Embassy protesters in Iraq deal symbolic blow to US prestige

Washington humiliated as hundreds storm American compound chanting slogans in support of pro-Iranian militias

Protesters in Iraq have dealt a symbolic blow to US prestige after they stormed the American embassy compound in Baghdad, trapping diplomats inside while chanting “death to America” and slogans in support of pro-Iranian militias.

In a humiliating day for Washington, hundreds of supporters of Iraqi Shia militia, many wearing military fatigues, besieged the US compound, at one point breaching the main gate and smashing their way into several reception rooms. They lit fires, battered down doors, and threw bricks at bulletproof glass.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong braces for fresh protests during new year festivities

Official issues stark warning to protesters planning to target shopping and business districts

Hong Kong will end 2019 with multiple protests planned for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day aimed at disrupting festivities and shopping in the Asian financial hub, which has seen a rise in clashes between police and protesters since Christmas.

Events dubbed “Suck the Eve” and “Shop with You” are set for New Year’s Eve on Tuesday in areas including the party district of Lan Kwai Fong, the picturesque Victoria Harbour, and popular shopping malls, according to notices on social media.

Continue reading...

Protests, climate crisis and Ebola: a tumultuous 2019 – in pictures

Around the world people took to the streets in pro-democracy protests, while extreme weather, disease and violence wreaked havoc in some of the most vulnerable communities. But amid disaster, new grassroots leaders came to the fore, women fought to claim their rights and radical treatments for diseases were trialled

Continue reading...

2019: the year in US protests – in pictures

Tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job in Los Angeles, American women gathered for their third annual march in Washington, Iowans protested abortion bans, Texans declared Donald Trump ‘not welcome’ in El Paso and students in New York City rallied around Greta Thunberg in calling for action on climate change

Continue reading...

Macron forced to step in to defuse crisis over pension changes

French president to address 25-day strike and widespread protests in new year speech

Emmanuel Macron will be forced to speak out on France’s ongoing pensions strike in his televised new year address on Tuesday as transport stoppages look likely to continue into a fifth week, causing major disruption over the holiday period and into January.

The centrist French president, who made overhauling the country’s pensions system a key election pledge, has until now refrained from intervening personally, leaving his prime minister, Edouard Philippe, to deal with the day-to-day response to the crisis.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong police use pepper spray against people in ‘shopping protest’ – video

Police used pepper spray and batons against protesters in a village on the border with mainland China and arrested dozens of people. More than 100 protesters marched through a shopping centre in rural Sheung Shui, part of a series of demonstrations intended to disrupt business that have been taking place since Christmas Eve

Continue reading...

Brazil’s artists lead a chorus of resistance to Jair Bolsonaro

As the president completes his first year in power, his opponents are finding their voice and fighting back

Jair Bolsonaro’s presidency was still a week away when Edu Krieger penned his first critique – a ballad lamenting the rise of Brazil’s incoming leader and lampooning him over the corruption allegations that continue to haunt his family.

“It’s important for us to counterattack with our art,” said the 45-year-old singer-songwriter who has since become a specialist in musical parodies of the populist provocateur.

Continue reading...

Reasons to be fearful – the international news review of 2019

This year world leaders struggled to manage the fallout from the erratic tenant in the White House – as China flexed its imperial muscles. We look back at the events that created the most turbulence

Click here for 2019’s reasons to be cheerful

A year of high anxiety was rendered more alarming by intensifying clashes of interest between world powers. As international cooperation declined, and nationalist agendas gathered strength, China, the US, Russia and Europe, and their respective allies, emulators and proxies, engaged in often dangerous competition.

The Chinese communist regime’s increasingly assertive behaviour at home and abroad, reflecting the authoritarian outlook of its paramount leader-for-life, Xi Jinping, produced head-on collisions with western countries, notably over Hong Kong, trade, technology and the repression of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang.

Continue reading...

Lebanon heads for meltdown as protesters keep returning to streets

Power of the street has run headlong into a system invested in entrenched graft and incompetence

In mid-December, a month and a half into protests that have crippled Lebanon and placed its political class in the dock, a priest caused a stir by telling his congregation to start stockpiling food.

The coming three years would be difficult, the cleric in the southern city of Sidon said. Citing the country’s Maronite Patriarch, he advised people to plant their own wheat. “His Holiness says the crisis will last for years, and famine is approaching.”

Continue reading...

Violent clashes in Hong Kong on Christmas Eve – video

Police clashed violently with pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong after they stormed Harbour City mall in Tsim Sha Tsui on Christmas Eve.

Batons and pepper spray were used against thousands of demonstrators inside the shopping centre and on the streets as people inside the malls threw umbrellas and other objects at police.

Continue reading...

Hong Kong police fire teargas to disperse Christmas Eve protests

Hundreds of officers guard main roads as thousands of shoppers and tourists look on

Hong Kong riot police fired rounds of teargas at thousands of anti-government protesters, many wearing masks and reindeer horns, after scuffles in shopping centres and a tourist district on Christmas Eve.

Demonstrators inside the malls threw umbrellas and other objects at police who responded by beating some with batons; one pointed his gun at the crowd, but did not fire.

Continue reading...

Striking rail workers clash with riot police at Gare de Lyon in Paris – video

Striking French rail workers have clashed with riot police in Paris after holding a demonstration against pension changes despite Emmanuel Macron’s call for a Christmas truce. Hundreds of trade unionists and protesters gathered outside Gare de Lyon on Monday morning. The nationwide transport strikes have dragged on for a 19th day, causing what the state rail operator SNCF has described as 'ongoing severe disruption' to services

Continue reading...

Gandhi’s great-grandson joins wave of protest at law isolating India’s Muslims

As the new Citizenship Act risks defining Muslims as ‘infiltrators’, Tushar Arun Gandhi lends support to the backlash

Last week 25,000 protesters gathered in Mewat, in the Indian state of Haryana, to begin the historic five-mile walk to Ghasera village. It was here, 72 years ago, that Mahatma Gandhi made the same journey during the turmoil of partition, visiting the area with the promise of a dignified life for local Muslims.

While millions have retraced Gandhi’s steps before, this time felt different. Against the backdrop of a new Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) passed by the Indian parliament last week, which many believe is openly discriminatory against Muslims and relegates them to second-class citizens, honouring Gandhi’s words of religious harmony and reconciliation felt like a powerful political statement. “Mewat has witnessed many protests, but this is the biggest in our life,” resident Shahzad Khan told local media.

Continue reading...

India citizenship law: Modi meets ministers as protests continue

At least 14 killed in clashes between police and protesters since law passed on 10 days ago

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, met his council of ministers on Saturday to discuss security measures to end violent protests against a citizenship law, in one of the biggest crises his Hindu nationalist government has faced.

At least 14 people have been killed in clashes between police and protesters since parliament passed the law on 11 December. Critics saying it discriminates against Muslims and undermines India’s secular constitution.

Continue reading...

Proposal for new prime minister fails to quell protests in Lebanon

Hassan Diab could be in post at weekend despite unpopularity with those demanding change

Lebanon’s head of state has named a new prime minister in an effort to break a political deadlock that has paralysed the country and left it unable to deal with a dire financial crisis that threatens to sink its economy within weeks.

However, the designation of Hassan Diab, a former minister and university professor, failed to spark enthusiasm, exposing yet again the depths of divisions across the fractured political spectrum and among a public that has little faith in the stewardship of its leaders.

Continue reading...

India citizenship law: protesters across country defy ban

Government orders ban on mobile internet as violence escalates

Turmoil has continued to escalate across India over a controversial citizenship law that is seen as discriminatory against Muslims, as tens of thousands defied bans on public assembly to take to the streets, the largest internet shutdown yet was imposed and three more people were killed.

Attempts by the authorities to clamp down on the demonstrations by banning large gatherings in areas across the country proved futile, as protesters gathered in their thousands in Delhi, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bangalore and many other big cities.

Continue reading...

China cuts ‘freedom of thought’ from top university charters

Inclusion of pledge to follow Communist party leadership sparks rare defiance at Fudan

Changes to the charter of one of China’s top universities, including dropping the phrase “freedom of thought” and the inclusion of a pledge to follow the Communist party’s leadership, has sparked fierce debate and a rare act of student defiance.

The changes to the charter of Fudan University in Shanghai, considered one of China’s more liberal institutions, emerged on Tuesday when the education ministry said it had approved the revisions for three universities.

Continue reading...

Violence in Paris amid nationwide pension reform protests

As prelude to day of action, power to thousands of homes deliberately cut by workers

Police fired teargas and charged at demonstrators in central Paris as hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country staged a show of force against the government’s controversial pension reform plans.

The violence erupted at Place de la Nation, one of Paris’s biggest squares, as riot police attempted to disperse protesters. Police said they had charged after coming under a hail of paving stones and missiles. There were 27 arrests by late afternoon.

Continue reading...

Police storm Indian university campus in violent crackdown on students – video report

Students have condemned as 'barbaric' the tactics of Delhi police after they stormed a university campus to break up a peaceful protest, injuring dozens. Footage shot by students showed police firing teargas inside a library and beating people with batons. Demonstrators at the predominantly Muslim Jamia Millia Islamia University were protesting against a new law that will fast-track citizenship for migrants from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but excludes Muslims


Continue reading...

Police fire teargas inside university library during India citizenship protests – video

Indian police storm main library of New Delhi's Jamia Millia University on Sunday, firing teargas at students barricaded inside. Footage shot inside the library shows people scrambling over desks and climbing through smashed windows to escape

Continue reading...