Belgium will have been without a government one complete year by the end of March, if action is not taken soon. Sunday 23 January the country’s citizens took to the streets of the capital Brussels, to show their unhappiness. Some 30,000-50,000 people took part in the “Shame!” march but it’s not yet clear, or at least visible, if an initiative by a popular actor will have the same success. He is calling for men not to shave until a new government has formed.
The current impasse owes much to the tensions between political parties over the issue of unity between the mainly French-speaking southern part of the country and Dutch-speaking northern Belgium. The country has been run by a caretaker government for 200 days.
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had shoes and eggs thrown at her car when she crossed from Jerusalem to the Gaza Strip, and protestors held up posters of family and friends in Israeli prisons. The border-crossing incidents took place after the minister met with the father of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier, who also has French nationality, now held in captivity for five years. She made remarks to the young man’s father that his son should be allowed Red Cross visits, but when the father told reporters that not permitting the visits is a war crime, some media attributed the remarks to the minister. Le Monde reports that she was booed because of “a misunderstanding”.
Links to other sites: BBC, Jerusalem Post, Le Monde (Fr)
Anti-nuclear hike Goesgen, Switzerland 24 May (image, Herbi Ditl on flickr)
Solothurn, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More than 4,000 people gathered in Goesgen, canton Solothurn, in northern Switzerland Monday, for a peaceful protest against the continuing development of nuclear energy in the country. The protest had participants from 83 groups in Switzerland, France, Germany and Austria. One of their key points was that switzerland’s nuclear power plans are preventing the rapid development of alternative energy programmes.
Links to other sites: Greenpeace (Fre), RSR (Fre)
Expect tight security around the WTO buildings, but mainly at the CICG where the conference takes place
Several thousand in Geneva for WTO meeting, demonstration
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The barriers were being readied in front of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Thursday 26 November along the lake road in Geneva, and security measures around the area began to move into place for the start of the Seventh Ministerial Conference Monday 30 November, with several thousand people expected to take part.
Hotels have little space, but for local residents the main sign of the global talks will be disrupted traffic.
Detours and road closings begin Saturday 28 November, when 3,000-5,000 demonstrators are expected to take part in an anti-WTO march that starts at 14:30 at the Place Neuve.
Anti-WTO march Saturday after in centre of Geneva
The Vengeron exit (where the road split before the airport) on the A1 autoroute into Geneva, coming from Lausanne, will be closed early Saturday 28 November until the end of the march late afternoon. Traffic will be directed to the airport exit.
The march itinerary supplied by Geneva police:
Federal square, Bern, 19 Sept. Photo © Peter Eichenberger Berne
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Some 30,000 people marched in Bern Saturday 19 September to protest against as the economic crisis and what the organizers describe as misguided government rescue measures. It was the capital’s biggest demonstration since 2003.
Geneva, Switzerland (20 Minutes, Fre) – Geneva’s leaders and its police continue to be at odds over work issues, including the unsettled problem of how much overtime pay the police should receive for the Euro 2008 football championship.
Lausanne, Switzerland (TSR, Fre) – One-third of schools in canton Vaud were affected Tuesday as civil servants took to the streets again to protest the new salary grid. The crowd, estimated by TSR at 8-10,000 people, is one of the largest in the series of protests that began in January 2008.
