pascual Pichun Collonao: http://www.gfbv.de/emailprot.php?id=263&stayInsideTree=1

The 33 miners buried alive in Chile express solidarity to the Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike

/sysiphus-angrynewsfromaroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2010/09/33-miners-trapped-for-weeks-in-san-jose.html

informa-azione
from selvasorg.blogspot.com

Some news, even if is on the surface, is less visible than that which must emerge from 700 meters of the earth's crust. A testimony to this obvious but no less important media condition, are the 33 miners trapped in the mine in San Jose Copiapo, Chile now, through no reason of their own, the main actors of a process of redemption from the bowels of the earth occupying the front pages of all the world news for almost a month. Their messages have been widely disseminated and give comfort concerning their living conditions, offering TV viewers everywhere dramatic images of faces tried by work and precarious conditions. Some of the first messages were on paper and the new Chilean president, Sebastián Piñera, exhibited them to the world in front of the cameras stationed on the mouth of the mine, to show the proximity of government to the working class in Chile that concerns over 800 thousand people, many of whom emigrated from Peru or Bolivia and in all cases are social representatives of the poorest classes. Among these many are represented by the original peoples of the continent: Mapuche, Quechua or Aymara.

Scripta Manent
Among the letters exhibited before the cameras, eager for news about the health of the miners trapped underground, apparently some that clearly challenged the government didn't find the way to appear on the screen. The miners, in two pages, that were originally censored, declare solidarity with the civil battle begun, now almost fifty days ago by some Mapuche prisoners on hunger strike, and, contesting the words of the Prime Minister, ask him in writing to "Shut up".
Thirty-three buried miners have in this way made visible a civil battle that goes from the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) and has been taken up in July by 32 political prisoners, victims of "anti-terrorism special law" that discriminates the original Mapuche people and nullifies their legitimate demands for recognition. The letter draws a parallel between the two tragic stories and reads: "Free the Mapuche, 41 days on hunger strike."
This great example of brotherhood from a depth of 700 m should make blush those who, on August 30, the International Day of the “Desaparecido” prisoner [“disappeared” during the Pinochet dictatorship], easily forget the injustices still present in the "exemplary" Chilean democracy and refuse to deal with a story, perhaps still too recent and tame, woven of disappearances (over 900 reported in 2009 alone), violence and arbitrary detention often against the representatives of the Mapuche people, once the only population to have their lands recognized as an autonomous state by the Spanish crown and now branded as terrorists and persecuted by the blows of special laws and police violence.

Breakout from central precinct

Three policemen have been suspended after a mass breakout from the holding cells at the Omonia police station in central Athens, one of the city’s busiest.
According to authorities, at about 5 a.m. on Saturday, 13 prisoners who were in the same cell all complained that they were feeling unwell and needed to be transferred to a hospital. However, when the two special guards who were on duty entered the cell to help the suspects, they were attacked.
The guards managed to capture three prisoners just outside the cell. Another two were caught as they tried to exit the police station. One more was re-arrested in the Omonia area. However, the other seven – four Palestinians, two Iraqis and an Afghan – escaped.
The on-duty officer and the two special guards were suspended pending an internal investigation.

Popular uprising crushed in blood

Saturday, 04 September 2010

Indonesian police have killed five villagers on September 1st, when dozens of people devastated a police station in Sulawesi about 1,500 kilometers northeast of Jakarta. General Amin Saleh, according to AP reports, said the station more than a hundred attacked the villagers, including some carrying rocks and Molotov cocktails. Saleh said that police fired on villagers. The conflict is also injured 17 people, mostly police officers who were struck by stones. The attacks villagers came to the station after a motorcyclist died in prison. It is unclear why he was imprisoned, but the villagers suspect that he died because of torture.

Friday, 03 September weekly demonstrations

04/09/2010

Bili'n

Some 10 Israelis and a handful of internationals joined this Ramadan's last Friday demo against the wall and the occupation in Bil'in. With the heat and fasting taking their toll, and the international delegations season over, the demo was smaller than usual. The army set a barbed wire barrier on the way to the wall, and deployed a few dozen meters behind it, between the wall and the barrier. The demonstrators gathered behindthe barbed wire, and after a few minutes removed it to march forward) next week, will they set a new barrier to protect the barrier that is supposed to keep demonstrators away from the wall?). At that point the army started shooting gas, and the demonstrators had to retreat and
declared the demo over. While even some of the feistier shabab couldn't be bothered to throw stones, the army kept on shooting gas until all demonstrators were far up the hill leading to the village, occasionally getting some gas "blow back" due to the shifting winds.

Ni'lin

The weekly protest in Ni'lin was very short. A group of around thirty protesters reached the wall route after a short march through the village's lands. One of the protesters called on the soldiers to stop defending the theft of Ni'lin lands. One or two protesters threw some stones over the wall, and some tires were set fire to. Within a minute of this, soldiers fired a volley of tear gas canisters, and shortly after, crossed the barrier in pursuit of the demonstrators, who retreated back into the village. Two international protesters were grabbed by soldiers and held for around half an hour, but they were then released and returned to the village.

 

Al Maasra

Some thirty Palestinians, Israelis and internationals participated in Friday's demonstration in the village of Al Maasra. Upon arrival at the main road, protesters were blocked by two army vehicles. Additional army vehicles came from the other direction.

Soldiers, who jumped off the vehicles as they wave their guns, declared the area a closed military zone and began pushing the protesters away while throwing stun grenades. One grenade was thrown directly at one of the demonstrators, hitting his body before falling and exploding on ground.

After pushing demonstrators to the junction outside the closed military zone, the soldiers began to back off. Demonstrators decided to move forward again. After a short distance, the soldiers pushed back the demonstrators to junction, using tear gas and stun grenades. At This point, occupation forces left the area and demonstrators declared victory. before the end of the demonstration was announced, Arabic and English speeches were made, denouncing the occupation, and calling for freedom, justice and implementation of international law.

More than 4,000 inmates at three Venezuelan jails on hunger strike

September 5th, 2010

More than 4,000 inmates at three Venezuelan jails began a hunger strike in protest against alleged brutality by guards, judicial delays and chronic overcrowding. The protest involves 32 of the 80 inmates at Tocuyito prison, some 3,000 in the Aragua penitentiary and another 1,137 at Vista Hermosa prison, the Caracas daily El Universal said. It began in Tocuyito, where inmates reported physical and psychological mistreatment by guards following the escape of an important criminal from the jail this week.
Antonio Molina, defense counsel for one of the hunger strikers, told El Universal that the guards “have repeatedly beaten” the striking prisoners and have “kicked and smashed their belongings and suspended their visits.”
The inmates at Vista Hermosa joined the hunger strike in solidarity with the prisoners in Tocuyito, Julio Martinez, who has been held for two years in that penitentiary, said. “We joined the strike…for the outrages committed against our fellow-prisoners over at Tocuyito, who are kept in solitary confinement, are permitted no visits and are being beaten,” Martinez told the Caracas newspaper.
Inmates at Vista Hermosa have not suffered mistreatment by guards for at least “four years” and have “enough to eat,” but there is a huge backlog of cases pending trial that has caused overcrowding, Florentino Ariza, another inmate, said. That jail is designed for 450 prisoners, and currently houses 1,137, nearly three-quarters of them still awaiting trial, Ariza told the daily El Universal.
Aragua’s more than 3,000 prisoners joined the protest to complain about overcrowding, trial delays and the mistreatment they and their families receive from the guards, they said in a communique. In the document, the inmates said that this penitentiary was build to hold 600 people but now has 3,400, of whom only 350 have been tried and convicted.

Hamburg street festival ends in rioting - again

The peaceful and friendly festival lasted all afternoon, with stands and music filling the streets of the Schanzenviertel area, only overshadowed by the expectation of a descent into rioting.

The atmosphere remained relaxed until darkness at around 8 pm, when the huge police presence, complete with water cannon, became obvious around the access roads into the area around the squatted building known as Rote Flora.

Critics say that such a show of force – with officers drawn from around the country – acts as a provocative challenge to potential rioters.

But Christoph Alhaus, Hamburg’s new mayor and former interior minister with responsibility for such decisions, along with his successor in that office, Heino Vahldieck, said the police would act decisively against any sign of riot.

By 9:30 pm the area around the Rota Flora was tense and the streets were empty of anyone other than people holding beer bottles – and the police.

This year the pubs and restaurants in the immediate area were not only closed but largely barricaded.

But it seems the mood has changed – particularly after rioters this May smashed up local shops rather than the banks and drug stores. Some closed up bars bore signs saying, "Closed against violence."

Some locals were even seen actively trying to prevent the rioting – throwing buckets of water on burning piles of rubbish and pulling apart barricades.

But by 11 pm the erection of a barricade on one street attracted the attention of the police, who were then showered with stones, bottles and some fireworks.

They retaliated with baton charges and water cannons for around two hours, eventually taking control of the streets around Rota Flora and pushing the rioters out of the area.

Several arrests were made, with numbers not yet clear, while at least one police officer and a number of anarchists were injured.

Rioters Clash With Cops After Street Festival

Around 300 left-wing protesters have clashed with police in Hamburg after an all-night street festival in the central Schanze neighbourhood.

Riot police run past smoke bombs during the clashes after a street party in Hamburg

The violence erupted when youths threw rocks and bottles at police and set light to barricades.
Officers responded by turning water canon on the crowds.
Similar riots broke out during last year's street festival when left-wing activists protested against a far-right rally.
Anticipating a repeat of the violent scenes, police had deployed about 2,000 officers in the area.

Protesters threw rocks and bottles at police

But some of the rioters still managed to cause damage to a bank branch and smash the windows of a supermarket.
According to local media reports, several rioters were arrested and two policemen were lightly wounded.
Before the clashes broke out, residents in the neighbourhood had tried to stop the protesters from throwing bottles and rocks.
The annual street party attracts large crowds with its music and food stalls in the central district of the German city and frequently sees clashes between protesters and police.

Residents support squatters over Crown Estate evictions london U.K.

5 September 2010
Squatters were evicted from Crown Estate properties in Gore and Skipworth Roads
Squatters clashed with bailiffs and police last month (Wednesday 11 August) over the controversial sell-off of the Crown Estate properties next to Victoria Park.
Six properties on Gore Road and Skipworth Road, which had been left empty for over two years, were occupied by squatters six months ago.
On 2 August, the Crown Estate won a possession order in court for the properties. However, they chose to carry out the evictions without giving prior warning to the squatters.
High Court bailiffs and Crown Estate officials turned up at 8am and entered 103 Gore Road via the back door. They went upstairs and woke the occupier, giving him half an hour to pack up his belongings and leave the property.
The evictions sparked a great deal of controversy because the Crown Estate is currently in the process of selling the freehold of 1,300 properties. For the past 80 years these properties have been used as key worker housing, making homes affordable for teachers, health workers, police officers and fire-fighters.
The sell-off, which will take place in five boroughs, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Westminster and Lewisham, has been criticised in parliament and a strong campaign has been led against it.
Crown Residents Against Sell Off claims that under new ownership, rents could be hiked up considerably. Security of their tenancy agreements could be lost, and people on short term contracts could be forced out of their homes within two months. They also fear that the strong community which exists locally would be destroyed.
The lack of notice angered the squatters as they claimed they were normally given at least five days’ warning of an eviction, so they had time to make other living arrangements. One house refused to let bailiffs into the property until they had gathered all their belongings. They argued that it was unfair to expect people to pack up six months’ worth of belongings in just 60 minutes.
The police were called.
By the time bailiffs and police got to the last house, 3 Skipworth Road, the squatters had barricaded themselves inside and were refusing to come out, arguing that affordable housing for key workers should be valued and prioritised.
Neighbours and community residents, carrying banners which read “Our community is not for sale” came out onto the street to back the squatters.
One local resident, who refused to be named, said she liked having the squatters there and that they were “helpful, friendly and responsible neighbours. She said the properties had been left empty by the Crown Estate, which was a risk to everybody, and that the squatters improved the area.
She also commented that “the squatters should have been granted a license to stay until the Crown decided what to do with the properties. The squatters were just young musicians looking for inexpensive living. They sang beautifully.”
Despite wrestling with the barricaded door, bailiffs were unable to gain access to the property. The stand-off between the bailiffs and squatters lasted around four hours, during which time supporters outside shouted “Shame on Crown Estates”.
Eventually bailiffs managed to gain access to the property and it was resecured.

DESERT BASE LISTENS TO THE WORLD TALKING

Israel’s Urim base in the Negev desert is among the most important and powerful intelligence gathering sites in the world. Yet, until now, its eavesdropping has gone entirely unmentioned

BY NICKY HAGER

Israel’s most important intelligence-gathering installation is only a 30km drive into the Negev desert from Beersheba prison – where those taking part in the Gaza aid flotilla were briefly detained this June. The base, hidden until now, has rows of satellite dishes that covertly intercept phone calls, emails and other communications from the Middle East, Europe, Africa and Asia. Its antennas monitor shipping and would have spied on the aid ships in the days before they were seized.

Israel’s powerful position in the Middle East is often associated with its armed forces, nuclear weapons arsenal or covert (Mossad) operatives. But just as important is its intelligence gathering – monitoring governments, international organisations, foreign companies, political organisations and individuals. Most of this happens at the installation in the Negev a couple of kilometres to the north of the kibbutz of Urim. Our sources, close to Israeli intelligence, know the base first-hand. They describe lines of satellite dishes of different sizes, and barracks and operations buildings on both sides of the road (the 2333) that leads to the base. (more on cryptome.org)

Minister injured in car bomb in Russia. A russian minister was injured and his driver died from the attack on his car in Dagestan the russian authorities announced today. Bekmurza Bekmurzaye, local minister in charge of national and religious matters. The driver which was a police officer died on the spot and the minister and his bodyguards were taken to hospital. Dagestan is in Caucasus.

Chile An explosive device was found outside Banco Estado bank in Indepedencia. The device was seen by a man who went to use the atm and called the police who came and disabled it.

Genoa Italy: Arsonist Bomb Against Mobile Police Station in Solidarity with Prisoners

from anonymous
August 14 has been positioned a box with 3 liters of petrol and TRIGGER ON THE ROOF OF A MOBILE POLICE STATION PARKING in the port in the area ferries, in solidarity with prisoners in MARASSI Prison and ALL THE OTHER PRISONERS .

General news from free palestine...

Trial in Death of Rachel Corrie Resumes in Israel 5/9/2010
Netanyahu: What is Said and What is Not 4/9/2010
The historical origins of the Iranian Revolution and the tasks of the Revolutionary Marxists – Part Three 4/9/2010
Video:Jerusalem Bondage 4/9/2010
In Picture:A history of talks and violence 2/9/2010
28-31/10/2010: World Education Forum in Palestine 27/8/2010
PA to introduce austerity measures 27/8/2010
Imbalance of Power, the Middle East Problem 27/8/2010

Sheffield Free School 8-10/10 Prepare for a future without oil or governments... u.k.

The Sheffield Social Centre Collective  http://sheffieldsocialcentre.org.uk/ is organising a Free School, "Prepare for a future without oil or governments..." to be held in Sheffield over the weekend of 8th - 10th October 2010.

You might have noticed that our everyday lives involve being bombarded from all angles by people whose primary desire in life is to make money. This can have one or two downsides: the creation of a culture in which happiness and well-being are measured in pounds and pence, the systematic sacrifice of planet earth in the name of business, and the life of a person coming to be quantified in terms of their financial worth instead of their intrinsic value as a thinking, breathing human being.

For a weekend in October people in Sheffield will be coming together to push back against this tide of consumption and money-making by creating a space for the free sharing of skills, ideas, knowledge and entertainment.

Between the 8th and 10th of October, in reclaimed space in our city centre, come along to the Sheffield free school to learn the ins-and-outs of consensus decision-making, what anarchism can mean in practice, get help fixing your bicycle, discuss how to take direct action against the perpetrators of injustice, discover how to live (nearly) for free, or maybe even come and share a skill of your own.

If you'd like to help organise the Sheffield Free School or have an idea for an event you'd like to run at it, come along to the next planning meeting, the time and location of which you'll find at  http://www.sheffieldsocialcentre.org.uk/ or email  info@sheffieldsocialcentre.org.uk .

The free school is being organised by members of the Sheffield Social Centre project, which aims to establish a permanent space for non-hierarchical, non-discriminatory and anti-capitalist activity in Sheffield.

Sheffield Social Centre Collective
e-mail: info@sheffieldsocialcentre.org.uk
Homepage: http://sheffieldsocialcentre.org.uk/

small news from greek media...

Armed raids
A lone armed robber made off with around 8,000 euros after holding up a branch of Piraeus Bank in the town of Sparta in the Peloponnese yesterday morning. Later in the day, unidentified burglars broke into a house in the small town of Eleousa in the northwestern prefecture of Ioannina and stole a safe believed to contain 20,000 euros in cash and 15,000 euros' worth of jewelry.
Doctors onlyPrison staff will no longer be permitted to subject female inmates to vaginal examinations in jail, according to a decision by Deputy Justice Minister Apostolos Katsifaras that was made public yesterday. From now on, an internal examination can only be conducted on a female inmate if there is a special judicial order and must be carried out by a doctor, not by prison staff. Katsifaras's decision came after years of lobbying by female prisoners and by human rights organizations.

Angry protests against Blair in Dublin

ANGRY protesters greeted war criminal Tony Blair in Dublin when he staged the first of a planned series of book signings, with eggs and shoes thrown at him.

And the call has now gone out for more protests when he appears in central London on Wednesday this week.

Reports The Guardian: "Three men were arrested after they broke through a security barrier at around 10.45am today outside Eason's bookshop on O'Connell Street in Dublin, Ireland."The demonstrators, ranging from anti-war demonstrators to the Continuity IRA-aligned Republican Sinn Fein are now marching to a garda police station in the city centre demanding the release of the three arrested men.
"Gardai had earlier dragged a number of demonstrators off the street and during the fracas a male protester in a wheelchair was knocked to the ground.
"Protesters shouted 'Whose cops? Blair's cops!' as they taunted the gardai while Blair remained inside the bookshop. They also shouted: 'Hey hey Tony hey, how many kids have you killed today?'
One anti-war campaigner has attempted to make a citizen's arrest on former prime minister Tony Blair over alleged war crimes, reports the Press Association.Activist Kate O'Sullivan managed to get through tight security to confront Mr Blair as he held a book signing in Dublin. "I went up to him and I said 'Mr Blair, I'm here to make a citizen's arrest for the war crimes that you've committed'," she said.
There are calls for protests in London on Wednesday September 8 when Blair is due at Waterstones Picadilly, 203-206 Picadilly, at 12 noon.

Says Counterfire website: "Join us to demonstrate against Tony Blair's book-signing and bring banners and something which will make a lot of noise!"