Fresh protests held across Spain over amnesty deal for Catalan separatists

Tens of thousands of people rally against government offer of clemency to those who made illegal push for independence in 2017

Tens of thousands of people have gathered across Spain to protest against the acting government’s plans to secure another term in office by offering an amnesty to those who took part in the illegal and failed push for Catalan independence six years ago.

The proposed amnesty law, which would apply to hundreds of people who participated in the unilateral effort to secede from Spain, has already led to a series of violent protests outside the Madrid headquarters of the governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ party (PSOE).

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Michael Gove mobbed by pro-Palestinian protesters in Victoria station

Police escort communities secretary as protesters shout ‘Shame on you’ shortly after London station sit-in

Michael Gove has been mobbed by protesters as he walked through London’s Victoria station, moments after a sit-in protest for Palestine ended.

Pro-Palestinian protesters chanted “shame on you” as the communities secretary, escorted by police officers, made his way through the concourse. Video footage posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, shows a number of protesters waving flags and surging towards Gove as Metropolitan police officers pushed them away and shouted at them to “get back”.

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UK police dismiss ‘misleading’ media reports of attacks on poppy sellers

Royal British Legion says public supported appeal as usual with no evidence volunteers were targeted

On the concourse of Waterloo station in London on Friday morning, poppy seller David Poynter, 45, was relishing the bumper demand. He had set up the stall at 6.30am and commuters were queueing to donate and support the fundraising campaign.

Poynter, a train driver, has volunteered each November for nearly 30 years and takes holiday to support the cause. He is so dedicated to the role that he regularly works a shift lasting 12 hours.

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Pro-Palestine protesters assemble in London as police jostle with far-right groups

Organisers say rally on Armistice Day could be one of the largest political marches in British history

Protesters have begun assembling for a pro-Palestinian rally in London that is expected to draw hundreds of thousands on Saturday, while police have jostled with far-right groups attempting to reach the Cenotaph.

Organisers say that the pro-Palestine march, which has been the backdrop to a political row over Suella Braverman’s public criticism of the policing of protests, could be one of the biggest political marches in British history.

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Pro-Palestine march will be one of UK’s biggest ever protests, organisers predict

Police to put tight controls on protesters’ movements with hundreds of thousands expected at event on Armistice Day

The organisers of the pro-Palestine march due to take place in London on Armistice Day believe “hundreds of thousands” of people will turn out for what they say will be one of Britain’s biggest days of mass protest.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan police said the policing of the remembrance weekend would be “far greater and more complex than we’ve delivered before” and that officers would draw on “an extensive set of powers to prevent any disruption whatsoever”, with tight controls put on the movements of protesters.

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Far-right groups plot London rally against pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day

Extremist organisations and football hooligans have been urged to gather at Cenotaph in central London

Far-right groups, from football hooligans to so-called “migrant hunters”, are seeking to mobilise supporters to turn up in central London on Armistice Day to oppose the pro-Palestine march.

Evidence from social media and closed chat forums suggests there has been a push from a range of extremist organisations to get their supporters out.

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‘It’s one of the fundamental issues of our time’: Ben Jamal, the man behind London’s pro-Palestine march

The son of a Palestinian vicar from west Jerusalem and an English mother has helped bring hundreds of thousands of people on to the capital’s streets

“By and large, it’s all been resolved,” said Ben Jamal, the director of the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC), of his latest meeting with the Metropolitan police about the pro-Palestine march due to take place on Armistice Day in central London.

A “very long meeting” with officers on Wednesday morning had “focused on ironing out the final details of logistics”. There would be just one final discussion to confirm the precise finishing point of Saturday’s procession from Marble Arch to Nine Elms, close to the US embassy, he said.

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Rishi Sunak says pro-Palestine march on Saturday is ‘proof of UK’s commitment to freedom’ – as it happened

Prime minister says he finds prospect of march ‘disrespectful’ but says freedom includes ‘right to peacefully protest’

Keith is only now asking about Covid. All the questions so far have been about process.

Sedwill says, when concerns about Covid arose, he did not agree to a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee taking place immediately. He wanted to ensure that the meeting was prepared for. And he was concerned that having a Cobra meeting might alarm people.

I felt that a Cobra which might have been convened primarily for communications purposes wasn’t wise. Two days later I was advised there was a genuine cross-government basis for it and I agreed.

May we be plain please as to what you mean by communications purposes. Were you concerned that the Cobra was being called by the DHSC [the Department of Health and Social Care] for presentation purposes, that is to say to make a splash about the role of DHSC, perhaps its secretary of state [Matt Hancock], and that’s why you initially hesitated.

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Wednesday briefing: Should a pro-Palestine march on Armistice Day be banned?

In today’s newsletter: The Metropolitan police has resisted calls to ban a march in support of a ceasefire in Gaza – but that may not be the end of the story

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Good morning. Claims that a pro-Palestine march planned in London for Armistice Day this weekend poses a threat to the Cenotaph just won’t go away. Yesterday, the justice secretary, Alex Chalk, said that even those with no malicious intent risked supporting extremists at “an extremely important time in our calendar”, and called for the march to be postponed. “The police must stop any odious behaviour at the Cenotaph,” the Conservative MP James Sunderland said. “But far better for the government to ensure that no protest goes near it in the first place.”

Sunderland’s demand may be perplexing to the protesters: the march on Saturday is intended to run from Hyde Park to the US embassy, nowhere near the war memorial in Whitehall.

Israel-Hamas war | Israeli forces are “in the heart of Gaza City”, Israel’s defence minister Yoav Gallant said, as Palestinian families waving white flags streamed away from the capital on Tuesday. Meanwhile, after Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would take indefinite “security responsibility” for the territory, the White House said that it would oppose any reoccupation of Gaza. For the latest, head to the live blog.

Fossil fuels | The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Petrostates’ plans would lead to 460% more coal production, 83% more gas, and 29% more oil in 2030 than would be possible under the internationally agreed 1.5C target, the report said.

Vaping | UK ministers are considering a new tax on vapes in a significant expansion of moves to create a “smoke-free generation” that also includes the gradual introduction of a total ban on smoking for children. The move to tax vapes was one of the few surprise measures in a king’s speech that appeared largely designed to create dividing lines with Labour. Read a summary of measures in the bill.

Covid inquiry | The government body set up to coordinate Covid policy had no warning about Rishi Sunak’s “eat out to help out” scheme and felt “blindsided” by the Treasury over it, the inquiry into the pandemic has been told.

Childcare | Poorer families are being “locked out” of expanded free nursery hours, experts have warned, as Guardian analysis reveals that the number of not-for-profit nurseries in England’s most-deprived areas has fallen sharply. Close to a third of not-for-profit nurseries closed their doors or were taken over by private companies, including private equity firms, in the poorest parts of the country from 2018-2022.

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Protesters stage sit-in demanding ceasefire in Gaza at Statue of Liberty

About 500 demonstrators including artist Nan Goldin attend protest on Monday in New York City

Hundreds of protestors staged a sit-in demonstration at New York’s Statue of Liberty on Monday afternoon demanding a ceasefire in Gaza.

About 500 members and supporters of Jewish Voice for Peace-New York City (JVP-NYC) waved flags and banners and sang pro-peace songs, according to a spokesperson for the group.

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Organisers of pro-Palestine march in London fear Met poised to impose ban

Force could apply to outlaw protest on grounds of risk of disorder, but move would be ‘shocking’ threat to freedom of expression, rights campaigners say

The Metropolitan police appeared to be on the brink of banning Saturday’s planned pro-Palestine march through London after claiming that a protest on Remembrance Day would be inappropriate and risked violence.

After a meeting between organisers of the protests and the Met, a statement was issued on Monday in the name of the deputy assistant commissioner, Ade Adelekan, claiming that “the risk of violence and disorder linked to breakaway groups is growing”.

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Thousands demonstrate in Trafalgar Square for Gaza ceasefire

Protesters converge on square after sit-ins at Oxford Circus and Charing Cross station and chants outside BBC

Thousands of protesters have gathered in Trafalgar Square demanding a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Chants – including the contentious “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” as well as “Ceasefire now!” – rang out, as some protesters climbed on top of bus stops and let off green and red flares.

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‘No ceasefire, no votes’: tens of thousands attend pro-Palestinian rally in Washington DC

Protesters call on Biden to demand ceasefire in Israel-Gaza conflict and end military aid to Israel

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters marched through downtown Washington DC on Saturday in what organizers hoped was the largest US demonstration of its kind since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza after Hamas attacked the country last month.

The crowd waved Palestinian flags, carried posters and chanted slogans during the National March on Washington: Free Palestine, which took place alongside similar events across the US and elsewhere in the world.

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Revealed: plan to brand anyone ‘undermining’ UK as extremist

Leaked documents spark furious backlash from groups who fear freedom of expression could be suppressed

Government officials have drawn up deeply controversial proposals to broaden the definition of extremism to include anyone who “undermines” the country’s institutions and its values, according to documents seen by the Observer.

The new definition, prepared by civil servants working for cabinet minister Michael Gove, is fiercely opposed by a cohort of officials who fear legitimate groups and individuals will be branded extremists.

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Protesters block London’s Oxford Street in pro-Palestine demonstration

Free Palestine Coalition’s sit-in stops traffic in central shopping district as protests continue across UK over Israel-Hamas war

More than 350 protesters shut down part of Oxford Street on Saturday as they staged a sit-in protest during the shopping district’s busiest hours.

The demonstration, organised by the Free Palestine Coalition, a collective of grassroots groups standing in solidarity with Palestine, occupied a busy junction and stopped traffic for more than an hour by sitting down in the road.

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Iranian mother jailed for 13 years after denouncing death of son shot at protest

Mahsa Yazdani convicted of blasphemy and ‘insulting supreme leader’ as Iran regime targets families of those killed in protests

A mother in Iran, whose son was reportedly killed after being shot repeatedly at close range by security forces, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by an Iranian court after she demanded justice for her child on social media.

Mahsa Yazdani, whose 20-year-old son Mohammad Javad Zahedi was killed at an anti-regime protest in September 2022, was convicted on charges of blasphemy, incitement, insulting the supreme leader, and spreading anti-regime propaganda, according to human rights groups and family members. They say she will serve the first five years with no chance of parole.

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Man arrested after rodents released in Birmingham McDonald’s in Gaza protest

West Midlands police investigate after rodents painted in Palestinian flag colours released in three McDonald’s

A man has been arrested after boxes of live rodents were released at McDonald’s restaurants in Birmingham, apparently as part of pro-Palestine protests.

Police said they were investigating three separate incidents in the region where live rodents were thrown into the fast food venues, and were also seeking a second man, Billal Hussain, 30.

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Hong Kong: over-the-top punishment for 2019 democracy protesters, report finds

More than 10,000 arrests and nearly 3,000 prosecutions, with 82% given jail including ‘extraordinary high’ proportion of children

Protesters involved in the 2019-2020 pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong have been treated extraordinarily harshly by the criminal justice system compared with local and international norms, a report has found.

The surge in arrests, detentions and charges in the wake of the anti-extradition bill protests that saw millions of Hongkongers taking to the streets to oppose closer ties with mainland China meant that the criminal justice system was put under “extreme stress”, according to Jun Chan, Eric Yan-ho Lai and Thomas E Kellogg at the Center for Asian Law of Georgetown University.

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Movement against Georgia’s ‘Cop City’ plans occupation and ‘week of action’

‘Block Cop City’ plans non-violent march onto site of police center and a week of panels and screenings aimed at Black audiences

The movement against the police and fire department training center known as “Cop City” is planning two events for the coming weeks in and near Atlanta, Georgia – including a first-ever, non-violent protest march onto the project’s construction site.

The action, planned for 13 November and aimed at occupying the Cop City site for a day, could draw a thousand or more people from across the county. This would make it the largest protest to date at the location. The other event is a Black-led “week of action” the week before, aimed at Black audiences.

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Two arrested at London demonstration for Israel-Hamas ceasefire

As many as 100,000 believed to have joined march organised by Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Police arrested two people after thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets of central London on Saturday to demand a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Aerial footage showed large crowds setting off on the march organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, which has coordinated multiple protests in response to the escalating conflict in the Gaza Strip.

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