Highly-charged protesters blocked roads in Bewal Town and Gujar Khan city on Sunday afternoon after a man was gunned down while another was seriously injured by a group of armed men in the presence of the area police. The protesters raised slogans against the station house officer and the in-charge of the Bewal police post and demanded that the inspector general of police (IGP) take notice of the lawlessness in the area. According to local sources, a property dispute between the two parties in Bewal Town had been continuing for the last few days, and the police were allegedly ignoring it at the behest of a land mafia. On Sunday noon, the ‘gun-point possession’ was underway, and local police were repeatedly called to intervene, but the calls on Rescue 15 went unheeded, alleged Abid, a local activist, while addressing the protesters. According to him, when the police party reached, the other party resorted to firing, leading to the death of Haroon while Hameed, a motorcycle mechanic, sustained serious injuries. The injured was shifted to THQ Hospital Gujar Khan. The infuriated residents first blocked the roads in Bewal Town, and later blocked the dual carriageway for hours after the victims were shifted to the THQ Hospital Gujar Khan. On getting information, SP Saddar Nabeel Khokhar reached Gujar Khan and tried to assure the protesters that justice would be provided to them. However, after he failed to convince them, the police resorted to baton charge and got the traffic between Lahore and Islamabad restored. Three persons were arrested on the charge of blocking roads. Meanwhile, a woman was killed after suspects opened fire on a van on Daultala Road on Saturday afternoon. According to witnesses, five armed men on motorbikes opened fire on Quratulain, 23, and her mother, Bilqis Fatima, who was sitting on the front seat. Two other women, who were sitting on the rear seat, were also injured. Quratulain died in the attack. The armed men managed to escape from the crime scene. A murder case was registered against Waqar Hussain Shah and his alleged accomplices on the complaint of Syed Qalab Hussain Shah, resident of Darkali Kalan. According to the complainant, Waqar Hussain Shah had divorced his daughter Quratulain and a dispute between the couple was settled in the police station the same day, after which his ex-husband and his accomplices killed her. Source : Dawn

Police in the Netherlands detained thousands of climate activists over the weekend after they shut down a major highway two days in a row. An estimated 10,000 activists blocked A12 highway leading to The Hague for several hours on Saturday, according to the mayor's office. Police arrested some 2,400 people at the time. Hundreds of protesters did so again on Sunday, when police arrested another 500 people. The Extinction Rebellion activists were protesting the Dutch government's subsidies for fossil fuel companies, as they have done in recent months. According to a report published earlier in the week by the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations, these subsidies total around €37.5 billion ($40.2 billion) each year. "The seas are rising and so are we," the crowd chanted. Extinction Rebellion vows to keep protesting  Police fired water cannons at the protesters on Saturday and Sunday as they resisted requests to clear the road. They also dragged individuals away to clear the highway. Authorities said the activists had previously been given permission to protest and were asked to hold the demonstration at the nearby central station. The Hague's Mayor Jan van Zanen approved the clearance of the highway but also said demonstrators were welcome to proceed to authorized protest areas instead.  Extinction Rebellion said it would continue protesting until the Dutch government stops using public money to subsidize the oil and gas industry. "No matter what The Hague city council makes the police do, we will stay or come back every day," Extinction Rebellion Netherlands said on its website. "And that's until the government meets our demand: an immediate end to all subsidies for fossil fuels."

Just Stop Oil protesters briefly interrupted the second Ashes Test at Lord's between England and Australia, before unceremoniously being removed from the field. Protesters from the Just Stop Oil group disrupted Wednesday's Test match between England and Australia at the Lord's Cricket Ground in London. Two environmental activists ran onto the grass during the first morning of the second Ashes Test — the prestigious series of games between the historic rivals. The protesters scattered orange powder on the ground, mimicking spectacles carried out by members of the group at other major sporting events. "We are aware of protesters on the Lord's Cricket Ground pitch today. Police have arrested three people and taken them into custody," the Metropolitan Police said on Twitter. What did the Just Stop Oil protesters do at Lords? The two men appeared after England's James Anderson had finished the first over to Australian batsman David Warner. They were quickly tackled by security staff as well as players. England wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow carried off one of the protesters. A third protester was apprehended before making it onto the grounds. The orange powder landed on the grass, but not on the pitch directly. Play resumed after around five minutes once ground staff had cleared up the powder. Just Stop Oil has carried out protest actions at the World Snooker Championships, the British Formula One Grand Prix, the Premiership rugby union final and at several Premier League soccer matches. Their members also made headlines by throwing soup on a painting by Vincent Van Gogh. The group, who were booed by spectators at Lords, demand that the UK government stop issuing new licenses for oil, gas and coal projects. "It's time for cricket lovers and all those who understand the severity of this situation, to get onto the streets and demand action from this illegitimate, criminal government," a spokesperson for the group said.

Demonstrators protested against violence in Serbian society in Belgrade following two mass shootings that rattled the Balkan nation. Tens of thousands of people marched through the Serbian capital, Belgrade, on Friday to demand the resignation of top officials, better security, and a ban on violent TV content. It was the second large "Serbia Against Violence" rally after two back-to-back mass shootings in which 17 people, including children, were killed. They have demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic and state security agency director Aleksandar Vulin and called for a special parliamentary session to discuss the government's response to the deadly shootings. They also want two pro-government TV stations, which they accuse of promoting violent and vulgar content, shut down. Anger aimed at President Aleksandar Vucic The protesters, mainly opposition supporters, slammed Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic, whom they have accused of fueling intolerance and hate speech that they say indirectly led to the mass shootings. Vucic has dismissed the protests as a "political" stunt. "They scheduled their political rallies during national mourning days, with a sole purpose of violence and violent seizure of power," Vucic said in a televised interview. He was planning a separate rally for his own supporters later this month. Police collect illegal firearms Within a span of two days, 17 individuals lost their lives, and 21 sustained injuries in two separate mass shootings. The first incident occurred on May 3, when a 13-year-old boy opened fire at his school in central Belgrade using his father's gun. The following day, a 20-year-old man randomly fired at people in a rural area south of the capital. Both shooters surrendered to the police. On Monday, police launched a one-month amnesty for surrendering illegal weapons. Vucic said around 10,000 weapons, including hand-held disposable anti-tank launchers, explosive ordnance, and tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, had already been handed over.

The Chinese protesters who demonstrated against the zero-Covid policy were subjected to intense surveillance measures and aggressive interrogations in police custody, reported Cate Cadell and Christian Shepherd in The Washington Post. Even though China revoked its Zero Covid Policy following the protests, China unleashed its police equipped with the latest technology to go after people who had participated in the protests. Dozens of people who took part in the protests have paid heavily for the dissent. Some protesters from Beijing and Shanghai had mentioned that they had to face heightened digital surveillance, strip searches, threats to their families and physical duress during these interrogations by the Chinese police for participating in the protests, said Cadell and Shepherd. It is not exactly clear how the exact tracing of the protestors was possible for the protests but insights from lawyers, analysts, protesters and police purchasing documents offer some hints at the types of tools used. The Washington Post report mentions one theory although it is difficult to prove that the police used cell signal towers to pull all phone numbers from locations where crowds gathered and then deployed officers en masse to work through the list. "[The police] seem to have used some modern technology, network technology, and they have collected a data pool of phone numbers of all the people involved in the incident," the Washing Post quoted a lawyer having direct knowledge of protestors' case. In the same report Washington Post claims A month before the protests began in Beijing, the city's Ministry of Public Security issued a procurement for a 580,000-yuan (USD 84,000) data surveillance project combining human analysts and automated scraping tools to undertake 24-hour screening of domestic and overseas news and social media accounts discussing issues that could snowball into dissent in China. Doa, a 28-year-old tech worker from Beijing, detained after a protest against Zero covid said, "The virus is no longer the enemy, the health officials and quarantine are not the enemy ... now only the people who protest are the enemy." The Washington Post report further mentions that the people who had offered their statements about the police interactions used nicknames or spoke on the clause of anonymity because of the sensitive matter. In the Washington Post report by Cadell and Shepherd Doa said that she and a friend were at a protest held on November 28 at midnight near a Liangmahe bridge in Chaoyang district for just half an hour keeping a low profile and avoiding being filed and any interactions with the police. Two days later, her mother was contacted, telling her that Doa had participated in "illegal riots" and would soon be detained. Further, the police called Doa summoning them to a police station in Northern Beijing. She was further exposed to a nine-hour interrogation. There is no official figure on the number of people detained following the protests, and the Chinese government has not directly acknowledged arrests even occurred, according to the Cadell and Shepherd report. The report further mentions about a 2018 policy that was designed by the administration requiring internet companies to make regular detailed reports on trends that "mobilize" public sentiment or cause "major changes in public opinion." Under the rule, companies must provide detailed information on individual users, including their real names, location and chat logs. Supporting such a technology-influenced system of tracing is a system of cities filled with hundreds of millions of surveillance cameras under an ambitious program called Sharp Eyes that set a goal of covering the entire population by 2020. It includes facial recognition cameras designed to automatically identify pedestrians and drivers and compare them against national ID registries and blacklists. In a different incident related six people were similarly arrested and exposed to stressful and physically demanding interrogations. "We were only allowed to stand and could not talk to each other. They didn't let us sleep, and if I did, they would knock on the door to wake me up," said one Shanghai man, 25, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of further repercussions. The man said he saw others detained who were handcuffed and forced into a squatting position for around an hour after failing to comply. He said officers punished them in the station by making them do squat exercises and copy hand pages of political documents from the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. "The purpose [of questioning] was to find out who planned it; they thought it was the separatists or foreign forces," he said. The officers taunted men in the group with long hair, calling them gay, he added. "They would also call us traitors and running dogs and tell us to get the hell out of China.".

A pro-Russian group has been organizing demonstrations against Moldova's government for well over a month now. The protesters are demanding the removal of pro-European President Maia Sandu and blame Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy for the war in his country. They also condone the actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and criticize neighboring Romania, the European Union and the United States for supporting Moldova's Ukraine. Protesters are being bussed to the capital, Chisinau, from all over the country and setting up tents outside parliament. They're reportedly being paid the equivalent of €20 ($19) per day and €80 per night. Moldovan journalists have posted dozens of videos in which demonstrators, some visibly intoxicated, speak openly about the sums they've received. Protest organizers accuse President Sandu of refusing to travel to Moscow and placate Putin to secure cheap gas for Moldova, which is almost entirely dependent on Russian supplies. Russia has been taking advantage of this dependency and is now charging four times for gas more than it did before it invaded Ukraine at the end of February. Since then, inflation in Moldova has increased by 35%. To make matter worse, there is also a risk that Russian energy giant Gazprom will cut off supplies completely this winter. President blames 'criminal groups' Sandu strongly criticized the protesters during a press conference held earlier this week. "Criminal groups want to create a conflict situation in order to overthrow public order and gain power so that Russia can use our country in war," she said, according to the state news agency Moldpres. The public prosecutor's office has begun an investigation. The Shor opposition party, named after party leader Ilan Shor, is said to be behind the protests. Shor fled the country in 2019 just before the collapse of the oligarch regime under Vladimir Plahotniuc. Shortly thereafter, prosecutors began investigating him over a series of banking scandals. Shor and Plahotnuic allegedly worked in tandem from 2016 to 2019 to cheat the country out of hundreds of millions. Through corruption and bribery, Plahotniuc had secured a majority in parliament, the government and the judiciary. Most of his cronies now live abroad, many of them in London. Plahotniuc himself said to be in Turkey, a country with which Moldova has no extradition treaty. As for Shor, he is also immune to extradition, as he lives in Israel and holds citizenship there. Shor recently appeared on a large video screen during the protests. Speaking not long ago to Russia's Ria Novosti news agency, he said that being on Russia's side would make Moldova "happy and successful." Shor has been sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in Moldova for bank fraud. Now Moldovan authorities accuse him and other fugitives of jointly acquiring TV stations and online portals there, along with cultivating "geopolitical relations" with the Kremlin. Authorities say Shor and his allies aim to overthrow the constitutional order in Moldova. The "attempts to destabilize the situation in the country are becoming more frequent" and are perpetrated by "those who want war and chaos,” Sandu said during the press conference. "Thieves involve people to achieve their goals." These people had promised Moscow that they would remove the country's pro-European leadership and establish a new one that would allow Russia to involve Moldova in the war, she said, adding, "Don't be under any illusions, you won't succeed. Treason will be severely punished." Big challenges for a small country Debate over the country's neutrality has reignited against the backdrop of protests, along with the growing threat of Russian missiles violating Moldova's airspace as they did on October 10. During her press conference, Sandu condemned the missiles' crossing of Moldovan airspace and demanded that the country's borders and neutrality be respected, a sentiment echoed by Igor Grosu, Moldova's parliamentary president and a member of Sandu's Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS).  ”When deadly missiles fly over our country, we are obliged to protect our airspace — alone or with the help of our friends and neighbors," Grosu told DW. It is not enough to call oneself a neutral state, he said: "Neutrality must be defended!" By early October it was already clear that that EU members — especially neighboring Romania but also Germany — are taking the situation in Moldova seriously; Moldova was granted EU candidate status this summer along with Ukraine. During a visit to Chisinau on October 1, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht promised to help Moldova modernize its army. Bucharest and Brussels have also pledged support. The same applies to the energy sector. Starting on October 14, Romania plans to supply electricity to Moldova after Ukraine stopped delivery because of the destruction of its infrastructure caused by heavy Russian shelling. In addition, Romania will provide €10 million in financial aid to prepare for the coming winter. The EU also aims to increase its support. At an informal meeting of energy ministers in Prague on October 12, EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson said that in addition to supplying Ukraine, the EU has "also been actively working to ensure stable electricity and gas supplies to Moldova, that is facing serious security of supply challenges." "I welcome that commercial exchanges between Romania and Moldova have been activated ... and would like to thank the romanian minister for his support,” she added. "There are also emergency supply contracts in place that Moldova can rely on."

The Iranian president has called for action to be taken against widespread protests following the death of a young woman. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday that authorities must deal decisively with the protests that broke out across the country following the death of a young Kurdish woman in police detention. The country has seen some of its biggest protests in years. They originally broke out last week at the funeral of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini who protesters believe was killed by Iran’s morality police who enforce hijab rules on women’s dress. Raisi said on Saturday that Iran must deal decisively with those who oppose the country’s security and tranquility. He was quoted by the state-run news agency IRNA while he was on a call with the family of a member of a voluntary Basij unit who was allegedly killed by protesters. Returning from the UN Assembly in New York, Raisi said that normal protests should be permitted but that riots could not be allowed. How has Iran responded to the protests so far? The recent protests have been largely led by women, although with significant support from some men. They accuse the morality police of using violence against Amini, who was arrested on September 13 for violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code. The government responded to the protests by hundreds of thousands of people across multiple cities by severely limiting internet connectivity and organizing their own pro-government marches. Despite the internet blackout, videos of protests have made their way onto social media, with several showing burning barricades in the street, or young women demonstrably walking around without wearing a headscarf. Iran has claimed that the protests are orchestrated by foreign enemies and Iranian exile groups. Official sources have said that 35 people have been killed in the protests, but activists say the number is at least 50. The last major outbreak of protests in 2019 was met with a severe government crackdown in which roughly 1,500 people were killed. Iranian news reported on Saturday that alone in the northern province of Gilani, 739 protesters had been arrested. Minister rejects police responsibility Authorities further antagonized protesters on Saturday by claiming that Amini had not been killed by the morality police. Interior Minister Ahmad Wahidi said that the autopsy had provided no evidence that the police were to blame. The medical examinations and those of the forensic department show that there was neither beating nor a fractured skull, state media quoted him as saying. Amini’s father rejected the claims made by Wahidi saying that she had not had any heart problems and so could not have died from heart failure as police reported.

Followers of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have forced entry into parliament over Iran-backed political groups involved in forming the next government. Demonstrators tore down concrete barriers before entering the Green Zone. Thousands of demonstrators forced their way into Iraq’s parliament on Saturday in Baghdad’s Green Zone. Followers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr are demonstrating over the formation of the next government, involving Iran-backed political groups. A parliamentary session that was due to be held did not take place and there were no lawmakers in the hall. We came today to remove the corrupt political class and prevent them from holding a parliament session, and to prevent the Framework from forming a government, Raad Thabet told the Associated Press news agency. We responded to al-Sadr’s call. We will go to the Green (Zone). No matter the cost, Thabet said. The second breach of Iraq’s parliament Iraqi security forces used tear gas and stun grenades in an effort to disperse the crowds. Several police officers were hurt as stones were thrown, according to police. A witness told Reuters news agency that protesters had managed to tear down concrete barriers before entering the city’s Green Zone which houses government buildings and various diplomatic missions. It’s the second time in the space of a week that crowds of protesters have managed to breach the country’s parliamentary building. On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators forced their way into the building voicing opposition to the nomination of Mohammed al-Sudani for the office of prime minister. Iraq’s political crisis Political parties have failed to reach agreement on the selection of a national leader since the elections in October last year. It’s the longest period the Middle Eastern country has gone through without an official prime minister. Al-Sadr’s bloc won the most seats in the election, but talks with other parties stalled as Kurdish and Shiite lawmakers failed to reach an agreement. While al-Sadr and his supporters are Shiite, they oppose other Shiite parties with strong connections to Iran, such as al-Sudani’s Coordination Framework bloc.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was reportedly moved to safety as crowds broke through a police cordon. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has agreed to resign.Tens of thousands of protesters demanding Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and the government’s resignation, stormed his official residence on Saturday. Rajapaksa was moved to a safer area, an official within his office told news agency dpa, while AFP cited a top defense source as saying the president was escorted to safety. Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe agreed to step down from his position on Saturday after summoning an emergency meeting of political party leaders. He said he is willing to make way for an all-party government in the light of the protests and ongoing economic crisis the country. During the latest protests at Rajapaksa’s residence, a regular fixture in recent weeks, troops fired in the air, trying to prevent the angry crowds from overrunning the palace, but the protesters eventually managed to break through. Shortly after, protesters managed to breach the president’s offices, located less than a kilometer from Rajapaksa’s residence. Images broadcast on national television later showed crowds gathering both outside and inside the building. Worst economic crisis in living memory The island nation is in the midst of its worst economic crisis since gaining independence in 1948. The country defaulted on its foreign debt in April. The president has so far refused to resign. However, in an apparent bid to appease the protesters, he has removed several of his close relatives from top government positions, including two of his brothers, Mahinda and Basil, who until recently served as the country’s prime minister and finance minister, respectively. In May, Wickremesinghe was appointed prime minister and is currently also in charge of heading the Finance Ministry. He has pledged to establish a relief program and a new economic plan which would allow him to seek a bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Bankrupt with debts of over $50 billion Wickremesinghe said the country’s bailout talks with the IMF were reliant on finalizing a debt restructuring plan with creditors by August, and that was made all the more difficult as the country is bankrupt with debts now totaling over $50 billion (€49.1 billion). Sri Lanka’s 22 million people have suffered months of surging inflation and lengthy power cuts after the government ran out of foreign currency to import essential goods, such as food, fuel and medicine.

The UN and EU have condemned protesters who broke into the parliament building and set fires in front of it. Power cuts have sparked widespread anger. The United Nations and European Union on Saturday condemned protesters in Libya who stormed the parliament building in Tobruk to express their anger with the government over recent power cuts. Local television stations reported that protesters broke into the building of the parliament in Tobruk on Friday and committed acts of vandalism. Images also showed columns of black smoke coming from outside the building. Security forces protecting the parliament withdrew from the site, Reuters cited an eyewitness as saying. UN special adviser on Libya, Stephanie Williams, called the storming of the government building totally unacceptable while insisting that people’s right to peacefully protest should be respected and protected. She called for restraint on all sides. The EU’s delegation head in Libya, Jose Sabadell, said on Saturday that protests must be carried out peacefully and avoid any type of violence, adding that special restraint is necessary given the fragile situation. Libya’s parliament, or House of Representatives, has been based in Tobruk, hundreds of kilometers east of the capital, Tripoli, since an east-west split in 2014 after the uprising and western intervention that ousted longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi three years earlier. A rival body, formally known as the High Council of State, is based in Tripoli. Protests across the divided country In Tripoli’s Martyrs Square, several hundred people gathered to shout slogans demanding electricity, criticizing armed factions and politicians and demanding elections in the capital’s biggest protests against the ruling elite for years. Smaller protests of dozens of demonstrators also took place in each of Benghazi and Tobruk and some smaller towns, showing how anger at the situation extends across the geographical divide between the country’s rival forces. Libya has endured several days of power cuts, worsened by the blockade of several oil facilities against the backdrop of political rivalries. We want the lights to work, protesters chanted. Support from Tripoli Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, the head of Libya’s Government of National Unity, said he supported the protesters. He called for all institutions to leave including the government, adding that it was only possible through election. Dbeibah, the sitting prime minister was appointed by a 2021 UN-backed commission on an interim basis. He has since refused to step down, saying he would only do so for an elected government. His administration is based in the capital of Tripoli. Fathi Bashagha was appointed prime minister by the country’s eastern parliament, which based in the city of Tobruk, in February 2022. The administration is backed by military commander General Khalifa Haftar. Both sides are supported by different militias and foreign powers. Deadlock in Libya Presidential and parliamentary elections, originally set for December last year, were meant to cap a UN-led peace process following the end of the last major round of violence in 2020. But the vote never took place due to several contentious candidacies and deep disagreements over the polls legal basis between rival power centers in the east and west. The United Nations said on Thursday that talks between the rival Libyan institutions aimed at breaking the deadlock had failed to resolve key differences.