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Thousands Protest Against Polish Government

From Al-Jazeera- September 14, 2013

http://tinyurl.com/oumq43b

Tens of thousands of Polish labour union members have marched through the capital, Warsaw, in the finale of a four-day protest against the government.

The demonstrators threw smoke grenades and blew whistles as they marched to the historic Castle Square with banners saying, “Tusk’s government must go,” referring to Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

 

Saturday’s protest reflects widespread public gloom over this year’s sharp economic slowdown in Poland, which has been dragged down by the eurozone crisis.

The disillusionment has plunged the coalition government’s popularity to its lowest level since Tusk, Poland’s longest-serving prime minister since the fall of communism in 1989, took office in 2007.

“We want the departure of Donald Tusk. This is the only way to change social policy in Poland,” Marek Lewandowski, spokesman for the Polish trade union federation Solidarity, told the AFP news agency.

The marchers complained of large-scale layoffs after economic growth slowed down to 1.9 percent of gross domestic product last year from 4.5 percent in 2011.

They demanded job security, healthcare guarantees and retirement benefits, as well as the reversal of the recent raise of the retirement age to 67 years from 60 years for women and 65 years for men.

They have the support of a majority of Poles, according to an opinion poll carried out by MillwardBrown for the Fakty news programme on Tuesday: 59 percent of respondents said they were for the demonstrations, with 31 percent against and the rest unsure.

MP Resignations

Unions also accuse Tusk of ignoring their demands and refusing to engage in dialogue.

Lawmaker Jacek Zalek, who quit Tusk’s centrist Civic Platform on Thursday, told reporters the “protests were a sign that we were unable to rise to the challenges that were put before us by Poles”.

In addition to Zalek, two of Tusk’s MPs have also resigned in recent weeks, raising the spectre of a minority government that could spell early elections ahead of 2015.

But Tusk argued on Friday that his success in pushing through a revised 2013 budget, widening the deficit by an extra $5bn, bodes well for the future.

“Today’s vote proves that the government’s majority is stable,” he said after Friday’s vote, adding that concerns over the exodus of MPs are “unfounded”.

Analysts said the vote suggested Tusk could still muster enough legislative clout to pass the 2014 budget and thus avoid snap elections.

Poland, with a population of 38 million, is the only EU member to have maintained growth each year for two decades.

However, the economy slowed to just 0.1 percent growth in the first quarter of this year as Poland’s main trade partner, the eurozone, struggled with recession.

Thousands of Cambodians turned out in a new wave of protests on Sunday [AFP]

Mass Rally in Cambodia Over Poll Results

From Al-Jazeera – September 15, 2013

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/09/20139154287593139.html

Thousands of opposition supporters have marched through the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, vowing to rally for several days in a bid to overturn Prime Minister Hun Sen’s disputed election win.

Supporters of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) on Sunday ignored a jail threat and a government order to stay off the streets and denounced the victory by allies of Prime Minister Hun Sen, who now faces one of his biggest tests of three decades in power.

Riot police stood by as politicians, activists, factory workers and Buddhist monks broke off from the march chanting “change, change” as they cut through side streets to avoid a route blocked off by fire trucks and razor-wire fences.

Carrying bannersreading ‘my vote, my nation’ and ‘where is my vote?’ – in a reference to the alleged poll fraud which saw the Cambodian’s People’s Party (CPP) win 68 seats compared to the 55 alloted to the CNRP – many protesters carried backpacks apparently in preparation for a long stay.

“We cannot accept the fake results,” Kem Sokha, deputy head of the CNRP, told the rally.

“I will not betray the will of the voters,” he said, adding protests will run until Tuesday and perhaps longer. Kem Sokha said opposition legislators will not attend the September 23 opening of the parliament.

Deadlock

Sunday’s protest comes a day after a rare meeting between opposition party head Sam Rainsy and Hun Sen in an effort to break the paralysis gripping the kingdom.

Hosted by Kind Norodom Sihamoni, the meeting made little progress towards ending the political deadlock that has engulfed the nation since the July polls, which returned the Cambodian People’s Party to power despite allegations of widespread vote-rigging.

The march comes after heightned tension by Friday’s discovery of a home-made bomb near parliament and hand grenades close to Freedom Park.

Thus far efforts to challenge the electoral outcome have failed to overturn the CPP victory. Hun Sen, 61, has been in power for 28 years and has vowed to rule until he is 74.