The Socialist 15 September 2009

Big business to blame for climate change

No to cuts in jobs and services

Capitalist market prescribes diet of cuts

TUC conference - reactions to Brown's speech

TUC conference: Fightback rally

End the Afghan nightmare now

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

National Greed

Construction workers' pay - reject the deal!

The fight against the building blacklist

Students left penniless

For real jobs

Cardiff: Youth Fight for Jobs

College workers strike against vicious cuts

Vestas: the fight is far from over

Coventry Socialist Party councillors show support for Vestas

Interview with POA leader Brian Caton

Victory - Decent jobs not exploitation

A life of revolution

Japan: Election ends Liberal Democrats' 54-year reign

Bangladesh: Angry protests at police attacks

Sri Lanka: Defiant Tamil protest

Previous issues, etc

Print this issue

PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

020 8988 8777

[email protected]

Link to this page: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/593/8035

Search the site	Printable version

Home | The Socialist 15 September 2009 | Join the Socialist Party

Subscribe | Donate

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.

In this issue

Big business to blame for climate change