Page 5 - Protest

Allahabad University students protesting fee hike, gherao vice-chancellor

Allahabad University students, who have been agitating for 83 days to demand rollback of the fee hike, on Monday gheraoed the varsity's vice-chancellor. The protesters, led by student leader Ajay Yadav Samrat, gheraoed Vice-Chancellor Sangeeta Srivastava when she was moving towards her car after leaving office. Police and administration officials controlled the situation and made way for her. The agitating students also got into a heated argument with Harsh Kumar, the varsity proctor, during the protest. Samrat said the students had been agitating against the fee hike for 83 days but the vice-chancellor did not even listen to their demands. The students have alleged that the fees for undergraduate courses, which were Rs 975 a year, have been hiked over 300 per cent to Rs 4,151.

China defends zero-Covid policy amid massive protests; Reports 40k cases

China on Monday dismissed concerns over its controversial zero-COVID policy in the face of unprecedented demonstrations, which have spread to Beijing even as it reported close to 40,000 coronavirus cases and authorities scrambled to contain the fresh surge in infections and protests against the Xi Jinping regime. The protests, which comes nearly a month after President Xi was elected as the ruling party's top leader for a third consecutive term, have spread to Shanghai, Beijing and many parts of the country in the last few days against the stringent policy under which cities and localities are kept under prolonged lockdowns and isolations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian also defended the arrest of a BBC journalist covering the demonstrations in Shanghai, maintaining that the scribe did not present his media credentials. "What you mentioned does not reflect what has happened," Zhao told a media briefing when asked, given the widespread display of anger and frustration

Vizhinjam protests: FIR filed against 3,000 people; 36 cops injured

The protests are expected to cast shadow on the completion of the first phase of the project in December 2023

'Down with Xi': Open defiance as public protests erupt across China

China's rare public protests opposing stringent Covid lockdowns turned political on Sunday with protestors shouting slogans against President Xi Jinping and the ruling Communist Party

Tension deepens at Adani's Vizhinjam port after protesters stop trucks

The Adani Group attempted to move heavy vehicles into the port on Saturday following a court directive this week that construction work must resume, but protesters blocked them from entering

To 'make Amazon pay', Indian trade unions join Black Friday protest

Agitation part of global campaign against e-commerce firm

Amazon's Black Friday: Several Indian trade unions to join protests

The campaign is being coordinated by an international coalition of trade unions, with the support of environmental and civil society groups

West creating 'baseless, fallacious' atmosphere: Iran Minister on protests

Mahsa Amini was not killed, she passed away. We have seen the atmosphere created by some western media with regard to the development in Iran, the minister said

Foxconn apologises for pay dispute at China factory in Zhengzhou

The company that assembles Apple Inc.'s iPhones apologised on Thursday for what it said was a technical error that led to protests by employees over payment of wages offered to attract them to a factory that is under anti-virus restrictions. Protests erupted on Tuesday in the central city of Zhengzhou after employees complained Foxconn Technology Group required they do extra work to receive the higher pay promised by recruiters. Foxconn is trying to rebuild its workforce after thousands of employees walked out last month over complaints about unsafe conditions. Videos on social media showed police in white protective suits kicking and clubbing protesting workers. Foxconn, the biggest contract assembler of smartphones and other electronics for Apple and other global brands, blamed the dispute on a technical error in the process of adding new employees. It promised they would receive the wages they were promised. "We apologise for an input error in the computer system and guarantee

China expands lockdown as Covid cases hit record high, mass testing ordered

China is expanding lockdowns, including in a cental city where factory workers clashed this week with police, as its number of COVID-19 cases hit a daily record. People in eight districts of Zhengzhou with a total of 6.6 million residents were told to stay home for five days beginning on Thursday, except to buy food or get medical treatment. Daily mass testing was ordered in what the city government called a war of annihilation against the virus. During clashes on Tuesday and Wednesday, Zhengzhou police beat workers protesting over a pay dispute at the biggest factory for Apple's iPhone. Across China, the number of new cases reported in the past 24 hours was 31,444, the National Health Commission said Thursday. That is the highest daily figure since the coronavirus was first detected in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019. The daily average of reported cases is steadily increasing. This week, authorities reported China's first COVID-19 deaths in six months, bringing the

Foxconn offers staff $1,400 to leave after protests in China's iPhone city

Apple Inc.'s main global production partner said in an online notice the sum, to be paid out in two installments, will help smooth the journey home for employees

Protesting workers beaten over pay dispute at Chinese iPhone factory

Police beat workers protesting over a pay dispute at the biggest factory for Apple's iPhone, whose new model is delayed by controls imposed as China tries to contain a surge in COVID-19 cases. Foxconn, the biggest contract assembler of smartphones and other electronics, is struggling to fill orders for the iPhone 14 after thousands of employees walked away from the factory in the central city of Zhengzhou last month following complaints about unsafe working conditions. China's status as an export powerhouse is based on factories such as Foxconn's that assemble the world's consumer electronics, toys and other goods. The ruling Communist Party is trying to contain the latest wave of outbreaks without shutting down factories and the rest of its economy as it did in early 2020. Its tactics include closed-loop management, under which workers live in their factories with no outside contact. Foxconn offered higher pay to attract more workers to the Zhengzhou factory to assemble the iPhone

Violent protests erupt at Apple's biggest iPhone-making plant in China

Hundreds of workers at Apple's main Foxconn plant in China clashed with security personnel, as tensions boiled over after almost a month under tough restrictions intended to quash a Covid outbreak

Starbucks workers plan to go on strike at more than 100 US stores

Starbucks workers at more than 100 US stores say they're going on strike Thursday in what would be the largest labour action since a campaign to unionize the company's stores began late last year. The walkouts are scheduled to coincide with Starbucks' annual Red Cup Day, when the company gives free reusable cups to customers who order a holiday drink. Workers say it's often one of the busiest days of the year. Starbucks declined to say how many red cups it plans to distribute. Workers say they're seeking better pay, more consistent schedules and higher staffing levels in busy stores. Starbucks opposes the unionization effort, saying the company functions best when it works directly with employees. The Seattle coffee giant has more than 9,000 company-owned stores in the US. Stores in 25 states planned to take part in the labour action, according to Starbucks Workers United, the group organising the effort. Some workers planned to picket all day while others planned shorter walkouts.

Thousands of CPI-M activists lay siege to Kerala Governor's residence

Vijayan and the Governor have been at loggerheads ever since he refused to ink Ordinances or Bills which are concerning the higher education sector.

Covid-19 lockdowns spark violent protests in China's Guangzhou City

In videos on social media, hundreds of people can be seen marching in the streets and pushing over police barriers in Guangzhou's Haizhu district, which has been in lockdown since late last month

From Nazca Lines to the Mona Lisa, a history of unique climate protest

The protests, meanwhile, do reveal the anger and frustration activists feel, especially with the decision of Egyptian authorities and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

Protests in Iran rage on the streets as officials renew crackdowns

Protests in Iran raged on streets into Thursday with demonstrators remembering a bloody crackdown in the country's southeast, even as the nation's intelligence minister and army chief renewed threats against local dissent and the broader world. The protests in Iran, sparked by the September 16 death of a 22-year-old woman after her detention by the country's morality police, have grown into one of the largest sustained challenges to the nation's theocracy since the chaotic months after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. At least 328 people have been killed and 14,825 others arrested in the unrest, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that's been monitoring the protests over their 54 days. Iran's government for weeks has remained silent on casualty figures while state media counterfactually claims security forces have killed no one. As demonstrators now return to the streets to mark 40th-day remembrances for those slain earlier commemorations common in Iran and the wider .

'Protest is tool in the hands of civil society', says Supreme Court

Protest is a "tool in the hands of the civil society" just as "strike is a weapon in the hands of the workmen", the Supreme Court said on Wednesday. The top court made the remarks while hearing an appeal filed by Ravi Namboothiri, who had challenged the Kerala High Court's judgment that upheld a trial court verdict setting aside his election as councillor in the Gram Panchayat in November 2015. His election to the post was cancelled on the ground that he suppressed in his nomination form his involvement in a criminal case and that he had committed a corrupt practice. A bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian said the Kerala Police Act was the successor legislation of certain police enactments of the colonial era which aimed at scuttling the democratic aspirations of the indigenous population. "Just as strike is a weapon in the hands of the workmen and lockout is a weapon in the hands of the employer under labour welfare legislations, protest is a tool in the hands of

22 booked for stone pelting at minister Sattar's residence in Aurangabad

An offence has been registered 22 persons for allegedly shouting slogans and pelting stones at Maharashtra Minister Abdul Sattar's residence to protest his alleged comment against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule, police said on Tuesday. An offence was registered against 22 protestors, 17 of whom have been identified, at Begumpura police station on Monday night, an official said. The state agriculture minister on Monday stoked a controversy with his alleged objectionable remarks against Sule, triggering protests by NCP workers in various cities. Stones were hurled at Sattar's residences in Aurangabad city and Mumbai, while demonstrations were held against him in his hometown Sillod, Pune, Thane, Aurangabad, Jalna, Nagpur and Pandharpur, officials said. A case under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code has been registered, the official said. The NCP's district unit president Kailas Patil, party leader