Category Archives: Fail!

Three Arrested in Egypt For Speaking English | Egyptian Streets

The latest detentions come as there is a climate of paranoia and suspicion among Egyptians. Earlier this year Le Monde Diplomatique’s Editor-in-Chief Alain Gresh was arrested at a trendy cafe in downtown Cairo after a woman reported him to police for discussing politics.

Gresh and two Egyptians were arrested after the woman screamed at them for speaking about Egypt in English and Arabic.

The French journalist, who was born in Cairo, said he received a formal apology from authorities, including both police and military figures.

The incidents have raised fear among Egypt’s expatriate community and foreign journalists.

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via Three Arrested in Egypt For Speaking English | Egyptian Streets.

PEGIDA demos march for the ninth time in Dresden | News | DW.DE | 15.12.2014

However, on Monday, the group was met by counter-demonstrators from the group “Dresden for all,” who brought 9,000 people to the streets calling for more tolerance last week.

In a similar counter-protest on Sunday, around 15,000 people marched in a peaceful demonstration against xenophobia and right-wing extremism in the western German city of Cologne.

Associated movements

An associated protest under the name “BOGIDA” also took place in the western German city of Bonn on Monday evening. On their Facebook page, the group described the event a “peaceful evening stroll against Salafists in Bonn, the Islamization of the occident and misled refugee and immigrant policy in Germany.”

via PEGIDA demos march for the ninth time in Dresden | News | DW.DE | 15.12.2014.

Egypt – Kick a public trash bin and off to a military court you go?

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi recently issued a decree which expanded the jurisdiction of military courts to include anyone who attacks the state’s “vital” facilities.

Various human rights organisations condemned the law, including Human Rights Watch, which stated that the law gives military courts “the widest legal authority since the birth of Egypt’s modern republic in 1952”.

via 40 referred to military prosecution: FJP – Daily News Egypt.

Haaretz: Fearing Zionist Attacks, 100 Arab Bus Drivers in Jerusalem Quit Their Jobs

Forty-seven years after the unification of Jerusalem, there are very few islands of Jewish-Arab coexistence in the city. Of these, one of the most noteworthy was the Egged bus cooperative. About half its drivers were East Jerusalem Palestinians, who say they received fair treatment, good wages and benefits – things few other East Jerusalem Palestinians enjoy.

But the wave of violence in the city in recent months, which has included violent attacks on Arab drivers, has caused 100 of them – about a third of Egged’s Arab drivers – to quit. Forty have officially resigned, while 60 have simply not shown up for work. This has severely disrupted public transportation in Jerusalem.

“I worked for Egged for six years,” said Arafat Tahan. “It was good work. But it’s better to earn less money and not come home in a body bag.”

Last Wednesday night, yet another Arab bus driver was attacked. Two Jewish men on a scooter drove up beside his bus in the Gilo neighborhood and tried to break the windshield. When this failed, they forced the bus to stop, threw a stone that shattered the windshield and took off.

via Haaretz: Fearing Zionist Attacks, 100 Arab Bus Drivers in Jerusalem Quit Their Jobs.

Turkish police raid media outlets associated with Erdogan rival | News | DW.DE | 14.12.2014

Turkish police early on Sunday raided various addresses, including a television station and a newspaper, in Istanbul and 12 other cities, arresting several people,Turkish media say.

Among those detained were a top executive, producers and directors of a television channel close to US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, the state-run Anatolia news agency said. The news agency said at least 14 people in all were detained.

The anti-terrorism police also raided the offices of the Zaman daily, which, too, has links with Gulen. However, a huge crowd outside the newspaper’s offices in Istanbul forced police to leave without arresting any of its employees.

via Turkish police raid media outlets associated with Erdogan rival | News | DW.DE | 14.12.2014.

Police Union Gets Nasty With De Blasio: Don’t Attend Our Funerals, Mayor: Gothamist

I, “A-Hole Denier Abusive Fellow Officers,” as a New York City police officer, request that Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito refrain from attending my funeral services in the event that I am killed in the line of duty. Due to Mayor de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito’s consistent refusal to show police officers the support and respect they deserve, I believe that their attendance at the funeral of a fallen New York City police officer is an insult to that officer’s memory and sacrifice.

via Police Union Gets Nasty With De Blasio: Don’t Attend Our Funerals, Mayor: Gothamist.

Palestinian minister dies after being struck by Israeli troops | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

update – About 100 foreign and Palestinian activists with the Committee to Resist Settlements and the Wall, the government-run protest organization that Abu Ein headed, were on their way to plant trees and protest near an Israeli settlement when they were stopped at an improvised checkpoint, witnesses said.

A group of around 15 Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at the protesters and began scuffling with them.

Abu Ein was struck by a hand to the neck during an altercation with two of the soldiers, and was rushed away in an ambulance shortly afterwards, the Reuters photographer said.

via Palestinian minister dies after being struck by Israeli troops | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.

Erdogan: Palace has 1,150 rooms, not a mere 1,000 | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday corrected press reports stating his grandiose new palace had 1,000 rooms, saying it actually boasts 1,150.

“You don’t cut corners when it comes to the prestige” of a nation, Erdogan told a business audience in Istanbul. “Let me tell you it has at least 1,150 rooms, not 1,000 as people say.”

The presidential palace, built in a suburb of the capital Ankara at a cost of around 490 million euros ($615 million), covers some 200,000 square meters – more than 30 times the size of the White House and bigger even than France’s majestic Palace of Versailles.

via Erdogan: Palace has 1,150 rooms, not a mere 1,000 | News , Middle East | THE DAILY STAR.