police

The 'most wanted' on Yahoo's homepage this morning

Yahoo! China pasted a "most wanted" poster across its homepage today in aid of the police's witch-hunt for 24 Tibetans accused of taking part in the recent riots. MSN China made the same move, although it didn't go as far as publishing the list on its homepage. Read more...

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Team Observers

If you have a long-lens camera, more then one mobile phone or a peculiar home life then you could be branded a terrorist in London. The Metropolitan Police have just stepped up their campaign against terrorist activity by increasing “stop and search” powers and reminding the public to keep their eyes peeled for “odd” people. Our Observer in London is apparently one of them. Read more…

One of the campaign posters

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Nick Fine

A Moroccan “sniper” has posted a video of police accepting bribes from motorists. Read more and see the video…

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Team Observers

One hundred villagers in south-west China were removed from their homes by a force of 300 riot police last Friday. Authorities ordered the armed force to evacuate the village so that they could hand over the land to developers who they had recently sold it to. The villagers have received almost nothing from the deal and most of them have ended up homeless as a result. They will inevitably follow in the path of tens of thousands of other Chinese individuals who are pursuing futile legal chases. See the video of the exiled villagers and read the commentary of a Chinese blogger, He Weihua. Read more...

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Zhang

He Weihua

For the past 23 years, police officer Tony Lepore has been coming out of retirement to direct traffic on Rhode Island, Massachusetts. The 60-year-old ex-warden spends each Christmas directing drivers with a festive version of the traffic warden's code. This year his moves have caught the attention of internet users. Videos of the dancing policeman can be found on blogs all over the world.

 Video posted 13 December 2007.

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Team Observers

Canada's federal police watchdog requested yesterday that authorities "immediately restrict" the use of Taser guns (electronic control devices). The news has refuelled debate over the use of the "non-lethal" weapon, which has been blamed for the death of a Polish immigrant killed in Vancouver airport on 14 October. The incident was filmed by a passenger who put the images online a few weeks later. Robert Dziekanski, the man we see in the video, died a few minutes after being shocked with a Taser. We have commentary from an Amnesty International representative, who condemns the abuse of the North American weapon, and from Tom Smith, co-founder of Taser. Read more.
Post your questions on his profile page.

Video filmed by a passenger on 14 October.

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Team Observers

Thomas Smith

Eulette Ewart

Material from our regional editor for South America, Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.

The Bolivian assembly approved a new constitution, which grants more power to President Evo Morales on Sunday. The approval was controversial, to say the least. There was an opposition boycott in the assembly, with only 164 out of 255 deputies present for the vote. What's more, the underlying tensions between supporters of Morales and mestizo Bolivians - who consider themselves descendants of Europeans - still run deep. In the run-up to Sunday's vote, there were violent protests in the central Bolivian city of Sucre, in which at least three people were killed. The extent of the violence can be seen in this video, filmed in Sucre on Nov. 23, where the constituent assembly had been meeting. We see opposition supporters tackling the police, and later, a policeman finds himself surrounded by rioters after his motorbike breaks down.

Post your questions to Cristiano de Sa Fagundes.

The video was filmed by Paul van Hooff, a Dutch freelance journalist, and posted on 23 November 2007.

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Cristiano de...

Paul van Hooff

Material compiled by our regional editor for Iran and Afghanistan, Jay Bakht

This video was captured on a mobile phone at the Abouzar roundabout in the eastern Iranian city of Birjand. It shows two girls being arrested by the police for not covering their hair properly. The police are supposed to act like a ‘moral authority’ that protects and enforces Islamic customs in Iranian society. But they are not always official. They can approach people acting ‘inappropriately’, for example an unmarried couple holding hands or a girl with heavy make-up. Many people try to resist; as the girls in the video.

Post your questions to Farnaz Seifi, Iranian feminist and our observer in Iran, or to Jay Bakht, our regional editor for Iran and Afghanistan.

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Jay Bakht

Farnaz Seifi