Tag Archives: Protests

Current Protests and Civil Unrest across the globe

Revelations 6:4 “And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Global Protest Tracker
    • Over 400 significant antigovernment protests have erupted worldwide.
    • More than 132 countries have experienced significant protests
    • 23% of significant protests have lasted than more than three months.
    • 135 significant economic antigovernment protests have occurred since 2017.
      • Colombia – Social and economic reform
      • Germany – Peace in Ukraine Protest
      • Norway – Wind Farm Protest
      • Portugal – Cost of living Protest
      • Turkey – Earthquake response protest
      • Sri Lanka – Election cancellation Protest
      • France – Pension reform strikes and protests
      • Israel – Judicial reform
      • Nigeria – Cash Shortage
      • Mexico – Electoral Reform
      • Iran – Masha Amini Protest
      • Moldova – Fuel Price Protest
      • Netherlands – Farmer Protest
      • UK – Just stop oil Protest

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Breaking Point: Anger over Beijing’s Lockdowns and Zero-Covid Policy as protests ignite across country

Luke 21:11 “There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven.”

Important Takeaways:

  • China’s Covid revolution: Three years of growing anger over Beijing’s obsession with failing lockdowns is exploding across the country…. but Xi ‘will crack down and punish protesters severely’
  • Protests against Xi Jinping and his zero-Covid policy are sweeping across China
  • Explosion of anger as three years of failing lockdowns became too much to bear.
  • Hundreds took to streets in an unprecedented display of anger against his rule
  • Experts warn crackdown is ‘inevitable’ with activists facing ‘severe punishment’
  • Clashes between activists and police have already taken place in Shanghai – which suffered through a months-long Covid lockdown earlier this year – with BBC cameraman Edward Lawrence arrested and beaten by officers in the city.

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German official warns of Riots and Mass Protest due to gas shortages

Revelations 18:23 ’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • Gas Shortage Riots to Make Lockdown Protests Look Like a ‘Children’s Birthday Party’
  • A warning from the President of the Thuringian Office for the Protection of the Constitution during an interview with state-owned broadcaster ZDF on Wednesday has crystalized the issue somewhat, with the official responsible for maintaining the security of the contemporary German state in the region warning that mass violence was now looking likely.
  • “…after the pandemic and the world events of the last few months, we are dealing with a highly emotional, aggressive, pessimistic mood among the population, whose trust in the state, its institutions and political actors is at least in some parts afflicted with massive doubts,” President Stephen Kramer is reported as telling the broadcaster.
  • “In this respect, we are likely to be confronted with mass protests and riots,” he warned, saying that what Germany had “experienced so far in the corona pandemic in the form of violent clashes on social networks, but also on the streets and squares, was probably more of a children’s birthday party” compared to what was coming.

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Shut Down DC will pay a bounty for confirmed sighting of Justices. Protestors say Biden needs to do more on abortion

Proverbs 6:16-19 “There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood , a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

Important Takeaways:

  • Pro-Abortion Radicals Offer ‘Bounties’ on Supreme Court Justice ‘Sightings’, Biden May Declare Abortion ‘Health Emergency’
  • Abortion rights supporters marched outside the White House Saturday, demanding more action from the president.
  • Biden already issued an executive order Friday that tries to safeguard access to the abortion pill, protect women who travel to other states for abortions, and launch so-called public education efforts.
  • Abortion supporters say that’s not enough, and they now want Biden to declare a public health emergency.
  • Kamala Harris told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that Congress must step in and enact an abortion law.
  • Now a group called ShutDownDC says it’s willing to pay a bounty to its social media followers for a “confirmed sighting” of conservative Supreme Court justices.
  • White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre defended the protests.
  • “People should be allowed to do that,” Jean Pierre said, which caused a reporter to ask, “In a restaurant?” Jean-Pierre replied, “This is what democracy is. Of course people have a right to privacy, but people also have a right protest peacefully. It’s the intimidation and violence that we condemn.”

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Prices of Food and Fuel have people protesting in Peru

Rev 6:6 NAS And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Peru president imposes curfew in Lima, Callao after protests
  • Protests had erupted across Peru in recent days due to a hike in fuel prices and tolls, during a time of rising food prices.
  • “In view of the acts of violence that some groups have wanted to create… and in order to reestablish peace… the Council of Ministers has approved the declaration of citizen immobility (curfew) from 2:00 am to 11:59 pm on Tuesday, April 5,” he said in a televised message.
  • Castillo’s action to impose movement restrictions — which will cover more than 10 million residents in Lima and Callao — was met with immediate repudiation.
  • “It is like putting an end to traffic accidents by taking vehicles off the roads.”
  • The country’s Consumer Price Index in March saw its highest monthly increase in 26 years, driven by soaring food, transport and education prices, according to the national statistics institute.

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El Salvador women march against abortion laws amid planned Latin America-wide protests

By Ana Isabel Martinez and Gerardo Arbaiza

SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) – Scores of people in El Salvador waved green flags and marched through the capital San Salvador en route to Congress to demand loosening of the country’s “strict” abortion laws, with similar protests planned across Latin American cities.

Holding up banners saying “it’s our right to decide” and “legal abortion, safe and free,” the mostly-women protesters met as part of the “International Safe Abortion Day” being marked around the globe.

The Salvadoran protesters sought to pressure the country’s legislators to ease one of the world’s strictest abortion laws, which prohibit termination of pregnancy in cases of rape and even if the mother’s life is at risk.

The proposals taken to the Salvadoran Congress have been named “Beatriz Reform,” in honor of a young woman who in 2013 openly called for an abortion to save her life as she suffered from a chronic disease, which took her life four years later.

“We are asking for minimum measures to add to the Penal Code to guarantee the life and integrity of women,” Morena Herrera, a prominent Salvadoran feminist, told journalists.

“It does not require constitutional reform. It can be done now and if it is true that there is independence of powers, the Legislative Assembly must respond,” she added.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele earlier this month ruled out any amendments to the abortion laws as part of controversial constitutional changes his government is planning.

Protests are also planned later in the day in Colombia and several cities in Mexico and Chile.

Sweeping changes across the predominantly Roman Catholic region have seen abortion law amended in some nations, including Argentina and parts of Mexico.

But several out of more than 20 Latin American nations still ban abortion outright, including El Salvador, which has sentenced some women to up to 40 years in prison.

Mexican authorities have put up protective fences on key buildings and emblematic monuments across several cities where women are expected to hold rallies. In the past, protesters have painted over historic monuments.

Protesters were also gathering in the Chilean capital Santiago, where legislators have been discussing plans for a bill that would expand the legal access for women to get abortions.

(Reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez in Mexico City and Gerardo Arbaiza in San Salvador; Editing by Drazen Jorgic and Sandra Maler)

Protests in France against COVID-19 ‘health pass’ rules

PARIS (Reuters) -Police in Paris clashed with protesters railing against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to require a COVID-19 vaccine certificate or negative PCR test to gain entry to bars, restaurants and cinemas from next month.

Macron this week announced sweeping measures to fight a rapid surge in new coronavirus infections, including the mandatory vaccination of health workers and new health pass rules for the wider public.

In doing so, he went further than most other European nations have done as the highly contagious Delta variant fans a new wave of cases, and other governments are watching carefully to see how the French public responds.

The police fired tear gas on several occasions as pockets of protesters overturned garbage cans and set a mechanical digger alight. Some protesters away from the skirmishes wore badges saying “No to the health pass”.

Some critics of Macron’s plan – which will require shopping malls, cafes, bars and restaurants to check the health passes of all patrons from August – accuse the president of trampling on freedoms and discriminating against those who do not want the COVID shot.

“It’s totally arbitrary and wholly undemocratic,” said one protester who identified himself as Jean-Louis.

Macron says the vaccine is the best way to put France back on the path to normalcy and that he is encouraging as many people as possible to get inoculated.

There were protests in other cities including Nantes, Marseille and Montpellier.

The show of discontent took place on Bastille Day, the anniversary of the 1789 storming of a medieval fortress in Paris which marked the turning point in the French Revolution.

Among other proposals in the government’s draft bill is the mandatory isolation for 10 days of anyone who tests positive, with police making random checks, French media reported. The prime minister’s office did not respond when asked to confirm the detail.

(Reporting by Christian Lowe and Gonzalo Fuentes; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Sandra Maler)

Worst violence in years spreads in South Africa as grievances boil over

By Alexander Winning and Wendell Roelf

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) -Crowds clashed with police and ransacked or burned shopping malls in South Africa on Tuesday, with dozens reported killed as grievances unleashed by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma boiled over into the worst violence in years.

Protests that followed Zuma’s arrest last week have widened into looting and an outpouring of generalized anger over inequality that persists 27 years after the fall of apartheid. Poverty has been exacerbated by severe social and economic restrictions aimed at blocking the spread of COVID-19.

Security officials said the government was working to halt the spread of the violence and looting, which has so far spread from Zuma’s home in KwaZulu-Natal province to Gauteng province surrounding the country’s biggest city Johanesburg. They deployed soldiers onto the streets to try to contain it, but stopped short of declaring a state of emergency.

“No amount of unhappiness or personal circumstances from our people gives the right to anyone to loot, vandalize and do as they please and break the law,” Police Minister Bheki Cele told a news conference, echoing sentiments expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa overnight.

The bodies of 10 people were found on Monday evening after a stampede at a Soweto shopping mall, premier David Makhura said.

Hundreds of looters raided warehouses and supermarkets in Durban, one of the busiest shipping terminals on the African continent and a major import-export hub.

Outside a Durban warehouse of retailer Game, Reuters filmed looters stuffing cars with electronic goods and clothes. Inside, the floor was a wreckage of discarded packaging as the crowd systematically emptied the shelves.

Aerial footage from local channel eNCA showed black smoke rising from several warehouses, while debris lay strewn.

Troops were moving into flashpoints on Tuesday as outnumbered police seemed helpless to stop the unrest. Columns of armored personnel carriers rolled down highways.

The rand, which had been one of the best performing emerging market currencies during the pandemic, dropped to a three-month low on Tuesday, and local and hard currency bonds suffered.

UNFULFILLED PROMISE

At least 45 people have so far been killed during the unrest, 19 in Gauteng and 26 in KwaZulu-Natal, according to state and provincial authorities. Police Minister Cele put the official death toll at 10.

On the streets, protesters hurled stones and police responded with rubber bullets, Reuters journalists said.

In Soweto, police and military were patrolling as shop owners assessed the damage.

Cele said 757 people had been arrested so far. He said the government would act to prevent it from spreading further and warned that people would not be allowed “to make a mockery of our democratic state”.

Defense Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, speaking at the same news conference, said she did not think a state of emergency should be imposed yet.

Zuma, 79, was sentenced last month for defying a constitutional court order to give evidence at an inquiry investigating high-level corruption during his nine years in office until 2018.

The legal proceedings have been seen as a test of post-apartheid South Africa’s ability to enforce the rule of law.

But any confrontation with soldiers risks fueling charges by Zuma and his supporters that they are victims of a politically motivated crackdown by his successor, Ramaphosa.

The violence worsened as Zuma challenged his 15-month jail term in South Africa’s top court on Monday. Judgement was reserved until an unspecified date.

The deteriorating situation pointed to wider problems and unfulfilled expectations that followed the end of white minority rule in 1994. The economy is struggling to emerge from the damage wrought by Africa’s worst COVID-19 epidemic, with authorities repeatedly imposing restrictions on businesses.

Growing joblessness has left people ever more desperate. Unemployment stood at a new record high of 32.6% in the first three months of 2021.

(Additional reporting by Siyabonga Sishi in Durban and Tim Cocks, Siphiwe Sibeko and Tanisha Heiberg in Johannesburg; Writing by Angus MacSwan and Tim CocksEditing by Peter Graff)

U.N. says 230,000 displaced by Myanmar fighting

(Reuters) – An estimated 230,000 people have been displaced by fighting in Myanmar and need assistance, the United Nations said on Thursday, as a major armed ethnic group expressed concern about military force, civilian deaths and a widening of the conflict.

Myanmar has been in crisis since a Feb. 1 coup ousted an elected government, prompting nationwide anger that has led to protests, killings and bombings, and battles on several fronts between troops and newly formed civilian armies.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), said relief operations were ongoing but were being hindered by armed clashes, violence and insecurity in the country.

It said 177,000 people were displaced in Karen state bordering Thailand, 103,000 in the past month, while more than 20,000 people were sheltering at 100 displacement areas after fighting between People’s Defense Forces and the army in Chin State bordering India.

Several thousand people had fled fighting in northern Kachin and Shan States, regions with established ethnic minority armies with a long history of hostilities with the military.

The Karen National Union (KNU), one of Myanmar’s oldest ethnic minority groups, said it was worried about the military’s excessive use of force and the loss of innocent civilian lives as fighting intensifies all over the country.

“The KNU will continue to fight against military dictatorship and provide as much protection as possible to people and unarmed civilians,” it said in a statement.

The military says it seized power to protect democracy because its complaints of fraud in a November election won by Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling party were ignored.

PROTESTS

Anti-junta protests took place in Kachin State, Dawei, Sagaing Region and the commercial capital Yangon on Thursday, with demonstrators carrying banners and making three-finger gestures of defiance.

Some showed support for those resisting military rule in Mandalay, the second-biggest city, where a firefight took place between the army and a newly formed guerrilla group on Tuesday, the first sign of armed clashes in a major urban center since the coup.

The military-owned Myawaddy Television said four members of the militia were arrested on Thursday, describing them as “terrorists”.

At least 877 people have been killed by security forces and more than 6,000 arrested since the coup, according to the Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an advocacy group which the junta has declared an illegal organization.

A diplomatic effort by Southeast Asian countries to halt the violence and initiate dialogue between all sides has stalled and the generals say they will stick to their plan of restoring order and holding elections in two years.

In its nightly news bulletin, state-run MRTV reported on the visit of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing to Russia, where a military university named him an honorary professor.

Unlike most global powers, Russia has embraced the junta and the country has long been a key source of Myanmar’s weaponry. His visit comes amid international pressure on countries not to sell arms to the military or do business with its vast network of companies.

State media on Thursday carried excerpts from a speech in Russia by Min Aung Hlaing in which he said it was necessary for countries to avoid encroaching on another country’s sovereignty.

“Myanmar is striving for restoring political peace and stability,” it quoted him saying. “The current government is focusing on the reappearance of honesty over democracy.”

(Reporting by Reuters Staff; Writing by Martin Petty; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Giles Elgood)

Belarus introduces prison sentences for taking part in protests

(Reuters) – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday signed into law prison sentences for people taking part in protests or insulting state officials, part of an unprecedented crackdown by the veteran leader since a disputed election last year.

In a series of amendments to the criminal code, Lukashenko also for the first time introduced a four-year prison sentence for people found guilty of spreading false information that discredits the state.

The Russian-backed president also introduced tougher penalties for resisting the police and using protest symbols.

Under the new law, anyone who has been detained at least twice for taking part in a protest, or insulted a government official, faces up to three years in prison, whereas previously they were subjected to detentions or fines.

“This naturally worsens the situation in the field of civil and political rights,” said Valentin Stefanovich of the Viasna-96 human rights group. “These laws are in fact no longer against protests, but against any dissent.”

In power since 1994, Lukashenko launched a violent crackdown against mass protests after winning an election in August that his opponents say was blatantly rigged.

Lukashenko did not comment on the new measures, which parliament had first adopted last month, but in March he had warned of a tougher response to opposition.

“We need to be prepared for manifestations of destructive activity: from calls for illegal strikes to the manipulation of people’s minds through Internet technologies. For each such step we must have adequate response tools in our arsenal.”

Lukashenko has previously signed amendments on laws governing the media, allowing the government to close down media outlets without needing a court order as before.

The European Union is preparing new sanctions on Minsk following the May 23 arrest of dissident Belarusian blogger Roman Protasevich after the forced grounding of a Ryanair plane while on a flight from Greece to Lithuania.

A joint delegation from the European Union, the United States, United Kingdom, Switzerland and Japan met Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei in Minsk on Tuesday.

In a statement, the delegation urged Belarus to stop its “inhumane treatment of peaceful protesters and political prisoners”.

(Editing by Matthias Williams and Mark Heinrich)