Egypt forces attack football fans

Egyptian protesters clash with riot policemen outside police Hosni Mubarak's court in Cairo, Egypt, September 5, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197842.html

Egyptian government forces have attacked football fans chanting slogans against ousted President Hosni Mubarak at a stadium in the capital Cairo.

Reports say scores of people were wounded during clashes between police and al-Ahli club fans late Tuesday after government forces tried to forcibly remove fans from the stadium, Reuters reported.

More than a dozen people were also arrested during the incident.

Egyptians attending the game were also chanting slogans against Mubarak's former interior minister Habib al-Adly.

Both Mubarak and al-Adly are on trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of hundreds of demonstrators during the popular revolution in Egypt that led to Mubarak's ouster.

Egypt's ex-president was ousted in February following weeks of anti-government protests in the North African nation that put an end to his three-decade rule.

Anti-govt. protests injure 100 in Spain

Policemen clash with protesters while trying to dismantle a camp set up in Catalunya square in Barcelona on May 27, 2011.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/181989.html

At least 100 people have been injured after police clashed with demonstrators in Barcelona amid protests against the economic crisis and sky-high jobless rate in Spain.

Policemen swiped at protesters with batons, dragged them on the ground and even fired rubber bullets on Friday as they sought to disperse demonstrators and also dismantle their camp in the city's Catalunya square.

"As soon as police entered Catalunya square, they used excessive force to clear a makeshift camp set up there," Jordi Relano, a protester in Barcelona, told a Press TV correspondent on Friday.

He also denied that the protesters did anything to provoke police forces.

"Police entered the square only to stop our movement," he said.

"What police did today was simply meant to break up our gatherings. They just entered the square and started beating us," Hector Huerga, another protester, told our correspondent.

Police said they had to clear the square for the celebrations that will spark if Barcelona beats Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League's final match on Saturday.

This is while activists say cleaning the square was only a pretext to violate their democratic rights and have vowed to come back.

"They are making us leave because of the match but we will come back again here or somewhere else because our match is more important," 42-year-old Albert Bonet, who took part in the protest, said.

The situation remains tense and some 200 people are still at the square and hundreds in the surroundings.

Since mid-May, Spain has been witnessing nationwide demonstrations against the government's austerity measures and economic policies.

The protesters form part of the M-15 movement, which brought thousands of people to the streets ahead of Sunday's local and regional elections.

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's ruling Socialist Party suffered heavy losses in the elections.

Massive protests sparked across Spain after the government of Zapatero introduced a slew of drastic austerity measures, including the cutting of civil servant wages, as part of its plan to curb the budget deficit from 11 percent a year earlier to within three percent of the GDP by 2013.

Spain has the highest jobless rate in the eurozone with 21.3 percent and is saddled with a record 4.9 million people unemployed.

Although Spain has so far managed to stave off a bailout, economists expect that the eurozone's fourth largest economy will inevitably follow Portugal, Ireland and Greece, and will be forced to accept a financial rescue package.

Brazil cracks down on anti-US protesters

Brazilian police attacked demonstrators opposing the US President's visit to the country on 18 March 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170797.html

Brazilian police forces have attacked demonstrators who staged rallies in Rio de Janeiro in opposition to US President Barack Obama's visit to the country.

Hundreds of protesters marched from the city center to the US Consulate in Rio on Friday. The rallies were organized by the Unified Party of Socialist Workers (PSTU), a Press TV correspondent reported.

The demonstrators chanted slogans and threw shoes to the US flag hang in front of the Consulate building.

Meanwhile, anti-riot police fired rubber bullets, injuring dozens, including a reporter from the Brazilian CBN radio station. Fifteen people were reportedly arrested during the unrest.

According to Colonel Lima Castro of military police, the attack on demonstrators was necessary since they threw Molotov cocktails.

However, PSTU has strongly denied any violent attack on the US Consulate, saying it was an infiltrated man job.

“They reacted with violence against a peaceful demonstration … We are against any kind of violence,” said PSTU Director Marcia Lopes.

On Monday, Brazilian political and social organizations released a statement saying they consider “President Obama persona non grata,” and are opposed to his presence in their country.

Larger demonstrations are expected to take place on Sunday.

Algerian police break up protest

Several people are injured and others are arrested as police thwart pro-democracy rally in capital Algiers, reports say.



Large numbers of police were mobilised to try to prevent Saturday's protest from going ahead

Source: Al Jazeera
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/02/2011219124435427432.html

Algerian police in riot gear have used batons to break up a crowd of about 50 opposition supporters trying to take part in a protest march inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.

Police brandishing clubs, but no firearms, weaved their way through the crowd in central Algiers on Saturday, banging their shields, tackling some protesters and keeping traffic flowing through the planned march route

The gathering, organised by the Co-ordination for Democratic Change in Algeria (CNCD), comes a week after a similar protest, which organisers said brought an estimated 10,000 people and up to 26,000 riot police onto the streets of the capital. Officials, however, put turnout at the previous rally at 1,500.

The fresh protest comes on the heels of uprisings in neighbouring Tunisia and Egypt that toppled those countries' leaders.

Police presence at Saturday's march was more discreet than the week before, when huge contingents of riot police were deployed throughout the capital the night before the march. On Friday night, by contrast, the capital was calm, with police taking up their positions only on Saturday morning.

Still, by breaking up the crowd, the police managed to turn the planned march into a chaotic rally of small groups.

Arrests

Three people have so far been arrested at May 1 Square, the focal point of protests, according to Elias Filali, a blogger who spoke to Al Jazeera.

Crowds were dispersed by police about two blocks from May 1 Square, where the anti-government protest was scheduled to start at 11:00 am, local time.

Large numbers of police were mobilised to try to prevent Saturday's protest from going ahead. Dozens of police vans and military-style police armoured vehicles were dotted around the capital hours before the demonstration was supposed to begin.

The protesters split into two groups in a courtyard of a residential block, where they were surrounded by about 400 police in helmets and body protection.

A coalition of human rights groups, some trade unionists and a small opposition party are calling for weekly protest marches through the capital. The authorities have refused permission for the marches, citing public order concerns.

Unrest in Algeria could have implications for the world economy since it is a major oil and gas exporter, but analysts say an Egypt-style revolt is unlikely because the government can use its energy wealth to placate most grievances.

About 150 protesters held a protest last Saturday in May 1 Square, but others trying to join them were blocked by a large police presence. Algeria's biggest opposition forces are not taking part in the protest movement.

The CNCD wants the immediate end of the government of Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria's president, citing the same problems of high unemployment, housing and soaring costs that inspired uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt

Footage proves disabled protester case

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/155410.html


New footage has emerged validating the allegations made by a disabled demonstrator, who said the British police dragged him from his wheelchair and pulled him across a street during tuition fee protests.

The 20-year-old freelance journalist, Jody McIntyre, had earlier said a single officer tipped his wheelchair twice and pulled him “quite violently” on a road during London protests against government's decision to triple university tuition fees.

The footage was released online after McIntyre, who suffers from cerebral palsy, appealed for all witnesses to the incident to offer any related evidence for the attack, which was just one among several cases of reported police use of excessive force during the rallies outside parliament.

Following the disclosure, the Metropolitan Police said the case of abuse against McIntyre has been referred to the force's internal directorate of professional standards for further investigation.

McIntyre said he has collected witnesses statements and the badge number of the officer involved and he will take the case to the court while also lodging a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

He also hit out at the police saying they are “out of control" and that there was “plenty of violence towards students” on Thursday though he said it is “standard police behavior”.

Despite pressure on the police for its brutality during the rallies which victimized another 20-year-old, Alfie meadows, leaving him with bleeding on his brain, Scotland Yard has refused to offer any apology or sign of easing its handling of possible upcoming protests.

While Scotland Yard has already announced that 'troublemakers' will be subject to stop-and-search operations, its chief officer in charge of monitoring the handling of the demonstrations, Bob Broadhurst, said they would be “foolish” to rule out the use of tactics like water cannon.

The force is also understood to have asked for “up-to-date advice” from the Police Service of Northern Ireland on water cannon.

Facebook users rally around A. Meadows

Alfie Meadows was attacked by the police and sustained brain injury during London protests on Thursday.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/154994.html


More than one thousand people on social networking website Facebook have voiced their support for the 20-year-old student who suffered brain injury at the hands of the British police during Thursday protests in London.

Alfie Meadows was knocked unconscious after the police hit him with a truncheon on the head leaving him with bleeding on his brain.

The philosophy student at Middlesex University was attacked by officers outside Westminster Abbey as he tried to leave the area and lost consciousness on the way to hospital where he undergone a three-hour operation.

A group calling themselves “Justice for Alfie Meadows” called on anyone who may have seen Meadows being hit by the police contact the Internal Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which is leading an investigation into the case.

Those setting up the group also called on everyone “to spread the word” saying “we need as many people as possible to hear about Alfie and to come together to call for justice”.

Another group set up under the name Alfie Meadows Rally had called for a gathering outside Kensington and Chelsea hospital on Friday to protest the police brutality against Meadows.

Paul Raymond Gowler who created the group said in a post that “if you tolerate this your children will be next”.

Hundreds of people also joined other groups including “250.000 People Say: We are Alfie Meadows” to slam the police heavy-handed techniques which resulted in the brain injury to the Middlesex University student.