State Violence

BBC July 29, 2008 

Israeli troops have shot dead a 12-year-old Palestinian boy during a protest against Israel's barrier in the occupied West Bank, medics say.

The Israeli military said it was investigating what had happened.

It happened at Nilin village, west of Ramallah, where peace activists say Israel is taking 25 hectares of land from villagers to build the barrier.  read more »

July 22, 2008

SANAA (AFP) — Five people, including a young boy, were wounded in southern Yemen on Tuesday when police fired on demonstrators demanding the release of more than 80 people arrested during previous protests, witnesses said.

Dozens of demonstrators were also detained during the new protest, in Radfan in southern Lahij province, the witnesses told AFP.

Police fired live bullets and tear gas to disperse the march, they said.  read more »

By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press June, 17, 2008

LONDON - Tents, sacks of food and a replica of a burnt-out village hut appeared in Trafalgar Square on Tuesday as a tourist hotspot became a refugee camp to highlight the plight of millions of people displaced in Darfur and elsewhere.

The display, set up to mark World Refugee Day this week, came as the U.N. refugee agency reported a record 11.4 million people were driven from their home countries last year.  read more »

By Brenda Norrell Narco news June 4, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Unprovoked Columbus, Ohio police attacked Long Walkers, by first pointing a taser at the head of Michael Lane and then forcing Luv the Mezenger to the ground and handcuffing him.  read more »

Mon Jun 2,2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has been secretly detaining terrorism suspects aboard floating "prison ships," a British legal charity charged on Monday, but the Pentagon described the report as inaccurate.  read more »

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 30 (UPI) -- Six Palestinians have been injured by fire from Israeli Defense Forces trying to stop a Hamas-organized protest near a Gaza border crossing, Palestinians said.

The incident took place as thousands of demonstrators approached in protest of the siege Israel has imposed on Gaza. Palestinians report that six were injured by live gunfire.

The IDF said soldiers used tear gas and fired warning shots against the Palestinian protesters in order to prevent them from crossing into Israel through the border fence., reported YNET news.  read more »

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press May 30, 2008

DUBLIN, Ireland - Diplomats from 111 nations formally adopted a landmark treaty banning cluster bombs on Friday after futile calls for participation by the weapons' biggest makers and users, particularly the United States.  read more »

ST. PAUL (WCCO ) During the Minnesota Sesquicentennial celebration in St. Paul, a protest by a couple dozen American Indians carrying nooses turned violent.

A protester hit a Minnesota State Trooper on the head as police tried to clear the area at the state capitol. Police arrested at least three people for disorderly conduct.

Demonstrators want the state of Minnesota to apologize for breaking Indian treaties and removing Indians from the land.  read more »

By CHARLES J. HANLEY and JAE-SOON CHANG Associated Press May 18, 2008

DAEJEON, South Korea - Grave by mass grave, South Korea is unearthing the skeletons and buried truths of a cold-blooded slaughter from early in the Korean War, when this nation's U.S.-backed regime killed untold thousands of leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950.  read more »

May 10, 2008

MARCO, Afghanistan (AFP) - At least one person was killed and several wounded in Afghanistan Saturday when police opened fire to disperse a protest accusing US-led soldiers of killing civilians, witnesses said.

The clash erupted in the eastern province of Nangarhar as demonstrators tried to block a road to demonstrate against the killing of three men in a military operation overnight, witnesses said.  read more »

By MOHAMED OLAD HASSAN, Associated Press May 5, 2008

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Troops opened fire and killed at least two people as tens of thousands of people rioted over high food prices in Somalia's capital Monday.

Several people also were injured in the protest in Mogadishu in this Horn of Africa nation.  read more »

Sun May 4, 2008

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Thousands of Somalis took to the streets Sunday to protest a US bombing that killed a man said to be Al-Qaeda's chief in the country, and 11 other people, organisers and residents said.  read more »

By TOM HAYS, Associated Press April 25, 2008

NEW YORK - Civil rights leaders demanded a federal investigation and vowed to march through the streets in protest after three police officers were cleared of all charges Friday in the killing of an unarmed man cut down in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day.  read more »

WASHINGTON - Military interrogators assaulted Afghan detainees in 2003, using investigation methods they learned during self-defense training, Pentagon documents released Wednesday show.  read more »

Tehran – April 13, 2008 kargaran.org

Around 7.30pm last night, anti-riot police smashed the gates and climbed over the walls of Kian Tyre factory, in the outskirts of Tehran, to forcefully evict hundreds of striking workers.  Scores were beaten up and arrested, with some needing hospital treatment.  read more »

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, Associated Press April 9, 2008

KATMANDU, Nepal - Police opened fire on rampaging protesters in western Nepal on Wednesday, killing at least one a day ahead of a landmark election to chart the country's political future, a police official said.

The protesters, enraged by the slaying of a candidate a day earlier, began smashing stores and vandalizing buses in the mountainous Surkhet district, prompting police to fire at them with live ammunition, said the area's police chief, Ram Kumar Khanal.  read more »

By BILL CORMIER, Associated Press Mar 24, 2008

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - Thousands of Argentines marched to mark Monday's anniversary of a 1976 military coup that launched seven years of dictatorship, carrying banners bearing photographs of the people who disappeared under the junta.  read more »

by Claire Cozens March 19, 2008

HONG KONG (AFP) - Worldwide protests over China's crackdown in Tibet are spreading, putting pressure on Beijing's Communist leaders just months ahead of the  read more »

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Mar 16, 2008

BEIJING - Violence in Tibet spilled over into neighboring provinces Sunday where Tibetan protesters defied a Chinese government crackdown. The Dalai Lama warned Tibet faced "cultural genocide" and appealed to the world for help.  read more »

By HILAL AHMED, Associated Press March 6, 2008

SRINAGAR, India - Officials in Indian-Kashmir have poisoned hundreds of dogs and aim to kill all 100,000 strays in the region's main city — saying the animals pose a risk to humans and make urban life unbearable.  read more »

Fri Feb 15, 2008

PANAMA CITY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Nearly 300 protesters were arrested in Panama on Friday as construction workers clashed with police for the third day running over the shooting death of a fellow worker earlier this week.

A dozen police were injured in Friday's protest, which kept much of the capital paralyzed, with piles of tires burning on busy roads and highways across the city.

Police reported 286 arrests, bringing the number of people detained since Tuesday to around 780, police said.

Protesters also threw stones at riot police in the affluent Paitilla area of the city, home to many of Panama's glass-covered skyscrapers, local television images showed.  read more »

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Jan 27, 2008

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Protesters angry about electricity rationing clashed with Lebanese troops Sunday in Beirut's worst riots in a year, leaving seven people dead, hospital and security  read more »

By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press Jan. 17, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - Police fired tear gas and live rounds to break up opposition rallies in several Kenyan cities on Thursday, killing at least five protesters.

Opposition leader Raila Odinga said police are "on a killing spree" and put the day's death toll at seven demonstrators. But that figure could not be independently verified.  read more »

Mapuche Student Shot Dead; Political Prisoner Slowly Dying From Hunger Strike

13th January 2008

A peaceful protest by the Mapuche met a bloody end on 3rd January when police opened fire into the crowd, killing 22-year-old university student Matias Catrileo Quezada. The young Mapuche man was shot in the back upon retreating, when Chilean police began firing indiscriminately into the crowd with machine guns. Among the protestors were elderly civilians and children, and it was a miracle that nobody else was killed.

For years the Chilean judicial system has refused to deliver justice and
return the indigenous land illegally taken by the estate Santa Margarita,  read more »

By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Jan 12, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - The price for burning down a home: 500 shillings, or about $8. Double that to have someone hacked to death.

The price list comes from a leading Kenyan human rights group that says some of the worst violence in the country's deadly disputed presidential election is the work of militias paid and directed by politicians.  read more »

By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Jan. 1, 2008

NAIROBI, Kenya - A mob torched a church sheltering hundreds of people fleeing election violence Tuesday, killing up to 50 people — including many children — as four days of rioting and ethnic clashes marked one of the darkest times in Kenya's history.  read more »

December 22. 2007 Daily Comet

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Residents on the tiny Bahamian island of Bimini set fire to a police station and several patrol boats to protest a fatal overnight shooting, a top police official said Saturday.

Protesters marched through the streets around midnight on Friday, after a policeman shot and killed an unidentified man, said Hulan Hanna, chief superintendent of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.

Hanna declined to give details about the police shooting, or detail damages caused by the protest. No one was injured in the march, he said.  read more »

Thu. Dec. 20 2007 The Associated Press

Police used chemical spray and stun guns Thursday as dozens of protesters seeking to halt the demolition of 4,500 public housing units tried to force their way through an iron gate at City Hall.

One woman was sprayed with chemicals and dragged from the gates. She was taken away on a stretcher by emergency officials. Before that, the woman was seen pouring water from a bottle into her eyes and weeping.  read more »

December 5th, 2007 elenemigocomun.net via infoshop News

- jlaw writes: The dirty war against the Oaxacan people and their struggle for justice continues. Ever since the federal government occupied Oaxaca City in November 2006, the state government has carried out kidnappings, beatings, harassment and arrests against members of the popular movement that demands the destitution of Oaxaca’s governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz.  read more »

By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer Dec. 11, 2007

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip - Israeli tanks and bulldozers backed by attack aircraft moved into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, killing five militants in the widest operation in the territory since Islamic Hamas forces wrested control in June. Another died in an airstrike in northern Gaza.  read more »

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta December 08, 2007

Dozens of transvestites and activists staged a peaceful protest at City Hall on Wednesday, demanding the city administration investigate the death of a transvestite following a raid by public order officers.  read more »

By OLGA BONDARUK, Associated Press Nov. 24, 2007

KIEV, Ukraine - Holding candles, thousands of people from all over Ukraine gathered Saturday on a square in Kiev to mourn the millions who died of starvation during a famine engineered by the Soviet authorities 75 years ago.  read more »

Sun Nov 11 2007 San Farncisco Bay Independent Media Center (Updated 11/15/07) Hundreds Gather in Calexico / Mexicali to Advocate a World Without Borders  read more »

By JAN SLIVA, Associated Press Nov. 14, 2007

STRASBOURG, France - An EU investigator said Wednesday he has evidence to suggest that a Ukrainian airstrip was used by CIA-operated planes involved in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program.

Giovanni Fava said he was also looking into possible CIA use of a military facility at a Ukrainian base. Fava, an Italian member of the European Parliament, drafted a report last year identifying more than 1,000 secret CIA flights with stopovers on European territory since 2001. He identified several of them as being used to transfer terror suspects.  read more »

Reuters - Tuesday, November 13, 2007

YAOUNDE - Police in Cameroon shot dead two students during a protest triggered by days of power blackouts in the western town of Kumba, state radio and a senior local official said on Monday.

The police officers opened fire as they were pelted with stones and Molotov cocktails during the demonstration on Saturday, hitting two students in the head and killing them instantly. Another five were injured, one of them seriously.  read more »

Mon Nov 12, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia's prime minister has defended the use of tear gas and water cannon to break up a mass weekend protest for electoral reform, the biggest seen here in a decade, a report said Monday.  read more »

San Diego indymedia Nov.  read more »

By DON BABWIN, Associated Press Nov 6, 2007

CHICAGO - Chicago's Police Department is investigating an officer's use of a Taser last month on an 82-year-old woman who police say was swinging a hammer when they arrived.

Lillian Fletcher was rushed to the hospital after being jolted by the Taser last week but has been released, police said Tuesday.  read more »

TALLAHASSEE - About 700 marchers shouted "We shall overcome" and "No justice, no peace" Tuesday to protest Florida's handling of a teenager's death after guards hit and kicked him at a state boot camp last year.

They want federal authorities to investigate what they allege are civil rights violations by camp staffers and others, including Florida's former top law enforcement official. The U.S. Justice Department is reviewing the state's unsuccessful prosecution of the camp guards and a nurse.  read more »

Wed Oct 10, 2007

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)- A Myanmar opposition party member died during interrogation and two activists were arrested as the ruling junta pressed its crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, an exile group said Wednesday.  read more »

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Israeli forces killed two Gaza militants in a missile strike early Thursday, bringing the two-day death toll in Gaza fighting to 11, hospital officials said.  read more »

Below is an item from a recent issue of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. I've edited this slightly for clarity. A PDF file is available here. The author Dr. Joanna Moncrieff is arguing against the usual position of the shrinks although it surprises me that this debate even made it into any medical journal. Her straight forward response targets previous contributors in what appears to be an ongoing debate in the pages of CJP. Obviously things are changing. Reminds me of that time, about five years ago, when I sent a email to the author of the Quackbusters website ... another psychiatrist who seems to think "skepticism" only applies to more obvious nuts like chiropractors ...  read more »

By BRADLEY S. KLAPPER, Associated Press July 30, 2007

GENEVA - Sexual atrocities in Congo's volatile province of South Kivu extend "far beyond rape" and include sexual slavery, forced incest and cannibalism, a U.N. human rights expert said Monday.  read more »

July 29, 2007 BBC

Eight left-wing protesters were shot dead by Indian police during a demonstration in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, officials have said.

Police had been pelted with stones as they approached a tent where communist supporters were gathered, and responded by opening fire, said a state minister.

Saturday's protest was called as part of a three-month campaign demanding land for the poor.  read more »

By GRANT PECK, Associated Press Writer July 25, 2007

BANGKOK, Thailand - A Myanmar human rights defender beaten by a pro-government mob was sentenced to eight years in prison for inciting unrest, activists said Wednesday.  read more »

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent Sun Jul 15, 2007

BALAD AIR BASE, Iraq - The airplane is the size of a jet fighter, powered by a turboprop engine, able to fly at 300 mph and reach 50,000 feet. It's outfitted with infrared, laser and radar targeting, and with a ton and a half of guided bombs and missiles.  read more »

Fri Jul 13, 2007

WINNIPEG (CBC ) - Thousands of demonstrators rallied in the streets of Islamabad on Friday to protest against the Pakistani government's decision to order a bloody commando raid on militants holed up in a mosque in the capital.

Simultaneous protests were held outside mosques and government buildings across the country following morning prayers, with government forces and police remaining on high alert.  read more »

June 20, 2007 The Dominion Post

Polish riot police have used batons to break up a protest by nurses in Warsaw, escalating an already bitter stand-off between the conservative government and health workers demanding better pay.

Hundreds of hospitals have been affected by strikes for six weeks. Strikers are also calling for reform of the creaking state health service and threaten to join the exodus of Polish workers to Western Europe if their demands are not met.  read more »

June 11, 2007 Tadamon! Montreal tadamon@resist.ca

Since 20 May, Nahr al Bared, a Palestinian refugee camp in northern
Lebanon with an estimated 40,000 inhabitants, has been under
bombardment by Lebanese military forces. The military assault on the
densely populated refugee camp takes place after a clash between
Lebanese security forces and an armed salifist group called Fatah al
Islam, which infiltrated the civilian refugee camp.

The bombardment of the refugee camp takes place during the 40th
anniversary of the Israeli occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and the
Golan Heights. This year also marks the 59th anniversary of the
creation of the apartheid state of Israel, which led to the  read more »

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 June 2007

Protest by the Jaffna Transport Board workers in Kondavil bus depot against the abduction of one of the workers in the Jaffna Islet of Vealanai Thursday was terminated Saturday noon following threats by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to the administrative officials in the depot, Transport union officials said.

Public bus transport in Jaffna district came to a standstill as workers at Point Pedro and Kaarainakar bus depots joined their Kondavil colleagues in the protest.  read more »