HOLONET NEWS Volume 351. #55. 13:5:09

HOLONET NEWS Volume 351. #55. 13:5:09
Anti-War Rally Dispersed by Senate Guard
SENATE ROTUNDA, CORUSCANT – Large scale rioting was narrowly averted today as the Republic’s Senate Guard was forced to disperse the growing crowds clustering at the entrances of the Senate Rotunda, provoking further agitation from the assembled protestors. Thirty-eight protestors were arrested, with four of them having to be rushed to hospital, alongside two wounded Senate Guards.
The past two weeks has seen increasing numbers of vocal advocates and opponents of the Military Creation Act, the crucial Republic Army vote that will be decided next week. Citing increased security concerns, the Senate Guard attempted to relocate the crowds, which in turn sparked tense confrontations.
“The blue guards started telling everyone to clear the doors, and then people started shouting back. They [the protestors] tried to push back, and that’s when the rifles came out,” said eyewitness Lia Reicheds, a Senate clerk who had to weather the crowds to get into work.
The blue robed Senate Guards, brandishing their ceremonial yet effective rifles, fired stun blasts into the crowds, targeting the most aggressive of the activists. Protestors tried to fight back, throwing placards and refuse at the guards. In the rush of the stampeding crowd, four of the stunned activists were crushed.
Two Senate Guards that attempted to extricate the wounded were then attacked with clubs. Lt. Anjavay Rosit and Lt. Troye Mulleshar sustained blunt trauma injuries before their assailants were stunned into submission.
The entire incident spanned over an hour before order was restored. The north landing, which leads to the Rotunda’s largest entrance, is now under the watchful eye of 50 Senate Guards and six Jedi Knights.
The majority of the arrested demonstrators were students from the University of Coruscant’s Southern Campus, who were there to protest the vote. The remainder of the group has relocated to the smaller, western landing.
“We are a peaceful demonstration,” stressed a female Ishi Tib student over a
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loud-hailer. “Don’t let these warmongers provoke you to lowering yourselves to their level.”
“While I regret that it had to turn violent, my guards acted per orders and are to be commended,” said Jesra Loture, Captain of the Senate Guard. “We have a responsibility to the representatives of the Republic. We have hundreds of delegates arriving in the coming days, and we have to make sure they are safe, and to do so, we have to clear those entryways.”
An estimated 7,000 activists are gathered along the circumference of the Senate grounds, most of them protesting the possibility of a Republic army. A pro-military faction is considerably smaller, but no less committed to voicing their views — views that have broken out into isolated brawls along the concourse. The Senate Guard has more than tripled security in the past week.
Further crowding the grounds are all manner of fringe activist groups using the opportunity to spread their messages. The People’s Inquest has transplanted their makeshift camp from the steps of the Jedi Temple to the Senate plaza alongside a number of alien activist groups, such as the Dugs for Democracy.
“It’s a zoo out there,” said SBI Director Armand Isard. “We’ve got thousands of people, here, and that just compounds our security concerns. We are just moving them away from the gates, and not ‘rounding up agitators’ or ‘restricting their rights to assemble or voice their opinions,’ despite their more colorful claims.”
Arconan Smuggling Cartel Dismantled
TYLCARROS, CONA – The capture of Lojrak Shrag and the apparent death of his lieutenant, Godiban Bakoosta, has cracked apart a lucrative salt smuggling cartel servicing the poor and distant world of Cona, in the Teke Ro system.
Jedi Knights Tassida Judrelle, Quarmall and Stass Allie discovered and penetrated the cartel’s inner circle on an unnamed asteroid five parsecs from Cona with the help of information provided by independent traders. They arrested 15 smugglers, including cartel kingpin Lojrak Shrag.
“We are forever grateful to the Jedi Knights for the salvation of our people from the horrible drug that’s tearing apart our nests,” said Arconan spokesbeing Kimar Walc. “We will now rebuild and we hope to spread the word to all Arconans of the dangers of salt.”
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Cona had previously been serviced intermittently by the Trade Federation, until the taxation of the outlying trade route priced the shipments beyond the native Arcona’s ability to pay. The routes were then picked up by independent operators. Some were licensed by the Trade Federation, though most were not.
Cona’s primary import is liquid water. The scattered Arcona “Grand Nests” would typically exchange mineral rights for water shipments. It was eventually discovered that simple sodium chloride has a euphoric, addictive effect on Arconan metabolisms, and some operators, led by Lojrak Shrag, began shipping inexpensive salt instead of volume-intensive water.
An independent report to the Senate of the growing salt problem described it as “epidemic,” prompting a Jedi task force to investigate. By pooling intelligence resources with the more scrupulous of the independent traders, the Jedi were able to infiltrate the smuggling cartel.
An independent operator known only as Billey, who was influential in helping the Jedi, was named an “honorary legend” by the largest Grand Nest in Tylcarros. “The big shippers like the Trade Fed like to paint us independent types as scum with no morals,” he told reporters. “But it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if it was the Federation that first salted the water shipments and are getting kickbacks from Shrag and his boys.”
IBC Denies Arming Separatists
PHELAR, ERIADU – A detained bulk freighter destined for the Separatist world of Praesitlyn was found to contain a gross of InterGalactic Banking Clan hailfire droids, revealed Eriadu customs agents.
“The independent starship Tandleroff’s Trove was passing through Phelar port for Sluissi space when it was flagged by the attentive eyes of Eriadu Customs and Immigration. Those agents detained the vessel, and a search revealed 144 of the droids packaged amidst ag-equipment,” said Eriadu’s Minster of Security, Brigadier Gideon Tarkin.
Hailfire droids are a model of hoop-wheeled combat automata used exclusively by the Banking Clan’s Collections and Securities division. IBC spokesbeings are denying any involvement or knowledge of the intercepted shipment.
“Our transports and commodities are no more immune to piracy than anyone else’s,” said Communications Officer Lo Vapeet. “What now rests in an Eriadu holding bay are stolen materials that we can finally account for in our ledgers. To
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imply that this finding is indicative of some sort of partisanship with the Separatists is folly and akin to suspecting a blaster manufacturer as being complicit in a corner-store robbery.”
The crew of the Tandleroff’s Trove are currently detained in a Phelar processing center and are undergoing questioning. The Republic’s Judiciary Department is expected to take over the investigation.
Senator Farr Named to Loyalist Committee
GALACTIC CITY, CORUSCANT – A month ago, few would have ever expected to see Senator Onaconda Farr on one of Palpatine’s closest committees, so outspoken against the Supreme Chancellor is the Rodian politician. His appointment to the Loyalist Committee was announced this morning; Farr replaces Senator Havriso Looruya (Yir Tangee) who was censured for having Separatist ties.
Speaker of the Senate Mas Amedda announced the appointment this morning, provoking cries of protests from numerous Senators. Farr himself was not in session today, instead attending funeral services for his brother and sister-in-law who died in a tragic housefire on Rodia earlier in the week.
“There are many loyal Senators confused as can be about this appointment,” said rotunda analyst Dassid Whateel on the morning talk-show Amberdawn, “but you have to realize, regardless of his bluster and Palpatine-bashing, Farr is the perfect image of a loyalist. He hates the Separatists. He loves the Republic. And he’s willing to do anything to preserve it.”
Farr made headlines last week when he exposed Separatist elements in the very heart of the Republic, and produced evidence that Senator Looruya of the Loyalist Committee was in fact a Separatist sympathizer and supporter. Farr’s research, provided to the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, has produced another 12 arrests in the wake of that political bombshell, and the SBI is continues its investigations.
Cadinth Loyalty Uncertain After Jedi Death
SASKAPEG, CADINTH – Following the death of their Jedi watchman, the Mid Rim world of Cadinth is wavering in its loyalty to the Republic. The Cadinth Oligarchy withdrew previous statements of support when a pro-Separatist uprising in the capital city of Saskapeg resulted in the death of Jedi Knight Bodis-Ker Vitan. The Prime Oligarch Rankwin Fopow has rescinded previous decrees, and now identifies his government as “firmly undecided.”