Two Hundred Fifty Arrests Welcome WSSD On Wednesday, August 21, over 4000 people with the Landless Peoples Movement (LPM) and National Land Committee marched peacefully to the office of the premier of Gauteng province. The marchers wanted Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa to sign a memorandum of commitment to stop forced removals in Thembelihle, and to end the brutal campaign of terror being waged by the notorious "Red Ants" security company and the police against poor and landless people in the province. More than 100 landless people and land activists were arrested around 6 p.m. in the first signs of the South African government's crackdown on the fundamental Constitutional right to freedom of assembly in order to prevent protests and demonstrations during the WSSD. Among the arrested was NLC coordinator Andile Mngxitama [ audio | video ]. More were arrested on August 22 outside the jail while protesting in solidarity, including LPM media liason and SA IMC member Ann Eveleth who was subsequently ordered deported. Anyone found wearing an LPM T-shirt outside the prison was summarily arrested. On Friday, August 23, 77 of those arrested were released. One of those arrested, who was two months pregnant, had a miscarriage on Thursday evening after her jailers ignored repeated calls for assistance. This crackdown began in earnest on August 17 when veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle were arrested in Cape Town boarding a train to Joburg. According to Mngxitama, "the agenda of Sandton is the agenda of the multinational corporations, that land must be sold as a commodity, that water and energy must be privatized. They have been losing legitimacy, and now they are trying to get new legitimacy through the United Nations. We are saying no to Nepad, no to the World Bank, no to market-led land reform." More information about the WSSD can be found at a Special Edition Report (pdf) by Africawoman, in previous coverage of the WSSD [ August 24 | August 23 | August 19 | August 1 | July 25 ], and in italiano [ W$$D: la privatizzazione dello sviluppo sostenibile | Movimenti soziali | Rio + 10 = - risore + capitale ]. [ South Africa IMC | National Land Committee | Landless Peoples' Movement ] http://www.indymedia.org/ http://www.indymedia.org/index.php3?newswire=open