Category Archives: Protest

Women, life, freedom, food: chefs spread the word on Iran protests

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#CookForIran uses the country’s rich culinary tradition to highlight the fight for human rights, says organiser Layla Yarjani

When Layla Yarjani thinks of Iran, she thinks of ice-creams by the Caspian Sea and eating beef tongue sandwiches with her dad in a Tehran cafe. She remembers the warmth and community spirit: the bustle of noisy dinner parties with neighbours, everyone reaching across one another for spoonfuls of Persian stew; and afternoons playing football with the boys on her street.

She also remembers the strict rules beyond her happy bubble: the ban on her mother leaving the country without a man’s permission; being ordered to chant “death to America” at school and the day she was scolded by teachers for wearing a Disney princess backpack, because the character’s hair was not covered by a headscarf.

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Cop27 backfires for Egypt as signs of repression mar attempt to bolster image

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Harassment of climate summit delegates and holding pen for protesters mar country’s attempt to polish international reputation

An empty pen designed to contain protesters in the middle of the desert, harassment and surveillance of Cop27 delegates (including evidence that the official conference app could spy on them), food and water shortages, and widespread problems with accommodation have all served to undermine the Egyptian government’s attempts to use the climate talk to bolster its international image.

Belgian politician Séverine de Laveleye said she was briefly detained by Egyptian security forces while entering the conference centre simply for carrying badges depicting some of Egypt’s 65,000 political prisoners, including British-Egyptian democracy activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah. “It’s clear that human rights aren’t even respected at the heart of the Cop,” she said. “Sisi’s Egypt is one of repression.”

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Armed police guard Iranian TV studios in London after Tehran threats

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Persian language channel said threats to journalists had escalated in response to coverage of protests

Armed vehicles have been deployed outside the Iran International television studios in London after two of its journalists were threatened by Tehran, the channel said.

There were about seven vehicles outside the studio in Chiswick Park, west London, after “severe and credible” threats were recently made against two of the UK-based channel’s journalists, one of its spokesmen told AFP.

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Iranian protesters set fire to Ayatollah Khomeini’s ancestral home

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Social media images show what is now a museum commemorating the Islamic Republic founder ablaze as protests continue

Protesters in Iran have set on fire the ancestral home of the Islamic republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as two months of anti-regime demonstrations show no let up.

The house in the city of Khomein in the western Markazi province was shown ablaze late on Thursday with crowds of jubilant protesters marching past, according to images posted on social media, verified by AFP.

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What happened at Cop27 on day 11?

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EU agrees to loss and damage fund to help poor countries and activists interrupting proceedings lose their passes

The biggest news of the day broke on Friday morning, with the announcement that the EU would agree to a loss and damage fund to help poor countries with climate disasters.

The climate summit will run until Saturday, according to Agence France-Presse. This is not really a surprise to anyone.

Youth activists staged a Friday climate strike to mark the last formal day of negotiations. Meanwhile during the talks, Nakeeyat Dramani, a 10-year-old Ghanaian climate activist, asked delegates to “have a heart”.

Elsewhere the activists who interrupted the US president, Joe Biden, lost their summit passes, as did the Ukrainian protester who spoke out at a Russian press conference.

A surprisingly large number of gas deals were struck at the summit, with more than a dozen set up.

And Desmog crunched the numbers and found that representatives from big agriculture more than doubled at Cop27.

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Iran protests: family of boy, 9, killed in night of violence blame attack on security forces

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Kian Pirfalak was one of several people killed on Wednesday as anger over Mahsa Amini transforms into wider protest against the regime

The family of a nine-year-old boy killed on Wednesday evening by assailants on motorbikes during some of the worst violence in Iran in two months of protests have accused security forces of carrying out the attack.

Kian Pirfalak was one of seven people, including a woman and a 13-year-old child, killed by gunmen in the western city of Izeh.

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Iranian police open fire at Tehran metro station and beat women on train

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Video footage shows people running for exits and police with batons beating women in metro carriages

Iranian security forces have opened fire on people at a metro station in Tehran and beaten women who were not wearing mandatory hair coverings as protests over the death of Mahsa Amini entered a third month.

Footage shared on social media showed passengers running towards exits, with many falling and being trampled, after police opened fire on a crowded platform. Police were also filmed through train windows marching through carriages and beating women with batons.

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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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