protests - The African Mirror

Mar

2023

Religious, rights groups call for calm in Kenya’s second week of protests

AYENAT MERSIE RELIGIOUS leaders and human rights groups in Kenya called for calm as a second week of protests against the cost of living increases raised fears of further violence, while President William Ruto said criminals would be held to account. Opposition leader Raila Odinga, who lost to Ruto in last August's election, is leading the protests against the high cost of basic staples and has called for rallies every Monday and Thursday to pressure Ruto's government to take action. Late on Monday night, unknown perpetrators set fire to a church and several businesses in Nairobi's low-income Kibera district, and…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Senegal rocked by more unrest as police quell protests

NEWS

BATE FELIX and NGOUDA DIONE POLICE fired tear gas at stone-hurling protesters in Senegal's capital ahead of a court case involving a prominent opposition politician that has triggered anger among youth. Demonstrators in Dakar burned tyres and set fire to buses and a large supermarket, the latest outbreak of violence has shaken Senegal's reputation as a bastion of stable democracy ahead of next year's presidential election. Thursday's clashes began when supporters of presidential hopeful Ousmane Sonko were blocked from accompanying his motorcade to a courthouse where he faces trial for libel. The trial was postponed until March 30 after Sonko's…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Protests break out in Iran over schoolgirl illnesses

WORLD

WORRIED parents protested in Iran's capital Tehran and other cities over a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected schoolgirls in dozens of schools, according to Iranian news agencies and social media videos. The so-far unexplained illnesses have affected hundreds of schoolgirls in recent months. Iranian officials believe the girls may have been poisoned and have blamed Tehran's enemies. The country's health minister has said the girls have suffered "mild poison" attacks and some politicians have suggested the girls could have been targeted by hardline Islamist groups opposed to girls' education. Iran's interior minister said on Saturday investigators had found "suspicious…

Mar

2023

By The African Mirror

Greece train crash: families of victims grieve as protests grow

WORLD

ALEXANDROS AVRAMIDIS and STELIOS MISINAS FAMILIES and friends, dressed in black, clung to each other, in tears, as the coffin of a 34-year-old mother killed in Greece's deadliest train crash was lifted up the stairs of a church. The first known funeral after Tuesday night's accident, which killed at least 57, took place in the northern town of Katerini, as police said 52 bodies had so far been identified - almost all from DNA tests as the crash was so violent. Carriages were thrown off the tracks, some of them crushed and engulfed in flames when a passenger train and…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Iran state body reports 200 dead in protests, Raisi hails ‘freedoms’

WORLD

PRESIDENT Ebrahim Raisi hailed Iran's Islamic Republic as a guarantor of rights and freedoms, defending the ruling system amid a crackdown on anti-government protests that the United Nations says has cost more than 300 lives. A top state security body meanwhile said that 200 people, including members of the security forces, had lost their lives in the unrest, a figure significantly lower than that given by the world body and rights groups. The protests, in their third month, were ignited by the death of 22-year-old Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police enforcing strict mandatory hijab rules.…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Iran lawmakers demand severe punishment for ‘rioters’ as protests rage

WORLD

HARDLINE Iranian lawmakers urged the judiciary to "deal decisively" with perpetrators of unrest, as the Islamic Republic struggles to suppress the biggest show of dissent in years. Widespread anti-government demonstrations erupted in September after the death of young Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, who had been detained by morality police for allegedly flouting the strict dress code imposed on women. "We ask the judiciary to deal decisively with the perpetrators of these crimes and with all those who assisted in the crimes and provoked rioters," 227 lawmakers from Iran's 290-seat, hardline-led parliament said in a statement, according to state media.…

Oct

2022

By The African Mirror

Protests paralyse Tunisian town after migrant deaths

NEWS

A southern Tunisian coastal town was paralysed by protests amid growing anger over the fate of people who drowned in a migrant shipwreck last month, with some buried in unmarked graves. The powerful UGTT labour union called a general strike in Zarzis on Tuesday, bringing to head days of smaller protests to demand authorities do more to find missing bodies and improve living conditions. Images showed the streets of Zarzis packed with protesters chanting anti-authority slogans with shops and government institutions closed. "Today the state continues to ignore us and does not even search for those drowned," said Salim Zreidat,…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

How organisations perpetuate patterns of inequality: a South African case study

BUSINESS

THE continued institutional reproduction of inequality is a matter of growing concern in vast parts of the world. This concern manifests differently in different regions. It is evident in protests, uprisings and unrest. Our research asks how and why inequality manages to be reproduced, and what role organisations play in maintaining exploitative labour practices. To answer these questions, we zoomed in on a particular case of conflict in South Africa: the 2012-2013 farmworker strikes in the Western Cape, where protests turned violent over a protracted period. Author JOHN LUIZ, Professor of International Business Strategy & Emerging Markets at the University…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Tunisian president accused of a “failed dictatorship”

NEWS

TAREK AMARA TUNISIANS protested against President Kais Saied, accusing him of imposing one-man rule in the North African country after he dissolved parliament last month. A political crisis in the country intensified last month when more than half of the members of parliament held an online session to revoke Saied's decrees. "We are facing a failed dictatorship that is leading the country to an economic disaster. We will continue to protest in the streets until a coup is forced to reverse its decisions," Chaima Issa, an activist, said. Many members of parliament participated in the protest on Sunday, which took…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Draft Sudan deal cements military’s grip

NEWS

KHALID ABDELAZIZ FACTIONS aligned with Sudan's military have drawn up a deal to form a transitional government that would cement the army's control and bypass pro-democracy groups it shared power with before an October coup, according to a document seen by Reuters and three sources familiar with the agreement. The draft deal comes with the military under pressure from a deteriorating economy and frequent protests that have continued despite a lethal crackdown by security forces. The military takeover derailed a transition that had raised hopes in Sudan of an end to decades of autocracy, civil conflict and economic isolation after…