All posts tagged: protesters

Jewish protesters occupy Trump Tower over arrest of Palestinian activist

Jewish protesters occupy Trump Tower over arrest of Palestinian activist

Published by skeptic

NEW YORK (RNS) — Around 150 activists occupied the Trump Tower lobby Thursday (March 13) to demand the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist arrested Saturday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over his involvement in pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University. Around noon, protesters in the hotel atrium unraveled banners reading “Fight Nazis not students,” “Jews say Free Mahmoud & Free Palestine” and “Jews say do not comply.” For an hour, they called for Khalil’s release and for a ceasefire in Gaza. Around 1 p.m., dozens of New York Police Department Strategic Response Group officers filled the building’s lobby and arrested 98 protesters, who were then led in a procession on Madison Avenue to get into NYPD buses. The sit-in, held beneath the golden escalator where Donald Trump launched his presidential campaign in 2015, was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist Jewish organization. The protest was the latest in a series of rallies denouncing Khalil’s arrest as a grave violation of freedom of speech by the Trump administration. RELATED: Arrest of …

Tesla Drivers Overcome With Shame by Protesters

Tesla Drivers Overcome With Shame by Protesters

Published by José

Aggressive BMW drivers rejoice: you’re no longer the most hated motorists on the road. That mantle has roundly passed to the class of consumers unfortunate enough to have a Tesla parked in their driveway — though it has less to do with the car itself and more to do with the company’s owner, who’s undertaken a near-total public makeover from a milquetoast environmental figurehead to a boorish bully who epitomizes Americans’ growing disgust with oligarchy. What’s to be said about Elon Musk that hasn’t already been said? He’s the richest man in the history of currency, raised by a blood emerald magnate in apartheid South Africa who used taxpayer funds to create hugely successful corporations, then became the Trump administration’s unelected hatchet man in charge of slamming the door in the face of the next generation. Since seizing power, he’s decimated the federal government’s ability to provide for its citizens, haphazardly slashing crucial positions while positioning himself to secure huge government contracts at substantial benefit to his portfolio. And that’s without getting into his Nazi salutes and …

Photos: How South Korean Protesters Filled Streets to Demand Yoon’s Ouster

Photos: How South Korean Protesters Filled Streets to Demand Yoon’s Ouster

Published by Sam

Tens of thousands of South Koreans from across the country gathered in the streets outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday, demanding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s ouster. Mr. Yoon briefly imposed martial law on Tuesday, reopening old wounds and plunging the country into political chaos. An attempt to impeach Mr. Yoon failed to garner the required number of votes, prolonging the political upheaval and uncertainty that has roiled the country this week. Photographs and composite image by Pablo Robles Protests in the city and around the country have intensified since Mr. Yoon’s audacious move on Tuesday. The rally at the National Assembly ahead of the impeachment vote on Saturday was the largest one yet, despite freezing temperatures. By 3 p.m. the areas in front of the National Assembly were filled. People waved flags representing labor unions, human rights groups and smaller political parties. The police, wearing neon jackets, were lined up along the crowds to keep order. Photographs by Chang W. Lee; composite image by Pablo Robles As the grand boulevard facing the National …

Was the jailing of Just Stop Oil protesters fair? | Protest

Was the jailing of Just Stop Oil protesters fair? | Protest

Published by skeptic

I agree wholeheartedly with Chris Packham’s and Dale Vince’s article criticising the jailing of environmental protesters (You may find Just Stop Oil annoying. You may dislike their tactics. But they do not belong in prison, 19 July). It’s a chilling response that shames our judiciary. Yes, the protesters are often annoying, aggrandising and disruptive: that’s the point. Our history is littered with such protesters, whose actions have changed the lives of many and resulted in governments enacting legislation. That we now have legally protected characteristics for many citizens is, in part, due to campaigns by annoying, aggrandising and disruptive citizens, often pilloried, jailed and worse. Our legislative limits on the right to protest in the past few years are starting to look like an insidious march towards “illiberal democracy”, to coin a phrase that Viktor Orbán has used to describe his government.Patrick CallaghanLondon When I heard the news of the lengthy prison sentences meted out to the environmental truth-tellers, I suddenly felt I had been transported to another country. Was I now in Russia? Or North …

Protesters Protesting Protesters – OpentheWord.org

Protesters Protesting Protesters – OpentheWord.org

Published by skeptic

Credit: Logan Weaver, @lgnwvr, unsplash.com I’m old enough, that when I was in high school, we had protesters. The issue, in those years, was mostly the Vietnam War. Some perpetual protesters were friends or acquaintances of mine, but they had their own protest movement, like a religion, and they lived it. I remember green army surplus jackets, fist pumps, and people shouting slogans at every school assembly. That was life in the seventies. Now, the protesters are back, but this is a new generation. My schoolmates probably got haircuts and good jobs, after they graduated. The new generation of protesters are political leftists, like in my younger years, and they are described as Politically Correct / PC (that is an old title), or woke (some people are offended by this title), Progressive, or just Leftist. Now they have many issues to protest, and not just a war in Asia. I don’t know who even remembers the Vietnam War, today, but there are other things to protest and argue about; very many. Now we even have …

JK Rowling mocks Just Stop Oil protesters who spray painted Stonehenge

JK Rowling mocks Just Stop Oil protesters who spray painted Stonehenge

Published by Sam

JK Rowling ridiculed Just Stop Oil protesters after they covered the ancient ruins of Stonehenge with orange cornflour spray. The climate activists vandalised the stones on Wednesday (19 June), and demanded that the next government sign a legally binding treaty to phase out fossil fuels by 2030. Video footage of the incident shows two people in Just Stop Oil t-shirts, named by the group as Rajan Naidu, 73, and Niamh Lynch, 21, running up to the ancient structure with what appears to be repurposed fire extinguishers filled with orange paint. The Harry Potter author wrote on X: “Public opinion’s definitely moving, mostly towards the conclusion that you’re funded by Big Oil.” “Let’s not target anyone or anything remotely responsible for climate change. Let’s attack a unique ancient monument to which everyone’s hugely attached, incidentally endangering rare lichen that only grows there,” she added in a reply on her post. This incident of vandalism comes just ahead of the summer solstice on Thursday, which is the longest day of the year and therefore a spiritually significant day …

Water firm seizes stake in Devon sewage protester’s home over unpaid bills | Water

Water firm seizes stake in Devon sewage protester’s home over unpaid bills | Water

Published by skeptic

South West Water has taken a legal stake in a customer’s home after she withheld her bill payments in a protest over sewage dumping in rivers and the sea. Thousands of water company customers are thought to be withholding payments but this is the first known case of a company enforcing a claim against a customer’s home. Imogen May, of Crediton, Devon, has withheld payment since 2019 and has a £2,809 debt. South West Water won a county court judgment over the debt and has claimed an interest in May’s cottage via the Land Registry. When it is sold, the company can claim what it says it is owed. May has also withheld payment of council tax, arguing that the funds are not spent on people’s priorities, such as environmental projects and children’s mental health services. The council is now applying for a court order to force the sale of May’s cottage. “This is about using my place of privilege as a homeowner to push the boundaries,” she said. “It’s about necessity – unless we …

The Israeli protesters trying to stop food aid getting to Gaza – podcast | News

The Israeli protesters trying to stop food aid getting to Gaza – podcast | News

Published by skeptic

Since the start of the year, groups of Israeli demonstrators have been gathering, first on the border with Gaza and then later in the West Bank, to lie down in front of food trucks – or in the West Bank even to attack them and their drivers – to try to prevent food aid getting into Gaza. Who are these protesters and why would they try to prevent supplies from getting into the Gaza Strip, where international agencies say some children are already starving? Emma Graham-Harrison went to speak to the protesters to find out. She tells Michael Safi how, while their actions may seem extreme, believing aid should not be sent to Gaza is a worryingly mainstream view in Israel. Michael Safi hears too about other protesters – those who are trying to help the truck drivers get through. Emma tells Michael of her interview with an activist from Standing Together who has risked his life to try to ensure people in Gaza will get aid. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA Support The Guardian The Guardian …