By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ATHENS, Greece – Annual May Day marches in Athens erupted into violent clashes between leftist demonstrators and Greek police.  Tens of thousands of workers took to the streets to protest proposed austerity measures as disproportionately harmful to the nation’s workers and poor.

According to AFP, one demonstrator described the government cutbacks as “the biggest attack on workers for centuries.”  He added: “They want to return us to the 19th Century – this is not going to be a battle but a war that will last for months and even years.”

Greek riot police used tear gas to disperse the rioters in Athens as rioters threw bottles, rocks and petrol bombs at police and television vans. Rioters in Athens and Thessaloniki also vandalized banks and government buildings.

Yannis Papangopoulos, head of the Confederation of Greek Workers, said:  “These policies are totally unfair.  They place all the burden on the have-nots to pay the price of this crisis and not the plutocracy . . . There will be a social explosion once they begin to bite.”

The measures that the ruling Pasok Party hopes to implement include an injection of roughly 120 billion euros into the Greek economy over the next three years, as well as stringent reforms and tax increases.  This involves a reduction of collective bargaining rights, abolition of additional wages paid to supplement low public sector salaries, and the overhaul of the pension and health systems.  Effectively, the measures will eradicate nearly every right acquired by Greek workers and unions over the past thirty years.

Spiros Papaspirou, head of Greece’s Adedy civil servants union, said: “The bill should go to those who looted this country for decades, not to the workers . . . This is the most savage, unjust and unprovoked attack workers have ever faced.”

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has said that the measures are necessary in order to prevent complete economic collapse and to assure the nation’s survival.

For more information, please see:

BBC INTERNATIONAL – Greece police tear gas anti-austerity protesters – 1 May 2010

GUARDIAN – Greece erupts in violent protest as citizens face a future of harsh austerity – 1 May 2010

LOS ANGELES TIMES – Violent May Day Protests in Athens – 1 May 2010

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium – This week one of Belgium’s two legislative bodies passed a bill that would ban burqas within the country.

The lower house of Belgium’s Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, voted on Thursday April 29 to ban certain types of veils worn by Muslim women, most notably including burqas.  According to various media accounts, the vote was nearly unanimous (136 to 2) and enjoyed clear majorities from both major Belgian political parties.

Although the bill must still be passed by Belgium’s upper house, the Senate, Belgium is the closest of any European country to passing a ban on the Muslim headwear.  The Senate is expected to overwhelmingly approve the legislation in the coming weeks.  Media outlets predict the bill will be signed into law before the summer.

Other European lawmakers, most notably the French, have also considered a similar ban.  President Sarkozy has indicated France’s ban will come into effect before the fall.

Additionally, several countries, including the Netherlands, Denmark and Poland, have recently had elections that have included overwhelming victories for anti-Islamic parties and candidates.  No country in the European Union has yet, however, had such legislation signed into law.

Logistically, the Belgian legislation would ban any and all clothing or headwear that covers the face in part or in whole.

The penalty for women who wear the veil could range from 150 to 15,000 euros.  Any person who forces a women to wear a burqa can face up to a year in prison.  As in the case of France’s consideration of a burqa ban, criticism of the Belgian legislation has been swift and harsh.

Critics claim that on its face the ban would violates basic tenets of freedom of religion and expression.  They also allege that the law illegally targets only Muslims.

Amnesty International’s John Dalhuisen says that the law “violat[es] of a great many of Belgium’s international obligations”, including “the U.N. convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.”

For more information, please see:

AL JAZEERA – Anger at Belgian face veil ban – 30 April 2010

EUR ACTIV NETWORK – Belgian lawmakers first in EU to outlaw burqa – 30 April 2010

EXPATICA – Content of the Belgian bill banning the burqa – 30 April 2010

VOICE OF AMERICA – Belgium’s Parliament Votes to Ban Veils – 29 April 2010