Sunday, June 27, 2010

Toronto mounted police blockade G20 meeting place



DOWNTOWN TORONTO

BESIEGED BY POLICE

AS G8 LEADERS GATHER:




Downtown Toronto, Canada’s commercial capital and largest city, was besieged by several thousands of police in gas masks and riot gear Friday and Saturday as protesters gathered in the city centre to mark the holding of the G8 and G20 summits in Canada this weekend. The now familiar sight of black uniformed riot police armed with tear gas, rubber bullets, stun grenades, shields and batons greeted the protesters as they attempted to make their way down Yonge Street, Toronto’s main shopping area.


The police denied using tear gas in the city although most of them were wearing gas masks and British Sky News television showed a tear gas launch in the Queen’s Park area of the city. The overwhelming show of force shocked Torontonians as public transport was disrupted and shops and banks closed in a fevered attempt by the state authorities to create an atmosphere of fear, terror and intimidation in the city got underway.



Close to the Ontario Legislature building at Queen’s Park on Saturday, a small gathering of protesters who had assembled in what had been agreed beforehand with the Police would be a “designated speech area” for legitimate use by the demonstration was attacked by riot police and the area cleared as the Police reneged on their previous agreement. This type of nefarious tactics is now a regular pattern of state responses to peaceful protest and demonstrations at these “summits” which, at a cost of $1BN to Canadians,are a complete waste of money. Despite the fear-mongering by politicians obsessed by their own pompous arrogance, the protesters don’t want to confront them personally but, want to show that the majority of ordinary people are opposed to their disastrous economic and social policies and their pursuit of brutal campaigns of murderous violence against people in countries like Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere in the world.


In a secret agreement on 02/06/10, Ontario Liberal Party Premier, Dalton McGuinty, agreed to extend police powers of arrest and detention under the Ontario Public Works Act by designating the police fence at Union Station and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, just west of the south end of Yonge Street where the G20 meeting will be held later today, as “public works” and concealed this from public knowledge until last Friday, thus preventing civil liberties lawyers from challenging the legislation in the courts ahead of the summits. The secret deal allows Toronto police to arrest without warrant, search and detain any person who goes within ten metres of the "public works" fence. This is a scandalous contempt for civil rights unprecedented since Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s use of wartime emergency legislation in his 1970’s confrontation with Quebec separatism.


The use of such legislation and restriction of civil liberties which now automatically accompanies the arrival of the G8 and G20 caravans to any city shows the utter contempt for democracy and civil rights by these politicians and their determination to ignore public protest against their wasteful and murderous policies on a world scale. Hypocrites all, spouting lies and false declarations of respect for democratic process and public opinion. Democracy and civil rights, although constitutionally established, are set aside at the whim of corrupt politicians and police.


Another familiar aspect of these summits nowadays is the attendance, unwanted and uninvited by the organisers of peaceful protest, is a group of masked individuals known as “Black Bloc” who infiltrate the larger demonstrations intent on committing acts of violence and damage to property and giving the police the excuse they want to attack the peaceful protest. This correspondent witnessed such events in Strasbourg, France in April 2009, where similar acts of violence took place at the protest against the NATO 60th Anniversary Summit held in that city, also attended by Mr Obama and the rest of the NATO leaders.


The most notable thing though, which I witnessed, was the appearance of numbers of persons dressed as “Black Bloc” protesters being ferried away in police vehicles, not under arrest, but fraternising with the police as if they were part of the overall police operation. This was being done some distance from the main demonstration which was being viciously attacked by the French paramilitary CRS and was only seen by me from the back window of a pub where I had taken shelter from CRS throwing tear-gas and blast grenades at anything that moved in the street outside. Canadians should be wary of television reports and police descriptions of these so-called “Black-Bloc” activities. At least some of them, as I witnessed in Strasbourg, are definitely police “agents provocateurs” and a previous incident in Quebec,in 2007, documented at the end of the video here below, proves.



(Second video: leading Canadian economist on G8 fakery)





FearFeasaMacLeinn

Ath Cliath/Dublin 27 Meitheamh/June 2010







Tuesday, June 08, 2010


HEROES WELCOME IN
DUBLIN FOR RETURNING
GAZA FLOTILLA
PARTICIPANTS:


The Irish participants in the Gaza Aid Flotilla have returned to a hero’s welcome in Dublin. The first contingent who were kidnapped and taken hostage by the Israeli pirates last Monday arrived on Friday, 04.06.10 and those detained from the piratical seizure of the Irish/Malysian ship “Rachel Corrie” early on Friday morning last arrived this morning at Dublin Airport.

The Irish Palestine Solidarity Committee organised a press conference in Dublin on Monday, 07.06.10, where Captain Derek Graham of the “Rachel Corrie” and his comrades Mrs Mairead Corrigan Maguire (Nobel Peace Prize Laureate for Peace work in Northern Ireland) and Mr Denis Halliday, former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, each gave graphic accounts of their sea journey to Gaza and the events of the piratical seizure of the ship by Zionist Terrorists in the early hours of Friday last. All three emphasised the peaceful nature and humanitarian purpose of their journey and insisted that they were not separate from the rest of the flotilla in intention and purpose and vehemently rejected the lies of the Israeli Government’s propaganda machine which has endeavoured to slander everyone connected with the flotilla with the tag of terrorism and hate.


They pointed out that their ship was inspected in Ireland and when they stopped in Malta, by independent observers who found no illegal goods or contraband on board and all the hatches were sealed before they continued their journey.. Captain Derek Graham stated that they offered to halt at sea ahead of their arrival at Gaza and allow United Nations inspectors to examine the ship again but, this offer was rejected by the Israeli Government. Captain Graham paid tribute to the Malysian Peace Activists who were also on the “Rachel Corrie”, thanking them for their continuous support and financing of the purchase of the ship and its restoration. He also praised the bravery and courage of the Malaysians in the face of Israel’s terror tactics in boarding the ship. The group also reported that all films and photographs taken on board the “Rachel Corrie” were saved from the hands of the Israeli pirate forces and will be available for international distribution very shortly which will further give the lie to the Israeli propaganda concerning their piratical actions.

On Saturday, 05.06.10 an emergency meeting of the Irish Labour Party was held in the meeting hall of the Dublin Mayoralty which was chaired by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councilllor Emer Costello. Here it was announced by the senior Labour Party figures, Mícheál D. Ó hUigínn, spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Joe Costello, T.D., spokesperson on European Affairs and Human Rights and Prionnsias de Rossa, Member of the European Parliament for Dublin and Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to Palestine, that a submission was being prepared for the Irish Attorney General to prepare a case for the International Court of Justice against Israel for Piracy, Murder, Kidnap and unlawful detention and transport of free citizens of Ireland and other countries and unlawful seizure of property in international waters. Netanyahu, Barak and others to be nominated as defendants. The meeting then adjourned to the massive public protest demonstration which began in Dublin at 2pm the same day.

The Dublin protest began at 2pm with a brief ceremony at the Irish Garden of Remembrance in the city centre where tribute was paid to the 9 Peace Activists who lost their lives as a result of the Israeli terror attack on the Turkish vessel “Mavi Marmara” last week. Then there was a march by several thousand people to the Irish Foreign Ministry building close to the Irish Parliament in another part of the city. There, the large and angry crowd headed by Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Emer Costello, gave a thunderous reception to the Irish Peace Activists, Dr Fintan Lane and Fiachra Ó Luáin who had just returned to Ireland from illegal detention in Israel, having been on the Flotilla which was attacked by the Israeli pirates.

From the platform, Ms Patricia Comerford, Secretary General of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions announced the decision of the Swedish Marine Trade Unions at a special conference in Stockholm to consider boycott, disinvestment and severing of all relations with Israel, to implement from 15.06.10 a total boycott in Swedish ports of all Israeli shipping which will be prevented from landing or unloading in Sweden, with a request to other European Union federations to join the boycott. Ms Comerford pledged that the ICTU would support this decision and implement a similar boycott in Irish ports. It was also announced that the South African Federation of Trade Unions would follow suit and in addition request all municipalites to boycott Israeli goods and cease any trade relations with Israel.

It was announced to loud cheering that the Donegal County Council in the northwest of Ireland and the native county of Fiachra Ó Luáin, referred to above, had, at a special meeting, declared the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland persona non grata in the County with immediate effect. This resolution will now be passed to all other County and City councils in Ireland for repetition in each. There were repeated loud calls from the crowd for the expulsion of the Israeli Ambassador from Ireland and the imposition of international sanctions on Israel.

Also speaking at the meeting were David Landy, Secretary, Irish Palestine Solidarity Committee, Mícheál D. Ó hUigínn,T.D., Labour Party spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Aengus Ó Snodaigh, T.D., Sinn Féin spokesperson on Foreign Affairs who was barred from boarding the peace flotilla by the Cyprus Government, along with Fianna Fáil T.D., Chris Andrews and Senator Mark Daly. This raises the question of whether the Cyprus Government had foreknowledge of Israel’s intentions and stopped the Irish politicians from boarding in order to avoid a serious complication of the international incident if any harm came to them like the assassination of the Turkish Peace Activists on board the “Mavi Marmara”.

The meeting accepted with acclaim a proposal to mount a human blockade of the Israeli Embassy offices in Dublin beginning at 7am on Tuesday, 08.06.10. This is being organised at present. Israeli officials and diplomats will be prevented from gaining access to their offices from that time rendering their Embassy dysfunctional.

Mounting world-wide protest all last week against Israeli state terror, piracy and murder is now being transformed into concrete actions which have the potential to bring the Zionist State and its criminal war machine to its knees in a very short time indeed. We in Ireland will be in the forefront of this and we are determined to continue until our aims are fulfilled. We are no longer prepared to wait for governments to act, the people themselves have now been aroused to action and the people will be unstoppable.






FearFeasa Mac Léinn

Áth Cliath/DUBLIN, 08 Meitheamh/June 2010.


Thursday, June 03, 2010





WORLD-WIDE PROTESTS

CONTINUE AGAINST ISRAELI

TERROR ASSAULT ON

GAZA HUMANITARIAN

FLOTILLA:


HEAD-ON POLITICAL ROW

BETWEEN IRELAND AND

ISRAEL AS IRISH SHIP

APPROACHES GAZA:




World shock and horror widened today against the despicable, piratical and murderous

attack by Zionist Israeli storm troopers on the convoy of of peaceful humanitarian vessels

heading for Gaza with food, medical and civil aid on Monday. Major demonstrations are occurring on a daily basis in all major cities and in Dublin today, Thursday, 03.06.10, at 6pm in the city centre and again on Saturday next, 05.06.10, at 2pm. Saturday’s demonstration will be supported by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions and all trade union members have been urged to attend.

The situation has increased in dramatic intensity as the only ship of the flotilla still travelling towards Gaza, the Irish vessel, MV Rachel Corrie, with peace activists on board from Ireland and Malaysia who have decided to continue their journey, has been threatened by Israel with similar

interdiction as they practiced on Monday. The Rachel Corrie will pick up more passengers, including human rights activists and journalists, before continuing their journey toward Gaza. Perdana Global Peace Organisation (PGPO) chairman, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is representing the six Malaysian passengers on board the MV Rachel Corrie, said;



“the ship is going to sail through Gaza waters and it has nothing to do with Israel.

“They are not going to Israeli waters. Why is it that these Israelis are going to block people going towards Gaza and not using Israeli’s territorial waters at all? They have no right.”



This has led to a sharp deterioration in relations between the Irish Government and Israel and a strong statement from the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen, T.D. demanding “absolute restraint” from Israel in regard to the “Rachel Corrie” and a statement from Foreign Minister, Micheál Martin. T.D. calling for total respect for the human rights and dignity of the passengers and crew of the vessel and that the ship be allowed to continue peacefully with its journey. Minister Martin also called for the end to Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza as demanded by UN Security Council resolution 1860 of 2009.



Zionist Israel continues to defy the United Nations having rejected the Security Council’s Tuesday demand for an impartial and international inquiry into the events of last Monday.

And in a belligerent speech on Israel TV today, hard-line Zionist premier Netanyahu continued to defend Israeli piracy and murder and rejected world demands that his government cease its illegal, inhumane and genocidal blockade of the people of Gaza. The Zionist pirates may think they can go on for ever defying international law but they may soon get a rude awakening as to the vulnerability of their real position as the International Federation of Transport Unions will consider this weekend a proposal to declare a blockade of all Israeli shipping attempting to land at European ports and the prevention of Israeli civilian aircraft landing anywhere in Europe. Two can play at the boycott game and we Irish know well how to do it as we invented boycott during the Irish Land War of the 1880’s.



It has just been announced on Irish National Television (RTÉ) that Shane Dillon, Irish peace activist who was on board the Turkish vessel “Mavi Marmara” when the Israeli pirates attacked and has this evening just arrived back in Dublin, has said that the international hostages seized by Israel were attacked with rifle butts in indiscriminate fashion by the Zionist troops contrary to the lies being broadcast by the Israeli Government spokespeople that the ship’s passengers attacked first. Mr Dillon, a qualified mariner and marine officer of the Irish merchant marine also stated that the Israeli forces deprived them of food, sleep and medical treatment for their injuries when they were forcibly taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod and later Beersheba concentration camp in the Negev desert. This is further gross violation of the Hague and Geneva conventions on rules of conflict and all human rights provisions of international law.




FearFeasaMacLéinn

Áth Cliath/Dublin, Meitheamh/June 03 ,2010.