Important Protests On Platial.com

April 2006 Protests for Return to Democracy

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-04-24 12:18:02.408245+00:00

Thousands of emboldened protesters defied curfews in Nepal on Sunday, clashing with police on the fourth day of increasingly violent demonstrations to demand a return to democracy in Himalayan kingdom. The protests came despite the royal government's threat to shoot anyone breaking the curfew, imposed Saturday amid a general strike to pressure King Gyanendra to give up absolute rule. At least two protesters have been killed in clashes. Police fired tear gas at stone-throwing youths in Nepal's capital Sunday, where at least 1,000 people assembled in one neighborhood, said a witness who declined to be named for fear of police reprisal. Police also fired rubber bullets, Private Kantipur Television reported, showing footage that included at least one injured protester. Nepal's home minister said Sunday that Maoist militants who joined protesters clashing with police in the capital have started shooting on security forces. Home Minister Kamal Thapa did not say whether there had been any injuries. Rebel chief Prachanda, whose organization is backing the ongoing anti-monarchy protest campaign, has promised not to carry out attacks in the capital, Katmandu. "The terrorists have fired despite their pledge not to carry out violence in the capital," Thapa said. He said "the security forces have recovered cartridges at Gangabu" neighborhood on the northwest edge of Katmandu where a curfew was not imposed but several protests were reported. Another group tried to march into the city from a suburb but scuffled with police who managed to block them off, said a police official at the scene who asked not to be named because of the political climate. Witnesses and Nepali media reported protests in dozens of other towns and cities. On Saturday, security forces killed at least two protesters and wounded five in provincial cities. Saturday was the 16th anniversary of the introduction of democracy in Nepal, an experiment that Gyanendra abruptly ended last year when he reclaimed absolute power for the royal dynasty. At the time, he said the move was needed to bring order to a chaotic and corrupt political scene and to end a communist insurgency that has killed nearly 13,000 people in the past decade. Many Nepalis at first welcomed the king's move. But the insurgency since has worsened and the economy has faltered, fueling the discontent that has been on display in recent days as thousands of workers, professionals and business people have for the first time joined students and political activists at protests. More than 2,000 people protested in the southern town of Bharatpur on Sunday, angered by the death of demonstrator shot by security forces a day earlier. On Saturday, protesters set fire to at least a half-dozen government offices and forced riot police to retreat from the town's main square. The government extended the daylong curfew Sunday to the resort town of Pokhara, where the king was vacationing and clashes erupted a day earlier. Gangadhar Baral said he was among a group of protesters throwing stones at security forces when soldiers opened fire in Pokhara on Saturday, killing one of his friends. A doctor reached by phone at the city's Gandaki Hospital confirmed the death and injuries but declined to give his name because he was not authorized to talk to the media. The curfew began at 10 a.m. Saturday and officials said it would stay in effect through Sunday. They repeated warnings on state television and radio that violators would be shot. Sunday was the last day of a four-day general strike called by an alliance of the country's seven main political parties and backed by the rebels. "I have not opened my shop in four days and if this continues, I and my family will have no money left," said Ramesh Shrestha, a shop owner in Katmandu. "Both the government and the protesters are fighting for their own reasons but it is the common people who are suffering." The government on Sunday said rebels planned to attack the capital, despite their promises to refrain from doing so. "We are not going to allow massive public gatherings in the city as it has been verified that there is Maoist infiltration," Information Minister Shrish Shumshere Rana told The Associated Press. Ram Sharan Mahat, a senior leader of Nepali Congress, the country's largest party, dismissed the claim. "This is just an excuse. They are trying to tar this uprising with the Maoist brush, and to question its legitimacy," Mahat said. Apart from Saturday's shootings, the government has arrested more than 800 people since Wednesday. Police were seen Saturday detaining another 20 rights activists for defying the curfew. The crackdown on the opposition has prompted condemnations from the United States, Japan, the European Union and neighboring India, all of which have been critical of the king's power grab. For the first time, the parties' protest has the backing of the communist rebels, with whom they formed a loose alliance in December. -- Associated Press reporter Neelesh Misra contributed to this report.
Tags: complicated, corruption, king, democracy, nepal, crackdown, clash, violent, tear gas, shooting, riot, general strike, maoist

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Victoria Park 維多利亞公園

platialUser:kclama — 2007-07-24 02:25:29.049176+00:00

The park is interesting me because of the lovely street cats found there.

Also, the park is famous of being the gathering place of the democratic marchs here in Hong Kong.

Tags: hong kong, cat, march, bird, butterfly, insect

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Where Martin Luther King Jr. Delivered the "I have a Dream" speech

platialUser:deisnor — 2006-01-24 16:01:14.390456+00:00

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. acknowledges the crowd at the Lincoln Memorial for his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The march was organized to support proposed civil rights legislation and end segregation. King founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1957, advocating nonviolent action against America's racial inequality. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968. (AP/WWP Photo)
Tags: washington, protest, martin luther king, speech, dream, demonstration, civil rights

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Washington State Convention and Trade Ce

platialUser:deisnor — 2006-04-13 21:24:58.701388+00:00

From BBC: Tuesday, 30 November, 1999, 11:47 GMT In pictures: The WTO protests Anarchists, environmentalists, union members, human rights activitsts and religious groups have descended on Seattle with a common purpose - to protest against the World Trade Organisation, which is meeting in the American city this week. An estimated 50,000 anti-WTO activists want to get across their message that free trade is not fair trade.
Tags: protest, seattle, demonstration, trade, broken, wto, activists

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Where I heard Michio Kaku Speak Out Against Star Wars 2001

platialUser:deisnor — 2006-01-24 16:46:04.299122+00:00

From Democracy Now! Saturday, October 13 was International Stop Star Wars day, a day called by the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space to protest the militarization of space. Protesters gathered in 19 nations to call for the end of star wars research and development, and the end of the intervention in Afghanistan. Though the Stop Star Wars Day had been planned for over a year, organizers combined the day with a call for a peaceful and legal solution to the recent terrorist attacks. Thousands of demonstrators gathered to call for no war in Central Asia and no missile defense, instead, for the funding of human needs. In London around five thousand demonstrators, chanting "No war, we want peace," marched through the center city on Saturday. In New York, hundreds gathered in Washington Square Park for a rally against military retaliation and star wars. One of the speakers was Michio Kaku, a physicist at City University of New York.
Tags: protest, demonstration, physics idol, michio.kaku, star wars

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46,000 Protest Confederate Flag

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-06 19:49:01.989142+00:00

2000/01/17. More than 46,000 protesters rally in a march on the state capitol at Columbia, South Carolina, to protest the Confederate battle flag flying atop the statehouse dome. NAACP chair Kweisi Mfume, the main speaker at the event, called it the greatest civil rights rally since the 1960s. In August 1999, the NAACP had called for a national boycott of vacation spots in South Carolina in an attempt to force the state government to remove the Confederate flag from the dome of its statehouse. Controversy on this issue grows, involving the flying of the Confederate flag in other southern states as well. (http://www.galegroup.com)
Tags: protest, civil rights, politics, ralley, confederate flag

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Miami Race Riots

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-07 08:00:14.109078+00:00

1980/05/18. A three-day race riot breaks out after an all-white jury acquits four white Miami police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. The police had beaten him with their flashlights and billyclubs, and he died in the hospital. The riot resulted in 15 deaths in Miami, Florida. This was the worst riot since those in Watts and Detroit in the 1960s. (http://www.galegroup.com and http://www.rotten.com)
Tags: riot, race riots, 15 dead, riots

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Summer of Riots

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-10 10:15:50.094313+00:00

1967, May 1-October 1. This was the worst summer for racial disturbances in United States history. More than 40 riots and 100 other disturbances occurred. (http://www.galegroup.com)
Tags: riots, race roits

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Bloody Sunday

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-10 10:28:15.486753+00:00

1966/03/07. State troopers violently attack peaceful demonstrators led by Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., as they try to cross the Pettus Bridge bridge in Selma, Ala. Fifty marchers are hospitalized on "Bloody Sunday," after police use tear gas, whips, and clubs against them. The march is considered the catalyst for pushing through the voting rights act five months later. (http://www.infoplease.com)
Tags: brutality, martin luther king, civil rights, protest

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Watts

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-10 17:33:42.789545+00:00

1965/08/11-21. The Watts riots left 34 dead, more than 3,500 arrested, and property damage of about 225 million dollars. With the arrest of a 21 year old African American, Los Angeles's South Central neighborhood of Watts erupted into violence. On August 11, 1965, a Los Angeles police officer flagged down motorist Marquette Frye, whom he suspected of being intoxicated. When a crowd of onlookers began to taunt the policeman, a second officer was called in. According to eyewitness accounts, the second officer struck crowd members with his baton, and news of the act of police brutality soon spread throughout the neighborhood. The incident, combined with escalating racial tensions, overcrowding in the neighborhood, and a summer heat wave, sparked violence on a massive scale. Despite attempts the following day aimed at quelling anti police sentiment, residents began looting and burning local stores. (http://www.infoplease.com)
Tags: riots, justice, civil rights, watts

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Birmingham Riots

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-10 17:43:23.65125+00:00

1963/09/15. Four young black girls attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths
Tags: tragedy, riot, bombing, little girls killed, outrage, anger

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500,000 Protest Unfair Immigration Bill

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-04-20 06:07:20.872224+00:00

A crowd estimated by police at more than 500,000 boisterously marched in Los Angeles on Saturday to protest federal legislation that would crack down on undocumented immigrants, penalize those who help them and build a security wall along the U.S.' southern border. Spirited but peaceful marchers — ordinary immigrants alongside labor, religious and civil rights groups — stretched more than 20 blocks along Spring Street, Broadway and Main Street to City Hall, tooting kazoos, waving American flags and chanting, "Sí se puede!" (Yes we can!).
Tags: immigration, hispanic, racism, laws, mobilize, yes we can, largest protest ever in la

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Tiananmen Square

platialUser:deisnor — 2006-04-13 21:21:42.295246+00:00

From Wikipedia: The 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests (Tiananmen Square Massacre or June 4th Massacre or 6/4 Incident), were a series of student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the People's Republic of China, between April 15, 1989 and June 4, 1989. The protest, denouncing China's economic instability and political corruption, was violently suppressed by armed soldiers ordered into Beijing by the PRC government. Although student protests had been occurring for over a year, the famous protest began in mid-April 1989. It was triggered by the death of Hu Yaobang, the general secretary of the CCP between 1981 and 1987. Hu was forced to resign by Deng Xiaoping because of his soft attitude toward the student unrest in 1986. He was widely respected among students and intellectuals. Photo: "The Unknown Rebel" — This famous photo, taken by Associated Press photographer Jeff Widener, depicts a lone protester whose actions halted the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour.
Tags: china, protest, tiananmen, 7000 civilians killed, beijing

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Rodney King Race Riots

platialUser:tracy_the_astonishing — 2006-02-07 16:29:23.994236+00:00

1992/04/29. Riots break out in Los Angeles, sparked by the acquittal of four white police officers caught on videotape beating Rodney King, a black motorist. The riots cause at least 55 deaths and $1 billion in damage. (http://www.britannica.com)
Tags: history, protest, racism, riot, injustice, rodney king, beating, race riot, fire

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Home of the Activist's Atlas

platialUser:deisnor — 2006-05-12 23:16:02.32176+00:00

A compilation of activism related maps on Platial.
Tags: activism, maps, activist, biodiesel, protests, fairtrade, community, gardens, local, homeless, literacy, greeb buildings, reuse

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Gathering point for Global Anti-War pro

platialUser:deisnor — 2006-01-24 16:52:01.360071+00:00

From Wikipedia: The 2003 invasion and war in Iraq prompted much popular opposition. Between 2002 and 2005, protests against the Iraq war were held in many cities worldwide, often coordinated to occur simultaneously around the world. After the biggest series of demonstrations, on February 15, 2003, New York Times writer Patrick Tyler claimed that they showed that there were two superpowers on the planet, the United States and worldwide public opinion. These anti-war demonstrations were mainly organised by anti-war groups, many of whom had been formed in opposition to the invasion of Afghanistan, though in some Arab countries demonstrations were organized by the State. Europe saw the biggest mobilization of protesters, including a rally of 3 million people in Rome, Italy which is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever anti-war rally. [1]On March 20, 2003, the day after the invasion of Iraq had begun, thousands of protests and demonstrations were held around the world in opposition to the war in Iraq. In many cases, these protests were known as "Day X" protests, reflecting the fact that they had been organized to occur when war started, what ever day that might have been. [edit] United States Protesters attend a demonstration in Washington DC against President Bush's Iraq policy. In some U.S. cities, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, New York, and Portland, Oregon, demonstrators blocked traffic in the city centers with the goal of shutting the cities down, resulting in the arrests of over 3,000 people nationwide. In other cities, such as Boston, Atlanta, and Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, demonstrations were more peaceful. In still other cities, people engaged in counter-demonstrations in support of the war. In San Francisco, 5,000 protesters, having planned weeks in advance to shut down the city on "Day X", blockaded the Financial District resulting in 2,000 arrests. Other protesters, marching as a black bloc, attacked and loot
Tags: protest, demonstration, iraq, rally, antiwar, global, tragically unsuccessful

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Molotov Cocktail Stencil in the midst of Political Conflict

platialUser:jason — 2006-10-30 21:16:09.374808+00:00

Oaxaca is right in the middle of some turmoil. There have been months of protests demanding for the resignation of the governnor of this State. The Federales felt that it was getting a bit too heated, so they sent down troops to blocade and 'secure' the public square. As if voices of dissent only echo in a town's zocalo.
Tags: oaxaca, protest, dissent, revolt, molotov cocktail, stencil, streetart, activism, police, riot cops, mexico

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Shoot-on-sight curfew can't stop the Protests in Nepal

platialUser:jason — 2006-04-21 23:52:57.056753+00:00

Tens of thousands of people are back on the streets in Nepal's capital for a second day of mass protests, despite a shoot-on-sight curfew.
Tags: opression, nepal, shootonsight, protest, news

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