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France to deploy 70,000 police on Saturday to prevent civil unrest

Security forces to include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism after worst street violence in years

France will deploy about 70,000 police around the country on Saturday as the government seeks to prevent more civil unrest after some of the worst street violence in years erupted on the fringes of cost-of-living protests last weekend.

The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said on ⁠Friday ⁠the security forces would include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism operations and hostage rescues, adding that there had been social media calls for violence from “ultra-left” groups.

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© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

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France to deploy 70,000 police on Saturday to prevent civil unrest

Security forces to include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism after worst street violence in years

France will deploy about 70,000 police around the country on Saturday as the government seeks to prevent more civil unrest after some of the worst street violence in years erupted on the fringes of cost-of-living protests last weekend.

The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, said on ⁠Friday ⁠the security forces would include elite units usually used for counter-terrorism operations and hostage rescues, adding that there had been social media calls for violence from “ultra-left” groups.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

© Photograph: Abdul Saboor/Reuters

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‘An orchestra being gassed should be an alarm signal’: the musical activists targeted in Paris

New World Orchestra’s musicians are shocked at French police targeting peaceful gathering with teargas

As riot police encircled Place de la République last week, lobbing teargas canisters to disperse demonstrators, the conductor Étienne Jarrier and his orchestra played on. They kept playing even after everyone else had disappeared and teargas was being fired into the central Paris square.

It was only when Jarrier noticed his musicians were being directly targeted that he ordered them to stop. “There were teargas canisters landing in the double bass and music stand cases, and starting fires the musicians had to stamp out,” he told the Guardian.

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© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

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‘An orchestra being gassed should be an alarm signal’: the musical activists targeted in Paris

New World Orchestra’s musicians are shocked at French police targeting peaceful gathering with teargas

As riot police encircled Place de la République last week, lobbing teargas canisters to disperse demonstrators, the conductor Étienne Jarrier and his orchestra played on. They kept playing even after everyone else had disappeared and teargas was being fired into the central Paris square.

It was only when Jarrier noticed his musicians were being directly targeted that he ordered them to stop. “There were teargas canisters landing in the double bass and music stand cases, and starting fires the musicians had to stamp out,” he told the Guardian.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

© Photograph: Sipa US/Alamy Stock Photo/Alamy Live News.

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Chaos in Albania: Popular struggle or color revolution?

The protesters cannot be dismissed as members of some particular social segment, being instead a cross-party movement from all sectors of society.

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Albania has returned to the news in recent days, with protests that eventually culminated in the destruction of the Ministry of Education, but the process that led to this chaos began some months ago because of the negotiations surrounding the construction of a gigantic luxury resort in the country, in a megaproject led by Affinity Partners, owned by Jared Kushner, the Zionist agent who is Donald Trump’s son-in-law and who occasionally acts as his ad hoc diplomat. Alongside Kushner in this project, there was also capital from three Arab petro-monarchies and local investors.

The first point of dissent, the spark, so to speak, of this fire, was the fact that the project would be built in an environmental protection area, in the marshy wetland zone of Albania, which is considered a natural paradise where flamingos, pelicans and other animals nest, some of them endangered. Nevertheless, Kushner obtained authorization from Edi Rama’s government to go ahead with the project, as well as the classification of strategic investor, which allows him to bypass local regulations.

The project itself is expected to reach the sum of 4.7 billion dollars and would be implemented on the island of Sazan (once a military base), on the island of Vjosa-Narta and on the island of Zvernec, which also have defensive characteristics. Kushner supposedly had the “idea” and “discovered” Sazan while traveling on the yacht of his friend Nathan Rothschild, a context in which he also met the Albanian prime minister.

Kushner’s other partners at Affinity Partners are Luis Videgaray, former Minister of Finance of Mexico, and Elad Gil, an Israeli investor, and the project involves the construction of hotels, marinas and private villas, in an effort that seems to point toward a “Dubai-ization” of Albania.

Since June, therefore, when these shady deals were revealed, Albanian citizens began going to the streets to protest, with slogans (“Albania is not for sale”) against Washington and Tel Aviv and calling for Kushner to be made persona non grata. The protests had already been following protests organized in February and March over corruption accusations against Edi Rama, as well as the fact that the Albanian prime minister had begun a campaign to encourage Israelis to move to Albania.

What has been most worrying for the Albanian government is the fact that these protesters cannot be dismissed as members of some particular social segment, being instead a cross-party movement from all sectors of society. And the protests continued, intermittently, until now in October, which points to a permanent dissatisfaction that is difficult to stifle.

The most recent protests are more focused on youth and on new corruption scandals, problems in education and the government’s attempts to “force” entry into the European Union, but the issue of Jared Kushner’s luxury resort remains on the agenda.

It is possible to analyze the case from the conspiracy-minded angle of “Epstein Island,” especially considering the Rothschild family’s ties to Epstein and to Kushner, but perhaps a more interesting angle points to the geopolitics of the Mediterranean and the power project of the State of Israel.

Israel has been expanding its activities in this area and expanding its presence. Israeli investors, for example, have been mass-acquiring properties in Cyprus and in the Greek port city of Kalamata. When we add up these ventures targeting properties in Cyprus, Greece and now Albania, we clearly perceive that there is an eastern Mediterranean focus in Israeli parastatal business activities. It is striking that these always involve islands and ports, which points specifically to the construction of a thalassocratic strategy on the part of the State of Israel.

Also striking is a specific theme of Albanian political-social reality, which is the fact that it has become common practice for Albanian investors, after being legitimized as strategic investors to secure approval for development projects, to resell their shareholdings for negligible amounts to other, more obscure actors. In many cases, we are talking here about “straw man” schemes used by the Albanian mafia. That would not naturally be the case for Kushner or the Arab petro-monarchies, but the suspicion raised affects the Albanian partners in this investment.

Perhaps that is why the violent repression of the protests has drawn less attention than elsewhere. It appears to be the authentic eruption of popular dissatisfaction in a country that for decades has been victimized by corrupt leaders, highly dangerous mafias and brutal terrorists.

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French businesses, events to close with more weekend protests expected

Businesses, cultural events and museums planned to close at the weekend despite curbs on demonstrations as French President Emmanuel Macron seeks to restore order a week after nationwide protests turned violent.

France’s main student union, UNEF, has called for rallies on Saturday, while the Yellow Vest movement, an anti-establishment force that emerged in 2018, filed plans this week for a march through central Paris.

Macron was due to meet student representatives later on Friday to discuss their plans but UNEF said their rallies, which grew from high school protests last month against teacher shortages and shabby facilities, would go ahead.

“Macron is trampling upon the freedom to protest in our country, and is spitting on the values of the republic he claims to defend,” the union said in an emailed statement.

TRADE UNION LEADER SAYS CURBING PROTESTS WILL NOT WORK

France is still reeling from the worst violence in years last weekend, when looting and riots took place on the fringes of nationwide protests, though overnight curfews in parts of Paris and other cities have since passed without major incident.

Macron blamed “seditious” ultra-left groups for the unrest – allegations the prominent far-left France Unbowed party denied – and said on Thursday that “illegitimate” protests would be banned in coming days. Demonstrations organised by groups such as trade unions would be allowed to proceed but could be diverted along alternative routes, he said.

Marylise Leon, the general secretary of the CFDT, one of the nation’s largest trade unions, said the measure would do little to restore calm, adding that it would be better for the government to make concrete proposals to address people’s anger.

“It’s counterproductive because there is a lot of anger, a lot of anger and a demand to be considered and to be listened to,” she told French broadcaster TF1. “It’s not for the president to decide who can legitimately request to protest.”

Workers, students and others are protesting budget cuts and calling for higher wages to help people meet high living costs. The government says it understands their concerns but needs to keep spending in check to contain rising borrowing costs.

FAR-RIGHT TO MEET IN ORLEANS WITH COUNTER-PROTESTS PLANNED

All protests planned for Saturday in Marseille and Lyon, France’s second- and third-largest cities, have been banned, local authorities said.

Despite the curbs, and what the justice minister said had been 2,700 arrests since Saturday, businesses, institutions and events were planning to close in case of more unrest.

The Marseille Chamber of Commerce urged businesses to shut on Saturday, while organisers of Art Basel Paris said the art fair would be shuttered all weekend. The Louvre and the Fondation Louis Vuitton will be closed on Saturday.

Orleans, in central France, was bracing for unrest, as the far-right National Rally was scheduled to have a party meeting, with thousands expected to hold demonstrations in opposition.

The interior ministry is due to unveil its security plans later on Friday. Macron is expected to hold a meeting on defence and security as well as meeting with student groups on Friday.

Soaring energy costs, pressure on household budgets and concerns over deteriorating public services have fuelled unrest among workers and younger voters, but the French government has little spare cash to address concerns.

The risk premium on French government debt over German bonds widened to its highest level in 15 years on Thursday, highlighting investor unease. Credit rating agency Moody’s is expected to announce a ratings action on France late on Friday.

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Milan braces for more unrest as debate intensifies over Italy’s ‘lost generation’

Protests and fringe violence expose sharp divide between marginalised and immigrant youth and those with greater prospects

Martina Miccichè was filming riot police kicking and beating a teenager with batons as they dragged him along Piazza del Duomo, the central Milan square hosting its cathedral, when she was struck by a flying object, causing a deep gash and bruising near her right eye.

The journalist had joined hundreds of mostly young people marching through the northern Italian city on Saturday afternoon to protest over soaring living costs and unaffordable housing, echoing the wider wave of economic discontent fuelling protests across Europe.

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© Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP

© Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP

© Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP

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Milan braces for more unrest as debate intensifies over Italy’s ‘lost generation’

Protests and fringe violence expose sharp divide between marginalised and immigrant youth and those with greater prospects

Martina Miccichè was filming riot police kicking and beating a teenager with batons as they dragged him along Piazza del Duomo, the central Milan square hosting its cathedral, when she was struck by a flying object, causing a deep gash and bruising near her right eye.

The journalist had joined hundreds of mostly young people marching through the northern Italian city on Saturday afternoon to protest over soaring living costs and unaffordable housing, echoing the wider wave of economic discontent fuelling protests across Europe.

Continue reading...

© Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP

© Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP

© Photograph: Stefano Porta/LaPresse/AP

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