Guards across the country have downed tools following a string of attacks by inmates and scuffles at jails, including Europe’s biggest, Fleury-Merogis just south of Paris. Unions pushing for better safety and wages have vowed a “total blockade” of prisons on Monday as their dispute with the government worsens. Overnight France’s justice minister Nicole Belloubet said she would meet with union leaders on Monday in a push to end the crisis. “The Minister of Justice wishes to resume dialogue immediately,” the ministry said in a statement adding it was the responsibility of all sides to ensure that prisons were functioning. But the latest attack on guards is likely to harden attitudes among the major French prison unions ahead of Monday’s blockade and follows a week of tension and strikes over security and employment concerns. The male and female guards were attacked in a detention centre at Longuenesse prison near Calais at 6:30 pm, when the cells were still open, according to a prison union official. “This is once again an attack on the staff, we can not stand it anymore: it’s a daily thing,” said Yannick Lefebvre from Ufap-Unsa union. On Saturday, the CGT and Ufap-Unsa unions rejected proposals to end the standoff. The third union representing prison guards — the FO — has taken a more hardline approach to government talks. “We are very shocked (by the latest attack). It will only amplify the grumbling and there will be a hardening tomorrow at Longuenesse,” said the FO union’s prison… [Read full story]
Fresh attacks against Christians marred the Christmas festival Saturday as church leaders condemned religious persecution and called for peace and reconciliation. As Christian leaders highlighted the plight of believers facing the threat of attacks around the world, a bomb in a church during Christmas mass in the southern Philippines wounded six people, including the priest. Military officials would not immediately name any suspects in the blast on Jolo island, but the island is a known bastion of the Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to the Al-Qaeda network. "The explosion occurred at around 7:15 in the morning while the mass was…... [read more]
A former official of the Vietnam People's Army recalled his hard job of escorting French prisoners of war by walking 400km from Dien Bien Province to Tuyen Quang Province in the northern region to prepare for returning them to French authorities 60 years ago. fell in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu on May 7 in 1954, thousands of French invaders were captured as prisoners of war, according to Colonel Nguyen Chan, former vice political commissar of Regiment 165, Division 312. But the Vietnamese army then could not afford to give trucks to carry them from Dien Bien Phu to…... [read more]
Taliban militants armed with guns, rocket-propelled grenades and bombs attacked a prison in northwest Pakistan, freeing more than 250 detainees, including 25 “dangerous terrorists,” authorities said.Dozens of Taliban militants armed with guns, grenades and bombs attacked a prison in northwest Pakistan, freeing more than 250 prisoners, including 25 “dangerous terrorists,” officials said.The militants killed six policemen, six Shiite Muslim prisoners and two civilians during Monday night’s attack in the town of Dera Ismail Khan, said the town’s commissioner, Mushtaq Jadoon. One of the Shiites was beheaded.Fifteen policemen were wounded, said Jadoon.Around 70 militants arrived at the prison by car and…... [read more]
Police in the northern province of Hung Yen are investigating a daylight machete attack by a traffic cop on a prison guard. The fight allegedly exploded out of an unsavory look. Investigators say a 25-year-old traffic cop named Tran Dinh Hien stabbed 25-year-old Pham Van Diep, a guard for the province's Detention Camp Unit, in the street on Sunday afternoon. Hien was allegedly going around with ten friends when Diep caught his eye. Hien claimed Diep had given his group a "mischievous look" and was not happy about it. He rallied his group to challenge Diep and drew a machete…... [read more]
A prison inmate in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong who held a pregnant guard hostage last month to demand his release has killed himself, Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. He was set to face charges of "illegally capturing people," "intentionally damaging property," and "intentionally injuring people" after he held an officer named only as H. at knifepoint on August 17 and asked to be taken home in a car to visit his family. Despite four hours of negotiations, prison officials were unable to persuade him to release H. who was seven months pregnant. They had to break down the…... [read more]
