Tag Archives: political repression
| Crackdown on the French Yellow Vest Movement: an Undeclared State of Emergency

by Jérôme Duval
According to Vincent Brengarth, a lawyer at the Paris Bar, in recent years we have been witnessing a disturbing drift in police repression in France, more specifically since November 2015 when the state of emergency was pronounced and extended several times, before being integrated into common law. We would henceforth be under “a state of emergency that does not say its name,” with preventive arrests only based on suspicion, without concrete evidence of an offence [1].
| Donbas prepares for elections with arrests

In November, the Donetsk People’s Republic must elect a new head of state. However, the preparation for the elections is rather peculiar and contradicts the word “People’s” in the name of the republic. The lead candidate is determined in advance. He is Denis Pushilin. And all attempts to nominate worthy alternative candidates are nipped in the bud. The Communists of Donbas are among the victims of these staged elections. In 2014 they played an important role in the victory of the uprising, the holding of a referendum and the formation of the DPR. But these merits now have no meaning.
| The Ukrainian Court Released the Journalist Pavel Volkov After Keeping Him Behind Bars for More Than a Year

The court dismissed the motion of the prosecutor to extend the measure of restraint imposed on the Ukrainian journalist Pavel Volkov in the form of detention, without having chosen an alternative. After spending more than a year in the Zaporozhya pre-trial detention center the journalist was finally released.
| How to Support the North Carolina Anti Racist Activists Facing Unfair Arrest Charges

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Police have arrested more than 20 people since protesters took down the Confederate monument known as Silent Sam on August 20. The vast majority of those taken into custody have been anti-racist activists who have been part of counter-protests against groups including ACTBAC—identified as a “neo-Confederate hate” organization by the SPLC—and other similar organizations that have repeatedly rallied at the site. In one instance, police acted as protective chaperones to neo-Confederates demonstrating at Silent Sam’s empty pedestal, but pepper sprayed anti-racist counter-protesters.