Tag Archives: protest

Thousands rally in Georgian capital against government

NOV. 15 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An estimated 30,000 people crammed into the centre of Tbilisi for perhaps the largest anti-government rally since the Georgian Dream coalition defeated the party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili in a parliamentary election in 2012 and a presidential election in 2013.

The demonstrators waved Georgian flags and pictures of Mr Saakashvili, who now lives in New York and is wanted by Georgia’s prosecutors for various alleged crimes, and shouted anti-Russia slogans.

They blamed Russia for annexing the rebel states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Importantly they also blamed their current government for not standing up to Russia.

Mr Saakashvili addressed the crowd via a Kiev video-link.

“Let’s show Georgia’s government that the nation is united against the serious threat to its independence, its future,” he said.

The importance of the rally, though, was not the appearance of Mr Saakashvili on a video-link but its size. It hasn’t taken long for the glamour of the Georgian Dream coalition to fade.

Allies in the EU and the United States have accused Georgian Dream of petty revenge tactics in pursuing former ministers and charging them with various crimes. Earlier this month PM Irakli Garibashvili also sacked the popular defence minister, Irakli Alasania, triggering a wave of resignations.

Street politics are still a major force in Georgia and the rally could be a sign that after a relatively calm 12 months, instability is returning to Georgian politics.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Kyrgyzstan meets Soros with protests

NOV. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Pro-Russian demonstrators in Bishkek protested against a visit to Kyrgyzstan by US billionaire philanthropist George Soros, an unusual welcome for a man who spends millions of dollars on the country each year.

Up to 170 protesters, including the head of Kyrgyzstan’s only real Communist Party, carried slogans such as “USA – Get your hands off sovereign Kyrgyzstan” and “Soros – Let us live in peace and friendship”.

Mr Soros, a US citizen, was in Bishkek for the first time in 10 years to meet with representatives of his Open Society Foundation and President Almazbek Atambayev.

The Open Society’s budget for 2013 was $2.2 million, mostly spent on health, education and governance programs. State-controlled Russian news outlet RIA Novosti made little mention of the foundation’s work but applauded the protests, noting spuriously that Soros’ last visit to the country in 2004 was accompanied by a revolution the following year.

“Of course, there is no direct proof that he came to realise different aims. However, there is no reason to believe a citizen of the United States,” the RIA-Novosti report said.

At their meeting, Mr Atambayev thanked Mr Soros for his continued contributions to the country. Kyrgyzstan’s parliament, though, appears less impressed. It is due to consider a Russia-inspired bill that will force all foreign-funded NGOs — including Mr Soros’s Open Society Foundation — to register as foreign agents.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Uzbek authorities use forced labour

NOV. 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – n a rare public protest against the Uzbek authorities, students at Uzbekistan’s National University published an open letter on a website which said they had been forced to pick cotton during the harvest season. Campaigners around the world have criticised Uzbekistan for using forced labour in its cotton harvest.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 209, published on Nov.19 2014)

Protesters rally against Azerbaijan’s President

NOV. 9 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Several hundred people protested against a crackdown by the authorities in Azerbaijan against the media, a rare protest in this increasingly heavily policed state.

A Bulletin correspondent said that the demonstration in Baku was good natured and had a festival-like atmosphere with flag waving, folk music and dancing.

Police tried to block reporters from speaking to demonstrators and from filming the march but they eventually relented.

Shakar Isgandarli was one of the demonstrators.

“I am a teacher of two political prisoners, Anar Mammadli and Bashir Suleymanli,” he said. “I taught them to fight against injustice. And they did. Now the Aliyev regime has jailed them for this”.

Europe and the United States have made increasingly harsh statements about the crackdown by Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev on the media but, seemingly, without much impact. Virtually every week, reports from Azerbaijan say that another anti-government activist has been imprisoned.

Mammadli and Suleymanli are two human rights lawyers who were imprisoned earlier this year for tax evasion and illegal business activities. They have said that these charges have been fabricated.

Protesters called for the resignation of Mr Aliyev and vowed to continue protests. The risk for Mr Aliyev is that although the police and prosecutors have been effective at imprisoning government critics, the arrests are stirring more anti-government feelings.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 208, published on Nov.12 2014)

Opposition protest in Yerevan

OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – An estimated 10,000 people rallied against Armenia’s government in central Yerevan, media reported, the biggest protest since a presidential election last year.

Opposition rallies, calling for the government to resign, are relatively commonplace in Yerevan. The issue is whether they turn violent or grow so large that the government has to react to them.

In 2008, eight people died in clashes between the security forces and demonstrators after elections.

The protest in Yerevan was the culmination of severally carefully choreographed anti-government demonstrations around the country.

And the protagonists were the same. Former president Levon Ter-Petrosian, a canny opponent for current president Serzh Sargsyan, addressed the crowd. He is credited with whipping up the anger that led to the clashes in 2008.

The protesters actual demand are hard to decipher. They, broadly, want their lives improved and the economy strengthen. No easy task for the government which is having to navigate the country through a tricky economic environment.

What is different now is the opposition’s cry that moving into Russia’s Eurasian Economic Union and away from the European Union is partly to blame for the general malaise. If the opposition can harness this, they may make more headway.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)

Tajik opposition demo fails

OCT. 10 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A planned opposition demonstration in central Dushanbe failed to materialise after the authorities blocked websites and social media outlets and used a riot exercise as a show of force.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 204, published on Oct. 15 2014)

Exiled opposition figures have called for a change of government.

Tajik security forces train in central Dushanbe

OCT. 6 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik security forces donned full riot gear for a training exercise in central Dushanbe aimed at dealing with large anti-government crowds.The exercise was designed as a show of force against any anti-government movement that may be planning protests ahead of a parliamentary election in February.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Tajikistan cuts internet access

OCT. 4 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Access to various social media and news websites in Tajikistan was blocked, media and sources reported. The government has not officially said that it blocked the websites. It has previously blocked access to facebook and other sites, though, to prevent opposition groups from rallying support.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Tajik opposition prepares for campaign

OCT. 8 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Tajik opposition groups based abroad are preparing to challenge the political order built up by strongman President Emomali Rakhmon head of the otherwise predictable parliamentary elections set for Feb. 14.

Against the backdrop of the conflict in Ukraine and the stand-off on the streets of Hong Kong, exiled Tajik politicians have been making calls for the overthrow of Mr Rakhmon via the Internet.

One group, Gruppa 24, is promoting a demonstration against the regime on Oct. 10 on the main square in Dushanbe. The government has responded to the threat by shutting down Facebook and other websites where the the group issued calls to protest.

More menacingly, the country’s services held a bizarre simulation of a protest being put down by riot police.

Having experienced civil war in the 1990s, appetite for revolution among Tajiks is weak, and Gruppa 24’s Turkey- based leader, Umrali Quvvatov lacks the political influence in Tajikistan to pull off a coup. Nevertheless, the government’s response to the calls betrays fear, and Mr Quvvatov told the Conway Bulletin via Skype he expects a strong turnout at the protest.

“Tajiks have given up too much for this criminal regime. If the government responds to our meeting with force we will do the same. We are preparing for war,” he said.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 203, published on Oct. 8 2014)

Opposition gathers in Armenia

SEPT. 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian opposition groups have launched another round of anti- government protests, media reported. Around 2,000 people gathered for the first planned protest in a town outside Yerevan. Six more rallies are planned around the country with a final rally in central Yerevan on Oct. 10.

ENDS

(News report from Issue No. 202, published on Oct. 1 2014)