via guardian.co.uk
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Libyans vow to protest despite violence from government - CNN.com
(CNN) -- Thousands of mourners, some carrying coffins above their heads, crowded into the streets of Benghazi, Libya, on Sunday as the protests against longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi showed no sign of letting up.
The crowds walked as part of a funeral for several people killed in clashes that began Saturday afternoon between civilians and security forces loyal to Gadhafi, eye witnesses told CNN.
The protesters said the violent crackdown by security forces since demonstrations started last week has left them energized.
The reported death toll grew quickly over the weekend, passing 180.
via cnn.com
Iran Forces Dig In Along Protest Routes
By FARNAZ FASSIHI
TEHRAN, Iran -- Thousands of demonstrators chanting against the government poured into the streets in nationwide protests on Sunday, clashing with security forces trying to disperse them, according to witness accounts.
In Tehran, protestors targeted government landmarks such as the national broadcast company Seda va Sima--seen as a mouthpiece for the regime--chanting "God is great," and "Death to the dictator," witnesses reported on opposition websites.
Since early Sunday morning thousands of anti-riot police and Basij militia on motorbikes stood guard along the protest route all along Vali Assr Avenue, the capital's longest road that connects the affluent northern part of town to the poor southern neighborhoods.
One witness said they fired tear gas at the crowd outside of the national broadcast company. Violent clashes were reported on Enghelab Avenue with dozens of injuries and at least 15 people arrested, according to opposition websites live blogging events from several Iranian cities.
Tehran's municipality has reportedly removed trash bins from most neighborhoods because they are often set on fire by crowds, according to witnesses.
Tension and violence is expected to increase as the crowds get larger and darkness descends. Mobile services have been cut off in most Tehran neighborhoods and Internet has slowed down, apparently due to government controls.
For the past few days, opposition supporters and activists posted online pledges on a Facebook page for Sunday's event, named after the date of the Iranian calendar 1 Esfand.
"Join us dear ones for the day Iran will be free," said one post.
The government had warned that it would crack down on any illegal gatherings. As a stern warning to protestors, Fars News Agency, affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, warned the public that Sunday's protests would be bloody because "opposition plans to shoot people." That, opposition groups worry, could be an attempt to build a justification for a violent crackdown.
Iran's opposition has raised the stakes by openly labeling the struggle as a fight against "a religious dictatorship," according to a statement.
The statement, endorsed by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, appears for the first time to give the opposition's goal some clarity after tens of thousands of supporters took to the streets of Iran calling for regime change last Monday.
Sunday is the seventh day of mourning for two slain students Sanah Jaleh, 26, and Mohamad Mokhtari, 22, who were shot dead on Monday when security forces attacked the crowd.
The public uproar and the government's reaction to the killing--it claimed the students were pro-government agents despite family denials--is giving the opposition some momentum, in addition to a wave of antigovernment uprisings across the Middle East.
"The system governing Iran now is neither Islamic nor a Republic. The Islamic Republic has already collapsed at the hands of this regime," said Mr. Karoubi on Friday, in one of his harshest criticisms of the government, according to his website citing a message he sent to supporters through an advisor.
Iran's government is also striking back at the opposition with a coordinated campaign that includes isolating its leaders under house arrest, slandering them in state media as agents of U.S. and Israel and rallying people to chant against them in the streets.
For the past week, Messrs. Karoubi and Mousavi have been placed under strict house arrest with very little communication to the outside world. Their team of bodyguards, from the Revolutionary Guards elite Ansar Mehdi branch, was dismissed and intelligence agents took over their protection, according to their websites.
A number of Iranian student activist groups issued statements on Friday warning Iran's government against harming the leaders and said there would be a price to pay, including "violent revolutionary actions," by students according to the statement by Tehran University medical students posted on websites.
via online.wsj.com
China tries to stamp out 'Jasmine Revolution' - Yahoo! News
BEIJING – Jittery Chinese authorities wary of any domestic dissent staged a concerted show of force Sunday to squelch a mysterious online call for a "Jasmine Revolution" apparently modeled after pro-democracy demonstrations sweeping the Middle East.
Authorities detained activists, increased the number of police on the streets, disconnected some mobile phone text messaging services and censored Internet postings about the call to stage protests at 2 p.m. in Beijing, Shanghai and 11 other major cities.
The campaign did not gain much traction among ordinary citizens and the chances of overthrowing the Communist government are slim, considering Beijing's tight controls over the media and Internet. A student-led, pro-democracy movement in 1989 was crushed by the military and hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed.
On Sunday, police took at least three people away in Beijing, one of whom tried to lay down white jasmine flowers while hundreds of people milled about the protest gathering spot, outside a McDonald's on the capital's busiest shopping street. In Shanghai, police led away three people near the planned protest spot after they scuffled in an apparent bid to grab the attention of passers-by.
Many activists said they didn't know who was behind the campaign and weren't sure what to make of the call to protest, which first circulated Saturday on the U.S.-based, Chinese-language news website Boxun.com.
The unsigned notice called for a "Jasmine revolution" — the name given to the Tunisian protest movement — and urged people "to take responsibility for the future." Participants were urged to shout, "We want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness" — a slogan that highlights common complaints among Chinese.
The call is likely to fuel anxiety among China's authoritarian government, which is ever alert for domestic discontent and has appeared unnerved by recent protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Yemen, Algeria and Libya. It has limited media reports about them, stressing the instability caused by the protests, and restricted Internet searches to keep Chinese uninformed about Middle Easterners' grievances against their autocratic rulers.
On Saturday in a speech to national and provincial officials, President Hu Jintao ordered them to "solve prominent problems which might harm the harmony and stability of the society."
China's extensive filtering and monitoring of the Internet meant that most Chinese were unlikely to know about Saturday's call to protest. Boxun.com, for example, is blocked as are Twitter and Facebook, which were instrumental in Egypt's protest movement. Still, young tech-smart Chinese are savvy about getting around controls.
One person sitting in the McDonald's after the brief protest in Beijing said he saw Sunday's gathering as a dry run.
"Lots of people in here are Twitter users and came to watch like me," said 42-year-old Hu Di. "Actually this didn't have much organization, but it's a chance to meet each other. It's like preparing for the future."
With foot traffic always heavy at the Wangfujing pedestrian mall, it was difficult to discern who showed up to protest, who came to watch and who was out shopping. Rubberneckers outnumbered any potential protesters. Many wondered if there was a celebrity in the area because of the heavy police presence and dozens of foreign reporters and news cameras.
As the crowd swelled back and forth and police urged people to move on, 25-year-old Liu Xiaobai placed a white jasmine flower on a planter in front of the McDonald's and took some photos with his cell phone.
"I'm quite scared because they took away my phone. I just put down some white flowers, what's wrong with that?" Liu said afterward. "I'm just a normal citizen and I just want peace."
Security agents tried to take away Liu, but he was swarmed by journalists and eventually was seen walking away with a friend.
Two other people were taken away by police, including a shabbily dressed old man who was cursing and shouting, though it wasn't clear if he was there because of the online call to protest.
In Shanghai, three young men were taken away from outside a Starbucks coffee shop in People's Square by police, who refused to answer reporters' questions about why they were detained. They trio had been shouting complaints about the government and that food prices are too high.
A couple dozen older people were drawn to the commotion and started voicing their own complaints and saying they wanted democracy and the right to vote. One woman jumped up on a roadside cement block to shout, "The government are all hooligans," then ran off, only to return a bit later and shout again at the police and others crowded in the area before once again scampering away.
Security officials were relaxed toward the retirees and the crowd eventually drifted away.
There were no reports of protests in other cities where people were urged to gather, such as Guangzhou, Tianjin, Wuhan and Chengdu.
Ahead of the planned protests, human rights groups estimated that anywhere from several dozen to more than 100 activists in cities across China were detained by police, confined to their homes or were missing. Families and friends reported the detention or harassment of several dissidents, and some activists said they were warned not to participate.
On Sunday, searches for "jasmine" were blocked on China's largest Twitter-like microblog, and status updates with the word on popular Chinese social networking site Renren.com were met with an error message and a warning to refrain from postings with "political, sensitive ... or other inappropriate content."
A mass text messaging service from China Mobile was unavailable in Beijing on Sunday due to an upgrade, according to a customer service operator for the leading service provider, who did not know how long the suspension would last. In the past, Chinese authorities have suspended text messaging in politically tense areas to prevent organizing.
Boxun.com said its website was attacked by hackers Saturday after it posted the call to protest. A temporary site, on which users were reporting heavy police presence in several cities, was up and running Sunday. The site said in a statement it had no way of verifying the origins of the campaign.
___
Associated Press writers Cara Anna and Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Elaine Kurtenbach in Shanghai contributed to this report.
via news.yahoo.com
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