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Category: Protest

  • Racist Suella Braverman heckled by Palestine protesters over Israel’s genocide

    Suella Braverman has been met with jeers and chants during an appearance at the Oxford Union. The disgraced former home secretary was there to be interviewed in front of an audience. However, protests both outside and inside the venue quickly showed the disdain for Braverman.

    Campaign group Oxford Action for Palestine released a statement reading:

    The former Home Secretary, Suella Braverman is a known racist, Zionist, and xenophobe. We do not tolerate nor welcome any of her genocidal worldviews at the University of Oxford. The protest outside the Oxford Union is to remind the University that we, Oxford’s students and community, are disgusted by the invitations of genocidaires and are committed to holding the University accountable.

    Suella Braverman: known racist

    Protesters are seen chanting “Suella Braverman, you’re an embarrassment” and “refugees are welcome here”:

    Oxford Student reported on the following interaction:

    Responding to a question posed by Union President Israr Khan on whether she believes multiculturalism had failed in the United Kingdom, Braverman began responding but paused her response and said regarding the protestors: “They are very annoying. Is it raining?”

    Braverman may well find the protests annoying, but people in Oxford have demonstrated exactly the kind of reception Braverman deserves wherever she goes. One of the questions put to Braverman by the audience was:

    Do you really think that you know better the experiences of Palestinians under occupation, to be able to say that Israel is not an apartheid state?

    According to the Oxford Blue:

    Braverman responded saying that Israel is one of the few democracies in the Middle East where “minorities are treated equally”. She asserted that Israel has a “right to exist” and a “right to defend itself”, and proceeded to label the current Labour government as “disgusting”, given their continued funding for UNRWA, an organisation she alleged is “complicit with Hamas”.

    In October 2023, Braverman called Palestine protests “hate marches.” By November 2023, she was sacked. She has said that it’s her “dream” and “obsession” to deport refugees to Rwanda, maintained that Israel hasn’t violated international law, and, broadly speaking, demonstrated a persistent hatred and racism towards immigrants.

    Braverman’s fantasy of Israel as some kind of utopia for minoritised people and her rhetoric of self-defence is so tired this far into Israel’s genocide that it’s barely worth explaining how she’s wrong. Instead, we’ll direct you to the fact that lobby group the National Jewish Assembly paid Braverman £28,000 for visiting Israel. And, following in the footsteps of fellow Conservative failure Liz Truss, Braverman has also been seen courting right-wing Americans with her desire to “make Britain great again.”

    Freedom of speech

    Naturally, after any event where protesters exercise their own freedom of speech, right-wingers are up in arms with claims that they’re worried about the “crisis‘ of freedom of speech. Well, fret not, friends. Freedom of speech doesn’t mean that anyone is obliged to listen to anyone else’s opinion. Particularly if that someone has been sacked twice, gone out of their way to fuel hate campaigns against immigrants and refugees, and continuously spouts provable lies about the Israeli genocide.

    Nobody is immune from the consequences of their speech. For Suella Braverman, that consequence is proving to be people disagreeing about her hateful rhetoric. Having built her political career on inflammatory statements, she can hardly be surprised when people are inflamed with anger.

    Featured image via screengrab

    By Maryam Jameela

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • New campaign planning action against insurance companies with links to genocide

    A new campaign targeting insurance companies with links to Israel’s genocide in Gaza launched on 10 March. It is seeking to hold them accountable for their actions. It’s urging people to ‘boycott bloody insurance’ – and will be taking direct action as well.

    Boycott Bloody Insurance

    Boycott Bloody Insurance released a report showing how “major global insurers actively enable Israel’s ongoing assault on Palestinians”. In a press release, it explained that “insurers including Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Zurich, and RSA” have been investing “over $1.7 billion in companies supplying military equipment used by Israel since 7 October 2023”. The latter include “Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems, and BAE Systems”, which Boycott Bloody Insurance said have a direct link to Israel’s war crimes, “including attacks on civilians in Gaza using white phosphorus and precision-guided munitions”.

    Lead researcher Monika Nielsen criticised the insurance companies “profiting from human suffering” for:

    funneling our money into war, exploitation, and violence

    This new campaign comes at a time of increasing state repression of dissent in Britain on behalf of Israeli war criminals, and a growing movement of resistance.

    Adding to a flourishing movement against complicity in war crimes

    Direct action group Palestine Action has had numerous successes against organisations complicit with Israeli war crimes. And because it has targeted insurance companies with links to Israel, Allianz and Aviva are now seeking legal action to stop the resistance. Palestine Action has asserted that its campaign “will not cease until their links with the Israeli weapons trade” do.

    The Palestinian Youth Movement, meanwhile, has now “integrated the finding that AIG is the insurer of global logistics company Maersk into their ongoing “Mask Off Maersk” campaign”. The movement insisted it is “not waiting for a decision from the top to stop the flow of weapons to Israel, but we are demanding from the bottom”. It is targeting global logistics company Maersk – “one of the most profitable companies on earth” – for shipping “military cargo that facilitate Israel’s genocide”. The Palestinian Youth Movement’s Yara Derbas said:

    Insurance, just like logistics, is crucial for arms transfers to oppressive regimes. Our actions target the corporate complicity enabling Israel’s ongoing crimes. This isn’t just about Palestine—it’s about global justice and ending corporate exploitation.

    Ahead of Maersk’s Annual General Meeting on March 18, the Palestinian Youth Movement has called on “executives and shareholders… to end the transportation of military cargo to Israel”, and has asked

    people around the world to join us in showing Maersk that staying in business with a pariah state is a long-term liability.

    A plan for coordinated actions

    Boycott Bloody Insurance has the endorsement of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, the Watermelon Index, and the Palestinian BDS National Committee. And it seeks to bring together pro-Palestinian activists with people fighting for “climate justice, migrant rights, and anti-war organising”.

    A Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy spokesperson insisted on the importance of spreading the word about insurance companies complicit in genocide, saying:

    Policyholders must know how their money is being misused and demand immediate divestment.

    Boycott Bloody Insurance says there is a plan for “coordinated actions across the UK” on 25 March to encourage organisations to dump insurers profiting from war crimes and “shift to ethical insurers”.

    In April, meanwhile, the campaign will also release “three additional reports exposing the insurance industry’s ties to fossil fuel companies, controversial weapons, and the UK detention industry”.

    Featured image supplied

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Hong Kong media urged to back up Facebook protest videos

    The Hong Kong Journalists’ Association is appealing to journalists to preserve Facebook live video footage of 2019 protests after Meta said it will start deleting archived videos from its servers.

    There are concerns that much of the online footage of those protests, most of which is banned in the city amid an ongoing crackdown on dissent, will no longer be available to the general public.

    That will make it easier for the authorities to impose their own narrative on events in the city’s recent history.

    Facebook notified users last month that it will be deleting archived live video streams from June 5, while newly streamed live video will be deleted after 30 days from Feb. 19, 2025.

    “Since the Hong Kong news media have relied heavily on Facebook Live for reporting in the past, the Journalists Association now calls on the heads of mainstream, independent and citizen media and online editors to back up their videos as soon as possible,” the Hong Kong Journalists Association said.

    “If necessary, you can follow the platform’s instructions to apply for an extension to up to six months before deletion,” it said.

    Capturing history

    In one livestream still available on YouTube from Oct. 1, 2019, an out-of-breath protester collates video feeds from several sources on the ground, commenting on what is unfolding while sounding out of breath from “running” at a protest a minute earlier.

    Meta's webpage outlining their process to update Facebook Live videos.
    Meta’s webpage outlining their process to update Facebook Live videos.
    (Meta)

    In a Facebook Live video from the same day, a professional reporter from government broadcaster RTHK, which has since been forced to toe the ruling Chinese Communist Party line in its reporting, follows protests in Wong Tai Sin, explaining what is going on to live viewers.

    While one feed is run by protesters and the other by a professional journalist, both offer a sense of boots-on-the-ground immediacy that would be crucial for anyone seeking to learn what the protests were about many years later.

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    A reporter for an online media outlet who gave only the pseudonym Ken for fear of reprisals said a very large proportion of the public record of the 2019 protests was streamed live on Facebook, with more than 100 videos stored there.

    While current media organizations have made backups, the footage will no longer be there for anyone to browse, making the record of that year less publicly available, Ken said.

    “It’s like we’ve lost an online library,” he said. “Unless someone is willing to back it up and put it all online, there’ll be no way of finding that history any more, should you want to.”

    Ken and his colleagues are concerned that online records of the 2019 could disappear entirely in a few years’ time, especially as republishing them from Hong Kong could render the user vulnerable to accusations of “glorifying” the protests, and prosecution under two national security laws.

    Photographers document pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, left, as he speaks at the police headquarters in Hong Kong, June 21, 2019.
    Photographers document pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong, left, as he speaks at the police headquarters in Hong Kong, June 21, 2019.
    (VIncent Yu/AP)

    “This is a very serious problem, because certain events or people may be completely forgotten about in a few years, maybe 10 years,” Ken said.

    But there are risks attached to republishing video content — especially for residents of Hong Kong.

    “You don’t know whether you will be accused of incitement if you post it again,” Ken said. “You never know what your live broadcast captured and whether there was issue … under the two national security laws.”

    Permanent loss of historical material

    A fellow journalist who gave only the pseudonym Mr. G for fear of reprisals said his media organization still has access to its own live streamed footage of the 2019 protests from both Facebook and YouTube.

    But he said the planned deletions could lead to “the permanent loss of some historical material.”

    Facebook said that the owners of the videos will receive an email or notification in advance “and can choose to download the videos, transfer them to the cloud, or convert them into reels short videos within 90 days.”

    “If users need more time to process old videos, they can apply to postpone the deadline by 6 months,” it said, adding that most live video is viewed in the first few weeks after being uploaded.

    Veteran media commentator To Yiu-ming said social media platforms aren’t suited for use as a historical archive.

    “There’s no point criticizing them,” To said. “Users may well encounter similar practices even … if they move to another social media platform.”

    “If you want to preserve the historical record, you have to use less convenient methods, and spend a bit of time and money,” he said.

    The concerns over the deletion of live video come after a report claimed that Meta was willing to go to “extreme lengths” to censor content and shut down political dissent in a failed attempt to win the approval of the Chinese Communist Party and bring Facebook to millions of internet users in China.

    Citing a whistleblower complaint by Sarah Wynn-Williams from the company’s China policy team, the Washington Post reported that Meta “so desperately wanted to enter the lucrative China market that it was willing to allow the ruling party to oversee all social media content appearing in the country and quash dissenting opinions.”

    The notice in Chinese from Facebook warning users that archived live video will be deleted, Feb. 19, 2025.
    The notice in Chinese from Facebook warning users that archived live video will be deleted, Feb. 19, 2025.
    (Meta)

    So it developed a censorship system for China in 2015 and planned to install a “chief editor” who would decide what content to remove and could shut down the entire site during times of “social unrest,” according to a copy of the 78-page complaint exclusively seen by The Washington Post.

    Meta executives also “stonewalled and provided nonresponsive or misleading information” to investors and American regulators, the complaint said.

    Meta spokesman Andy Stone told the paper that it was “no secret” the company was interested in operating in China.

    “This was widely reported beginning a decade ago,” Stone was quoted as saying. “We ultimately opted not to go through with the ideas we’d explored, which Mark Zuckerberg announced in 2019.”

    Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Alice Yam for RFA Cantonese.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • As rumours swirl Labour WILL re-approve Rosebank, protesters take action

    On Wednesday 12 March, campaigners from Fossil Free London unfurled a large banner across Westminster Bridge to protest the potential re-approval of the Rosebank oil field after its approval under the previous government was ruled unlawful in Scotland’s Court of Session:

    This follows hints the Labour Party leadership are seeking to re-approve the field, which some MPs say would mean ‘breaking point’ in party relations.

    Rosebank: here we go again…

    The 10 metre banner quoted Labour’s own 2024 manifesto claims that new oil licences for exploration won’t ‘take a penny off our bills’, highlighting the hypocrisy of the government both acknowledging that new field exploration ‘cannot make us energy secure, and will only accelerate the worsening climate crisis’ while rumouring that they will reapprove Rosebank – the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea:

    Rosebank protest

    Labour’s own Secretary of State for Energy Security, Ed Miliband, also said:

    The evidence is clear: Rosebank will do nothing to cut bills, is no solution to our energy security, and would drive a coach and horses through our climate commitments.

    Following the oil field’s approval being overturned in the Scottish Courts in January, the UK Government will now decide to re-approve or reject the field after their oil and gas consultation concludes in spring 2025.

    Rosebank is the largest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea. If developed, the Rosebank oil and gas field would release emissions equivalent to those produced by all 28 low-income countries in the world:

    Equinor is majority-owned (68%) by the Norwegian government, which has a sovereign wealth fund worth in the region of $1.3 trillion. The UK public will cover the vast majority (up to 90%) of the costs of developing Rosebank, with profits flowing to the Norwegian oil company.

    Just say no

    Robin Wells, Director of Fossil Free London said

    Labour needs to get off the fence. This new oil field just makes no sense. Their manifesto points out, as the Conservatives did before them, that more North Sea oil and gas will be no good for people in this country, and turbocharge the overheating of our world

    So why, after a court case ruled the field totally incompatible with climate action, would there even be a question of them reapproving it? Why are they paying for Equinor’s caviar while the British people struggle to buy food?

    This government needs to cut bills and fund climate solutions, instead it seems they’d rather pile more runways and oil rigs onto the fire.

    Featured image and additional images via Fossil Free London

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • As the Met try to STOP yet another Palestine march in London, Jewish people push back

    12 Holocaust survivors/descendants have signed a joint letter protesting against Met Police plans to prevent this Saturday 15 March’s Palestine march from gathering in Park Lane.

    Met Police: buying into pro-Israel smear tactics again

    As descendants of survivors of the Jewish genocide, the 12 say they are “in despair” at the UK government’s complicity in Israel’s ongoing Palestinian genocide. Naturally, the government and other supporters of Israeli crimes want to discredit and suppress any protests against this genocide.

    Having run out of other arguments, they can only resort to claims that the demonstrations are somehow antisemitic.

    As descendants of survivors, the 12 say they take antisemitism extremely seriously. Consequently they “would always make sure” of their “facts before accusing anyone of antisemitism”. Unfortunately, many supporters of Israel are rarely so careful and they routinely accuse anyone who criticises Israel of antisemitism without any evidence.

    So, with zero evidence the Met Police has once again disrupted the Palestine march. As the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) wrote:

    As we stated last week, we first contacted the police three weeks ago to inform them of our intention to march and our proposed route. Since then, the police have been threatening to impose conditions on the march but refusing until now to tell us what those conditions might be. Had we announced an assembly point in these circumstances, it could have placed protestors in danger of arrest by a police force engaged in increasing repression.

    The police have now agreed to our route but have said that they will impose conditions to prevent us from assembling on Park Lane as originally planned. They have also stated that this decision was made following consultation with pro-Israel groups, who again raised concerns about synagogues which were not on the route of the march and more than 12 minutes away from the point of assembly. We will continue to fight these restrictions through every means available, it is clear that supporters of Israeli apartheid are aiming to prevent any marches for Palestine at all.

    The march will go ahead, but instead it will assemble at 12 noon on Piccadilly (Green Park) to march to Whitehall.

    The letter from the 12 Holocaust survivor/descendants reads as follows:

    “The Met Police have banned the 15 March Palestine protest from assembling in Park Lane. Their excuse is that Jewish attendees at a synagogue that is well away from the march route will suffer disruption of their religious worship.

    “We are writing as descendants of Jewish Holocaust survivors to protest against this clear attempt to dissuade people from opposing the Gaza genocide. Along with thousands of other openly Jewish protesters, we have attended numerous Palestine demos in London and have received nothing but support and warmth from our fellow demonstrators. To suggest that the 15 March protest is a threat to Jews, or is in any way antisemitic, is simply a fabrication in order to restrict everyone’s right to protest.

    “Yours Sincerely,

    Agnes Kory (survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary)

    Haim Bresheeth (son of two survivors of Auschwitz)

    Anne Karpf (daughter of a survivor of Auschwitz)

    Mark Etkind (son of a survivor of the Lodz ghetto and Buchenwald)

    Peter Kapos (son of a survivor of the Holocaust in Hungary)

    Yosefa Loshitzky (daughter of survivors of the Holocaust in Poland)

    Carolyn Gelenter (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Poland)

    Charlotte Monro (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia)

    Miranda Pinch (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Czechoslovakia)

    Peter Hall (son of a survivor of the Holocaust in Austria)

    Chris Romberg (son of a survivor of the Holocaust in Austria)

    Beatrice Hoffman (daughter of a survivor of the Holocaust in Austria)”

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Disabled people are already mobilising to protest Kendall’s vicious DWP cuts

    Chronically ill and disabled people are set to hold the first protest against the Labour Party-led Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) brutal plans for disability benefit cuts. Local group Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) Norfolk have organised it under the banner “End Labour’s War on Disabled People”. On Friday 14 March, it will take this demand straight to the constituency Labour Party’s front door.

    DWP’s dangerous disability benefit cuts

    As the Canary’s Steve Topple previously reported, on Friday 7 March, the DWP leaked its plans for up to £6bn in welfare cuts to ITV News. Notably, this largely revolved around changes to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Universal Credit that would hit chronically ill and disabled people the hardest. As Topple laid out:

    Under the proposed changes, £5 billion is expected to be saved by tightening eligibility for DWP PIP, which is designed to support those with additional costs due to disability. In addition, PIP payments will be frozen next year, meaning they will not increase with inflation, affecting approximately four million chronically ill and disabled people.

    Further alterations include increases to the basic rate of Universal Credit for those actively seeking employment or in work, while reducing support for individuals judged unfit for work. This, along with the changes to PIP, are perhaps the most vindictive of Labour’s plans: intentionally targeting the most chronically ill and disabled people.

    Already, prime minister Keir Starmer has vocalised the contempt for chronically ill and disabled people that’s at the heart of his government’s plans. Specifically, on Monday, he called the welfare system “unsustainable, indefensible, and unfair.”

    This also came amid multiple recent attacks on DWP disability benefit claimants from Labour MPs. Recently, Kendall suggested that some people are “taking the mickey” – playing into the dangerous narrative that many current claimants are not genuinely unable to work. Just last week, justice minister Shabana Mahmood defended the government’s moves to slash welfare with the hostile comment that:

    This is the Labour party. The clue is in the name. We believe in work.

    And since then, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar has reiterated the same message. Of course, these new ‘reforms’ are the crystallisation of this very rhetoric. So, as the Canary has consistently pointed out, it’s chronically ill and disabled people who the Labour Party intend to bear the brunt of its brutal DWP welfare spending cuts bonanza.

    DPAC protest – the fight back against the DWP begins

    Given the enormous stakes, DPAC Norfolk is stepping up to resist the DWP cuts.

    The group is planning to turn up outside the Norwich Labour Party’s member’s meeting on Friday 14 March at 6.45pm:

    There, the group will lay out a series of clear messages to the local party about what these DWP cuts would mean for chronically ill and disabled people. As it wrote on its event page:

    No More Deaths from Benefit Cuts!
    End 14 Years of Tory Cuts and Austerity!
    Tax the Rich Not Disabled People
    Tory and Labour Cuts Kill!
    Nothing About Us, Without us!

    The point DPAC Norfolk will make is that on Labour’s current trajectory, it’s set to pick up the baton of the Conservative’s shameful legacy. This is obviously one of over a decade of the Tory-led DWP’s callous cuts killing disabled people. Now, Labour’s move to nearly double its previously stated £3bn in welfare cuts, will invariably do more of same.

    Of course, the group needs as many local allies as possible to turn out and drive this reality home.

    Tell MPs #HandsOffDisabilityBenefits

    Alongside the protest, DPAC is also preparing to host a parliamentary meeting on Monday 17 March. Representatives of the group will meet with MPs at Portcullis House to spell out in no uncertain terms the devastating impacts of Labour’s DWP plans on chronically ill and disabled people.

    As the Canary’s HG reported, less than 20% of Labour MPs have so far said they’re opposed to the cuts.

    What’s more, a group of 36 Labour MPs styling themselves the ‘Get Britain Working’ group has also named and shamed themselves in support of the disgraceful proposals. Coordinated by DWP House of Common’s select committee member David Pinto-Duschinsky, the group has penned a letter to back Kendall’s plans:

    DPAC is therefore aiming to engage with as many MPs as possible to urge them to reject the government’s sweep of dangerous so-called reforms.

    Ahead of this, its calling on the public to put pen to paper and call on their MPs to meet with DPAC on the day. On its Facebook group, it posted a link to a template letter for constituents to fill out:

    #HandsOffDisabilityBenefits

    Get busy emailing your MP please
    Use this template letter amend it by sharing your worries about disability benefit cuts
    Share your personal story how you will be impacted

    Invite them to attend DPAC Parliamentary
    Meeting on Monday 17th March 2025
    4-6pm
    Thatcher Room Portcullis house London
    Link here:

    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z-UyXXcCBUiMY_2POvCQAhr7srbbodtmnCqEEllCWRQ/mobilebasic?

    If you wish to attend the meeting yourself some funding available to help with transport/accommodation but contact DPAC quickly mail@dpac.uk.net

    If you are not sure how to contact your MP you can look them up here

    https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/contact-an-mp-or-lord/contact-your-mp/

    DPAC is encouraging as many people as possible to do so. Crucially, it’s asking members of the public to voice to their MP the impact these horrifying cuts will have on them personally, or on their loved ones.

    Time to stop Starmer’s bid for backers for his DWP plans

    Not unrelatedly, the Canary’s Rachel Charlton-Dailey has also helpfully put together a list of the Get Britain Working group member’s constituencies. So, in case constituents felt like dragging them for it, that’s here:

    Starmer and his key staffers are calling ministers in for two 30-minute ‘briefings’ about the yet-to-be officially announced DWP plans on Wednesday and Thursday. Ostensibly, its to “win over” MPs for its package of atrocious austerity-driven cuts.

    So, DPAC Norfolk will be taking the local Labour Party to task – while the national group is gearing up to counter Starmer’s bid for backers. And of course, this is only the start. In the coming weeks, DPAC and others will ramp up to resist all this. If you can join them, the fight back starts on Friday 14 March, and the following Monday 17 March.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Two insurance giants are so shook by Palestine Action they’re seeking legal injunctions

    Once again, Palestine Action has shown that direct action against the companies propping up Israel’s genocide against Gaza is the most effective method of resistance in the UK. This is because two insurance giants which the group has targeted are now so shook, they’re both looking to take legal action to stop the protests.

    Palestine Action: first Allianz…

    First, global insurance giant Allianz has come under fire for its response to multiple daring demonstrations by Palestine Action. Instead of addressing concerns over its investments and business dealings, Allianz has chosen to pursue legal action against activists who occupied its London offices in protest.

    On 4 March 2024, Palestine Action campaigners scaled and occupied Allianz’s UK headquarters at 22 Bishopsgate, demanding the corporation sever ties with Israel’s war economy. The activists targeted Allianz due to its investment in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest arms manufacturer, which supplies weapons used by Israel to kill Palestinians.

    However, rather than engaging with these serious allegations, Allianz swiftly moved to criminalize those exposing its complicity.

    Palestine Action has repeatedly called out Allianz for its role in bankrolling companies that profit from war crimes in Gaza and the occupied territories. The demonstrators’ occupation was a direct challenge to Allianz’s participation in funding violence, seeking to disrupt business-as-usual for a corporation that remains unmoved by the suffering of Palestinian civilians.

    In a revealing move, Allianz wasted no time in filing for an injunction, showing that its priority lies in protecting corporate interests rather than addressing legitimate human rights concerns. By seeking legal action, Allianz attempts to silence dissent rather than confront its own moral and ethical obligations.

    Then, as if by magic, Aviva followed suit.

    Then Aviva – scared to death by Palestine Action

    From 7am on Tuesday 11 March, Palestine Action began occupying the entrance of Aviva’s Manchester office at The Observatory, Chapel Walks, M2 1HN. Activists climbed on top of the revolving doors, stuck Palestine flags on the wall and a banner to the front which reads “Aviva Palestina”.

    Aviva provides the mandatory employers liability insurance for UAV Engines in Staffordshire, a drone engine factory owned by Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems.

    Palestine Action has already targeted Aviva twice this year alone at its offices in Bristol and Scotland, and have continuously taken direct action against insurance companies with ties to Elbit systems, including actions at dozens of Allianz locations across Europe since October 2024.

    Latest intel shows that whilst Aviva no longer holds direct shares in Elbit Systems, however Aviva continues to hold investments in other funds which hold Elbit shares. All this shows the insurer’s moral and financial backing of a state engaged in brutal oppression, illegal settlement expansion, and military assaults on Palestinian civilians.

    Yet, like Allianz, rather than confronting the ethical concerns raised by activists, Aviva has chosen to align itself with corporate interests that profit from human rights violations. The injunction seeks to prevent Palestine Action from carrying out further protests against Aviva, a move widely seen as an attempt to silence dissent and shield the company from scrutiny.

    Cowardly hearts, or straight up shook ones?

    Palestine Action has vowed to continue escalating its campaign until Allianz, Aviva, and other financial backers of Israel’s military industry divest from war profiteering. The group has gained widespread support for its fearless direct actions, exposing corporate complicity in oppression and holding businesses accountable.

    A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:

    As all companies who work with Elbit should know by now, Palestine Action’s direct action campaign against them will not cease until their links with the Israeli weapons trade does. Allianz and Aviva must drop Elbit.

    Allianz and Aviva’s aggressive legal stances only underscores the validity of Palestine Action’s campaign.

    Instead of transparency and ethical responsibility, these companies have chosen to crack down on righteous resistance while remaining complicit in funding weapons used by Israel to kill Palestinian civilians and commit war crimes.

    As public scrutiny grows, the insurance giant may find that silencing activists will not make the truth disappear.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • With Mahmoud Khalil’s Arrest, US Violence Abroad Is Coming Home

    Palestinian human rights attorney Noura Erakat responds to the arrest of Columbia University student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil and situates it in the long, bipartisan history of anti-Palestine suppression of free speech. “It was the Biden administration, it was the Democratic establishment, that has created the conditions that we are now seeing taken advantage of,” she says of Khalil’s…

    Source

    This post was originally published on Latest – Truthout.

  • Trump’s persecution of anti-genocide protester Mahmoud Khalil sparks mass resistance

    The Donald Trump administration’s arrest of prominent anti-genocide protester Mahmoud Khalil has sparked mass resistance. There are serious concerns about the dangerous precedent it sets, and the potential consequences if the government’s efforts are successful.

    Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden set the ball rolling by allowing the repression and demonisation of students protesting Israel’s genocide in Gaza in 2024. But the current US government significantly escalated this anti-democratic climate when it sent plain clothes agents to abduct Khalil at the weekend. Though a legal, permanent resident in the US, he may now face deportation as a result of his political speech.

    Why is Trump targeting Mahmoud Khalil?

    As Georgetown University professor Nader Hashemi told Al Jazeera, the Trump regime is claiming its efforts are about fighting antisemitism, but in reality constituted:

    an effort to silence all public expression of support for Palestinian human rights to placate right-wing supporters of Israel within the Republican Party

    Government figures and supporters have spoken about Mahmoud Khalil’s case using words and phrases like “Hamas supporters”, “activities aligned to Hamas”, “pro-Hamas“. But as journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out:

    One of the many problems with targeting legal US residents for the grave crime of “pro-Hamas” speech or protest is that many Israel supporters — perhaps most — consider everyone to be “pro-Hamas” who protests the US-financed Israeli war on Gaza. It would effectively ban that.

    There have been allegations that he “distributed materials supporting terrorism” and was “paid by a terrorist organisation”, but evidence of criminal activity has not yet emerged. The absence of proof suggests that the government’s actions go against the US constitution. The Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) campaign group, for example, has called Khalil’s arrest “blatantly unconstitutional”, stressing that:

    It is endangering Jewish people and using the guise of fighting antisemitism to dismantle our Constitutionally protected rights to free speech and dissent.

    Greenwald has reminded people, meanwhile, that the constitution “applies to all people legally on US soil”.

    An alarming precedent

    One student has spoken highly of Mahmoud Khalil online, saying:

    as a Jewish student at Columbia i can say without a single doubt in my mind that Mahmoud is one of the kindest, safest, most welcoming people i have ever encountered at this university. his presence brought an instant calm no matter how intense things were.

    But because of his role protesting against Columbia‘s complicity with Israel’s genocide, he became a target of pro-Israel agitators, a pro-Israel professor, and government spies, with the alleged collaboration of the university.

    As prize-winning author Spencer Ackerman has written, the post-9/11 order has made “advocacy for Palestinians” and their right to live “deliberately indistinguishable from “activities aligned to” Hamas”.

    Free speech groups and progressive Jewish groups have called out the cynical political weaponisation of antisemitism or terrorism allegations to supress protest and censor free speech:

    https:/twitter.com/jewishaction/status/1899243803841609762

    https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1899438657536205040

    JVP, for instance, insisted:

    The detention of Mahmoud is further proof that we are on the brink of a full takeover by a repressive, authoritarian regime…

    This is how fascism works and the only defense is to refuse to be divided or silenced.

    Anti-war group Code Pink, meanwhile, stressed:

    Trump says he is “the first of many.” If we don’t fight back now, what stops them from coming for you next? This is how fascism works, it pushes until people push back.

    Stand up for Mahmoud Khalil

    Khalil once told CNN that:

    As a Palestinian student, I believe that the liberation of the Palestinian people and the Jewish people are intertwined and go hand-by-hand and you cannot achieve one without the other

    And now, over two million people have signed a letter calling for Mahmoud Khalil’s release. 10 March, meanwhile, saw hundreds of people take to the streets in solidarity with him:

    https://twitter.com/GerardDalbon/status/1899214577595826623

    https:/twitter.com/SuppressedNws/status/1899207776770920875

    https://twitter.com/FranceskAlbs/status/1899350646278807899

    https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1899252659481129268

    A federal judge has stopped Trump’s government from deporting Khalil for now, but another hearing will take place on 12 March.

    There will be another protest in New York later today (11 March):

    https://twitter.com/PAL_Awda/status/1899278124665188725

    Featured image via the Canary

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Palestine Action visit genocide investors Aviva for the third time this year

    It seems that third time is a charm for Aviva, as Palestine Action has once again called the company out for its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Aviva: third time’s a charm

    From 7am on Tuesday 11 March, Palestine Action began occupying the entrance of Aviva’s Manchester office at The Observatory, Chapel Walks, M2 1HN. Activists climbed on top of the revolving doors, stuck Palestine flags on the wall and a banner to the front which reads “Aviva Palestina”:

    https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1899386508966326500

    https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1899401903664144502

    Aviva provides the mandatory employers liability insurance for UAV Engines in Staffordshire, a drone engine factory owned by Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems.

    Palestine Action has already targeted Aviva twice this year alone.

    This action follows two days of actions against Allianz Insurance, as part of a sustained disruption of the supply chain of Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer. Allianz also provide insurance for Elbit Systems weapons factories in Britain.

    On Sunday 9 March, a drone flying the Palestine flag was flown over the Allianz Twickenham Stadium during the England v Italy Six Nations match.

    Then, in London on Monday 10 March the canopy of their London offices were occupied and doused in paint – forcing Allianz’s London headquarters shut. Cops nicked the actionists after several hours of occupation:

    https://twitter.com/Pal_action/status/1899203313347784863

    As the Canary previously reported, these two actions came just weeks after a coordinated wave of action struck 15 premises across Europe as Palestine Action continue to target the supply chains of Elbit Systems.

    Office windows were smashed and buildings were covered in red paint across Britain, Portugal, Germany, and The Netherlands, with an additional 10 actions taking place in October 2024, including a rooftop occupation of their British head office in Guildford.

    Shutting down Elbit – one bit of the supply chain at a time

    Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons producer, provide 85% of Israel’s killer drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as missiles, munitions and digital warfare. Elbit’s quadcopter drones are routinely used to massacre Palestinians in Gaza. Dr Nazim Mamode recalled in Parliament how such drones are used to commit war crimes in Gaza:

    What I found particularly disturbing was that a bomb would drop, maybe on a crowded tented area, and then the drones would come down and pick off civilians, children.

    He went on to explain how he routinely operated on children who would say:

    I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me

    Back to Aviva, and Palestine Action had previously targeted its offices in Bristol and Scotland, and have continuously taken direct action against insurance companies with ties to Elbit systems, including actions at dozens of Allianz locations across Europe since October 2024.

    Latest intel shows that whilst Aviva no longer holds direct shares in Elbit Systems, however Aviva continues to hold investments in other funds which hold Elbit shares.

    A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:

    Both Allianz and Aviva, directly enable the production of Israeli weapons in Britain by providing Israeli weapons factories with the insurance they need to operate. Therefore, Palestine Action will continue to take direct action until they cease all ties with Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons producer.

    No longer will ordinary people allow companies on our doorsteps to profit from the manufacture of weapons which are “battle-tested” on Palestinians.

    Featured image via screengrab

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Supporters Of Banned Romanian Candidate Georgescu Protest Ruling


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and was authored by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Commonwealth leaders faced protest at Westminster Abbey over anti-LGBTQ+ laws

    Leaders from 29 Commonwealth countries that criminalise LGBTQ+ people were met with boos and jeers as they arrived at the Commonwealth’s annual service at Westminster Abbey today, 10 March 2025.

    The Commonwealth: still deeply anti-LGBTQ+ rights

    Despite violating the human rights provisions of the Commonwealth Charter, they were welcomed by the Church of England, the UK government, and king Charles as head of the Commonwealth.

    Among the 50 protesters were LGBTQ+ refugees who have fled persecution in Commonwealth nations. They included members of UK Black Pride, Let Voice Be Heard (Bangladesh), African Equality Foundation, and Out and Proud African LGBTI.

    Abbey Kiwanuka, a Ugandan refugee with Out and Proud African LGBTI, recalled:

    I came from hell, with cigarette burns in both my palms and on my legs, scars on my face from constant beatings. I went through every kind of human degradation.

    Edwin Sesange, a Ugandan LGBTQ+ refugee and spokesperson for the African Equality Foundation, added:

    Shame on the Commonwealth for failing to uphold its own Charter and for not defending the human rights of all Commonwealth citizens. The jailing and murder of LGBT+ people is a crime against humanity.

    Protest and demands

    Protesters carried placards with messages including “Commonwealth: 75 years of anti-LGBT+ persecution. Repeal anti-LGBT+ laws” and “Commonwealth fails to condemn persecution of LGBT+ people”. People were chanting:

    Hey, hey. Ho, ho! Commonwealth homophobia has got to go

    And:

    2-4-6-8, Commonwealth is full of hate.

    The protest was organised by the Peter Tatchell Foundation. Its director, Peter Tatchell, said:

    As the Commonwealth celebrates, we mourn. We are calling out the 29 member states that violate their own equality principles and the Commonwealth Charter. They preside over state-sanctioned persecution of their LGBT+ citizens.

    Twenty-nine out of 56 Commonwealth countries criminalise homosexuality, mostly under British colonial-era laws. Six impose life imprisonment, while Nigeria, Brunei and Uganda have the death penalty. Millions of LGBT+ Commonwealth citizens face arrest, imprisonment, mob violence, and discrimination in employment, housing, education and healthcare.

    These anti-LGBT+ laws violate the Commonwealth Charter, which pledges equality and opposition to all forms of discrimination. For 75 years, Commonwealth leaders have refused to even discuss LGBT+ rights at their summits.

    The Secretary-General, Baroness Scotland, has failed to speak out against these abuses or defend persecuted LGBT+ people. She has failed to uphold the Commonwealth Charter on multiple human rights issues.

    Countries that criminalise LGBT+ people should be suspended from the Commonwealth.

    The Commonwealth: sort it out

    The protest calls on all Commonwealth governments to:

    • Decriminalise same-sex relations.
    • Prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
    • Enforce laws against hate crimes to protect LGBTQ+ people.
    • Engage in dialogue with LGBT+ organisations.

    The six Commonwealth countries that impose life imprisonment for same-sex acts are Bangladesh, Guyana, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, and Uganda.

    Featured image via the Peter Tatchell Foundation

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Met Police admit they’re there to protect pro-Israel protesters – just as Lord Walney is mouthing off again

    The British police don’t just serve the interests of the political establishment. They also serve genocidal war criminals from abroad, and they’re openly admitting it. But however many peaceful protesters they imprison and intimidate, they cannot stop the modern-day suffragettes, as recent days have shown.

    Political policing in the service of Israeli war criminals

    This weekend, a Met Police inspector made it clear that supporters of war criminal colonial power Israel would be safe from persecution while people protesting against the apartheid state’s genocide in occupied Palestine would not:

    Amid the genocide in Gaza, the state has ramped up its intimidation of protesters and journalists in Britain who oppose genocide, including Jewish people and even Holocaust survivors. But the deployment of police apparatus in the service of a genocidal foreign power has seen arguably worse brutality elsewhere in the West, from the US to Germany (the two main arms suppliers to Israel from 2020 to 2024). Just this weekend, for example, we could see German police punching women marching in solidarity with Palestine:

    https://twitter.com/DropSiteNews/status/1898481083424890942

    You won’t see that in the British mainstream media, though. Because they have been helping to manufacture the idea that Britain’s fine, despite its government’s repression of peaceful protest and shilling for genocidal war criminals. Instead, you’ll see the press platforming establishment lobbyists no one asked to hear.

    Keep crying, shills

    John Woodcock – aka ‘Lord Walney’ – is a bad smell you just can’t get rid of, however much vinegar, air freshener or bleach you use. The former Labour Friends of Israel chair rallied against Jeremy Corbyn from within the Labour Party until his 2018 suspension over sexual harassment allegations, which pushed him to leave. He proudly supported war criminals and railed against the left, even backing Boris Johnson. Then, he received the reward of a peerage and an advisory ‘anti-extremist‘ role, despite having no relevant experience.

    The fossil fuel, arms trade, and pro–Israel lobbyist cried that the British state wasn’t paying enough attention to suppressing the left, despite decades of secretive police units infiltrating about 1,000 primarily left-wing organisations that posed no threat to the public. He also argued Britain should treat “environmental campaigns; anti-racism; anti-government protest; anti-Israel activism and anti-fascism” as terrorist causes. In short, he’s exactly the kind of establishment voice that would have called the suffragettes terrorists.

    But despite Woodcock eventually losing his job, the media keeps giving him a platform. The man who has cried more about paint on buildings than internationally recognised war crimes that have murdered over 17,000 children since 2023 whined on TV this weekend about the funding and organisation skills of Palestine Action. The latter, which has bravely continued to oppose Britain’s links to Israeli crimes despite state repression, responded by highlighting Woodcock’s lack of credibility on that topic:

    The modern-day suffragettes give us hope. And hope is a powerful driver of change.

    So many people around Britain and the world know that Israel’s atrocities in Palestine are wrong. We know Western support for them must stop. But pro-Israeli propagandists like Woodcock attack us to make us passive through fear of what will happen if we resist. As Chomsky has written:

    from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.

    But he has also said:

    Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so

    And that’s why Palestine Action has so much momentum and widespread support right now. Because its principled fight for humanity brings us much-needed hope and energy, along with a belief that we are stronger than we may think. The future can be better. But we need to get involved and work hard to make that happen.

    Featured image via screengrab

    By Ed Sykes

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Local residents set to march against plans to FRACK for gas UNDER their villages

    Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough are urging residents to join them on a march through Burniston in a show of opposition to Europa Oil & Gas’s plans to drill for gas under local villages.

    Burniston: no gas drilling here

    The event, planned for 22 March, will also mobilise people to register their objections to the application with North Yorkshire Council’s planning committee. It is backed by York City Unison, Parents For Future UK, Scarborough Green Party, York City Unison, Scarborough Unity, Social Justice Party Scarborough, Friends of the Earth, and York Trades Council.

    Europa Oil & Gas has submitted a planning application for a gas well at Burniston, which would use a form of hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) to extract gas from the sandstone beneath the neighbouring village of Scalby.

    The initial application is for a ‘test and appraisal’ well. However, future plans include more wells directed beneath Burniston and Cloughton and twenty years of continuous gas extraction. And this at a time when the climate crisis means we must double down on progress to net zero.

    As the Canary previously reported, fracking is not currently allowed in England. However, Europa is exploiting a loophole to try to push ahead with the Burniston project.

    It will involve a form of fracking known as a ‘proppant squeeze’. Essentially, it’s a process that injects a proppant – a solid material, usually sand – and water slurry into the wellbore. Technically, this isn’t the same procedure that Cuadrilla used at notorious fracking site Preston New Road. This is because it uses less water, and due to the proppant, less pressure to carry out the operation. Ultimately though, the end goal is no different – that is, to fracture the gas-bearing rock.

    Fobbed off with misinformation

    Chris Garforth from Frack Free Coastal Communities said:

    We’re fed up with being fobbed off with misinformation and platitudes from fossil-fuel dinosaurs. The company is playing down residents’ justified concerns about damage to the local rural and coastal environment, the impact of hundreds of heavy goods vehicles on road safety, air and noise pollution, methane leaks, flaring, and the potential for earthquakes and damage to important aquifers. To say nothing of the damage to efforts to keep global warming down to survivable levels.

    John Atkinson from Frack Free Scarborough said:

    We can’t just rely on the planning process to protect us. It’s vital we back up individual objections with a collective show of opposition on the streets and within our organisations. We intend to be a force that can’t be ignored.

    Anyone wanting to object to the planning application can find out more here. There are more details about the march on the Frack Free Coastal Communities and Frack Free Scarborough Facebook pages.

    Featured image via Neil Terry

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Genocide-complicit Allianz hit twice in 24 hours by Palestine Action

    Huge insurance multinational Allianz has been targeted twice in 24 hours by Palestine Action, over its role in facilitating Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

    Allianz: hit twice by Palestine Action

    First, on Sunday 9 March England played against Italy at Allianz’s Twickenham Stadium, in the Six Nations Rugby Tournament. On the 67th minute of the match, a Palestine Action drone appeared above the stadium flying the Palestine flag:

    Unlike the Elbit drones, used to kill and maim Palestinians, our drone came in peace, but with a message for stadium owners Allianz, Elbit’s insurers – demanding Allianz stop insuring Elbit.

    A Palestine Action spokesperson said:

    Without the insurance provided by Allianz, Elbit could not build Israeli weapons in Britain which are tested on Palestinians. The military killer drones made by Elbit come to kill and maim Palestinians, however our drone came with a simple message: Allianz must drop Elbit.

    Then, on Monday 10 March Palestine Action targeted the City of London premises of Allianz as part of an ongoing and escalating campaign against the insurance giants:

    Allianz

    Palestine Action activists scaled the canopy above the entrance and are currently (as of 10:30am) occupying Allianz Commercial, 60 Gracechurch St, City of London:

    They doused the building in red paint to represent the bloodshed of Palestinian people and Allianz’ role in the genocide in Gaza:

    Allianz

    This action comes just weeks after a coordinated wave of action struck 15 premises across Europe as Palestine Action continue to target the supply chains of Elbit Systems.

    Office windows were smashed and buildings were covered in red paint across Britain, Portugal, Germany, and The Netherlands, with an additional 10 actions taking place in October 2024, including a rooftop occupation of their British head office in Guildford.

    Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons producer, provide 85% of Israel’s killer drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as missiles, munitions and digital warfare. Elbit’s quadcopter drones are routinely used to massacre Palestinians in Gaza. Dr Nazim Mamode recalled in Parliament how such drones are used to commit war crimes in Gaza:

    What I found particularly disturbing was that a bomb would drop, maybe on a crowded tented area, and then the drones would come down and pick off civilians, children.

    He went on to explain how he routinely operated on children who would say:

    I was lying on the ground after a bomb had dropped and this quadcopter came down and hovered over me and shot me

    Palestine Action: shutting down Elbit and its supply chain

    Elbit’s business model relies on using Palestinians as test-subjects for their latest weaponry, which is often marketed as “battle-tested” as a result. By providing the legally required ’employers liability’ insurance for Elbit to operate in Britain, Allianz is directly facilitating the production of Israeli weapons.

    Palestine Action’s direct action campaign is focused on shutting down Israeli weapons factories on British soil and targets those who facilitate the deadly trade, including Elbit’s insurers Allianz. The group has already targeted dozens of Allianz’s offices across Britain and Europe, forcing them to temporarily close on several occasions.

    Similar Palestine Action campaigns have resulted in several companies ending their association with Elbit, such as Barclays, lobby firm APCO and shipping giant Kuehne+Nagel.

    This latest hit of Allianz follows confirmation that Barclays have withdrawn all shares in Elbit following similar sustained actions from Palestine Action and other groups last year. Reports suggest that the shares were withdrawn shortly after 20 branches were targeted in one night, leaving many of them closed for weeks. In addition to suppliers withdrawing their commercial support for Elbit, Elbit’s own facilities in Britain have been permanently shut down after repeat targeting by Palestine Action, including the closure of their Tamworth factory in 2024.

    A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:

    By providing insurance, Allianz is directly enabling the production of Israeli weapons in Britain which are “battle-tested” on Palestinians. As all companies who work with Elbit should know by now, Palestine Action’s direct action campaign against them will not cease until their links with the Israeli weapons trade does. Allianz must drop Elbit.

    Featured image and additional images via Direct Action Images

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • What an astonishing weekend of direct action for Palestine

    Saturday 8 March saw two of the most audacious pieces of direct action for Palestine this year so far. In displays of solidarity – as well as calling out those complicit with Israel’s genocide in Gaza – activists took to two locations to make their message loud and clear.

    Donald Trump: fuck off out of Scotland

    First, direct action group Palestine Action struck overnight on 8 March to wreck the ‘Trump Turnberry’ golf course, in response to the US administration’s plans and threats to destroy, ethnically cleanse, and ‘take over’ the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

    After entering the 800-acre resort, activists painted in three-metre-high letters, “GAZA IS NOT FOR SALE” across the lawn of the South Ayrshire course:

    Making the popular opposition to Donald Trump’s intentions clear, activists spray painted the gates:

    They also, perhaps most brilliantly, dug up the greens including the course’s most prestigious holes – used in numerous Open Championships:

    Oh, and Palestine Action also redecorated the club house:

    Last night’s action comes as a direct response to the US administration’s stated intent to ethnically cleanse Gaza. Having laid out his plans to “clean out the whole thing” and forcibly displace its population, the US president last week published an AI video advertising his plans for the Strip, which included himself and the genocidaire Netanyahu, shirtless, drinking at the ‘Trump Gaza’ resort.

    The proposed ethnic cleansing of Gaza and the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population would constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. And while Trump threatens to kill all of Gaza’s two million population – “To the People of Gaza: A beautiful Future awaits, but not if you hold Hostages. If you do​​​​​​​, you are DEAD” – his administration is, simultaneously, preparing its plans for Israeli annexation of the Palestinian West Bank.

    Palestine Action: Trump’s property is not safe

    A spokesperson from Palestine Action said:

    Palestine Action rejects Donald Trump’s treatment of Gaza as though it were his property to dispose of as he likes. To make that clear, we have shown him that his own property is not safe from acts of resistance. We will continue to take action against US-Israeli colonialism in the Palestinian homeland.

    The action comes shortly after the Trump administration signed off on the shipment of 40,000 bombs to Israel, including thousands of the bunker-buster bombs of the type which have been used to “vaporise” dozens of Palestinians in single attacks.

    Trump’s previous term saw him draw ever-closer links with Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons company and Palestine Action’s primary target, relying on them heavily for maintaining his militarised US-Mexico border wall. As a final favour to his partners, one of the last acts of his first term was ensuring that Elbit Systems of America was able to complete a legally-dubious takeover of a naval technology firm.

    Then, shortly after the world woke up to the trashing of Donald Trump’s Scottish golf course by Palestine Action, a lone Palestine protestor climbed up the British Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower, atop which sits Big Ben.

    What a legend – aloft Big Ben

    While filming his solo action, the protestor ascended to a high ledge, and unfurled his Palestine flag and keffiyeh. He has remained atop his lofty perch, barefoot, shouting to the gathering crowds below, and posting to social media.

    The protestor articulately called for the freedom of political prisoners and condemned the use of counter-terrorism powers against Palestine Action. He loudly voiced support for the Filton 18, Palestine Action activists who were arrested in relation to an action which cost Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems millions in damages.

    While six activists were arrested at the scene of the action, the other 12 were arrested later, in raids by counter-terrorism police, and held and interrogated using special powers. Whilst charged with ordinary offences, they are still accused of having a “terrorism connection”, and are remanded to prison. If they do not get bail, some may be detained for two years before trial.

    “While they’ve got our political prisoners locked-up, I’m staying up here” the climber said, while a crowd of fellow Palestine supporters gathered beyond the police cordon to shout words of encouragement and support. He added later:

    Stop the weaponisation of terrorism legislation against Palestine Action activists… Free the Filton 18.

    The Filton 18 case has garnered widespread condemnation of the state’s use of the terrorism legislation, including from four UN special rapporteurs.

    We will continue to take direct action for Palestine

    A spokesperson for Palestine Action said:

    We applaud the activist for taking solidarity action, and highlighting the state’s abuse of power against political dissidents.

    We live in extraordinary times, where war criminals roam free, while anti-war protestors are arrested for invented crimes, and anti-Genocide activists spend long periods detained without trial. As our brave comrade has stated, ‘This is the start of fascism’.

    Sadly, the marches and peaceful protests have gone ignored, the bombs keep falling, and Palestinians keep dying, killed by British-manufactured weapons, and with the complicity of British politicians.

    Whatever the level of police state repression, we will continue to use direct action, and escalate our campaign to rid Britain of Israeli arms manufacturers. We salute our brave comrade on the Elizabeth Tower, and all those activists fighting to stop the genocide in Palestine. Free the Filton 18.

    Featured image via the Canary, additional images via Milo Chandler, and video via Hassan Ghani

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Protests in Cyprus and London this weekend over RAF Akrotiri’s complicity with Israel’s genocide

    Activists in London and Cyprus are holding simultaneous protests on Sunday 9 March to demand an end to Britain’s involvement in Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.

    The protests will highlight Britain’s direct participation in the genocide of the Palestinian people through its colonial Royal Air Force (RAF) bases in Cyprus, particularly RAF Akrotiri, where surveillance flights are being conducted and weapons and soldiers are being transported in support of Israel’s actions.

    RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus: enabling Israel’s genocide

    The decisions to provide arms and intelligence to Israel are made by the UK Ministry of Defence in London and carried out at RAF Akrotiri, a key military installation in Cyprus. Organizers are calling attention to the fact that these actions are being taken against the will of the people in both the UK and Cyprus, and are contributing to the ongoing terror in Gaza.

    “If Palestine has taught us anything, it’s that true liberation comes through unity and resilience in the face of struggle. That’s why people in Cyprus and Britain are rising together against the remnants of colonialism, standing strong against the presence of the British bases in Cyprus. Our struggle is not isolated; it is part of a shared fight against imperialism and oppression everywhere” explained a spokesperson for Genocide-Free Cyprus.

    Protest Details:

    London Protest
    Date & Time: 9 March 2025 | 1:30-3:30pm
    Location: Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, London SW1A2HB, United Kingdom

    Cyprus Protest
    Date & Time: 9 March 2025 | 3:30-5:30pm
    Location: RAF Akrotiri, Akrotiri Airfield, Limassol, Cyprus

    Protesters will gather with banners and placards to demand that British military installations, including RAF Akrotiri, cease their involvement in supporting Israel’s military operations. The rallying cry of the protest will be: #BASESOFFCYPRUS, calling for an immediate end to the use of Cyprus-based RAF facilities in the conflict.

    “We are here to demand that the UK stop facilitating the genocide against the Palestinian people,” said one of the protest organizers. “The British government’s complicity, through military support and intelligence sharing, must end. We will not stand by as the UK enables the oppression of the Palestinian people.”

    The protests are being organized by local and international groups advocating for Palestinian rights and calling for accountability from the British government.

    Featured image supplied

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Just Stop Oil slams the UK justice system as ‘mass appeal’ of 16 activists ends in whitewash

    A key legal test over the right to protest has culminated in a verdict at the Court of Appeal today. A judge has today ruled that some of the original sentences handed down to 16 climate crisis activists were “manifestly excessive” and did not comply with human rights laws. However, Just Stop Oil has reacted angrily – saying the UK justice system has been “captured” by the rich and powerful.

    Just Stop Oil mass appeal: piecemeal changes

    The mass-appeal hearing for the 16 Just Stop Oil activists, which took place over two days last month, has resulted in sentence reductions for the following six protesters (ages are those at the date of the incidents in question):

    • The Whole Truth Five’ – Roger Hallam (aged 58; sentenced to five years; reduced to four years), Cressida Gethin (aged 20; four years; reduced to 2.5 years), Louise Lancaster (aged 57; four years reduced to three years), Daniel Shaw (aged 36; four years; reduced to three years) and Lucia Whittaker De Abreu (aged 33; four years; reduced to 2.5 years). All had been convicted of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance, for planning nonviolent disruption on the M25 to stop the granting of new oil and gas licences.
    • Gaie Delap (20 months; reduced to 18 months); Ms Delap was 75 years old at the time and was convicted of public nuisance for her involvement in the M25 protest.

    The sentences of 10 other protesters involved in the conjoined appeal were not reduced:                                                    

    • ‘M25 Gantries’– George Simonson (aged 22; two years), Theresa Higginson (aged 24; two years), Paul Bell (aged 22; 22 months), and Paul Sousek (aged 71; 20 months). Along with Ms Delap, they had participated in the action planned by the Whole Truth Five (above), by climbing onto gantries over the M25.
    • ‘Navigator Tunnellers’ – Larch Maxey (aged 50; three years), Chris Bennett (aged 31; 18 months), Samuel Johnson (aged 39; 18 months) and Joe Howlett (aged 32; 15 months) occupied tunnels dug under the road leading to the Navigator Oil Terminal in Thurrock, Essex.
    • ‘Sunflowers’ – Phoebe Plummer (aged 21; two years) and Anna Holland (aged 20; 20 months). They had thrown soup on the glass protecting Van Gogh’s Sunflowers painting.

    Captured by the wealthy

    Just Stop Oil has issued the following statement:

    The British Courts have been captured, lock, stock and barrel by the powerful, by the ultra wealthy, by those who can not see beyond business as usual. These Judges would be sending those who hid Anne Frank to the cattle trucks while hiding behind ‘the rule of law’.

    To consider what the Just Stop Oil 16 have done without considering the horror of a heating world, of billions dying in the coming decades, without recognising that our current economic system risks ending the rule of law and ordered civil society is frankly immoral. Today’s ruling is another nail in the crucifixion of Justice.

    Just Stop Oil recognises the courage of the many hundreds of ordinary people who have been tried and imprisoned over the last three years, many routinely denied any legal defence and the reasons why they acted considered neither ‘here nor there’ by the court. We recognise and honour the sacrifice of those who are still in prison, and those facing court cases that could end in imprisonment.

    The protesters’ legal arguments were supported by the environmental justice organisations Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK, who had permission to intervene specifically in the sentencing appeal of the ‘Whole Truth Five’.

    The UK: world-beating in authoritarianism

    Hundreds of people gathered outside the court across both days of the hearing in January in a show of solidarity with the appellants. This included TV presenter Chris Packham and the actor Juliet Stevenson, and campaign groups Amnesty International, Liberty and Not1More were among those who joined calls for leniency with regard to peaceful protest. The great-granddaughter of famed suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, Helen Pankhurst, shared her support for the 16 activists ahead of the appeal.

    Research published in December found that Britain leads the world in cracking down on climate activism, with environmental protesters arrested at nearly three times the global average rate. Until recent changes to the law were brought in by the former government, it was virtually unheard of for peaceful protest to result in jail time.

    Speaking to the Financial Times at the time of the hearing, UN special rapporteur for environmental defenders, Michel Forst, said that “Disproportionate sanctions for protests… have a significant adverse impact on the most fundamental freedoms.” He added that these are not felt just by those “personally criminalised” for protesting, but for all who’d like to participate in protest actions that are then deterred for fear of punishment. This same argument was made by Friends of the Earth in their submissions to the court.

    Katie de Kauwe, senior lawyer at Friends of the Earth, said:

    Supreme Court judge Lord Hoffmann once ruled that civil disobedience on conscientious grounds has a long and honourable history in this country. We welcome the point of principle in today’s ruling that sentencing for peaceful protest needs to factor in both the defendant’s conscientious motivation, and protections afforded under the European Convention of Human Rights. This is a positive development for the environmental movement as a whole, and for all peaceful movements holding the government to account.

    Friends of the Earth is pleased that the Court of Appeal has reduced at least some of the climate activists’ sentences. Ultimately however, we believe that locking up those motivated by their genuine concern for the climate crisis is neither right or makes any sense – and at a time when our prisons are so grossly overcrowded.

    Friends of the Earth is proud to have supported the climate activists in their pursuit of justice. We urge the government to repeal the raft of regressive anti-protest legislation brought in by its predecessors to curb dissent and set about restoring the UK’s reputation as a tolerant country.

    Just Stop Oil: this isn’t over

    Areeba Hamid, co-executive director at Greenpeace UK, said:

    Despite some modest reductions, these sentences are still unprecedented and they still have no place in a democracy that upholds the right to protest.

    This appeal has led to some important clarifications and a recognition that the trial judge was mistaken in denying the protestors the protection of certain legal rights and in discounting the conscientious nature of their motivations.

    But this ruling will not halt, let alone reverse, the UK’s slide towards authoritarianism that began under the last government but is being enthusiastically embraced by this one. Even the most everyday protests, marches and rallies organised in cooperation with the police, are being demonised and blocked. If you care about anything any corporation or anyone in a position of power is doing, or should be doing, you should be incredibly concerned about your freedom to speak out. If you don’t raise your voice now, you may lose it forever.

    Featured image supplied

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is facing protests this weekend

    Groups fighting for the rights of mothers and their children will be out in force this weekend – protesting against the draconian Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

    Support Not Separation: fighting the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

    Support Not Separation is fighting to stop the brutal and arbitrary separations of children from their mums and families and for recognition of the mother/child bond.

    It is opposing the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill currently going through parliament. The Bill will further undermine mothers and children and their right to be together. The full text of the Bill is here. Support Not Separation has given detailed evidence to the Public Bill Committee – see here.

    The group is outraged that the tragic murder of Sara Sharif is being used to increase state powers over children – the very powers that led social workers and the family court to take Sara from her mother and give her to a father they knew to be violent.

    The first public protests against the Bill are taking place this weekend (around International Women’s Day) in six cities. You can join any of these protests. The main London event, in Parliament Square (SW1A 2AA). is from 11am-2pm on Saturday 8 March.

    Not the answer

    At a time when there are more children in “care” than ever before, when over 4.3m children live in poverty and can be taken into care when mums are accused of “neglect”, when the “outcomes” for care leavers are so disastrous, and when mums and kinship carers are impoverished while Councils give millions to private companies running residential homes for profit, the government should be prioritising support to mothers and families to keep children safe.

    It could begin by putting Section 17 of the Children Act (which can provide support to struggling families) on a mandatory footing, instead of leaving it up to Local Councils.

    Ignoring all the evidence, this Bill would extend the control of the “corporate parent” over all children’s lives and do nothing to address the crisis of poverty, the neglect of children with SEND by the education system, or the massive expansion of the privatised child removal industry.

    Overarching concerns

    Support Not Separation is opposed to this Bill because it aims to:

    Extend the powers of professionals over all aspects of children’s and families lives. Children do not need multi-agency “child protection” staffed by more professionals spying on their mothers. (Clause 2).

    Introduce a “consistent identifier” (a name or number) for each child from birth. This takes state monitoring to an unprecedented degree as if children belong to the state rather than to their mother and families. A similar proposal in Scotland was ruled illegal by the Supreme Court because it breached the right to “private and family life”. (Clause 4).

    Authorise children subject to Deprivation of Liberty orders to be housed in alternative placements beyond just a secure children’s home. This risks expanding the number of children placed in unregulated homes where they are even more likely to be abused and neglected with impunity. (Clause 10).

    Cap profits made by private providers rather than outlaw for-profit provision. (Clauses 14 and 16).

    Greatly restrict the right to home education which would particularly affect children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) who are most likely to be failed by mainstream education – the Bill does not address any of the problems with SEND. Refusing to allow children to be home educated is discriminatory and unfair. (Clauses 24-29).

    Allow social workers compulsory home visits and right to enter children’s homes without permission; where refused, a legal order will be made which could result in prison or the power to make life-changing decisions relating to the health of your child without parental consent.

    Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill: draconian

    As the Bill goes through Parliament the group will be lobbying against it by writing to MPs and peers, speaking to the press, and letting the public know that far from protecting children, the Bill would make the lives of children and families harder and breach their human rights.

    As London Daily News reported, there are various ways you can get involved:

    • Write to your MP and express your concerns.
    • Spread the word on social media using #ChildrensWellbeingBill #AreYouListeningNow.
    • Attend rallies and protests to stand against government overreach in education.

    Links to the UK protests on 8 March can be found here.

    Featured image supplied

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The corporate media ignored a protest against Labour right outside PMQs yesterday

    As the usual pantomime of political posturing that is Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) proceeded inside the House, climate campaigners pitched up outside parliament. They were there to call on prime minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party government to finally put a stop to the climate-wrecking Rosebank fossil fuel project.

    Rosebank: a climate disaster struck down in the courts

    Campaigners have previously estimated that the enormous Rosebank 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 September 2023, the UK’s oil and gas regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA), granted the license for Equinor and Ithaca Energy to develop the notorious Rosebank oil and gas field.

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

    And overturn this it did. In January, the Court of Session in Edinburgh sided with the climate campaigners. It ruled that the decision to permit Rosebank was indeed unlawful. Notably, this was because the companies overseeing it hadn’t taken into account its downstream emissions – those from combustion of the oil and gas it would produce.

    This means that the ultimate decision over Rosebank now sits with the government. It’s why climate campaigners have now set off a weekly round of action to call on it to ditch the destructive project indefinitely.

    PMQs gets the Fossil Free London treatment

    On Wednesday 5 March, campaigners from Fossil Free London set up shop outside Parliament. While politicians grilled the prime minister in PMQs, Fossil Free London were there to hold Starmer’s feet to the fire over Rosebank.

    Protesters raised placards with the common sense arguments to reject the project:

    Campaigners adorned in roses hold placards with Big Ben in the background. These read from left to right, top to bottom: "500m barrels of oil & gad burnt = UK fails its climate targets", "No future in UK oil & gas = jobs halved in last decade but renewables up 29%", "Rosebank's development will be mainly (84%) paid for by us while Equinor profits", "Equinor owns Rosebank = oil will be sold for profit on international market", "Rosebank = climate disaster", "Rosebank doesn't protect workers", "Rosebank will cost us money", and "Rosebank won't lower our bills". The final poster to the right displays the Labour Party rose logo dripping in oil with the caption "Stop Rosebank - no new oil".

    Some of these revolved around the simple fact that the project would do nothing to lower people’s energy bills. This is because the international energy market means that most of its oil will end up exported elsewhere. Therefore, it won’t meet demand in the UK and bring down prices.

    Instead then, the project is a boon for Big Oil, because it’s Equinor and Ithaca that will profit from it:

    Climate campaigners with roses in their hair raise red and white placards reading: "No future in UK oil & gas = jobs halved in last decade but renewables up 29%", "Rosebank's development will be mainly (84%) paid for by us while Equinor profits", "Equinor owns Rosebank = oil will be sold for profit on international market", "Rosebank = climate disaster", "Rosebank doesn't protect workers", "Rosebank will cost us money", and "Rosebank won't lower our bills".

    One protester held up the Labour Party’s rose logo dripping with oil:

    Campaigners adorned in roses hold placards with Parliament in the background. These read from left to right, top to bottom: "500m barrels of oil & gad burnt = UK fails its climate targets", "No future in UK oil & gas = jobs halved in last decade but renewables up 29%", "Rosebank's development will be mainly (84%) paid for by us while Equinor profits", "Equinor owns Rosebank = oil will be sold for profit on international market", "Rosebank = climate disaster", "Rosebank doesn't protect workers", "Rosebank will cost us money", and "Rosebank won't lower our bills". The final poster to the right displays the Labour Party rose logo dripping in oil with the caption "Stop Rosebank - no new oil".

    Roses are red, but Labour’s are (Tory) blue…

    While the courts were clear on the project’s unlawfulness, what the Labour Party government will now do is far from certain.

    Technically, the government’s manifesto promise to end new oil and gas licenses wouldn’t automatically extend to Rosebank. This is because there’s a catch. Specifically, it doesn’t apply to projects the previous Conservative government had already permitted. Now, although the courts have ruled its environmental permits null and void legally speaking, it doesn’t mean that Labour won’t still use this gaping loophole to let Equinor and Ithaca pursue the project.

    What’s more, as the Canary has pointed out before, Labour has repeatedly openly assured the two fossil fuel supermajors that it’d facilitate Rosebank.

    First, in September 2023, Starmer committed to honour the licences for it from the Conservative government if Labour were elected.

    Then, at the Labour Party conference in October that year, shadow decarbonisation minister Sarah Jones confirmed this again during a fringe event that fossil fuel-packed industry body Offshore Energy UK (OEUK) had sponsored. Crucially, OEUK had lobbied for the Rosebank project.

    It’s little wonder then that the government is now split over this. As the Guardian reported in February, there’s division between energy secretary Ed Miliband, and chancellor Rachel Reeves over the way forward. As it reported:

    The energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has previously described the licence issued to Rosebank as “climate vandalism” – setting up a potential major clash between his department and the Treasury.

    Reeves is understood to be supportive of a new application for environmental consent, with allies suggesting that would not violate Labour’s manifesto, which promised not to issue new exploration licences, but not to cancel ones that have already been issued.

    Now then, only time will tell whether the Labour government will heed the repeated recommendation of its independent advisory body the Climate Change Committee that no new oil and gas is needed. And more to the point, whether it will recognise the Rosebank North Sea project should be included in this.

    In the meantime, Fossil Free London will continue holding Keir Starmer’s feet to the fire outside Parliament. From now on, they plan to turn up every week during PMQs until he delivers on ditching Rosebank for good.

    Featured image and additional images via Fossil Free London

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Million Women Rise to march against male violence towards women and girls

    Million Women Rise are gearing up for their annual march on this Saturday 8th March. The group will be marching in central London on International Women’s Day – but this is a group with a key difference. On their website, they write:

    The march and other MWR activities are led and organised by Black women for ALL women. We recognise the interconnectedness of systems of oppression. We work together to create safe spaces, free from fascism, discrimination and hate.

    Feminist groups that advocate and organise against male violence can be dominated by cis, white, and middle class women. Million Women Rise make it clear that they’re working with an intersectional approach:

    When we demand  an end to men’s violence against us, this includes calling for the dismantling of all oppressive structures that promote and facilitate everything from misogynoir through to ableism.

    Million Women Rise: violence in statistics

    Million Women Rise explain that one in four women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. However, amongst these vital statistics is another heartbreaking consideration:

    The statistics below only give the “official” picture in England and Wales. Many victims/survivors do not report their experiences to state agencies. This mean that the data does not show the true scale of violence.

    Many people are violently coerced into not reporting their experiences. Even then, a diversity of experiences of violence means women will have wide-ranging differences in the kind of help they need:

    Services such as specialist Black/Global majority women’s services, Rape Crisis Centres and Women’s Aid refuges are a lifeline for many victim/survivors. The numbers of women and children being supported in this way is not presented in the “official” data.

    Instead, Million Women Rise emphasise that they’re also marching for people who have no choice but to suffer silently:

    While their experiences are not part of the “numbers”, we hold their truths in our hearts.

    Intersectional concerns

    Disabled women are often a group that is lost in statistics. The Office on Women’s Health writes:

    Research suggests that women with disabilities are more likely to experience domestic violence, emotional abuse, and sexual assault than women without disabilities. Women with disabilities may also feel more isolated and feel they are unable to report the abuse, or they may be dependent on the abuser for their care. Like many women who are abused, women with disabilities are usually abused by someone they know, such as a partner or family member.

    Recent research from the World Health Organisation suggests that older women and disabled women are most at risk for sexualised violence.

    In order to understand, never mind address, the way that male violence against disabled people is deployed we need a much broader understanding of barriers to care. Disabled people are more likely to be poor – and intersections therein are common. Disability services often cater largely to white disabled people and disregard the specific needs of disabled people of colour.

    Whilst organisations that offer support to people who’ve suffered male violence are already underfunded, this is further compounded when it comes to organisations that cater to a more specific group. For example, disability services are also stretched when it comes to resources and underfunding. But, when a disabled person of colour experiencing sexualised violence needs support, they can’t separate out the parts of themselves that need support to the relevant source of help.

    Million Women Rise: come together

    Million Women Rise are demanding and taking space for all kinds of women. Black women, disabled women, trans women, Muslim women, are a part of this movement. There isn’t always a neat way to articulate all the different parts of someone’s identity that fundamentally change experiences of male violence. It should, in fact, be a given that somebody who is a trans disabled woman of colour is more likely to experience sexualised violence, and needs to have the support they require. That’s something which is the responsibility of institutions, organisations, and each of us.

    Catering just, or primarily, for cis, white, able-bodied, middle class people shuts out so many people. The more specific the care, organising, and advocacy we can put out into the world, the more all of us benefit.

    The march will set off from Duke Street on Saturday 8th March at 12pm, culminating in a rally at 3:00pm in Trafalgar Square – more information here. 

    Featured image supplied

    By Maryam Jameela

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • EMERGENCY PROTEST TONIGHT: Stop Trump and Ukraine Solidarity Campaign

    Protesters will gather outside the US Embassy in London today (Wednesday 5 March) from 5.30pm to protest against Donald Trump’s policies towards Ukraine. It comes as a petition organised by campaign group Stop Trump hits over 100,000 signatures.

    Stop Trump: protest TONIGHT

    The protest is organised by the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign and supported by Stop Trump Coalition, Ukrainian community organisations, and other campaign groups.

    Speakers at the demonstration will include

    • John McDonnell MP
    • Nadia Whittome MP
    • Zoe Gardner (Stop Trump Coalition)
    • Yuliya Yurchenko
    • Caroline Russell AM, Leader, City Hall Greens group
    • Luke Cooper (Another Europe is Possible)
    • Vicky Blake (UCU union)
    • Beverey Laidlaw (PCS union)
    • Simon Weller (ASLEF union)

    The protest assembles outside the embassy at 33 Nine Elms Lane, SW11 7US (Vauxhall).

    On Friday, Volodymyr Zelensky – the Ukrainian President – met with US president Donald Trump to sign an agreement which would give the US access to Ukraine’s reserves of rare minerals.

    We all watched the Oval Office in horror, as Trump and JD Vance turned the meeting into a fiery exchange. The entire thing collapsed, and Zelensky left without a deal. Since then, Trump has made no effort to backtrack – instead, cancelling all US weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

    So, the protest tonight is in response to that – but also a broader discontent with Trump and the UK’s appeasement of him.

    100k people say ‘no’ to a state visit

    The Stop Trump Coalition has, in tandem to the protest, organised a petition over Trump’s state visit to the UK. The “Cancel Trump’s state visit” petition has reached over 100,000 signatories.

    Spokesperson Zoe Gardner said:

    This shows that with Trump, flattery ultimately gets you nowhere. The promise of a state visit has completely failed to keep Trump on side.

    Now it would be nothing but a parade of honour for a man who is betraying the people of Ukraine.

    It is time to cancel this shameful state visit.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Trump’s Protest Threat Reflects Belief That Free Speech Belongs to Some

     

    In The Dawn of Everything, David Graeber and David Wengrow note that the Western notion of freedom derives from the Roman legal tradition, in which freedom was conceived as “the power of the male household head in ancient Rome, who could do whatever he liked with his chattels and possessions, including his children and slaves.”

    Because of this, “freedom was always defined—at least potentially—as something exercised to the cost of others.”

    You have to understand this notion of freedom—that to be free, you have to make someone else less free—to make sense of the idea that Donald Trump is a champion of “free speech.”

    NYT: A Theory of Media That Explains 15 Years of Politics

    Ezra Klein (New York Times, 2/25/25) thought Martin Gurri’s argument that “maybe Trump is building something more stable, creating a positive agenda that might endure….was worth hearing out.”

    This is, unfortunately, not a fringe idea. Last week, the New York Times (2/25/25) ran a long interview Ezra Klein did with Trump-supporting intellectual (and former CIA officer) Martin Gurri, who said his main reason for voting for Trump was that “I felt like he was for free speech.” “Free speech is a right-wing cause,” Gurri claimed.

    Trump is the “free speech” champion who said of a protester at one of his rallies during the 2016 campaign (Washington Post, 2/23/16): “I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that…? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”

    Trump sues news outlets when he doesn’t like how they edit interviews, or their polling results (New York Times, 2/7/25). Before the election, future Trump FBI Director Kash Patel (FAIR.org, 11/14/24) promised to “come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens, who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections…. Whether it’s criminally or civilly, we’ll figure that out.” Trump’s FCC chair is considering yanking broadcast licenses from networks for “news distortion,” or for letting Kamala Harris have a cameo on Saturday Night Live (FAIR.org, 2/26/25).

    Nonetheless, Trump is still seen by many as a defender of free speech, because he sticks up for the free speech of people whose speech is supposed to matter—like right-wingers who weren’t allowed to post content that was deemed hate speech, disinformation or incitement to violence on social media platforms. As the headline of a FAIR.org piece (11/4/22) by Ari Paul put it, “The Right Thinks Publishers Have No Right Not to Publish the Right.” Another key “free speech” issue for the right, and much of the center: people who have been “canceled” by being criticized too harshly on Twitter (FAIR.org, 8/1/20, 10/23/20).

    ‘Agitators will be imprisoned’

    Donald J. Trump: All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

    Trump (Truth Social, 3/4/25), of course, does not have the power to unilaterally withhold funds that have been authorized by Congress.

    Now Trump (Truth Social, 3/4/25) has come out with a diktat threatening sanctions against any educational institution that tolerates forbidden demonstrations:

    All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS!

    The reference to banning masks is a reminder that, for the right, freedom is a commodity that belongs to some people and not to others. You have an inalienable right to defy mask mandates, not despite but mainly because you could potentially harm someone by spreading a contagious disease—just as you supposedly have a right to carry an AR-15 rifle. Whereas if you want to wear a mask to protect yourself from a deadly illness—or from police surveillance—sorry, there’s no right to do that.

    But more critically, what’s an “illegal protest”? The context, of course, is the wave of campus protests against the genocidal violence unleashed by Israel against Palestinians following the October 7, 2023, attacks (though Trump’s repressive approach to protests certainly is not limited to pro-Palestinian ones).

    On January 30, Trump promised to deport all international students who “joined in the pro-jihadist protests,” and to “cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on college campuses, which have been infested with radicalism like never before.” He ordered the Justice Department to “quell pro-Hamas vandalism and intimidation, and investigate and punish anti-Jewish racism in leftist, anti-American colleges and universities.”

    A federal task force convened by Trump (CNN, 3/3/25) is threatening to pull $50 million in government contracts from New York’s Columbia University because of its (imaginary) “ongoing inaction in the face of relentless harassment of Jewish students,” which has been facilitated, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, by “the censorship and false narratives of woke cancel culture.”

    So the expression of ideas—Palestinian solidarity, US criticism, generic “radicalism”—has to be suppressed, because they lead to, if they do not themselves constitute, “harassment of Jewish students” (by which is meant pro-Israel students; Jewish student supporters of Palestinian rights are frequently targets of this suppression). Those ideas constitute “censorship,” and the way to combat this censorship is to ban those ideas.

    No one is talking about cracking down on students who proclaim “I Stand With Israel,” on the grounds that they may intimidate Palestinian students—even though they are endorsing an actual, ongoing genocide (FAIR.org, 12/12/24). That’s because—in the longstanding Western tradition that Trump epitomizes—free speech is the possession of some, meant to be used against others.

    Featured Image: Demonstration in London in support of a free Palestine (Creative Commons photo: Kyle Taylor).

    This post was originally published on FAIR.

  • After Oxford, Cambridge University just got reminded of its bloody investments in Israel

    In the early hours of 4 March, a group of autonomous students took direct action at Cambridge University in solidarity with Palestine. It was over the university’s investments in Israel. The protest, carried out in collaboration with Palestine Action, involved painting the Old Schools building – the office that manages the University’s Endowment Fund – in blood-red paint:

    Palestine Action Cambridge

    This action follows a similar protest at Oxford University last week, as part of a growing wave of confrontational actions at the UK’s most prestigious universities. The activists demand full disclosure of the University’s investments and the immediate divestment from companies complicit in war crimes and the Israeli apartheid regime.

    Cambridge University: complicit in genocide

    “Each life lost in Palestine is a human being with dreams, loved ones, and a future stolen. As long as the university continues to profit from violence, we will continue to take action in solidarity with Palestinians who endure daily oppression and destruction,” said a spokesperson for the group.

    The Cambridge University action comes on the heels of the high court refusing to grant an injunction to the university – an injunction banning protest – marking a moment of growing momentum against the University’s investments in the Israeli military-industrial complex.

    The group has vowed to escalate direct actions, targeting the university’s financial interests and reputation in their call for full divestment and accountability.

    “Now is the time to act,” the spokesperson continued. “The university must understand that its profits from war crimes will never outweigh the damage done to its reputation and bottom line.”

    Cambridge University boasts major research partnerships with Israeli institutes, while Trinity College at Cambridge is refusing to divest from Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit Systems, despite ongoing protests against its involvement in the US-Israel and Elbit genocide. This refusal follows prior actions, including the spraying of red paint on the Institute for Manufacturing in November, which supports many Israel-supplying arms firms, as well as similar protests at the historical Senate House building in June 2024.

    Trinity College, which held $78,089 in Elbit shares as of the latest disclosures, has faced multiple actions, including the slashing of a portrait of Lord Balfour in March 2024. Despite misleading its students about its investments, Trinity continues to hold these shares.

    Holding institutions to account over Israel and Palestine

    The Cambridge protest is part of an ongoing effort to hold institutions like Cambridge and Oxford accountable for their financial support of systems of violence and oppression. The call for divestment and solidarity with the Palestinian people grows louder, and the momentum for direct action continues to build. Last week, activists also targeted Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, spraying “DROP ELBIT” in response to the university’s refusal to divest from the Israeli arms giant.

    Featured image and additional images via Direct Action Images

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • NZ arms company building linked to Gaza genocide, claim peace activists

    SPECIAL REPORT: By Saige England

    Peace activists who scaled the roof an an international weapons company operating from Christchurch yesterday say the company links New Zealand to the deaths of children in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

    Barricaded by protesters, the building nestled in the outskirts of the city’s suburb of Rolleston, appeared eerie yesterday. Silhouetted on the rooftop two protesters passionately shouted about the deaths of child after child in Gaza.

    They were supported by protesters holding banners and chanting “NIOA supplies genocide”.

    Joseph Bray, one of the fresh-faced Peace Action Ōtautahi activists who scaled the roof, later said the group was protesting against a “sinister company” trying to establish an extensive presence in New Zealand.

    The action which resulted in two arrests, had been undertaken by the concerned citizens after months of planning.

    “The killing of civilians, and especially children, with weapons from the NIOA, should be a cause of extreme concern for the people of Canterbury where NIOA’s headquarters have recently opened,” Bray said.

    Watched in horror
    Globally, people have watched in horror as children who once laughed and played were robbed of life.

    A muscular police squad arrived at the protest with an arrest van and moved in a line towards the protesters, striding over chalk drawings depicted flowers and the names of Palestinian children killed by Israeli snipers.

    Police manhandled John Minto, co-chair of the Palestinian Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA), during the peaceful protest outside the NOIA New Zealand headquarters.

    “Please get your hands off me,” Minto responded.

    A Peace Action Ōtautahi activist at yesterday's NIOA protest
    A Peace Action Ōtautahi activist at yesterday’s NIOA protest with a message for police. Image: PAO/APR

    NIOA is an Australian armaments and munitions company, headquartered in Brisbane, Queensland. Owned by the Nioa family, the company supplies arms and ammunition to the sporting, law enforcement and military markets.

    It supplies weapons to military forces around the globe. In 2023 the global munitions company acquired Barrett Manufacturing, an Australian-owned, US-based manufacturer of firearms and ammunitions.

    According to the company’s website, its weapons are sold to 80 countries across the world.

    ‘More civilian casualties’
    The company’s New Zealand base signals another cause for public concern, said the Peace Action Otautahi spokesperson.

    “If the New Zealand Police force carries arms we can expect to see more civilian casualties.”

    Peace Action Ōtautahi has called for the NIOA to terminate any partnership with the company “Leupold and Stevens,” whose scopes are reportedly used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and implicated in violations of international law, and war crimes, said Bray.

    The group also urges the company to voluntarily evict itself from the premises at 45 Stoneleigh Drive, Rolleston, stating that this proximity to Christchurch jeopardises the title of “Peace City” granted to the city in 2002.

    It seeks the termination of distribution of any product manufactured by Barrett Firearms Manufacturing within New Zealand, a company which NIOA owns and supplies the IDF with three different types of sniper rifles.

    Surgeons in Gaza have testified in court about seeing bullet holes between the eyes, and in the chests of children. IDF snipers have also been seen clambering over rubble to kill children at close range in Gaza and the West Bank.

    Death toll estimated at 64,000 plus
    Analysis by the Lancet medical journal estimates that the death toll in Gaza by end of June 2024 was 64,260, with 59 percent being women and children as well as people aged over 65.

    The Lancet study used death toll data from the Health Ministry, an online survey launched by the ministry for Palestinians to report relatives’ deaths, and social media obituaries to estimate that there were between 55,298 and 78,525 deaths from traumatic injuries in Gaza up to 30 June 2024.

    Reporting on livestream, PSNA’s John Minto said that it was “unconscionable” that New Zealand had allowed a company that produced sniper weapons to Israel’s military — an army responsible for genocide — to operate from the “humble suburbs of Christchurch”.

    “The PSNA 100 percent supports the action by these brave Peace Action activists,” Minto said.

    “We urge all New Zealanders to get behind this and stop this heinous company operating this death chain from our motu, our country.”

    Saige England is a journalist and author, and member of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA).

    Placards at yesterday's NIOA protest
    Placards at yesterday’s NIOA protest in Rolleston, Christchurch. Image: PAO/APR

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • The Climate Choir just delivered a musical message to the Church of England

    A 200-strong flash mob from the Climate Choir Movement surprised visitors and churchgoers at St Paul’s Cathedral on Saturday 1st March by delivering a musical message highlighting the vital role that the Church must play in restoring nature:

    The Climate Choir: in fine voice again

    On Saturday, singers from the Climate Choir Movement, and members of grassroots campaign group Wild Card, joined forces to call on the Church Commissioners, the investment body of the Church of England, to commit to rewilding 30% of their 105,000 acre estate by 2030:

    The UK is in the bottom 10% of nations globally for biodiversity and the Church Commissioners’ land is in a dire ecological state. Largely used for intensive farming, only 3% of the land is wooded, compared with the average of 10%, making it the lowest tree coverage of England’s top ten institutional landowners.

    Holding aloft images of native British species, Climate Choir members from across the UK gathered inside the iconic London landmark to sing a rousing reworked version of All Things Bright and Beautiful:

    Does not nature cry out, For understanding, For restoration, For all creation, For life!

    The new lyrics challenge the Church to demonstrate greater consideration for wildlife.

    Taking place ahead of the United Nations World Wildlife Day on 3 March, the Climate Choir shone a spotlight on the poor state of nature in Britain and the role its biggest landowners need to play in turning this around.

    Landowners have a duty to protect nature

    Wild Card’s campaign calling on the Church Commissioners to rewild their land has generated significant support in the last few months, with over 100,000 members of the public backing the call so far, and many senior church members and church groups calling for change.  The rallying cry for action comes as approval ratings for the Church of England plummet, with just 25% of Britons having a favourable view of the establishment.

    In October, Wild Card held an event outside St Paul’s Cathedral, in which TV presenter and conservationist Chris Packham unveiled a nine-metre long scroll containing a collection of powerful arguments detailing why the Church Commissioners should rewild some of their extensive landholdings.

    Contributions to the 95 Wild Theses (a twist on the original 95 Theses by Martin Luther that kick started the Protestant reformation) were gathered from nearly 100 leading public figures, including former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, broadcaster, actor and writer Stephen Fry, former chair of the IPBES and IPCC Sir Robert T Watson, chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and former Green Party leader Caroline Lucas. The Theses were delivered to the offices of the Church Commissioners and Lambeth Palace.

    Speaking at the event, Wild Card Co-founder Hazel Draper said:

    Hearing the voices of the Climate Choir ring out in support of nature, in one of the world’s most recognisable places of worship, sends a clear message to the Church Commissioners that they must fulfil their moral obligation to protect all creatures great and small.

    The UK is signed up to the United Nations goal of restoring and protecting 30% of land and seas by 2030, but it cannot achieve this without action from the country’s largest landowners. This is where the Church can, and should, be showing leadership.

    Climate Choir: the Church must act

    Dave Mitchell, who sings with the choir and is a leading member of Christian Climate Action, said:

    As Christians we are called by God to care for and nurture all of God’s beautiful creation, the wonderful diversity of life we long to see. The Bible is clear about humanity’s role, we are to work in harmony with nature. However the UK is amongst the most nature depleted areas in the world.

    The Church of England is one of the top ten landowners in the UK, therefore we have a clear God-given responsibility to rewild the vast areas of church land, to help restore nature back to the amazing diversity it was intended for.

    Emeritus Professor Rupert Read, a Quaker and spiritual teacher, who is co-editor of Deep Adaptation: Navigating the Realities of Climate Chaos, said:

    The Church must offer moral and spiritual leadership, at this potentially dire moment for humanity and all Creation. Rewilding would be a great contribution, modelling, for all institutional landowners, what needs to be done.

    I was delighted to take part in today’s peaceful and beautiful singing, to highlight the importance of this change.

    Featured image and additional images via Andrea Domeniconi, and video via Jemma Ridley

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The Zionist lobby are now trying to get pro-Palestinian book launches shut down

    On the evening of Wednesday 26 February, protesters led by the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) marched into Camden Town Hall and occupied the building’s lobby for over an hour. This followed a decision by the charity King’s Cross Brunswick Neighbourhood Association (KCBNA) to cancel the RCG’s booking for a public launch of the book Ghassan Kanafani: Selected Political Writings which was due to take place that evening in the Chadswell Healthy Living Centre, a community venue run by KCBNA. The decision came after pressure from the Zionist lobby.

    Zionist lobby now trying to stop… book launches…

    Camden Council is the freeholder of Chadswell and one of KCBNA’s key funders. Another venue booked for the RCG’s book launch meeting, in Islington, had also cancelled the group’s booking after a visit from the police who warned they would post officers ‘outside the book launch to monitor the situation’.

    On the day of the meeting, the book launch organisers received a call from Labour Councillor and KCBNA Executive Director Nasim Ali to warn that he had been under pressure from Camden Council to cancel the booking due to concerns over the advertised guest speakers at the event: Dr Louis Brehony, one of the book’s editors; and Charlotte Kates, co-ordinator of Samidoun, the Palestine Prisoner Solidarity Network.

    Online trolls including the notorious Zionist X/Twitter account @Habibi_UK had demanded the police and Camden Council intervene to stop the event, claiming falsely that ‘Samidoun is a front for the PFLP terrorist group’. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) is not a proscribed terrorist organisation in Britain.

    An email seen by the RCG, from Camden’s Director of Equalities and Community Strength Hanad Mohamed to Ali, read:

    We have been made aware of an event being planned for this evening with guest speakers Louis Brehony and Charlotte Kates.

    We are writing to you to request that this event does not go ahead this evening.

    As a Council, we have a statutory obligation to ensure good relations between our ethnic and religious groups.

    Based on research, we believe there is a significant risk that speakers this evening may say something that will be contrary to our statutory obligations and our values. We look for the organisations that we fund to share these values with us.

    Not having it

    After Ali informed the RCG that the booking was cancelled, the organisers of the book launch gathered the attendees outside Chadswell and marched with banners and Palestine flags to Camden Town Hall where they entered the building lobby and held a protest:

    Zionist

    The crowd of around 40 protestors was addressed by Louis Brehony and Charlotte Kates over video link on a PA system. It coincided with a 7pm Camden Council Cabinet meeting which was disrupted by the protest.

    As Brehony noted in his address:

    Ghassan Kanafani was murdered 52 and a half years ago, but still it’s remarkable that [his] message continues to be an object of erasure and silence.

    Kates spoke against censorship:

    They want to divide us by listing Palestinian resistance organisations as so-called “terrorist organisations”… in Britain today the Terrorism Act is being used to impose state terror on the population so people will be silenced and frightened of speaking in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

    The crowd cheered as Kates announced that 620 Palestinian prisoners were being released on the same night as the book launch in a prisoner exchange deal between the Israeli state and the Palestinian resistance.

    Protesters then unfurled a banner outside the building reading ‘Isolate the Zionist state – sanctions now’. They chanted slogans including ‘free Palestine from the river to the sea’ and ‘Camden Council: blood on your hands!’

    Zionist lobby tried to stop a book launch so people came out to protest

    Ghassan Kanafani: Selected Political Writings (2024) is published by Pluto Press and is edited by Louis Brehony and Tahrir Hamdi.

    Featured image and additional images supplied

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tesla showroom in London occupied by activists in clear message to Elon Musk

    Far-right miscreant Elon Musk got a taste of the opposition to him in London – as protesters occupied his Tesla showroom over his multiple crimes against people and planet.

    Elon Musk: abolish him and the rest of the billionaires

    At midday on Saturday 1 March, the Tesla showroom in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush was disrupted by Climate Resistance protestors. A massive banner with the demand “Abolish billionaires” was dropped over the Tesla logo from a balcony above as a group of 30 staged a sit-in inside the showroom:

    Security intervened to physically drag protesters from the premises:

    Protesters accuse Tesla’s owner Elon Musk of accelerating the climate crisis through his high-carbon lifestyle and his support for climate crisis-denier Donald Trump:

    Elon Musk Tesla protest

    The disruption took place as part of the new Abolish Billionaires campaign from campaign group Climate Resistance.

    Multiple misdemeanours

    Calling for an end to the billionaire tech bro oligarchy, campaigners demand a 100% wealth tax on assets over £10 million to fund public services and climate action. Over 50% of Brits believe that billionaires should not exist, and three quarters support a wealth tax.

    The protest also pointed to the inhumane mining practices in Congo that Tesla relies on for battery production, as well as Elon Musk’s notorious anti-trade union stances, highlighting that the recently appointed head of DOGE owes his wealth to ruthless exploitation of communities across the world.

    Despite allegations of a toxic company culture, Tesla continues to be the only major car producer in the US that is not unionised and has so far quashed workers’ attempts to change the situation.

    The Trump administration, which Elon Musk has become an infamous part of, has taken steps to undermine global climate action, including withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and ramping up fossil fuel production under the motto “drill, baby, drill”.

    Meanwhile, the super-rich continue to be the chief producers of the world’s carbon emissions: according to Oxfam, it would take one of us in the “bottom 99%” over 1,500 years to match the amount of pollution that the richest billionaires create in a single year.

    Elon Musk Tesla London

    Elon Musk: profiting from misery

    Sam Simons, spokesperson for Climate Resistance, said of the Elon Musk protest:

    The super-rich profit from poverty, torch the planet, and rig the system in their favour — it’s time to tax them out of existence and use that wealth to fund climate action. As fires and floods devastate homes at a higher rate than ever, billionaires like Elon Musk keep fanning the flames of climate breakdown with their toxic investments and high-polluting lifestyles, all the while profiting from poverty. We must tax their billions to fund our futures.

    As the world’s richest man, Elon Musk is the prime example of everything wrong with the global economy. He has built his empire through ruthless exploitation towards an overt fascist oligarchy. Tesla has faced numerous allegations of union-busting, discrimination and dangerous working conditions, and its reliance on cobalt from Congo keeps fueling instability in the region that has resulted in the death and displacement of thousands. The system now rewards Musk with unlimited power he is clearly unfit to hold.

    Featured image and additional images supplied

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Activists scale NZ building in protest against global weapons company

    By Kate Green , RNZ News reporter

    Protesters have scaled the building of an international weapons company in Rolleston, Christchurch, in resistance to it establishing a presence in Aotearoa New Zealand.

    Two people from the group Peace Action Ōtautahi were on the roof of the NIOA building on Stoneleigh Drive, shown in a photo on social media, and banners were strung across the exterior.

    Banners declared “No war profiteers in our city. NIOA supplies genocide” and “Shut NIOA down”.

    In late December, the group hung a banner across the Bridge of Remembrance in a similar protest.

    In 2023, the global munitions company acquired Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, an Australian-owned, US-based manufacturer of firearms and ammunition operating out of Tennessee.

    According to the company’s website, its products are “used by civilian sport shooters, law enforcement agencies, the United States military and more than 80 State Department approved countries across the world”.

    In a media release, Peace Action Ōtautahi said the aim was to highlight the alleged killing of innocent civilians with weapons supplied by NIOA.

    NIOA has been approached for comment.

    Police confirm action
    A police spokesperson said they were aware of the protest, and confirmed two people had climbed onto the roof, and others were surrounding the premises.

    In a later statement, police said the people on the ground had moved. However, the two protesters remained on the roof.

    “We are working to safely resolve the situation, and remove people from the roof,” they said.

    “While we respect the right to lawful protest, our responsibility is to uphold the law and ensure the safety of those involved.”

    Fire and Emergency staff were also on the scene, alongside the police Public Safety Unit and negotiation team.

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

    This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.

  • Rachel Reeves has yet ANOTHER speech interrupted by protesters

    Two protesters opposing new subsidies for Drax Power Station caused chaos during Rachel Reeves keynote speech at the Yorkshire Labour Party Conference, and were forcibly ejected by security.

    Rachel Reeves: propping up planet-wrecking Drax

    The protestors challenged the recent decision by Labour to grant new subsidies from 2027-2031, highlighting the impact of further subsidies estimated to cost £2bn on bill payers amid ongoing energy bill hikes and widespread fuel poverty in the UK.

    The protesters stood up and spoke about the impact on bill payers as well as the harm Drax is doing to forests and communities abroad and highlighted the fact that despite Drax being the UK’s single biggest carbon emitter it has received billions in green subsidies:

    The disruption led to Rachel Reeves pausing her speech whilst protesters were forcibly ejected by security.

    Drax Power Station, located near Selby in Yorkshire, is the world’s biggest woody biomass power station and the UK’s single largest carbon emitter. The company sources from around the world, primarily the US, Canada, and the Baltic States.

    Drax’s wood pellet production sites, predominantly located in environmental justice communities, emit large amounts of pollutants, such as PM10, PM2.5 and VOCs which are linked to respiratory and pulmonary health impacts. Woody biomass is counted as carbon neutral by the UK government, allowing the company to receive renewable energy subsidies (CfDs and ROCs).

    This disruption came just weeks after the government extended subsidies for Drax – contrary to advice from the Climate Change Committee – and Drax announced earnings this week of over £1 billion for 2024. The same week that a protester was found guilty of obstructing a Drax train in 2021, after the judge instructed the jury to ignore their conscience when they were struggling to decide a verdict.

    Labour: in the pockets of lobbyists

    Rosie from campaign group Axe Drax said:

    Labour’s decision to extend subsidies for Drax is an absolute disaster for bill payers, forests, communities suffering Drax’s deadly pollution and our planet. Labour has once again shown that they are on the side of the lobbyists – choosing to hand billions in bill payer money to Drax, who have just announced over £1bn in earnings, whilst slashing winter fuel payments and presiding over yet another energy bill price hike. Rather than funding Drax’s shareholders profits, we desperately need investment in real green energy and climate action that will bring down emissions and bills – like home insulation.

    Sam from the group said:

    We have seen, time and time again, Labour siding with lobbyists and big polluters over the public. Their recent decision to extend Drax’s subsidies means higher energy bills, more forests destroyed, communities polluted and climate chaos. Giving billions more to Drax, the UK’s biggest carbon emitter, whilst slashing pensioners winter fuel payments and seeing millions of people in this country forced to choose between heating and eating as energy bills rise yet again is an absolute disgrace.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.