Canadian protesters to show faces or get 10 years in jail

A demonstrator with a Guy Fawkes mask protests against the tuition hikes and Bill 78 in Quebec City.(Reuters / Mathieu Belanger)

Source: Russia Today

Canadian lawmakers weren’t exactly in the Halloween spirit when they approved a new bill on Wednesday. The legislation makes it illegal to wear masks during riots and protests. Guilty parties could face up to 10 years in prison.

Bill C-309 passed with a vote of 153 to 126 in the Canadian Parliament. It will now move on to the Senate.

If it becomes law, mask-wearers at riots face up to 10 years in jail. Those busted wearing a disguise at an unlawful protest could be sentenced to up to five years in the big house.

The sanctions would not apply to those taking part in peaceful demonstrations or protests.

Parliamentarian Blake Richards, who sponsored the bill, says the measure is aimed at targeting the “growing threat” of vandalism and violence.

Lawmakers are particularly targeting the Black Bloc anarchist group, whose members dress in black and hide their faces with glasses, scarves, and hoods. The group engaged in violence during the Quebec student protests earlier this year.

MPs supporting the bill are unsurprisingly thrilled that it passed through parliament.

"To have the support of the house, to get the bill through, obviously we're on the way to where we want to be, which is having the opportunity to better protect public safety," Richards said in a statement.

The legislation was brought forward as a response to the 2011 Stanley Cup riots in Vancouver.

Police documented 15,000 criminal acts during the riots, but were able to make very few charges because they couldn’t identify the people involved.

However, not everyone is so quick to support the bill. Some say it could be the beginning of a slippery slope.

"I don't think people understand the implications that it has — when does wearing a toque low on your face become a mask? Are we going to ban people from appearing in a protest because they are wearing a burqa? Are we going to say that on a cold day that people can't wear a mask?" Interim Liberal Leader Bob Rae said in a statement.

Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett said the bill could have unintended consequences by encouraging pre-emptive arrests, which may lead to lawsuits by demonstrators who feel they were unlawfully detained.

Other opposition members say the bill is unnecessary because it merely criminalizes what is already criminal.

It is already illegal to wear a disguise while committing an offense, including rioting. However, unlawful assemblies do not fall under the current law.

The bill is controversial as it makes it difficult to draw a line between a peaceful demonstration and unlawful gathering, Michael Forian, reporter at CJAD Radio, told RT.

“What this law basically does is that it will criminalize people who are in protest if the police of that city deem the protest to be an unlawful assembly,” he argues.

“Let’s look at Montreal for example and any major city in Quebec, where if you are 50 people or more in a peaceful protest, a non-violent protest – that could be deemed an unlawful assembly if you have not presented your itinerary, and the directions of your protest routes to the police force of the municipality on Quebec.”

Third anarchist jailed for refusing to testify before secret grand jury

Leah Plante (Image from leahxvx.tumblr.com)

Source: Russia Today

http://rt.com/usa/news/refusing-grand-jury-plante-196/

A third self-described anarchist from the Pacific Northwest has been jailed by federal officials for refusing to speak before a secretive grand jury that the accused have called a politically-motivated modern-day witch-hunt.

Leah-Lynn Plante, a mid-20s activist from Seattle, Washington, was ushered out of court by authorities on Wednesday after refusing for a third time to answer questions forced on her by a grand jury — a panel of prosecutors convened to determine if an indictment can be issued for a federal crime.

Plante was one of a handful of people targeted in a series of raids administered by the FBI and the Joint Terrorism Task Force on July 25 of this year which the feds say were in conjunction with an investigation into acts of vandalism that occurred during May Day protests in Seattle nearly two months prior. As part of their probe, search warrants were issued at multiple residences of activists in the area, including Plante’s, demanding that dwellers provide agents with “anti-government or anarchist literature” in their homes and any flags, flag-making material, cell phones, hard drives, address books, and black clothing.

“As if they had taken pointers from Orwell’s 1984, they took books, artwork and other various literature as ‘evidence’ as well as many other personal belongings even though they seemed to know that nobody there was even in Seattle on May Day,” Plante recalls in a post published this week to her Tumblr page.

Only one week after the raid, Neil Fox of the National Lawyers Guild told Seattle Times that raids like this are create a “chilling effect” by going after lawful, constitutionally-allowed private possessions.

“It concerns us any time there are law-enforcement raids that target political literature, First Amendment-protected materials,” Fox said.

This week Plante still maintains her innocence, now she has reason to believe that the raid that has left her suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome may have been more than an investigation into an activity, but an ideology. Plante says a Freedom of Information Act request she filed in the months after her apartment door was broken down by armed officials reveals that the grand jury investigating her was first convened in March, two months before the vandalism she is being accused of even occurred.

“They are trying to investigate anarchists and persecute them for their beliefs. This is a fishing expedition. This is a witch hunt,” she says this week.

On the day of her third meeting with the grand jury on Wednesday, Plante wrote on her blog that she’d almost certainly be jailed on charges of contempt for refusing once again to testify about herself but said she was willing to face the consequences for exercising her right to remain silent.

“I do not look forward to what inevitably awaits me today, but I accept it,” she writes. “My convictions are unwavering and will not be shaken by their harassment. Today is October 10th, 2012 and I am ready to go to prison.”

Hours later, her Tumblr was updated with a note authored by one of her supporters confirming that Plante “was thrown into prison for civil contempt” after her court date. Plante is now the third anarchist to be imprisoned in the last month for refusing to answer questions about their belief and behavior before a grand jury.

Last month, Plante spoke openly about the grand jury before refusing their questioning for only her second time. “I believe that these hearings are politically motivated,” she wrote in a September 16 statement. “The government wants to use them to collect information that it can use in a campaign of repression. I refuse to have any part of it, I will never answer their questions, I will never speak.”

“While I hate the very idea of prison, I am ready to face it in order to stay true to my personal beliefs. I know that they want to kidnap me and isolate me from my friends and my loved ones in an effort to coerce me to speak. It will not work. I know that if I am taken away, I will not be alone.”

Katherine “KteeO” Olejnik, a fellow anarchist from the Seattle area, was taken into federal custody on September 28 for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury, a decision she said was based on humanity and her First Amendment protections.

“I cannot and will not say something that could greatly harm a person’s life, and providing information that could lead to long term incarceration would be doing that,” Olejnik wrote before being booked. “Icannot and will not be a party to a McCarthyist policy that is asking individuals to condemn each other based on political beliefs.”

On the No Political Repression blog, a support of Olejnik writes that she was prohibited from taking notes during her time on the stand, during which she says she resisted questioning.

Days before her imprisonment began, Matt Duran was also jailed for contempt. According to his attorneys, Duran was not only imprisoned by placed in solitary confinement, denied intimate contact with his lawyer, denied visitor requests forms, personal dietary requirements and sunlight an fresh air.

Bahrain court upholds jail sentences for 9 doctors

 

Bahraini medics are seen helping a wounded protester at Salmaniya hospital in the capital Manama. (File photo)

Source: Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/10/01/264392/bahrain-upholds-verdicts-for-9-doctors/

A Bahraini court has upheld the prison sentences handed down to nine doctors for treating protesters during anti-regime demonstrations.

Bahrain's Court of Cassation, the country’s highest court, dismissed on Monday an appeal by the medics against their controversial verdicts that have drawn international condemnation to the US-allied Persian Gulf state.

General Abdul-Rahman al-Sayed said that the court confirmed the previous sentences given to the doctors.

In June, the medics, who were working at the Salmaniya hospital in the capital Manama, were given jail terms ranging from one month to five years.

International rights groups have criticized the rulings, with Amnesty International calling it a "dark day for justice."

The Bahraini revolution began in mid-February 2011, when the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, started holding massive demonstrations.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and the security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured revolutionaries.

Thousands call for reforms in Morocco

A file photo of nationwide protests in Morocco

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/191776.html

Thousands of protesters have poured into the streets across Morocco, demanding better living conditions and social justice.

About 4,000 people protested in the country's biggest city Casablanca and about 5,000 in the northern city of Tangier on Sunday, local government officials said, Reuters reported.

The protesters also demanded that the power of the North African country's King Mohammed VI be further curbed.

Also in the capital Rabat, hundreds of protesters chanted slogans against King Mohammed, calling for a "change that marks a break with the past.”

The demonstrations coincided with the ceremony of allegiance with the king, where hundreds of regional representatives pledged their allegiance to the Moroccan monarch.

The protesters also challenged the newly amended constitution, arguing that the reforms proposed by the king don't go far enough.

Based on the draft of the new constitution that has been announced by the king -- and amended by a special committee chosen by the king himself -- more power has been given to the country's prime minister and the parliament.

Moreover, under the new constitution, the king, who has a “spiritual” position, is allowed to interfere in selecting ministers, military commanders, and other national figures.

The Sunday rallies came a day after King Mohammed called for speedy parliamentary elections, saying, “A new head of government can be named from the party which comes first."

"This protest is not meant to be a response to the allegiance ceremony. It is our response to the overall political climate in the country," said activist Mohamed al-Aouni.

Inspired by popular revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, tens of thousands of Moroccans have been taking part in protests in Casablanca, Rabat and other Moroccan towns since February 20, calling for political and social reforms.

Moroccans approve new constitution

Morocco's King Mohammed VI

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187126.html

Moroccans have approved a new constitution that curbs the powers of King Mohammed VI, the interior minister has announced.

Moroccan Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui said the referendum on a new constitution was approved by 98 percent of voters and the turnout was 72.65 percent at the 94 percent of the polling stations reporting so far, AFP reported on Saturday.

"The referendum went ahead in a normal atmosphere, and showed the degree of interaction between the people and the content of the constitutional project," Cherkaoui said.

Thirty percent of voters were under the age of 35, according to the Moroccan interior minister.

The constitutional referendum was the first under King Mohammed's 12-year rule.

The new constitution grants executive powers to a prime minister. However, the king remains the head of the military, religious authorities, and judiciary.

King Mohammed has described the reforms as a “decisive historic transition.”

'British medics should spy on patients' – UK Govt.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183748.html

The British government will instruct doctors to identify patients at risk of being drawn into violent extremism as part of its strategy for combating terrorism.

Home Secretary, Theresa May is due to spell out the controversial move, which could threaten patient confidentiality, the daily The Independent reported.

The controversial “Prevent” strategy will also tighten the government and its spying apparatuses' grip on the nation with adding medical professionals to other groups who are spying on ordinary people in a “police state.”

“So doctors will be spying on us and deciding if we have the potential to be a terrorist, and neighbors can spy on us, and teachers can spy on us, and work colleagues can spy on us,” says an ordinary British.

The strategy also includes guidelines to strongly tackle the spread of Islamic teachings all across societies, particularly in prisons, where many Muslims are holed up on accusations of preaching extremism, according to the report.

The conservative-led government has already launched attempts to crackdown on all Muslim groups in the British community to bring them in line with its so-called “British mainstream values.”

Britain, itself, has been accused of abusing human rights by the UN Human Rights Council for bringing in three striking laws against online free speech.

Based on the laws adopted by Britain, France and New Zealand one can be booted off the Internet for repeated copyright infringement.

Frank La Rue, the UN special Rapporteur for human rights has said he is "deeply concerned" about proposals to create a centralised system for cutting people off from Internet access in those countries as a punishment for copyright infringement.

“Cutting off Internet access as a response to copyright infringement is disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights," he said.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister David Cameron has gone too far in labeling Muslims who follow the Sharia law, the basic rules of their faith, as extremists who need to be tackled.

Cameron had already announced his intention to abolish the term “state multiculturalism” altogether, meaning there should be two groups of people in the society.

“Those who are with us, we advocate and those who are not, they have no place in the community,” this belief is implied in the core of the British Prime Minister's strategy.

The so-called "Prevent" strategy also implies that “all convicted terrorists will have their beliefs countered while in jail and other offenders who could have fallen foul of "preachers of hate" will be tracked after their release.”

India police attack anit-govt. protesters

Indian police clashed with thousands of Baba Ramdev's followers in New Delhi on Sunday

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/183311.html

Indian security forces have raided an anti-corruption rally led by a controversial yoga guru Swami Baba Ramdev in the capital city of New Delhi.

Police used tear gas to disperse his followers, injuring some 30 people.

Ramdev along with a large number of his supporters went on an indefinite hunger strike in an attempt to end rampant corruption in the country.

The guru has accused politicians of gaining large sums from the "people's hard-earned" money. India's most famous yoga trainer has also called for the death penalty for corrupt government officials.

Ramdev claims he has no political affiliations, but his protest was backed by activists from India's main opposition Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The developments come as a series of corruption scandals have hit the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in recent months.

Congress-led Indian government has promised to increase the penalty and speed up trials for those accused of corruption.

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.

Police clash with protesters in Chile

Chilean police used a water cannon to disperse protesters.

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/181149.html

Police in the Chilean city of Valparaiso have clashed with demonstrators protesting against the government of President Sebastian Pinera's policies.

Most demonstrators were peaceful, but bands of hooded protesters attacked police and smashed shop windows and damaged other properties.

The demonstration -- organized by the country's main trade union movement, the CUT -- was in protest at Pinera's environmental, education and labor policies, state-run BBC reported.

Protesters said his promises were “in the opposite way from those the populations were demanding.”

Many had come to protest against the construction of a dam that would flood 6,000 hectares of land in the remote southern Chilean Patagonia.

The environmentalists predict that the construction of the dam will not only have immediate impacts on the Chilean ecosystem, but will affect the environment of neighboring Argentina, and in the long run will affect the Latin American countries of Uruguay, Paraguay and even Bolivia.

But the government says the HidroAysen project is needed to meet Chile's increasing demand for electricity and is expected to give its final approval in June.

"We can't say we need energy, consume it abundantly, and at the same time oppose all of its sources," said Pinera during his state of the nation address.

Besides HidroAysen, Pinera has approved the construction of three very pollutant coal thermo-electric plants this year, one of which will be the biggest in Latin America.

Chilean officials have ruled out nuclear energy following Japan's nuclear disaster, saying Chile is as seismic as Japan.

The Latin American country witnessed an 8.8-magnitude earthquake on February 7, 2010 which entailed a tsunami.

Anti-state protests persist in Saudi Arabia

Saudi protesters have condemned the deployment of Saudi troops in Bahrain

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174659.html

Saudi anti-government protesters have once again taken to the streets east of the country, condemning the kingdom's military intervention in Bahrain.

Expressing solidarity with anti-government protesters in Bahrain, demonstrators in the city of Qatif called for the immediate withdrawal of Saudi troops from the neighboring country.

Saudi Arabia deployed 1,000 troops to Bahrain in efforts to help the ruling despotic family in its brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters.

Muslims around the world have denounced the Saudi-led crackdown on anti-government protesters in Bahrain.

Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Bahrain comes despite the conventions of the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council that ban any interference in the internal affairs of a regional country.

Saudi Arabia's oil-producing east has been the scene of anti-government protests over the past weeks.

Last month, a Saudi-based human rights group said that authorities have arrested 100 protesters for taking part in or organizing anti-government demonstrations.

Human Rights First Society (HRFS) also revealed that some of the detainees were subject to torture both physically and mentally.

Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki refused to comment on the report.

Saudi Arabia's large but minority Shia population complain of wide discrimination against them, insisting that they are treated as second-class citizens and have to struggle to obtain senior-level jobs as well as benefits commonly available to other citizens.

The government of Saudi Arabia denies such charges.

In Saudi Arabia, protest rallies and any public displays of dissent are considered illegal. Senior Wahhabi clerics in the kingdom have also censured opposition demonstrations as "un-Islamic."

Jordanians renew call for premier ouster

Jordanian protesters at the central square on March 25, 2011 in Amman, Jordan, Getty Images

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171747.html

The opposition to Jordan's government has renewed calls for the ouster of Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit amid violent crackdown on protesters which has left two people dead and many others injured.

"We demand the prime minister and intelligence chief [Mohammed Raqqad] quit," Firas Mahadin of the Youth of March 24 Movement stated at a news conference on Saturday.

"We have reached a point of no return," AFP quoted him as saying.

The leader of Islamic Action Front, the main opposition party, went on to say that the regime has carried out "crimes against humanity."

Trade unionists along with opposition politicians have joined the youth movement.

The opposition began a protest camp at the Interior Circle in Gamal Abdel Nasser Square in the capital Amman on Thursday, March 24.

Their camp was attacked by around 200 pro-regime loyalists, who assaulted protesters with rocks and stones, on Thursday night. The loyalists then raided the camp after police cut the power supply to the square, killing two and injuring at least 130 others, three of them remain in critical condition.

Riot police arrested several protesters and used water cannons to break up the camp on Friday.

Police chief Hussein Majali said a protester -- 55-year-old Khairy Saad Jamil -- has died of a heart attack. Jamil's son, however, insists that his father had suffered several blows to his body. The family now refuses to bury Jamil until Interior Minister Saad Srur quits and security officials are fired.

Srur, who accuses the opposition of seeking to create chaos in the country, says an investigation has been launched to determine who's responsible for the violence.

Friday's unrest in Amman was the second of its kind since protests erupted in the country three months ago. Jordan's opposition wants political reforms including those that would strip King Abdullah II of some of his powers, specifically in appointing the prime minister.

Jordan's king, who has already offered a series of concessions to end the protests, has reportedly called for an early election by the end of 2011.

Jordan loyalists attack student protest

Jordanian anti-government protesters in Amman, January 21

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171548.html

Several young Jordanian protesters have been hospitalized after government loyalists attacked their protest camp in the capital Amman on Friday.

Witnesses say security forces stood by and did not intervene as demonstrators were attacked, AFP reported.

Around 500 students were camping next to Gamal Abdel Nasser Square in the capital when the government loyalist assaulted them on Friday.

At least 35 people were injured when security forces and supporters of King Abdullah II cracked down on the crowd.

Police spokesman Mohamad Khatib claimed he was not aware of any casualties.

At nightfall, police had tried to disperse the crowd by cutting off electricity to the square.

Protesters say they will continue with street protests until their demands are met.

Thursday's protest saw the most violence since the demonstrations began three months ago.

The Jordanian Youth Movement used Facebook to organize the protest camp. The group has now reportedly changed its name to Youth of March 24 to mark the beginning of an open-ended demonstration at the main square.

"Today is the dawning of the Jordanian revolution,'' said group spokesman Ziad al-Khawaldeh. "We will not move an inch from here until our demands are met,'' he added.

Jordanians have held protest rallies since January, demanding reforms. They are calling for the dissolution of parliament and constitutional amendments.

Their demands include the ouster of newly-appointed Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and the prosecution of officials accused of corruption and nepotism.

Jordan's opposition also wants to strip the king of some of his powers, specifically in appointing the prime minister.

Jordan's king, who has already offered a series of concessions to end the protests, has reportedly called for an early election by the end of 2011.

Jordan protesters attacked in capital

Jordanian protesters hold flags and banners during a demonstration organized by a group called itself March 24th Youth Movement in Jordanian capital of Amman, on March 24, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/171544.html

In Jordan, government loyalists have attacked protesters in the capital Amman leaving several demonstrators injured.

Witnesses say security forces stood by as demonstrators were attacked, AFP reported.

Around 2,000 Jordanians gathered for a protest camp at the Interior Circle of Jamal Abdul Nasser Square in Amman, following demonstrations held in the city on Thursday.

At least 35 people were injured when security forces and supporters of King Abdullah II cracked down on the crowd.

Thursday's protest saw the most violence since the demonstrations began three months ago.

The Jordanian Youth Movement used Facebook to organize the protest camp. The group has now reportedly changed its name to Youth of March 24 to mark the beginning of an open-ended demonstration at the main square.

“Today is the dawning of the Jordanian revolution,'' said group spokesman Ziad al-Khawaldeh. “We will not move an inch from here until our demands are met,'' he added.

Jordanians have held protest rallies since January demanding reforms. They are calling for the dissolution of parliament and constitutional amendments.

Their demands include the ouster of newly-appointed Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and the prosecution of officials accused of corruption and nepotism.

Jordan's opposition also wants to strip the king of some of his powers, specifically in appointing the prime minister.

Jordan's king, who has already offered a series of concessions to end the protests, has reportedly called for an early election by the end of 2011.

Fresh protests break out in Morocco

Pro-democratic protests in Morocco

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170929.html

Amid escalating unrest in Middle East and North of Africa, Moroccans have also taken to the streets to protest corruption in Morocco and demand better civil rights.

Thousands of pro-democracy protesters gathered in Rabat and Casablanca on Sunday shouting "the Moroccan people demand change!" and holding up placards reading "For the freedom and dignity of the Moroccan people."

Protests in Morocco began earlier this year following revolutions in Egypt and Tunis which led to the overthrow of the governments in both countries.

In February thousands of Moroccans staged peaceful demonstrations across the country, prompting Morocco's King Mohammed VI to emphasize his commitment to “pursuing the realization of structural reforms.”

The king announced on March 9 that he had appointed a committee to draft a reform of the constitution widening the prerogatives of elected officials and ensuring officials are accountable and the judiciary independent.

Mohammed VI added that the new proposals would be announced in June and the draft constitution will be put to a referendum.

On March 14, however, Morocco's riot police armed with truncheons broke up peaceful protest in Casablanca in an unusual show of violence, injuring 13 people and arresting 54 others.

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.

Two major Libyan oil ports closed

Revolutionary forces take cover as a bomb dropped by a Libyan air force fighter jet explodes near a checkpoint on the outskirts of the oil town of Ras Lanuf

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168784.html

Ras Lanuf and Brega, two major oil ports in eastern Libya, have been closed as pro-regime forces intensify attacks on the revolutionary forces.

Embattled Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi's warplanes have launched fresh airstrikes on anti-regime positions around the port city of Ras Lanuf, Reuters reported late Monday.

Reports say at least three people have been killed in the attacks. The violence resulted in the closure of two oil ports of Ras Lanuf and Brega.

"Ras Lanuf is not operating. It's the same in Brega," an official in a shipping company in Ras Lanuf said.

The revolutionary forces have begun pulling back from Ras Lanuf and the nearby city of Ben Jawad after the regime resorted to heavy use of air attacks.

According to an anti-government official, beleaguered Gaddafi could attack oilfields like a "wounded wolf."

Meanwhile, reports say fighting erupted in the Libyan city of Zawiyah as forces loyal to the incumbent ruler launched a renewed attempt to capture the city.

Three of the revolutionary forces and over 30 pro-Gaddafi soldiers lost their lives in the clashes.

Earlier on Sunday, Gaddafi's tanks shelled the civilian population in the western city of Misratah. According to medics, at least 21 people, most of them unarmed civilians, were killed in the clashes.

Battles rage for control of Libya

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168603.html

Located at the western tip of Jebel Nefusa, the mountain range that runs parallel to the coast west of Tripoli, Nalut joined the anti-Gaddafi forces early on. Locals and refugees told Press TV that nearby towns such as Jadu, Zintan and Rogbane are also no longer under Gaddafi regime's control.

Repeating the pattern of other population centers, the revolutionary forces have held on to the towns, but have conceded much of the road network linking the cities.

The Libyan military, meanwhile, has reclaimed the Tunisian border post and have patrols around the city's perimeter.

While no counterattack has yet materialized, border crossers told Press TV that they have been erecting fortifications. Residents on the Tunisian side of the border are also concerned as they have significant contacts with Nalut, both social and commercial.

While not as busy as the main western border town of Ras Jedir, 250 kilometers north, more than 3,000 refugees from nearly 20 different nations have passed from Libya into the once sleepy town of Dehiba.

The Libyan army has imposed a blockade on the border, but that hasn't stopped many from skirting the checkpoint and delivering humanitarian aid.

Despite their proximity to Ghadaffi's forces around Tripoli, some towns in northwestern Libya have declared their independence. Their situation is precarious, but they are holding their ground

'US seeks strategic change in Libya'

Iranian lawmaker Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168632.html

A senior Iranian lawmaker has warned the United States against its possible military intervention in Libya, saying Washington seeks a strategic change in the North African country.

“Libya currently is in need of humanitarian aid and not military interventions by certain powers, including the United States, which are based on their own interests,” a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh said in a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

“We believe that the objective of such ideas is not based on defending the Libyan people but is a bid to change the strategic situation in this North African country,” he added, ISNA reported.

He pointed to the ongoing bloody events in Libya and expressed regret that the United Nations and its affiliated bodies failed to play their role within the framework of the UN Charter.

The Iranian lawmaker said the current developments in Libya and the savage killings of the country's people have created a fresh wave of concern in the world, particularly in the Islamic Republic.

He warned that certain powers are making efforts to prepare ground for military intervention in Libya and called on the chief of the United Nations to require responsible bodies to defend the rights of the Libyan people and condemn and bring the country's dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his allies to trial.

Falahatpisheh also asked Ban to pave the way for the Libyan people to determine their own fate without the interference of other countries.

The remarks came after media reports suggested that the United States and its allies may be preparing the ground for a military intervention in Libya.

The US Senate has unanimously passed a resolution calling for a no-fly zone over Libya.

The US Senate Armed Services Committee said all options, including the military option, should be on the table.

8 British troops captured in Libya

Libyan opposition forces during a training session

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168409.html

Eight British soldiers have been captured in eastern Libya as they escorted a senior diplomat through territory under the control of revolutionary forces.

According to a report published by The Sunday Times, the unexpected presence of a British special forces unit along with the diplomat "angered Libyan opposition figures, who ordered the soldiers to be locked up on a military base."

The Britons have reportedly been taken to Benghazi in eastern Libya. The diplomat they were protecting had wanted to contact the anti-government forces.

The British newspaper added that anti-government forces “fear Muammar Gaddafi could use any evidence of Western military interference to rally patriotic support for his regime."

On Saturday, Gaddafi said he wanted the United Nations or the African Union to investigate the anti-government protests in the country.

On the same day, pro-Gaddafi forces backed by tanks launched an assault on Zawiyah, 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of the capital Tripoli, firing heavy mortar rounds at houses and attacking a hospital.

The clashes began hours after revolutionary forces repelled an effort by government forces to retake the city.

Reports by human rights groups say over 6,000 people have been killed so far in the government's harsh crackdown on anti-government protesters.

The Libyan revolution came in the wake of the monumental events in Tunisia and Egypt, where dictators who led undemocratic and repressive regimes were driven out of power.

However, Gaddafi does not want to see the writing on the wall, and the bloody conflict in Libya drags on.

Waves of demonstrations have rocked several other Middle Eastern and North African countries in recent weeks.

Protests, gunfire hit Gaddafi stronghold

A recent photo of an anti-Gaddafi protest

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/168254.html

Gunshots have rung out in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, where anti-government protesters staged rallies against the crumbling regime of Libya's ruler Muammar Gaddafi.

Tripoli residents demanding Gaddafi's downfall held rallies after the Friday prayers in the capital, where they were met with pro-Gaddafi forces that used teargas to disperse the crowd.

"They fired teargas. I heard shooting. People are scattering," a Reuters reporter at the scene of the protests in the east of the Libyan capital said.

Reports indicate that Gaddafi's secret police waited outside mosques as demonstrators began to call for an end to the ruler's 42 years of autocracy.

Pro-regime forces unleashed the gas and baton rounds to suppress the anti-government protests.

Meanwhile, the regime's troops kept a heavy military presence on main roads around the capital, where pro-Gaddafi forces have been searching cars at numerous checkpoints.

In the Libyan city of Benghazi, which is under the protesters' control, a massive rally was held after the day's prayers.

Clashes also erupted in the town of Zawiyah and the oil port of Ras Lanuf, with reports of heavy casualties after the regime unleashed fire on anti-government protesters in an area near the oil port of Ras Lanuf.

Libya's revolutionary forces have vowed to continue with their rallies until achieving victory.

The Libyan situation continues to dominate the world oil markets. The uprising in the oil-rich North African nation has increased crude prices worldwide.

New York's light sweet crude for April delivery, known as West Texas Intermediate, rose 72 cents to reach above 102 dollars a barrel.

Libya produces over one and a half million barrels of oil a day. About 85 percent of Libya's oil goes to Europe.