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Nato says controversial bill takes Georgia further away from Europe and urges country to change direction and accept peaceful protestGeorgia ‘returning to the past’ with foreign agents law, says presidentSalome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s president, said she spoke with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy.After a delay, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and the neighborhood commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, issued a statement on Georgia.The adoption of this law...

Netiporn Sanae-sangkhom, 28, faced seven court cases including two for criticising Thailand’s monarchyA political activist charged with insulting the king of Thailand has died in pre-trial detention after spending 65 days on hunger strike calling for an end to the imprisonment of political dissidents.Netiporn Sanae-sangkhom, 28, had been detained since 26 January and maintained a hunger strike until the end of April, refusing food...

As draft law described by the US as ‘Kremlin-inspired’ nears its final vote, opposition and youth groups say they will keep defending civil libertiesAs the “foreign influence” bill was being nodded through the Georgian parliament’s legal committee at 9am on Monday, a wet and tired Zviad Tsetskhladze, 18, and Luka Natsvlishvili, 17, were among thousands of protesters left with little option other than to...

Unrest came as demonstrator who was attacked near his home says government is trying to intimidate criticsEurope live – latest updatesRiot police armed with water cannon and teargas have been accused of beating protesters who picketed outside Georgia’s parliament to try to stop a final vote on a controversial “foreign influence” law.The fresh scenes of violence on Monday morning came as hundreds of masked...

Demonstrators converge on Tbilisi to denounce government-backed law likened to Russia’s silencing of dissent Thousands of protesters marched through central Tbilisi on Saturday at a rally against a controversial “foreign influence” bill backed by the Georgian government and likened to Russian laws silencing dissent.Massive rallies have gripped the Black Sea Caucasus country for almost a month after the ruling Georgian Dream party revived the...

Largely white, male group taunts pro-Palestinian protesters on campus and one man makes racist gesture towards Black womanDozens of students at the University of Mississippi gathered this week to protest against Israel’s war in Gaza and to call for the state’s flagship university to be transparent in its potential dealings with Israel.There were hundreds of counter-protesters, in contrast to the few dozen pro-Palestinian protesters....

University students air frustration that sit-ins motivated by peace are being shut down instead of heededJack, 22, a student in public administration, was dragged out of his university building by the arms and legs on Friday, as police forcibly removed several dozen students who had been occupying Paris’s Sciences Po university overnight in a protest against civilian deaths in Gaza.“We’ll keep going,” said the...

Irakli Kobakhidze tries to draw a parallel between a crackdown on protests in Georgia and police action on US campusesIn a joint statement yesterday, a group of members of the European parliament said they are “deeply worried about the situation in Georgia” and “condemn the violence against peaceful protesters and opposition politicians.”David McAllister, Marina Kaljurand and Sven Mikser said they “have already expressed our...

College under federal investigation after students with Palestinian and Muslim ancestry allege ‘hostile environment’, Guardian learnsThe US government has opened an investigation into Emory University’s alleged discrimination against students with Palestinian, Muslim or Arab ancestry since 7 October, the Guardian has exclusively learned.The US education department notified the Council on American Islamic Relations, Georgia, or Cair-GA, and Palestine Legal, a national organization, on Tuesday...

Los Angeles mayor calls late-night attack by counter-demonstrators ‘abhorrent’ as footage shows people wielding sticksUS campus protests – live updatesProtests at university campuses across the US – in picturesThe University of California in Los Angeles was reeling on Wednesday following a late-night violent attack by counter-demonstrators on a pro-Palestinian protest encampment, as the state’s governor condemned a slow response from law enforcement to some...

Masked police also used water cannon and stun grenades against rally protesting over legislation viewed as authoritarian and Russian-inspiredMichael Roth, chairman of the German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, has called on Georgia’s leadership to stop the violence and withdraw the foreign agents bill.The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said today that he “strongly” condemns violence against protesters and said use of force is...

Police launch violent crackdown on demonstration against bill that pro-Moscow government is trying to passGeorgian security forces used water cannon, teargas and stun grenades against protesters outside parliament late on Tuesday, sharply escalating a crackdown after lawmakers debated a “foreign agents” bill that is viewed by the opposition and western nations as authoritarian and Russian-inspired.Reuters witnesses saw some police officers physically attack protesters –...

US campus protests escalate after students suspended, while dozens arrested in Texas, Utah and VirginiaMiddle East crisis – live updatesDozens of protesters have taken over a building at Columbia University in New York, barricading the entrances and unfurling a Palestinian flag out of a window in the latest escalation of demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war that have spread to college campuses across the US.Video...

Protesters arrested in city’s historic French Quarter as witnesses allege officers used ‘indiscriminate’ force to clear protestPolice arrested a dozen pro-Palestine protesters in New Orleans’ historic French Quarter, as efforts to set up an encampment in the city’s center were suppressed by local law-enforcement officers.Officers used batons and tasers on protesters who had congregated in Jackson Square Park, according to eyewitnesses and video reviewed...

More than 60 people, including a journalist, arrested at University of Southern California and University of Texas at Austin. This blog is now closed.Campus protests: full storyMike Johnson, the Republican House speaker, will visit Columbia University today to speak to Jewish students and hold a press conference “regarding the troubling rise of virulent antisemitism on America’s college campuses”, his office has said.New York House...

Young men are forced to take part in conscript lottery, but the rich often avoid serving in armyEvery April in Thailand young men take part in a lottery to determine whether they will be forced to do military service. Pull out a red card and you are drafted for up to two years. A black card means you are exempt.When it was Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal’s...

Organisers say 50,000 turn out to call for limit on tourist numbers, saying model makes life unaffordable and puts strain on resourcesTens of thousands of people are protesting across the Canary Islands to call for an urgent rethink of the Spanish archipelago’s tourism strategy and a freeze on visitor numbers, arguing that the decades-old model has made life unaffordable and environmentally unsustainable for residents.The...

Controversy followed a viral video of pro-Palestinian students interrupting a dinner held by a Berkeley free-speech defenderDuring a dinner for students that the dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school held in his house’s backyard earlier this month, a woman wearing a hijab and checkered Palestinian scarf suddenly stood up with a microphone and amplifier. What followed lasted only a couple of...

A cabinet split over military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews and large street protests demanding the release of hostages are threatening the prime minister’s grip on power. Bethan McKernan reports from JerusalemAs the war in Gaza approaches its seventh month, tens of thousands of protesters in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other cities in Israel have demanded the release of hostages held in Gaza and called...

Beijing dismisses chorus of concern from western governments over punitive new law as slanderChina has accused western governments and the United Nations of slander after they criticised Hong Kong’s new national security law, which was rushed through the city’s pro-Beijing parliament this week.The law, known as Article 23, covers newly defined acts of treason, espionage, theft of state secrets, sedition and foreign interference. Critics...

Civil liberties network says in states where far-right parties influence power, rule-of-law deterioration risks becoming systemicThe rule of law is declining across the EU as governments continue to weaken legal and democratic checks and balances, a leading civil liberties network has said, highlighting in particular a sharp rise in restrictions on the right to protest.Berlin-based Liberties said in its annual report, compiled with 37...

Exclusive: Dame Sara Khan warns that framing demonstrations as Islamist extremism is ‘far-fetched and untrue’A UK government adviser on social cohesion has described attempts to portray protesters on pro-Palestinian marches as extremist as “outrageous” and dangerous.Dame Sara Khan, who is carrying out a review of the resilience of the UK’s democracy for Michael Gove, said such claims risked further dividing the country. Continue reading...

Debate has begun on Article 23 – legislation designed to bring laws closer to those of mainland ChinaHong Kong’s government has released the draft text of a new national security law that would further tighten control on the city and bring its laws closer in line with mainland China.The law, known as Article 23, is a domestic piece of legislation defining and penalising crimes...

Two groups are striking for better working conditions and investment in Germany’s underfunded public transportAt first sight, the gathering in an office complex in east Berlin resembles a self-help group. But the public transport workers and climate protesters sitting in a semi-circle introducing themselves have been thrown together, they say, to fight for a common cause.“Hello, my name is Erdogan. I’m a bus driver...