Statewatch:
In the
News
News
online
| Join Statewatch news e-mail list |
In
the News:
Archives:
2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2000-2001 
January 2012
Greece vexed by German demand for 'budget commissioner' (euobserver, link)
UN: Arms Trade Treaty May Bypass Anti-Riot Weapons (IPS, link)
UK: Satellite
tracking could monitor offenders around the clock (Daily
Telegraph, link)
10
reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free (Washington
Post, link)
GERMANY: Berlin
police hooked on mobile phones (presseurop, link): "Since
2008, the Berlin police has collected data on 4.2 million mobile
phone connections"
Swiss Plan to Gag Refugees (IPS, link): "Only two years after its last revision, the Swiss Asylum Act is about to be 'reformed' again. The changes include a gag order on political activism for asylum-seekers and a modification of the concept of a refugee."
Danish National Court rules mass arrest
to be illegal! (Climate
Collective, link)
SPAIN: Trials
of Judge Garzón Called Scandalous by Rights Groups
(IPS, link): "Another trial opened Tuesday with Spain's
best-known judge, Baltasar Garzón, in the dock for attempting
to investigate crimes against humanity committed during the 36-year
dictatorship of Francisco Franco"
Europe's Conservatives Fail to Criticize Hungary (Speigel Online, link): "Many European politicians feel that democracy is in acute danger in Hungary, where Viktor Orbán's government has pushed through a series of controversial laws. But the European People's Party, to which Orbán's Fidesz party belongs, doesn't want to take action against its Hungarian colleagues."
Unrest Spreads Eastwards (IPS, link): "Protests in Hungary
and Romania are the first signs of anti-systemic mobilisation
in the Eastern half of the continent. While protests in both
countries indicate dissatisfaction with their governments’
authoritarian turn, their origins differ, as does the European
Union’s reaction to them."
ITALY: Conciatori
eviction: crackdown on the commons continues (Roarmag,
link): "The eviction of the oldest social center in Florence
this morning is yet another instance of a worldwide crackdown
on public space and civil liberties."
EU becoming less
tolerant, NGO says (euobserver, link): "Racist mobs in Greece
and Hungary, mistreatment of Roma, Arab migrants and Muslim terrorist
suspects and a feeble reaction by EU institutions point to a
worrying right-wing shift inside the European Union, according
to US-based NGO Human Rights Watch." See: HRW
report (link)
UK: Nicolas Bratza: Britain should be defending European justice, not attacking it (Independent, link): Sir Nicolas Bratza is President of the European Court of Human Rights
Concern Over Attacks on Reporters in Romania (Balkan Insight, link)
UK: Undercover
police had children with activists - Disclosure likely to intensify
controversy over long-running police operation to infiltrate
and sabotage protest groups (Guardian, link)
Norway
security chief quits in Pakistan agents row (Alertnet, link)
Immigration update: Finland issues biometric identity cards (Relocate, link)
Greek protesters take to Athens streets as creditors arrive for debt talks (Guardian, link)
ITALY: Strikes, Protests Paralyze Sicily (The Epoch Times, link)
UK: Biometric
chaos at new prison (Daily Telegraph, link): "The first new
public prison in two decades comes to a standstill on a daily
basis because of failings in a new biometric monitoring system"
Encryption
and globalisation (63 page article, link)
Debate swirls as Paris embraces video
surveillance
(France24, link)
SWITZERLAND: Nestlégate:
Nestlé in court for surveillance of ATTAC (Multiwatch, link)
Rioting in the UK and France: driving
factors
(France 24, link)
Hungary's
media crackdown slips off EU radar (euobserver, link)
440,783
"Silent SMS" Used to Track German Suspects in 2010 (f-secure, link): "basically,
various German law enforcement agencies have been "pinging"
mobile phones. Such pings only reply whether or not the targeted
resource is online or not, just like an IP network ping from
a computer would. But then after making their pings, the agencies
have been requesting network logs from mobile network operators.
The logs don't reveal information from the mobile phones themselves,
but they can be used to locate the cell towers through which
the pings traveled. And thus, can be used to track the mobile
targeted. Requesting such network logs was a legal gray area
until 2007, when Germany amended its telecommunications surveillance
act. And now we are left to wonder, just how many other countries
consider this type of tracking to be a gray area?
UK: Civilian snooping army doubles in four years (Daily Telegraph, link) "An army of official "snoopers" is being created after the number of civilians handed police-style powers almost doubled in the past four years, The Daily Telegraph can disclose."
SWEDEN: Family
believes Swedish police abused Turkish immigrant before death (Today's Zaman, link)
UK funds new UCAS research effort (flightglobal, link): “BAE Systems
and the UK's Defence Science & Technology Laboratory are
to work together on technology requirements for a future class
of unmanned combat air systems, under the terms of a new research
effort funded by the nation's Ministry of Defence”
GERMANY: Paybacks are hell: Parental spying prompts infiltration of German police system (Naked Security, link): "“The Patras system is used by the police to track suspects using so-called "silent" SMSs and GPS tracking devices planted on automobiles. It appears that a senior policeman from Frankfurt am Main installed spyware onto his daughter's computer to keep an eye on her online activities”
UK: GUNNING FOR GOLD: Olympic rings of steel as UK prepares for military lockdown (Schnews, link)
HUNGARY: Curtain
comes down on liberal Hungary (Independent, link)
UK: Spy
watchdog seeks curbs on UK court access to intelligence material
(Bureau of Investigative Journalism, link)
AUSTRIA: Racist
youth check causes controversy (Austrian Times, link):
"A sociologist has questioned the results of a disputed
study on Austrian teens' attitudes." See: Austrian
teens exposed as xenophobic by study
AUSTRIA: Right-wingers on the rise (Austrian Times, link): "The Freedom Party (FPÖ) would come second in a general election these days, according to a new survey." See also: Strache plans stronger right-wing alliances: "Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) chief Heinz-Christian Strache discussed immigration issues with high-ranking representatives of Italy’s rightists" and FPÖ politician receives pig heart in post
DENMARK: Government to act faster on children facing deportation (Copenhagen Post, link): "In light of the many recent high-profile cases of children who have been threatened with being separated from their families and kicked out of Denmark, the government has now decided to speed up the process of relaxing the rules for family reunification regarding children"
HUNGARY: 'Democracy is being trampled on in Hungary' (Spiegel Online, link)
GERMANY: Neo-Nazi radio presenters sentenced (The Local, link): "Eleven employees of a Neo-Nazi internet radio station were handed suspended sentences in the western German town of Koblenz Thursday. A twelfth worker was imprisoned for two years because he carried previous offences"
GREECE: Young migrant dies of suffocation (Ekathimerini, link): "A young Afghan man, one of a group of three believed to be aged 15-20, died on Tuesday after suffocating in the cab of an abandoned truck in the western port city of Patra." See also: Migrants abandoned in truck
HUNGARY: Hungarian state TV report downplays protest (Xpatloop.com, link)
MEDITERRANEAN: Probe starts into the migrants' sea of death (Times of Malta, link): "Grey areas in maritime search and rescue legislation must be ironed out if tragic deaths of migrants at sea are to be avoided, says a Council of Europe investigator. An intriguing picture of the events that led to tragedy on the seas between Libya and Italy, has been pieced together by Tineke Strik, the Dutch Senate member appointed to head an investigation"
NORWAY: Opposition to stricter rules for asylum seekers (The Norway Post, link): "Several politicians in Stavanger strongly disagree with the Government’s tightened restrictions for rejected asylum seekers, who under new rules will not be allowed to work in Norway while waiting to leave the country"
ROMANIA: National anthem gets 'boost' in Romania (Balkan Insight, link): "Romania's parliament has adopted new legislation on 'national identity' that will require students to sing the country's anthem at school... Furthermore, schools will be obliged to hang the national flag in every
FRANCE: French
crack down on Roma gangs (BBC News, link): "On
the platforms of the Gare du Nord in Paris, the French and Romanian
police are now patrolling together"
UK: Government
hits pause button on CCTV regulations (The Grocer, link)
Terrorists picked out in a crowd by cameras
that can beat human eye
(Evening Standard, link)
UK: Police
face new questions over approach to protest groups (Independent,
link)
The ECJ on Aslyum, Greece; the UK Protocol on the EU Charter (Human Rights in Ireland, link) by Dr Cian Murphy
December 2011
EGYPT-EU: Egypt
to require biometric visas from visiting EU officials
(Egypt Independent, link)
UK-IRELAND: UK-Ireland
borders deal to target illegal immigrants (BBC News,
link)
USA: Anti-piracy laws will smash internet, US constitution - legal eagles (The Register, link): "“Legal experts are warning that the proposed PROTECT IP and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) legislation, currently working their way through Congress, will damage the world's DNS system, cripple attempts to get better online security and violate free speech rights in the US constitution”
UK: What
price justice? The story of the Cardiff 3 (The Justice
Gap, link)
MALTA: Gaps
remain in migrants' boat mystery (Times of Malta, link):
"The visit to Malta focused on an incident reported in
March-April this year, when 63 boat people fleeing Libya 'were
left to die' after their appeals for rescue had allegedly been
ignored."
Western Surveillance Technology in the Hands of Despots (Der Spiegel, link)
USA: Indefinite Detention Bill No Longer Faces Veto Threat From White House (Huff Post, link)
UK: Jets
and snipers in helicopters to guard Olympics (Evening
Standard, link): "The three services will provide up
to 13,500 personnel for the Games.... About 7,500 armed forces
members will work as security guards at the Olympic venues"
Note: This begs the question what powers will the military -
acting as "security guards" - have?
USA: Technology:
Check Out Texas’ New Grenade Launcher-Equipped Police Drone
in Action (The Blaze, link)
UK: Police
to test laser that 'blinds rioters' (Daily Telegraph,
link)
USA: Police
employ Predator drone spy planes on home front (Los Angeles
Times, link)
UK: Why
I’m resisting the Dale Farm Production Order (NUJ,
London Photographers Branch, link)
EU: EURO: New EU
deal faces multiple referendum threat (euobserver, link)
UK: Thames Water 'spies' on supersewer protesters (Evening Standard, link): "Thames Water is using security guards with Home Office "covert licences" to monitor critics of its supersewer"
EU Parliament Seminar Looks At Risks Of Outsourcing Policing Of Internet (Intellectual Property Watch, link)
UK: Ministry of Justice: Digital technology delivers more swift and effective justice (Press release, link): "More victims and witnesses are benefiting from swift and effective court hearings and valuable police hours are being saved thanks to the expansion of virtual courts and live links technology."
Minister breaks down announcing new Italian austerity (euobserver, link)
HUNGARY: International
“radicalism index” puts Hungary fifth of 33 countries;
belief in genetic roots of Roma crime widespread (Politics.hu,
link)
Report
Indicates German Right Wing Is Well Armed (Spiegel International,
link)
Resource for researchers: UKUSA
Agreement: Released
GCHQ files: UKUSA Agreement (UK Public Records Office,
link) and UKUSA
Agreement Release 1940-1956 (NSA, USA, link)
Hungary
outlaws homeless in move condemned by charities (BBC
News, link): "A new legal regulation has come into force
in Hungary making homelessness punishable by a fine of around
$600 (£384) or prison."
SCHENGEN: France:
EU passport-free travel should be 'reconsidered' (euobserver,
link)
Europe in
crisis: Rule by troika (Le Monde Diplomatique, link)
and Greece
in chaos (Le Monde Diplomatique, link) : "Personally
and collectively, the Greeks don’t understand and can’t
cope with what’s happening now, let alone what will happen
next. The welfare state is being swiftly and deliberately dismantled
without any time to set up replacements."
Exclusive: How
Gaddafi Spied on the Fathers of the New Libya (OWNI.eu,
link): "OWNI, in conjunction with Wikileaks, reveals
evidence of how French company Amesys helped Gaddifi's regime
to spy on leading Libyan opposition figures while they lived
in the UK and the US." See also: SpyFiles:
Revelations of a Billion-Dollar Mass Surveillance Industry
and: Spy-files
(link)
UK-EU: Britons increasingly targeted under European arrest scheme (Daily Telegraph, link)
November 2011
BUSTED! Secret app on millions of phones
logs key taps Researcher says seeing is believing (The Register, link)
EU-US
data privacy storm blows cloud off course (euractiv,
link)
UK: Security Minister insists Govt will continue with current Prevent strategy targeting Muslims (Muslim News, link)
IRELAND: Experts call for privacy on personal genetic testing (Irish Times, link): “Legal and scientific experts have warned that personal genetic information could be abused by employers and insurance companies, due to rapid advances in scientific technology. The EU needs to take steps to protect privacy and prevent such discrimination, according to experts participating in a conference on the issue at NUI Galway (NUIG) at the weekend.”
FRANCE: African activists denied participation in the democratic debate by French authorities (Migreurop, link)
UK: Met police Tasered man carrying toy gun on train (Guardian, link)
Germany faces questions over alleged
spy agency involvement in Libya (DW-World.DE, link)
UK: 'No
security scan, no fly' policy to remain in force at UK airports
- Transport secretary Justine Greening says terror threat justifies
refusal to give passengers an opt-out from scanning (Guardian,
link)
Netherlands to beef up border surveillance (euobserver, link)
UK: Demonstrations' to be banned during Olympics' - Ministers ponder tough new powers to prevent Occupy-style protests interfering with Games (Independent, link)
The Drone Threat to Privacy: In a world in which nearly anyone can purchase a device capable of photographing locations behind walls, gates and fences, will anyone be able to keep a secret? (Scientific American, link)
ITALY: Berlusconi toppled, Brussels man installed to run Italy (euobserver, link): "The Brussels man, who in a highly unusual manoeuvre was appointed senator for life on 9 November by the president in order to lay the ground for his installation in the country’s top office, is understood to want to form a slimmed-down cabinet of some 12 non-politicians" and "Monti, an economics professor, is a committed free-marketeer and has advised Goldman Sachs and the Coca-Cola Company. He is also the European Chairman of the Trilateral Commission, a powerful international think-tank.." See also: Joint statement by European Council President Van Rompuy and European Commission President Barroso on the decision to ask Mario Monti to form the next Italian government (pdf)
GREECE: ECB
man to rule Greece for 15 weeks (euobserver, link): "The
Communist party and the left-wing Syriza alliance both denounced
the appointment of an unelected prime minister at the behest
of international monitors."
European
companies 'need confidence' over Patriot Act concerns
(ZDnet, link), Microsoft
admits Patriot Act can access EU-based cloud data (link)
Summary:
ZDNet's USA PATRIOT Act series (link) and Updated
European law will close Patriot Act data access loophole
(link)
Serial killing of migrants in Germany
started in 2000 (M&C,link)
CIA
following Twitter, Facebook (NDTV link)
UK: UK
Border Agency officials 'illegally targeting' bus passengers
- Civil rights campaigners and human rights group Liberty condemn
previously undisclosed tactic as 'deeply distasteful'
(Guardian, link)
UK: Are
the main parties just taking on BNP policies? (IRR News,
link)
HUNGARY: Neo-Nazis return to Hungarian village, provoke brawl with Roma residents (Romeacz, link)
Hungary puts its Roma to work (euractiv, link): The European Commission said yesterday (20 September) it is unaware that local authorities in Hungary are putting Roma to work under programs reminiscent, according to the opposition, to labour camps under Nazi or Soviet domination."
HUNGARY: Roma
asylum claims rising in Canada (Hungary around the clock,
link)
UK
gov needs fresh law to protect taxpayers' ID - Offloading data
to private biz already racks up £10m bill (The
Register, link)
MALTA: Immigrant
jailed three months for escape (Times, link)
G4S: Detainee Custody Officer: DCO
Overseas (link)
October 2011
London Remembrance Procession for deaths in Police Custody 2011 (video, link)
SPAIN: Detained
Immigrants "Are Treated Like Criminals" (IPS,
link)
UK:
Met chief says officers' use of fake identities in court was
not illegal - Scotland Yard launches two more inquires, but defence
of tactic used to infiltrate activist groups 'worries' ex-DPP
(Guardian, link)
UK: Attorney
general aims to limit European power over English law - Dominic
Grieve to appear before the European court of human rights in
Strasbourg to argue his case (Guardian, link)
GREECE: Special unit of riot brought in (Machine tranlsation of article from: Defence Net, link) and Blogpspot (link). See also: EUROGENDFOR: Site (link) and TREATY: Between the Kingdom of Spain, the French Republic, the Italian Republic, the Kingdom of The Netherlands and the Portuguese Republic, establishing the European Gendarmerie Force EUROGENDFOR (Statewatch, link) and Statewatch Analyisis (pdf)
EU calls for criminal penalties for insider trading (EUBusiness, link)
G4S in £5.2 billion buy-out of ISS (Info4 Security, link)
New Danish government rolls back border controls (euobserver, link)
September 2011
UK holds 1st Olympic safety exercises since riots (Yahoo News, link)
Greece: Racist attacks continue plaguing
Athens
(Clandestina, link)
ITALY:
Prison ships in the decadent city (euro-police, link)
EU: Brussels
to beef up EU criminal policy (euobserver, link)
EU: STATE-BUILDING: EU wins new powers at
UN, transforming global body (euobserver, link)
Europe Confronts Its Borders (IPS, link)
The
Whole World Is Watching: In an increasingly monitored world,
how can consumers and citizens reclaim ownership of their private
lives?
by James B. Rule (Democracy, link)
GERMANY: Test
of full-body scanners: Effective, but not yet ready for nation-wide
rollout (Germn
Interior Ministry, link)
Berliners
protest against excessive governmental surveillance (Press TV, link)
USA: The Informants: The FBI has built a massive network of spies to prevent another domestic attack. But are they busting terrorist plots—or leading them? (Mother Jones, link)
August 2011
AUSTRIA: Homeless man dead after attempted arrest (Austrian Times, link)
Austria: Terror crackdown over Reichstag attack plot (Austrian Independent, link)
Bulgarian Ruling Party Proposes Limits on Surveillance (BalkanInsight, link)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Czech
town to ban homeless from 'sitting, leaning, lying' on public
facilities (Radiopraha, link)
CZECH REPUBLIC: Police
to remain in north Bohemia for several weeks (Prague
Daily Monitor, link):"[Police President Petr] Lessy and
Interior Minister Jan ubice visited Rumburk, a town in the Sluknov
area where tension has risen between local residents and unadaptable
Romanies in the past months".
CZECH REPUBLIC:
Administrative court suspends nationalist National Party
(Prague Daily Monitor, link)
DENMARK: Greenpeace
activists escape jail time (Copenhagen Post, link): "Greenpeace
activists who gatecrashed a dinner of world leaders in Christiansborg
castle during the COP-15 climate conference in December 2009
will not serve time behind bars."
DENMARK: Influence
of secret organisation in far-right groups revealed (Copenhagen
Post, link): "Anti-immigration organisation ORG is at
the nexus of a web of right-wing groups in Denmark, Politiken
newspaper revealed today". See also: Secret
anti-immigration group exposed
DENMARK: UPDATE:
Guards sat on restrained prisoner (Copenhagen Post, link):
"New information into death of prisoner Ekrem Sahin –
whose death in custody was linked to the prison guards use of
an illegal restraint – leads state attorney to reopen case"
GERMANY: Germany struggles to quell arson problem (Der Spiegel, link): "Hundreds of cars have gone up in smoke in Hamburg and Berlin in recent months. But try as they might, officials have been unable to stop the series of arson attacks. Now, it looks as though the perpetrators are no longer just leftist extremists -- but a Hamburg taskforce has made little headway"
GREECE: Greece clears police to enter university campuses (Athens News, link): "Greece has abolished restrictions that made it difficult for police to enter university campuses, which have become a hotbed for protests against the country's austerity measures"
GERMANY: Berlin
under fire over 'secret' participation in NATO's Libya mission
(Deutsche Welle, link): "Berlin's official position is
that no German troops are being deployed in Libya. But Bundeswehr
soldiers are indirectly taking part in the conflict by providing
target assessment for their NATO allies"
NETHERLANDS: Police
more likely to shoot: police union (Dutch News, link):
"Police union ACP said on Wednesday that in the future
police agents will be more likely to use their guns during violent
incidents". See also: Police
involved in more shooting incidents
NETHERLANDS: The dead are still listed in police system (Dutch News, link)
NETHERLANDS: Turks need not integrate (Dutch News, link): "Turkish nationals do not have to attend integration courses, the court of appeal ruled on Tuesday in a case brought by the Dutch government. The ruling states that because Turkey has an association agreement with the European Union, Turkish nationals living in the Netherlands may not be forced to attend language and civic studies courses"
NETHERLANDS: One in three refugee families live below the poverty line (Dutch News, link)
NETHERLANDS: Camera surveillance may be brought in to daycare centres (Dutch News, link)
POLAND: Internet security scandal (New Poland Express, link): "An elite anti-terrorism regiment involved in special operations in Afghanistan has been embarrassed after detailed plans of one of their bases surfaced on the internet"
SPAIN/ROMANIA: Romanian
employment temporarily restricted in Spain (Balkan Insight,
link): "The European Commission has today agreed that
Spain may temporarily restrict the free movement of Romanians
because the country is facing the highest level of unemployment
in the EU"
IRELAND: No
effective sanction for Police abuse of Irish data retention system
(EDRI, link)
UK: Riots:
Metropolitan police planned to hold all suspects in custodyExclusive:
leaked strategy amounts to a blanket policy of mass imprisonments
and could lead to legal challenge, say lawyers (Guardian,
links) and Read
Operation Withern's prisoner processing strategy
SCOTLAND: Guantanamo Bay firm to run Dungavel detention centre (Daily Record, link): "A firm who run part of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp have won the contract to manage Dungavel immigration removal centre."
Police to begin iPhone iris scans amid privacy concerns (Reuters, link) and "Eventually, it will work. You'll be able to wear a camera that will automatically recognize someone walking towards you, and a earpiece that will relay who that person is and maybe something about him. None of the technologies required to make this work are hard; it's just a matter of getting the error rate down low enough for it to be a useful system." (Bruce Schneier blog)
MALTA: Safi
riot not entirely surprising – UNHCR (Times of Malta,
link): "“Frustration is increasing as several hundred
asylum seekers are held behind bars in poor conditions,”
a UNHCR spokesman said yesterday, pointing out that the vast
majority of those in detention did not become aggressive or violent."
UK: England
riots: Theresa May under fire over proposed police curfew powers
- Carte blanche for forces to designate no-go zones is a publicity
stunt and glosses over manpower problems, say rights groups
(Guardian, link)
Greece builds a trench to keep out illegal migrants from Turkey
(DW World De, link)
Italian Senate approves illegal migrant repatriation Bill (AGI News, link)
USA: Pentagon to monitor social networking sites for threats - US defence department to search for potential cyberterrorism and next Arab revolutions on sites such as Facebook and Twitter (Guardian, link)
UK: Failed
asylum seeker found dead at Campsfield detention centre - Man
who was hours away from deportation had become very anxious,
says fellow detainee (Guardian, link)
Deaths
Increase on Migrant Voyages from Libya to Italy (IBT,
link)
ITALY: African
migrants found dead on overcrowded boat bound for Italy
(Guardian, link)
MARCH ON BRUSSELS: Indignados start epic march to Brussels (link)
ITALY:
Italy: Asylum-seekers clash with police (News 24, link)
Law enforcement agencies access rights to your cloud data - An
essential primer for enterprise IT professionals on data privacy
and security in the cloud (Computerworld UK, link)
UK: Police officers given mobile fingerprint
scanners for improved ID on the beat (V3.co.uk,
link)
NORWAY: US
Oslo embassy spy case goes cold (The Foreigner, link)
July 2011
More online surveillance needed, officials in Europe say (DW Word De, link)
USA: Mexican
activist's flight turned back over US airspace - Raquel Gutiérrez
Aguilar was on a flight to Spain and claims she must be on an
American blacklist (Guardian, link)
SWITZERLAND: African
immigrant stabbed in Aargau (Genevalunch, link)
UK: Is the law being misused to undermine peaceful protest? The CPS may have dropped charges against 109 Fortnum and Mason protesters; but why are some still facing prosecution? (Guardian, link) and Met police are accused of pursuing a 'vindictive' case against UK Uncut tax protesters (Observer, link)
UK: Asylum seekers furious at rush to hit deportation deadline (Independent, link)
UK:
Innocent people's DNA profiles won't be deleted after all, minister
admits - The DNA of more than one million innocent people will
not be wiped from police records (Daily Telegraph, link)
INTERPOL: International
police agency, Interpol, uses Red Notices to punish political
dissenters, opponents (International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists, link)
Australia toughens cybercrime laws (The Register, link).
Australia goes, like Canada, for data preservation
AFGHANISTAN:
To Track Militants, U.S. Has System That Never Forgets a Face
(New York Times, link)
GERMANY: German
spymasters left red-faced as plans for new Berlin HQ are stolen
- Germany's answer to MI6 faces difficult questions as Angela
Merkel orders inquiry into security breach (Guardian,
link)
UK:
'Racist' stop-and-search powers to be challenged - Court gives
woman go-ahead to take controversial section 60 to task over
allegations it discriminates against black people (Guardian,
link)
SWITZERLAND: Reconstruction
of a forced deportation carried out by the Swiss authorities
(augenauf, a Human rights group in Zurich, link)
UK: Newspapers,
hacking... and the forgotten private investigators (Info4security,
link): "What’s needed is for private investigators
to be licensed so that if they do get caught it’s not only
a fine they face, but also the loss of their livelihood.... It’s
also important to create a change of culture among private investigators
by introducing a Code of Conduct and minimum standards of training.
There should also be scope to make complaints about those same
investigators in relation to their conduct. The legislation to
achieve all this is already there: it just requires the political
will of the Government to implement it."
UK: Met
police kettled pupils aged 11 during fee protests, court told
- Youngsters, who say they were detained for more than six hours,
launch legal challenge in high court (Guardian, link)
EU: Brussels seeks financial tax in new EU budget (euobserver, link). The European Commission is trying to introduce a direct tax raising power to supplement the indirect levy on each Member State - yet another sign of the emerging EU state.
USA: War
Evolves With Drones, Some Tiny as Bugs (New York Times,
link)
June 2011
CZECH REPUBLIC: Právo: Czech neo-Nazis provoke with hard bass (Balkan Insight, link): "Czech neo-Nazis have started provoking public outrage by a wild dancing at hard bass, a rhythmic electronic music, in Ostrava, north Moravia, but also in other towns, daily Pravo writes yesterday"
GREECE: Greece will not become 'storage place' of Europe's illegal migrants (Athens News, link): "Greece will not become Europe's "warehouse" for illegal migrants, Citizens' Protection Minister Christos Papoutsis stressed Wednesday on the island of Corfu, where a regular meeting of the Council of Europe's (CoE) parliamentary assembly (Pace) Committee on migration, refugees and population is taking place"
GREECE: Muslim place of worship attacked by arsonists (Athens News, link)
GREECE: Minister talks tough on illegal immigrants (Ekathimerini, link): "Makeshift camp in Igoumenitsa to be razed as part of broader crackdown at ports"
NETHERLANDS: Immigration police to restart flying brigades on Schengen borders (Dutch News, link)
POLAND: More power for foreign police (New Poland Express, link): "New reports suggest that foreign police and border guards working in Poland are to be given more power ahead of the Euro 2012 football competition"
POLAND: American forces to help defend Euro 2012 against terror threat? (The News, link): "“Forces and means – that means people and American equipment, could be on Polish territory during this time, ready for action, if such a need exists,” Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, General Mieczyslaw Cieniuch told the TVP public broadcaster on Tuesday"
GREECE: Amnesty
condemns Greek crackdown on anti-austerity protests (euobserver. link)
UK: A
sinister cyber-surveillance scheme exposed - Hacked emails from
security contractor HBGary Federal reveal a disturbing public-private
partnership to spy on web users (Guardian, link)
UK: 'Son of star wars' base in Yorkshire finally ready to open - Peace campaigners slam secrecy over $10bn Menwith Hill project that puts UK in line of fire (The Observer, link)
UK: One in four Britons are to have their names logged on the police database even if they haven't been convicted (Metro, link)
DENMARK: Government
locked in dispute over borders (The Copenhagen Post, link): "The
government secured the majority it needs for its ‘permanent
border control’ agreement last week by the narrowest of
margins. In a vote of 90 for and 89 against"
The Entire Internet Under Governmental Censorship In France? (La Quadrature du Net,
link)
Austrian far-right in fresh push for EU respectability (euobserver, link)
UK Charging Protestors (Critical Legal Thinking, link)
Biometric border control installed at Pak-Afghan
border
(GTN, link)
US
defence chief: Europe may no longer be worth defending (euobsever, link)
USA: Ex-N.S.A.
Aide Gains Plea Deal in Leak Case; Setback to US (New York Times, link)
UK: School
surveillance: how big brother spies on pupils - Cameras in the
toilets; CCTV in the classroom; pupils' fingerprints kept in
a database . . . Can't happen here? Think again, because the
surveillance state is quietly invading our schools (Guardian, link). See
also: Biometrics
in schools
and Liberty (links)
EU: Europe's
Rising Islamophobia (Inter Press Service, link)
UK: Stopped
by police for talking (Cageprisoners, link)
UK-FRANCE: Keep
your Arab Spring migrants, May tells France (Independent, link)
USA: Metaphor is the new weapon in the 'war' on terror (Guardian, link): ""[W]hy would US spooks suddenly develop an interest in an area that has hitherto been the preserve of humanities scholars? The answer has to be that they now hoover up every digital communication across thye globe, but lack the capacity to extract meaningful information from the resulting torrent of data. Given the scale of that torrent, the only way to analyse it is by using computers. The problem is that while computers are good at processing data, they're hopeless at understanding it"
US warns EU not to relax aeroplane liquids ban (Guardian, link)
Battle Over EU Flight Passenger Data Rages on (PC World, link)
US agents operated illegally in Sweden (Radio Sweden, link): "US undercover agents carried out surveillance of suspected terrorists in Sweden, without the authorisation of Swedish authorities, the daily Svenska Dagbladet reports."
As Poland’s Legacy of CIA Torture
Erupts, Europe’s Human Rights Court Must Act (OSI, link)
May 2011
Global crime and terrorism need an international response (Public Service Europe, link): Europol director Rob Wainwright: " I am not sure a major European DNA database for every citizen would be the right balance, it would be disproportionate so it's not something that is going to happen in the short term, I am sure."
Eyes to the far right (New Internationalist,
link): "Extreme nationalists and ultra-right populists
have found parliamentary footholds across Western Europe".
UK: UK
developing cyber-weapons programme to counter cyber war threat (Guardian, link): "Professor
Peter Sommer, an expert in technology and security affairs, said
The interesting question then becomes, what are the rules for
deployment? "I suspect the UK will be borrowing from the
doctrines which govern our special forces such as the SAS. It
will all be covert but will stop at damaging civilians and assassinating
heads of state. And the detailed rules will not be published."
Police crack down on Spanish anti-austerity camp (euobserver, link)
EU reluctant to ease conditions for asylum-seekers (euobserver, link)
UK: Time
for an independent review of the Terrorism Act's schedule 7 -
Like section 44, schedule 7 of the act is far too broad, overused
and leaves innocent people feeling humiliated and criminalised (Guardian, link)
Brussels
has concerns about tougher Dutch immigration policy (Dutchnews, link)
UK: Two
police officers on racism charges (thisisbath, link)
SWEDEN: New
asylum policies pave way for boost in forced deportations (The Local, link)
UK-USA: Barack
Obama agrees to form joint national security body with UK (Guardian, link)
GREECE: Organised
Crime in Greece: Statistics, Trends and Police Countermeasures
in 2011
(Balkananalysis, link)
UK-LIBYA-TUNISIA: Britain
declines to 'share the burden' of refugees (Indpendent, link)
GREECE: Protester
hit by police, in deep coma (Athens News, link)
German Voters and the Virus of the Right (Spiegel Online, link):
"The Danes bring back border controls, France fears waves
of refugees: Germany's neighbors have started to show rampant
EU skepticism, but German attitudes toward Europe are no less
alarming. A new study shows Germans from across the political
spectrum are falling victim to right-wing populism."
FRANCE: Update
from Calais Migrant Solidarity (Indymedia UK, link)
Interpol plans data exchange for migrants (Times of Malta, link)
DENMARK: Human
rights record under the UN’s microscope (Copenhagen Post, link)
UK: Campaigners
slam Met police for issuing dumdum bullets (Evening Standard, link)
GREECE: Greek
officials urge calm after racist attacks (AP, link)
EU: Members
states reluctant to let Brussels get a look in on border controls (euobserver, link)
EU: Barnier
to endorse Spanish-style Internet policing for EU (euractiv, link)
USA: Battle
Brews Over FBI’s Warrantless GPS Tracking (WIRED, link): "Kathy
Thomas knew she was under surveillance. The animal rights and
environmental activist had been trailed daily by cops over several
months, and had even been stopped on occasion by police and FBI
agents."
EU-funded project to prompt intelligence-sharing (euobserver, link): "In an unassuming building a stone's throw from the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels, a group of experts is overseeing the development of software that will make it easier to deal with what intelligent experts call the "tsunami of information" in the public sphere."
"Petition urges France end Tunisian arrests (expatica, link)
Nato units left 61 African migrants to
die of hunger and thirst - Exclusive: Boat trying to reach Lampedusa
was left to drift in Mediterranean for 16 days, despite alarm
being raised
(Guardian, link)
BALTICS: Officials
Decry Norway’s Threat to Close Borders to Baltics Amid Mafia
Charges
(The Lithuania Tribune, link): "A storm of mudslinging erupted
on May 3 between the Baltics and Scandinavia after a high-ranking
Norwegian police representative wrote a letter to the Ministry
of Justice, asserting that 80 percent of organized crime in their
country has roots in the Baltics, and calling for, if no steps
are taken to mend the situation, the closure of the Schengen
visa zone to those EU member states"
BULGARIA: 'Roma Decade' Passes Bulgarian Roma By (Balkan Insight, link): "During the past five years, a full halfway through the Roma Decade, nothing much has happened in Bulgaria beyond adopting papers that articulate the problems, but do not address them"
BULGARIA-ROMANIA: Schengen shift (The Sofia Echo, link): "Even as the European Parliament’s committee on civil liberties, justice and home affairs voted to approve a report that said that Bulgaria and Romania meet Schengen requirements, the committee also was expressing concern about the possibility that France could temporarily suspend Schengen standard practice to re-impose conventional border controls, and about moves by France and Italy to revise Schengen rules"
CZECH REPUBLIC: 15 arrests at May Day march in Brno (The Prague Post, link): "A large-scale police operation of some 700 officers - including international anti-conflict officers and special video and helicopter surveillance - was mounted to prevent trouble among the three simultaneous demonstrations," made up of about 400 supporters of the far-right Workers Youth; who were significantly outnumbered by marchers on the Brno Blocks and "We Don't Want Neo-Nazis in Brno Initiative"
DENMARK: Strict Immigration Laws 'Save Denmark Billions' (Spiegel Online, link): "Even though Denmark already has some of the toughest immigration laws in Europe, right-wing populist politicians are now trying to make them even more restrictive."
FINLAND: Finland's refugee stats little affected by family reunification (Helsinki Times, link): "Despite the heated rhetoric in some quarters, actual family reunification numbers are trivial"
FRANCE: France to build 25 prisons (rfi, link): "Minister of Justice Michel Mercier says 25 new prisons will be constructed. Another seven will be extended. And 15 facilities that were due to be shut down will be kept open."
GERMANY: Riot police attack undercover cops at May Day protest (The Local, link)
GREECE: Riot police push protesting doctors out of health ministry (Athens News, link)
HUNGARY: Government moves to crack down on far-right paramilitaries (The Budapest Times, link): "The government said last week that it was legislating to make the activities of far-right paramilitary groups and “citizens’ guards” a crime punishable by up to three years in prison"
IRELAND: Irish prisons in 'tinder box' situation (Irish Times, link): "Overcrowding, drug use and poor management of prison officers' time have led to a "tinder box" situation in Irish jails where criminals band together in gangs and violence is commonplace, according to the Prison Officers Association"
NORWAY: Agreeement on controversial Data Retention Directive (The Norway Post, link): "Data storage time be limited to a maximum of six months, and a strict control with storage facilities"
ROMANIA: Romania, US agree on Site for Missile Shield (Balkan Insight, link): "The shield in Romania is part of a wider system aimed at providing protection of NATO member countries in Europe, while increasing the protection of the United States "against the increasing threats posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles from the Middle East", a US State Department press release said"
ROMANIA: Wikileaks: Basescu stated EADS contract "corrupt" (The Diplomat, link): "President Traian Basescu told US Embassy staff that a billion-Euro contract with Franco-German aerospace firm EADS to secure the borders of Romania was “corrupt” and “almost wholly redundant”, alleges a US Cable published through Wikileaks from 2005"
SPAIN: Search continues for 22 immigrants missing at sea (The Reader, link): "The maritime rescue services are still searching for 22 Sub-Saharan immigrants who are believed to have fallen into the sea from their patera (rudimentary craft), which was found half sunk approximately 22 nautical miles south of Adra (of the coast of Almería)"
SPAIN: Spain publishes map with over 2,000 Franco-era mass graves (Expatica, link)
UK: Nottingham
University expert 'suspended' in terror row (BBC News, link)
EU: STATE-BUILDING: EU wins new powers
at UN, transforming global body (euobserver, link): "EU Council
President Herman Van Rompuy will now be able to address the United
Nations no differently from US President Barack Obama, Venezuela's
Hugo Chavez or Russia's Dimitri Medvedev. In order to win the
vote, the EU had to agree to changes to the global organisation
that transforms the UN from an assembly of nation states into
a body that also offers representation rights to regional blocs
as well, including potentially the African Union, the Arab League
and the South American Union."
Greek border successes focus attention on Bulgaria (euobserver, link)
EU accused of hampering airport security (euractiv, link)
UK: Protester to sue police over secret surveillance - John Catt, aged 86, has had his presence at peaceful protests systematically logged by secretive police unit over four years (Guardian, link)
SWEDEN: Gothenburg cops cleared in bomb threat arrests (The Local, link)
MALTA: Detention: is it necessary? (Malta Independent Online, link) "Politicians and representatives of the human rights lobby who participated in a business breakfast on the Libya migration crisis yesterday debated the necessity or otherwise of Malta’s detention policy, with MPs insisting that Malta needs to have a strong policy and others, such as the UNHCR representative, saying that there are ways of finding control mechanisms and alternatives to detention."
NORWAY: Officials in some of the largest public services in Norway say Norweigans actively inform on their fellow citizens (The Foreigner, link)
TURKEY: A total of 138 words have been banned from Turkish Internet domain names and now tens of thousands of Turkish websites face closure (Hurriyet, link)
AUSTRIA: Third arrest in Neo-Nazi website case (Austrian Times, link): "Another suspected neo-Nazi has been arrested as prosecutors continue to investigate against alleged organisers of a fascist homepage."
HUNGARY: A new wave of anti-Roma violence in Hungary (Der Spiegel, link): "The Hungarian village of Gyöngyöspata has once again become home to violence between right-wing radicals and its Roma populace. Dozens of extremists marched into the town on Wednesday, one day after provoking brawls with the Roma who live there. It is the continuation of a trend." There is a photo gallery to accompany the article
NETHERLANDS: Police break telecom privacy rules (Dutch News, link)
EU: Net Neutrality: Europe Just Doesn't Get It: It seems that of European Union Member States, only France is taking a strong interest in debates over net neutrality, while 'the European Commission concluded there is no need to regulate the networks, since there is too little evidence to prove that net neutrality was violated in Europe. Yet barriers to neutrality do exist, and the Commission’s disregard of the issue is becoming more unacceptable for the cause’s supporters'. (OWNI.eu, link)
April 2011
CANADA: iPhone 4 tracks user's location on computer - Researchers reveal device keeps data in secret file; privacy expert calls for federal investigation (Ottawa Citizen, link)
UK: Facebook accused of removing activists' pages - Protest groups claim Facebook has taken down dozens of pages over the weekend in a purge of activists' accounts (Guardian, link)
Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/health/iPhone+tracks+user+location+computer/4652439/story.html#ixzz1KwBhxwtF
UK-ECHR: British courts regain power to deport terrorist suspects (Daily Telegraph, link): "British courts yesterday won back the power to deport terrorist suspects, criminals and failed asylum seekers after European judges were told to stop interfering."
UK: Bristol squatters deny Tesco attack and petrol bomb claims (Observer, link)
Brazilian police to use 'Robocop-style' glasses at World Cup (Daily Telegraph, link): "Brazilian police will use futuristic 'Robocop-style' glasses fitted with facial recognition equipment to identify and root out troublemakers at the 2014 World Cup."
Netherlands: Fingerprints database decreases security (link): A political debate is emerging in the Netherlands about the desirability and the feasibility of the creation of a database with the fingerprints of every person living in the Netherlands. This is partly practice in the Netherlands. Since September 2009 fingerprints - that everybody who applies for a new passport or ID is obliged to give - are being stored in a decentralised database. The plan is to create a centralised database that can also be used by different law enforcement institutions. But a majority in parliament and all privacy watchdogs are not in favor of this plan. Jaap-Henk Hoekman (senior scientist at TNO and an associate professor in security and applied cryptography at the Radboud University Nijmegen) thinks such a database will make the passport less secure, instead of more.
EU arrest warrant not for 'bicycle thieves' (euobserver, link)
EU intelligence bureau sent officers to Libya (euobserver, link)
EU seasick with African boat people (euractiv, link) "Italy
quarrelled with other European Union governments yesterday (11
April) over how to handle thousands of migrants fleeing violence
in North Africa, while the EU executive urged the bloc to do
more for the refugees."
EU should forge ahead with electronic ID, says Estonian minister (euobserver, link):
"Estonian parents check the academic progress of their
children online. Estonia's e-police are just a click a way from
knowing whether the car you are driving has valid insurance or
is due for a road safety test. Doctors write electronic prescriptions.
And would-be entrepreneurs can electronically register a new
business in under 20 minutes.
Meanwhile Estonians no longer "go" to the bank at all; they "log on" to it. Only tourists buy paper tickets for the public transport system (everyone else does it via the internet and the use of their obligatory electronic ID card or their mobile phone). And all can vote electronically."
EU border agency keen to send back more Tunisians (euobserver, link)
CYPRUS: Fines
for ten officers in brutality case (Cyprus Mail, link)
EU
commission keen to set up new counter-terrorism office (euobserver, link):
"The European Commission is testing the water for creating
a new EU internal security body on the model of Catherine Ashton's
European External Action Service (EEAS). Speaking at a European
Parliament hearing in Brussels on Wednesday (30 March), commission
counter-terrorism director Olivier Luyckx envisaged a new entity
that would pull together existing security agencies Cepol, Cosi,
Eurojust, Europol and Frontex under EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator
Gilles de Kerchove.
US No Fly List at Work in Canada? (Canadian Civil Liberties Association)
UK: Hidden cameras on all routes in - Royston is to become Britain’s first ‘ring of steel’ town as hidden cameras watch all routes, police have revealed (Royston News, link)
March 2011
UK: Arrest warrant plans make a mockery of universal jurisdiction - Giving suspects from 'protected countries' immunity from war crimes arrests would turn the UK into a safe haven for suspects (Guardian, link) "If the law is changed, suspects from a list of "protected countries" that includes Israel, America, China, Saudi Arabia and potentially others, such as Bahrain, will visit our shores with impunity, making us a safe haven for some war criminals and torturers. This outcome would be a sick parody of true universal jurisdiction."
IRELAND:
Judge's report reveals allegations that Garda used phone records
to spy on her ex (It Law in Ireland, link)
Top EU official defends Bahrain crackdown (euobserver, link):
"A senior advisor to EU foreign affairs chief Catherine
Ashton has defended Bahrain's security forces after they opened
fire on protesters with live ammunition last week.Speaking to
MEPs in the foreign affairs committee in Brussels on Tuesday
(22 March) after visiting Bahrain, Robert Cooper, Ashton's top
advisor on the western Balkans and the Middle East, said the
island is normally "a rather pleasant, peaceful place.""
Brussels: Protests against 'austerity summit' turn
violent
(euobserver, link)
How
France placed the Internet on permanent surveillance (OWNI.eu, link)
USA: Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media - Military's 'sock puppet' software creates fake online identities to spread pro-American propaganda (Guardian, link)
UK: Police accused of false arrest at fees protest - IPCC investigating claims that officer colluded with colleagues to arrest man on false grounds during December protest (Guardian., link)
ITALY: Migrants Settle Into Permanent Struggle (Inter Press Service, link)
DENMARK: Worst
in the West for family reunification (Copenhagen Post, link)
UK: You're
being watched: there's one CCTV camera for every 32 people in
UK - Research shows 1.85m machines across Britain, most of them
indoors and privately operated (Guardian, link)
UK: MI5 seeks "mobile surveillance officers" (BBC News, link)
ITALY: A day at the temporary immigration center in Lampedusa (Afronline, link)
UK: Police prepare for more kettling at cuts protest - TUC and police insist they expect 200,000-strong demonstration on 26 March to be peaceful (Guardian., link)
Netherlands: EU warns the Netherlands on Polish deportation plan (Dutch News, link)
February 2011
Hungary: Media Struggles to Find a Free Voice (Inter Press Service, link): "EU pressure may force Hungary to step back on some provision of its controversial media law, but its main goal has been achieved before it even took effect: media are intimidated.
"EU-LIBYA:
Libya
replete with EU arms as Gaddafi massacres protesters (euobserver, link)
UK: Face
recognition scanners at Manchester Airport suspended after man
re-enters Britain on his WIFE'S passport (Daily Mail, link)
UK: Immigration officer sacked for putting wife he didn't like on terror watch list (Daily Mirror, link)
EU: The EU’s new politics of movement (Czechposition, link): "The EU’s common asylum system is broken; with a fresh refugee crisis brewing in North Africa, it must be replaced with something workable"
EU: MEPs corner the Commission on expert groups (Brussels Sunshine, link): "MEPs from all sides of the political spectrum last week attacked the Commission's failure to act against the industry dominance of many of its advisory bodies, the so-called expert groups"
UK: Boycott the UK census over links to Lockheed Martin, protesters say - We're ready to face £1,000 fine, declare anti-war protesters in row over role of US arms firm Lockheed Martin in data gathering (The Observer, link)
UK: Schools' counter terrorism project scrapped - Teachers feared £12.5m Channel project to identify radicalised children was 'anti-Islamic' (Guardian, link)
Hungarian EU presidency faces embarrassment over
Gay Pride ban
(euobserver, link)
EU: Outcry
at EU plan to mix aid and foreign policy (euobserver, link)
BULGARIA: Sofia
bomb highlights EU corruption, border security fears (euobserver, link):
"Brussels has asked for a full investigation into a bomb
at a Sofia-based magazine, after it published wiretaps linked
to the anti-graft Operation Octopus with the potential to harm
Bulgaria's Schengen entry bid."
UK: G4S
security firm was warned of lethal risk to refused asylum seekers
- Whistleblowers' testimony concerning banned restraint technique
known as 'carpet karaoke' given after Jimmy Mubenga death (Guardian, link) and
Staff
on deportation flights played 'Russian roulette' with lives -
Whistleblowers' dossier claims concerns over restraint techniques
used by G4S staff were ignored for years
UK: New
centres 'to detain child asylum seekers' (Independent, link):
"The Coalition is accused of watering down its promise
to end the detention of child asylum seekers by setting up new
centres to detain families refusing to leave the UK."
Council of Europe lashes out at Netherlands (expatica, link)
January 2011
UK: Holograms
Of Staff To Help Airport Security (Sky News, link)
Finland Also Says No to Bulgaria, Romania Schengen Entry (Novinite, link)
UK: David Cameron: Migrant boom "helped wreck our economy" (Daily Express, link)
Finland: Far-right True Finns score record high support (Gulf Times, link)
Three shot dead at Albania anti-government
protest
(Reuters, link)
Romania,
Bulgaria Schengen entry a security risk: France (expatica, link)
Frontex Signs Cooperation Agreement with
Cape Verde
(Migrants at sea, link)
Germany
puts freeze on sending asylum seekers back to Greece (DW-World-DE, link)
UK: Border
Agency plans £36.4m biometric collection contract - The
UK Border Agency is planning a network of booths to take foreigners'
fingerprints and photos (Kable, link)
Europe’s
xenophobic right (Agence France Presse, link)
Bulgarian PM calls confidence vote after wiretap scandal (euractiv, link)
EU intelligence services opening up to collaboration (euobserver, link), see also “Club de Berne” meeting in Switzerland (founded in the 1971, 2004 press release, link)
WikiLeaks cables:
Turkey
let US use airbase for rendition flights -Turkey allowed use
of Incirlik airbase as refuelling stop, US embassy cable reveals,
after Turkish denials of involvement (Guardian, links) and Document
BULGARIA:
Wiretap scandal rocks Bulgarian government (euractiv, link)
GERMANY: Raid
on Radio FSK (Hamburg) declared illegal (Press release, German, ECLN, link):
A 2003 raid by 200 policemen on the offices of leftist Hamburg
radio FSK, has been declared illegal after appeal at Federal
Constitutional Court
NETHERLANDS: Dutch footbal fans convicted for wearing anti-police
T-shirts The shirts only had the number 1312 written on them,
but police took
great offense as that could mean 'ACAB' or 'All Cops Ar Bastards'.
People wearing the shirts earlier declared it to mean Acht Bier,
Acht Cola (eight beer and eight cola please), while political
fans declare it to mean Anarcho-Communists Are Beautiful. The
three men were convicted to paying a fine of 330 euro each, and
might also get a ban from entering the stadium. See: Parool,
6 January 2011
GREECE: German
journalist arrested on Greek-Turkish border (expatica, link): "A
German journalist was arrested in Greece on Friday after being
caught in a restricted military area on the border with Turkey,
Greek police said. The 46-year-old, who was released pending
trial, was caught by a Greek patrol in the northeastern Evros
region, driving a car on the land border with Turkey where access
is only allowed by special permit, the police statement said."
UK: Ratcliffe
coal protesters spared jail sentences - Judge says activists
who planned to shut down a coal-fired power station near Nottingham
acted with 'highest possible motives' (Guardian, link)
Statewatch does not have a corporate
view, nor does it seek to create one, the views expressed are
those of the author. Statewatch is not responsible for the content
of external websites and inclusion of a link does not constitute
an endorsement.