Slovak police intervened Aug. 7 against a march by the far-right Our Slovakia People's Party (LSNS) in front of the castle in Bratislava. Ten were arrested, including Marián Kotleba, leader of the Slovak Brotherhood, an allied right-wing organization. Authorities allowed the event to take place, but police blocked protesters when they tried to march to the statue of Prince Svatopluk on the castle grounds. Local media reported that one detainee's head was bloodied.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy will evict some 300 squatter camps in a crackdown on Roma immigrants and "Travellers." People in the camps found to be living illegally in France will be expelled, Sarkozy said announcing the move. The order is a response to riots last week in which Travellers armed with hatchets and iron bars attacked the police station in the Loire Valley town of Saint Aignan. The riot erupted after a gendarme shot and killed a Traveller youth who had driven through a checkpoint. Sarkozy pledged that those responsible for the violence will be "severely punished." The announcement came in a meeting between Sarkozy and top law enforcement officials at the Elysee Palace. Groups representing Travellers and Roma were not invited.

In an equivocal ruling that sparked voluble reactions while resolving nothing, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague found by a 10-to-4 vote July 22 that Kosova's 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia was legal—but carefully avoided calling the state of Kosova legal. ICJ president Hisashi Owada stated rather obviously that international law contains no "prohibition on declarations of independence" and that Kosova's declaration therefore "did not violate international law."

On July 11, tens of thousands gathered to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica of nearly 8,000 captive Muslim men by Bosnian Serb rebel forces—the bloodiest episode of the wars that followed the break-up of Yugoslavia, recognized by the international community as an act of genocide. A special ceremony at Potocari cemetery outside the eastern Bosnian town included internment of the remains of 775 recently identified victims, joining the 3,749 already there. Notably, the ceremony was attended by Serbian President Boris Tadic and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as Charles English, US ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). (AFP, July 10; BNO News, July 7) In a sign of hope, Serbian citizens in Belgrade erected a makeshift memorial to the Srebrenica victims, made of old shoes stuffed with personal messages. (RFE/RL, July 10) But, despite official and spontaneous commemorations, the accused military author of the massacre remains at large, whereabouts ostensibly unknown.

Four suspected members of armed Basque separatist group ETA were arrested May 20 in a raid on an apartment bloc in Bayonne, France—including presumed ETA military commander Mikel Kabikoitz Carrera Sarobe, Spain's most wanted man. One detained accomplice was identified as Arkaitz Aguirregabiria del Barrio, ETA's presumed second in command, who is wanted in France for the shooting of a police officer in March. The arrests come as a Spanish court convicted three ETA militants in the 2006 Madrid airport bombing that killed two Ecuadorans. ETA is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and is held responsible for more than 800 deaths over the past 40 years. (Irish Times, Reuters, May 21; Jurist, May 20)

The Greek Parliament passed a package of austerity measures on May 6, one day before leaders of the 16-member euro-zone meet in Brussels to discuss final details of a rescue package for the Hellenic Republic. But with protesters gathering outside Parliament's doors, the measure's passage sparked fears of a long summer of social unrest. The deaths of three bank workers in a fire set by protesters May 5 has polarized Greece. (Tehran Times, May 8)

Police clashed in Athens May 1 with thousands of protesters marching against new austerity measures the Greek government is to adopt under pressure from the EU and IMF. The plan, calling for wage cuts and tax hikes, has prompted plans for a nationwide general strike on May 5, led by the civil servants' union ADEDY and the General Confederation of Greek Labor (GSEE), togethering representing some 2.5 million workers, or half the Greek workforce. The walkout will be their third joint strike against the austerity plans since the start of the year. (Press TV, May 1; CNN, April 28)

At least 35 people were killed and some 70 injured when female suicide bombers blew themselves up on the Moscow metro during the morning rush hour March 29, Russian authorities say. Two separate blasts hit the Lubyanka and the Park Kulturi metro stations within an hour. Alexander Bortnikov, head the FSB security service, said preliminary findings suggest the attacks were organized by a North Caucasus militant group. (BBC News, MarketWatch, March 29)