“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets…. ”
― Cynthia Rylant
“November is the most disagreeable month in the whole year,” said Margaret…
“That’s the reason I was born in it,” observed Jo pensively…”
~ Louisa May Alcott
30/11/16:
Peru: in San Roman a state of emergency is declared after riots; 13 night clubs torched; access blocked to city during general strike against “citizen’s insecurity”; and in Andahuaylas 7th day of strike against wage freezes, corruption and crime also blocks cityIt must be emphasised that these events are not at all clear, and that some are indicative of reactionary attitudes. Certainly more research is needed – and maybe it’s a banality to say this, but one shouldn’t assume that just because there are strikes and riots that the content is necessarily independent or anti-hierarchical.
Sudan, Khartoum: burning tyres on 4th day of strikes against fuel hikes
Haiti, Port-au-Prince: stones v tear gas & water cannon as the poor try to get into rich area following election resultFor the umpteenth time, these clashes seem to have illusions in a political party, but that doesn’t rule out an independent element amongst those trying to attack the cops.
29/11/16:
Brazil, Brasilia: anti-government protesters overturn cars, smash Agrarian Ministry windows…Hereit says “Some demonstrators hurled objects at police, turning over a car and setting fire to at least two others. Windows were broken at several ministries.”
Protesters shield themselves as police fire tear gas at their demonstration outside Congress, where senators planned to vote on a spending cap bill. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, is suffering its worst recession in decades.
Algeria, Setif: rioters demanding reconnection of natural gas supply force closure of town hall
Nicaragua. Nueva Guinea: 6 cops injured as anti-canal protesters attack them with sticks and machetes; pathetic pacifists cancel next day’s demo“A gigantic canal project extending 174 miles (280 kilometers) from the Caribbean to the Pacific has been met with disapproval by local residents and environmentalists who warn the project will cause damage to Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America.” More here. Apparently cops used rubber bullets, beat people up and smashed up their trucks to try to prevent them marching in the capital the next day, but the goody goody professional environmentalists condemned the violence and did the cops’ work by cancelling the demo.
Sudan: government bans newspaper reports of strikes on 3rd day of General StrikeMorehere
28/11/16:
India, Manipur: banks attacked because of cash shortage“A policeman was injured in violence in one of the banks and while a mob damaged windows in another”
27/11/16:
France, Valence: new prison riot“”… several cells …were set on fire…Shortly after 12:00 on Sunday, two detainees threatened a prison officer with a “knife” , in order to steal his set of keys…The supervisor was then released and was not injured…The detainees then opened cells on the three floors of this section intended for long sentences. A fire broke out …Several cells were burned and water damage was reported but no injuries were reported “...Montpellier: Socialist Party office windows broken, anarchist tags
26/11/16:
Myanmar, Irrawaddy: 4 prisoners “riot”
Chile, a bit outside Santiago: hooded protesters occupy $1.7bn copper mine. See 16/11/16 for earlier occupation and more info.
France, Toulouse: posh cars and estate agent’s car burnt on feminist demo against state repression
25/11/16:
France, Paris: communique about sabotage of phone mast
UK, London: 30 schoolkids attack cops(classic Daily Hate Mail middle class horror shock journo-hack scribble)…construction workers occupy HQ of large construction company“Over 100 construction workers protested against Crossrail bosses…They are angry over Crossrail’s refusal to stick to the national JIB agreement, which allows for additional “second tier” bonus productivity payments. The protest started at the Crossrail’s Canary Wharf headquarters. It then moved to Oxford Street with workers blocking the road. Protesters then occupied the headquarters of construction giant Laing O’ Rourke.”
24/11/16:
China: Sony and Coca-Cola workers strike in several places
Bulgaria, Harmanli: refugees trying to escape detention centre clash with copsPost-riot reports here and here.
23/11/16:
Riseup to face prison or…?…though this appears to be hype
Italy, Sardinia: deputy chief of police hospitalised as anti-war demonstrators clash with cops (video here)
US, New York: pipeline protesters occupy Times Square, burn US flag“In the spirit of saying ‘f**k Thanksgiving,’ we would like to acknowledge the history that has brought us here. We know that the United States is a nation of lynchers and thieves who stole African people and stole indigenous land. So we do not celebrate genocide, which is what Thanksgiving represents for oppressed people. It should come as no surprise that the federal government gave $3 million dollars in military aid to North Dakota. Some of that aid went to a concussion grenade that has blown off our comrades’ arm … We must break this allegiance to the settler-colonial state … we do this act as a symbol of breaking that allegiance.”… Portland: report on anti-Trump movement
22/11/16:
France (Hauts-de-Seine): blockades of several high schools“An outbreak of violence this Tuesday morning in front of a middle school and three high schools…. The incidents started at 7:30 am with a gathering in Gennevilliers in front of the Galilee high school against the end of “zones of priority” education. Around 10 am, nearly a hundred young people stood in front of the school and projectiles were thrown at the police. At 8:30, garbage cans were set on fire in Clichy, in front of the René-Auffray high school, a priori for a completely different reason: the departure of the cook and the delivery of dishes to the canteen replacing “homemade” cooking. At 10 o’clock, another garbage fire was reported this time in Colombes in front of the Moulin-Joly College, not far from the Lycée Maupassant. At the same time in Suresnes, pupils organize a blockade in front of the Lycée Paul-Langevin and set fire to garbage cans whilst others were in their classes…The reason for this last blockade…: the lack of heating, of equipment and the condition of the premises. Firemen intervened and the main entrance was blocked up, but courses were not interrupted.” It should be pointed out that the “zones of priority education” mentioned as the reason for the first conflict at Galilee school were put in place by the former president, Mitterand, as a way of controlling the schoolkids, whilst being publicised as a method of giving the possibility of obtaining better more stable jobs, etc. Whilst it gave extra money to these “priority” schools, it more importantly involved the eldest brothers of kids, who’d been to prison, going into the schools, giving advice on how not to do what they’d done, and supervising the kids, calming them down, etc.
France: Vinci (company involved in prison construction and the Notre Dames de Lande airport project) becomes the object of a fake press release, by supporters of the resistance at Notre Dame de Landes This press release claimed that there’d been 3.4 billion euros worth of accounting irregularities and that the director of finance had been sacked. It included a fake link to a site which was almost exactly the same as the Vinci site, with a phone number to the pre-paid mobile phone of a person who confirmed the report. The media publishes the information immediately and the price drops 18%. Since it is unprecedented to publish such things during stock trading hours, and suspicions were aroused, a 2nd fake communique is issued with the sentence “Malicious people have harmed our group by diverting information that has been leaked from our offices”, which implicitly confirmed the content of the initial communique. Just before the closing of trading, Vinci issues a very clear denial, but they still finished 4% down. The “pirates” welcomed Vinci’s stock market downturn, and attacked them for a variety of projects, notably the Notre Dame des Landes airport, whose forest “already feels its retreat under concrete”, and “the blows that this company constantly gives to the Nepalese and the Indians who die every day on their construction sites in Qatar “.
Brazil: podcast on high school and university occupationsEssentiallya mainstream left discourse – a professor of anthropology talking at an “objective” political level, but saying very very little about the real movement going on. More on this movement here. And here
21/11/16:
France, Toulouse: action against Bagelstein, sexist junkfood company
South Africa, Gauteng: bus torched during student protests
Cameroon, Bamenda: striking teachers & supporters riot Video here
20/11/16:
France, Toulouse : Eiffage Construction Van Destroyed by FlamesEiffage is a large construction company with projects including the Bretagne-Pays de la Loire high speed rail link.
Denmark, Copenhagen: van burnt in solidarity with Standing Rock
Ecuador, Amazon region: 14 cops injured as indigenous try to take over mining camp“The Shuar Indians say the recently established prospectors’ camp was built on their ancestral homeland. They are vowing to keep up their campaign until it is closed. The clashes in a remote Amazon jungle area took place over the weekend but only came to light Tuesday. Officials say they are investigating whether the Shuar were carrying dynamite in addition to being armed with rifles. Indigenous groups across Ecuador have been stepping up protests against President Rafael Correa’s plans to boost mining to make up for a decline in oil revenue.”
UK, Doncaster: “serious disturbance” at prison More here“Inmates smashed up 36 cells in the action at HMP Moorland causing fire and water damage in one of the wings.” …Aberdeenshire: primary school vandalised to the tune of £200,000
US, Dakota: clashes with cops as pipeline protesters get water cannoned in below freezing temperatures. Videos here& here.
19/11/16:
France: list of 6 different schools vandalised &/or torched during 5 days (14th – 19th)…St.Denis: 2nd night of garbage bins set on fire in response to heavy-handed arrests…Savigny-sur-Orge: 3 BAC cops attacked with stones; cop car window smashed
US, Washington DC: white supremacist covered with his own stenchMorehere…Florida: 30 demonstrators block entrance to Trump club…Interesting comment on race, class and identity politics in the US here.
UK, Birmingham: cop car windows smashed
Iraqi Kurdistan, Sulaimani: Kurdish teachers etc. clash with cops over unpaid wages
18/11/16:
US, Minneapolis: 3000 block all lanes of motorway on anti-Trump demo; left-liberal stewards collaborate with cops… Washington state: anti-fracking rail blockade violently destroyed by cops (interview with participants here)
UK, Salisbury: arson attacks on several car dealerships…UK, Devon: report of hunt sab on Guy Ritchie’s estate
Peru, Lima: anti-Obama protesters clash with cops
17/11/16:
France, Créteil: a dozen youths attack cop car with stones during arrest
Greece, Athens: polytechnic occupied on 43rd anniversary of overthrow of colonels. Morehere“Dozens of anarchists occupied the National Technical University complex, site of the failed pro-democracy revolt, and attacked police with petrol bombs, flares and stones. Riot police responded with tear gas and stun grenades as street battles lurched outside the university in the densely-inhabited Exarcheia district, away from the embassy. No arrests or injuries were reported.”
16/11/16:
Chile, 40 miles NE of Santiago: copper mine occupied“The mine was occupied by protesters during an industrial dispute involving contract workers. Barricades were set up and set alight…contract workers are fighting for the restoration of normal working conditions, in line with what permanent full time miners have. “Temporary and subcontracted workers in the copper industry are the slave labour of the 21st century. Lacking rights and social protection, they are vulnerable and defenseless,” …Chile is the world’s number one copper producer and the metal is the country’s principal money earner. The industry has also been used as an experimental ground for steeped up neoliberal economics. Deregulation of the workforce by means of the uncertainty of short-term contract labour has seen wages go as low as $300 a month, leaving miners in poverty. “For instance, at Minera Escondida (the world’s largest private copper mine, owned by the Anglo-Australian company BHP Billiton), 200 workers share four showers, and they sleep according to the ‘warm beds’ system (several workers sleeping in turn in the same bunk)…The industry is rife with industrial disputation and the chances of a general strike are very real.” More here. “Anglo American has denounced a “violent” protest in Chile that has resulted in 100 hooded protesters seizing parts of its Los Bronces copper mine. The company blamed a group of contractors and “unidentified people” for setting fire to barricades and seizing outbuildings and trucks.”
France, Marseilles: cop car window smashed by youths during car pursuit
Peru, Cusco: report of indigenous arson attack on fracking mine
fracked off in Cusco: massive destruction of mine infrastructure
Greece, Chios: refugees set fires, loot stores etc.“…they smashed a fireworks store and started displaying them into houses and residents, smashed cars and shops around the place. The significant part of the camp has burned.” Not at all sure if the fire in the camp was a fascist attack or one committed by refugees themselves, the latter being what the article says happened – though this, covering the 16th & 17th of November, says the former.
Ivory Coast, Neamoue: villagers kill 2 cops after cops kill 2 villagers…More here (in French) “For some time, clashes between populations and police forces have occurred in several cities of Côte d’Ivoire, including Bouna, Katiola, and Yamoussoukro. In the latter city, clashes broke out between the youths and the police during the night of 16-17 November….The clashes between young people and the police, which lasted several hours, involved some damage – the police station of the 2nd borough of Yamoussoukro was even surrounded, tree trunks and tires erected as barricades. It was only late at night, thanks to reinforcements and tear gas, that the police were able to regain control of the situation….At the beginning of the week, in the Bouna region, in the north-east of the country, a gendarme control degenerated into clashes and left 4 dead. In early October, the city of Katiola in the center of the country was burning.”
Brazil, Rio: clashes with cops on anti-austerity demo More here: “…authorities acknowledged that the situation is “ungovernable.” The riots began when teachers, police and doctors, along with militants of leftist parties, tried to invade the Legislative Assembly where a plan of adjustment was put to vote. A journalist on the UOL portal was assaulted while law enforcement fired rubber bullets, tear gas and water against public employees who rejected wage cuts and reforms in the pension system.”…Brasilia: parliament occupied by 60 protesters. Seems that they have some mad delusions that the army can save them from the right-wing government.
15/11/16:
Germany : an update from Hambach forest
UK: fires etc. at 3 prisons as screws complain about how unhappy their lot is“Six fire engines were called to Channings Wood on Tuesday after a fire started inside the building but the blaze was out when they arrived….An inmate at HMP Featherstone near Wolverhampton contacted BBC WM on a mobile phone which he said had been smuggled in to say the the jail was “totally out of control”. He said inmates were unaware about the protest being staged by prison officers, a claim the Ministry of justice (MoJ) denied. …There were also reports of a small fire in a cell at Norwich Prison on Tuesday which the fire service extinguished.”
US, Dakota: train tracks blocked with branches and truck in anti-pipeline movement…Washington DC: high school & middle school students walk out of class, shut down Lincoln memorial…New York: cops force professor to have psychiatric evaluation after having critical discussion about Trump etc.
Greece, Athens: molotovs v tear gas during demo against visit by ObamaVideohere. This seems to have been dominated by anti-imperialist ideology, and included the wretched consistently counter-revolutionary Communist Party, though it obviously included others (see here) not at all compromised in this way. See also this anarchist “welcome” to Athens [SF]
Spain, Murcia: attack on cops in migrant detention centre; at least 9 prisoners escape
Dominican Republic, San Domingo: students clash with cops during demo over allocation of resources“Demonstrators, some with their faces covered, threw stones at police officers and vehicles passing through the nearby streets, as well as blocking roads with different objects. The incident originated when the police prevented a march of dozens of students who were heading towards Congress”
14/11/16:
US: anti-Trump high school students walk out of class in several states
Iran, Tehran: residents clash with cops during state destruction of their houses and cars
France, Toulouse: cops and firemen stoned during incident at squat…
Serbia: migrants clash with cops on Croatian border
Chile, Santiago: striking public sector workers clash with cops
13/11/16:
UK, Staffordshire: arson attack on Amazon warehouse
Australia, Melbourne: prison riots again“Windows were smashed, walls destroyed and security doors, weighing hundreds of kilograms, ripped down. Hammers, chisels, screwdrivers and lumps of wood were seized from a tool storage area as staff beat a retreat. The 20-bed Eastern Hill unit was flooded after inmates smashed the sprinklers using stolen tools. An angle grinder — used in a metal work program — was then used to cut through locks on several doors and breach restricted areas. Other children, frustrated they were forced into lockdown most of the weekend, began pulling sprinklers in their cells to cause flooding….computers and game consoles were smashed and litres of paint splashed around. Inmates from the West Gate unit later joined in, smashing expanses of ceiling, destroying locks and doors, tearing away electrical wiring and ripping out state-of-the-art security cameras. Some teenagers smashed through the ceiling of an inmate who did not want to take part and beat him. The nightmare for staff was compounded when, at one stage, they had to change their communications channel because they believed inmates had got hold of a radio and were listening in.”
12/11/16:
Australia, Perth: riot in juvenile prison causes at least $350,00 worth of damage“The latest violent incident at Perth’s juvenile detention centre – the 10th in less than two-and-a-half months…The youths barricaded themselves in, removed bricks from walls and threw them at staff, broke every reinforced glass window and pulled panelling and cabling out of the ceiling”…Melbourne: and an even bigger riot in a prison for young “offenders” causes $2m worth of damages“Rioting inmates have destroyed security cameras and ripped ceilings and walls apart, causing an estimated $2 million in damages at Melbourne’s youth detention centre. About 20 inmates at the Parkville facility were left without beds on Saturday night after their cells were trashed. The riot came as an inmate at another prison facility attacked four prison officers, inflicting a serious neck injury….the sprinkler system was also severely damaged after the group broke into one of the buildings and found a sledge hammer and shovel. Computers were then thrown through the windows before the group climbed up on the roof and demanded junk food and a phone…The disturbance is believed to have been started by the same youth who triggered another riot on Thursday at the centre….In September, inmates and staff clashed for three consecutive nights and several juvenile offenders threatened staff and took control of part of the centre….In the separate prison incident on Saturday night, four Port Phillip Prison officers were assaulted during a cell search, with one suffering a suspected serious neck injury.”
US, Indianapolis: 2 cops injured by rock-throwing anti-Trumpers…Berkeley: anti-Trump march attacks bank and poice station…somewhat voluntarist online call for General Strike for Trump inauguration day
New York Times 1932:
Sweden, Stockholm: clashes between Nazis and counter-demonstrators during fascist anti-migrant march
Italy, Campania: 3 phone masts sabotaged in solidarity with imprisoned anarchists
South Korea, Seoul: clashes with cops on massive anti-government demo
11/11/16:
France, Essonne (Paris banlieu): 30 youths chuck metal bars at cops…Tours: 5 cars burnt after cops attacked following arrest during rodeo…Nevers: high school set fire to
Nevers
Egypt, Giza: anti-austerity protests
US, Portland: protester shot“…If Trump’s appeal is truly to the “angry white workers” and is based on some sort of appeal to “righting” the US economy, how can the bullshit about reducing taxes, eliminating regulation, etc. be THAT appeal, since that’s been the mantra for 40 years, and been the “cover” for driving down wages and living standards, asset stripping, etc. etc? Is the “white” working class that stupid?…The fact is, it’s impossible to disentangle the so-called “economic fears” from the racism that has been so essential to the composition, and organization, of the US working class….I don’t think Trump appealed to anyone’s “hope” for a solution to economic problems. I’m not sure that the Trump voters, no matter what their class, want solutions. They want victims.” – from here….burning projectiles thrown at cops… Videoof situation in Portland…about $1m worth of damage…Los Angeles: cops get stoned, squad car tagged, fireworks thrown (this on the eve of the 50th anniversary of a far bigger riot in LA)
10/11/16:
France, Yvelines: a dozen youths attack cops with stones and fireworks; cop car damaged
US, San Francisco: thousands of high school students walk out to march against Trump Brief eyewitness account here….Portland: business windows smashed on anti-Trump demo“…at least 19 cars at Toyota of Portland were vandalized…business windows along Northwest Lovejoy Street and elsewhere were smashed….Flash bangs and rubber bullets were reportedly being used in an attempt to clear protesters, and arrests are being made. Police report officers were “taking projectiles.” As Thursday became Friday, the standoff continued, with Oregon State Police officers also being deployed at Southwest Yamhill Stree and 4th Avenue. Flash bang and less-than-lethal rounds were being deployed as officers advanced to clear the crowd….Protesters set up a makeshift barricades of newsstands….”… New Orleans: unusual mix of anti-Trump graffiti on war memorial; bank windows smashed“Die Whites Die”, “we are ungovernable” (with an anarchist circled A), “Black Power”, “Kill Trump” and “Dismantle White Supremacy”– clearly the first is idiotically (and very unstrategically) divisive, since probably a majority of whites do not support Trump, even in the USA.…Some comments on the US election can be found in the comments boxes below [SF]
Guatemala, Guatemala City: street vendors protest against prohibition from working during holiday season turns into riot; over £100,000 worth of damage“A protest that started with street vendors’ discontent over the prohibition of marketing their products during the holiday season on the Paseo de la Sexta ended with the destruction of traffic lights, Christmas kiosks, sculptures and other things.”
9/11/16:
UK, South Shields: anarchist arson of council vehicle
Democratic Republic Of Congo, Kinshasa: students clashing with cops over exchange rates for fees win partial victory“…the Director General of ISTA, Kasengedia Mutumbe, announced the downward revision of the exchange rate. “In the name of social peace at ISTA, we have lowered the rate to 967 Congolese francs to the US dollar,”…more than a hundred Congolese police had surrounded the university premises in the morning and fired tear gas to classrooms. Two vehicles were burned while several shops were damaged. Later in the day, the Minister of Higher and University Education, Théophile Mbemba, decided to suspend Kasengedia Mutumbe from office “for investigative reasons”
Italy, Trento: nine vehicles belonging to company involved in migrants’ deportations set on fire
US: many high school students walk out in protest against Trump“Thousands of protesters blocked traffic in downtown Portland, Ore., Chicago, Boston and Philadelphia, with some torching flags. Demonstrators in Oakland smashed windows at five businesses and ignited trash containers and tires…In downtown L.A. early Wednesday, a crowd gathered near City Hall and property was defaced, including a fence scrawled with graffiti insulting the incoming commander in chief.”.
Oakland
Flags also burnt in New York and Texas…Motorway shut down in LA. More here. And in other parts of California also. And in Portland. Should point out the additional insanity of this election: so far Clinton has got 60,275,264 votes, with Trump getting 59,937,885 votes–ie over 330,000 more than Trump (votes are still being counted, but the more they’re counted the bigger Clinton’s majority). But thishas some of the better comments on the election – from Indians in Dakota: “I don’t think anyone here votes,” said Julie Richards, an Oglala Lakota from Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. “We’re all like, fuck the government, fuck voting, and fuck the people running.”…Archambault is not interested in choosing the next elected leader of one of his enemies. “I don’t want to have a say in government,” he said. “I guess you could call it trauma. I don’t have faith in government, so I don’t want to have a say.” The “trauma” Archambault speaks of lies heavy over the encampments that have arisen on the windswept banks of the Missouri River. Generations of war, massacres, broken treaties, discrimination, police harassment, and poverty have resulted in a general feeling of distrust, disillusion, and disinterest in mainstream politics among the Native Americans gathered at Standing Rock. And historical traumas have only been compounded by the militarized police response to unarmed protesters, who have been met with Mace, rubber bullets, Tasers and sound weapons.”…Nebraska: anti-Trump graffiti on State Capitol building…Oakland: city hall windows smashed. More complete list here
Most delerious headline of the day: “US WAR ZONE: Millions riot across America in Donald Trump election protests”“Journalist: a person without any ideas but with an ability to express them; a writer whose skill is improved by a deadline: the more time he has, the worse he writes.” – Karl Kraus. When you compare what is described as a riot nowadays (eg a couple of bins burnt) with, say, the situation in the 1960s when Watts rose up and something like a thousand buildings were set alight and stores looted to the degree that 2 years later some people still had their garage half-full of crates of whiskey etc, one can see the enormity of the counter-revolution and the terrified/terrifying domestication of people. Compare also the 1964 election, with both candidates arguably to the left of both Trump and Clinton, when the nuclear trigger-happy Republican – Barry Goldwater – lost to Johnson with a margin of 22.6% [SF]
This is an interesting reflection.
As for Trump’s style: “The secret of the demagogue is to make himself as stupid as his audience so they believe they are clever as he.” – Karl Kraus
7/11/16:
Algeria, Algiers: 5 cops serious hurt in riot resisting evictions
Brazil, Rio: residents clash with cops during eviction; molotov thrown next day
UK, London: pretty rare, corny, classic yet wonderful escape from famous Caledonian Road prison“It is understood the pair used diamond-tipped cutting equipment to break through their cell bars before scaling an outer perimeter wall….the runaways had folded bedsheets into the shape of mannequins to fool staff into believing they were still asleep… the two men escaped through a cell window on the fifth floor…it was rumoured they had used bedsheets to lower themselves down.” Almost 300 years after Jack Sheppard’s famous escapes and so far modern totalitarianism has yet to find ways to suppress the beautiful innocence of tried and tested proletarian inventiveness. Tempted reflexively to say “Thank God!” – but“Thank the Human Spirit!” is far better.
Vietnam, Hanoi: cops fire teargas at drug addicts trying to escape compulsory rehab
US, Washington DC: anti-pipeline graffiti put on stupid war memorial…Minnesota: arrested woman escapes – in police car! (video)
6/11/16:
UK, Bedford: up to 300 prisoners riot, forcing guards to flee“Reports say “hundreds” of inmates are reportedly causing chaos at the category B jail after “ransacking” guards’ offices and arming themselves with knives….A man claiming to be an inmate said cops have swarmed the prison, with up to 300 prisoners involved in the riot. He told Mirror Online: “We’ve got control of the prison.Prisoners are walking around with knives and coshes. They’ve nicked mobile phones out of the office, everything’s been smashed.”… prisoners ripping up toilets and causing mass damage. Guards are said to have fled the prison” More here“…inmates carrying blades are ransacking guards’ offices, setting small fires and stealing medical supplies.”
Peru, Lima: clashes between anti-bullfight protesters and cops
France, Doubs: small clashes with cops after 2 cars are set alight…Haute-Loire: Socialist Party office windows attacked…Besançon : night action in solidarity with migrants
5/11/16:
Italy, Florence: clashes with cops as PM visits city (video here)
Greece, Athens: about 80 attack cop riot unit with molotovs…Xanthi: anarchists clash with cops over opening of Golden Dawn HQ “Police fired tear gas to disperse the crowd of around 300 anarchists who tried to break through a cordon to attack the Golden Dawn premises, launching Molotov cocktails and vandalizing shops after being thwarted.”
US, Florida: pipeline construction stopped by protesters
Cyprus, Nicosia: civil defence car burnt
France, Champigny: youths attack pigs with stones & cans at pig fair
4/11/16:
France, Dijon: 15 attack cops and firemen with molotov…Toulouse: 3 cars belonging to prison construction company destroyed by fire
US, Atlanta: railtracks barricaded for at least 6 hours in solidarity with anti-pipeline movement
Chile, Santiago: burning buses & barricades as workers fight private pension poverty“Protesters set fire to at least two buses, forcing passengers to flee, and blocked some two dozen streets with burning barricades in the capital Santiago on a day of nationwide demonstrations…. the system has left the 10 million Chileans enrolled in it with deplorable retirement benefits far short of the Pinochet regime’s promise of 70 percent of workers’ last paychecks. The average pension is less than the minimum wage in Chile. The protests came on the same day as a strike by public sector workers demanding a raise, adding to the pressure on center-left President Michelle Bachelet. Protesters disrupted the morning commute in Santiago by blocking off streets and attacking buses with Molotov cocktails.” … anarchists intervene in struggle and block Panamerican highway (a communiqué in Spanish)
Video here Also clashes in Valparaiso, Arica, Viña del Mar and Concepción (list of links in Spanish)
3/11/16:
Germany, Dresden: vehicle belonging to arms company destroyed in arson attack
US, Pennsylvania: migrants right group occupy Clinton’s campaign office…Dakota: anti-pipeline protesters sit-in at Capitol building
Eire, Limerick: billonaire’s mansion gutted by arson attack
Sweden, Vasteras: report on migrants’ attitudes to burning cars“…a young migrant has explained how boredom and racism has driven him and his friends to violently vandalising property for amusement. …one of a group of these migrants described as wearing black hoods and loitering outside a recently burnt-down shopping centre, was blunt when he said: “Some feel good to burn cars”. The unnamed male identifies disappointment in society and harassment by police as the main motivations for the arson. Another young man tells the paper by email — he refuses to meet the journalist in person — that he and his friends feel pre-judged by native Swedes, and are discriminated against. Complaining that when locals witness acts of violent damage they don’t stop to consider the reasons behind it, he remarked: “When a car burns everyone here thinks [the perpetrators] are animals and idiots. People don’t know how young people are discriminated against every day… We only get noticed when the cars burn. I think young people are using it as a cry for help.”
2/11/16:
France, Loire: mast for researching wind potential for wind energy sabotaged
Kenya, Nairobi: clashes with filth in protests against corruption
US, Dakota: more pipeline clashes (video here)
1/11/16:
Italy, Genoa : several ATM’s sabotaged in solidarity with anarchists on trial and in prison
South Africa, Johannesburg: bus drivers on wildcat strike…Limpopo: maths exam subverted
France, Chambery (Savoie): car and bins burnt by about 30 youths
Australia, Brisbane: protesters occupy roof of immigration ministers offices
December
december 2016
“Spring is too busy, too full of itself, too much like a 20-year-old to be the best time for reflection, re-grouping, and starting fresh. For that you need December….December has the clarity, the simplicity, and the silence you need for the best FRESH START of your life.”
― Vivian Swift
31/12/16:
France: cars burnt in Strasbourg, Brest, Vannes, Creil, Montataire, Nogent sur Oise, Compiègne, Carcassonne, Mantes la Jolie, Chanteloup les Vignes, Nanterre, Rennes, Nantes, Forbach, Watrelos and Poitiers…almost 1000 cars burnt, 17% up on previous year…Besançon: demo outside prison, heavy duty fireworks thrown over wall, “Everybody out!” graffitied, loud slogans – “stone by stone, wall by wall, we will destroy all the prisons”, “death to jails!”, “set fire to the prisons, the screws in the middle …”; similar demos round Paris and Toulouse
Similar demos in Greece (Athens), Germany (Dortmund, Flensbourg, Wuppertal, Cologne,Stuttgart & Fribourg) and USA (Ashville, Portland, Oakland, New York, Minneapolis, Bloomington, & Philadelphia)
Trinidad & Tobago, San Juan: report on recent trend of arson & looting of businesses See this , this, & this
30/12/16:
France (Neuf-Brisach, northeast) : attack on gendarmes A gendarme’s car was completely destroyed by fire, and the entrance to the gendarme’s barracks was also burnt a bit. …Vesoul: National Front HQ vandalised
Nepal, Kathmandu: government vehicles torched or vandalised
29/12/16:
Congo, Brazzaville: 3 die – a gendarme, a rioting prisoner and a civilian – in brief prison riot
28/12/16:
France, Tours: riot cops attacked with hydrochloric acid & heavy-duty fireworks
US, Philadelphia: another shopping mall mini-riot“…the youths “were pelting cops with fountain sodas and all kinds of trash.” Another witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said that they saw “multiple fights” break out. The police reacted to the rioters and swiftly broke them up, but not before one of the offenders, according to a report, “grabbed [an] officer around his neck and tried to wrestle the officer down to the ground while ripping the officer’s patrol jacket and punching the officer in his head while yelling, ‘F— the Police!'”
Greece, Athens: municipal workers clash with cops
Coriolanus, Act 1 Scene 1:
[Enter a company of mutinous Citizens, with staves, clubs, and other weapons]…
- First Citizen. We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians good.
What authority surfeits on would relieve us: if they
would yield us but the superfluity, while it were 15
wholesome, we might guess they relieved us humanely;
but they think we are too dear: the leanness that
afflicts us, the object of our misery, is as an
inventory to particularise their abundance; our
sufferance is a gain to them Let us revenge this with 20
our pikes, ere we become rakes: for the gods know I
speak this in hunger for bread, not in thirst for revenge.
27/12/16:
Switzerland, Lund : bank attacked as part of mobilization against G20 in Hamburg
South Africa, Limpopo: 50 prisoners attack screws
26/12/16:
South Africa, Port Elizabeth: 3 prisoners killed during riotThe riot began as an an attack on screws but these reports give no indication of who the prisoners were killed by – prisoners or screws. Given that the authorities would normally indicate that it was prisoners doing the killing, one suspects that this was yet another case of state murder. And this reportimplies the killings were by the state: “During the attack on the warders, which started in the food hall in the late morning, another group of inmates forced their way into the administration building and locked themselves inside. They used teargas to keep the staff and ERT officials at bay. Some of the records housed in the building were destroyed. Thirteen warders were wounded – some of them stabbed with home-made knives – and 19 prisoners were injured, besides the three fatalities.”
Chile, Santiago: bins burnt during clashes between cops & Mapuche Indians as imprisoned leader goes into 4th day of hunger strike Video here
France, Nancy: 2 cop cars hit by low caliber bullets in 2 different parts of town…Etampes: about 15 masked youths attack and destroy CCTV camera and its mast; cops pelted with stones and bottles
Bangladesh, Ashulia: garment workers sacked, arrested, beaten during massive movement (see entry for 20/12/16)“Up to 3,500 workers have been sacked and 50 leaders have gone into hiding.” See thisfor an account of events and a critical take on the unions, NGOs, etc.
US: the joys of post-Xmas shopping – the struggle against boredom“By night’s end, at least 15 fights had broken out in shopping centers from Connecticut to Arizona…officers… believe the … common thread is that teenagers have too much time on their hands during the holiday break from school…Fights were reported in at least a dozen states, with two episodes in Connecticut and three in Tennessee. Fights were also reported at malls in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Illinois, Ohio, Arizona, New Jersey, Indiana, Colorado and Texas.”
24/12/16:
Australia, Papua New Guinea: asylum seekers riot at notorious detention centre over death of Sudanese“Asylum seekers held at a Papua New Guinea detention center briefly took control of two compounds and expelled guards following the death of a refugee who fell ill at the center…The man’s death is not being treated as suspicious by Australian authorities, but detainees and refugee rights groups have claimed the man was seriously ill for months and had made repeated requests for medical assistance before the emergency.”
Palestine/Israel, Bethlehem: Israeli border guards teargas Santa Claus
France, Pignan (west of Montpellier): MacDonalds windows smashed 18 days after opening
23/12/16:
Colombia, Tolima: stones & explosives thrown at riot cops during anti-austerity protests
Chile, Concepcion: illegal street vendors set fire to barricades in clash with cops
22/12/16:
UK, Isle of Sheppey (Kent): 60 or so prisoners take over prison wing
Swaleside Prison: no face no case
…London (Ealing): mini-riot after cops close down music event
France, Creuse: incendiary attack against animal concentration camp (with capacity of 1,000 calves)
21/12/16:
France,Trégor, Lannion (Côtes-d’Armor, Brittany): windows of forensic radiology office smashed & tagged with named forensic scientist rightly described as “collaborator”“This action was aimed particularly at Remy Bonfils, a forensic pathologist and radiologist known for performing bone tests in the service of the state. This action seeks to highlight the actions of these cops in white coats, participants, too often forgotten, in repression. These tests, intrusive as well as humiliating, include scans to study calcification of the bones of the wrist as well as thorough examinations of the body (palpation of the breasts, weight gain, size, examination of teeth and hair … ) and serve to get rid of and enclose those which are considered as significant. Because doctors are in the service of control and surveillance technologies. Because they serve the state and its logic of security. Because under the guise of ethics, their deontology allows them to be detach themselves from any responsibility for their actions. Because they seek to bring our bodies into social and moral norms especially with regard to women’s bodies and reproduction. Because they seek to stifle our “deviations” with masquerades and diagnostics. Because they work hand-in-hand with pharmaceutical companies and all the participants in deathly projects on humans and non-humans (DNA research, Genetics, biotechnology, etc.) and seek to bring more and more technologies into our lives and bodies. Because they think they know what is good for us. They are not neutral, they are responsible and are our enemies – the silence of pacification has lasted long enough. Let us attack them and the enterprises in which they work everywhere. Through these acts we also express our solidarity with the people who make the choice of critique through attack. Solidarity and couRAGE with the comrades who led the offensive, without mediation, against the physical workings of the control of people with or without official documents. Today, they are accused of several attacks (in particular) against the construction of a detention centre in Brussels and against the world that produces them. Let us not wait until tomorrow to bite the hand of those who set themselves up as master and expert. Let us unleash our bodies and our desires“
Mexico, Oaxaca: office & ballot papers of the Partido Acción Nacional (leading right-wing political party) burnt by a couple of people However this might just be politics-as-normal as the PAN accuse a political rival of having attacked its office (source in Spanishhere); on the other hand, it might just be convenient to say that – we obviously don’t know.
20/12/16:
Bangladesh, Ashulia: report that workers at at least 55 clothes factories have been refusing to work for 9 days in pursuit of wage hike See this for an account of events and a critical take on the unions.
US, California: 100 prisoners riot
19/12/16:
Greece, Athens : three trolley buses set on fire in solidarity with arrested comrades
Canada, Val Saint-Côme : ski resort sabotaged
Algeria, Bejaia: riot outside Directorate of Education (its windows broken) as 1000s of primary, middle & high school students protest reduction of winter holiday from 15 to 10days.“In addition to throwing stones, tires were burned and Molotov cocktails were used.The clashes paralysed part of the city closed to road traffic.If calm returned in the late afternoon, tension remains alive around the Directorate of Education where high school students decided to camp”...high school students on strike in 10 schools in Boumerdès, and high school students’ demos in Constantine & Annaba…Setif: another high school demo
Bejaia: Directorate of Education gets breath of fresh air
UK, Cardiff: Winson Green prisoners barricade themselves in cells in protest against being moved
18/12/16:
UK, Hull: semi-riot in prison“Order has been restored to Hull Prison amid fears 15 dangerous prisoners transferred from Birmingham were attempting another riot….Prison officers said staff had been assaulted, CCTV cameras were torched and inmates refused to return to their cells following the arrival of the prisoners from HMP Birmingham”
17/12/16:
Belgium, Brussels : wildcat antifascist demo
Argentina, San Juan province : Barrick Gold Mine Blockade Eviction Turns ViolentAlso seethis, on Barrick Gold and repression in Tanzania
Switzerland, Bern : bank spray-painted in solidarity with Standing Rock
Venezuela: government forced to backtrack on demonetisation as looting spreads, banks torched“135 people were arrested for looting, and…soldiers were deployed “to re-establish order”. In Guasdalito, in the central-western State of Apure, three state bank offices were torched” …Bolivar state: 115 different businesses looted; curfew declared; military called out in Zulia, Apure, Bolivar and Delta Amacuro
La Fria, Venezuela: town hall burnt
India, Elampillai (Tamil Nadu): cop bikes burnt etc. after motorcyclist killed following cop vehicle check“…the locals gathered in large numbers and quarrelled with the police who were checking vehicles. Soon, Magudanchavadi police inspector Rajaranaveeran along with a posse of police personnel reached the spot. The locals attacked the police, injuring Rajaranaveeran, SSI Palanisamy and SI Rajendran. The people then blocked the road with the body and set two police bikes ablaze. Later, a large police contingent was brought to the spot and tear gas was used to control the crowd. The police even used batons to beat up the protesters. In response, the people pelted stones at the police and their vehicles. In the attack, some police personnel suffered minor injuries and three police vehicle windshields were damaged”
16/12/16:
UK, Birmingham: major riot in Winson Green prison“Sources claim the full scale riot started in P Wing when a prison officer was overpowered. They claim it quickly spread to N Wing – and keys have been taken by inmates. One hardened lag, speaking through a relative, said: “I have been in riots before and this is, by far, the worst I’ve come across.”… The prisoner claimed the trouble was sparked by the death of an inmate two weeks ago. It is believed the man committed suicide….it all started over there no being enough hot water in the shower or something like that. There are no officers on the wing now. They have abandoned it. There is major damage to the wing….as I understand it, there is a major disturbance on N Wing which has now spread to L and M wing. “Apparently prisoners started by smashing light fittings and wing fire hoses and that is why they cut off the water. “They tried to get the prisoners back behind doors and as they were trying one officer was threatened with a syringe. Another prisoner came up behind him and snatched keys and broke the security chain.” More here“Water has been switched back on at Winson Green prison and inmates are being encouraged to extinguish fires as safety concerns heighten. With riots raging at HMP Birmingham for nearly 11 hours, fires are burning in several parts of the jail.” and here“When we were told this morning that we were not getting exercise everyone went mad. They have had enough. “They cancel gym all the time, the showers are cold, the food is crap, the heating is never on and we never get our mail on time.” The rioting kicked off at around 9am today as officers were ordered to abandon wings that fell under inmate control. Pictures from inside the jail show inmates wearing stolen police riot gear, bashing down prison doors and showing off a pair of keys.” More here“The incident sparked the takeover of at least four wings of the Category B prison by around 400 criminals – including the gym, pharmacy and security equipment store….It took 14 hours for specialist ‘Tornado team’ prison riot officers and armed police to get the situation back under control…. inmates had breached internal gates and threw paint at the Tornado team as the riot continues to spread…. inmates had breached wings and had entered exercise yards after starting fires, destroying files and throwing computers from windows in the offender management unit….”If they destroy all of those records it is going to take months or even years to rebuild the information.”
Winsome Grin: prisoners dress up in riot gear
Venezuela: riots in different parts of country as government makes 100 bolivar bills worthlessThis report emphasises looting of Chinese owned stores; have no idea if other stores were also looted: “Venezuelans rioted outside banks and stores on Friday as the nation’s struggling government pulled the country’s largest bill from circulation. One of the most dramatic incidents happened in El Callao, near Venezuela’s gold mining belt, where employees of a Chinese-owned supermarket frantically threw piles of cash out of the second floor window of their business as an angry mob approached. The desperate act was apparently a last ditch effort to dissuade people from breaking in and looting the store. Another photo taken in the same town shows a mob ransacking another Chinese-run market. Carlos Chancellor, the mayor of the neighboring town of Tumeremo, reported protesters burning trash in the streets….In Guasdalito, a town in Apure sate, people looted another state run bank that would not deposit or trade their 100 bolivar bills….In San Cristobal, near the border with Colombia, looting broke out as people stuck with wads of worthless cash decided to help themselves to clothes and food. Riot police were deployed to quell the unrest.”
France, Creteil (Parisian banlieu): prisoner escapes during his trial
Nigeria, Lagos: Exxon HQ shut down as workers strike against forced redundancies
Greece, Athens: cops targetted by molotov-throwing anarchists in Exarcheia
14/12/16:
Ecuador, Morona Santiago: Shuar indians clash again with cops protecting Explorcobres (Chinese mine) – 1 cop killed, state of emergency declared
France,Besançon: 4 ATMs destroyed in solidarity with imprisoned anarchists…Marseille : 2 ATMs destroyed in solidarity with imprisoned comrade
Canada, Saskatchewan: prisoner killed during prison riot“They ripped beds off walls, heavy steel beds. Desks were thrown into a pile. They used them to block doors. Windows were smashed out, they were setting fires to mattresses, smashed the fridges and microwaves. It was confined to one portion of the medium security area — an area that housed approximately 185 inmates. It was in the living unit. …Meal portion sizes may have been a contributing factor, but there’s no way to determine if that was the trigger or not. …It wasn’t just kitchen workers who refused to go to work (on Wednesday). At the point when this happened, everybody — 185 inmates — refused to go to their programs, their work, their school. At that point, normally, we lock up. But when they went to close the area, the inmates refused to go into their cells.” More here. “They smashed out all the lights, all the cameras, all the windows.” The inmates also set up barricades.”
13/12/16:
Canada, Montreal : three banks sabotaged in solidarity with Standing Rock
Brazil: clashes in different parts of country as state imposes even worse austerity“In Brasilia, masked protesters set fire to a bus and marched on the local offices of Globo TV, which they say is biased towards Mr Temer’s government. But the marchers were blocked by riot police….In Sao Paulo, the headquarters of the state’s conservative Industrial Federation (Fiesp) was attacked.” More here: “The Military Police used today tear gas, stun bombs, pepper spray and horse soldiers to repress thousands of demonstrators opposing the harsh fiscal adjustment passed today by the Brazilian Senate….In Rio Grande do Sul, where roads were blocked and barricaded with tires, the Military Police also used sound bombs to break up demonstrators. Meanwhile, organizers of the demonstration in Goias said that the police stopped all state buses carrying students, teachers and trade unionists attempting to join the demonstrations against PEC 55 in Brasilia.”
People observe a bus burned by anti-government demonstrators in Brasilia
Anti-government demonstrators launch a flare towards the Sao Paulo Industry Federation (FIESP) building in Sao Paulo
12/12/16:
Nigeria, Ibadan: motorcyclists clash with cops after biker is killed by cops“…the dead Okada rider’s colleagues headed towards the police station, threatening to burn down the division, but in an attempt to scare them off, the Police were alleged to have released tear gas unto the rampaging crowd and shot into the air to scare them. Unfortunately, two members of the association were hit by the stray bullet, and are currently under intense treatment….colleagues of the dead rider attacked an upcoming police patrol vehicle, and seized an AK-rifle which was later recovered. “
Canada, Montreal: report on sabotage of CCTV cameras
11/12/16:
Italy, Cremona : phone mast sabotaged
France, Nantes: firefighters and riot cops attacked with stones and firework after bins burn…Vannes: teargas used against youths threatening cops with broken paving stones
Nepal, Kathmandu: 3 cop motorbikes totally destroyed, cops thrashed, police station vandalised, after taxi driver is killed in custody “The mob armed with petroleum products and batons stormed into the two-storey building recently built with support from the locals and vandalised the office, windowpane, a television set, flowerpots and furniture besides setting three motorcycles on fire. They also pelted stones at the beat. According to the Metropolitan Police Office, Ranipokhari, dozens of vandals also overpowered five policemen, including the beat in-charge sub-inspector Sanjeev Napit, and thrashed them while making an attempt to torch the building with the cops inside at around 11:00 am.”
Boudha, on the outskirts of Kathmandu
UK, Bristol: report on horrible hipster gentrification of former area known for its riots See also this, on the 1980 riot.
10/12/16:
China, Chengdu: heavy repression of mild protest against toxic pollution
9/12/16:
8/12/16:
France, Nantes: 20 hooded youths ambush cops & firefighters with stones after setting fire to bins
Greece: general strike“The general strike is organised by the two big labour confederations without any prospect to continue in some way. It’s what you said about the integration of the so-called labour movement. Despite that we will be there. Even the Labour Department of Syriza will be there! It has issued a call for participation in the strike and the demo against the new law which is supposed to be imposed not by them but by the… IMF. This is just to give you an idea of what a comedy “class politics” has become nowadays!” – from an email list
US, Bloomington (Indiana) : Rainbow Bakery Sabotaged for Feral Pines
7/12/16:
Chile, Santiago : action 3 years after the death in combat of compañero Sebastián Oversluij (with video)
6/12/16:
Chile, Coquimbo : mine protesters halt traffic with road blockade
France, Riom : prisoner escapes during bicycle ride
Brazil, Rio: homemade grenades thrown at State Assembly during heavy clashes with cops over austerity measuresVideos here
roadblock outside the Assembly
“A crowd of mainly civil servant workers marched on Rio de Janeiro’s state legislature, throwing homemade grenades at the assembly building, where lawmakers were preparing to vote on new austerity measures. Police used rubber bullets, smoke and flash grenades, and pepper spray to disperse the crowd. The clashes lasted for nearly five hours in several blocks around the legislature. Witnesses said that, at one point during the scuffles, police officers entered a church to fire at protesters. “Police entered the church and shot at people, and they also entered a parking lot and are throwing bombs at us from the roof,” said Evaristo Santos, a protester.Another protester alleged that police forces were shooting at people “indiscriminately.” The protesters…set objects on fire on the streets….Tear gas apparently also entered the state assembly. Local news portals published photos of a number of lawmakers wearing medical masks while sitting in the chamber….. Thousands of state employees and retirees have not been getting paid or been paid months late. “As you can see here in Brazil, we have thieves leaving government, thieves entering government, thieves in the state government, thieves in the federal government,” said Ronaldo Moreno, a spokesman for the oil workers union in Rio. “What is happening today is a fight by public workers, but it is a fight by everyone,” he said.”
Argentina, Catamarca: confrontations between workers and cops outside Government House“Public Works workers … tried to light tires in the main square. Faced with this situation, members of the police attempted to evict the square, which provoked violent riots in Calle Sarmiento…which included confrontations, shots of rubber bullets and broken glass.”
Greece, Athens: riots on 8th anniversary of cop killng of Alexandros Grigoropoulos (for background analysis and history see this; for an eyewitness account by a participant see this)…Thessaloniki: molotovs and explosives thrown at cops from University roof…Hania (Crete): Christmas tree set on fire and responsibility claim
UK, Warwick: 5th day of occupation of new £5.3m. building
4/12/16:
US, Dakota: NODAPL win (possibly temporary) victory (see also this: 9 Reasons Why #NoDAPL Struggle Isn’t Over )
3/12/16:
Switzerland, Zurich : wild demo in solidarity with migrants
France, Grenoble: youths stone cops from roof of school
2/12/16:
UK, Warwick: part of university occupied against new method of funding
India, Manipur: stoning of bank after refusal of cash to 100s forces bank closure
Hyderabad bank queue as cash withdrawals are severely rationed
Sweden, Stockholm: 70 cars burnt by migrants“Similar incidents occurred on Saturday and Sunday in the nearby area of Hallunda, and in the suburb of Norsborg on Monday.” (26th – 28th) See this for an article about riots in Sweden & Denmark – “Let the fire spread”, written in September 2016 but only recently translated.
1/12/16:
Canada, Montreal: Mohawks block Canadian Pacific Railway line in solidarity with #NoDAPL…Québec: Algonquins of Barriere Lake set up camp against mining resource extraction