Riots broke out in Italy and Greece and thousands marched in Spanish cities as new governments announced austerity measures in response to a financial crisis that has become a “serious emergency” to the entire Eurozone.
The Basque armed group ETA issued a statement saying it is ending its 43-year armed campaign for independence and called on Spain and France “to open a process of a direct dialogue” to arrive at a resolution of the conflict.
The Greek parliament approved a new austerity package after a day of street fighting in Athens that saw the death of one protester. The 53-year-old construction worker may have died in clashes between communists and anarchists.
Demonstrators gathered in Paris to mark the 50th anniversary of a police massacre of Algerian anti-war protesters that has become one of the most shameful episodes of modern French history—still officially denied by the state.
Greek protesters clashed with police in central Athens after Prime Minister George Papandreou vowed to push through a further round of austerity measures. Some 70,000 converged on Syntagma at the start of a declared 48-hour general strike.
Thousands of protesters returned to Madrid’s central square, the Puerta del Sol, as students, parents and teachers joined in a massive march against education spending cuts by the Spanish capital’s provincial government.
Thousands marched in cities across Bulgaria to demand a government crackdown on the country's Roma minority after a young man was killed in a hit-and-run accident by an apparent associate of a local self-proclaimed "Gypsy King."
Italy announced that it will transfer and repatriate all migrants off the island of Lampedusa within 48 hours, following clashes with police and residents. Italian news agency AGI called the riots “an episode of urban guerrilla.”
Bilbao’s Kukutza Gaztetxe community center was evicted after the Basque Country’s highest court rejected a petition by the residents. The Traveller community at Dale Farm is awaiting a decision of the UK’s High Court on an injunction halting their eviction.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay suggested a need for UN intervention in Belarus and demanded the regime free non-violent political prisoners. The regime responded that Belarus disagrees on what constitutes a peaceful demonstration.
Yves Cabannes, UN advisor on forced evictions, visited the contested Dale Farm site at Basildon in England’s Essex county, where a community of “Travellers” and Roma face imminent removal.
The Economist sees “Anarchy in the UK” in the riots that have spread from London to Birmingham and Liverpool, as Trinidadian writer Darcus Howe tells the BBC the riots are “an insurrection of the people,” similar to what “is happening in Syria.”
