france24--2019-12-08--Nearly a million rally in Hong Kong to mark six months of pro-democracy protest movement

A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask waves a flag during a Human Rights Day march, organised by the Civil Human Right Front, in Hong Kong, China on December 8, 2019.  Organisers of a massive pro-democracy march in Hong Kong on Sunday said some 800,000 people took part, the largest turnout in months as the movement marks half a year of protests and unrest.  "We have had 800,000 participants," Eric Lai, from the Civil Human Rights Front, told reporters on Sunday evening as large crowds still thronged the streets.  Hong Kong's police, who usually give far lower estimates, had yet to release their figures.  The march comes two weeks after pro-establishment parties got a drubbing in local elections, shattering government claims that a "silent majority" opposed the protests.  But activists say public anger is building once more after chief executive Carrie Lam and Beijing ruled out any further concessions despite the landslide election defeat.  "No matter how we express our views, through peacefully marching, through civilised elections, the government won't listen," said a 50-year-old protester, who gave his name only as "Wong" and who was among hundreds arriving early for Sunday's rally.  "It only follows orders from the Chinese Communist Party," he added.  The semi-autonomous financial hub has been battered by increasingly violent demonstrations in the starkest challenge the city has presented to Beijing since its 1997 handover from Britain.  Millions have hit the streets in protests fuelled by years of growing fears that authoritarian China is stamping out the city's liberties.  The last fortnight has seen a marked drop in street battles and protester vandalism after the landslide win by pro-democracy candidates.  Police have taken the unusual step of allowing the Civil Human Rights Front to hold a march through the main island on Sunday -- the first time the group has been granted permission since mid-August.  Organisers have called on Lam to meet their demands, which include an independent inquiry into the police's handling of the protests, an amnesty for those arrested, and fully free elections.  "This is the last chance given by the people to Carrie Lam," CHRF leader Jimmy Sham said on Friday.  Hong Kong's protests are largely leaderless and organised online. They were initially sparked by a now-abandoned attempt to allow extraditions to the mainland but have since morphed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule.  The CHRF, which advocates non-violence, has been the main umbrella group behind record-breaking rallies earlier in the summer that saw huge crowds regularly march in searing heat.  Authorities have repeatedly banned major rallies in recent months citing the risk of violence from hardcore protesters.  Large crowds have simply ignored the bans, sparking near-weekly tear gas and petrol bomb clashes that have upended Hong Kong's reputation for stability and helped tip the city into recession.  Hours before the march was due to kick off, police displayed weapons, including a pistol and knives, they said had been found during overnight raids where eleven people were arrested.  Sunday afternoon's march will follow a well-worn route on the main island from Victoria Park to the heart of the commercial district.  It comes a day before the city marks the six-month anniversary of the protest movement in which some 6,000 people have been arrested and hundreds injured, including police.  Online forums used to organise the movement's more radical wing have vowed to target the morning commute on Monday if there is no response from Lam.  Years of huge, peaceful democracy marches have made little headway, leading to increased radicalisation among some Hong Kong protesters and a greater willingness to embrace violent tactics.  But there is little sign Lam is willing to budge, leading to fears the lull in street clashes will be temporary.  Since the local elections the city's chief executive has remained steadfast in her opposition to further concessions and Beijing has stuck by her even as she languishes with record low approval ratings.  The police force's reputation has also taken a hammering.  A new poll released on Friday by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Programme, which has tracked public sentiment for years, showed record disapproval for the force with 40 percent of respondents now giving it the lowest mark of zero.  Over the last two days the city's new police chief Chris Tang has been in Beijing where he met with senior party figures including public security chief Zhao Kezhi who gave his "strongest backing" according to official reports.  Tang, who has continued his predecessor's policy of rejecting calls for an independent inquiry, said his officers would clamp down on any violence at Sunday's march.  "If there is arson, petrol bombs or damage to shops, we will take action," he told reporters in Beijing.


rferl--2019-08-02--Police Detain Hundreds At Opposition Rally In Moscow

MOSCOW -- More than 800 people, including a prominent opposition activist, were detained by riot police in Moscow on August 3 after authorities warned they would take “all necessary measures” to stop the unsanctioned rally.  A week after police detained more than 1,300 people at a similar protest in the Russian capital, hundreds of OMON riot police were deployed ahead of the planned protest to demand free elections in Moscow.  The independent political watchdog OVD-Info reported that at least 828 people had been detained.  The prominent Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol was taken away by police as she left her political headquarters.  Sobol, who is on hunger strike and a key organizer of the current wave of protests, was taken from a taxi as she tried to make her way to the protest and driven off in a police van.  "On what grounds are you detaining me?" Sobol repeated as police bundled her into the vehicle.  Sobol and an unknown number of others who had been detained were later released by police.       Sobol wrote on Twitter that she now has the status of being a "witness" in two criminal cases at the same time -- obstructing the work of electoral commissions and one pertaining to "mass riots.”      “'Witness' can be changed to accused at any time, but I’m not afraid to give up. This is our city and our country," she added.      News agencies reported that Sobol was fined 300,000 rubles (about $4,596) for violating the country's protest laws.  Moscow has witnessed protests since authorities there in July banned multiple opposition candidates -- including Sobol -- from running in a municipal election scheduled for September.      More than 1,300 demonstrators were detained by police at the last rally in the city on July 27.      Several would-be candidates to the Moscow City Duma have also faced harassment, including arrests and home searches.  The opposition, many allied with jailed opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, say local officials want to keep them out, fearing they will beat pro-Kremlin candidates. Local election officials say the rejected candidates submitted invalid signatures among the required 5,500 to get on the ballot.  The Moscow City Duma, which has 45 seats, is responsible for a $43 billion municipal budget and is now controlled by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. All of its seats, which have a five-year-term, are up for grabs in the September 8 vote.  "This is the last chance for us to try to say something," Viktor Shenderovich, a prominent political satirist and now vocal voice for the opposition, told RFE/RL at the protest. "The government is heading towards a head-on, physical collision with us, towards a catastrophic escalation.”  Shenderovich, who was among the more than 1,300 people detained at the July 27 protest, said he feared the same fate on August 3.      “Of course I’m afraid. Just like everyone who came out today,” he said, looking around at the huge crowd that had formed to hear him speak. “You simply can’t get used to this violence.”  Demonstrators were aiming to hold a march along the Boulevard Ring that skirts central Moscow but helmeted OMON riot police were deployed in large numbers, erecting metal barricades, and blocking off areas of central Moscow, making it nearly impossible for demonstrators to gather.  “Dear citizens, law enforcement is working to ensure your safety! Among them are military servicemen! These are your own sons!” a loudspeaker blared in central Moscow as a police helicopter hovered overhead.  Moscow authorities earlier urged businesses in central Moscow either to shut for the day or take additional security measures.       The Moscow city prosecutors’ office warned on August 2 that police will "take all necessary measures to stop provocations, riots, and any actions entailing a violation of public security." "Any attempts to conduct mass, unauthorized public events in the city of Moscow on August 3, 2019, are a direct violation of the law," the prosecutors’ office warned.  “So far the Russian government is unable to organize fair elections,” Sergei Parkhomenko, a Russian correspondent and commentator, told RFE/RL.      “I wasn’t surprised about the crackdown on protesters last week,” he said. “The government has no other instrument to use, except force."  Authorities carried out a new round of detentions and home searches before the August 3 protest and opened criminal proceedings for what they term mass civil unrest, an offence which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in jail.  At least eight of opposition activist's Sobol's allies, including Navalny, are in jail for breaking tough protest laws.  Russia's Investigative Committee announced on August 3 it was opening a criminal case against Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation. The committee said the organization was suspected of receiving funding that had been criminally acquired.  Navalny and his allies say the foundation is transparently financed from public donations.  Meanwhile, a rally in support of the Moscow protests was held on August 3 in St. Petersburg, drawing several thousand people, the local news site Fontanka.ru reported.


sputnik--2019-10-04--Toll of Detained Protesters in Ecuador Reaches 350 as Thousands Rally - Interior Minister

"As of 9 a.m. [14:00 GMT], the Ecuadorian security forces over the past 24 hours have detained 350 people during the protests, most of them have been detained in Guayaquil (159 people), the second [largest number of detained people] in Quito (118 people)", she said.  Mass protests erupted in Ecuador on Thursday as thousands rallied across the country against the government's economic reforms, specifically the decision to end decades-long fuel subsidies for people.  According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, the country could no longer afford them, and the cuts could help the country save some $2.27 billion a year. Additionally, the cuts were part of the Ecuadorian government's deal with the International Monetary Fund to be eligible for a $4.2 billion loan.  As civil unrest grew progressively violent, Moreno declared a national two-month state of emergency. The transport system in Ecuador has been paralysed for two days already, also affecting Ecuador-bound international air traffic.


tass--2019-09-26--Court calls off arrest and releases participant of July 27 unauthorized rally in Moscow

"Only aspects of administrative violation were registered in the defendant’s actions. The court rules to release Minyailo from custody," judge Artur Karpov announced the verdict. He was released in the courtroom.  MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. Moscow’s Basmanny Court has rejected the prosecutors’ motion on changing the measure of restriction from arrest to home arrest for historian Alexei Minyailo, releasing him without imposing any measure of restriction on him, TASS reported from the courtroom.  Minyailo was arrested after the July 27 unauthorized rallies in central Moscow and is charged with participation in civil unrest.  In the court he pled not guilty and asked to be released. A representative for the Investigative Committee said that it is necessary to identify all the people involved in the crime, and Minyailo may exert influence over the witnesses, flee prosecution and destroy documents that are important for the criminal case investigation, so he considers home arrest the only possible measure of pre-trial restriction for the defendant. The prosecutor said, for her part, that there are no grounds for imposing any measure of pre-trial restriction on Minyailo, asking to release him.  Before the arrest, Minyailo, aged 34, was a volunteer in the headquarters of unregistered candidate to the Moscow State Duma Lyubov Sobol. He is one of the two defendants charged with participation in civil unrest (Part 2 Section 212 of the Russian Criminal Code). That said, the second perpetrator under the same crime (Sergei Fomin) had been placed under house arrest before.  More than 3,500 people took part in the July 27 unauthorized rally in Moscow. Police officers and employees of the Federal National Guard Troops Service detained more than 1,000 people. The Investigative Committee launched a criminal case under Part 1 Section 318 ("The use of violence against a public officer") and Part 2 Section 212 ("Participation in mass unrest") of the Russian Criminal Code and more than 10 people were arrested during the investigation.


tass--2019-12-06--July 27 protestor arrested for 15 days for violating rally rules

"The court hereby arrests Konon for 15 days, finding him guilty under Part 2 Section 20.2 of the Russian Administrative Code (‘Organizing or holding a public event without submitting a notification on its holding in the prescribed order’)," the court said. Police officers detained Konon on Thursday, but he was released on his own recognizance.  More than 3,500 people took part in the July 27 unauthorized rally in Moscow, according to the authorities. Police officers and the National Guard Troops Service detained more than a thousand people. The Investigative Committee launched criminal cases on the charges of the use of violence against an official and participation in civil unrest (Part 1 Section 318 and Part 2 Section 212 of the Russian Criminal Code). More than 10 people were apprehended in the course of the investigation.  In early September, the Investigative Committee dropped mass unrest criminal charges against five protestors: Daniil Konon, Valery Kostenok, Sergei Abanichev, Vladislav Barabanov and Dmitry Vasilyev. The investigators did not find any signs of a crime in their actions after studying all the materials, including video recordings. Their actions were reclassified as administrative violations, and the corresponding materials were sent to the Interior Ministry.


themoscowtimes--2019-07-14--Moscow Police Detain Opposition Politicians Rallying for Inclusion on City Legislature Ballot

One by one, opposition politicians who say the authorities are trying to remove them from the ballot for elections to Moscow’s city legislature this September climbed onto a ledge on City Hall Sunday afternoon and addressed around 2,000 protestors who had gathered to support them. The protest was the latest in a rising tide of civil unrest across Russia sparked by dissatisfaction over declining living standards that has led to falling ratings for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the ruling United Russia party. The organizers have called for another demonstration on Monday evening.  “We demand that the opposition be included in these elections and that citizens be given the right to a real vote and an alternative,” opposition candidate Ilya Yashin yelled from the ledge to a roar from the crowd in central Moscow. Potential candidates for the 45-seat Moscow City Duma each had to collect around 5,000 signatures from city residents. But over the past week, opposition politicians have seen some of the names they collected invalidated by the election commission, and they expect to be removed from the ballot when the count is finished.  According to the police monitoring group OVD Info, at least 38 people were detained, including Yashin and opposition leader Alexei Navalny allies Lyubov Sobol and Ivan Zhdanov.  Yashin, who is currently a municipal deputy, said Friday that he has already had 11.4% of his collected signatures invalidated for “technical reasons” and is sure his name will be kept off the ballot. Last month, the independent Levada Center pollster found that he would win if allowed to run. “The last elections came several months after Crimea was annexed and the euphoria that followed,” said Ilya Azar, a municipal deputy and a political journalist for the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper, who has been organizing daily single-person pickets outside Moscow’s election commission building demanding the registration of opposition candidates for the past week. “Liberals were shocked and unsure about what they could do.” This time around, however, Azar sees civil society waking up. Just last month, mass protests he organized helped free investigative journalist Ivan Golunov who had been detained on what appeared to be fabricated drug charges. On Sunday, protesters told The Moscow Times that the collective mood gives them hope that opposition candidates will make it onto the ballot.  The usually fractured opposition appeared to come together on Sunday to that end. In total, 17 opposition candidates signed their names as co-organizers to a Facebook event promoting the protest.  Even before they began reporting invalidations of the signatures they had collected, the hopefuls for Russia’s September city Duma elections have faced obstacles. Some had so-called “clones” included in their neighborhoods — candidates with similar names and appearances. Others have caught competitors forging signatures, The Sunday Times reported last month.  Sobol, who is hoping to run in the election, had feces thrown at her while she was collecting signatures with volunteers last month. On the eve of Sunday’s protest, Sobol announced a hunger strike in protest at the opposition being blocked from elections. “My team had more than 50 people working despite all of the provocations,” she told The Moscow Times, accusing Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin of keeping the opposition off the ballot. “It won’t be that easy to stop us from fighting for our rights.”  Moscow police estimated that around 1,000 protesters came out to the unauthorized demonstration. In a surprise move, police allowed the protesters to gather without mass arrests for much of the day. Just last month, they detained over 500 people at a protest in support of Golunov.  Later on Sunday Sobol and Zhdanov led protesters from City Hall to Moscow’s election commission building, just steps from the Kremlin. Along the way, the crowd chanted for Putin and Sobyanin to resign. Police tried to block the protesters when they reached the election commission building, but the crowd pushed through and then gathered outside the closed door, demanding that the commission’s head, Valentin Gorbunov, hear their demands. Gorbunov’s representative told Yashin that Gorbunov was at his summer house outside the city for the weekend and wouldn’t meet with protesters.  But the protesters didn't want to let up. Before police cleared them away from the building, they had posted on social media, asking for supporters to come with water, food, mats and tents so they could spend the night until Gorbunov returned.  “How can we change the Kremlin if we can’t even influence government at the local level?” said Anna Sizova, 22, a student at the Higher School of Economics. “We have to start with the local parliament first.”


themoscowtimes--2019-08-02--10 Mass Unrest Suspects Detained Ahead of Next Opposition Rally

10 ‘Mass Unrest’ Suspects Detained Ahead of Next Opposition Rally

Five more people have been detained as part of criminal proceedings into mass civil unrest related to last weekend’s opposition protest in Moscow as activists push ahead with a new protest planned for Saturday, the state-run TASS news agency reported. Police detained more than 1,300 people in central Moscow on Saturday, some violently, at a march in support of fair local elections this fall. Observers have compared the civil unrest case to the aftermath of mass anti-Kremlin demonstrations in 2012, when dozens of activists were prosecuted and jailed.  Investigators detained five more people on Friday in connection with the case, bringing the total number of people detained up to 10, TASS reported. Five people had been detained on Thursday over the case, the Investigative Committee had said. Those detained include activists Alexei Minyaylo, Kirill Zhukov and Ivan Podkopayev. The charges for organizing mass riots carry a maximum prison sentence of 15 years, while participating carries a jail term of up to eight years.  On Friday, Zhukov and Podkopaev were arrested for two months until Sept. 27, the police-monitoring OVD-Info website cited the Investigative Committee as saying. Authorities suspect 10 or more participants of “taking the most active part in organizing and conducting the mass riots,” the Moscow branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee said Thursday.  “We plan a number of detentions of citizens involved in mass riots and violence against law enforcement and Russian National Guard representatives during the unauthorized rally,” investigators said. Earlier this week, investigators raided the homes of at least two activists in connection with the criminal case.  Several opposition candidates to the 45-seat Moscow City Duma have been jailed as organizers press ahead with new rallies this weekend.  Lyubov Sobol, a rejected candidate who has been on hunger strike for more than two weeks, called on supporters to gather along central Moscow’s Boulevard Ring for a “peaceful march” Saturday.


themoscowtimes--2019-09-29--The Dragon Has Unclenched Its Jaws 25000 Rally in Moscow to Demand Release of Jailed Protesters

‘The Dragon Has Unclenched Its Jaws’: 25,000 Rally in Moscow to Demand Release of Jailed Protesters

The elections that triggered Moscow’s summer protest movement have come and gone, but Russia’s opposition is now focused on a new task: freeing those caught up in the Kremlin’s crackdown. With 14 people facing up to eight years behind bars for their roles in the demonstrations for fair elections, Russians from all walks of life have demanded their release. And after an unprecedented public outcry in recent weeks, prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against six of the defendants. The opposition, sensing momentum, has been left wanting more. On a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon, thousands rallied in central Moscow to demand that authorities free the rest. “Why did they release those they have released?” Russia’s most prominent opposition politician Alexei Navalny asked the crowd from the stage. “Because they are scared of falling ratings. Because they see people won’t support them for this.”  In July, after election commission officials barred a host of opposition politicians from balloting in the recent Moscow City Duma elections, thousands took to the streets for the largest protests in years in the Russian capital.  At the movement’s peak, which came after protests this year across Russia over declining living standards that has led to falling ratings for President Vladimir Putin and the ruling United Russia party, some 50,000 turned out for a single rally. But the authorities cracked down, temporarily detaining some 2,400 protesters and opening criminal investigations into mass unrest. The movement fizzled by the end of August. Five people have so far been sentenced for their roles in the rallies. Kremlin opponents see the jail terms as aimed at putting down future dissent. One of those sentenced, Kirill Zhukov, 28, will spend three years behind bars for lifting a policeman's visor.  The response from the authorities has recalled the crackdown on the 2011-2012 Bolotnaya protests, the last wave of anti-government demonstrations in the Russian capital. But what has stood out this time around, political analysts say, is that Russian civil society has awakened in response. Over recent weeks, groups of professionals ranging from teachers to doctors to Orthodox priests have signed open letters demanding the release of those sentenced.  Earlier this month, actors picketed outside of the presidential administration demanding that Pavel Ustinov, 23, who was sentenced to three and a half years in prison for allegedly dislocating a police officer’s shoulder, be freed. He was released on house arrest soon after. “This has happened in Putin’s Russia before, but as a rule this was tied to social or economic demands like low salaries,” said political analyst Maria Lipman. “It is unprecedented that we are seeing these groups speaking out against injustice.”  In recent days, prosecutors have dropped charges or released on house arrest a number of those facing time behind bars. One, Alexei Minyaylo, 23, went immediately to the single-person picket on Thursday afternoon — a legal form of protest in Russia — outside of the presidential administration building that has been taking place all week, and continued Sunday night. At the demonstration on a street named after the Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov on Sunday afternoon, Minyaylo said that many people told him he was stupid for risking arrest once again.  “Of course I am scared,” he said from the stage alongside three other defendants who had charges against them dropped. “But I am even more scared of living in fear.” The demonstration — which was approved by the authorities and saw no arrests — drew 25,200 people, according to White Counter, an NGO that tallies up participants who have passed through the security frames surrounding approved rallies. Moscow police counted around 20,000.  Speakers during the rally included Navalny and his allies Ivan Zhdanov and Lyubov Sobol, opposition candidates who were barred from running in the city council elections. Sobol, who spent 32 days on hunger strike in protest of the decision, became the face of this summer’s protest movement. Mikhail Svetov, the leader of the Libertarian Party, which organized the demonstration, also addressed the crowd.  But the stars of the day were those who had been freed. Speaking from the stage, they thanked the protesters for doing their part to secure their release.  Vladislav Barabanov, 22, who was released on Sept. 3, noted during his speech that, although he is from Nizhny Novgorod, a city some 400 kilometers east of Moscow, he has stayed in the capital to support the other defendants. He called for others to continue doing whatever they can until the rest of the defendants are freed.  “Every hour, every minute, every second we should all be doing something to show maximum solidarity with the people caught up in this repressive machine,” he said.  While some activists have felt that they have influence on the Kremlin, that may only be to a small degree, and solidarity might be the only thing people can offer now, said political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya.  “It’s very important to understand that there has not been a liberalization,” she said. “The authorities are making corrections where they can, but they are not reforming the system.”  Stanovaya pointed to the case of Yegor Zhukov, a 21-year-old blogger who captured public sentiment this summer, and has been moved to house arrest until Dec. 27. Because he was an activist and not a bystander caught up in the authorities’ dragnet, Stanovaya believes public pressure is unlikely to have an influence on his ultimate ruling.  But protesters on Sunday said they will not be dissuaded. “The dragon has unclenched its jaws, but not all the way,” said Larisa Solovova, 45. “We have to keep going.”


21stcenturywire--2019-09-10--REVEALED US Behind Hong Kong Protests Admits US Policymaker

REVEALED: US Behind Hong Kong Protests – Admits US Policymaker

The US continues to deny any involvement in ongoing unrest in China’s special administrative region of Hong Kong. However, even a casual look at US headlines or comments made by US officials and policymakers – makes it clear the unrest not only suits US interests, but is spurred-on almost exclusively by them.  The paradoxical duality of nearly open support of the unrest and denial of that support has led to headlines like the South China Morning Post’s, “Mike Pompeo rebukes China’s ‘ludicrous’ claim US is behind Hong Kong protests.” The article claims:  However, even US policymakers have all but admitted that the US is funneling millions of dollars into Hong Kong specifically to support “programs” there. The Hudson Institute in an article titled, “China Tries to Blame US for Hong Kong Protests,” would admit:  The article would then quote Pillsbury as saying:  A visit to the NED’s website reveals an entire section of declared funding for Hong Kong specifically. The wording for program titles and their descriptions is intentionally ambiguous to give those like US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo plausible deniability.  However, deeper research reveals NED recipients are literally leading the protests.  The South China Morning Post in its article, “Hong Kong protests: heavy jail sentences for rioting will not solve city’s political crisis, former Civil Human Rights Front convenor says,” would report:  The article would omit mention of Johnson Yeung Ching-yin’s status as an NED fellow. His profile is – at the time of this writing – still accessible on the NED’s official website, and the supposed NGO he works for in turn works hand-in-hand with US and UK-based fronts involved in supporting Hong Kong’s current unrest and a much wider anti-Beijing political agenda.  Johnson Yeung Ching-yin also co-authored an op-ed in the Washington Post with Joshua Wong titled, “As you read this, Hong Kong has locked one of us away.”  Wong has travelled to Washington DC multiple times, including to receive “honors” from NED-subsidiary Freedom House for his role in leading unrest in 2014 and to meet with serial regime-change advocate Senator Marco Rubio.  It should also be noted that the Washington Post’s Anne Applebaum also sits on the NED board of directors.  This evidence, along with extensively documented ties between the United States government and other prominent leaders of the Hong Kong unrest reveals US denial of involvement in Hong Kong as yet another willful lie told upon the international stage – a lie told even as the remnants of other victims of US interference and intervention smolder in the background.  The direct ties and extreme conflicts of interest found under virtually every rock overturned when critically examining the leadership of Hong Kong’s ongoing unrest all lead to Washington. They also once again reveal the Western media as involved in a coordinated campaign of disinformation – where proper investigative journalism is purposefully side-stepped and narratives shamelessly spun instead to frame Hong Kong’s ongoing conflict in whatever light best suits US interests.  What’s worse is big-tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Google purging thousands of accounts attempting to reveal the truth behind Hong Kong’s unrest and the true nature of those leading it. If this is the level of lying, censorship, and authoritarianism Washington is willing to resort to in order for Hong Kong’s opposition to succeed, it begs one to wonder what this so-called opposition is even fighting for. Certainly not “democracy” or “freedom.”  ***   Author Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher, writer and special contributor to 21st Century Wire. Over the last decade, his work has been published on a number of popular news and analysis websites, and also on the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”. See Tony’s work at his 21WIRE archive.


activistpost--2019-11-16--Iran Burning: Shock Gas Price Hike Triggers Violent Protests After Subsidy Cuts

With protests and unrest raging in multiple hot spots around the globe from Latin America to Hong Kong to Lebanon and Iraq, it could be Iran’s turn to join in.  Amid a fresh price hike in gasoline — the latest in a string of woes to hit the sanctions ravaged Iranian economy, ultimately making life miserable for the common populace — rare mass protests have broken out in multiple cities.  Protests and clashes with police began Friday when petrol prices suddenly rose by at least 50% after government subsidies on it were slashed. Government statements said the plan is to divert the funds in order to make cash payments to low-income households.  In essence, Tehran authorities dubiously claim they were forced to “free up money” to assist the poor; however, it appears more drastic scrambling as Tehran struggles to find global purchasers to offload its oil.  And as of Saturday Reuters Persian reports that gas prices have tripled, taking millions of angry middle class demonstrators to the streets across the country.  The BBC reports that the protests are fierce enough to have already led to at least two deaths and multiple injured as demonstrations are active in at least a dozen cities:  One person was killed during protests in the central city of Sirjan. State news agency Irna said there were clashes with police when protesters attacked a fuel storage warehouse and tried to set fire to it. Several more people were injured. A protester also died in the city of Behbahan. Other cities were also affected including the capital, Tehran, Kermanshah, Isfahan, Tabriz, Karadj, Shiraz, Yazd, Boushehr and Sari.  The AP reported that while at the start of this week drivers were allotted up to 250 liters a month at the pump at at a controlled 10,000 rials per liter, as of Friday that changed drastically to an allowance of 60 liters (or 13 gallons) of petrol a month at 15,000 rials ($0.13; £0.10) a liter. Additional liters after that cost 30,000 rials.  In response, one protest method has been for motorists to turn off their vehicles in the middle of busy streets, blocking traffic and adding the frustration of security forces.  Meanwhile, Iranian state media has admitted that violent clashes with police are underway. As Deutsche Welle reports of the official statements:  In the city of Sirjan in central Iran, demonstrators tried to set a fuel warehouse on fire in protests that police described as “severe.” The semi-official news agency INSA reported that one civilian was killed and several others injured. Acting governor Mohammad Mahmoudabadi said some people had exploited the “calm gathering” and had destroyed public property and damaged fuel stations. He added it was unclear whether the victim had been shot dead by security forces who were “trying to bring back calm to the city.”  There are also reports that protesters have begun targeting banks, after video was posted online of what appears to show the Central Bank In Behbahan, Iran being engulfed in flames as demonstrators chant.  Brief local news coverage of the bank building going up in flames:  In the below video now circulating widely among Iranian opposition activist accounts, live gun fire is heard as both protest and police lines scatter.  Security forces appear to be retreating into a police headquarters amid an attacking crowd. And what sounds like live ammo is then fired by police defenders of the HQ.  On Saturday the protests have appeared to get more confrontational, as police were filmed using riot control measures against crowds, and with some unconfirmed reports of live fire being used, as has been the case over the past month in neighboring Iraq.  This article was sourced from ZeroHedge.com  Subscribe to Activist Post for truth, peace, and freedom news. Become an Activist Post Patron for as little as $1 per month at Patreon. Follow us on SoMee, Flote, Minds, Twitter, and Steemit.  Provide, Protect and Profit from what’s coming! Get a free issue of Counter Markets today.


breitbart--2019-11-19--Iran Mobilizes Half a Million Paramilitary Fighters to Suppress Protests

Iran on Tuesday claimed “calm has been restored in the country” following protests triggered by a massive hike in gasoline prices, but the Internet remained down and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced it was mobilizing half a million members of a brutal paramilitary force known as the Basij to control the streets.  Reuters noted that even as a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary declared the protests were “eighty percent” over with only “minor problems” remaining, social media posts smuggled past the government’s Internet blockade showed demonstrations continuing in several cities.  “State news agency IRNA said handouts to the poor, the most consistent supporters of the clerical establishment, had started on Tuesday,” Reuters added. The Iranian government claims it hiked gas prices primarily to raise more money for welfare programs.  The Internet blackout made it difficult for outside observers to obtain solid information about the state of unrest across Iran since only a relatively small number of tech-savvy Iranians know how to get past the blockade.  Director Alp Tolker of the London-based NetBlocks analysis firm told Voice of America News (VOA) that the Internet blackout could make the Iranian people even more restless.  “The internet is an outlet for people to democratically express their views, and if they can’t do this, there’s actually a risk that these protests could become more violent,” Tolker said.  “We also see economic harms, with tens of millions of dollars of losses to Iran’s developed information and communications technology (ICT) industry. People are going to start losing their businesses because they rely on connectivity,” he warned.  VOA was one of several global media outlets to cite evidence that the number of protesters killed by government forces is much higher than Tehran wants to admit. The United Nations called for restraint and said it believes the extent of civilian casualties is “clearly very serious.” Iranian news reports have so far admitted to 11 casualties, including five security troops and six civilians.  Iranian state media downplayed the demonstrations and denounced the protesters as thugs, extremists, or puppets of foreign governments. Media coverage focused on security troops killed by the “rioters,” including three who were allegedly stabbed to death in Tehran. One of the three was a commander in the IRGC, while the other two were members of the Basij militia.  The IRGC said on Tuesday that it will deploy half a million members of the Basij, a volunteer militia that has been employed to suppress previous protest movements and stage propaganda events for the theocratic regime. The IRGC has threatened to take “decisive” and “revolutionary” action against demonstrators if the protests continue.  Basij officials said the Iranian trade ministry requested their deployment and claimed their mission would be primarily to “monitor” markets and prevent traders from unfairly raising their prices.  “The authorities are trying to bring down the problems faced by the people to the minimum and most of the guilds assist the authorities but there is a small number that only take their own interests into account, and if there is no monitoring, they could take advantage of this opportunity,” the head of the paramilitary organization explained in an interview with state media.  Iranian human rights groups and representatives of the Kurdish areas in Iran said the death toll has been almost ten times as high as the government admits, with nearly a hundred fatalities and over a thousand arrests. The Kurds said they were hit especially hard by the gasoline price increase because they already live in desperate poverty.  “I just cannot understand what made officials make such a decision. They want to deceive us into believing that with the increased fuel price, they can pay an amount of money to the people. We were poor already, and this decision will make us poorer,” said a Kurdish taxi driver who participated in blocking a road in the western city of Sanandaj over the weekend.  Other Kurdish citizens said the increased price of gasoline will ripple through their entire economy, forcing them to pay more for everything from food to rent. The Iranian government is trying to use a class-warfare angle to defuse the protests, arguing that wealthy Iranians benefit much more from subsidized gasoline than the poor, who desperately need the benefits which are supposed to be funded by higher fuel prices.  A hardline pro-theocracy Iranian newspaper called Kayhan on Tuesday quoted judiciary officials who said ringleaders of the protest movement will be hunted down and the “hangman’s noose” is waiting for them because they will be charged with insurrection.  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday that the United States is “monitoring the ongoing protests in Iran closely.”  “We condemn strongly any acts of violence committed by this regime against the Iranian people and are deeply concerned by reports of several fatalities,” he said.  “The Islamic Republic must cease violence against its own people and should immediately restore the ability of all Iranians to access a free and open Internet. The world is watching,” Pompeo warned.


channel4uk--2019-08-18--17 million take part in Hong Kong protests

‘1.7 million’ take part in Hong Kong protests

In Hong Kong, protest organisers say 1.7 million people took part in today’s pro-democracy rally almost as many as the march in June, at the start of the demonstrations.  Protesters were undeterred by torrential rain, a police ban on marching, and the large Chinese paramilitary presence that remains stationed just across the border. So is Beijing really prepared to take a stronger approach to supressing civil unrest in the semi-autonomous region?


cnsnews--2019-04-02--Algerian President To Resign After Weeks of Protests

(CNSNews.com) -- Following six weeks of protests, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced on Monday that he would resign by the end of this month.  In a statement to the state-owned Algeria Press Service, the North African leader pledged to step down before the end of his fourth presidential term on April 28, but after taking steps “to ensure the continuity of the functioning of the State institutions during the transition period.”  Protests erupted in late February after Bouteflika – who became president of Algeria in 1999 and presided over the end of a decade long civil war between the government and Islamist guerillas – declared he would run for a fifth term in office.  The mostly youthful demonstrators cited economic stagnation and a growing sense of disconnect between them and the country’s aging political leadership, which is largely made up of fighters from the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), as their motivations for taking to the streets.  Moreover, many protestors charged that the 82-year-old president, who suffered a major stroke in 2013, was no longer physically capable of ruling the country.  In an attempt to calm the protestors’ anger, Bouteflika withdrew his candidacy for president on March 11. However, this move failed to stunt the growing popular momentum against him.  Last Tuesday, the Algerian president lost the support of a major ally. Ahmed Gaed Salah, chief of staff of Algeria’s army, publicly urged the Constitutional Council to declare Bouteflika unfit to rule and remove him from office.  "We must find a way out of this crisis immediately, within the constitutional framework," Salah said.  Several days later, hundreds of thousands of Algerians participated in an anti-Bouteflika demonstration in Algiers, the country’s capital. It had the largest showing of any protest up to that point.  It is unclear what the next step for Algeria is after 20 years of Bouteflika’s rule. However, some analysts are skeptical that much will change.  “Bouteflika's departure satisfies the main immediate demand of the demonstrators, but it does not satisfy broader demands for overturning the Algerian power structure and creating something closer to a healthy democracy,” Paul Pillar, former National Intelligence Officer for the Near East and South Asia, told CNSNews.com.  He predicted that Algeria’s political unrest and the underlying causes behind it will not go away any time soon.  “Algerians will notice that despite weeks of demonstrations, it was only after the army chief publicly called for Bouteflika to resign that the president is finally leaving,” Pillar said. “This sequence suggests that le pouvoir -- the set of senior military and security officials and business oligarchs said to exert power behind the scenes -- will still largely be in control.”


cnsnews--2019-08-07--Beijing Sees Black Hand of Pence Pompeo and Pelosi Behind Hong Kong Protests

Beijing Sees ‘Black Hand’ of Pence, Pompeo, and Pelosi Behind Hong Kong Protests

(CNSNews.com) – Amid a deepening political and security crisis in Hong Kong, mainland Chinese government officials are ramping up their accusations of a Western “black hand” behind the street protests, pointing to actions and statements by leaders including Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.  Monday saw the biggest number of arrests (148) and the largest number of teargas rounds fired (some 800) in one day since the mass demonstrations began two months ago. Some protestors have clashed violently with police, and several incidents have been reported of China’s national flag being taken down and thrown into the sea.  “We warn the unscrupulous violent criminals and the black hands behind them: those who play with fire will perish by it,” Yang Guang, spokesman for the communist government’s main agency overseeing Hong Kong affairs, said during a press briefing in Beijing Tuesday. “At the end of the day, they will eventually be punished.”  Asked for evidence of Beijing’s persistent claim that outside forces are enflaming the protests, Yang launched into a list of grievances, citing names and dates. Among them:  --A March 21 State Department report finding that Hong Kong’s degree of autonomy has been “diminished.”  --The introduction on June 13 of legislation in the House and Senate of bills defending Hong Kong’s autonomy. With bipartisan support, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act was introduced in the House by Lantos Human Rights Commission co-chairs Reps. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and James McGovern (D-Mass.), and in the Senate by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).  --A remark by Pelosi, at a June 4 Congressional Executive Commission on China hearing, to the effect that the mass protests in Hong Kong were “a beautiful sight to behold.”  -- A June 25 call by Britain’s then-foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, for an inquiry into the use of force against protestors by Hong Kong police.  --A July 8 meeting at the White House between Pence and Hong Kong media tycoon and democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai. Pompeo met separately with Lai on the same day, discussing the status of Hong Kong’s autonomy and the controversial extradition legislation that sparked the protests two months ago. (The bill, which sought to allow suspects of serious crimes to be sent from Hong Kong to mainland China for trial, has been suspended, but protestors want it withdrawn completely.)  Yang characterized those as examples of “irresponsible” and “ignorant” remarks and actions that amount to interference in China’s internal affairs and are contributing to the “chaos” in Hong Kong.  He cited senior Communist Party officials as accusing these outside forces of trying to use the unrest in Hong Kong as a tool to “contain” China.  Meanwhile Pelosi has drawn fresh criticism from Beijing after issuing a new statement on Tuesday.  “The extraordinary outpouring of courage from the people of Hong Kong stands in stark contrast to a cowardly government that refuses to respect the rule of law or live up to the ‘one country, two systems’ framework which was guaranteed more than two decades ago,” she said.  Pelosi said when lawmakers return to Washington, Congress would “begin our work to advance the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, and fight to preserve democratic freedoms and the rule of law in Hong Kong.”  In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Wednesday accused Pelosi and other U.S. politicians of “bolstering violent radical criminals and even justifying and whitewashing their behaviors.”  “They’ve also wantonly smeared and vilified the just move of the [Hong Kong] government and police to uphold the rule of law and order,” Hua said. “This is no different from covering up, conniving at and supporting illegal criminal behaviors, which again reveals their malicious intention of anti-China and messing up Hong Kong.”  At an earlier briefing this week Hua directed her criticism at Smith and McGovern, slamming them for referring to the protests as “peaceful demonstrations.”  Citing some of the clashes with police, obstruction of traffic, and the flag desecration, she said, “Such things simply cannot be tolerated. The U.S. doesn’t mention them at all.”  Broadening her attack, Hua said the U.S. turns a blind eye to “violent law enforcement” at home while trying to “smear the professional, civilized and constrained law enforcement of Hong Kong police.”  “This will only help the world to see how arrogant, biased, hypocritical, ruthless, selfish and bossy the U.S. is.”


collectiveevolution--2019-08-15--What Are The Hong Kong Protests All About

What Are The Hong Kong Protests All About?

I decided to take on this article, first to inform myself better about the motivations behind the Hong Kong protests, which have been ratcheting up in recent days, and then to pass on a basic understanding to you, the reader, so that together we can follow the events going on in this allegedly ‘autonomous’ Chinese territory with some degree of context.  First, it must be understood that Hong Kong developed into a commercial powerhouse as a British colony, and its residents enjoyed some aspects of democratic freedom not available on mainland China. British rule of Hong Kong ended when it was returned to China in July of 1997 under the framework of “one country, two systems.” The “Basic Law” constitution guaranteed to protect, for the next 50 years, the democratic institutions that make Hong Kong distinct from Communist-ruled mainland China.  The struggle for an expansion of democratic freedoms on the island have been ongoing in some form or another ever since, with some initiatives specifically supported by the “Basic Law.” Meanwhile, the national Chinese government has attempted to resist such reforms, and has been working to augment its own power and influence over Hong Kong:  In other words, it was not a question of if there would be another populist uprising in Hong Kong, but when.  Earlier this year, Chief Executive Lam pushed amendments to extradition laws that would allow people to be sent to mainland China to face charges. In some ways, this had a similar agenda to the bill introduced in 2003 that would have directly forbidden acts of treason and subversion against the Chinese government.  This latest bill is a bit more subtle, but the end result would be the same: those Chinese dissidents who are working for greater autonomy from mainland China and full democracy in Hong Kong are de facto enemies of the state, since they are working to erode China’s power over the economic and political affairs of Hong Kong. And China wants to be able prosecute such activities.  Even before this bill, Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong had been on the rise. Activists have been jailed and pro-democracy lawmakers disqualified from running or holding office, while independent booksellers started disappearing from the city, before reappearing in mainland China facing charges. And so when the extradition bill came out, the population of Hong Kong clearly saw it as an attempt to undermine and subvert The “Basic Law” and give Beijing full authority to try pro-democracy activists under the judicial system of the mainland.  Protests started small, relatively speaking, but as we have seen with the Yellow Vest protests, attempts to crack down with a hard hand are not deterring people as much as they used to, and in fact protesters become emboldened by seeing an increase in participation. Here is an early timeline of the protests:  As the timeline goes forward beyond the suspension of the second reading of the bill, the protests have grown bigger, with more widespread involvement. It is impossible to list all the events that have taken place, but a good compilation can be found here.  Police have violently clashed directly with protesters, repeatedly firing teargas and rubber bullets. As well, it seems that there have been instances of unsanctioned pro-Beijing thugs on a mission to injure protesters, where police did not intervene. However, as political authorities are slowly learning in recent times, protests that resist strong-arm tactics see their demands grow beyond their initial grievance and demand reparations for state violence that has occurred during the protests themselves. Protesters have vowed to keep their movement going until these core demands are met:  The protests here are emblematic of a larger struggle between different systems of national governance. Hong Kong is a particularly unique case as it is a region that developed some mature institutions of Western Democracy while still always being tied to a major Eastern civilization.  Beijing has issued increasingly shrill condemnations of the protest but has left it to the city’s semi-autonomous government to deal with the situation. But that does not mean they cannot influence even more serious internal measures. On Thursday, Chen Daoxiang, the head of the Chinese army garrison in Hong Kong, said the military was “determined to protect [the] national sovereignty” of Hong Kong and would help put down the “intolerable” unrest if requested. The army released a promotional video showing tanks and soldiers firing on citizens in an anti-riot drill.  A tweet yesterday from the Editor in Chief of China’s state-owned tabloid, Hu Xijin, warns of an imminent showdown in the wake of protests at the Hong Kong airport that were so disruptive that the Hong Kong airport authority advised all passengers to leave the terminal buildings as soon as possible:  There is an implied threat that the mainland Chinese army may get involved. Chinese military vehicles have gathered in Shenzhen, a city in mainland China bordering Hong Kong, and military exercises may soon be underway.  Of course, the actions of the Chinese government are being closely watched by the Western world, and there has been no lack of condemnation for the strong-armed tactics of police. The condemnation will only increase if the Chinese government institutes even more severe measures. Countering this, Beijing has ramped up its accusations that foreign countries are “fanning the fire” of unrest in the city. China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi has ordered the US to “immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs in any form”.  Whatever happens, the people in Hong Kong seem quite steadfast in demonstrating that they don’t want to allow meaningful change to be kicked down the road any longer, and certainly don’t want any more limitations to their freedom. We will see how this struggle plays out this time around.  Before we start taking sides on the issues behind this protest, it is important to note that neither Chinese-style communism nor any current implementation of Western-style democracy present themselves as true vehicles for the full burgeoning of our individual sovereignty and our collective evolution.  Certainly the struggle in Hong Kong provides more and more individual citizens the opportunity to implicate themselves directly in our system of governance, and the ripple effect of this is that more people in the world will awaken to the fact that each and every one of us has an innate choice in the way we consent to be governed as a society.  Once we clear the veils of control-based deception and come to truly grasp our sovereignty and our ability to choose, we will then be in a much better position to give an informed consent to any social or political institutions we decide to create and maintain.


democracynow--2019-10-09--Indigenous-Led Anti-Austerity Protests Shut Down Quito Forcing Ecuadorian Government to Move Capital

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.  JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We begin today’s show in Ecuador, where tens of thousands of people, led by indigenous leaders, are expected to again bring the country to a standstill today in massive ongoing anti-government protests. Demonstrators flooded the streets of Quito Tuesday to decry government-imposed austerity measures and a steep hike in fuel prices, despite a severe police crackdown.  Civil unrest has been growing since President Lenín Moreno ended a decades-old fuel subsidy program last week as part of a so-called reform plan imposed by the International Monetary Fund after Ecuador took a $4.2 billion loan from the IMF earlier this year. He also announced plans to cut public sector job wages by 20%, require public workers to pay a day’s worth of pay to the government each month, and slash their vacation days in half.  On Tuesday, the sixth consecutive day of massive demonstrations, protesters successfully pushed through security lines at the National Assembly before being pushed back by police. Indigenous protesters approached the presidential palace. Police responded with violence and tear gas. On Tuesday night, President Moreno declared an 8 p.m. curfew in areas near government buildings. This is one of the protesters, Santiago Iguamba, in the streets of Quito.  AMY GOODMAN: President Moreno declared a state of emergency last week, allowing police to raid homes without warrants and suspending the right to assembly. Hundreds of people have been arrested. The government is also cracking down on the media. Police raided the community radio station Radio Pichincha Universal on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the defense minister, Oswaldo Jarrín, has called protesters “terrorists” and “criminals,” threatening them with the threat of lethal weapons in a television interview Monday.  Yesterday’s mass protests come one day after President Moreno said in a national address he’s temporarily moving the government from Quito to the southern city of Guayaquil. He accused his political opponents of attempting a coup, and vowed not to restore the fuel subsidy.  AMY GOODMAN: Ecuador’s former President Rafael Correa said Tuesday Moreno must resign or call early elections. And protesters are vowing to stay in the streets. This is the indigenous leader Jaime Vargas speaking to reporters in Quito earlier this week.  AMY GOODMAN: For more, we go to Quito, Ecuador, where we’re joined by David Cordero Heredia, a law professor at Pontifical Catholic University. He’s one of the lawyers representing protesters who have been detained in this latest round of protests. He was previously a human rights fellow at Cornell University.  Professor Cordero Heredia, thank you so much for being with us. I know there’s a bit of a sound delay. But if you can start off by talking about — just talk about what’s happening in the streets right now and what they are responding to. And what are their demands?  DAVID CORDERO HEREDIA: Hi, Amy. Good morning. Do you hear me? OK.  Right now we are in a state of exception, since last week. We got protests in the streets, manifestations, especially for the indigenous movement. We calculate like over 2,000 indigenous peoples are now in the capital. Yesterday, there was a very tough repression from the Armed Forces of Ecuador. Because of the state of exception, the president is able to use the Army to repress people in the streets. So we are very, very worried about that. We know that the international standards about human rights prohibit to use the Army to repress people in the streets in these kind of manifestations. We demand to the Constitutional — we demanded to the Constitutional Court to take a role in this and to revoke the order of President Moreno of the state of exception and to demand him to respect human rights of the people in the streets. And the court, sadly, disappointed the people of Ecuador, and he said that the state of exception is constitutional. So, right now we’ve got 30 days in which the president will have full powers and the use of the full Armed Forces of Ecuador.  We got several detainees. The president himself said yesterday that over 2,000 people all over the country are detained. We know for sure that yesterday, yesterday night, 83 people were detained, indigenous people especially, in the protests in the streets. And they were not taken to the official place where they should be presented to a judge. That is the Unidad de Flagrancia, where they should be conducted. We suspect that they were taken to a military base in the north part of the city. But we don’t have — right now we don’t have official information about them. We are very, very worried about them. We presented an habeas corpus writ to the courts. And we are trying to know where they are.  JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Well, Professor Cordero Heredia, I wanted to ask you — most people, when they hear the word “austerity measures,” it’s kind of vague. But some of the specifics that this IMF deal is requiring of Ecuador are amazing, considering where Ecuador has gone in the past few years. They’re talking about raising fees for all government services and for utilities, imposing a new value-added tax, a consumption tax, raising the ceiling on interest rates so that banks can charge whatever interest rates they want. And they’re also prohibiting the Central Bank from lending money to the public sector. And so, all of this stuff, considering where Ecuador has gone — during the reign of his predecessor, the poverty rate in Ecuador dropped from 64% in 2000 to only 21%. That’s an astonishing drop in the number of people in poverty. And this is going to really reverse all of these gains that were made under President Correa — although there are many criticisms of President Correa. How did this happen, especially since Lenín Moreno is from the same party as President Correa?  DAVID CORDERO HEREDIA: Yes, this is really interesting. What is going on now in Ecuador is that we got a budget gap that should be filled in some way. I think the whole population is — know, is conscient, that some kind of measure should be taken. This problem started with President Correa, who was not — who was not efficient using or taking measures of — economic measures in Ecuador. And he gave President Correa — President Moreno a big problem regarding budget. So, it’s not a problem that started with President Moreno; it started with President Correa. And when President Correa needed extra funds to fund in the state, he started a very aggressive campaign of extraction of oil and mining, especially in the Amazon region, in indigenous peoples’ territory, without consultation. And the indigenous movement had been protesting since Correa, and now with President Moreno, because these two presidents have been ineffective of finding another way to funding the state than the extraction of oil and mining.  So, the problem is not recent, but right now President Moreno, of all the measures that he can choose to take, he’s taking the recipe of the IMF. So, basically, he is going to decrease tax for the wealthies. He’s going to increase gas prices by eliminating subsidies. And that is going to impact the most poor people in the society, especially because the fares of the bus fares will be increasing and the whole chain of prices will be affected.  And also the changes to the labor laws, and that is really, really worrisome, because he wants to dismantle the workers’ protection that we have in the law for several decades. And in the past, maybe 20 years ago, when we were discussing the Free Trade Zone of the Americas, indigenous peoples rised and protested against that initiative, and actually they were able to stop that. And now we’ve got the same attempt to dismantle workers’ protection. And there is a strong campaign against public officers right now. And some of the measures that Moreno is willing to introduce attack directly to those workers. They’re trying to decrease the paid vacations to them. They’re going to take one day of salary of the public services. And also, the new people that will work for the state will work with less payment and with less stability in their work contracts.  So, we got all of these measures that are going to impact the worker class in Ecuador. And what we see with President Moreno is the lack of dialogue with the social movements and with the workers, and with the worker class especially. We see, as Naomi Klein describes in [her] book about the doctrine of — The Shock Doctrine, that there is a package of neoliberal measures that will be better received if the society is weak. And they are trying to weaken the society by repression, by using the Army, by using the Army against protesters. That’s where we are living now in Ecuador.  AMY GOODMAN: Professor David Cordero Heredia, as you speak to us from Quito, Ecuador, if you can talk about the state of the media? What media is allowed to operate, and what media is getting shut down? We were just showing video of Radio Pichincha Universal, the radio that was reporting on what was happening on the ground, being stormed and shut down by police. Now Pinchincha is saying that the radio director, Washington Yépez — there’s an order to put him in jail on accusation of inciting discord among citizens. What are people learning? And also, do you have a death toll? Reports of gas bombs being thrown at medics, in hospital tents, and the defense minister saying they will use live ammunition, the president and defense minister calling the protesters “terrorists.”  DAVID CORDERO HEREDIA: Yes, indeed, Amy. We are receiving reports of journalists that have been attacked by the police. We got several images that are in the internet now.  And we’ve got to divide the media right now in the independent media and the mainstream media right now. And what mainstream media is doing is taking the discourse of the government. And the discourse of the government basically is that President Correa and — or, former President Correa and President Maduro from Venezuela are putting these protesters together, and is diminishing the response of the indigenous people and the students and the workers, that are the people who actually are in the streets. So, in one side, we’ve got that discourse, and the media is reproducing that discourse. On the other side, we’ve got the independent media. And independent media is reporting the aggressions of both the police and the Army to the protesters right now, but the Armed Forces are not discriminating between these two groups. So the only reports of police brutality that we can see in the mainstream media is basically the brutality against journalists and not against the people. And besides that, what the mainstream media is reporting is basically the riots that actually are happening right now in some parts of the country, and are reporting the discourse of President Correa and his allies, and tweets from President Maduro saying that they are supporting the march.  But actually, what happened is that the indigenous peoples movement have been in resistance of President Correa’s presidency. And probably President Correa’s presidency was the most hard repression government that we have seen in the last years against indigenous peoples. Human rights organizations defend over 200 indigenous leaders that were prosecuted by President Correa’s government. And so, right now, that President Correa and his allies are trying to say that they are supporting the people, are supporting the indigenous movement, is a lie. And what is happening right now in Quito is that we have protests. We have social movements that are tired of being the ones to be impacted or to be asked to sacrifice in these moments of where we need to take new economic measures. So, this discourse is the one that we can hear on the mainstream media.  JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Professor, just quickly, if you could comment? You mentioned Venezuela and President Maduro. What’s been the impact of the continuing crisis in Venezuela and the flight of so many Venezuelans out of the country to the situation right there in Ecuador?  DAVID CORDERO HEREDIA: Well, we are receiving — we are receiving thousands of people from Venezuela that are fleeing from a humanitarian crisis that is happening in Venezuela. And the impact to the society — the economical crisis is the crisis that we can wait of one of these kind of situations, but we had a lot of support from the international community and U.N. agencies. However, we got an increasing discourse from the government, a xenophobic discourse. President Moreno have put in force some measures to ban the migration from Venezuelan people. Some of them, or most of them, are refugees under international law; however, they’ve got to apply to a humanitarian visa from Colombia, basically, before enter to Ecuador. And all this discourse of xenophobia, or all this discourse about the security being impacted by Venezuelans, is deeply impacting the Venezuelan population living in Ecuador.  And one of the things that he’s taking advantage, President Moreno, is about what people feel about the Venezuelan migration in Ecuador. So, he’s blaming Venezuelans, and he’s blaming President Maduro of some of the violence that have been happening in the streets, but he doesn’t have proofs of that. And probably the — right now the protests are happening all over the country, so probably some people from Venezuela are participating in those, but he doesn’t have proof of that. And as human rights organizations, that are with the people in the streets or in the jails checking what is going on, we don’t have evidence that Venezuelans are participating in the protests or they are producing the violence. So, this discourse of Maduro sending Venezuelans to destabilize the government of Moreno is a lie.  AMY GOODMAN: And, Professor, is a national strike called for today?  DAVID CORDERO HEREDIA: Yes, workers shall be joining the national strike today. Also, indigenous people, that are coming from all over the country, are walking from their communities to the cities. So, the national strike is continuing.  They are demanding — they are demanding not just to go back with these neoliberal measures that Moreno is trying to implement, but also to stop the extractivism in Ecuador. The indigenous peoples — now that we are talking about climate change all over the world, indigenous people are offering us an alternative, a sustainable alternative of living. They want to protect their jungles. They want to protect their territories. And that is the message that they have to the world, that they’ve got another way to see the world, that they can join the conversation about climate change, and that will be a very important — important ideas that we should take into account. However, former President Correa and President Moreno is not listening to them, and they want to extract more oil and destroy their territories and displace them.  AMY GOODMAN: Well, I want to thank you very much for being with us, Professor David Cordero Heredia, law professor at Pontifical Catholic University in Quito, Ecuador, one of the lawyers representing protesters who have been detained in this latest round of protests in Ecuador.  This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we go to Julián Castro, yes, a presidential candidate, but also was on the border trying to escort migrants into the United States. We’ll find out what happened. Stay with us.


democracynow--2019-10-29--Protests in Chile Were Sparked By a Subway Fare Hike, But Come After "30 Years of a Social Crisis"

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.  AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now! I’m Amy Goodman with Juan González.  JUAN GONZÁLEZ: We end today’s show in Chile, where President Sebastian Piñera faced a new set of mass demonstrations Monday as he fulfilled the promise he made to appoint new members to his cabinet. As Piñera addressed the nation Monday, hundreds of protesters had already gathered outside the presidential palace in Santiago, waving flags, honking horns and demanding his resignation. They were quickly dispersed by security forces with tear gas. Later in the day, hundreds of people once again rallied at one of the city’s central squares.  The reshuffling of Piñera’s cabinet came after more than a million people flooded the streets last Friday in massive peaceful demonstrations over inequality, the high cost of living and privatization. The protest drew more than 5% of Chile’s population and followed days of widespread civil unrest and a violent police and military crackdown across the nation.  A three-member team from the U.N.'s Human Rights Commission was previously scheduled to arrive in Chile Monday night to begin investigating allegations of human rights violations by police and military forces, but the Chilean media report that the team doesn't yet have an exact date of arrival. At least 18 people have died with more than 1,000 shot and wounded since the mobilizations erupted October 19th.  AMY GOODMAN: The protests in Chile began in response to a subway fare hike, but at the root of the mass mobilizations are demands to dismantle the country’s neoliberal policies, including the privatization of healthcare, utilities, natural resources and Chile’s Pinochet-era pension system, which is currently controlled by private corporations.  For more, we go to Santiago where we’re joined by Pablo Abufom, member of the Solidarity Movement, an anti-capitalist and feminist organization in Chile, also an activist with No Más AFP—No More AFP—an organization seeking to dismantle the Pinochet-era privatized pension system in Chile. He recently published an article in Jacobin which is headlined It’s Not About 30 Pesos, It’s About 30 Years. Pablo, explain what’s going on not only in Santiago, but all over Chile right now.  PABLO ABUFOM: Hi, Amy. Thank you for having me on the show. First of all, because of the extent of the human rights violations during the state of emergency, we need this international attention in Chile. What we’re seeing right now is a massive civil and social unrest due to 30 years and more than 30 years of a social crisis.  As you said, after high school students organized massive evasion of the subway fare and jumping the turnstiles, millions joined that movement to protest not just the cost of living, but also the conditions of life in Chile under a highly privatized system. So since last Friday, after hundreds of thousands of people went out to protest the repression against the high school students, only after five hours of civil unrest, we saw the president declaring a state of emergency and taking the military out to the streets to try to quell this social unrest.  And after that, after so many years of trying to recover from a long dictatorship of almost 20 years, you have an open wound in the Chilean society when you have the military on the street. And that’s another thing that we have to take into account when understanding this crisis, is that that trauma of Chilean society of having the military on the street is open again with this repression and human rights violation.  JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Pablo, I wanted to ask you, Piñera is in office now. He had previously been in office. But in between, there were two terms of Michelle Bachelet who was considered part of the Pink Tide, supposedly, in Latin America. There were no basic changes against the neoliberal policies in Chile and privatization under Bachelet?  PABLO ABUFOM: Well, that’s why that slogan became so known during this crisis—the idea that it is not about 30 pesos, it’s not about the subway fare hike but it’s about 30 years of neoliberal policies—so the continuity of the regime, of the Pinochet regime, in terms of their economic and political and social policies during the democratic regimes of the Concertación and the Nueva Mayoría, the two coalitions of the center left that governed the country during these past 30 years. It’s very clear for many of—for the people in Chile—so even the government of Michelle Bachelet and other so-called socialist governments in Chile have basically continued to deepen the neoliberal policies and keep privatization in place.  So when you have a public healthcare system and pension system that are completely taken by the logic that it’s for profit, then you can understand that people are basically living in poverty in Chile. And when they are not living in poverty, it’s because they are basically taking debt to pay not just for cars or luxuries, but also for basic stuff like food and housing.  AMY GOODMAN: So you have Bachelet who served before and after the two terms of Piñera, and now she is returning as head of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate, as you pointed out, the human rights abuses that are going on right now in Chile around these mass protests, when you have a million people out in the streets. She herself a torture survivor under Pinochet, her and her mother held. Her father ultimately died in custody. Can you talk about the significance of this? But then also, you have the leaderless uprising and you have the more organized sectors that you are also very much a part of, like the teachers, the unions, and what you see happening right now with them?  PABLO ABUFOM: Well, one thing is we hope that the U.N. Human Rights Commission coming to Chile makes a difference. We know that Amnesty International is also trying to investigate for a report, and we have the National Human Rights Institute giving out reports every day. Of course, the figure of Bachelet is very important in Chile. She became one of the first presidents after the massive, huge mobilization of students—college and high school students—in 2011.  And after that, we saw the real face of the regime that is so entrenched in Chilean society. That even when you have a government that is saying that it’s going to make reforms in terms of responding to social demands, we see that the demand for free education became just more scholarships, even for private higher education institutions. So the whole system of transferring public funds to private companies is still in place, even during those governments.  And then in terms of the social uprising that we see today, it is basically people are fed up with the system. So it is not just—we can tell this by looking at the response of the people to what the government has been doing. Days after the—on Monday, the government announced that they were going to freeze the subway fare hike, those 30 pesos that we were talking about. And then people continued mobilizing in massive protests and demonstrations, not just in Santiago where the subway is, but also in other cities in the country. And then we see that the government is calling the political establishment for a new social agreement, and people are still on the streets. So we can tell that people are not really looking for that kind of response by the government. They are looking for structural change in terms of the social rights, of social provisions, some kind of social security and definitely the levels of violence that we experience in Chilean society.  And so that means that when we see the unions, the big trade unions and the teachers’ associations and the social movements like the environmental movement and the feminist movement are promoting demands that are deeply felt by Chilean workers and also migrant workers who have become a very important part of our society in the past ten years, we see that that’s not—it’s part of the problem, but it is not enough. It seems that people are looking for radical, structural change, and a change of regime.  So it seems that we are basically looking at a crisis, at a deep crisis of the capitalist and colonial formation of the state in Chile. The unions are already calling for another general strike tomorrow. The port workers and the miners are organizing for a stoppage of their work in the mines and in the ports in Chile. That means that this is not going to end so easily as the government thinks. They changed the Cabinet—they put new faces, young faces in the Cabinet—but it’s not making a difference. Because it seems that they are not really taking into account, they are not really considering, the nature of the civil unrest that it’s basically a social crisis, a social emergency that we are living.  AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you, Pablo Abufom, member of the Solidarity Movement, anti-capitalist feminist organization in Chile, also an activist with No Más AFP, an organization seeking to reform the Pinochet-era privatized pension system in Chile. You can go to our website at Democracynow.org to see our continued coverage of the protests in Chile in both Spanish and in English. That does it for our show.  Democracy Now! is currently accepting applications for paid six-month internships here in our New York studios. Learn more and apply at Democracynow.org. Democracy Now! produced by Mike Burke, Deena Guzder, Nermeen Shaikh, Carla Wills, Tami Woronoff, Libby Rainey, Sam Alcoff, John Hamilton, Robby Karran, Hany Massoud, Charina Nadura, Tey Astudillo and Maria Taracena. Mike Di Filippo, Miguel Nogueira are our engineers. I’m Amy Goodman with Juan González. Thanks so much for joining us.


drudgereport--2019-10-18--Protests sweep Lebanon as fury at ruling elite, graft grows...

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of angry protesters blocked roads and burned tyres across Lebanon for a second day on Friday, demanding the demise of a political elite they say looted the economy to the point of breakdown.  The nationwide protests, Lebanon’s biggest in years, brought ordinary people from all sects and walks of life to the streets. They carried banners and chanting slogans calling on the government of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri to resign.  In the afternoon, protesters poured en masse through the villages and towns of Lebanon’s south, north and east as well as the capital Beirut. No political leader, Muslim or Christian, was spared criticism.  Demonstrators reached the outskirts of President Michel Aoun’s palace in the suburbs of Baabda.  Addressing protesters from the presidential palace, Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law, said on Friday that the government must work to stop corruption, enact long-delayed reforms and avoid imposing any new taxes on people.  “Lebanon protests could be opportunity (for reform) or could lead to a big catastrophe and strife,” said Bassil, who dismissed protesters’ calls for the government to resign.  “Any alternative to the current government would be far worse,” and might plunge the country into chaos.  The latest unrest was prompted by a buildup of anger over inflation, new tax proposals including a fee on Whatsapp voice calls, and the rising cost of living.  Across the country, protesters chanted in unison for their country’s top leaders, including Aoun, Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to step down.  In an unprecedented move, Shi’ite protesters also attacked the offices of their deputies from Lebanon’s influential Hezbollah (Party of God) and the Amal movement in southern Lebanon.  “We came to the streets because we can no longer bear this situation. This regime is totally corrupt,” said Fadi Issa, 51, who marching with his son. “They are all thieves, they come to the government to fill their pockets, not to serve the country.”  “We don’t want just a resignation. We want them (leaders) be held accountable. They should return all the money they stole. We want change,” he added.  The demonstrations follow warnings by economists, investors and rating agencies that indebted Lebanon’s economy and graft-entrenched financial system are closer to the brink than any time since the war-torn 1980s.  Foreign allies have pressured Hariri to enact reforms long promised but never delivered because of vested interests, beginning with an overhaul with some state assets.  Demonstrators had gathered outside the government headquarters in central Beirut on Thursday evening, forcing the cabinet to backtrack on WhatsApp call fees. Police fired tear gas as they clashed with some demonstrators overnight.  People blocked roads in the north, the south and the capital on Friday. Schools and businesses were closed. “The people want the downfall of the regime,” protesters near the government’s Serail headquarters chanted.  The unrest prompted Hariri to cancel a cabinet meeting due on Friday to discuss the 2020 draft budget. He is set to make a speech instead.  “Our demand is to stop the salaries of all parliamentarians, prime minister and ministers,” one banner read. “They are looters, down with them.”  Fires in the street of central Beirut were smoldering on Friday. Pavements were scattered with the glass of several smashed shop-fronts and billboards had been torn down.  Fatima, a dentist, said: “We are protesting against the politicians to force them to give back the money they stole and put it back at the service of the people. If it wasn’t for their corruption there would be no economic crisis.”  In a country fractured along sectarian lines, the unusually wide geographic reach of these protests highlights the deepening anger of the Lebanese. The government, which includes nearly all of Lebanon’s main parties, has long failed to implement reforms that are vital to resolve the crisis.  “We’ve lived for 30 years with their lies. They’re sitting in their castles at the expense of the people,” said Ali Kassem, a protester in the suburb of Ouzai.  Christian politician Samir Geagea and Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, whose parties both have some ministers in the coalition cabinet, have called on the government to resign.  Seeking ways to boost revenues, a government minister on Thursday announced plans to raise a new fee of 20 cents per day for calls via voice over internet protocol (VoIP), used by applications including Facebook-owned WhatsApp.  But as the protests spread, Telecoms Minister Mohamed Choucair revoked the proposed levy.  Shattered by war between 1975 and 1990, Lebanon has one of the world’s highest debt burdens as a share of its economy. Economic growth has been hit by regional conflict and instability. Unemployment among those aged under 35 runs at 37%.  The kind of steps needed to fix the national finances have long proven elusive. Sectarian politicians, many of them civil war militia leaders, have long used state resources for their own political benefit and are reluctant to cede prerogatives.  The crisis has been compounded by a slowdown in capital flows to Lebanon, which has long depended on remittances from its diaspora to meet financing needs, including the state’s deficit.  The strains have emerged recently in the real economy where importers have been unable to secure dollars at the pegged exchange rate.


drudgereport--2019-11-21--Colombia to close borders in attempt to contain mass protests...

Colombia’s government has announced plans to close its borders, part of a string of measures to contain mass strikes and protests planned this week amid sweeping unrest in South America.  Tens of thousands are expected to join protests on Thursday against the rightwing government of Iván Duque, whose popularity has dwindled steadily since he took office in August last year.  The marches, announced weeks ago following proposed austerity measures, come amid a wave of political turmoil across the region: Chile has seen more than a month of anti-government protests, which last week led its political parties to agree to a referendum on replacing the country’s dictatorship-era constitution; Bolivia is still reeling from the military-backed ousting of the president, Evo Morales.  Colombia’s neighbours are also mired in political turbulence: Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, was forced to backtrack on austerity measures by a wave of popular protest, while Venezuela is still mired in economic collapse and political violence.  Duque’s government is clearly nervous. On Monday, his government authorized a number of riot-control measures ahead, allowing local authorities to impose curfews and ban the sale of alcohol. Colombia’s borders will also be closed until Friday morning, it was later announced.  In the capital, Bogotá, squadrons of riot police could be seen outside a number of universities. Many businesses will close while schools have instructed staff and students to stay home.  On Tuesday, police searched 27 homes of people thought to be involved in the protests.  “The government is worried because the people and organizations who have come out in support of the protest are more heterogeneous than they are used to,” said Sergio Guzmán, the director of Colombia Risk Analysis. “It’s not only the labour unions, or the students, or indigenous people; it’s all of them.”  The protests were called in response to a range of issues and follow a spate of occasionally violent student demonstrations in September.  Some marchers will be protesting against the government’s perceived slow-walking of a peace deal with leftist rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (or Farc). Others are incensed by the routine murders of indigenous leaders and local activists. And others are unimpressed with government malaise and corruption.  Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez, the interior minister, told journalists on Monday that some of the motives for the strike were “false”, and on Monday the presidency tweeted a video contrasting footage of smiling and hardworking Colombians with masked rioters. “Let’s not allow a call to destroy what we have built go against who we are as Colombians,” the tweet read. Meanwhile, Bogotá’s police tweeted a Hollywood-style video showing riot police firing teargas towards protesters.  After decades of civil conflict, Colombia has recently been among the more stable countries in Latin America. Protests often fail to attract large numbers, which activists attribute to a fear of being demonized as hardline leftists or rebel sympathizers. That stigma looks to be lifting ahead of Thursday.  “I’m marching because I’m one of those Colombians who isn’t afraid,” said María Paula Hernández, an audiovisual producer who is organizing a group of colleagues to protest in Bogotá. “I’m marching because I stand against this government.”


drudgereport--2019-11-25--From Iran to Chile to Sudan, protests take hold around world...

From Chile to Sudan, Lebanon to Colombia, mounting anger and frustration over rising economic and social inequality, political corruption and disillusionment with democratically elected and authoritarian governments have led to a wide array of mass protests in recent months.  On the surface it might appear they mark a distinctive period in international politics. But analysts say that there have been several such large-scale waves of mass protests in recent decades.  The backdrop to the protests of the 1980s and 1990s was largely the spread of democracy, particularly in Eastern Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union. What’s changed is that since the early 2000s, major protests have become more wide-ranging, and reaching all corners of the world.  “Governments are not performing worse than they were 30 years ago, but as they grow they create winners and losers,” said Thomas Carothers, a democracy expert at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “Citizens have higher expectations now... over the last 10 years we’ve seen an increasing pattern of large-scale protests.”  He added that the power of social media has also helped mobilize protesters. “I see technology as an accelerator,” he said.  A 2013 study analyzing 843 protests in 84 countries across the globe between January 2006 and July 2014 found that the main grievances were economic injustice and a perceived failure of political systems.  Current protest movements are often spearheaded by financially strapped young adults increasingly fed up with their plight, which they believe is the result of corrupt political elites.  Many have been driven by country-specific grievances, often stemming from the fallout of the 2008 worldwide financial crisis, according to Carothers.  “This is a very broad rejection of systems. It’s not very ideological,” he said, adding that large-scale protests have been taking place both in longstanding authoritarian and democratic nations.  Some major one-issue protests have quickly morphed into movements concerning larger grievances.  In Iran this month, it was an official announcement that gasoline prices would be raised by as much 50% that sparked mass protests, which have since transformed into demonstrations against government corruption.  “There’s frustration with the operation of political systems and how they are distributing resources and power,” said Robert O’Brien, a political science professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.  Despite the increase in large-scale protests, success rates appear to have declined since 2010, according to a 2017 study spearheaded by Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University.  “Authoritarian leaders have begun to develop and systematize sophisticated techniques to undermine and thwart nonviolent activists,” Chenoweth wrote.  Another reason for a decline, according to John Chalcraft, a professor of Middle East history and politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is that people are embracing a leaderless protest model.  “You see it in Lebanon and some extent in Hong Kong...there are limits to what they can achieve because you need leadership in order for protests to engage and transform civil society,” he said.  Below is a look at what is driving current protests:  Iran   Soon after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s announcement last week that fuel subsidies would be slashed, resulting in up to 50% hikes in gasoline prices, tens of thousands rallied in cities across Iran. Authorities reacted by firing tear gas and live ammunition into crowds, according to a report by Amnesty International. At least 106 people have been killed since protesters took to the streets Nov. 15, the report found. The actual number could be much higher, but because authorities blocked internet access for Iranians since Nov. 16, the flow of information stagnated. On Thursday, some provinces in Iran reported that the internet had been restored, the semi-official ISNA news agency said.  Sudan  Protests began last December over then-President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir’s decision to trim bread and fuel subsidies. After Bashir was overthrown in an April coup following nearly three decades of rule, mass demonstrations continued, with protesters calling for the military government to hand over power to civilians. In August, protest leaders — largely made up of young doctors and lawyers — reached a power-sharing arrangement due to last for 39 months.  Lebanon   What started as a protest against a tax on WhatsApp calls morphed into 4 million people from all walks of life taking to the streets last month. That led to the ouster of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, nearly two weeks after the demonstrations erupted. But tensions remain high with calls for an end to government mismanagement and corruption. The protests have been largely peaceful, although Amnesty International documented incidents of excessive force. One person died when a Lebanese soldier used live ammunition and shot at protesters. The person who was killed was Alaa Abou Fakhr, a 39-year-old father of three.  Chile  As in Iran and Lebanon, protests in Chile were triggered by a price hike on an economic staple. In this case, it was a 4-cent spike in subway fares announced Oct. 6. Students led the charge, organizing social media campaigns encouraging people to jump subway turnstiles. The protesters later began demanding improvements in pensions, healthcare and education. They are now calling for a new constitution to replace the one drafted in 1980 during the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.  Colombia  Tens of thousands of Colombians discontented with President Ivan Duque and economic inequality, took to the streets Thursday amid growing unrest in South America; protests have also rocked Bolivia, Ecuador as well as Chile. In Colombia, according to the World Bank, the top 10% of earners received 39% of the nation’s income in 2017.  Iraq  More than 300 people — including at least 13 Sunday — have died during demonstrations that have gripped Baghdad and Shiite Muslim-dominated provinces since Oct. 1. Largely leaderless, the protests have been organized on social media by citizens frustrated with government corruption and high unemployment. The protesters also aim to overhaul Iraq’s sectarian power-sharing system imposed after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Authorities responded with live ammunition and tear gas. Although a majority of the country’s revenue comes from oil — an estimated $79 billion worth — ordinary Iraqis struggle to make ends meet; 22% of Iraqis live in poverty and unemployment hovers around 11%, according to the World Bank.