Category Archives: Protest

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

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

Posted on by

‘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.

Continue reading...

Two arrested at London demonstration for Israel-Hamas ceasefire

Posted on by

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.

Continue reading...

Fossil fuel firms spent millions on US lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest bills

Posted on by

About 60% of oil and gas operations protected from protest due to money spent on lobbying, says Greenpeace USA report

Fossil fuel companies have spent millions of dollars on lobbying and campaign donations to state lawmakers who sponsored anti-protest laws – which now shield about 60% of US gas and oil operations from protest and civil disobedience, according to a new report from Greenpeace USA.

Eighteen states including Montana, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, West Virginia and the Dakotas have enacted sweeping anti-protest laws which boost penalties for trespass near so-called critical infrastructure, that make it far riskier for communities to oppose pipelines and other fossil fuel projects that threaten their land, water and the global climate.

Continue reading...

Controversy over European climate activists’ criticism of Israel

Posted on by

Extinction Rebellion protest at The Hague accuses Netanyahu of ‘war crimes’ and running an ‘apartheid regime’

European climate activists have staged protests and posted messages in support of Palestinians, prompting an online backlash and raising internal questions within the environmental movement.

Long-running tension in the Middle East exploded on 7 October when Hamas militants killed 1,400 people in southern Israel. Since then, Israeli strikes have killed at least 5,087 Palestinians, 2,055 of them children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.

Continue reading...

Worst-case scenario isn’t jail but climate breakdown, Queensland activists say as day in court arrives

Posted on by

Fourteen protesters charged with disrupting state parliament to appear before Brisbane magistrate

Rob Keller, a 73-year-old retired teacher and small business operator, will arrive at Brisbane magistrates court on Monday facing the prospect of three years in prison.

But that is not what worries him most.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Large crowd gathers at pro-Palestine rally in Melbourne as WA man mourns sister killed in Gaza

Posted on by

Australians are grieving for those killed on both sides of Israel-Hamas war, Adam Bandt tells protesters

About 15,000 people have attended a rally supporting Palestine in Melbourne, with the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, telling the crowd they were mourning for those who had died on both sides of the bloody conflict.

Sunday’s protest was one of several held across the country at the weekend. Victoria police said that there were “no major incidents of note”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Continue reading...

Fury at year-long Home Office delay over protest buffer zones at UK abortion clinics

Posted on by

Suella Braverman accused by MP Stella Creasy of denying will of parliament in passing safe access law

Pro-choice MPs and activists have expressed their frustration at the government’s failure to implement a law on buffer zones around abortion clinics one year after 297 MPs voted in favour of the zones and as women face a new wave of protests when accessing reproductive care.

A Home Office spokesperson told the Observer that timelines would be confirmed “in due course” but refused to explain why the law was not yet in force and failed to confirm if a consultation on safe-access zones legislation had been launched.

Continue reading...

Hundreds arrested as US Jews protest against Israel’s Gaza assault

Posted on by

Protesters in Washington demand ceasefire, marking rift in community as Anti-Defamation League condemns demonstration

Leftwing Jewish activists campaigned against Israel’s bombardment and blockade of Gaza this week in Washington, culminating in protests that have seen hundreds arrested for civil disobedience outside the White House and Congress.

But groups like the Anti-Defamation League have dismissed the actions as unrepresentative of fellow Jews, signalling a growing rift in the community as the war in the Middle East continues to claim thousands of lives.

Continue reading...

Georgia refuses to release evidence from police shooting of Cop City activist

Posted on by

Experts say decision not to make evidence available to family of Manuel Paez Terán or public sets ‘frightening’ precedent

The state of Georgia is refusing to release evidence tied to the police shooting and killing of an activist protesting a police and fire department training center known as “Cop City”, prompting concern from police accountability experts who say this sets a “frightening” precedent .

District attorney George Christian released a 31-page report earlier this month concluding that the 18 January shooting of Manuel Paez Terán, or “Tortuguita”, was “objectively reasonable”. Paez Terán was one of a small group of “forest defenders” camping in a wooded public park to protest Cop City, planned for a separate part of the forest south-east of Atlanta, Georgia, less than a mile away. Dozens of officers from multiple agencies raided the park; the state claims Paez Terán fired a gun first, prompting six officers to shoot the activist. The activist sustained 57 gunshot wounds and died nearly instantly.

Continue reading...

Tens of thousands of protesters across UK call for a free Palestine

Posted on by

Fifteen arrested at march in London, while demonstrations also take place in Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen

Tens of thousands of people have marched through cities across the UK calling for a free Palestine as tensions grew over an impending Israeli ground offensive in Gaza.

Protesters gathered in Manchester, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and London, carrying flags and flares and calling for world leaders to condemn the actions of the Israeli army.

Continue reading...

Jewish and Muslim Americans fear rise in hate crimes amid Israel-Hamas war

Posted on by

With protests escalating and police departments on alert, assaults and harassment have been reported

Jewish and Muslim Americans in cities all around the country are worried that escalating tensions between Israel and Palestine, which some are calling “isolating and scary”, will exacerbate hate crimes and harassment in the United States.

For many Arab Americans in New York City, Bay Ridge was always a place of safety. The south Brooklyn neighborhood is 3 sq miles of Arabic bodega signs, halal grocers and a growing community of Palestinian, Yemeni, Syrian and Egyptian families.

Continue reading...

Guatemala president-elect’s supporters block roads to protest party suspension

Posted on by

Demonstrations surge after court upheld suspension of Bernardo Arévalo’s party over alleged voter registration fraud

Thousands of protestors have blocked roads across Guatemala in surging demonstrations to support the president-elect, Bernardo Arévalo, after the country’s highest court upheld a move by prosecutors to suspend his political party over alleged voter registration fraud.

Arévalo, an anti-corruption crusader who won a landslide victory in the August election, has denounced the suspension as a “coup” aimed neutralizing him before he takes office in January, and his supporters are demanding the resignation of the prosecutors responsible. Street blockades that started this week grew from 14 on Monday to 58 road and highway blockages Friday.

Continue reading...

Jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi wins Nobel peace prize

Posted on by

Mohammadi wins prize for her fight against oppression of women in Iran and to promote human rights for all

Narges Mohammadi, the most prominent of Iran’s jailed women’s rights advocates, has vowed to stay in the country and continue her activism after winning the 2023 Nobel peace prize.

“I will never stop striving for the realisation of democracy, freedom and equality,” she said in a prewritten statement released after the announcement. “Surely, the Nobel peace prize will make me more resilient, determined, hopeful and enthusiastic on this path, and it will accelerate my pace.”

Continue reading...

Gaza Strip protesters received bullet wounds to ankles, medics report

Posted on by

Influx of injuries may suggest deliberate targeting by Israel’s army, which human rights groups say is unlawful

Medics in the Gaza Strip have reported treating an influx of protesters who appear to have been deliberately targeted in the ankle in recent unrest at the volatile boundary of the blockaded Palestinian enclave.

At least one person has been killed and dozens more wounded since demonstrations by groups of young men, some of them throwing stones and molotov cocktails, began in mid-September.

Continue reading...

Youth climate activists protest potential shutdown in Kevin McCarthy’s office

Posted on by

Members of Sunrise Movement say House Speaker is ‘playing political games with our futures’ and must avert shutdown

Scores of young activists with the youth-led climate organization Sunrise Movement are protesting in the office of the House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, on Thursday morning, demanding he avert a complete government shutdown.

“As storms rage stronger, fires grow hotter, and heatwaves grow more deadly, Kevin McCarthy is playing political games with our futures,” said Adah Crandall, a 17-year-old Sunrise Movement organizer, in an emailed statement.

Continue reading...

Ramblers unite at Scots Dyke to protest against England’s draconian right to roam laws

Posted on by

English and Scottish walkers meet in mass trespass to call for greater public access to land in England and Wales, like the more generous laws of Scotland

Flag-waving activists for land reform have expressed their demands for greater freedom to roam in England and Wales by staging a symbolic trespass through farmland on the Scottish border.

In a bid to highlight Scotland’s far more generous rights of access to the countryside, around 40 campaigners tramped through boggy, dense woodland to arrive at an earth dyke north of Carlisle which once marked the medieval border.

Continue reading...