Monday 8 July 2013

EUT

The European Union Times

Police use teargas and water cannon to disperse Istanbul protesters

Posted: 07 Jul 2013 03:58 PM PDT

Police fired volleys of tear gas and water cannon to disperse hundreds of protesters who gathered in Istanbul’s landmark Taksim Square to enter Gezi Park which has been at the heart of protests since late May.
The Taksim Solidarity Platform, which encompasses a vast collective of political groups, organized the march, calling for protesters to try and gain access, according to Reuters’ witness reports.
“We are going to our park to open the doors to its real owners … We are here and we will stay here … We have not giving up our demands,” the umbrella group said in a statement.
The organizers of the demonstration said it was to draw attention to a court ruling against Prime Minister Erdogan’s plans to redevelop Gezi Park.
Responding to the move, Istanbul’s governor warned that any attempt to do so would be met with a police response.
“I can’t allow a demonstration that I haven’t permitted in advance,” he said.
Since May 31, Istanbul has turned into the epicenter of anti-government demonstrations, when the police broke up a sit-in staged in the capital’s landmark Taksim Square to protest against the government’s redevelopment plan involving building on a nearby park.
In June an Istanbul court ruled against the development plans that included building a replica Ottoman-era barracks at Gezi, which has been a traditional gathering point for rallies and demonstrations. The ruling was deemed a victory for protesters and a blow for the Prime Minister who stood vehemently against protests and riots, accusing their perpetrators of being terrorists. The court’s decision however, is not final and is expected to be appealed to a higher administrative court.
On Saturday the protesters’ way was cut off by police who fired tear gas and water cannon in an effort to disperse the protesters and stop them from entering the square.
Despite the warning, some 3,000 demonstrators, chanted “Together against fascism” and “Everywhere is resistance”, gathered in the Istiklal Avenue to march to the cordoned-off park near Taksim Square.
According to reports, fighting between the security forces and protesters started after some of the demonstrators argued with police over their right to enter Gezi park.
“Hurriyet TV shows images of one child affected by tear gas. Repressors against all,” reads the tweet.
The demonstration had been scheduled for 7 pm local time.
The water cannon was reportededly deployed down side-streets close to the square. One side street, Istiklal, was the scene of tear gas deployment on June 22, when clouds were unleashed on crowds ushered away from the square.
Troops hounded the protesters back into the side streets in what bystanders labeled the biggest police intervention since mid-June. Several people were detained by police, according to Reuters.

“The Constitution says that anyone can stage a demonstration without giving notification, but the legislation says that applying to the authorities for permission is mandatory. So nobody can say they exercise their constitutional rights. This is unlawful,” Gov. Hüseyin Avni Mutlu had told reporters in response to news of the protest.
“I can’t allow a demonstration that I haven’t permitted in advance,” he said.
Approximately 2.5 million people have taken to the streets across Turkey since May 31, when a harsh police crackdown against activists in Istanbul’s Gezi Park prompted mass nationwide anti-government protests, according to a report published by Turkish Hurriyet Daily News at the end of June.

Major protests have been witnessed in 79 cities nationwide, with a majority of the demonstrations taking place in Ankara and Istanbul.
Five people have been killed and around 4,000 injured – including 600 police officers – over the course of the mass demonstrations, and around 4,900 protesters have been detained. The report further stated that some 58 public buildings and 337 private businesses were damaged, while 240 police vehicles, 214 private cars, 90 municipal buses and 45 ambulances were left unusable.
Total damages are estimated to have cost over $72 million.

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Muslim Brotherhood vows non-stop protests until Morsi returns

Posted: 07 Jul 2013 03:53 PM PDT

Supreme Leader of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood Mohammed Badie speaks during a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Cairo.

Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood vows to continue unabated string of mass protests outside the presidential palace in Cairo until the ousted president, Mohamed Morsi, returns to power.
Muslim Brotherhood’s Supreme Leader Mohammed Badie made the remarks on Friday while addressing crowds of pro-Morsi demonstrators in Cairo’s Nasr City, two days after the army toppled the president.
Badie added that the army and security forces must stop shooting people, noting that Morsi is the president of all Egyptians.
“Our bare chests are stronger than bullets,” he told the protest rally.
He also urged supporters to stay on the streets and keep up mass rallies in Cairo and other major Egyptian cities in the coming days.
The top leader denied reports that he had been arrested by military authorities and taken to an undisclosed location.
Meanwhile, more than six people were killed in several parts of the country as supporters of the deposed president held nationwide rallies, demanding Morsi’s reinstatement.
Morsi was unseated on July 3, and the chief justice of Egypt’s Supreme Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, was sworn in as interim president of Egypt on July 4.
Morsi is reportedly being held “preventively” by the military. Senior army officials say he might face formal charges over accusations made by his opponents.
Several arrest warrants have been issued for members of Muslim Brotherhood.
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Egypt on Verge of Civil War – Putin

Posted: 07 Jul 2013 03:37 PM PDT

Egypt is on the verge of a civil war, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday as tensions continued to escalate in the North African country between the supporters and opponents of deposed Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
“Syria is already engulfed in a civil war and, no matter how sad it may sound, Egypt is also moving in the same direction. It would be good, if the Egyptian people avoided this fate,” Putin said during his working visit to Kazakhstan.
The Egyptian armed forces on Wednesday deposed Morsi and suspended the country’s constitution, Egyptian Defense Minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said in a televised address to the nation. He said the head of Egypt’s Constitutional Court, Adly Mansour, would lead the country during the transition period until an early presidential election is held.
Dozens have reportedly been killed and hundreds injured in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents across the country since Morsi’s ouster from power.
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Brazil football referee beheaded after stabbing player to death

Posted: 07 Jul 2013 03:27 PM PDT

Otavio Jordao da Silva

A soccer referee has been beheaded then had his body dismembered by the spectators at a game following a dispute in which he fatally stabbed an amateur player for refusing to leave the field.
Brazilian police spokesman Kena Souza said on Saturday that the incident took place on June 30 in the remote northern town of Pio XII.
The dispute began when player Josenir dos Santos, 30, approached the referee Octavio da Silva, 20, during a game to object to a ruling.
Dos Santos reportedly threw a punch at da Silva, who took out a knife he was carrying and fatally stabbed the player.
The spectators responded to the referee’s attack by storming the field and stoning Da Silva, before they beheaded him.
Souza reported that police at the regional headquarters of Santa Ines arrested a 27-year-old man on July 2 over the killing and authorities are continuing to investigate the incident.
The deadly attack comes as Brazil is struggling to depict itself as a safe place as the host of the upcoming 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
The recent Confederations Cup, which was also held in Brazil in June, was overshadowed by violence as police clashed several times with anti-government protesters angered by the vast amount of money being spent on the sport events.
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Mafia launders dirty money in clean energy – Europol

Posted: 07 Jul 2013 02:57 PM PDT

The Italian mafia is ramping up investment in wind farms to launder money and benefit from EU subsidies.
Europol reports winds farms, and renewable energy in general, are the most popular target for laundering money, after analysing the financial activities of Italy’s four mafia groups.
“The Italian mafia is investing more and more in renewable energy, especially in wind farms, to profit from generous European grants paid for by member states which allow them to mix dirty money with legitimate economic activities,” the report said.
The renewables industry – is one of the country’s most promising sectors that have surged even as the rest of the economy slid into recession, globalpost.com reports. Developers built more wind and solar plants in 2012 than in any previous year, and added 5,000 jobs to a country racked with unemployment, according to the article.
The boom is explained by the most generous renewable incentives in the world, globalpost.com quotes Andrea Gilardoni, an economist at Milan’s Bocconi University.
“They were so high that all kinds of people have become involved,” he said. “Even cats and dogs can make money in this kind of climate.”
The government gave out more than $75 billion to producers of wind and solar energy over the past six years, doubling and sometimes even tripling their revenues, globalpost.com reports.
Earlier this year Italy made its biggest confiscation of mafia assets in history, including dozens of alternative energy companies worth a total of over $1.6 billion, Reuters quotes police.
The owner Vito Nicastri, a 57-year-old businessman, once dubbed the “Lord of the Wind” because of his vast wind farm holdings, invested money made from extortion, drug sales, and other illicit activities for Matteo Messina Denaro, believed to be the Cosa Nostra’s boss of bosses, Reuters quotes police.
Italy’s main crime groups, the Cosa Nostra, ‘Ndrangheta, and the Camorra from the southern city of Naples, have an annual turnover of 116 billion euros, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. That is more than the annual sales of Italy’s biggest company, oil giant Eni.
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