Displaying items by tag: protests

Three thousand police will be in London over the bank holiday weekend amid fears of public disorder from Extinction Rebellion (XR) which plans a 'civilly disobedient long weekend'. XR urges its supporters to join a ‘Million People March’ by Black Lives Matter, calling for the defunding of the police. There will be 60 police units of 25 officers, 8 armed response teams and 46 officers with firearms intervention training. Also police will close premises holding unlicensed events and use teams to remove sound systems and barricades. XR is urging local chapters to cause 'high-impact disruption' this weekend before a nationwide 'rebellion' on 1 September. Its website states, ‘Countdown to Rebellion will be creative and nonviolent, and draw attention to the greatest existential threat we face - climate and ecological emergency. People up and down the country will come together in their communities to tell the Government that, frankly, we’ve had enough of them putting us all at risk.’ See

Two senior figures in Belarus's protest movement were given ten-day jail terms at the notorious Okrestino detention centre for organising demonstrations. Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky are high-profile members of the National Coordination Council, set up to organise a rerun of the election. Meanwhile teachers gathered outside the education ministry to protest against Mr Lukashenko's threat to sack teachers who fail to back the government. He promised to crack down on his opponents as daily demonstrations swelled into unprecedented, mass protests in Minsk. In her latest video statement from neighbouring Lithuania, opposition leader Ms Tikhanovskaya told the European Parliament that protesters were being ‘illegally detained, imprisoned and beaten’, emphasising the ‘democratic revolution’ was neither pro- nor anti-Russian, nor pro- or anti-European. In Lithuania 50,000 people expressed solidarity with Belarusians by forming a human chain from Lithuania’s capital Vilnius to Medininkai on the border with Belarus.

Wisconsin’s governor called in the National Guard to help quell unrest after police shot unarmed Jacob Blake in the back seven times at close range. The incident was videoed and went viral on the internet sparking nationwide demonstrations and the postponement of major sporting events as players protested against the shooting. Trump’s administration made its sympathies clear: ‘We will always stand with the men and women who serve on the thin blue line of law enforcement.’ Meanwhile Rev Al Sharpton and his National Action Network are leading a march on Washington to demand action on police brutality. He said, ‘That policeman’s life was never under threat, and yet he shot multiple times. That’s why we’re marching.’ Some say, ‘Riots are not saving Black lives, they’re destroying lives, businesses and the social fabric of cities.’ Others reply, ‘There needs to be unrest in the streets as long as there’s unrest in our lives’. See

Dr Martin Luther King Jr said we must live together as brothers or perish together as fools. His niece Dr Alveda King said, ‘We're fighting over trying to reconcile separate races when we are only one race - the human race.’ Bishop Harry Jackson said, ‘We're seeing a readiness to respond to race across racial boundaries. But what's missing is in Galatians 3:26; we say there's neither Jew nor Greek, there's neither bond nor free. These distinctions can be solved by coming together in Christ.’ We can pray for Christians to lead the way with answers to the ills of society. We have the Bible and the Holy Spirit to guide us. The church must find answers and right any wrongs that exist and then boldly become part of the national discussion on race relations in America. Bishop Williams added, ‘When someone needs blood, they don’t ask if it was black blood, white blood or Jewish blood; they need blood.’

Sergei Furgal, governor of the far eastern city of Khabarovsk, was interrogated and ordered to be held in jail for two months. Thousands of demonstrators have been gathering in the streets for three weekends to show their anger over the Kremlin's replacement of this popular regional governor. The sustained demonstrations represent a growing challenge for Putin, who is viewed as having a role in sparking the regional crisis after he fired Furgal. Many have called for his resignation. Others chanted ‘Disgrace’ and denounced the acting governor appointed by Putin. According to protest leaders and independent journalists, over 50,000 people demonstrated in Khabarovsk, which would make it the largest anti-government protest there since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Protesters see criminal charges raised against Furgal before his dismissal as unsubstantiated. They are demanding he stand trial at home instead of in Moscow, where he has been transferred.

At least twelve well-known political opposition figures, veterans, and lawmaker activists have been barred from running in the legislative council elections; the government warned that more hopefuls, including further lawmakers, could still be banned. Hong Kong's pastors are in the spiritual trenches of this growing fight. More than one million Christians are choosing between the ‘blue’ pro-government camp and the ‘yellow’ opposition. Most young churchgoers support the pro-democracy protests. Pray for God to protect and show the pastors His way forward, as they lead the church through the current struggles. Pray for young protesters facing moral dilemmas: ‘As a Christian, violence is wrong, so can I throw bricks? An oppressive government is also wrong, shall I break laws to protest against injustice?’

China has passed a controversial national security legislation for Hong Kong that will cover acts of ‘secession, subversion, terrorism and interference by foreign powers in the territory's internal affairs’ while allowing mainland China’s intelligence agencies to establish themselves there. Critics say this will outlaw dissent and destroy the autonomy and freedoms promised in the Sino-GB agreement when Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997. The draft of the law was announced on the anniversary of this event, symbolically implying that China is in charge and its leaders will do whatever they deem necessary to protect Hong Kong. On 1 July police fired water cannon and tear gas while arresting 300+ people protesting in defiance of the sweeping legislation, and a ‘dissident’ was arrested at the airport before boarding a plane to the UK. Amnesty International warned, ‘China's aim is to govern Hong Kong through fear from this point forward’. 

Hundreds of thousands of protesters brought sweeping change to their government in 2018 blaring the music of Hachalu Hundessa, a popular activist singing for the liberation and empowerment of the largest ethnic group - the Oromo. Now 34-year old Hundessa has been gunned down in Addis Ababa, causing massive new protests. By 2 July over 80 were dead. The internet has been cut nationwide. The prime minister, praising the singer, called for calm. Authorities say suspects are in custody, but beyond that little is known about what happened. In a deeply fragmented nation of 105 million people, coronavirus has forced the postponement of August’s national elections. Ethiopians, already in heightened social tension and economic uncertainty, now have to wait until next year to express their grievances and preferences through normal political channels.

England contains many diverse, multicultural cities, and the current uprisings spectacularly play out in them. The movement’s heart is about injustices that go back decades - and centuries - with global foundations. Many parts of the UK have deep issues with racism that have long needed to be challenged, talked about, rectified and healed. On 15 June Boris Johnson announced plans to create a cross-government commission to examine racial inequality and the disparities experienced by minority ethnic groups in education, health and the criminal justice system. He said he could not ignore the strength of feeling shown by tens of thousands of people who had demonstrated in London and other cities across the UK. He said, ‘It is no use just saying that we have made huge progress in tackling racism. There is much more that we need to do; and we will.’

British port cities grew wealthy transporting slaves to the Americas. On 7 June Bristol protesters tore down a statue of a slave trader whose company branded its victims with the company’s initials on their chests. Unfortunately on a weekend that marked the anniversary of D-Day, Sir Winston Churchill’s statue was also defaced as agitators chanted, ‘Churchill is a racist’; and at the Cenotaph, a monument to those who died for free speech and democracy, a protester tried to set fire to the Union Flag. Pray that Black Lives Matter marches are not muddled with wilful criminal damage. The government has been accused of appalling treatment of British Caribbean citizens who came to rebuild Britain after World War II. Sadiq Khan and many others are calling for all statues and street names linked to slavery to be taken down. The first to fall was a statue of slaveholder Robert Milligan at Docklands.