“August lashes out in volcanic fury, rising with the din of morning traffic, its great metallic wings smashing against the ground, heating the air with ever-increasing intensity”
– Henry Rollins
“Reading the morning newspaper is the realist’s morning prayer. One orients one’s attitude toward the world either by God or by what the world is. The former gives as much security as the latter, in that one knows how one stands. ” – Hegel
Moanday, 31/8/15:
UK, Bristol: estate agent’s windows smashed up in support of squatting and against gentrification
France, Paris: anarchists smash windows of Socialist Party office…Nord Pas-de-Calais: cops attacked with bricks and molotovs by about 50 youths as car burns…Oise: a dozen or so people stone cop car during arrest
Greece, Macedonian border: cops clash with protesting refugees
Stunday, 30/8/15:
Bulgaria, Montana: ultra football fans occupy police station for a few hours trying to release arrested fan “…supporters pelted officers with stones and bottles “
France, Calais: ferry workers blockade port until early Monday (31/8/15)…Nantes: constituency office windows of European deputy smashed, building graffitied with “collaborator – watch your back!”…Dordogne: cop car attacked with stones on popular estate…Bethune: facade of police station set fire to…Loos (near Lille): firefighters ambushed, fire truck windows attacked with stones…Nord-Pas-de-Calais: firefighters ambushed again It should be pointed out that firefighters in France, although proletarian, are militarised and are not allowed to go on strike.
Japan, Tokyo: over 100,000 demonstrate against militarism
US, Utah: report on how some people fight boredom in the Mormon state
Shatterday, 29/8/15:
Lebanon, Beirut: demonstrators give the enemy breathing space “Massive demonstrations in Beirut ended Saturday evening with protesters giving the government a three-day deadline for bringing corrupt officials to account, ending months of political paralysis and resolving a weeks-long sanitation crisis. Initially, dozens of protesters had refused to leave Martyrs’ Square and Riad al-Solh Square, the latter of which is home to Lebanese government headquarters, with a handful of masked stone-throwing demonstrators clashing with police…” He who hesitates…An interesting report on the development of this movement from August 8th onwards “Despite the existence of numerous contradictions that still need to be straightened out, there is hope for this movement. This is the first truly independent Lebanese movement for change that I’ve witnessed within my lifetime, and those taking part belong to every sect. The politics of identity which usually dominate the Lebanese political scene have taken a back seat to people coming together to fight for the direct material betterment of their lives. This movement will be doomed to fail, however, if those who “lead” it — that is, those who are given a platform to speak in its name — continue to push back against the participation of working class people in these protests by allying with security forces against so-called infiltrators.”
France, Valence: cops attacked with stones…Brest: cops ambushed with molotovs…Savoie: 2nd night that cops are ambushed & stoned by about 8 youths
Frightday, 28/8/15:
Iraq: thousands march again against corruption and poverty in several cities “…amongst the slogans – “equality between women and men”, “employment or unemployment benefit for unemployed workers “,” from Beirut to Baghdad, let’s hunt the garbage of government”, etc.)”…hundreds of thousands just in Baghdad
France, Roye: travellers blockade motorway between Paris & Lille demanding prisoner’s right to attend murdered father’s funeral – and win…More here “They burnt tyres, bails of straw and trees, stopping all traffic.They were protesting at a court’s refusal to allow the son of one of the victims, who is in jail for selling stolen vehicles, to attend the funeral. They ended their protest at about 11.30am after another court overruled the decision.” Video here
Germany, Chemnitz: arson attack on 2 Nazi clothing shops; graffiti shows solidarity with migrants…Munich: Federal Office for Migration and Refugees spraypainted with “Stop Deportation! Refugees welcome! “
US, California: anti-vaccination graffiti
Thumpsday, 27/8/15:
Cambodia, Koh Kong: protesters demanding release of others struggling against illegal sand-dredging in brief clash with cops…whilst elsewhere NGOs evict “ethically” Pi writes: This article is interesting in that it shows a good example of how foreign NGO’s (in this case a Czech one), who developed throughout Cambodia in the 90’s, and pretend since then to fill in the gaps of the government (in eradicating poverty, fighting injustice, etc.) by actively working with its institutions and negotiating its presence in the country, are really just agencies to which the Cambodian state delegates tasks, that include pretty much everything – in this case plain and simple eviction to pave the way for development projects. The NGO ideology is clearly unmasked here: evict, but in an ethical way.
India, Calcutta: cops attack Leftist-dominated demo against peasant distress & suicides; paving stones and bricks thrown at cops…More here
Chile, Santiago: another example of proletarian v proletarian divisions…whilst elsewhere clashes between “hooded vandals” and cops take place at student demo
Wailsday, 26/8/15:
South Africa, Eastern Cape: Black Students Movement occupy Vice Chancellor’s office “… these universities continue to benefit the elite, continue to punish the children of the black working class, families from townships from rural areas and informal settlements. The United Front calls on the Black Student Movement to come together and join up in a nation student initiative to build a new independent student movement so that these battles can be fought in a nationwide scale.””
India, New Delhi: vehicles vandalised in protests against electricity cuts
France, Drome: cops and military attacked ” Around 11.30 pm, the military returning to surveille the mosque…were stoned. Upon arrival, police vehicles were also targeted by stones, paving stones and chunks of pavement thrown by thirty young people. A car was set on fire in front of the Louise Michel school. “
US, New Jersey: a certain chemistry between woman and cop
El Salvador, San Salvador: state of emergency declared in prison as attempted riot is quashed
Tearsday, 25/8/13:
Lebanon, Beirut: riot filth beat back protesters who’d crossed barbwire barricade
Chile, Curanilahue: miners backtrack on earlier masochistic “resistance”, suspend strike after officials offer compromise “officials proposed a program that included training courses and support payments, debt payments and other social benefits, according to union chief Luis Chandia….Earlier this month, copper miners ended a strike in which they had blocked roads to mines to demand higher wages. One worker was killed by police in the 23-day protest”
South Africa, Cape Town: hostel transformation project suspended due to protests about housing allocation “…a group of youths campaigning for a change in the agreed-upon housing allocation for this hostel project had intimidated members of the project steering committee.” More here “Residents caused chaos in Langa for a second day as they demanded houses. The group burnt tyres and furniture on Bhunga Avenue and Washington Road, and the busy arterial roads were again closed on Tuesday. Police used rubber bullets to disperse the crowd, shooting one person in the leg and another in the arm. “…Gauteng: 2 prisoners freed by armed men
Moanday, 24/8/15:
Turkish Kurdistan solidarity statement about resistance to dam construction
Argentina, Tucuman: demonstration and riot against electoral fraud “…the march took place without the presence of leaders of the opposition …protesters, went from banging pots and pans to hurling insults and whistling at the Tucuman government to tearing down the fences surrounding the provincial Government House …the police advanced on the protesters using batons, tear gas and firing rubber bullets. Also participating were police on horseback. The order was to clear the square. The protesters ran down the side streets, but some clashed with security forces and threw stones at them….plainclothes police… arrested dozens of people. Police then retreated and calm appeared to return. But suddenly people reoccupied the square. There they sang the national anthem and chanted against the police and government.”
France, Loire: about 15 youths stone cops and fireighters…Castres: cops and firefighters stoned by youths after electricity box is smashed, destroying CCTV surveillance…Cantal: report of lots of damage and graffiti against banks etc. during festival “…a Credit Agricole bank had all of its windows smashed with a sledgehammer, and a big turd was drawn on the wall. Another Crédit Agricole saw its ATM painted over, and every day new tags appeared – “Steal everything” a huge “Rob me blind” and other anarchist inscriptions. Ten ATM’s downtown were also repainted …. At least another ATM was broken by a projectile. LCL [another bank-cum-insurance agency] was smeared with inscriptions hostile to the police, “Fuck the police “, “Get out your pitchforks”, “Fuck you.” Against ads, sixty windows of JCDecaux [ad company that dominates bus stops etc. but also contributes to prison slavery] and bus stops were broken, as well as insulting tags – “stop ads”, “steal everything”. On a large poster in 4 × 3, that read in large letters “Eat your boss (A).” Against labor and capitalist exploitation, temp agencies were tagged, and Adecco [employment agency] lost all its windows and on the door a tag read “Death to work”. Against politics and its henchmen, the local office of the EELV [political party called “Europe Ecology – The Greens”] of Aurillac was painted an inscription describing them better – “Europe Ecology – The Yellows”[“jaune”, ie “yellow”, also means “scab” ]. Against the domination of school and its buildings, could be read on a high school ” burn the high school, with the teachers in the middle”, and a primary school, addressed to the festival and to leftist artists, was tagged , “Contesting the spectacle, or the spectacle of contestation?”. Against speciesism and animal exploitation, several butcher / corpse merchants were targeted with tags saying “Go Vegan” and a veterinary practice also received a tag with “Collaborator”. Against gentrifiers, several real estate agencies lost their windows, and tags inscribed on their walls. At Aurillac, a housing construction company took advantage of the festival to cover all advertising space with “HOUSES EVERYWHERE”. The ads were quickly diverted, and the local business was corrected with several explicit tags “Squats everywhere”, “squat your town.” Against consumption, “Scoff shit” on McDonald’s, several supermarkets were also targeted, and you could read about the Leader Price “Security guard bastards. Security guards – collaborators, shitbags. This is my Coke. Bosses are thieves”. …many insurance agencies were tagged with “Burn your insurance,” “Fuck everything,” etc. Against the cops and justice, the uncontrollables have been prolific. On a McDonalds in large letters: “All coppers are bastards (A)” – dozens of tags covered the town, “Fuck the BAC”, “Death to the cops,” … “Fuck the BAC shit “…” fire to the prisons”, “Anticops / Antifrance”, “Anticops, antifascist, antifrance … “, “Riot yourself”, “Riots, looting, sabotage”. In front of the security guard checkpoints around the city center, “1 security guard= 1 bullet” and stuff like that. And everywhere – “Who wrenched our guts?”, “With rage and joy”, “ZADs everywhere” etc.“… anti-cop video in French ” “We, the Popular Assembly of #Millevaches, call on everyone in the coming days to visit en masse police stations and gendarmerie barracks in order to blockade them by any means necessary – stakes, welding, locks etc – for an end to the unnecessary evil murderers in uniform!”
Chile, Curanilahue: 73 miners blockading themselves in mine due to unpaid wages cut themselves off from contact 900 meters below surface (see entry for 12/8/15) “Over 70 Chilean miners on strike for two weeks demanding payment of wage arrears…no longer want to receive food or water…They blocked all access … preventing people to get where they are. They have no means of communication … they face health problems and oxygen supply.” Seems like a somewhat masochistic form of resistance, presumably aimed at evoking the August 2010 Chilean mining “accident” when 33 miners were trapped and the world’s media was focussed on their eventual rescue, hoping to somehow incite a similar sympathy. 5 years later, this rescue has been fictionalised in film form starring Antonio Banderas. But so far, the world’s dominant press is not mentioning the current real-life situation.
Nepal: army deployed in various riotous areas “Blocking the roads with boulders, the protesters had entered the restricted areas and began vandalising government offices”…And this says “All kinds of protests and gatherings are prohibited in the riot-hit zone. Security personnel have shoot-at-sight orders against those involved in vandalism and arson of public property.” More here “…protesters claimed that the clash occurred as police fired at innocent people in the peaceful protest…. The policemen killed in the clash included a senior superintendent of police and a police inspector.” More here: “Wielding wooden spears, bamboo sticks and bricks, the irate cadres have vandalized the windowpanes of the District Court Office, Rautahat. The protestors have also pelted bricks and stones at the survey office, land revenue office…They had given an ultimatum to close down Gaur-based government offices including district administration office, survey office, land revenue office and district court office”. More here. Not sure how much this is dominated by oppositional political parties and how much is independent.
South Africa, Cape Town: protesters demanding electricity burn tyres, loot shops, throw stones at cops “Two violent protests rocked Cape Town on Monday, causing traffic jams and resulting in 21 arrests. Protesters were burning tyres and throwing stones in Klipheuwel Road near Philadelphia, while the busy Bunga Avenue near Langa was closed for traffic….about 100 people took to the streets, and cops were forced to close both on and off ramps from the N2 onto Bunga Avenue….Meanwhile, violent protesters clashed with police at Klipheuwel Road informal settlement. Residents blocked the road and demanded water and electricity….protesters burnt tyres in the street, looted shops and pelted cops with stones…Police fired rubber bullets to disperse the crowd…A Mvalo security vehicle was also damaged by the mob. A cop at the scene said the security company works for the nearby power station, the same place where protesters burnt down and cut some power cables earlier this week. ” More here “…tyres and debris were set alight and scattered in the streets on Monday morning. … on Friday night….residents from the Klipheuwel township set fire to the substation, plunging that section of Durbanville into darkness.”
India (Kashmir), Pulwama: crowds stone cops after cop makes lewd comment towards girl “The girl reportedly slapped the constable and raised an alarm…The girl’s action drew attention of some passers-by, who started pelting stones at the police team”…Dharwad: protests about water projects get interesting “They threw stones on the Navalgund bus stand building and damaged window panes and tubelights. The protesters torched two buses in Yamanur village of Navalgund taluk. …In Nargund town of Gadag district, the peaceful dharna by the agitators turned violent in the evening with farmers forcing closure of shops and commercial establishments. Earlier, they blocked movement of vehicles on Hubballi-Vijayapura National Highway. In Hubballi, farmers … blocked the road for about four hours. The farmers from surrounding villages staged a rasta roko by placing barbed fences in the middle of the road. The movement of vehicles on Dharwad-Navalgund road was affected for more than three hours due to the stir. Vehicles did not ply on the Hubballi-Lakshmeshwar route till evening.”
Italy, Milan: undocumented migrants block roads
US, Atlanta: cops in graffiti horror shock!!!
Stunday, 23/8/15:
Lebanon, Beirut: protester shot dead as movement continues More here…and here “Some demonstrators lit fires. A tree next to a church was set ablaze, road signs were pulled from the ground, and shop fronts smashed. Violence also flared on Saturday night. Many dozens of people have been hurt over the two days. Thirty members of the Internal Security Forces were injured on Sunday, one seriously…There was no obvious participation by any of the big, mostly sectarian parties that have long dominated Lebanese politics.”
Left: very strong lasers shone into the eyes of the driver of the water cannon Right: “Fuck the State”
Greece, Halkidiki: demonstrators and cops clash at international protest against gold mine…More here“protesters … started pelting the police force with rocks and bolts and threw firebombs….Protesters say the police, unprovoked, fired stun grenades and tear gas.“…and here “Employees of Hellenic Gold held a counter-protest in response to the government decision to temporarily shut down the site, due to technical violations.”
Shatterday, 22/8/15:
Lebanon, Beirut: cops fire live rounds and water cannon at protesters against garbage crisis More here “Lebanese police sprayed water cannons, launched volleys of tear gas and fired automatic weapons into the air in an effort to subdue the protesters, some of whom were pelting security forces with rocks, bottles and other objects. Some protesters displayed injuries that appeared to be inflicted by rubber bullets…. protesters shouted for the fall of the government …Other protesters spray-painted “revolution” on walls and erected barricades in areas where they overran security forces. Lebanon has been locked in a rubbish disposal crisis since July 17 when the country’s largest landfill was forcibly shut down by activists. The government had promised to close the site this summer to appease locals who objected to its presence. But the government failed to find an alternative site to dispose of Beirut’s waste, leading to a stinky pileup of refuse in the streets of the capital. More than a month later, no permanent solution has been found. Violence quelled late Saturday night as riot police retreated and allowed protesters to advance to the gates of the Grand Serail, the prime minister’s headquarters. Activists set up tents and vowed not to leave until their demands were met. While the protest movement was launched last month to attack the government’s mismanagement of the waste crisis, it has evolved to represent more than just rubbish. The protests now look to tackle all of Lebanon’s many problems, from corruption to the sectarian former warlords who dominate politics and the lack of basic services like electricity.“
Politicians recycled as art
Azerbaijan, Mingachevir: protest after man dies in cop custody heavily repressed by cops More here “Relatives of the victim, who died at the police station in Mingachevir, 27-year-old Bahruz Hajiyev, beat police investigator Rashadat Orujov”
Macedonia, Gevgelija (Greek border): 1000s of migrants manage to get through
Frightday, 21/8/15:
Iraq (Baghdad, Basra, Nassirya): massive demonstrations against corruption and general misery; Shiite clergy openly described as “thieves” Unfortunately dominated by national flags… (list and reports of various demos in Iraq on leftist/trade unionist site here, in French )
Message from Iraq (translated from the French version here)
By Lucien
Reply to a message of support following the mass demonstrations in Iraq.
Dear Comrade Azar Majedi,
Your warm support is welcome and appreciated. We are getting ready for next Friday in Baghdad, discussing slogans, publishing material for protesters and coordinating ourselves with other groups. Meanwhile reformists seek to divert the movement with their sweetish slogans aimed at maintaining the political system, changing only a few figures. Of course they are the ones beloved by the media which presents them as the leaders of the insurrection, with the blessing of religious Shiites. Most of the protesters in Tahrir Square make demands related to poverty, mass murders, lack of services, emphasizing the incredible fortunes of members of the ruling class. The time has come for the masses to shake the power of political Islam that diverted resources, increased the poverty of the majority of people and gave way to the power of Daesh in several cities in Iraq. The coming days will be decisive: either the masses will calm down and cheer the false promises of the Prime Minister, or agitation can develop into more radical demands against sectarian and corrupt government. The mass media continue showing their favorite reformist alternatives, interviewing criminal militia leaders who demand that all Iraqi laws become Islamic, and announcing on TV that the Communists are behind the protests, that they will deal with them.
We need the support of our comrades and friends abroad to explain that there is an opportunity for radical insurgency against an Islamist government whose establishment had been facilitated by the US occupation. The time has come to tackle a religious government corrupted by the popular uprising, showing at the same time to the Islamic regime of Iran that their creation of a government in Iraq is rejected by the masses. Many regional uprisings are encouraging.
Reading your message of support is a fresh breeze in the burning hot days in Baghdad.
Our paths towards freedom and equality always cross.
In solidarity in the struggle.
Yanar Mohammed
Thumpsday, 20/8/15:
Excavator burning in Kampung Pulo riot in East Jakarta
Nepal, Bhairahawa: protesters continue clashing with cops (see 18/8/15)
France, Loire Atlantique: Zadistes attack cop, burn gendarme’s car “A vehicle came up with five people on board, masked and armed. “They attacked the policeman who was alone outside the house with pellet guns,” near the police vehicle…Armed with baseball bats, they then broke the windows of the police car before setting it on fire with a distress flare. The policeman targeted was slightly injured in the arm by a plastic ball,… Then a group of about fifteen individuals rose out of the wood from the Zad, “armed, gloved, wearing helmets,” with “slingshots and sticks” and tried to attack the police, who fled… “I hired sixty gendarmes throughout the area,” and a helicopter in an attempt to intercept the attackers, but “they had taken refuge in the ZAD,” recounted the colonel. The woman living in the house, believed to have alerted the Zadistes, and her son, who encouraged the attackers, were placed in custody”… Nord: workers at perfume factory on strike for non-payment of wages taken to court by bosses (and threatened with 1000s of euros of fines) for preventing these bosses going to work
Wailsday, 19/8/15:
Cambodia, Svay Rieng: strikers hurl rocks at Beautiful Windows
US, St.Louis: protesters block roads, start fires, as another black guy is shot dead by cops “The protests escalated, with demonstrators throwing bricks and bottles at police, who responded with tear gas in an attempt to clear the streets…Late Wednesday, images on social media showed at least one car and one building set on fire, and demonstrators piling burning furniture into the street.” More here ” In the wake of the killing, crowds poured into the street, where they were met with military police tanks and tear-gas. People cursed the police, burned American flags, erected barricades, and chanted “Black Lives Matter.” Some first-hand accounts here.
cop guards burning abandoned property, St.Louis
…Nashville: graffiti artist gives some sound medical advice
South Africa, North West: construction workers “go on rampage”, angry about wages…Western Cape: buses burnt in taxi driver protest…More here
On The Buses
France, Manche: farmers burn tyres etc. at the gates of the prefecture ” …they first tried to weld the gates of the courtyard of the prefecture, but they were stopped by riot police installed on the other side of the gates, who sprayed them with tear gas. The protesters, mostly dairy and beef farmers, then threw straw and burning tyres at the gates. Then they used several tanks containing 30,000 litres of slurry to spray the grid of the prefecture and the police. They also threw firecrackers at many of the CRS.”
Lebanon, Beirut: protesters tear-gassed protesting government policy and other rubbish
Tearsday, 18/8/15:
Nepal, Bhardah: protester against division of country into federal states killed by cops “One person in his thirties was killed today morning when more than 500 protesters attacked a police post in Bhardah [village of Saptari]” …protesters had blocked the highway with boulders and logs and pelted stones at a vehicle belonging to the Armed Police Force, an official paramilitary. …they attacked the police post with stones and even tried to seize the communication system….A dozen protesters were injured in a clash in the Kapilbastu district in south-central Nepal…Last week, two protesters were killed in Surkhet, a district in the country’s midwest. Similar clashes have broken out in Jumla district in the northern part of the country.”
South Africa, Gauteng: cops fire rubber bullets at schoolkids peacefully protesting racist schooling
Australia, New South Wales: 10 hours of freedom
Moanday, 17/8/15:
France, Nice: 3 infant schools vandalised
Bolivia, Tacacoma: locals and cops clash in movement over mine; 1 cop killed falling into ravine, 10 cops injured…More here
India, West Bengal: men and women fight then unite to fight the police…Odisha: workers seeking work squat railway line to blockade steel plant which has refused them work
Malaysia, Kota Baru: cars belonging to Agriculture Development Authority chief molotoved
South Africa, Durban: 200 block roads with burning tyres etc. in protest against shack burning…Gauteng: 5 prisoners awaiting trial escape
Stunday, 16/8/15:
France, Trappes: 50 youths chuck stuff at cops dealing with accident; cop’s tear gas cannister explodes and causes shrapnel to lodge in another cop’s leg; 2 cops and 2 bus drivers hospitalised…Pas-de-Calais: 15 migrant attack cop car chasing other migrants
Shatterday, 15/8/15:
India, Kheda: protesters demanding better sanitation, roads, drinking water, pelt cops with stones; deputy superintendent hurt; roads blocked…Manipur: cops pelted with stones, retailiate with tear gas and rubber bullets as they arrest student leaders on hunger strike for the right to travel to other states
Nepal: Tilakpur: protesters vandalise shops, vehicles, politicans house – cops fire rubber bullets
Turkey: declaration of armed women’s liberation group On the face of it, this might seem like an interesting development, given the horrendous patriarchal nature of Turkey, but a Kurdish contact writes: “Women’s Freedom Force” was not declared, and does not operate, in Turkey. It was declared in and continues to operate in Rojava. It is (literally) the sister organization of “United Freedom Force”, the group formed by Turkish leftists who’ve gone to join the war effort in Rojava against the Daesh. So it’s kind of like the women’s wing of that group, like YPJ is for YPG and so on and so forth, its main activity consisting of fighting the Daesh.” “United Freedom Force” is an overtly Marxist-Leninist group (hence the reference to Bolshevik women).
Chile: report about arrests of anarchists on or after demos
US, St.Louis: weird report about Oathkeepers arming black groups in order to affirm right to carry arms openly Presumably this is intended to undermine its racist image: “…the Oath Keepers are there to protect your rights. We care about you, regardless of all the lies that the media and some other instigators have tried to propagate. Black lives matter, we care about you, we love you and we are there to protect you”.
Germany, Rhineland: 1500 activists occupy lignite mine in protest against climate change (goody 2-shoes self-promoting reformist article which ignores so many contradictions, in some ways worse than most of the links on this page to mainstream articles, which few reading this site could be deluded enough to believe are anything other than conservative ideology)
Frightday, 14/8/15:
Germany, Leipzig: court spray-painted in support of prisoners
Tunisia, Sidi Bouzid: stones v. tear gas; 2 cops injured
Syria, Hama: hundreds of prisoners riot against conditions “…furniture and equipment ransacked and beds turned into barricades to sealed iron gates…. inmates, mostly held on terror-related charges and for joining protests against the state, took control of several major wards and ransacked prison quarters.“
Malaysia, Prai: 2 mollotovs thrown at home of immigration officer
Iran, Tehran: over 500 on hunger strike in new prison
Australia: sacked dockers reinstated after strikes
Thumpsday, 13/8/15:
Peru, Lima: cops water cannon & tear gas pro-abortion rally deviating from prescribed route, blocking roads More here ” “We believe that neither the state nor any institution should impose its will on a pregnancy, especially when it’s the result of something as violent as rape.” Activists marching against the Peruvian Congress in Lima have been dispersed with tear gas and water cannons. The draft Peruvian law allows abortion when the mother’s life is in danger, but not when it’s a case of rape. Already they’ve collected 60,000 signatures in favour, in a country where 350,000 clandestine abortions a year are practiced.”
Ecuador: thousands block roads with burning barricades during General Strike…more here “…riot police turned back some 10,000 protesters who tried to reach Quito’s central San Francisco Plaza. Some protesters hurled sticks and rocks at police. At least a dozen officers and a similar number of protesters were injured. Indigenous leaders reported several arrests. The government did not release figures on arrests or injuries. ” and here “Workers, union leaders and indigenous Ecuadorians blocked roads to Quito and other cities Thursday with branches and rocks to protest President Rafael Correa’s plans to hike taxes and amend the constitution to allow unlimited terms for re-election….Union activists are angry at a new labor code that they say would strip away freedom of association and protest. Indigenous groups are unhappy at the government’s refusal to consult them on mining and oil exploration on traditional lands.” Video here
South Africa, Port Elizabeth: police station occupied in housing delivery protest….some looting, roads blocked, cop cars stoned
“At one stage the protestors threatened to burn down the local police station “
Greece, Kos: starving migrants tear-gassed by Syriza’s cops whilst being locked up in stadium without food and very little water during heatwave more here and here (from clandestina, 15 August 2015)
Wailsday, 12/8/15:
Chile, Curanilahue: 70 miners block themselves in mine in protest against unpaid wages
India, Kerala: student federation activists clash with cops “The police then used water canons and burst tear gas shells to disperse the agitating students. Couple of activists also managed to break the police barricade and enter the Secretariat premises. …Three of the injured activists have been hospitalised.“
US, California: riot follows prisoner’s killing of Hugo Pinell, one of the San Quentin 6 politicised prisoners of 1971, a man who’d killed a screw Though this is pure speculation – maybe this was manipulated by screws…? And this seems to confirm something like that. More here “This is revenge,” declared his close friend, fellow Black Panther veteran Kiilu Nyasha, on Hard Knock Radio Aug. 13. “They hated him as much as George Jackson. They beat him constantly, kept him totally isolated for 46 years – no window, no sunlight – but they could never break him, and that’s why they hated him. “The only way he survived was that this man was full of love….He participated in the hunger strikes and applauded the Agreement to End Hostilities, authored by 16 of his comrades, Black, Brown and White, and dated Aug. 12, 2012, three years to the day before he was killed. It has nearly erased racial violence from California prisons.“…Oakland: roads blocked, stores attacked, anti-cop graffiti painted after 4th black guy since June is killed by cops
Tearsday, 11/8/15:
South Africa, North West: 4 X 4 burnt out as residents demanding electricity block highways
Ivory Coast, Ferkessédougou: sit-in turns into riots and main highway blockades after killing of worker by cops; 1 rioter killed “They organized a sit-in outside the prefecture that degenerated later that night into riots, paralyzing the city and suddenly the international Ivory Coast-Burkina Faso road…. resp0nding to the excited crowd trying to lay siege to the local gendarmerie, the gendarmes, surrounding them along with the administrative authorities, made use of their weapons. Several gendarmes were unable to return to Ferkessédougou with their families on Tuesday morning, because of the international route being blocked.”
Peru, Yauli: clashes between striking miners and cops – one dead See also this on the crisis in the world’s mining and metal industries.
US, Ferguson: frozen water bottles and rocks thrown at cops See also STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN FERGUSON AS OATH KEEPERS ARRIVE…discussion between eyewitnesses/participants of last 2 days of events: “On the anniversary of Mike Brown’s murder: 48 hours in Ferguson” and this discussion on the events over the last year. All this happened on the 50th anniversary of the Watts riot. Whilst the urge to destroy is also a creative urge, the urge to destroy acceptable forms of creativity like this recuperative artwork of burnt stuff from the Watts riot, would add to this creative urge frozen by the world of art, “creativity” for those who want to develop careers out of other people’s risky creativity/destructivity.
Spain, Catalonia: rocks, bar tables and chairs thrown at cops after migrant dies from fall during cop raid over pirated DVDs…More here “First they started to insult the officers, after they started throwing large stones and sticks and destroyed street furniture….at the train station, where the Senegalese tore down barriers, smashed police cars and blocked the road with burning containers. ” and here “a riot broke out among 200 African migrants, who threw rocks at police officers, burned trash bins and also blocked nearby rail lines.”
Australia, Melbourne: 2nd day of striking workers blockade of liquor warehouse (more detailed explanation here)
Moanday, 10/8/15:
Nepal, Surkhet: protest against state delineation leads to massive clashes with cops; 2 dead “…security personnel opened fire after the enraged protesters vandalised the house of Nepali Congress’s Joint General Secretary and former home minister Purna Bahadur Khadka. Police claimed the protest turned violent “due to the infiltration of some anarchists”. The local people staged demonstration to protest the Saturday’s six-state pact on federalism, demanding undivided Mid-West and Birendranagar as its provincial capital. The protesters enforced banda [a strike] in Birendranagar. Chief District Officer Baldev Gautam said police were compelled to open fire to bring the situation under control after the protesters vandalised houses of political leaders, offices of the major political parties and government offices. The houses of Khadka and lawmaker Hridayaram Thani were ransacked by the protesters, who also torched a bus, a tractor and two jeeps parked on the premises of Khadka’s house. Similarly, a dozer and a jeep belonging to Birendranagar Municipality were also set alight. “
Greece, Kos: cops lock themselves in police station for fear of rioting migrants
Palestine, Jerusalem: activists occupy Red Cross in support of hunger striking prisoner
France, Albi: 3 cops injured by masked youths with baseball bats in ambush (video report in French)
US, St.Louis: cops attacked with rocks and bottles…state of emergency declared…more here…See also CONFLICTING REALITIES: THE FERGUSON POLICE DO IT AGAIN AND SOMETIMES WE SHOOT BACK…Michigan: 30 days inside and hefty fine for anarchist graffiti on school – photos here
India, Uttar Pradesh: cops kill protester after cop and other vehicles are burned as protesters pelt cops with stones after woman’s death in custody “What started as a scuffle with the police soon turned into heavy stone-pelting at the police station in which half a dozen policemen including the district police chief and an additional district magistrate (ADM) were injured.”
Australia: dockers blockade ports (see also this)
UK, London: successful resistance of eviction
Stunday, 9/8/15:
US, Ferguson: the rulers’ protectors and servers shoot someone after coming under fire; commodities liberated “A few lootings were reported through the night and windows to some store fronts were smashed. Paul Hampel, a reporter for the St Louis Post-Dispatch, was assaulted and robbed by looters minutes after reporting on their actions on Twitter.”
…Baltimore: crowd watching illegal dirt bikers pelt cops with rocks; no arrests
Haiti: various riots etc. against elections or aspects of them “In the morning, at least three voting centres were ransacked in the capital Port-au-Prince, ballot boxes thrown to the ground and torn ballots from individuals not yet identified…. 26 voting centres closed their doors early as a result of violence outside or inside. Each of these centres installed in schools include dozens of polling stations. Three voting centres have been burned in Savanette… According to national and international observers, participation was higher in small provincial towns but remained weak across the country.“
Shatterday, 8/8/15:
France, Grigny: cops ambushed, their patrol car smashed with rocks thrown by about 30 youths Not entirely clear if the cop car was completely destroyed by molotovs or not (the link says the latter, the report doesn’t)…Languedoc-Roussillon: bullfighter tossed Statue disappears, only cloak remains – with graffiti “Abolition” added.
Before After
Sri Lanka, Grandpass: tyres burnt, road blocked, after 65-year-old man dies in conflict with cops More here
UK, London: cops come “under a sustained attack with bottles, bricks and other items” See also this “‘Illegal raves’ are a common occurrence on estates in London during the summer, to try to break up the monotony of the urban hell prison that is London. The local & national corporate media has even been putting out anti-gang propaganda deriding the mob as the result of “the Stamford Hill gang” gathering.”
Denmark, Copenhagen: youth riot More here “A demonstration by the group Reclaim the Streets turned violent in Copenhagen’s Nørrebro district Saturday night. Demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails, rocks and bottles at police and smashed several business windows”…and here (on the subsequent repression)
See also this… Seattle: presidential candidate’s stage stormed, phoney “alternative” to Hilary Clinton shut down (more here)…Critical take on this “alternative”
Frightday, 7/8/15:
Pakistan, Mardan: grid station set ablaze and machinery destroyed in protests over electricity cuts
burnt-out nyala
Iraq: demonstrations against crap electricity services and corruption continue throughout country…and against the high cost of living…More here…leftist report in French: “Nearly half a million people on the streets in Baghdad, chanting slogans against the corrupt and reactionary leaders. Hundreds of thousands have demonstrated in Samawah, Diwaniyah, Basra Nassirya, Amarah and Najaf. Slogans like “Neither Shiites nor Sunnis – for secularity,” “The clerical regime tears us apart,” show the true meaning of the protests in Iraq. Starting on July 31 in Baghdad, Basra, Amarah and Najaf, the protests spread to Sulaymaniyah, Rania, Qaladiza, Chamchamal, Darbandikhan and Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan. Power cuts and water cuts in the deadly heat wave that affects Iraq gave the people the pretext to express their anger and fed-upness in the face of poverty, insecurity, lack of rights and the corrupt and reactionary Iraqi government. “
US, Ferguson: demonstrators block traffic
Thumpsday, 6/8/15:
Germany, Leipzig: police car torched, security company windows and car attacked
Wailsday, 5/8/15:
India, Bihar: precariously employed demanding job regularisation clash with cops – stones v tear gas
Venezuela, Sinamaica: looting of trucks as Town Hall is burnt …more here “ the looting of the two trucks carrying food occurred in protest “against shortages and food rationing” suffered by the town, which also includes living in “deplorable conditions, spending several days without electricity and no internet. ” The website of the newspaper Ultimas Noticias quoted by a spokesmen of the mayor, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to testify, said the attack began on Tuesday night, when the attackers entered the town hall and, after stealing appliances and computers, set fire to the premises. “
Turkey, Diyarbakir: energy workers protest Erdogan’s war logic
Greece, Athens: Syriza destroy social squat
Iraqi Kurdistan, Sulaymaniyah: cops showered with stones as demonstrators protest water and electricity cuts
Argentina, Mendoza: who polices the police?
Tearsday, 4/8/15:
India, Mumbai: striking logistics staff take over executives office for an hour
UK, London: report about some nicely printed anarchist posters imitating Metropolitan Police logo
Canada, Saskatoon: postmen refuse to deliver anti-abortion leaflets
South Africa, Limpopo: unemployment protesters block roads, throw stones at passing vehicles, loot and burn shops, burn contractor vehicles, forcing shops & schools to close “we have not been able to verify the reports as roads are blocked and police cannot access the areas yet.”....KwaZulu Natal: 4th day of riots against taxi fare hikes lead to cops shooting 4-year-old in head with rubber bullet
Sweden, Stockholm: anti-racists tear down political propaganda in underground
France, Marseille: doors, windows and several rooms smashed up at elementary school
Moanday, 3/8/15:
US, Michigan: anti-water cut-off group organises re-distribution of water taken from mayor’s garden
Ghana, Northern region: 3 high schools and headmasters’ bungalow vandalised after headmaster postpones entertainment More here “the students have been arrested for vandalizing property at the headmaster’s bungalow and stealing computers from the schools computer lab during the rioting. ….the rioting occurred when the students were stopped by the headmaster from organizing an entertainment event despite ongoing revision for exams. … the students …stormed his bungalow vandalizing his vehicle and other assets. Some of the students …also broke into the school’s newly constructed computer lab making away with about 20 computers.“…doctors in illegal strike
Algeria, Annaba: 2nd day on which 60 workers on strike since April (recently deemed “illegal” by courts) blockade access to whole of steel complex “Protesters used clubs, iron bars and stone blocks to prevent, since Sunday, entrance to the complex, which employs 5,000 workers in various industrial units. According to managers of the complex’s units, this situation is “unprecedented” because protesters have refused these same companies the ability to provide a minimum service. According to Mohamed Kedeha, communications manager at ArcelorMittal Algeria, industrial plants are being exposed to danger due to the paralysis of the plant for more than 24 hours because of a dispute in which they “are not concerned”, he said. The action of this group of workers has put the complex of El Hadjar and industrial facilities on the site out of control, “a situation never seen before,” he said.“
Bangladesh: ban on 3-wheelers creates confrontations throughout country and here “auto-rickshaw drivers and owners have clashed with police forces on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway in Narayanganj during protests against the highway ban on Monday. The CNG drivers blocked the highway in Signboard area around 11:00am. Vehicular movement in the area was halted for around an hour there. Law enforcers and the protesters clashed in the area when police tried to disperse them from the roads. Police charged batons and fired blank shots to disperse the agitation as the protestors started throwing bricks at the police….The government banned three wheeler from plying on highways to minimize highway accidents. The ban was effective from August 1 and the auto-rickshaw drivers started protesting against the ban from that day.”
Tunisia, Sousse: wildcat strike as trade unions collaborate in sacking of workers
Brazil: occupations by Landless Workers Movement in at least 10 parts of the country “Brazil’s Finance Ministry building in Brasilia was occupied on Monday by members of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), protesting against austerity measures as well as calling for land distribution. … This also saw 2,000 landless workers occupy the Carajás railroad in Parauapebas used by the mining company Vale to transport ore from its mines to the a major port in São Luis….The MST also occupied finance ministries in other cities across the country, including Porto Alegre, Recife, Fortaleza, Florianopolis, Curitiba, Palmas, Paraíba and Bahia.”
Chile: mining complex occupied by striking mine workers
Stunday, 2/8/15:
Iraq: 3rd day of demonstrations for drinkable water and electricity …see also here and here
France, Calais: immigrants break down several layers of fencing, tear-gassed by riot cops…1700 try to storm channel tunnel…video by Calais migrant solidarity group Given the ongoing ferry workers’ struggle, what keeps these 2 very different proletarian conflicts from joining up? Perhaps on the one hand, the specificity of the activist mentality focussing only on the horror of the migrants’ plight, tends to ignore more “traditional” forms of struggle (in the case of the ferry workers, wildcat strikes,occupations of the ferries, burning barricades). Whilst in no way downplaying the absolutely essential solidarity given to the migrants amassed in Calais, there’s a tendency to want to support victims who find it very hard to speak for themselves (for instance, the chants in the above video seem to have been led by activists), and who themselves would find it difficult to communicate directly to the ferry workers even if they thought about doing so. At the same time, the ferry workers seem to have expressed no interest at all in what’s been happening in the migrants’ camps. And yet this would be a great opportunity to connect the 2 struggles and, dare I hope, to weaken the horrible xenophobia developing among the working class generally. It’d be a great slap in the face of the media and all the ruling bullshit. See this article, which, despite some rather hack ultra-leftisms, at least focusses on the concrete situation of these 2 struggles in one article.
Anarchist article in French here
against states and their borders: revolution
( English translation of the above titled Luciolles article in French critiquing leftist and liberal recuperative displays of humanism “…even in this atmosphere of general resignation, when begging for rights looks like a fight, little examples warm the heart. In rue Pajol in early June, sans-papiers and supporters organised a gathering which was surrounded by large numbers of cops. Local youth, driven by a healthy hatred of the police, came out with iron bars and attacked the police” )
graffiti on Socialist Party offices in Besancon
South Africa, Limpopo: unemployment protesters block roads with burning vehicles ” three trucks and two bakkies were set alight. Residents are blocking roads inside the township as well as the R71 between Namkgale and Phalaborwa,”
Shatterday, 1/8/15:
US, Texas: 16-year-old immigrant burns cop car
France, Seine-et-Marne : education-for-beginners; 5 – 13-year-olds ransack infant school…Saint-Augustin: adolescents destroy video camera surveillance in nursery school – 30,000 euros worth of improvement
Bangladesh, Munshiganj: marginalised workers block roads against move to further precarity
South Africa, KwaZulu Natal: all roads blocked into Ladysmith as commuters protest fare rise
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