Tag Archives: Protests

Possible British exit from the EU

Wales Stronger in Europe supporters prepare to give out free shopping bags and leaflets in Bute Park, Cardiff, South Wales

By Kylie MacLellan

CAERPHILLY, Wales (Reuters) – In the shadow of Caerphilly’s 13th Century castle, a handful of activists have been handing out leaflets to Saturday shoppers for several weeks to drum up support for a British exit from the European Union (EU).

Elsewhere in the Welsh former mining town, members of Britain’s main opposition Labour Party have also been out campaigning. But the vote they are focused on comes seven weeks before the June 23 EU membership referendum.

Like Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of England, people in Wales will vote in local and regional elections on May 5 — timing that could prove costly for the EU “In” campaign.

Prime Minister David Cameron, whose own Conservative Party is deeply divided on whether or not to stay in the EU, is relying on Labour and other pro-EU political rivals like the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats to get supporters out to vote to remain in the 28-member bloc.

But with those parties distracted by the May 5 polls, the field is wide open for those in favor of Britain leaving the bloc to push their overlapping political message.

The anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) in particular hopes to fuse growing euroscepticism with local election issues such as the impact of immigration on housing availability to steal many of Labour’s traditional voters.

It’s a situation the leaders of the United Kingdom’s devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland had hoped to avoid. Earlier this year, they wrote to Cameron calling on him to hold the referendum later in the year so that it would not conflict with the local election campaign period.

“Cameron went ahead anyway and one of the consequences might be that the remain camp suffers … because people are going to be focusing on other things,” said Roger Scully, Professor of Political Science at Cardiff University.

“They are all focusing on May 5 and then after May 5 they’ll want to rest and so who is going to actually get out and do a lot of the work for remain?”

AVOIDING THE SUBJECT

UKIP candidate and Wales campaign manager Sam Gould, who increased his party’s vote share in Caerphilly by 17 percentage points at last year’s UK-wide election, says rivals are avoiding the subject of the EU.

“The other parties didn’t want to see any crossover whatsoever,” he says, pausing to thrust a campaign leaflet at a passerby. “They know it will help us.”

UKIP has seized on the potential collapse of Tata Steel’s Port Talbot plant in south Wales, saying the EU did not do enough to stop cheap Chinese imports and the bloc’s rules on state aid have prevented government intervention.

With Tata expected to set a deadline to sell by the end of May, thousands of jobs could be lost just weeks before the EU vote, adding to the “In” camp’s woes.

Hefin David, Labour’s candidate in Caerphilly, said he may get involved in the “In” campaign after elections for the devolved Welsh Assembly, but his focus is on local issues for the time being.

“The Welsh Labour campaign that I am running in Caerphilly is about the bread and butter issues of health, education and social services,” David told Reuters.

“If people want to vote to get out of Europe they can do that on June 23. This is the Assembly campaign and I think they should be separate … I’m not thinking past May 5,” as he warmed his hands on a coffee in a local supermarket cafe.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also focused on May 5, his first major electoral test since taking over in September with the strong backing of party members but little support among his own lawmakers.

With some of his opponents in Labour looking for a reason to justify a leadership challenge, all eyes are on the May results.

LABOUR STRONGHOLD NO MORE?

There is reason for Labour to be concerned.

Wales, which has a population of around 3 million and is the poorest region in Britain, according to official statistics, is traditionally a Labour stronghold where the party has won every Assembly election since it was created in 1999.

Opinion polls show the party is now running around 14 percentage points below where it was at the same time before the last assembly election in 2011.

Cardiff University’s Scully says a worse result than in 2007, when Labour won 26 out of 60 assembly seats in its poorest performance there so far, would set off alarm bells that could have national implications.

“Some losses have been priced in … 2007 is probably the benchmark. If they are doing worse than that then I think serious questions will be raised and should be raised, both about the leadership in Wales and the leadership of the party across Britain,” he said.

“You could have a situation where Labour will certainly have their worst ever performance in Scotland and they could have their worst ever devolved election in Wales as well, and lose significant ground in the English locals.”

A long-time eurosceptic, Corbyn now backs the party’s position that Britain should remain in the bloc.

But he has come under fire for not doing enough to help the cause, and with polls showing that backers of Cameron’s Conservatives are more likely to be eurosceptics, some supporters fear the “In” politicians are cutting it very fine.

A YouGov poll published on April 11 showed support in Wales for Britain leaving the EU had risen 3 percentage points from a month earlier to 39 percent, while those wanting to remain had dropped by the same amount, to 38 percent.

“If we don’t get the Labour vote out, we are going to lose,” said one person involved in the “Wales Stronger In” campaign.

(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan, editing by Elizabeth Piper and Sonya Hepinstall)

Migrants Sent from Greece to Turkey

Migrants are escorted by Turkish police officers as they arrive in the Turkish coastal town of Dikili, Turkey,

By Dasha Afanasieva and Karolina Tagaris

DIKILI, Turkey/LESBOS, Greece (Reuters) – The first migrants deported from Greek islands under a disputed EU-Turkey deal were shipped back to Turkey on Monday in a drive to shut down the main route used by more than a million people fleeing war and poverty to reach Europe in the last year.

Under a pact criticized by refugee agencies and human rights campaigners, Ankara will take back all migrants and refugees who cross the Aegean Sea to enter Greece illegally, including Syrians.

In return, the European Union will take in thousands of Syrian refugees directly from Turkey and reward it with more money, early visa-free travel and progress in its EU membership negotiations.

Two Turkish-flagged passenger boats carrying 136 mostly Pakistani migrants arrived from the island of Lesbos in the Turkish town of Dikili, accompanied by two Turkish coast guard vessels with a police helicopter buzzing overhead.

A third ship carrying 66 people, mainly Afghans, arrived there later from the island of Chios.

The EU-Turkey deal aims to discourage migrants from perilous crossings, often in small boats and dinghies, and to break the business model of human smugglers who have fueled Europe’s biggest influx since World War Two.

EU authorities said none of those deported on Monday had requested asylum in Greece and all had left voluntarily. They included two Syrians who had asked to return to Turkey.

“We didn’t see this morning unrest or riots. The operation was organized properly with the sufficient Frontex presence and with enough, very well organized security guarantees,” European Commission spokesman Margaritas Schinas told a news briefing in Brussels. He was referring to the EU border management agency Frontex, which has been reinforced by national police and migration experts.

Schinas said the first returns were legal, although Turkey has not yet made changes to its regulations that the EU said were necessary at the time of the deal.

The EU said at the time of the deal that Ankara would need to change asylum laws to give international protection to Syrians who enter from countries other than Syria, and to non-Syrian asylum seekers returned from Greece.

MIGRANTS KEEP COMING

A few hours after the first boat of returnees set sail from Lesbos, Greek coast guard vessels rescued at least two dinghies carrying more than 50 migrants and refugees, including children and a woman in a wheelchair, trying to reach the island.

Altogether, more people arrived on the Greek islands in the 24 hours to Monday morning than were transported to Turkey, Greek authorities said, putting total arrivals at 339, including 173 on Lesbos and 73 on Chios.

“We are just going to try our chance. It is for our destiny. We are dead anyway,” said Firaz, 31, a Syrian Kurd from the province of Hasakah who was traveling with his cousin.

Asked if he was aware that the Greeks were sending people back, he said: “I heard maybe Iranians, Afghans. I didn’t hear they were sending back Syrians to Turkey… At least I did what I could. I’m alive. That’s it.”

Two groups of mainly Pakistani men, totaling around 100 people, were also intercepted by the Turkish coast guard on Monday near Dikili, a coast guard official said.

Under the pact, the EU will resettle thousands of legal Syrian refugees directly from Turkey – one for each Syrian returned from the Greek islands.

German police said the first 32 Syrian refugees arrived in Hanover on two flights from Istanbul on Monday under the deal. The European Commission said more resettlement flights were due to Finland on Monday and the Netherlands on Tuesday.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Sunday that the “high point of the migrant crisis is behind us”, but many migration experts say the pressure to reach Europe will continue, possibly via other routes.

PROTESTS

A few dozen police and immigration officials waited outside a small white tent on the quayside at Dikili as the returned migrants disembarked one by one, before being photographed and having their fingerprints taken behind security screening.

The returnees from Lesbos were mostly from Pakistan and some from Bangladesh and had not applied for asylum, said Ewa Moncure, a spokeswoman for EU border agency Frontex.

Turkish EU Affairs Minister Volkan Bozkir said any Syrians returned from Greece would be sent to the southern city of Osmaniye, around 40 km (25 miles) from the Syrian border.

For non-Syrians, Turkey would apply to their home countries and send them back systematically, Bozkir said in an interview with Turkish broadcaster Haberturk.

Rights groups and some European politicians have challenged the legality of the deal, questioning whether Turkey has sufficient safeguards in place to defend refugees’ rights and whether it can be considered safe for them.

Amnesty International’s deputy director for Europe, Gauri van Gulik, visiting Lesbos to monitor the returns procedure, told Reuters: “It’s almost based on the assumption Turkey is a safe country for refugees, and we’ve documented very clearly that it is not right now.”

Amnesty last week accused the Turkish army of having turned back thousands of Syrians trying to flee their country in the last few months, sometimes using force.

“The most important thing we lose sight of is that these are individuals who are fleeing horrific scenes of war and we’re playing some kind of ping pong with them,” van Gulik said.

EU spokesman Schinas said Ankara had provided “assurances” and an amendment to its temporary protection regulation was in the works for Syrians returning from abroad. EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos was in Turkey on Monday to discuss outstanding issues, including rights of non-Syrians.

Turkey insists it is meeting its international obligations. The EU was determined to get the program under way on schedule despite such doubts because of strong political pressure in northern Europe to deter migrants from attempting the journey.

There were small protests as the returns got underway.

On Lesbos, a small group of protesters chanted “Shame on you!” when the migrant boats set sail as the sun rose over the Aegean. Volunteer rescuers aboard a nearby boat hoisted a banner that read: “Ferries for safe passage, not for deportation.”

The governor of Turkey’s Izmir province, Mustafa Toprak, told reporters that the returned migrants would be taken to Kirklareli near the Bulgarian border, well away from the coast.

“We will not build camps on the Aegean,” he said adding that those who wanted to stay in Turkey could apply to do so.

Each migrant was accompanied on Lesbos by a plainclothes Frontex officer. They had been transported in a nighttime operation from the island’s holding center to the port. Greek riot police squads also boarded the boats.

At the Moria holding center on Lesbos, where more than 2,600 are being held, a group of men gathered behind the barbed wire fence and shouted to journalists, who are barred from the camp.

One, who said he was from Iran, shouted: “Women just cry. All our children and women are sick (with the) flu epidemic.”

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and rights groups have said the deal between the European Union and Turkey lacks legal safeguards.

More than 3,300 migrants and refugees are on Lesbos. About 2,600 people are held at the Moria center, a sprawling complex of prefabricated containers, 600 more than its stated capacity. Of those, 2,000 have made asylum claims, UNHCR said.

(Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska in Brussels, Thorsten Severin and Michael Nienaber in Berlin and Nick Tattersall in Istanbul; writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Peter Graff)

Chinese, Czech presidents forge strategic partnership on Prague visit

By Jason Hovet and Jan Lopatka

PRAGUE (Reuters) – China’s President Xi Jinping and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman signed an agreement on a strategic partnership on Tuesday, meant to step up business ties and investments.

Zeman has been keen to forge stronger ties with China and Russia since his election in 2013, rather than with the ex-communist country’s partners in NATO and the European Union, although the Czech government not the president is chiefly responsible for foreign policy.

EU relations with both Beijing and Moscow are tainted by disputes over human rights.

The partnership agreement puts the Czechs among about 15 other European countries that have similar ties.

Xi was given a special welcome to mark the first ever visit of a Chinese leader, including a dinner at the presidential residence and 21 artillery salvos in a ceremony at the historic Prague Castle, courtesies not extended to other visitors.

But it drew protests from opposition parties and human rights activists.

Police on Monday detained more than a dozen people who replaced Chinese flags on the main road from Prague airport to the city center with those of Chinese-ruled Tibet. There was a scuffle between pro-Tibet activists and groups of Chinese supporters.

Two demonstrations by activists were called on Tuesday outside Prague’s Lichtenstein Palace, where Xi is to meet Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, and at the Prague Castle.

Czech government officials told Reuters the agreement does not deviate from standard EU language on human rights, diplomatic or economic relations, and reflected Czech interests in continued business relations with Taiwan, which China sees as a wayward province.

The Czechs are hoping to become a financial and air travel hub in central Europe for China, where Czech firms such as financial group PPF and Volkswagen’s Skoda Auto have been active.

Chinese investments in the Czech republic have so far included several acquisitions of financial, airline and brewery companies by a company called CEFC China Energy, whose ownership has not been disclosed.

“I wish that Czech Republic becomes … an entry gate for the People’s Republic of China to the European Union,” he said.

While the Czechs maintain the EU line on China, Zeman has made gestures others have not. Zeman attended a military parade in Beijing last September marking the end of World War Two, the only Western leader to do so.

(Editing by David Holmes)

Haiti protesters stone man to death as political crisis deepens

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haiti slipped deeper into unrest on Friday as gangs of former soldiers roamed the capital and a mob of protesters beat a man to death with stones, following a botched election that has left no successor for outgoing President Michel Martelly.

Reuters witnesses said the crowd attacked an unidentified man wearing military style clothes. The protesters accused him of being a member of a widely unpopular army that was disbanded in 1995.

Martelly is due to leave office on Sunday but squabbling politicians have failed to organize an interim government to replace him, after the runoff election to choose his successor was scrapped last month amid violence and fraud allegations.

(Writing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Self-styled militia group joins Oregon occupation, could raise tensions

BURNS, Ore. (Reuters) – Several members of self-described militia groups have joined armed protesters occupying the headquarters of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, threatening to raise tensions in the week-long siege over land rights.

One of those organizations, the Pacific Patriots Network, issued a “call to action” for its members to establish a safety perimeter around the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in remote southeastern Oregon as leaders of the protest again said they had no immediate plans to leave.

“We wish to establish a safety perimeter of protection for the occupiers so as to prevent a Waco-style situation from unfolding during this peaceful occupation,” leaders of the group said in a statement posted on its website.

“That’s really the point of militias: it’s community involvement,” Brandon Rapolla, a member of Pacific Patriot Network, told Reuters in an interview near a building being used by Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan, to run the occupation. “If something happens in your community, that’s what militias are for.”

The Pacific Patriot Network earlier in the standoff said it did not support seizing federal property.

In 1993 federal agents laid siege to a compound in Waco, Texas, being held by the Branch Davidians religious group for 51 days before the standoff ended in a gun battle and fire in April of that year. Four federal agents and more than 80 members of the group died, including 23 children.

Some two dozen armed protesters have occupied the headquarters of the refuge since last Saturday, marking the latest incident in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over federal control of land and resources in the U.S. West.

The move followed a demonstration in support of two local ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven, who were returned to prison earlier this week for setting fires that spread to federal land.

A lawyer for Hammond family has said that the occupiers do not speak for the family.

Ammon Bundy met briefly with Harney County Sheriff David Ward on Thursday but rejected the lawman’s offer of safe passage out of the state to end the standoff.

During a press conference on Friday morning, Bundy seemed to soften his position slightly, saying: “We will take that offer but not yet and we will go out of this county and out of this state as free.”

Both Bundy and the sheriff have said that the two sides would talk again on Friday.

Following Bundy’s press conference on Friday morning a lands right activist opposed to the occupation spoke to the media.

“This is about furthering an extremist right-wing agenda,” Barrett Kaiser, a Montana resident and a representative of the Center for Western Priorities, said angrily, as supporters of Bundy tried to interrupt him and argue with him. “They need to be charged and prosecuted.”

Local residents have expressed a mixture of sympathy for the Hammond family, suspicion of the federal government’s motives and frustration with the occupation.

The leaders of the armed occupation are Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy. Their father, Cliven Bundy, along with a band of armed men, stared down federal agents trying to seize his livestock in Nevada in 2014. Many of the other occupiers also are from outside Oregon.

The Bundys say they want the federal government to turn over its land holdings in the area to local authorities and that they will leave after they have accomplished their goal.

Federal law enforcement agents and local police have so far kept away from the occupied site, maintaining no visible presence outside the park in a bid to avoid a violent confrontation.

(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in Burns, Oregon; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Protesters Storm Afghan Presidential Palace over Recent ISIS Beheadings

Thousands of protesters marched outside the palace compound in Kabul on Wednesday to denounce recent abductions and killings of seven members of the Hazara Shiite minority.

Before arriving at the palace gates, the protesters walked for almost four hours carrying the green-draped coffins of  seven Hazaras who had been kidnaped and beheaded — four men, two women and a nine-year-old girl, Shukria. Many chanted “Death to the Taliban,” ”Down with the Government” and “Death to Pakistan.” The government is convinced the deaths were caused by an Islamic State group.

10,000 people marched to demand justice for the Shiite minority and called on the government to do more to ensure the nation’s security or step down. The protests come from the growing discontent at the government’s inability to counter groups such as the Taliban and Islamic State-inspired factions.  

According to news reports, at one point, presidential guards opened fire as some of the protesters who tried to scale the walls and get into the palace grounds. The president’s deputy spokesman, Zafar Hashemi, said the shooting wounded 10 people.

Shortly afterward, Ghani went live on national television, appealing for calm and promising that the Hazara deaths would be avenged. “The nation’s pain is my pain,” he said, vowing the authorities would have “no mercy” on the killers.

“Like you, I will not calm down until the perpetrators of these crimes are brought to justice. We shall revenge the blood of our brothers and sisters,” he said, adding that the “enemies of Afghanistan” are trying to create disunity and “bring ethnic and sectarian violence” to the country.

Nepal Police Clear Indian Border Checkpoint by Forcibly Removing Protesters

Protesters along the India-Nepal border were forcibly removed by Nepalese police on Monday, allowing over 200 trucks who had been stuck there for 40 days to finally enter India.

The Agence France-Presse news agency reported that police used batons on the protestors and burned down tents that they were using to block the border checkpoint.

But while the trucks were cleared to enter India, trucks bringing fuel and other supplies to Nepal were being blocked by Indian customs officials. Nepal is currently under a severe fuel shortage that has brought the country to a virtual standstill, according to Time.

The large scale protests taking place in Nepal began in August after the country adopted a new constitution. Minority groups, including the Madhesi and Tharu, believe they have not been accurately represented in the new constitution because it divides the group into a number of states and dilutes their political power. The protests have also brought a political standoff between Nepal and India, as Nepal believes India is encouraging the civil unrest and protests and purposefully blocking their fuel supplies from entering Nepal.

Late last week, Nepal signed an agreement with China to refill their fuel reserves.

Since the protests began in August, 45 people have lost their lives, including an Indian man who was shot by Nepalese police on Monday. Nepalese officials report that the man was among a group of ethnic protesters who were attacking a police station with petrol bombs and stones, according to the Washington Post.

“European Day of Action for Refugees” Brings Protests

Saturday marked a day of protests across Europe after a Facebook-driven activist campaign called for a “day of action” on behalf of refugees.

“We can’t continue to allow thousands to die trying to reach Europe as they search for safety, hope and the chance to live another day,” the Facebook page states.  “We can’t stay silent anymore as our politicians and the media are stigmatizing these men, women and children as threats and burdens. We can’t let our governments close all our borders and build fences to keep people in need out. That’s not what Europe should be about.”

Marchers in London worked their way to 10 Downing Street to call on Prime Minister David Cameron to accept more than the 20,000 Syrians he agreed to take over the next five years.  The group held signs that read things like “Don’t Bomb Syria,” “Refugees welcome” and “Solidarity with refugees.”

Protests took place in Denmark, Austria, Romania, Greece, France and Finland.

Meanwhile, debate in Washington raged on Sunday morning talk shows about the role the U.S. can play in accepting Syrian refugees.

Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut suggested the U.S. could take in 50,000 refugees.

“It doesn’t stand to reason that Germany is going to take 800,000 and the U.S. has only taken 1,500,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “If we want credibility in the region, we’ve got to be seen as a partner in trying to solve this humanitarian crisis.”

Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson said that any help should not compromise national security.

“It is not the fanciful to think that ISIS may be assaulting some of those refugees with some of their operatives,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “We are taking shortcuts in terms of vetting process. …  . And we need to be first concerned about our own national security. So we are a compassionate nation, but we’ve got to fully vet the individuals that we would take in.”

Russia Burns Food Despite Citizen Anger

Russian citizens are protesting a government decision to burn 350 tons of food rather than distributing it to the nation’s poor.

Government troops intercepted a contraband food shipment including Irish pork and cheeses, Italian kiwis and more.  Apparently some of the food was being shipped to the BMW car racing team that is participating in an event in Moscow.

“The department decided to impound goods at the checkpoint due to gross violation of sanitary rules,” Tass quoted food watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor as saying.

A spokesman for the Kremlin said that the policy of destroying food is likely to continue.

“I agree that it does not look pleasant,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov conceded in an interview to RBC News.

The Moscow Times was critical of the government’s action, stating “starvation and deprivation weren’t abstract concepts to Soviet people — even privileged Soviet people — just a couple of generations ago.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin banned Western food imports in 2014 in retaliation for sanctions placed against Russia due to their invasion of Ukraine.