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Geopolitics

New Demonstrations Planned As Spain Stands By Crackdown On Protesters

EL PAIS, LA VANGUARDIA, EL MUNDO (Spain)

Worldcrunch

MADRID – Protesters called for a new round of demonstrations Wednesday after a day of clashes with riot police on the streets of Madrid. The latest toll from the violence is 35 people arrested and 64 wounded, according to La Vanguardia.

The 2 most tweeted Photos of #25S#S25 so far: twitter.com/_cypherpunks_/… & twitter.com/_cypherpunks_/…V @_cypherpunks_

— Anonymous Press (@AnonymousPress) September 25, 2012

The protests come as the government prepares to unveil further austerity measures on Thursday. Protesters accused the politicians of “hijacking democracy,” and asked for the resignation of the government and the king, reports El Mundo, as well as an amendment to the constitution.

More than 1,400 riot troops were deployed as about 6,000 people marched toward the parliament, said El Pais. Among the protesters were unemployed people, students, housewives and pensioners from all around Spain.

Looks more like the Police were Kettled: -> RT @asher_wolf: Madrid, earlier. Protesters kettled. twitter.com/oscar_carrion/…#25s

— Anonymous (@AnonyOps) September 25, 2012

Although the organizers had called for a peaceful demonstration, tensions between protesters and police flared when a group of protesters tried to tear down barricades, and threw stones and bottles at the baton-wielding riot police, who charged the crowds and fired rubber bullets.

The central government representative for the Madrid region, Cristina Cifuentes, has defended the police’s actions, saying she supported them “completely,” and that they had “demonstrated professionalism in very difficult circumstances,” writes El Mundo. She said radical groups were to blame for the violence and that 265 kilos of stones were collected by police, as well as sticks and slingshots.

This is what Democracy looks like #25S (via AFP) twitter.com/HomoCarnula/st…

— Lea WeAreLegion (@HomoCarnula) September 25, 2012

The Interior Minister Jorge Fernandez Diaz condemned the use of “extreme violence” by some protesters and said the police had “done their duty” and acted “magnificently,” says La Vanguardia.

This man sustained a spinal cord injury as a result of police brutality today in Madrid . #25s Looking for vid proof. twitter.com/AgentOrchid/st…

— ao (@AgentOrchid) September 26, 2012

#25s: another photo from El Pais showing protesters attending to a young man bleeding from the face: twitter.com/Igualitarista/…

— David Ferreira (@Igualitarista) September 25, 2012

Barcelona’s newspaper La Vanguardia has a gallery of photos from the protest, as well as one posted on Flickr.

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Geopolitics

Yes, Xi Jinping Is Now More Powerful Than Mao Zedong Ever Was

After being re-elected as head of the Communist Party last year, the Chinese leader has been unanimously re-elected to another five-year term as head of state. Now, wielding more power than any other past Chinese communist leader, he wants to accelerate the rise of Chinese influence around the world.

Photo of huge portrait of Xi Jinping

Huge portrait of Xi Jinping is displayed in the National Day mass pageantry celebrating the 70th founding anniversary of the People's Republic of China

Yann Rousseau

-Analysis-

BEIJING — Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has been re-elected to a third five-year term at the head of the world's second largest economic power. Nobody was surprised.

The vote took place during a legislative assembly convened to rubber stamp decisions of the authoritarian power, during which 2,952 parliamentarians unanimously approved Xi's re-election before rising, in perfect choreography, to offer a prolonged standing ovation to their leader. As usual, Xi remained completely neutral in the face of the enthusiasm.

His victory was a mere formality after his re-election last fall as the head of the all-powerful party, which controls all of the country's political institutions, and after legislative amendments to erase term limits that would have forced him out.

Xi Jinping, who took over the presidency in 2013, "is now the most powerful leader in the history of the People's Republic, since its founding in 1949. Institutionally, he holds even more power than Mao Zedong," says Suisheng Zhao, a professor and Chinese foreign policy expert at the University of Denver.

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