Bangladesh International Human Rights Day rallies

The National Garment Workers Federation organized a rally of garment workers named "Garment Workers Human Rights Protection Rally" in the capital city Dhaka. Several hundred garment workers participated in this with red flags. It was led by the president and general secretary of the NGWF, Amirul Haque Amin and Miss Safia Pervin. From the rally it urged the government and employers to protect trade union rights in the garment sector because this is a human right. Also mentioned though according to the law garment workers have the right to organize and bargain but that is not the reality. And it happens because of the weakness of the labour laws, absence of commitment of the government and anti-union attitude of the employers.

Public building occupations in solidarity with the Nikaia 3 spread across the country Wednesday, October 21, 2009

On October 17, an anarchist demonstration against the police assassination of Mohammad Atif Kamran in the Athens suburb of Nikaia was attacked by the cops. As it was reported at the time, eight demonstrators were arrested and charged – five were facing charges under the “anti-hoodie law” introduced after December’s revolt. The response of the solidarity movement was instant. On the very same night of the demonstration, the local Town Hall of Nikaia was occupied, with the occupiers demanding all the demonstrators’ immediate release.

In the days that followed the occupiers left the Town Hall to take over the Propylea building of Athens University instead (that being more centrally located and easier for them to spread their message). Yesterday, the administration building of the Chania Prefecture was occupied in Crete.

A unionist from Ssangyong Motors was sentenced to one and a half years in prison on Friday. The defendant, identified only by his surname Kim, was tried as one of the ringleaders of the occupation of the company's Pyeongtaek factory. The Suwon District Court convicted Kim of incurring 2.29 billion won (1.96 million USD) in damages to the automaker and destroying 10 million won worth of office furniture. The court also sentenced another Ssangyong union member to a one-year prison term, suspended for two years, for similar charges.

http://libcom.org/news/ssangyong-motors-strike-south-korea-ends-defeat-heavy-repression-17082009

South Korean government arrests 450 workers as general strike seems imminent May 17 2009

Police apprehended more than 450 labor activists Saturday after a violent protest in Daejeon which left about 150 injured. Labour unrest is set to escalate this month as truck drivers plan to strike and a major labour umbrella group pledged to join.

Thousands of Korean Confederation of Trade Unions members rallied in the city to mark the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising. They mourned a unionized trucker who committed suicide earlier this month in what colleagues said was a protest against the government's policies.

The clash erupted when activists marched toward a major transportation company and a police station at 6pm. They attacked riot police with flagpoles and stones, while police fought back with water cannons and batons. About 50 protesters and 104 police officers were injured during the three-hour skirmish, according to the Daejeon Police Agency. The windows of 99 vehicles, including police buses, were shattered, it said.