SEOUL – MORE than 10,000 South Koreans demanding President Lee Myung Bak resign held an anti-government rally on Wednesday on the 22nd anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising. Continue Reading

ABOUT 200 workers, mostly China nationals, gathered at the Manpower Ministry along Havelock Road on Monday morning over disputes with their bosses. Continue Reading

HYDERABAD: More than 25 people, including four policemen, suffered injuries on Sunday when police used batons to disperse thousands of angry jobseekers who held demonstrations and sit-ins across the province after learning that the University of Sindh had postponed a scheduled test for teachers’ jobs over reports that the test paper had been leaked out. Continue Reading

A group of Afghan women who braved an enraged mob yesterday to protest against an “abhorrent” new Afghan law had to be rescued by police from a hail of stones and abuse.

The protest by about 200 women, unprecedented in recent Afghanistan history, was directed at the Shia Family Law passed last month by the Afghan parliament which appears to legalise marital rape and child marriage. Continue Reading

BEIJING – CLASH between police and demonstrators erupted in south China after hundreds of people gathered to protest the handling of a housing dispute, locals and a rights group said on Tuesday.

The clashes occurred late on Monday night in Shenzhen city after protesters gathered to demonstrate against the alleged detention of up to four people representing them in the housing dispute, locals said.

‘They detained two men and two women … two of them were from the real estate management company,’ a local woman who identified herself as Wang told AFP.

‘The residents had gathered (at the local police station). There may have been 1,000 of them, including the onlookers. They fought with police.’ She said the incident occurred in front of the Taoyuan police station in Shenzhen, a major city close to Hong Kong.

Ms Wang said up to 70 protesters gathered again in front of the police station on Tuesday to continue the demonstration. Police in Shenzhen refused to comment.

According to the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, up to 10 people were injured in the Monday night clashes.

The protesters were complaining that up to 1,600 families had been sold shoddy apartments in a housing complex that began to fall apart soon after they moved in, adding that it was not built up to standard, it said.

The government had agreed that the homeowners should be compensated, it said, but protesters were angered when police detained the representatives of the owners.

China sees tens of thousands of protests or outbursts of violence every year, often stemming from land disputes or dissatisfaction with local authorities.

China’s rulers are particularly concerned about unrest in 2009, which will see a string of sensitive anniversaries including 20 years since the Tiananmen crackdown and 60 years since the founding of the communist republic. — AFP

BANGKOK – FOUR anti-government protest leaders loyal to exiled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra surrendered to the government on Tuesday after calling off a three-week siege of Government House, national police chief Pacharawat Wong

suwan told reporters.

The protest leaders, including Veera Musikapong, had led tens of thousands of Thaksin’s rural supporters in a blockade of the office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to

demand that he step down and call a snap election.

The protest had culminated in a day of clashes with soldiers at a key road junction in Bangkok and the burning of dozens of hijacked public buses on Monday.

Continue Reading

Thai anti-government protesters have ended a three-week siege of the prime minister’s office, stepping back from a confrontation that had raised fears that renewed instability would further damage the economy.

Protesters loyal to the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra had been camped at the building for three weeks and violence flared in Bangkok on Monday, with two people killed and more than 100 wounded.

A peaceful end to the demonstration is a boost for the Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, and partly reassures investors. Continue Reading

TBILISI, Georgia — Thousands of demonstrators in Georgia’s capital demanded the president’s resignation Monday, with some calling for more forceful action as the peaceful protests stretched into a fifth day.

The number of protesters has declined since the demonstrations began, but they are still capable of blocking main roads. In a change of tactics, opposition leaders said the picket outside President Mikhail Saakashvili’s residence would go through the night.

“The fight continues, and today I have the impression that this fight will end soon with your victory,” opposition leader Levan Gachechiladze told the crowd gathered in front of parliament before many of the estimated 15,000 protesters set off for the presidential residence.

“Saakashvili must leave,” said Gachechiladze, who ran against him in 2008 presidential elections. “There is no place for him in Georgia’s future.” The president still has a strong base of support and has vowed to serve out his second term, which ends in 2013.

His critics are angriest over his handling of last summer’s brief war with Russia. They also accuse him of ruling in the interests of his inner circle and trying to stamp out dissent, while not doing enough to help the poor and create jobs.

After a violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators in November 2007 brought widespread condemnation, Saakashvili’s government has pledged not to intervene in the current protests, and police have stayed away.

Opposition leaders have insisted the protests will remain peaceful, but some participants have started to call for more forceful actions.

“I’m not happy with the opposition leaders,” said Dzheiran Rostomashvili, 49. “I expected more decisive action. If they continue in this way, then Saakashvili will stay and he will destroy Georgia.”

Police officers came under attack while they tried to help a dying man at the G20 protests in the City last night.

The victim was found by a member of the public unconscious in the street near the Bank of England just before 7.30pm yesterday.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers arrived on the scene to help and had to move the casualty away for urgent treatment after bottles were thrown at them by protesters.

The man was eventually pronounced dead at hospital. According to one protester at the scene he was in his 30s and died of natural causes. Ninety people were arrested during a first day of protest marking the summit.

The Met Police spokesman said: “A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane, junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner.

“That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michael’s Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing.”

Police moved him to an area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they attempted resuscitation.

The spokesman added: “The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles – believed to be bottles – were being thrown at them.”

London Ambulance Service said “extensive efforts” were made to resuscitate the man both at the scene and on the way to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The Directorate of Professional Standards at both the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police have been informed. The Independent Police Complaints Commission will also be notified.

Police are braced for more G20 violence today. Commander Simon O’Brien of the Metropolitan Police warned there may be more clashes between officers and demonstrators as their focus moves to the summit meeting itself at the Excel Centre in London’s Docklands.

Masked anarchists smashed their way into a Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branch in central London yesterday and police chiefs said officers faced “high levels of violence” in isolated incidents throughout the day.
Masked anarchists smashed their way into a Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) branch in Central London yesterday and police chiefs said officers faced “high levels of violence” in isolated incidents throughout the day.

There were at least 87 arrests, including four for violent disorder, six public order offences and 11 for possessing a police uniform.

Four people arrested yesterday had since been charged. Three face a charge of possessing a bladed weapon, and one is charged with assault.

Today, demonstrators will also converge on the London Stock Exchange, but all eyes will be on the meeting of world leaders at the Excel Centre where protesters will be met with an extensive security operation.

Yesterday, an angry mob trashed equipment, daubed graffiti on the walls and threw a chair through a window after more than 4,000 demonstrators, most of them peaceful, gathered near the Bank of England to demand action from world leaders.

Mr O’Brien, a member of the Met’s command team for the G20 security operation, said that small pockets of criminals were responsible for the outbreaks of trouble and would be tracked down.

But he added that the vast majority of participants were good-humoured. Speaking at New Scotland Yard, the senior officer said that some of the apparent ringleaders were followed by helicopter as they left flashpoints yesterday.

“As we went on it was clear there were people within the group that were first of all involved in juvenile and puerile behaviour,” he said.

“That started to escalate into quite provocative behaviour towards police lines. There were small groups charging forwards and backwards into police lines.

“It did seem to us from CCTV and police on the scene that they tried to find a way to ramp up the protest and hijack it into violence.”

Mr O’Brien said that police collected footage from “helitelly”, the force’s nickname for CCTV from powerful helicopter cameras.

“We started to see a good deal more violence coming from small groups in the crowd,” he said.

“Clear attacks on police line, clear attacks on police by protesters and completely unprovoked.

“Then we saw a determined attack on the RBS where at least three plate-glass windows were broken.

“There was a clear attempt to throw lighted material in that premises and we saw small amounts of minor thefts from the premises.”

The Met said that people identified as being part of the violent clashes should expect a “knock on the door”.

Among the other arrests were two people held for aggravated burglary, and another for arson, over the raid on the RBS building. Others were held for public order offences, threatening behaviour, possession of drugs, violent disorder and blocking a road.

The eleven people arrested in connection with possessing police uniforms were held after the garments were found in the back of an armoured vehicle.

Senior officers said that one police officer was treated in hospital after suffering a blow to the head. Seven protesters were also taken to hospital.

Stuart Fraser, of the City of London Corporation, praised the police action and said that the officers were “handling a tricky job very well”.