Eideard

Thousands of people marched for peace in Omagh one week after the murder of constable Ronan Kerr in the Co Tyrone town.

The mass rally was a powerful demonstration against violence in a community which suffered the infamous 1998 bombing by dissident republicans that killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins…

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams warned against sheltering those responsible arguing that the political landscape had changed since the days of the Troubles.

“Don’t be fooled into thinking that you are helping the IRA,” he said, “The war is over.”

Dissident republicans opposed to the peace process were blamed for the booby trap device that exploded under the policeman’s car on April 2. The same extremists are believed to be behind a 500lb van bomb police discovered near the border town of Newry on Thursday.

The Omagh rally attracted support from across the community and was attended by friends and relatives of the murdered officer. And while the march was not party political, organisers said it was intended to send a message of support in the peace process.

Gareth McElduff used Facebook to co-ordinate the rally and said it demonstrated the widespread support for the Kerr family.

He added: ”Although these are major, major setbacks in the peace process, hopefully the amount of people that is going to come out today is going to show everybody that we want peace in Ireland again and we don’t want to go back to the Troubles.”

Many in the crowd held posters carrying a picture of Pc Kerr’s face, with the words: ”Not In My Name.”

All power to the people. Stick the terrorist fools back into the cesspool from whence they came. The young copper who was murdered was a nationalist and a republican – willing to fight for change through political action. Unlike the cowards who killed him.

Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP/Getty Images

The Greek authorities on Wednesday suspended all deliveries of foreign-bound mail for 48 hours after letter bombs were sent to several embassies in Greece and the leaders of Italy, Germany and France.

The latest discovery was a letter bomb addressed to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, which was intercepted less than 24 hours after a similar device, also sent from Greece, arrived at the mailroom outside the office of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. A cargo plane that left Athens International Airport late on Tuesday, destined for Paris with a stopoff in Rome, was rerouted to Bologna after the Greek authorities realized that the aircraft was carrying a package addressed to Mr. Berlusconi. The police at the Bologna airport found the package and destroyed it, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.

A spokesman for the Greek police, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said two suspicious packages intercepted at the Athens airport on Tuesday night and destroyed in controlled explosions had been addressed to the international police organization Europol at the Hague and the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.

Though only one person was injured, and only slightly, and most of the devices were neutralized, the wave of letter bombs unnerved European officials already scrambling to secure the continent’s air-cargo system after the discovery last week of parcel bombs in Britain and Dubai that were shipped from Yemen and addressed to Jewish institutions in Chicago. Those bombs have been linked an Al Qaeda branch in Yemen.

Prime Minister George Papandreou on Wednesday sought to make clear that the letter bombs were the work of domestic terrorists.

“Democracy will not be terrorized,” said Mr. Papandreou, whose administration is struggling with a huge debt crisis and preparing for local elections on Sunday. “The irresponsible and mindless acts of those who aim to undermine the efforts of the Greek people to put the country and the economy back on track will not succeed.”

RTFA. Long, detailed, knowledgeable coverage of anarchists whose perception of political struggle is as deranged as any follower of al Qaeda.

After a half-century of activism – which occasionally included places and periods when armed self-defense was not uncommon – I still find no more logic or reason behind leftwing nutballs than rightwing nutballs. Critical domestic conflict is not going to be resolved by assassination or terrorist tactics. You win nothing but contempt.

Amerika’s sovereign state patriots

Two suspects accused of gunning down Arkansas police officers this week may have ties to extremist anti-government groups, two civil rights organizations say.

Jerry R. Kane, 45, and his 16-year-old son Joseph Kane fatally shot two police officers and wounded two others during a wild shootout Thursday, according to Arkansas state police.

The Anti-Defamation League said the two suspects belonged to “an extreme right-wing movement that believes that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and which seeks to restore an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed.”

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization, also said the two member are part of the “sovereign citizen” movement…

The incident began at 11:36 a.m. (12:36 p.m. ET) Thursday, when West Memphis patrolman Bill Evans made a traffic stop on a white minivan traveling eastbound on I-40 , said Bill Sadler, spokesman for the Arkansas state police.

After the vehicle exited the Interstate onto an off-ramp, Sgt. Brandon Paudert arrived on the scene as backup, Sadler said.

“It is our belief that Officer Evans was shoved to the ground by one of the suspects in the minivan and gunfire was directed at both officers,” Sadler said…

About 90 minutes later, a minivan believed to be the one that had been seen leaving the shooting site was spotted in a parking lot of a nearby Wal-Mart, Sadler said.

There, it was approached by Crittenden County Sheriff Dick Busby and Chief Enforcement Officer W.A. Wren, who were traveling in the same vehicle, he said.

Both men were wounded in a gunbattle initiated by the suspects, who were using a long rifle and a handgun, Sadler said.

The gunbattle ended after “a very brave, young wildlife officer in his state truck rammed the suspect vehicle, preventing an exit of the suspects,” who were then killed, Sadler said.

If you’re interested in the course of dementia of someone who moves down the yellow brick road of super patriotism and anarchy characteristic of sovereign state nutballs, read this article from the Kanes’ home town newspaper. This is probably your first visit to the paper and they’ll ask for an instant survey or registration – but, I’d recommend it to RTFA.

True Believers who start from religious fundamentalism or ardent nationalism are often candidates for taking their obsession beyond neurosis. And the first to deny that anything like the murder of these two police officers could ever enter their mind. Or what passes for a mind.

Photo from KOMO news video

A group cited by U.S. officials as a domestic terrorism threat claimed responsibility Friday for knocking down two radio station towers in Snohomish County, Washington.

The Earth Liberation Front (ELF) issued a statement about “AM radio waves causing adverse health effects including a higher rate of cancer, harm to wildlife, and that the signals have been interfering with home phone and intercom lines.”

Then, the usual rationales for anarchy and “direct action” were offered by these egregious cowards.

The towers belong to radio station KRKO. “There’s quite a bit of destruction to the antenna system and it will probably take at least three months to get it back up and operational again,” station manager Andy Skotdal told CNN affiliate KIRO, adding that much of it was “flattened like a pancake…”

KRKO is working with authorities to find those responsible, Skotdal said, adding, “We’ll use our own airwaves to do it.”

The perpetrators stole an excavating machine out of a yard in order to knock down the towers, Skotdal said.

Anarchy as a political philosophy has been proven useless for decades, if not centuries. There is always some middle-class twit who can’t stand the stress and strain of democratic political struggle and “takes it upon himself” to right the wrongs of the world.

We have cross-pollination from the tinfoil hat-brigade and their fear of radio wave aliens.

Anarchists with nothing to hide – except their faces.

Protestor hurls Molotov Cocktail at police in Athens
Daylife/Reuters Pictures

Violent riots hit the streets of Greek cities late Saturday and early Sunday as hundreds of youths battled police after an officer shot dead a teenager late Saturday.

The rampaging youths, many of who were self-styled anarchists, threw firebombs, smashed storefronts and burned businesses as they battled with police, who fought back with tear gas.

The shooting death of a 16-year-old boy by a member of an elite police corps was the trigger, officials said. The incident started when six youths pelted a police patrol car with stones.

The teen was shot as he tried to throw a fuel-filled bomb at the officers, police said.

Government officials, fearing more violence, swiftly condemned the shooting.

I’ve been shot at by coppers who deserved to have every bit of the force of law brought down on their heads. First time, in fact, was while leading a peaceful march to a funeral parlor on behalf of a kid unjustly killed by a beat cop. Doesn’t change the circumstances reported, so far.

You throw rocks at a police car. Prepare to hurl a Molotov Cocktail at the coppers. You get what you deserve. This was not a political uprising against a military dictatorship – even though anarchists consider any elected government to be oppressive by definition.