Campaign Against Antisemitism, led by Gideon Falter, cites safety fears and promises more protests to come
Campaign Against Antisemitism has cancelled its planned counter-protest against a pro-Palestinian march through central London on Saturday.
The group, led by Gideon Falter, had said it wanted to use the “walk together” initiative to support its view that the area around the planned pro-Palestinian march was not safe for Jewish people.
Continue reading...Multiple arrests at crackdown on Emory University campus encampment focused on Palestine and Cop City
Police have carried out multiple violent arrests at Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, in what appears to be the first campus crackdown in recent days to involve rubber bullets and teargas after students set up an encampment in solidarity with Palestine and against Cop City.
On Thursday, Emory students set up multiple tents on the campus’s lawns in protest against the university’s ties to Israel, as well Atlanta’s Cop City, a police and fire department training center that is being constructed on a 171-acre plot in a forest south-east of Atlanta.
Continue reading...At least 34 arrested at University of Texas in Austin and 50 more detained at University of Southern California while House speaker jeered at Columbia University
Dozens of protesters were arrested on Wednesday while participating in pro-Palestine demonstrations across US college campuses.
At least 34 protesters, including a member of the media from a local news station, were arrested during protests at University of Texas in Austin and at least 50 more were detained by police at University of Southern California (USC).
Continue reading...More than 60 people, including a journalist, arrested at University of Southern California and University of Texas at Austin. This blog is now closed.
Mike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, will visit Columbia University today to speak to Jewish students and hold a press conference “regarding the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses”, his office has said.
New York House Republicans have called on Columbia’s president, Minouche Shafik, to resign immediately for failing to end the protests.
Continue reading...Letter from 25 senators including Mitch McConnell says president ‘must act immediately to restore order’ on university campuses
Senior Republican US senators on Tuesday waded into growing tensions at leading universities over the Israel-Gaza war, demanding the Biden administration send in federal law enforcement officers to curb pro-Palestinian protests that have led to hundreds of arrests.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, and John Thune, his deputy, wrote to Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, and Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, calling demonstrators “antisemitic, pro-terrorist mobs”.
Continue reading...Hundreds of members of teaching staff demonstrate in solidarity with arrested students as protest tents put back up on campus
Hundreds of faculty members at Columbia University in New York held a mass walkout on Monday to protest against the president’s decision to have police arrest students at a pro-Palestinian encampment protest last week.
The solidarity protest came as students put protest tents back up on campus. They had been torn down last week when the New York police department arrested more than 100 students, who were also suspended by the university.
Continue reading...Young men are forced to take part in conscript lottery, but the rich often avoid serving in army
Every April in Thailand young men take part in a lottery to determine whether they will be forced to do military service. Pull out a red card and you are drafted for up to two years. A black card means you are exempt.
When it was Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal’s turn to draw a card this month, he refused, making a rare protest as a conscientious objector. If prosecuted, it is believed he could become the first person in Thailand to be imprisoned for avoiding the draft through civil disobedience. The offence carries a maximum sentence of three years.
Continue reading...Statement comes after Met police apologised for calling antisemitism campaigner ‘openly Jewish’
Being Jewish “should never be seen as provocative”, the government has said after a row over the policing of a pro-Palestine march.
In a video released by Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA), the charity’s chief executive, Gideon Falter, who was wearing a kippah skull cap, was told by a Met officer at a pro-Palestine march last Saturday: “You are quite openly Jewish, this is a pro-Palestinian march. I’m not accusing you of anything but I’m worried about the reaction to your presence.”
Continue reading...Organisers say 50,000 turn out to call for limit on tourist numbers, saying model makes life unaffordable and puts strain on resources
Tens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents.
The protests, which are taking place under the banner “Canarias tiene un límite” – The Canaries have a limit – are backed by environmental groups including Greenpeace, WWF, Ecologists in Action, Friends of the Earth and SEO/Birdlife.
Continue reading...Pro-Palestinian students interrupted a dinner held by a top free speech defender at Berkeley. A polarized and very public controversy has followed
During a dinner for students that the dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school held in his house’s backyard earlier this month, a woman wearing a hijab and checkered Palestinian scarf suddenly stood up with a microphone and amplifier. What followed lasted only a couple of minutes, but has led to a fierce debate about the limits of free speech, drew death threats to those involved, and created a “media firestorm,” as the dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, has put it.
Some short and chaotic viral videos illustrate part of what happened. One of them shows the woman, Malak Afaneh, as she gives a Ramadan greeting; she is accompanied by a small group of other student protesters. As Afaneh begins reading a speech about the Israel-Gaza war, Chemerinsky and his wife, the law professor Catherine Fisk, quickly cut Afaneh off.
Continue reading...Captain of national men’s team among those posting apparently coordinated social media messages
Leading players in Georgia’s national men’s football team have backed mass protests sparked by a “foreign influence” bill criticised for mirroring a repressive Russian law.
Riot police have clashed in recent nights with large rallies of people protesting outside the parliament building in Tbilisi against the bill, which is viewed in Brussels as a threat to future EU membership.
Continue reading...Curators protesting against Gaza conflict say ‘art can wait but women, children and people living though hell cannot’
The artists and curators of the Israeli national pavilion at the Venice Biennale have announced their decision not to open until “a ceasefire and hostage release agreement is reached” in the conflict in Gaza, on the opening preview day of the largest and most prominent global gathering in the art world.
A sign on the front of the Israel pavilion in the Giardini, or public gardens, in Venice, one of the main venues for the Biennale, conveyed the team’s decision – while the pavilion itself is guarded by three armed Italian military personnel.
Continue reading...Flights delayed and traffic disrupted as protesters in major US cities intensify call for ceasefire in Gaza
Thousands of people held protests across the US on Monday condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza, shutting down airports and disrupting traffic in major cities from New York to San Francisco.
A portion of the Kennedy Expressway into Chicago O’Hare international airport, one of the US’s busiest, was blocked off by protesters calling for an end to the violence.
Continue reading...Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives jam as swathe of film and TV celebrities add support, including Zone of Interest’s Jonathan Glazer and Thor’s Tessa Thompson
A host of film directors and stars, including Susan Sarandon, Paul Mescal and Olivia Colman, have added their names to those offering time and memorabilia to a Cinema for Gaza auction that is raising funds for humanitarian relief in Palestine.
Joining the celebrities is the former Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn – billed as the star of Sumotherhood, thanks to his cameo in last year’s Adam Deacon urban thriller – who is donating a Zoom poetry reading and a selection of homemade jam.
Continue reading...Let Women Speak leader says rally aimed to test Scotland’s new hate crime legislation, Telegraph reports
Gender-critical activists and counter-protesters clashed in Edinburgh in a dispute over transgender rights.
Let Women Speak (LWS), an organisation described by supporters as a “gender-critical feminist” campaign, led a rally outside the Royal Scottish Academy in the Scottish capital on Saturday.
Continue reading...Former ruling party insider Péter Magyar leads march to parliament building in Budapest
Tens of thousands of people have turned out in downtown Budapest to protest against the government of Viktor Orbán.
Protesters marched to parliament in the unusually warm spring weather, some of them shouting “We are not scared” and “Orbán, resign”.
Continue reading...University of Michigan president Santa J Ono proposes ‘disruptive activity policy’ after pro-Palestinian group cuts his speech short
The University of Michigan is facing backlash from students, faculty and civil rights attorneys following a proposal to significantly restrict the right to protest on campus.
The “disruptive activity policy”, announced last week in a campus-wide email from the university president, Santa J Ono, would create strict punishments for anyone who interrupts official university events, including speeches, classes, athletic events, field trips, performances, graduation and award ceremonies.
Continue reading...Exclusive: YouGov survey indicates loss of support among people in Britain for Israel’s war in Gaza
A majority of voters in Britain back a ban on arms sales to Israel, according to a YouGov poll.
One of the first up-to-date assessments of whether Israel is losing public support in key allied states, the research also suggests most people believe the Israeli government is violating human rights in Gaza.
Continue reading...A cabinet split over military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and large street protests demanding the release of hostages are threatening the prime minister’s grip on power. Bethan McKernan reports from Jerusalem
As the war in Gaza approaches its seventh month, tens of thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities in Israel have demanded the release of hostages held in Gaza and called for new elections.
The Guardian’s Jerusalem correspondent, Bethan McKernan, tells Michael Safi it is a moment of political danger for the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who also faces pressure from within his ruling coalition over the issue of exemption from military service granted to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. Israel’s allies, including the US, are piling pressure on Netanyahu to urgently allow aid into Gaza, which faces a famine, and to spell out how he will address the aftermath of the conflict.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Max Hill KC says it is imperative to protect free speech when setting limits on protesting
The former director of public prosecutions for England and Wales has warned against the risk of creating “thought crimes” amid the recent clampdown on protesters and demonisation of demonstrators by politicians.
In an interview with the Guardian, Max Hill KC, who was head of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) from 2018 until November last year, said it was imperative to protect free speech when setting limits on protest.
Continue reading...