Category Archives: Protest

Defiant protesters back in Baghdad square within an hour of slaughter

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Demonstrators grow ever more determined to force real political change in Iraq despite a bloody crackdown which left over 20 dead

The gunshots emptied protesters from Baghdad’s Khilani square in minutes, but as nearby streets filled with the crush of people running for their lives, two men stayed on, waving a vast Shia banner in defiance of the bloodshed around them.

The pair must have known they were in the gunmen’s crosshairs, and soon one of them crumpled, hit by a bullet. But their determination to continue was a powerful message to authorities and militias trying to crush Iraq’s popular uprising by force.

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Over a dozen killed in Baghdad when gunmen open fire on protesters

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Attack follows mass stabbings in Tahrir Square, a focus of the anti-government movement

At least 14 people were killed and more than 40 others wounded when gunmen in cars opened fire on a protest camp in Baghdad, sending people running for cover in nearby mosques. Three of the victims were police officers.

The attacks on Friday came a day after a string of suspicious stabbing incidents left at least 13 wounded in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the centre of Iraq’s leaderless protest movement.

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‘A rapist in your path’: Chilean protest song becomes feminist anthem – video

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A Chilean protest song about rape culture and victim shaming has become an anthem for feminists around the world.

Un Violador en Tu Camino (A Rapist in Your Path) was first performed in late November as Chile’s nationwide uprising against social inequality entered its second month.

Here's a look at how the song, and its accompanying dance moves, have spread across Latin America and the world.

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Jane Fonda on joining the climate fight: ‘It’s back to the barricades’

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The veteran actor and activist has been arrested four times after being inspired by Greta Thunberg and disgusted by Trump

Jane Fonda has unusual plans for her 82nd birthday: she wants to spend the night in jail.

The American actor and political activist – who has been protesting about inaction over the climate crisis at the US Capitol every Friday – has been arrested four times and kept overnight once. Her lawyers have helped her avoid serious charges. But she says the acts of civil disobedience have pulled her out of a depression she sunk into after Donald Trump took office.

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More than 800,000 people march against Macron as strikes grip France

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Transport workers bring country to standstill amid anger over pension changes

More than 800,000 people have marched in cities across France as railway workers, teachers and hospital staff held one of the biggest public sector strikes in decades against Emmanuel Macron’s plans to overhaul the pension system.

A nationwide transport strike brought much of France to a standstill and was expected to continue for the next few days as unions dug in, saying the president’s pension changes would force millions of people to work longer or receive lower payments.

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Colombia: thousands take to the streets in third national strike in two weeks

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Protests put more pressure on unpopular president Iván Duque, who is engaged in a ‘national dialogue’ with strike organisers

Colombians have taken to the streets for a third national strike in two weeks, piling more pressure on the unpopular rightwing president, Iván Duque, and his proposed tax reforms.

Thousands thronged the streets of Bogotá, the capital, shutting down much of the city’s historic centre, indicating that the unrest will continue while Duque engages in a “national dialogue” with strike organisers.

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Chinese riot police fire teargas and beat up protesters in Guangdong province

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Hundreds of residents in Wenlou township were protesting against construction of large crematorium

Riot police have fired teargas and beaten residents in southern China after they took to the streets to protest against a local construction project.

Hundreds of residents in Wenlou, a township in Guangdong province about 60 miles from Hong Kong, protested on Friday against plans for a large crematorium in an area officials had previously said would become an “ecological park”.

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Iraqi PM says he will resign after weeks of violent protests

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Adel Abdul-Mahdi’s move comes after call for change of leadership from top cleric

The Iraqi prime minister has announced his resignation after the country’s top Shia Muslim cleric called for lawmakers to reconsider their support for a government rocked by weeks of deadly anti-establishment unrest.

“In response to this call, and in order to facilitate it as quickly as possible, I will present to parliament a demand [to accept] my resignation from the leadership of the current government,” a statement signed by Adel Abdul-Mahdi said.

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Protesters burn down Iranian consulate in southern Iraq

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Six demonstrators killed by security forces as violence grips the country

Anti-government protesters have burned down the Iranian consulate in southern Iraq, while six protesters were killed by security forces who fired live rounds amid ongoing violence in the country.

Related: How street protests across Middle East threaten Iran’s power

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The Guardian view on Italy’s ‘Sardine’ movement: politics with panache can defeat the hard right | Editorial

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Spontaneous rallies opposing Matteo Salvini’s divisive rhetoric have captured imaginations. They offer a model that could be emulated elsewhere

For over a decade, the dominant theme in European politics has been the emergence of movements that seek to dramatise and exploit social divisions through crude and aggressive sloganeering. One of the trendsetters in this regard was the comedian Beppe Grillo, who in 2007 held an anti-establishment rally billed as “Vaffanculo Day” (Fuck-off Day). That mass protest in Bologna launched a populist wave in Italy, eventually leading to the rise of the anti-immigration politician Matteo Salvini, whose hard-right League party – currently out of government – is polling far ahead of its rivals.

Progressives have despaired at the apparent inability of centre-left politicians to find the vocabulary and imagination to challenge the divisive and often violent rhetoric of figures such as Salvini and Marine Le Pen. But help may be at hand, in the form of a burgeoning grassroots movement in Italy that takes the symbol of a fish as its inspiration. Appropriately, it began in Bologna.

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Murals of Baghdad: the art of protest – in pictures

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Protests against the Iraqi government have drawn a deadly response from security forces. With 300 lives lost in less than two months, demonstrators are now taking spray paint to concrete walls in an attempt to sketch out their vision for a brighter future. Artists, many of them young women, have transformed a tunnel leading to Tahrir Square into a revolutionary art gallery

Arabic translation by Rana Haddad

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Evo Morales ‘refused to stand in elections due to ethnic conflict fears’

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Ousted Bolivian president says he renounced his candidacy ‘in the name of peace’

Bolivia’s ousted and exiled president, Evo Morales, says he has ruled out standing in his country’s next elections to stop the existing crisis sliding into a broader civil or ethnic conflict.

He told the Guardian: “This is what I am afraid of and it is what we have to avoid, which is why I am renouncing my candidacy. In the name of peace, sacrifices have to be made and I am sacrificing my candidacy even though I have every right to it.”

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Hong Kong voters deliver landslide victory for pro-democracy campaigners

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Carrie Lam says she will respect vote in which pro-democracy politicians are set to win control of 17 out of 18 councils

Hong Kong’s voters have turned out in record numbers to deliver a landslide for pro-democracy campaigners in local elections, handing them control of almost every one of the region’s 18 councils for the first time.

The results are a powerful rebuke to the government in a vote that was widely seen as a proxy referendum on the city’s protest movement.

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Harvard and Yale students disrupt football game for fossil fuel protest

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Students began campaigning in 2012 for both universities to stop investing in oil and gas companies that contribute to climate crisis

Students and alumni from Harvard and Yale disrupted the annual football game between the two elite universities on Saturday, occupying the field in New Haven, Connecticut, at half-time and demanding the colleges divest from investment in fossil fuels.

More than 200 protesters stalled the high-profile game for around an hour, many chanting: “Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Fossil fuels have got to go!” The protest was briefly booed by some in a crowd of 44,989 and discussed widely on social media.

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Hong Kong university siege continues as city prepares for election

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Medics warn of humanitarian crisis as protesters trapped inside campus for sixth day

Hong Kong’s university siege stretched into a sixth day on Friday, as medics warned of a humanitarian crisis and the city prepared for weekend elections that will be a key barometer of public support for protesters.

The new police chief, who was sworn in on Tuesday after the Polytechnic University had already been sealed off, is apparently trying to avoid more violent confrontation.

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Colombia: violence erupts in Bogotá after anti-government protests – video

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Violent clashes broke out in Bogotá's storied Bolívar Square on Thursday with police using thick clouds of teargas and water cannon to disperse protesters amassed there. People fleeing the scene were visibly affected by clouds of noxious gas. Earlier in the day, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country to demand the government maintain the minimum wage for young people and the universal right to a pension, even though the authorities have repeatedly denied they are considering those changes

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‘We couldn’t hesitate’: escaping Hong Kong’s university siege

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People trapped inside campus are using increasingly desperate measures to escape

Yanny Man, 23, had no time to think about it before crawling over the ledge of a bridge, eight metres high, grabbing a rope and pushing off toward the ground below.

Behind her people shouted: “Just go, just go!” Police trying to stop them had paused from shooting teargas and were very likely to fire again.

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UN urges Iran restraint amid reports of high protester death toll

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Concerns raised over alleged use of live ammunition against petrol price demonstrators

The United Nations has urged Iran to end its shutdown of the internet and ensure its security services show restraint after the “clearly very serious” extent of casualties in protests that have swept the country in response to steep petrol price rises.

The office of the United Nations high commissioner for human rights said it was “deeply concerned” about reports of live ammunition being used against demonstrators.

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Hong Kong protesters escape through sewers in attempt to leave university – video

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Protesters in Hong Kong have been going into the  sewers to escape the Polytechnic University campus they have been occupying since last week, which police have surrounded. About 600 protesters surrendered to authorities overnight, while 200 remain inside the building, which has become the focus of the most prolonged and tense confrontation between police and protesters in more than five months of conflict in the semi-autonomous city.

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