高樓低廈,人潮起伏,
名爭利逐,千萬家悲歡離合。

閑雲偶過,新月初現,
燈耀海城,天地間留我孤獨。

舊史再提,故書重讀,
冷眼閑眺,關山未變寂寞!

念人老江湖,心碎家國,
百年瞬息,得失滄海一粟!

徐訏《新年偶感》

2012年3月6日星期二

Women protesting around the world – in pictures


A longer view: from Senegal to Syria, women have put themselves at the front of different protest movements all over the world during the past week

Kiev, Ukraine: a protest by the campaign group Femen against the absence of female ministers in the Ukrainian cabinet
Mumbai, India: textile mill workers at a march calling for work after many were made jobless during prolonged strikes in the early 1990s
Male, Maldives: a protester peers through riot shields during a rally. Opposition MPs in the Maldives have prevented the new president, who is accused of seizing power in a coup, from opening parliament
Syria: a Syrian anti-government protester. Syria has faced mounting international criticism over its bloody crackdown on the uprising
Madrid, Spain: students demonstrate against austerity measures in education. Students across Spain staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labour market reforms and recent police violence against protesters
La Paz, Bolivia: a woman clashes with riot police during a protest by hundreds of disabled people in La Paz to demand government support
New York, US: a protester is arrested outside Bank of America. Occupy movements across the country are holding protests in dozens of cities against corporate power
Port-au-Prince, Haiti: a supporter of the Lavalas movement and its leader, the former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, protests against the current president, Michel Martelly
London, UK: a woman wrapped in a duvet keeps warm as riot police prepare to remove protesters from the Occupy encampment in front of St Paul's Cathedral
São Paulo, Brazil: a woman lights candles during a protest over the death of the cyclist Juliana Ingrid Dias. Dias was hit by a bus at Avenida Paulista on Friday. About 50 cyclists are killed each year by traffic accidents in São Paulo
Rome, Italy: a supporter of the No Tav (no to high-speed trains) movement takes part in a demonstration organised by residents of the Susa valley, who say construction of rail tunnels would damage the environment
Syria: a woman holds a machine gun during an anti-government demonstration
London, UK: a small demonstration against the sale of foie gras at Fortnum and Mason as the Queen, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge visit the department store
Gostivar, Macedonia: ethnic Albanian women hold the pictures of two murdered Albanians during a protest against police brutality. A Macedonian police officer who was not on duty killed two young people, members of the Albanian minority, in the ethnically mixed city of Gostivar
Srinagar, India: Kashmiri Muslim workers demonstrate against the government during a one-day general strike
Bogota, Colombia: members of the Network of Women take part in a march to protest against discrimination and violence against women. The march is part of the protest movement that began as a SlutWalk
St Petersburg, Russia: police detain a protester after Vladimir Putin's election victory
Kuala Lumpur: a Syrian woman living in Malaysia displays her chained hands during a silent protest against the killing of civilians in her home country
Barcelona, Spain: a woman runs for cover as riot police clash with students during a demonstration against education cuts
Manila, Philippines: protesters march towards the department of energy to demonstrate against another round of oil price increases, the ninth this year, by the major oil companies in the country
Dakar, Senegal: women take part in a peaceful protest calling on the Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, to withdraw his bid for a third period in office on the final day of the presidential election campaign
New Delhi, India: women join a protest before International Women's Day. The women were demanding revision of the government's lowest benchmark for poverty and improvement in the status of women
London, UK: a woman shows her solidarity with Occupy protesters who were evicted from outside St Paul's Cathedral after the court of appeal refused them permission to challenge the order
Yakutsk, Russia: supporters of Vladimir Putin celebrate his victory in the presidential elections in Siberia