Protesters in Hong Kong have defied a police ban to mark the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown with a vigil, as the city’s legislature passed a law criminalising the mocking of China’s national anthem. Many fear this year’s commemoration might be Hong Kong’s last, as the proposed imposition of Chinese laws on the special administrative region would prevent and punish activities that threaten national security.
Continue reading...Category Archives: Protest
‘Slide to illiberalism’: ex-general joins chorus of condemnation of Trump
John Allen warns that politicisation of the military could be the beginning of the end of ‘the American experiment’
The retired marine general who led the global coalition against Isis and commanded US forces in Afghanistan has warned that Donald Trump’s actions this week could start a US “ slide into illiberalism” and the beginning of the end of “the American experiment”.
In denouncing the president for his response to the George Floyd protests, John Allen became the latest in a string of venerable military figures to have gone public over what they describe as the threat posed by Trump to the non-political nature of the armed forces, and more broadly to US democracy.
Continue reading...Inside the George Floyd protests in New York: ‘we are not the problem’ – video
The police killing of George Floyd continues to ignite protests across the US. On 2 June, the Guardian embedded with activists as they marched through New York City to voice their outrage at Floyd's death and the systematic racism that enabled it
- Moments of hope and solidarity from the George Floyd protests – video
- Movement to defund police gains ‘unprecedented’ support across US
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Tiananmen Square witnesses remember an air of celebration, and then ‘Orwellian silence’
Student protesters and journalists in 1989 recall the joy and hope before the crackdown
It was mid-morning in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on 1 June, 1989. Someone had turned on a boombox playing 80s disco music, and people began to dance. A young couple spins in a small opening in the crowd. The woman smiles slightly, her eyes almost closed, as her partner in a loose dress shirt and blazer turns her. Around them, people are clapping.
It is a photo that captures a side of the pro-democracy movement often overshadowed by what came after – the brutal military crackdown on the evening of 3 June and morning of 4 June. There is no official death toll but activists believe hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed.
Continue reading...Hong Kong protesters hold banned Tiananmen vigil as anthem law is passed
Protesters defy police ban as legislation prohibits mockery of Chinese anthem
Thousands of people have defied a police ban in Hong Kong to mourn the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre, after the city’s legislature passed a law criminalising the mockery of China’s national anthem.
Many fear this year’s commemoration of the events of 4 June 1989 might be Hong Kong’s last, as China has approved a plan to impose national security laws on the semi-autonomous city that would prevent and punish “acts and activities” that threaten national security.
Continue reading...‘Sing his name’: thousands gather in London for George Floyd protest – video
Thousands of protesters have marched through central London in an overwhelmingly peaceful Black Lives Matter demonstration that culminated in passionate crowds gathering at the heart of Westminster.
The demonstrators, the vast majority of whom were under 30, chanted: 'No justice, no peace, no racist police', 'I can’t breathe' and 'the UK is not innocent', in a lockdown-defying demonstration that was largely organised through word of mouth and social media away from established anti-racism groups.
Continue reading...‘We built this country’: inspiring moments from the George Floyd protests – video
Cities across the US witnessed another night of protests despite widespread curfews a week after George Floyd's death. Among the violence and anger, moments of peace and hope have emerged as some police forces have shown solidarity with protesters, and anti-racism demonstrations have spread around the globe
Continue reading...George Floyd protest: halt UK riot gear sales to US police, says Labour
Tory government must act as exports are prohibited if used for internal repression, says Emily Thornberry
Labour has called on the UK to suspend the sale of riot control equipment to the United States and review whether any British-made teargas or crowd control guns were being used against demonstrators across the United States.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow international trade secretary, has written to her opposite number, Liz Truss, arguing it would “be a disgrace” if the UK supplied material that was used by US police or national guard during crisis sparked by the death in police hands of George Floyd.
In her letter the Labour MP said: “If this were any other leader, in any other country in the world, the suspension of any such exports is the least we could expect from the British government in response to their actions, and our historic alliance with the United States is no reason to shirk that responsibility now.”
‘How did we get here?’: Trump has normalised mayhem and the US is paying the price
More than 100,000 have died in a pandemic and troops are on the streets. The rate of fresh affronts has outpaced the ability to digest them
The sheer tumult of the Trump era, the unceasing torrent of events that were unthinkable even hours before, has left a nation constantly off balance, unable to find its bearing and grasp how far it has traveled.
The developments of the past 24 hours were a reminder of how slippery the downward slope has been.
Continue reading...Peaceful George Floyd protests around the US – in pictures
Protesters marched in their thousands in towns and cities across America, part of a wave of demonstrations that have followed the killing of George Floyd
Continue reading...Police marching with protesters: how some cities got it right and others didn’t
New Jersey produced some striking images as protests elsewhere descended into violence but relied on trust previously being built
When Larry Hamm, a veteran activist with People’s Organization for Progress, kicked off last weekend’s protest in Newark, New Jersey, he asked the crowd what they wanted. The majority – though not all – said they wanted a peaceful protest.
Continue reading...‘A wake-up call for the nation’: Joe Biden addresses the killing of George Floyd – video
Joe Biden has addressed the killing of George Floyd and the protests that his death has sparked. During a speech in Philadelphia, the Democratic presidential candidate said Floyd’s last words, 'I can’t breathe', were a 'wake-up call for our nation'. Biden also sought to draw a clear distinction between himself and Donald Trump, saying the US president was 'part of the problem'
Continue reading...‘Words of a dictator’: Trump’s threat to deploy military raises spectre of fascism
The president suggested the US could use troops against Americans – true to the instincts of a man surrounded by sycophants
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross,” goes an oft-quoted line of uncertain origin.
On Monday evening, Donald Trump, with four US flags behind him, threatened to send in the military against the American people, then crossed the road to pose for a photo outside a historic church while clutching an upside-down Bible.
Continue reading...In 1919, the state failed to protect black Americans. A century later, it’s still failing | Carol Anderson
There is something so wounded in American society that basic commitment to justice is not part of the operating code
In 1919, as soldiers returned from the first world war, many white Americans saw African American men in military uniforms for the first time. That sight, and the challenge it posed to the political, social, and economic order, was deeply threatening to them. Groups of armed white men hunted down and slaughtered hundreds of black Americans across the country. The wave of lynchings and race riots came to be known as the Red Summer.
The black community did its best to fight back, without protection from the state. In some cases, police actively participated in the lynchings. The US attorney general, A Mitchell Palmer, claimed that leftwing radicals were behind the uprisings – a false charge and one that further endangered African American lives. Palmer worked for President Woodrow Wilson, an ardent segregationist who screened Birth of a Nation in the White House and praised the Ku Klux Klan even as it deployed terrorism to keep blacks away from the voting booth. Wilson had been silent while whites slaughtered African Americans in East St Louis in 1917, and he did little to nothing in 1919 when they again attacked and killed black people, this time on an even more horrific and grisly scale.
Continue reading...US may take in Hongkongers ahead of China security laws, Pompeo suggests
Secretary of state says he is considering immigration option similar to move announced last week by UK
The US is considering letting people who no longer “feel comfortable” in Hong Kong move to the US, secretary of state Mike Pompeo has suggested.
The comments, made in a conversation with the American Enterprise Institute on Friday, come amid worsening relations between the two countries over China’s moves to impose national security laws on the semi-autonomous region.
Continue reading...Trump threatens to deploy military against protesters as teargas fired outside White House – live
- George Floyd’s death a homicide, county medical examiner says
- Family autopsy points to homicide by asphyxiation
- Curfew to go into effect for New York City from 11pm to 5am
- Floyd’s family calls for peaceful protests
- Pressure grows for other three officers to face charges
- Minneapolis police chief: all four officers ‘complicit’ in death
- Get a fresh perspective on America – sign up to our First Thing newsletter
Bobby Rush, an Illinois congressman and a Civil Rights era leader who co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers in 1967, responded to Trump’s Rose Garden address with this:
We are living in a police state. https://t.co/YjO8x7QZjt
The Episcopal bishop of DC told The Washington Post that she was “outraged” after the officers cleared peaceful protestors gathered near the White House with tear gas and rubber bullets, to clear the way for Donald Trump to take photos outside St. John’s Church.
The Episcopal bishop of DC – who oversees the DC church Trump just stopped at – tells the @washingtonpost she is "outraged" and that neither she nor the rector was asked or told… “that they would be clearing with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.." 1/3
"We so disassociate ourselves from the messages of this president. We hold the teachings of our sacred texts to be so so grounding to our lives and everything we do and it is about love of neighbor and sacrificial love and justice." @Mebudde Bishop Mariann Budde 3/3
Continue reading...‘Let’s do this another way’: George Floyd’s brother calls for peace – video
George Floyd’s brother implores protesters to remain peaceful, urging people to go out and vote rather than turn to violence. ‘Stop thinking our voice don't matter, and vote,’ Terrence Floyd said, visiting the site of his brother’s death. ‘If I’m not over here wilding out, if I'm not over here blowing up stuff, if I'm not over here messing up my community, then what are y'all doing?’
Continue reading...‘It’s about time we stand up’: the voices of the George Floyd protests – video
Protests calling for justice for George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, have spread across the US. Thousands have taken to the streets to express their anger at the systemic racism black people continue to face across the country. As the protests become more forceful, with fires breaking out near the White House on Sunday evening, many have been calling for a return to peaceful demonstrations
Continue reading...Hong Kong police ban Tiananmen memorial vigil, citing Covid-19
Announcement means event will not be held for first time since massacre in 1989
Hong Kong police have formally banned this week’s vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre, citing Covid-19 measures.
The move had been expected, especially after the Hong Kong government extended its ban on public gatherings in groups larger than eight, but the announcement confirms that for the first time since the Chinese military killed untold numbers of protesters on 4 June 1989, there will be no commemorative event.
Continue reading...George Floyd: fires burn near White House as US-wide protests rage – live
- Fires light up Washington DC on third night of protests
- Trump fled to bunker as protests over raged outside White House
- ‘He is a destroyer’: how the protests left Donald Trump exposed
- Rage and anguish: how the US papers have covered the protests
- Get a fresh perspective on America – sign up to our First Thing newsletter
A striking detail from tonight’s coverage has been reports that as protesters surged towards the White House on Friday night, US president Donald Trump, his wife Melania and son Barron briefly retreated to the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre – a fortified bunker-like structure beneath the residence.
The last time a US head of state was publicly known to have used the bunker was on 11 September, 2001, where senior members of the George W Bush administration spent that day after their west wing offices were evacuated. There are no other public reports of presidents needing to use the area since - the New York Times, which first reported this detail, says “it has not been used much, if at all” since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But it notes the area has since been strengthened to withstand the impact of a passenger jet.
Related: Trump fled to bunker as protests over George Floyd raged outside White House
My colleague Julian Borger in Washington DC has just filed this update on a tense evening the capital.
Multiple fires broke out near the White House late on Sunday evening, as angry protesters gathered in Washington DC for the third night in a row following the death of George Floyd.
Sunday evening’s protests in front of the White House started relatively cheerfully, with a crowd of a few thousand in Lafayette park. Earlier in the day, demonstrators had marched through the city’s downtown, chanting “George Floyd! Say his name!” and “No Justice! No Peace!”
Related: Fires light up Washington DC on third night of George Floyd protests
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