A least 100 people gathered in front of the Idaho state capitol on Saturday to burn masks, in a protest against measures to limit infections and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Continue reading...Three professors at the University of South Alabama have been placed on leave over racially insensitive Halloween photos, the university said.
Related: Rochester police officer off streets after pepper-spraying woman with toddler
Continue reading...Christine Schraner Burgener says UN must put junta ‘on notice’ and stand with people of Myanmar
Myanmar security forces used teargas and stun grenades to break up protests in Yangon on Saturday as a meeting of the UN security council was urged to take action to stop the killing of civilians.
Myanmar has been plunged into turmoil since the military overthrew and detained the country’s elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February, with daily protests against the coup and strikes that have choked business and paralysed administration.
Continue reading...Myanmar’s security forces opened fire on peaceful anti-coup protesters in several towns and cities, in the worst week of violence since the military coup last month.
At least 38 people were killed in one day, sparking international outrage
Wai Yan Phyo Mo is one of the leaders of the protest movement in Myanmar who have taken to the streets to oppose the military coup which removed the ruling NLD party from power. The coup has exploded simmering resentments across the country about low standards of living and discrimination against ethnic groups. Against a backdrop of military forces threatening protesters with worsening violence, Wai Yan pledges that civil disobedience will mean the end of the regime, and we follow him on the streets and in his safe house
Continue reading...Videos posted to Chinese-owned site show men in military gear threatening to kill protesters
TikTok has been urged to take action over a flood of videos shared in Myanmar that feature men in military uniform threatening to kill anti-coup protesters, at times while brandishing weapons.
Myanmar’s police and army have been widely condemned for using lethal force against peaceful protesters who have held mass rallies over recent weeks calling for the return of democracy. More than 20 people have been killed since the military seized power on 1 February.
Continue reading...Rally in Kale turns violent and stun grenades deployed in Yangon
Three people have been critically injured after security forces fired live rounds at anti-coup protesters in north-western Myanmar, medics said, as a regional meeting of south-east Asian countries failed to find a breakthrough to the political crisis.
Police also fired stun grenades and rubber bullets on Tuesday to disperse protesters in the city of Yangon, according to witnesses, as demonstrations continued over the military’s removal of Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government a month ago.
Continue reading...Clashes between police and protesters in Myanmar are continuing despite a crackdown by the authorities. Officers were filmed using stun grenades and water cannon on demonstrators in Yangon and Kale. Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to hold a conference call with a Myanmar military official to ask them to resolve the demonstrations peacefully. The military overthrew Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government on 1 February. Since then, 21 people have been killed and more than 1,100 arrested
The rapper’s arrest shows Spain has a problem with freedom of ideology. But people shouldn’t be scared to write songs that stand up to power
The arrest of Pablo Hasél this month, a Spanish rapper – like me – who is accused of glorifying terrorism and insulting the monarchy in his lyrics, didn’t surprise me. When I was 18, I wrote a song about the Spanish king, the police arrested me and I was sentenced to three and a half years in jail. The day they came to take me to prison, I fled to Belgium and have been here ever since, despite the best efforts of Spain to have me extradited. It seemed like a joke – almost four years in jail for a song. But it wasn’t: there are 18 rappers in Spain facing jail for similar charges.
Related: Angry words: rapper's jailing exposes Spain's free speech faultlines
Continue reading...The artists have responded to the pandemic with comic, haunting works showing themselves being buffeted around a chaotic London. They talk about lines of coffins, illegal raves and ‘shameful’ statue-toppling
As they call themselves living sculptures, I can’t resist asking Gilbert and George what they think of all the statue-toppling that took place last year. When I ask for their verdict on the removal of public works that have been accused of celebrating slavery and colonialism, they are sceptical.
“We would call that shameful behaviour,” says George. “And it’s very odd – because normally those statues are totally invisible. Nobody ever looks at them. I remember, very near my home town, there’s a statue of Redvers Buller, the hero of the Boer war, surrounded by dying Zulus and things. And if you asked people in Exeter, ‘Where’s Buller’s statue?’, none of them knew. It’s a bit silly. Rewriting history is very silly.”
Continue reading...A woman has reportedly been shot and killed as police in Myanmar escalated a violent crackdown on anti-coup protesters, firing teargas and rubber bullets and detaining dozens of people. Protesters who attempted to gather for peaceful rallies on Saturday were met with an aggressive response by security forces in the two biggest cities, Yangon and Mandalay, and in the central town of Monywa, where a woman was shot dead, according to local media reports.
Continue reading...One woman reportedly shot dead as Kyaw Moe Tun says strongest possible action needed to end military coup
Police have cracked down on protesters in Myanmar to prevent opponents of military rule gathering and one woman has been killed, media reported, hours after the country’s ambassador to the United Nations pleaded for international action to restore democracy.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since the army seized power and detained elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi and much of her party leadership, alleging fraud in a November election her party won in a landslide.
Continue reading...For a generation used to freedoms that have come with democracy, going back to military rule is unthinkable
In the searing afternoon sun, Myo, 21, stood in front of a police barricade near Yangon’s Sule Pagoda – one of just a handful of protesters to gather at the rallying point on Wednesday. He stood alone, a towel wrapped around his neck to soak up the sweat, and held a sign that read “humanity” in front of the officers.
“The military took away my future,” said the digital artist. “My work can no longer pay me. This country had barely started trying to develop and now it’s 2021. I don’t know what made them think they should stage a coup.”
Continue reading...Police officers shot into a crowd of pro-democracy protesters in Yangon's Tamwe township in Myanmar, as thousands continued to rally against the military coup across the country.
Hundreds of people took part in the first pro-military demonstration in Yangon on Thursday, with the crowd a fraction of the size of anti-coup protests
Continue reading...Protesters compare date – 22.2.2021 – to 8 August 1988, when military cracked down on pro-democracy rallies
Protesters across Myanmar have held a general strike, taking to the streets across the country and shutting many businesses, in one of the largest nationwide shows of opposition to the military since it seized power three weeks ago.
Crowds assembled in Yangon, Naypyidaw, Mandalay and elsewhere on Monday, despite an apparent threat from the junta that it would again use deadly violence against demonstrators.
Continue reading...Free speech protests have continued since the jailing of musician Pablo Hasél last week for exalting terrorism in his lyrics
Continue reading...Police and demonstrators in Barcelona clashed for a fifth night on Saturday, with thousands taking to the streets across Spain to protest against the jailing of a controversial rapper for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his music and on Twitter.
Angry demonstrations first erupted on Tuesday after police detained Pablo Hasél, 32, and took him to jail to start serving a nine-month sentence in a highly contentious free speech case
Continue reading...Police and demonstrators clashed again in Barcelona during demonstrations over the jailing of Pablo Hasél
Police and demonstrators in Barcelona clashed for a fifth night on Saturday, with thousands taking to the streets across Spain to protest against the jailing of a controversial rapper for glorifying terrorism and insulting royalty in his music and on Twitter.
Angry demonstrations first erupted on Tuesday after police detained Pablo Hasél, 32, and took him to jail to start serving a nine-month sentence in a highly contentious free speech case.
Continue reading...There was a rescue campaign on Twitter, but the women taken from a Nigerian school were saved by their strength and diplomacy
The resistance began three months after the young women were taken from their school dormitory by Islamist militants and hidden in the depths of a forest. It would end in direct confrontation and disobedience, and an unlikely victory which saved their lives.
But as the extremists of Boko Haram drove them through the bush to camps beyond the reach of any rescue, freedom was years away.
Continue reading...Second reported victim, a 36-year-old carpenter, was shot in the chest and died en route to hospital
At least two anti-coup protesters in Myanmar have been shot dead by riot police, emergency workers have said, amid continuing demonstrations demanding an end to military rule and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and others.
The deaths, in the country’s second-largest city Mandalay, mark the bloodiest day in more than two weeks of increasingly fraught protests as a civil disobedience movement grows.
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