Category Archives: Protest

Iranian police detain top footballers at New Year’s Eve party

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Players briefly held after raid on mixed-gender party, as elsewhere dissident Keyvan Samimi is released from prison

Iranian police briefly detained several top-tier football players in a raid on a New Year’s Eve party east of Tehran, where men and women allegedly mingled and alcohol was served in violation of an Islamic ban, according to Iranian media reports.

News of the brief arrests of the players, who were not identified, came as the release was announced of the Iranian dissident journalist Keyvan Samimi, who was jailed in December 2020 for “plotting against national security”.

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Iranian chess player ‘moving to Spain’ after competing without headscarf

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Sara Khadem and family plan to set up residence in an unnamed Spanish city, according to reports

One of Iran’s top-ranked female chess players is reportedly planning to settle in Spain after photographs emerged of her taking part in an international tournament without a headscarf.

Sara Khadem, ranked 804 in the world and 10th in her home country, was not planning to return to Iran after the tournament due to fear of reprisals, two sources told Spanish newspaper El País.

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French open suicide investigation after Iranian found dead in river

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Mohammad Moradi posted video online saying he would kill himself to highlight Iran’s crackdown on protests

French authorities are investigating as suicide the drowning of an Iranian man in the south-eastern city of Lyon who had said on social media he was going to kill himself to draw attention to the protest crackdown in Iran.

Mohammad Moradi, 38, was found in the River Rhône that flows through the centre of Lyon late on Monday, a police source told AFP.

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MP urges Britons to leave Iran after arrest of ‘British linked’ suspects

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Foreign affairs committee chair says holding of men allegedly involved in protests part of ‘industrialised taking of hostages’

All British people still in Iran should leave immediately because of the “industrialised” level of people being taken state hostage, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee has said.

Alicia Kearns made her call after the Iranian government said it had arrested seven “British linked” suspects including some dual nationals allegedly involved in the country’s anti-government protests, which began 100 days ago.

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Seven people with British links arrested in Iran over protests

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UK Foreign Office is seeking further information about detainees, who include several dual nationals

Seven people with links to Britain have been arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards over anti-government protests that have snowballed across the country in recent months, according to reports.

The people arrested, some of whom are dual nationals, were detained while trying to leave Iran, according to Reuters, citing a statement published by state media.

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Greens push for federal ‘right to protest’ law after NSW jailing of Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco

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Senator David Shoebridge hopes to ‘rebalance the scales of justice’ after states crack down on activists

A series of harsh state-based laws cracking down on climate activists could be overridden by a federal “right to protest” bill being pushed by the Greens.

After the jailing of climate activist Deanna “Violet” Coco in New South Wales this month, the party says the commonwealth has the power to overturn the series of state laws passed in recent years that experts say curtailed the right to protest in Australia.

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Escape from Iran: protesters regroup in Iraq after perilous journey

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Daily shows of dissent against repressive 43-year clerical rule continue, with exiled demonstrators asking for help from the west

In late October, Paiman, an Iranian protester from the restive city of Mahabad, lay in a hospital ward, guarded by regime officials who had gunned him down during anti-government demonstrations.

Buckshot from a shotgun blast riddled his legs and torso, and blows to his head with wooden clubs had left him dazed and in agony.

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Iranian actor Taraneh Alidoosti arrested after criticism of death penalty

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Detention of one of Iran’s most famous performers sign state wants to crack down on celebrities who challenge regime

Taraneh Alidoosti, one of Iran’s most famous actors, has been detained by security forces in Tehran days after she criticised the state’s use of the death penalty against protesters.

She had previously posted a picture of herself on her Instagram page in which she was not wearing the hijab and holding a piece of paper reading “women, life, freedom” – the slogan that has come to encapsulate the fight against the current Iranian regime.

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Iran ousted from UN body tasked with empowering women

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Twenty-nine of 54 members vote to expel country over regime’s bloody crackdown on protests calling for gender equality

Iran has been ousted from a UN body tasked with empowering women after​​​ world powers voted​ in favour of a motion submitted by the US, which said the Islamic Republic’s membership was an “ugly stain” on the group’s credibility.

Activists and rights groups have said Tehran’s role in the 45-member commission on the status of women was a farce, considering the regime’s forces have beaten and killed women peacefully calling for gender equality.

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Iran sentences 400 people to jail terms of up to 10 years over protests

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Figures from Tehran province indicate extent of clampdown on protests sparked by killing of Mahsa Amini

Courts in and around the Iranian capital have jailed 400 people on charges related to recent protests, for terms of up to 10 years.

Ali Alghasi-Mehr, the judiciary chief for Tehran province, said judges had handed down the rulings to “rioters” – a term officials use for all demonstrators who defy Iran’s hardline theocratic rule.

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Mother fears for Chinese Covid protester held for nine days

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Yang Zijing, 25, apparently detained in Guangzhou after taking part in rallies against harsh restrictions

A young protester has been held in police detention in southern China for nine days after taking part in rallies against Covid restrictions, her mother has said, expressing fear and anguish over her daughter’s safety.

China last week effectively ended its harsh zero-Covid policy, after years of economic damage and simmering public discontent that erupted in nationwide protests on a scale unseen in decades.

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Hong Kong pressures Google to remove protest anthem from searches

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Authorities want Glory to Hong Kong axed from top results and replaced with China’s national anthem

Google has refused to change its search results to display China’s national anthem, rather than a protest song, when users search for Hong Kong’s national anthem, the city’s security chief has said, expressing “great regret” at the decision.

Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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Peru president paves way for early elections after two killed in latest protests

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Dina Boluarte says she will submit bill to move elections forward by two years as thousands take to streets after ousting of predecessor Pedro Castillo

Peru’s new president, Dina Boluarte, has announced plans to move forward with general elections amid deadly protests over the ousting of her predecessor Pedro Castillo after he attempted to dissolve congress.

In a televised address early on Monday, Boluarte said she would submit a bill to bring general elections forward two years, to April 2024. But her proposal is unlikely to placate surging protests as Castillo supporters call for Peru’s widely loathed congress to be closed and early elections.

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British Museum hints at ‘complete reimagination’ and a net zero carbon future

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Chair of the museum, George Osborne, says it no longer wants to be a ‘destination for climate protest’

The future for the British Museum could be very different indeed. That was the message from the organisation’s chair George Osborne in his annual speech to Trustees last month, in which he announced a “complete reimagination” of the museum, under a billion-pound masterplan that will be revealed next year.

Among the hints of potential loans of its exhibits, leading to further speculation over the Parthenon marbles, was one explicit promise on energy. “Our goal is to be a net zero carbon museum,” said Osborne, “no longer a destination for climate protest but instead an example of climate solution”.

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At least a dozen climate activists face jail time under NSW laws used to lock up Violet Coco

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Exclusive: A string of protesters linked to Blockade Australia have been charged under the legislation

More than a dozen climate activists are facing possible jail time over protests in Sydney’s CBD this year after being charged under the same controversial laws that led to Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco being handed a 15-month prison sentence.

Court documents seen by the Guardian show a string of activists linked to climate group Blockade Australia have been charged under the laws, which introduced a two-year jail sentence for protests that block major roads, bridges or tunnels in New South Wales.

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Two Bangladeshi opposition leaders arrested in government crackdown

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Seven killed and thousands arrested as Hasina regime continues repressive campaign against opponents

Two top leaders of Bangladesh’s main opposition party have been arrested amid a violent crackdown on government opponents during which at least seven people have been shot dead and thousands arrested.

Over recent weeks, Sheikh Hasina’s government has launched a repressive campaign against the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP), which has been holding rallies calling for her resignation.

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Iran carries out first known execution over anti-government protests

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Uncle of Mohsen Shekari, who was convicted of ‘waging war against God’, says family have not been told location of body

Iran has conducted the first known execution in relation to the anti-government protests that have rocked the country, hanging a man who was found guilty by a revolutionary court of “waging war against God”.

Mohsen Shekari was accused of blocking a street and wounding a member of the pro-regime Basij militia on 25 September, during the early phase of the protests triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

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Iranian forces shooting at faces and genitals of female protesters, medics say

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Exclusive: Men and women coming in with shotgun wounds to different parts of bodies, doctors say

Iranian security forces are targeting women at anti-regime protests with shotgun fire to their faces, breasts and genitals, according to interviews with medics across the country.

Doctors and nurses – treating demonstrators in secret to avoid arrest – said they first observed the practice after noticing that women often arrived with different wounds to men, who more commonly had shotgun pellets in their legs, buttocks and backs.

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Romany leaders appeal for calm after second day of protest violence in Greece

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Outrage continues over police shooting of teenage boy, with clashes erupting in major urban centres

Romany leaders in Greece have appealed for calm following a second day of violent protests triggered by the police shooting of a teenage boy, who is in intensive care.

Outrage over the incident, which took place in Thessaloniki when the 16-year-old reportedly sped out of a petrol station without paying a €20 fuel bill, has resulted in thousands spilling on to the streets and clashes erupting in major urban centres.

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Violent protests in Greece after Romany boy shot by police

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About 1,500 people take part in protest march in Thessaloniki with teenager in critical condition

Violent protests have broken out in Greece’s second-largest city over the police shooting of a Romany teenager after he allegedly filled his vehicle at a fuel station and drove off without paying.

The 16-year-old boy was being treated at a Thessaloniki hospital where he was in critical condition. The officer who allegedly shot him in the head was arrested and suspended from duty, police in the northern city said.

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