Some 12,000 marched in Paris Sept. 4 to protest the mass expulsion of Roma migrants and other security measures adopted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy's government. Protests were also held in at least 135 other cities and towns across France and elsewhere in Europe. Human rights and anti-racism groups, labor unions and left-wing political parties organized the marches, which are estimated to have brought 100,000 to the streets nationwide.

Violence continues to escalate in the conflicted northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas. On Sept. 3, at least 25 were killed as soldiers stormed a training camp allegedly set up by Los Zetas in Ciudad Mier. It is still unclear if there were soldiers among the dead. That same day, another five presumed Zetas were killed in a highway shoot-out with soldiers in neighboring Nuevo León state. (AlJazeera, AP, Sept. 3) On Aug. 28, three grenade attacks on military and police checkpoints in the cities of Reynosa and Tampico left a total of 25 wounded—three gravely, including two members of the Tampico police force. The attacks in Reynosa prompted the closure of the Hidalgo Bridge that links the border town with McAllen, Tex. A grenade attack was also reported in Monterrey, capital of Nuevo León. (Crónica de Hoy, Aug. 30; La Jornada, Aug. 29)

From SOA Wacth, Sept. 2:

Keep Colombian Ex-President Alvaro Uribe out of Georgetown and send him packing to La Picota prison in Colombia!
Georgetown University has recently announced that former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe will be named a "distinguished scholar in the practice of global leadership," and will soon begin giving seminars at the university's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS). Uribe has said it is a "great honor" for him, and that his "greatest wish and happiness is to contribute in the continuous emergence of future leaders."

In the latest in a series of jihadist attacks on mosques in Pakistan, three suicide bombers blew themselves up amid a procession of thousands of the faithful outside a Shi'ite mosque in Lahore Sept. 1, killing at least 37. Shi'te protesters clashed with police following the attack. Both Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (Army of Jhangvi, named for an anti-Shia cleric) and Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud are said to have claimed responsibility for the attack. Thousands of Shi'ites marched in mourning in Lahore the following day. (Indian Express, Foreign Policy Journal, Sept. 3; MEMRI, NYT, Sept. 2)

A spike in food prices has triggered deadly riots in Mozambique this week, where the government declared the price hikes "irreversible" after an emergency cabinet meeting. Two of those killed are reported to have been children. Some 25 businesses were looted or damaged, and 12 buses attack by the protesters. The price of bread has risen by about 30% in the past year in Mozambique. The violence has been the worst in Mozambique since 2008, when clashes between police and rioters over rising prices left at least four people dead. (BBC News, Sept. 2)

On Sept. 2, Slovakia commemorated the victims of a massacre in the Devínska Nová Ves quarter of Bratislava three days earlier with an official day of mourning, following a decision at an extraordinary cabinet session. The cabinet also approved compensation for relatives of the victims. In the attack, a 48-year-old attacker shot seven people and injured 15 others, including a Czech citizen, before committing suicide after evidently being fatally shot by a police bullet. The targeted family was of mixed ethnic Slovak and Roma composition, leading widespread suspicion of a racist motive in the attack. (Romea.cz, Sept. 2; Romea.cz, Sept. 1; Radio Slovakia International, Aug. 31 )

Attacks by Hamas' armed wing will continue "in any form and in any place,” including inside Israel, a spokesman said Sept. 2. The organization's al-Qassam Brigades claimed responsibility for killing four settlers in a drive-by shooting at the Beit Hagai settlement near Hebron two nights before, and for injuring two Israelis in a similar attack at Romodin Junction near Ramallah the following day. Al-Qassam Brigades spokesman Abu Obeida said the second attack was "a slap in the face" for those who said the deadly shooting near Hebron would not be repeated.

From Global Exchange, Aug. 17:

The Iraq Debacle: The Legacy of Seven Years of War
We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, mark the August 31st withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq with the following evaluation and recommendations: