Category Archives: Protest

Iranian security forces shoot dead at least two demonstrators

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Forces opened fire as protests sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death swelled on anniversary of bloody 2019 crackdown

Iranian security forces have shot dead at least two protesters, as demonstrations sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death swelled on the anniversary of a bloody 2019 crackdown.

The protesters were responding to a call to commemorate those slain in the 2019 crackdown, giving new momentum to the demonstrations sparked by the death of 22-year-old Amini in mid-September this year, after her arrest for allegedly flouting Iran’s strict dress code for women.

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Climate activists throw black liquid at Gustav Klimt painting in Vienna

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Pair attack Death and Life painting in Leopold Museum in protest against fossil fuel ‘death sentence’

Climate activists in Austria have attacked a painting by Gustav Klimt, with one throwing a black, oily liquid at it and another gluing himself to the glass covering the painting.

Members of Letzte Generation Österreich (Last Generation Austria) tweeted that they had targeted the 1915 painting Death and Life at the Leopold Museum in Vienna to protest against their government’s use of fossil fuels.

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Alaa Abd el-Fattah has ended hunger strike, sister says

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British-Egyptian political prisoner had been on a partial hunger strike of 100 calories or less a day for six months

Alaa Abd el-Fattah, the British-Egyptian democracy activist jailed in Egypt, has told his family in a letter that he has ended his six-month-long hunger strike, which he began in protest against his detention conditions.

“I’ve broken my strike. I’ll explain everything on Thursday,” he told them, in reference to his monthly family prison visits to the Wadi el-Natrun desert prison where he is being held. The democracy activist was sentenced to a further five years in prison last year for sharing a social media post about torture, shortly after gaining British citizenship through his mother.

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The Egyptian human rights activists unable to attend Cop27

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Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh follows decade-long crackdown on civil society in Egypt

“Honestly, what I want is to be in Sharm el-Sheikh and just scream,” said Amr Magdi of Human Rights Watch. Like dozens of other prominent human rights defenders, researchers and environmentalists, Magdi has been unable to attend Cop27 as he is exiled from Egypt because of his work.

“I just want to tell everyone about the injustice happening in Egypt. I can’t do it personally and I’m trying to do it with my work. I’m even helping others who are able to travel there to do this,” he said.

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Iran issues first death sentence over protests

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Unnamed person faces execution for alleged arson as part of crackdown on unrest triggered by death of Mahsa Amini

Iran has issued a first death sentence over protests that have mounted a fierce challenge to four decades of hardline clerical rule, as rights groups warn that a wave of executions may follow as leaders try to end nearly two months of sustained nationwide dissent.

The execution was ordered for an unidentified person for allegedly setting fire to a government building. It followed 272 of Iran’s 290 lawmakers voting earlier this month to implement the death penalty for serious crimes against the state, and repeated demands by some officials to take a harder line against unrest that shows little sign of abating.

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Alaa Abd el-Fattah: family of activist jailed in Egypt say he is alive

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‘Proof of life’ note says writer, who has been on hunger strike, is drinking water again

The family of the jailed British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah say they have received proof of life, in the form of a letter in which he says he has ended his water strike after six days but will continue his hunger strike.

“I’m sure you’re really worried about me,” Abd el-Fattah wrote to his mother, in a cautiously worded letter as his communications are heavily monitored by the Egyptian authorities.

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Climate protesters in Lisbon storm building and urge minister to resign

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Portuguese economy minister António Costa e Silva was giving a speech when demonstrators got on to the premises

Hundreds of protesters angry about the climate crisis took to the streets of Lisbon on Saturday, with dozens storming a building where Portugal’s economy minister, António Costa e Silva, was speaking, demanding that the former oil executive resign.

Holding banners and chanting slogans, protesters demanded climate action. As some demonstrators broke into the building, those outside shouted: “Out Costa e Silva!”

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Germans ‘disgusted’ by Iran protest crackdown, says chancellor

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Olaf Scholz says responsibility for violence lies solely with regime and pledges new sanctions

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has strongly criticised the Iranian government for its brutal crackdown on protests and said Germany stood “shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people”.

Scholz said the protests sparked by the death on 16 September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her detention by Iran’s morality police were no longer “merely a question of dress codes” but had evolved into a fight for freedom and justice.

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Thousands of Iranians protest in south-east to mark ‘Bloody Friday’

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Video apparently shows crowds marching in Zahedan to condemn 30 September massacre of activists

Thousands of Iranians protested in the restive south-east to mark a 30 September crackdown by security forces known as “Bloody Friday” as the country’s rulers faced persistent nationwide unrest.

Amnesty International said security forces unlawfully killed at least 66 people in September after firing at protesters in Zahedan, capital of flashpoint Sistan and Baluchistan province. Authorities said dissidents had provoked the clashes.

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Rapper who protested over death of Mahsa Amini faces execution in Iran

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UN calls for international action as regime announces public trials for protesters and Iranian lawmakers seek harsh punishment

Three weeks after he was violently arrested at his home by Iran’s security forces, Saman Yasin, a young Kurdish artist and rapper, is facing execution. He has been charged with waging war against God after posting his support for anti-regime protesters on social media.

His fate, which will be decided in the coming days by the Iranian courts, could be shared by thousands of other young protesters being held in detention as human rights organisations warn that the regime may unleash a bloody campaign of revenge in an attempt to quash continuing protests.

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Apple limits AirDrop on iPhones in China after filesharing feature was used by protesters

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The AirDrop function was being used to anonymously share digital leaflets with strangers, but has now been restricted on iPhones in China

Apple has limited filesharing features on iPhones in China, a month after reports that anti-government protesters were using the function to share digital leaflets with strangers.

Under the update to the AirDrop function released on Thursday, iPhone users in China can only opt in to receive files from non contacts during a 10-minute window before it automatically shuts off. The feature did not previously have a time limit.

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Prominent Iranian actor removes mandatory headscarf in defiant protest

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Taraneh Alidoosti posted image on her Instagram account in support of protests sweeping the country

One of Iran’s most prominent actors posted an image of herself on social media on Wednesday without the headscarf mandatory for women in the Islamic republic.

Taraneh Alidoosti’s apparent act of defiance comes as weeks of protests have rocked the country since the death of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman died in mid-September after being arrested by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly flouting the country’s strict dress rules for women.

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Bao Tong, former top aide of Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang, dies at 90

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Senior Communist party official jailed over Tiananmen democracy movement became one of party’s most vociferous critics

Bao Tong, the most senior Chinese Communist party official jailed over the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, has died four days after his 90th birthday.

The former top aide of the reformist leader Zhao Ziyang, a sympathiser of the student-led movement that was crushed by the military in 1989, died early on Wednesday morning in Beijing, his son Bao Pu said in a brief Twitter post.

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Hundreds of protesters call for closure of Manston asylum centre in Kent

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Demonstrators gather outside facility at centre of political row over conditions and dangerous overcrowding

Hundreds of people have held a protest in the rain outside Manston detention centre in Kent to demand its closure.

Demonstrators from Action Against Detention and Deportation chanted and banged metal pots outside the site in Thanet, which has been at the centre of a political row after it became dangerously overcrowded.

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Fresh protests erupt in Iran’s universities and Kurdish region

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Movement against country’s regime sparked by Mahsa Amini’s death keeps going in face of crackdown

New protests erupted in Iran on Sunday at universities and in the largely Kurdish northwest, keeping a seven-week anti-regime movement going even in the face of a fierce crackdown.

The protests, triggered in mid-September by the death of Mahsa Amini after she was arrested for allegedly breaching strict dress rules for women, have evolved into the biggest challenge for the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution.

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Thousands expected to attend London rally to demand general election

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Protest by People’s Assembly campaign group will also call for action on the cost of living crisis

Thousands of people are expected to hold a demonstration in London on Saturday, demanding an immediate general election, as well as action to combat the worsening cost of living crisis.

Trade unions and community organisations will take part in the protest, which will include a march around parliament, said its organisers, the People’s Assembly campaign group.

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Dozens arrested as Iranian security forces attack university campuses

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Detained students could face death penalty, human rights groups report, with at least 277 people killed as protests enter eighth week

Iran’s security forces have launched a series of attacks on university students at campuses across the country with dozens of students being arrested, according to the Students’ Union of Iran.

According to student organisations and human rights groups, the attacks on universities intensified this week as young people gathered to mark 40 days since Mahsa Amini died in the custody of Iran’s morality police in September. The death of the 22-year-old woman sparked eight weeks of nationwide protests against the regime. The highly symbolic 40th day traditionally marks the end of mourning.

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Hong Kong exiles in UK unnerved by ‘weak’ response to beating of protester

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Activists fear for their safety after limited UK riposte to assault on demonstrator outside Chinese consulate

Hong Kong migrants who fled repression by China said they fear for their safety and are calling on the UK government to take a bolder stance after a pro-democracy protester was beaten in the grounds of a Chinese consulate two weeks ago.

The assault in Manchester drew swift condemnation from activists and politicians across the Commons as videos circulated showing a senior Chinese diplomat forcefully grabbing a pro-democracy protester’s hair before the protester was wrestled to the ground and beaten by a group of men.

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Filep Karma: West Papuan independence campaigner found dead on beach

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Friends of twice jailed human rights activist call for independent inquiry after body found in damaged wetsuit at Base G beach, Jayapura

The human rights campaigner Filep Karma – one of West Papua’s most famous former political prisoners – has been found dead on a beach in Jayapura, sparking calls for a full and independent inquiry into his death.

Twice jailed for raising the West Papuan Morning Star flag banned by Indonesia, 63-year-old Karma was one of the most prominent and influential campaigners for West Papuan independence.

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Iran to hold public trials for up to 2,000 detained in protests

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The country’s judiciary says those marching against the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini will be tried

Iran’s judiciary has announced that it will hold public trials for as many as 1,000 people detained during recent protests in Tehran alone – and more than a thousand others outside the capital – as international concern grew over Iran’s response to the protests that began with the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he was shocked by the number of innocent protesters who were being illegally and violently arrested. Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, has already announced that she is to ask the European Union to sanction the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation.

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