Merseyside police says material in support of Palestine Action was reportedly seen in possession of protesters
Four people were arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences during a pro-Palestine protest in Liverpool city centre on Sunday afternoon, police said.
Merseyside police said material in support of campaign group Palestine Action was reportedly seen in the possession of a small number of protesters at the regular march for Liverpool Friends of Palestine.
Continue reading...Rallies at more than 1,500 sites nationwide planned for Thursday to protest against Trump administration
Tens of thousands of people are expected to march and rally at more than 1,500 sites across all 50 US states on Thursday to protest against the Trump administration and honor the legacy of the late congressman John Lewis, an advocate for voting rights and civil disobedience.
The “Good Trouble Lives On” day of action coincides with the fifth anniversary of Lewis’s death. Lewis was a longtime congressman from Georgia who participated in iconic civil rights actions, including the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965 when police attacked Lewis and other protesters on the Edmund Pettus Bridge.
Continue reading...Agreement between government and voluntary sector aims to reset relations after erosion of trust under Tories
The right to engage in political activity and protest peacefully is to be enshrined in a new agreement between the government and UK charities and campaigners aimed in part at ending years of damaging “culture wars”.
The agreement is intended to reset relations between government and the voluntary sector after years of mutual distrust during which Conservative ministers limited public rights to protest, froze out campaigners, and targeted “woke” charities.
Continue reading...Former leader, who is in hiding in India, indicted over deadly crackdown on anti-government protests last year
Bangladesh’s ousted leader Sheikh Hasina has been formally charged with crimes against humanity after being accused of ordering a deadly crackdown against anti-government protests last year that left more than 1,400 people dead.
Hasina, who fled the country on 5 August last year, was charged in absentia by a three-judge panel on Thursday. She remains in hiding in neighbouring India and has ignored formal requests for her to return.
Continue reading...Crowd at sold-out London gig told ‘every other chant is fine’ amid police investigation into Glastonbury performance
The frontman of Bob Vylan warned his fans to stop chanting against the Israeli military during the duo’s first UK gig since the band’s Glastonbury festival performance.
Pascal Robinson-Foster, who goes by the name Bobby Vylan, told fans at a sold-out surprise gig in London on Wednesday night they could get him in “trouble” after police launched an investigation into the group over comments he made at Glastonbury.
Continue reading...At least 10 people killed and 100 young people arrested since protests began in west African country in June
On the night last month that he and 34 other young people were arrested in the Togolese capital, Lomé, for coordinating an anti-government demonstration, Bertin Bandiangou said gendarmes beat him with ropes and slapped him. The next morning he was tortured while a commanding officer filmed proceedings.
He was lucky to get out alive: at least 10 people have been killed by security officials since protests began in June calling for the resignation of the small west African country’s president, Faure Gnassingbé.
Continue reading...William Ruto accuses protesters of terrorism and violence two days after 31 people killed in anti-government demonstrations
Kenya’s president, William Ruto, has ordered police to shoot protesters targeting businesses in the legs, in a sharp intensification of his rhetoric days after 31 people were killed in nationwide anti-government demonstrations.
“They shouldn’t kill them but they should shoot their legs so they break and they can go to hospital on their way to court,” Ruto said in the capital, Nairobi.
Continue reading...UN experts and hundreds of lawyers warn that proscribing group would conflate protest and terrorism
The home secretary is coming under increasing pressure to abandon plans to ban Palestine Action, as UN experts and hundreds of lawyers warned that proscribing the group would conflate protest and terrorism.
In two separate letters to Yvette Cooper, the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) lawyers’ group and the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers said that proscribing the group would set a dangerous precedent.
Continue reading...NSW braces for damaging winds and heavy rain from coastal low. Follow the latest updates live
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Gas market review will ‘drive efficiencies in the system’, King says
The resources minister, Madeleine King, says a review into gas market regulations will drive efficiencies into the system.
Our existing policy has made sure that that gas is available. So that’s that combination of existing policies brings in that extra 600 petajoules. So indeed, that work is already happening.
What we’re trying to do and will endeavour to do, and the industry is very supportive of, is to make that more coherent, and how we can make sure we learn from the whole system, reduce duplication in some of the regulation, some of the reporting factors, simply how we can make it work better for consumers, for industrial users, and for the Gas industry itself. And that drives efficiencies in the system, which we expect will help with pricing.
We were honest with the public from day one: the toll situation would get worse before it got better. That’s the reality of the infrastructure pipeline locked in by our predecessors.
And now, the most recent NSW Budget reflects that – with toll revenue projected to rise from $180m to $283m in the 2028–29 financial year.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Hungary has relentlessly cracked down on LGBTQ+ rights – but banning Pride proved a step too far, as European politicians joined its biggest ever crowd
Good morning. In 1997, Budapest became the first capital in central and eastern Europe to hold a Pride parade. Three decades later, the march is firmly established as Hungary’s biggest LGBTQ+ event, and, in the words of one opposition MP, “a vital expression of joy, resistance and visibility”.
On Saturday, Budapest Pride took on the illiberal ambitions of Viktor Orbán and, rainbow flags flying high under a cloudless blue sky, as many as 200,000 marchers from 30 countries – the biggest turnout ever – were there to say it won. At least, for the time being.
Welfare |Vicky Foxcroft, the Labour whip who resigned in protest against disability benefit cuts, has said Keir Starmer’s concessions do not yet go far enough to win her over, as No 10 launched a fresh attempt to stem the revolt against its welfare bill.
NHS | Britain’s health service is estimated to be spending £50m a year on the effects of poverty and deprivation. One senior NHS figure said there were “medieval” levels of illnesses among poorer communities
Glastonbury | The organisers of Glastonbury have said they are “appalled” by comments made by Bob Vylan after the punk duo appeared to incite violence, something the festival said went against its ethos of “hope, unity, peace and love”.
Environment | Wildlife activists who exposed horrific conditions at Scottish salmon farms were subjected to surveillance by private spies-for-hire, including being followed and photographed, the Guardian can reveal.
Weather | Today’s temperature in the UK is expected to rise to 34C, just short of the record for the hottest ever June day, 35.6C, recorded in Southampton in 1976.
Continue reading...Tšolo Thakeli had long campaigned on youth joblessness, but a post questioning Sam Maketane’s promises on work creation landed him in prison
It took a single video complaining about Lesotho’s unemployment rate to turn Tšolo Thakeli into the prime minister’s enemy. Within a day of posting there were armed police at his door.
It was Father’s Day, and the 31-year-old father of two was in his pyjamas when they arrived. He had no idea his post would land him in trouble; after all, he had campaigned for a long time, under different governments, for action on jobs for young people.
Continue reading...Boniface Mwangi and Agather Atuhaire vow to hold authorities accountable as repression intensifies before October elections
Two east African activists say they plan to sue Tanzania’s government for illegal detention and torture over their treatment during a visit in support of an opposition politician in May.
Boniface Mwangi, from Kenya, and Agather Atuhaire, a Ugandan, sent shock waves around the region earlier this month when they gave an emotional press conference in which they alleged they had been sexually assaulted and, in Atuhaire’s case, smeared in excrement after their detention in Dar es Salaam. “[The authorities] take you through sexual torture,” Mwangi said at the time.
Continue reading...Music executives have condemned Irish rappers and Keir Starmer says appearance is not ‘appropriate’, but 100 musicians have signed letter in support
Kneecap will be taking to the Glastonbury stage on Saturday afternoon in front of a packed crowd eagerly anticipating what could be one of the most controversial sets in the festival’s history.
The Irish rap group are performing at 4pm on the West Holts stage, amid criticism from music industry executives and from the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, who said it was not “appropriate” for the band to perform.
Continue reading...Police clashed with people marching in Nairobi and other areas to honour those killed in protests last year
At least 16 people have been killed and 400 injured in Kenya as a nationwide demonstration to honour those killed during last year’s anti-government protests turned chaotic, with police clashing with protesters in different parts of the country.
Amnesty Kenya’s executive director, Irũngũ Houghton, said the death toll had been verified by the government-funded Kenya national commission on human rights. “Most were killed by police,” he said.
Continue reading...Police say Arturo Gamboa was carrying a rifle when safety volunteer fired on him and accidentally killed bystander
A man jailed on suspicion of murder for allegedly brandishing a rifle at a “No Kings” rally in Utah before an armed safety volunteer fired and inadvertently killed a protester has been released from custody.
Local district attorney Sim Gill’s office said on Friday that it was unable to make a decision on charges against Arturo Gamboa after the 14 June shooting that killed demonstrator Arthur Folasa Ah Loo – but that the investigation into the slaying continues.
Continue reading...Home secretary plans to proscribe group that broke into Brize Norton, effectively branding it a terrorist organisation
The pro-Palestine group that broke into RAF Brize Norton sparking a major security review is expected to be banned by the government next week in a move which will anger campaigners.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, is planning to proscribe Palestine Action, effectively branding it a terrorist organisation.
Continue reading...NSW Labor’s anti-protest laws protecting places of worship have ‘chilling effect’ on democracy, Palestine Action Group barrister tells supreme court
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A protest outside a Sydney synagogue – which was the “catalyst” for the New South Wales government introducing anti-protest laws designed to curb antisemitism – was targeting an event where a member of the Israel Defense Forces was speaking, a court has been told during a constitutional challenge.
The Palestine Action Group is challenging in the NSW supreme court the Minns Labor government’s controversial laws giving police broad powers to restrict protests.
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Continue reading...Office for Students guidance urges ‘very strong’ approach to permitting lawful speech on campus
Universities in England will no longer be able to enforce blanket bans on student protests under sweeping new guidance that urges a “very strong” approach to permitting lawful speech on campus.
The detailed regulations set out for the first time how universities should deal with inflammatory disputes, such as those between the University of Cambridge and students over the war in Gaza, and rows over academics who hold controversial but legal opinions, such as the gender-critical professor Kathleen Stock.
The guidance issued by the Office for Students (OfS) will make it harder for universities to penalise students and staff for anything other than unlawful speech or harassment.
Academics should not be pressed to support particular views.
Protests should not be restricted for supporting legal viewpoints.
Students or staff should not be “encouraged to report others” for lawful speech.
Universities must “secure freedom of speech” for visiting speakers.
Continue reading...Alistair Kitchen says he was detained and questioned about views on Israel and Palestine before being deported from LA to Melbourne
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An Australian man who was detained upon arrival at Los Angeles airport and deported back to Melbourne says United States border officials told him it was due to his writing on pro-Palestine protests by university students.
Alistair Kitchen said he left Melbourne on Thursday bound for New York and was detained for 12 hours and interrogated by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials during the stopover in Los Angeles.
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Continue reading...City leaders claim days-long event will bring in riches but opponents say it will not benefit ordinary Venetians
Marta Sottoriva, a teacher in Venice, has tirelessly campaigned for various causes in her cherished lagoon city, from railing against giant cruise ships to battling soaring rents. Now she is busy preparing banners, handing out flyers and shouting through megaphones in squares as she joins dozens of activists in whipping up resistance to the “umpteenth gigantic event” she says that risks turning the world heritage site – which has long suffered from the effects of excessive tourism – into a playground for the rich.
Sottoriva is referring to the star-studded nuptials between the billionaire Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, and Lauren Sánchez, a former TV journalist. The days-long shindig, expected to begin from 24 June, will be the biggest wedding held in Venice since George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin in 2014.
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