2258개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
Instead of preparing tonight for Seollal, the Lunar New Year holidays, hundreds of activists and citizens - mourning the victims of the Yongsan Massacre in particular and protesting against the LMB administration in general - were blocked, attacked and chased around by thousands of riot cops in downtown Seoul (*)!
* Ultimately the protesters after a while outfoxed the cops, occupied Shinchon's main intersection and the streets leading to Hongdae (the current temperature in Seoul: - 12°C) ..
Related reports:
☞ 추모행렬, 홍익대학교 앞에서 거리시위
☞ 시민 3000명, 신촌로터리 '점령'
동지여러분의 연대를 부탁드립니다!
열사정신계승하여 민중권리 쟁취하자
살인정권 폭력정권 이명박정권 박살내자
자본주의 박살내자!
Related article (by VoP, 1.22):
촛불 다시 모인다..23일 서울역서 '용산참사 추모대회'
범대위 "야만을 멈출 행동 필요"..시민들의 참가 호소
오는 23일(금) 서울 용산 철거민 참사를 추모하고 책임자 처벌 촉구 및 이명박 정권을 규탄하는 대규모 추모집회가 열린다.
'이명박정권 용산 철거민 살인진압 범국민대책위원회'(이하 범대위)는 23일 오후 7시 서울역광장에서 '용산참사 범국민추모대회'를 개최한다고 22일 밝혔다.
범대위는 이번 참사를 '이명박 정부의 학살만행'으로 규정하고 "학살만행을 그대로 두고 볼 수 없다. 원통하게 죽어간 이들의 넋을 기리며 함께 모여 외치자"며 범국민추모대회의 목적을 밝혔다.
지난해 12월31일 서울 보신각 주변을 가득 메웠던 수만 개의 촛불이 이번 범국민추모대회를 기점으로 다시 결집될 지 관심을 모으고 있다.
범대위는 "최소한의 주거권, 생존권을 위해 투쟁에 나섰지만 단 하루 만에 되돌아 온 것은 폭력과 죽음이었다"며 "생명보다 개발, 인간보다 이윤, 그것이 가져온 것은 죽음이었다"고 규탄했다. 또 "이명박 살인정권을 더 이상 용서할 수 없다. 지금 그 야만을 멈출 행동이 필요하다"며 시민들의 동참을 호소했다.
범대위는 이번 대회의 주요 구호를 '철거민을 죽음으로 몰아넣은 살인진압 규탄한다', '살인진압 폭력만행 책임자를 처벌하라', '정부와 경찰은 사건 왜곡과 은폐 기도를 즉각 중단하라', '살인적인 재개발정책 즉각 중단하라', '노동자민중 다 죽이는 이명박 정권 퇴진하라'로 정했다.
범대위은 설 연휴 뒤인 오는 31일(토)에도 2차 범국민추모대회를 열겠다고 밝혔다.
한편 경찰관계자는 "서울역 추모대회에 대해 집회신고를 허용하지 않았지만 사전에 집회를 차단하지는 않을 것"이라고 말했다.
http://www.vop.co.kr/A00000239589.html
Y'day late evening/night in the aftermath of the Yongsan Massacre (where thousands of criminal gangsters, hired by the construction mafia and the Yongsan District gov't, riot cops and SWAT/anti-terror units attacked the sit-in protest..) a - from the beginning - peaceful protest demonstration from Yongsan to Myeongdong by 500 activists and citizens has been attacked by thousands of riot cops, using water-cannons etc:
Reports about the "incident" (incl. videos/photos) you can see here, here and here.
To dictatorship we go! (Hankyoreh cartoon, 1.21)
One of the protesters in yesterday’s violent disaster demands to know if he is looking at what is the first “work of art” by the president’s personal guards. The “MB” on the officer’s sleeve stands for Lee Myung-bak.
In a pun written in the lower right-hand corner, the scene is described as the “on the way to dictatorship zone,” but the phrasing uses the name “Gaza,” which, spelled in Korean, means “Let’s go!” or, in this case, “Let’s move on to dictatorship.”
Jan. 20, Seoul, Yongsan District:
SWAT Unit Attacked Sit-in Strike, Executed Massacre
"The cops were going at the protesters as if they were out to kill them!"
Last year LMB(the current S. Korean president) "vowed" to smash any "illegal" labour strike or resistance activity against the current (capitalist) system in S. Korea.
And today in the morning we could witnessing that his "promise" wasn't empty:
A two-hour long massive and extreme violent crackdown, executed by an Anti-terror/SWAT unit (death squad??!!) , against 40 activists protesting a so-called "redevelopment" project in Yongsan, central Seoul, left at least six people dead and 17 injured.
Some eyewitnesses said that the cops set fire to the fortified tower in order to get the occupiers to evacuate the building.
"Four protesters and a riot cop died after a fire engulfed the five-meter high observation tower built by the demonstrators on the rooftop of a four-story building in the area. One body remains unidentified as of press time", according to Korea Herald.
K. Times: A watchtower, set up by protesters on the top of a building in Yongsan, Seoul, is in
flames during a police operation to evict them, Tuesday. Six people including a police officer were
killed and more than 20 were injured. The demonstrators, mainly residents and small business
operators, had staged a sit-in since Monday, protesting the redevelopment of the district.
☞ Deaths in S Korea tower protest (al-Jazeera)
Related (independent) reports:
☞ "살인정권, 살인진압" (Docu-video, by "Hong Gil-dong..")
☞ Detailed report in Korean (OMN)
☞ Special Report Section (OMN)
☞ "어떻게 사람을... 우리는 사람도 아니다" (TiN)
S. Korean bourgeois stuff:
☞ Six dead, over 20 injured after police clash at construction site (Yonhap)
☞ At least 6 killed in police clash (Korea Herald)
☞ 6 Dead in Fire After Police-Tenant Standoff (Korea Times)
☞ Investigation widens on deadly police clash with protesters (Yonhap)
☞ [NEWS ANALYSIS]Deadly crackdown a blow to Lee (K. Herald)
The mass protests in Greece are now entering the 2nd week! While yesterday, once again, thousands of protesters took the streets of Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras... today is a kind of "break".
But for tomorrow the next mass demonstrations are already planned and prepared!
Meanwhile last Friday's General Assembly in the occupied Polytechnic Univ. (Athens) proposed for next Saturday (12.20) an "Inernational Action Day" to remember all the youth, migrants and political activists who were killed by the ruling (i.e. capitalist) systems:
"Today (12.12), the assembly of the occupied Athens Polytechnic decided to make a callout for European and global-wide actions of resistance in the memory of all assassinated youth, migrants and all those who were struggling against the lackeys of the state. Carlo Juliani; the French suburb youths; Alexandros Grigoropoulos and the countless others, all around the world. Our lives do not belong to the states and their assassins! The memory of the assassinated brothers and sisters, friends and comrades stays alive through our struggles! We do not forget our brothers and sisters, we do not forgive their murderers."
*****
2nd Communique by the Polytechnic University Occupation (Athens):
THEIR DEMOCRACY MURDERS…
On Saturday December 6, 2008, Alexandros Grigoropoulos, a 15-year old comrade, was murdered in cold blood, with a bullet in the chest by the cop Epaminondas Korkoneas of the special guards` police force in the area of Exarchia.
Contrary to the statements of politicians and journalists who are accomplices to the murder, this was not an “isolated incident”, but an explosion of the state repression which systematically and in an organised manner targets those who resist, those who revolt, the anarchists and antiauthoritarians.
It is the peak of state terrorism which is expressed with the upgrading of the role of repressive mechanisms, their continuous armament, the increasing levels of violence they use, with the doctrine of “zero tolerance”, with the slandering media propaganda that criminalises those who are fighting against authority.
It is these conditions that prepare the ground for the intensification of repression, attempting to extract social consent beforehand, and arming the weapons of state murderers in uniform that are targeting the people who fight, the youth, the damned who are revolting in the entire country.
Lethal violence against the people in the social and class struggle is aiming at everybody’s submission, serving as exemplary punishment, meant to spread fear.
It is the escalation of the generalized attack of the state and the bosses against the whole of society, in order to impose more rigid conditions of exploitation and oppression, to consolidate control and repression. An attack that is reflected everyday on poverty, social exclusion, the blackmail to adjust in the world of social and class divisions, the ideological war launched by the dominant mechanisms of manipulation (the mass media). An attack which is raging in every social space, demanding from the oppressed their division and silence. From the schools’ cells and the universities to the dungeons of waged slavery with the hundreds of dead workers in the so-called “working accidents” and the poverty embracing large numbers of the population… From the minefields in the borders, the pogroms and the murders of immigrants and refugees to the numerous “suicides” in prisons and police stations… from the “accidental shootings” in police blockades to violent repression of local resistances, Democracy is showing its teeth!
In these conditions of fierce exploitation and oppression, and against the daily looting and pillage that the state and the bosses are launching, taking as spoils the oppressed people’s labour force, their life, their dignity and freedom, the accumulated social suffocation is accompanying today the rage erupting in the streets and the barricades for the murder of Alexandros.
From the first moment after the murder of Alexandros, spontaneous demonstrations and riots appear in the centre of Athens, the Polytechnic, the Economic and the Law Schools are being occupied and attacks against state and capitalist targets take place in many different neighbourhoods and in the city centre. Demonstrations, attacks and clashes erupt in Thessaloniki, Patras, Volos, Chania and Heraklion in Crete, in Giannena, Komotini, Xanthi, Serres, Sparti, Alexandroupoli, Mytilini. In Athens, in Patission street -outside the Polytechnic and the Economic School- clashes last all night. Outside the Polytechnic the riot police make use of plastic bullets.
On Sunday the 7th December, thousands of people demonstrate towards the police headquarters in Athens, attacking the riot police. Clashes of unprecedented tension spread in the streets of the city centre, lasting until late at night. Many demonstrators are injured and a number of them are arrested.
From Monday morning until today the revolt spreads and becomes generalized. The last days are full of uncountable social events: militant high school students’ demonstrations ending up -in many cases- in attacks against police stations and clashes with the cops in the neighborhoods of Athens and in the rest of the country, massive demonstrations and conflicts between protestors and the police in the centre of Athens, during which there are assaults in banks, big department stores and ministries, siege of the Parliament in Syntagma square, occupations of public buildings, demonstrations ending in riots and attacks against state and capitalist targets in many different cities.
The attacks of the police against youth and generally against people who are fighting, the dozens of arrests and beatings of demonstrators, and in some cases the threatening of protestors by cops waving their guns, as well as their cooperation with the fascist thugs -like in the incidents of Patras, where cops together with fascists charged against the rebels of the city-, are the methods in which the state’s uniformed dogs are implementing the doctrine of “zero tolerance” under the commands of the political bosses in order to suppress the wave of revolt which was triggered last Saturday night.
The terrorism by the police occupation army is completed by the exemplary punishment of those who are arrested and now facing severe accusations leading to their imprisonment:
In the city of Larisa, 8 persons arrested are prosecuted with the “anti”terrorist law and were imprisoned facing charges for “criminal organization”. 25 immigrants who were arrested during the riots in Athens face the same charges as well. Also in Athens, 5 of the arrested on Monday were imprisoned, and 5 more who were arrested Wednesday night are in custody and will be taken in front of a prosecutor next Monday, facing felony charges.
At the same time, a deceitful propaganda war is launched against the people fighting, paving the way for repression, for the returning in the normality of social injustice and submission.
The explosive events right after the murder caused a wave of international mobilization in memory of Alexandros and in solidarity with the revolted who are fighting in the streets, inspiring a counter-attack to the totalitarianism of democracy. Concentrations, demonstrations, symbolic attacks in greek embassies and consulates and other solidarity actions have taken place in cities of Cyprus, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Holland, G. Britain, France, Italy, Poland, Turkey, USA, in Ireland, Sweden, Switzerland, Australia, Slovakia, Croatia, Russia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Belgium, N. Zealand, Argentina, Mexico, Chile and elsewhere.
We continue the occupation of the Polytechnic School which started on Saturday night, creating a space for all people who are fighting to gather, and one more permanent focus of resistance in the city.
In the barricades, the occupations, the demonstrations and the assemblies we keep alive the memory of Alexandros, but also the memory of Michalis Kaltezas, of Carlo Giuliani, Michalis Prekas, Christoforos Marinos and of all the comrades who were murdered by the state. We don’t forget the social-class war in which these comrades fell and we keep open the front of a total refusal to the aged world of Authority. Our actions, our attempts are the living cells of the insubordinate free world that we dream, without masters and slaves, without police, armies, prisons and borders.
The bullets of the murderers in uniform, the arrests and beatings of demonstrators, the chemical gas war launched by the police forces, the ideological attack of Democracy not only cannot manage to impose fear and silence, but they become for the people the reason to raise against state terrorism the cries of the struggle for freedom, to abandon fear and to meet –more and more every day, youth, high school and university students, immigrants, jobless, workers- in the streets of revolt. To let the rage overflow and drown them!
THE STATE, THE BOSSES, THEIR THUGS AND THEIR LACKEYS ARE MOCKING US, ROBBING US AND KILLING US!
LET’S ORGANISE, COUNTER-ATTACK AND SMASH THEM!
THESE NIGHTS BELONG TO ALEXIS!
IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL THE ARRESTED!
We are sending our solidarity to everyone occupying universities, schools and state buildings, demonstrating and clashing with the state murderers all over the country.
We are sending our solidarity to all comrades abroad who are mobilizing, transferring our voice everywhere. In the great battle for global social liberation we stand together!
The Occupation of the Polytechnic University in Athens
December 12, 2008
*****
The Independent (UK, 12.14) makes the most serious attempt by the corporate media so far to understand - in their own convoluted way - anarchists and their role in the Greek riots:
☞ Greek concessions fail to stop the riots
Related reports in Guardian/The Observer (UK, 12.13/14):
☞ How police shooting of a teenage boy rallied the '€700 generation'
Latest news:
☞ Saturday Reports from Greece
☞ COG(KOE) 6th Statement: The Revolt Goes On!
KCTU released three days ago (12.8) following statement:
The South Korean Gov. arrested KCTU President Lee Suk-haeng
Lee Suk-haeng, President (of the KCTU), was arrested on 10:40 pm, December 5th by the police due to organizing an “illegal” general strike on July 2nd, 2008 and solidarity struggles to support E-land Retail Precarious workers strike in 2007. The July 2nd general strike was conducted to call for protection of people’s right to health and renegotiation of April 18 Protocol on US beef import to reflect food safety concerns. Since the June, 2007, the E-land Retail precarious workers union has conducted strike to protest against the termination of contract and illegal subcontracting by the employer which was aimed at evading relevant provisions in the new irregular workers bill that went into effect on the 1st of July, 2007. The KCTU organized various solidarity actions to support the E-land Retail Shop precarious workers strike.
Lee Suk-haeng would be mainly charged with “obstruction of business” provision in section 314 of the Penal Code due to the role in July 2nd General Strike and solidarity actions for Eland Retail precarious workers. However, we believe that workers organization should be able to use strike action to pursue solutions to problems posed by social and economic policies. And it should be noted that the ILO strongly urges that no one should receive criminal sanction or be deprived of their freedom for the fact of simply exercising the right to strike. In particular, we would like to emphasize that the ILO has recommended continuously that South Korean government “adopt a general practice of investigation without detention of workers and bring section 314 of the Penal Code (obstruction of business) in line with freedom of association principles.”
At the hearing to review a detention warrant against Lee on December 8th, the Court ruled the detention of him.
Facing this urgent situation, we are calling you to conduct every possible measure to urge the South Korean Government to stop trade union repression, implement and respect fully the ILO CFA recommendations and principles of freedom of association, and adopt a general practice of investigation without detention of workers including an immediate release of Lee Suk-haeng.
http://nodong.org/bbs//view.php?id=eng_action&no=66
Related:
☞ ITUC Condemns Arrest of KCTU President
THE UPRISING IN GREECE
Latest news:
1. Today's General Strike brought Greece to a complete stillstand!
2. Since the early afternoon the street protests led to renewed street battles...
3. According to a German report: (at least) in Patras the cops are collaborating with armed nazi/fascist groups, such as the "Golden Dawn" (Chrysí Avgí) and the youth organisation (ONNED) of the ruling party (Nea Dimokratia) to smash the street protests and get back the control over the entire city! (*)
"The best thing the gov't can do is resign
and let the people find a solution."
That was a view widely shared by many of the leftist and anarchists fuelling the riots. At the Athens Polytechnic, now the centre of the groups' operations, young men and women broke up marble slabs and quietly stocked up on the firebombs they have been throwing at police. Standing behind makeshift barriers of burning rubbish bins, they promised to turn the unrest into "an uprising the likes of which Greece has never seen".
"This is not just about the kid, it's about our dreadful education and economic situation. That's what pushed us on to the streets," insisted one youth who called himself Andreas. "It's our belief and hope that this is the beginning of a rebellion against the system."
The chaos, he said, had exposed the deep-seated anger of Greeks who after the introduction of the euro have not only struggled to make ends meet but have increasingly felt deceived by a system that thrived on corruption, party political affiliations and patronage.
"All of us have poor parents who are really struggling," said Andreas as he sat cross-legged before a makeshift fire blazing in the polytechnic's courtyard.
For young Greeks like Andreas, who belong to a lost generation without work or hope, it is a rage that has been fuelled by allegations of corruption and the seemingly relentless scandals involving sex, money and the church which have swirled around the conservatives - and for which, despite public outrage, no one has been punished.
"We all thought it would take one incident for things to go up, and with the police killing of the teenage boy that is exactly what happened," said a veteran political analyst, Konstantinos Angelopoulos.
Zoe Papanidou, 19, student: "There were many reasons why these riots happened. The situation was explosive, socially and economically. The state undermines people. You feel it is violating your rights. At some point the lid was going to burst from the pot."
Andreas, 19, student protester: "The police are pigs and they deserve what they get. They don't have the balls to go after the anarchists. Instead they pick on us kids, stop us in the streets all the time. It's wrong to smash up shops, but personally I see it as a symbolic act to throw stones and rocks at the police, because they're bastards."
"For me, only two scenarios are feasible: Either the protests will calm down over the weekend or the government will call in the army to help. But if that happens, there will be even more deaths.", says Yannis, a 35-year-old filmmaker.
(sources: Der Spiegel, indy athens, Guardian)
☞ Use of fascists by gov't and police (Indymedia NL)
☞ Photos published of Greek police/fascist collaboration (libcom)
Related:
☞ Greek capital hit by major strike (BBC)
☞ General strike brings Greece to standstill (Guardian)
☞ Photo Gallery (Der Spiegel)
Right now thousands of people are attending the funeral for Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens.
Meanwhile the Greek (and int'l) ruling (capitalist) class is "fearing another night of excessive violent riots", according to the Greek bourgeois media.
At the same time the int'l (bourgeois) media is "trying to find out" what's the main reason behind the "sudden" explosion of the riots..
Like today's Guardian (UK):
The shooting of the schoolboy on Saturday quickly laid bare the simmering tensions between the police and members of alleged anarchist groups, who retaliated by going on the rampage. But the teenager's death has given vent to a deeper anger that has also been mounting in Greece.
With many struggling to make ends meet, and one in five living below the poverty line, there is growing anger at the tough fiscal policies of a government determined to reach the prescriptive benchmarks set out by Brussels and rein in budget deficits. The disaffection has been exacerbated by allegations of corruption and a series of scandals implicating members of Karamanlis's inner circle.
High school students have rushed to join the protests, throwing stones at police in clashes in front of the Athens parliament yesterday, and on islands and mainland towns nationwide.
"A lot of teenagers identify with Grigoropoulos," said Christos Mazanitis, an Athenian journalist. "There's a whole generation out there who see their parents in debt and feel they have nothing to look forward to in the future. Fear and despair are what these riots are about."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/09/greece-riots
But already two days ago (and not for the first time!!!) some of the reasons were explained for example in the "Communique by the Polytechnic School Occupation in Athens":
Lethal violence against the people in the social and class struggle is aiming at everybody’s submission, serving as exemplary punishment, meant to spread fear.
It is part of the wider attack of the state and the bosses against the entire society, in order to impose more rigid conditions of exploitation and oppression, to consolidate control and repression.
From school and universities to the dungeons of waged slavery with the hundreds of dead workers in the so-called “working accidents” and the poverty embracing large numbers of the population…
From the minefields in the borders, the pogroms and the murders of immigrants and refugees to the numerous “suicides” in prisons and police stations… from the “accindental shootings” in police blockades to violent repression of local resistances, Democracy is showing its teeth!
Related:
☞ THE STATE MURDERS - communique from Athens
☞ 15 years old anarchist killed by Cops.. (balkan decentralized network)
☞ Greece tense for boy's funeral (al-Jazeera, 12.9)
☞ Clashes hit Athens ahead of boy's funeral (CNN, 12.9)
☞ 그리스 자율주의 투쟁 4
Last night:
While the Christmas tree in downtown Athens has been "setting alight" protesters sang
the Greek version of the world-well-known song "Oh Tannenbaum"..^^
THE "top story" in the int'l media since Sunday:
THE UPRISING IN GREECE
Athens is burning. Riots all over Greece.
Violence clashes between riot cops and protesters erupted today for a third day in Greece as anger over the fatal police shooting of a teenager continued to rage through major cities. Riot police fired tear gas at youths attacking a police station in the port city of Thessaloniki...
The city centre of Athens is devasted and burning, all over Greece thousands take to the streets due to the murder of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, by police.
On Saturday 6th of December at around 10pm, two Greek policemen were in patrol in a central street by Exarchia square, in the center of Athens. They had a verbal argument with some young people who were there. During the argument, one of the cops pulled his gun and shot the 16-year-old Alexandros twice. The victim was moved to Evangelismos Hospital to be found dead. According to eye-witnesses, the cop had been swearing against the young man, showing his genitals, before shooting him.
In a spontaneous response, thousands of people gathered in the centers of most of Greek cities. In Athens, people gathered outside Evangelismos Hospital, in order to prevent the cops from entering the building. A little later the riot police attacked in a street in Exarchia resulting to one person being arrested. The evening in Athens evolved with a spontaneous assembly in the Polytechnic University, a lot of riots in the whole center of Athens, including attacks against police departments and banks, until the early hours of the next morning. Meanwhile, a spontaneous demonstration took place, but were confronted by the riot police with tear gas. Three more University building, the Economic, the Pantion and the Law School have been occupied until Monday morning.
Rallies, demonstrations, direct actions and riots took place all around the country. In Thessaloniki, a big spontaneous demonstration took place, while 2 Police Departments were attacked, several bank departments were burnt and Egnatia str., the main street, was block by burning trash bins for hours. Reports have been also posted about actions in Yannena, Iraklio, Chania, Komotini, Mitilini, Xanthi, Serres, Sparta, Alexandroupolis and Volos.
Greek leftwing parties, teachers and students called for strikes and demonstrations for today, heightening pressure on authorities over the police killing.
The Communist Party (KKE) called for a demonstration on Monday afternoon at the main (Omonia) square in central Athens and the "Syriza Coalition" of radical left parties called a separate rally for later today at Athens University.
University and school students will stage a rally in Omonia Tuesday to protest against the shooting of Alexandros.
Greek teachers and students started a three-day protest strike and several universities and almost all schools in Athens and Thessaloniki were to stay closed for at least two days.
According to the mainstream media, two Ministers offered their resignation, but it was not accepted by the Prime Minister. The two policemen have already been detained and accused for murder, while they insist that the bullet was shot on the air to keep the young men away, but it was reverted by a metal label towards the stomach of the victim.
Meanwhile in several countries (UK, Austria, Cyprus, Germany..) solidarity activities with the struggle in Greece were/are taking place:
Berlin, 12.8: from the late morning until the afternoon about
50 activists occupied the Greek consulate...
Related articles/pictures:
☞ Greek cities tense after rioting (al-Jazeera, 12.8)
☞ Riots in Greece after police kill teenager (Guardian, 12.8)
☞ 12.7 Riots in Greece (pics, Indy Athens)
☞ Greece's angry youth (Photo Gallery, al-Jazeera)
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