Category Archives: Protest

Revealed: pro-Trump activists plotted violence ahead of Portland rallies

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Patriots Coalition members suggested political assassinations and said ‘laws will be broken, people will get hurt’, leaked chats show

Leaked chat logs show Portland-area pro-Trump activists planning and training for violence, sourcing arms and ammunition and even suggesting political assassinations ahead of a series of contentious rallies in the Oregon city, including one scheduled for this weekend.

The chats on the GroupMe app, shared with the Guardian by the antifascist group Eugene Antifa, show conversations between Oregon members of the Patriots Coalition growing more extreme as they discuss armed confrontations with leftwing Portland activists, and consume a steady diet of online disinformation about protests and wildfires.

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EU fails to agree on Belarus sanctions – video report

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Large protests against the veteran Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, continued with tens of thousands of people taking to the streets of the capital, Minsk, for the sixth weekend in a row. 

The demonstrations began when Lukashenko secured a sixth term after claiming victory in an election that has had its legitimacy called into question.

The leader of the main opposition party, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was in Brussels on Monday to push the European Union to agree on sanctions against officials accused of election-rigging in Belarus but the EU failed to reach unanimity on the decision despite not recognising Lukashenko's legitimacy.

As violent arrests of protesters continue in Belarus, anonymous hackers leaked the personal data of 1,000 police officers in retaliation.

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Children urged to strike against lack of action on climate emergency

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Schoolchildren to protest on Friday in first such action since coronavirus pandemic struck

Schoolchildren around the world are being urged to go on strike to protest against a lack of action on the climate crisis.

Children and their supporters are invited to take to the streets on Friday, if it is safe to do so, or to go online with their protests “in whatever way suits you best”, according to the organisers.

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Hundreds of women detained during Belarus protest march

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Protesters dragged into police vans at rally to demand removal of Alexander Lukashenko

Riot police detained hundreds of women as opposition protesters marched through the Belarusian capital, Minsk, demanding an end to President Alexander Lukashenko’s rule.

About 2,000 women took part in the “Sparkly March”, wearing shiny accessories and carrying the red-and-white flags of the protest movement.

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Thousands gather in Thailand for anti-government protest

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Protesters in Bangkok call for new constitution and elections, and criticise monarchy

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Bangkok for a major rally on Saturday, demanding the resignation of Thailand’s prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, and reforms to the monarchy – an institution until recently considered beyond direct public criticism.

A grassroots pro-democracy movement led by students has swept across the country, upending decades of convention within months. Protesters have called for a range of democratic reforms, with some groups, including the organisers of Saturday’s rally, demanding the king’s powers and budget be curbed.

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Belarus could bring down ‘another iron curtain’ across Europe

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UN investigator warns of ‘catastrophic’ stiuation with more than 10,000 protesters ‘abusively arrested’

A United Nations investigator has warned of the danger of “another iron curtain” falling across Europe during an ill-tempered debate in Geneva on alleged human rights violations in Belarus.

“Let’s not allow another iron curtain to descend on the European continent,” Anaïs Marin, the UN’s special rapporteur on Belarus, said, in an urgent session of the body’s 47-member human rights council that also heard from the Belarus opposition leader, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

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Women tear balaclavas off security officers amid mass arrests in Belarus – video

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Protesters, mainly women, tore balaclavas off police and security officers during demonstrations in Belarus in which dozens of people were arrested.

With riot police given carte blanche by president Alexander Lukashenko to harass and assault peaceful protesters, in recent days demonstrators have responded by grabbing their masks and balaclavas, forcing officers to hide their faces and retreat for fear of being identified.

Thousands gathered in the capital, Minsk, on Saturday 12 September as waves of protests continued following Alexander Lukashenko's claim of victory in an election on 9 August people say was rigged

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‘The only way to stop violence’: why protesters are unmasking Belarus police

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Pulling off balaclavas and publishing names is new tactic to stem harassment and assaults

During the past month’s uprising against Alexander Lukashenko, riot police and assorted thugs loyal to his regime have been given carte blanche by the Belarusian president to harass, assault and arrest peaceful protesters.

In recent days, however, protesters have found out that for all Lukashenko’s men’s ruthlessness and impunity, they have a vulnerable point: their faces. Grab at the mask of a policeman and he will run for cover.

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Bill Barr reportedly suggested bringing sedition charges against protesters

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Rarely used charge means a person plotted a threat that posed imminent danger to government authority

William Barr told prosecutors to explore aggressive charges against people arrested at recent demonstrations across the US, even suggesting bringing a rarely used sedition charge, reserved for those who have plotted a threat that posed imminent danger to government authority, according to multiple reports on Wednesday.

The move signals a doubling down on Barr’s aggressive approach to the protests. Barr told US attorneys from across the country during a conference call last week that they should seek to pursue federal charges against people who were arrested at demonstrations, even if state charges could also apply, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal reports that more than 200 people have been charged with federal crimes in relation to the protests, including arson, assault of federal officers and gun crimes. Dozens of the people who face charges were protesting in Portland, Oregon, where protesters held nightly demonstrations and faced violent crackdown from federal agents.

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Belarus protests continue as 100,000 join rally against Lukashenko – video

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An estimated 100,000 people took to the streets of Belarus's capital, Minsk, as protests against the president, Alexander Lukashenko, continued for the fifth weekend. The large demonstrations come as Lukashenko is set to meet with Vladimir Putin for the first time since the presidential election on 9 August. Lukashenko’s claim that he won a landslide victory triggered the growing uprising against his 26-year reign

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Belarus: dozens of peaceful female protesters thrown into vans by riot police

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Rally in Minsk against disputed re-election of Lukashenko was attended by thousands

Belarusian riot police detained several dozen women demonstrators and threw them into vans, as thousands took to the streets of the capital to protest against police violence and electoral fraud.

Before a massive protest expected on Sunday, columns of female protesters gathered in central Minsk for a peaceful women’s protest. Some beat saucepans with ladles and others chanted “Bring back our Masha”, referring to opposition leader Maria Kolesnikova by her diminutive name.

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UK move to classify Extinction Rebellion ‘organised crime group’ comes under fire

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Letter signed by 150 public figures hits back at move to scapegoat protesters

Stephen Fry, Mark Rylance and a former Archbishop of Canterbury are among 150 public figures to hit back at government moves to classify the climate protesters of Extinction Rebellion as an “organised crime group”. In a letter to be published in the Observer on Sunday, XR is described as “a group of people who are holding the powerful to account” – who should not become targets of “vitriol and anti-democratic posturing”.

It comes in response to the prime minister and home secretary’s reported move to review how the group is classified in law after it disrupted the distribution of four national newspapers, including the Sun and the Daily Mail, last Saturday.

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Can Belarus protesters topple Europe’s last dictator? – video explainer

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Thousands of Belarusians have defied beatings and arrests to demand the resignation of the country's authoritarian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, after he claimed victory in an election they say was rigged. Protesters have flooded Belarus's capital, Minsk, every week for a month to call for new, free and fair elections, as well as an end to police violence. But Lukashenko has held on with the support of the police and military. Can the protesters topple the man often called Europe's last dictator?

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Hong Kong shocked by violent police arrest of 12-year-old girl

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Child’s mother says her daughter was buying art supplies when she was tackled and pinned to the ground by police

Hong Kong police have been strongly criticised over the rough arrest of a 12-year-old girl whose family says was caught in a protest crowd while out buying art supplies.

Video widely shared across social media and in Hong Kong media showed the officers seeking to corral a group of people including the young girl, who ducked aside and tried to run away. An officer tackled her to the ground, while several others helped to pin her down.

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Hong Kong police violently arrest 12-year-old girl – video

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Hongkongers have been left shocked by the rough police arrest of a 12-year-old girl whose family says was corraled into a protest crowd while out buying art supplies.

It came amid the largest street protest seen in Hong Kong since 1 July, the first full day under the national security laws imposed by Beijing on the city, outlawing acts of sedition, secession, foreign collusion and terrorism

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Almost 300 arrests as Hong Kong protesters oppose election delay

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Police fire pepper pellets in one of largest gatherings since national security law imposed

On what was supposed to have been Hong Kong’s election day, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets on Sunday, where they encountered a heavy presence from police, who fired pepper pellets and arrested almost 300 people.

It was one of the largest gatherings of protesters since China’s implementation of a sweeping set of anti-sedition laws that a coalition of United Nations expert groups has said risks breaching multiple international laws and human rights.

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Port of Dover is brought to a standstill by far-right groups

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Flag-waving extremists and white nationalists block roads in protest over migrant Channel crossings

Just after 1pm, below the white cliffs of Dover, Nigel Marcham offered his take on one of the summer’s most potent symbols. “Take a knee for the brethren of this fucking country,” Marcham screamed into his megaphone.

Around him a ragtag collection of far-right supporters, white nationalists and neo-nazis knelt on the A20 outside Dover’s Eastern Docks. “Thanks for taking a fucking knee in the proper way,” he said, clearly delighted with his perversion of the global peaceful protest symbol adopted by millions following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

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Nearly all Black Lives Matter protests are peaceful despite Trump narrative, report finds

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In stark contrast to right-wing claims, 93% of demonstrations have involved no serious harm to people or property

The vast majority of the thousands of Black Lives Matter protests this summer have been peaceful, with more than 93% involving no serious harm to people or damage to property, according to a new report tracking political violence in the United States.

But the US government has taken a “heavy-handed approach” to the demonstrations, with authorities using force “more often than not” when they are present, the report found.

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Pro-democracy boycott of Disney’s Mulan builds online via #milkteaalliance

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Liu Yifei, who stars as Chinese heroine, has voiced support for Hong Kong police during suppression of protests

Calls to boycott Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan have been reignited ahead of its release on Friday, with Thai pro-democracy activists joining those vowing to shun the film.

Controversy over Mulan erupted last year, when its star, Liu Yifei, voiced support for police in Hong Kong, who have been accused of using excessive force against protesters.

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Anti-government protesters clash with Bulgarian police in Sofia – video

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Bulgarian protesters were confronted by riot police outside parliament in Sofia on Wednesday night in the largest demonstration in two months of anti-government demonstrations.

More than 60 protesters were arrested in the capital as demonstrators threw bottles, eggs and firecrackers at police cordoning off the parliament building.

The prime minister, Boiko Borisov, faces accusations of corruption as demonstrators demand the disbandment of government 

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