Waging Nonviolence’s backbone: a round-up of protests and civil resistance actions around the world among people fighting for peace and justice.
Experiments with Truth
Russians protest election results, Californian students march against education cuts, Lakotas block tar sands trucks
- About 20,000 Russians angry over an election campaign slanted in Putin’s favor and reports of widespread violations in Sunday’s voting rallied in Moscow on Monday. Riot police quickly moved in, dispersing the crowd and detaining hundreds of demonstrators.
- Lakotas on Pine Ridge Indian land in South Dakota were arrested as they blockaded tar sands pipeline trucks from entering their territory on Monday.
- Thousands of students and activists marched on the California State Capitol in Sacramento Monday to protest cuts in higher education in an action dubbed “Occupy the Capitol.”
- As U.S. President Barack Obama met with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington Monday, over 100 protesters converged at a park in front the White House, urging the United States not to support a potential Israeli military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
- A dozen female environmental activists in Ecuador were detained inside the Chinese embassy Monday for protesting Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s decision to sign a deal with a Chinese firm to open a massive copper mine in the Amazon.
- On Saturday, over 100 Bulgarian environmentalist staged a protest rally against looming amendments to the Forestry Act.
- On Friday, thousands of Bahrainis launched what they said would be a week of daily sit-in protests in a Shiite village to commemorate an uprising crushed a year ago.
- On Friday, over twenty-five hundred students protested the possible deportation of 18-year-old student and valedictorian Daniela Pelaez at the North Miami Senior High School.
- Several hundred public school students rallied in support of teachers at the offices of Premier Christy Clark at the World Trade Center in Vancouver on Friday.
Thousands protest austerity measures across Europe, Hatians take to streets to remember Aristede, US students protest budget cuts
Students protesting in Valencia. Photo by Nicholas Hegel McClelland for TIME.
- Thousands of demonstrators turned out in European cities on Wednesday to protest against austerity measures. In Spain, students across the country staged sit-ins and noisy demonstrations over crisis spending cuts, labor market reforms and recent police violence against protesters. Meanwhile, unions staged demonstrations in Paris, Athens, Lisbon and Brussels.
- Several thousand supporters of two-time President Jean-Bertrand Aristide filled the streets of Haiti’s capital Wednesday on the eighth anniversary of his ouster, accusing the country’s current leader of not doing enough to improve their lives.
- Students, educators and Occupy Wall Street activists held demonstrations Thursday across California to protest state budget cuts to education, partially shutting down at least one campus, the University of California, Santa Cruz.
- Some University of Florida students gave low grades Thursday to faculty member and state Senate President Mike Haridopolos, filling out evaluations criticizing his support of university budget cuts and taping them to the front of UF’s administration building.
- Dozens gathered outside the Timms Centre at the University of Alberta on Thursday where Nestlé CEO Peter Brabeck-Letmathe was being awarded an honorary degree to protest the company’s efforts to privatize water.
- More than 100 Ohio State students held a protest on Thursday against growing college costs and what they say is increasing administrative pressure to run the university like a business.
- About 200 Arcelor Mittal workers from across Spain protested on Thursday against a decision by the company to close its steel factory in Madrid.
- Around 200 residents of Kenya’s coastal island of Lamu protested on Thursday against a planned huge port to be constructed near the UNESCO-listed isle, accusing the government of ignoring their concerns.
- About 10,000 demonstrators took to the streets Thursday in northern Azerbaijan to protest alleged corruption by a district official.
Millions in India strike, Russian human chain encircles capital, disabled Bolivians launch hunger strike
- Millions of people, including members of the nation’s eleven largest trade unions, took to the streets across India today in a nationwide strike that seeks a remedy to rampant inflation, an end to the privatization of public entities, and increased labor protections — including calls for a social security system and a minimum wage.
- Tens of thousands of Muscovites wearing white ribbons ventured out under a light snow Sunday and formed a human chain along the entire 10-mile Garden Ring Road encircling the city center, creating a festive spectacle like nothing anyone remembers seeing before in the Russian capital.
- Thirteen Tibetans, detained last week for protesting against China in front of the United Nations office in Nepal, started an indefinite hunger strike on Monday to press for their release.
- Actress-turned-eco-warrior Lucy Lawless has been arrested with six Greenpeace activists after the group spent four days protesting aboard an oil-drilling ship docked in New Zealand.
- Dozens of women and young children from Kashmiri refugee camps holding placards inscribed with pro-freedom slogans staged a sit-in and a rally on Sunday to invite attention international community on Kashmir.
- In Pakistan, hundreds of tribesmen Saturday kicked off protests and a two-day sit-in against the U.S. drone attacks outside the Parliament House in Islamabad.
- Critics of the 22-year-old authoritarian rule of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev staged protests in four cities Saturday and were met by overwhelming police forces but little violence.
- Five disabled protesters in Bolivia have begun a hunger strike in their campaign demanding that the government pay an annual subsidy to disabled people. About 1,000 disabled Bolivians and their supporters rallied outside the country’s parliament building on Thursday following a 100-day protest journey to the capital to call for the $700 payment.
Bahrainis rally, Korean celebrities protest, Palestinian ends 66-day hunger strike
- Thousands of Bahrainis gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in the capital, Manama, on Wednesday to demand the immediate release of the country’s top human rights activist. Late Tuesday, a Sunni youth group organized a rally of 20,000 people in central Manama protesting the dialogue between the regime and opposition parties.
- South Korean film, TV and music stars who enjoy massive popularity in China gathered in Seoul on Tuesday to protest China’s forced repatriation of North Korean defectors.
- A Palestinian who fasted for 66 days to protest his detention without charge ended his hunger strike on Tuesday after the Israeli authorities agreed to release him in mid-April, if no major new evidence is brought against him.
- Five demonstrators were arrested on Tuesday for trespassing at a state office in Vancouver, Washington where they were protesting a cut in the paid hours for some in-home care service workers.
- Occupy Wall Street protesters gathered in Harlem Monday to protest what they call mass incarceration of minority men by a racist prison system.
Thousands take to the streets in Spain and Greece, Russians continue Putin protests, Puerto Ricans oppose pipeline
- Hundreds of thousands of people, many waving red and white union flags, protested across Spain on Sunday against sweeping labor market reforms that make it easier to slash pay and lay off workers.
- Hundreds of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators and prison reform activists joined forces outside the gates of a prison in San Quentin, California on Monday to protest high incarceration rates and harsh living conditions.
- Several thousand banner-waving protesters staged rallies in Athens and Thessaloniki to protest budget cuts as Eurozone ministers prepare to approve a new 130-billion-euro bailout for debt-crippled Greece.
- Thousands of Puerto Ricans marched to La Fortaleza, the governor’s residence in San Juan, on Feb. 19 to protest rightwing governor Luis Fortuño’s plan for a 92-mile, $450-million natural gas pipeline cutting through the island.
- Hundreds of Russians protesting against Vladimir Putin drove through Moscow Sunday ahead of the March 4 presidential election expected to seal his grip on power. Meanwhile, Russian protesters set up plastic elephants, toy tigers and Lego men carrying banners against Vladimir Putin’s 12-year rule in the Siberian city of Barnaul, where demonstrations have been banned ahead of the March 4 presidential election.
- A 27-year-old convicted murderer has died while on a hunger strike to protest restrictions on access to health, good food, legal services and other amenities in a segregation unit at a California prison, prison officials said on Friday.
- Some 200 workers at an idled steel plant in northeast France occupied the site Monday, seeking to put their plight on the political map ahead of a presidential election where industrial decline is a central theme.
Iranians silently march, Venezuelans block roads, Indonesians protest extremism
- In Cambodia, more than 500 employees at a shoe factory in the capital’s Dangkor district went on strike on Wednesday morning after managers failed to respond to a list of workers’ demands.
- Hundreds of protesters blocked streets in eastern Venezuela on Wednesday to demand clean water after a recent oil spill polluted rivers and streams that supply local storage tanks.
- Thousands of supporters of Iran’s opposition Green Movement marched silently through the streets of Tehran on Tuesday to urge the Islamic regime to release political prisoners.
- Outside the White House, hundreds of people rallied on Tuesday to protest China’s treatment of Tibet, ethnic Uyghurs and members of the Falun Gong. Alim Seytoff of the Uyghur American Association urged President Obama to pressure Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping on alleged human rights abuses.
- Six Greenpeace protesters were arrested after unfurling a sign in front of the Duke Energy building Wednesday morning, protesting the company’s recently-approved rate hikes.
- In what was billed as a Valentine’s Day message to the state’s lawmakers, hundreds of activists gathered on Tuesday at Alabama’s Statehouse to protest the state’s controversial immigration law.
- Flight attendants and ground workers at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport marched in picket lines Tuesday to protest American Airlines’ plans to outsource jobs and cut pay and benefits under a bankruptcy reorganization.
- Thirteen people were arrested inside the lobby of the AT&T building in Atlanta on Monday during a sit-in to stop the company from laying off 740 union workers across the southeastern United States.
- Some 200 Indonesians converged on a Jakarta square on Tuesday to denounce an Islamic vigilante group known for its armed attacks on minorities and moderates.
Portugese and Greeks protest austerity, Bahrainis march, Japanese demonstrate against nuculear power
- In Portugal, as many as 300,0000 packed Lisbon’s Palace Square on Saturday in the largest rally against austerity and economic hardships since the country resorted to a European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout last May.
- In the largest protest against the government in months, thousands of opposition supporters marched through Manama’s streets today on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Bahrain.
- Braving subzero temperatures, hundreds of thousands of Europeans across the continent took to the streets Saturday, protesting an international trade agreement many say will overrule democratic institutions, jeopardize civil liberties and stifle technological innovation.
- Thousands of protesters massed in Greece under heavy police watch Saturday after the government approved unpopular austerity cuts to get vital rescue funds and avoid the “chaos” of a default.
- Thousands of Japanese joined a march against nuclear power on Saturday as worries grow about the restarting of reactors idled after the March 11th meltdown disaster in northeastern Japan.
- Brazilian authorities claimed Saturday to have broken up strikes by thousands of police in two states after arresting labor leaders, but other police and firefighters had not quit their protest over pay.
- Thousands of Egyptians marched to the Defense Ministry on Friday to press demands for the generals to hand over power, a day before the first anniversary of President Hosni Mubarak’s fall.
- Hactivist group Anonymous took down the CIA government website on Friday.
Bahraini prostesters attacked, Peruvians march against mining, New York students walk out…
- Bahraini protesters were attacked by government forces on Thursday amidst their 10-day sit-in in Moqsha.
- At least a thousand Peruvian activists and provincial politicians marched into Lima on Thursday to protest billions of dollars in government-backed mining projects proposed by foreign firms.
- A strike by Israel’s largest labor federation shut banks, ports, the stock exchange and most government offices on Thursday to protest conditions for contract employees.
- Thousands of Jordanian teachers went on strike Wednesday for the third consecutive day to demand a sharp increase in their salaries, forcing a closure of classrooms across the kingdom.
- Hundreds of New York City students walked out of school on Wednesday to protest planned education budget cuts.
- Thousands of protesters rallied outside Athens Parliament on Tuesday, as the nation held another 24-hour strike against austerity measures.
- On Tuesday, families of Palestinian prisoners, held in Israeli jails, held their relatives pictures during a protest in front of the International Committee of the Red Cross offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Russians hold massive anti-Putin protest, week-long sit-in in Bahrain begins, thousands across Europe march against ACTA
- On Saturday, more than 100,000 turned out in the pale winter sunshine for a march in downtown Moscow against election fraud and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s plan to return to the presidency next month.
- Over 10,000 Bahrainis gathered on Sunday to begin a week-long sit-in protest in Meqsha, north of Bahrain, ahead of the one year anniversary of the revolution.
- Hundreds of flights in France were cancelled today, including 40 percent out of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, as unions ratcheted up pressure on day two of a strike over labor rights.
- Antiwar groups held rallies on Saturday in about 80 cities across the United States protesting a possible strike on Iran.
- In Singapore, two hundred foreign workers staged a sit-in on Monday morning in protest over unpaid wages.
- At least one activist died, and another 39 were injured on Sunday after police tried to break up a protest by indigenous groups—who have blockaded the Pan-American Highway for days—against the recent approval of mines and reservoirs in their region.
- In Canada, close to a thousand people marched through Prince Rupert’s streets on Saturday as part of a rally hosted by local first nations against Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and the oil tanker traffic it would generate on British Columbia’s northern coast.
- At least 11 Occupy D.C. protesters were arrested Saturday just blocks from the White House as the U.S. Park Police evicted activists who had been sleeping in McPherson Square since October 1. On Sunday, police also cleared a second encampment at Freedom Plaza.
- In one of more than a hundred protests planned across Europe on Saturday, about 2,000 people marched in the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana against the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA).
- Some 20 residents of Khirbat al-Tawil village, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, went on a 24-hour hunger strike on Friday to protest against Israel’s occupation of their lands.
Yemeni-Americans protest Saleh immunity, mass demonstrations continue in Bahrain and Syria
- About 20 people gathered on Thursday outside the Ritz-Carlton in New York City—where the Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was said to be staying—to protest his trip to the United States for medical treatment and a deal he received that granted him immunity from prosecution for crimes against protesters during uprisings last year.
- Thousands of Bahrainis held a peaceful anti-government protest in a suburb of the capital on Friday, demanding the release of political prisoners and political reforms in the troubled Gulf Arab state.
- Protesters defied a heavy security presence across Syria on Friday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of a deadly crackdown on Islamist opposition in the city of Hama, but were effectively prevented from turning out in the capital, Damascus.
- Several thousand people rallied in Bratislava and seven other Slovakian cities Friday to demand that early elections planned in March be postponed to allow a thorough investigation.
- Poland’s prime minister says he is suspending the ratification process for an international copyright treaty after widespread protests and attacks on government websites.
- Members of an Indian tribe in Panama are blocking roads in two provinces on the border with Costa Rica in a dispute over mineral exploitation on their lands.
- Cambodian police violently dispersed a group of around 150 women protesting forced evictions in the capital Phnom Penh on Thursday.
- Around 300 people gathered outside Budapest’s New Theater on Wednesday to protest its new director, an actor with links to far-right parties.
- Hackers associated with the activist group Anonymous posted a protest against Greece’s EU and IMF-inspired austerity policies on the website of the country’s justice ministry Friday
