Hundreds brave rain to protest gendered violence after death of woman
By Nabil Al-Nashar
Protest organisers decried the lack of action around violence against women as hundreds marched in the NSW Central Coast inspired by the death of local Audrey Griffin.
https://www.alojapan.com/1257924/in-japans-okinawa-outrage-mounts-over-government-silence-on-sex-crimes-involving-us-troops/ In Japan’s Okinawa, outrage mounts over government silence on sex crimes involving US troops #activist #assaults #China #crimes #Démonstrations #government #Okinawa #OkinawaTopics #Protests #rapé #SexualAssaults #TamakiDenny #Tokyo #USMilitary #victims #violence #women; #YoshimasaHayashi #沖縄 Protests have erupted across Okinawa following revelations that the Japanese government withheld information about US troops’ sexual assaults on local wo…
Two arrested following fiery protests in Melbourne CBD
Clashes between protesters and police in Melbourne lead to two arrests, with chaos spilling out onto CBD streets.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-26/melbourne-anti-vilification-law-rally-arrests/105219328
I have arrived in #Serbia to discuss policing of #demonstrations and the working environment for civil society and #humanrights defenders with the authorities, the Ombudsman, international partners and civil society.
Today in Labor History April 25, 1960, the Korean army refused to shoot at professors, who had taken to the streets to protest the dictatorship, and its massacre of 130 students several days earlier. The April Revolution lasted from April 11-26. Overall, 186 civilians were killed and the government, which regained control, transitioned to the Second Republic.
#workingclass #LaborHistory #korea #dictatorship #authoritarianism #massacre #protest #demonstrations #students #university
“Protesters were young and old, cis, trans and nonbinary, ethnically diverse and included many disabled people…And whatever the TERFs think they won on wednesday it was clear yesterday that the trans community will not disappear quietly.”
WE WILL NOT GO QUIETLY
NOT NOW, NOT EVER
#UK #demonstrations
https://freedomnews.org.uk/2025/04/20/in-pictures-thousands-march-for-trans-rights/
#sonicweapon #sonicweapons #acoustic #protest #protests #protestors #serbia #russia #demonstrations #weapons #sound #soundwaves #demonstration
Asking Russia to investigate if a sonic weapon was used? What a pointless exercise. Russia probably supplied it.
Was sonic weapon used against protesters?
#RepublicOfGeorgia: New legislation directly threatens people's right to #protest and #FreeExpression
In a troubling shift toward #authoritarian governance, Georgia’s ruling party has enacted legislative reforms that drastically restrict freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and proposed changes to restrict #media, public participation.
February 10, 2025
"The key changes obstructing people’s right to protest include:
- Expanded organisers' liability;
- Restrictions on spontaneous protests;
- Limitations on protests in enclosed spaces: Protests in closed spaces or buildings now require written consent from the property owner, significantly restricting #student and #workplace #demonstrations. This provision appears to be a direct response to recent protests on #UniversityCampuses;
- Expanded penalties for protest-related offenses: Petty #hooliganism fines have risen from GEL 500-1,000 to GEL 500-2,000 (from maximum approximately 350-700 EUR) , with imprisonment now up to 20 days instead of 15. Verbal insults towards #PoliceOfficers now carry fines of GEL 2,000 5,000 (approx. 700-1750 EUR) or up to 60 days’ imprisonment. Repeat offenses can result in a GEL 3,500-6,000 ( 1200–2100 EUR) fine and extended jail terms. Additionally, individuals accused of "disrupting public order" face severe criminal penalties, including up to 3 years in prison;
- New restrictions on symbolic protest actions: Covering one's face, possessing a laser or light-emitting device, or wearing clothing resembling police or military uniforms during assemblies are now punishable by fines of GEL 2,000 ( 700 EUR) or imprisonment up to 7 days. Such measures are expected to disproportionately impact younger protesters and student-led movements;
- #Broadened law enforcement powers: The Ministry of Internal Affairs now holds increased authority over protest regulation, including the power to block protests that allegedly threaten public order or constitutional stability. Authorities can now use '#EmergencyMeasures' to disperse gatherings, including mass #arrests and prolonged #detentions;
- Increased state control over protest logistics: Protesters are now required to ensure that demonstrations do not obstruct transportation routes. Organisers must take action within 15 minutes of a warning to remove roadblocks or temporary structures, failing which they will face criminal liability;
- Participation in protests previously dispersed by law enforcement is now classified as an offense, subjecting #demonstrators to legal consequences.
"Given that the median salary in Georgia in 2023 was GEL 1,238 (approximately 400 EUR), these fines represent a disproportionate financial burden on protesters, effectively discouraging civic engagement and public demonstrations."
#RightToProtest #AntiProtestLaws
#GeorgianLaws #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #HumanRights #RepublicOfGeorgia #GeorgianDream #FaceMasks #AntiMaskLaws #ProtestSponsors #ACAB #ExpandedPolicePowers #PoliceState #Authoritarianism #Fascism
#SilencingDissent: The #Crackdown on #PeacefulProtest in #Europe
In our recently published Rule of Law report, Liberties’ members reported an increase in restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in all countries.
by Flore du Teilleul
April 10, 2025
Excerpt:
"The right to peaceful protest is essential to our democracies, allowing people to come together with a unified voice to support or oppose key issues. It serves as a powerful mechanism for individuals to hold their governments to account and is often the last resort when prior messages go unheard. However, politicians often perceive this right as a threat, especially when force of numbers demonstrates support for an issue.
"In our recently published Rule of Law report, Liberties’ members reported an increase in restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in all countries - from bans on individual protests to the disproportionate use of force by the police and legislative changes. A widespread trend emerged of restricted #ProPalestine protests and #EnvironmentalDefenders receiving particularly harsh penalties.
Bans on Protests
"Restrictions on various protest movements justified on public safety grounds were documented in many member states. In #Germany, the Berlin Assembly Authorities implemented a temporary blanket ban targeting pro-Palestine demonstrations. Initially, the ban targeted celebrations of the mass murder and pro-Hamas demonstrations but later extended to all pro-Palestinian protests. Similarly, in #Latvia, an unregistered #FreePalestine movement protest was banned after an assessment by the state security service that the event would, among other risks, harm the country’s international interests.
"The Estonian police banned a protest in support of #Palestinians, which was later declared unlawful by the administrative court. In #Hungary, Prime Minister #ViktorOrbán publicly prejudiced support for Palestinians by linking it with terrorism, equating solidarity with civilians victims to threats to the public order. As the fifteen attempts to organise protests were successively banned, the government and the Prime Minister re-asserted their power by deciding what can be demonstrated for, namely, topics in line with their political interests. Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian government has repeatedly declared and extended the state of danger, allowing for the adoption of emergency decrees restricting, among other rights, the freedom to assemble. Both the Hungarian Supreme Court and Constitutional Court upheld the protest bans on the basis of public safety and security, legalising the practice of police-authorised restrictions in times of conflict.
"Further restrictions, including bans on #slogans and #signs during #demonstrations, sought to criminalise protesters. Several individuals were arrested or fined for displaying signs or slogans related to Palestine. In #Belgium, activists faced administrative sanctions for carrying a #PalestinianFlag or the #keffiyeh. Similarly, in the #Netherlands, attendees of an #ExtinctionRebellion demonstration were prohibited from mentioning the conflict in the Middle East. The enforcement of restrictions went as far as arrests, as Croatian activists were charged with misdemeanor after projecting a message in support of Palestine on a building across from the Israeli Embassy in Zagreb.
"In Hungary, a demonstrator faced criminal charges after wearing a gas mask and removing it after being asked by the police. In a worrying trend of criminalising protest activities, several activists were arrested and charged with sedition before an Extinction Rebellion demonstration in the Netherlands.
Disproportionate use of force by the police
"The criminalisation of environmental and pro-Palestine protesters was worsened by the violent repression of the police through excessive use of force. This was particularly notable in Sweden, where student encampments in support of Palestinians were forcibly displaced and participants were charged with criminal offenses. #PainGrips, water guns and #WaterCannons were used against environmental activists, pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration demonstrators in Germany, the #Netherlands and #Ireland.
"Environmental activists faced similar fates, The NGO ‘#FranceNatureEnvironnement’ reported concerns to the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders following the violent repression of protesters during a demonstration against the A69 highway. In #Sweden, a woman was dismissed from her job at the Swedish Energy Agency for participating in an environmental demonstration and a growing number of #EcoActivists were fined for participating in peaceful protests."
Read more:
https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/rule-of-law-2025-protests/45384
#RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #AntiProtestLaws #EuropeanLaws #Croatia #ACAB #CriminalizingDissent #CriminalizingProtest #FreePalestine #FreeGaza #EnvironmentalProtests #EnvironmentalActivists
The charges were among the most severe levied against participants in last year’s pro-#Palestinian #demonstrations on #college campuses. >3k people were arrested at college #protests & encampments in spring 2024, but they generally faced misdemeanor charges or saw their charges dropped.
Jeff Rosen, the DA for Santa Clara County, which includes the #Stanford campus, charged 12 protesters w/ #felony #vandalism & felony #conspiracy to #trespass.
State by State Pending and recently passed #AntiProtestLaws: #NewYork
S 6746: New penalties for protesters who wear a #mask
Would create a new criminal offense, “concealment of identity during a protest,” that would cover peaceful protesters who wear a mask while demonstrating. Under the bill, a person who wears a mask or facial covering that disguises their face “so as to conceal the identity of the wearer” while “involved in a lawful assembly, unlawful assembly, protest, or riot” commits the offense. The bill provides an exception for masks and other face coverings worn as protection from weather, for religious reasons, for medical purposes, or as a costume for a holiday or exhibition. While only a violation, the new offense would restrict individuals’ ability to protest lawfully while remaining anonymous, for instance to avoid retaliation.
Full text of bill:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S6746
Status: pending
Introduced 21 Mar 2025.
Issue(s): #FaceCovering, Riot
S 5911: Heightened penalties for #riot and incitement to riot
Would enhance the penalties for first and second degree "riot" as well as "incitement to riot." Under New York law, "incitement to riot" is broadly defined, and could cover a person or organization found to have "urged" a group of people to protest in a "tumultuous and violent" way that is “likely to create public alarm”—regardless of whether such protest ever takes place or creates “public alarm.” The bill would make the offense a Class E felony, punishable by up to four years in prison, instead of a Class A misdemeanor.
Full text of bill:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S5911
Status: pending
Introduced 3 Mar 2025.
Issue(s): Riot
S 723: New criminal penalties for masked protesters
Would create two new crimes that could apply to masked protesters and people who support them. Under the bill, a person who is masked or “disguised by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration,” who engages in a protest or other public assembly with other masked or disguised people, commits the offense of “deceptive wearing of a mask,” a Class B misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail. The offense would likewise apply to anyone who “knowingly permits or aids” masked demonstrators who congregate in public. The offense does not require that an individual act unlawfully or have any intent to engage in unlawful behavior. A second offense, “aggravated deceptive wearing of a mask,” would apply to masked or disguised individuals engaged in a public assembly where property damage or injuries occur; the offense would be a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail. (As drafted, the bill does not make clear whether an individual need personally cause the damage or injury, or merely be part of a group where such damage or injury occurs, to commit the offense.) The bill provides exemptions for masks or disguises worn for religious purposes, or in connection with a government-authorized “masquerade party or like entertainment.” If enacted, the bill would give law enforcement broad discretion to arrest individuals who wear masks or other disguise at a public protest, as well as anyone who seemed to be “aiding” them. The same bill was introduced as S 9194 in the 2023-2024 session.
Full text of bill:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S723
Status: pending
Introduced 8 Jan 2025.
Issue(s): Protest Supporters or Funders, Face Covering
S 534: New penalties for protesters who block #traffic
Would create a new criminal offense that could cover #UnpermittedProtests and #demonstrations on #streets, #sidewalks, or near public buildings. According to the bill, a person participating in a protest without a permit who “obstructs” cars or pedestrians, or prevents people from entering or exiting buildings, commits a new offense of “aggravated disorderly conduct” if they intend “to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm” or are “recklessly creating a risk thereof.” The offense would be a class A misdemeanor, punishable by one year in jail and $1,000. As written, an individual in a spontaneous protest that blocks a sidewalk, “recklessly creating a risk” of inconveniencing people, would be guilty of the offense. The bill would also add the offense to the underlying offenses that can be charged as a hate crime under New York law, and allow individuals arrested for the offense to be held for bail. The same bill was introduced as S 8646 in 2024.
Full text of bill:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S534
Status: pending
Introduced 8 Jan 2025.
Issue(s): #TrafficInterference
#FirstAmendment #CriminalizingDissent
#Authoritarianism #Fascism #Clampdown #CriminalizingProtest
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #AntiProtestLaws #PipelineProtests #MaskedProtesters #AntiMaskLaws
“Erdogan has a sense of how he can take advantage of situations”: Sharma on the mood in Turkey
After the arrest of Ekrem #imamoglu, thousands of people take to the streets. Despite the prohibitions, the #Demonstrations do not tear against #erdogan. "The anger is unbroken," reports NTV reporter Kavita Sharma from #istanbul. Meanwhile, the Turkish president sees himself in a comfortable situation for him. In our interview, Turkey expert Çiğdem Akyol continues to classify…
“Erdogan has a sense of how he can take advantage of situations”: Sharma on the mood in Turkey
After the arrest of Ekrem #imamoglu, thousands of people take to the streets. Despite the prohibitions, the #Demonstrations do not tear against #erdogan. "The anger is unbroken," reports NTV reporter Kavita Sharma from #istanbul. Meanwhile, the Turkish president sees himself in a comfortable situation for him. In our interview, Turkey expert Çiğdem Akyol continues to classify…
#Print #Media to Mass #Protests: “Please Turn to Page 18”
Here’s how #newspapers across #America minimized one of the largest #demonstrations since #Trump’s return to power.
..."On Saturday, April 5, hundreds of thousands of Americans took to the streets across the nation to protest the harmful policies of Donald Trump’s second term. The “Hands Off!” demonstrations represented what organizers called “the largest"...
A student goes from her university to the demonstrations in the capital. #111Words #Student #University #Demonstrations #Capital #General https://andrewjshields.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-student-goes-from-her-university-to.html
#ImpeachPOTUS47 #tRumpOrangeTurd
#AntiTrump ‘ #HandsOff !’ #protests erupt across the #US
"Thousands of #protesters gathered in #Washington, D.C., and across the U.S. on Saturday (April 5), part of some 1,200 #demonstrations that were expected to form the largest single day of #protest against #orangeturd Donald Trump and lonE #PresMusk since they launched a rapid-fire effort to overhaul #government and expand presidential authority" #pestcontrol
#CancelMusk
https://www.bangkokpost.com/video/world/2996839/anti-trump-hands-off-protests-erupt-across-the-us
“Free Gaza From Hamas” Really Means “Free Gaza From All Palestinians”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to insist that Israel will carry out Trump’s ethnic cleansing plans for Gaza, saying the following on Sunday about “the final stage” of his agenda:
“Hamas will lay down its weapons. Its leaders will be allowed to leave. We will see to the general security in the Gaza Strip and will allow the realization of the Trump plan for voluntary migration. This is the plan. We are not hiding this and are ready to discuss it at any time.”
Netanyahu’s suggestion that Trump’s plan for the migration of Palestinians out of Gaza would be “voluntary” is misleading in two separate ways.
Firstly, it is nonsensical to deliberately and systematically make a place uninhabitable and then claim that anyone who leaves that place would be leaving voluntarily. Israeli spinmeisters have been pushing this narrative since the early days of the onslaught, and it’s transparently bogus; telling people they can leave or starve to death is exactly the same as forcing them out at gunpoint.
Secondly, Trump’s plan for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza is not “voluntary” on its face. #Trump has explicitly said “all” Palestinians are to be removed from the enclave and would not be allowed to return, which of course necessarily means that anyone who wants to stay will not be permitted to. #Netanyahu says he wants to realize Trump’s plan, and Trump’s plan is forcible ethnic cleansing.
A Knesset member from Netanyahu’s Likud party named Amit Halevi was just on Israeli radio saying that the plan is “to occupy the territory to cleanse it of the enemy,” adding that Israel needs “to return to Gaza permanently and control this space, because it is part of our homeland.”
I mean, how much more explicit do they need to be?
When Israel apologists respond to chants of “#FreeGaza” with “Free Gaza from Hamas,” what they really mean is “Free Gaza from all Palestinians.” The agenda they are cheerleading has ultimately nothing to do with Hamas — it’s about purging a Palestinian territory of Palestinians and replacing them with Israeli Jews. It’s yet another Israeli land grab and yet another drive to eliminate Palestinians from their historic homeland.
If this was really about freeing Palestinians from Hamas, then why is Israel also seizing on this political moment to advance ethnic cleansing agendas in the West Bank, where Hamas does not govern? Defense Minister #Israel Katz is on record saying of the occupied West Bank that “We must deal with the threat just as we deal with the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza,” and the Gaza playbook is being increasingly utilized there. Tens of thousands have been displaced as the Jenin refugee camp has been made uninhabitable under an aggressive Israeli #bombing campaign, with hundreds of homes actively destroyed — not to combat Hamas, but to get rid of the Palestinians. Because that’s all this has ever been about.
The western press have been obsessively covering the fact that some demonstrators in Gaza have been voicing discontent with Hamas, after those same press outlets just spent a year and a half ignoring millions of anti-genocide protesters around the world and running cover for Israel’s mass atrocities in Gaza.
“Look!” we are told. “Those #demonstrations prove that the people of Gaza want to be free from Hamas! This vindicates everything Israel and its allies have been doing!”
But, again, Israel’s actions have nothing to do with Hamas. Hamas isn’t the reason, it’s the excuse. The excuse to advance an agenda that Israel has been trying to advance for as long as it has existed as a modern state.
This is what Israel’s supporters and defenders are really advocating. Not the elimination of #Hamas, and certainly not Palestinian freedom. They’re advocating the end of the existence of #Palestinians on Palestinian territory. No matter how much they try to sugarcoat it, that is their position. That’s what Israel wants, so supporting Israel’s actions in #Gaza is necessarily supporting the ends toward which Israel is pushing
https://www.alojapan.com/1231832/in-tokyo-rice-farmers-protest-misguided-rules-fueling-shortages/ In Tokyo, Rice Farmers Protest ‘Misguided’ Rules Fueling Shortages ##shigeru #AgricultureAndFarming #ConsumerBehavior #Démonstrations #FeesAndRates) #Fumio #Ishiba #Japan #JapaneseFoodCuisine #kishida #Prices(Fares #ProtestsAndRiots #Tokyo #TokyoJapan #TokyoTopics #東京 #東京都 In the United States, the affordability of eggs has prompted a national discussion — underscoring anxieties about the economy and the government’s role in addressing them. …
