ACTA protests take to the streets in Europe today
By John Callaham

The growing opposition against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in Europe reached new heights today as thousands of protesters took to the streets in locations all over the continent. These gatherings come a day after the German government decided to postpone signing ACTA until sometime later in 2012.

The Associated Press (via CTA.ca) reports that a few thousands people protested ACTA in the streets of Berlin today, with some wearing Guy Fawkes masks and others holding signs with messages like "Right to Remix". The Lithuanian capital of Vilnius also saw hundreds of ACTA protestors while other events were held in the Czech capital of Prague as well as a number of cities in Poland.

The Sofia Echo web site reports that between 5,000 to 7,000 ACTA protesters marched in the Bulgaria capital city of Sofia today along with smaller protests in 15 other cities in that country.

Like the recently delayed Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in the US, ACTA was written in part to try to combat online piracy but opponents have claimed the act is too broadly written and will result in blocked web sites. The US and other countries signed the treaty months ago. However, a number of European countries have not yet signed and/or ratified the agreement. The European Union's rules state that if just one country in the group doesn't both sign and ratify ACTA, the treaty cannot be enforced in the Union.
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