‘No tools of killing': Athens rally targets Israeli steel shipment
Protesters at Piraeus Port in Athens rallied against unloading a shipment they claim includes steel destined for Israeli military projects. They denounced the Greek government's complicity in the war and vowed to block another ship expected Wednesday.
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Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Imran Khan's supporters rally in Pakistan on two years of imprisonment
Thousands of supporters of former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan are rallying across the country to demand his release on the second anniversary of his imprisonment. Security officials on Tuesday said dozens of activists belonging to Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party have been arrested, with most detentions made on Monday night and early on Tuesday in the eastern city of Lahore, where the PTI has called a huge demonstration later in the day. At least 200 activists had been arrested from Lahore, said PTI spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari, adding that the protests would still take place. Lahore is the capital of Punjab, the country's most politically important region and home to half of its population. Khan, a popular cricket star, was elected prime minister in 2018. But once in office, he fell out with Pakistan's powerful military and was toppled in 2022 through a vote in parliament. His arrest in May 2023 on several charges spurred widespread protests against the military, leading to a crackdown on the party. In a message attributed to Khan on his party's X account on Monday, he urged supporters to 'come out and hold peaceful protests until a true democracy is restored in the country'. Khan's party posted a video on its X account on Tuesday, showing a former PTI candidate, Rehana Dar, being carried into a police van by personnel with riot gear. 'An elder like Rehana Dar is being dragged by the shameless Punjab Police, a disgraceful sight,' the PTI said. An elder like Rehana Dar is being dragged by the shameless Punjab Police, a disgraceful sight. Maryam Nawaz and IG Punjab have sunk to a new low with this act. Under this martial law of Asim Munir, they have abandoned all sense of shame and decency! — PTI (@PTIofficial) August 5, 2025 Social media videos also showed at least two other people being detained in Lahore. The PTI's Multan chapter alleged that its Lahore rally was 'attacked by police', Pakistani newspaper Dawn reported on Tuesday. 'Rallies are being held today on the orders of the PTI founder,' PTI chairman Gohar Ali Khan said in a statement, adding they would continue until Khan's release. The rallies were held despite the government's order barring 'illegal' gatherings and large assemblies, Pakistan's Geo TV reported. پشاور سے سیکڑوں گاڑیوں پر مشتمل قافلہ صوابی کی جانب روانہ ہو گیا ہے Translation: A convoy of hundreds of vehicles from Peshawar has set off towards Swabi. In a statement on Monday, police said security was beefed up in major cities nationwide. At a news conference on Monday, Khan's party was accused of always creating 'chaos' by Uzma Bukhari, a spokesperson of the provincial government. 'No political party can be barred from politics in Pakistan, but a terrorist organisation disguised as a political party is not allowed to disrupt Pakistan's peace,' Bukhari said. PTI leader and former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said the party has pledged to demonstrate peacefully and was not seeking confrontation, Geo TV reported. Khan says the charges against him – ranging from terrorism to disclosure of official secrets – are politically motivated. He was convicted in January in a corruption case, while being acquitted of other charges or receiving suspended sentences. Before the protest call, hundreds of Khan's party members, including several parliamentarians, were convicted late last month on charges related to the 2023 protests against his arrest. Khan's party emerged as the single biggest in the 2024 election, and it says rigging robbed it of more seats. Other parties merged to form a government under Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has denied coming to power through electoral fraud.
Al Jazeera
7 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Hezbollah supporters protest disarmament ahead of Lebanese government talks
Hezbollah supporters have gathered in the Lebanese capital to protest against the group's disarmament ahead of a government cabinet meeting on the issue. The demonstrations occurred in Beirut on Monday night amid pressure by the United States on Lebanon to get Hezbollah to lay down its arms. Hezbollah emerged weakened from a war with Israel last year that eliminated most of the group's leadership, killed thousands of its fighters, and left tens of thousands of its supporters displaced from their destroyed homes. In recent months, the US and Lebanon have been holding talks on a roadmap for disarmament. Lebanon's new leadership has pledged to extend its authority across all its territory, but has so far avoided acting against Hezbollah. Hezbollah supporters protested because they believe disarmament will have implications for their political standing and security, said Al Jazeera's Zeina Khodr. 'Hezbollah has made its position clear: it will not disarm because to do so would serve Israel's interests, not Lebanon's sovereignty,' said Khodr, reporting from Beirut. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem has told the country's leadership that the group feels blackmailed – that if they don't disarm, they will not be given funds for reconstruction, she reported. Ahead of Tuesday's cabinet meeting, Hezbollah, through Lebanese MP Ali Fayyad, reiterated its demand that the issues of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanese territory, the release of Lebanese prisoners, and the cessation of hostilities take place before any discussion on disarmament, Lebanon's National News (NNA) agency reported. By force? Lebanon's political leadership, however, is pushing for the move – even if it may come by force. 'If there is a cost to be able to centralise the weapons with the … Lebanese armed forces, [it may be] better like that,' Elias Hankash, another member of the Lebanese parliament, told Al Jazeera. 'But everything has been done so far … to avoid any clash with Hezbollah.' The Lebanese army will take on Hezbollah if and when there's a political decision to disarm the group by force, Khodr said. 'I call on all political parties to approach the issue of arms control with full responsibility,' Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun said on Friday, also stating that the issue of disarmament is sensitive due to sectarian divisions, with consequences for national peace. In 2008, a government decision to dismantle the group's telecommunication network led to street violence. Lebanon's Agriculture Minister Nizar Hani told NNA that the president has set a clear timetable for the disarmament process. He added that the Lebanese army has already taken over hundreds of Hezbollah sites and weapons depots. Hani stressed that the group is a part of the 'Lebanese fabric' and has played a major role in 'liberating the land,' but 'the next phase requires that the state alone be the decision maker of war and peace'. Hezbollah was the most powerful military and political actor in Lebanon for years, and while it lost some military capabilities in its conflict last year with Israel, it has not been defeated entirely, Khodr said. 'Hezbollah is still strong in the state because of the monopoly [it has] over Shia representation as well as the appointment of key figures in all of the states,' Mark Daou, another MP, told Al Jazeera. Lebanon's political landscape and society have long been divided with differing views on Hezbollah's role and the need for disarmament. The issue has dominated Lebanese politics for decades, but there is now a sense of urgency with increasing international pressure – as well as increasing military pressure from Israel, which regularly targets Hezbollah despite the ceasefire between the two since November 2024. 'The government is now expected to formally commit to disarming Hezbollah, a decision that could at the least ignite a political crisis,' said Khodr.
Al Jazeera
8 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
‘Selling the revolution': Bangladesh dreams fray a year after Hasina ouster
Dhaka, Bangladesh – Sinthia Mehrin Sokal remembers the blow to her head on July 15 last year when she, along with thousands of fellow students, marched during a protest against a controversial quota system in government jobs in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. The attack by an activist belonging to the student wing of the then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Awami League party left Sokal – a final-year student of criminology at the University of Dhaka – with 10 stitches and temporary memory loss. A day later, Abu Sayed, another 23-year-old student, was protesting at Begum Rokeya University in the Rangpur district, about 300km (186 miles) north of Dhaka, when he was shot by the police. A video of him, with his arms outstretched and collapsing on the ground moments later, went viral, igniting an unprecedented movement against Hasina, who governed the country with an iron fist for more than 15 years before she was toppled last August. Students from schools, colleges, universities and madrassas took to the streets, defying a brutal crackdown. Soon, the young protesters were joined by their parents, teachers and other citizens. Opposition parties, including the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, lent crucial support, forming an unlikely united front against Hasina's government. 'Even students in remote areas came out in support. It felt like real change was coming,' Sokal told Al Jazeera. On August 5, 2024, as tens of thousands of protesters stormed Hasina's palatial residence and offices in Dhaka, the 77-year-old leader boarded a military helicopter and fled to neighbouring India, her main ally, where she continues to defy a Bangladesh court's orders to face trial for crimes against humanity and other charges. By the time Hasina fled, more than 1,400 people had been killed, most when government forces fired on protesters, and thousands of others were wounded, according to the United Nations. Three days after Hasina fled, the protesters installed an interim government, on August 8, 2024, led by the country's only Nobel laureate, Muhammad Yunus. In May this year, the interim government banned the Awami League from any political activity until trials over last year's killings of the protesters concluded. The party's student wing, the Chhatra League, was banned under anti-terrorism laws in October 2024. Yet, as Bangladesh marks the first anniversary of the end of Hasina's government on Tuesday, Sokal said the sense of unity and hope that defined the 2024 uprising has given way to disillusionment and despair. 'They're selling the revolution,' she said, referring to the various political groups now jostling for power ahead of general elections expected next year. 'The change we fought for remains out of reach,' said added. 'The [interim] government no longer owns the uprising.' 'What was my son's sacrifice for?' Yunus, the 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner presiding over Bangladesh's democratic overhaul, faces mounting political pressure, even as his interim government seeks consensus on drafting a new constitution. Rival factions that marched shoulder to shoulder during anti-Hasina protests are now locked in political battles over the way forward for Bangladesh. On Tuesday, Yunus is expected to unveil a so-called July Proclamation, a document to mark the anniversary of Hasina's ouster, which will outline the key reforms that his administration argues Bangladesh needs – and a roadmap to achieve that. But not many are hopeful. 'Our children took to the streets for a just, democratic and sovereign Bangladesh. But that's not what we're getting,' said Sanjida Khan Deepti, whose 17-year-old son Anas was shot dead by the police during a peaceful march near Dhaka's Chankharpul area on August 5, 2024. Witnesses said Anas was unarmed and running for cover when a police bullet struck him in the back. He died on the spot, still clutching a national flag. 'The reforms and justice for the July killings that we had hoped – it's not duly happening,' the 36-year-old mother told Al Jazeera. 'We took to the streets for a better, peaceful and just country. If that doesn't happen, then what was my son's sacrifice for?' Others, however, continue to hold firm in their trust in the interim government. 'No regrets,' said Khokon Chandra Barman, who lost almost his entire face after he was shot by the police in the Narayanganj district. 'I am proud that my sacrifice helped bring down a regime built on discrimination,' he told Al Jazeera. Barman feels the country is in better hands now under the Yunus-led interim government. 'The old evils won't disappear overnight. But we are hopeful.' Atikul Gazi agreed. 'Yunus sir is capable and trying his best,' Gazi told Al Jazeera on Sunday. 'If the political parties fully cooperated with him, things would be even better.' The 21-year-old TikToker from Dhaka's Uttara area survived being shot at point-blank range on August 5, 2024, but lost his left arm. A selfie video of him smiling, despite missing an arm, posted on September 16 last year, went viral, making him a symbol of resilience. 'I'm not afraid… I'm back in the field. One hand may be gone, but my life is ready to be offered anew.' 'Instability could increase' Others are less optimistic. 'That was a moment of unprecedented unity,' said Mohammad Golam Rabbani, a professor of history at Jahangirnagar University on the outskirts of Dhaka. Rabbani had recited a poem during a campus protest on July 29, 2024. Speaking at an event last month to commemorate the uprising, he said: 'Safeguarding that unity should have been the new government's first task. But they let it slip.' The coalition of students, professionals and activists, called Students Against Discrimination, that brought down Hasina's government, began to fragment even before Yunus took charge. Hoping to cash in on massive anti-Awami League sentiment, the main opposition BNP has been demanding immediate elections since the uprising. But parties like the National Citizens Party, formed by student leaders of the 2024 protests, and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami want deeper structural reforms before any vote is held. To reconcile such demands, the Yunus administration formed a National Consensus Commission on February 12 this year. Its mandate is to merge multiple reform agendas outlined by expert panels into a single political blueprint. Any party or coalition that wins the next general election must formally pledge to implement this charter. But so far, the meetings of the commission have been marked by rifts and dissent, mainly over having a bicameral parliament, adopting proportional representation in both its houses, and reforming the appointment process for key constitutional bodies by curbing the prime minister's influence to ensure greater neutrality and non-partisanship. 'If the political forces fail to agree on reforms, instability could increase,' warned analyst Rezaul Karim Rony. But Mubashar Hasan, adjunct fellow at Western Sydney University's Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative, thinks a political deadlock is 'unlikely', and that most stakeholders seem to be moving towards elections next year. Hasan, however, remains sceptical of the reforms themselves, calling them a 'cosmetic reset'. 'There'll be some democratic progress, but not a genuine shift,' he told Al Jazeera. He pointed out that the Awami League, which once represented millions, remains banned – a fact that some analysts have pointed out could weaken the credibility of Bangladesh's electoral democracy. Deepti, who lost her teenage son during the protests, said political parties are scrambling for power, and not acting against the people who enabled Hasina's brutal repression during last year's protests. 'Most of the officials and law enforcement members involved in the violence are still at large, while political parties are more focused on grabbing power,' she told Al Jazeera. Sharif Osman Bin Hadi, the spokesman for Inquilab Manch (Revolution Front), a non-partisan cultural organisation inspired by the uprising, warned that elections without justice and reforms would 'push the country back into the jaws of fascism'. His group, with more than 1,000 members in 25 districts, organises poetry readings, exhibitions and street performances to commemorate the 2024 uprising and demand accountability, amid widespread concerns over deteriorating law and order across the country. 'A city of demonstrations' While the police remain discredited and are yet to recover from the taint of complicity in perpetuating Hasina's strong-armed governance, military soldiers are seen patrolling Bangladesh's streets, armed with special power to arrest, detain and, in extreme cases, even fire on those breaking the law. In a recent report, rights group Odhikar said at least 72 people were killed and 1,677 others injured in incidents of political violence between April and June this year. The group also documented eight alleged extrajudicial killings during this period involving the police and notorious paramilitary forces like the Rapid Action Battalion. Other crimes have also surged. Police recorded 1,587 cases of murder between January and May this year, a 25 percent rise from the same period last year. Robbery nearly doubled to 318, while crimes against women and children topped 9,100. Kidnapping and robbery have also seen a spike. 'Mob justice and targeted killings have surged, many with political links,' Md Ijajul Islam, the executive director of the nonprofit Human Rights Support Society, told Al Jazeera. 'Unless political parties rein in their activists, a demoralised police won't be able to contain it.' The demoralisation within the police stems mostly from the 2024 uprising itself, when more than 500 police stations were attacked across Bangladesh and law enforcement officials were missing from the streets for more than a week. 'The force had to restart from a morally-broken state,' Ijajul said. Several police officers Al Jazeera spoke to at the grassroots level pointed to another problem: the collapse of what they called an informal political order in rural areas. 'During the Awami League era, police often worked in tandem with the ruling party leaders, who mediated local disputes,' said a senior police officer at the Roumari police station in the Kurigram district near the border with India. 'That structure is gone. Now multiple factions – from BNP, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami and others – are trying to control markets, transport hubs and government tenders,' he said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media. In Dhaka, things are no better. 'Every day, managing street protests has become one of our major duties,' Talebur Rahman, a deputy commissioner with the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told Al Jazeera. 'It feels like Dhaka has become 'a city of demonstrations' – people break into government offices, just to make their demands heard,' said Rahman. Still, Rahman claimed the city's law and order situation was better than immediately after the 2024 uprising. In a televised interview on July 15, Yunus's spokesperson, Shafiqul Alam, also claimed that 'if you consider overall statistics, things are stabilising', he told Somoy Television network, referring to law and order in Dhaka. Alam said that many people who were denied justice for years, including during the uprising, are now coming forward to register cases. Some agree. 'Things are slowly improving,' said 38-year-old rickshaw-puller Mohammad Shainur in Dhaka's upscale Bashundhara neighbourhood. The economy, for one, has shown some positive signs. Bangladesh is the world's 35th largest economy and the second in South Asia – mainly driven by its thriving garment and agriculture industries. Foreign reserves climbed from more than $24bn in May 2024, to nearly $32bn by June this year, helped by a crackdown on illicit capital flight, record remittances and new funding from the International Monetary Fund. Inflation, which peaked at 11.7 percent in July 2024, dropped to 8.5 percent by June this year. But there is also widespread joblessness, with the International Labour Organization saying that nearly 30 percent of Bangladesh's youth are neither employed nor pursuing education. Moreover, a 20 percent tariff announced by the United States, the largest buyer of Bangladesh's garments, also threatens the livelihood of 4 million workers employed in the key sector. Back in Dhaka, Gazi is determined to preserve the memory of 2024's protests. 'Let the people remember those martyred in the uprising, and those of us who were injured,' he told Al Jazeera. 'We want to remain as living symbols of that freedom.' 'I lost one hand, and I have no regrets. I will give my life if needed – this country must be governed well, no matter who holds power.'
