Sudanese security forces have used teargas in an attempt to disperse protesters in central Khartoum. The demonstrators have been camped for more than two days as they call for the president, Omar al-Bashir, to resign. Protests began in December 2018 after the government raised bread prices, but they have since evolved into nationwide unrest against Bashir's rule.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Protest
Activism laid bare: a quick history of naked protests
When scantily clad Extinction Rebellion protestors took to parliament on Monday, they joined a long line of semi-naked activists
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any messier in the House of Commons, protesters from Extinction Rebellion fetched up in the public gallery on Monday, took off their clothes and superglued themselves to the glass panels. Rumours abounded that they had done so by the buttocks, but in fact it was just their hands. Still, it sounds a bit like that description of resentment: it’s like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Whoever it was that ended up getting sprayed with WD40 and taken away by the police, it wasn’t Michael Gove. This manner of nude protest has a fine pedigree, on the following issues.
Continue reading...MPs react as semi-naked climate protesters disrupt Brexit debate – video
Semi-naked climate change protesters interrupted a House of Commons Brexit debate, spending almost 20 minutes with their buttocks facing the chamber.
MPs attempted to continue the debate during the peaceful protest by 11 activists from Extinction Rebellion, though several made coded references to the protest in their speeches
Continue reading...‘Cause-play’: swamp monsters and unicorns take on Congress
Humorously absurd characters have been appearing in the background of congressional hearings for Trump nominees
Some unlikely protesters have been gracing the confirmation hearings of nominees for top government posts during Donald Trump’s time in office.
This week, the Senate energy and natural resources committee held a confirmation hearing for David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who has been serving as the acting interior secretary since the resignation of Ryan Zinke in January. And as the committee pressed him on his lobbying record Thursday, a protester in the gallery highlighted the contradiction inherent in his nomination by dawning a swamp creature mask.
Continue reading...Gaza braces for anniversary of demonstrations at frontier wth Israel
UN says 194 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire and close to 29,000 wounded in past 12 months
- Interactive: A year of bloodshed at Gaza border protests
Gaza is on edge before a planned Saturday protest to mark the anniversary of mass rallies along its frontier, after a year in which Israeli soldiers have shot thousands of people.
Related: A year of bloodshed at Gaza border protests
Continue reading...‘They don’t think we’re human’: Buenos Aires market traders fight eviction
A recent protest by street vendors was met with a violent crackdown – but was their eviction necessary to ‘order’ the city’s public space?
An unsettling quiet has fallen over a stretch of the usually noisy Feria de San Telmo Sunday market. Artisans should be lining these cobbled streets selling intricate macrame jewellery and Argentinian leather purses to crowds of tourists from all over the world. Deafening percussion bands, accompanied by dancers, and street vendors selling empanadas and arepas should be making their way up the road.
The market is one of the largest handicrafts and antiques fairs in Buenos Aires, popular with tourists and locals alike, and runs the length of Defensa, the main thoroughfare in the barrio of San Telmo.
Continue reading...People’s vote Brexit rally draws 1 million marchers – video report
Official figures put the numbers at the people's vote Brexit march on Saturday at over 1 million. People from across the UK travelled to central London to demand a second vote on whether the UK should leave the EU
Continue reading...Protesters clash with police across France for 19th weekend
Gilets jaunes demonstrations in Paris on Saturday largely peaceful, but turned violent in the late afternoon
Police and demonstrators clashed sporadically in Paris and other French cities on Saturday as gilets jaunes protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s government took place for a 19th consecutive weekend.
The demonstration in the capital was largely peaceful for most of the day, but later in the afternoon police fired teargas on protesters near Boulevard de Strasbourg, close to the capital’s Gare du Nord and Gare de L’Est railway stations.
Continue reading...When protesters burned news kiosks in Paris, I had to take a stand…
The militant wing of the French protests picked on a beloved institution. So I set up a crowdfunder to help
In 47 years of journalism, few things have shocked me as deeply as the sight of burning newspaper kiosks on the Champs-Élysées.
Journalists are supposed to be neutral observers – impassioned but dispassionate. Forget all that. This was personal. This was an attack on the print newspapers that had been my life’s blood from the day I joined the Bolton Evening News in 1972 until the Independent stopped printing in 2016. This was an attack on something endearingly Parisian, something as instantly recognisable as the Eiffel Tower or the burned-rubber smell of the Métro.
Continue reading...French government unprepared for gilets jaunes riots, critics say
Opposition claims security was lacking as protesters ransacked Champs Élysées in Paris
The French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has held talks with ministers after opposition politicians accused the government of being unprepared for rioting during gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests on the Champs Élysées in Paris.
The president, Emmanuel Macron promised to come up with strong measures to prevent further violence after rioters threw paving stones at police and restaurants, luxury stores, news kiosks and cars were torched, ransacked and looted.
Continue reading...Serbian president vows to restore order amid protesters’ call for resignation
Aleksandar Vučić brands opposition leaders as ‘fascists, hooligans and thieves’
Serbia’s president has pledged to defend the country’s law and order a day after opposition supporters stormed the national TV station protesting what they said is his autocratic rule.
As Aleksandar Vučić held a news conference in the presidency building in downtown Belgrade, thousands of opposition supporters gathered in front, demanding his resignation.
Continue reading...France’s gilets jaunes target luxury shops and restaurant in protests
Masked demonstrators clash with police in central Paris as they smash Le Fouquet, a restaurant favoured by politicians
An 18th weekend of gilets jaunes protests erupted once more into violence and looting on Saturday as masked demonstrators smashed their way into luxury stores on the Champs-Élysées and destroyed one of the street’s most celebrated restaurants.
Demonstrators fought running battles with police who responded with water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Continue reading...Algeria protests grow as elite distances itself from ailing president
Senior figures in ruling FLN show signs of backing demands for Bouteflika to step down
Thousands of demonstrators have protested in the centre of the Algerian capital for a fourth consecutive Friday, as the country’s political elite began distancing themselves from the ailing 82-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
Despite a heavy police presence, crowds gathered at Algiers’ Grande Poste square hours before the scheduled start of a demonstration calling on Bouteflika to step down after two decades in power.
Continue reading...‘It’s our time to rise up’: youth climate strikes held in 100 countries
School and university students continue Friday protests to call for political action on crisis
From Australia to America, children put down their books on Friday to march for change in the first global climate strike.
The event was embraced in the developing nations of India and Uganda and in the Philippines and Nepal – countries acutely impacted by climate change - as tens of thousands of schoolchildren and students in more than 100 countries went on “strike”, demanding the political elite urgently address what they say is a climate emergency.
Continue reading...Youth climate strikes to take place in more than 100 countries
Movement inspired by Greta Thunberg has snowballed, as Belgian workers join strike
Hundreds of thousands of children are expected to walk out of their classrooms on Friday for a global climate strike amid growing anger at the failure of politicians to tackle the escalating ecological crisis.
Children at tens of thousands of schools in more than 100 countries are due to take part in the walkouts which began last year when one teenager – Greta Thunberg – held a solo protest outside the Swedish parliament.
Continue reading...Brazil: two ex-police officers arrested over murder of Marielle Franco
Franco, an outspoken critic of police violence against favela residents, was killed in 2018, prompting international outrage
Two former police officers have been arrested over the murder of the Rio de Janeiro councillor Marielle Franco, two days before the first anniversary of her death, which prompted international outrage.
Franco, a groundbreaking politician who was born in one of Rio’s largest favelas and became a voice for disadvantaged people in the city, was killed in a drive-by shooting along with her driver, Anderson Gomes.
Continue reading...Britain’s flawed dialogue with Sudan regime | Letters
The UK should call for an immediate political transition to end nearly 30 years of repressive rule, say eight signatories including Lutz Oette
We wholeheartedly agree with your editorial (7 March) stating that the demonstrators in Sudan calling daily for freedom and the rule of law “do not want a different version of this regime, or more conflict”. The problem is indeed the regime, not just a president indicted for genocide by the international criminal court and for whom, despite their public claims to support the ICC, many external actors seek a “soft landing” in the name of stability. Sudan is not stable for the Sudanese people.
Nevertheless, Britain has engaged in a flawed strategic dialogue with the regime. It has spearheaded the Khartoum process, a supposed partnership with the brutal and corrupt Sudanese regime to “manage” (in other words, to stem) migration to Europe. That process relies on the notorious rapid support forces, mainly former Janjaweed, which the ICC has implicated in war crimes in Darfur. Most Sudanese migrants are in any case refugees fleeing their repressive regime, including the very forces now tasked with capturing them.
Continue reading...International Women’s Day marked across the world
Protesters call for an end to domestic violence, sexual attacks and pay discrimination – except in Russia
Protests and celebrations were staged across the world to mark International Women’s Day as issues of gender equality and gender violence were highlighted in myriad ways.
In Spain, an estimated six million – reportedly including nuns – took part in a mass two-hour walkout to demand equal pay and rights for women, according to UGT, one of the country’s largest unions. Thousands of women flooded the streets and squares of Madrid carrying placards saying, “Liberty, Equality, Friendship” and “The way I dress does not change the respect I deserve.”
Continue reading...’My hand was hanging from my wrist’: Gilet jaunes protesters mutilated by police weapons
Antoine lost his hand during a gilets jaunes or yellow vest protest in Bordeaux. On the same day Patrice lost the sight in his right eye in Paris. They share their stories as the French police come under scrutiny for using explosive weapons against protesters
Oakland teachers reach tentative deal to end week-long strike
The city’s 3,000 teachers walked off the job to demand higher pay, smaller classes and more school resources
Striking teachers in Oakland, California, reached a contract agreement Friday with district officials to end a week-long walkout.
The Oakland Education Association, which represents the city’s 3,000 teachers, said that union leaders reached a four-year agreement that calls for teachers to receive an 11% salary increase and one-time 3% bonus. The deal also requires the district to reduce class sizes and hire more student support staff, including special education teachers and counselors, the union said in a statement.
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