Daily Report
Germany: clashes follow police raids
The coordinated May 9 raids of anti-globalization protest leaders across Germany brought more than 5,000 to the streets of Hamburg, Berlin, Kiel and other cities. Violent clashes with the police were reported in Hamburg, where police used water canons and protesters responded with firecrackers, bottles and stones. Four people were injured and eight arrested. Four were also arrested at the 3,000-strong march in Berlin. Police now say there were no arrests in the raids in six of Germany's federal states, but that 21 suspects in the the supposed plot to disrupt the upcoming G8 summit remain at large. Federal prosecutors claim they had indications that a "terrorist association" was forming to carry out arson and other attacks during the summit to be held at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, June 6-8. The anti-globalization network Attac—which was not targeted in the raids—called the charges an effort "to criminalize the entire spectrum of G8 opponents." (DPA, May 10)
Peru: Amazon indigenous warn Oxy over toxins
Members of the indigenous Achuar communities in the Amazon basin in the Peru-Ecuador border region have notified US Oil Company Occidental Petroleum (Oxy) that they will bring a lawsuit against the company in the US if it will not clean up toxic waste from drilling. [IPS, May 4]
Colombia: roadside blast hits coca eradication patrol
Nine National Police officers on a coca eradication mission were killed near Landazuri in Colombia's northeast Santander department May 9, when a roadside bomb exploded, destroying their truck. Six other officers were injured. All were members of a mobile unit operating out of Bucaramanga. Authorities immediately blamed the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC). Police Sgt. Alberto Cantillo told reporters: "Where there's coca, you'll find guerillas." Among the dead was the brother of top Colombian football star Luis Yanes, who plays for Santa Fe in Bogota. The attack is another blow for President Alvaro Uribe, who has vowed to crush the FARC by the end of his term in 2010. Last year, 26 military and police officers were killed while on coca eradication missions. (BBC, AlJazeera, May 10)
Somali pirates strike again
Pirates off Somalia's coast have hijacked a cargo ship headed for Mogadishu, the third attack since January. Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the Mombasa-based Seafarers Assistance Program (SAP), said the UAE-registered freighter was seized and taken to Hobyo, a well-known pirate base about 400 kilometers northeast of Mogadishu. The vessel, carrying cargo for Somali traders, had originated in Dubai. Piracy continues unabated off Somalia, even as a degree of stability has come to Mogadishu in recent weeks. (Xinhua, IOL, May 10)
New revelations in Haditha atrocity
One of the seven US marines facing charges related to the killings of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha has admitted to lying about the deaths of five of them. Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz said he saw squad leader Sgt. Frank Wuterich shoot dead five men while they had their hands up to surrender. Cruz, granted immunity from prosecution, also admitted to urinating on one of the dead bodies and pumping bullets into all five of them after a squad member was killed in a roadside bombing. Wuterich, who reprotedly told Sela Cruz to blame the Iraqi army for the atrocity, is facing multiple murder charges. Cruz was testifying in a preliminary hearing on charges against Cpt. Randy Stone, accused of failing in his duty to investigate and report the 24 deaths. (AlJazeera, May 10)
Iraqi labor leaders to tour US
From US Labor Against the War (USLAW), May 9:
Leading Iraqi Labor Leaders to Tour U.S.
First woman union leader, head of oil workers union to visit 12 cities
June 4-29, 2007
Atlanta, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Cruz, Washington, DC
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Two leaders of Iraq's labor movement, Hashmeya Muhsin Hussein, President of the Electrical Utility Workers Union, and Faleh Abood Umara, General Secretary of the Federation of Oil Unions, will tour a dozen U.S. cities between June 4 and June 29, 2007. During their visit, they will address members of Congress, labor audiences and the general public about the impact the U.S. occupation has had on the labor movement and daily lives of working people in Iraq. They will speak about reconstruction and will explain why the labor movement is opposed to the proposed hydrocarbon law favored by the Bush administration and oil corporations which would put foreign oil corporations in effective control of 2/3 of Iraq's undeveloped oil reserves. They will also describe the likely consequences if the occupation continues, what might occur if it abruptly ends and prospects for a stable, democratic, non-sectarian future for Iraq.
Germans at it again
Some 900 German federal police troops raided 40 sites in Berlin, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Bremen, Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, in a move against 21 anti-globalization militants allegedly suspected of setting up an organization to launch arson attacks at the Group of Eight summit in Heiligendamm next month. Arrests were made, but authorities would not say how many. (FT, Reuters, Xinhua, May 10)
Kosovars busted in Ft. Dix terror plot: xenophobe fodder
The conservative Washington Times exploits the arrest of four Kosovar Albanian youth in the apparent Ft. Dix terror conspiracy, raising once again Slobodan Milosevic's specter of a Balkan jihad. Good timing, just as Kosova is poised to become Europe's first Muslim-led state. Perhaps the WT's perverse glee will be shared by their counterparts on the "left"—like Ed Herman and Noam Chomsky. Bill Gertz writes May 9:
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