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Category: Blockade

  • NZ Parliament occupation: Protesters’ vehicle blockade remains on 10th day

    RNZ News

    Police have pulled back on their plans to begin towing vehicles illegally parked around the anti-vaccine, anti-mandate protest on Aotearoa New Zealand’s Parliament grounds.

    Yesterday, police estimated more than 400 cars, vans and campervans remained ensconsed in several streets alongside Parliament.

    Despite previous ultimatums, protesters showed little sign of voluntarily removing their vehicles today.

    In a statement, police said they now had access to significantly more tow trucks to remove illegally parked vehicles but they were concentrating on engaging with protest leaders.

    Police said they were exercising “careful judgement” about when to start the towing process.

    “Having observed the response from protesters and noting the ongoing dynamics of similar situations overseas, police is continuing to exercise careful judgement about when to commence a towing phase,” the statement said.

    “For the time being, police is continuing to focus on engagement with protest leaders with the aim of building on the initial positive responses we have seen so far.”

    Police secure tow companies
    Police had pulled back from an ultimatum to tow the vehicles but said they had secured commitments from companies outside the region to help if a decision was made to start the removal.

    Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard said, on behalf of all parties, there would be no dialogue with protestors currently occupying the Parliamentary precinct and surrounding areas until the protest returned to “one within the law, including the clearing of all illegally parked vehicles blocking streets, the removal of unauthorised structures, and the cessation of the intimidation of Wellingtonians”.

    Parliament protest
    Police monitoring the Parliament protest in Wellington today. Image: Angus Dreaver/RNZ

    National Recovery Alliance — a group of seven Auckland towing companies — spokesperson Chris Ratcliffe told RNZ Morning Report that if police contacted towing companies across the country it was possible they could get up to 20 tow trucks.

    He said police would need every one of those tow trucks to clear the hundreds of vehicles in a timely manner.

    “Broadly speaking, a good operator in a good truck in a towaway environment might be able to tow one car every 30 minutes.

    “Assuming that they are able to operate unimpeded roughly 20 trucks could probably clear 400 vehicles within a day or so, and that doesn’t really take into account the heavy vehicles.

    “It depends how many people they are able to get involved.”

    No job on such large scale
    Ratcliffe had not experienced a job of that sort of scale before.

    The government has today also activated its top level national security group – made up of chief executives of government agencies which provide co-ordination on national security.

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said it was not unusual for the group to meet, as they did today.

    “To give context it’s agencies coming together, so that’s happened at an agency level at the request of the New Zealand police because there are multiple agencies that are affected by the protest — the courts for instance sit opposite Parliament and have been affected.”

    ‘The law has failed,’ say Christchurch residents
    Meanwhile in Christchurch, residents are irate with the council’s lack of action in moving on protesters who have set up camp in Cranmer Square.

    Anti-Covid-19 vaccine mandate protesters have erected tents, gazebos, caravans and portaloos in the central park since Monday, but the square has been a regular meeting place of Destiny Church and the Freedom and Rights Coalition for months.

    Despite residents’ efforts to notify the council of their concerns, Christchurch City Council and police said they were only monitoring the situation as of yet.

    Due to safety concerns, the council said it would only send staff to the square if they were accompanied by a police presence.

    A resident said a neighbour had rung them crying, distraught over the lack of local authority action.

    Another resident believed the law had failed them.

    They said they had talked to the council about the protesters in the past, without any success.

    “The council said it has not been able to send staff to the park because they were concerned for their safety and said they would only attend with police protection.

    “But the police are only monitoring the situation, so nothing happens.”

    Picton protesters refuse to vacate park
    Today, a group of protesters entrenched in Picton’s Nelson Square Reserve — numbering in the hundreds — continued to camp out in the park, despite the Marlborough District Council’s request to vacate the area by 5pm yesterday.

    Marlborough’s Mayor John Leggett said Picton had been patient with protesters occupying the park, but it was now time for them to leave.

    “We have attempted a conciliatory approach, the occupiers have backtracked on that agreement. We have to move to a stage of serving trespass notices,” Leggett told Morning Report.

    “The enforcement part of the process will rest with the police. We’ve been working very closely with them, they are aware of our position.”

    Police said they would continue to monitor the situation.

    This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Alicia Jrapko, Presente!

    With deep sorrow and on behalf of her family, we announce that our dear colleague, sister and friend Alicia Jrapko passed away last evening after fighting a cruel illness for more than two years. In spite of the hard treatment, she never stopped working as much as she could.  Alicia regretted not being able to continue contributing, loving and living with the energy that always characterized her.

    Alicia was a great Argentine revolutionary, the daughter of workers who at a very young age took up the struggles of a generation that dreamed of building an Argentina with social justice for the people. Alicia once said in an interview…”in Latin America a great admiration was forged for Cuba, for Fidel, Raul, Che and so many other revolutionaries. In Argentina we wanted the same thing, but it was not achieved and a great part of my generation lost their best children”.

    The post Alicia Jrapko, Presente! appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Canadian Cops Unleash Assault Rifles, Helicopters Against Indigenous Protesters

    Wielding assault rifles, helicopters, and canine units, Canadian police raided Wet’suwet’en territory this week and arrested 14 people in effort to break up the Indigenous-led blockade of the multibillion dollar Coastal GasLink pipeline being constructed by TC Energy. The occupation started in September and halted the company’s efforts to build a key portion of the over 400-mile pipeline within Wet’suwet’en lands that violates both Wet’suwet’en and Canadian laws. We speak with land defender and matriarch of the Gidimt’en Clan of Wet’suwet’en Nation Molly Wickham, one of the witnesses to the police raid. “This project does not have free, prior, informed consent of the Wet’suwet’en people,” says Wickham. “It’s as if we don’t exist as Indigenous people, and that we don’t have our own governance and that we don’t have our own system of law.”

    Please check back later for full transcript.

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Student protests in Indonesia slam 7th year of Jokowi’s administration

    Asia Pacific Report newsdesk

    Protesting students have held demonstrations in several cities around Indonesia to mark seven years of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration, reports CNN Indonesia.

    The protests came as President Widodo left Jakarta to officiate at the opening of a palm oil processing factory owned by the PT Jhonlin Group in South Kalimantan.

    The largest demonstration was held in Jakarta on Thursday where protesters led by the National Association of University Student Executive Bodies (BEM SI) marched from the National Library to the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

    The protesters were stopped at the Horse Statue because of a police blockade. However, there was no physical confrontation and the student took turns in giving speeches in front of the police blockade.

    “Today, we are not here for existence, but to bring a clear substance,” said Boy, a representative from the Tanjung Karang Polytechnic during the action near the Horse Statue.

    The demonstrators read out 12 demands after being prevented from approaching the State Palace.

    One of the demands was that a regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) be issued to annul the revisions to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law.

    A similar action was also held in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar.

    The difference was that the students in Makassar blockaded Jalan Sultan Alauddin street, detained two trucks and set fire to used tyres.

    The field coordinator of the student action in Makassar, Razak Usman, criticised the government’s alleged bias in development and demanded that President Widodo make pro-people policies.

    “We demand the upholding of legal supremacy, reject amendments to the constitution, reject the Omnibus Law, want Law Number 19/2019 revoked, reject simultaneous regional elections, reject the removal of fuel subsidies and urge Jokowi to resolve the handling of Covid-19,” said Usman.

    Students in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang held a long-march from the Old City area to the office of the Central Java Governor, Ganjar Pranowo.

    Upon arriving at the governor’s office they took turns in giving speeches. A number of different issues were taken up, including resolving past human rights violations, the Omnibus Law on Job Creation and the weakening of the KPK.

    “What has resulted from Jokowi so far? Where are his promises?,” asked action coordinator Fajar Sodiq.

    “Resolving past human rights violations are not heard, the Omnibus Law oppresses the ordinary people, and now we are witnessing efforts to weaken the KPK. Where [are the results of] Jokowi’s work?”

    As the students were protesting, President Widodo was visiting South Kalimantan where he officiated at the opening of a biodiesel factory, a bridge and monitored covid-19 vaccinations.

    The biodiesel factory, which is located in Tanah Bumbu, is managed by the PT Jhonlin Group owned by Samsudin Andi Arsyad alias Haji Isam.

    President Widodo said he appreciated the processing of palm oil into biodiesel and said he hoped that other countries would follow Jhonlin’s example in processing palm oil into biofuel.

    “Downstreaming, industrialisation, must be done and we must force ourselves to do it. Because of this, I greatly respect what is being done by the PT Jhonlin Group in building a biodiesel factory”, said Widodo.

    Meanwhile, Greenpeace Indonesia has published a damning new report about Indonesia’s palm oil industry and the devastation of rainforests.

    Translated by James Balowski for Indoleft News. The original title of the article was “Demo di Sejumlah Kota, Jokowi Resmikan Pabrik di Kalsel”.

  • Water Protectors Shut Down Line 3 Worksite

    Floodwood, MN – On Saturday July 10th, water protectors stopped construction for a full day on an Enbridge worksite laying pipe for the Line 3 pipeline. Two water protectors locked to each other through the treads of a machine, while two others climbed up an excavator’s arm, where they stayed for 7 hours. This action took place on Anishinaabe treaty territories in solidarity with leaders of the growing Indigenous-led resistance to Line 3.                                                                                        

    As these four water protectors stopped machinery, a large crowd gathered on the roadway in support, drumming, singing, and rallying in the summer heat. About 30 police officers from St. Louis, Carlton, and Aitkin counties responded, as well as State Troopers and a Fond Du Lac Tribal Officer.

    The post Water Protectors Shut Down Line 3 Worksite appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Despite global opposition, the US stays adamant on Cuban embargo

    The United Nations (UN) General Assembly has voted on a motion to condemn the decades-long US embargo against Cuba. The vast majority of the world’s nations supported the resolution. But two countries voted against it. It will come as a surprise to no one which two countries they are.

    Overwhelming support in General Assembly…

    On 23 June, a UN resolution on the “necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba” passed the body’s General Assembly. 184 member nations were in favor. Members have voted on the motion every year since 1992, with the exception of 2020 owing to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. In every one of those years, the resolution has passed the assembly with a majority in support.

    Usually there are only a handful of countries that oppose it, and this year was no different. Only the US and Israel voted against the measure, while Colombia, Brazil, and Ukraine abstained. This follows a long pattern of the world’s sole remaining superpower, along with its proxy state in the Middle East, opposing the motion. In 2018, the US and Israel were again the sole countries voting against it. The following year, Brazil’s far-right government of Jair Bolsonaro joined them in opposition.

    …but thwarted by US Security Council veto

    Despite almost three decades of majority votes in support of the motion, however, the resolution has never been formally adopted. This is because, as a permanent member of the UN security council, the US has veto power. It has consistently used this power to unilaterally overrule the measure. In addition to thwarting the will of the vast majority of the world’s nations, the US also has a huge conflict of interest. Because it’s the US itself that imposes the embargo in the first place.

    It first did so in the 1960s following the overthrow of Fulgencio Batista‘s dictatorship in 1959. Batista was a ruthless autocrat with a long record of human rights abuses, corruption, and crushing dissent. But Washington had long supported him because of his obedience to US power. With more and more restrictive measures being added, the embargo has ultimately morphed into a full-blown economic blockade. According to UN figures, it’s cost the Cuban economy around $130bn throughout the decades. The Washington-based NGO Center for International Policy, meanwhile, has said that the embargo has “created a situation of scarcity and uncertainty that has affected all aspects of Cuban society”.

    Bogus human rights concerns, flagrant hypocrisy

    Successive administrations in Washington have claimed that the embargo is predicated on human rights concerns and deficits in democracy in Cuba. The reality, however, is that it was imposed in revenge for Cuba threatening US economic interests. The revolutionary government of Fidel Castro committed what for Washington is the cardinal sin: nationalizing US-owned enterprises. Moreover, the US’s double standards are transparent when you consider the wider context. Not only has Washington not issued any punitive measures whatsoever against states with much worse records on human rights and democracy (such as Saudi Arabia), but it has rewarded them so long as they serve US interests.

    And in a cruel irony, the embargo has itself become a major human rights violation. Mainstream human rights organizations and regional institutions have condemned its effects on Cuba’s civilian population. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, for example, has stated that “the economic sanctions have an impact on the Cuban people’s human rights, and therefore urges that the embargo be lifted”.

    As The Canary has previously reported, US sanctions very rarely harm their stated targets in government. But rather they harm the general population, and especially those who are worst off. Amnesty International has pointed specifically to “the negative impact of the embargo on the economic and social rights of the Cuban population, affecting in particular the most vulnerable sectors of society”. And what’s worse, US sanctions end up not only causing great harm but failing even on their own narrow terms. Obviously, the embargo hasn’t succeeded in its purported goal of bringing about ‘regime change’ in Cuba. (Not that the US has either the credibility or the right to impose its preferred government on another country, of course.)

    US isolation continues under Biden

    This latest UN vote again highlights the US’s isolation on the world stage when it comes to this issue. In addition to being on the losing side of the vote, the US had also been one of the only countries to not have diplomatic relations with Cuba until 2014. In that year, the administration of then-president Barack Obama initiated a ‘normalization’ process that re-established diplomatic relations but kept the embargo in place. His successor, Donald Trump, rolled back many of these reforms. This was in part to curry favor with the Cuban-American exile community and its political representatives. The majority of this population lives in Florida. And due to its status as swing state, this constituency forms a crucial voting bloc in presidential elections.

    High hopes were pinned on Joe Biden’s incoming administration to take things back to the Obama era, or perhaps even drop the embargo altogether. However, so far Biden has left the Trump era policies intact. And, worse still, his press secretary has said that “a Cuba policy shift is not currently among [his] top priorities”. This should come as no great surprise, however. As The Canary has argued on many occasions, when it comes to foreign policy, the US essentially has two right-wing major parties. And both parties uphold the US’s system of global coercion. Indeed, it was under Democrat Bill Clinton’s administration that the embargo’s major provisions were codified into the Helms-Burton Act.

    Clearly, the US’s inflexibility on this issue is a function of this wider reality of its bipartisan neo-imperialist consensus. As laudable as the UN vote is, therefore, it’s clearly not enough to force the US’s hand to lift sanctions. Action at the UN must go alongside the mobilization of mass solidarity movements, pressuring other governments to openly defy the US’s destructive policy toward Cuba.

    Featured image via Wikimedia Commons – Wilfried Huss and Wikimedia Commons – Brian Snelson

    By Peter Bolton

    This post was originally published on The Canary.

  • Sydney joins global call to lift US blockade on Cuba

    Activists joined a global week of action urging the United States to lift its blockade on Cuba, reports Rachel Evans.

    This post was originally published on Green Left.

  • Communities In Guerrero Set Up Road Blockades

    On May 28, 2021, Indigenous communities belonging to the Popular Indigenous Council of Guerrero-Emiliano Zapata, and to the Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities-Community Police-Founding Pueblos, set up road blockades in the Montaña Baja region of Guerrero, a southern state in so-called Mexico, announcing they will prohibit the June 6 mid-term elections from taking place in their communities.

    The mobilizations by the 24 communities belonging to CIPOG-EZ and CRAC-PC-PF are a response to the ongoing attacks carried out by the organized crime group, Los Ardillos, who are active in the region. While CIPOG-EZ has continually denounced the disappearances, kidnappings, assassinations, and unbearable climate of violence in their communities since 2015, the state has ignored the situation, effectively facilitating the attacks.

    The post Communities In Guerrero Set Up Road Blockades appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Drivers Forced To Drive Around Extinction Rebellion Protesters

    Swansea, Wales – Extinction Rebellion protesters across Swansea stopped traffic across the city after staging a sit down protest on busy roads.

    The 30 minute protest, took place on Swansea’s High Street, Gower Road in Upper Killay and Sketty Road in Uplands on Saturday morning.

    Video footage from Upper Killay shows a protester peacefully sitting in the road wearing a sign that read: “I’m terrified that there is nothing to live for because of the climate crisis”.

    The protest led to queues of traffic forcing cars to drive around the protester.

    In the video, one business owner can be heard asking the man to move.

    “I’ve got a business to run and you’re blocking the road,” he said, before walking away.

    The post Drivers Forced To Drive Around Extinction Rebellion Protesters appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Pipeline Protesters Charged With ‘Felony Kidnapping,’ Held Without Bond

    Maybrook, VA — On Friday 4/30/21 at 10:30 AM, Mountain Valley Pipeline protester Thomas Adams blocked a pipe truck just before it crossed a bridge over Sinking Creek in Giles County, and locked himself to the underside of the truck. The bridge is less than two miles away from the site where the pipeline is slated to cross the creek (although MVP currently lacks the permits to do so). A rally of over a dozen people gathered to support Thomas at the scene. Signs and banners on site read, “Save the Planet, Stop the MVP,” “MVP Just Give Up,” “Not Here, Not Anywhere,” and “Doom to the Pipeline.”

    At 1 PM, after 2.5 hours blockading the pipe truck, Thomas was extracted and arrested. Another person on site, Molly, who had been at the support rally, was also arrested.

    The post Pipeline Protesters Charged With ‘Felony Kidnapping,’ Held Without Bond appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Water Protectors Block Line 3 Construction In Honor Of Earth Day

    Hill City, MN – Early Friday morning, five water protectors locked themselves into concrete barrels at the entrance of Swatara oil pump station, halting construction of the Line 3 Replacement project. This action was taken with Camp Migizi in recognition of Earth Day, coming a day ahead of “Stop Line 3 x Earth Day”, a march that will be taking place in Duluth, Minnesota. Two of the protestors sat behind a hand painted banner reading “Earth Day Every Day”, while other banners in front of the pump station gate read “No Pipelines on Stolen Land,” “Land Back,” and “Protect the Water.” 

    Construction faces active and growing resistance led by Indigenous groups who see the project and the risk of a spill as a violation of treaty rights, as the project endangers wild rice lakes in treaty territories where the Anishinaabe have the right to hunt, fish, and gather.

    The post Water Protectors Block Line 3 Construction In Honor Of Earth Day appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • The Fairy Creek Blockaders

    Simon Frankson emerged from his sleeping bag at 4 a.m., just in time to join the fray.

    The day before, a balmy afternoon in early August, he and about a dozen campers had studied a satellite photo of the area: a mountainside sheathed in deep green cedars and Douglas fir trees, many of them hundreds or thousands of years old, in a watershed known as Fairy Creek in the southwest corner of Vancouver Island. The telling grey stripe of a logging road was creeping up from the left side of the image. It was the same kind of road that has, over the past century, made way for logging companies to cut down 80 per cent of the ancient forest on an island larger than Belgium.

    The post The Fairy Creek Blockaders appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Activists Block Rail Line Near General Dynamics Over Arms Sales

    London, Ontario – A small group of activists blocked a rail line in east London Friday, demanding the federal government cancel a contract to provide military vehicles to Saudi Arabia.

    About 15 people from various anti-war groups demonstrated on the railroad tracks at Clarke Road and Oxford Street East in London, just west of the General Dynamics Land Systems plant, which manufactures light armoured vehicles (LAVs).

    The protest was meant to stop any shipments of military vehicles bound for the middle eastern kingdom. No trains came through during the protest.

    The post Activists Block Rail Line Near General Dynamics Over Arms Sales appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Water Protectors Lock To Gate And Ascend Equipment To Stop Line 3

    Floodwood, MN – Early Thursday morning, several Water Protectors under Indigenous leadership took action to shut down two Enbridge construction sites on the Line 3 pipeline route. While two people locked themselves to a gate, blocking access to a worksite building a pump station, four more individuals (Sonja Birthisel, Julie Macuga, Cody Pajic, and Leif Taranta) ascended and chained themselves to the top of large machines attempting to lay pipe at an adjacent construction site in St. Louis County. 

    Since construction began in December of 2020, the movement to stop the Line 3 pipeline has been steadily growing.

    The post Water Protectors Lock To Gate And Ascend Equipment To Stop Line 3 appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • ‘This Is Hell’: UN Food Chief Visits Yemen

    The head of the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) visited Yemen and described the conditions he saw in the country to reporters as “hell.” His visit comes as the UN is warning 400,000 Yemeni children will starve to death in 2021 if conditions do not change.

    David Beasley described what he saw in a visit to a Yemeni hospital to The Associated Press. “In a children’s wing or ward of a hospital, you know you normally hear crying and laughter. There’s no crying, there’s no laughter, there’s dead silence,” he said. “This is hell. It’s the worst place on earth. And it’s entirely man-made.”

    The suffering in Yemen is a direct result of the US-backed Saudi-led war that has been raging since March 2015. Besides a vicious bombing campaign that frequently targets civilian infrastructure, including food supplies, the US and Saudi Arabia have been enforcing a blockade on Yemen.

    The post ‘This Is Hell’: UN Food Chief Visits Yemen appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Lockdown To Keep It In The Ground: Line 3 Resistance

    Northern MN – Construction on the tar sands pipeline expansion project for Line 3 continues in Anishinaabe territory in below zero temperatures. Enbridge’s contracted companies, like Precision Pipeline, carve out the line’s pathway, fell any trees in the way, and lay the pipe in the ground. However because of the persistent resistance movement, work stoppages, or at least work interruptions, are common. On February 10, 2021, two people, including Dylan Bremner, locked down to a digger on a work site. Bremner told us that the digger they were on was successfully halted for three hours, however after thirty minutes into the lockdown, the foreman told the other workers they could continue.

    The post Lockdown To Keep It In The Ground: Line 3 Resistance appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Mary River Mine Protesters End Blockade, Announce Next Steps

    After a week of blockading an airstrip and road to an iron mine on north Baffin Island, a small group of protesters are packing up their tents.

    That’s according to protesters’ spokesperson Marie Naqitarvik, wife of protester Tom Naqitarvik.

    She sent out a news release late Feb. 10, announcing the group would be decamping and moving to an observation position at a nearby hunting cabin, before heading to Pond Inlet Saturday to prepare for face-to-face meetings with community leaders and Inuit organizations.

    The protesters call themselves the Nuluujaat Land Guardians, and they have been blocking access to Baffinland Iron Mines Corp.’s Mary River iron mine since the evening of Feb. 4.

    The post Mary River Mine Protesters End Blockade, Announce Next Steps appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.

  • Egypt Reopens Rafah Crossing Indefinitely

    Egypt today opened the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip until further notice, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said, a move described as an incentive for reconciliation between the main Palestinian factions meeting in Cairo, Reuters reported.

    Leaders of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank, and of Hamas, which governs the besieged Gaza Strip, began Egyptian-brokered talks yesterday to address long-standing divisions ahead of elections planned for later this year.

    The 365 square kilometre (141 square mile) Gaza Strip is home to around two million Palestinians. An Israeli-led, Egyptian backed, the blockade has put restrictions on the movement of people and goods since 2007.

    The post Egypt Reopens Rafah Crossing Indefinitely appeared first on PopularResistance.Org.

    This post was originally published on PopularResistance.Org.