Europe’s intifada is spreading:
Icelandic police fired pepper spray and made arrests at a demonstration outside parliament on Tuesday where protesters demanded the government that oversaw the country’s economic collapse step down, local media said.
Several hundred demonstrators, some hammering on pots and pans, gathered around the Althing, amid calls for the Icelandic government to step down, a Reuters witness reported.
Train drivers are now on STRIKE in Misr Station (Cairo’s Central Train Station in Ramses Sq), demanding their bonuses.
All trains to Upper and Lower Egypt have been blocked by the drivers since 5pm. The head of the Railway Drivers Association is now negotiating with the management.
UPDATE: From Sarah Carr: Drivers have refused latest offer of part payment in July. The police have now involved themselves in convincing drivers to accept offer.
UPDATE: From Per: Police confiscate cameras of three journalists
UPDATE: It’s 9:07pm. I’ve just spoken with Per who says the state-backed union officials were trying to convince the drivers to suspend the strike, but the drivers refused. Still no trains are moving in or out of the station.
UPDATE: It’s 9:11pm. I spoke with one of the drivers. He’s cursing the state union officials, and saying the strike continues.
UPDATE: 9:40pm. From Sarah: Trains running again but negotiations continuing.
UPDATE: It’s 10pm. End of negotiations. Drivers will meet again with management in ten days time.
UPDATE: Per posted a report on his blog, and Sayyed uploaded some pix of the strike to Flickr.
UPDATE: Resources on the struggle of the railway workers here.
From AP:
Police have charged a prominent Thai political commentator with insulting Thailand’s revered king in a 2007 book — a day after an Australian writer was jailed for three years for a similar offence.
Ji Ungpakorn, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University — one of the country’s leading universities — denied the charges and accused the government of increasingly using Thailand’s harsh lese majeste laws to silence criticism.
“This is a way of shutting up people and silencing opponents, especially opponents to the military dictatorship in 2006,” said Ji, who also writes under the name Giles Ji Ungpakorn.
He said he was being targeted for political reasons because his 2007 book, “A Coup for the Rich,” criticized the military for launching a coup that ousted then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Police filed charges today, Ji said, but must still submit the case to the public prosecutor, who decides whether to bring the case to trial.