YOUNG Scots will today begin a three-day march in protest at the Con-Dem Government cuts which are robbing them of their futures.

They will trek from Stirling to Glasgow to rally against cutbacks to jobs, benefits and public services.

The march has been organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and trade unionists will walk with jobless youths, students and anti-cuts campaigners.

Protesters will leave Stirling Castle today and arrive in Glasgow on Saturday, where they will join the STUC-organised “A Future that Works – There is a Better Way” march and rally.

PCS Scotland’s Young Members’ Network co-chair Louise Hollingsworth said: “The UK Government’s austerity agenda is hitting the people who can least afford it so hard.

“We’re not all in it together when youth unemployment sits at 24.3 per cent and a young person today can only dream of the sort of pensions their parents and grandparents would have taken for granted. This march shows young people have had enough – whether they are in or out of work, in the private or public sector and are able-bodied or disabled.

“We’re united in saying, ‘There is an alternative’ and are prepared to fight for it.”

Colin White, 26, from Partick in Glasgow, called on the public to support the marchers and let the Government know they are unhappy about the way the country is being run.

Colin White will join the three-day march Colin White will join the three-day march


Colin, a business student at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “The march will be a rallying call to Scotland that there are people fighting their corner. There are dissatisfied people across the UK and we are hoping to bring them together. We are anti-austerity and believe the Government should be investing in public services.

“There is no great reason for continued austerity and the Government should be investing in proper training and jobs for young people.

“By cutting things like housing benefit, the Government are going to leave a massive amount of young people out on the streets to become a forgotten generation.

“No one in the UK can be satisfied with the way things are going just now – apart from a few at the very top who are benefitting while everyone else is suffering.”

PCS Scotland secretary Lynn Henderson added: “Young people will face a very bleak future if the UK
Coalition Government are allowed to continue their austerity agenda and their vicious attacks on working people.

“Youth unemployment is a national disgrace, while those in work face a less secure future and the prospect of a retirement in poverty as workers’ rights and pay and pensions are eroded further and further.

“Trade unions must stand together with young workers everywhere to say we want an alternative future.”

? The march is being supported by the Daily Record. For more details about the march and rally, visit a special STUC site, www.stuc.org.uk/20-oct or the campaign site, www.thereisabetterway.org

more than a hundred activists met at victoria station this afternoon, and accompanied by a bicycle sound system, they headed to the nearby department of communities and local government in bressenden place.

despite a police presence, including a prepared small protest pen and extra security arrangements, several activists quickly managed to invade the roof area above the main doors and they set up banners there, while others surged forward towards the doors.

the protestors had constructed several mocked up caravan pieces, which they then used to defend themselves as police drew batons. several activists managed to get behind the police line, right to the doors of the building, and a couple of those were arrested. two of the women volunteered to return through the police line, and continued to sit peacefully in front of police despite some scuffles above and around them, with police trying to grab the 'caravan' placards. others were arrested and dragged away to police vans.

loads of police reinforcements turned up in an array of vehicles, and three police dogs were also deployed. despite an absence of any problems near the dogs, one of the handlers lost control and allowed one of the dogs to attack an official photographer, who narrowly escaped being bitten as the dog's jaws locked onto his rucksack before the handler regained control.

gradually, police pushed protestors back away from the door, and after about an hour, the rooftop protestors decided to come down, and the rest of the group headed back towards victoria station.

police demanded details from those leaving the roof. some gave their details and were released. others were threatened with arrest, but after about ten minutes, police began to leave the scene, and suddenly the remaining activists found themselves free.

there were several arrests during the action, but it seems the majority of those were for 'breach of the peace'. one of the arrestees was told he'd be driven away from the protest, and asked where he'd like to go. as he had an appointment at a job centre, he requested a lift there, and was given it! others are still being held at stations and receiving supprort from legal observers.

there were several undercover cops around the action. their details have been circulated appropriately.

the action was called by the travellers solidarity network to mark the dawn raid last year which was one of the most brutal evictions in the uk. they want to highlight the evictions, racism and harassment that traveller communities continually face. eric pickle's department has removed the duty for local governments to provide traveller sites and strengthened their powers of eviction, thus proactively criminalising an entire community of people. the travellers solidarity network is promoting their 'fight for sites' campaign and calling for the right of gypsy, traveller and roma peoples to emjoy their travelling way of life.

Anti-riot police used tear gas and fired into the air to disperse protesters in the Caribbean city of Colon who rioted over a new law allowing the sale of state-owned land in the duty-free zone next to the Panama Canal.

Hundreds of people burned tyres and threw objects at police in the centre of Colon, but began leaving the area after the confrontation with police.

Local media reported several people had been detained.

The rioting came a few hours after the National Assembly approved legislation permitting the sale of land in the duty-free zone to private companies already leasing land there to handle the import and export of goods.

President Ricardo Martinelli signed the law hours later.

Protesters said the land is already being rented and it makes no sense to sell it. They said the government should instead raise the rent and invest the money in Colon, a poor and violent city.

"We do not want the land to be sold because these are assets that belong to Colon," said Felipe Cabezas, head of the Colonense Broad Movement. "Why sell if the country is not going through economic problems?"

The duty-free zone has about 2,000 companies that rent land and employ 30,000 people, according to authorities. The government estimates land sales could raise two billion US dollars over the next 20 years.

More than 100,000 people have taken part in a mass demonstration in central London against the Government's spending cuts.

Firefighters, nurses and teachers marched alongside unemployed youngsters, anti-war activists and other campaigners, while similar protests were held in Belfast and Glasgow.

The London march ended with a rally in Hyde Park, where Labour leader Ed Miliband was among the speakers.

Mr Miliband was booed by a small section of the crowd when he said his party would have to make "hard choices" if it was in government.

"I do not promise easy times," he said, but added: "We would make different and fairer choices, including on pay and jobs."

Mr Miliband went on: "This Government has shown us self-defeating austerity, by cutting too far and too fast, is not the answer."

He pledged that if he became Prime Minister he would tax bankers' bonuses, support the building of 100,000 houses and end the privatisation of the NHS.

He dubbed David Cameron "weak" and "clueless" and accused him of "clinging" to policies which were not working.

He said the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition was cutting taxes for millionaires and raising them for everyone else. "It is one rule for those at the top and one rule for everyone else."

Bob Crow, leader of the RMT rail union, was loudly cheered when he called for a 24-hour general strike.

He also called on Mr Miliband to oppose all spending cuts.

Grant Shapps, Conservative Party chairman, said: "You can't be serious about clearing the deficit when you attend a march that calls for an end to austerity."

Many of those marching said they were encouraged by the turnout.

Teacher Billie King, from Bracknell, in Berkshire, told Sky's Tom Parmenter: "To make massive cuts to people who have got so little and to make small adjustments to those who have got so much it is such an injustice."

Healthcare worker Sonny Nkazi said: "People don't come to work with a packed lunch like they used to because they can't afford the packed lunch.

"You go the shops, you can't afford to buy enough food for your family. I know things are difficult in the country but we're not supposed to be suffering this way."

Pipeline opponents gather for protest at B.C. legislature
The Canadian Press
Posted: Oct 22, 2012 9:27 AM ET
Last Updated: Oct 22, 2012 2:18 PM ET

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About 1,000 protesters have gathered on the front lawn of the B.C. legislature today to oppose to the Northern Gateway Pipeline project.

The sit-in was organized by a coalition of groups that wants to send a clear message to the provincial and federal governments about the plan to pipe crude from the Alberta oilsands to a tanker port in Kitimat.

Organizer Tzeporah Berman speakers and performers will appear throughout the day, along with a massive banner the length of an oil tanker.

Before the protest began, organizers offered civil disobedience training to those who think they might get arrested.

Peter McHugh, spokesman for the group Defend Our Coast, said the protesters do not take lightly the prospect of civil disobedience and they hope the protest is peaceful, but some of the protesters are prepared to go to jail.
Aboriginal groups have fiercely protested Enbridge's plan to pipe oil from the Edmonton area to the port in Kitimat, B.C. for shipping to the U.S. and Asia.Aboriginal groups have fiercely protested Enbridge's plan to pipe oil from the Edmonton area to the port in Kitimat, B.C. for shipping to the U.S. and Asia. (Todd Korol/Reuters)

"We mean to deliver a message to Christy Clark and the federal government that British Columbians oppose these tarsands, tankers and pipelines," McHugh said.

Art Sterrit, executive director with the Coastal First Nations, hopes the protest shows that opponents of the project run the gamut from grandmothers to business owners.

"This project is not something that British Columbians want and we're also looking to demonstrate what lengths British Columbians are willing to go to stop the project."

The Northern Gateway issue is a tipping point for the public, and everyday people are mobilizing against it, said Nikki Skuce of ForestEthics.

"People have thought about the Enbridge and Kinder-Morgan pipelines as a real key issue, whether it's to do with climate change, Harper bullying, cutting environmental legislation, First Nations rights and title, shipping raw resources and the jobs that go with it overseas," Skuce said.

"This is the first, the culmination, of building on what people have said when they said they'll do whatever it takes to try to stop these projects."

The threat of protests and civil disobedience hearkens back to the War in the Woods of B.C. in the 1980s, when confrontations between environmentalists and forestry workers were commonplace as the two battled over the province's old growth forests.
Unions and celebrities sign on

The Northern Gateway protests have been endorsed by unions such as the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), the B.C. Teachers' Federation, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and the United Fishermen and Allied Workers' Union, as well as celebrities including actor Ellen Page and singer Dan Mangan.

They have the backing of Greenpeace, ForestEthics, the Council of Canadians and several First Nations, and have been endorsed by high-profile activists such as David Suzuki and Stephen Lewis.
Protest signs lie on the steps of the B.C. Legislature ahead of Monday's planned protest against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. Protest signs lie on the steps of the B.C. Legislature ahead of Monday's planned protest against the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. (Chris Brown/CBC)

Celebrity supporters include filmmaker Michael Moore, singers Sarah Harmer and Dan Mangan, and actors Ellen Page, Mark Ruffalo and Darryl Hannah.

The provincial government is not in session, but protesters say it will get the message.

About 4,500 people have signed an online pledge on the group's website promising support for the protest in Victoria and another provincewide protest planned for Wednesday at MLA offices in 55 communities.
Lightning rod for discontent

For some, the Northern Gateway pipeline has become a lightning rod for discontent not only with the expansion of the Alberta oilsands, but with B.C.'s Liberal government and the federal Conservative government that has made sweeping changes to environmental laws.

The pipeline would carry diluted bitumen from the Alberta oilsands through northern B.C. to a tanker port in Kitimat in one pipe, and condensate from Kitimat east to Alberta in another.

Enbridge has estimated that opening up Asian markets to Canadian oil would boost Canada's GDP by $270 billion over 30 years, and would generate $81 billion in direct and indirect revenues to the federal and provincial governments. Of that, B.C. would receive about $6 billion, while Ottawa would receive about $36 billion and Alberta $32 billion.

Environmental review hearings in Prince George, B.C., have been adjourned for one week, and will resume Oct. 29. The three-member review panel has until the end of next year to complete its report.

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, said he will be in Victoria on Monday.

"The Harper Government has clearly demonstrated that it is only their blatant sell-out to industry agenda that matters," Phillip said in a statement.

He said environmental laws "are being systematically bulldozed aside in Parliament to the delight and benefit of tar sands development projects such as the Northern Gateway Enbridge project and the expansion of the Kinder-Morgan pipeline."

Kinder Morgan has proposed its own $4.1-billion Trans Mountain project that would expand an existing pipeline from Alberta to Vancouver.

Police in Kuwait used tear gas, stun grenades and baton charges on Sunday to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators protesting against changes to the electoral law which the opposition has called a constitutional coup by the government.

Demonstrators gathered in various parts of the capital, Kuwait City, to march towards the government's headquarters, but riot police swiftly surrounded some groups and used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse them, Reuters witnesses said.

"The number of wounded protesters in hospital has exceeded 100 after riot police attacked them," director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights Mohammad al-Humaidi said, AFP reported.

Meanwhile, the interior ministry said in a statement that 11 police officers were also injured after demonstrators threw rocks at them.

Medical sources also said that dozens of protesters had been hospitalized, most of them suffering from tear gas inhalation or from baton bruises.

Opposition activists said they saw many protesters lying on the ground apparently after inhaling tear gas.

Former MP Abdullah al-Barghash also stated that he saw several injured protesters being taken to hospital in ambulances.

According to Barghash and other activists, more than 100,000 people attended Sunday’s demonstration, making it one of Kuwait’s biggest demonstrations.

"The way demonstrators were dealt with is unprecedented in Kuwait," he said.

The opposition called for the demonstration after the government announced last week it was holding elections on December 1 and would change the electoral law "to preserve national unity".

The announcement was the latest move in an intensifying power struggle between the ruling establishment and parliament that has seen eight governments come and go since the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, came to power in 2006.

The 83-year-old dissolved parliament on October 7. It was the sixth time the oil-rich state had disbanded its legislature since early 2006. Its oil wealth and a generous welfare state have helped Kuwait avoid the kind of "Arab Spring" protests that toppled leaders elsewhere in the region.

Before Sunday's protest got underway, the authorities had promised to "decisively confront" demonstrators.

Witnesses said protesters who had initially been dispersed later regrouped to form a crowd estimated at 20,000 to 100,000 at a main road near Kuwait Towers, a seaside landmark in the Persian Gulf oil producer.

"The decree is void, void," some protesters chanted, referring to the emir's order for a change to the election law. Demonstrators said they had were motivated by a feeling of injustice.

"We are entering a dark tunnel," said Salem al-Ajmi, a 30-year-old man, after police blocked him from reaching Kuwait Towers, Reuters reported.

The protest ended just before midnight after police told demonstrators to leave or be evacuated by force, said news website www.alaan.cc.

Kuwait has been convulsed by regular demonstrations since last year, and the opposition - including Islamists, liberals and tribal figures who won a majority in the 50-seat parliament in the last election in February - have rejected the emir's proposed changes and said they will boycott the vote.
The opposition has called the changes - which allow voters to choose only one candidate per electoral district - "a coup against the constitution", saying the reform would prevent its candidates from winning the majority they won in the last vote.

Forging an electoral alliance, which depends on supporters of one candidate voting for another in exchange for reciprocal support, would become unfeasible under the new system, they say.

Kuwait's opposition has been emboldened after Arab protests toppled four heads of state.

Some have been demanding a constitutional state and for the emir to resign but for governments to be formed by majority groups in the 50-member assembly. Others have made more modest demands for the government formed by the emir to be subject to full parliamentary scrutiny.

The Al-Sabah dynasty has ruled Kuwait for more than 250 years and although Kuwait allows more freedom of speech than some Persian Gulf states, the emir is seen as untouchable and is referred to as "immune and inviolable" in the constitution.

Kuwaiti authorities arrested two opposition politicians on Thursday and interrogated a third after they made comments seen as criticizing the emir.
The events prompted the Al-Sabah family to issue a rare statement on Thursday calling for obedience to the emir.

On Monday, police and protesters fought over a barricaded street after 5,000 people demonstrated outside parliament. Security forces arrested at least five people, including two former members of parliament.

The deepening crisis has taken its toll on the stock market, which dropped as much as 3.4 percent on Sunday, heading for its biggest daily fall since mid-2009, when shares were hit by the global financial crisis.

The crisis escalated in June this year when the top court annulled the last election which had been held in February, reinstating the previous, more government-friendly assembly.

Unlike other Persian Gulf Arab states, Kuwait enjoys a more open political system that allows some parliamentary scrutiny over government decisions. But the emir still holds key levers of power, including appointing the prime minister.

The turmoil has not only paralyzed the political system but also blocked major economic development plans.

Sheikh Sabah warned in a speech on Friday that the recent political turmoil could lead to "strife that could be about to erupt and destroy our unity, disfigure our identity and tear apart our society into fragmented groups".

tagged: anti-gold-mining, detentions, Eldorado Gold, Greece, Hellenic Gold, protests, Skouries, tear gas

Skouries: Teargas, Injuries and Detentions in Anti-Gold Protests

Posted by keeptalkinggreece in Society

Teargas, hurled stones, minor injuries and detentions make the scenery of the protest in Skouries where several hundreds residents gathered and local organisations on Sunday to protest gold mining facilities.

While the incidents are not covered by mainstream television channels, a number of newsportals and tweets ( Twitter #skouries also reporting in English) report of police violence with batons and even tear gas thrown inside cars and vans carrying protesters.

Protesters are mainly residents of nearby village of Ierissos, as well as anti-gold-mining protesters from Thessaloniki. Skouries is an area on the peninsula of Chalkidiki in Northern Greece.

Hellenic Gold, a subsidiary of Canadian firm Eldorado Gold, has begun mining activity with locals appealing against for environmental reasons.

Hellenic Gold has been awarded an area of 26,400 hectares, of which 410 is forest land. Almost all the trees in the forest will be cut down as part of the mining firm’s plan to extract gold. The company says it will replant trees when it finishes its work. Opponents of the mine argue it would lead to the destruction of the of the local forest and irreversible damage to the ecosystem. (ekathimerini)

There are reports of at least two injured protesters (one policeman, one civilian) and 21 detentions – among the detainees is one city council member and 7 women.

According to latest tweets from the area, residents have surrounded the Polygyros police station in solidarity with the detainees.

According to To Vima Sunday protests were triggered after the Environment Ministry asked that Hellenic Gold needs to sign a protocol in order to take down trees in the area.

PS does this mean, that forest land is destroyed without previous licence?

^ A video of this...



...well actually, some individuals who'd separated from the main demo, to approach big multi-national companies on the High Street.

Thousands of riot police were deployed to an open-air market in Lima, Peru, on Friday, a day after two people were killed when an angry mob went on a looting rampage.

According to Al Jazeera, the looting began when vendors became angry over plans to move the market. The clashes initially broke out after police blockaded wholesale produce market La Parada, where the sellers generally dispose of their produce.

More from GlobalPost: Peru court reverses sentence reduction in 1991 massacre

The vendors threw stones and bottles at police, who then fired tear gas rounds and charged the crowd, Al Jazeera also reported. A 32-year-old man died of a bullet wound to the stomach and a 20-year-old died after a blow to the head.

Some 5000 police officers were deployed to La Parada after the 500 officers who tried to block the street entrances with concrete barriers in order to move the vendors to a different location were attacked, reported Agence France-Presse. Of the 100 injured, 68 were police officers, five of whom were hospitalized. One officer was knocked off his horse and attacked with clubs and rocks.

"They took advantage of a wounded police officer, half fainted, and tried to kill him off," said President Ollanta Humala, according to AFP. "This is shameful behavior," he said, calling the attackers "savages."

The Peruvian capital has long wanted to move the run-down market to a new location with modern facilities, noted France 24. But the merchants have opposed the move, saying they fear they will pay higher rent and lose access to customers.