Protesting, it's contagious

Some 25,000 Spanish protesters have defied a government ban and camped out overnight in a square in the capital, Madrid.

The protesters object to the government's economic policies and have occupied the area for the past week.

Police braced for high numbers in London with 800 coaches and at least 10 trains chartered from around the country

More than a quarter of a million protesters against public sector cuts are expected to flood central London today in the biggest political demonstration for nearly a decade.

Police sources, normally cautious about estimating numbers, said last night they were braced for up to 300,000 people to join the march – far higher than previous forecasts from TUC organisers.

The BBC's Christian Fraser says initial signs are that the strikes are not as big as expected

French unions have reported turnout of nearly three million people at rallies against pension reform but police figures are much lower.

The CFDT federation said 2.9 million had joined events across France, exceeding the turnout of 2.5 million on 7 September.

Thousands of Italians took to the streets in some 200 cities across the country Sunday in protest of Prime Minister's Silvio Berlusconi's alleged behavior toward women.

The largest gathering was in Rome, where organizers said 100,000 people gathered, under the slogan, "If not now, when?" In Milan, organizers estimated that 60,000 people gathered. Protests also took place outside Italy, including marches in Tokyo and Geneva.

The Koenji protest, which apparently was a sort of ad hoc event promoted mostly through Twitter, seems to have drawn more people. Footage of the Koenji protest shows people carrying various handmade signs, with some protesting against nuclear power and others protesting against nuclear weapons. Because of its internet-based call to action, it looks like there are a lot of younger people and some foreigners. There were many weird costumes and it had a festive atmosphere to it.

The Shiba Koen protest, which involved a march in front of the TEPCO headquarters, seemed calmer. It was mainly an anti-nuclear power protest, with many participants carrying the copies of the same signs. The crowd seemed to include a lot of older people, and very few wacky costumes.

A massive rally organized by the Sri Lankans living in Europe was held in front of the United Nations (UN) head Office in Geneva, on 2nd June 2011, to protest against the UN Secretary Generals’ advisory panel and the Darusman report. Thousands of Sri Lankans took part in the peaceful demonstration urging to withdraw the report will falsely alleged Sri Lankan government and the Security forces for war crimes.

Global protests organized via Facebook are becoming increasingly common place with the latest protest coming from young Vietnamese Facebook users against China.

As Bloomberg reports, the protests were created to “protest China’s recent actions in the disputed territories in the South China Sea”. While the number of protesters was not mentioned, many sources are stating that the protest amounted to hundreds of individuals. What made this protest notable was that such events are extremely rare in Vietnam. While the protests went of peacefully, it’s a testament to the increasing importance that Facebook is playing in global affairs.

CARACAS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of Venezuelans, including cabinet members and other senior government officials, rallied here Sunday to protest against U.S. sanctions on the South American nation's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).

The march began in the downtown Catia Square at 11:00 a.m. local time (1530 GMT) and lasted for three hours. Wearing red clothes, the color of the country's ruling party, the protesters chanted the slogan "Venezuela should be respected."

The demonstration was called by the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and government officials were among the protesters, including cabinet members, governors, mayors and leaders of the PSUV.

LAHORE: The Punjab Union of Journalists (PUJ) organised a protest rally against the killing of Asia Times Online bureau chief Syed Saleem Shahzad, and demanded immediate arrest of those involved in the brutal killing.

Dissident republican supporters staged a series of protests across Northern Ireland at the weekend, calling for political prisoner status and for the freeing of prominent activist Marian Price.

Around 200 people gathered outside Maghaberry Prison yesterday waving tricolours, blowing whistles and carrying placards.

Read more: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk... p

Despite progress made in Fair Work Australia, CPSU has warned today that industrial action in some public sector agencies cannot be ruled out from July 1.

According to CPSU National Secretary Nadine Flood, negotiations with the Australian Public Service Commission had made some progress, but that outstanding issues meant that some agencies were heading towards industrial action.