Children supporting the Syrian revolution

Children supporting the Syrian revolution

School children trampling over a picture of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad... This footage was reportedly filmed in Homs two weeks ago at the beginning of the new school year. Although difficult to verify, there is currently a lot of amateur footage circulating on the Internet suggesting the children of Syria have joined the anti-regime protests which have been rocking the country for over 6 months now.

This video appears to show young boys and adults in the city of Hama chant anti-government slogans whilst burning school books which feature pictures of Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez, both cults of personality in the Syrian education system.

According to reports from cyber activists, a number of schools across the country have been deserted, as students strike in protest against the acts of violent repression which took place in the classrooms over the summer holidays when security forces used them as detention facilities.

And it would appear there has been a proliferation of school children protests since the start of the new school year. Their slogan; no classes until the president is brought down. Naturally, the demonstrations are supervised by adults as we can see in this video which is said to have been filmed in Hama on Sunday.

Children have also fallen victim to the regimes violent and bloody repression. This footage appears to show a school in Homs under attack by security forces. Reports from human rights organizations say that over 150 children under the age of 15 have been killed since the start of the uprising.

Protests against police brutality continue in Macedonia

The protests against police brutality continue in Macedonia. As we can see in these images filmed last week in Skopje, hundreds of citizens continue to take to the streets of the capital, criticizing the authorities’ handling of the death of Martin Neshkovski, a 22 year old man who was beaten to death by a police officer last June, during a political rally.

As have often been the case since the protest movement began four months ago, the demonstration was organized via Twitter, using the keywords « protest iram », meaning « I protest ».

Blogger Dejan Velkoski was at the rally and has written about it on his website, and has also uploaded photos. He says the protesters hoped the demonstration would prompt the authorities to speed up the legal proceedings for this case. He adds that once thing is for certain: they will continue fighting until justice has been done.

And it does seem the protesters will not be giving up until their demands are met. A number of demonstrations have been organized across the country since the beginning of June, demanding justice for Martin Neshkovski. Each rally drawing huge crowds.

Sead Dzigal is a researcher and media expert and he thinks these protests say a lot about Macedonian society. He says that it is most probably the first time that the people, lead by the younger generation, have stood up for what they believe in by publicly voicing their anger with the authorities, without going through the channel of political parties. He thinks it’s a sign that it is high time for change in the way the country is governed.

Plemi, a site for live concerts on demand

With Plemi.com you can now help decide which groups are programmed to play in the town or city where you live. French web users can vote for their favourite group or groups and Plemi has promised that as soon as the demand is high enough, it will help find a venue for the group. The platform is proving increasingly popular and hopes that with the help of devout fans it will be able to unearth and promote new talent. It now has over 10 000 members, made up of concert goers, musicians and event organizers.

I-Tomb, the world virtual cemetery

Am American firm has decided to set up a Virtual cemetery, it’s called I-Tomb. Individuals who have lost someone to close them can buy a virtual tomb and use the space to store or display photos, films and other such documents. Anyone who wishes to pay their respects can do so in a simple click and leave some flowers or light a virtual candle. It costs 50 dollars a year to keep the virtual tomb in activity.

Video of the day

The people behind this video set the unlikely challenge of eating a cheese fondue whilst paragliding. An original idea to say the least, which gave the participants the opportunity to marry their two passions: extreme sports and tasty food…