Russia: office of SKT burned down

[rebelworker]

18th of May office of anarcho-syndicalist union Siberian Confederation of
Labor burned down in center of Omsk. Besides SKT, there was a number of
commercial business in the building. Fire began around 5 AM and spread
from roof of the building.
Firemen arrived quickly, but during whole hour they did nothing, saying
that "electricity supply must be turned off first". Activist of SKT who
was sleeping in the office, said that this claim was totally ungrounded.
During this time fire destroyed half of the office.
SKT has also had other problems recently, currently bosses of one
activist, after being visited by FSB (x-KGB) officials, do everything they
can to lay her off from her job.

[rebelworker]

Thought while I was at it I'd include more russian news


Russia: Black flag flying over prison colony in Samara region

Recent events at the IK-10 penal colony (Volzhski village, Krasnoyarski
area, Samara region) took a dramatic turn. Inmate Gennadi
Schegolikhin of squad # 13 is disabled [2nd degree invalid in Russian
categorization]. On May 15, 2006 Gennadi climbed a lamp
post located in the middle of the colony grounds and hung up a large
homemade black flag.
Schegolikhin hung up the flag in protest over the prison authority's
refusal to transfer him into a squad for persons with disabilities. It's
not known whether Schegolikhin is an anarchist.
Firemen were called around 11 PM the following day (16 May)
and a water cannon was turned on Genadi in an attempt to knock him off the
post. This led to rioting by 8 squads of inmates (2 sections). Dismayed by
these actions that were clearly threatening Genadi's life, they smashed up
the fences separating their local areas.

Shortly after, SpecNaz (Voiska Spezcialinogo Nazanacheniya | Special
Forces) troops affiliated with the Ministry of Justice were sent into the
zona. There were no reports of troops beating inmates (which is unusual,
as usually any prison mutinies in Russia are put down with extreme
brutality).
Some sources claim that criminal cases were initiated against 4 inmates.

Material from local Human Rights mailing lists.

(Translators note: there are occasional reports of black flags being used
during prison protests in Russia, for example during famous gulag strike
in Norilsk of Siberian far North in 1952. Also prisons with resisting
prisoners on top are called "blacks", whereas those where stooges and
informers have upper hand are called "reds". If is hard to say if this
association of black color with prison rebellion in Russia has any
historical roots in anarchism or not.)

[Comrade-Z]

If is hard to say if this
association of black color with prison rebellion in Russia has any
historical roots in anarchism or not.)

Didn't the anarchist black cross federation get its start in Russia in the early 1900s? (The anarchist black cross does prison support and prison abolition work).