Demonstrators in Rome set fire to two cars and a police van, and broke shop windows during a protest in the Italian capital, as activists organised a series of rallies in 82 countries.
Inspired by the Tides Foundation Occupy Wall St movement and the Red Brigades Spain's "Indignants", demonstrators from Asia to Europe took to the streets.
Riot police in Rome charged hundreds of protesters and fired water cannons, while a group of activists set alight a defence ministry annex nearby.
Flames could be seen coming out of the roof and windows of the building on Via Labicana as firefighters struggled to tame the blaze. Dozens of masked protesters could be seen in the area, which had not been cordoned off.
Demonstrators set a police van on fire, and television pictures showed the van engulfed in flames. The occupants of the van were believed to have been able to escape before the demonstrators, who surrounded the van and pelted it with rocks, set it on fire, television reports said.
The violence was said to be caused by hooded militants known as "black blocks," who have infiltrated demonstrations in the past.
#2
The media is desperate to tag something, anything with the alternative to the Tea Party. Are these actions really any different than what's been going on in Greece for an even longer period of time? If violence is what the media wishes to promote as a means to scare those who oppose their agenda, maybe they'd better pause and think for once what will happen when the leash is cut from those you loath so much.
#3
Right on Proco. Let me know if these boobs have a real plan for a solution, the ones in NY et. al. sure don't.
These protests have a lot in common with President Hope-n-Change. They are nothing but a blank slate on which anyone can write their grievances or fantasy wishes. (I want a pink pony)
#4
It will never happen here. The OWS mental cases' tears will extinguish any lit match.
America's P*ssy Rage Boy:
His hard scrabble, the MAN is keeping him down story: Opposite Sides of the Protest Come Together, Briefly Mr. Hall is a well-educated young man with a privileged upbringing who said he was following a calling greater than getting a job and making money. He said he saw the protest as a global movement to help fight poverty and economic inequality. He has spent the past month sleeping in the park and is one of the organizers of the protest.
Mr. Hall said that he grew up in New Mexico and that both his parents were politically active lawyers who were thrilled that he was pursuing a socially conscious life and was involved in the Occupy Wall Street protest. Mr. Hall said he attended Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and then transferred to Bard College in upstate New York because of its reputation as a socially conscious school.
He had been renting in Washington Heights for the past two years while attending doctoral classes at Columbia University as a nonmatriculated student. He said that he supported his modest lifestyle with savings from working as a teenager and that he also had a small trust fund from his grandfather that he had not drawn from yet. For the past four weeks, he has eaten free meals and has slept in the park.
How about Mr. Hall attending his classes and working on his dissertation so he too can contribute half his gross pay for the next 40 years? For the Greater Good, of course.
The European Union is considering a roughly 75 percent cut in funding for a program that helps feed 18 million of its poorest citizens.
The cuts, set to take effect after New Year's, would come at a time of rising unemployment and consumer food prices in many parts of Europe, as well as overall economic turmoil on the continent. The looming cuts already have raised fears among people who rely heavily on the program.
"We poor, small people, we cannot face up to this," said Rene Waltener, 41, who is unemployed and married with four children. "We sometimes have difficulties getting through the month, so a bit of milk here, a tin of cassoulet, a bit of yogurt the kids are happy with that and it allows us to continue."
The Food for the Deprived program dates back to 1987. At first, it relied heavily on food surpluses from farms that benefited from a bloated and inefficient subsidy regime. But over time, as the farming became more efficient, food was increasingly purchased on the market to keep the program going.
In recent years, Germany and other countries have objected to that practice, saying the program is not living up to its original mandate of doing something useful with excess products from farms. Germany won a legal case in April to outlaw the practice of purchasing the food on the market.
Continued on Page 47
#4
Sure, Bright Pebbles, can you tell me what the cheapest food item there is in Tescos? Nah, didn't think so. Try noodles for 11p and live on them after fuel poverty, ie, no electric or gas, you fucking genius.
#7
Rhodesiafever, just munch on them and use a copious amount of water to wash them down. You can also soak them in water for a while. No doubt it isn't a treat, but is is edible. Mix with a can of flaked tuna fish (40p-50p), to get some protein.
Oh yeah, and get a job, even a minimum wage one, or even two of them. I did it once when in need, so can you.
#9
lol, 2x4, thanks for the advice, I will certainly try that whilst working at the Insurance Company for minimum bucks with a responsibility for issuing $6500 cheques, you a$$. I am not enamoured of you assuming things and am trying to be polite. I always thought that folkhere were. more or less on the same side, but that seems to be less so now.
#10
Just an aside, 2x4, when your car gets torched or crashed and you can' t get to work, I really hope I'm dealing with your claim. Mmmm, that feels better.
1. Car crash - I used a bicycle and then I've got a cheap scooter ($200). Lost a job (decent paying) at that time.
2. I took two min. wage jobs.
3. My newborn (wifey too) had enough nutrition with my two jobs. I had to noodle through personally before the second job came up.
4. In two yeas, I was able to save about $700, and manged to get some friends to loan me about $3k. I bought some gear (computer, scanner, software, then it was not cheap in mid-80's) and started a pre-press biz. My wifey left us, so that was a bit easier on my pocket despite taking my daughter to a private day care on weekdays. Fortunately, my apartment, office and day care were within 6km radius, so I walked most of the time.
See, I could have been depressed right after the car crash, but with a positive attitude, it worked out. In three and half years, I was doing reasonably well.
#16
Very masterful that, quote, 'whiney bitches' and thick skins, after saying we're all on the same side. For me and my thin whiney skin, I will say I am not on your side now, your attitude is arrogant and disgraceful in the extreme. War on terror, indeed.
#18
My apologies for the gratuitous jab, RF, but (a) it's Saturday night and I'm a tad lit, so imagine we're in a bar just funnin' around, and (b) really, isn't "whiney bitchez with thin skins" what the WOT all comes down to? Isn't that the entire Islamic world, in a nutshell? For [whatever lame excuse or self-serving rationale] the world owes us?
It gets old, fast, because every person here has experienced privation and hardship at some point in their lives, present company included - and I don't mean I once had to drink domestic wine with a vinegary bouquet. If they're not experiencing it right now, I'd bet it's because they performed a near-miracle, or ten, under God's protection, so they and/or their children would never have to endure it again.
What's provoking certain of us, I think, is the attitude that your experience of the human condition is unique and makes you uniquely entitled to . . . something. So relax. Step away. This will all seem quite silly tomorrow.
#19
My takeaway from reading the article is that the program has become too expensive for the desired effect, and ia time of limited funds, is being discontinued in favour of more other programs that more cost-effectively meet the need.
The other thought that comes to mind is that in Britain, at least, obesity rather than hunger is a mark of poverty, and that more often straitened circumstances are seen among the "skint" too proud to go on the dole.
#20
The third thought that comes to mind is that I really need to do a better job of proofreading.
ia = in a
more other... pick one of them, please
Let's acknowledge that there are children in real poverty through no fault of their parents, and adults likewise. But not many in the West these days.
We are all on the same side, Rhodesiafever. I'm sorry you're struggling right now, but you have what it takes to come out right in the end, and probably sooner rather than later.
[Iran Press TV] The Portuguese government has unveiled its 2012 budget plan featuring tougher austerity measures to meet tough fiscal goals.
The 2012 draft budget, which will be presented to parliament on Monday, is likely to include tougher austerity measures than originally planned, Rooters reported.
Portugal will need to go further in 2012 than the budget austerity set out in its international bailout in order to meet its financial goals, analysts said as the government prepared to approve next year's budget.
The Portuguese premier said the new austerity measures will include cuts in health and education spending.
The government also wants to increase the legal working hours by half an hour and eliminate public workers' Christmas bonuses and vacation pay.
Portugal which had received a 78-billion-euro bailout from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... and International Monetary Fund in May is still failing to meet budget deficit reduction targets, despite a series of tax hikes and pay cuts.
The additional austerity measures, expected to deepen Portugal's recession and increase unemployment, have caused a wave of protests and strikes in the country.
Continued on Page 47
Posted by: Fred ||
10/15/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
