Category Archives: Protest

Catalan independence leaders accused of ‘totalitarian attitude’

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Spain’s foreign minister says regional government excludes views of people who do not back independence

The Spanish foreign minister has accused the pro-independence Catalan government of exhibiting a “totalitarian attitude” by excluding and ignoring the 50% of Catalans who oppose breaking away from Spain.

Josep Borrell, who is himself Catalan, made the remarks a day after nine senior Catalan leaders were jailed for sedition over their roles in the failed attempt for regional independence.

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Police ban Extinction Rebellion protests from whole of London

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City-wide Met police operation begins to clear Trafalgar Square and other protest sites

Police have banned Extinction Rebellion protests from continuing anywhere in London, as they moved in almost without warning to clear protesters who remained at the movement’s camp in Trafalgar Square.

The Metropolitan police issued a revised section 14 order on Monday night that said “any assembly linked to the Extinction Rebellion ‘Autumn Uprising’ ... must now cease their protests within London (MPS and City of London Police Areas)” by 9pm.

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Q&A: Tim Wilson defends joining Hong Kong protests

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Coalition MP accused of hypocrisy for disparaging Australian Extinction Rebellion protesters

Government backbencher Tim Wilson has defended his decision to join pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong and said environmental protests in Australia have a right to operate “so long as they stick within the law”.

Wilson joined protesters in Hong Kong last week but was accused of hypocrisy because of previous comments disparaging protests in Australia.

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Hong Kong protests are at ‘life-threatening level’, say police

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Warning follows another night of violent skirmishes between police and protesters in city

Violent pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have escalated to a “life-threatening level”, police have said, after a small bomb exploded and a police officer was stabbed in clashes overnight.

Peaceful rallies descended into chaos in the Chinese-ruled city on Sunday with running skirmishes between protesters and police in shopping malls and on streets. Black-clad activists threw 20 petrol bombs at one police station, while others trashed shops and metro stations.

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Hong Kong protesters use new flashmob strategy to avoid arrest

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‘Blossom everywhere’ tactic is a reaction to politicisation of MTR subway system

Hong Kong protesters have deployed a new strategy of popping up in small groups in multiple locations across the city in an effort to avoid arrest, during their ongoing campaign against police and the local government.

Small flashmobs of protesters demonstrated across a dozen districts after a call for protesters to “blossom everywhere” on Sunday, with many staying closer to home where they could evade police on foot or by bus.

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Hong Kong protesters defy ban on masks as they clash with police

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Petrol bomb thrown at metro station and government offices vandalised as unrest continues

Thousands of protesters are continuing to defy a ban on wearing masks in Hong Kong as clashes have again taken place between demonstrators and authorities.

A petrol bomb was thrown at the gate of a metro station, and two government offices and a cafe were vandalised, although the mood on Saturday was less tense than at recent protests because police had not used teargas or shot at demonstrators.

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Haiti protesters clash with police hours after journalist shot dead

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Killing of Néhémie Joseph throws fresh fuel on crisis as protesters demand Jovenel Moïse’s resignation

Haitian protesters have clashed with police in the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince, hours after a journalist who had covered previous anti-government protests was found shot to death in his car.

The killing of Néhémie Joseph, a reporter with Radio Méga, has thrown fresh fuel on the mounting crisis in Haiti that has seen political turmoil in the impoverished Caribbean island.

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Hong Kong: arrest of 750 children during protests sparks outcry

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Hong Kong officials say a third of 2,379 protesters arrested during four months of protests are under 18

Hong Kong officials have revealed that 750 of the protesters arrested during four months of unrest are children, sparking outrage in the city, as anger continues to grow over the government’s increasingly hardline measures against demonstrators.

The semi-autonomous city’s number two official Matthew Cheung said at a press conference on Thursday it was “shocking and heartbreaking” that 750 out of the 2,379 people arrested – or nearly a third – since June were under 18, and 104 were under 16.

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The Guardian view on China and basketball: power games | Editorial

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A boycott sparked by comments on Hong Kong’s protests has highlighted how China is exporting its controls on speech by economic means

Sport is a serious business. Ping-pong diplomacy sped US detente with China; Richard Nixon followed the path of American table tennis players. Now some joke that basketball could yet spell the end for bilateral relations, as Beijing seeks to punish the NBA over comments on the protests in Hong Kong and US politicians hit back at the league’s attempts to appease.

China’s use of economic power for political purposes has rarely been quite so visible. It began when the general manager of the Houston Rockets sent a tweet including the words “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong” – where authorities are cracking down harder than ever on the four-month anti-government movement and violence is growing. The team’s Chinese sponsors and partners cut ties. Matters soon spiralled.

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‘We’re going to fight until he leaves’: Ecuador protests call for Moreno to quit – video

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Protesters in Ecuador are continuing to demand president Lenín Moreno step down with violent clashes continuing for a second week. Demonstrators attempted to storm the presidential palace in Quito while a counter protest in Guayaquil called for an end to the violence

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Ecuador paralyzed by national strike as Moreno refuses to step down

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Security forces fired teargas to break up hundreds of protesters marching in Quito against president’s austerity measures

Ecuador has been paralyzed by a national strike as the president, Lenín Moreno, refused to step down or overturn austerity measures that have triggered the worst unrest in a decade.

Streets were empty of traffic and businesses were closed from early in Quito and other cities during the shutdown, in Latin America’s latest flare-up over unpopular structural reforms.

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Violent protests in Ecuador force government to move – video

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Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, has moved his government from the capital in Quito to the port city of Guayaquil amid violent protests over the end of fuel subsidies. Images from Quito showed protesters hurling petrol bombs and stones as well as setting up barricades with burning tyres and branches. There have also been clashes with police since the unrest erupted last week. 

The president faces anger from indigenous groups and others who blocked some roads including a main highway into the capital

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Extinction Rebellion: Johnson calls climate crisis activists ‘uncooperative crusties’

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PM hits out at protesters for ‘littering’ London with ‘heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs’

The prime minister has attacked the Extinction Rebellion activists protesting in London over the climate crisis, dismissing them as “uncooperative crusties” who should stop blocking the streets of the capital with their “heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs”.

Boris Johnson made the remarks at the launch of the final volume of a biography of Margaret Thatcher written by his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore.

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Hong Kong protesters defy face mask ban – video

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Demonstrators in Hong Kong wore face masks on Sunday in defiance of a new law imposed after the government invoked colonial-era emergency powers. Protesters, who could face a year in prison for hiding their faces, threw teargas canisters back at police as tens of thousands marched through central Hong Kong

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Peaceful protesters form human chains after mask ban in Hong Kong – video

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Protesters in Hong Kong took part in a peaceful demonstration on Saturday after the government’s emergency measures and ban on wearing face masks during public rallies caused clashes on Friday

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Hong Kong protesters attack metro stations after face mask ban – video

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Thousands of people swept into the streets of Hong Kong for a night of violent protests after the government activated sweeping colonial-era powers for the first time in over half a century, using them to ban face masks. After darkness fell, crowds set fire to two metro stations and vandalised shops and businesses considered pro-China, leading riot police to respond with teargas

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Iraq protests: police open fire on demonstrators as death toll rises – video

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Security forces in Iraq opened fire on protesters in Baghdad despite the prime minister's plea for calm and promise of reform. The protests, which have been fuelled by rage over poor living standards and alleged corruption, have escalated by the day since they first erupted on 1 October. 

On Friday, hundreds of people, including members of the security forces as well as demonstrators, were wounded when police opened fire on protesters. The death toll has now risen to more than 40 dead

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Ecuador declares state of emergency over violent fuel price protests – video

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Police in Quito have used teargas and horses to quell a violent protest over rising fuel prices, which triggered transport disruption nationwide. Taxi, bus and truck drivers blocked the streets during the demonstration, which was supported by indigenous groups, students and trade union members.

Ecuadorians were angered by President Lenín Moreno's decision to end subsidies for fuel after 40 years. Diesel and petrol prices are expected to more than double

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Iraqi cleric appeals for calm as forces face off with protesters

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At least 44 dead and hundreds injured after four days of anti-government demonstrations

Protesters have defied nationwide curfews in parts of Iraq, taking to the streets in increasing numbers and facing off with security forces in ever more deadly confrontations that had killed at least 44 people by Friday night.

As the country was paralysed by a fourth day of anti-government demonstrations, the country’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, issued a stark warning to both sides to end the violence “before it’s too late”.

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