Tag: protests

Hundreds Of Anti-Erdogan Protesters Arrested Overnight As Crisis Slides: ‘Fight About Democracy’

Turkish police have detained 343 people during overnight protests in several cities against the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the Interior Ministry said Saturday.

Demonstrations took place across the country, including in Istanbul and the capital Ankara, the ministry said in a statement. It said the detentions were made to prevent “disrupting of public order” and warned that authorities would not tolerate “chaos and provocation.”

The Republican People’s Party (CHP), of which Imamoglu is a member, said the detentions were politically motivated and urged supporters to demonstrate lawfully. The protests are the biggest in Turkey since the massive demonstrations of 2013 to protest the demolition of Istanbul’s Gezi Park, Kurdistan 24 reported.

“There is a great anger. People are spontaneously taking to the streets. Some young people are being politicized for the first time in their lives,” said Yuksel Taskin, a lawmaker from the CHP.

“The feeling of being trapped — economically, socially, politically, and even culturally — was already widespread,” journalist and author Kemal Can told AFP.

The protests began on March 19 after Mayor Imamoglu was detained at his home that morning on terrorism and corruption charges. “I see today during my interrogation that I and my colleagues are faced with unimaginable accusations and slanders,” Imamoglu said in his defense during a counter-terrorism police interrogation, a court document viewed by Reuters showed.

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Trump Administration Weighs Sanctions on Foreign Funders of Pro-Hamas Campus Protests

The Trump administration is mulling plans to sanction the international funders behind pro-Hamas protests, including prominent Qatari nationals who have vast financial holdings inside the United States, current and former U.S. officials familiar with the internal discussions told the Washington Free Beacon.

The effort seeks to build upon President Donald Trump’s January executive order authorizing the deportation of foreign students engaged in often illegal anti-Semitic demonstrations on college campuses across the country. Instead of targeting the protests’ participants, it would target their funders. The administration could, for example, slap sanctions on foreign individuals who provide groups like Students for Justice in Palestine with significant funding. In cases where those individuals enjoy U.S. visas, it could revoke them.

“President Trump has made it a priority to ensure that Jewish students, indeed all students, feel safe and free from harassment on college campuses,” one senior U.S. official, who spoke on background to discuss the ongoing deliberations, told the Free Beacon. “To that end, his administration is taking a comprehensive approach, not just looking at the visas and green cards of student instigators, but also, for example, going after the people funding the protests, wherever they may be.”

The plans reflect a growing appetite inside the administration to hamstring Hamas’s allies in the United States by penalizing their most prolific funders, including several former Qatari officials known to maintain relations with the Iran-backed group. Iranian government actors have also funded anti-Israel protests in the United States, former director of national intelligence Avril Haines revealed last summer.

Some officials within the Biden administration discussed similar plans to cut off foreign funding or the protests, according to a former U.S. diplomat involved in the efforts both then and now, who said the administration shelved the plans so as not to upset Doha’s government as it mediated peace talks between Israel and Hamas.

“This was on the menu when I was there, but the previous administration was a bit squeamish about taking extreme measures, like revoking visas,” said the diplomat. “But that’s not a problem in this administration, and we’re hearing they’re looking at all options—from sanctions on individuals to the revocation of visas.”

“You can’t get rid of anti-Semitism on campus without getting rid of the funding, and the funders are Qatar.”

The Trump administration has already taken similar action when it comes to America’s southern border. In early March, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced visa restrictions on “foreign government officials, including immigration and customs officials, airport and port authority officials, and others believed to be responsible for knowingly facilitating illegal immigration to the United States.” Less than two weeks later, Rubio restricted visas for current and former government officials complicit in China’s genocide of the Uyghur minority population.

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Queer Kennedy Center employee FIRED after stripping nude in video to protest Trump admin

Tavis Forsyth, a queer contract employee of the Kennedy Center, was fired on Thursday after stripping nude for a YouTube video to protest changes being made at the center under President Donald Trump’s leadership.

Forsyth, 32, who uses “they/them” pronouns, delivered a 35-minute spoken-word poem to express grievances about the Trump administration allegedly banning drag performers. In the explicit video, Forsyth pondered whether to resign in protest, saying, “Is my complicity inevitable, or am I holding a line on the inside?” Before Forsyth had the option to resign, Forsyth was terminated from the post. The former employee was part of an education division that worked with students at the center, sources told the National Pulse.

“Trump has taken over the Kennedy Center and that’s a place where I work,” said Forsyth at the beginning of the video, who had been sitting fully clothed on a bed. “He has vowed to ban drag performers from its stages, and as the saying goes, ‘We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.'” Forsyth then snapped and the clothes Forsyth was wearing disappeared. Forsyth proceeded to sit on the bed naked with a rainbow heart-shaped digital censor over his genitalia, and questioned: “Should I quit the Kennedy Center?”

“Does staying make me a collaborator or somehow complicit in a hostile government takeover that’s systematically targeting the livelihood and liberty of poor people, queer people, black/brown people, people of color, immigrants, Muslims, victims of war-torn countries, and ethnic cleansing, women?” Forsyth asked before answering “yes.”

“But on the other hand, is staying holding the line and living to fight another day? Do I take up space and defend the vision for this institution that is diverse and inclusive, unlike Trump’s vision for America?” Forsyth pondered. “Do I stay to defend the beautiful people that come to visit? Do I covertly raise my nose at the regime, raise the peace sign high, and do everything in my power to preserve the values of cooperation, creative freedom, and transformative storytelling that I hold so dear?”

Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center, found the video “extremely disturbing,” given the fact that Forsyth worked with minors. Forsyth defended the video, according to the Pulse, and argued that it was intended to critique the erosion of diversity, equity, and inclusion policies at the center.

According to Forsyth’s bio on the Kennedy Center website, which has since been deleted, Forsyth is an expert in the use of theater to effect social change and was a member of a team at the center that oversees the administration of the Washington National Opera summer training program for high school singers across the nation, the LA Times reported.

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Is Greenpeace Finished? Jury Orders Far Left Group to Pay $660 Million in Damages for Protest Against Dakota Access Pipeline

A few years ago, Greenpeace and other far left activists protested the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, causing all kinds of damage to construction equipment in the process.

Now a jury in North Dakota has ordered them to pay more than $600 million in damages over the protests.

Some people are suggesting the court’s decision could bankrupt the group.

CBS News reports:

Greenpeace ordered to pay more than $660 million to fossil fuel company over pipeline protests

In a win for the oil and gas pipeline company Energy Transfer, a nine-person North Dakota jury found the environmental group Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages and defamation for the 2016 to 2017 Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

In their lawsuit, Dallas-based Energy Transfer claimed Greenpeace was responsible for defamation, disruption and property damage for the protests that captured national attention in 2016. Greenpeace claimed the lawsuit threatened its freedom of speech.

In a statement, Energy Transfer said, “This win is really for the people of Mandan and throughout North Dakota who had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace. It is also a win for all law-abiding Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law.”

Greenpeace plans to appeal the verdict. “This is the end of a chapter, but not the end of our fight. Energy Transfer knows we don’t have $660 million. They want our silence, not our money.” Sushma Raman, interim executive director of Greenpeace Inc., told CBS News.

So they’re planning to appeal? What if the appeal fails?

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LRAD Cannon ‘Sonic Weapon’ Allegedly Deployed Against Protesters in Serbia

Footage out of Serbia over the weekend captured the moment a suspected military-grade sonic weapon was deployed to disrupt protests, reports claim.

Video from a peaceful anti-government demonstration in Belgrade on Saturday showed hundreds of thousands of attendees standing in the streets participating in a silent protest, as a loud jet engine-like noise roared through the streets prompting demonstrators to flee in panic, with some reporting hearing loss.

“Somewhere behind us it suddenly sounded like a building or a huge block of stone had fallen from the sky,” one of the demonstrators told Serbian news site Raskrikavanje. “Me and my friend immediately looked at each other and asked – what’s going on?”

They went on to describe: “You have the feeling that it is coming towards you, that something is going to step on you from behind, so you run from the side – and yet you have the feeling that you will die anyway because it is huge and it will cut us all down”.

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Soros-Funded Group Indivisible is PAYING Far-Left Activists to Protest at Tesla Dealerships

For weeks now Democrat Party proxy groups have been violently protesting at Tesla dealerships around the country.

Democrats are outraged that President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and his DOGE team have found over $100 billion in waste and fraud in the US government and they are shutting down the Democrat Party’s money machine at USAID.

On Monday, War Room White House reporter Natalie Winters revealed the Soros group behind the violent protests at US Tesla dealerships.

Natalie Winters actually brought the receipts.

Indivisible is reimbursing the violent mobs for the costs of advertising.

The groups are specifically targeting Elon Musk, a US citizen, and his car dealerships.

How is this legal?

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100,000 Protest in Belgrade, Serbia Demanding Democratic Leadership Step Down – Pro-EU Activists Caught on Video Plotting Violence before Rally – Government Fires Stun Grenades at Crowd

On Saturday, March 15, 2025, an estimated 100,000 Serbians and others held one of the largest protests in Belgrade in history.

The demonstrators called on the democratically elected government led by President Aleksandar Vucic, to step down. The protesters accused the government of corruption.

In truth, Serbia officially aspires to EU membership, but the current leadership is strengthening its ties with Russia and China. This is forbidden for The EU called for the safety of protesters and the avoidance of violence. The opposition is likely to support integration with the EU, but its position on Ukraine remains unclear.

President Aleksandar Vucic is expected to address the nation at 10 PM.

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Columbia University Folds After Trump Imposes Federal Funding Freeze — Suspends and Expels Students Involved in Anti-Israel Protests

It seems like Columbia University is finally getting the message.

The New York University, long considered one of the world’s leading academic institutions, has announced it will suspend, expel, and even revoke the degrees of students involved in last year’s anti-Israel protests.

The sanctions were confirmed by the Columbia University Judicial Board on Thursday, which said their extent would depend on the severity of their behaviors.

“The outcomes issued by the UJB are based on its evaluation of the severity of behaviors at these events and prior disciplinary actions,” the university said in a statement sent to the entire school community.

“These outcomes are the result of following the thorough and rigorous processes laid out in the Rules of University Conduct in our statutes, which include investigations, hearings and deliberations.”

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When Dissent Becomes a Crime: The War on Political Speech Begins

“Once the principle is established that the government can arrest and jail protesters… officials will use it to silence opposition broadly.”
~ Heather Cox Richardson, historian

You can’t have it both ways.

You can’t live in a constitutional republic if you allow the government to act like a police state.

You can’t claim to value freedom if you allow the government to operate like a dictatorship.

You can’t expect to have your rights respected if you allow the government to treat whomever it pleases with disrespect and an utter disregard for the rule of law.

There’s always a boomerang effect.

Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now whether it’s in the name of national security or protecting America’s borders or making America great again – rest assured, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides to set its sights on you.

Arresting political activists engaged in lawful, nonviolent protest activities is merely the shot across the bow.

The chilling of political speech and suppression of dissident voices are usually among the first signs that you’re in the midst of a hostile takeover by forces that are not friendly to freedom.

This is how it begins.

Consider that Khalil Mahmoud, an anti-war protester and recent graduate of Columbia University, was arrested on a Saturday night by ICE agents who appeared ignorant of his status as a legal U.S. resident and his rights thereof. That these very same ICE agents also threatened to arrest Mahmoud’s eight-months-pregnant wife, an American citizen, is also telling.

This does not seem to be a regime that respects the rights of the people.

Indeed, these ICE agents, who were “just following orders” from on high, showed no concern that the orders they had been given were trumped up, politically motivated and unconstitutional.

If this is indeed the first of many arrests to come, what’s next? Or more to the point, who’s next?

We are all at risk.

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Yes, The Trump Administration Has The Power To Deport Mahmoud Khalil

Federal authorities arrested Mahmoud Khalil, one of the leaders of the pro-Hamas coalition at Columbia University, last weekend on the charge that he “led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” and posed a threat to national security and foreign policy.

Since that time, politicians and pundits, particularly on the left, have tried to lionize this anti-West terror-supporting radical as some kind of liberal icon and have questioned whether the government has the right to deport someone of his ilk. For the record, of course it does.

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) codified at 8 U.S. Code § 1182 applies to all aliens, meaning “any person not a citizen or national of the United States.” This term includes both visa holders and green card holders like Khalil. 

The INA contains a number of activities for which a person can be deemed ineligible based on security and related grounds. The relevant subsection contains nine grounds related to terrorism, the majority of which are not controversial at all: members of terrorist organizations, people engaging in terrorism, etc. 

The current debate concerns § 212(a)(3)(b)(i)(vii), which allows for the deportation of any alien who “endorses or espouses terrorist activity or persuades others to endorse or espouse terrorist activity or support a terrorist organization.” Some have claimed that deporting someone for these reasons violates the First Amendment. That is incorrect.

The premise of the question rests on the assumption that an alien (even a legal alien) has First Amendment rights that are exactly the same in every situation as the rights of a U.S. national or citizen. That is not the case. As the Supreme Court has made clear, sometimes the government may impose distinctions and conditions.

See, for example, Citizens United v. FEC (2010):

The Government routinely places special restrictions on the speech rights of students, prisoners, members of the Armed Forces, foreigners, and its own employees. When such restrictions are justified by a legitimate governmental interest, they do not necessarily raise constitutional problems. … [T]he constitutional rights of certain categories of speakers, in certain contexts, ‘are not automatically coextensive with the rights’ that are normally accorded to members of our society. (Emphasis added.)

The question then becomes, how might speech rights be applied differently to foreigners? For example, could such a condition involve not advocating for certain groups that the government, for good reason, considers dangerous and a threat to national security? 

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