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Serbian protest in Belgrade against NATO, Karadzic’s 40-yr sentence

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© seselj.vojislav.srs / Facebook

Serbian radicals in Belgrade are protesting against NATO on the 17th anniversary of the bombing of Yugoslavia. They also rallied against a UN war crimes tribunal which yesterday sentenced former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to 40 years in jail.

The rally was organized by the Serbian Radical Party, which is headed by Vojislav Seselj – who served as deputy prime minister of Serbia between 1998 and 2000.

The protest marked the 17th anniversary of the start of NATO’s bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, which began on March 24, 1999. The demonstrators held banners saying “NATO dropped more bombs on Serbia than all the terrorists in the world.”

“Those who were bombing us in 1999, who were killing our children, those criminals from NATO, have now got the right voted in by parliament to walk freely across Serbia,” Seselj said in his address to the crowds, as cited by the website Balkan Insight.

The protesters also criticized Thursday’s verdict delivered by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sentenced Karadzic to 40 years in prison. The former Bosnian Serb president was found guilty on 10 charges out of 11.

Some of the protesters were carrying portraits of Karadzic.

Karadzic “was convicted [even though] he was innocent… and because he is Serb who found himself at a decisive and historic moment at the head of [the administrative entity in Bosnia and Herzegovina] Republika Srpska,” Seselj said.

The one charge that was dropped related to the allegations that Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide in seven municipalities of Bosnia. However, the 44-month siege of Sarajevo also amounts to a war crime, the judge ruled.

Though Karadzic was indicted by the tribunal in 1995, he was captured 13 years later in Belgrade, where he lived disguised as a faith healer. The Serbian authorities handed him over to international investigators for the trial, which began in 2009.

Numerous arrests after a protest in Yerevan

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arton123706-480x272The Armenian police have arrêté14 opposition activists after a demonstration in Yerevan Thursday, March 24 which degenerated into clashes with anti-émeutes.Les protesters forces had mobilized to demand the release of a member of a formation of the opposition who had been arrested in January and detained since. New Armenian public salvation Front has organized several rallies in the days leading up to protest against the continued detention of Gevorg Safaryan, whose arrest was denounced as politically motivated by the associations defending human rights .
More than a dozen women claiming that the radical opposition movement had gathered yesterday outside the headquarters of the Armenian police. G.Safarian is accused of attacking a police officer in the night of Saint Sylsvestre. The police resorted to use of force against Armenia of new militants Thursday, March 24, while they were chained to the floor of the Mashtots Avenue, one of the major roads in the center of the capital city. Ruzanna Yegnukian, who was among the protesters, was wounded in the head and was hospitalized.
Her husband, who is also a great figure of the new movement Armenia, Garo Yegnukian figure meanwhile the number of protesters arrested by police. However, it was released quickly enough in order to visit his wife in hospital Surp Grigor Lusavorich of Yerevan. G. Yegnukian said the head injuries his wife are due to a blow by a police officer. But Valeri Osipian, a deputy police chief of Yerevan, brought his denial. He claimed that the chained protesters were injured themselves while they struggled resisting police who were trying to make them leave.
The same day the Armenian government rejected a predictable opposition motion calling for officially commemorate the anniversary of the post-election violence of 2008, which had resulted in the death of 10 demonstrators in Yerevan. The Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Ter-Petrosian, who was leading the protest campaign to denounce in the street the results of Sarkisian’s election to the presidency in February 2008, wanted to be March 1 declared a day of remembrance of the victims and the “national uprising against state terror and repression.”
The violence and the many arrests that followed, had tarnished the inauguration Sarkisian for his first presidential term, even if the responsibility incumbent rather by his predecessor and mentor, Robert Kocharian, with which it is cold to Moreover since. But President Sargsyan, received half of his second term, has not seen fit to make a symbolic break with the tragic events that marked his rise to power and Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan addressed a plea of receive at the request of the opposition party.
Friday, March 25, 2016,
Gari © armenews.com

Armenians stage protest outside Azerbaijan permanent mission to UN

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demost-UNA group of representatives of the American Armenian community on Friday staged a picket outside the building of the permanent mission of Azerbaijan to the United Nations (UN), in New York.

Their protest was aimed against the Azerbaijani propaganda regarding the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait, Azerbaijan.

The demonstrators held signs that read “[Azerbaijani President Ilham] Aliyev, stop the lies,” “Stop Threats of War,” and “We Remember Sumgait,” etc.

Twenty-eight years have passed since the Armenian pogroms in Sumgait. In late February 1988, large-scale massacres because of ethnicity were committed there.

On February 27 of that year, the situation went out of control in this town, which is just 25 kilometers from the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku.

Several thousand Azerbaijani nationalists started burning the homes of the local Armenian population and killing the homeowners.

According to official data alone, 32 Armenian residents of Sumgait were killed, and hundreds of others suffered severe injuries and became disabled.

The February 27-29, 1988 Sumgait pogroms, about which Azerbaijan is silent to this day, were the first harbingers of the Azerbaijani neo-fascism

These massacres were followed by the Azerbaijanis’ pogroms of the Armenians in Kirovabad—today’s Ganja—and in Baku, deportation of the entire Armenian population in Shahumyan Region, and incitement to war, all in response to the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) people’s demand to exercise their right to self-determination.

Video – ‘Murderer!’ Asesino Female protesters interrupt Erdogan’s speech in Ecuador

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Erdogan AsesinoEcuador has summoned the Turkish ambassador in Quito to formally protest the treatment of three of its citizens who were forcibly removed after demonstrating against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he was speaking at an event. The three women were removed from Quito’s Centre for Higher National Studies on Thursday by Erdogan’s security personnel when they interrupted his speech. Local media were also prevented from filming the altercation

 

 

 

Chilean activists: Massive protest against Turkish dictator Erdoğan’s arrival in Santiago

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Protest against Erdogan in chileChilean activists protested the visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in front of the presidential palace in Santiago on Monday.

The protesters slammed the president, accusing him of being one with the radical terrorist group the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Protestors held signs that read “Erdoğan is ISIS [ISIL]” and “ISIS is the army of Erdoğan.”

The group also expressed solidarity with the Kurdish population in Turkey‘s Southeast by holding a sign that read “The Kurdish people are not alone.”

Some protesters were taken into custody during the demonstration.

Greece: Thousands protest pension reforms in Greek capital

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71223454-cdb9-4342-8745-5920d8d59bfeThousands of people have poured onto the streets of the Greek Athens to voice their outrage at the government’s planned pension reforms demanded by international lenders under the debt-ridden country’s third bailout package.

White-collar professionals, including doctors, lawyers and engineers took part in Thursday’s event outside the Greek parliament.

Waving their neckties and banging drums, the demonstrators chanted slogans such as “Quit, Quit,” “Take back this law, I can’t pay you, Alexis,” in reference to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

“No to the law that dumps us in the street,” read one of the banners held during the 6,000-strong protest.

Greece’s leftist government recently drafted pension reforms, which will increase social security contributions and recalibrate future pensions.

“According to this proposed law, 84 percent of our earnings will go to taxes and other contributions (to the state),” said an engineer who introduced himself as Haris.

Dinos Diamantis, another engineer, also criticized the reforms, accusing the Greek officials of forcing people out of their profession.

“With this law … all engineers and self-employed professionals are closing their offices and they are being forced to leave Greece, just like the 200,000 scientists and professionals that have already left,” said Diamantis.

Engineers wearing their protective helmets shout slogans during a protest against the government’s planned pension reforms Athens, Greece, January 21, 2016. ©AFP

Lawyer Panayiota Bourletidou, described the legislation as both punishing and illogical, warning that it will take away about 80 percent of a self-employed professional’s income if combined with tax thresholds.

In July last year, Greece signed a deal with its creditors – the European Commission, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – to receive an EUR 86-billion (USD 96-billion) bailout in exchange for fresh austerity reforms in the cash-strapped Mediterranean state.

Tsipras agreed to the demands for austerity measures by lenders in exchange for the bailout deal. The decision triggered outrage from Greeks, who argue that the premier came to power on an anti-austerity platform.

Greece has already received two bailouts in 2010 and 2012, worth a total of EUR 240 billion (USD 272 billion) from its creditors following the economic crisis in the Southeast European country back in 2009.

‘Stop Erdogan’s state terror against Kurds!’ Hundreds gather for pro-Kurdish rally in Berlin (VIDEO)

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400 Kurdish people have taken to the streets of the German capital

400 Kurdish people have taken to the streets of the German capital

At least 400 people have taken to the streets of the German capital to voice their protests against the policy of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan toward Kurds.

The demonstrators were holding banners reading, “Stop Erdogan’s state terror against Kurds!” and “Stop the war against the Kurdish people!” as they marched through central Berlin.

Some of the banners compared Erdogan’s party AKP (Justice and Development Party) to the Islamic State terrorist group.

The rally took place the day when the Turkish General Staff announced that nearly 300 Kurdish rebels, members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), were killed in raids conducted by the Turkish military in three districts in southeast Turkey.

Ankara has been conducting military operations in southeast Turkey since the summer. Tensions have been mounting for months as security forces have been battling Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants after a ceasefire collapsed in July.

Since then Turkey’s southeast has seen armored vehicles patrolling the streets, locals experiencing severe economic hardship and civilians killed. Dozens of Kurdish militants have been killed in the operations.

The PKK, which was founded in 1978, has been fighting the Turkish state since 1984 for Kurdish self-determination. Kurds make up between 10 percent and 25 percent of Turkey’s population. The organization is considered as a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and NATO.

https://youtu.be/UN9sYxLcTyg

Anti Christian Muslim Turkey, protest in Istanbul’s Beyazıt for New Year celebrations

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CİHAN photo

CİHAN photo

ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency

A Muslim youth group has held an “anti-Santa” rally in Istanbul, a city where, ironically, Christians ruled hundreds of years ago. The Istanbul University branch of the group, Anatolia Youth Association (AGD), held a rally on Dec. 30 at Beyazıt Square. Around 100 people held posters against celebrations held during New Year’s Eve on the grounds that it is a Christian tradition. The group dispersed after reading a press statement.

Christmas is celebrated by small number of Christian minorities in Turkey. Many celebrate New Year’s Eve and exchange presents on that day.

The center of New Year’s Eve celebrations used to be Istanbul’s Taksim square in previous years. However, Istanbulites now prefer Nişantaşı or Beşiktaş for street celebrations rather than Taksim due to the increased number of sexual harassment incidents in the area.

France: Dozens take part in fresh anti-Muslim protest in Corsica after attack on prayer hall

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France-corsicaAround 100 people marched in the Corsican capital of Ajaccio on Saturday, shouting anti-Muslim slogans. The protest happened in the same low-income neighborhood that violence erupted in earlier this week.

The demonstrators used firecrackers and shouted offensive nationalist slogans, witnesses said on social media.

Local authorities asked the protesters to stop their action, with the prefect of Corsica, Christophe Marmand, saying that their actions “give a disastrous image of Corsica,” Le Figaro reported.

Los Angeles: Armenians, Kurds protest against human rights situation in Turkey

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202912Dozens of local activists and community members gathered at the Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles to protest the recent assassination of human rights activist and lawyer Tahir Elçi, the Armenian Weekly reports.

Elçi was the president of the Diyarbakir Bar Association and one of the most prominent Kurdish lawyers and human rights defenders in Turkey. He was shot dead with a single bullet to the back of his head on November 28. Elçi died moments after delivering a speech calling for an end to the ongoing military siege of Kurdish cities in southeastern Turkey.

Protesters demanded accountability from the Turkish government, namely, the AK Party and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Members of various communities affected by Turkey’s atmosphere of racism, intimidation, and fear came together in solidarity to honor Elçi and other victims of Turkish oppression. Kurdish, Armenian, and various Middle Eastern community members were in attendance along with human rights organizations and community coalitions.

The protest, organized by the Rojava Solidarity Committee of Los Angeles and the Armenian Youth Federation (AYF), called for a fair and independent investigation of the murders of Elçi, Hrant Dink, and Sevag Balikci, and all other minority hate crimes in Turkey, as well as an end to government-sanctioned massacres of minorities, including lifting the siege on Kurdish cities, stopping the bombing of guerrilla camps, and stopping support of terror groups in Syria.

They also demanded that the U.S. government stop its support of the Turkish government, banning all arms sales to the AKP government, and suspending Turkey from NATO.

Chalk-outlines of human figures, symbolizing the bodies of Elçi and Dink, were drawn outside the Turkish Consulate’s front steps, turning the protest into the scene of a crime.

Photo. Reuters
Related links:

The Armenian Weekly. Armenians, Kurds Hold Protest Action in LA