Having already barred two pro-independence parties (3DM and Askatasuna) from taking part in the Basque Country's regional parliamentary elections March 1, Spanish judge Baltazar Garzón last week banned all their activities and ordered the closing of their offices and websites. Eight people remain in prison for trying to organize pro-independence election platforms.

Neo-Nazis and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators clashed with riot police and each other in Dresden Feb. 14 as the Hitler-nostalgist National Democratic Party used the 64th anniversary of the 1945 Allied bombardment of the German city to hold a 6,000-strong "mourning march." Counter-demonstrations, led in part by the city's unions, drew almost 10,000. Two police cars were over turned and several arrests were made in the street-fighting. For the last ten years, groups linked to NDP have marked the day with marches, but this year's was their largest yet. (EuroNews, Bloomberg, Feb. 14)

Jonathan Freedland writes for The Guardian, Feb. 4:

As British Jews come under attack, the liberal left must not remain silent
It should be perfectly possible to condemn Israel's brutal action in Gaza while taking a stand against antisemitism
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on September 11 2001 and July 7 2005, a noble impulse seized the British liberal left. Politicians, commentators and activists united to say to their fellow citizens that, no matter how outraged they felt at the loss of civilian life they had just witnessed, they should under no circumstances take out that anger on the Muslim community. Progressive voices insisted that Muslims were not to be branded as guilty by association, just because the killers of 9/11 and 7/7 had been Muslims and had claimed to act in the name of all Muslims.

A UN official said Feb. 5 that Spain's Law of Political Parties violates fundamental freedoms in the name of counter-terrorism. According to Martin Scheinin, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, the law criminalizes as "support of terrorism" conduct that does not relate to any kind of violent activity.

Riot police fired tear gas to prevent farmers from the island of Crete from caravaning their tractors from the port of Piraeus to Athens Feb. 2. More than 1,000 farmers arrived with their tractors on ferry boats from Crete, intending to block the area in Athens around the agriculture ministry's headquarters, but police prevented them from leaving the port area. Several people were injured in the clashes, and at least four arrests were reported.

The Jan. 29 general strike in France—called "Black Thursday"—was the first to hit a major industrialized nation since the start of the global financial crisis. Eight major trade unions, representing teachers, postal workers, rail workers, and other public-sector employees, along with many private-sector unions, took to the streets across the country to protest President Nicolas Sarkozy's handling of the crisis.

Strikes have broken out across the UK in support of a mass walkout by energy workers in Lincolnshire angry at the use of foreign workers. Hundreds gathered for the third day of the original strike at Lindsey Oil Refinery after owner Total gave a £200 million contract to an Italian firm. They are joined by hundreds of other "sympathy" strikers in Scotland, Wales and other parts of England.

Swiss police clashed with protesters against the World Economic Forum Jan. 31, firing tear gas and arresting 60 in central Geneva after officers were reportedly pelted with bottles and fireworks. Protesters gathered in defiance of a ban imposed by local authorities. Police equipped with a water cannon blocked the planned route of the march, briefly detaining and searching participants.