Link to this page: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/593/8035
From The Socialist newspaper, 16 September 2009
Angry protests at police attacks
On 2 September, a demonstration through the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka, was proceeding peacefully until it reached a police blockade. After a standoff, sections of the police moved in on specific targets.
Manny Thain, east London
Professor Anu Muhammad, a leading economist and campaigner, was savagely beaten, both his ankles broken. Two women activists who ran forward to protect him sustained serious head injuries and remain in hospital. More than 50 other protesters were injured.
The protest had been called by the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports, a broad coalition of left groups, environmental campaigns and individuals.
Set up in 1998, it has campaigned, with some success, against the leasing out of Bangladesh's main port to the US, the construction of oil pipelines, and other issues linked to the exploitation of Bangladesh's natural resources and people by multinational corporations in the US, Europe and Britain, and their backers in Bangladesh.
The police violence provoked an angry response, with a four-hour general strike called for 14 September and public meetings taking place around the country. It was also the trigger for the London branch of the National Committee to call a public meeting in Whitechapel, east London, on 13 September.
Several members of the National Committee spoke from the top table, along with guest speakers from the campaigning group London Mining Network, and the Socialist Party, while others spoke from the floor in a lively discussion. The meeting's stated objectives were to condemn the police violence on 2 September, support the protest marches and strikes, oppose the plunder of mineral resources by multinationals, and resist the plan for opencast mining in Phulbari, Bangladesh.
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In The Socialist 16 September 2009:
Big business to blame for climate change
No Job Cuts
No to cuts in jobs and services
Capitalist market prescribes diet of cuts
TUC conference - reactions to Brown's speech
TUC conference: Fightback rally
War and occupation
Socialist Party workplace news
Nationalise Anglesey Aluminium to save jobs
Rover - Gangster capitalists were treated as saviours
London RMT: Discussing an election coalition
Leeds council workers on indefinite strike
Construction workers' pay - reject the deal!
The fight against the building blacklist
Socialist Students
College workers strike against vicious cuts
Vestas
Vestas: the fight is far from over
Coventry Socialist Party councillors show support for Vestas
Socialist Party feature
Interview with POA leader Brian Caton
Socialist Party women
Victory - Decent jobs not exploitation
Socialist Party review
International socialist news and analysis
Japan: Election ends Liberal Democrats' 54-year reign
Bangladesh: Angry protests at police attacks
Sri Lanka: Defiant Tamil protest
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