Publish to Newswire
Add an EventFrom the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
Afghans besiege US base to protest arrests
Nearly 2,000 Afghans protested Tuesday outside the US air base in Bagram, north of the Afghan capital, Kabul. Chanting “Die America!” the crowd threw stones and tried to break down an outer gate to the base, demanding the release of eight detained villagers.
According to the Associated Press, Afghan troops fired warning shots and used clubs to beat back the demonstrators, and US troops also fired shots into the air. Smoke rose from tires set on fire by the protesters. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
It was the biggest anti-US protest since demonstrations erupted last May in Kabul, Jalalabad and other Afghan cities following the publication of an article in Newsweek magazine—later retracted—that reported the desecration of the Koran by US interrogators at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Sixteen people were killed and scores injured in those protests.
Following Tuesday’s protests, the US military handed over six Bagram villagers to Afghan authorities. (The US said only six had been detained late Monday, following earlier reports of eight.) The six included a former commander in the US-backed Northern Alliance, an Islamic cleric, farmers and laborers.
The US claimed the men “had materials used to make improvised explosive devices in their possession and are thought to be planning future attacks against coalition forces.” The provincial governor guaranteed the men would be presented for questioning at any time US officials requested.
Demonstrators were angered that the men had been arrested without consulting local Afghan authorities. “We should be treated with dignity,” Shah Aghar, 35, told AP. “They are arresting our people without permission of the government. They are breaking into our houses and offending the people. We are very angry.”
Protesters who had massed outside the Bagram base—the main US military headquarters in Afghanistan—threw stones as six US military vehicles tried to enter the base. Soldiers in the vehicles fired into the air with handguns. As the convoy sped into the base, the crowd chased after it, trying to push down a metal gate guarded by Afghan troops. Some of the protesters were beaten by the guards with clubs, and most dispersed.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/afgh-j28.shtml
It was the biggest anti-US protest since demonstrations erupted last May in Kabul, Jalalabad and other Afghan cities following the publication of an article in Newsweek magazine—later retracted—that reported the desecration of the Koran by US interrogators at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Sixteen people were killed and scores injured in those protests.
Following Tuesday’s protests, the US military handed over six Bagram villagers to Afghan authorities. (The US said only six had been detained late Monday, following earlier reports of eight.) The six included a former commander in the US-backed Northern Alliance, an Islamic cleric, farmers and laborers.
The US claimed the men “had materials used to make improvised explosive devices in their possession and are thought to be planning future attacks against coalition forces.” The provincial governor guaranteed the men would be presented for questioning at any time US officials requested.
Demonstrators were angered that the men had been arrested without consulting local Afghan authorities. “We should be treated with dignity,” Shah Aghar, 35, told AP. “They are arresting our people without permission of the government. They are breaking into our houses and offending the people. We are very angry.”
Protesters who had massed outside the Bagram base—the main US military headquarters in Afghanistan—threw stones as six US military vehicles tried to enter the base. Soldiers in the vehicles fired into the air with handguns. As the convoy sped into the base, the crowd chased after it, trying to push down a metal gate guarded by Afghan troops. Some of the protesters were beaten by the guards with clubs, and most dispersed.
Read More
http://wsws.org/articles/2005/jul2005/afgh-j28.shtml
Add Your Comments
Comments
(Hide Comments)
George W Bush Worst Emperor of The Middle East making "Friends" the usual way. That's how Wars are made.
Ever think that the guys who were picked up really were bad people? That the whole thing was orchestrated? They don't tell you the crowd left once they got word the ANP had custody of the men. Why? Because the Afghan Police can be bought or pressured by tribal leaders, who are also the war lords, also the drug lords.
This whole fucking place is about 10 centuries behind the rest of the world. Serfdom, indentured slavery, gang rape, murder, all part of the culture here.
This whole fucking place is about 10 centuries behind the rest of the world. Serfdom, indentured slavery, gang rape, murder, all part of the culture here.
Gun fight at okay coral. Just seems that closing down the weapons of mass destruction is not on the American agenda here. The fact remains that U.S. imperialism is the leading arms dealer in the world, and has in fact led the arms race for over twenty-five years. Their foreighn policy of unjust wars against impoverished people and all communist endeavors is leading them to rogue failed state status and polluter number one globally. They should remove their troops from all countries they have invaded and go home and free their own people by re-tooling the entire industrial revolution to wind, tidal, and solar power which transforms to electricity and is more power than society can use. No more blackouts. This non-pollution solution is given freely in nature and as the atmosphere is now 34% depleted of oxygen than before the first industrial revolution , it is becomming not an option to do so before the crash of the worlds atmoshere. We cannot live on the replacement of carbon dioxide and Greenpeace international says the halt of the carbon dioxide ought to have taken placeby the late eighties. Yankee go home. P.S. to the fellow who talks of medevilism in other countries namely afghanistan let me remind him that should the present coal, gas, oil, and atomic energy economy drive the oxygen level some few more per centage points the world will begin watching the collapse of all culture economics, politics , religion and militarism and death by a cancerous agony will set in till the entire livability is gone. Their present policy of militarism globally is holding the polluters systems in place and they brag about it. They portend all that is worst and much more as their system is the engine of world pollution. Never has there been such a ruinous global society as that ruled by the u.s. Imperialists here on mother earth.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Donate
$200.00 donated
in the past month
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network