Further Student Protests

Students have lead another day of mass protest against the government education reform, with the cap on tuition fees set to rise to £9,000 a year and the EMA set to be scrapped (24th November). Thousands of students marched through Leeds, Manchester and London, with smaller marches occurring across the country. In London students clashed with police as they were kettled near Parliament Square. Students went on to occupy buildings at Oxford, Edinburgh and Manchester universities in protest at the government’s planned reform of higher education.

The Bodleian library at Oxford was occupied by over 70 activists before they were evicted on Thursday. Over 100 students staged an overnight sit-in at a lecture theatre in Appleton Tower, Edinburgh after they marched through the city centre. On the same day, a lecture theatre of the Roscoe Building in Manchester was occupied by ten activists. Meanwhile Ed Miliband, the new leader of the Labour Party, told BBC Radio 4 that he was “tempted to go out and talk to (the protesters),” but he was “doing something else at the time.” The National Union of Students has agreed to publicly support all student occupations and help coordinate further student protests, after the Union was criticised for not showing enough public support. Aaron Porter, head of the NUS, said in a statement, “I want to be clear and unambiguous right now. Wherever there is non-violent student action, NUS should and will support that. What we are facing is utterly disgraceful and for us to engage in some kind of internal civil war is exactly what our opponents would want.” Another day of nationwide action is planned for Tuesday 30th November.

 Morocco Accused of Human Rights Abuses

Human Rights Watch, a New York based human rights NGO, has accused Moroccan security forces of beating and abusing detainees after the unrest in Western Sahara earlier this month (27 November). On November 8, Moroccan security forces dismantled over 6,500 tents that had been erected by over 20,000 Western Sahara citizens in October in protest against their social and economic conditions in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. Over 100 people remain in custody following the unrest. HRW has interviewed seven former detainees, some of whom claim they had been beaten until they lost consciousness, had urine thrown at them and were threatened with rape. Taib Fassi Fihri, Morocco’s foreign minister, has rejected a UN probe into the unrest. Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW’s Middle East and North Africa director, said, “The security forces have the right to use proportionate force to prevent violence and protect human life, but nothing can justify beating people in custody unconscious.”

WikiLeaks Releases US Embassies' Secrets

WikiLeaks, the international whistle-blowing organisation, has begun releasing over 250,000 files that detail classified messages sent by US Embassies. The files reveal how Saudi Arabia has been pushing for the USA to bomb Iran, how the US has heavily criticized the UK’s involvement in Afghanistan and how Hilary Clinton ordered US diplomats to spy on UN officials. The files also allege that Zia Massoud, vice-president of Afghanistan, was carrying over $52 million in cash when he was stopped during a visit to the United Arab Emirates, leading to suspicions of corruption. Russia is accused of being a “virtual mafia state” in one file, with allegations that Russian intelligence agencies are using mafia bosses to carry out criminal operations. The files refer to Kim Jong-il as a “flabby old chap” and that Hamid Karzai, president of Afghanistan, is “an extremely weak man who did not listen to facts but was instead easily swayed by anyone who came to report even the most bizarre stories or plots against him.” Muammar Gaddafi, president of Libya, is referred to as “just strange.” Limited files have been uploaded on the WikiLeaks site, as well as the Guardian, the New York Times, El Pais, Le Monde and Der Spiegel.

China Continues To Harass Dissident to Bitter End

Hada, the most prominent dissident from Chinas six million-strong ethnic Mongolian minority, has been denied visits from his family just two weeks before he finishes a 15 year prison sentence. Hada, a former philosophy and political theory researcher, is set to be released on 10 December, International Human Rights Day, after serving his sentence for espionage and separatism. Recent harassment of other Mongol activists in China has led Reporters Without Borders to claim they “indicate a nervousness about the prospect of (Hada’s) imminent release.”

Words: Richard Lemmer

Photo: flickr user- chrisjohnbeckett and Saharauiak