Bangladesh: 1000s of workers clash with cops as 100+ factories go on strike 11/11/13
Bangladesh: cops kill 2 garment workers as 140 factories go on strike to demand higher minimum wage…… residents threatened with house destruction by extraction of river sand by authorities’ family business connections besiege offices of those responsible 18/11/13
Bangladesh: 5 union leaders arrested as garment workers’ strikes continue (see also this for an analysis of the rise in the minimum wage) 19/11/13
“The acceptance of the mimimum wage by the owners has not been able to pacify the aggrieved workers . For the last few days, they have been resorting to violence and fighting street battles with the law enforcers, mainly in the apparel industrial hub at Ashulia. Most factories in Ashulia and Gazipur have been shut following the violence…
…the workers, who are now in the midst of agitation, are also not accepting the stance of the individual who has represented them in the wage board. At the press conference where Labour Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed announced the hike in apparel workers’ wages, the labour representative in the wage board expressed the hope that the workers would accept their new wage rates and abstain from violent activities.
This again brings to the fore the issue of ‘true’ representation of apparel workers. The individuals who represent the workers in negotiations with the owners and the government are, in fact, chosen ones, not by workers but by others. Introduction of TU rights in all garment units might help create an apex TU body for representation at the national level. Had there been such a representative organisation at the national level the government or the apparel industry owners, possibly, would not have faced so much trouble in resolving disputes.” – from here
Bangladesh: granite miners go on official strike 25/11/13
Belgium, Brussels: pilots go on wildcat strike 18/11/13
Bolivia, La Paz: cops clash with kids over law forbidding child labour (!!!!!) (video) Like so many protests, this is the equivalent of shouting ”Down with the Frying Pan! Long live the Fire!”. The forbidding of child labour as a result of struggles in the 19th century (in Victorian England, for example) was progressive. But, given today’s intensification of poverty, to forbid it within a society that above all intensifies the need for money is a typical statist response to a misery that can only be eradicated by ending the state and abolishing the need for money – by ending work/wage labour. Whether attempts at struggle like this find recognition in the world by going beyond their obvious contradictions, by rejecting the desire for an old misery just because it’s going to be replaced by a new one, remains to be seen. 19/12/13
Brazil, Sao Paulo: cops v squatters in burning barricades clash 1/11/13
Brazil: report says that an average of 5 people killed in clashes with cops every day in 2012 3/11/13
Brazil, Curitiba: wildcat strike at World Cup stadium against delayed wages; traffic blocked in main avenue (more here) (strike been going on since 10th December) 13/12/13
Brazil, Rio: occupiers of Indian museum evicted and arrested in new World Cup protest…Manaus: 1800 workers on World Cup stadium construction go on strike after death of construction worker 16/12/13
Bulgaria: animal breeders clash with pigs…Sofia University continues to be occupied, along with other universities; occupation condemned by student representative body 6/11/13
Bulgaria: university occupation spreads to 15 other locations 7/11/13
Bulgaria, Sofia: blockade of University now total….at least 18 other universities involved 11/11/13
Bulgaria, Sofia: major confrontation between students and cops as students blockade Parliament 12/11/13
Bulgaria: cops force students to end Parliament blockade after students tear down part of tall metal railing surrounding Parliament 13/11/13
Bulgaria, Sofia: students try to occupy Parliament again 15/11/13
Bulgaria, Sofia: 4,000 people march demanding pay rises, more jobs, reforms to public services (video here) 20/11/13
Bahrain
13/3/15:
Bahrain, Sitra: 4th anniversary of arrival of Saudi troops marked by molotovs, rocks and shots
13/2/15:
Bahrain: 3-day strike, as riots increase in build-up to 4th anniversary of uprising…video here (another video here)
27/1/15:
14/12/14:
Bahrain: clashes with cops at funeral (video)
Bangladesh
15/3/15:
Bangladesh, Dighinala: daylong transport strike in support of tribal families evicted, shot and tortured by army, as clashes between protesters and insecurity forces erupt “The indigenous people under the banner of Dighinala Land Protection Committee were marching towards the under-construction Babuchhara battalion headquarters of the Border Guard Bangladesh. They were barred in at least four spots by the combined security forces having members of the army, BGB, police and Ansar – accompanied by a magistrate. Army personnel fired at least 20 rounds of bullets to disperse the agitators, who pelted stones and bricks, and used catapult against the law enforcers during the clashes. … The demonstrators alleged that the army men had tortured at least two indigenous people … Six other hill people including Shushil Bikash Chakma, Rabi Ranjan Chakma and Lalon Chakma were also injured. …Army’s Dighinala Zone Adjutant Captain Towhidul Islam said the clash had taken place around 12:30pm in Karbari Para area. At that time, eight army personnel sustained injuries.”
3/12/14:
Bangladesh, Barisal: cops beat up students after they blockade road
Belgium
12/3/15:
6/1/15:
Belgium, Brussels: several molotovs thrown at police station
Bosnia
16/1/15:
Bosnia: Croatian football fans clash with cops
Brazil
7/2/15:
Brazil, Brasilia: country’s biggest land occupation ever organised by Homeless Workers Movement
5/2/15:
4/2/15:
Brazil, Brasilia: heavy clashes with cops as 400 families evicted from favela shantytown “The operation sparked a clash between police, who used pepper spray, and a large group of demonstrators who erected barricades of burning tires and trash and took over a trash truck to try and block a local street….After evicting all the occupants of the homes in the area, police isolated the zone and prevented people from returning to their houses to try and salvage their furniture and other belongings”…Porto Alegre: teenager shot dead by cops as football fans clash
23/1/15:
19/1/15:
Brazil, Recife: prisoner and prison guard killed during riot “The violence erupted in a Recife jail when an orderly protest broke down, and was brought under control only after police arrived. One officer died of a bullet wound in hospital, while details surrounding the inmate’s death were not released. ….Gunfire and explosions were heard coming from inside the prison, and G1 Globo newsportal showed a helicopter with an armed official flying overhead. Brazilian jails have faced a string of riots in recent months. The system’s 563,000 inmates make Brazil’s prison population the fourth-largest after the United States, China and Russia, according Amnesty International….”
16/1/15:
Brazil, Sao Paulo: clashes with cops over fare hikes
9/1/15:
Brazil, Sao Paulo: violent clashes between cops and demonstrators protesting fare hikes…anti-fare hike protests in Rio also
16/12/14:
Brazil: clashes with cops as indigenous tribes try to break into Congress “Police were called to stop the group and a policeman’s toe was injured after his boot was pierced by an arrow during the confrontation. The group was protesting a bill that would relax regulations for demarcating indigenous lands, and a second bill that would transfer the power to demarcate those lands from the executive branch to the legislative branch.”
Indigenous protesters armed with bows and arrows attempt to storm a National Congress committee session discussing a proposed bill that would authorize the congress to demarcate indigenous lands
Burkina Faso
8/12/14:
Burkina Faso: 4th day of illegal miners’ strike
Burma
2/3/15:
Burma, Letpadan: cops blockade student march
29/12/14:
Burma: copper mine protesters clash with cops at Chinese embassy over killing of 50-year-old woman
22/12/14:
Burma: cops kill 50 year old protester as movement against mining project clashes with the state
Latpadaung villagers protest against the continuation of the copper mine project by lying in front of a bulldozer
13/12/14:
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