Army signals it is prepared to crush dissent after unrest over death of Mahsa Amini in police custody
Pro-government rallies have taken place in several cities across Iran in an attempt to counter a week of mounting unrest triggered by the death of a woman in police custody.
Marchers called for anti-government protesters to be executed, while the army signalled that it was prepared to crush dissent by telling Iranians that it would confront “the enemies” behind the unrest.
Continue reading...The country faces a litany of problems, from inflation to a democratic deficit, and the women’s movement is seen as an agent of change
On the day that news of Mahsa Amini’s death spread throughout Iran, a young woman with a shaved head joined protesters who had gathered outside Kasra hospital, where Amini had lain in a coma since her violent arrest by Iran’s morality police days earlier.
In her hand she carried a plastic bag full of her long hair, shorn off in a gesture of solidarity with Amini and in defiance of the increasing crackdown on women by the regime.
Continue reading...Billboards have been hijacked across Europe to highlight role of airline emissions in climate crisis
As Kate, 23, walked out of Seven Sisters station, in Tottenham, north London, she noticed an airline advertisement attracting unusual attention.
“I was on my way back home, I was coming out of the station, and I saw two people taking pictures of the billboard,” she said. “I thought at first it was just a normal airline ad, so I just walked past. Then I did a bit of a double take.”
Continue reading...Social media platforms have also been cut off in areas of Tehran and Kurdistan as videos of dissent go viral
Iran has shut off the internet in parts of Tehran and Kurdistan and blocked access to platforms such as Instagram and WhatsApp in an attempt to curb a growing protest movement that has relied on social media to document dissent.
The protests, which were sparked on 16 September after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman in police custody, show no sign of subsiding. On Thursday, protesters torched police stations and vehicles in several cities.
Continue reading...Internet blackouts and Instagram blocks also reported amid anger after 22-year-old woman’s death in custody
Iran has sent police on to the streets in a scramble to end protests that have spread to at least 15 cities, as rights groups and local media reported up to seven people had been killed in crackdowns.
There were reports of internet blackouts in parts of the country while Instagram accounts with Iranian IP addresses were also blocked in an apparent attempt to quell growing anger.
Continue reading...Police accused of unnecessary force as president’s son shares video of detention to show Britons ‘don’t like communists either’
The Metropolitan police have been accused of using unnecessary force and handing a propaganda coup to Brazil’s far right after a peaceful demonstrator was detained and handcuffed during a protest outside the Brazilian ambassador’s London residence.
Ali Rocha, a 50-year-old Brazilian and British citizen, and her flatmate were intercepted by officers on Sunday lunchtime as they joined a protest against Brazil’s radical rightwing president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was in the UK for the Queen’s funeral.
Continue reading...Despite warnings, hundreds of people have reportedly gathered in Mahsa Amini’s home town of Saqqez for her burial
A series of protests have broken out in Iran after the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, who died in hospital on 16 September, three days after she was arrested and reportedly beaten by morality police in Tehran.
Demonstrators initially gathered outside Kasra hospital in Tehran, where Amini was being treated. Human rights groups reported that security forces deployed pepper spray against protesters and that several were arrested.
Continue reading...Groups urge action during the talks in Egypt to demand climate justice for Africa and the global south
Civil society groups around the world are calling for a global day of action on the climate catastrophe, to urge governments to cut greenhouse gas emissions and shift to a low-carbon economy.
The day of action will take place on Saturday 12 November, at the mid-point of the Cop27 UN climate talks, which run from 6 to 18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, hosted by the Egyptian government.
Continue reading...Labour leader defends right to protest but says it should not ruin people’s chance to express their private thanks
People who wish to protest against the monarchy should respect those mourning the Queen and not ruin their opportunity to express their private thanks, Keir Starmer has said.
Amid controversy over a small number of protesters being removed by police or arrested, the Labour leader told BBC Breakfast the right to protest and disagree was a British tradition, but he called for it to be done “in the spirit of respect”.
Continue reading...Goldman laureates raise concerns over Vietnam’s record on suppressing environmental protest
More than 50 Goldman environmental prize laureates from 41 countries have written to the UN human rights council as it considers admitting Vietnam as a new member.
In the letter, which comes as the council meets for its 51st session (12 September – 7 October), the prize winners raise concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record, in particular the sentencing in June of Nguy Thi Khanh, a fellow Goldman prize winner and Vietnam’s best-known environmental advocate, to two years’ imprisonment for alleged tax evasion.
Continue reading...Jailed activist-blogger may escalate six-month hunger strike as supporters say UK is failing to pressure its Cop27 partner
The British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah has warned his family he may die in prison, as he reaches six months on hunger strike in the run-up to the Cop27 climate conference in Sharm El Sheikh.
“I don’t want to upset you, but I don’t believe there’s any chance of individual salvation,” he told his mother during her visit to Wadi al-Natrun prison. He passed on a list of demands, including the release of those detained by the Egyptian security forces and thousands held without charge in pre-trial detention.
Continue reading...Around 70,000 demonstrators demand new gas deal with Russia and end to sanctions over war in Ukraine
The Czech Republic is facing an autumn of discontent after an estimated 70,000 demonstrators gathered in Prague to protest at soaring energy bills and demand an end to sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Far-right and extreme-left elements coalesced at a “Czech Republic First” rally to call for a new agreement with Moscow over gas supplies and a halt to the sending of arms to Ukraine, while urging the centre-right government of the prime minister, Petr Fiala, to resign.
Continue reading...Fights broke out after counter-protesters confronted an annual rally by Straight Pride, a group with links to the alt-right
A clash between groups opposing and supporting abortion rights broke out at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Modesto, California, on Saturday was cleared by law enforcement in tactical riot gear using pepper ball guns, police have confirmed.
The encounter, which resulted in multiple arrests, was confirmed by the Modesto police department. Video of the clash was posted on Twitter.
Continue reading...Former student leader among 29 pro-democracy activists entering same plea on subversion charges after more than a year in jail
Joshua Wong and a group of 28 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists charged under a controversial national security law have entered guilty pleas, in the largest joint prosecution in the territory in recent years.
A total of 47 defendants, aged 23 to 64, were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the sweeping national security law. They were detained in 2021 over their involvement in an unofficial primary election in 2020 that authorities said was a plot to paralyse Hong Kong’s government. At the time, the primary showed strong support for candidates willing to challenge the Beijing-backed local government.
Continue reading...New president Ranil Wickremesinghe is attempting to crush mass protests that forced out predecessor
The Sri Lankan government has been accused of a draconian crackdown on protesters who were involved in toppling Gotabaya Rajapaksa as president, with activists facing intimidation, surveillance and arbitrary arrest.
Dozens of protesters have been detained by the police in recent days as the government, led by the newly appointed president, Ranil Wickremesinghe, tried to crush the mass protest movement that forced Rajapaksa to flee the country and resign in early July.
Continue reading...Civil rights activist led 1963 protests paving the way for passing of UK Race Relations Act
The civil rights activist Roy Hackett, who was one of the lead organisers of the Bristol bus boycott, has died at the age of 93.
The 1963 campaign, which lasted four months, mobilised people across the city to stop using Bristol Omnibus Company buses because of its refusal to hire black and Asian people. At the time, a “colour bar” in Britain meant that people from minority ethnic backgrounds could legally be banned from housing, employment and public places.
Continue reading...Gregory Andrews was one of several former public servants at rally outside Parliament House calling for end to fossil fuel expansion
In 2013, Gregory Andrews was an adviser to the then environment minister Greg Hunt, working in an office that scrapped the Tim Flannery-led Climate Commission and abolished a national carbon price scheme.
Late last year he was Australia’s high commissioner in western Africa, where his job focused on helping push oil and gas developments by Australian companies.
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Continue reading...Protesters and United Nations personnel among dead after incidents that left about 50 injured
At least 15 people were killed and about 50 wounded during a second day of violent anti-United Nations protests in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern cities of Goma and Butembo, authorities have said.
The dead included demonstrators and UN personnel as UN sites were attacked by crowds.
Continue reading...Phyo Zeya Thaw met then prime minister Julia Gillard when he was brought to Australia by AusAid
Phyo Zeya Thaw hadn’t been out of jail long when he came to Australia to do a political advisers’ course 10 years ago.
The Myanmar hip-hop artist turned politician – who eventually turned hip-hop artist again – was one of four people executed by the military junta following accusations of terror acts that many considered unfounded.
Continue reading...Democracy figures, including former lawmaker in Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, executed after being accused of carrying out ‘terror acts’
Myanmar’s junta has executed four prisoners including a former politician and a veteran activist, drawing shock and revulsion at the country’s first use of capital punishment in decades.
Junta-controlled media reported on Monday that four men, including Phyo Zeya Thaw, a rapper and former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, and the prominent democracy activist Kyaw Min Yu, known as Jimmy, had been executed. They were accused of conspiring to commit terror acts and were sentenced to death in January in closed trials.
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