eveningstandard--2019-05-01--Venezuela news latest Juan Guaido calls for fresh protests as US claims president Maduro had been s

Venezuela news latest: Juan Guaido calls for fresh protests as US claims president Maduro had been set to flee the country

Venezuela’s opposition leader has called for his supporters to revive protests a day after violent clashes in the capital.  Juan Guaido is trying to unseat President Nicolás Maduro but he remains defiant despite the calls to action from the opposition.  Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed Mr Maduro was prepared to flee the country in the face of his opposition’s call for protests but reversed the plan after Russia intervened.  "They had an airplane on the tarmac. He was ready to leave this morning, as we understand it. Russians indicated he should stay," Mr Pompeo said in an interview with CNN.  Senior US officials also claimed three prominent figures in Mr Maduro's government had agreed the president had to go, but later backtracked.  US National Security Advisor John Bolton said those figures allegedly included Defence Secretary Vladimir Padrino - who has since reaffirmed his support and appeared alongside Mr Maduro in his televised address.  Mr Maduro vowed he would be victorious in the face of what he called a coup attempt backed by US imperialism and the events on Tuesday would “not go unpunished”.  "[Prosecutors] will launch criminal prosecutions for the serious crimes that have been committed against the constitution, the rule of law and the right to peace," he said in his speech.  Violence blighted Venezuela’s capital city after Mr Guaido urged a military uprising against its president.  Armoured vehicles were filmed being rammed into anti-government protesters as troops loyal to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro tried to restore order.  At least 36 people were injured in clashes having been hit with projectiles including rubber bullets in Caracas.  It was also claimed Colonel Yerzon Jimenez, the operations head of a national guard unit, was shot in the neck by demonstrators.  The furore began early Tuesday when Mr Guaido released a three-minute video, filmed near a Caracas air base, in which he urged civilians and others in the armed forces to join a final push to topple President Maduro.  Leopoldo Lopez, his political mentor and the nation's most-prominent opposition activist, was surprisingly seen stood alongside him after being released from house arrest.  He had been detained in 2014 for leading a previous round of anti-government unrest.  Mr Lopez said: "I want to tell the Venezuelan people: This is the moment to take to the streets and accompany these patriotic soldiers.”  The chaos marked the most serious challenge to President Maduro's rule yet after months of mostly peaceful protests led by Mr Guaido.  The opposition leader previously declared himself interim president with the backing of the US and dozens of other countries.


eveningstandard--2019-07-27--Hong Kong protests Thousands march through Yuen Long despite police ban

Hong Kong protests: Thousands march through Yuen Long despite police ban

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in defiance of a police ban in the latest round of civil action over the Chinese extradition bill.  Demonstrators marched through Yuen Long, a rural, northern town, were pro-democracy protesters were attacked by suspected triad gangsters last week.  Police have been widely criticised for turning a blind eye, colluding with the armed, masked attackers and failing to protect the public. Police have denied the claims.  There have been several weeks of protests in Hong Kong, sparked by government plans to introduce a controversial extradition bill.  Hong Kong police banned Saturday’s march on safety grounds, fearing there would be violence.  But activists insisted they would push ahead and by 3.30 pm (local time) several thousand had gathered in sweltering heat, many chanting anti-police slogans such as "black police" and "know the law, break the law."  There have been reports of police using tear gas against the protesters.  Residents described a mounting police presence on Saturday morning, with force chiefs insisting they will still seek to keep order despite the ban.  Extra fortifications have been placed around the local police station.  Riot police were present and officers inside the station were filming the protesters as the march began.  Activists told Reuters they feared the protest could turn violent, given feelings of palpable anger among protesters over last Sunday's events and a determination among some to challenge villagers they believe are close to long-standing triad groups in the area.  "The situation is escalating, and (Saturday) could be the start of a more violent period," one told Reuters.  Reporter Rachel Blundy posted a video to Twitter of thousands at Long Ping train station. “Wonder how the Hong Kong police are planning to arrest them all?” she wrote.  Another video showed police buses driving past demonstrators as many shouted “Triads! Triads”.  Protesters could also be heard chanting Edward Leung’s “Reclaim HK! Revolution of our time!”  Forty-five people were injured in last week’s attack. Protesters said the police were slow to respond to emergency calls - and only appeared at the station after the attackers had left.  Police say their forces were stretched during another day of unrest, and said suggestions that they had colluded with criminal gangs was a "smear".  They added that 12 people have been arrested in connection with the attack, including nine men with links to triads.


eveningstandard--2019-08-13--Hong Kong protests as it happened Violent clashes as riot police descend on airport during second d

Hong Kong protests as it happened: Violent clashes as riot police descend on airport during second day of disruption

Violent clashes broke out after riot police descended on Hong Kong airport where protesters caused flights to be cancelled for a second day.  Thousands of black-clad protesters flooded the airport earlier today, disrupting operations at one of the world's busiest transport hubs by chanting, singing and waving banners.  Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam said the territory had been pushed into a state of "panic and chaos" as its stock market fell to a seven-month low.  Chinese troops were also filmed gathering at the border as part of a "drill," according to state media after months of civil unrest sparked by intense opposition to a proposed Chinese extradition bill.


france24--2019-10-10--Ecuador shuts down major oil pipeline amid worsening protests over fuel prices

People protest against a fuel price hike ordered by the government to secure an IMF loan in front of riot police in Guayaquil, Ecuador on October 9, 2019.  Protesters in Ecuador fought a running battle with security forces Wednesday in a second day of violent protests over a fuel price hike that forced the government to suspend most of the country's deliveries of crude.  The violence broke out as thousands of people representing indigenous groups, farmers, students and labour unions marched on a square in Quito's historic centre near the government headquarters.  Masked demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails and paving stones. Clouds of tear gas and palls of black smoke from burning tires rose over the colonial downtown area, a UNESCO world heritage site.  After clashes broke out in the area Tuesday, the government of President Lenin Moreno posted security forces to keep the march from reaching the plaza.  Protesters on Wednesday broke off from the main procession and hurled rocks at riot police, who fought back with volleys of tear gas and water cannon.  Several people were injured in the clashes.  The protesters are demanding that Moreno reinstate fuel subsidies that were rescinded after $4.2 billion in loans were agreed with the IMF.  The unrest threatened to inflict wider damage on an already weakened economy.  The energy ministry announced it was shutting down one of the country's two domestic oil pipelines, effectively suspending two-thirds of its distribution of crude.  "Due to this shutdown, we are analysing the possibility of declaring Force Majeure," a mechanism to avoid the country incurring penalties for postponing crude shipments, the ministry said in a statement.  Protesters seized three oil facilities in the Amazon earlier this week.  Ecuador, which exited the OPEC international oil cartel last week citing economic constraints, produces over 500,000 barrels-per-day (bpd) -- which was worth some $4.6 billion in exports in the first six months of the year.  However, Wednesday's shutdown accounts for 68 percent of its oil output, the ministry said, adding that the protests had cost $12.8 million in lost production to date.  Moreno's government has held talks with protest groups but Wednesday's march proceeded anyway.  On Tuesday, clashes between security forces and protesters broke out near Congress and demonstrators -- many of them indigenous men armed with sticks and whips -- surged through a security cordon and into the building before being pushed back.  The demonstrations broke out after increases of up to 120 percent in fuel prices came into force on October 3.  They have so far left one civilian dead and 77 people injured, the majority of them security forces, the government said. Prior to Wednesday's protest, 477 people had been detained.  Discussions with leaders of the powerful indigenous umbrella organization CONAIE took place in Guayaquil, some 170 miles (270 kilometres) southwest of the capital.  "There is dialogue with the brother indigenous peoples who unfortunately have needs," Moreno said.  He also offered to free up resources for those hit hard by the rise in fuel prices.  Moreno had accused his predecessor and ex-ally Rafael Correa along with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of an "attempted coup d’état."  He said they were using "indigenous groups, taking advantage of their mobilization to plunder and destroy," accusations Maduro dismissed as absurd.  Moreno has drawn support, however, from seven Latin American countries that, in a joint statement, rejected any effort by Maduro and his allies to "destabilize" Ecuador.  The seven -- including Argentina, Brazil and Colombia -- have right-wing governments that see Moreno's moderate socialist administration as an important regional ally against Venezuela.  Correa, meanwhile, called for early elections and denied he was attempting to oust Moreno.  "There's no coup here. Conflicts in democracy are resolved at the polls," the Belgium-based Correa said in a video published on social media.  Moreno scrapped fuel subsidies as part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund to obtain loans despite Ecuador's high public debt.  The subsidies were costing the government $1.3 billion a year. The IMF agreement, signed in March, allowed Ecuador to borrow $4.2 billion.


france24--2019-11-15--Chile to vote on new constitution in response to protests

Chile announced on Friday it will stage a referendum to replace the country’s dictatorship-era constitution next year - a key demand of protesters after nearly a month of sometimes violent civil unrest.  The current charter, in force since 1980 and enacted by the former military junta of Augusto Pinochet, has been changed numerous times in the years since.  But it does not establish the state’s responsibility to provide education and healthcare -- two demands made by millions of Chileans who have taken to the streets.  Lawmakers in Chile’s National Congress agreed early Friday to hold the plebiscite in April 2020 after hours of negotiations between the governing coalition and opposition parties.  The referendum will ask voters whether the constitution should be replaced and if so, how a new charter should be drafted, Senate president Jaime Quintana said.  The unrest that began on October 18 with protests against a rise in rush-hour metro fares has mushroomed into a broader outcry against the status quo, with burning, looting and daily confrontations between demonstrators and police.  The crisis is Chile’s biggest since its return to democracy in 1990, leaving 20 dead - five at the hands of state forces - and more than 1,000 injured.  Protesters cite low wages, high costs for education and healthcare and a yawning gap between rich and poor in a country dominated politically and economically by a few elite families.  Demonstrators have demanded greater social reform from President Sebastian Pinera, who has announced several measures in a bid to appease the public mood.  After weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations, most polls show the protest movement is supported by 75 percent of Chileans.  A slightly larger number - 87 percent, according to a survey by pollster Cadem published this month - say they favor the protesters’ demand for constitutional reforms.  A few days after Pinera became president last year, his government announced it would not allow the consideration of a bill to amend the constitution that his socialist predecessor Michelle Bachelet had submitted to congress.


france24--2019-12-21--India cracks down on free expression as protests against citizenship law grow

Facing mass protests over a citizenship law that excludes Muslims, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has imposed a crackdown on freedom of expression not seen in the country since the “Emergency” of the late 1970s.  At least 21 people have been killed, dozens injured and more than 1,500 arrested across India over 10 days of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was voted into law on December 11 and has been widely criticised as an affront to India’s secular constitution.  The law creates a path to citizenship for Hindus, Christians and other religious groups who immigrated from Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan without proper documentation. It does not apply to Muslims. Critics say the law is discriminatory, marking the Modi government’s latest effort to marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims.    In several parts of the country, the government has banned protests, imposed curfews and shut down internet services, in addition to using water cannons, batons and even live fire on demonstrators.    Journalists, prominent activists and intellectuals have been among those detained. On Friday, an advisory from the national ministry of information and broadcasting instructed television channels not to broadcast “any content which promotes anti-national attitudes” or “which is likely to instigate violence”. The ministry demanded “strict compliance”, in the second such advisory since last week.    “I don’t think this has ever happened ever before,” said Gyan Prakash, a historian at Princeton University and author of Emergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and Democracy's Turning Point.    “People often describe the situation as an undeclared emergency, but this in fact is much more grave than what Indira Gandhi tried in 1975,” said Prakash, whose book documents India’s 18-month “Emergency” period under then prime minister Gandhi. That period saw elections suspended, the press censored and political opponents jailed in what is widely seen as a lapse in India’s 70-year history as the world’s most populous democracy.    Prakash said that not only were civil liberties being curtailed in many of the same ways today, but these “authoritarian” methods were being used in the service of the Hindu majoritarian agenda of the Modi government. Furthermore, he said, “the judiciary has failed to act independently and is completely intimidated”.    “It’s that combination that makes it all the more serious,” he said. “People think that something fundamental is changing.”     Internet suspended    Since Thursday, parts of New Delhi as well as cities in at least four other states – Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh – have seen internet or phone services shut down for hours and even days at a time, affecting tens of millions of people. Telecom providers in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, were ordered to block SMS messages and mobile data for 45 hours beginning on Thursday.  In Aligarh, where police beat students and fired tear gas shells inside a university last week, internet was suspended on Saturday for the sixth consecutive day. This comes as at least 11 people have been killed since Friday in protests across Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, while some 600 people have been taken into custody as part of “preventive action”.    Frédérick Douzet, a cybersecurity expert and professor at the French Institute of Geopolitics, Université Paris 8, told FRANCE 24 the internet cuts were “extremely significant”.    “It’s an attack on civil liberties, an attack on freedom of expression and the freedom to demonstrate,” said Douzet. “So it’s shocking in general, and it’s even more shocking coming from a democracy.”    “There is clearly a will to silence the demonstrators and to prevent them from circulating information, bearing witness beyond their borders to the repression they are undergoing and communicating with the outside world,” Douzet added.  In Assam, which saw some of the earliest protests against the citizenship law, internet services were restored Friday after a 10-day blockade. The state has seen ongoing protests since the release in late August of a new National Register of Citizens that excludes some 2 million of its Muslim residents.  On Saturday, hundreds of women staged a sit-in against the citizenship law in Gauhati, the state capital.    The Indian government says that the internet cuts are necessary to combat rumors and misinformation that are fueling violence and stresses that they are only temporary.    Alp Toker, executive director of the NetBlocks observatory in London, questions this logic.    “We haven’t seen much evidence at all that this is effective in controlling protests or even violence,” Toker told FRANCE 24. “In fact, it seems to just cover up instances of violence against individuals.”    This week’s internet shutdowns mark the extension of a tactic already used extensively by Modi’s government. Authorities have interrupted internet services at least 102 times so far this year, according to an online tracker maintained by the New Delhi-based Software Freedom Law Centre. Since Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government first came into power in 2014, the internet has been suspended more than 360 times.    Broadband and mobile internet services were blocked for much of August in Indian-administered Kashmir amid an ongoing crackdown in the country’s only Muslim-majority region after it was stripped of the semi-autonomous status accorded to it during partition in 1947.     Such curbs on freedom of expression have been “routine” in Kashmir and India’s northeastern states, said Prakash, but didn’t attract mainstream attention in the rest of the country because “people thought it was happening only in border areas.” Now, for the first time, internet cuts have reached as far as the nation’s capital.    International playbook    In 2018, the #KeepItOn coalition, which works with the support of 191 organisations globally, and the nonprofit group Access Now reported that of the 196 internet shutdowns reported from 25 countries, India was responsible for the majority, with 134 incidents – almost two-thirds of the world’s documented shutdowns.    Toker, of the NetBlocks observatory, said other countries were looking to India’s example to justify shutdowns of their own. There is “a kind of playbook developing, and it really arises because the international community tends not to speak up about these kinds of shutdowns”, he said.    “If we look at Iran for example, that’s a country that had a major internet shutdown recently … some voices there, in leadership, have actually cited India saying, ‘Hey, if this leading democracy can do it, then perhaps so can we.’”  China, reputed to have the world’s most extensive system of online censorship and surveillance, has likewise expressed its approval for India’s shutdowns. The measures prove that “shutting down the internet in a state of emergency should be standard practice for sovereign countries,” the Communist Party newspaper People’s Daily said on December 17.    Journalists detained amid wider arrests    In addition to the more than 1,500 arrested, another 4,000 people have been detained and then released nationwide during the protests.    Two senior federal government officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said those arrested were responsible for violence. Some protesters have clashed with police, vandalised public property and burned cars, buses and other vehicles.    But many have been taken into custody while protesting peacefully, including prominent intellectuals like political commentator Yogendra Yadav and historian Ramachandra Guha, who was detained while giving an interview. In Mangaluru, in the southern state of Karnataka, nine journalists were detained Friday while reporting on the protests. In Uttar Pradesh, a local correspondent for the Hindu – one of India’s largest English-language newspapers – was taken into custody, verbally abused and accused of “conspiracy” by plainclothes officers in what the police later called a “misunderstanding”.    Reporters Without Borders ranked India 140th out of 180 countries on its 2019 World Press Freedom Index, down two spots from the year before.    ‘Silver lining’    Still, Prakash said there is a “silver lining” to the unrest.    Before the protests began, many in India expressed “a sense of fear” and reluctance to talk openly about politics, in a context of growing government surveillance.    “Something has changed since this protest began,” Prakash said. “You find people talking more freely.” He was one of thousands of academics, students and teachers who signed a petition denouncing police raids on student protesters at two Muslim universities.    Discontent around a variety of issues has crystallised around the citizenship law, Prakash explains. And contrary to some reports, it’s not only – or even primarily – Muslims who are protesting.  Describing a protest he attended Friday at Delhi’s central India Gate, Prakash said “it was a very mixed crowd,” and the overwhelming majority of protesters there were young.    “The protest is very organic” and bottom-up, he said, drawing in “people you wouldn’t normally consider politically motivated”.    Drawing them together is a sense that the citizenship law violates India’s secular constitution, using state power to assert a Hindu-majoritarian programme.    “This move over the citizenship law seems to have touched a nerve,” added Prakash. “People feel that some red line was crossed.”    (With AP and REUTERS)


france24--2019-12-27--A year of discontent: Protests of 2019 toppled world leaders from Bolivia to Sudan

From left, protests in 2019 in Paris, France, in Baghdad, Iraq, and in Hong Kong.  Street demonstrations rocked cities around the world in 2019, with some leading to the downfall of longtime leaders who once appeared invulnerable while others put their governments on notice in a year that proved to be one of widespread discontent.  Protesters are demanding the removal of corrupt governments, better living standards, greater freedoms and more rights.  The leaders of Bolivia, Algeria, Lebanon, Iraq and Sudan have been pushed out as a consequence. Elsewhere, such as in Chile and Ecuador, protesters have won concessions from their governments.  FRANCE 24 takes a look at some of the popular movements that have successfully led to the ouster of political leaders in 2019 – some of them after decades in power.  A wave of protests swept through several Latin American countries in 2019. In Bolivia, Socialist President Evo Morales bowed to pressure from demonstrators and the military, and stepped down on November 10 after 14 years in power. Protesters had accused Morales of rigging the elections.  Mexico offered Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous leader, asylum and he was replaced by Jeanine Anez, a member of the conservative opposition and the deputy head of Senate.  But Morales’s successful ouster did not bring peace to the streets of the capital, La Paz, and other Bolivian cities, which have since seen vast protests by supporters of the former president demanding that he be reinstated.  Lebanon’s Saad al-Hariri was pushed to resign in the face of sustained countrywide protests that erupted in mid-October against the ruling elite, which demonstrators blame for widespread corruption and mismanagement, amid the country’s worst economic and financial crisis in decades.  Hariri’s resignation brought down the coalition government, which included the powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah, backed by Iran.  But although the newly appointed prime minister, Hassan Diab, promised that his government would consist only of independents and experts and not include politicians, protests have not let up. Since President Michel Aoun announced Diab’s nomination, thousands have taken to the streets in Beirut and elsewhere, saying Diab, too, was a member of the corrupt elite.  Diab, 60, a university professor and former education minister, was backed by Hezbollah and its allies, but does not have the support of the main Sunni Muslim groups, including Hariri’s party, although he is Sunni himself.  >> Iran ‘anxious’ as popular movements threaten its influence in Iraq and Lebanon  Mass protests have gripped Iraq since October 1, where citizens are demanding an overhaul of a system they see as corrupt and keeping most Iraqis in poverty. More than 450 people have been killed and 20,000 wounded since the rallies began, according to news agencies.  Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s resignation in November has not calmed the movement, as he has remained in office in a caretaker capacity.  Like in Lebanon, protesters have demanded the complete ouster of the ruling class. Iraq is ranked the 12th most corrupt country in the world by watchdog group Transparency International.  On December 26 Iraqi President Barham Salih refused to designate the nominee of an Iran-backed parliamentary bloc for prime minister, saying he would rather resign than appoint someone to the position who would be rejected by protesters.  The protests have shaken the country out of two years of relative calm following the defeat of Islamic State Group insurgents.  “The president has found himself between the rock of the pro-Iran parties and the hard place of the people, but he chose to side with the protesters,” political analyst Ahmed Younis told AFP.  >> Thousands return to the streets in Iraq, defying deadly violence  After 20 years in power, Algeria's ailing president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, resigned on April 2, shortly after the country's powerful army chief of staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah, demanded that he be declared unfit and leave office "immediately".  Mass protests had erupted in mid-February after Bouteflika announced he would seek a fifth term in office. The 82-year-old president had rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013.  Salah, who went on to serve as the North African country’s behind-the-scenes de facto leader, died of a heart attack on December 23.  But Bouteflika’s removal did not end the discontent in Algeria, where many citizens still view the government as inept, corrupt and unable to manage the flagging economy.  Over 60 percent of the population boycotted elections on December 12, won by Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who had served as prime minister under Bouteflika.  >> In Algeria, political cartoonists turn to social media to protest repression  Mass protests over economic difficulties erupted in Sudan in December 2018, leading to the ouster in April of President Omar al-Bashir after 30 years in power.  But there too, violent demonstrations and deadly clashes continued for several more months, well after Bashir was removed from power, until the military agreed in August to transition the country over to civilian rule.  Sudan’s first post-Bashir government was sworn in in September.  Several cases have been brought against Bashir since his ouster. On December 14, he was sentenced by a Khartoum court to two years in prison for corruption and is being investigated for his role in the 1989 coup that led to his rise to power.  >> EYE ON AFRICA: Sudan's Bashir could face death sentence over role in 1989 coup  Civil unrest elsewhere in the world  As Bolivians demonstrated against Morales, protests swept through other Latin American countries. In Ecuador, weeks of demonstrations by indigenous protesters forced President Lenin Moreno to rescind a decree that would have raised fuel prices.  Riots in Chile led the government to announce a $5.5 million (€5 million) economic recovery plan, while Colombia’s President Ivan Duque continues to feel the heat with ongoing strikes and protests against his government’s economic policies and corruption.  Citizens have taken to the streets in parts of Asia as well. In India, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has cracked down on protests in the face of mass rallies against a citizenship law that excludes Muslims.  Hong Kong has been battered by six months of increasingly violent demonstrations in the toughest challenge to Beijing since Britain handed the semi-autonomous territory over in 1997. Hundreds of thousands have taken to the streets amid growing fears that China is stamping out the city's liberties.  Protests erupted also in Iran in November after the government announced a sharp hike in fuel prices, leading to a three-day crackdown and violent clashes in which at least 304 people were killed, according to Amnesty International.  European countries have also seen their share of mass demonstrations in 2019.  Marking a year since the beginning of the massive Yellow Vest movement, which was sparked by a plan to raise fuel prices, France has more recently been crippled by nationwide transport strikes and large demonstrations over the government’s planned pension reform.  In Spain, thousands marched this year for and against Catalan independence. Meanwhile in Czech Republic, hundreds of thousands have marched against their populist mogul prime minister, Andrej Babis, 30 years after that country’s Velvet Revolution.  The civil unrest continues, even in countries where demonstrations successfully led to the ouster of leaders. It remains to be seen whether new leadership and reforms will be enough to assuage protesters or whether emboldened populations will push even further for change.


npr--2019-09-27--Hong Kong Braces For Massive Weekend Protests

Hong Kong is bracing for more rallies and unrest this weekend as two important anniversaries loom, sparking fears that anti-government protests might once again boil over into violence on the streets.  Saturday marks five years since the start of the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement that unsuccessfully sought free and open elections in Hong Kong, a former British colony that reverted to Chinese control in 1997.  The movement got its name after activists used umbrellas to protect themselves from police who fired tear gas and pepper spray at the protesters. It is also the weekend leading up to Tuesday's 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.  Combined, both events are expected to draw massive crowds on Saturday as protesters vent their frustration with Hong Kong government, which pro-democracy activists see as firmly under Beijing's control.  On Friday, thousands gathered along the harbor in front of central government offices, chanting slogans accusing police of brutality. Protesters at the rally stepped up calls for an investigation into one remote camp known as San Uk Ling near the Chinese border where they say detained protesters were abused.  It's a claim Hong Kong police deny. Authorities also said the camp was no longer being used to hold protesters.  "Its setting and facilities are all in line with police policies and regulations," police said in a statement. "We will stop using San Uk Ling Holding Centre for holding arrested people in this operation. The reason is to avoid any further public speculation and unnecessary remarks accusing the police."  Hong Kong's protests, which began in earnest four months ago, were triggered by anger over a proposed extradition law that would have allowed some Hong Kong residents accused of crimes to be sent to mainland China to face justice there. They have since expanded into demands for universal suffrage and a wholesale investigation into police treatment of the protest movement.  Some protests that began as peaceful gatherings degenerated into mobs of masked demonstrators confronting police dressed in full riot gear, wielding clubs and firing tear gas.  Police have cautioned that gasoline bombs lobbed by protesters have put officers' lives at risk. They have issued warnings that law enforcement may use live ammunition for self-defense.  The activist group Civil Human Rights Front, whose mass rallies have pulled as many as 2 million people into the streets, has received police approval for Saturday's gathering, although authorities have banned some of its earlier demonstrations.  This weekend's events come after Hong Kong's Beijing-appointed chief executive, Carrie Lam, held an hours-long town hall with an antagonistic audience on Thursday.  The crowd, gathered inside Queen Elizabeth Stadium in the Wan Chai District on the northern shore of Hong Kong, became agitated after Lam denied pleas for more concessions.  Earlier this month, Lam announced she was withdrawing the extradition bill. It was an unexpected maneuver that NPR's Emily Feng reported at the time was an effort to end the violence and restore social order in Hong Kong.  Even so, the announcement made little headway in quelling the increasingly violent protests.  In a news conference ahead of this weekend's expected protests, The Associated Press reports Hong Kong police released figures of the number of young people detained at the protests this summer.  Hong Kong police said students accounted for 29% of the approximately 1,600 anti-government protesters detained since June.  "It is an alarming trend to us," he said. "It is worrying to see these youths break the law and possibly have criminal records at such a young and tender age," Hong Kong Police public relations head Tse Chun-chung proclaimed at a news conference.


npr--2019-10-06--Hong Kong Demonstrators Continue Anti-Government Protests, Clashes With Riot Police

Anti-government protests in Hong Kong continued on Sunday as tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to defy the ban on face masks that went into effect just days earlier.  Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam announced Friday that she would use colonial-era emergency powers to enforce the ban that targets those wearing face masks at public gatherings. Lam is the first to invoke those powers in more than 50 years.  This came during the same week that mainland China celebrated 70 years of Communist Party's ruling power in the country. While festivities, including a parade that showcased the country's military might were held in Beijing, Hong Kong experienced widespread unrest with violent protests that included a pro-democracy protester being shot by police.  Lam's decision set off more violent protests on Friday night, and a demonstration march on Saturday. The city's metro system was effectively shut down on Friday after protesters began vandalizing stations. While some stations were open on Sunday, a majority remained closed, according to the South China Morning Post.  Sunday's protests started out peacefully as people began marching in the rain, but things changed quickly once police fired tear gas into the crowds in an attempt to force them to disperse.  Protesters smashed in the storefronts to mainland Chinese banks and graffitied and tore up streets, leaving bricks strewn across roads to try and slow the advance of riot police.  As NPR's Emily Feng reports, the progression from peaceful protests in the morning to battling with police in the streets at night has become a recognized pattern.  Tensions and violence have continued to rise between the two groups, following police officers' use of live bullets on two protesters this week. The 18-year-old protester shot in the chest on Tuesday was critically injured. Another 14-year-old protester was shot in the leg on Friday, and reported to be in stable condition after an operation, the South China Morning Post reports.  Among the protesters demands are pro-democracy reforms and an investigation into police officers' use of violent force. But after the face mask ban went into effect, protesters have been pushing back on what they fear could be the first step in their rights and freedoms being encroached upon.  Some of the protesters, pushing back on Beijing's influence, have expressed concern that the mainland could interfere more since Lam's decision to invoke emergency powers with the anti-mask ban.  But demonstrators have continued to wear masks in direct defiance of the ban. By doing so, they face a risk of up to one year in prison or a fine of 25,000 Hong Kong dollars. So many people have worn masks that the ban has been rendered practically unenforceable by police.  Even so, some protesters believe the risk is worth it. One 18-year-old protester told NPR's Emily Feng, that he thinks if Hong Kong's government can use those emergency powers to ban face masks, that it can also take away other civil liberties the region is afforded. He added that while there is great risk in joining the protests, he believes it is worth it in order to protect his home.


npr--2019-11-23--Amid Protests, Colombia's Capital Placed Under Curfew

Colombians have rallied against their leader, President Iván Duque, in a major wave of protests. Duque is trying to get a grip on the unrest by announcing a "national dialogue," and the capital city, Bogotá, was put under curfew Friday night.  Major rallies started in Colombia on Thursday. As reporter John Otis tells NPR from Colombia, the demonstrators are "angry over a great big long list of issues."  "They think President Duque hasn't supported Colombia's peace treaty, which ended a long guerrilla war back in 2016. They also are calling for more protection for human rights workers, hundreds of whom have been targeted and killed by criminal gangs," Otis reported. "And they're also worried that the government is going to cut salaries and pension benefits."  Duque, a right-wing populist, was elected last year on a platform of changing the terms of the 2016 peace deal with guerrilla fighters. He's faced challenges since coming into office, though, and his approval rating is now hovering at around 26%, according to The Associated Press.  Late Friday, a truck bomb exploded near a police station in the province of Cauca, Otis reports. Thirteen policemen were rushed to the hospital, and officials said three of them died. It wasn't immediately clear who is responsible for the bombing or whether it is connected to the ongoing rallies.  The protests have been largely peaceful. Hundreds of thousands of people marched in the streets across the country on Thursday, according to the BBC. Protesters again gathered on Friday in a historic district of Bogotá — then police fired tear gas at the crowd.  "They kicked us out with tear gas," protester Rogelio Martinez told AP. "They didn't want the people to show their discontent."  There have been reports of looting. As Otis reports, criminals commandeered a bus and crashed it through the doors of a supermarket on Friday, and the shelves were cleaned out.  Officials said that during the demonstrations Thursday and Friday, 146 people were detained, according to AP. At least 151 security forces and 122 civilians were injured, "most of whom suffered minor injuries and tear gas inhalation."  Six people have been killed, Otis reports.  In televised remarks on Friday, Duque said that "from next week I will start a national conversation that will strengthen the current agenda of social policies." He said that some people were using the rallies to "sow chaos."  Demonstrations are picking up in Colombia at the same time as a wave of protests have swept across Latin America in Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia.  But as Otis notes, such demonstrations are considered unusual in Colombia. "These protests here have caught people a little bit by surprise, because Colombia has always been a very institution country," he says. "Despite guerrilla wars and cocaine, drug-related violence, there's been a lot of government stability and economic stability."  To put this in perspective, Friday night's curfew in Bogotá was the first of its kind there in 43 years.


prisonplanet--2019-03-13--French MPs approve anti-riot bill amid Yellow Vest protests rights watchdog sounds alarm

French MPs approve anti-riot bill amid Yellow Vest protests, rights watchdog sounds alarm

The upper house of the French parliament has greenlighted a bill giving police broad powers to quell unrest. It comes as a rights watchdog warned of civil liberties being undermined in France due to crackdowns on protest.  Following hours of tense debate on Tuesday, the French Senate approved an anti-hooligan (‘anti-casseurs’) bill by a margin of 210 votes to 115.  The bill has courted widespread controversy, having been denounced as “liberticide” by the left, and hailed as a “the law of protections” by the French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner.  The government insists that the legislation will allow to distinguish between law-abiding protesters and violent rioters, while providing protection for both law enforcement and Yellow Vest demonstrators. Speaking ahead of the vote on Tuesday, Castaner defended the bill, saying that it “safeguards the right to demonstrate,” while brushing off concerns that it encroaches on civil freedoms.  “This text does not include an ounce of arbitrariness,” he said.  His view has not been shared by many among the opposition.  Senator Jerome Durain of the center-left Socialist Party (PS) slammed the draft as “useless, imprecise and dangerous,”arguing that it will only foment the unrest.  “The dramatization of the situation does not serve anyone,” Durain said.  The bill, which was first introduced in parliament last year, has already received backing from the National Assembly, France’s lower house. While the National Assembly overwhelmingly supported the bill in February, the vote saw an unprecedented number of abstentions within French President Emmanuel Macron’s own La Republique En Marche (LREM) party. Some 50 LREM lawmakers chose not to approve the bill and one MP, Matthieu Orphelin, went as far as to desert the party ranks altogether in the wake of the vote.  Many took issue with the provisions of the bill that prohibit protesters from wearing masks at rallies and allow police to single out and ban certain “troublemakers” from attending the ‘acts.’  The Yellow Vest protests have been marred by violence from both sides. While the French authorities blame radicals for inciting violence, protesters accuse the police of disproportionate use of force that has resulted in limbs getting torn off, eyes lost and other life-changing injuries for demonstrators who were caught up in the clashes.  In the run-up to the bill’s adoption, the head of the Defenseur des Droits de l’Homme (Defender of Human Rights) body, Jacques Toubon, called for change to the ham-fisted policing methods employed by the state, which he said was a legacy of the state of emergency imposed after a spate of Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks in November 2015. The state of emergency was lifted in 2017, but it has weakened the French legal system by giving police more leeway to crack down on rights and freedoms under the pretext of protecting national security, Toubon argued.  It “helped lay the foundations for a new legal order, based on suspicion, in which fundamental rights and liberties have been somewhat weakened,” Toubon said, calling it a “poisoned pill” that “gradually contaminated our common law, undermining the rule of law as well as the rights and freedoms.”  The law will now be referred to the Constitutional Council, which will ensure none of its points violate the constitution. Some lawmakers said they are placing hope on the Council to erase or modify the most troubling provisions.  “We are now relying on the Council to purge this text of all its unconstitutionality,” Maryse Carrere of the social-liberal The Radical Movement (MR) said.  This article was posted: Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at 7:09 am


sottnet--2019-03-22--Macrons dangerous escalation Military to be deployed against next round of Yellow Vest protests

Macron's dangerous escalation: Military to be deployed against next round of Yellow Vest protests

If the black smoke over the Paris skyline and charred cars and buildings along the Champs-Elysees which have become characteristic of France's increasingly violent Yellow Vest protests over the past months weren't alarming enough, things look to get much worse asIn an effort to clamp down on the unraveling security situation, which has lately seen banks and residential buildings torched, and luxury stores and restaurants vandalized and destroyed, the French authorities have announcedin order to protect and secure public buildings.Following the worsening protest situation of the past weekend (after a brief lull at the end of President Macron's failed 'great debate' initiative which pushed town halls to air grievances), which nearly turned deadly for random civilians caught in the mayhem of rioters clashing with police, the government willOpération Sentinelle began after the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks (the series of al-Qaeda linked terrorist acts that began with) and resulted in some 10,000 soldiers and 4,700 police and gendarmes deployed at sensitive sites and public buildings across the country.According to Bloomberg, French authorities have sought to calm the obvious and immediate fears raised that the move constitutes the government taking a full martial law approach of sending the military against its own people.Following a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday, government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux pointed to theSaturday which he said justifies deploying the counter-terror forces."After seeing the new forms of violence Saturday, emergency measures will be taken to reinforce the reaction of the security forces," Griveaux said . He added this is to include "the reinforced mobilization of Sentinelle to protect official building and other fixed positions in the capital."Griveaux said further.And noting the different nature of the latest unrest compared to that of months ago when the demonstrations first began in November, he asserted Regular police forces will still "concentrate on crowd control, along with maintaining law and order," Griveaux said, which presumably means the Sentinelle could respond to more extreme situations that unfold like acts of rioting, burning, and vandalism.Macron's government has lately appeared powerless as shocking and embarrassing (for security forces) images of the iconic Champs-Elysees looking likehave been beamed around the world.But it now appears Macron is ever more ready to try a "gloves off" approach in his deploying counter-terror military forces against what Paris officials have described as far-left "black bloc" activists or ultra-radicals and anarchists who merely seek as much destruction as possible.


sottnet--2019-08-06--China blames US meddling for Hong Kong protests warns criminals not to play with fire

China blames US meddling for Hong Kong protests, warns criminals not to "play with fire"

the dirty forces behind them  China has been quick to label U.S. officials as "black hands" instigating unrest in Hong Kong in an attempt to contain China's development  Protesters in Hong Kong must not "play with fire" and mistake Beijing's restraint for weakness, China said on TuesdayHong Kong has suffered weeks of sometimes violent protests that began with opposition to a now-suspended extradition law, which would have allowed suspects to be tried in mainland courts.But the protests have swelled into a broader backlash against the government of the Asian financial hub, fueled by many residents' fear of eroding freedoms under the increasingly tight control of the Communist Party in Beijing.the Chinese government's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in a document issued during a briefing in Beijing.according to the document attributed to two officials, Yang Guang and Xu Luying."We would like to make clear to the very small group of unscrupulous and violent criminals and: those who play with fire will perish by it," the office said."At the end of the day, they will eventually be punished.", but it has not provided any concrete evidence., which have been accused of using excessive force.Police on Monday fired tear gas at protesters in the former British colony after a general strike hit transport and the city's Beijing-backed leader, chief executive Carrie Lam, warned its prosperity was at risk.The protests surpassed earlier shows of dissent in scale and intensity, seemingly stoked by Lam's refusal once again to meet any of the protesters' demands, including for her resignation and independent inquiries into police use of force.The protests are the greatest political threat to Hong Kong's government since the territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and one of the biggest popular challenges to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.Last week, the PLA garrison there issued a video showing "anti-riot" exercises, and its top brass warned violence is "absolutely impermissible".Diplomats and foreign security analysts are watching the situation closely, but believeSo far, the central government and the PLA have said only that there are clear provisions in law covering the prospect of the force's intervention in the city.During the briefing, Yang called the PLA "a strong force that defends every inch of its sacred territory", and said the central government would not allow any "turbulence" beyond the control of the Hong Kong government to threaten national unity or security."The PLA is a force of power but also a civilized power," Yang said."As long as it has the strong support of the central government and the Chinese people, the Hong Kong government and police "are fully capable of punishing those criminal activities and restoring public order and stability", he said.


sottnet--2019-10-18--BEST OF THE WEB: Catalonia independence protests escalate over fourth night - Catalan President blam

BEST OF THE WEB: Catalonia independence protests escalate over fourth night - Catalan President blames infiltrators for violence

but blamed the unrest on "infiltrators" seeking to undermine the peaceful image of the pro-independence movement  Barcelona suffered its fourth and worst night of violence on Thursday asThe disturbances followed a now familiar pattern as a large demonstration called earlier in the evening dispersed and groups of protesters clashed with police in the city centre who say that a clothing shop was set on fire and a bank was vandalised.In the early hours groups of protesters fought with police, throwing stones and at least one petrol bomb in an apparent attempt to reach the seat of the Spanish government in the city.One pro-independence protester was badly beaten by a group of right-wing supporters while once again the streets were acrid with the smell of bonfires of burning rubbish. Numerous injuries were reported.Earlier in the dayThe violence, which began on Monday night after the Spanish supreme court jailed nine pro-independence leaders over their roles in the failed push for secession two years ago, escalated sharply on Wednesday night.On Wednesday cars were set on fire and Catalan police said molotov cocktails were thrown and officers attacked with stones, acid, fireworks and slingshots."No criminal activity will go unpunished," said interim interior minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska on Thursday after attending a special meeting with the prime minister, intelligence and security experts. He added thatTorra, who had been facing calls to issue an unequivocal condemnation of the violence, appealed for peaceful protests in a televised address in the early hours of Thursday morning."This has to stop right now," he said. "There is no reason or justification for burning cars, nor any other vandalism. Protest should be peaceful."But he claimed the violence was down to individuals trying to damage the reputation of the independence movement."We cannot allow such groups who infiltrate and provoke to harm the image of," he said.He also suggested that another unilateral independence referendum should be held, adding:The Catalan president has been criticised for calling for civil disobedience while sending in Catalan riot police to restore order.On Wednesday afternoon, Torra had tweeted, "Violence does not represent us", but had gone no further despite two nights of vandalism and skirmishes between protesters and police and an attempt to occupy Barcelona-El Prat airport.Spain's prime minister, Pedro Sánchez had urged him to issue a clear condemnation of the violence.Referring to the regional government's unsuccessful attempts to secure independence, Sánchez added: "No leader can camouflage their failure behind curtains of smoke and fire."Earlier on Wednesday,after the Spanish government warned any further violence would be met with a "firm, proportional and united" response."All support to mobilisations and massive and peaceful marches," wrote the nine, who include the former regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras and two influential grassroots leaders, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. "No violence represents us."Thousands of people have also been marching peacefully since Wednesday towards the regional capital, Barcelona, where students are striking and which trade unions are planning to join on Friday.Sánchez's political opponents are urging him to take a tough line on the Catalan unrest, but the prime minister has said that a blunt response would only make things worse.Speaking on Wednesday evening after holding talks with other political party leaders, Sánchez said the government would defend Spain's constitution and peaceful coexistence but would not be tempted into inflaming tensions."The state will always guarantee the rights of those who wish to protest their ideas peacefully," he said."But organised violent groups and those who try to break democratic laws will not achieve their aims ... The only hope of those violent groups is that we'll make mistakes and become overexcited and divided. They want us to fall for their provocations and feed a violent spiral."The conservative People's party (PP) and the centre-right Citizens party want firm and immediate action.The PP leader, Pablo Casado, has accused Sánchez of "a lack of foresight" andAlbert Rivera, the leader of the Citizens party, said "the government needs to act now or we're going to see a lot of awful problems".Sánchez's opponents accuse him of being too beholden to the Catalan pro-independence parties who supported his successful bid to throw the PP out of office with a vote of no confidence.However,


sputnik--2019-08-01--Chinese Commander Says Army Ready to Ensure Stability in Hong Kong Amid Protests

"We resolutely support the action to maintain Hong Kong’s rule of law by the people who love the nation and the city, and we are determined to protect national sovereignty, security, stability and the prosperity of Hong Kong", the commander said as quoted by the South China Morning Post newspaper.  Protests on Saturday and Sunday witnessed violent clashes between the Hong Kong police and thousands of protesters.  The military commander warned that clashes would not be tolerated as they threatened the safety of Hong Kong citizens and went against the very essence of the "one country, two systems" model.  This is the first time when the Chinese military garrison chief has spoken on the civil unrest that erupted in Hong Kong in early June. Tens of thousands took part in the latest of a series of marches against a controversial bill that would allow extraditions to mainland China, despite Hong Kong leader Carry Lam saying the bill was dead.  In its turn, Beijing warned "external forces" of meddling in Hong Kong's affairs after the United Kingdom and the United States expressed concern over violence during protests.


sputnik--2019-10-04--275 People Arrested in Ecuador as Fuel Subsidy Cut Protests Continue Amid State of Emergency

According to the president's decree, as cited by the news outlet, the 60-day state of emergency, which also went into effect on Thursday, allows the government to mobilize security forces and invoke extraordinary measures to address the civil unrest.  By late Thursday, 275 people had been arrested and 28 police officers hurt, the Interior Ministry said.  On Wednesday, Economy Minister Richard Martinez said that the government hoped that the fuel measure, which is expected to more than double gas prices, would save the Latin American country about $2.27 billion a year.  Prior to that, the Ecuadorian government announced that it would be eliminating fuel subsidies as part of a deal reached with the International Monetary Fund in February to obtain a $4.2 billion loan.  The measure also includes a reduction of vacation days for public employees, changes to retirement benefits and lower compensation for some contract workers. On Thursday, after the measure went into effect, violent protests erupted nationwide, with taxi, bus and truck drivers blocking roads and bridges in Quito and clashing with police.  Ecuador's economy is suffering from a heavy debt burden of about $3.6 billion, which grew under previous leadership. Moreno has been adamant about slashing the debt to about $1 billion by 2020.


sputnik--2019-10-08--Ecuador's Petroamazonas Suspends Operations in 3 Oilfields Amid Protests

Ecuadorian state-run energy giant Petroamazonas halted operations in three oilfields, according to a Monday statement by the Ecuadorian Energy Ministry. The ministry added, without giving details, that the suspension occurred after the oilfields were taken by "individuals not affiliated with the operation".  Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has reportedly imposed austerity measures in the country in a bid to help the Latin American nation avoid spending some $2.27 billion a year. Additionally, budget cuts are said to be part of the Ecuadorian government's deal with the International Monetary Fund to be eligible for a $4.2 billion loan. In particular, the deal partially envisages the elimination of fuel subsidies, including a reduction of vacation days for public employees, changes to retirement benefits and lower compensation for some contract workers.  The austerity measures sparked violent protests across the country, prompting Moreno to declare a national two-month state of emergency over ongoing civil unrest.  According to a presidential decree, a 60-day state of emergency will allow the government to mobilize security forces and invoke extraordinary measures to address the unrest.  Ecuador's economy is suffering from heavy debt of about $3.6 billion, due to the previous leadership. Moreno has been adamant about slashing debt to $1 billion by 2020.  Earlier, Ecuadorian authorities said the nation would leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in order to increase crude oil production and raise more cash.


sputnik--2019-10-12--Ecuador's President to Reconsider Decree Cancelling Fuel Subsidies That Caused Protests - Mayor

Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno will reconsider the decree cancelling fuel subsidies that resulted in mass protests, Quito Mayor Jorge Yunda Machado said in a statement.  The statement comes after an Ecuadorian indigenous group announced direct talks with Moreno.  Earlier in the day, authorities at Quito International Airport reported that access roads to it were blocked by the protesters.  The building housing the comptroller general's office is reportedly on fire, according to videos that have appeared online.  Since President Lenin Moreno imposed a suspension on fuel subsidies, the protests evolved into a wide-ranging set of demands that activated many social groups, including farmers, students, indigenous peoples, and more.  Mass protests erupted in Ecuador in early October as thousands rallied across the country against the government's economic reforms, specifically the decision to end decades-long fuel subsidies for people. As civil unrest grew progressively violent, Moreno declared a national two-month state of emergency. According to the president, Ecuador could no longer afford them and the cuts could help the country save some $2.27 billion a year. Additionally, the abolition of fuel subsidies was part of the Ecuadorian government's deal with the International Monetary Fund to be eligible for a $4.2 billion loan.


tass--2019-11-05--Over 1,600 injured in Chile protests, human rights activists say

BUENOS AIRES, November 5. /TASS/. At least 1,659 people were rushed to hospital with injuries sustained during protests in Chile since October 17, the republic’s National Human Rights Institute said on Monday.  According to the institute, 40 people received gunshot wounds, 473 persons were wounded by small shots, while another 305 had wounds from identified weapons. Some 4,364 people were detained during the protests, including 479 underage persons.  On Monday, mass protests against the government’s social policy hit the capital and other Chile’s cities, which saw clashes with police. According to Chilean police, two officers were rushed to hospital with serious facial burns after the protesters had thrown Molotov cocktails at them.  Civil unrest erupted in the Chilean capital of Santiago on October 14 after the authorities raised the subway fares by an average of 30 pesos ($0.04) to 850 pesos ($1.2). The riots later spilled into other cities.  Chilean President Sebastian Pinera canceled the metro fare hike and announced a range of social support measures. However, the protests and riots in the country continued. The president announced his decision to cancel the APEC summit in November and the UN conference on climate change in December in the wake of mass riots in the country. According to official data, more than 20 people have been killed in the riots.


tass--2019-11-19--Four injured, 37 detained in Tbilisi protests - ministry

TBILISI, November 19. /TASS/. A total of 37 people have been detained and four injured in the protests outside the Georgian parliament, the country’s Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.  "On November 18, during the rally outside the parliament, 37 people in total had been detained for ‘disobeying the legitimate orders of law-enforcement officers’ and ‘petty hooliganism’," the ministry said in a statement.  According to the document, four people - two of them police officers - were injured in the unrest. All of them were taken to hospitals.  On Monday afternoon, riot police units of the Georgian Interior Ministry used water cannons and tear gas to disperse protestors who blocked all entrances to the country’s parliament. The Rustaveli Avenue, where the parliament building is located, is now open for traffic. Although groups of protesters are still present in the area, they are standing on sidewalks and do not block roads.  Meanwhile, the country’s health ministry said three people had been admitted to hospitals in the wake of the unrest, including one police officer.  "Ambulance crews delivered only three people to medical facilities. Among them is a police officer, who was injured in the head. He was delivered to undergo the required examinations," the ministry said in a statement.  According to the statement, the other two individuals listed as injured are a 44-year-old man hospitalized with chest pain and a 27-year-old young man who passed out when the rally was being dispersed.  Aleko Elisashvili, who heads the Civil Movement of Georgia party, said the opposition would continue to stage protests outside the parliament’s building to demand early parliamentary elections under the system of proportional representation.  "We will continue picketing buildings and blocking traffic and will keep doing so until early elections are declared. Now that the rally had been dispersed I feel even more invigorated," he told reporters.  Earlier, lawmaker Elene Khoshtaria, who is also a leader of the Movement for Liberty - European Georgia opposition party, also vowed to take part in the protests.  Other opposition parties have so far made no public declarations about taking part in the planned protests.  The protests erupted in Tbilisi after the parliament failed to approve constitutional amendments on November 14 to hold a proportional representation election in 2020. For amendments to pass, 113 members needed to support them out of 150, while only 101 members voted for the changes. It was mainly members of parliament representing the ruling Georgian Dream - Democratic Georgia party who were elected in first-past-the-post constituencies that abstained in the vote.  Protestors are blaming chair of the ruling party Bidzina Ivanishvili for what happened even though it was him who announced in June that the country was moving away from the mixed election system to a fully proportional one. Protestors were rallying in front of the parliament for three months, demanding that the next election was held under the new proportional representation system. The upcoming election is scheduled to take place in October 2020.  On Sunday, thousands of opposition party supporters gathered in the central Rustaveli Avenue, demanding a snap election using a system of proportional representation.  At the rally, leaders of the United National Movement and Movement for Liberty - European Georgia parties decided to picket all entrances to the parliament to stall members of parliament. They attached chains and locks to the entrances and set up tent camps.  Protesters said they would unlock doors only when deputies would gather in the parliament to call a snap election and introduce amendments to the legislation that will ensure that it is held using the proportional representation system.  On Monday morning, several lawmakers attempted to enter the parliament building, but were not allowed to do so. Only parliament staff members were permitted to enter.


thedailycaller--2019-11-09--At Least 300 Dead, 15,000 Injured Since Iraqi Anti-Government Protests Began In October: Report

At least 300 people were killed and 15,000 have been injured since anti-government protests in Iraq began in October, according to the country’s human rights commission.  Four people were killed in Baghdad on Saturday, and two were killed Friday in the southern city of Basra, CNN reported, citing a Saturday statement from the Independent High Commission for Human Rights of Iraq (IHCHR).  The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported similar numbers in a Nov. 8 press release, saying at least 269 people have been killed and more than 8,000 have been injured, though “exact casualty figures may be much higher.”  “We are gravely concerned about continuing reports of deaths and injuries resulting from the use of force by security forces against demonstrators, as well as deliberate killings by armed elements in Iraq,” the OHCHR statement reads. “The majority of the casualties have resulted from the use of live ammunition by security forces and armed elements, described by many as private militia groups.”  Unrest flared in Baghdad and several Shiite provinces in early October when civilians began to express outrage with government corruption in the country that has led to unemployment and a lack of clean water and electricity, according to CNN.  The scale of the demonstrations is believed to be the largest since former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured in 2003, according to CNN. Protesters blame Iraq’s current political parties for the ongoing protests, and the government has promised to take measures to put an end to the unrest, according to Reuters.  Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi said Saturday that the country’s political parties “made mistakes” in their handling of the country and said he recognized the legitimacy of civilian protests, Reuters reported. (RELATED: After Billions Spent Rebuilding Iraq, Russia And China Are Gaining Ground There)  “We urge the Iraqi Government to ensure it complies with its obligation to protect the exercise of the right to peaceful assembly. This means taking preventive steps to protect demonstrators from armed elements, as well as issuing clear instructions to security forces to abide by international norms and standards on the use of force,” OHCHR statement continued.  “Immediate steps must be taken to investigate and prosecute those responsible for these killings, and justice and truth should be provided for the victims and their families. It is crucial that terrorism charges are not used against demonstrators,” it concluded.  Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.


theguardianuk--2019-03-15--Algeria protests grow as elite distances itself from ailing president

Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have protested across Algeria for a fourth consecutive Friday, as the country’s political elite began distancing themselves from the ailing 82-year-old president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.  Despite a heavy police presence, huge crowds marched through the capital, Algiers,the capital, calling on Bouteflika to step down after two decades in power.  The rallies were the first major test of whether Bouteflika has calmed anger on the streets with his surprise announcement on Monday that he would not seek a fifth term but was cancelling an April presidential poll to allow for consultation on reforms “for a new generation”.  The move followed protests by hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of people a week ago but was condemned by civil society groups, who said it was intended to “trick and divide the popular movement”.  The almost entirely peaceful demonstrations are the biggest outpouring of dissent seen in Algeria for decades.  Friday’s protests were the largest yet and were “joyous but purposeful”, observers said. Demonstrations also took place in Béjaïa, Oran, Batna, Tizi Ouzou and other cities. Police later said that 75 protestors were arrested.  “Bouteflika and his men must go as soon as possible,” said Yazid Ammari, a 23-year-old student.  Bouteflika, who returned from medical treatment in Switzerland on Sunday, stopped short of relinquishing office and has said he will stay on until a new constitution is adopted.  In recent days, senior figures in the ruling Front de Liberation Nationale party (FLN) showed signs of turning its back on the veteran politician, one of the generation who came to power following Algeria’s bloody war of independence against France from 1954 to 1962.  Hocine Kheldoun, a former ruling party spokesman, said in a TV interview on Thursday night the president was “history now”. Kheldoun – one of the most senior FLN officials to break with Bouteflika publicly – said the FLN had to look forward and support the aims of demonstrators protesting against Bouteflika.  Other key components of the informal coalition of interest groups, cliques and organisations that constitute the Algerian political elite have broken away in recent days, too.  Bouteflika has rarely been seen in public since suffering a stroke in 2013. His bid to seek a fifth consecutive five year term sparked the current crisis.  A former minister who is familiar with Bouteflika’s inner circle told Reuters the president could not survive given the pressure building against him. “Game over. Bouteflika has no choice but to quit now,” they said on condition of anonymity.  The protest movement has begun to search for representatives who can unite protesters in advance of a national conference and elections.  Protesters have previously expressed pride in the leaderless nature of the movement, which was born of anonymous social media pages and seen in part as a rebuke to the official opposition, which is viewed as having been co-opted by the regime.  But after protesters succeeded in preventing Bouteflika standing for a fifth term, the movement is working to bring together union leaders, protesters and civil society leaders around potential candidates who can voice their demands as they push to overthrow the government.  “This is a broad and spontaneous movement – it’s not really possible to put forward a single figure who can represent all parts of it,” said Soufiane Djilali, a Mouwatana coordinator. “This is also a movement that won’t accept anyone without a vote or due process. No one has right to say the movement belongs to them.”  Djilali suggested the opposition should instead hold a conference to nominate three or four figures who could act as the spokespeople for the opposition with an eye to the election. He declined to say whether he would put himself forward.  A group of developers launched 22Fevrier2019.org, a website where users can “upvote” political propositions by tapping on a heart or hit the thumbs-down button for those they dislike.  On Thursday, Algeria’s new prime minister, Noureddine Bedoui, and his deputy, Ramtane Lamamra, held a press conference intended to reassure Algerians that the political elite would listen to their demands.  “We will take into account the messages of the protesters during the formation of the government,” said Bedoui, as he offered a new “technocratic” government in the coming weeks to usher in the national conference.  Bedoui promised a short transition and independent commission to oversee the next election, an offer unlikely to satisfy protesters. “We hope that all will participate,” he said.  Young people have been in the frontline of the protests. More than 70% of Algerians are under 30 and have been badly hit by unemployment.  One of Algeria’s most influential clerics appealed for patience. “Let’s be optimistic, Algeria needs to overcome its crisis,” said Mohamed Abdelkader Haider from an Algiers mosque.  The military, which has traditionally played a behind-the-scenes power broker role, has distanced itself from Bouteflika and stayed in its barracks throughout the crisis.  Algeria was relatively untouched when the 2011 Arab spring uprisings swept away autocrats in the Arab world. Bouteflika and his allies quelled unrest by spending oil money on the population, handing out low interest loans and housing.  Bouteflika helped to defeat a civil war against Islamist insurgents in which tens of thousands of people were killed in the 1990s, and many Algerians long accepted heavy-handed rule as the price of stability.  But the public has lost patience with deteriorating economic conditions and the FLN’s failure to make the transition to a new generation despite the president’s failing health.  Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report.


theguardianuk--2019-06-20--Fresh Hong Kong protests planned for Friday

Hong Kong is braced for another round of demonstrations after the government failed to respond to a list of protester demands including an investigation into police brutality and the withdrawal of an extradition bill by a Thursday afternoon deadline.  After cut-off set by protest leaders passed without word from the government, messages began circulating on social media calling people to come to central Hong Kong from 7am on Friday.  “No response – no retreat,” read one. It called on people to “picnic, sing, stroll, watch the turtles and keep [out of] the rain”, phrases used as thinly veiled calls to political action because the planned demonstration does not have police approval.  The city has been electrified by a series of mass protests – two peaceful Sunday marches on successive weekends and one unauthorised midweek demonstration that turned violent.  People turned out in huge numbers because of concerns that the city’s economy and society would be fatally damaged by the extradition law, which would allow authorities to send both visitors and residents for trial in China’s opaque, sometimes brutal judicial system.  The large turnout forced the Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, to publicly apologise and suspend the law she had once promised to ram through the island’s legislature.  In a further apparent concession, the president of the legislature, Andrew Leung called for a delay to another controversial draft law, which would criminalise “insulting” the Chinese national anthem. Hong Kong sports fans have regularly booed when it is played at matches, as a form of protest.  At a press conference on Wednesday, Lam hinted that the bill had been effectively abandoned but refused withdraw it, perhaps hoping to stave off further humiliation.  Opposition figures say they do not trust Lam and want the bill neutralised. They fear she could take it up again in future once some of the public anger has dissipated. Many have called for her resignation.  They also want an investigation into police use of force, the end of a crackdown on activists and for authorities to drop charges of rioting, which carry heavy sentences, against five people they have arrested.  “We are concerned, we feel the youth have been cornered by the government,” said Ho Chi Kwan, an academic, who was particularly worried about arrests and rioting charges. “What they are demanding is what all the people of Hong Kong demand.”  Ho was part of a small crowd of opposition activists who waited out the deadline in the sweltering heat outside government offices. They included student unions, church groups, scholars concerned about academic freedoms and Hong Kong parents who mobilised against police violence.  After the deadline passed without response, and as work and school finished, the crowds swelled slightly, but a much larger turnout is expected on Friday.  A similar last-minute protest on Wednesday last week turned violent, and there were fears there could be further unrest on Friday. “The students are still committed to a path of non-violent struggle, but who knows what the government will do,” said Ho.  The Hong Kong Journalists Association said it would be offering free protective gear for reporters covering the protests, including gas masks. It had not offered that for Sunday’s march.  Emily Lau, a veteran politician, was among many voices warning the protesters against violence, saying this would quickly lose them vital international support and was doomed to fail.  “Can you be more violent than the police or People’s Liberation Army?” she said, adding that the only escalation she favoured was of peaceful protest numbers.  Hong Kong’s next mass march is likely to be on 1 July, a national holiday to mark the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997.  There is a regular pro-democracy protest on that day, organised by the Civil Human Rights Front, which has also helped coordinate the last two Sunday marches. The group said it would support any peaceful protest before 1 July but its own efforts were focused on that day’s march.


theguardianuk--2019-08-22--Stalemate in Algeria six months after start of protests that ousted leader

Six months after a wave of protests began in Algeria, people are still demonstrating and the military-backed government appears determined to keep its grip on power.  The demonstrations have gained a familiar rhythm since tens of thousands of Algerians first took to the streets on 22 February. Thousands of students turn out on Tuesdays and there are larger protests each Friday.  “We didn’t come to negotiate, we came to kick you out,” read one placard brandished last Friday. On Tuesday this week the number of demonstrators swelled as older Algerians joined students in the heat, defiant in the face of government efforts to curb the protests by closing off areas of the capital and introducing new rules for demonstrations.  The movement that unseated the former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika is now locked in a stalemate with a regime bent on showing it can keep the upper hand and outlast the protests.  Weeks of mass demonstrations forced the 82-year-old Bouteflika to resign in April, and the protesters pressured the authorities to cancel presidential elections originally scheduled for 4 July.  Since then, the opaque coalition of political and military figures considered the country’s true power, known as le pouvoir, has been reluctant to make any further concessions.  The interim president, Abdelkader Bensalah, remains in power alongside the all-powerful army chief, Ahmed Gaïd Salah, while protesters say they will persist until the military-backed government is replaced by a civilian democracy. No new elections are scheduled.  Nourhane Atmani, 20, a student protester, said: “If you look at the bigger picture there’s no government any more, there’s the military and the people. Many members of the government were arrested and are now on trial. This is their way of trying to keep the peace, the same way that we’re trying to keep the peace.”  Two former prime ministers, Ahmed Ouyahia and Abdelmalek Sellal, have been arrested along with several former MPs. They are being held in prison awaiting trial.  Meanwhile, the Algerian authorities have fought minor battles to prove they still have the upper hand. Eighteen protesters were arrested and put on trial in July accused of “undermining national unity” for waving the flag of the country’s marginalised Berber minority at protests.  This month the government briefly blocked access to YouTube and Google after the former defence minister released a video calling on the army to “realise the demands of the people” and relinquish power. Officials have also deported a researcher from Human Rights Watch.  In the late spring Salah led what he labelled an anti-corruption drive, sparking fears he was settling scores. Several key businesspeople were arrested as well as Bouteflika’s brother Saïd and two former spy chiefs, whom Salah accused of plotting against the army.  Salah is unpopular but is also the kingmaker. “There are few signs he wants to run the daily life of the country. He wants a president who is halfway accepted, and there’s a certain urgency to get to elections,” said Isabelle Werenfels, an analyst with the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “The question is whether he’ll manage to get to elections without making major concessions.”  Chants against the military chief, the interim prime minister, Noureddine Bedoui, and a new six-member dialogue panel put forward by the government fill the streets each week. Much of the anger is now focused on the panel, intended to oversee negotiations between the government and the protesters with the aim of organising elections.  “The members of the discussion panel are all traitors, rejected by the people and by the protesters themselves,” said Abdelhalim Aghrid, 51, who joined a student protest on Tuesday. “This panel isn’t recognised by the people, it’s a committee that was brought by the government to destroy the protests.”  Returns from summer breaks could lead to more civil disobedience and disruption. The unrest risks further unsettling the country’s shaky economy.  “September will be more decisive,” said Soufiane Djilali, the head of Jil Jadid, an opposition party. “Either one side will resort to violence or we will manage to have an election that takes place peacefully.”  He noted that the protest movement was divided, with some demanding bigger changes before an election take place and others seeking the election of a caretaker president to usher in a period of reform.  Werenfels said: “The question is: who will time serve? It can go both ways.”


theguardianuk--2019-10-11--Hong Kong: arrest of 750 children during protests sparks outcry

Hong Kong officials have revealed that 750 of the protesters arrested during four months of unrest are children, sparking outrage in the city, as anger continues to grow over the government’s increasingly hardline measures against demonstrators.  The semi-autonomous city’s number two official Matthew Cheung said at a press conference on Thursday it was “shocking and heartbreaking” that 750 out of the 2,379 people arrested – or nearly a third – since June were under 18, and 104 were under 16.  Cheung appealed to parents and teachers to admonish youngsters and tell them to refrain from “illegal or violent acts” and avoid getting injured or arrested, something that would “end up destroying [their] future”.  The high proportion of children arrested sparked outrage in the community.  “[The government] says this is ‘heartbreaking’ but doesn’t ask why. Youth is rising up. They know they’re fighting for their future against a dictatorial regime,” said Kong Tsung-gan, an author and well-known blogger, on Twitter.  “Totalitarianism is going to destroy our next generation, resist!” wrote another person on Twitter.  On Tuesday, Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said after school term started in September, nearly 40% of those arrested were under 18, while 10% of those arrested last Sunday were under 15.  A growing number of children have been arrested or injured in the increasingly violent and radical protests in recent weeks.  A Hong Kong policeman fired at an 18-year-old high school student’s chest during heated, territory-wide protests on China’s National Day on 1 October, while a 14-year-old was shot in the thigh by a plainclothes police officer last Friday during protests against the anti-mask ban. In a recent protest, an 11-year-old was sent to hospital after sustaining an injury.  Lam announced last Friday that the government had invoked the Emergency Regulations Ordinance to pass a regulation forbidding the use of face masks. There are widespread fears that the government would introduce more draconian measures to suppress civil freedoms.  While Lam said she cared “deeply” for students, she insisted that they should not participate in violent attacks and the anti-mask ban was aimed at “helping parents, teachers and students recognise that they shouldn’t be engaged in these acts.”  Schools across Hong Kong required parents to sign a notice saying they understood masks should not be worn inside or outside school, despite the fact that the ban applies only to public protests or assemblies.  “When [young people] are on the streets fighting selflessly, they are called ‘criminals and rioters’,” said Kenneth Chan, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University. “The gap between the young people and the officials is impossible to bridge now.”  “It is a total breakdown of trust between the government and young people. It can only get worse because Carrie Lam has nothing but harsh measures to suppress and intimidate the young people and their parents.”


theguardianuk--2019-10-16--Jailed Catalan leaders call for end to violent protests

The nine Catalan leaders jailed this week over their roles in the failed push for regional independence two years ago have appealed for peaceful protests following two consecutive nights of violent unrest.  Their joint plea came as the Spanish government warned that the violent protests, which have led to dozens of arrests, would be met with a “firm, proportional and united” response.  In a tweet sent on Wednesday morning, the nine prisoners called for a huge but peaceful response to their imprisonment by Spain’s supreme court on Monday.  “All support to mobilisations and massive and peaceful marches,” wrote the nine, who include the former regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras and two influential grassroots leaders, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. “No violence represents us.”  Planned peaceful demonstrations in Barcelona erupted into running battles with the police on Tuesday evening.  Protesters lit fires and erected makeshift barricades in the city centre before the crowd was dispersed by baton charges by Spanish and Catalan police, as far as Passeig de Gràcia, the elegant boulevard that is home to many of the city’s most exclusive shops and hotels.  By mid-evening, dozens of fires had been lit on the boulevard and surrounding streets as helicopters hovered overhead. Makeshift barricades were set up with rubbish containers as skirmishes between demonstrators and police continued, with riot police firing numerous rounds of rubber bullets.  Similar scenes were witnessed in the other main Catalan cities of Tarragona, Girona and Lleida, where dozens of people were reportedly injured.  The Spanish government said 51 people had been arrested across Catalonia on Monday and Tuesday, and 54 officers from the regional police force and 18 from the national force had been injured.  “A minority is trying to impose violence on the streets of Catalonia, especially in Barcelona. Tarragona, Girona and Lleida,” the government said in a statement.  “It’s obvious that what we’re seeing is not a peaceful civic movement, but one coordinated by groups who use violence to upset co-existence in Catalonia.”  The statement paid tribute to the efforts of the police, adding: “The Spanish government’s unwavering aim is to guarantee safety and co-existence within Catalonia, and that is what it will do through its commitment to firmness, proportionality and unity.”  The caretaker government, led by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has already said it could activate article 155 of the constitution, which would allow it to suspend the regional government and assume direct rule of the region.  Sánchez will meet the leader of the three main opposition parties on Wednesday to discuss the situation.  Pablo Casado, the leader of the conservative People’s party (PP), has called on Sánchez to activate the national security law, arguing that it is needed to ensure that Catalan police and intelligence services were brought under the control of the central government.  Spain’s interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, appeared to rule out any drastic action, saying the national police force was working very well in partnership with its Catalan counterpart and adding: “At the moment there’s no need to alarm anybody.”  Grande-Marlaska told the Catalan public broadcaster TV3 that the great majority of Catalans had reacted to the supreme court verdict with peaceful protests. But he called on the Catalan president, Quim Torra, to demonstrate “his clear opposition to the use of violence”.  Torra has been criticised for calling for civil disobedience while sending in Catalan riot police to restore order. Torra said on Tuesday that the convicted prisoners were proud of the demonstrators and urged them to continue to mobilise over the coming days.  The calls for calm were echoed by Catalonia’s vice-president, who pointed out that the regional independence movement had always prided itself on peaceful actions and that violence would only play into the hands of its opponents.  “Let’s not give them what they’re after,” Pere Aragonès tweeted on Tuesday night. “Let’s not hand them the hidden gift of a 155. We must defend our citizens and our institutions. Let’s refrain from violent behaviour.”  Tuesday’s disturbances came a day after thousands of pro-independence protesters attempted to shut down Barcelona airport, leading to police charges.  Catalan health authorities said medical personnel had attended to 131 people on Monday. Twenty-four people were taken to hospital, including one man who suffered an eye injury that may have been caused by a rubber bullet.  Five marches have been called for Wednesday, with protesters setting off to Barcelona from Girona, Tarragona, Vic, Berga and Tárrega. They are due to arrive in the Catalan capital on Friday, when a major demonstration and general strike are planned.  Although Tuesday’s demonstrations were called by the Catalan national assembly, which has previously organised the independence movement’s peaceful and spectacular demonstrations, it appears that it may have lost the initiative to the so-called Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), who favour direct action and confrontation.  Monday’s airport protest, meanwhile, was coordinated by a social network group called the Tsunami Democràtic.  On Wednesday, it also urged people to protest peacefully, saying: “Non-violence is a fundamental strategy of our movement owing to both conviction and the fact that it works: the civil disobedience movements of the past decades have repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness.”  The latest unrest erupted on Monday after Spain’s supreme court acquitted the nine defendants of the charge of violent rebellion but convicted them variously of sedition, misuse of public funds and disobedience over their roles in the failed push for independence two years ago.  Junqueras was jailed for 13 years, while Sànchez and Cuixart received nine-year sentences. The six others were given terms of between 10-and-a-half and 12 years.  Hours after the verdicts were announced, an international arrest warrant was reissued for the former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who spearheaded the push for independence.  It said Puigdemont, who fled to Belgium to avoid arrest by the Spanish authorities, was wanted for alleged sedition and misuse of public funds.

Sam Jones in Madrid and Stephen Burgen in Barcelona


theguardianuk--2019-10-17--Catalan president blames 'infiltrators' for violent protests

The Catalan president, Quim Torra, has condemned the violent protests that have erupted across the region this week but blamed the unrest on “infiltrators” seeking to undermine the peaceful image of the pro-independence movement.  The violence, which began on Monday night after the Spanish supreme court jailed nine pro-independence leaders over their roles in the failed push for secession two years ago, escalated sharply on Wednesday night.  Cars were set on fire and Catalan police said molotov cocktails were thrown and officers attacked with stones, acid, fireworks and slingshots.  Eighty people, including 46 police officers, were injured overnight and 33 people arrested, according to the Spanish authorities.  Torra, who had been facing calls to issue an unequivocal condemnation of the violence, appealed for peaceful protests in a televised address shortly after midnight.  “This has to stop right now,” he said. “There is no reason or justification for burning cars, nor any other vandalism. Protest should be peaceful.”  But he claimed the violence was down to individuals trying to damage the reputation of the independence movement.  “We cannot allow such groups who infiltrate and provoke to harm the image of a movement which counts millions of Catalans,” he said.  Speaking in the regional parliament on Thursday morning, Torra remained defiant, describing the supreme court’s decision to jail the nine leaders for sedition and misuse of public funds as “ignominious”.  He also suggested that another unilateral independence referendum should be held, adding: “If we have been sentenced to 100 years in prison for putting out the ballot boxes, the response is clear: we’ll have to put them out again for self-determination.”  The Catalan president has been criticised for calling for civil disobedience while sending in Catalan riot police to restore order.  On Wednesday afternoon, Torra had tweeted, “Violence does not represent us”, but had gone no further despite two nights of vandalism and skirmishes between protesters and police and an attempt to occupy Barcelona-El Prat airport.  Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez had urged him to issue a clear condemnation of the violence.  Referring to the regional government’s unsuccessful attempts to secure independence, Sánchez added: “No leader can camouflage their failure behind curtains of smoke and fire.”  Earlier on Wednesday, the jailed leaders had issued a joint plea for peaceful protests after the Spanish government warned any further violence would be met with a “firm, proportional and united” response.  “All support to mobilisations and massive and peaceful marches,” wrote the nine, who include the former regional vice-president Oriol Junqueras and two influential grassroots leaders, Jordi Sànchez and Jordi Cuixart. “No violence represents us.”  Thousands of people have also been marching peacefully since Wednesday towards the regional capital, Barcelona, where students are striking and which trade unions are planning to join on Friday.  Sánchez’s political opponents are urging him to take a tough line on the Catalan unrest, but the prime minister has said that a blunt response would only make things worse.  Speaking on Wednesday evening after holding talks with other political party leaders, Sánchez said the government would defend Spain’s constitution and peaceful coexistence but would not be tempted into inflaming tensions.  “The state will always guarantee the rights of those who wish to protest their ideas peacefully,” he said.  “But organised violent groups and those who try to break democratic laws will not achieve their aims … The only hope of those violent groups is that we’ll make mistakes and become overexcited and divided. They want us to fall for their provocations and feed a violent spiral.”  Sánchez’s caretaker government has already said it could activate article 155 of the constitution, which would allow it to suspend the regional government and assume direct rule of the region.  The conservative People’s party (PP) and the centre-right Citizens party want firm and immediate action.  The PP leader, Pablo Casado, has accused Sánchez of “a lack of foresight” and called for the activation of the national security law, which would bring the Catalan regional police force under the control of the central government.  Albert Rivera, the leader of the Citizens party, said “the government needs to act now or we’re going to see a lot of awful problems”.  Catalonia has returned to the top of the political agenda as Spain prepares to go to the polls for the fourth time in as many years on November 10.  Although Sánchez’s socialist party won the most votes in April’s general election, it proved unable to form a government, triggering a fresh vote.  The last election was called after Catalan pro-independence parties joined forces with their bitter enemies in the PP and Citizens to torpedo Sánchez’s national budget.  Sánchez’s opponents accuse him of being too beholden to the Catalan pro-independence parties who supported his successful bid to throw the PP out of office with a vote of no confidence.  However, the acting prime minister has repeatedly said he will not allow a referendum on Catalan independence and warned that the Spanish constitution must be respected.

Sam Jonesin Madrid and Stephen Burgenin Barcelona