TIME magazine names you who've joined Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, etc. – "The Protester" – as PERSON OF THE YEAR! Each one of you who've gone to an #OWS demonstration, camped out illegally, spoken out against corporate greed, switched to a credit union ... Every one of you who've told your friends, your co-workers, your neighbors -- "THAT'S IT, I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF GREED"
Narsingdi erupts in fury overnight after murder of its mayor; BNP's Khokon held
An intercity train was set on fire in Narsingdi town yesterday during a hartal enforced by Bangladesh Chhatra League protesting the murder of mayor of the municipality Lokman Hossain.
People protesting the murder of Narsingdi Municipality Mayor Lokman Hossain set intercity train Egaro Sindhu Express on fire in the district town yesterday. Lokman was shot dead on Sardar Road in Narsingdi Tuesday night. Photo: STAR
No reports of casualty were filed in the train fire. Meanwhile, several passengers sustained minor injuries while jumping off the burning train, said Maran Chandra Das, Narsingdi railway station master.
The protestors set ablaze six bogies of Kishoreganj-bound train Egaro Sindhu Express in Chinishpur area of the town around 10:15am, he said, adding that the pickets also barred the fire fighters from reaching the spot.
When a team of Rab-11 rushed to the scene, the protestors hurled brick chips at their vehicle, reports our Narsingdi correspondent.
Lokman Hossain was shot in the Narsingdi town Aawami League office on Sadar Road Tuesday night. He succumbed to his injuries at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 10:30pm the same night.
Family of the deceased mayor has not yet filed any case in connection with the murder. Talking to The Daily Star Lokman's younger brother Shamim Newaz said they will file a case after discussing with the family members.
In 2008-2009, the government honoured Lokman with gold medal for being the best mayor. Twice he was elected the mayor of Narsingdi municipality.
Meanwhile, police and the Detective Branch (DB) of police arrested Kahirul Kabir Khokon, president of Narsingdi unit BNP, at his Rampura house in the capital yesterday around 3:00am in connection with the murder.
Khokon was taken to Narsingdi under police custody, said Ashrafuzzaman, senior assistant superintendent (public relations) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
Protesting the arrest, BNP demanded immediate release of Khokon and claimed that Lokman was killed over an internal feud of the ruling party.
However, senior leaders of the ruling Awami League brushed aside the allegation of internal conflict as the reason behind the killing. “We can't say anything without an investigation, but we identify it as a planned murder,” Mahbubul Alam Hanif, AL joint general secretary, told The Daily Star.
After Lokman's murder, Chhatra League enforced a 72-hour hartal from 6:00am yesterday (Wednesday). But after five hours, local activists of the ruling party student wing postponed the strike till 6:00pm.
Howerver, Chhatra League yesterday called of the hartal following the prime minister's assurance of arresting the perpetrators as soon as possible. On behalf of the prime minister, AL Joint Secretary General Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif conveyed the message to tens of thousands of people gathered to attend Lokman's namaz-e-janaza at Mosleuddin Bhuiyan Stadium around 5:00pm.
“The killers will be tried in the speedy trial,” Hanif said on behalf of the prime minister.
Hanif was accompanied by four other AL leaders. After the namaz-e-janaza they visited Lokman's Bashail home to console the bereaved family. Talking to The Daily Star Hanif said, “We have asked law enforcement agencies to arrest the killers irrespective to their political affiliation.”
Another namaz-e-janaza was arranged for Lokman at the poura eidgah maidan. Agitated people burned tyres and barricaded different roads in Narsingdi by piling up logs.
About 12:15am yesterday, Lokman's body was taken to his home, where his party leaders and activists gathered to pay their final tribute. He was buried at the poura graveyard. Lokman established the graveyard in 2008.
Earlier in the morning, leaders and activists of Awami League and its associate bodies brought out separate processions in the town.
The road barricades during the hartal caused disruption in vehicular movement on Dhaka-Sylhet highway. Vehicles on the highway remained suspended for 14 hours till it resumed in the afternoon. Many of the Dhaka-bound buses from Sylhet took detour at Comilla to reach the capital. Vehicular movement came to normalcy around 10:00pm.
Meanwhile, train communications on three routes -- Dhaka-Kishoreganj, Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Noakhali -- remained suspended since 10:00pm Tuesday. The service on the routes resumed yesterday around 5:00am till it was disrupted again by torching of the train in Narsingdi town. Finally the train service resume around 8:00pm yesterday.
Akkasuddin Bhuiyan, Narsingdi superintendent of police, said additional contingents of police, DB and Rab have been deployed at different strategic points of the district to fend off further untoward incidents.
MH Nuruzzaman, additional deputy inspector of Dhaka range, and Lt Col Mostafa Kamal, additional DIG of Rab-11, reached the district Tuesday night after hearing the news of Lokman's death.
Mayors declare work abstention, human chain
The mayors and staff of municipalities across the country will observe work abstention for an hour and form human chains today in protest of the killing of Lokman Hossain.
Prof Shamim Al Raji, secretary general of Municipal Association of Bangladesh, announced the programme at a press conference in Natore Press Club yesterday afternoon.
According to the schedule, the work abstention will begin at 4:00pm while human chains will be formed for half-an-hour at every municipality from 10:00am, reports our Natore correspondent.
Besides, black flags will be hoisted at municipality offices and mourners will wear black badges in memory of the slain mayor.
The association demanded immediate arrests and punishment of the killers and threatened to go for a tougher movement after the Eid-ul-Azha if their demands are not met.
NEW YORK (AP) — The protesters at the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement were planning a day of rest Sunday, a day after rallies across the globe drew thousands who marched and chanted and, in some cases, grew violent.
In New York City, the group that insists on being leaderless had nothing on its agenda save its nightly assembly and one committee meeting. In the weeks that the protesters have occupied a park in lower Manhattan, Sundays have been used to recuperate.
Demonstrators affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street rally in New York's Times Square, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
In Chicago, Sunday began with much more activity. At least 175 people were arrested in the early hours after refusing to obey a police order to leave a park that closed at 11 p.m.. They were in somewhat of a contrast to demonstrators elsewhere, who have taken care to follow laws in order to continue protesting. Still, the arrests were mostly peaceful, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Over the course of what was billed as "a global day of protest" Saturday, demonstrators gathered in cities throughout the world to rally against what they see as corporate greed and Wall Street's role in the financial crisis. In Rome, rioters hijacked what had been a peaceful gathering and smashed windows, tore up sidewalks and torched vehicles. Repair costs were estimated at $1.4 million, the mayor said Sunday.
But most of the marches remained largely nonconfrontational, though dozens were arrested in New York and elsewhere in the U.S. when police moved to contain overflowing crowds or keep them off private property. Two officers in New York were injured and had to be hospitalized.
In the city's Times Square, thousands of demonstrators mixed with gawkers, Broadway showgoers, tourists and police to create a chaotic scene in the midst of Manhattan.
"Banks got bailed out, we got sold out!" protesters chanted from within police barricades. Police, some in riot gear and mounted on horses, tried to push them out of the square and onto the sidewalks in an attempt to funnel the crowds away.
Sandra Fox, 69, of Baton Rouge, La., stood, confused, on 46th Street with a ticket for "Anything Goes" in her hand as riot police pushed a knot of about 200 shouting protesters toward her.
"It's horrible what they're doing," she said of the protesters. "These people need to go get jobs."
Earlier, two dozen were arrested when demonstrators entered a Citibank branch and refused to leave, police said. They asked the branch to close until the protesters could be taken away.
As many as 1,000 demonstrators also paraded to a Chase bank branch, banging drums, blowing horns and carrying signs decrying corporate greed. A few went inside the bank to close their accounts, but the group didn't stop other customers from getting inside or seek to blockade the business.
Lily Paulina of Brooklyn said she was taking her money out because she was upset that JPMorgan Chase was making billions of dollars, while its customers struggled with bank fees and home foreclosures.
"Chase bank is making tons of money off of everyone ... while people in the working class are fighting just to keep a living wage in their neighborhood," the 29-year-old United Auto Workers organizer said.
Police told the marchers to stay on the sidewalk, and the demonstration seemed fairly orderly as it wound through downtown streets.
Sergio Jimenez, 25, said he quit his job in Texas to come to New York to protest. He participated in an anti-war march to mark the 10th anniversary of the Afghanistan War.
"These wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were all based on lies," Jimenez said. "And if we're such an intelligent country, we should figure out other ways to respond to terror, instead of with terror."
Throughout the country — from several dozen people in Jackson, Miss., to some 2,000 each in Pittsburgh and Chicago — the protest gained momentum.
Nearly 1,500 gathered for a march past banks in downtown Orlando, Fla. Hundreds marched on a Key Bank branch in Anchorage and declared it should be foreclosed. In Arizona, reporters and protesters saw an estimated 40 people detained around midnight at a park in Phoenix.
In Colorado, about 1,000 people rallied in downtown Denver to support Occupy Wall Street and at least two dozen were arrested.
Rallies drew young and old, laborers and retirees. In Pittsburgh, marchers included parents with children in strollers. The peaceful crowd stretched for two or three blocks.
"I see our members losing jobs. People are angry," said Janet Hill, 49, who works for the United Steelworkers, which she said hosted a sign-making event before the march.
Retired teacher Albert Siemsen said at a demonstration in Milwaukee that he'd grown angry watching school funding get cut at the same time banks and corporations gained more influence in government. The 81-year-old wants to see tighter Wall Street regulation.
Around him, protesters held signs reading: "Keep your corporate hands off my government," and "Mr. Obama, Tear Down That Wall Street."
And in the heart of Toronto's financial district, hundreds protested, some announcing plans to camp out indefinitely.
Overseas, tens of thousands nicknamed "the indignant" marched in cities across Europe, as the protests that began in New York linked up with long-running demonstrations against government cost-cutting and failed financial policies in Europe. Protesters also turned out in Australia and Asia.
Source: Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Protesters worldwide have joined the "Occupy Wall Street" movement in a cry of rage against bankers, financiers and politicians they accuse of ruining global economies and condemning millions to poverty and hardship through greed.
Dozens of cities across the world - from Tokyo to Alaska via London, Frankfurt and Washington - are holding demonstrations on Saturday, in a show of solidarity with the rallies that began last month in downtown New York.
In depth coverage of US financial crisis protests
"On October 15th people from all over the world will take to the streets and squares ... to initiate the global change we want," proclaimed the website United for #GlobalChange.
"We will peacefully demonstrate, talk and organize until we make it happen. It's time for us to unite; it's time for them to listen."
Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city, saw the day's first demonstration, when at least 1,000 people, including children, gathered at City Square.
"We face similar problems with our democracy here in Victoria and Australia as people face in most other developed nations," the Occupy Melbourne website said. "Our democracy is unwell."
In Sydney, about 2,000 protesters including representatives of Aboriginal groups, communists and trade unionists, protested outside the central Reserve Bank of Australia, at Martin Place in the central business district time.
'Occupy Asia'
Demonstrations of various sizes took place in Asia, namely in Japan's Tokyo, the Philippines' Manila, Taiwan's Taipei, South Korea's Seoul and China's Hong Kong.
Several protests and rallies were held simultaneously in various locations at the Japanese capital.
Hundreds of demonstrators marched to the headquarters of Tokyo Electric Power Co. and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to show dissatisfaction over the handling of the nuclear disaster triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Despite heavy rains in Seoul, the South Korean capital, members of more than 30 civic groups congregated outside the Financial Services Commission in Yeouido, the city's financial district.
Activists wearing Guy Fawkes masks staged performances to express their frustration with the growing income gap in Seoul, and chanted "We are the 99 per cent" - one of the seminal slogans of the Wall Street movement.
In Manila, about 100 members of Bayan, an alliance of various left-wing groups in the Philippines, marched to the US embassy, waving banners that read: "Down with US imperialism" and "Philippines not for sale", broadcaster APTN reported.
They took Saturday's occupy protest to voice support for the New York movement and to express their cricism of US troop presence in the country's south.
One man was seen carrying a placard that read: "Genuine people's democracy lives in the streets."
In Hong Kong, more than 200 people gathered at Exchange Square Podium in the city’s central shopping and business district.
Some pitched tents to stay overnight at the site while others later migrated to the HSBC building nearby.
Taipei, the Taiwanese capital, saw a smaller turnout of near 100 people than the expected 1,500, at the city's landmark skyscraper Taipei 101, home to the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
#GlobalChange
The Occupy South Africa website announced "Operation Ubuntu", a Nguni word used to describe unity for a common purpose through an African worldview that people can only find fulfilment through interacting with other peoples.
Protests are scheduled in the country's major cities of Capetown, East London, Durban and Johannesburg for later on Saturday.
Greek protesters aligned with Spain's "Indignant" movement called an anti-austerity rally in Athens' Syntagma square, the focal point of many demonstrations during Greece's financial meltdown.
Cath Turner reports on Wall Street activists' defiance
In Germany, the financial centre of Frankfurt and the European Central Bank was expected to be a focus of marches called by the Real Democracy Now group.
"What is happening in Greece now is the nightmare waiting other countries in the future," Real Democracy said in a statement.
"Solidarity is people's weapon."
In Britain, about 4,000 people have signalled their intent to attend a peaceful demonstration that will start at noon today in the City of London -- a leading international financial centre -- under the banner "Occupy the Stock Exchange", according to organisers.
In the United States, the founding "Occupation Wall Street" movement has urged more people and cities to join them on Saturday.
There have also been calls for occupations similar to that in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park to take place in dozens of US cities.
In Houston, Texas, protesters plan to tap into anger at big oil companies.
Alert for violence
The protests are billed as peaceful. But in a sign of what may happen, a group of students stormed Goldman Sachs' offices in the Italian city of Milan on Friday.
The students managed to break into the hall of the Goldman Sachs building in the heart of Milan's financial district.
The protests were quickly dispersed but red graffiti was daubed on its walls expressing anger at Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and saying "Give us money".
Demonstrators also hurled eggs at the headquarters of UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank.
Italian police were on alert for thousands to march in Rome against austerity measures planned by Berlusconi's government.
TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi warned from hiding Thursday that tribes loyal to him were well-armed and preparing for battle, hours after rebels hoping for a peaceful surrender extended the deadline for loyalist forces to give up in the longtime Libyan leader's hometown.
Gadhafi's audio statement, broadcast by Syrian-based Al-Rai TV, came as the rebels said they were closing in on the former dictator.
"We won't surrender again; we are not women, we will keep fighting," Gadhafi said. His voice was recognizable, and Al-Rai has previously broadcast several statements by Gadhafi and his sons.
Rebels have been hunting for the Libyan leader since he was forced into hiding after they swept into Tripoli on Aug. 20 and gained control of most of the capital after days of fierce fighting.
Opposition fighters, backed by NATO airstrikes, have been advancing toward three regime strongholds: Sirte; Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli; and Sabha, in the southern desert. All three places had been given a deadline of Saturday to surrender. While the deadline extension was officially only for Sirte, rebels said it would also include Bani Walid and Sabha.
There has been speculation that Gadhafi is hiding in one of those three towns.
Gadhafi's wife, Safiya, sons Mohammed and Hannibal, and daughter Aisha fled to Algeria on Monday, firm evidence that the longtime leader has lost his grip on the country. Aisha gave birth to her fourth child Tuesday in Algeria.
The Algerian newspaper El Watan reported that Gadhafi himself also sought refuge, but the Algerian president refused to take his phone calls. Algeria's foreign minister insisted Thursday that Gadhafi is not in Algeria. Asked on Europe-1 radio if Gadhafi could be given asylum, Mourad Medelci said, "I don't believe so."
Gadhafi was last heard on Aug. 25 in an audio recording calling on supporters to defend Tripoli.
In Thursday's message, Gadhafi said the tribes in Sirte and Bani Walid are armed and "there is no way they will submit." He called for continued resistance, warning "the battle will be long and let Libya burn."
But the rebels, who have effectively ended Gadhafi's rule, insist the fight is going in their favor.
"The regime is dying," rebel council spokesman Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga said late Wednesday, after two of Gadhafi's sons made conflicting statements on Arab television stations — with one vowing to fight until death and the other offering to negotiate a truce. "Gadhafi's family is trying to find an exit," Ghoga said. "They only have to surrender completely to the rebels and we will offer them a fair trial. We won't hold negotiations with them over anything."
Ghoga said Thursday that the rebels had extended the deadline for Sirte's surrender, giving the loyalist forces there one more week. "There are good indications that things are moving in the right direction," he said, including that the rebels have captured a city near Sirte.
Ahmed Said, an adviser to the interior minister in the rebels' interim government, said rebel forces had captured Gadhafi's foreign minister. He did not identify him by name, but "can confirm that he is in custody." He offered no further details to confirm the capture.
A week ago, Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi told British broadcaster Channel 4 that Gadhafi's rule was over.
Thursday marks the coup against the monarchy of King Idris by 27-year-old Gadhafi and a group of military officers. Gadhafi took undisputed power and became a symbol of anti-Western defiance in a Third World recently liberated from its European colonial rulers. A brutal dictator, his regime was unchallenged until the uprising that began in February.
Rebels say they are carefully pulling together clues about Gadhafi's whereabouts from captured regime fighters and others, and learned earlier this week that Gadhafi and two of his sons — longtime heir-apparent Seif al-Islam and former special forces commander al-Saadi — were in the loyalist-controlled town of Bani Walid, said Ghoga. But, he added, it's not clear where they are now.
Sixty world leaders and top-level envoys are meeting Thursday in Paris on Libya's future. The gathering is likely to focus on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad and reconciling differences over how to deal with the new Libya. The lessons of the U.S.-led war in Iraq and years of insurgent violence there will loom large.
The European Union, meanwhile, is lifting its sanctions on Libyan ports, banks and energy firms, officials said Thursday.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the goal was to provide resources to the interim government to help kick-start the North African country's economy.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LONDON (AP) — Police arrested 160 people during a weekend of riots and looting that erupted in a disadvantaged London neighborhood just five miles (eight kilometers) from the site of next year's Olympic Games.
Groups of masked and hooded young people looted shops, attacked police officers and set fire to vehicles in violence that has raised questions about security ahead of the 2012 Olympics and revealed pent-up anger against the city's police.
Around 35 police officers were injured, including three hit by a car while trying to make arrests in east London.
Broken windows at the entrance of an electronics store in a shopping center in Enfield area of north London, Monday, Aug. 8, 2011. New unrest erupted in London late Sunday, a day after rioting and looting amid alleged community anger over a fatal police shooting. Police arrested 160 people after a weekend of riots and looting, as scattered copycat violence spread from a disadvantaged north London neighborhood to other parts of the city, authorities said Monday.(AP Photo/Akira Suemori)
Police commander Christine Jones said officers were "shocked at the outrageous level of violence directed against them."
The violence broke out in the gritty north London suburb of Tottenham on Saturday night amid community anger over a fatal police shooting of a 29-year-old father of four. Police said "copycat criminal" violence spread to other parts of the city Sunday night and early Monday, including, briefly, London's main shopping and tourist district at Oxford Circus.
The protest over the death of Mark Duggan, who was gunned down in disputed circumstances Thursday, was initially peaceful. But it turned ugly as between 300 and 500 people gathered around Tottenham's police station late Saturday. Some protesters filled bottles with gasoline to throw at police lines, others confronted officers with makeshift weapons — including baseball bats and bars — and attempted to storm the station.
Tottenham was relatively peaceful on Sunday night, but the violence spread to Walthamstow Central in east London, where, police said 30 youths vandalized and looted some shops. Another 50 people damaged property in Oxford Circus.
In the south London neighborhood of Brixton — the scene of riots in the 1980s and 90s — youths smashed windows, attacked a police car, set fire to garbage bins and stole video games, sportswear and other goods from stores.
"It's obviously stemmed from what's happened in Tottenham, but we are 10 miles away," said Williams Falade, manager of a gym that was closed Monday because the restaurant next door had been attacked. "It was like it was an excuse. Things like this will happen but they should happen for better reasons."
Tottenham has a history of unrest. It was the site of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, a series of clashes that led to the savage stabbing of a police officer and the wounding of nearly 60 others — brutally underscoring tensions between London police and the capital's black community.
Relations have improved but mistrust still lingers, and the shooting of Duggan — a popular figure in the community — has stirred old animosities.
Very few details of Duggan's death have been released, although police said initially an officer was briefly hospitalized after the shooting — suggesting there was an exchange of fire. Media reports said a bullet had been found lodged in the officer's radio.
In a bid to calm the swirling rumors, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating the shooting, released a statement saying "speculation that Mark Duggan was 'assassinated' in an execution-style involving a number of shots to the head are categorically untrue." It also said a "non-police firearm" was recovered at the scene.
But the circumstances of his death remain unclear.
Although a gun was recovered from the scene, The Guardian newspaper reported that the bullet in the radio was police-issue, indicating Duggan may not have fired at the officer.
Tottenham has a history of unrest. It was the site of the 1985 Broadwater Farm riots, a series of clashes that led to the savage stabbing of a police officer and the wounding of nearly 60 others — brutally
underscoring tensions between London police and the capital's black community.
Relations have improved but mistrust still lingers, and the shooting of Duggan — a popular figure in the community — has stirred old animosities.
With images of buildings and vehicles in flames broadcast around the world less than a year before the city hosts the Olympic Games, London Mayor Boris Johnson was criticized for not returning from vacation after Saturday's riot.
Kit Malthouse, the deputy mayor for policing in London, defended his boss.
"Should he be reacting to these criminal provocateurs in that way by coming back? I think that is kind of rewarding them," he told Sky News. "Modern communications mean he can stay in touch and participate in meetings from around the globe."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Police in the Chilean capital Santiago fired water cannons and tear gas on Thursday to disperse hundreds of student protesters calling for education reforms, and detained at least 130 people.
Students in Chile want the national government to take over the public school system, where 90 per cent of the country's 3.5 million students are educated. The students say the system is underfunded and deeply inequitable.
ADEN — A suicide bomber Sunday detonated a truck packed with explosives at an army camp in Aden, killing nine soldiers, a military source said, amid raging battles between troops and Islamist militants.
The defence ministry blamed Al-Qaeda for the massive blast, which soldiers said tore through military vehicles as they were leaving the army camp.
The military source said that nine people were killed and 21 others wounded in the blast, and that some of the wounded were in serious condition, including four who were evacuated by helicopter to the capital Sanaa.
A text message from the defence ministry's news service received by AFP said that the bomber was from Al-Qaeda, but put the toll at four killed rather than nine.
The attack comes just days after another bombing in Aden, the main city in southern Yemen, in which British marine surveyor David Mockett was killed. A Yemeni intelligence officer said that bombing carried "the fingerprints of Al-Qaeda."
Yemen's volatile south has been wracked by fighting between troops and Islamist militants suspected of ties to Al-Qaeda, with at least 12 soldiers killed in the past week alone at Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, northwest of Aden.
Those killings came after Ayad al-Shabwani, a leader of the Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, died during fighting near Zinjibar on Tuesday, a military official said, adding that dozens of soldiers had been wounded.
Soldiers told AFP that Sunday's blast occurred as troops prepared to leave the army camp for Abyan province.
One soldier said the attack was by a suicide bomber whose pickup truck exploded as two personnel carriers were exiting the facility, with the first military vehicle bearing the full brunt of the blast.
Another soldier said that troops were preparing to leave for Abyan when the vehicle had come "in front of the gate of the camp, and then there was a huge explosion".
A lieutenant colonel was among those killed, according to a medic.
Militants belonging to a group called the "Partisans of Sharia (Islamic law), which has been linked to Al-Qaeda, took over much of Zinjibar, the capital of Abyan province, in May.
Thousands of people have been displaced by fighting in Zinjibar between security forces and the militants.
Yemen's Deputy Information Minister Abdo al-Janadi said on Thursday that the United States had provided logistical support to the Yemen military's 25th Mechanised Brigade, which was until recently besieged by the militants in Zinjibar.
US commanders have repeatedly expressed concern that the jihadists have been taking advantage of a protracted power vacuum in Sanaa to expand their operations.
Since January, protesters have been demanding the ouster of veteran President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in hospital in Saudi Arabia since early June for wounds sustained in a blast at his palace.
Lilongwe, Malawi (CNN) -- Twelve people have died in national protests that erupted in Malawi, government officials said as demonstrations continued for a second day Thursday.
President Bingu wa Mutharika has been accused of dragging Malawi back into the dictatorship era
Nine people died in Mzuzu, in the northern part of Malawi, on Wednesday, Ministry of Health spokesman Henry Chimbali said. Another died in Karonga district, also in the northern region.
It was not immediately clear how the 10 died, but officials were investigating, Chimbali said. Sources at Mzuzu Central Hospital who requested anonymity said the victims had been shot.
Two other people were fatally shot in Blantyre in the southern part of the nation, police spokesman Superintendent Davie Chingwalu said.
Amnesty International called for an immediate investigation into the Mzuzu deaths, asserting that security forces were responsible.
"At least 44 other people, including six children, are being treated for gunshot wounds at Mzuzu Central Hospital," the human rights organization said in a statement.
The protests began Wednesday as people demanded immediate action from the government on Malawi's economy and government issues.
The East African nation is facing persistent fuel shortages, foreign exchange reserve shortages and frequent power blackouts, among other problems. In addition, anti-government demonstrators have accused President Bingu wa Mutharika of dragging the nation back into the dictatorship era, citing the passage of bills they say impinge on citizen rights as well as the expulsion in April of British envoy Fergus Cochrane-Dyet.
The expulsion has cost Malawi dearly, as Britain has suspended direct budget support for the nation. According to the BBC, Cochrane-Dyet was told to leave Malawi in April after he was quoted in a leaked diplomatic cable as saying Mutharika was "becoming ever more autocratic and intolerant of criticism."
Mutharika spoke Thursday as the protests continued. "As a leader, I am ready to have a roundtable discussion with you," he said in an address. "I call upon everyone to stop vandalizing people's property and beating up others. Get yourselves organized and notify us so that we can chart the way forward."
In a statement, organizations that had planned the protests also appealed for calm, noting that the demonstrations were meant for Wednesday and that continued protests Thursday were illegal.
The country's army was assisting in quelling the protests Thursday, leading to relative calm.
More than 200 people arrested in the Malawian capital of Lilongwe face charges ranging from arson to property damage.
Police were seen harassing and beating civil society leaders, opposition political leaders and journalists, leading to injuries.
"When the police use firearms, they must minimize injury and respect human life," Erwin van der Borght, Amnesty International's director for Africa, said in the organization's statement. "It is high time that President Mutharika's government addresses the wider human rights and political concerns that gave rise to this situation."
The United States condemned Wednesday's use of force by Malawian authorities to prevent peaceful demonstrations and a ban on private radio stations reporting on the demonstrations.
In a statement, U.S. State Department Acting Deputy Spokeswoman Heide Bronke Fulton said U.S. officials were also "disturbed by reports of violence targeting individuals based on their political or social affiliations. The government's attempt to prohibit its citizens from marching, and the Communications Regulatory Authority's ban on independent media coverage undermine democracy and the rule of law that Malawians cherish."
She urged restraint from both sides. "We call on the people and the Government of Malawi to remain committed to the principles of democracy and to express disagreements through peaceful means," she said.
BEIRUT (AP) — Tens of thousands of Syrians shouting "We want freedom!" carried slain protesters through the streets Saturday as opposition figures meeting in Turkey called for a united front to bring down the 40-year ruling dynasty of the Assad family.
Lebanese protesters shout slogans as they carry banners in Arabic that read:" you are in heaven my son," center, "the martyr Hamza el-Khatib," left, and " Daraa mass graves," right, during a rally in solidarity with Syrian anti-government protesters in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Friday, July 15, 2011. Syrian security forces fired on protesters in the capital and other major cities Friday, killing at least 14 people as hundreds of thousands gathered for some of the largest anti-government rallies since the uprising began in March, witnesses and activists said. (AP Photo)
Syrian security forces killed at least 28 people Friday during the largest protests since the uprising began more than four months ago, activists said. Hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets nationwide, but they were met with gunfire and tear gas.
"The regime has kidnapped the entire state, and we want it back," said Haitham al-Maleh, one of Syria's most prominent dissidents, who led Saturday's opposition conference in Istanbul. The 80-year-old lawyer spent years in Syrian prisons for his political activism.
Syria's crackdown on the protests has led to international condemnation and sanctions. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday that President Bashar Assad had dashed hopes of reform.
"What's happening in Syria is very uncertain and troubling because many of us had hoped that President Assad would make the reforms that were necessary," she said in Istanbul. "The brutality has to stop, there must be a legitimate sincere effort with the opposition to try to make changes."
"Yesterday we witnessed the largest demonstrations to date in Syria, an effort to try to convey directly to the government the pent-up desire of the Syrian people for the kind of reforms that they have been promised," she added.
Activists say the government's crackdown has killed some 1,600 people since March, most of them unarmed protesters. But the regime disputes the toll and blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, saying religious extremists — not true reform-seekers — are behind it.
Saturday's conference was an attempt to form a unified movement that can offer a realistic alternative to Assad, whose supporters argue that he is the only force who can guarantee stability in a region bedeviled by civil wars and religious strife.
Although Assad's regime is shaken, he still draws from a significant well of support from the middle classes, business community and religious minorities.
Still, the uprising appears to be gaining momentum.
Witnesses told The Associated Press that tens of thousands from Damascus and the suburbs held funerals for slain protesters Saturday, carrying the bodies overhead on stretchers and shouting "God is Great!" and "We want freedom!"
Like most witnesses in Syria, they spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Witnesses also said security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in the eastern border town of al-Boukamal near Iraq's border, killing at least one protester and wounding others.
State-run Syria TV contested that, however, and said gunmen killed two police officers in al-Boukamal and armed groups stormed a police headquarters and confiscated weapons.
The government has banned most foreign media and restricted local coverage, making it difficult to independently confirm accounts on the ground.
A small group of activists in Damascus also took part in Saturday's opposition meeting, but they had to join by telephone. The opposition had planned to hold dual meetings in Damascus and Istanbul, but the location in Syria was besieged by security forces on Friday, forcing them to scale back their plans. Activists say 14 protesters were killed Friday in the Damascus neighborhood of Qaboun, where the conference was to be held.
Opposition figure Mashaal Tammo, addressing the conference by phone from Damascus, said Assad had lost his legitimacy to rule and called on him to step down.
"The existence of the regime is no longer justified," he said.
Source: The Associated Press
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Yesterday saw Internet access withdrawn across Syria as the government looked to quell widespread protests in the country.
In the past few hours, Google’s Transparency Report tool shows that access has been restored, with traffic levels currently back at the level they were at before yesterday’s disconnection. However, it appears that the Syrian state has faces retribution for its actions in the form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on the websites of its embassies, starting with those in France and Saudi Arabia.
In a note posted to Pastebin, the gathering of Internet activists swore to remove Syrian Embassy websites from the internet, stating that it would also use Black Fax and E-Mail Bomb campaigns. The note followed an earlier message from Anonymous, criticising President Assad’s regime.
Anonymous’ DDoS attacks on the Syrian websites were due to begin at 9.30am Syrian local time. It’s unclear whether the attacks actually took place or are still ongoing. At the time of writing, five and a half hours after this, the website for Syrian embassy in France is slow to load but is reachable, while the Saudi site appears stable. Other Syrian embassy sites we’ve checked appear up.
Anonymous has also been actively attacking the Iranian government in recent days. We’ll update with any additional news as it emerges.
BEIRUT (AP) — Residents of the southern Syrian city of Daraa braved sniper fire Tuesday to pull the bullet-riddled bodies of the dead from the streets and hide them from security forces, a day after a brutal government crackdown on the popular revolt against President Bashar Assad, witnesses said.
As heavy gunfire reverberated through Daraa, a Syrian human rights group said authorities detained dozens of people across the country, mainly in several Damascus suburbs, including the town of Douma and in the northern coastal city of Jableh.
This video image taken from amateur video released by Sham News Network, a Syrian Freedom group, shows a man throwing an object at a tank in Daraa, Syria Sunday April 24, 2011. An eyewitness says at least five people have been killed in the southern Syrian city of Daraa during a security crackdown. Syrian troops in armored vehicles and tanks stormed the southern town of Daraa early Monday April 25, 2011 and opened fire. It was the latest bloodshed in a five-week uprising against President Bashar Assad's authoritarian regime. (AP Photo/Sham News Network via APTN) AP HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE AUTHENTICITY OF THIS VIDEO
A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 400 people across Syria, with 120 dead over the weekend, rights groups said. That has only emboldened protesters who started their revolt with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad's downfall.
The Syrian army, backed by tanks and snipers, launched a deadly raid before dawn Monday on Daraa, where the uprising began more than a month ago, and on the towns of Douma and Jableh. At least 22 people were killed in Daraa.
World leaders expressed concern at the mounting bloodshed, with the United States starting to draw up sanctions against Assad, diplomats hoping to send a strong signal to Damascus from the United Nations, and the prime minister of neighboring Turkey telephoning the Syrian leader to urge restraint.
The assault on Daraa appeared to be part of new strategy of crippling, pre-emptive action against any opposition to Assad, rather than reacting to demonstrations.
It took more than a day for residents of Daraa to start pulling many of the bodies off the streets of Daraa, with rooftop snipers and army forces firing on people who dared to leave their homes. One man, Zaher Ahmad Ayyash, was killed as he tried to retrieve the bodies of two brothers, Taysir and Yaser al-Akrad, said a resident, who asked to be identified only as Abdullah for fear of reprisal.
The corpses were hidden away after they were retrieved from the streets, Abdullah said, suggesting that residents might face reprisal if troops discovered they had taken the bodies. As he spoke on the phone, gunfire popping in the background.
"We can't bury the dead in the cemetery because it's occupied by Syrian soldiers," said Abdullah. "We are waiting to find another place to bury them."
Snipers also targeted water tanks on rooftops in Daraa — the last source of clean water for many desperate residents of the parched region of 300,000 people, Abdullah said.
Even as the military crackdown intensified, Abdullah said there was quiet, defiant resistance. He said some soldiers were disobeying orders and allowing residents to pass through military checkpoints.
Palestinian refugees — generally the most hardscrabble of all Syrian residents — smuggled flour, water, bread and canned food into town. "We are so grateful to them," the resident said.
Earlier in the day, another resident said Syrian special forces were in the streets of the impoverished city, and tanks had opened fire in the city.
"We are being subjected to a massacre," another resident screamed over the telephone above the sound of gunfire. "We have been without electricity for three days. We have no water."
The witness, contacted via a Jordanian cell phone, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, as did other witnesses and residents contacted across Syria.
Scenes similar to those in Daraa took place in Jableh, with residents hiding their dead from Friday's assault and then furtively burying them in private plots of farmland — some as late as Tuesday — out of fear that the families of those killed might be arrested, a resident said. Also like Daraa, gunmen had shot holes in water storage tanks on rooftops in a form of punishment, he added.
In a continuation of the crackdown, hundreds of people were arrested Tuesday, he said.
Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world.
In Douma, which saw an intense crackdown Monday, houses were raided again at dawn Tuesday, with forces detaining anyone suspected of participating in demonstrations. Soldiers at sandbagged checkpoints also held men deemed suspicious. Phone service was cut off, a resident said.
The streets of Douma were almost empty, with schools and most shops closed and uncollected garbage piling up. Security was heavy, with agents at checkpoints asking people for their identity cards.
Another resident said authorities closed the private Hamdan Hospital after ordering all families of patients there to take them home. No reason was given for the closure, and three doctors there were detained, the resident said.
In the seaside city of Banias, divided between Sunni Muslims and Alawites — the sect of the ruling Assad family and many key officials — thousands of men and women gathered in the streets for a demonstration, according to three residents. With the noise of chanting in the background, they said they wanted to show support for Daraa.
Life was almost back to normal in the central city of Homs, except for intense security, a witness said. A few hundred people demonstrated there Monday in support of Daraa, the witness said
Daraa has seen some of the worst bloodshed in the past five weeks as the uprising gained momentum. Recently, the city has absorbed many rural migrants who can no longer farm after years of drought.
The White House has stepped up its condemnation of Assad's regime, but stopped well short of demanding his ouster. U.S. officials said Washington has begun drawing up targeted sanctions against him, his family and his inner circle to boost pressure on them to halt the repression.
Washington was conferring with European countries and the United Nations about options.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Britain also was working with other members of the U.N. Security Council "to send a strong signal to the Syrian authorities that the eyes of the international community are on Syria." The U.N. will discuss Syria later Tuesday.
In Rome, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed concern over the crackdown. Sarkozy said the current situation was "unacceptable."
The United States told all its nonessential staff and the families of all its embassy workers to leave the country, but kept the facility open for limited services. It also advised all Americans to defer travel to Syria and advised those already in the country to leave. On Sunday, Britain urged its citizens to leave Syria.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Assad and urged him to show "restraint." Turkey's ambassador met Syrian Prime Minister Adel Safar to express "deep concern and sorrow" over the many lives lost, the prime minister's office and the Turkish media reported.
The head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, who provided the death toll of more than 400 people since the uprising began last month, said that figure did not include those killed in the raids on Daraa and the Damascus suburb of Douma. It also did not include the number of Syrian troops killed, he added.
Abdul-Rahman couldn't provide a precise figure for those arrested Tuesday because it was difficult to get through to Daraa after authorities cut telephone service in the city 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Damascus, near the Jordanian border.
The uprising was touched off by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall, with protesters inspired by uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world.
Last week, Assad fulfilled a key demand by abolishing nearly 50-year-old emergency laws that had given the regime a free hand to arrest people without cause. But he coupled the concession with a stern warning that people would no longer have an excuse to hold mass protests, and any further unrest would be considered "sabotage."
When protesters defied his order and held demonstrations Friday — the main day for rallies around the Arab world — they were met with a gunfire, tear gas and stun guns.
The attack on Daraa was by far the biggest in scope and firepower. Video purportedly shot by activists showed tanks rolling through streets and grassy fields with soldiers on foot jogging behind them.
State-run television quoted a military source as saying army units entered the city to bring security "answering the pleas for help by residents of Daraa."
Syria has a pivotal role in most of the flashpoint issues of the Middle East — from the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran's widening influence. Instability has thrown into disarray the U.S. push for engagement with Damascus, part of Washington's hopes to peel the country away from Hamas, Hezbollah and Tehran.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
In the past few hours, Google’s Transparency Report tool shows that access has been restored, with traffic levels currently back at the level they were at before yesterday’s disconnection. However, it appears that the Syrian state has faces retribution for its actions in the form of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on the websites of its embassies, starting with those in France and Saudi Arabia.
