Headlines for 5 May 2010

National general strike in Greece

Thousands of people were in the streets today in Greece, and millions of workers are taking part in a nation-wide general strike. 

A 24-hour general strike was called for Wednesday, May 5, and it has paralyzed the country's transportation system, including trains, ferries, and all flights in and out of Greek airports. The transport workers joined thousands of civil servants who had launched their own strike Tuesday.  A large number of schools, hospitals and businesses were also closed. 

Government offices and commerical buildings were attacked, provoking clashes with riot police. One group tried to storm the parliament, throwing paving stones and Molotov cocktails at police, who responded with tear gas.

At least three people were killed after a fire broke out at a bank in Athens, fire officials say.

Coordinated railway sabotage in Canada on May Day

Two posts on the website anarchistnews.org report acts of railway sabotage on May Day.

One post, which claims that the actions were part of a coordinated day of attacks on Canadian rail infrastructure, reports that:

We destroyed the largest maintenance shed for electrical circuits in the area north-east of Toronto on the CN mainline. Two firebombs were placed in the shed, next to the fuses, batteries and wiring.

A second post reports that CN rail lines in Montreal were blocked on the night of April 30th.

There are several other posts on the news site that report direct actions connected to May Day in the United States.

May Day in Winnipeg

On Saturday, May 1st, 200 people marched in Winnipeg to mark International Workers' Day. This year, march organizers announced a theme of "Bread and Roses" to honor women's work and contributions to the labor movement.

MayWorks, a festival of labour and the arts, will continue throughout the month of May.

The afternoon was also the kick-off of a 24-hour fundraising telethon for the Old Market Square Autonomous Zone, which raised over 10,000 dollars towards the down payment. Groups in the building are in the process of forming a tenant co-op to purchase the building, so that it can run and owned collectively.

RCMP unveils new Taser policy

The CBC reports that new RCMP policy restrictions limit the use of Tasers to cases where a person is causing bodily harm or an officer has "reasonable grounds" to believe a person will "imminently" harm somebody.

Officers have also been advised not to shock someone for more than five seconds and to avoid using Tasers multiple times on the same person.  The policy is not a strict rule, because it also states that the multiple use rule can be amended if "situational factors dictate otherwise."

The RCMP changes come in response to the B.C. inquiry into the death of Robert Dziekanski, who was shot five times with a Taser, new Alberta guidelines, and persistent criticism that the Taser was often being used to make people obey police commands, not to defuse the most serious threats.

Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland says that while the new policy is an improvement, "bodily harm leaves a lot to the imagination" and the rules should be more precise.