Riot - new music video in time for #J11

This music video from Gentleman's Dub Club was released on May 20, 2013. Coincidentally, the Carnival Against Capitalism in London is on Tuesday June 11.

Massacres are heading our way

THE MASSACRE of striking miners in South Africa is a sickening foretaste of what is in store for us all as neoliberalism collapses under the weight of its own impossibilities.

Black lives are considered by the global elite to be of less importance than white ones, so the media impact of the mass murder has not been as great as if it had occurred in, say, France, or Britain.

But make no mistake - this sort of thing will also happen in Europe and North America, as the demise of capitalism accelerates.

The logical connections are there to be made. The company which owns the mine at Marikana, Lonmin, is itself a British company, for instance.

And this has, after all, always been the truth behind the facade of western 'democracy' - the authorities reserve the right to kill you if you threaten their hold on power.

Over the last 15 years or so plutocracy has set about turning itself into plutofascism to combat the inevitable global meltdown and uprising - and, to justify that, it has redefined its enemy. Dissent now equals terrorism.

One recent small example of this shift was experienced by two UK anarchists returning from a conference in Switzerland.

Reports Libcom: "On returning from the St Imier gathering, two anarchists, one a member of the UK Anarchist Federation, were detained for nearly two hours at Heathrow by SO15 (counter-terrorist) intelligence who initially refused to identify themselves to the detainees.

"During the detention, the anarchists were told that their normal rights did not apply, and had their names, addresses, email addresses, DNA, photographs and fingerprints taken. The detained anarchists were also forced to sign forms – which may or may not be legal – waiving their rights to silence and a solicitor. Police also conducted a thorough search of personal possessions, photocopied literature and passports and took information from phones and cameras.

"During the detention, the police constantly accused the anarchists of lying about involvement in criminal activity and alleged that they would be conducting follow-up police action against one of the detained anarchists.

"In addition to this, SO15 officers asked a number of inflammatory, irrelevant and offensive questions, including ‘what would you do if someone raped your mother?’ evidently in an attempt to cause emotional upset and illicit angry or violent responses. One member (28) who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals from the police, said “We were treated like criminals.

"I told them I went to the congress as I am an amateur journalist and I write articles about activism. They saw my note book, camera and Dictaphone but they said I was lying.” One officer said ‘You said you are an anarchist, I’ve seen anarchists on the news, they are violent, throw molotov cocktails and disrupt people’s lives not write articles”."

Fortunately, though, all the repression merely confirms to many more people that the only way ahead is the destruction of capitalism itself, and this instinctive resistance continues to bubble up all the time - for instance in Amiens in northern France earlier this week (see photo below).

More rioting erupts in Canada

MORE rioting has broken out in Canada - this time in London, Ontario.

A TV van was set on fire and later exploded (see video) as around 1,000 young people torched vehicles and threw beer bottles.

It was the worst case of civil disobedience the city has ever seen, said London Police Chief Brad Duncan, according to 680 News.

The violence grew near the city's Fanshawe College and began with St Patrick Day celebrations.

The scenes of exuberant destruction follow the riots in Montreal  last week amid a rise of youth militancy in Québec.

Keep up to date with the global insurrection - follow VM on Twitter

Happy kids in anti-police riot

MONTREAL anarchists are euphoric after an anti-police protest achieved spectacular impact.

Said a statement on Anarchist News Dot Org: "We flipped over a policecar on rue Sainte-Catherine. Prole stroll.

"Everyone was like WHOO! and happy kids were dancing on the chassis, happy cuz they were right to be happy. Banks got their windows broken. Fancy stores too.

"A lot of garbage got pulled into the streets, and pylons, and heavy signs. You know, the usual. But it's the moments when the pigs backed off cuz they were scared! It's the moments when you get away with political crimes in totalitarian Canada!

"It's the moments when the pig cruiser is flipped over and you're highfiving strangers becuz you're happy and they're happy and this is a moment to cherish. Prole stroll!

"LE 15 MARS, LA VENGEANCE. We could've done better, but we did what we did, and this was the one day when the pacifists weren't out in force and the people who get harassed by the police on a daily basis were letting loose and we got to share some knowing looks with some of the kids we haven't seen since this time last year. This was our day, our night. Prole stroll!

"Some comrades are in jail. Many people, perhaps not yet aware of the fact that we live in a surveillance society, did things that perhaps they should not have done with their faces unconcealed.

"What happens next is hard to say. Maybe the pacifists who got beaten with police batons when they sat in front of cops will have learned their lesson by now! And maybe anarchists can figure out a way to be half as badass as some of the people who were on the streets tonight.

"The city is begging the province for more help with the security crisis: student demos everyday with more to come, and now this, the biggest March 15 in years, prole stroll like we ain't seen outside of a hockey riot, what is sure to be a big embarassment to North America's crowd control experts.

"THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO DO. Onward to March 22, onward to May Day, onward to the continental general strike and the infinite strike! Until neither the SPVM nor any other police agency nor any other institution of domination exist, our work isn't done.

"And to the kids who looted Future Shop and got some PS3s, MAD RESPECT. We GET what we can TAKE."

Keep up to date with the global insurrection - follow VM on Twitter.

Video - oil workers riot in Kazakhstan

 

OIL workers in the south of Kazakhstan have rioted and torched local government offices, an oil company building and a hotel.

Thousands of protesters demanding higher wages took to the streets in the town of Zhanaozen as the state was marking the 20th anniversary of its independence from the USSR on Friday, December 16.

Russian news agency ITAR-TASS said the protesters set fire to the offices of the town administration, the Ozenmuinagaz oil company and the nearby Hotel Aruana. The crowd also prevented firemen from attending the fires. The source said that, as of Friday afternoon, the police could not contain the unrest.

RT adds: "Later in the day Kazakhstan’s prosecutor general said that 10 people have died in the Zhanaozen unrest and many more wounded, including police officers. The official also confirmed that three buildings were burnt down, as well as several cars and a police bus. The crowd looted some ATMs, the prosecutor said."

"Russian-language blogs described the situation in Zhanaozen as much more dramatic, saying the police opened fire at protestors, killing 70 and wounding over 500 people. Bloggers also said that the authorities deployed 1,500 marines to the town in bid to suppress the riot."

Keep up to date with the global insurrection - follow VM on Twitter. 

'Riot will always be the best day of my life'

"I WAS actually doing it. I felt alive, there's no word to explain it. It was like that first day it happened will always be the best day of my life for ever."

This is just one of the comments from English rioters recorded in a new study by the Guardian and the London School of Economics.

Says the paper: "Hundreds of interviews with people who took part in the disturbances which spread across England in August revealed deep-seated and sometimes visceral antipathy towards police."

The findings cut through all the propaganda about criminals and gangs to reveal the obvious truth about the uprisings - they were directed at the police and everything they represent.

And the authorities will be scared witless to hear that thousands of the rioters are up for doing it all again - soon!

Reports The Guardian: "An overwhelming majority of people interviewed about their involvement in this summer's riots believe they will be repeated and one in three said they would take part in any future disorder, a study by the Guardian and the London School of Economics shows.

"Of the 270 questioned in the Reading the Riots study, 81% said they believed the disturbances that spread across England in August 'would happen again'. Two-thirds predicted there would be more riots before the end of 2014.

"Despite more than 4,000 riot-related arrests, and harsher than average sentences in the courts, many of those interviewed said they did not regret their actions."

 Some other comments: 

"For the record: yeah, I do hate the fucking police ... I was caught up in the situation. And it was like: let's cause fucking chaos – let's cause a riot."

"I think the looting came about because it was linked to police. We're showing them that, yeah, we're bigger than the police, we are actually bigger than the police. Fair enough, we are breaking the law and everything, but there's more of us than there are of you. So if we want to do this, we can do this. And you won't do anything to stop us."

"I just see bottles flying. I've never seen police so scared before – it was like they had no control whatsoever. Like even the police cars, the police vans, they was just throwing rocks at them."

"It felt good, that police car – it felt really good [she torched it]. Especially when my friend took the radio and started saying all this hullabaloo over the radio and confusing them and all that. It was fair for us to do that."

"Never thought it would turn out to be throughout the country. I never knew it was going to escalate, all the way up to Croydon, Liverpool – I never knew it would go all over the place. When I seen some of it on TV, I thought: 'Go on you fuckers, keep going – fucking riot away'."

‘It felt like I was part of a revolution, showing these stupid police that, you know, they’re not invincible’ 

Keep up to date with the global insurrection - follow VM on Twitter.

Indian protesters block trains and torch police cars - dramatic video

THOUSANDS  of survivors of the world’s worst industrial accident blocked trains through a central Indian city on Saturday to demand more compensation.

The protest came on the 27th anniversary of the disaster in Bhopal, where a Union Carbide pesticide plant leaked lethal gas that killed an estimated 15,000 people and maimed tens of thousands more.

Associated Press reports that Bhopal activists and survivors also are calling for Dow to be dropped as a sponsor of the 2012 London Olympics. On Friday, about 200 protesters had marched to the now-abandoned plant and burned effigies of  Olympic officials, including Lord Coe.

Activist Rachna Dhingra said police charged Saturday's protesters with sticks in trying to stop them from occupying Bhopal’s five train lines. The protesters, most of them women sitting on the tracks, threw stones at the officers and set four police jeeps and several motorcycles on fire.

Several people, including a police superintendent, were injured in the stone pelting, police said. Eight women were detained, activists said.

Trains were backed up and halted on most lines through much of Saturday, including the route between Delhi and the southern city of Chennai.

The five Bhopal victims’ rights groups that organized the protest demanded that Dow Chemicals, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, pay $8.1 billion in compensation for more than 500,000 people exposed to the leak.

Keep up to date with the global insurrection - follow VM on Twitter. 

Protesters battle French riot cops

ANTI-NUCLEAR protesters battled with riot police in France in a bid to stop a train of nuclear waste heading for Germany.

The authorities used tear gas and brute force, but the environmentalists managed to sabotage part of the railway and torch a police vehicle.  

The French state is refusing to end its nuclear operations, even after the Fukushima disaster and the horrific after-effects.

The shipment from the French nuclear giant Areva's reprocessing plant at La Hague is the last planned to Germany.

Similar protests are expected along the whole route - the last convoy in 2010 was blocked for three hours in Caen and one night in Germany.

Italian riot police attack Tunisians

 
TUNISIANS demanding freedom have been brutally attacked by Italian riot police on the southern island of Lampedusa.

RFI reports that around 300 Tunisian immigrants demonstrated on Wednesday September 21 against the conditions in which they are being kept.

They chanted "Freedom! Freedom!" and some of them set fire to a local office dealing with immigrants on the island, which is not far from the Tunisian coast.

Later, riot police attacked others with batons and the protesters were forced to jump down three or four metres to escape, as this shocking video shows.

Filippo Miraglia of the "Archi" support group for the immigrants explained: "Some of the Tunisians have been there since August - for a month of a month and a half - and others for a week to ten days.

"They are being held on the island in very difficult conditions and the idea of being deported straight back from Lampedusa to Tunisia is making them revolt."

Chinese villagers riot over pollution

 


RIOTS have broken out in China against a factory polluting local water as resistance grows globally to the neoliberal industrial nightmare.

Reports China Forbidden News: "Villagers in Haining city, Zhejiang province in China have held three days of protest against Jinko Solar Co. discharging heavy cancer-causing pollution.

"Villagers and journalists were beaten by company security. The protesters beat local officials and overturned four police cars. The police also fired tear gas.

"Online sources state that over 10 people are injured or dead.

"A human rights activist said that Chinese Communist Party' (CCP) system was causing the struggle in people's lives.

"The Jinko Solar company is a subsidiary of a New York Stock Exchange-listed Chinese solar company, fully financed by Hong Kong Paker Technology Co., Ltd.

"They produce solar wafers, cells and other products, exporting to more than twenty countries within Europe, Asia, and the United States.

"The plant is located in Haining city, Zhejiang province and Shangrao city, Jiangxi province.
There are over 10,000 employees and the plant covers more than 165 acres.

"Villagers blame the company for discharging polluted water and harmful gases into the environment, causing the massive deaths of fish floating in the river.

"Local villagers found that there were over 10 people who developed cancer as a result of the pollution."

Riots break out in Hamburg

RIOTS have broken out in Hamburg, Germany, after a lively summer street festival was swamped with thousands of police.

Reports Deutsche Welle: "Police used water cannons against rioters in the north German city of Hamburg on Saturday evening, August 20, following a street festival in the district of Schanzenviertel.

"Disturbances began when a group of unknown individuals tried to break into a branch of the German bank Sparkasse in the district, a police spokeswoman said.

"The incident took place close to the former Rote Flora theater - an alternative left wing rallying point in the city.

"Water cannons and riot personnel were deployed and used against the perpetrators, police said, with numerous fires also extinguished in the area."

Cops attacked in Paris suburb

RIOTS broke out in a suburb of Paris over the weekend, after youths ambushed police.

The cops and the fire brigade turned up in Sartrouville at 3am on Sunday to deal with three burning cars.

French media explained this was a "trap" and they were set upon by 40 youths, who threw stones at them and damaged vehicles.

Police then used teargas and "flashball" rubber bullets against the rioters.

Angry prisoners torch English jail

ANGRY prisoners have torched a jail in southern England.

Reports Sky News: "Six accomodation blocks at an open prison have been destroyed after inmates went on the rampage and started fires - allegedly over attempts to breathalyse them.

"The riot, at HMP Ford near Arundel, West Sussex, began at around midnight.

"It involved around 40 prisoners wearing balaclavas to protect their identities who smashed windows and activated fire alarms.

"The inmates, led by men from B wing, set alight five blocks in the morning, with another three on fire by noon.

"Staff were forced to retreat and specialist control and restraint teams and fire fighters were called in.

"The riot was triggered after some prisoners refused to be breathalysed for alcohol, according to Mark Freeman, deputy general secretary of the Prison Officers Association.

"Mr Freeman said a large amount of alcohol had been found in the jail and staff had been trying to get inmates to take a breath test for several days.

"Sky News reporter Jane Dougall, at the scene, said plumes of smoke could be seen above the prison all morning.

"She said the fires had destroyed six accomodation blocks, a mail room, a gym, a snooker room and a pool room with 10 new tables.

"The loss of the accomodation means about 160 inmates will have to be moved to other jails.

"A Prison Service spokesman said: 'We can confirm that around 140 additional prison service staff have arrived at Ford to support the local staff in bringing the prison under full control'."

Students storm Tory Party HQ

ANGRY students stormed the Conservative Party HQ in London on Wednesday as resistance to the neoliberal attack on the UK kicked off in dramatic fashion.

A radical breakaway group from the 50,000-strong demo against massive rises in tuition fees targeted the UK ruling party's home at Millbank Tower - with staggering success.

The building was occupied, smashed up, covered in graffiti and besieged by thousands of determined young people in the streets outside, with police left looking useless.

Some students made their way to the roof of the building, waving flags and hurling objects at the riot cops below.

There they issued the following statement, placing the action in a much broader context than the fees battle: "We oppose all cuts and we stand in solidarity with public sector workers, and all poor, disabled, elderly and working people.

"We are occupying the roof in opposition to the marketisation of education pushed through by the coalition government, and the system they are pushing through of helping the rich and attacking the poor. We call for direct action to oppose these cuts.

"This is only the beginning of the resistance to the destruction of our education system and public services."

Calls are being made for a national walkout from schools, colleges and universities at 11am on Wednesday November 24.

Riot breaks out in Eugene, Oregon

HUNDREDS of young people battled riot police in a university city in the north-west of the USA at the weekend.

The clashes took place in Eugene, Oregon, which has a longstanding anarchist presence.

Police used tear gas against the youngsters, who had been out partying.

Reported Fox 12: "Police say it's unclear what touched off a 400-strong riot in the college town of Eugene that led to nine arrests.

"No injuries were reported after people spilled out onto a residential street Friday night, throwing bottles at officers, breaking car windows and tearing down street signs in the town that's home to the University of Oregon.

"Eugene police spokesman Doug Mozan says if people start to spill into the street and get drunk enough in the area home to many student renters, 'sometimes they engage in group-think.' He says 'it was like a flash mob, almost'."

Police provoked seaside riot

POLICE in Northern Ireland have been blamed for provoking a riot in a seaside town.

Reports The Belfast Telegraph: "The riot squad was called in after officers were attacked with bottles and other missiles by crowds in the centre of Ballycastle, just hours before the start of the famous Auld Lammas Fair. Two officers were injured.

"The street disturbances, which began after the pubs closed, lasted an hour.

"Tens of thousands of people later packed the town for the event which claims to be Ireland's oldest festival. But the police tactics used to quell the trouble in the early hours were heavily criticised.

"Padraig McShane, an independent member of Moyle District Council, who watched the police in action claimed the officers over-reacted and goaded some of the young people. He said the atmosphere in the town had been good until the riot squad arrived.

"Mr McShane said: 'This was heavy handed policing. They were very aggressive and the batons were out before the arrests. It's very easy for the police to look at young people on the wrong side and give them a hard time. But that's what happened and the violence was not a reflection of the people of Ballycastle'."

Troops sent to quell new French riot

ABOUT 50 travellers armed with iron bars and hatchets have rioted in the small town of Saint-Aignan in central France after police shot a man dead, reports the BBC.

Violence erupted when the crowd, some of them masked, tried to force their way into a police station in the town in the Loir-et-Cher region.

In the ensuing riot, a bakery was trashed, three cars torched and trees, traffic lights and road signs damaged.

Three hundred soldiers were brought in to restore order.

Nobody is believed to have been hurt during the incident, which appears to have no connection with rioting in the eastern city of Grenoble over the weekend, which began after police shot dead an armed robbery suspect there.

The confrontation lasted some four hours before the rioters left town, France's L'Express newspaper reports.

At Saint-Aignan, the travellers were protesting at the death of a 22-year-old man shot by police, reportedly as he tried to run down two of their officers.

Prosecutors say the man failed to stop his vehicle at a checkpoint and dragged a gendarme on the bonnet for 500 metres (yards). The gendarme escaped with light injuries.

Arriving at a second checkpoint, the driver allegedly then charged the two gendarmes on duty there, one of whom opened fire and killed him.

Both gendarmes were taken into custody after the incident but released without charge.

French TV channel TF1 News reports that the shooting occurred in the town of Thesee, near to Saint-Aignan.

"It was a settling of scores between travelling people and the gendarmerie," Saint-Aignan's mayor, Jean-Michel Billon, told AFP news agency after the riot.

He was quoted by L'Express as saying he was concerned the rioters were still close to the town and might return.

Anti-police riots hit French city

RIOTERS have exchanged gunfire with police in the French city of Grenoble, setting fire to shops and cars after police shot dead a man accused of robbing a casino, reports RTE News.
Youths torched between 50 and 60 cars in the southeastern French city, as well as construction equipment and two shops, while police arrested a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old, police said.
Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux was to visit the city this afternoon, his ministry said.
The rioting started after a memorial service for 27-year-old Karim Boudouda, who died 24 hours earlier in a shootout with police after allegedly holding up the Uriage-les-Bains casino near Grenoble.
Shortly before midnight, a group of around 30 youths armed with baseball bats and iron bars attacked a tram in Boudouda's working class district of La Villeneuve and forced the passengers to get out.
Police intervened to protect the passengers, and the youths began torching vehicles and attacking police who responded with tear gas.
A couple of hours later a youth emerged at the front of the rioters and fired a shot at police, who returned fire four times, police spokeswoman Brigette Jullien tolsaid.
Nobody was injured in the riots, police said.
By this morning order been restored in La Villeneuve, and police could no longer be seen on the neighbourhood's streets.
According to police union SGP-FO, violence has been on the rise in recent months in Grenoble.
'Police are at breaking point,' said regional union chief Daniel Chomette, who called for reinforcements.
The casino at Uriage-les-Bains was the third to be attacked in southeastern France and Switzerland since late March.
An alleged accomplice of Mr Boudouda escaped during the shootout and is still on the run. Police found between €20,000 and €40,000 in the back of the getaway car.

Keep up to date with the global insurrection - follow Vast Minority on Twitter. 

Riots in Argentina after death in police cell

RIOTS have broken out in Argentina after a 21 year old ''committed suicide' in a police cell, reports Angry News From Around The World.

The young man was arrested outside a bowling alley and, two hours later, was found hanged in his cell.

A demonstration outside the police station in the town of Salliqueló in western Buenos Aires province nded in chaos: people burned tyres and a car and the police cracked down with rubber bullets and tear gas.

The suspicious death of Gilberto Giménez, a boy who had come from Mendoza few months ago and worked as a bricklayer caused a stir among the inhabitants of Salliqueló.

According to reports, the boy was arrested on Sunday for incidents on public roads, and two hours later, was found hanged in his cell.

Fabian Attorney investigating the cause Arcomano revealed this morning that the autopsy report "clearly indicated" that the cause of death was "suicide by hanging." That matches the version supported by the police.

However, the victim's father, Carlos Fernandez, it was not a suicide. "My son was bruised all over. They had cut his neck and disfigured him," the man told the cable channel Todo Noticias (TN).

The contestation caused commotion among the inhabitants of the town, located 500 kilometers west of Buenos Ayres.

The protest began last night, near 22 hours in front of the police concerned. First 150 people gathered, but that number was increasing over time. There were burning tyres and a Ford k, so firemen had to go to work.

"We put out the fire but the people, who were very angry, tried to stop us. The fire did not affect any property ", they said.

The protest was initially suppressed with tear gas, but continued to grow. Until later, police received reinforcements from other cities of Buenos Aires which added gas and rubber bullets, and dispersed the neighbours in the midnight hours.

Police under attack in Nothern Ireland

POLICE in Northern Ireland have come under attack in a number of incidents over the weekend.

Reports The Belfast Telegraph: "Colleagues had to help two officers escape from their car in Ballymena on Saturday night after a man wielding an axe smashed the windscreen.

"The officers were responding to reports of suspicious activity in Kew Gardens shortly after 1am yesterday when their car was surrounded by a group of people.

"A man armed with an axe smashed the windscreen while another man was seen carrying a machete. Two male police officers escaped the vehicle with the help of colleagues who arrived at the scene.

"One man in his 20s and another in his 40s were arrested later yesterday morning.

"Meanwhile, police were attacked by stone throwers while investigating reports that petrol bombs were being thrown in the Ballybeen estate in Dundonald.

"Shortly after 10.40pm on Saturday the PSNI received reports that petrol bombs had been thrown in the Craignish Crescent area. Officers responding to the incident came under attack from people throwing stones and other missiles.

"Three petrol bombs were thrown at police vehicles, but no damage was caused and no one was injured. Inquiries into the incident are continuing.

"Later, at around 12.40am, two petrol bombs were thrown onto the carriageway at Ballybeen."