Anti-censorship demonstrations in protest at copywright treaty
(11 Feb 2012) SHOTLIST Sofia, Bulgaria 1. Protesters shouting (Bulgarian) "No to ACTA" (Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) 2. Protesters jumping and shouting (Bulgarian) "If you're not jumping you are for ACTA" 3. Mid of banner reading (English) "ACTA = 1984" 4. Mid of poster showing internet user in jail 5. Protesters jumping 6. Protesters dragging a computer monitor through the streets Prague, Czech Republic 7. Man chanting "Stop ACTA" 8. Man addressing crowd 9. Close of woman wearing face mask that says "Stop ACTA" on it 10. Mid tilt down of sign reading (English) "Down With Acta!" to man wearing Guy Fawkes mask 11. Pan of crowd 12. SOUNDBITE (English) Jan Hulek, protester: "The main issue why I am here is because ACTA was accepted without people knowing it. We didn't know ACTA was going on and there should be discussion before we accepted it. There wasn't." Paris, France 13. Pan of Bastille square 14. Various of protesters 15. Frederic Navarro, President of Act Up, Paris, addressing crowd 16. SOUNDBITE (French) Frederic Navarro, President of Act Up, Paris: "Eighty percent of Africans who have AIDS are treated with generic medicines made in India. If this agreement (ACTA) is signed, they won't have any access to generic medicines and will die while the pharmaceutical laboratories are making profits on our lives." 17. Various of protesters walking in the streets of Paris next to Bastille square Berlin, Germany 18. Pan from"Stop Acta" sign to demonstrators in front of Berlin City Hall 19. Various of protesters with placards bearing anti-ACTA slogans and taped up mouths Vienna, Austria 20. Wide of crowd in front of parliament 21. Mid of sign reading (English) "ACTA WTF? LOL" with parliament in background 22. Mid of speaker with crowd in background 23. Mid of crowd with masks 24. SOUNDBITE (German) Thomas Lohninger, protester: "The bad thing about ACTA is the totally undemocratic approach. It can't be that a law is passed in such a way, especially if it affects our internet freedoms so significantly. It must be stopped." 25. Various of protesters 26. Mid of placard reading (English) "STOP ACTA. The worst thing about censorship is.... (words are blacked out)" STORYLINE Protesters took to the freezing cold streets of several European cities on Saturday to voice anger at an international copyright treaty they fear will lead to a blocking of content on the Internet. Poland, France, and Italy are among European nations that recently signed the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, but ratification remains in question in many countries as contempt builds against it, mostly from young people. The United States, Japan, South Korea and others say ACTA is needed to harmonise international standards to protect the rights of those who produce music, movies, pharmaceuticals, fashion, and a range of other products that often fall victim to piracy and intellectual property theft. Strong opposition to the treaty suddenly emerged in Poland last month and is now spreading across Europe, where protests are taking place in many cities. Critics say they fear it will lead to online censorship and overly harsh punishments for those who use copyrighted material. More than 4,000 Bulgarians marched in Sofia, many wearing the Guy Fawkes mask, made famous in the film V for Vendetta. which has become the symbol of the global protest against ACTA. In the Czech capital Prague, hundreds rallied in the medieval Old Town Square. They waved banners that read: "Stop ACTA!" and "Down With ACTA!" The European Parliament is set to debate ACTA legislation early this summer. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
