Category Archives: Protest

Millions expected across all 50 US states to march in No Kings protests against Trump

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Events scheduled in more than 2,700 locations, from small towns to large cities, aligning behind message that the US is sliding into authoritarianism

Americans across all 50 states will march in protests against the Trump administration on Saturday, aligning behind a message that the country is sliding into authoritarianism and there should be no kings in the US.

Millions are expected to turn out for the No Kings protests, the second iteration of a coalition that marched in June in one of the largest days of protest in US history. Events are scheduled for more than 2,700 locations, from small towns to large cities.

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From protest laws to deaths in custody, Minns’ rush to claim the conservative high ground is clumsy and costly

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At almost every opportunity, the NSW premier chooses a conservative path: get the cops on side and let nobody fault Labor’s toughness on crime. It’s not working

There is a lesson for Chris Minns in the NSW supreme court’s declaration that police powers to deal with protesters near places of worship are invalid: laws curtailing civil liberties should never be rushed.

They should certainly not be pushed through in an atmosphere of panic and incomplete facts such as existed in the fevered days after the now notorious Dural caravan incident.

Anne Davies is Guardian Australia’s NSW state correspondent

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Elite military unit says it has seized power in Madagascar

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Announcement comes after country’s parliament impeaches president after weeks of anti-government protests

An elite military unit said it had taken power in Madagascar on Tuesday, after the country’s parliament impeached president Andry Rajoelina after weeks of anti-government protests.

Rajoelina, who said on Monday in a Facebook Live video that he had gone into hiding after attempts to kill him, had refused demands to step down, but the demonstrators won the backing of the influential Capsat unit at the weekend.

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Human rights official urges UK to review laws after Palestine Action placard arrests

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Counter-terror laws must not place unnecessary limits on ‘fundamental rights’, Michael O’Flaherty tells Shabana Mahmood

Europe’s most senior human rights official has called on Shabana Mahmood to review UK protest laws after mass arrests over the ban on Palestine Action.

Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, said that the current legal framework allows UK authorities to “impose excessive limits on freedom of assembly and expression, and risk overpolicing” in a letter sent to the home secretary.

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Right to protest is under sustained attack in the west, report finds

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Counter-terror laws being ‘weaponised’ against pro-Palestine groups in UK, US, France and Germany, says FIDH

The right to protest has come under sustained attack in the west, according to a report highlighting the growing criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

The study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pays particular attention to the UK, the US, France and Germany, where it says governments have “weaponised” counter-terrorism legislation as well as the fight against antisemitism to suppress dissent and support for Palestinian rights in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

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Soldiers from elite Capsat unit join protests against Madagascar’s president

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Demonstrators march alongside regiment, who earlier in the day said they would not fire on the crowds

Madagascar’s prime minister called for calm after an elite group of soldiers joined thousands of protesters against the country’s president on the streets of the capital on Saturday afternoon.

Protesters marched alongside soldiers from the Capsat unit, who drove armoured vehicles, some waving Madagascar flags, from their base in Soanierana in the south of Antananarivo.

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Unease at slow pace of change in Nepal one month on from gen Z protests

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Promised crackdown on corruption is not happening fast enough for many who saw government toppled within a day of protests

Prakash Bohora was one of the first of Nepal’s gen Z protesters to feel the sting of a police bullet. Like thousands of other young people, he had taken to the streets of the capital last month to protest against corruption and a draconian ban on social media.

He had no idea that day in Kathmandu would escalate into what is now described as Nepal’s gen Z revolution, which saw the toppling of the government within a day, the dissolution of parliament and appointment of a new interim prime minister, the anti-corruption hardliner Sushila Karki, by the end of the week.

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Judges prohibit pro-Palestine march to Sydney Opera House and say protesters risk contempt of court

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In landmark ruling, NSW court of appeal says anyone attending prohibited protest could be held in contempt of court

New South Wales’ top court has made a landmark ruling that criminalises attending a “prohibited” protest, with the court of appeal banning a planned pro-Palestine march to the Sydney Opera House scheduled for this weekend.

The court of appeal on Thursday ruled that anyone marching on the Opera House on Sunday could be held in contempt of court, as it sided with police against the Palestine Action Group due to “extreme” safety concerns.

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Georgia’s prime minister announces crackdown on dissent after Tbilisi protests

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Irakli Kobakhidze accused EU ambassador of supporting ‘attempt to overthrow constitutional order’

Georgia’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has announced a sweeping crackdown on dissent, accusing demonstrators who tried to storm the presidential palace of aiming to topple his government and blaming the European Union for interference in his country.

Kobakhidze levelled his allegations a day after protesters attempted to breach the presidential palace as local elections were being held. They were stopped by riot police using pepper spray and water cannon.

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Badenoch says her migration plan ‘credible’, but won’t say where 150,000 people a year being removed will go – UK politics live

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Conservative leader grilled over her removals proposal ahead of party conference opening later today

The polling firm Opinium has released some research this morning suggesting that some Conservative party policies are popular with voters – but that, if people are explicitly told that they are Kemi Badenoch policies, their popularity goes down.

There is some evidence that Keir Starmer’s unpopularity has the same effect – and that, once a policy is associated with him, voters are less inclined to back it.

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Police to get new powers to crack down on repeated protests, says Home Office

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Move follows arrest of almost 500 people at latest pro-Palestinian demonstration in London on Saturday

Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said.

The announcement, made the morning after almost 500 people were arrested in London for expressing support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, could allow police to order regular protests to take place at a different site.

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Final boat of 42-strong pro-Palestinian flotilla intercepted by Israel

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Protest vessel intercepted in the early hours of Friday morning 42.5 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza

The last boat of the 42 vessels in the Gaza humanitarian flotillathat sought to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade has been intercepted by Israeli forces.

A live stream from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had late on Thursday evening shown the Polish-flagged sailing boat Marinette still “sailing strong towards Gaza” after the Israeli government claimed to have halted the flotilla carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Greta Thunberg.

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‘We are the last hope’: Gen Z Madagascar vows to fight on until president resigns

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Protesting young people reject dissolution of government as insufficient and demand list of reforms

Young protesters in Madagascar have said they will continue their fight for the resignation of the president, Andry Rajoelina, and rejected his dissolution of the government on Monday as insufficient.

Twenty-two people were killed and 100 injured at the demonstrations, according to the UN. The unrest broke out on 25 September when local councillors were arrested for protesting against water and electricity outages in the capital, Antananarivo. The youth-led protests quickly spread to other towns and cities, fuelled by social media and other “Gen Z protests in Indonesia and Nepal, where the government was toppled.

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Pro-Palestine flotilla heading towards Gaza ‘harassed by Israeli naval boats’

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Account of ‘intimidatory operation’ comes as Italy and Greece repeat call for Israel to guarantee safety of flotilla

A pro-Palestinian flotilla heading to Gaza has said it has been approached and harassed by Israeli naval boats that jammed one of its lead vessels’ communication systems as Italy and Greece reiterated calls for Israel to guarantee the safety of those onboard.

The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), carrying about 500 people including the climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, said it had an encounter with Israeli navy vessels that circled the fleet’s “lead boat for around six minutes” while remotely disabling its communication systems.

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Ladakh statehood activist arrested days after violent crackdown by Modi

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Sonam Wangchuk, who has been agitating against the government, was on his way to speak at a press briefing

A renowned environmentalist at the forefront of a protest movement in the Indian region of Ladakh has been arrested amid a wider crackdown on dissent under the prime minister, Narendra Modi.

Sonam Wangchuk, an activist, engineer and inventor, has been leading a lengthy agitation against the Modi government, calling for statehood and greater protections to be granted to his home region of Ladakh. He was arrested on Friday afternoon, on his way to address a press conference.

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Police officer charged with assault after Hannah Thomas injured at pro-Palestine protest in Sydney

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Senior constable charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm due to appear in court in mid-November

A New South Wales police officer has been charged with assaulting Hannah Thomas, who sustained a serious eye injury after she was arrested at a protest in June.

Thomas was arrested and charged alongside four others at a pro-Palestine protest in Sydney on 27 June that was attended by about 60 people at SEC Plating.

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Climate activists gather in New York for ‘Sun Day’ solar energy and anti-billionaire rallies

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Sun Day national action supported renewable energy, day after ‘Make Billionaires Pay’ march ahead of Climate Week

Hundreds of environmentalists gathered in New York City’s Stuyvesant Square Park and a nearby Quaker meeting house on Sunday to rally in support of solar power and other forms of renewable energy. The event was part of a national “day of action” billed Sun Day, founded by veteran environmental activist Bill McKibben and first Earth Day coordinator Denis Hayes.

“It’s so sad to watch the sun going to waste,” McKibben said at a press conference, standing beside environmentalists and their children. “Every single day, energy from heaven going to waste while we drill down to hell for another dose of the stuff that is wrecking this planet.”

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Brazilians protest in their thousands against granting Bolsonaro amnesty

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Huge crowds pack the streets to oppose endeavours to help ex-president escape jail

Tens of thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to demand no amnesty be granted to their country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro after he was convicted of plotting a coup.

The far-right populist was sentenced to 27 years in prison earlier this month for illegally attempting to cling to power after he lost the 2022 presidential election to his leftwing opponent, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

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Protesters flood streets of Philippines over state corruption

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Dozens of police officers injured as anger erupts over billions allegedly spent on bogus relief projects

Tens of thousands of Filipinos took to the streets on Sunday to protest against government corruption after it was alleged that taxpayers have lost billions of dollars to bogus flood relief projects.

Students, church groups, celebrities, and citizens from different political camps filled the streets in Manila and other cities.

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Anti-immigration protesters and counter-protesters clash in Glasgow

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Event comes a week after the largest far-right event in decades took place in London

Anti-immigration protesters have clashed with anti-racist counter-protesters in tense scenes in Glasgow this afternoon, a week after the largest far-right event in decades took place in London.

The statue of Scottish statesman Donald Dewar, father of the Holyrood parliament, was surrounded by union flags bearing the words: “Stop the boats” and “Unite the kingdom”.

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