On 9 March, tens of thousands protested at Manama’s heavily-guarded Pearl roundabout, which a year ago was Bahrain’s Tahrir Square. Reportedly, riot police fired tear gas into the crowd and protesters threw rocks in return.
On 23 March, hundreds of demonstrators organised by the 14 February Revolution Youth Coalition broke away from a licensed demonstration organised by official opposition parties, to head once again for the Pearl roundabout. They were met with water cannon and…
Lindsay, John M
Lindsay, John M
John M Lindsay
30 March 2012News
30 March 2012News
Maria was the only Parliament Square camper given leave to challenge the new Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRASRA), which replaces the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) which expired at the end of March.
As PN went to press, it was still not clear when the high court would announce its decision. ‘Originally, they said they would make a decision [in the week of 20 March],’ Maria told PN. ‘However, they keep on pushing the date back…
30 March 2012News
On 10 March, after several days of creative demonstrations, 29 protesters broke into the construction site of a projected naval base on Jeju island, 62 miles south of mainland South Korea. Locals believe that the US navy intends to use the base as part of its anti-China policy.
Two international activists in the 10 March group, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Angie Zelter, and French activist Benjamin Monnet, were deported on 15 March.
The people of Jeju have been resisting…
30 March 2012News
On 23 March, the British American Security Information Council (BASIC), a thinktank based in Washington DC and London, issued a report claiming that cancelling the replacement for Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons system, would save the UK £83.5bn over the next 50 years.
According to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), just the £25bn cost of constructing the replacement nuclear submarines could pay for: the training of 120,000 nurses or 60,000 teachers; a £2,500 bonus for…
24 January 2012News
As PN went to press, Egyptian pacifist Maikel Nabil Sanad was continuing his hunger strike in protest against his imprisonment for criticising the new military regime. 20 January marked his 150th day without food: his kidneys were beginning to fail.
Maikel’s sentence has been reduced from four to two years. He is now on a water-only fast.
24 January 2012News
On 17 January, high court judge Keith Lindblom ruled that Occupy LSX, the tent city that has stood in front of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral since 15 October, was unlawfully obstructing a public highway.
Enforcement was delayed until 24 January (after PN goes to press) to allow time for an appeal.
However, despite the prospect of losing the birthplace of the UK’s Occupy movement, residents of the St Paul’s Cathedral encampment told PN they were not discouraged by the ruling. …
24 January 2012News
The Occupy LSX library outside St Paul's Cathedral, November 2011. PHOTO: Milan Rai
With bitterly cold winter weather affecting camps, the US Occupy movement is focusing on this year’s US presidential and legislative elections, set for November. The movement also organised a number of activities to mark the Martin Luther King Jr holiday in January. Occupy US is also planning a “Shut Down The Corporations Day” scheduled for 29 February.
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