French TVG high speed train and a surveillance camera still of the NYC "bicycle bomber"

France - Anarchists in three cities across France were arrested by anti-terror police Tuesday morning and accused of being responsible for a campaign of sabotage that severely disrupted rail travel throughout the country. It is believed that the campaign was designed to protest nuclear technology and coincided with the transfer of nuclear waste from France to Germany. Attacks on the railway lines were characterized by debris left on the tracks, shooting out power lines, and iron bars jammed into the overhead 25,000-volt power lines and left more than 150 high-speed TGV trains across the country hours behind schedule. Initially 20 accused radicals were arrested, but now only nine remain to face charges Five of those accused are women and four are men.

No acts of sabotage have been reported since the police roundup, which took place the same day that the nuclear waste transfer was completed. On the German side of the border the deadly shipments where delivered 20 hours behind schedule thanks to nearly 16,000 mostly passive demonstrators who built barricades, took part in protest and acts of civil-disobedience.

The group, some of whom are based on a rural commune in the tiny village of Tarnac located in the Corrèze region of central France, are alleged to have ties to like minded groups in Germany, Belgium, Greece, Italy, the U.K., and the U.S.. Last January two of those arrested Julien Coupat, 34, and Yldune L, 25 were detained attempting to illegally cross the U.S. border into Canada, while in possession of English language anarchist texts and photos of the Time's Square army recruitment center weeks before a lone bicyclist detonated a homemade bomb at the center. No one was injured by the bombing which echoed similar attacks on the British and Mexican consulates and were believed to be possibly connected to anarchists.

Coupat and L were no longer in the U.S. at the time of the recruitment center attack but were surveilled attending anarchist meetings during their stay in New York City. After the border incident the FBI asked French authorities to keep tabs on the pair and alerted the press about a possible French connection. Upon their return to France the French domestic intelligence service then began a surveillance operation that culminated in these arrests.

Coupat has been labeled "the leader" of the anarcho-autonomist group dubbed "the invisible cell." He is a former sociology student and faces up to 20 years in jail if convicted of heading a terrorist organization. Other alleged participants in the vandalism face charges of causing damage, criminal conspiracy and participation in a terrorist enterprise. No one was injured by any actions taken against the rail lines or by the bombing of the Times Square army recruitment center in NYC.

Authorities have said that they were able to recover fingerprints and DNA evidence from the sites of the sabotage but at least some of the suspects have refused to submit to DNA tests and it has not so far been relieved that any of the fingerprints match. A search of the Corrèze property allegedly yielded railway network maps, material that might be used for sabotage, anarchist literature and documents on how to attack overhead cables.

Neighbors of the Tarnac farm where many of the accused live have formed a support committee to aid the arrestees. Jean Plazanet, the town's mayor, said that Coupat "is of great intelligence and kindness" and that the media's portrayal of him and his housemates was inaccurate.

Shenzhen, China - Hundreds of rioters attacked police in Shenzhen on Friday afternoon after a motorcyclist died near a checkpoint. The violence continued until yesterday morning, when calm was restored in China's southern economic powerhouse. The protest was the latest in a series of confrontations over social issues in China, where thousands of riots erupt each year, many stemming from grievances over abuse of power, corruption or land grabs.

Anger flared when Mr Li Guochao, 31, crashed into a lamp-post after a local official threw a walkie-talkie at him as he sped towards a checkpoint set up by a sub-district office, according to a statement from the public security bureau in the city of more than eight million. Mr Li's family, who thought the mishap was caused by the police of a nearby district, attacked their station on Friday afternoon. They were joined by hundreds of others, some of whom burned a police car, the statement added.

The street where the violence took place had returned to normal yesterday afternoon. There was a beefed-up police presence outside the station where the riots took place.

Mr Li, who had no riding licence, had been stopped at the checkpoint in the city's Bao'an district while riding his motorcycle, which bore no number plate, the police statement said. An official tried to block his path when he turned back at a crossroad, but seeing that he was going to crash through the checkpoint, threw the walkie-talkie at him. Mr Li lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into the lamp-post, the statement said. He was taken to hospital where he died a few hours later.

Mr Li's relatives gathered about 30 people and carried his body to the police station, where they 'smashed things' and set off firecrackers, the statement added. By 5pm, more than 400 people had gathered at the police detachment with more than 2,000 others watching nearby. Some people threw stones and set fire to a police car. Police were able to disperse the crowd only at 2am. There were no other reports of injuries.

The checkpoint official has been detained by police, while the official Xinhua news agency said Shenzhen's public security bureau had established that police had shown restraint in handling the unrest. People living in the Bao'an area said the checkpoints were set up to enforce a ban on motorcycles following a spate of muggings by riders who snatched handbags.

China's top police official has urged officers to avoid inflaming protests at a time when social unrest is easily ignited. In June, residents in Weng'an town in south-western Guizhou province torched and ransacked police headquarters and government offices after allegations spread that police had covered up a girl's rape and murder.



London - A group calling themselves the DA! collective has occupied a six-storey Georgian townhouse in Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, The property has been assessed at £6.25 million and has been called "Britain's poshest squat" The squat is less then 100 yards from the American embassy on Grovesnor Square.

A squatter who appeared on the balcony, next to a waving black flag, read out a statement prepared by the collective. "Who we are is not important. As a collective we have 'squatted' an empty, dilapidated building in Mayfair. We are making this place live through the exchange of knowledge and ideas," she said.

Capitalism Wins at the Polls! Anarchy Brewing in the Streets!

Critiques of capitalism and corporate media covered up printed election news this morning in selected sites nationwide.

Asuncion, Paraguay: At least 14 police were injured in a protest by farmers demanding agrarian reform. Paraguayan campesinos have been struggling against a wave of paramilitary violence linked to the expansion of genetically-modified soy biofuel monocultures in the countryside.





Vichy, France: Masked anarchists attacked police and torched three cars as about 2000 people protested the EU's repressive immigration policies. The meeting of 27 EU ministers to discuss immigration was the first international government conference held in Vichy, the former capital of the pro-Nazi regime during WWII. Many of the demonstrators compared current EU restrictions on migration to Nazi policies of mass deportation and genocide.

East Jerusalem: Israel demolished four unauthorized Palestinian-owned buildings in occupied East Jerusalem in one day, provoking local youths who threw stones at police and a demolition unit in Silwan, where two homes were razed. Five police were injured and several police vehicles damaged as clashes continued through the day.

SF OCT 31 2008 ICE takeover

link to beautiful slideshow by manuel ortiz

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