Yemen protests ongoing

Yemen protests ongoing

Protests continue in Yemen against President Ali Abdullah Saleh and Yemeni citizens have now been demonstrating every day for the past two weeks, demanding the ouster of the head of state. As with events in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the uprising is being widely relayed online.

Dozens of videos showing the massive anti-government demonstrations are circulating on the web. Images filmed in the capital Sanaa, and also in Aden in south western Yemen, which suggest that the movement is gaining ground across the country.

The demonstrations are being harshly repressed by the authorities and numerous protesters have already been killed. Various pieces of amateur footage, which are difficult to verify, show the violence that has erupted in the country over the past few days, like we see here with security forces seemingly using weapons to break up a rally… and these images, filmed in Aden are thought to show doctors trying to come to the aid of wounded protesters, whilst police open fire with live ammunition.

And there have been clashes between supporters and opponents of President Saleh in recent days, as we can see in these images filmed near to Sanaa University on Tuesday. According to numerous Twitter users, the clashes were particularly violent and at least one person was killed, they also say that members of both camps were armed and fought using stones, pistols and knifes.

China: reviving the Jasmine Revolution

Could China replicate the Jasmine Revolution? Inspired by the protest movements in the Arab World, a new appeal, in the form of an open letter to the Chinese parliament, has been launched on the Internet, asking citizens to take part in weekly demonstrations to press for more government transparency and freedom of expression.

A first day of protests, organized via social networks, took place last Sunday, and led to the arrests of numerous activists. But these rallies only drew several hundred people across China, as a high number of police officers had been deployed to disperse the crowds, like here in Beijing.

But according to Gao Wenqian from the NGO Human Rights in China, these demonstrations are just the beginning of a protest movement, that could grow. He encourages the government to listen to the protesters demands instead of devoting all their energy on stifling them.

But for this anonymous web user, a Jasmine Revolution is not really conceivable in China. People’s living standards have improved considerably over the past 30 years, and she thinks China would have too much to lose by rebelling against the government.

And it seems that the authorities control over the Internet is also preventing any mass mobilization in the country. The words “Tunisia”, “Egypt”, and “Jasmine” are currently blocked. To try and get around the censorship, the key word “double congress” has been chosen as code word for the Sunday rallies as the National People’s Congress opens its annual session on March 5th.

The Covers Project

The Covers Project is a veritable catalogue of cover versions. To find what you are looking for, you just have to type in the name of the track and the site will tell you who has done the track justice or on the contrary who has massacred it. Web users will learn that “Where did you sleep last night” interpreted by Nirvana, is in fact a Lead Belly song originally. The site is also participative as music lovers can add any covers that may have been forgotten.

Versailles and Wikipedia: a royal alliance

The Palace of Versailles and Wikimedia have teamed up to improve the quality of Wikipedia articles about the prestigious castle. For a six month period, an expert from this online encyclopedia group will work with teams from the Palace of Versailles, as well as a community of interested web users, to add to the Wikipedia pages.

Video of the day

Lassi Hurskainen is the goal keeper for the Bulldogs University team in North Carolina, and he has posted this video online, demonstrating his footballing talents. His precision and technique makes you wonder if the young man as chosen the wrong position to play on the pitch and could in fact play in attack for his team. This player should not have too many difficulties in going professional in the near future.