Displaying items by tag: protests

South China’s Morning Post editor prophesied: ‘There is no Happy New Year ahead for Hong Kong, just endless protest chaos for the foreseeable future. Get used to it because nothing is changing, nobody is coming to the rescue, and no one has any panacea for the most destructive and debilitating social and political crisis since the city’s return to China. Wreck and repair, rinse and repeat: that’s been the new normal for more than six months and the lid has been blown off the Pandora’s box of Hongkongers’ pent-up problems and frustrations. Hong Kong’s revolution is sliding into terrorism with home-made bombs. There will be scattered protests on weekdays while most citizens go about their daily business, occasional mass rallies to mark some anniversary or another of the hate-China / destroy-police / despise-government campaign, and regular outbreaks of violence and anarchy over weekends and public holidays.’ Let us pray that this gloomy prophecy will not be accurate and that God will miraculously end a frightening situation.

Since the protest movement began in October, 400+ have died, twelve of them security personnel. Over 17,000 people have been injured. ‘The situation is a disaster, with weapons in every corner’, said the Chaldean archbishop of Basra. ‘As a church, we are close to young people in the streets, providing them with food and shelter.’ But violence has forced his diocese to suspend all such pastoral activities. The Chaldean church called for three days of prayer and fasting, and out of respect for the dead and in solidarity with all the injured, Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako cancelled all public and church-based celebrations of Christmas. As the Church in Iraq trades tree decorations and holiday receptions for prayers of intercession, let us pray for the current government’s corrupt structure to end and for the protesters to achieve the dissolution of parliament and widespread reforms. May hope and prosperity enter Iraq in 2020, and may Iranian ballistic missiles and US troops and defence systems leave. See

On 24 November we praised the district election results which swept aside ­pro-establishment candidates and installed democratic majorities in 17 out of 18 districts, a stunning reversal attributed to the months of protests and voters’ deep dissatisfaction with the government. But now, three weeks later, prayer is still needed for a commission of inquiry into allegations of police brutality. Chief executive Carrie Lam is in no haste to satisfy any of the demands, which she has repeatedly dismissed as unrealistic. Several opinion polls indicate that most Hong Kong citizens support an independent inquiry, but she insists on leaving all ­questions about police conduct during the protests to an independent police complaints council. Beijing is in no rush to fix the problem, stating that Hong Kong will always be a part of China, and urges them to be more like their Macau counterparts in making the ‘one country, two systems’ principle work. Commentators warn of an even bigger political crisis if deep-rooted grievances are not addressed.

20,000 angry climate change protesters turned out in Sydney on 11 December, attacking Australia's leaders in their speeches and chants as bushfires suffocated the city with ‘lethal’ thick smoke. A firefighters’ union representative said that the fires are ‘the worst fires we have had in decades. Our members are saving lives, property, wildlife, stock and pets, but they are spread thinly as they are also responding to their regular work. The NSW Government has failed. We have got no water because the state and the country are in drought. We need a government that takes action.’ Australia is on high-alert as temperatures soar above 40C and smoke haze blankets the cities setting off fire alarms.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani has called for the release of unarmed and innocent people arrested during the two weeks of protests in over 100 cities and towns after a 300% fuel price increase. The protests have now turned political as young and working-class protesters demand that religious leaders step down. Iran's leaders, blaming 'thugs' linked to the USA, Israel, and Saudi Arabia, have urged the country's judiciary to mete out harsh sentences to those involved in the demonstrations. Amnesty International reported at least 208 deaths on 2 December. Demonstrations and deaths have continued since then. Amnesty says that families of victims were threatened and warned not to speak to the media or hold funeral services. It added that the death toll is evidence that Iran's security forces went on a horrific killing spree, and urged the international community to help ensure accountability. See

When the ruling party, Georgian Dream, backtracked on a promise to transition to a fully proportional parliamentary system before the 2020 elections, thousands of citizens protested, demanding a progressive electoral reform. But such protesters face smear campaigns and accusations of bias - typical of the intimidation tactics used in such situations. This also happened recently in Brazil. Those who denounce corruption and human rights abuses are often the target of disinformation campaigns, with their reports and findings dismissed as ‘fake news’. Anti-corruption activism relies strongly on trust in independent media. The use of social media and the impact of fake news is a real threat for the work of organisations like Transparency International (TI). But fake news is not always easy to detect and spreads rapidly. What can be done? In Georgia, for example, coordinated accusations against TI through anonymous Facebook posts were recently detected, labelled and debunked by another civil society group.

Videos reveal crackdown regime tried to hide from world… One video filmed through a doorway appears to show a woman looking at a teenage boy lying in a pool of blood on a pavement, as a riot policeman swings a baton at people running past him.

Another from the southern city of Shiraz shows a crowd trying to help a motionless man on the ground, as other people retreat along a smoke-filled street amid the sounds of shouting, screaming and gunfire.

In a third. taken from inside a moving car in the capital, Tehran, a woman can be heard screaming as plainclothes security personnel or militiamen detain a man.

It was the fear of such footage reaching the outside world that prompted the authorities in Iran to shut down access to the internet for more than eight days earlier this month, as protests against a sharp rise in the price of petrol spread across the country.

Now the internet has been partially restored, videos have been appearing on social media that paint a picture of a government crackdown more brutal and bloodier than many had feared. The identities and stories of the protesters who lost their lives have also emerged.

The Iranian authorities have not released any official figures about casualties, but Amnesty International has received what it considers credible reports that at least 143 protesters were killed after the protests erupted on 15 November.

The human rights group says the deaths resulted almost entirely from the intentional use of firearms by the security forces - though one man was reported to have died after inhaling tear gas and another after being beaten.  Amnesty believes the death toll is significantly higher, and activists and official sources inside Iran have told BBC Persian that it exceeds 200.

However, the videos filmed by Iranians on their smartphones - many of them graphic and difficult to watch - have cast doubt on the government's claims.  The footage appears to show security personnel and members of the paramilitary Basij force, which is frequently used to help suppress dissent, beating up unarmed protesters in the streets and firing live round into crowds at close range.

Sources inside Iran have told BBC Persian that the number of detainees is in the thousands.  Despite the assertion by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the protesters had "roots outside of the country", the Ministry of Intelligence told parliament that most of those held were unemployed youths from poor families.

Journalists based in Iran were limited in their ability to report on the protests or were too afraid to do so, and those based elsewhere were hampered by the internet shutdown. But BBC Persian, which is banned from Iran, was able to get in touch by telephone and other means with citizen journalists, activists and other trusted sources on the ground.  Their videos showed the protesters targeting symbols of the government, the clerical establishment and the security forces, as well as banks and petrol stations.

The epicentres of the protests were predominantly Kurdish towns on the western border with Iraq, as well as areas on the outskirts of major cities like Tehran, Karaj and Shiraz. All are places with among the highest levels of unemployment in the country.

“The price of petrol is rising, we are poorer,” protesters in Shiraz chanted in one video.

“The supreme leader lives like a God. We, the people live like beggars,” said people in Malard, near Tehran in another.

“No to Gaza, no to Lebanon. We sacrifice our lives for Iran” was a chant heard in Isfahan.

Clearly, there is disquiet about Iran’s activities in the Middle East. The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) has spent billions of dollars arming, training and paying militias in the region, saying that if the force does not fight Iran’s enemies beyond its borders then it will have to face them on the streets of Tehran.

But the protesters in the streets believe the money should have been invested in their country and their future.

US sanctions reinstated by President Donald Trump last year when he abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran have targeted the country’s oil and banking sectors. The sanctions, combined with corruption and mismanagement, have pushed the Iranian economy to the brink of collapse. But the crisis has not persuaded the government to change its policies.

Victims’ stories

State media and newspapers close to the security forces depicted the protesters as hooligans, who they said were seeking to loot and vandalise public property.

But the stories BBC Persian has heard from the families of those killed paint a different picture.

Fatima, a 40-year-old mother of two, was one of the demonstrators killed near Tehran.

Her family said she went out to protest against unemployment and inflation.

Another victim was Armin Qaderi, a 10-year-old boy, from Kermanshah. He died after going out to buy bread, according to his family.

Many families told BBC Persian that their relatives went out to express their anger at the economic crisis but that the authorities answered them with bullets.

More at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50562584

Pray: for the government of Iran to review its international policies and to listen to the concerns of its people.
Pray: for the heavy-handed violence and indiscriminate shooting of peaceful protestors by Government forces to stop.
Pray: for millions of Iranians whose livelihoods have been adversely affected by the economic sanctions and corruption that a positive breakthrough will happen soon.
Pray: that the voice of the Iranian people will be heard and these protests will not be in vain.

Many geopolitical media watchers and prayer warriors believe the growing wave of anti-government protests ravaging the streets of Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Colombia hasn’t been seen since the old Cold War which is why the increase in protests and tensions might be called Cold War 2.0 in Latin America.

This time, at least as yet, there aren’t armed proxy groups in play but Moscow has weaponized social unrest to sabotage Western power in the region.

Earlier this decade we saw similar issues on Russia’s strategic periphery, notably in Ukraine in the wake of the 2014 Maidan protests and the 2005 Orange Revolution. These protests aren’t necessarily armed Marxists but anti-government protesters armed with anti-U.S. rhetoric.

Much the same approach is evident in Moscow’s support for Nicholas Maduro’s failing regime in Venezuela and with the help of Cuban operatives. Russia has become increasingly adept at using social media to disperse disinformation on the Internet.

Pray: for God to prevent cold wars through economic trade, cyber or arms race. (Psalm 2: 1,2a,4)
Pray: for peaceful and democratic routes to be brokered for the unrest in these Latin American countries.
Pray: that super-powers stop interfering with these vulnerable countries for their own gain.
Pray: for the Christian Church in Latin America, that it will continue to flourish and grow despite the economic and political tensions.

More info: http://theconversation.com/the-cold-war-2-0-between-china-and-the-us-is-already-a-virtual-reality-125081

Anti-government protests over corruption and lack of jobs and public services have continued since early October. On 21 November, force by security guards failed to unblock Baghdad bridges and al-Tahrir Square where hundreds of protesters held their ground against bullets and teargas. They also have blocked roads around Basra. Road closures lead to large losses for the Iraqi economy and negatively affect the daily life of citizens by preventing the flow of food, medical supplies and other goods. Demonstrators demand comprehensive political reform, accountability for corruption, improvement of public services, and job opportunities. But protests are not reshaping the country's politics. They are affecting the entire region as new scandals against the government are revealed almost daily. The most recent exposed Tehran's growing influence in Iraq.

Chow, a university student, fell from the third floor of a car park while fleeing tear gas and suffered a significant brain injury as a result. A third-year journalism student, surnamed Tang, was arrested on 2 November when covering protests in Taikoo Shing. His university’s student union said that when he was arrested, he was wearing his press card and journalists’ association membership card, and had not taken part in any of the frontline protest activities. Pray for police to respect the rights of student reporters and ensure their safety when they are performing their duties. Also, the university has asked the police commissioner for full details about a qualified St John Ambulance first aider student who suffered serious burn injuries after being hit by a tear-gas canister while performing his duties. Students and alumni are demanding that the universities condemn police violence as they handle anti-government protests.