Conflicting reports on the death toll have emerged, but they confirm that both the government forces and the protesters saw casualties. Three security officers and 20 demonstrators were killed, according to the Iraqi defense ministry. Other military sources put the number of security casualties at 6.Health officials have reported that the three hospitals in the Kirkuk region received 15 dead, including one soldier, and 50 wounded, including 15 security forces troops.The Ministry of Defense said they raided the Sunni encampment while searching for fugitive militants who attacked a checkpoint near Hawija several days earlier. The military officials also said they had warned camp residents of the looming raid and asked them to leave the area, some of whom did. Those who remained allegedly attacked the government troops.”When the armed forces started… to enforce the law using units of riot control forces they were confronted with heavy fire,” the defense ministry said in a statement, according to Reuters. In the ensuing conflict, security forces detained 75 protesters and confiscated a huge arsenal, seizing multiple weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades, sniper rifles and AK-47s, AP reported.However, protesters claimed they were unarmed when the security forces attacked them. “When special forces raided the square, we were not prepared and we had no weapons, they crushed some of us in their vehicles,” protester Ahmed Hawija, a student, said, according to Reuters.Sunni government officials have condemned the raid. Iraqi Education Minister Mohammed Tamim, a Sunni Muslim, protested the incident by announcing his resignation. The fighting at the Sunni camp was not the end of Tuesday’s violence: Three checkpoints around Hawija were seized by tribal Sunni militants for a short while, until they were retaken by government forces.A curfew has now been imposed in the area, and the protesters’ tents were burned down by government troops.The fighting in Hawija was reportedly the bloodiest in the series of clashes between Sunnis and government troops that have been taking place since December, when Iraqi Sunni’s exploded in protest against the country’s Shiite-led leadership. The protesters point to Iraq’s anti-terrorism law, which they describe as a pretext for their persecution.Sunnis also came under attack on Tuesday in southern Baghdad when two roadside bombs were detonated while worshippers were leaving a mosque, according to police. At least seven people reportedly died and 17 more were wounded. Iraq has been wracked by violence since US troops withdrew from the country in 2011. Political power appears to have concentrated in the hands of a Shia political elite, resulting in widespread protest by Iraqi Sunnis and ethnic Kurds.The run-up to the provincial election, held on April 20, saw this violence escalate, with bombings reported nearly every day. Fourteen candidates, most of whom were Sunni, died. Eventually, 6 of Iraq’s 18 provinces could not participate in the polls for security reasons.The latest outbreak of violence comes as the country awaits the results of the election. … Read More
The Resident: NYC Pays Occupy Wall Street Six Figures
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MLK’s “Two Americas” truer than ever
You may think you know about Martin Luther King, Jr., but there is much about the man and his message we have conveniently forgotten. He was a prophet, like Amos, Isaiah and Jeremiah of old, calling kings and plutocrats to account — speaking truth to power.King was only 39 when he was murdered in Memphis 45 years ago, on April 4th, 1968. The 1963 March on Washington and the 1965 March from Selma to Montgomery were behind him. So was the successful passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. In the last year of his life, as he moved toward Memphis and his death, he announced what he called the Poor People’s Campaign, a “multi-racial army” that would come to Washington, build an encampment and demand from Congress an “Economic Bill of Rights” for all Americans — black, white, or brown. He had long known that the fight for racial equality could not be separated from the need for economic equity — fairness for all, including working people and the poor.Martin Luther King, Jr., had more than a dream — he envisioned what America could be, if only it lived up to its promise of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for each and every citizen. That’s what we have conveniently forgotten as the years have passed and his reality has slowly been shrouded in the marble monuments of sainthood.Continue Reading… … Read More
Court orders NYPD to pay $360,000 for raid that destroyed Occupy Wall Street library
By Michael Kelley, Business Insider A New York City court has ruled that the city shall pay $366,700 for a destructive raid on Occupy Wall Street’s Zuccotti Park encampment. Around 1 a.m. on Nov. 15, 2011, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg ordered the NYPD to evict protestors — some of whom had…
Palestinian Camp In Hebron Broken Up By Israeli Forces
JERUSALEM — Israeli troops on Saturday drove some 100 Palestinian activists out of an illegal tent camp they had set up near the city of Hebron in the southern West Bank, the military said.
Saturday’s operation marked the fifth time in the past month Israeli forces broke up a Palestinian encampment.
Israel orders Palestinian protest camp removed
The Israeli army ordered Palestinian demonstrators on Sunday to evacuate a protest encampment in the West Bank consisting of four tents and a building under construction, a military spokesman said. Three of the tents and the building near the Palestinian village of Beit Iksa were on land owned by…
