Belarus Protesters Defy Regime Brutality: Daily Brief
Belarus protesters defy regime brutality; politically motivated trial in Turkey; Chileans vote to end Pinochet-era constitution; harassment of community leaders in South Africa's coal mining areas; the countries that wrongly support China's Xinjiang policies; and celebrities speak out against police violence in Nigeria.
Sunday marked the 11th consecutive Sunday of protest in Belarus, to which the Belarusian police responded with a violent crackdown against protesters in Minsk: using stun grenades against crowds of peaceful protesters and arresting many others. The opposition presented the protest as an “ultimatum” to Alexander Lukashenko, asking him to step down or otherwise face a nationwide strike on Monday - which appears to have started.
A new case in Turkey against human rights defender and businessman Osman Kavala and US academic Henri Barkey, demonstrates the Turkish authorities’ flagrant misuse of the courts for political ends and their fundamental disregard for the basic principles of criminal justice.
Chileans have overwhelmingly voted to replace the Pinochet era constitution (78.28 percent to 21.72 with over 99 percent of the votes counted). A new constitution had been one of the recurring demands of country-wide protests.
Fikile Ntshangase, environmental defender and a vocal opponent of plans to extend the Somkhele coal mine, one of South Africa’s largest open coal mines, was shot to death on October 22. Last year, HRW released a report documenting how community activists in mining areas in South Africa face harassment, intimidation, and violence.
Check which countries are for or against China’s policies on Xinjiang - the region of northwest China where Uighur Muslims are subjected to extensive and serious human rights violations.
And kudos to celebrities such as Lewis Hamilton, who are mainstreaming the call to end impunity for police violence in Nigeria.