The Anaheim police brutality drama has not come to an end. Another violent protest against the deadly police shooting, which caused Manuel Diaz to lose his life and ended with 24 arrests and several injuries.

Protests have been going on for a few days, this time as many as 500 demonstrators and 250 police officers were confronting eachother for several hours. Most of the protesters acted peacefully but some became violent so the police had to use pepper balls and beanbag rounds.

The clash began after a City Council meeting in which different leaders from Anaheim, California voted to ask the U.S. attorney’s office to investigate the incidents from last weekend, which saw a shooting involving an officer that ended with the loss of Manuel Diaz’s life. Diaz was catalogued by the police as a known gang member but during the incident he was unarmed, which caused public outrage from the witnesses against the police. The protests have been going on since Saturday.

The council chamber surroundings were filled with protesters. At the beginning they were there peacefully, but as the place became overcrowded, some people pushed on the windows so the police had to push them back.

However, this was not the violence trigger, as the protesters just marched to the police headquarters and then back to the City Council. The event that lead to violent protests was the detention of a man who the police thought was armed, but in reality wasn’t, so the crowd started throwing rocks at the officers.

Sgt. of the Anaheim police Bob Dunn explained that the violent protesters seemed to be outsiders who wanted to provoke a violent clash between the police and the other protesters.  At one point, the animosity at the protest escalated with Molotov cocktails being thrown, and business windows were smashed and trashcans were set on fire.

The night ended with the detention of 24 protesters, 20 adults and four minors, with five people hurt, a police officer, two members of the media and two protesters, but no life-threatening injuries were reported.

The Diaz family is suing the city and the Police Department, and is asking, according to their lawyer, for $50 million in compensation for damages.

The Police Chief John Welter explained that in Diaz’s case, two officers had approached three men, including Manuel Diaz, who were acting suspiciously in an alley. Upon noticing the officers the men ran away and Welter explained that Diaz failed to obey the police officers orders to stop, and while in pursuit, he threw a package which was believed to be heroin on to the roof of a complex building.  The Police Chief did not explain the motives behind the police officers actions.

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On Monday May 21, 2012, protests continued against a mine in the Espinar province in Peru near Cusco. Protestors claim the Tinaya copper mine, owned by Swiss company Xstrata, is contaminating the water supply of two rivers and dozens of animals have become sick. Additionally, workers claim the company is giving too low an amount of royalties to the local government.

The Catholic Church commissioned a test of the rivers in August and September of 2010 that showed high levels of arsenic, copper, mercury and other heavy metals in the soil and water. Local priest Luciano Ibba claimed, “the people are incensed for all that has happened. The situation is extremely volatile.”

Protestors have acted with violence, injuring at least 30 police officers. According to reports, protestors have thrown stones at the police, set fire to a pasture and destroyed government vehicles. The government claims that police were forced to discharge their weapons on protestors to protect their own lives. It has not been confirmed whether the two deaths of protestors resulted from the police opening fire or the violent nature of the protests.

During the state of emergency, freedom of assembly is suspended and police are given special powers for thirty days. This is the second state of emergency declared for anti-mining protests in the short 10-month presidency of Ollanta Humala. Humala, considered a protector of rural people and a defender of private investment, has recently been critiqued for being too quick to rely on authoritarian tactics to restore order.

At least 24 protestors have been arrested since the state of emergency was declared. One of the activists, Herbert Huaman, is the president of the Front for the Defense of Espinar and was arrested for encouraging more protests. Shortly before his arrest, Huaman said on television, “President Humala, you have been a social crusader, but now you have forgotten, brother, come and converse with us and resolve this problem yourself.”

Another individual who has been arrested is Oscar Mollohuanca, mayor of the Espinar Province. Mollohuanca originally went into hiding but was arrested May 30, 2012 for inciting violence and using public funds to pay for the protests. Mollohuanca claims the charges were “surely handed down because of pressure from above, because what we have here at play are big interests from, for example, mining companies.”

Similar violations of civil liberties were declared in the northern province of Cajamarca last December when civilians protested the building of a gold mine, the Conga mine, by the American-owned company Newmont Mining Co. The project was meant to be one of the biggest mining projects in Peru but locals were unsatisfied with the environmental repercussions. President Humala has suggested the company preserve two of the four lakes it was planning to destroy and create reservoirs for the local water supply. Now the project is on hold while the developers consider whether the added cost of following these suggestions is worth the mine.

However, not everyone is against the creation of these mines. Whereas the rural population of Peru is against these projects that threaten the environmental stability of their homes, most urban Peruvians support them. Just as protests were expected to resume in the Cajamarca region following the protests in Espinar, another protest began on May 29, 2012, in favor of the Conga mine. Many urban Peruvians are pro-development and are looking forward to the associated investments and economic gains from the project. Mining accounts for about 60% of Peru’s export income, but it has alienated the highland peasants due to the frequent contamination of water supply. Consequently, much of Peru has become polarized due to this issue.

Image Courtesy of  meunierd / Shutterstock.com

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Col Muammer Gaddafi has ruled Libya with an iron fist for the last 42 years, since he seized power in 1969. In the initial stages of his rule people considered him a handsome, charismatic, young military officer. He is a disciple of former president of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

He made his own political philosophy, and over time forced students to read this philosophy in schools. Further, he banned all political parties from operating, imprisoned many critics, and led them to death in his period of governance. Decades of survival under tyrannical times, and unparalleled oppression under the Gaddafi regime have made people rebel.

He has been a great head-turner at most of the international gatherings so far. People in the Arab world call him flamboyant because of his outlandish clothing and blunt speeches.

The first Anti-Government demonstrations started with over-throwing the Tunisian and Egyptian governments that engulfed the Arab world. On February 17, protests took place in Libya calling for a regime change or for Gaddafi to step down.

Decades of suppression, economic sluggishness, stagnant standard of living and impossibility of political reforms, might have made the people of Libya revolt against the 42-year-old military rule. The spark of the regime change movement got escalated in the Arab world after the successful ousting of the Tunisian government early this year.

Gaddafi attempted to suppress protests even in the initial stages by curbing them down with the military use of live bullets, mortars, machine guns and anti air-craft missiles, leading to heavy loss of civilians in many towns of Libya.

Protests continued to turn violent in February. Witness reports said that there was bloody fighting between soldiers and rebel forces.  On February 20, rebel forces captured the port city of Benghazi, and the next day the Libyan Justice Minister resigned and said he was unhappy with excessive use of force against protesters.

From the beginning of this revolution, rebel forces fought tooth and nail in their aim to change the existing political system for democracy. Professor Daniel Serwer of John Hopkins University met with the National Transitional Group (NTC) and said “From what we know they want a democratic Libya, an Islamic state but a state that is clearly a multiparty state, clearly a liberal state”. The rebel (NTC) includes several very different groups including former Gaddafi Allies, long-time opposition figures, ethnic Berber fighters, and Islamists.

A five month long battle was aided by NATO forces that entered fighting in Libya, after UN secretary Council passed a resolution which authorized “all necessary measures” to enforce a no-fly zone and protect civilians. As far as the role of United States is concerned in this battle to oust Gaddafi, it has been subtle and American troops have not placed their boots on Libyan soil.

Now after five months of deadly hostility in Libya, rebel forces have captured Bab-al Aziziya, Muammer Gaddafi’s compound and the heart of his rule for the last 40 years. It was stormed and looted badly and the statue of the besieged dictator was demolished.

The huge complex was literally filled with anti air-craft shells and used bullets as rebels fighters found their way inside the compound amid dozens of bodies. Several NATO strikes and the onslaught eventually led to the fall of his compound.

It seems to be clear that decades of military rule in Libya has its days numbered. What can be counted on is the relentless and munificent execution of fierce battle against the Gaddafi troops: this is truly a mark of courage and determination.

 
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