Category Archives: Protest

As Kyle Rittenhouse walks free, Kenosha is left to pick up the pieces

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Reactions to the verdict show a city as divided and beset by inequality as on the night of the killings in August 2020

Kyle Rittenhouse is now a free man after fatally shooting two men and wounding a third during anti-racism protests last year, but his trial has left behind a divided America – and done little to ease tensions in the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin, where the killings took place.

Rittenhouse, 18, who faced charges of homicide, was acquitted in full on the grounds of self-defence. But the jury’s decision did not calm the people outside the Kenosha county courthouse in the hours after news of the verdict rippled across the city, and the rest of the United States.

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Unrest in Portland as Kyle Rittenhouse verdict divides US

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Police declare a riot in Oregon’s largest city as observers condemn discrepancy in how law enforcement treats militia supporters and anti-racism protesters

About 200 protesters in Portland, Oregon, broke windows and threw objects at police on Friday night as reaction poured in after a jury cleared Kyle Rittenhouse over the shooting deaths of two people at an anti-racism protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year.

Sheriffs in the city declared a riot downtown after “violent, destructive behavior by a significant part of the crowd”, with reports some talked about burning down the Justice Center.

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Kyle Rittenhouse verdict declares open hunting season on progressive protesters | Cas Mudde

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Demonstrators in the US must fear not only police brutality but also rightwing vigilantes

Kyle Rittenhouse – the armed white teenager whose mother drove him from Illinois to Wisconsin to allegedly “protect” local businesses from anti-racism protesters in Kenosha, whereupon he shot and killed two people and injured another – has been acquitted of all charges. I don’t think anyone who has followed the trial even casually will be surprised by this verdict. After the various antics by the elected judge, which seemed to indicate where his sympathies lay, and the fact that the prosecution asked the jurors to consider charges lesser than murder, the writing was on the wall.

I do not want to discuss the legal particulars of the verdict. It is clear that the prosecution made many mistakes and got little to no leeway from the judge, unlike the defense team. Moreover, we know that “self-defense” – often better known as vigilantism – is legally protected and highly racialized in this country. Think of the acquittal of George Zimmerman of the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2013.

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Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty after fatally shooting two in Kenosha unrest

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Rittenhouse killed two people and injured a third at protests last year after a white officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back

A jury on Friday found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on charges related to his shooting dead two people at an anti-racism protest and injuring a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, after a tumultuous trial that gripped America.

Rittenhouse killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, when he shot them with an assault rifle as he roamed the streets of Kenosha with other armed men acting as a self-described militia during protests in August 2020, after a white police officer shot a Black man, Jacob Blake, in the back.

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Kenosha shooting: jury finds Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty – video

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A jury on Friday found Kyle Rittenhouse not guilty on charges related to his shooting dead two people at an anti-racism protest and injuring a third in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, after a tumultuous trial that gripped the US

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Modi repeals controversial laws in surprise victory for Indian farmers – video report

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Narendra Modi has announced he will repeal three contentious farm laws that prompted a year of protests and unrest in India, in one of the most significant concessions made by his government and a huge victory for India’s farmers. They had fought hard for the repeal of what the farmers called the 'black laws' that put their livelihoods at risk and gave private corporations control over the pricing of their crops

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Age no barrier to activism: how UK’s young and old built bonds in Covid

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The pandemic may have separated us, but it has created alliances too. Five diverse pairings share their stories

Unexpected friendships spanning four – and sometimes five – generations have sprung up between volunteers engaged in “crisis campaigning” during the pandemic.

Experts said the unusual bonding between those in their 60s and older, and those in their early 20s and younger, has been partly galvanised by the enforced separation of the generations during lockdown, leading the age groups to value each other in a way they had not previously.

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From the archive: BDS: how a controversial non-violent movement has transformed the Israeli-Palestinian debate – podcast

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We are raiding the Audio Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors.

This week, from 2018: Israel sees the international boycott campaign as an existential threat to the Jewish state. Palestinians regard it as their last resort. By Nathan Thrall

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Cuba braces for unrest as playwright turned activist rallies protesters

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The Communist party has banned the planned string of pro-democracy marches, saying they are an overthrow attempt

The Cuban playwright Yunior García has shot to fame over the past year, but not because of his art. The 39-year old has become the face of Archipelago, a largely online opposition group which is planning a string of pro-democracy marches across the island on Monday.

The Communist party has banned the protests – which coincide with the reopening of the country after 20 months of coronavirus lockdowns – arguing that they are a US-backed attempt to overthrow the government.

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Kyle Rittenhouse trial hangs in balance as defence requests mistrial – video report

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The murder case against Kyle Rittenhouse has been thrown into jeopardy after his lawyers requested a mistrial over what appeared to be out-of-bounds questions asked of him by the prosecution. On the seventh day of the trial, Rittenhouse took to the stand to insist he had acted in self-defence. The 18-year-old is on trial on charges of killing two men and injuring a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin last year. 

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Israeli ambassador rushed out of LSE event amid Palestine protest – video

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The Israeli ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, was rushed to her car by bodyguards after a large crowd of protesters gathered outside a London School of Economics event that she was addressing. Footage shows activists jeering and chanting: ‘Shame on you!’ as Hotovely is led away at speed with heavy police protection. The protests outside specifically targeted Hotovely, saying she had ‘advocated for settler colonialism, engaged in Islamophobic rhetoric and perpetuated anti-Palestinian racism’

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‘The time for change is now’: demonstrators around the world demand action on climate crisis

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Up to 100,000, including Kahnawake Mohawk delegates, brave Glasgow rain as 22 arrested after scientists blockade bridge

People on almost every continent were gathering for marches and rallies on Saturday to mark a Global Day for Climate Justice, halfway through the Glasgow climate change summit.

Activists in the Philippines, eight hours ahead of the UK, had already finished their rally as protesters gathered in Scotland. There were also rallies in South Korea, Indonesia, the Netherlands and France. The Belgian arm of Extinction Rebellion occupied a street in Brussels.

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Women’s rights activist shot dead in northern Afghanistan

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Frozan Safi, 29, is believed to be the first women’s rights defender to be killed since Taliban return to power

A 29-year-old activist and economics lecturer, Frozan Safi, has been shot and killed in northern Afghanistan, in what appears to be the first known death of a women’s rights defender since the Taliban swept to power almost three months ago.

Frozan Safi’s body was identified in a morgue in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif after she went missing on 20 October. “We recognised her by her clothes. Bullets had destroyed her face,” said Safi’s sister, Rita, who is a doctor.

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Eight police officers injured in clashes with protesters in Parliament Square

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Anti-establishment Million Mask March group gathered to let off fireworks and demonstrate against the government

Eight police officers have been injured after clashing with hundreds of anti-establishment protesters in Parliament Square on Bonfire Night.

Demonstrators wearing Guy Fawkes-style masks had gathered at nearby Trafalgar Square at the annual Million Mask March with some throwing fireworks at officers.

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They stayed to fight the Taliban. Now the protesters are being hunted down

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Women’s rights activists fear for their lives as Afghanistan’s new rulers infiltrate, detain, beat and torture groups of protesters

A month ago, Reshmin was busy organising protests against Taliban rule in online groups of hundreds of fellow women’s rights activists. Now the 26-year-old economics graduate must operate clandestinely, dressing in disguise and only demonstrating with a select few.

“If things continue like this, there will be no future for women in Afghanistan. It’s better if the future never arrives,” says Reshmin, who spoke to the Guardian using only her first name, which means “silk” in Farsi, out of security concerns. “Each time we go out, we say farewell because we might not make it back alive.”

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Walrus leaves Arctic comfort zone for snooze on Dutch submarine

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Unclear if ‘Freya’ is conducting protest lie-in or just waylaid, though Dutch navy note her choice of ‘Walrus-class submarine’

The disruption from the climate emergency being experienced by marine wildlife reached a new high in the first week of Cop26, when a female walrus was discovered sleeping on a submarine in a naval base in North Holland.

Walruses normally live in the polar regions – several hundred miles north. This particular animal is one of at least two of the species that have been seen far from their Arctic habitat. Another wandering walrus, seen off the Scilly Islands, France, Spain and West Cork, Ireland, has since been sighted back in Icelandic waters.

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Hating Peter Tatchell review – crusading activist’s greatest hits

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Ian McKellen, Stephen Fry and the former archbishop of Canterbury appear in a chummy documentary recounting the gay rights activist’s most outrageous stunts and impressive achievements

“My doctors have said very clearly: ‘No more head injuries.’” So says Peter Tatchell, one of the world’s most tenacious, divisive and necessary activists, as he prepares to fly to Moscow in 2018 to protest against state-sanctioned homophobia. The trip, which returns him to the city where he was beaten and arrested in 2007, forms one of the few present-tense sections of this greatest hits-style documentary. Tatchell has sustained numerous injuries from his lifetime of protest, though claims of memory loss are comically undermined during a kid-gloves interview with Ian McKellen. “Fifty two years of civil disobedience, Peter!” gasps the actor admiringly. “Fifty three now,” Tatchell replies, unable to resist the lure of being right.

As of this year, it’s 54. Tatchell was already an activist when he moved from Melbourne to London in 1971 at the age of 19. Among other achievements, he went on to stage the first gay rights protest in a communist country (East Germany, 1973), co-found the gay pressure group OutRage!, and attempt citizen’s arrests of Robert Mugabe (London, 1999 and Brussels, 2001). The former MP Chris Smith correctly identifies those run-ins with the Zimbabwean dictator as turning points which softened public hostility toward Tatchell.

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Two killed as bullets and teargas used against Sudan protesters – video

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At least two protesters were killed as hundreds of thousands marched against the military coup in Sudan. The fatalities were reported by Sudan’s Doctors Committee after the security forces fired bullets and teargas  outside the parliament building in Omdurman. The protests came almost a week after the military detained Sudan’s civilian leadership, dissolved the government and declared a state of emergency, drawing a chorus of international condemnation

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Sudan democracy march: three protesters killed as security forces open fire

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Pro-coup forces reportedly use live ammunition and teargas in Khartoum and Omdurman

Sudanese security forces have opened fire on massive demonstrations across the country against last week’s military coup, killing at least three protesters and injuring many more.

According to reports on social media and claims by Sudanese pro-democracy organisations, pro-coup security forces have used live ammunition and teargas in several locations in Khartoum and its twin city Omdurman as well as in the city of Nyala.

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Turkey threatens to eject 10 western diplomats over support for activist

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President Erdoğan says ambassadors from US, Europe and elsewhere are not welcome after call for freeing of Osman Kavala

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has said he has ordered the foreign ministry to declare 10 ambassadors from western countries persona non grata for calling for the release of philanthropist Osman Kavala.

Kavala has been in prison for four years, charged with financing nationwide protests in 2013 and with involvement in a failed coup in 2016. He denies the charges.

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