MOSCOW: Chanting slogans against President Vladimir Putin, tens of thousands took to the streets Sunday across Russia to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, keeping up nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin. More than 5,000 people were detained by police, according to a monitoring group, and some were beaten.
The massive protests came despite efforts by Russian authorities to stem the tide of demonstrations after tens of thousands rallied across the country last weekend in the largest, most widespread show of discontent that Russia had seen in years. Despite threats of jail terms, warnings to social media groups and tight police cordons, the protests again engulfed cities across Russia's 11 time zones on Sunday.
Navalny's team quickly called another protest in Moscow for Tuesday, when he is set to face a court hearing that could send him to prison for years.
The 44-year-old Navalny, an anti-corruption investigator who is Putin's best-known critic, was arrested on Jan. 17 upon returning from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusations. He was arrested for allegedly violating his parole conditions by not reporting for meetings with law enforcement when he was recuperating in Germany.
The United States urged Russia to release Navalny and criticized the crackdown on protests.
“The US condemns the persistent use of harsh tactics against peaceful protesters and journalists by Russian authorities for a second week straight,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Twitter.
The Russian Foreign Ministry rejected Blinken's call as “crude interference in Russia's internal affairs" and accused Washington of trying to destabilize the situation in the country by backing the protests.
On Sunday, police detained more than 5,000 people in cities nationwide, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors political arrests, surpassing some 4,000 detentions at the demonstrations across Russia on Jan. 23.
In Moscow, authorities introduced unprecedented security measures in the city center, closing subway stations near the Kremlin, cutting bus traffic and ordering restaurants and stores to stay closed.
Navalny’s team initially called for Sunday’s protest to be held on Moscow’s Lubyanka Square, home to the main headquarters of the Federal Security Service, which Navalny contends was responsible for his poisoning. Facing police cordons around the square, the protest shifted to other central squares and streets.
Police were randomly picking up people and putting them into police buses, but thousands of protesters marched across the city center for hours, chanting “Putin, resign!” and “Putin, thief!" — a reference to an opulent Black Sea estate reportedly built for the Russian leader that was featured in a widely popular video released by Navalny’s team.
“I’m not afraid, because we are the majority," said protester Leonid Martynov. “We mustn't be scared by clubs because the truth is on our side."
At one point, crowds of demonstrators walked toward the Matrosskaya Tishina prison where Navalny is being held. They were met by phalanxes of riot police who pushed the march back and chased protesters through courtyards.
Demonstrators continued to march around the Russian capital, zigzagging around police cordons. Officers broke them into smaller groups and detained scores, beating some with clubs and occasionally using tasers.
Over 1,600 people were detained in Moscow, including Navalny's wife, Yulia, who was released after several hours pending a court hearing Monday on charges of taking part in an unsanctioned protest. “If we keep silent, they will come after any of us tomorrow,” she said on Instagram before turning out to protest.
Amnesty International said that authorities in Moscow have arrested so many people that the city's detention facilities have run out of space. “The Kremlin is waging a war on the human rights of people in Russia, stifling protesters’ calls for freedom and change,” Natalia Zviagina, the group’s Moscow office head, said in a statement.
Several thousand people marched across Russia's second-largest city of St. Petersburg, chanting “Down with the czar!” and occasional scuffles erupted as some demonstrators pushed back police who tried to make detentions. Over 1,100 were arrested.
Some of the biggest rallies were held in Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk in eastern Siberia and Yekaterinburg in the Urals.
“I do not want my grandchildren to live in such a country," said 55-year-old Vyacheslav Vorobyov, who turned out for a rally in Yekaterinburg. "I want them to live in a free country.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, who currently chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, condemned “the excessive use of force by authorities and mass detention of peaceful protesters and journalists” and urged Russia “to release all those unjustly detained, including Navalny.”
As part of a multipronged effort by authorities to block the protests, courts have jailed Navalny's associates and activists across the country over the past week. His brother Oleg, top aide Lyubov Sobol and three other people were put under a two-month house arrest Friday on charges of allegedly violating coronavirus restrictions during last weekend’s protests.
Prosecutors also demanded that social media platforms block calls to join the protests.
The Interior Ministry issued stern warnings to the public, saying protesters could be charged with taking part in mass riots, which carries a prison sentence of up to eight years.
Protests were fueled by a two-hour YouTube video released by Navalny's team after his arrest about the Black Sea residence purportedly built for Putin. The video has been viewed over 100 million times, inspiring a stream of sarcastic jokes on the internet amid an economic downturn.
Russia has seen extensive corruption during Putin’s time in office while poverty has remained widespread.
“All of us feel pinched financially, so people who take to the streets today feel angry,” said Vladimir Perminov who protested in Moscow. “The government's rotation is necessary.”
Demonstrators in Moscow chanted “Aqua discotheque!” — a reference to one of the fancy amenities at the residence that also features a casino and a hookah lounge equipped for watching pole dances.
Putin says neither he nor any of his close relatives own the property. On Saturday, construction magnate Arkady Rotenberg, a longtime Putin confidant and his occasional judo sparring partner, claimed that he himself owned the property.
Navalny fell into a coma on Aug. 20 while on a flight from Siberia to Moscow and the pilot diverted the plane so he could be treated in the city of Omsk. He was transferred to a Berlin hospital two days later. Labs in Germany, France and Sweden, and tests by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, established that he was exposed to the Novichok nerve agent.
Russian authorities have refused to open a full-fledged criminal inquiry, claiming lack of evidence that he was poisoned.
Navalny was arrested immediately upon his return to Russia earlier this month and jailed for 30 days on the request of Russia’s prison service, which alleged he had violated the probation of his suspended sentence from a 2014 money-laundering conviction that he has rejected as political revenge.
On Thursday, a Moscow court rejected Navalny's appeal to be released, and the hearing Tuesday could turn his 3 1/2-year suspended sentence into one he must serve in prison.
Over 5,000 arrested at pro-Navalny protests across Russia
https://arab.news/mg9jn
Over 5,000 arrested at pro-Navalny protests across Russia
- Navalny’s supporters in Moscow plan to rally near the Kremlin administration and the headquarters of the FSB
- Police have said the protests have not been authorized and will be broken up, as they were last weekend
UK set for more legal challenges over migrant hotels
- The local authority sought the ruling following several weeks of protests outside the hotel, some of which have turned violent
- The demonstrations erupted after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl
EPPING: Britain’s government was considering Wednesday whether to appeal a court ruling blocking the housing of asylum seekers in a flashpoint hotel, as it scrambled to come up with contingency plans for the migrants.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour administration braced itself for further legal challenges from local authorities following Tuesday’s judge-issued junction that has dealt it a major political and logistical headache.
Anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage indicated that councils run by his hard-right Reform UK party, leading in national polls, would pursue similar claims as he called for protests outside migrant hotels.
Security minister Dan Jarvis said the government was weighing challenging high court judge Stephen Eyre’s granting of a temporary injunction to stop migrants from staying at the Bell Hotel in Epping, northeast of London.
The local authority sought the ruling following several weeks of protests outside the hotel, some of which have turned violent. The demonstrations erupted after a resident was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
“We’re looking very closely at it,” Jarvis told Sky News of a possible appeal.
The interior ministry had tried to have the case dismissed, warning it would “substantially impact” its ability to provide accommodation for tens of thousands of asylum seekers across Britain.
“We’re looking at a range of different contingency options,” Jarvis told Times Radio, adding: “We’ll look closely at what we’re able to do.”
Several Reform-led councils, including in Staffordshire and Northamptonshire in the Midlands area of England, announced on Wednesday that they were exploring their options following the court ruling.
Protests, some of them violent, broke out in Epping in mid-July after Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 41, was charged. He denies the allegation and is due to stand trial later this year.
Hundreds of people have since taken part in demonstrations and counter-demonstrations outside the Bell Hotel. Further anti-immigration demonstrations also spread to London and around England.
Several men appeared in court on Monday charged with violent disorder over the Bell Hotel protests.
Epping Forest District Council argued the hotel had become a risk to public safety and that it had breached planning laws as it was no longer operating as a hotel in the traditional sense.
The judge gave authorities until September 12 to remove the migrants.
Writing in the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper, Farage said the “good people of Epping must inspire similar protests around Britain.”
He said peaceful demonstrations can “put pressure on local councils to go to court to try and get the illegal immigrants out.”
In Epping, an attractive market town connected to London by the underground, residents appeared to broadly welcome the imminent removal of the asylum seekers.
“It has made people feel unsettled, especially with schools being down there,” 52-year-old Mark Humphries, who works in retail, told AFP on the high street.
Carol Jones, 64, said she was relieved at the decision but wondered whether it would ever be implemented.
“They shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but where are they going to go?” the retiree told AFP.
Labour has pledged to end the use of hotels for asylum seekers before the next election, likely in 2029, in a bid to save billions of pounds.
The latest government data showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers being housed temporarily in UK hotels at the end of March, down 15 percent from the end of December.
Numbers hit a peak at the end of September 2023 when there were 56,042 asylum seekers in hotels, and the center-right Conservatives were in power.
Starmer is facing huge political pressure domestically for failing to stop irregular migrants crossing the Channel to England on small boats.
More than 50,000 people have made the dangerous crossing from northern France since Starmer became UK leader last July.
Under a 1999 law, the interior ministry “is required to provide accommodation and subsistence support to all destitute asylum seekers whilst their asylum claims are being decided.”
Enver Solomon, chief executive of Refugee Council, urged the government to “partner with local councils to provide safe, cost-effective accommodation within communities” rather than use hotels.
“Ultimately, the only way to end hotel use for good is to resolve asylum applications quickly and accurately so people can either rebuild their lives here or return home with dignity,” he said Tuesday.
Pakistan, China and Afghanistan hold summit in Kabul to boost cooperation
- Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs says the talks will cover a wide range of issues, including political and economic cooperation
- Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that Dar’s discussions will focus on trade, regional connectivity, and counter-terrorism efforts
ISLAMABAD: Top diplomats from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan are meeting on Wednesday in Kabul for a trilateral summit aimed at boosting political, regional and economic cooperation, officials said.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi were received by Taliban officials on arrival in the Afghan capital, according to separate statements issued by Islamabad and Beijing.
Afghanistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said the talks, hosted by Kabul, will include “comprehensive discussions” on a wide range of issues, including political, economic and regional cooperation.
According to Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dar’s discussions at the meeting would focus on expanding trade, improving regional connectivity and strengthening joint efforts against terrorism.
The last round of the dialogue took place in May in Beijing.
The latest development comes more than a month after Russia became the first country to formally recognize the Taliban’s government in Afghanistan. While no country, except from Russian, has offered formal recognition, the Taliban have engaged in high-level talks with many nations and established some diplomatic ties with countries including China and the United Arab Emirates.
Indonesia to make plastic recycling mandatory for producers
- Indonesia started to ban imports of plastic waste from developed countries on Jan. 1
- Indonesians are the top global consumers of microplastics, according to a 2024 study
JAKARTA: Indonesia, one of the world’s nations most affected by plastic pollution, will make recycling mandatory for producers, the government has announced in a new move to tackle the crisis, following a ban on shipments of plastic waste from developed countries.
Indonesia produces around 60 million tonnes of waste annually, government data shows, around 12 percent of which is plastic. Less than 10 percent of waste is recycled in the country, while more than half ends up in landfills.
Indonesians are also the top global consumers of microplastics, according to a 2024 study by Cornell University, which estimated that they ingest about 15 grams of plastic particles per month.
“Plastic is problematic for the environment, especially the single-use ones. It creates various problems, and contains hazardous toxic materials,” Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq told reporters earlier this week. Nurofiq was speaking after a UN summit in Geneva failed to produce the world’s first legally binding treaty to tackle plastic pollution.
“We are making an intervention through the Extended Producer Responsibility, or EPR, which is still voluntary at the moment, but we are working to make it mandatory.”
The rules of EPR are in place under a 2019 Ministerial Regulation, which requires producers in Indonesia to take full responsibility for the plastic waste generated by their products.
But the mechanism also encourages producers to design environmentally friendly products and packaging, said Muharram Atha Rasyadi, urban campaigner at Greenpeace Southeast Asia.
“EPR is not only about recycling, it’s also about prioritizing reduction schemes from the very start of the production process, including redesigning the products or transitioning to reuse alternatives,” he told Arab News on Wednesday.
“The producer responsibility scheme should be made into an obligation that needs to be regulated in the management of plastic pollution and waste. If it’s voluntary in nature as we currently have with the 2019 Ministerial Regulation, implementation will be slow and less than ideal.”
As both a major producer and consumer of plastics, Indonesia has poor waste-management practices that has contributed to its plastic pollution problem over the years.
The country of more than 270 million people is the second-largest ocean plastic polluter, just behind China, according to a 2015 study published in the journal Science.
As the government seeks to tackle the crisis by 2029, it started to ban imports of plastic waste on Jan. 1. This comes after years of being among other Southeast Asian nations receiving this plastic scrap from developed countries including the US, UK and Australia.
Indonesia has also introduced measures to reduce single-use plastics, including Bali province’s 2019 ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and Styrofoam, and a similar one enforced in the capital, Jakarta, in 2020.
Former US embassy guard in Norway on trial for spying for Russia, Iran
- The man, who is in his late 20s, is accused of having supplied information on embassy activities between March 2024 and November 20
OSLO: A Norwegian who worked as a security guard for the US embassy in Oslo went on trial Wednesday, accused of sharing information with Russian and Iranian intelligence, media reported.
The man, who is in his late 20s, is accused of having supplied information on embassy activities between March 2024 and November 20, the date of his arrest, according to the charge sheet.
In return, he was paid in euros and bitcoin.
He is accused of having supplied either the Russians or the Iranians — or both — with the contact details of diplomats, embassy staff and their families.
He is also accused of having supplied the diplomatic license-plate numbers of vehicles used by the embassy.
The charge sheet also alleges he handed over floor plans of the embassy, security routines and a list of couriers Norway’s intelligence service used.
On the first day of his trial, prosecutors presented evidence in the form of an email to the Russian embassy where the man wrote that he had “information that could be useful to you,” public broadcaster NRK reported.
The trial is scheduled to take eight days.
“He acknowledges the facts of the case but denies criminal liability. He is sorry for what he has done, but he is not a spy,” Inger Zadig, the defendant’s lawyer, told news agency NTB.
If convicted of the charges, he could spend up to 21 years in jail, the prosecution service told AFP in July.
Norway’s intelligence service has regularly accused Russia, Iran and China as being the greatest threats to the country so far as spying is concerned.
A member of NATO, Norway shares a land border with Russia in the Arctic.
Belarus seeks closer ties with Iran including on defense, Lukashenko says
- Pezeshkian, on a visit to Belarus, said Iran was ready to help Belarus to “neutralize illegal Western sanctions“
- Belarus and Iran — two countries that have backed Russia’s war in Ukraine — plan to deepen bilateral ties across all areas including defense
REUTERS: Belarus seeks to deepen ties with Iran in all areas including “military-technical cooperation,” state news agency Belta quoted President Alexander Lukashenko as telling his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday.
It said Pezeshkian, on a visit to Belarus, said Iran was ready to help Belarus to “neutralize illegal Western sanctions.”
Belarus and Iran — two countries that have backed Russia’s war in Ukraine — plan to deepen bilateral ties across all areas including defense, their presidents said at talks in Minsk on Wednesday.
Belarusian state news agency Belta said presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Masoud Pezeshkian agreed to work on a strategic partnership treaty.
“In conditions of geopolitical turbulence, Minsk and Tehran are undertaking consistent and balanced steps to further develop cooperation, and are working hard to turn each new challenge into a new opportunity,” it quoted Lukashenko as saying.
“We are ready to discuss any issues, we have no closed topics,” Lukashenko said, adding that the two countries could partner across a range of areas including “military-technical cooperation.”
Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowed Russia to use Belarusian territory as a launchpad for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and later assented to hosting Russian tactical nuclear missiles.
Iran has supplied drones to Russia for use in the war and Pezeshkian signed a strategic cooperation treaty with Putin in January, although it did not include a mutual defense clause.
Both Iran and Belarus are under what Pezeshkian described as “illegal Western sanctions.” Belta quoted him as saying Iran was ready to help Belarus “neutralize” such measures, noting that it had more than 40 years of experience in this area.
Pezeshkian said the two countries needed to build their economic and other ties to a level that matched the high level of trust between them.
“Of course, our common views should be implemented in the economic and cultural spheres, in the development of tourism between our countries, and also, as you noted, in the development of military-technical cooperation,” Belta quoted him as telling Lukashenko.
