In United States
POLICE BEGIN RAID ON OCCUPIED NYU!
After offering to begin good faith negotiations, NYU has arrested and suspended the student negotiator team and initiated a police raid of the occupied space. This follows police pepper spraying and arresting supporters overnight, and NYU shutting off restroom access, internet, and power this morning.
In United Kingdom
Around the UK, thousands of students have occupied lecture theatres, offices and other buildings at more than 20 universities in sit-down protests. It seems that the spirit of 1968 has returned to the campus.
While it was the situation in Gaza that triggered this mass protest, the beginnings of political enthusiasm have already spread to other issues.
John Rose, one of the original London School of Economics (LSE) students to mount the barricades alongside Tariq Ali in 1968, spent last week giving lectures on the situation in Gaza at 12 of the occupations.
"This is something different to anything we've seen for a long time," he said. "There is genuine fury at what Israel did.
"I think it's highly likely that this year will see more student action. What's interesting is the nervousness of vice chancellors and their willingness to concede demands; it indicates this is something that could well turn into [another] '68."
Beginning with a 24-hour occupation at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) on 13 January, the sit-ins spread across the country. Now occupations have been held at the LSE, Essex, King's College London, Birmingham, Sussex, Warwick, Manchester Metropolitan, Oxford, Leeds, Cambridge, Sheffield Hallam, Bradford, Nottingham, Queen Mary, Manchester, Strathclyde, Newcastle, Kingston, Goldsmiths and Glasgow.
Among the demands of students are disinvestment in the arms trade; the promise to provide scholarships for Palestinian students; a pledge to send books and unused computers to Palestine; and to condemn Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Technology has set these actions apart from those of previous generations, allowing a national momentum to grow with incredible speed. Through the linking up of internet blogs, news of successes spread quickly and protests grew nationwide.
Source : Independent on Sunday
In France
News Flash CRS have entered the Sorbonne and violently attacked students
Certainly, ministers in Paris are wary of some form of insurrection.
Recent intelligence reports talk about an "elevated threat" from an "international European network… with a strong presence in France" and a "new generation of activists", possibly a "re-birth of the violent extreme left".
A spokesman for the interior ministry, Gerard Gachet, told the BBC that the threat was real.
"The term 'ultra-left' was used by the interior minister to set this group apart from the extreme left who turn up for elections and keep within the parameters of democratic debate," he says.
But talking of more radical groups, he points to recent pamphlets and books published anonymously, but sometimes with a circulation of about 20,000, with titles such as How to Start a Civil War and The Insurrection That is Coming.
"They say that the fires of revolt will spread everywhere," he says, "and we see acts like damage to bank branches or state buildings and claims of solidarity with the Greek rioters.
Source: BBC News
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