Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

Europa & Palestine News « Kawther Salam

Corruption and Honor Killings Sponsored by The EU

On last 31 July 2012 I questioned the EU, via the contact form on their website, about their policies regarding Palestine. My main issue was the continued financial support given to the PA despite the increase in “honor killings” of women and despite the increasing and apparent for everybody to see grave abuses of human rights of the Palestinians in the West Bank and the criminal behavior of the PA and their proteges. I received an astonishing answer from them via Email, which I share and comment below.

According to the EU
“President Mahmoud Abbas is not a criminal – he is the President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and recognised as such by the entire international community, including Israel.”

This is wrong in several ways. Abbas is the de-facto “President” of the PA and PLO. He was elected in the elections of 2006 as President, and his term expired on January 19 2008 according to the Palestinian constitution. So seen, Abbas is not the President of anything but a self-appointed dictator with no constituency beyond the goons paid by the EU and USA, and the people surrounding him have taken actions apt to remind Palestinians every day since 2006 that they are nothing but criminals. The point in the disingenuous answer of the EU is exactly this: Abbas and his co-perpetrators are imposing criminal and genocidal policies upon the Palestinians on behalf of israel and an “international community” subservient to zionist interests. (Read about Abbas wealth).

The individuals who comprise this so-called “international community” are often described in their countries of origin with endearing terms such as incompetents, criminals, psychopaths among others. This illustrates the American saying, birds of a feather flock together.

So it is also no surprise that the EU, as part of that “international community” of lawless bumblers, would disregard its own laws.For example, article 2 of the EU-Israel association agreement states that the human rights situation must be taken into account in deals between the EU and israel. This has apparently never happened, because the last EU representative who dared to criticize israels extermination policies towards us Palestinians, Anna Lindh was murdered by the “crazy loner” who always appears on scene when jewish interests are in peril of defeat.

In summary the position of the EU is a continuation of the colonial policies of western powers, who have always held in high esteem the thieves and mass murderers who looted their own countries on behalf of these same powers.

The EU sends gifts of hundreds of millions of Euros each year, on the back of increasingly impoverished European tax payers, to the PA regime, to protégès of the PA, to elements of the occupation and to a gaggle of jewish groups cashing in big money on the back of Palestinian misery. These hundreds of millions of Euros flow despite the deteriorated and deteriorating financial situation across the EU, due to a storm of financial destruction unleashed by irresponsible EU policies which has ravaged all European countries.

Even if Abbas is the “President” of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and “recognized as such by the entire international community, including Israel”, this does not relieve him of charges of financial and administrative corruption.

It is very clear that the EU donations reach ONLY a certain class of the Palestinians. Among the beneficiaries of the EU largesse are the President Abbas himself and his family, the other higher-ups in the PA and the PLO and their respective families, and assorted collaborators.

• How does the EU explain, for example, what it means that President Abbas spends five million Euros monthly for the expenses of his house and family, and another five million Euros as travel expenses?
• And how does the EU explain the causes of extreme poverty affecting beyond 70% of Palestinians while Abbas and his coterie of knaves and fat cats live in unimaginable luxury in Ramallah?

I am sure that the EU will find some disingenuous, barefaced lie to plausibly deny any connection between their largesse towards the PA and the misery affecting Palestinians in the West Bank, despite the stream of visitors from the EU to Ramallah who witness this shame.

• Will the EU state in yet another anonymous communiqué that all Palestinians live the same luxurious life like the PA elements?

To be clear, the EU policy towards Palestine is no exception. Just as they support Abbas, they support the groups of criminals who ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak (whom they bankrolled while they found him useful), and the same goes for the ousted dictator of Tunisia, the murdered dictator of Libya, and the (still) supported dictator of Syria, together with the gangs of criminals and terrorists whom they support, for show, against these dictators.

The EU says in their answer that Abbas is not a criminal. The EU is constantly complaining about those criminals who, they say, are the heads of states and governments of other peoples. Of course, those are thieves, dictators, criminals and murderers, but what the EU conveniently omits to say is that these scoundrels were propped up by them.

Now the EU is doing the same in Palestine in favour of Israel, to lengthen the age of the Israeli occupation in my homeland, to strengthen its economy while you are destroying the economy of the EU and what remains of Palestine.

• Of course, how could anybody dare to call a thief among thieves, a miserable traitor and tyrant bankrolled by the EU a criminal?

Criminals are only the others, the cleptocracies who the EU does not prop up or where the role of the EU propping them up is not so blatant.

Yes, the EU and the “international community” recognized “President” Abbas and his tinpot ministerial cabinet only because he enforces zionist policies in Palestine and protects israel. On account of this, the EU can no longer be said to respect human rights as per its own constitution, passed against the will of the majority of the EU population. What makes the EU policies criminal is something called “terra nullius”, a set of policies of the british empire declaring pieces of land they coveted as empty of people – what allowed them to genocide anybody in their way because these peoples “would have died off anyway”.

This kind of policy is criminal in current international law and is exactly what zionism amounts to: genocide under a mantle of legality, and this is what the EU, impersonated by the very British Catherine Ashton is supporting with diplomatic and pecuniary largesse towards Abbas and his cronies.

The EU further states in their answer to my questions:

Although it is not clear what exactly you are referring to by “increased number of killing women in Palestine”, you can be assured that the European Union (EU) monitors closely the situation of women’s rights throughout the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and finances a number of projects supporting women’s rights there. Human rights violations in the oPt – including those against women – are addressed in the regular bilateral dialogue between the EU and the Palestinian Authority within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy and concerns related to human rights are also raised at the highest political level.

Regarding the misunderstanding of the EU regarding the “increased number of killing women in Palestine”, during the last weeks of July 2012 several women were murdered in Palestine for reasons of “honor”. Below are the only few cases which have made it to the media:

• On July 13, a woman was thrown into a septic well and left to die near Hebron
• On July 19, a father killed his daughter, Randa Mahariq, 34, in Al-Samoua near Hebron
• On July 22 a father slaughtered his student daughter after breakfast in Tulkarem
• On July 31 a man slaughtered his wife in the streets of Bethlehem
• Some months ago, a student of English at Hebron University was thrown into an artesian well by her relatives and left to die
• Also some months ago, the PA minister of civil affairs raped a minor girl and remains unpunished to this day

Nancy Zboon who was killed in the Al-Madbase St. in Bethlehem

The murder and violent abuse of women has increased in Palestine during the last years to the point of becoming a modern way of life under the full protection of the Palestinian National Authority. The crimes are perpetrated by the families of these women and girls. At the same time the PA insists in protecting the criminals, firstly by keeping in place laws which legalize crimes against women and institutionalize the discrimination of women, and secondly by actively covering up these crimes whenever they are discovered.

In the West Bank and Gaza there are no laws that forbid women from being murdered or prosecute their murderers. The Egyptian laws that are implemented in Gaza and the Jordanian Laws implemented in the West Bank discriminate between men and women, and protect the murderers of women. “Honor” has become a justification for murdering women and protecting the murderers, as well as keeping the power in the hands of the men who lead the society and impede women from reaching power. This state of affairs is a clear threat for all women who seek equality with men in their rights.

The Palestinian media covers up the crimes against women committed under the “honor” label. They write very briefly about them without releasing further details. In this way, the media protects the criminals in the Palestinian authoritarian patriarchal society and abet the continuing of the shameful practice of “honor” murders in our society.

These crimes are banned from public discussion and publication, because it is a societal tabu but mostly because the PA receives money from western countries, and the donors could not justify the largesse at home if these crimes became more widely known. In all cases, these crimes are treated in a way that will cover up the perpetrators, protecting and helping them to continue perpetrating more crimes, and by punishing the victims (women, minors, girls) or killing them in so-called “honor” killings.

I would be more than happy to receive any recommendation from the EU which would help stop these vile crimes, and any such recommendations would remain off-the-record and will hopefully help to better protect the victims in the future.

The EU continues in their answer

Human rights violations in the oPt – including those against women – are addressed in the regular bilateral dialogue between the EU and the Palestinian Authority within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy and concerns related to human rights are also raised at the highest political level.

The dialogue between the EU and PA concerning human rights and women rights is not enough. The Palestinian Authority MUST END the LAWS which protect the practice of murdering women in Palestine NOW. The Palestinian minister of justice is aware of these issues as I called his attention to this during a UN conference here in Vienna several years ago, before representatives of EU countries. The minister promised to become active, but nothing has happened until now, 3-4 years later.

There are many reports of sexual harassment of PA higher-ups being against women, both employees of the PA and not. Several of these women have reportedly been murdered in order to protect the perpetrators. Also, this knowledge that there are many PA elements involved in sexual harassment and abuse of women people is why the PA does not want to change the laws which discriminate against women and protect their murderers and abusers.

To illustrate the state of affairs regarding womens rights in Palestine, a personal story.

According to my knowledge, Samir Aoudeh, the husband of my sister who is of profession a PA security element, one of the people whose monthly salary is paid with EU money, used to have a brothel behind the back of my sister. He had married a second wife and forced her to sell her favours to his military friends. This continued until one of the clients, an officer of the PA intelligence (from the Al Zaro family in Hebron) made a sex film and posted it on the Internet.

The family of the girl discovered the video and, in order to save the family honour, cut her head and and hung it on the electricity wires before their home. To my knowledge both these PA elements are free until today and continue working for the PA to this day.

Palestinian Minister Rapes Child in Tel Aviv?

Girls Forced To Hysterectomy At Palestinian Hospitals

Honor Killing Or Barbaric Crime? Video

Girl Hanged On a Tree in Honor Killing

The UN is Not the Right Place for Honor Killings Talk

Over 13 Honor Killings in Two Months in Palestine

Victims of Incest and Abuse in Palestine

Honor Killings In Palestine

Girl Murdered At Ramadan Breakfast
رجل يذبح زوجته من الوريد إلى الوريد في الشارع العام وسط المشاهدين في مدينة بيت لحم
قصة المرأة الذبيحة في بيت لحم من الألف إلى الياء
السلطة تستخدم القوة للسيطرة على غضب الشارع في أعقاب نحر إمرأة في بيت لحم

---

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Women’s Day International Women’s Day Below are two press releases which were distributed by UNIS and Al-Haq for Human Rights on...
2. Boycott Lufthansa, MALEV And Swiss Airline The Palestinian communities, institutions and events Union in the Diaspora – Europe had issued a statement in which they demanded...
3. Palestinian State Declared at UN One Day Before Abbas I have followed the activity of the “Palestinian Authority” for several years with great and increasing doubts. Their record...
4. حركة نساء بالسواد تنظم إعتصاما أمام مقر الأمم المتحدة والإتحاد الأوروبي دعما لفلسطين السيدة باولا ابرامس حوراني تقف مع ممثل مكتب الأتحاد الأوروبي بعد تسليمه رسالة في خصوص دعم الأعتراف الكامل بعضوية فلسطين...
5. The Israeli Policies Amount To Apartheids The Russell Tribunal on Palestine: Israel’s policies amount to Apartheids Sent by Al-Haq for Human Rights in Ramallah –...

A Girls Dream Crashes Against The Cruelty Of Life

[use Open Image in New Window to see pictures in full enlarged]

Education is a human right guaranteed by international covenants. Specifically, the right to education is enshrined in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights . However, this right means almost nothing for females in Palestine. In poor countries and those governed by traditional men societies, education remains a right only for the women from a certain class, the daughters of the ruling and the rich families of that country and society. This right to education remains an illusion and encircled in taboos for females of poor households, is one such society.

Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

In the Palestinian West Bank, which remains under the Israeli occupation and is ruled on its behalf by the Palestinian Authority (PA), the females of poor families face discrimination in the field of education, regardless the financial support of the international community and international institutions given to the Palestinian Authority to subvention higher education. The monies given by international funds usually serve the sons and the relatives of the persons in power in Fatah, most of who attend universities and receive higher education in the EU and the USA. Few chances remain for the females of the poor class to receive the financial support for their education which the children of the PA receive.

In Palestine nobody cares about the tears of the girls, nobody listen to the voice of the poor people who have no voice and are not engaged in politics. In Palestine, females are the weakest part of the society, which is controlled by men in patriarchal fashion inside and outside the family, and by the political-religious groups as well non-political religious groups next to the PA, groups where females are clearly far away from the decision centers and of any political status.

In general, the decisions over the fate and future of females is a prerogative of the family, the fathers, brothers and the male relatives, especially in those families which live in rural communities, in the small towns and villages of Palestine.

Overall, the vast majority of Palestinians, especially in the south, in the Hebron district, believes that the appropriate place for women is at home, and they find a husband for their females early on. The Intifada uprisings and the poverty experienced by about 65 percent of the Palestinian people helped to increase the influence of radical religious groups and to promote the wrong and destructive concepts which these groups promote about women. The things became even worse for Palestinian women because the opinion became prevalent that the right age for the females to marry is between 14-18 years or at most after finishing school. After this age, women are seen as spinsters, what mean that they become “old” and not good for marriage. Under the scandalous theories of men, the new husbands, (especially the educated ones), begin the race for the selection of their wives under the age of eighteen. The prospective grooms start looking for girls who are beautiful and young, the only qualification asked from the girls to become the partner.

Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The price for the widespread phenomenon of marriage at an early age in Palestine is a divorce rate which has exploded. The beautiful young wives become divorced after a year or two. These girls become unfit for marriage in the eyes of society, and they become a new problem in their families, and to society, which looks askance at the fatherless families of these divorced women.

A Girl Rebels Against The Injustice Of The Cruelty Of Life in Hebron and Appeals to Continue Her Education as a Student of Law

Hanin as the child.

Last Thursday morning, my handy rang. Calling me was a girl from Hebron whose family I know. I remember the girl and her family well. I still remember the toys of this blond girl while she was playing in the gardens in the neighborhood of my mother’s house. I know her father and mother. I knew her sisters and her brothers too. They all were children under the age of 10 when I last saw them. They inherited the white skin and the blond hair from their parents. Her family was never interested in politics or in political parties, like the one of third of the Palestinians who ONLY seeks a stable life and putting bread in the mouth of their children.

The name of the girl who called me is Hanin, what mean “yearning”, “longing”, “loving”. Hanin was crying bitterly. She is not a child anymore, she is 18 years old. Last year she finished her secondary school. She received 87 points of 100 in the general school certificate examinations at the literature section of the secondary school.

Hanin told me while crying: “I want to be a strong woman like you”. I asked her if she want to be a journalist. She said “no, journalism did not exist as a woman profession in Hebron after you left. I want to be a lawyer, my way and future are in studying at the university and protecting myself from the injustice of society. I love the law and I don’t want to marry and then divorce like other girls. I want to defend these girls who are divorced”.

She asked me what she can do in order to attend university. “My father cut me from studying at the Open University after one year of learning Business and Administration. My father is jobless most of the time. He works some months in the year, and stays the rest without work”.

Hanin asked me to help her to study law at the University, she asked me for support. She was very scared that her father will force her to marry a wealth man because of her beauty. She repeated several times “I do not want to marry, I want to study, but I am forced to stay at home. My life has turned hell since three months. Since my father is not able to pay for my study, he forces me to sit at home. I am very scared that I will be forced to marry anybody”.

“Since three months I am sitting at home” Hanin said, “but my desire of being a lawyer has grown more and more inside me. Why should I stay at home? Why should I not study law? Why should I marry and bury my desire and will? Why is my father poor? Who can help me or give me wise advice?” I heard many questions from Hanin, but I was not able to answer even one.

Hanin cried again and said: “My parents are fighting all the time because of me. My father sold my mothers gold to feed us, but not for my study at the university. Last week my father thought of divorcing my mother. This could be a disaster for our family. I am forced to be quite, but I am not able to forget my dream of being a lawyer”.

Appeal To The Director Of OFID in Vienna

Hanin asked me to send an appeal on her behalf to all international organizations which support the right of women to education and to all persons who support the rights of females to study. One such organization is the OFID, which funds education for Palestinians and also works through the UN. Hanin, who holds a UN refugee card but has never, received any support from the UN, asked to put her appeal in my words.

Dear Dr. Suleiman Al-Herbish,
Director-General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

Dr. Suleiman Al-Herbish

I don’t know you, but I have been told about the kind help which your organization gives to Palestinians in the field of education.

I am a Palestinian girl from Hebron in the southern West Bank. I am 18 years old, I finished secondary school successfully and received 87 points of 100 in the general school certificate examinations.

I want to study law in order to be able to defend myself and the Palestinian girls who have successfully finished their secondary studies but are forced to marry because of their family’s mentality.

Many of these girls end up divorcing after a short time, and I do not wish to follow this path in life.

My father finished secondary school. He is the owner of a small hand work business, but he is jobless most of the year like hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, due to the Israeli occupation and economic blockade. My mother is a simple woman with only basic school, she is completely dependent on my father.

I respectfully appeal to you for your support and advice to help me attend University so that I can study law. I believe strongly that higher education is a kind of protection for women, and that a University certificate is strong weapon for women who could face the injustice of a hard life under the Israeli occupation.

I do not want to grow to become a weak and dependent woman like my mother is now, or like the too many weak women in our Palestinian society.

Thank you,

Hanin

---

Note: This article was published before contacting Dr. Al-Herbish because of the New Year holidays. As soon as possible the appeal will be submitted to the right address. I will updated this article whenever I receive an answer from Dr. Al-Herbish, or any other person.

I know the full name of Hanin and have the contact information of her family phone in Hebron, and I can put you in contact with her family. Hanin’s family does not have Internet at home, and they do not have an e-mail address. Hanin speaks Arabic. Her father speaks Arabic and very little English. I will be able to translate any answers to this girl between English and Arabic.

I had a chance to talk with her father, who was very calm as in know him before, but he was very sad of his awful situation. He promised me not to force his daughter to marry anybody as a solution to his financial problems. He is very sad of the deteriorated situation of all Palestinians. He suffers because of his daughter pain, but still with cuffed hands, and does not know what to do.

by Kawther Salam

---

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Burning Books about Human Rights Due to Israeli Crimes Have you ever studied in a tent during the cold winter? Have you ever studied in a tent over the...
2. First Females Islamic Judges Inaugurated in Palestine For the first time in the history of Palestine, two women were appointed as judges to the Islamic Sharia court...
3. Victims of Incest and Abuse in Palestine Today 11 June 2009 a Palestinian woman of age 32 and mother of two children, was killed by her family...
4. UNRWA Relief These are my memories of the “humanitarian relief” of the UNRWA after the Palestinian Naqba. I was between 6 and...
5. The Second Marriage of Hamas Prime Minister The Palestinian Prime Minister of Hamas in Gaza, the leading figure of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), Ismail Abed Al-Salam...

A Marriage at Trinity College

A Marriage at Trinity College

[use Open New Image in New Window to see pictures in full enlarged]

See more picture. See more picture from Dublin. See more pictures from the Conference.

Travelling to Ireland is something special and exciting. When I was a little girl, my mother, who has never visited Ireland, told me that “Ireland is country of water, of green and beautiful appearance”. I understood the meaning of those words ONLY when I visited Ireland in 2002, and again last week.

During my short second stay from October 29 – 1st Nov. 2010 while attending the First Annual Meeting of ArabMED Union in Ireland, the beauty of the city stole me from myself. I have my own memories in Dublin and Blackrock, a town south of Dublin.

As soon as I set my foot in Ireland I felt as if everybody and everything around me was smiling at me, as the Irish people smile from all their heart, sense and feelings. In this beautiful country the people, parks, churches, theaters, museums, science centers, etc. all were smiling at me, I said to myself. I let myself exchange smiles with others and live the days of my short stay in this beautiful and safe country.

On Nov. 30 2010 I went to visit Trinity College. At the entrance I saw a blond girl wearing a formal purple dress. She was accompanied by a man wearing suit and tie. After I entered the inner courtyard of Trinity College, I saw a white car, a Bentley, parked at the entrance to the campus. The car was decorated from both sides with two white flowers. A gray car was parked at besides the white one, also decorated with two white flowers.

After I crossed the inner courtyard of the University before entering the second courtyard, I saw a group of happy people celebrating a wedding. The inner entrance was nearly blocked. I turned around and looked at the people and I saw beautiful couple standing in before the wide-open space of the impressive campanile at the center of Trinity College.

Maria Oliver was the bride and Morris Kearney was her groom. The couple’s marriage caught my attention, with Maria standing among her relatives like a princess. The white long dress reached down to the floor, the groom was wearing a formal long-tail suit, as all other male attendants.

The couple’s relatives realized my visit, we had a short discussion. I asked Mr. Cathal Keamey, Head of the School of Business Studies and Humanities, who was standing next to the bride, if if was usual for the Irish people to marry at the University of Dublin . He said: “ONLY students who have completed their studies at Trinity College are able to marry here”. A woman was wearing a blue dress and standing next to the groom, told me that Maria had finished studying languages at Trinity college, and that because of this she was privileged to celebrate her marriage at the University.

According to the website of Trinity College, the history of Trinity College can be divided into four epochs, a century or so during which the foundations were laid, a period of colorful expansion extending over the eighteenth century, a consolidation and advancement in the nineteenth century, and a century of strenuous adaptation to a rapidly changing world. Read more.

by Kawther Salam

---

Possibly related posts (automatically generated):

1. Gaza Appeal from Bethlehem Bible College The director of the Bethlehm Bible College, Dr. Bishara Awad, wrote me that the BBC has five students and some...
2. Readers Emails Notice: I am deleting the names and addresses of of the E-mails of my readers except the addresses of the...
3. A Bride and Groom in the Box of a Fire Engine Last Saturday, 6 June 2009 at noon time, I traveled from Wien to Baden, about 26 kilometers south of Vienna....
4. I love your site From: To: kawther_salam [at] yahoo [dot] com Sent: Sun, October 18, 2009 12:17:07 AM Subject: i love your site there...
5. Charges vs Israel From: william To: “kawther_salam [at] yahoo [dot] com” Cc: Sent: Thu, November 12, 2009 5:07:23...

Demo For Free Education for All

Demo For Free Education for All

Jul 8th, 2009 by kawther.salam

“Stop the new European law – Stoppt die UG-novelle gegen Bildungsabbau”, “Education is a right and no privilege – Bildung ist ein recht und kein Privilege”, “Reclaim your University”, “Education not for sale”. See Demo photos
These signs were raised yesterday July 8 2009 at 11 in the morning in the Ring Street near the Parliament, during a small demonstration organized by the students of University of Vienna. The students sat in the middle of street and blocked the traffic in a clear challenge to the Austrian Police, who was present everywhere near the Parliament and around the demonstrators. The students were protesting against the negative policy of the government toward the education, and the new laws which should to be discussed between 8th and 10th July in the parliament. These new laws affect negatively the education and the students, and threatening the space of the democracy in the universities. The demonstrators described the new laws as a catastrophe which brings further massive deterioration for all universities, said the woman who spoke on behalf of the demonstrators.

The demonstrators said that the European education policies imposed during the recent years are aimed at the full economization of universities as well as the abolition of all democratic rights of teachers and students. They criticized the discussion of the law amendment under exclusion of the public by the parliament.

The Austrian police was unhappy with the students protesting, who surprised them by sitting suddenly in the middle of the street and hindering the traffic. The head of the police at the scene, Mag. Peter Famler, was seen addressing the protestors through a loudspeaker to free the street for the traffic, and to continue their protest at the place named in their permission for the demonstration. A while later, officer Famler was seen talking to the organizers of the demo for more than five minutes. Another Police officer was seen showing a paper to the demonstrators and ordering them to evacuate the street.

The protestors did not obey the orders of the police and challenged the orders to evacuate the street. They continued their sit in, chanting against the SPÖ government and refusing to leave the street. “It’s our rights to raise our voice before the government, who now sits in the parliament to discuss such grave laws against our future”, said one of the demonstration organizers.
The confrontation between the protesters and police was ended after the chief of the police ordered his troops to evacuate the protestors from the street. After that, many police troops were seen proceeding along the demonstrators with anger in their faces. They forced the protestors in a non-violent way to free the area. No violent action broke out during the evacuation. The police continued pushing the demonstrators to the front, and suddenly a police clashed with one of the demonstrators in the middle of the street.

Is the Demonstration Legal?
I asked the Chief of the Police Mag. Famler: “Is the demonstration legal?” My question came as a result of seeing the police chasing the demonstrators away. I had never seen such a confrontation between the police and the demonstrators in Vienna.
Mag. Famler, who I had seen addressing the demonstrating students in a peaceful way asking them to free the street, clarified that the students have the legal rights to demonstrate. He said: “we already permitted the student demonstration, but the demonstrators did not abide by the permitted place of their demonstration, and they changed the place where they demonstrated to a location around the corner at Löwelstrasse, before the entrance to the SPÖ headquarters, and then sat in the middle of Ring Street, and then blocked the passage of traffic in a provocative and illegal way. In this place, in the middle of the Ring Street, from where we evacuated the demonstrators, the demonstration was illegal”.

The demonstrators were allowed to continue their protest on Löwelstrasse, chanting against the SPÖ at the entrance to their headquarters. Four to five police were seen protecting the main entrance of the SPÖ. The chief of the police and the organizers of the demo organizers where seen talking with people from the local media.

See more Photos