Chile - Thousands of students, most of whom are of high school age, took to the streets in cities across the country, rioting and looting. Thursday marked "The Day of the Young Combatant," which is the anniversary of the deaths of two young brothers, who were murdered by police while demonstrating against the Pinochet dictatorship. Youth blocked traffic with burning barricades, attacked police, looted stores and according to police some were armed with automatic weapons.

One officer was shot while trying to stop looters who had targeted a supermarket. In all more than 100 officers were injured and over 800 people were arrested, but most of them were under the age of 16 and thus too young to be charged. They were quickly released, but in some cases the government plans to sue their parents.

Many of the rioters explained that they were upset over the new urban transportation service. Santiago Governor Marcelo Trivelli said the protests "appear to reflect a general sensation of social dissatisfaction in the country. I think people are somehow showing they want changes and some express that with anger."

Manchester, England - Vandals destroyed a marble memorial to a slain police and then used the broken pieces of marble to damage police cars outside the Cheetham Hill police station over a half mile away.

The memorial on Crumpsall Lane was installed last September in remembrance of Special Branch officer Stephen Oake who was stabbed to death in 2003 while attempting to subdue a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist. Oake's wife who spoke at the service said that "he was no saint."

Police are very upset about the vandalism which they called a "new level of evil." Even Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the condemnation: saying that those responsible "should be ashamed of themselves." There are no suspects but police have combed the scene for evidence and begun examining CCTV footage from the area in hopes of discovering some clues.

Paris, France - Youths rioted in the Gare du Nord transit hub after one individual was arrested for failing to pay the fare. Rioters, many of whom were traveling to poor suburbs, smashed windows and looted stores and vending machines.

Riot police with attack dogs attempted to restore order and used teargas on the crowds. Disturbances spilled out into nearby streets. In all 13 people were arrested.

The incident quickly became a contentious issue in the presidential election. Politicians have done little to resolve issues that led to 2005's unrest which saw riots on the fringes of urban centers throughout the country.

Mexico City, Mexico - Hundreds of protesters attacked police and attempted to storm Congress but were unable to break through lines of riot police who were protecting the building. The demonstrators who flew both Mexican and black flags were calling for congress to protect the current pension system.

Inside the building rowdy leftist politicians shouted and unfurled banners opposed to the reforms they could not defeat through voting. The new pension bill would if signed by President Felipe Calderon, would make it harder for elderly workers to receive benefits and set the age of retirement back from 50 to 60. Calderon is expected to sign the legislation which critics say amounts to a privatization of the pension scheme.

Seoul, South Korea - Protesters opposed to a free-trade agreement between the governments of the United States and South Korea scuffled with police today near the U.S. embassy. Yesterday demonstrators were stopped by police as they attempted to march on the President House.

Trade negotiators have only a few days to resolve their differences or any agreement they come to will have a difficult time getting approved by the U.S. congress. Under U.S. President George W. Bush's "fast-track" trade promotion authority, U.S. officials have until April 2 to submit a deal for a mandatory 90-day congressional review for a simple yes-or-no vote without the option of being able to tack on any amendments.

While they were working against the clock to come to a consensus eight activists opposed to a deal burst into the conference room shouting "No to Korea-US FTA." Protests are likely to intensify in the lead-up to the deadline.

Grant Barnes

Denver, Colorado, U.S. - Police have arrested Grant Barnes, a 24-year-old man they believe was responsible for torching four high-end SUVs and Hummers in the upscale Cherry Creek neighborhood. Police believe that Barnes and at least one other person constructed and planted some sort of "sophisticated" moltov cocktail type device on the vehicles. Police claim to have arrested Barnes after suspicious materials were found in his vehicle during a routine traffic stop in the Cherry Creek area.

A number of days after the arsons someone wrote the letters "ELF" on the window of one of the damaged vehicles. The letters may be a reference to the radical pro-environment Earth Liberation Front who have targeted SUVs and other low fuel efficient vehicles through arson in the past as a statement against over consumption and global warming.

Daniel Jones

Melbourne, Australia - Four of the five individuals arrested in early morning raids in New South Wales last week made their first appearance before the Melbourne Magistrates Court Tuesday. The other, a 17-year-old youth, was bailed from a Children's Court and did not have to appear. The five Sydney residents are accused of participating in last November's riots that were organized to protest the G20 summit of international financial leaders. They face numerous charges including unlawful assembly, riot, conduct endangering persons and aggravated burglary.

Police made the arrests after reviewing hundreds of hours of surveillance footage taken during the disturbances. They believe that they have correctly identified one of the defendants Daniel Jones, 20, by a distinctively large gap in his front teeth. He was ordered to allow police to photograph his teeth. Jones is accused of causing almost $9500 damage to a police van, throwing a street pole at officers and then yelling abuse at them during the November 18 clashes, and faces charges including affray, riot and criminal damage.

A group of about 30 supporters rallied outside the courthouse to support the defendants. So far prosecutors have brought charges against 27 alleged rioters, most of whom were arrested long after the demonstration ended. The four defendants who went to court Tuesday were released on continuing bail with conditions including reporting to police three times a week, not moving house and not attending points of international departure. There next date will be in May.

Edinburgh, Scotland - The previously unknown Fuck The War Coalition! has claimed responsibility for trashing the offices of two pro-war Labour Party MPs Nigel Griffiths and Alistair Darling. In a communique the group said that their aim was to bring "a small taste of war to some of those politicians that voted for it." Griffiths' staffers arrived to work Tuesday morning to find four smashed windows, and anti-war slogans painted on the building's walls and front door. Darling's offices, on Rutland Square, were also covered in slogans and Stop The War leaflets scattered around the entrance.

Protests mark the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq

• Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. - A group of about 20 to 30 people carrying torches and banners that proclaimed "NO WAR BUT CLASS WAR" and "IT'S ON" attacked the Army recruitment center on Oakland Avenue near the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus Monday night. Windows were broken and paint, smoke bombs and possibly feces was thrown inside the building.

  Police detained and cited 21 people for disorderly conduct, but may press more serious charges later. At least three of the demonstrators were in their early teens with the youngest being 13 years old.

• Lansing, Michigan, U.S. - The Michigan Avenue office of U.S. Representative Mike Rogers was vandalized Monday night. Rogers is a Republican who has consistently supported President George Bush and the war in Iraq. Two security cameras were damaged, door locks were glued shut and paint was sprayed and spattered on the building and sidewalk. Rogers' "Support Our Troops" sign was splattered with blood-red paint, and a hand-painted sign was plastered to a window, reading: "ROGERS THERE IS BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS." Police are looking into the incident.

• Grand Rapids, Michigan, U.S. - Another Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan received a visit from anti-war demonstrators over the weekend. Anarchists and other protesters marched to the home of Vern Ehlers, where they shouted that Ehlers is a war criminal and taped a large message by his front door calling on him to stop supporting the war.

• New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S. - Following a student walkout at Rutgers University 400 anti-war protesters took to the streets of the downtown shopping district and blocked a Marine recruitment station Monday. The throng of demonstrators then blocked rush hour traffic on the south bound lanes of Route 18 . Police observed from a distance and halted traffic but made no arrests during the three hour long protest.

Washington D.C.

• Elswhere - Other protests, many of which targeted military recruiters, were held in cities and towns such as Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Illinois, Lawrence, Kansas, Portland, Oregon and dozens more across the country.

  Globally activists held hundreds of protests. A massive demonstration of what was estimated to have included tens of thousands to as many 400,000 people shut down most of Spain's capital city Madrid. Istanbul, Turkey saw thousands of protesters take to the streets there. In Hungary, some 2,000 anti-war demonstrators carrying torches marched in the capital Budapest.

Montreal, Quebec, Canada - Yesterday's demonstrations in observance of the 11th International Day Against Police Brutality broke out in violence as they have in years past. About 500 people marched through the Cote des Neiges district chanting anti-police slogans.

Following the march organized by organized by the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality (commonly known by their French acronym COBP) a little less than half the crowd took the subway downtown where protesters once again built small fires in intersections, tore down political posters and vandalised area businesses including a McDonald's, luxury cars and a police vehicle. Police arrested fifteen suspected rioters. More than twice that number were arrested last year.

Other demonstrations and events marking the day of protest were held across the world including places like Vancouver, British Columbia, New York City, and a number of cities in Mexico.

Mexico - U.S. President George W. Bush concluded his week long tour of Latin America yesterday amidst violence and unrest. Each stop on Bush's tour was marked by massive protests and clashes with police. As Bush discussed the U.S.'s plans to build a controversial 700-mile fence along the Mexican border with President Felipe Calderon anarchists and other demonstrators attacked and partially destroyed the fence surrounding the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

Protesters took to the streets throughout Mexico with chants such as "Freedom for political prisoners!" and "No more war!." Masked demonstrators used slingshots, rocks, sticks, and improvised flame throwers to attack police who answered with teargas, pepper spray and batons. In Merida protesters kicked the doors in and trashed the Municipality Palace but were eventually driven away by riot police.

Zhushan, Hunan, China - Anti-riot security forces have suppressed massive protests in the central Chinese village were unrest broke out last Friday. Scores of anti-riot police indiscriminately attacked the crowd of 20,000 with batons and electric prods, killing one and injuring at least 60 others. The fatality was attributed to be a junior high school student who was beaten viciously by police.

The disturbance began when a bus driver accosted a passenger who he believed had not paid the full fare to transport his baggage. Many people were angry because the cost of riding buses was more than doubled last month.

By Monday a mob of protesters had surrounded the local government offices and were chanting "beat the government dogs to death." Rioters torched nine police vehicles and destroyed a number of buses. Yesterday government officials announced that they would lower the bus fares back to less than what they were before the recent increase.

New York, New York, U.S. - A group of about 100 anti-war activists occupied the Chambers Street Army recruitment center in an unannounced action Monday afternoon. The demonstration was organized by two local chapters of the newly revived Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) based out of Pace University and the New School University. The station was closed for two hours. Police arrested 23 protesters who refused to leave the building. (Pictures)

Athens, Greece - Over the weekend a squad of riot police, on Messologiou Street in the Exarchia district, were attacked by a group of about 50 anarchists. The officers were beaten with metal pipes and had their shields and helmets taken. The riot squad was guarding a bookstore owned by the extreme right-wing LAOS Party member Adonis Georgiadis, because the business had been already been attacked a number of times in the past. Many of the officers in the detail abandoned their posts and their fellow officers when confronted. Others begged for mercy saying "we have families and kids." Two of the officers were seriously injured, one of whom lost his teeth.

There were also two explosions that damaged the local offices of the ruling New Democracy Party and a bank. The bombs were constructed out of improvised gas canisters.

Early Monday morning a group of about a dozen youths from a nearby university attacked a police station in the Zografou area of central Athens. According to authorities the grouped hurled a barrage of petrol bombs that damaged a patrol car and the building's entrance.

Bogotá

Colombia - Riots and massive protests broke out in several Colombian cities during U.S. President George Bush's brief visit to Bogotá yesterday. There a smaller group of demonstrators broke away from a larger group of more than a thousand marchers and attacked riot police with rocks, molotov cocktails and metal barriers and ripped down lampposts. Four police officers were reported injured and approximately 100 people were arrested. Bush only spent a total of six hours in the country before departing for Guatemala, where large scale anti-Bush demonstrations were also held.

Brazil - Over 500 Landless farmers, most of them women, from the Via Campesina (Peasant Way) and the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais sem Terra (Landless Rural Workers' Movement or the MST) invaded and briefly occupied an iron ore mine, a bank and a sugar mill on Wednesday to protest the impact of big companies on the poor and President Bush's visit to Brazil. A press release issued by Via Campesina said that their protest was meant as a statement "against transnational companies and the financial system, which seek control of the natural resources in the country."

The Capao Xavier mine, located in Nova Lima, Minas Gerais, was occupied for four hours at which point police removed all of the demonstrators. The mine is owned by Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce (CVRD) which is the largest iron ore miner in the world. CVRD claimed that the occupation delayed the excavation 12,000 tonnes of ore costing them thousands of dollars in lost profits. Last year indigenous protesters occupied and shut down another CVRD mine for several days.

Simultaneos occupations took place Wednesday at a sugar and ethanol mill, owned by U.S. grain trader Cargill's Cevasa, in Sao Paulo state and The headquaters of the Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES Bank) in Rio de Janeiro. Two other MST land occupations ended Wednesday and another had ended Tuesday.

Athens, Greece - Thousands of students, anarchists and other demonstrators, opposed to plans to privatize higher education, clashed with police today in Athens. Police reaction was heavy handed and left more then 40 protesters injured. Rioters vandalized businesses, built barricades and fought police with clubs, molotov cocktails and other projectiles. Large violent protests and strikes have have been occurring regularly since last year when the government proposed legislation which would turn Greece's free universities into for-profit institutions.

Denmark - Earlier this week two trucks owned by 3x34 Transport, the company responsible for demolishing the Ungdomshuset (Youth House,) were torched. In response to the arson and numerous threats against their vans, materials and personnel the company has decided not to work at the site where the Ungdomshuset stood according to announcement posted on the company's website. The trucks had been parked in lot outside of 3x34 Transport's main office.

Since the Ungdomshuset was evicted last week solidarity actions and demonstrations have been held in various cities across Europe and in New York City. 80 To 100 Greek anarchists occupied the Danish council in Athens for a number of hours. Wroclaw, Poznan and Warsaw, Poland, Prague, Czech Republic, numerous cities throughout Germany, Switzerland, Norway and Great Britain all saw solidarity protests.

Bogota, Colombia - Students shut down traffic with burning barricades and threw rocks and molotov cocktails at riot police in protest of U.S. President George Bush's planned visit to the country. Police fired tear gas at rioters who retreated to a university campus. The city of Cali saw hundreds of workers and students demonstrating peacefully in opposition to Bush's scheduled Latin America tour, which was planned to begin on Thursday.

Copenhagen, Denmark - After days of rioting demolition crews began demolishing the Ungdomshuset (Youth House.) Workers wore masks to hide their identities and were required to work under a heavy police guard. Tearful crowds of youths and their supporters shouted obscenities at the workers and the police.

The building has been home to an autonomous youth community center since 1982, but it's radical history goes back much further. It was built as a community theatre for the labour movement in 1897. Both Denmark's women's liberation and trade union movements were founded under it's roof and the building even hosted Vladimir Lenin when he visited Copenhagen in 1910.

Riot police used helicopters to storm the building Thursday and arrested the 35 occupants setting off three nights of violent clashes between police and protesters. The riots have mellowed out but demonstrators claim that they have "only just started!"

Nairobi, Kenya - Prisoners rioted following the escape of five inmates at Nakuru Prison. The five, four of whom were on death row, cut the bars to their cell with a hacksaw before using a blanket to climb the outer wall. When the prison guards decided to lock down the remaining prisoners and search for a rumored gun the prisoners reacted by throwing stones and injuring at least two guards. They then sang in Swahili "Bado mapambano" (the struggle continues) before the riot was put down with tear gas and reinforcement.

A recent report shows that last year there were 141 escapes by suspects. That number does not include the escapes by convicts or those held in remand. For instance, the break last year at the Embu GK prison in which the prison was stormed and four people, including a prison warder, were killed.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. - Members of the Pittsburgh Organizing Group (POG) and their supporters successfully shut down the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC), a largely Pentagon-funded venture of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU,) early Friday morning. The anti-war demonstrators used a variety of human blockades including tripods and lock-boxes to prevent researchers and staff from entering the facility that has become a world leader in warfare robotics. Police only arrested 14 of the 34 demonstrators that locked themselves to to each other and fences surrounding the building. Around 12:30 pm, after seven hours in position protesters declared victory and lifted their blockades.

Copenhagen, Denmark - "Anti-terror" police raided a youth community center in the Noerrebro district of Copenhagen. The Ungdomshuset (Youth House) was originally occupied by squatters in 1982 but the center was granted permission to stay by the City Council soon after. Police evicted the residents on behalf of a fundamentalist Christian sect, who the city sold the building to six years ago. The church plans to demolish the building. During the raid authorities say they uncovered a large stash of iron bars, sling shots, fireworks, firebombs and a flame thrower.

Police entered the four story building through the roof after they lowered themselves down from a helicopter. Police were able to take control of the building, but more than 1,000 squatters and their supporters soon took control of the surrounding streets. Protesters built flaming barricades out of dumpsters, over turned cars and other debris. They also attacked police with molotov cocktails, rocks, fireworks, smoke bombs, clubs and other projectiles. Police fired teargas and attempted to disperse rioters who fell back to the nearby Christianshavn district adjacent to the autonomous Freetown of Christiania. Christiana itself was squatted in '70s and it's residents are regularly threatened with eviction. Violent clashes have continued into the early hours of Friday morning.

Police from other agencies around Denmark are on their way to help put down the violence and have re-established border controls to prevent multitudes of squatters from other countries, in particular Germany, from reaching Copenhagen. According to Merima Lulic, a police spokesperson, three men were arrested in the southwestern Swedish city of Malmo, while transporting flammable material and explosives. The three were thought to be headed for Copenhagen.

Over 250 have been detained so far, 35 on serious charges such as assaulting police officers or illegal trespassing. Several of those are foreign nationals including nine Germans, two U.S. citizens, two Poles, and a French national, the Danish news agency Ritzau reported. Last December supporters of the center held a similarly destructive large scale demonstration. Following those riots a U.S. citizen was deported.

A solidarity demonstration in Oslo, Norway attracted some 150 protesters who threw projectiles such as paint bombs at the Danish embassy. No arrests were made. Police in Stockholm, Sweden said that they were bracing for their own solidarity demonstration.