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Category: Protest

  • Rich countries silencing climate protest while preaching about rights elsewhere, says study

    Report says governments in global north increasingly using draconian measures while criticising similar tactics in global south

    Wealthy, democratic countries in the global north are using harsh, vague and punitive measures to crack down on climate protests at the same time as criticising similar draconian tactics by authorities in the global south, according to a report.

    A Climate Rights International report exposes the increasingly heavy-handed treatment of climate activists in Australia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and the US.

    Record prison sentences for non violent protest in several countries including the UK, Germany and the US.

    Preemptive arrests and detention for those suspected of planning peaceful protests.

    Draconian new laws passed to make the vast majority of peaceful protest illegal.

    Measures to stop juries hearing about people’s motivation for taking part in protests during court cases, which critics say fundamentally undermines the right to a fair trial.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Mexico City police arrest 2 journalists at human rights protest

    Mexico City, September 9, 2024—Police beat at least two journalists and arrested two others during a protest for human rights in Xochimilco, a southern borough of Mexico City, on Thursday, September 5, according to members of the media who witnessed the incidents.

    “By brutally repressing a social protest and attacking journalists who were simply covering the events, Mexico City authorities once again fail to recognize and protect press freedom, despite years of promises to the contrary,” said Jan-Albert Hootsen, CPJ’s Mexico representative. “If Mexico City wants to uphold its self-proclaimed status as a city that respects human rights, it must immediately take all appropriate steps to guarantee journalists can safely cover protests without fear of police brutality or arrest.”

    Civilians, including members of the Otomí Indigenous community, were protesting in support of local human rights activist Hortensia Telésforo on Thursday when a group of unidentified people carrying sticks, knives, and firearms attacked them. 

    Shortly after the clashes began around 3:30 p.m., local police arrived, deployed tear gas, and then beat and arrested several protesters, according to two journalists who witnessed the events and spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.

    Police arrested Penélope Estefanía Galicia Argumedo, a reporter with community radio station Radio Zapote, and Elizabeth Díaz, a freelance reporter, and detained them for several hours before they were released, according to information provided to CPJ in a Friday meeting by the Fundación por la Libertad de Expresión, a collective of human rights organizations.

    CPJ was unable to confirm whether they and the protestors detained would face charges; Mexico City interim mayor Martí Batres said his government does not want anyone arrested during the protests to face trial.

    Freelance reporter José Meza and another unnamed journalist reported being beaten by police and suffered minor injuries, the two witnesses told CPJ.

    Police confiscated work and personal phones from an attorney for international freedom of expression group Article 19, the organization’s regional director, Leopoldo Maldonado, told CPJ.

    CPJ’s several calls to the Mexico City Public Safety Secretariat for comment on the beatings and arrests were unanswered.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Cops look on bemused as Palestine Action block Elbit factory for WHOLE day

    Not to do things by halves, Palestine Action started the week as it means to go on: by blockading an Elbit factory – Instro, in Kent – for the majority of the day; once again, disrupting Israel’s genocide supply chain in the process

    Palestine Action shut down Elbit in Kent

    Palestine Action have blocked all entrance roads to the ‘Instro Precision’ factory in Discovery Park, once again shutting down the Kent factory of Israel’s largest arms company, Elbit Systems.

    Activists have used vehicles to obstruct the entrances:

    They have climbed on top of security boxes and the ledge of Discovery Park House:

    The premises has been covered in red paint, symbolising Palestinian bloodshed spilt by Elbit’s weaponry:

    Meanwhile, as of 3pm cops did little but look on in a state of stupor:

    Whilst this action is taking place, there are 16 Palestine Action political prisoners detained for trying to stop a genocide.

    Palestine Action’s ongoing blockade demonstrates the direct action group will not be deterred from it’s goal to shut Elbit down. The site, used to manufacture weapons sights and target acquisition products for the Israeli military was previously entered and dismantled by activists in June.

    Palestine Action pledge to continue direct action against Elbit Systems, until the Israeli weapons manufacturer can no longer operate in Britain.

    Instro: complicit in Israel’s genocide

    The premises, at Sandwich’s ‘Discovery Park’, regularly export ‘ML5’-category weapons sight and target acquisition products to Israel, with at least 50 export licenses for arms sold for ‘military end use’ in Israel approved within a five-year period.

    Instro’s weapons products, including XACT th64 and XACT th65 weapons sights, have been delivered in their thousands to the Israeli military for use by “marksmen of both Infantry and Special Operation Forces”, including those conducting ground operations in Gaza. Instro furthermore manufactures target acquisition products fitted to Israeli Skylark drones and to ground vehicles with “hunter-killer capabilities”. All of these products can potentially comprise Instro’s dozens of ‘ML5’ category exports.

    Last week’s announcement that the government will continue to permit 90% of Britain’s weapons exports to Israel, necessitates the continuation of action in response to British complicity in the genocide of Palestinians.

    Furthermore, Elbit Systems continues to profit from genocide by selling weaponry globally which is marketed as “battle-tested” on the Palestinian people.

    Palestine Action: stepping up against Elbit

    A Palestine Action spokesperson said:

    Despite the ongoing Gaza genocide, Britain has allowed 92% of arms export licenses to continue and given permission for Israeli weapons factories to keep operating across the country. Although our government have failed to take meaningful action, ordinary citizens refuse to be complicit in the mass murder of Palestinians and are stepping up to shut Elbit down.

    Featured image via Palestine Action

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Met Police just ENDORSED right-wing dark money think tank Policy Exchange

    A Met Police commissioner has been talking to notorious shadowy dark money think tank Policy Exchange. It was over the force’s policing of pro-Palestine protests. Crucially, his comments come as part of the think tank’s new report pushing the Labour Party government to expand the police and court’s anti-protest powers.

    Of course, it’s shocking enough that a senior Met police official has loaned the opaquely-funded organisation his voice. What’s worse is that it’s the very think tank at the centre of the authoritarian anti-protest laws the Tories have already put in place and cops have used to repress peaceful protesters.

    Policy Exchange: new report calls for more repressive police powers

    On Monday 9 September, shady right-wing think tank Policy Exchange published a new alarming report titled:

    ‘Might is Right?’ The ‘Right to Protest’ in a new era of disruption and confrontation

    Naturally, the report ramps up its calls for a further crackdown on peoples’ right to peaceful protest.

    In particular, it seeks to influence the new Labour government to adopt more draconian legislation. This includes recommendations to:

    • More powers under the Public Order Act 2023 to prohibit protest marches.
    • Replicate the Irish Republic Offences Against the State Act 1939.  This would give the police sweeping new powers to forbid “prevention by obstruction or intimidation of any branch of the government of the State from carrying out their functions, duties or powers”.
    • Mandating police chiefs to implement section 7 of the Public Order Act. As the Canary has previously highlighted, the Met first used this new power to arrest Just Stop Oil protesters marching for less than twenty minutes down Cromwell Road in London.

    However, this is a non-exhaustive list of the think tank’s demands.

    What’s more, Policy Exchange highlighted Labour’s recent decision to pursue the previous Tory government’s appeal over its unlawful anti-protest laws.

    Policy Exchange and the Tory’s anti-protest laws

    Of course, we’ve been here before. In 2019, Policy Exchange published a similar report titled “Extremism Rebellion”. Notably, as the name suggests, it did this in response to the 2018 launch of Extinction Rebellion.

    In June 2023, then prime minister Rishi Sunak boasted that the think tank had helped draft its anti-protest legislation.

    In fact, an openDemocracy investigation had suggested that whole sections of the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Act had been:

    directly inspired by the Policy Exchange report.

    Specifically, it had called for the government to “urgently” reform protest laws:

    in order to strengthen the ability of police to place restrictions on planned protest and deal more effectively with mass law-breaking tactics.

    Of course, then home secretary Priti Patel wasn’t shy about the fact it had designed the new police powers to directly tackle climate protesters.

    And it was little wonder Policy Exchange had a hand in this.

    This is because the think tank has a sprawling network of ties with the fossil fuel industry. Not least among these is the fact that big oil has funded it. While the think tank is tight-lipped about the sources of its funding, previous investigations have revealed US fossil fuel major ExxonMobil has bankrolled Policy Exchange to the tune of $3.5m. However, this is likely just the tip of the rapidly melting iceberg.

    Since the government passed the draconian police powers in law, cops and the courts have enacted heavy, repressive arrests and sentences on thousands of peaceful protesters.

    The Canary has reported on many Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil protesters the state has targeted under these laws. We also reported on Extinction Rebellion pushing back against Policy Exchange – protesting directly outside its office.

    Met Police in bed with Policy Exchange

    We can’t possibly think why Policy Exchange is now turning its attention to Palestine protesters:

    Naturally, the corporate media has also lapped up the new report. Right-wing rags like the Daily Mail and the Telegraph have uncritically platformed the think tank’s report. Most significantly, they have honed in on Met assistant commissioner Matt Twist’s input to this.

    The Telegraph led with the headline:

    Met Police admits making mistakes policing pro-Palestine protests

    Meanwhile, the Daily Mail published under a similar line:

    Met Police admits ‘errors were made’ in ­tackling anti-Israel demonstrators – amid calls for protest laws to be ‘rebalanced’ in favour of the public

    Specifically, these detailed assistant Met commissioner Matt Twist’s interview with the right-wing think tank. Notably, the two outlets focused on Twist’s suggestion that the police did not “move quickly to make arrests” at Palestine marches.

    The Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) noted that it’s perfectly on brand for Twist:

    In February for instance, the assistant commissioner had branded calls to free Palestine as antisemitic:

    As one poster on X highlighted, Policy Exchange is trying to drive a wedge between the general public and protesters. Crucially, the user underscored that protesters ARE members of the public, whose rights the police is meant to protect:

    Of course, this hasn’t stopped the Met and other police forces tyrannically curtailing these rights. The forces attempts to impose major restrictions on the Palestine Solidarity Campaign march in London on Saturday 7 September is a glaring example of this.

    Now, Policy Exchange, with the backing of a senior Met commissioner and other former Met officials, want to expand the force’s ability to do this even further.

    Distinctly anti-democratic at best

    At the end of the day, Met officials that claim to serve the public should be going nowhere near the vested, clandestine interests of a right-wing think tank. However, it also comes as little surprise.

    Crucially, this is because we should be under no illusion that the police actually exist to serve the public. The Met – and the police in general – have always been a tool of the racist, capitalist state.

    Despite that, this incident of Met collaboration with a dark money think tank shows this doesn’t solely involve shielding the rich and powerful from public dissent. It also means actively advancing their corporate capitalist interests – and using their public position to do it.

    Needless to say, if Policy Exchange has its way, the Met will step up its authoritarian clamp down on peoples’ right to protest even more. Already, it’s clear climate activists and Palestine protesters will be first in the firing line.

    Feature image via Youtube – PolicyExchangeUK/ BBC London

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BREAKING: another FOUR Just Stop Oil supporters JAILED – cementing the UK’s authoritarian state

    Four Just Stop Oil supporters have been sentenced to prison for up to three years, while one has been given a suspended sentence. The five took action in August 2022, demanding the UK government immediately halts all licensing and consents for new fossil fuel exploration and extraction.

    Just Stop Oil: five sentenced, four sent to jail

    Sam Johnson, Larch Maxey, Joe Howlett, Christopher Bennett, and Autumn Wharrie appeared before Judge Graham in Basildon Crown Court on Friday 6 September, after they were found guilty in March of ‘conspiracy to cause a public nuisance’, a statutory offence under the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022.

    Sam Johnson and Christopher Bennett were sentenced to 18 months, Larch Maxey was sentenced to three years and Joe Howlett was sentenced to 15 months, whilst Autumn Wharrie received a suspended sentence.

    Just Stop Oil had taken action by occupying tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock, Essex. This occurred simultaneously with three other tunnelling actions in Essex and Warwickshire, as well as occupations of oil trucks and terminals overground. These combined efforts massively reduced the flow of oil in the UK at the time.

    Xavier Trimmer-Gonzalez took action with the group, but died in 2023 after taking his own life whilst under strict curfew and being subject to invasive electronic monitoring. Xavi spent time in prison on remand following his actions with Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil. Friends of Xavi reported that his isolation due to strict bail conditions and the threat of returning to prison was a major factor in the deterioration of his mental health.

    A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said:

    Xavi was loved for his bright spirit, his strength, his humour and wit. Those who had the joy of knowing him and sharing his life, continue to feel his loss every day. Xavi took action with a sense of service and love. He demanded a future worth living and for that the state sent him, with many others, to prison. If the judiciary continues to imprison and penalise good, courageous people, then the mental burden visited on our young people will only increase.

    The group join 21 other Just Stop Oil political prisoners, including the Whole Truth Five who were sentenced to 4-5 years in prison in June at Southwark Crown Court, in the longest ever sentences handed out for nonviolent climate action.

    Punished for taking action over the climate crisis

    Sam Johnson said before the sentencing:

    Two years ago, I took part in an action digging tunnels to block the Navigator oil terminal. I did this to protect my nephew Alex, who was six at the time. He’s now eight years old, and in these past two years, we’ve watched climate breakdown unfold in real time.

    The reality is so terrifying it’s almost unimaginable – and that’s part of the problem. Make no mistake: this crisis will affect every single human alive today, and far sooner than most people think.

    It’s time to ask ourselves: What do we truly hold dear? What are we willing to fight for? Because we could lose it all.

    The group remained in the 52-foot tunnel for 13 days. At the time, Chief Constable of Essex Police, BJ Harrington, recognised in a statement that the climate crisis is a “serious concern”, however, Essex police put the lives of the action takers and motorists at risk by opening the roads over the tunnel.

    At the time, action taker Joe Howlett said:

    The climate crisis is caused by a very small minority of people and it’s those same people who are currently profiteering from the cost of living crisis. That’s why I’ve spent the last ten days living in a tunnel under a road leading to the Navigator oil terminal in Essex.

    UK prisons overflowing – but let’s jail Just Stop Oil

    Today’s sentencing comes as the Copernicus Climate Change Service has confirmed that Summer 2024 was the Earth’s hottest on record. August was the 13th month in a 14-month period where the global average temperature exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

    It is increasingly likely that 2024 will be the hottest year on record globally, according to the EU’s climate service. The United Nations’ weather and climate agency chief, Celeste Saulo, of the World Meteorological Organisation, warned that spiralling temperatures should trigger a global “red alert.”

    Meanwhile, the prison population has reached a new record high. Official figures showed there were 88,521 people imprisoned on Friday, 171 more than the previous record set at the end of last week. Ministers are considering sending prisoners to serve sentences in Estonia in order to address the capacity problem faced by British prisons- where just over 1,000 spaces are thought to be left in England and Wales.

    62,830 people have already signed Just Stop Oil’s petition calling for an end to the imprisonment of truth tellers. You can join them here.

    Featured image via Just Stop Oil

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Victory for Palestine march as Met Police back down over protest restrictions

    The following article is a comment piece from Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its coalition partners

    In a great victory for the Palestine movement, the Met Police have withdrawn all the major restrictions on tomorrow’s march. The coalition that organise the national demonstrations for Palestine have released the following statement. Please share it on social media below and make sure you are there on Saturday. Bring your friends, family and neighbours. Free Palestine. Stop arming Israel.

    With less than 24 hours to go, the Met Police has dropped its attempt to frustrate our national march for Palestine.

    Tomorrow we will march to the Israeli Embassy as planned. Following a week of argument and attempts to bully and intimidate the demonstration organisers, the police have now agreed that protesters will assemble from 12pm, at Regent Street St James’s as we had originally intended.

    Previous conditions that were imposed in a wholly unjustified attempt to prevent us from doing so have now been rescinded.

    This debacle has caused serious disruption to our organising efforts. The constant imposition of conditions on our marches are an unacceptable curtailment of our right to demonstrate peacefully and we will continue to challenge them.

    Nevertheless, this is a major victory in defence of the democratic right to protest. We are thankful to everyone in the movement who has stood firm in the face of these threats and to the MPs, members of the House of Lords, trade union leaders and many others who have made representations to the police.

    We call on people to turn out in huge numbers in solidarity with Palestine tomorrow.

    We are marching to bring an end to Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the continuing complicity of the British government in those crimes. We will not allow repressive tactics to distract us.

    We call on everyone to join us from 12pm, at Regent Street St James’s.

    Full details of the march are here.

    Featured image via PSC

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Amit Malviya shares Bangladesh candle-light vigil video as R G Kar protest in Kolkata

    A video recorded by a drone is circulating on social media purportedly depicting a protest demanding justice for the August 9 rape and murder at Kolkata’s R G Kar Hospital. In the video, the patriotic Bengali song “Dhana Dhanyo Pushpe Bhora,” written by Dwijendralal Roy, plays in the background. It is being claimed that a large candle-light march was carried out in Kolkata, with people coming out en masse for justice in the case. Debajit Sarkar, affiliated with the ABVP, shared the video with a similar claim.

    BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also shared the video, making a similar claim, though he later deleted his tweet. However, an archived version can still be viewed here. (Archived link)

    BJP spokesperson Pratyush Kanth also shared this video. (Archived link)

    Several Facebook users echoed the same claim while sharing the video, reinforcing the narrative that it was part of the protest in Kolkata.

    Fact Check

    We saw that several social media users had commented saying that the video was from Bangladesh. Keeping this in mind, we performed keyword searches. We found the same video posted by a Bangladeshi user on YouTube on August 11, 2024. According to its caption, a candle-light demonstration was held at Uttara to pay tribute to the martyrs. Uttara is a neighbourhood adjacent to Dhaka.

    Further searches revealed the same video posted on Facebook on August 9, where it was also described as a tribute to martyrs at a congregation at Uttara. This timeline is important. The R G Kar incident occurred on August 9, meaning the video could not be connected to a protest in Kolkata. The footage has been online since the same day the Kolkata incident occurred, suggesting there is no link between the two.

    On August 9, another video of a candle march was also posted on X along with this video. A Bangladeshi user shared this and wrote, “Candlelight vigil and national anthem ceremony today at Uttara Friend’s Club as the whole community came together to remember the martyrs.”

    The tribute event was also covered by Bangladeshi news channels on August 9. Through additional keyword searches, Alt News found a Facebook post dated August 8, announcing the candlelight vigil that would take place on August 9 at Uttara Friends Club. The location and details matched the viral video, confirming its origin.

    To sum up, a viral video showing scenes from a candlelight vigil in Bangladesh was falsely circulated as a protest against the RG Kar incident in Kolkata. 

    The post Amit Malviya shares Bangladesh candle-light vigil video as R G Kar protest in Kolkata appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Priyanka Jha.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Videojournalist shoved with batons by police during NYC protest

    Freelance videojournalist Peter Hambrecht was shoved repeatedly with batons by New York City police while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.

    State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Politico reported. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

    Hambrecht told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. He said he was one of five or six journalists to make it into the restaurant alongside approximately 15 demonstrators.

    “I was kind of pulled out of the restaurant by the cops, who eventually came in. And then they just start pushing people down the sidewalk away from the restaurant for a while, just really ramming people,” Hambrecht said. “Most of us at the front were press anyway, by the end of it, and they just continued to do it.”

    He said that he was wearing his city-issued credentials while police shoved him multiple times with their batons, and he received multiple bruises around his ribs. Hambrecht said he licensed his footage from the protest to News2Share, a collective that sells footage to news outlets.

    At least four journalists, including Hambrecht, were struck or pushed by officers with batons during the chaos. Hambrecht, who routinely documents protests in New York City, told the Tracker that the police response on the night of Aug. 14 “was the craziest it’s been for a while.”

    “They just didn’t stop. It was very, very strange that they seemed to be the clear aggressors in that situation, when everyone was getting out of the way and they continued to push us,” he said.

    The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Northwestern Suspends Journalism Professor Steven Thrasher After Gaza Solidarity Protest


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • EXCLUSIVE: Northwestern Suspends Journalism Professor Steven Thrasher After Gaza Solidarity Protest

    Seg2 thrasher

    We speak with journalist, author and academic Steven Thrasher, the chair of social justice reporting at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He was singled out by name during a congressional hearing about pro-Palestine protests on college campuses earlier this year, with one Republican lawmaker calling him a “goon” for protecting students in an encampment from violent arrest. Northwestern filed charges against Thrasher for obstructing police that were later dropped, but students returning to Northwestern for the fall term will not see him in their classrooms because he has been suspended as Northwestern says he is under investigation. In his first interview about the affair, Thrasher tells Democracy Now! that he stands by his actions and that he has “received no due process” from his employer. He says the university has previously celebrated him, including in “glowing” job reviews and by publicizing his work. “What they don’t like is that I am now applying the same social justice journalism principles that I’ve applied to race and that I’ve applied to LGBTQ people, to COVID and HIV, that I was now applying those to Palestine,” says Thrasher.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Independent journalist shoved with batons by NYC police at protest

    An independent journalist who writes under the moniker Spyder Monkey was repeatedly shoved with batons by New York City police while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.

    State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Politico reported. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

    Spyder Monkey, who asked to be identified only by his pen name for safety reasons, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. He said protesters went into the restaurant, yelled at attendees and quickly exited.

    “As they were leaving, that’s when the police who were monitoring them from earlier in the day came in and immediately arrested two or three protesters, and that’s when the cop riot basically started,” Spyder Monkey said. “That’s where most of the violence kind of happened, with all the press filming everything around them, smoke bombs being thrown, arguments between police and protesters.”

    He said that the press became trapped between the protesters and a line of officers from the department’s Special Response Group, a rapid response unit that the New York Civil Liberties Union calls notoriously violent.

    “It was a lot of shoving, a lot of police pushing press who, including me, were just trying to hold their arms up to show nonviolence, but we just kept getting manhandled and pushed around,” Spyder Monkey said.

    In a clip Spyder Monkey posted on the social platform X, a supervisory officer can be seen using a baton to shove back independent photojournalist Gerard Dalbon — wearing a black shirt — while the journalist’s press credential is visible on a lanyard.

    At least four journalists, including Spyder Monkey and Dalbon, were struck or pushed by officers with batons during the chaos. Spyder Monkey told the Tracker that his city-issued press credentials were visible and that he was clearly identifiable as press.

    The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • #WeWillMarch: Palestine coalition issue statement amid Met Police crackdown on Saturday’s national demo

    The following article is a comment from Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Palestinian Forum in Britain, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Stop the War Coalition, the Muslim Association of Britain, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament

    We are deeply concerned by the Metropolitan Police’s decision to impose severe and unjustified restrictions on Saturday 7 September’s march for Palestine demonstration against the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

    These new conditions, including a delayed start time of two and a half hours after the advertised assembly, effectively hinder our fundamental right to peaceful assembly and protest.

    For 18 consecutive marches since October, we have gathered at 12pm and commenced shortly thereafter—an arrangement that accommodates those travelling long distances, including thousands who have pre-booked coach travel.

    The last-minute disruption of these plans, without any clear rationale, raises serious questions about the police’s respect for our democratic rights.

    Since notifying the police of our intentions on 8 August, we have faced a series of delays, obstacles, and uncooperative behaviour. Meetings have been cancelled without notice, and our reasonable proposal for an alternative route to the Israeli Embassy was dismissed outright.

    Now, with just four days’ notice, the police have imposed these new conditions without explanation, creating unnecessary obstacles for a demonstration expected to draw over one hundred thousand people.

    The treatment of the Palestine movement by the police is unprecedented and deeply troubling. The consistent refusal to consider our proposed routes and the imposition of unreasonable conditions appear to be based on unfounded assumptions that our protests will lead to disruption or disorder, despite our long history of peaceful demonstrations.

    Such actions risk undermining the right to protest, a cornerstone of democracy.

    It is crucial that the police reconsider these actions in light of their responsibility to uphold democratic freedoms.

    We will assemble at the advertised point, and, in exercising our right to peaceful protest, we will march to the Israeli Embassy. It is essential that the police recognise the importance of respecting the rights of citizens to gather and express their views peacefully.

    We will not allow our peaceful movement for ending the genocide in Palestine and our government’s support for it to be suppressed.

    Make sure you are there on Saturday. Bring your friends, family and neighbours. Free Palestine. Stop arming Israel.

    Featured image supplied

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Photojournalist struck, shoved with police batons while covering NYC protest

    Independent photojournalist Gerard Dalbon was struck repeatedly with a baton by New York City police while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.

    State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Politico reported. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

    Dalbon told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. Officers with the department’s Special Response Group, a rapid response unit that the New York Civil Liberties Union calls notoriously violent, quickly arrived and began pushing everyone back and hitting people with batons.

    He said that he was shoved by a supervisory officer who was one of the first to pull out his baton and begin striking at people. “I was repeatedly hit with a baton by him as we were getting pushed back. I was showing him my press badge and he did not care,” Dalbon said. “He was saying ‘fuck your press badge’ as he was hitting people.”

    In a clip posted on the social platform X, a supervisory officer can be seen using a baton to shove back Dalbon — wearing a black shirt — while the journalist’s press credential is visible on a lanyard.

    Dalbon told the Tracker that while he has covered many protests, this was the first time he had been hit by police. He added that there was a large group of press at the front between the police and protesters, and that because of that the journalists got “pummeled.” At least four journalists, including Dalbon, were struck or pushed by officers with batons during the chaos.

    The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist shoved with police batons at NYC pro-Palestinian protest

    Independent photojournalist Alexa Wilkinson was repeatedly shoved with a baton by New York City police officers while documenting protests outside a fundraiser for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign on Aug. 14, 2024.

    State Democratic leaders — including Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul — and labor union members gathered in Harlem in a show of support for the Harris-Walz campaign ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Politico reported. Pro-Palestinian protesters rallied outside the event, demonstrating against the Biden administration’s military support for Israel amid the ongoing Israel-Gaza war.

    Wilkinson told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest outside the campaign event was uneventful, but tensions escalated after protesters marched the 10 blocks north to a restaurant where the Democratic officials were holding an after-party. She said she was near the front of the march when protesters arrived, and she was one of five or six journalists to make it into the restaurant alongside approximately 15 protesters.

    After yelling back and forth between demonstrators and event attendees in the restaurant, Wilkinson said the manager ordered the protesters and press out of the restaurant. As they exited, she added, police had already begun making arrests and she was quickly trapped between planter boxes by officers from the department’s Special Response Group, a rapid response unit that the New York Civil Liberties Union calls notoriously violent.

    “As I looked to my left, a door or two down there was one cop — who I now know to be one of the ones who had his baton out incorrectly and handle facing outward toward people — he was to the left sort of cornering press, an acquaintance of mine, and cracked him in the ribs,” Wilkinson said. “As press were trying to document that pocket of violence, SRG was then trying to push press and protesters out, very violently, down the sidewalk away from the restaurant and into the street.”

    She told the Tracker that a group of journalists accidentally became trapped between a line of police and the protesters. At least four journalists, including Wilkinson, were struck or pushed by officers with batons that night. Wilkinson said she was repeatedly shoved and an officer grabbed her by the arm and threw her sideways during the chaos.

    “That was the most brutal I’ve seen them be toward press,” she said. “And I was taken aback about how not quiet they were about their contempt for us.” Wilkinson added that she heard supervisory officers taunting the journalists and shouting things like “fuck your press pass” while pushing the journalists back.

    The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.

    Officers also repeatedly attempted to grab Wilkinson’s camera by the lens and the phone from her hand; her backpack was also ripped, which she said caused her to lose some of her personal belongings. She added that she was wearing a lanyard with her city-issued press credentials and was clearly identifiable as a member of the press.

    After she left the protest at around 10 p.m., Wilkinson said she noticed bruises along the back of her arms and general soreness from the continuous shoving.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Palestine Action just exposed how the Israel arms lobby directly influences UK parliament

    Palestine Action has once again targeted Elbit System – but this time, not directly. Instead, the group has taken action against one of the major lobbyists for Israel’s arms industry -and in doing so, exposed how the revolving door between parliament and weapons manufacturers.

    Palestine Action: targeting the lobbyists

    At 7.45am on Tuesday 3 September, Palestine Action struck at the 40 Strand, London offices of ‘APCO Worldwide’, political lobbyists for Israel’s biggest weapons firm, Elbit Systems.

    Red paint was sprayed across the premises using repurposed fire extinguishers before three activists attached themselves to each other using a lock on device within a suitcase:

    The front door was closed using a D-lock and a banner was unfurled which reads ‘Stop lobbying for Genocide. APCO Drop Elbit’:

    Conservative Lords: lobbying for genocide?

    According to the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists, APCO provides consultant lobbying services to ‘Elbit Systems UK’. At a time when Elbit is playing a central role in the genocide in Gaza, APCO is working to embed its client into the top ranks of Whitehall and Westminster. These lobbyists, including those who have previously secured back-door contracts for Elbit in the past, are working to shore up British support for Israel’s arms trade at a time when 16 activists are imprisoned for conscientious action taken against genocide.

    These lobbyists work to strengthen Elbit’s ties to politicians and civil servants responsible for British Ministry of Defence (MoD) procurement, helping to advertise the weapons it boasts of having “battle-tested” against Palestinians.

    APCO’s senior staff includes Lord Polak, who joined APCO when it acquired his pro-Israel lobbying firm ‘TWC’ in 2018. According to the Sunday Times, TWC was reported as having secured, through a “secret campaign”, a £500,000,000 MoD contract for Elbit in 2012.

    It is unclear how much the ‘lord’ makes from APCO. Polak’s parliamentary register of interest says his APCO renumeration is paid to his and his wife’s company Markham Services Limited. A glance at their accounts shows that, due to exemptions, Polak doesn’t declare his income. Instead, Markham had around £222,000 in equity in 2023.

    Polak, meanwhile, is president and director of Conservative Friends of Israel.

    He also visited Israel at the start of the year, at the height of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Polak’s trip was paid for by Elnet, another lobbying group for Israel. openDemocracy described it as having:

    branches across Europe and Israel and describes itself as “the most influential pro-Israel advocacy organisation in Europe”. It even counts the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs as one of its “partners”. It has also promoted highly controversial views – including recently telling supporters that there is “no starvation in Gaza” and saying the IDF should not worry about killing innocent civilians who live near Hamas terrorists.

    The Elbit link

    Recently, Elbit CEO Bezhalel Machlis remarked: “[Elbit’s] portfolio was improved drastically and this war has been an accelerator for many developments. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is using these technologies now and in the future, we will bring them to the rest of the market as well”.

    With the help of APCO Worldwide, the British MoD will remain front of the queue for the weapons Israel has tested out in this genocide – including new lines of missiles, and its ‘quadcopter’ drones recently displayed for the British market at Elbit’s Bristol HQ.

    Furthermore, lobbyists for Elbit have consistently pushed the state to increase the its repression of the activists who are working to end complicity in the 21st century’s worst genocide, and in history’s longest military occupation.

    Palestine Action: its work is a “necessity”

    Since Keir Starmer has been prime minister, the state has employed unprecedented powers against Palestine Action activists: detaining them under ‘counter-terror’ and ‘organised crime’ powers, in such a way as organised lobbyists for Israel’s arms trade have long-demanded he use.

    Currently, 16 prisoners are held within the British prison estate for taking action against those fuelling mass atrocities in Gaza. These individuals, five under custodial sentences, eleven held on-remand, are imprisoned for engaging in Palestine Action’s justified and necessary action to do what the government refuses to do: attempting to end Britain’s contributions towards the mass-slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

    Palestine Action commented:

    While the British state’s continued arms exports to Israel stands in violation of its own arms-export regulations, and in contravention of international obligations under the Genocide Convention and Arms Trade Treaty, such action is a necessity.

    Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Disabled people stage SIT-IN at parliament as security BLOCK delivery of DWP exposé ‘The Department’

    Disabled people staged a sit-in outside parliament on Monday 2 September. It happened after security denied them entry to the building (which they’d previously been given permission for) to deliver copies of a book which is a damning exposé of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

    The (DWP) Department: not for Portcullis House, clearly

    Representatives from UK Coalition of Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations were originally at Portcullis House to deliver copies of John Pring’s damning DWP book The Department. Despite previously arranging this with parliament they were told by security that they would not be allowed to enter as books are not allowed to be distributed within the parliamentary estate.

    This is however not what the activists were there to do. They only intended to deliver the books to Labour Party MPs, which had been pre-arranged. They were then going to move onto an event focusing on DWP disability benefit cuts inside Portcullis House, which had also been booked and approved.

    After trying to resolve the issue with security the activists had no choice but to stage a sit in outside Portcullis House.

    ‘We’re just gonna sit here, then’

    Paula Peters of DPAC announced in the pouring rain:

    They wont let us in, so we’re gonna sit here. This is your building. Lets take the entrances until this is sorted out.

    This is disabled people’s response to the denial of our democratic rights. Disabled people are now having a sit in outside Portcullis House.

    Upon being told that they would have to post the books individually, something they were assured Parliament would do, activists stacked them outside the entrance of Portcullis house. The Canary is now hearing that Police are trying to remove bags and boxes containing all 650 books from the entrance.

    DWP

    DWP and disability activists chanted “no more deaths from benefit cuts” as police tried to move them on:

    Inclusion London tweeted:

    No access for Disabled people who had legitimately booked a meeting room in Parliament? About deaths linked to government actions? Not allowed to bring books we’d had permission to bring. No access for anyone, then, we suppose.

    Activists were originally there to deliver 650 copies of The Department, after raising over £7,000 to be able to send each Labour MP a copy of the book. This is in the hope that the new Labour government will take notice of disabled people and not allow more of us to die under the DWP’s watch.

    The books were all individually addressed to Labour MPs in black envelopes. Organisers were told prior to today that books would need to be scanned but that could be done at Portcullis House. But today they were told the opposite.

    An event on the DWP and benefit-related deaths, trauma, and injuries was supposed to follow the delivery. This would’ve been a vital event for MPs.

    Instead the group were joined on the pavement outside Portcullis House by some MPs who were sympathetic to the cause.

    A dialogue over the DWP that didn’t even happen

    The event was to be an open meeting with disabled activists, family members of those who died due to benefits, cuts and those who almost died. MPs were invited to attend the meeting, which was due to be hosted by Coronation Street actor and activist Cherylee Houston.

    Houston told the Canary:

    I’m astounded that something that has been prearranged with security to deliver John Pring’s book, yet now we’re sat outside Portcullis House being refused entrance.

    We’re trying to have a dialogue with the government about the devastating and life threatening impact further cuts will have on disabled people. And they’re not even letting disabled people into a building that had been prearranged.

    Activist and former EastEnders actor Lisa Hammond was also there at parliament. She told the Canary:

    We are here to deliver John Pring’s book to all the MPs today here at Portcullis House. They are now not allowing us to do this despite it being pre-arranged and organised. We are not moving until we can get this issue resolved.

    Lisa Hammond and Cherylee Houston holding a copy of The Department by John Pring

    Róisín from Disability Rights UK told the Canary:

    Whilst hundreds of Disabled people have died at the hands of the DWP, they have done everything in their power to invisibilise us and hide their complicity. We are currently sitting here, Disabled activists and family members of those who died as a result of benefits sanctions, with Parliament refusing to even let us in to deliver this damning evidence of DWP-sanctioned deaths of Disabled people. After over a decade of austerity, Governmental contempt for Disabled and marginalised people comes as little surprise – but at each step the blows continues to harm our communities more. We will continue to resist the systems that deem Disabled lives as disposable.

    The group of over 30 people were warned by police that arrests would be made if they didn’t move, but this wasn’t followed through:

    Disabled activist Paula Peters talking to a cop outside Portcullis House

    Instead as bags of books were blocking the doors to Portcullis House, security arranged for a van to collect the DWP-related books.

    The event, which was again pre-approved with booked room, has since been cancelled by parliament.

    Featured image and additional images supplied

    By Rachel Charlton-Dailey

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • It’s only day one of the new parliament, and Labour has already faced protests right outside

    Monday 2 September was the Labour Party’s first day back to work in government – and it immediately faced protests, this time over the controversial Rosebank oil field.

    Rosebank is a climate-wrecking carbon bomb

    In September 2023, the UK’s oil and gas regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority, granted the license for Equinor and Ithaca Energy to develop the notorious Rosebank oil and gas field.

    Campaigners have previously estimated that the enormous project – situated off the coast of Shetland in the North Sea – will produce over 500m barrels of oil over its lifetime. This would equate to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of the 28 lowest-income countries combined.

    In December 2023, Greenpeace and campaign group Uplift launched another judicial review against the government over Rosebank. Crucially, this sought to overturn the government’s decision to greenlight the Rosebank project.

    Now, the new Labour government has dropped the former Tory government’s defence against these challenges.

    Labour drops the government’s legal defence

    Notably, Labour has recognised that the previous government’s approval was unlawful. This is because the government failed to take into account the impact of the projects’ downstream emissions.

    However, Labour dropping the case doesn’t mean the projects are sunk. For one, as the #StopRosebank campaign underscored, the fossil fuel companies could still defend the case.

    Moreover, Labour dropping the case was also a PR exercise in it saving ‘the taxpayer’ money. But the government still hasn’t stopped the project altogether. So, campaigners from Fossil Free London descended on parliament on 2 September to loudly voice their concerns:

    Not good enough on Rosebank

    People held placards warning Labour to drop the project or else:

    Cops seemed interested…

    Rosebank

    Plus, they made some noise in the process:

    Robin Wells, director of Fossil Free London says:

    The forest is on fire and we’re running out of road. After the two hottest months ever recorded we’re facing down a fiery future of struggle; unless we get urgent change. Starmer promised us no new oil and gas licenses, which is meaningless unless they come out fully against this carbon bomb – the Norwegian wealth fund’s Rosebank oilfield.

    Beyond not defending the case they need to stand boldly in support of its contention: the oil burnt from Rosebank would be a disaster, threatening the erosion of the UK’s coastal towns, freak heat on our streets harming babies and the elderly, and the submersion of London beneath the waves. Labour must stop Rosebank.

    Featured image and additional images via Fossil Free London

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Met Police are now ACTIVELY obstructing this week’s pro-Palestine national march

    Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), coalition partners, MPs, Peers, and trade union leaders have expressed serious concern at a Met Police threat to place severe restrictions on the march for Palestine on Saturday 7 September. In short, cops have:

    • Threatened to impose new orders to disrupt the established patterns of the protests.
    • Refused to participate in negotiations in a transparent and accountable way.

    Met Police: obstructing the pro-Palestine march

    PSC and its coalition partners have expressed their serious concern that the Met Police are threatening to place severe restriction orders on this Saturday’s Palestine protest, without explanation or rationale.

    The Met Police are attempting to delay the start time by one hour and 45 minutes to 2:30pm, despite the fact that the usual assembly time of 12pm for a 12:45pm start has been advertised for several weeks. No explanation has been given for these moves, announced to organisers at 4pm on Friday 30th August, after the police themselves cancelled a meeting to discuss the demo on Thursday morning.

    This is the 18th national march for Palestine since October 2023, and the normal assembly time has been public for weeks. The timing is imperative for supporters travelling from around the country.

    Changing the start time from the normal 12:45 pm to 2:30pm is completely impractical and will cause major problems, especially for people coming from outside London, who have already, in their thousands, made transport arrangements.

    The organisers first informed the police of their plans on 8 August, more than three weeks ago. The Met Police has already insisted on changes to the assembly point of Whitehall, and delayed meetings with organisers consistently. It refused all meeting times suggested to discuss details, insisting that the only availability was at 10am on Thursday 29 August, and then cancelled the meeting at 9:30am.

    The Met Police then informed organisers that it wanted the start time pushed back, without explanation. The concern is that these kind of delays, lack of communication, late changes, and imposition of conditions to what are entirely peaceful demonstrations are forming a pattern of obstruction.

    Overarching support

    PSC and the Coalition partners have received support at short notice from a range of MPs, Peers and Trade union leaders to urge the Metropolitan police to avoid causing disruption and accept that the march should go ahead at the normal, planned time.

    A public statement which you can read here has been signed by:

    MPs Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell, Apsana Begum, Zarah Sultana, Grahame Morris, Clive Lewis, Ayoub Khan, Iqbal Mohammed, Ian Byrne, Jon Trickett, Andy McDonald, Richard Burgon, Ian Lavery, Imran Hussain, Bell Ribeiro-Addy;

    Lord John Hendy, Baroness Christine Blower, Lord Bryn Davies;

    Mick Lynch, general secretary RMT, Fran Heathcote, general secretary PCS, Daniel Kebede, general secretary NEU, Maryam Eslamdoust, general secretary TSSA, Sarah Woolley, general secretary BFAWU, Mick Whelan, general secretary ASLEF, Alex Gordon, president RMT, John Leach, assistant general secretary RMT.

    The Met Police must rethink its approach

    Ben Jamal, PSC director, said:

    Our plans have been in place and communicated to the Met police for weeks. We have worked with them on every one of the 17 Marches for Palestine so far to ensure we can exercise our democratic rights in a safe, peaceful and effective way. But continually the Police have delayed meetings, tried to make changes at the eleventh hour on assembly points, and then consistently imposed restrictive orders on the protests without rationale or giving clear evidence.

    As they have publicly acknowledged, the marches have been overwhelmingly peaceful with no threat of major public disorder. To make changes to the start time seems to us to be a tactic designed to deter people from attending. All bar one of the 17 previous marches have assembled at 12 without issue and started no later than 1pm.

    These national Marches are huge logistical exercises with tens of thousands of people coming from all over the country. They have followed a tried and tested set of arrangements regarding the assembly time and having a pre-announced route. It makes no practical sense for the Met to attempt to unilaterally rip up those arrangements. This creates unjustified obstacles and logistical problems that we do not regard as acceptable. We urge the Met to rethink their approach.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Peter Stefanovic has just exposed a shocking bit of news about Labour

    Lawyer and social justice campaigner Peter Stefanovic has just published one video that won’t be making it into the hallowed early hour TV showings of Good Morning Britain (GMB). That’s because, the days of Boris Johnson and his merry band of serial lying hard-right Tory successors have lost the keys to number 10. In their place? Labour continuing their work. And Stefanovic exposed one new-blue establishment stooge in particular. None other than GMB Ed Balls-up’s dear Westminster wife – home secretary Yvette Cooper.

    Peter Stefanovic pulling no punches on anti-protest law appeal

    It was for her shameless decision to pursue the previous Tory government’s appeal over its unlawful anti-protest laws. Crucially, this concerned former home secretary Suella Braverman’s authoritarian overreach of secondary legislation to ram through laws parliament had already rejected.

    Here’s the video where Peter Stefanovic rips into Labour:

    In particular, as Stefanovic pointed out, Braverman used these so-called Henry VIII powers to establish an especially authoritarian crack-down on the right to protest. Specifically, she handed police greater power to arrest protesters. She did so by redefining the meaning of “serious disruption” to encompass anything they deemed as causing ‘more than minor’ impact.

    Previously, the House of Lords had shot down this particular element lowering the threshold of what would constitute a “serious disruption” by protesters. However, Braverman didn’t let this lie. Instead, she pushed this through via the back door using secondary legislation. This doesn’t require parliamentary scrutiny – so MPs didn’t get to vote on this.

    Already, as Stefanovic and others also noted, police have arrested hundreds of protesters using these draconian powers. This includes climate activist Greta Thunberg and many other climate and Palestine activists:

    Enter human rights group Liberty. In May 2024, the group won a case challenging the government over this. Significantly, the High Court ruled that the government had acted unlawfully in imposing these powers and ignoring the will of parliament.

    Labour getting in on the Tory power-grab

    Predictably however, Braverman wasn’t giving up her dictatorial power-trip. Before Sunak announced the election, she launched an appeal against the High Court’s ruling.

    As Peter Stefanovic said, the new Labour government had a choice between continuing the appeal:

    in support of this Tory power-grab which would set an extremely dangerous precedent, or defend democracy and the rule of law by dropping the appeal and scrapping these unlawful powers.

    Of course, it chose the former. Now, the Labour government is set to waste vast sums of taxpayers money doing the same.

    Once again, Stefanovic dragged the government on this. First, he highlighted how Labour had opposed the Tories’ bill in parliament. Then, the clincher – he exposed the staggering scale of the party’s hypocrisy from one key recent speech.

    On the one hand, there was Labour’s attorney general Richard Hermer pronouncing in July that:

    The prime minister and the lord chancellor have both made clear that the promotion and the protection of the rule of law will underpin our approach to legislation and policy.

    Crucially, he declared that this meant:

    guarding against the abuse of the proper role of secondary legislation

    Now, here’s Cooper now doing the direct opposite of this. The decision to continue the appeal is guarding something alright, and that’s the establishment against the public’s democratic right to protest. In other words, the slimy home sec has done what the Starmerite cabinet does best – another whiplash-inducing U-turn.

    And speaking of staggering levels of hypocrisy, here’s the Home Office’s response to media outlet Hyphen quizzing the government on the decision:

    Labour’s opposition was always performative

    Of course, it’s hardly a surprise. Labour has consistently worn its business-buddy-buddy badge where all corporations can see it. From welcoming billionaire backers with open arms, to soliciting the support of financial titans in the City, since Starmer took to the helm, the party has been a teeming cesspit of corporate capitalist sell-outs.

    The Canary has consistently highlighted the party’s corporate and lobbyist connections. We’ve also underscored particularly its polluting industries ties. So, Braverman’s unlawful police powers enable it to protect these interests – whether that be climate-wrecking fossil fuel corporations, or companies supplying arms to Israel:

    What’s more, the writing was likely already on the wall, as one poster on X pointed out:

    Naturally, others – including the Canary – had also seen it coming a mile away. In October 2023, Steve Topple previously also expressed how:

    Labour’s outrage is performative – given it failed to support Green Party peer Jenny Jones’s fatal motion in the Lords which would have stopped Braverman.

    Then, at the end of July, fellow Canary journalist Samantha Asumadu wrote:

    However, the opposition day votes for a repeal of the Public Order Act 2023 on 16 May 2023 may be an indication of whether Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is likely to attempt to repeal it or not now they are in government. 57 Ayes and 278 Noes.

    The Act was not mentioned in the party’s manifesto. However, Labour has said that its mission in government is to “take back our streets”. Take back the streets from whom remains to be seen.

    In other words, this was all entirely predictable. A Labour Party cosying up to the corporate capitalist establishment would do one thing when it got into power, and one thing only. That is, shield CEOs and its big money-spinner revolving door.

    Any lingering notion the Labour government will bring about a real, meaningful break from the Tories’ authoritarian power-grab is as limp as the last vestiges of Starmer’s election promises gone the way of the U-turn. And Cooper proved beyond doubt that the Labour right is full of vacuous charlatans. But then, thanks to the home sec’s hubby regularly Ball-sing stuff up on morning-time TV, we already knew that.

    Welcome to “changed” Britain – new new Labour government edition – where supposed centrist sensible politicians are the new cheerleaders of the death of democracy and the descent into authoritarian fascism. Thanks to Peter Stefanovic – at least we know of part of the threat, now.

    Feature image via X – Peter Stefanovic/Youtube – Sky News/the Times and Sunday Times/the Canary

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Women in Afghanistan are singing in protest


    This content originally appeared on Amnesty International and was authored by Amnesty International.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist repeatedly shoved by police while covering Chicago protest

    Independent photojournalist Madison Swart was repeatedly pushed and bruised by Chicago Police Department officers while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest coinciding with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.

    A small gathering of protesters, unaffiliated with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago reported.

    Swart told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that she was repeatedly shoved by officers who used batons or bicycles as they moved in to control the crowd and make arrests.

    “They were just trying to push the press back from taking photos of them arresting the protesters,” Swart said. “They were just shoving us back with their batons very forcefully.”

    She added that there appeared to be significant miscommunications and inconsistencies between the officers and in their directives toward the press. “A lot of them were telling us different things about where to go, and then we would go there and we would get in trouble for going where an officer had told us to go,” she said.

    Ultimately, Swart was in the crowd when she said police surrounded them using a technique called kettling, which is often followed by mass arrests.

    “I didn’t even realize that I had been pushed and wasn’t allowed to get out until I tried to,” Swart said. “The officers told me that I couldn’t go through and I was like, ‘OK, but I’m press, I’m just trying to get out.’ So one officer told me to go over to that side but when I did another officer said, ‘Nope, you’re all under arrest.’”

    In a clip shared with the Tracker, Swart and multiple other journalists can be seen standing across the street from the consulate when she tells officers that press had been directed there. One of the officers reviewed their credentials and then allowed them out of the kettle, at one point telling someone, “Yeah, you look like press, come on down.”

    While Swart said she was released relatively quickly, at least three journalists were arrested that night, and others were shoved or pulled by officers.

    “There seemed to be a blatant disrespect of the press in general from the CPD, even going so far as mocking a lot of the press, which I’ve never seen before,” Swart said.

    When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.

    During Snelling’s Aug. 21 news conference, he said that the department wants journalists to be able to do their jobs, but highlighted that the press must comply with police orders and step to the side when officers move in to make arrests. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt,” Snelling said.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Journalist pulled off concrete planter box by Chicago police at protest

    Independent journalist Tina-Desiree Berg was physically pulled by a Chicago Police Department officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.

    A small gathering of protesters, unaffiliated with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago reported.

    Berg told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the police response to protests up to that point of the week had been restrained, but “shit went south” that day. She said she was trying to stay out of the way of the police when an officer grabbed her without warning.

    “I was up on a planter, behind a bush filming — you do what you do to get the shot — when all of a sudden a cop came up from behind me and yanked me out of the bush, onto the ground. And he just started yelling at me,” Berg said.

    In footage captured in the moments leading up to the incident, police can be seen corralling a small group of protesters while Berg and other journalists film from atop a concrete planter box. Near the end of a clip, an officer shouts, “Get down from there! Get down! Get them down!” The clip ends and it is unclear how much time passed before Berg was physically pulled from the planter.

    Later that evening, a supervisory officer ordered Berg to show him her press credentials and said he was revoking them. She told the Tracker that he seemed shocked when she pushed back.

    “I told him: ‘You’re not in charge of my credentials, you don’t get to revoke anything. There’s still a First Amendment in this country,’” Berg said.

    Shortly after the encounter, a different officer filmed or photographed both her face and her press credentials, which are from Los Angeles, where she’s based. Berg said that she observed officers similarly documenting journalists’ identities that night.

    When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.

    “We want to allow you to do your jobs. We really do. But there are times when we’re calling a mass arrest or we’re attempting to move in, we need you guys to step to the side,” Snelling said of journalists during the Aug. 21 news conference. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt.”

    At least three other journalists were shoved or pulled by officers responding to the protests outside the consulate that day, and at least three were arrested.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • NY Post reporter’s credentials ripped from lanyard at Chicago protest

    New York Post reporter Steven Vago had his credentials ripped from around his neck by a Chicago Police Department officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention on Aug. 20, 2024.

    A small gathering of protesters, unaffiliated with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago reported.

    Vago told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he began to film using his cellphone when protesters broke through the police line and officers attempted to control the crowd. As the action moved closer to where he was standing, Vago said, “I might’ve gotten a little too close for the cops’ comfort.”

    In footage Vago posted to the social platform X, he can be seen filming from the sidewalk as police clash with demonstrators in the street near the consulate. At 0:28 in the clip, a handful of protesters can be seen making it past the police. When officers begin detaining others 20 seconds later, an officer appears to pin a demonstrator at Vago’s feet. The clip cuts out just after Vago identifies himself as press.

    “I was wearing a New York City-issued press pass — the one I always wear, not a DNC one — but it does say my name and the outlet,” Vago said. “And all of a sudden, this cop just grabs it and yanks it off my neck, so my pass fell to the ground.”

    He said he was able to quickly retrieve his credentials while repeatedly identifying himself as press, and that the pass was undamaged. Vago told the Tracker that he wasn’t sure whether the officer grabbed at him because he was a member of the press or if it was that he was close by in the heat of the moment.

    In another clip Vago shared with the Tracker, officers repeatedly shouted “move” at a crowd that appeared to be predominantly members of the press while shoving them from behind with their hands and batons.

    When reached by email for comment, the Chicago Police Department directed the Tracker to CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling’s news conferences during the DNC, declining to respond to questions about officers’ aggression toward journalists and attempts to revoke press credentials.

    “We want to allow you to do your jobs. We really do. But there are times when we’re calling a mass arrest or we’re attempting to move in, we need you guys to step to the side,” Snelling said of journalists during the Aug. 21 news conference. “If you don’t do that, it’s obstructing us and it makes it harder for us to take the people into custody that we’re trying to take into custody. And what we don’t want is for you to get caught in the middle of it and injured and hurt.”

    At least three other journalists were shoved or pulled by officers responding to the protests outside the consulate that day, and at least three were arrested.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Protest is a Human Right” | Dominique Palmer | 25 August 2024 | Just Stop Oil #shorts


    This content originally appeared on Just Stop Oil and was authored by Just Stop Oil.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Woman dancing at BJP’s R G Kar protest? No, viral video is from a Bengal village fair

    A video of a woman dancing to peppy music is widely viral on social media. On the dais behind the dancer, one can see ‘Justice for R G Kar’ posters. The clip is being shared with the claim that it is from a protest organised by the BJP against the rape and murder in the state-run hospital in Kolkata.

    Since the junior doctor was found raped and murdered on August 9, protests, marches and demonstrations seeking accountability from the government and swift punishment of the perpetrator/s have been organised by various social and political groups and other civic institutions in Kolkata, Bengal and beyond. The video is being shared in that context. Users have slammed the BJP and called the event ‘shameful’, ‘sickening’, ‘disgusting’.

    Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member and national spokesperson Saket Gokhale shared the video on X (formerly Twitter). He wrote, “𝐒𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠! This is allegedly from a “protest for RG Kar” organized by BJP in Bengal. Is THIS BJP’s idea of “respecting women”? Creepy BJP misogynists hijacked a protest for political agendas with ZERO concern for the victim or any woman.”

    Another X user named Bhavika Kapoor tweeted the video saying, “BJP can protest in its’ own unique style👌🏼Here BJP guys are protesting in West Bengal against RG Kar case. Background banners say “we want justice”. Protest hindutvavadi style 🚩😑”

    Congress leader Supriya Shrinate quote-tweeted the above tweet and amplified it.

    Others who shared the video and slammed the BJP included author Ashok Kumar Pandey (@Ashok_Kashmir), Trinamool Congress spokesperson Riju Dutta (@DrRijuDutta_TMC), Bengal Trinamool youth secretary Sayan Deb Chatterjee (@SAYANDEBCHATT), a verified user named তন্ময় l T͞anmoy l (@tanmoyofc) and several otehrs.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The video was also shared on Facebook with users linking it to the BJP.

    India Today published a report on the video pointing out that the BJP had denied any links with the programme.

    Fact Check

    On careful inspection, we noticed a banner at the rear wall of the stage which had the word ‘Mela’ or fair in Bengali. We also saw that several users had commented on the above social media posts saying it was a village fair. One can see a Ferris wheel and lights of different bright colours a little distance away from the stage which suggest it is indeed a fair ground.

    Click to view slideshow.

    Digging deeper, we did a keyword search on Facebook and found a post by a user named Pijush Bhowmick who responded to the viral claims but only said that the video was being misinterpreted. In his Facebook post, Bhowmick shared another post by a dance teacher named Debastuti Debnath.

    Alt News contacted Bhowmick over phone. He told us that the video was not from a BJP protest but a village fair of which he’s an organizing member. The fair is organized by a local club named Sevak Samiti during Maa Manasa Puja every year at Char Bhrahmanagar in Nabadwip police station area in Bengal’s Nadia district. The area is under CMCB gram panchayat of Nabadwip block. The panchayat is currently held by the ruling Trinamool Congress.

    Manasa is the Hindu folkloric deity of snakes. She is worshiped in the month of Shravan primarily by women in Bengal and also in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh. Rural fairs are organized in several parts of Bengal in the month of August during Manasa Puja.

    Bhowmick further stated, “The dates of the fair are fixed. It is held during Maa Manasa Puja, which was on August 17 this year. This time, we decided that we should use the fair to spread our message of protest against the R G Kar incident. Hence, the posters were affixed on the stage. The fair was held from August 17 to 22. The particular dance performance that has gone viral was held on August 19.”

    “There is no political intervention in the fair. And it is not a protest organized by any party. The fair draws a large number of people and local tradesmen. We are also disturbed by what happened at the R G Kar hospital and hence we thought it would be fit to amplify our demand for justice through the fair,” he added.

    He also shared with us a photo of the dais where the banner can be clearly seen:

    It says, “Jai Maa Manasa. Maa Manasa and Behula-Lakhinder Mela on the bank of the Ganges. Date: Five days from 31 Sravana. Place: Char Brahmanagar Sevak Samiti Ground and Ganga River bank. Organized by Sevak Samiti.” The banner also has a photo of the deity.

    Behula and Lakhinder are the protagonists of the Manasa Mangal Kavya, a long narrative poem in Bengali retold several times by several poets in the 14th Century, which has now become part of folklore. The poem describes the beginning of the cult of Manasa, the deity.

    Bhowmick also shared with us a wide-angle shot of the stage. There is no BJP flag seen anywhere on or beside the stage.

    We also procured photos of last year’s fair, held from August 17 to 21, where the same banner was used. This confirms that this is not an event organized this year to protest against a recent incident. In the gallery below, the photos along with their metadata can be seen. They were clicked on August 19 and 21, 2023.

    Click to view slideshow.

    The Facebook post that Bhowmick shared had a dance teacher named Debastuti Debnath thanking the organizers of the fair for inviting them to perform. In an attached video, a girl from the dance troupe says standing on the same dais, “…We are glad that these posters have been put up.. we have to speak up against the horrific crime.. Everyone is protesting against it. This fight is not only of the victim…” The group also observes a minute’s silence in honor of the victim.

    We spoke to the dance teacher. She told Alt News, “We have been performing at this event for at least six years. I have never seen any political involvement in the fair. I can confirm that it is not a political programme.”

    Another member of the organizing committee, Rahul Saha, told us, “The fair is being held for 15-16 years. There is no political party involved. It primarily attracts local women. Many girls from our village also go out to other places for study or work. Hence, it was decided that we should send out a message. We also switched off all the lights for 15 minutes on one of the days in honour of the slain doctor at R G Kar hospital.”

    We saw another video of the fair ground where people can be seen watching a dance performance on the stage. There is no protest going on.

    To sum up, several Trinamool Congress-linked social media handles have falsely shared a video of a village fair from Nabadwip in Bengal claiming it’s a protest organized by the BJP against the R G Kar incident.

    The post Woman dancing at BJP’s R G Kar protest? No, viral video is from a Bengal village fair appeared first on Alt News.


    This content originally appeared on Alt News and was authored by Indradeep Bhattacharyya.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Police arrests and detention of EACOP environmental defenders DOUBLES in less than a year

    Police have ramped up the repression of environmental defenders fighting TotalEnergies’ climate-wrecking East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP).

    EACOP: police repression

    In just the first nine months of 2024, Ugandan cops have arrested or detained nearly a hundred people taking on the EACOP project.

    It involves a 930-mile long pipeline that will transport oil from Uganda to a port in Tanzania. French fossil fuel firm TotalEnergies, China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd (CNOOC), and Uganda’s state oil company are partnering on the pipeline. It’s set to be the world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline, snaking through both Uganda and Tanzania.

    However, the project poses a climate and environmental disaster – threatening thousands of kilometres of vital wildlife habitats. Crucially, EACOP risks displacing over 100,000 people along the route – and is already harming many of these communities.

    As a result, communities and environmental and human rights campaigners have formed an alliance to fight the project. The StopEACOP movement has mobilised multiple protests in Uganda. In addition, it has inspired solidarity actions from groups across the world.

    But, in a Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s (BHRRC) 2023 report, it found that in 2022, TotalEnergies was one of the five worst companies for projects linked to attacks against human rights defenders (HRDs).

    In particular, it linked projects operated by TotalEnergies to at least 42 attacks against HRDs since 2015. As many as 14 of these – a third – were committed in 2022 alone.

    Specifically, all 14 attacks in 2022 involved activists and defenders fighting against the EACOP project.

    Echoing this, in November 2023, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Ugandan authorities of harassing, arresting and beating activists and demonstrators protesting the EACOP project. It also highlighted the intimidation and harassment of non-profits working on environmental conservation and oil extraction in the country.

    Now, Global Witness has underscored how Ugandan authorities have stepped up this abuse throughout 2024 so far.

    State crackdown on environmental defenders ramps up

    In December, Global Witness released a report entitled: ‘Climate of Fear’. It documented reprisals against land and environmental defenders challenging plans to build the EACOP. At the time, authorities had arrested 47 people for challenging the pipeline in Uganda between September 2020 and November 2023. Since then, double the number of incidents have since been reported in less than a year.

    Specifically, cops have detained or arrested a total of 96 people for opposing the controversial pipeline.

    Reports of attacks and threats have continued and sky-rocketed in recent months. This is despite the French oil major TotalEnergies “expressing concern” to the Ugandan government over arrests in May 2024. Following this, the state has only stepped up its crackdown against people mobilising to protest the pipeline.

    In early June, the army abducted and detained environmental campaigner Stephen Kwikiriza, reportedly beating him and dumping him on the side of a road a week later. Then, later that month, Ugandan authorities arrested 30 people outside the Chinese embassy. On 9 August, cops intercepted 47 students and three drivers on their way to protest the EACOP project and diverted them to a police station.

    Senior investigator at Global Witness’s land and environmental defenders campaign Hanna Hindstrom said:

    The tsunami of arrests of peaceful demonstrators fighting EACOP has exposed the limits of TotalEnergies’ commitment to human rights.

    The company cannot in good conscience press ahead with the pipeline while peaceful protesters are being attacked for exercising their right to free speech. It must adopt a zero-tolerance approach to reprisals.

    Hindstrom added:

    Climate activism is under threat around the world, while fossil fuel companies quietly benefit. European oil companies cannot absolve themselves from responsibility while their investments fuel climate destruction, reprisals and violence overseas.

    Feature image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Freelance photojournalist arrested at pro-Palestinian protest at DNC in Chicago

    Freelance photojournalist Sinna Nasseri was arrested by Chicago Police Department officers Aug. 20, 2024, while on assignment for German news outlet Zeit covering a pro-Palestinian protest planned to coincide with the nearby Democratic National Convention.

    A small gathering of protesters, unaffiliated with and more militant than other groups that had organized larger demonstrations earlier in the week, converged around 7 p.m. outside the Israeli Consulate in Chicago’s West Loop section. The demonstrators and police, who far outnumbered them, clashed repeatedly. The protesters were later ordered to leave the area and police began arresting them, Block Club Chicago reported.

    Other journalists besides Nasseri were among the dozens detained, according to the Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. CBS News reported that Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said three journalists were arrested for not complying with officers’ orders when police began moving in to arrest protesters who had attacked police.

    Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco, one of those arrested, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the scene was chaotic, with officers issuing conflicting, often inaudible commands to the crowd, and pushing people onto the sidewalk, which was already crowded with police bicycles. Pacheco said that members of the press were caught between protesters and police as officers tried to keep demonstrators out of the roadway and intersections.

    An attorney for photojournalist Olga Fedorova confirmed on Aug. 21 that she and “at least two other credentialed photo journalists who were covering the protest last night were swept up in the mass arrest and detained for many hours at the Area 3 Chicago Police headquarters.” The third photojournalist is widely reported to have been Nasseri.

    The DNC’s Public Safety Joint Information Center confirmed that Nasseri had been cited for disorderly conduct — breach of peace. It did not respond to an additional question about why the journalist was arrested.

    Nasseri did not respond to a request for comment from the Tracker, but did post on Instagram a series of photos the next day, including from the protest, with the caption “Swallowed my memory card.”

    Mickey Osterreicher, general counsel for the National Press Photographers Association, told the Tracker that in advance of the DNC, he had offered the Chicago Police Department a training on interacting with the press similar to one he gave the Milwaukee Police Department before the Republican National Convention in July.

    “They told me that they had been providing First Amendment training and they didn’t need anything from NPPA,” Osterreicher said. “Given the events of last night, I would have to say that that alleged training was an abysmal failure.”

    The three journalists were charged “for simply doing their jobs as reporters,” Baron told the Tracker. “We are disappointed that the City of Chicago chose to sweep the First Amendment under the rug with its heavy-handed tactics against working journalists.”


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Apple, Spotify take down banned Hong Kong protest anthem

    “Glory to Hong Kong,” the anthem of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, has been taken down by major streaming platforms Apple Music and Spotify around the world, despite only being banned in Hong Kong, its creators have said.

    “Distribution companies in the U.K., United States and Canada are kneeling down [to China],” DGX Music, the creative team behind “Glory to Hong Kong.” wrote on their Instagram account on Tuesday. “It has completely disappeared from all streaming platforms.” 

    “We couldn’t find the original version of ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ released by DGX Music on Apple Music or Spotify in Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom or Canada,” the songwriters said.

    “Glory to Hong Kong,” which sparked a police investigation after organizers played it in error at recent overseas sports events, was regularly sung by crowds of unarmed protesters during the 2019 protests, which ranged from peaceful mass demonstrations for full democracy to intermittent, pitched battles between protesters and armed riot police.

    Public live performances of the song are already banned in Hong Kong, as its lyrics are deemed illegal under stringent national security legislation.

    But the Court of Appeal on May 8 granted the government a temporary injunction to address its continued availability online, calling it a “weapon” that could be used to bring down the government, and an “rfainsult” to China’s national anthem.

    ‘Separatist intent’?

    The song calls for freedom and democracy rather than independence, but was nonetheless deemed in breach of the law due to its “separatist” intent, officials and police officers said at the start of an ongoing citywide crackdown on public dissent and peaceful political activism.

    A survey of Spotify and Apple Music in Taiwan, the U.K. and Canada yielded no results for the original version of the song during a search by RFA Cantonese on Wednesday. However, some remixes and cover versions were still available.

    Multiple versions of the song were still visible following a search of YouTube in several locations.

    The song’s disappearance comes after YouTube blocked access to dozens of videos containing the song to viewers in the city in May, following a court injunction that said it could be used as a “weapon” to bring down the government.

    The company, which is owned by Google’s parent Alphabet, said 32 videos featuring the banned song had been geoblocked and are now unavailable in the city.

    DGX Music reported in June that a newly released a capella version of the song was suddenly deleted by U.S. publisher Distrokid, with no reason given, while Scotland’s Emubands made it clear that it had removed the song due to the injunction. 

    Threat to freedom of speech

    But the songwriters said the injunction only applies to Hong Kong, and should have no overseas effect at all.

    “Some Western media organizations have complied with the Hong Kong government’s political injunction unnecessarily, resulting in the violation of basic human rights,” DGX Music wrote.

    “This has a fundamental impact on Western democratic societies, and poses a serious threat to the principles of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of artistic expression,” they said.

    Hong Kong lawyer-turned-musician Adrian Chow said even big multinational platforms will adopt unnecessarily conservative attitudes “in order not to alarm senior management or the legal department.”

    “They just give in, saying it’s just one song, not Taylor Swift’s entire back catalog,” Chow said. “Maybe when their legal departments found out how little income it makes, they felt it wasn’t worth the risk … as the legal fees [in case of a lawsuit] would far exceed any income from the song.”

    He said independent creators have very little bargaining power with the online streaming platforms, and there is scant opportunity for negotiation.

    The Hong Kong authorities can also step up pressure on overseas corporations through any business operations they have in the city, he said.

    The song’s labeling as “Hong Kong’s national anthem” on YouTube has been “highly embarrassing and hurtful to many people of Hong Kong, not to mention its serious damage to national interests,” the Court of Appeal judges said when they granted the injunction on May 8.

    Hong Kong passed a law in 2020 making it illegal to insult China’s national anthem on pain of up to three years’ imprisonment, following a series of incidents in which Hong Kong soccer fans booed their own anthem in the stadium.

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Luk Nam Choi for RFA Cantonese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uncommitted Delegates Speak Out After Sleeping Outside DNC to Protest Silencing of Palestinians


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Uncommitted Delegates Speak Out After Sleeping Outside DNC to Protest Silencing of Palestinian Voices

    Seg4 uncommitted live

    As “uncommitted” delegates continue their sit-in just outside the Democratic National Convention in protest of the party’s refusal to meet demands to platform a Palestinian American speaker on the main stage, we hear from two uncommitted delegates who have made a concerted effort to bring Israel’s war on Gaza to the forefront and to push the Harris campaign on its policy in the Middle East. Asma Mohammed, a campaign manager for Vote Uncommitted Minnesota and a delegate from Minnesota, says there is widespread disappointment and betrayal among delegates who feel their voices in support of Palestinian rights are being ignored. “This level of silencing, this level of exclusion [does] not belong in our Democratic Party,” adds Abbas Alawieh, a co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement and an uncommitted delegate from Michigan.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.