Royal Marechaussee

The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee (Koninklijke Marechaussee, abbreviated to KMar) is the national gendarmerie force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, performing military and civilian police duties.

It is also one of the two national police forces in the Netherlands, alongside the National Police, and is one of the four branches of the Netherlands Armed Forces.

The Corps de Maréchaussée was created by King William I to replace the French Gendarmerie on October 26, 1814. The word gendarmerie had gained a negative connotation, so William called the new force "marechaussée" (he forgot the first acute accent in the document). Maréchaussée is an alternate French word for gendarmerie.

In the French historical context, "Maréchaussée" had been the force's name under the Royal Ancien Regime, while the term "gendarmerie" had been adopted by the French Revolution - making the Royalist term preferable for the Dutch King.

In 1908, Queen Wilhelmina assigned the Marechaussee the task of guarding the royal palaces, which had previously been done by gardeners. To this day, guarding a palace is called "klompendienst" (clog service).

After Kristallnacht in November 1938, the Dutch government officially closed its borders to any Jewish refugees. The Dutch Marechaussee border guards searched for them and returned any found to Germany, despite the horrors of Kristallnacht being well known.

In 1994, the national and municipal police forces were merged into 25 regional police forces and the Korps landelijke politiediensten (National Police Services Agency). The National Police transferred its airport police and security tasks (primarily Schiphol) to the Marechaussee.

The emblem of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee is, as with many other gendarmerie forces, a flaming grenade. In the 17th century, a new weapon was introduced in Europe: the hand grenade. The soldiers who handled grenades were called grenadiers. They became an elite type of soldier in all European armies. In France, the grenade symbol was adopted by the gendarmerie, and this was imitated by similar forces throughout Europe.

Carabinieri

The Carabinieri (formally Arma dei Carabinieri, "Arm of Carabineers"; previously Corpo dei Carabinieri Reali, "Royal Carabineers Corps") are the national gendarmerie of Italy who primarily carry out domestic and foreign policing duties.

It is one of Italy's main law enforcement agencies, alongside the Polizia di Stato and the Guardia di Finanza. As with the Guardia di Finanza but in contrast to the Polizia di Stato, the Carabinieri are a military force.

As the fourth branch of the Italian Armed Forces, they come under the authority of the Ministry of Defence; for activities related to inland public order and security, they functionally depend on the Ministry of the Interior.

They were originally founded as the police force of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the forerunner of the Kingdom of Italy. During the process of Italian unification, the Carabinieri were appointed as the "First Force" of the new national military organization.

Although the Carabinieri assisted in the suppression of opposition during the rule of Benito Mussolini, they were also responsible for his downfall and many units were disbanded during World War II by Nazi Germany, which resulted in large numbers of Carabinieri joining the Italian resistance movement.

In 2000, they were separated from the Army to become a separate branch of the Italian Armed Forces. Carabinieri have policing powers that can be exercised at any time and in any part of the country, and they are always permitted to carry their assigned weapon as personal.

Żandarmeria Wojskowa

The Military Gendarmerie (Żandarmeria Wojskowa, abbreviated ŻW) is a military police force established in 1990 in Poland as a specialized division of the Polish Armed Forces.

The Polish Military Gendarmerie is a military police force that traces its history to the communist-era Military Internal Service (Wojskowa Służba Wewnętrzna); the World War II-era Service for Protection of the Uprising (Wojskowa Służba Ochrony Powstania); the interwar-era military police in the Second Polish Republic; the formations of the January and November Uprising, Duchy of Warsaw and finally, some officials of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, first created in early 17th century.

The modern Polish Military Gendarmerie was formed on 1 September.

In August 2001, Sejm (lower house of parliament of Poland) passed Act on the Military Gendarmerie and other law enforcement authorities which specify tasks and authorities of the Military Gendarmerie.

In October 2020, the Military Gendarmerie were ordered to help the civilian police in the "protection of safety and public order", starting from 28 October 2020. The order was given in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland.

Jandarmeria Română

The Jandarmeria Română is the national Gendarmerie force of Romania, tasked with high-risk and specialized law enforcement duties. It is one of the two main police forces in Romania (the other being the Romanian Police - a civilian force), both having jurisdiction over the civilian population.

The gendarmerie is subordinated Ministry of Internal Affairs and does not have responsibility for policing the Romanian Armed Forces. This duty lies with the Military Police subordinated to the Romanian Land Forces.

Upon the entry of Romania into the Second World War on 22 June 1941, the Gendarmerie took over its military police duties. It was involved in the deportation of Jews and Roma to Transnistria in 1941 and 1942.

After the war, the Communist regime purged and disbanded (on 23 January 1949) the Gendarmerie, its personnel being redistributed to the newly created Directorate for Security Troops, modelled after the NKVD Internal Troops.

The Romanian Gendarmerie was re-established on 5 July 1990.

Guarda Nacional Republicana

The National Republican Guard (Guarda Nacional Republicana) or GNR is the national gendarmerie force of Portugal.

Members of the GNR are military personnel, subject to military law and organisation, unlike the agents of the civilian Public Security Police (PSP).

The GNR is responsible for the preventive police and highway patrol in 94% of Portuguese territory. At national level, GNR also has duties of customs enforcement, coastal control, nature protection, search and rescue operations and state ceremonial guards of honour.

Since the 2000s, the GNR has provided detachments for participation in international operations in Iraq, East Timor and other theatres.

Gendarmerie / Rijkswacht

The Gendarmerie (French) or Rijkswacht (Dutch) was the former paramilitary police force of Belgium. It became a civilian police organisation in 1992, a status it retained until 1 January 2001, when it was, together with the other existing police forces in Belgium, abolished and replaced by the Federal Police and the Local Police.

The word gendarme comes from Old French gens d'armes, meaning men-at-arms, whereas the Dutch name, rijkswacht, means guard of the realm.

On 1 January 1992, the Rijkswacht/Gendarmerie lost its formal military status, resulting in major changes in policies, procedures, and staff regulation. Demilitarisation allowed the force to concentrate all its resources on civilian police work. Its military functions, as well as the supervision of the Ministry of Defence, were removed.

This restructuring occurred after the 'black' 1980s of the Brabant killers, Heysel Stadium disaster, Cellules Communistes Combattantes (CCC), and other criminal and terrorist activity, against which the Gendarmerie was deemed ineffective.

EUROGENDFOR

The European Gendarmerie Force (EUROGENDFOR) is an operational, pre-organised, and rapidly deployable intervention force, exclusively comprising elements of several European police forces with military status of the Parties in order to perform all police tasks within the scope of crisis management operations, as established by Art.1 of the Treaty establishing the European Gendarmerie Force.

It was launched by an agreement in 2006 between five member states of the European Union (EU): France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Romania joined in 2009; Poland in 2011. Its status is enshrined in the Treaty of Velsen of 18 October 2007. The headquarters are in Vicenza, Italy.

It is presently not established at the EU level (referred to as the Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP); it is for instance not a project of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) of the CSDP. IT may however contribute in the implementation of the CSDP, when made available as a multinational force in accordance with article 42.3 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).

Miriam Leone

Miriam Leone (born 14 April 1985) is an Italian actress and beauty pageant titleholder who won the 2008 Miss Italia beauty contest.

Leone took part in Miss Italia 2008 and won the competition. She qualified for the pageant by winning the title Miss Prima dell'Anno 2008 (Miss First of the Year), a title that she won on a Carlo Conti programme, L'anno che verrà. She also won the "Miss Cinema" award.

Leone began her acting career with small roles before obtaining the lead role in television series Distretto di polizia (2011-12), La dama velata (2015) and Non uccidere (2015-18).

Leone starred as Eva Kant in the 2021 film based on the comics series Diabolik.

For 35 years, Takirua has constantly evolved the definition of Māori theatre.

They broke new ground by presenting their very first play in te reo Māori for adults. And as Krystal-Lee Brown reports, the story is based on a traditional tribal story but it canvasses a very contemporary issue that affects all of society.

No Berets in Invercargill

A man walks into a bar wearing a beret ...

 Greg McElhinney, left, passer-by Peter Graham, and patron Ari Edgecombe 

" ... but apparently not in Invercargill," Ari Edgecombe reckons.

Fresh from taking in a Southland Arts Festival show, he and his companions headed to one of the city's popular waterholes, The Kiln, where he was asked to remove his beret before he would be allowed entry.

"It's better for everyone," he was told... 

read the full article here

The Treaty of the Three Cows

In a remote part of the Pyrenean foothills, where Spain borders France, a ceremony that seems as old as the hills, has taken place for centuries.

Believed to have been first ratified in around 1375, it claims to be one of the oldest international treaties still enforced.

It’s a story of peace born out of conflict, of tradition born from enduring relationships - celebrated annually and consistently for over 640 years.

The Polynesian Panthers

The Panthers is a New Zealand drama television miniseries created by Halaifonua Finau and Tom Hern.

Set during the 1970s, the series focuses on the emergence of the Polynesian Panthers against the backdrop of the controversial dawn raids. 

The series starred Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi as Polynesian Panthers leader Will Ilolahia.

Set in Auckland in 1974, The Panthers focuses on how a group of Polynesian students and street gangsters led by Tongan student Will 'Ilolahia formed a revolutionary movement called the Polynesian Panthers, drawing inspiration from the American Black Panther Party. 

The miniseries is set against the backdrop of racial tensions between white and Polynesian New Zealanders, the dawn raids on overstayers, and the premiership of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon.