Argentina president Javier Milei escapes election rally after being pelted with rocks – video
Argentinian president campaigning for midterm elections – the first big test of his popularity – when protesters threw bottles and rocks at his vehicle
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, was pelted with stones while campaigning near the capital Buenos Aires on Wednesday by demonstrators protesting about a corruption scandal.
The far-right leader, who was whisked from the scene by his security detail, sustained no injuries after his motorcade was attacked, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni wrote on X.
Milei, who is campaigning for October midterm elections, was riding in the back of a pickup truck and greeting supporters in the city of Lomas de Zamora, 20km south of Buenos Aires, when protesters began throwing plants, rocks and bottles at his vehicle.
The vehicle carrying the president and his sister, Karina Milei, along with other officials, quickly left the scene.
Afterwards, scuffles broke out between supporters and opponents of the libertarian leader.
Police take security measures during demonstration as the Trump administration continues its immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, United States on June 8, 2025. Hundreds of protesters are seen demanding an immediate halt to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at workplaces in America’s second largest city. (Photo: Taurat Hossain/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“These protests are a matter of huge public interest and the public has a right to know exactly what’s going on,” said the executive director of RSF USA.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF, on Monday condemned recorded attacks carried out largely by law enforcement, but also by protestors, against journalists reporting on protests that took place in Los Angeles this past weekend.
Protests began on Friday to oppose federal immigration raids on workplaces.
In a statement, RSF said that it has verified at least 27 recorded incidents of violence against journalists since June 6 with the help of its local partner, the Los Angeles Press Club. Twenty four of those incidents were carried out by law enforcement, and three were carried out by individual protestors, according to the statement.
“The wave of violence against journalists on the streets of Los Angeles this weekend is unacceptable. These protests are a matter of huge public interest and the public has a right to know exactly what’s going on. The only way that can happen is if journalists are allowed to do their jobs freely,” said Clayton Weimers, the executive director of RSF USA.
“This is inherently dangerous work, but it’s made more dangerous by authorities who are unable or unwilling to distinguish press from protestors, and by private actors who attack members of the media,” Weimers continued. “Authorities in LA must do more to ensure press freedom is respected during these protests.”
In one incident caught on camera, police hit reporter Lauren Tomasi, a U.S. correspondent for CNN-affiliate Nine News in Australia, with a rubber bullet while she was reporting live on on air.
Several media workers reported being hit with “less-than-lethal munitions,” such as pepper balls, rubber bullets, and tear gas canisters, by police, according to RSF.
According to the group, U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to call in National Guard troops in response to protests “contributed to the violence against journalists already being perpetrated by law enforcement.” On Saturday, Trump ordered that 2,000 National Guard members be called up to help quell the anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests, over the objections of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. As of Sunday, some 300 federal troops were on the ground in Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press.
Alleged incidents of violence carried out by protestors against media workers include an episode, caught on video, of a KTTV Fox 11 TV crew being heckled and forced to leave a protest.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 21, 2025
THE head of Israel’s internal security service has accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to exploit the agency for political and personal gain by making numerous improper demands.
In a submission to the Supreme Court om Monday, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar wrote that he had refused a request from Mr Netanyahu to identify anti-government protesters and put their financial backers under surveillance.
Mr Bar added he had been told to obey Mr Netanyahu, not the courts, in the event of a constitutional crisis. He also said there had been unsuccessful attempts to force him to sign a document making it nearly impossible for the prime minister to testify in his corruption trial due to security concerns. Mr Netanyahu’s office dismissed Mr Bar’s affidavit as “full of lies.”
Original article by Ed Siddons , Billie Gay Jackson republished from TBIJ under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0.
DLA Piper’s demands from campaigners included £2,500 for a list of its own fees
The UK’s largest law firm sought £1.1m in legal fees from climate campaigners to cover the costs of preventing their protests, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism can reveal.
DLA Piper, a multibillion-pound law firm, tried to recoup eye-watering costs, including fees of £350 per hour for providing legal advice to its clients HS2 and National Highways Limited (NHL) – both publicly owned bodies. Other costs it tried to reclaim included £75,000 for a single hearing and £2,500 to prepare a document listing its own fees.
The firm brought injunctions – court orders prohibiting certain actions – against more than 200 campaigners, primarily from Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. Most obeyed the NHL injunction and did not take part in the prohibited protests, but still each faced bills of thousands of pounds.
In two of the cases, judges criticised the firm’s costs as “disproportionate” or “not … reasonable” and significantly reduced the amount it could claim, in one case by more than half.
Barristers told TBIJ that costs incurred by City law firms such as DLA Piper far exceed those incurred by in-house solicitors at public bodies or local authorities, ratcheting up the risk of large costs being foisted onto protestors.
DLA Piper has previously pledged to align its client work with “decisive action” on climate and committed to net zero by 2040.
The firm was hired by NHL and the HS2 rail project in 2021 to provide legal services that included securing injunctions against protesters.
Court files reviewed by TBIJ show that, on behalf of NHL and HS2, the firm sought costs from protesters totalling £1.1m. This figure, and the breakdowns below, include barristers’ fees – money paid to specialist external lawyers selected to argue the case in court.
One woman who broke the injunction told TBIJ that her income meant it would take her eight years to pay off the costs of around £5,000 that had been sought against her.
Another of those targeted was Louise Lancaster, who continued to protest and received a 42-day suspended sentence in 2022 alongside an order to pay £22,000 in costs. Last month, she was jailed for four years for coordinating protests on the M25.
The award of a portion of legal costs to the winning side is standard procedure in civil court cases.
But although the lengthy sentences handed down to a small group of protesters in July made headlines, the combination of criminal charges with civil injunction proceedings and potential costs orders was highlighted as a “grave concern” by the UN special rapporteur on environmental defenders.
Adam Wagner, a barrister at Doughty Street Chambers, said: “You might have a protester who, for the same action, is convicted of a criminal offence, has an injunction taken out against them with the risk of contempt-of-court proceedings if they breach it, and faces huge costs. It’s like triple jeopardy.
“We don’t take that approach to social ills like gang violence or drug dealing – they are dealt with through the criminal courts [alone] … Nobody’s looking at the wider picture and thinking, ‘Could this actually have gone too far?’”
“The threat of costs in injunction proceedings is one of, if not the, biggest chilling effects on protests in Britain at the moment,” said Paul Powlesland, a barrister at Garden Court Chambers and founder of the environmental pressure group Lawyers For Nature.
The use of injunctions has soared in recent years with the rise of civil disobedience groups such as Just Stop Oil and Insulate Britain. Analysis by the BBC found that 1,200 locations across the UK are now subject to injunctions banning protests.
They have also increased in scope. Traditionally, injunctions prevented named individuals from undertaking a course of action, but new “persons unknown” injunctions mean anyone can be punished for breaking them.
Proceedings take place in civil courts, where costs can be huge and initial injunction proceedings do not qualify for legal aid. The majority of campaigners subject to the National Highways injunctions had no legal representation and feared the potential costs. The result is that wealthy people who want to bully peaceful protesters “can do so with impunity,” Powlesland said.
The largest single sum sought by DLA Piper was £727,573.84, which covered multiple claims on behalf of NHL against around 140 protesters who blocked the M25 and surrounding roads. That sum was eventually reduced by a judge to £580,000, and a later settlement offer sought about £3,000 from each campaigner to end the case.
DLA Piper also pursued a further £75,891.84 from protesters who disputed the renewal of the injunction.
Banners at the Bluebell Woods Protection Camp, an anti-HS2 protest site, in Staffordshire in 2021. An injunction later made protest illegal along the length of the HS2 railway line Martin Pope/Getty Images
In separate proceedings, at which NHL pursued 12 protesters for contempt of court after they broke the M25 injunctions, an offence that can mean jail time, DLA Piper listed £229,525.35 in costs, bringing the total to around £1m.
On behalf of Hs2, DLA Piper pursued £70,216 in costs against five defendants, all of whom broke injunctions.
Jodie Beck, policy and campaigns officer at Liberty, said: “Injunctions operate alongside an already expansive web of restrictions and criminal offences introduced in recent years, carrying hefty penalties for making your voice heard.
“When powerful companies and state-owned bodies use opaque legal processes and the threat of financial ruin with eye-watering costs being passed on, our fundamental right to protest is at risk.”
DLA Piper is not the only City law firm to have threatened protesters with costs orders. It is not known how much money it ultimately succeeded in recouping.
As well as its green pledges, the firm has boasted of its role as official provider of legal services to COP26 and highlighted its position as a founding member of the Legal Sustainability Alliance and the Net Zero Lawyers Alliance initiatives.
A DLA Piper spokesperson said: “The firm supports the right to protest lawfully and recognises the need to build a sustainable future. But any change must be brought around in compliance with the law, for the protection of the country and protestors.
The firm is one of the world’s largest legal advisers to the renewable energy industry and is recognised for advising on more renewable energy deals and projects than any other law firm.”
A NHL spokesperson said: “Protesting on motorways and major A-roads is extremely dangerous for both the protesters and motorists … These orders are intended to dissuade people from risking lives, not to prohibit lawful protest. As a government-owned company funded by public money, costs recovery is an important aspect of ensuring public funds are protected.”
A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “We support the right to lawful protest. We have only taken legal action where there has been illegal direct action against HS2. Unlawful action against HS2 has cost taxpayers over £150m and put the lives of protestors, the public and our own workforce in great danger.
“Since the High Court granted a route wide injunction to protect the HS2 project from unlawful activity we have seen a significant decline in illegal activity.”
In June, DLA Piper was awarded a further contract worth more than £650,000 by NHL to provide legal services relating to injunctions against protestors.
Photo: Climate protesters block the M25 as part of a campaign intended to push the UK government to make significant legislative change to start lowering emissions. Credit: Mark Kerrison/Alamy Live News
Reporters: Ed Siddons and Billie Gay Jackson Additional reporting: Simon Lock Deputy editors: Katie Mark and Chrissie Giles Enablers editor: Eleanor Rose Impact producer: Lucy Nash Editor: Franz Wild Production editor: Frankie Goodway Fact checker: Somesh Jha
Our Enablers project is funded by the Hollick Family Foundation, Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Joffe Trust, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and TBIJ core funds. None of our funders has any influence over our editorial decisions or output.
Original article by Ed Siddons , Billie Gay Jackson republished from TBIJ under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0.
‘The UK is deliberately destabilising the entire concept of universal human rights’
The world’s leading human rights organisation has issued a damning condemnation of the UK government’s domestic policies and failure in Gaza, accusing the UK of “deliberately destabilising” global human rights.
In a truly bleak assessment, Amnesty International said Britain had breached international human rights commitments at a “perilous” time in global history, as a result of the UK government’s policies targeting asylum seekers and protesters.
Amnesty’s 2024 annual global report notes Britain’s weakening global and domestic human rights protections for the sake of the government’s own political gain, and at a time when the global community is failing to uphold international law.
Amnesty also accused the UK Government of ‘grotesque double-standards’ for bolstering the actions of Israel and the US in Gaza, as the UK continues to arm Israel while failing to condemn Israel’s actions in the region which ‘likely amounts to war crimes’.
The UK’s weak support for the international criminal court (ICC) investigation into human rights violations in Israel and Palestine was also condemned, along with its failure to stand up as a strong voice in the UN to stop human rights violations in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends his trial on corruption charges at the district court in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 21, 2025
