At a demonstration in Westminster, people from both sides of India-Pakistan divide call for more than mere ceasefire
People around the world held their breath this week as India and Pakistan appeared to edge closer and closer towards war.
For diaspora communities with family in the region, especially in Kashmir and along the border between the two countries, recent days in particular have been filled with fear and anxiety.
Continue reading...Ramona Sarsgaard, 18, given ticket for criminal trespassing after Wednesday’s actions against Israel’s war in Gaza
The daughter of actors Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard was among those arrested at the latest Columbia University protests, marking the latest development in the anti-war demonstrations that also led to the temporary suspension of student journalists.
On Friday, the New York Post reported that 18-year-old Ramona Sarsgaard, a Columbia freshman, was arrested during Wednesday’s campus protests where students demonstrated against Israel’s deadly war in Gaza.
Continue reading...When six young women hired a room to discuss the war in Gaza, the gathering ended with 30 officers storming in to make arrests
When six young women gathered in central London to discuss the climate crisis and the war in Gaza, the setting could not have been more appropriate. The building in which they sat was a Quaker meeting house, the home of a movement whose centuries-long history is rooted in protest and a commitment to social justice. On the table were cups of jasmine tea, ginger biscuits and a selection of vegan cheese straws.
But the events that brought this apparently convivial gathering to an abrupt end have sparked protests of a different kind and raised questions about how justice is administered by the UK’s largest and most embattled police force.
Continue reading...University’s president says activists refused to leave library despite warnings of disciplinary action and arrest
Columbia University asked the New York police department to help clear pro-Palestinian activists from the campus’s main library after protesters clashed with the school’s public safety officers.
Claire Shipman, the university’s acting president, said in a statement that protesters had refused to leave the building despite being warned that a failure to comply would result in disciplinary action and possibly arrest for trespassing.
Continue reading...Some students were also temporarily suspended as other colleges respond with disciplinary action to protests
On the morning of 3 May, the Swarthmore borough police department disbanded a four-day pro-Palestinian encampment on Swarthmore College’s campus and arrested nine activists.
The demonstration calling on the college to divest from the tech company Cisco due to its ties to the Israeli government was a rare uprising in an academic year where higher-education institutions have been quick to quash them. One current and one former Swarthmore College student were among those arrested, while the rest were from outside the college community, the college’s president, Valerie Smith, said in a statement.
Continue reading...Activist jailed in Egypt receives medical treatment and family worry his mother Laila Soueif is ‘dying in slow motion’
The family of the imprisoned British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah say they fear for his health along with that of his mother, Laila Soueif, as both continued their hunger strikes to demand his freedom.
Relatives of Soueif said they were worried she was “dying in slow motion” after eight months on full or partial hunger strike. “What are we supposed to do, just sit around and wait to die?” said Soueif.
Continue reading...From humble beginnings, the 50501 community is one of many coming together to resist the president and his policies
It started with a Reddit post.
“50 PROTESTS – 50 STATES – 1 DAY,” the user who goes by Evolved Fungi wrote, kicking off a movement that has since drawn hundreds of thousands to the streets in protests against Donald Trump across the country.
Continue reading...Palestinian green-card holder was arrested by US immigration authorities in Vermont on 14 April
Mohsen Mahdawi, a Palestinian green-card holder and student at Columbia University who was detained by the Trump administration on 14 April, will have a hearing next week on his request for release on bail, a federal judge decided on Wednesday.
Judge Geoffrey W Crawford extended a temporary restraining order issued by a separate judge last week to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. Immigration authorities have sent other foreign students arrested for their pro-Palestinian views to detention centers in Louisiana and Texas, jurisdictions typically overseen by more conservative judges.
Continue reading...Seven winners of environmental prize include Amazonian river campaigner and Tunisian who fought against organised waste trafficking
Grassroots activists who helped jail corrupt officials and obtain personhood rights for a sacred Amazonian river are among this year’s winners of the world’s most prestigious environmental prize.
The community campaigns led by the seven 2025 Goldman prize winners underscore the courage and tenacity of local activists willing to confront the toxic mix of corporate power, regulatory failures and political corruption that is fuelling biodiversity collapse, water shortages, deadly air pollution and the climate emergency.
Continue reading...Thousands gather in Parliament Square in a show of unity after supreme court judgment
After last week’s supreme court decision, activists had been worried that trans people might become fearful of going out in public in case they were abused.
They weren’t afraid in London on Saturday. Thousands of trans and non-binary people thronged Parliament Square, alongside families and supporters waving baby blue, white and pink flags to demonstrate their anger at the judges’ ruling.
Continue reading...Stop Trump coalition to dust off blimp, hoping demonstrations will surpass those during US president’s 2019 visit
Donald Trump’s second visit to the UK later this year will be disrupted by “even bigger” protests than those that coincided with his state visit in his first term, campaigners have vowed.
On Thursday Trump let slip that he expects to visit the UK in September, after Keir Starmer handed him a personal invitation from King Charles III during his visit to the White House in February.
Continue reading...The PM addressed a crowd of 500 people in Perth, spruiking new policies on housing and tax deductions, celebrating WA and invoking Donald Trump. Here’s what you may have missed
Labor’s election campaign launch in Perth was headlined by a $10bn housing pledge, a vow to help first home buyers and a new $1,000 “automatic” tax deduction for all workers.
It also featured a former prime minister, gags about rugby league and more than a few digs at Peter Dutton alongside Labor’s claims that he is copying Donald Trump’s political playbook.
Continue reading...Politicians and student activists decry ‘outlandish’ deportation of Felipe Zapata Velázquez to Colombia
A campus protest is planned at the University of Florida on Wednesday in support of a Colombian student deported by the Trump administration following his arrest for alleged traffic violations.
The family of Felipe Zapata Velázquez, 27, said on Tuesday he was “undergoing a physical and emotional recovery process” in his home country after police arrested him in Gainesville on 28 March for offenses including having an expired tag and suspended driver’s license, then turned him over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice).
Continue reading...Exclusive: State makes no admissions as it settles case with activist who alleged police misconduct during 2019 arrest at Melbourne mining conference
A climate protester who alleged their head was repeatedly slammed by members of Victoria police’s riot squad in 2019 has reached a settlement with the state.
Timothy Buchanan, 39, alleged their head was slammed into a metal wall, the ground and a glass door that their head was then used to open, during their arrest at a protest at an international mining conference in Melbourne.
Continue reading...Organisers say 150,000 joined protest in Madrid urging the government to ‘end the housing racket’ and to demand access to affordable housing
Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Spain in the latest protest against housing speculation and to demand access to affordable homes.
Organisers claim that up to 150,000 joined the protest in Madrid while smaller demonstrations were held in about 40 cities across the country. Protesters from Málaga on the Costa del Sol to Vigo in the Atlantic northwest chanted “end the housing racket” and “landlords are guilty, the government is responsible”.
Continue reading...Protesters gather at more than a thousand events across the US and in cities abroad, such as London, Berlin and Paris. This blog is now closed.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in central London on Saturday as part of global demonstrations against Donald Trump’s administration.
Crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square with banners that read “No to Maga hate” and “Dump Trump”. The rally is one of hundreds of so-called “Hands Off” demonstrations around the world – including in cities across the US, Paris and Berlin.
We see the foundations of our society, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, the very safety nets that people have fought for, for generations, to ensure that our country lives up to its promise, are being targeted by the billionaires and the oligarchs and the corporations.
This insidious rise of authoritarianism is fueled by corrupt billionaires and mega corporations who believe that they have the right to control every aspect of our lives, our healthcare, to our schools, to our thoughts, to our very free speech under the false banner of patriotism and freedom …
Continue reading...Group plans to hold demonstrations in London against UK arms sales to Israel every Tuesday and Saturday in April
About 40 Youth Demand protesters were told to move on by the police during a pro-Palestinian rally in central London on Saturday.
The campaigners began gathering at Lincoln’s Inn Fields on Saturday morning and made their way to King’s Cross station.
Continue reading...Özgür Özel expanded call to boycott companies perceived as close to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Turkey’s anti-government protesters are weighing their options, amid calls by the main opposition leader for weekly rallies, a growing economic boycott and a groundswell of fired-up student demonstrators determined to stay on the streets.
The leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP), Özgür Özel, expanded a call to boycott goods and services from companies perceived as close to the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, during a rally in support of the jailed Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu.
Continue reading...France has been urged to shun Maga America as #BoycottUSA hashtag spreads, but teenagers say they can’t afford to join the action
On the rainy Grands Boulevards in Paris on Friday, the branches of McDonald’s and KFC were doing brisk business.
There was little sign of “le boycott” – a movement among French customers to reject American brands and products made in the US, in protest at Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and anti-Europe rhetoric.
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands gather for Ekrem İmamoğlu outside Istanbul centre in move to keep momentum after clashes with police
Turkey’s main opposition has rallied in defence of the jailed Istanbul mayor, Ekrem İmamoğlu, in a move to sustain the largest anti-government demonstrations in years.
Hundreds of thousands of people attended the protest called by the head of the opposition Republican People’s party (CHP) in a spot far from the Istanbul city centre. The party leader, Özgur Özel, claimed 2.2 million people attended.
Continue reading...