The European Parliament approved 336-220 a resolution branding Italy’s fingerprinting members of the country’s Roma community a direct act of racial discrimination, and called on Rome to bring the program to an immediate halt. Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said… Read moreEU raps Italy on Roma fingerprint program
An Italian court July 15 found 15 officials guilty of brutalizing protesters at the Genoa G8 summit in 2001. Sentences ranged from five months to five years. The accused include police, prison officials and two doctors. Another 30 were cleared… Read moreItaly: cops convicted in Genoa G8 repression
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme submitted his resignation July 14, citing the inability of his coalition government to successfully divide powers between the Flemish and French-speaking communities. Leterme had set a deadline of July 15 for the four-month-old coalition to… Read moreSplitsville for Belgium?
On July 10—one day before the 13th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre—a Dutch court ruled it has no jurisdiction in a civil suit against the United Nations by genocide survivors from the eastern Bosnian town. Survivors’ association Mothers of Srebrenica… Read moreSrebrenica 13 years later: still no justice
Neo-Nazis fired tear gas at the rally following the June 28 Queer Parade at Svobody Square in the Czech city of Brno, sparking a 45-minute melee. Paramedics treated around ten people. Police said 15 anti-gay protesters were arrested. As the… Read moreCzech Republic: neo-Nazis attack gay pride march
Serbs in Kosova inaugurated their own assembly June 28 at the divided city of Mitrovica—in defiance of the Albanian-led government and the UN. Forty-five members were elected in May during Serbia’s general and municipal elections. The ballot was declared illegal… Read moreKosova can’t get unstuck in time
On June 18 the European Union (EU) Parliament passed guidelines that would allow member countries to hold immigrants in special detention centers for up to 18 months before being deported. The guidelines are meant to standardize the way EU members… Read moreLatin America: anger at EU immigration measure
Spanish police and Civil Guards cracked down on striking truckers June 11, with 25,000 deployed to clear blocked highways, arresting dozens. Catalan provincial police joined with French law enforcement to clear an eight-kilometer line of trucks that had closed a… Read moreSpanish police break truckers’ strike
Ignoring a “don’t panic” plea from Downing Street, motorists across England and Wales lined up at gas stations to top off their tanks in preparation for a long weekend of industrial action. Tanker drivers supplying 10% of the UK’s petrol… Read moreBritish tanker drivers start four-day strike
From banned Basque political party Batasuna, received via e-mail, June 3: Faced with the events which occurred in Tibet, Batasuna firstly wants to express its solidarity with the Tibetan people and begs to stop the repression against the protests made… Read moreBasque solidarity with Tibet
A masked group of some 20 men armed with sticks went on the rampage in Rome’s multi-ethnic Pigneto district May 24, smashing the windows of shops owned by Indian and Bangladeshi immigrants while hurling verbal abuse. The mob disappeared before… Read moreRacist attacks shake Italy
A Czech activist, Jan Bednar, has been on hunger strike for two weeks to protest the “military occupation of the Czech Republic by the United States”—by which he means the plans to build a radar base for the new “missile… Read moreCzech hunger strike against US radar base
