Tag Archive for: protests

Protesters confront security forces as Iran marks anniversary of crackdown | Protests News


Clashes came as a reported riot took place at a prison in southwest Iran.

Clashes erupted in Iran’s restive southeast on Friday to mark the first anniversary of a crackdown by security forces on protesters known as “Bloody Friday”, according to rights groups and social media videos.

Videos posted on social media by the Iran Human Rights (IHR) group showed marchers confronting security forces in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchestan province, as apparent sounds of shooting are heard.

IHR and the Baluch rights group Hal Vash said at least 23 people had been injured.

The clashes came on the heels of an incident at a facility in southwest Iran in which prisoners started a fire to protest against a death sentence issued against a fellow inmate, and shots were heard, an Iranian news agency reported.

“Following the announcement of the death sentence of a prisoner in Ramhormoz prison, several prisoners have started a riot by starting a fire,” the semi-official news agency Mehr reported on Friday. “Gunfire could be heard from outside the prison.”

Mehr later reported that “calm” had been restored.

Back in Zahedan, protests continued into the night, with several videos posted online purporting to show protesters setting fire to tyres to block streets.

Zahedan’s prosecutor had earlier said the city was calm and videos showing the injured were old, the state news agency IRNA reported. The semi-official news agency Tasnim said police had used tear gas to disperse “a few people who had gathered and were throwing rocks at security forces”.

 

Internet monitor Netblocks reported a “significant disruption” to the internet in Zahedan on Friday, saying authorities had “systematically shut down telecoms to suppress weekly anti-government protests”.

On September 30, 2022, security forces killed at least 66 people in a crackdown, according to Amnesty International. Authorities accused protesters, angered by the alleged rape of a girl from the Baluch minority by a police commander, of provoking the clashes.

Molavi Abdolhamid, Iran’s most prominent Sunni leader and a longtime critic of Tehran’s Shia leaders, demanded justice for the victims of the…

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Oklahoma delegation protests loss of federal family planning grant


Family planning: The Oklahoma congressional delegation is protesting what it says was a U.S. Department of Human Services decision to rescind a $4.5 million family planning grant to the Oklahoma Department of Health because state law prohibits the agency from referring clients for abortions.

“Oklahomans rely on OSDH’s family planning program for Title X family planning services including cancer screenings, pregnancy prevention, STI diagnostics and treatment, breast exams, and depression screenings and referrals, among a multitude of other services,” says a letter signed by all seven members of Oklahoma’s delegation. “(The) decision to suspend OSDH’s award will severely limit Oklahoman’s access to these services.”

Historical: As an historian with a long career in politics, 4th District Congressman and House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole viewed last week’s debt limit and spending bill from a long-term perspective.

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“In a true negotiation, you always get less than you want and give up more than you’d like,” Cole said on Tuesday. “But with the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, it will responsibly lift the debt ceiling and avoid default that would devastate the American economy, and we will achieve real reductions in spending. … This is the most consequential spending reduction bill in more than a decade.”

Conspiracy theories: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin has been telling conservative media outlets that President Joe Biden is only running for a second term to “protect his family” and that the FBI is covering up a bribery scandal involving Biden and his family.

“He knows that this is going to blow up in his face,” Mullin told Newsmax.

Mullin has insisted since before Biden’s election in 2020 that the president and his son Hunter Biden were involved in unethical and illegal dealings overseas. A recent Republican-led House…

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Bharat Bandh amid Agneepath protests LIVE: Bihar suspends Internet services in 20 districts, security heightened | India News


Bharat Bandh Agneepath Protests Live Updates: Amid a call for ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Monday (June 20, 2022) over the Agneepath scheme, several state governments have tightened their security. The Bihar government temporarily suspended Internet services in 20 districts. The armed forces aspirants have been agitating in 11 states including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Jharkhand and Assam. Massive protests erupted last week after the Union government announced the contentious Agneepath scheme to recruit youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces. The central government has also been defending the scheme, explaining that recruits, or ‘Agniveers’, retiring after four years will be given financial aid. 

“Due to agitation over the Agnipath scheme, 181 Mail Express cancelled and 348 passenger trains cancelled. Partially cancelled are 4 Mail Express and 6 passenger trains. No diverted trains,” said Ministry of Railways on Monday. As many as 483 train services were cancelled on Sunday due to protests in different parts of the country against the Centre’s Agneepath scheme. Congress will also hold “peaceful” protests across the country on Monday against the “anti-youth” Agneepath recruitment scheme. Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai too will join the protest.

In Delhi`s neighbouring areas Faridabad and Noida, Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which prohibits the assembly of four or more persons, has been imposed. In Rajasthan`s Jaipur, prohibitory orders under section 144 have been imposed from 6 pm on Sunday till midnight of August 18 in the view of the possibility of disturbance to law and order due to the protests.

Meanwhile, the Indian Army yesterday released terms and conditions and related details for prospective applicants wanting to join the force under the Agneepath military recruitment scheme. The Union Cabinet on June 14 approved a recruitment scheme for Indian youth to serve in the three services of the Armed Forces called Agneepath and the youth selected under this scheme will be known as Agniveers.

Stay tuned with Zee News for all the latest news updates…

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GiveSendGo back online after hack targeting Canadian ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests


(RNS) — Controversial Christian crowdfunding website GiveSendGo is back online after being hacked over the weekend, with digital attackers leaking the names and emails of people who donated to the ongoing protest against pandemic restrictions in Canada spearheaded by truck drivers.

GiveSendGo addressed the hack in a tweet Tuesday morning (Feb. 15), saying the website was “attacked by malicious actors attempting to eliminate the ability of its users to raise funds.”

“GiveSendGo has a dedicated team aggressively focused on identifying these malicious actors and pursuing actions against their cybercrime,” read the statement.

The hackers targeted contributors to the so-called Freedom Convoy protest that has halted traffic at some U.S. border crossings, ground parts of Ottawa to a halt and spurred Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to activate emergency powers in an effort to shut down the demonstration. The catalyst for the protest, which arrived in the country’s capital in late January, was Trudeau’s requirement that truckers quarantine if they are unvaccinated and cross the U.S.-Canada border.

Although Canada is one of the most vaccinated countries in the world — including most of its truckers, according to Trudeau — the protest has grown into a broader symbolic pushback against all pandemic restrictions, including masks, lockdowns and vaccine mandates.


RELATED: Inside the fraught effort to create a Christian nationalist internet


The demonstrators initially used the more mainstream fundraising website GoFundMe for their efforts, quickly accruing millions of dollars. But GoFundMe took down the donation page in early February, saying it violated the site’s terms of service.

The move outraged many conservatives in the U.S. but spurred demonstrators to utilize GiveSendGo, which has actively promoted the protest fundraiser. The shift to the Christian website, in turn, quickly encountered resistance: Last week, a Canadian judge issued an order halting access to funds housed in the website, and the Canadian government has warned it will freeze the bank accounts of truckers who continue to form blockades.

GiveSendGo noted in its statement that no money was stolen…

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