Riot police use teargas to disperse demonstrators at site of A-69 near Puylaurens in southern France
Police and masked activists clashed at a protest over a motorway project in southern France on Saturday, leaving five people hurt, local officials said.
Thousands of demonstrators ignored a ban on the gathering to turn out for the protest at the site of the A-69 motorway between Castres and Toulouse in the south-west.
Continue reading...Police use pepper spray as demonstrators unfurl red banner to symbolize Joe Biden’s response to Israel’s war on Gaza
Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside the White House on Saturday to protest Joe Biden’s response to Israel’s ongoing military strikes on Gaza.
Footage posted to social media showed police using pepper spray on protesters, who faced arrest at the mass demonstration.
Continue reading...Sanmu Chen appeared to write the date of massacre in the air as anniversary becomes increasingly sensitive in Hong Kong
Hong Kong police detained an artist on Monday night after he appeared to write “8964” in the air with his hand, a reference to the date of the Tiananmen Square massacre, hours before Tuesday’s 35th anniversary.
Public acknowledgment of the events of 4 June 1989, when Chinese soldiers shut down a weeks-long peaceful protest with violence, killing anything from several hundred to several thousand people – is banned in mainland China and increasingly sensitive in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Events marking 35 years since troops ended peaceful protest with deadly violence are banned in China and Hong Kong
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities have arrested or put under surveillance several dissidents before the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre this week, according to human rights groups.
On 4 June it will be 35 years since Chinese soldiers shut down a weeks-long peaceful protest with violence, killing anything from several hundred to several thousand people.
Continue reading...Woman from Riposte Alimentaire arrested after sticking poster on impressionist painter’s Coquelicots
A climate activist has been arrested for sticking an adhesive poster on a Monet painting at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris to draw attention to global heating, a police source said.
The action by the woman, a member of Riposte Alimentaire (Food Response) – a group of environmental activists and defenders of sustainable food production – was seen in a video posted on X, placing a blood-red poster over Coquelicots (Poppies) by the French impressionist painter Claude Monet.
Continue reading...US says 14 protesters have been jailed for ‘peacefully participating in political activities’ that should have been allowed
The Hong Kong government has rejected western criticism of the conviction of 14 pro-democracy activists for subversion, calling it “untruthful, slandering and smearing”.
The US said on Friday it was “deeply concerned” about the guilty verdicts announced in the national security law trial of the activists in Hong Kong. The state department said the 14 activists had been subjected to “politically motivated prosecution and jailed simply for peacefully participating in political activities” that should have been protected under the basic law, which was supposed to guarantee a degree of autonomy for Hong Kong when it came under Beijing’s rule in 1997.
Continue reading...Salome Zourabichvili addresses protesters outside parliament by video link, urging them to mobilise against ‘Russian slavery’
Georgia’s parliament has voted to override a presidential veto on the controversial “foreign influence” law, a move that is poised to derail the EU aspirations of many Georgians in favour of closer ties with Moscow.
The divisive bill, which requires civil society organisations and media that receive more than 20% of their revenues from abroad to register as “organisations serving the interests of a foreign power”, was approved by the parliament earlier this month.
Continue reading...Chow Hang-tung, a prominent barrister, among those held over social media posts before Tiananmen Square anniversary
Hong Kong police have arrested six people, marking the first time that the city’s new national security law, known as Article 23, has been used against suspects since it was implemented in March.
The six people, aged between 37 and 65, are accused of publishing messages with seditious intent ahead of an “upcoming sensitive date”, according to a police statement.
Continue reading...Mashallah Karami sentenced to six years after pleading for his son’s life to be spared
Iranian authorities have jailed a father who campaigned unsuccessfully for clemency for his 22-year-old son after he was sentenced to death in connection with 2022 protests, his lawyer said Saturday.
Mashallah Karami was sentenced to six years in prison by a Revolutionary court in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj on charges of illegally organising gatherings and collecting donations, his lawyer, Ali Sharifzadeh Ardakani, said on X, adding that the verdict had “flaws” and would be appealed.
Continue reading...Canadian university gives protesters one day to close up protest camp on downtown campus or potentially face police action
The University of Toronto (UofT) has warned pro-Palestinian activists that they have 24 hours to accept a proposal to end a three-week protest camp on the schools’ downtown campus – or risk being treated as trespassers and potentially face police action.
In a statement Meric Gertler, the university president, cited harassment, discrimination and lack of inclusion as reasons the encampment needs to be removed.
Continue reading...Friends of the Earth will argue private companies are allowed to create their own public order laws that stifle demonstrations
The government is to be challenged at the European court of human rights over its use of “confusing and opaque” anti-protest injunctions.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) is to argue such injunctions allow private companies to create bespoke public order laws that stifle peaceful protest.
Continue reading...Northwestern president becomes lightning rod in Republican-led committee hearing also featuring chiefs of Rutgers and UCLA
Members of a Republican-led congressional committee confronted another set of university heads on Thursday over their approach to pro-Palestinian protests in the latest hearings on Capitol Hill on a reported increase of campus antisemitism.
Republicans on the House of Representatives’ education and workforce committee repeatedly clashed fiercely with Michael Schill, president of Northwestern University in Illinois, over his decision to negotiate an end to a tented protest community rather than call in police, as has happened on other campuses.
Continue reading...Report calls for curb on many activities and recommends making protest organisers pay towards policing
Protest groups have condemned a long-awaited report on their activity that recommends a review of undercover surveillance of activists and making protest organisers pay towards policing.
The 292-page report by John Woodcock, now Lord Walney, entitled Protecting Democracy from Coercion, calls for a curb on many activities, including a blanket ban on face coverings at protests and making it easier for businesses to claim damages from protesters who cause disruption.
Continue reading...Thousands protest against bill which would give parliamentarians special powers to question anyone
Lai Ching-te’s first day as president of Taiwan has been marked by large protests against the opposition over a controversial bill in parliament, foreshadowing a difficult first term for the leader, who lacks a legislative majority.
Thousands of Taiwanese citizens gathered outside the legislative yuan to protest against attempts by the opposition parties to push through a bill without review, which would give parliamentarians extraordinary powers to question anyone, including the president, under threat of fines and jail time. On Friday one MP was hospitalised after the parties came to blows over the debate.
Continue reading...Union says response of University of California to pro-Palestine demonstrations violates rights of advocates and workers
Academic workers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, took to the picket line on Monday morning as part of a rolling strike in protest against the university system’s response to pro-Palestine demonstrations.
The campus is the first in the University of California to do so as part of a systemwide protest against the public university, which union members argue violated the rights of pro-Palestinian advocates and workers.
Continue reading...Five years after her last companion died and the aquarium’s owner pledged to free her, Bella still languishes in a tiny tank amid shops
In the heart of Seoul, amid the luxury shops at the foot of the world’s sixth-tallest skyscraper, a lone beluga whale named Bella swims aimlessly in a tiny, lifeless tank, where she has been trapped for a decade.
Her plight is urgent, with campaigners racing to rescue her from the bare tank in a glitzy shopping centre in South Korea’s capital before it is too late.
Continue reading...Pro-Palestinian students were attempting to take over a university hall to protest school’s refusal to negotiate in ‘good faith’
More than a dozen pro-Palestinian activists, including six students at the University of Pennsylvania, were arrested after attempting to occupy a hall on the university campus late Friday.
The protesters were arrested around 9pm after trying to take over Fisher-Bennett Hall but had been met with a response from university and Philadelphia police, according to reports. The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that protesters caused the evacuation of an alumni event at the Penn Museum.
Continue reading...About 60 flights cancelled after members of Letzte Generation glue themselves to ground at Munich
Eight climate activists have been arrested after causing Munich airport to close, leading to about 60 flight cancellations.
Six activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways, officials and local media reported.
Continue reading...Six motions calling for end to Israel-Gaza conflict carried after Jacinta Allan says she is ‘disgusted’ by behaviour of protesters at Labor state conference
The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, has accused pro-Palestinian protesters of bringing “violence, homophobia and antisemitism to the front door of state conference”.
On Saturday morning, ahead of speeches by Allan and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, a group of protesters entered the Moonee Valley Racecourse building and began chanting outside the conference room filled with MPs, unionist and other rank-and-file members.
Continue reading...Mike Lee told students that Sonoma State would become first US university to refuse to work with Israeli academic institutions
A public university in California has placed its president on leave for “insubordination” after he agreed to student demands for an academic boycott of Israel.
Mike Lee was suspended from Sonoma State University following an announcement on Tuesday that the liberal arts college north of San Francisco had agreed with Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) to become the first US university to refuse to work with Israeli academic institutions.
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