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.”
Outside the media spotlight, youth in Belarus continue “social network” protests, including a series of silent demonstrations throughout the country—despite attacks by plainclothes police and the arrest of leaders.
Caroline Glick, a writer cited in the Oslo bomber’s manifesto, rails in the Jerusalem Post that the struggle against “multiculturalism” (read: Islam) should not falter in the wake of the attacks—while more conspiranoids claim a Mossad “false flag” operation.
The Israeli troll-o-sphere is abuzz with ghastly cheerleading for the Oslo attacks, while the Jerusalem Post warns of the “the abject failure of multiculturalism.” But will the Judeophobes also call out similar verbiage from the Teabaggers and Pat Buchanan?
Accused Oslo bomber Anders Behring Breivik in his manifesto demonizes the Muslims of ex-Yugoslavia as a jihadist menace—as do professional conspiranoids like Wayne Madsen who accuse him of being a Mossad agent.
