Shorts (left)
Jerusalem Protests Resume As Work is Delayed
Jerusalem’s mayor late Sunday postponed plans for construction work near a religious compound in Jerusalem’s Old City, but Muslim protests continued Monday over preparatory work at the site.
Hundreds of Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli security forces in the West Bank city of Hebron, and nine people were arrested in various Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem following stone-throwing episodes against the police, Israeli cars and a passenger bus.
A police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, characterized the violence in Jerusalem as “small-scale and sporadic,” though, and said that an increased police presence would work to prevent wider disturbances in the city.
Jerusalem’s mayor, Uri Lupolianski, announced Sunday night that he was postponing construction of a new raised walkway leading up to the religious compound, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Martial Law Declared in Guinea; Strikers Seek President’s Ouster
Guinea’s embattled and ailing president declared martial law on Monday, hoping to stop a wave of violent street demonstrations and a general strike that have crippled the country and brought it to the brink of insurrection.
Speaking on state-owned radio, President Lansana Conte said, “Orders have been given to the heads of the armed forces to take all appropriate measures to defend the people of Guinea from the risk of civil war,” according to Reuters.
The declaration followed a vow by labor unions to resume a general strike on Monday, demanding that Conte, who has ruled Guinea with an authoritarian hand since he seized power in 1984, step down.
Dozens of people have been killed in demonstrations across Guinea in the past month, including eight people on Monday.
In an effort to end an 18-day strike started by labor unions last month, Conte had agreed to cede some of his powers to a prime minister. But when he announced Saturday that he would appoint a close ally, Eugene Camara, to the job, demonstrations broke out across the country, leading to violent clashes with government forces.
German Court Paroles Leader Of Terror Group
A German court on Monday ordered the release of Brigitte Mohnhaupt, a leader of the terrorist Red Army Faction, who has been imprisoned for 24 years for kidnappings and murders in the 1970s.
The decision set off sharp protests, led by the German police union, but was welcomed by several political parties, including the Social Democrats and the Free Democrats.
Konrad Freiberg, the chairman of the police union, said the court’s decision to free Mohnhaupt on probation on March 27 “left a bitter taste,” adding that the murders would never be forgotten. Guenther Beckstein, Bavaria’s interior minister, also criticized the court, noting that Mohnhaupt had shown no signs of regret.
Mohnhaupt was a leader of the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang for its founders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof. It began with the 1968 student protest movement but evolved into an armed struggle against capitalism. Its activities included bank robberies, bombings of government buildings and U.S. military sites in Germany, kidnappings and assassinations.