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Tag: protest

  • Hundreds of Thousands March for Gaza as World Demands Cease-Fire

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    Original article by JON QUEALLY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Tens of thousands of people gather to join the Global Day of Action calling for a ceasefire and an end to the war on Gaza on the 13th of January 2024, Central London, United Kingdom. The march and rally coincided with marches all over the World.  (Photo by Kristian Buus/In Pictures via Getty Images)

    Coordinated actions from DC to London to Jakarta designed to “send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say ‘not in our name.’”

    Major coordinated demonstrations took place across the world on Saturday to mark the 100th day of Israel’s bombardment and military assault on the people of the Gaza Strip that have now claimed the lives of nearly 24,000 Palestinians, a large majority of them innocent men, women, and children who had nothing to do with the attacks orchestrated by Hamas on October 7 of last year.

    In London, as many as 500,000 people marched on Parliament Square to demand an immediate cease-fire Gaza, condemn their own U.K. government’s support of Israel’s disproportionate and “genocidal” onslaught, and warn against a wider regional war that experts warn is creeping closer by the day.

    ‘Justice is lacking’: pro-Palestine demonstrators gather in London www.youtube.com

    “This Global Day of Action, from Australia through to Asia, Europe and the Americas, is the first coordinated, international movement against the war being waged by Israel on the Palestinian people,” said Gaza Global Day of Action organizers ahead of the demonstration. “It will send a powerful message not just to the Israelis but to the Western powers who are backing them that the public say ‘not in our name.’”

    In Dublin, organizers of a march that saw more than 100,000 march through city streets called it the largest rally for Palestinian rights in Irish history.

    As the Irish Timesreports:

    The crowd was filled with Palestinian flags, posters calling for an “End to the Gaza genocide” as well as makeshift washing lines, with baby clothes hanging from it, representing the many young lives lost in the conflict.

    At the front of the march, four people held mock corpses in bloody body bags to represent the growing number of civilian casualties.

    In the United States, tens of thousands marched in Washington, D.C. to denounce the Israeli onslaught—which has claimed over 23,000 lives, including more than 10,000 children—as well as their own government’s complicity in the carnage. President Joe Biden was on the tip of many demonstrators’ tongues and polls in the U.S. have shown very little support across the political spectrum for how he is handling the situation.

    Jake and Ida Braford, a young couple from Richmond, Virginia, who brought their two small children to the protest, told the Associated Press the situation in Gaza has made them unsure of their support for Biden come this year’s election.

    “We’re pretty disheartened,” Ida told the news agency. “Seeing what is happening in Gaza, and the government’s actions makes me wonder what is our vote worth?”

    Following the march, demonstrators left a pile of bloodied baby dolls, including severe parts, in a pile outside the White House as a message to Biden. “The blood of the over 10,000 murdered children in Gaza is on his hands,” said CodePink co-founder Jodie Evans.

    Meanwhile, in Indonesia, thousands gathered outside the U.S. embassy in Jakarta to condemn the ongoing “genocide” in Gaza perpetrated by Israel with the backing of the U.S. government and other Western allies.

    Global day of action: Demonstration at US embassy in Jakarta urges ceasefire in Gaza www.youtube.com

    Large protests were also held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as well as in the South African cities of Cape Town and Johannesburg. On Thursday, a delegation from South Africa presented its case charging Israel with genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

    “We are here today to be part of the global day of action that will see demonstrations planned in more than 66 cities and at least 36 countries,” said a statement released by the organizers in Cape Town. “Today’s rally will be part of a united front of global voices, calling unconditionally for an immediate and permanent ceasefire.”

    Cities in Israel were not among those holding large-scale demonstrations against the government’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza. One application by Israelis for a rally in Haifa to denounce the onslaught was rejected.

    As Haaretzreported: “The commander of the police’s Coastal District, Maj. Gen. Daniel Levy, explained that the refusal to grant the permit was over “real concerns about a serious disruption to public order,” adding that there was a high likelihood that violence would break out between demonstrators and people opposing the demonstration.”

    Original article by JON QUEALLY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

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  • Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Rights Protesters Arrested for Blocking JFK Airport Entrance

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    Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Airplanes are seen on a tarmac.  (Photo: Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash)

    Organizers demonstrated to call attention to the ongoing forced displacement of Palestinians and the denial of their right to return home.

    More than two dozen human rights campaigners were arrested on Wednesday for blocking Interstate 678, the Van Wyck Expressway, in New York—the road that leads to John F. Kennedy International Airport—in one of the latest highway protests demanding justice for Palestinians.

    The protesters blocked the road at about 11:30 am and continued the action for about 20 minutes, The Messenger reported, displaying banners that read, “Right to Return, Right to Remain” and “Divest From Genocide.”

    Independent journalist Talia Jane reported that the protesters aimed to call attention to the Israeli government’s denial of the Palestinian people’s right to return to their homes, which they were forced to flee in 1948 when the state of Israel was created.

    The protest was held on the 81st day of Israel’s U.S.-backed bombardment of Gaza, which has killed at least 21,110 people and injured more than 55,000, as well as displacing more than 80% of the blockaded enclave’s population.

    The campaigners linked arms and blocked the expressway days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly said the government’s objective is the so-called “voluntary” migration of Gaza’s 2.3 million people—another mass displacement of Palestinians nearly 75 years after they were driven from what is now Israel.

    Some travelers headed for JFK on the busy holiday travel day exited their vehicles and walked to the airport with their luggage.

    At least one told the demonstrators, “Good luck,” as she climbed over a highway barricade to get to the airport.

    The Port Authority of New York told The Messenger that 26 people were arrested “for disorderly conduct and impeding vehicular traffic” and that officials dispatched two buses to offer rides to travelers.

    The outlet reported that protesters carrying signs that read, “Land Back” also assembled outside Los Angeles International Airport, blocking travelers from entering.

    National Jewish-led Palestinian rights groups Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow have blocked bridges and highways and organized mass protests in other travel hubs since Israel began its total blockade and air and ground assault in Gaza, which has threatened the population with starvation and disease as well as bombings.

    Neither group had claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s protests at press time.

    Original article by JULIA CONLEY republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

  • Just Stop Oil activist handed shocking six-month prison sentence for slow marching

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    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/just-stop-oil-activist-handed-shocking-six-month-prison-sentence-slow-marching

    Just Stop Oil protesters as they take part in a slow march protest through London as part of the group’s campaign to convince the government to end all new oil and gas projects in the UK, April 24, 2023

    THE government’s draconian anti-protest laws have been used to give a shocking six-month prison sentence to a climate activist for taking part in a peaceful slow march.

    Just Stop Oil supporter Stephen Gingell, 57, was sentenced at Manchester magistrates’ court on Thursday.

    The father-of-three was arrested on November 13 after taking part in a slow march in north London for about half an hour.

    Mr Gingell pleaded guilty to breaching section seven of the Public Order Act, which bans any act “which interferes with the use or operation of any key national infrastructure in England and Wales.”

    Passed in May, the widely condemned legislation allows police to ban peaceful protests merely on the grounds that they might become disruptive.

    “It seems this government has now made walking down the road, walking on the public highway, an illegal act that is worthy of imprisonment,” a Just Stop Oil spokesperson said.

    …

    https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/just-stop-oil-activist-handed-shocking-six-month-prison-sentence-slow-marching

  • Milei Couples ‘Total Crackdown’ on Protest With Economic Shocks in Argentina

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    Original article by Julia Conley at Common Dreams shared under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

    Argentinian President Javier Milei looks on after the polls close in the presidential runoff election on November 19, 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo: Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)

    “Protest is elemental to Argentine social and political life, so it’s not difficult to imagine how this ends,” said one journalist.

    As the human impact of Argentinian President Javier Milei’s “shock treatment” to the South American country’s economy became increasingly clear with rising prices on Thursday, Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced what one journalist said were doubtlessly “preemptive” new controls on protests to discourage a struggling population from speaking out.

    Bullrich said four security forces—the Federal Police, the Gendarmerie, the Naval Prefecture, and the Airport Security Police—will work together to stop protests that block streets and suggested the protocol is aimed only at ensuring “that people can live in peace” without demonstrators blocking traffic.

    But as Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler and others noted, the measures also include calls for armed forces to break labor strikes, create a national registry of people who organize protests, and sanctions against parents who bring their children to demonstrations.

    The new package amounts to “a total crackdown on Argentine civil society,” Adler said.

    https://twitter.com/davidrkadler/status/1735666098127733129?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1735666098127733129%7Ctwgr%5Edc4c076d58c4fd3232ae472103691fce93a38f1a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fmilei

    Bullrich’s announcement came days after Milei, a far-right libertarian economist who has called the climate crisis “a socialist lie” and has been compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump, announced in the first weeks of his presidency an economic “shock treatment” package including a devaluation of the peso by 50%, from 400 pesos to the U.S. dollar to 820 pesos.

    The administration also said it would cut public spending by closing some government ministries, increasing retirements ordered by decree, reducing energy and transportation subsidies, and freezing public works, with further “profound” measures expected in the future.

    Milei claimed that with the spending cuts, government revenues will ultimately increase by 2.2 points, helping to confront an economic crisis in which annual inflation exceeds 160%, the country has a trade deficit of $43 billion, and $45 billion is owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

    But as Milei’s “open heart surgery of the economy,” as El País called the package, took hold, prices of some goods and services rose by 100% and some commuters worried that they will no longer to be able to afford their daily commutes it transit agencies are forced to raise prices due to lost subsidies.

    “If [the bus fare] goes up, my salary will be spent on transport,” Julia González, who takes three buses and a train to her job in downtown Buenos Aires, toldThe Associated Press.

    About 40% of Argentinians live below the poverty line and more than 9% are destitute, reported El País, with incomes insufficient to buy food.

    Economist Juan Manuel Telechea told the outlet that monthly inflation could reach 30-40% due to the devaluation and that social aid will be “highly insufficient.”

    Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said of the economy Wednesday that Milei “found a patient in intensive care about to die,” but one trade unionist told El País the president is “exaggerating the inherited crisis situation to justify inadmissible measures, which will increase poverty levels in Argentina above 50% in a matter of days.”

    “The mega-devaluation that is being carried out is a matter of concern because it may devolve into hyperinflation,” Pato Laterra, an economist at the National University of La Plata, told the newspaper.

    Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said last month that Argentina’s current economic crisis is the result of right-wing former President Mauricio Macri’s administration, which took out the largest loan ever from the IMF and pushed the economy into a recession, with poverty and inflation rising by 50% or more.

    “But a crazed, economically suicidal approach would only make things worse—and as Argentina has experienced, things can get a lot worse,” said Weisbrot. “Milei displays a callous disregard for most people’s living standards, values, and well-being, as well as a commitment to widely discredited economic policies, that is unprecedented.”

    Jacob Sugarman of the Buenos Aires Heraldsaid Wednesday that it remains to be seen “how long Argentine society is willing to tolerate this kind of pain” and suggested that Bullrich’s announcement of a crackdown on dissent is likely to further anger the public.

    “Protest is elemental to Argentine social and political life, so it’s not difficult to imagine how this ends,” said Sugarman, “especially with Bullrich announcing that the government will use federal forces including the National Military Police to break picket lines.”

    Original article by Julia Conley at Common Dreams shared under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

  • Court confirms Greenpeace right to peaceful protest as activists’ 200 hour long protest against deep sea mining in the Pacific continues

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    Amsterdam, The Netherlands —  A Dutch court has largely rejected a request by a deep seabed mining company to issue an injunction against protest by Greenpeace International, stating that it is “understandable” the organisation has resorted to direct action in the face of the “possibly very serious consequences” of the company’s plans.

    Greenpeace International activists from the Rainbow Warrior attach a flag reading 'Stop Deep Sea Mining'' to a cable holding the prototype robot Patania II in April 2021. (Photo: Marten van Dijl/Greenpeace)
    Greenpeace International activists from the Rainbow Warrior attach a flag reading ‘Stop Deep Sea Mining” to a cable holding the prototype robot Patania II in April 2021. (Photo: Marten van Dijl/Greenpeace)

    In the case brought by NORI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Metals Company (TMC), the judgement states that Greenpeace International’s climbers who were occupying the vessel’s stern crane must disembark, but denies NORI’s request to keep Greenpeace activists from being within a 500 metre radius of MV COCO. The court decision comes after nearly 200 hours of peaceful protest by Greenpeace International activists against the MV COCO, which is collecting data for TMC as part of its drive to file the first-ever deep sea mining application next year.

    “This is without question a massive setback for the deep sea mining industry. The Dutch court not only affirmed Greenpeace’s right to protest but also agreed that nodule mining is a highly controversial activity. The Metals Company has never been interested in scrutiny and they can’t stand that Greenpeace is watching and opposing them at every turn. Our activists are speaking the truth to destructive companies like TMC that are only out for their own profit, at huge cost to us all. We are determined to keep bringing this dangerous industry to public attention and will continue to disrupt its plans”, said Mads Christensen, Executive Director of Greenpeace International.

    After five days of a non-stop kayak activity around the MV COCO, the vessel was safely climbed by five Greenpeace International activists on 25 November. Activists aboard the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise took turns occupying the vessel’s stern crane to peacefully draw attention to the demand that TMC stop its deep sea mining exploration activities and drop its destructive plans in one of the world’s last untouched ecosystems. NORI claims the protest has been costing it 1M Euros a day. 

    The Dutch court denied NORI’s request for an injunction to keep Greenpeace activists from being within a 500 metre radius of COCO, a call that was repeated by the International Seabed Authority Secretary-General but which the judge described as ‘not an enforceable measure’. 

    Greenpeace International climbers descended on 30 November, but the 200-hour ongoing peaceful protest continues.  

    “The ISA Secretariat should learn from Greenpeace International activists as an example of a bold fight back against the destruction of this still unknown ecosystem. The power of the global movement against deep sea mining is growing, and is undimmed by corporate efforts and behind the scene’s agreements to limit protest. Brave action across the world by people standing up for what is right will stop deep sea mining”, said Greenpeace International Stop Deep Sea Mining campaigner Louisa Casson, aboard the Arctic Sunrise.

    Greenpeace International activist Sofia Castellanos said: “We are standing up against the first ever deep sea mining application that TMC are trying to rush through against scientific warnings and political opposition of 24 countries calling for a moratorium. We will continue to protest every time TMC tries to push forward this dangerous industry, for the sake of our oceans and the rich and mysterious life of the deep sea.”