Category Archives: Protest

‘We’ve reached a crisis’, tens of thousands protest in Chile – video report

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Tens of thousands of people have been protesting in Chile after a student protest against a 3% hike in subway fares, later scrapped, sparked nationwide uprising demanding economical and political changes.

At least 18 people have died in the violence and thousands have been arrested amid widespread outbreaks of violence and arson. Chilean president Sebastián Piñera has replaced eight ministers and announced emergency measures to quash the protests, including a small increase in the minimum wage and higher taxes on wealthy Chileans.

But such moves have not been enough to defuse the demonstrations driven by disillusionment over inequality 

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Iraqi security forces open fire on protesters in fatal clashes in Baghdad – video

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Clashes have erupted in Iraq's capital as security personnel fired live rounds and used water cannon to dispel thousands of demonstrators who defied a plea from the prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, to suspend their protests. Reuters reported that at least five people had been killed

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Hong Kong protests: Chinese state media urges tougher stance on ‘wanton violence’

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China Daily newspaper accuses protesters of being at mercy of hormones, and venting anger ‘at grievances real and imagined’

Chinese state media on Monday urged authorities to take a “tougher line” against protesters in Hong Kong who vandalised the office of the state-run Xinhua news agency and other buildings at the weekend, saying the violence damaged the city’s rule of law.

In an editorial, state-backed China Daily newspaper criticised the “wanton” attacks by “naive” demonstrators, adding: “They are doomed to fail simply because their violence will encounter the full weight of the law.”

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Iraqi PM calls on protesters to reopen roads after civil unrest

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Adil Abdul-Mahdi says ongoing protests in Baghdad have cost the country billions of dollars

Iraq’s prime minister called on anti-government protesters to reopen roads on Sunday after a month of major rallies to demand wide-ranging political change.

Adil Abdul-Mahdi called for markets, factories, schools and universities to reopen after days of protests in the capital and across the mostly Shia south. He said the threat to oil facilities and the closure of roads had cost the country billions of dollars and contributed to price increases that affected everyone.

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Brazilian ‘forest guardian’ killed by illegal loggers in ambush

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Paulo Paulino Guajajara was killed by armed loggers in the Araribóia region in Maranhão

A Brazilian indigenous land defender has been killed in an ambush by illegal loggers in an Amazon frontier region.

According to a statement by the Brazilian Indigenous Peoples Association, Paulo Paulino Guajajara was shot and killed inside the Araribóia indigenous territory in Maranhão state. Another tribesman, Laércio Guajajara, was also shot and hospitalised and a logger has been reported missing. No body has yet been recovered.

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Hong Kong protesters attack Chinese news agency offices

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Local media show broken windows, graffiti and lobby fire at official Xinhau agency

Protesters have vandalised the Hong Kong office of China’s official Xinhua news agency for the first time in months of anti-government demonstrations, smashing windows and doors.

Local media showed scenes of a fire in the lobby of Xinhua’s office in Wan Chai district, broken windows and graffiti sprayed on a wall. It was unclear if there were people in the building.

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Anti-government demonstrations in Iraq swell as protesters defy teargas – video

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Tens of thousands took to the streets of Baghdad on Friday under clouds of teargas to demand the removal of the elected government in the biggest protest movement in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. The city’s Tahrir Square was a chaotic scene of flag-waving demonstrators battling with security forces, while tuk-tuks ferried off wounded dissenters as riot police fired teargas.

Amnesty International this week accused Iraqi security chiefs of using military grade teargas – up to 10 times more powerful than that typically used for crowd control – to try to quell the unrest

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‘Fear factor is broken’: protesters demand removal of Iraqi government

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Crowds of dissenters in central Baghdad want Iranian influence banished from Iraqi politics

The biggest protest movement in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein has pressed its demand for the removal of the elected government, staring down an embattled political elite and the widespread influence of Iran.

Friday’s rallies of tens of thousands came a day after supporters of Iraq’s embattled leader, Adil Abdul Mahdi, believed they had won the backing of one of two powerful figures that threatened his premiership, a development that appeared to stabilise his position on Thursday.

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‘Bosses take note’: why GM’s strike could inspire more collective action

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More Americans engaged in work stoppages last year than since 1986 – and the successful GM strike may encourage other union leaders, experts say

The recently ended General Motors strike was part of a surprisingly large recent wave of walkouts, and by many measures, the 49,000 strikers emerged so well from their 40-day showdown with the US auto giant that the results could help inspire more worker militancy and strikes, labor analysts and experts say.

“They did pretty well,” said Kristin Dziczek, vice-president of industry, labor and economics at the Center for Automotive Research, based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “They got more money. They got a pathway to regular employment for temporary workers. They defended their healthcare” when GM was seeking to sharply increase the premiums the United Automobile Workers (UAW) members paid.

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The Guardian view on Lebanon and Chile: too little, too late for protesters | Editorial

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Mass unrest has seized both countries. The long-term causes will not be resolved quickly or easily

The events which have brought two countries to the brink were precipitated by apparently small policy shifts that proved emblematic of the ruling elite’s inability to answer or even understand their people’s basic needs while enriching themselves. Chile’s biggest political crisis since the return of democracy almost 30 years ago was triggered by a 3% rise in metro fares, the protests which have engulfed and paralysed Lebanon by a proposed tax on WhatsApp calls. But the underlying causes run far deeper, and have been building for much longer. There is deep anger at political and economic systems that have ignored most of the population.

These countries are, of course, very different. Lebanon has been staggering along for years, due to both political dysfunction and endemic corruption. The central bank governor warns that its economy – long shored up by remittances from overseas – is now days away from collapse. Recently it emerged that, before he became prime minister, Saad Hariri gave $16m to a South African model: a sum encapsulating the gulf between the lives of those at the top and the rest.

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Demonstrators killed in Iraqi holy city as protests gain momentum – video

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At least 18 people were killed and thousands injured in the holy city and pilgrimage site of Kerbala in Iraq, in one of the deadliest single attacks on protesters since anti-government demonstrations erupted earlier this month. Unidentified masked gunmen fired live rounds and teargas at protesters.

Protests that have gripped the country since 1 October were nflamed in the past week as university and high-school students joined demonstrators in Baghdad

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Masked men gun down Iraqi protesters in holy city of Karbala

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At least 18 people killed and hundreds injured as anti-government protests continue

Masked gunmen have opened fire on Iraqi protesters in the Shia holy city of Karbala, killing at least 18 people and wounding hundreds, security officials said, in one of the deadliest single attacks on protesters since anti-government demonstrations erupted earlier this month.

The attack, which happened overnight, came as Iraqis took to the streets for a fifth consecutive day, protesting against corruption, lack of services and other grievances.

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Chicago is not ‘on fire’: police chief hits back at Trump criticism – video

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Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson responded to Donald Trump's criticism after he shunned the president's speech to a national convention of police officers that was being held in the city while protests against his visit took place on the streets.

Trump said the police chief 'could learn something' from the event, but in a statement published later, Johnson said the city was leading the way on lowering crime and that he would not get 'caught up in negativity'

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Chile: protesters light bonfires and clash with police despite cabinet reshuffle

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Fresh upheaval erupts shortly after president Sebastían Piñera announces firing of hardline officials

Fresh street battles and fires have broken out in downtown Santiago just hours after Chile’s embattled president, Sebastían Piñera, fired hardline members of his cabinet in an attempt to defuse the country’s biggest political crisis since the return to democracy in 1990.

Bands of protesters lit bonfires along the central Alameda Avenue and clashed with riot police as clouds of teargas and smoke engulfed the centre of the city.

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Lebanon protesters form human chain across entire country

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Anti-government grassroots movement says it wants to foster feeling of national unity

Tens of thousands of protesters in Lebanon have attempted to form a human chain running across the entire country to symbolise newfound national unity.

Demonstrators planned to join hands from Tripoli to Tyre, a 170km (105-mile) chain running through the capital, Beirut, as part of an unprecedented cross-sectarian mobilisation.

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Anti-government protesters defy bloody crackdown in Iraq

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Hundreds refuse to leave Tahrir square in Baghdad despite further deadly clashes with security forces

Hundreds of Iraqi protesters remained in Baghdad’s central Tahrir square on Sunday, defying a bloody crackdown that killed scores and an overnight raid by security forces seeking to disperse them.

Young men had erected barricades on a bridge leading to the capital’s fortified Green Zone between them and security forces who continued to lob tear gas canisters towards them.

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Hundreds shot and beaten as Chile takes to the streets

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Doctors say they don’t have supplies to treat wounded and accuse authorities of under-reporting injuries

“The soldier was about 40m away. He looked at me and fired,” said Christopher Madrid, pointing to the patch above his right eye. “I swung away and the bullet grazed [my forehead] and came out, left a scar of four or five centimetres.”

Madrid, a 25-year-old student, was shot last Monday by Chilean army troops as he marched in a street protest near the Catholic University in central Santiago.

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Spanish police clash with thousands of Catalan protesters in Barcelona

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Police charge 10,000-strong crowd as pro-independence demonstration turns violent

Spanish police and militant elements in a thousands-strong crowd of protesters clashed in the streets of Barcelona close to police headquarters late on Saturday, as a pro-independence demonstration by a direct action group turned violent.

After a largely peaceful gathering of an estimated 350,000 pro-independence supporters jammed the centre of the city earlier in the day, a second crowd began to form around Barcelona’s police headquarters about 7.30pm. As the crowd grew to around 10,000, according to police estimates, TV footage showed protesters throwing bottles, balls and rubber bullets at officers.

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