Security forces apparently targeted opposition and union officials during fuel protests
Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has called for “national dialogue” and promised an investigation into widespread violence by security forces in recent days, after cutting short an overseas trip.
The brutal crackdown followed protests last week against the doubling of the fuel price, which led to rioting and sporadic looting.
Continue reading...The people are rising up. But the western celebrities and the human rights industry that fought for this are absent
In 2017, a US law firm signed a contract with the Sudanese government, to assist in efforts to lift the economic sanctions that had been suffocating the country since 1997. Within weeks, George Clooney and John Prendergast, veteran activists for human rights in Sudan, wrote a letter in Time magazine, objecting to this. They asked rhetorically, did the law firm’s senior ranks, filled with ex-senators and congressmen, not know that president Omar al-Bashir’s regime had committed mass atrocities? That it was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in Darfur? That it persecuted Christians? “The question of their firm working in the service of such a brutal and vile regime can only be answered by the simplest of terms,” they concluded. “Probably, they just don’t know.”
The sanctions were lifted, but it made little difference. The world had forgotten Sudan and was in no rush to be reminded. All that was associated with the country, ticked off neatly in the Clooney/Prendergast letter, was unsavoury. So allow me to remind you. For the past four weeks, Sudan has been seized by a popular uprising on the part of a people that has been suffering under a brutal dictatorship for 30 years, and from the effects of the global human rights machine that cut them off from the world for 20.
Continue reading...Alexey Knedlyakovsky and Lusine Djanyan say they fear being arrested and beaten if sent home
Two Russian opposition activists denied political asylum in Sweden say they fear being arrested and beaten up if they are forced to go home.
“You never know when something will happen,” say Alexey Knedlyakovsky and Lusine Djanyan, who fled their home city of Krasnodar in March 2017 after what they say was a campaign of persecution by the secret police. They flew to Sweden with their two-year-old son and claimed asylum.
Continue reading...Thousands gathered across the globe to call for equality and the protection of women’s rights
Continue reading...Demonstrators march on the streets of Washington, Berlin and London on Saturday as part of the global Women's March to protest against violence against women and the impact of policies of austerity
Activists say a child and doctor killed in demonstrations against Omar al-Bashir
Thousands of people have taken to the streets in cities across Sudan, including the capital, where activists said a child and a doctor were killed in clashes between police and protesters calling for the end of Omar al-Bashir’s 30-year-old rule.
Thursday’s protests marked some of the most widespread disturbances since unrest began on 19 December.
Continue reading...French president wants 2,300-word missive to spark national debate about policy reform
Emmanuel Macron has launched a two-month “great national debate” in France with a 2,330-word open letter to the country.
The French president hopes the nationwide public consultation will take the sting out of the widespread public anger behind the rise of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) movement and the civil unrest across France.
Continue reading...In France and Britain, gilets jaunes have mutated into symbols of anger against anything from austerity to Islam
What is not in dispute is who came first. On the French side of the channel lie the original gilets jaunes (yellow vests), a grassroots, social media-based citizens’ movement with no formal structure, recognised leader or party or union backing, named after the hi-visibility jackets that French drivers are required by law to carry in their vehicles.
As French yellow vests kicked off their ninth straight weekend of protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies, a battle for ownership of what has become an symbol of anti-government agitation across Europe has broken out in Britain as leftwing anti-austerity activists donned yellow in a bid to wrestle it from the far-right.
Continue reading...Marches across France take place on the ninth weekend of gilets jaunes demonstrations
Gilets jaunes protesters engaged in a ninth weekend of protests all over France on Saturday as the president, Emmanuel Macron, prepared to stake his political future on an open letter to the French people and a national debate.
Officials said that at least 84,000 demonstrators turned out across France, thousands more than last weekend, with about 8,000 of those in Paris where protests passed “without serious incident”. Gilets jaunes – named after the hi-vis yellow vests French motorists must carry in their vehicles – said the number was higher but did not give a figure.
Continue reading...Police in Paris fired water cannon and teargas at gilet jaunes (yellow vest) protesters on the ninth consecutive weekend of demonstrations. The protests began as a protest against a new eco-tax on petrol and diesel, but has grown to encompass a wide range of demands including giving people a greater say in policy via citizens’ referenda.
A former French boxing champion who was filmed punching police officers during a gilets jaunes protest has said in a video that he had 'boiled over' after being teargassed alongside his wife on his eighth Saturday protest
Continue reading...French politicians express outrage after public fundraiser for Christophe Dettinger
A former French boxing champion who was filmed punching police officers during a gilets jaunes protest has received more than €100,000 in public donations online, angering the government.
The online fundraising platform Leetchi received €114,000 for Christophe Dettinger before the site closed the donation page after politicians expressed outrage on Tuesday. Leetchi said the funds were intended only for legal fees.
Continue reading...Letter to Met police comes after Speaker expresses concern about protesters targeting MPs outside parliament
Dozens of MPs have written to the UK’s most senior police officer to raise concerns about safety outside parliament after the Conservative MP Anna Soubry faced chants from protesters on Monday calling her a “Nazi”.
At least 55 parliamentarians signed the letter to the Metropolitan police commissioner, Cressida Dick, after the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, urged officers to do more to protect MPs and Soubry criticised the lack of police response to the abuse.
Continue reading...Edouard Philippe says government considering football hooligan-style register
The French prime minister has called for tough new measures to punish those hijacking legitimate protests by looting, burning and vandalising.
Speaking after the weekend’s violence at gilets jaunes (yellow vests) demonstrations, Edouard Philippe said tough new public order measures were necessary to protect those wishing to exercise their fundamental right to protest from the “scandalous” behaviour of thugs and vandals – who, he added, should be prosecuted and made to pay for the damage they cause.
Continue reading...A former professional boxer who was filmed allegedly attacking a police officer during gilets jaunes (yellow vests) demonstrations in Paris at the weekend is in custody after turning himself in to authorities. A separate investigation has been launched after a police chief was seen on video assaulting a protester in the southern city of Toulon.
Continue reading...Family of activist Amaya Eva Coppens, 24, appeal for help to ‘stop the repression’ of Nicaraguan government
The mother of a medical student facing more than 20 years in prison for protesting against the Nicaraguan government is appealing to the international community to put pressure on president Daniel Ortega’s regime.
Amaya Eva Coppens, a Belgian-Nicaraguan dual national, is due to stand trial in the capital Managua after being “abducted” in a raid by more than 30 riot police and paramilitaries on 10 September.
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