Lindsay Lohan is out of jail after posting $75,000 bail following a roller coaster legal day for her. The starlet appeared before a judge yesterday for the fourth time in nearly a year and was sentenced to 120 days for violating her probation by taking a designer necklace. But…
Continue reading …Moammar Gadhafi’s troops backed away from Misrata today, reports the AP, as jubilant rebels claimed victory after having withstood nearly two months of shelling. “Misrata is free, the rebels have won. Of Gadhafi’s forces, some are killed and others are running away,” said a rebel. A Gadhafi spokesman said that…
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Hamdi denies driving Mohamed Bouazizi to take his own life, as all charges of striking the Tunisian stallholder are dropped It was the slap that started a revolution. When the Tunisian street trader Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, was slapped in the face by a female municipal inspector last December, he burned himself alive in protest and sparked a wave of anti-government riots that engulfed the Arab world. True or false? The woman at the centre of the controversy has now denied hitting Bouazizi and claims she was wrongly imprisoned for four months. Fedia Hamdi, 46, who has not spoken publicly about the incident until now, told the Observer that she had been used as a political pawn by the former Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. “I feel I was a scapegoat,” she said. “I feel there has been a grave injustice and it hurts me to think that no one wanted to listen to my story.” After 111 days of incarceration, Hamdi was freed by a tribunal in her hometown of Sidi Bouzid last Tuesday after defence lawyers demolished the case against her. Hamdi was found innocent of all charges when it emerged in court that only a single person claimed to have seen the slap – a fellow street trader who bore a grudge against her – while four new witnesses testified that there had been no physical confrontation. “I would never have hit him [Bouazizi],” Hamdi said, speaking from her parents’ home in Meknassy, approximately 50km from Sidi Bouzid where the alleged incident took place. “It was impossible because I am a woman, first of all, and I live in a traditionally Arab community which bans a woman from hitting a man. And, secondly, I was frightened … I was only doing my job.” The tale of Bouazizi’s self-immolation rapidly became the stuff of legend in the early days of the jasmine revolution. It was reported in media outlets across the globe that Bouazizi, a fruit and vegetable seller, had set up his stall as usual on the morning of 17 December in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid. At about 11.30am Hamdi, accompanied by another municipal official, approached the market trader to insist that the regulations did not allow him to sell his wares without a permit. It was reported at the time that Hamdi confiscated Bouazizi’s electronic scales and his cart when he refused to pay a bribe. When he became agitated, it was alleged that she slapped him across the face. Hamdi, who is unmarried and has no children, denies this. What is indisputable is that when Bouazizi tried to retrieve his cart from the police station, he was turned away. He then asked to see the local governor, but was also refused entry. At about 1pm he set himself alight. He later died of his injuries in hospital. Within hours of Bouazizi burning himself alive, a crowd of 4,000 people had gathered in Sidi Bouzid to protest against his public humiliation. For many, Bouazizi’s death became a potent symbol of an ordinary individual who struggled to make a living under President Ben Ali’s corrupt regime. It was the spark that ignited a series of revolutions across the Arab world – most notably in Egypt, Yemen and Libya. But for Hamdi, the reality was rather different. “I was just doing my job,” she says now, sitting in a large front room surrounded by her seven siblings and elderly parents. “The only thing I was trying to do that day was to apply the law and the law doesn’t allow market traders to go in a public zone. When I asked him to leave, he refused and he grabbed hold of my hand, hurting my finger. He was angry with me, so I let it go, but as a penalty I confiscated some of his bananas and peppers and gave them to a charitable association… Afterwards, I went back to my work and then I went home at 1pm and I didn’t do anything else.” According to Hamdi, Bouazizi was “hysterical” when she left him. “He was almost unaware of what he was doing.” One resident of Sidi Bouzid, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that Bouazizi poured petrol on himself “as a threat. He didn’t mean to kill himself”. Several of Hamdi’s colleagues, some of whom set up a Facebook group to campaign for her release, suggest Bouazizi set himself on fire by accident while lighting a cigarette. Whatever the truth of the incident, in the days after Bouazizi’s self-immolation, the atmosphere in Sidi Bouzid was extremely unstable. President Ben Ali, wishing to avert any further protest, ordered Hamdi’s detention on 28
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Documents submitted to Office for Fair Access are blow to government expectations on increased access Cambridge University fears it will attract fewer students from the state sector next year, despite government expectations that universities charging £9,000 in tuition fees would “dramatically” increase their intake from disadvantaged communities. Documents submitted to the Office for Fair Access (Offa), and seen by the Observer, reveal that Cambridge’s initial target, following the rise in fees, will be merely to maintain the status quo. A university source told the Observer there were even concerns that the proportion of students enrolled from the state sector could drop next year, as it did in 1999 when fees were first introduced, and in 2004 when they were increased. Offa can only reject Cambridge’s plans to charge the maximum in tuition fees if it believes the university has been “seriously negligent” in its interpretation of the office’s published guidance. The university said that it believed its access statement – submitted to Offa in justification of its fees – was challenging and fair but “realistic”. Cambridge’s submission confirms that its “principal milestone is to increase the proportion of our UK undergraduate intake from schools in the UK state sector”. But it adds: “Given the uncertainty regarding application trends in light of the new financial circumstances, our minimum objective for 2012 will be to maintain our intake profile.” Of the 15,700 students accepted by Cambridge last year, 59% were from state schools. It hopes to increase that figure to between 61% and 63% by 2015. The plans appear to contradict assurances by the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. In response to Cambridge’s plans to charge £9,000, he said: “They’re only going to be given permission to do so if they can prove that they can dramatically increase the number of people from poorer and disadvantaged backgrounds who presently aren’t going.” The president of the National Union of Students, Aaron Porter, said: “After months of warnings to the government that huge debts would put students from less well-off backgrounds off going to university … we now see that one of those universities with the worst participation records has secretly acknowledged the negative impacts of rushing to the £9,000 cap.” The government’s access watchdog revealed last week that all universities intend to charge at least £6,000 a year. David Willetts, the universities minister, had initially predicted that universities would charge different levels and that the average would be £7,500. He later revised that to £7,500-£8,000. The shadow universities minister, Gareth Thomas, said: “The government got wrong the number of universities that would charge the full £9,000; ministers were wrong that Offa could control fee levels; and now they’ve been found out on claims of more access.” A spokesman for Cambridge University said: “The access agreement we have submitted clearly shows that there will be a concerted drive to increase state school participation, but we must be realistic and realise that in the first year this will be a challenge.” A spokesman for the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills said: “In order to charge more for tuition, Offa will expect universities to set themselves stretching targets on access, achieving a more representative student body and improving student retention.” Tuition fees University of Cambridge Higher education Students Education policy Daniel Boffey guardian.co.uk
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Chelsea’s late-season surge continues and despite Manchester United still leading them by six points part of the message from Carlo Ancelotti’s side now is that Fernando Torres has finally scored, and may continue to do so until the title is decided. Entering after 77 minutes, the Spaniard registered his first goal since the £50m move from Liverpool in January suggested his sharpness has returned: on the rain-soaked Stamford Bridge turf the ball held up behind the striker but he was able to nonchalantly pirouette before delivering the sweetest of finishes with his left foot. West Ham had begun this game rooted to the bottom, two points off 17th, which for any player in the relegation dog-fight at this juncture of the season can appear a yawning margin. Avram Grant lined his side up in a 4-3-3 that matched Carlo Ancelotti’s formation, and it was Chelsea who had the best of the chances during a first half that would frustrate the Italian yet end the best way. Throughout the opening period Ancelotti had been waving at his side to slide balls in behind Lars Jacobsen, the visiting right-back: after 43 minutes Chelsea finally received the message and they had the lead. Didier Drogba, who had been the focus of most of Ancelotti’s glowering, twisted a pass that released Ashley Cole into a gallop that had the visiting rearguard turned and desperate to regain ground. Before they could manage any damage limitation though, the England left-back zipped over a cross that allowed Frank Lampard to bury a finish beyond Robert Green for a lead that had been coming. First up, Florent Malouda had raced down the inside right channel but unloaded a shot that Green parried with his body. Now Chelsea began proving that they are able to switch tempo when required, which has not always been evident this campaign. When Freddie Sears hacked a clearance away from the touchline the ball went straight to Malouda. He ambled a couple of steps then smacked a pass into Drogba’s feet. An instant turn and the Ivorian blazed a shot at Green that skidded across the sodden surface before the keeper collected. After Ashley Cole swung at a volley with his “wrong” right foot Chelsea again tip-toed through West Ham’s defence. Salomon Kalou laid possession off to Drogba before swivelling into the area where he found the ball returned by the striker only marginally too heavy for him. At this point West Ham appeared to have dug in for an attritional contest in which they would defend while Chelsea came at them in ceaseless waves of blue. Yet from somewhere Grant’s gang found their mojo. Sears sprinted from near halfway past Cole to halt in the home area with the ball at his feet. He sent over a cross for Jonathan Spector to produce a diving header that forced Petr Cech into his opening save. Then, from a Mark Noble corner, Sears backheeled from close range, but Ashley Cole stopped the ball on the line and Cech gathered. Grant had reckoned before kick-off that nine points were required from the final 15 available. Yet if he informed his band at the break that an invaluable draw could be salvaged here, the sight of Kalou hitting Green’s right post might have doused this hope. For a frantic period before Torres’ intervention the drenched pitch levelled the contest as initially Drogba and company hurtled forward before West Ham subsequently went close themselves. Drogba played in Lampard but the midfielder could not finish, then the Ivorian striker appeared in West Ham’s area but his chested control proved too heavy. Next up a David Luiz 20-yard drive crashed off Green’s crossbar. But this presaged West Ham moving into their opponents’ territory. Demba Ba stung Cech’s hands before Robbie Keane – on for Mark Noble – failed to finish. While Malouda smashed home in added time Grant could at least console himself that at least Scott Parker should return immediately, after the newly crowned Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year missed this one with an achilles problem. THE FANS’ PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT TRIZIA FIORELLINO, ChelseaSupportersGroup.net When Torres finally scored I thought the ground was going to collapse, the noise was so loud. We were pretty average and our play was pretty slow. When Lampard scored I thought the flood gates would open but it didn’t happen, but it was party time all the way once Torres scored. We keep winning but I think we probably left our run two games too late. The fan’s player ratings Cech 8 ; Ivanovic 8 , Luiz 7 , Terry 8 , Cole 7 ; Essien 7 (Benayoun 57 7 ), Lampard 7 , Mikel 7 ; Malouda 7 , Drogba 9 (Torres 77 8 ), Kalou 6 (Anelka 70 6 ) TIM CONLAN, Observer reader I never thought we would get anything out of this game, especially when I saw the line-up, but I thought we played quite well. Grant gambled at the end with effectively four forwards and we got caught with two late goals, but I thought the scoreline flattered Chelsea. I think we could still stay up with 39 points, but it’s possible rather than probable. We could do with a point at City next week. The fan’s player ratings Green 7 ; Jacobsen 7 , Gabbidon 8 , Da Costa 7 , Bridge 8 ; Hitzlsperger 6 , Noble 6 (Keane 60 5 ), Spector 8 ; Sears 8 (Obinna 82 4 ), Cole 7 (Piquionne 79 5 ), Ba 6 To take part in the Fans’ Verdict, email sport@observer.co.uk Premier League Chelsea West Ham United Jamie Jackson guardian.co.uk
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‘Big society’ under pressure with philanthropy biased towards the capital, says leading thinktank David Cameron’s “big society” emphasis on charities and philanthropy to compensate for public sector cuts will exacerbate the north-south divide, according to one of the UK’s leading thinktanks. A report from the Institute for Public Policy Research North suggests the government’s hopes that the voluntary, business and philanthropic sectors will help transform society at a time of budget cuts across the public sector are misplaced. Depending on philanthropic donations to help achieve this goal will backfire because donations are unevenly distributed in favour of London, the IPPR warns. It found that 40 donations of more than £1m were made in London in 2009, compared with six in the north-east of England, eight in the Midlands and nine in Scotland. “Clearly, the gap between London and the rest of the UK is enormous,” the IPPR says. The rise of the modern philanthropist has been exemplified by Dame Vivien Duffield, who has given more than £200m to good causes, notably an £8.3m donation last month to a number of British arts organisations including Tate Britain, the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. The IPPR also claims that relying on the private sector to provide the resources to bring about the “big society” will put areas such as London – where many of the largest businesses have their headquarters – at a huge advantage. The south also benefits because it is home to the largest charities and voluntary organisations, which are better equipped to compete for public sector contracts. Conversely, the north suffers because it is home to more voluntary and community organisations that are reliant on public funding. As a result, the IPPR warns public spending cuts could “doubly disadvantage” the north and claims 62% of voluntary and charitable organisations in the north-east have already seen a decrease in funding. “Our research shows that the big society is not currently a fair society and goodwill is beginning to wear thin as the voluntary and community sector try to deal with budget cuts,” said Ed Cox, director of IPPR North. “We need to target what little money there is to organisations that struggle to find it elsewhere. Less attractive organisations that lack donor appeal or those operating in areas where business or corporate gifts are hard to come by should be the
Continue reading …You might not have heard, but Prince William is getting hitched in six short days, and the confirmed guest list is out today. A list of the notables, as per the AP: Foreign royals: Denmark’s Queen Margrethe; Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja; Spain’s Queen Sofia; Prince Albert II of…
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More than 1,000 people have died in Misrata since protests began in February, but its volunteer fighters remain defiant The slight, smooth-cheeked young man sat patiently in the hospital reception as gurneys rushed by carrying the dead and wounded from the frontline. He had two crutches at his side. He had one leg. His name was Hassan Ibrahim, he said. Born in 1992 in Misrata, Libya’s third biggest city, home to more than 300,000 people. A first-year engineering student. What had happened? He flipped open a laptop, and called up a picture taken on 18 March, a month after the uprising began, and the day when Muammar Gaddafi sent in five brigades to crush it once and for all. Ibrahim had been walking along a street near the city centre with several friends when a column of tanks suddenly advanced, firing. A shell exploded close to them. The photograph showed his torso, his right leg, and mangled flesh where his left thigh used to be. Bleeding heavily, he was brought to the private clinic that now serves as a trauma hospital. Doctors who just a few weeks earlier had barely even seen a bullet wound had to make a quick decision. They amputated his left leg just below the hip to save his life. Ibrahim grimaced slightly as he stood up, and then said: “What happened to me is nothing compared to others who have given their lives.” This is the spirit of Misrata, a besieged city that has resisted everything that Gaddafi has thrown at it for more than two months, thanks to the solidarity and fierce determination of its people. On Friday night the Libyan government admitted that its military solution in Misrata was not working, with deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim saying local pro-Gaddafi tribes might be sent into the city to end the rebellion. The rebels even claimed that the tables had been turned on Gaddafi’s forces. “Misrata is free, the rebels have won. Of Gaddafi’s forces, some are killed and others are running away,” rebel spokesman Gemal Salem said. But heavy fighting continued on Saturday, with street battles in the area around the technical college, close to where Gaddafi’s forces have a base. By noon at least 14 rebel fighters had been killed. But each day of anguish only appears to strengthen the people’s resolve. Many thousands of men who had never held a gun before have taken up arms and fight street by street against an enemy with far superior firepower. Other volunteers drive bulldozers or trucks, bringing sand from the beach to stop Gaddafi’s tanks rolling down the streets. Families forced to flee from the outskirts of the city, or the city centre, where the fighting has been heaviest, have been welcomed into strangers’ homes in safer areas. “People who never knew each other are now living together in the same home,” said Ibrahim Amer, 21. “In a big house, you can find 50 or 60 people living together.” Committees have been set up to help the poor and the displaced, who collect free food from warehouses and $10 in cash daily. Women prepare meals, which are sent out to the hundreds of checkpoints manned by young volunteers. The cost of the resistance has been huge. At least 1,000 people have died, picked off by Gaddafi’s snipers, who set up base in the city’s tallest buildings, or by indiscriminate shelling. Thousands more have been injured. “We have done too many amputations here, arms, legs, both legs,” said Dr Khalid Abu Falgha, a member of Misrata’s medical committee. “When this is over we are going to need so many prosthetic limbs.” No one knows when that will be. But this much is certain: nobody in Misrata can contemplate life under Gaddafi again. They will win, or they will die. “If people put their guns down, Gaddafi is going to kill us all,” said Haythem Ibrahim, who runs a large company importing goods from China. He has a US passport, but has never contemplated leaving the city by boat, as he could have. Instead, he spends most days at the hospital with his brother Suleiman, archiving footage of the revolution – and the war. The brothers’ younger twin siblings, 24, a dentist and trainee doctor, are also at the hospital, working 18-hour days, sleeping on the premises. “The people of Misrata are all in this together – this revolution has brought us together,” said Haythem, 31. “I have lost so much of my business because of this. But it’s only money. People are sacrificing much more.” The uprising began on 19 February, a small demonstration called in support of the people of Benghazi in the east, whose own protests had been crushed by the government. For 14 days the people of Misrata controlled the city. Some say it was the greatest time of their lives. People flooded the streets, crying with joy. But they knew Gaddafi’s forces would come back. And they were prepared. When a large convoy of Gaddafi tanks and armoured vehicles reached the city on 6 March, they met no resistance and were drawn into the city centre. Hundreds of young men were waiting on the roofs of buildings, armed with petrol bombs and “gelatinas”, tiny bombs made with TNT, which they had been instructed to prepare. The mobile network was still working then, and once the order was given the homemade bombs rained down on the convoy. Gaddafi’s forces were humbled. Many died, others retreated. Inside some of the destroyed tanks rebels found cakes and juice; the troops had been so convinced that they would retake the city they had prepared for a party. On 18 March, a day after Nato instituted the no-fly zone, Gaddafi’s forces launched a furious attack on Misrata. For two days they pounded it, but again the rebels rode out the attack. Gaddafi’s troops were unable to take control of the city, and remain on its southern side. Last week many of the snipers in the tallest buildings were killed, captured or chased away by the rebels. But the shelling by Gaddafi’s forces continued. On Wednesday night, Ibrahim was in the hospital again. He had an inch-long wound on his neck. “I was sleeping at home with my family when I heard shells falling nearby,” he said. “I went to wake up my brother and tell him to move. Then the shell came through the roof.” A piece of shrapnel nicked his neck. When he looked at the wall behind him, he saw a big piece of metal. If it had landed a few inches closer, he would have been dead. He shrugged, and half-smiled. Then he excused himself, took hold of his crutches and hopped away towards his car, which he has already learned to drive with one leg. On the back of his jersey was sewn a small flag, black, red, and green, with a star and crescent in the middle – the Libyan flag before Gaddafi took over. ■ The British government will face pressure to explain its strategy in Libya this week amid growing concerns that a “stalemate” has been reached. Writing for the Observer , shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander has said the government needs a “clearer and better articulated strategy” and that “strategic, tactical and operational matters” had become “worryingly confused”. Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …More than 1,000 people have died in Misrata since protests began in February, but its volunteer fighters remain defiant The slight, smooth-cheeked young man sat patiently in the hospital reception as gurneys rushed by carrying the dead and wounded from the frontline. He had two crutches at his side. He had one leg. His name was Hassan Ibrahim, he said. Born in 1992 in Misrata, Libya’s third biggest city, home to more than 300,000 people. A first-year engineering student. What had happened? He flipped open a laptop, and called up a picture taken on 18 March, a month after the uprising began, and the day when Muammar Gaddafi sent in five brigades to crush it once and for all. Ibrahim had been walking along a street near the city centre with several friends when a column of tanks suddenly advanced, firing. A shell exploded close to them. The photograph showed his torso, his right leg, and mangled flesh where his left thigh used to be. Bleeding heavily, he was brought to the private clinic that now serves as a trauma hospital. Doctors who just a few weeks earlier had barely even seen a bullet wound had to make a quick decision. They amputated his left leg just below the hip to save his life. Ibrahim grimaced slightly as he stood up, and then said: “What happened to me is nothing compared to others who have given their lives.” This is the spirit of Misrata, a besieged city that has resisted everything that Gaddafi has thrown at it for more than two months, thanks to the solidarity and fierce determination of its people. On Friday night the Libyan government admitted that its military solution in Misrata was not working, with deputy foreign minister Khaled Kaim saying local pro-Gaddafi tribes might be sent into the city to end the rebellion. The rebels even claimed that the tables had been turned on Gaddafi’s forces. “Misrata is free, the rebels have won. Of Gaddafi’s forces, some are killed and others are running away,” rebel spokesman Gemal Salem said. But heavy fighting continued on Saturday, with street battles in the area around the technical college, close to where Gaddafi’s forces have a base. By noon at least 14 rebel fighters had been killed. But each day of anguish only appears to strengthen the people’s resolve. Many thousands of men who had never held a gun before have taken up arms and fight street by street against an enemy with far superior firepower. Other volunteers drive bulldozers or trucks, bringing sand from the beach to stop Gaddafi’s tanks rolling down the streets. Families forced to flee from the outskirts of the city, or the city centre, where the fighting has been heaviest, have been welcomed into strangers’ homes in safer areas. “People who never knew each other are now living together in the same home,” said Ibrahim Amer, 21. “In a big house, you can find 50 or 60 people living together.” Committees have been set up to help the poor and the displaced, who collect free food from warehouses and $10 in cash daily. Women prepare meals, which are sent out to the hundreds of checkpoints manned by young volunteers. The cost of the resistance has been huge. At least 1,000 people have died, picked off by Gaddafi’s snipers, who set up base in the city’s tallest buildings, or by indiscriminate shelling. Thousands more have been injured. “We have done too many amputations here, arms, legs, both legs,” said Dr Khalid Abu Falgha, a member of Misrata’s medical committee. “When this is over we are going to need so many prosthetic limbs.” No one knows when that will be. But this much is certain: nobody in Misrata can contemplate life under Gaddafi again. They will win, or they will die. “If people put their guns down, Gaddafi is going to kill us all,” said Haythem Ibrahim, who runs a large company importing goods from China. He has a US passport, but has never contemplated leaving the city by boat, as he could have. Instead, he spends most days at the hospital with his brother Suleiman, archiving footage of the revolution – and the war. The brothers’ younger twin siblings, 24, a dentist and trainee doctor, are also at the hospital, working 18-hour days, sleeping on the premises. “The people of Misrata are all in this together – this revolution has brought us together,” said Haythem, 31. “I have lost so much of my business because of this. But it’s only money. People are sacrificing much more.” The uprising began on 19 February, a small demonstration called in support of the people of Benghazi in the east, whose own protests had been crushed by the government. For 14 days the people of Misrata controlled the city. Some say it was the greatest time of their lives. People flooded the streets, crying with joy. But they knew Gaddafi’s forces would come back. And they were prepared. When a large convoy of Gaddafi tanks and armoured vehicles reached the city on 6 March, they met no resistance and were drawn into the city centre. Hundreds of young men were waiting on the roofs of buildings, armed with petrol bombs and “gelatinas”, tiny bombs made with TNT, which they had been instructed to prepare. The mobile network was still working then, and once the order was given the homemade bombs rained down on the convoy. Gaddafi’s forces were humbled. Many died, others retreated. Inside some of the destroyed tanks rebels found cakes and juice; the troops had been so convinced that they would retake the city they had prepared for a party. On 18 March, a day after Nato instituted the no-fly zone, Gaddafi’s forces launched a furious attack on Misrata. For two days they pounded it, but again the rebels rode out the attack. Gaddafi’s troops were unable to take control of the city, and remain on its southern side. Last week many of the snipers in the tallest buildings were killed, captured or chased away by the rebels. But the shelling by Gaddafi’s forces continued. On Wednesday night, Ibrahim was in the hospital again. He had an inch-long wound on his neck. “I was sleeping at home with my family when I heard shells falling nearby,” he said. “I went to wake up my brother and tell him to move. Then the shell came through the roof.” A piece of shrapnel nicked his neck. When he looked at the wall behind him, he saw a big piece of metal. If it had landed a few inches closer, he would have been dead. He shrugged, and half-smiled. Then he excused himself, took hold of his crutches and hopped away towards his car, which he has already learned to drive with one leg. On the back of his jersey was sewn a small flag, black, red, and green, with a star and crescent in the middle – the Libyan flag before Gaddafi took over. ■ The British government will face pressure to explain its strategy in Libya this week amid growing concerns that a “stalemate” has been reached. Writing for the Observer , shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander has said the government needs a “clearer and better articulated strategy” and that “strategic, tactical and operational matters” had become “worryingly confused”. Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Xan Rice guardian.co.uk
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Stokes Croft group who were raided by riot police say ‘we have nothing to do with the anti-Tesco protest’ The squatters whose treatment by police sparked an anti-Tesco riot near the centre of Bristol have denied any connection with activists campaigning against the supermarket giant. Speaking in the aftermath of one of the most serious outbreaks of disorder in Bristol since the St Pauls riots in 1980, the four occupants of “Telepathic Heights”, which was raided by police on Thursday night, also denied they had been manufacturing Molotov cocktails in the squat. “We had no intention of attacking Tesco whatsoever,” said Gavin Houghton, 28. “It was never on the cards – we have nothing to do with the anti-Tesco protest. They’re a separate group. “This is a nice building and it would be suicide if we started throwing petrol bombs off the roof. We would never do that. It’s not what we’re about.” Avon and Somerset police maintain that the operation was justified and said its officers had found petrol bombs on the roof of the building which had been taken away for tests. A spokesman said its forensic experts were trying to establish who made the bombs. He added: “We need to try and link it to the actual people involved because there are a number of people at the address.” Around 160 police officers in riot gear raided the squat in the Stokes Croft area to arrest a number of people they said posed “a real threat to the local community”. But the operation sparked violent protests amid allegations of heavy-handed tactics. Eight police officers were injured and recently opened Tesco store was badly damaged. Nine protesters were arrested, four of whom appeared before Bristol magistrateson Saturday. None of the four squatters remaining in the building were arrested. Houghton and Salim Noormohammad, also 28, told the Observer that the police raid had been violent and unwarranted. According to the squatters, the night the police arrived most of those living in the house had already moved out. The group had been in contact with Bristol city council’s empty homes agency and were removing the last of their stuff. “We were working on tidying the place up, as you do – it’s a house, so it’s got to be tidy,” says Houghton. “Then Salim said the police were trying to get in the front door, so I stopped painting. My first instincts were that there were going to be a few police to tell us that we were going to be evicted. But when I looked out the window it was a completely different story. “There were 30 to 40 police officers all dressed up in riot gear and they stormed the building.” Noormohammad said that after the officers broke through the door they tipped over the sofas and ripped them open, before emptying the squatters’ recycling box over the floor. “Then,” claimed Houghton, “one of the officers barged me in the face with his shield and pushed me across the room and told me to sit down on the floor. Whilst he was pushing me I said, ‘Leave me alone, I’m not doing anything to you.’ Then he started shouting, ‘Sit there, don’t move.’ “I think once they realised there were only four of us in the building, they calmed down.” Houghton said the police officers told him that they were looking for petrol bombs. According to witnesses the operation to clear the squat attracted a large crowd of people which blocked Cheltenham Road, one of the main routes into the city centre. By 1am on Friday there was serious trouble outside the Tesco store. Barricades were erected, bottle banks were emptied and their contents hurled at police, rubbish bins were set alight and a concrete slab was thrown at an officer who was knocked to the ground. Lewis Clapham, 22, a customer services worker, got caught up in the violence which lasted for several hours. He said: “I wasn’t involved in the protest or the squat. I just happened to be down there and I went up to the police and said I was just passing through, but one of them came and hit me really hard with a baton. I’ve got bruising all down my side now with massive swelling on my elbow.” Squatters Noormohammed and Philip Pezard have degrees in English and photography respectively. Noormohammad and Houghton are unemployed and Pezard works as a chef, but said he still didn’t have enough money to rent a home. They said that none of them imagined squatting after university and all claimed to be busy trying to find jobs rather than mounting a campaign against the supermarket chain. “This thing against Tesco,” said Pezard, “it’s the last thing on my mind.” The general mood in Stokes Croft is somewhat different. Hostility towards Tesco is apparent almost everywhere you look. For more than a year the residents have run a noisy campaign to stop the chain from opening one of its Express stores on the busy road. “No Tesco” graffiti dots walls up and down the road for a mile. Most prominent is a giant mural which gives a clear message to those entering the area: “Think Local, Boycott Tesco.” People have also held sit-down protests outside the store every day since its opening less than a fortnight ago. But, amid fears that violence could continue in Bristol over the bank wholiday weekend, the last residents of Telepathic Heights remained adamant that the police were looking in the wrong place for anti-supermarket activists. Police Protest Tesco Shiv Malik guardian.co.uk
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