antigovernment

Reporting from Santa Clara, Calif. — Some of the major Republicans vying to become California’s next governor or U.S. senator have more money than others. Some are better known. Some are more in sync with their party’s traditional views.

But what all five have in common as they look toward the June 8 primary is a determination to tap what they see as public fury over the failures of government.

“Our government is out of control and out of touch, and so we will take it back and we will make it work,” U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina told hundreds of delegates at a weekend convention of Republicans in the Silicon Valley.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) and former Rep. Tom Campbell, her rivals in the race to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, took different approaches. But each appealed just as overtly to the large share of California Republicans who identify with the conservative “tea party” movement.

Gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman did the same as they vied to challenge presumptive Democratic nominee Jerry Brown.

For all of the major Republican candidates, capturing the public mood of revolt is key not only to succeeding in the primary but also to carrying momentum through the November general election, where voters have historically sided more with Democrats.

“These are Republican voters who — not only here, but all over the country — are very, very frustrated at what they’re seeing, and they’re treating the state government with the same contempt as they’re treating the Obama administration,” said Wayne Johnson, a Republican strategist and former Poizner advisor.

“People are going to be willing to pull the lever for people who are saying pretty aggressive things this time around.”

Most aggressive over the weekend was Poizner, the state insurance commissioner. Treading on sensitive political territory, he promised to deny all public benefits to undocumented immigrants and to stop any more from crossing the Mexican border into California.

“If I have to, I’ll send the National Guard to the border,” he told Republicans at a dinner Saturday. “If that doesn’t work, I’ll send the California Highway Patrol to the border. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll send the California Republican Party to the border.”

Poizner also promised to curb welfare, an issue — like immigration — that Republicans last pushed hard during the economic downturn of the 1990s.

Whitman, too, has called for scaling back welfare. But by and large, her attempts to ride tea party anger were subtler than Poizner’s.

“Voters are tired of runaway spending,” Whitman, a former chief executive of EBay, said in a dinner speech Friday. “They are tired of bigger government. And they have had it with broken promises.”

Roughly four of five Republicans see California as moving in the wrong direction, a level of discontent not seen since the recession of the early 1990s, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California survey.

“The candidates are trying to tap into that very deep skepticism and pessimism and cynicism seen among Republican voters today,” said Mark Baldassare, president of the institute.

The large portion of undecided voters in both the gubernatorial and Senate primaries makes it that much more important for candidates to identify with the public anger.

In the Senate race, Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, applauded signs of a popular uprising, saying millions of Americans feel betrayed by “detached and arrogant leadership” in Washington.

“Whether we are conservatives, moderates, independents, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, tea partiers, we are all now members of one party; we are now members of the Had Enough party,” she told Republicans at a luncheon Saturday.

DeVore, an Irvine assemblyman popular among the party’s conservative rank and file, described Democrats as an ominous threat.

“We are facing statists who have it as their objective to trample the Constitution, to submerge future generations under a mountain of debt and to fundamentally transform America into a state that none of us would recognize,” he said.

He described himself as the candidate best suited to draw support from tea party activists who want “to rescue America and to rescue California.”

As for Campbell, his support of temporary state tax hikes has made it tougher to position himself as a champion of the movement, but he tried nonetheless.

“I am running,” he said, “because our freedom is at risk, threatened by a soft socialism that inserts government into every corner of our lives.”

Poizner strategist Stuart Stevens described the voters’ mood as “hot.”

Alluding to the 1976 film about a TV anchor who builds a following of angry Americans, he said, “This is ‘Network’: Mad as hell, not going to take it anymore.”

michael.finnegan @latimes.com

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Youth-led demonstrators enter Antananarivo’s May 13 Square for the first time since protests erupted last month.

Some groups of Madagascan soldiers have defied orders and joined thousands of antigovernment protesters assembled in the capital, Antananarivo, as demonstrations against President Andry Rajoelina’s rule gain momentum.

The youth-led protesters entered the capital’s May 13 Square on Saturday for the first time in one of the biggest gatherings since a protest movement inspired by what has become known as the Gen Z protests in Kenya and Nepal erupted on the Indian Ocean island on September 25.

After police used stun grenades and tear gas to try to disperse the demonstrators, soldiers arrived at the scene, where they were welcomed with cheers.

At a meeting at an army barracks on the outskirts of the city earlier, soldiers in the elite CAPSAT unit, which played a pivotal role in Rajoelina’s rise in 2009, issued a rare public call for solidarity as demonstrators demanded the president’s resignation.

“Let us join forces, military, gendarmes and police, and refuse to be paid to shoot our friends, our brothers and our sisters,” the soldiers at the base in the Soanierana district said in a video posted on social media.

They called on soldiers at the airport to “prevent all aircraft from taking off” and those in other camps to “refuse orders to shoot your friends”.

“Close the gates, and await our instructions,” they said. “Do not obey orders from your superiors. Point your weapons at those who order you to fire on your comrades in arms because they will not take care of our families if we die.”

A video broadcast by local media showed some soldiers leaving the barracks to escort protesters into May 13 Square, the scene of many political uprisings, which had been heavily guarded and off-limits during the unrest.

Saturday’s demonstrations were the largest in several days in the youth-led movement, which was sparked by anger over power and water shortages and evolved into a broader antigovernment campaign.

It was unclear how many soldiers had joined the call on Saturday.

The newly appointed minister of the armed forces called on soldiers to “remain calm”.

“We call on our brothers who disagree with us to prioritise dialogue,” Minister General Deramasinjaka Manantsoa Rakotoarivelo said at a news conference.

“The Malagasy army remains a mediator and constitutes the nation’s last line of defence.”

Several people were injured on Thursday as security forces dispersed protesters with tear gas, rubber bullets and armoured vehicles.

Videos of police violence went viral on social media, including a video of one man being left unconscious on the ground after he was chased and severely beaten by security forces, an incident that reporters with the AFP news agency witnessed.

The United Nations on Friday reacted by calling on authorities to “desist from unnecessary force and to uphold the rights to free association and peaceful assembly”.

The UN said at least 22 people have been killed and 100 injured in the protests.

Rajoelina has disputed the toll, saying on Wednesday that there were “12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals”.

Rajoelina initially adopted a conciliatory tone and sacked his entire government in response to the protests.

But he has since doubled down, appointing military officer Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo as prime minister on Monday and picking the first members of his new cabinet from among the armed forces, public security and police.

Among the world’s poorest countries, Madagascar has undergone frequent popular uprisings since gaining independence from France in 1960, including mass protests in 2009 that forced then-President Marc Ravalomanana from power as the military installed Rajoelina for his first term.

He won re-election in 2018 and again in 2023 in contested polls boycotted by the opposition.

Protesters have clashed with riot police in Serbia’s capital, Belgrade, and other cities, on the fifth consecutive night of demonstrations against the government of right-wing President Aleksandar Vucic.

Clashes also broke out in Belgrade late on Saturday after police stopped demonstrators heading for the governing Serbian Progressive Party’s (SNS) headquarters.

Late on Saturday, thousands gathered in the central city of Valjevo to show their growing anger against the government, while a small group of masked young men attacked the empty offices of the governing SNS party, setting them alight.

They subsequently clashed with riot police, with protesters throwing fireworks and rocks as the officers responded with stun grenades and tear gas.

Some clashes were also reported in the northern city of Novi Sad, the country’s second largest.

Almost daily protests have gripped Serbia since November, following the collapse of a railway station roof that killed 16 people.

The tragedy became a symbol of deep-rooted corruption in the Balkan nation, with demands for a transparent investigation growing into calls for early elections.

At their height, the protests drew hundreds of thousands onto the streets.

However, the mostly peaceful demonstrations deteriorated earlier this week when large groups of pro-government supporters – many masked and some armed with batons and fireworks – attacked protesters.

That has led to violent clashes for several nights, leaving many injured on both sides.

Protests were further heightened after several videos shared online showed police striking unarmed demonstrators with batons.

Police have denied allegations of brutality, accusing demonstrators of attacking officers.

While the protests have so far led to the resignation of the prime minister and the collapse of the government, President Vucic has remained defiant.

He has repeatedly rejected calls for early elections and denounced the demonstrations as part of a foreign plot to overthrow him.

Protests started last year after deadly collapse of rail station roof, with President Vucic accused of corruption.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets across Serbia, smashing windows of the governing party’s headquarters in the northern city of Novi Sad, where the country’s antigovernment revolt started more than nine months ago.

The protesters came out in force for a third night on Thursday, following major clashes earlier in the week that saw dozens detained or injured, demanding that President Aleksandar Vucic call an early election.

In Novi Sad, where a train station canopy collapsed last year, killing 16 people and creating public anger over alleged corruption in infrastructure projects, protesters attacked the offices of the governing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), carrying away furniture and documents, and splashing paint on the entrance.

“He is finished,” they shouted, with reference to the president as they demolished the offices. The police and Vucic’s supporters, who have guarded the office in Serbia’s second-largest city for months, were nowhere to be seen.

In Belgrade, the Serbian capital, hundreds of protesters and SNS supporters threw flares and firecrackers at each other on one of the city’s main boulevards. Police fired tear gas at least two locations to disperse the protesters and keep the opposing camps apart.

Similar protests were held in towns across the country.

Vucic told pro-government Informer television that “the state will win” as he announced a crackdown on antigovernment protesters, accusing them of inciting violence and of being “enemies of their own country”.

“I think it is clear they did not want peace and Gandhian protests. There will be more arrests,” he said during the broadcast.

He reiterated earlier claims that the protests have been organised from abroad, offering no evidence.

The previous night, there were gatherings at some 90 locations in the country, according to Interior Minister Ivica Dacic the following day.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said that 47 people were arrested in Wednesday’s clashes, with about 80 civilians and 27 police officers left injured.

The EU’s Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos said on X that the reports of violence were “deeply concerning”.

“Advancing on the EU path requires citizens can express their views freely and journalists can report without intimidation or attacks,” Kos said on X.

The Serbian president denies allegations of allowing organised crime and corruption to flourish in the country, which is a candidate for European Union membership.

Images from the scene show government supporters throwing flares at the protesters who hurl back various objects.

Clashes have erupted as opponents and supporters of the Serbian government faced off, each side staging its own demonstrations, as sustained protests against populist President Aleksandar Vucic have now gone on for more than nine months.

The clashes first began on Tuesday night in Vrbas, northwest of the capital Belgrade, where riot police separated the two groups outside the governing Serbian Progressive Party offices in the town.

The student-led protests in Serbia first started in November after a train station canopy collapsed in the northern city of Novi Sad, killing 16 people, triggering furious accusations of corruption in state infrastructure projects.

Serbia’s president, other government officials and pro-government media have repeatedly described the protesters as “terrorists”, although protests since November have been largely peaceful.

Led by university students, the protesters are demanding that Vucic call an early parliamentary election, which he has refused to do.

Images from the scene showed government supporters throwing flares, rocks and bottles at the protesters, who hurled back various objects. Police said that dozens of people were injured, including 16 police officers.

Similar incidents were reported at protests in other parts of the country.

Police said that several people were detained in Vrbas. Police Commissioner Dragan Vasiljevic told state-run RTS television that the protesters “came to attack” the governing party’s supporters outside the party’s offices.

Protesters have said that government supporters attacked them first in Vrbas and also further south in Backa Palanka and later in Novi Sad and the southern city of Nis. In Belgrade, riot police pushed away protesters who gathered in a downtown area.

Vucic said at a news conference on Wednesday with Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker that pro-democracy protests in Serbia have been “very violent and were violent last night”.

Protests have, since November, drawn hundreds of thousands of people, rattling Vucic’s long-running presidency. The Serbian leader’s supporters have recently started organising counterdemonstrations, fuelling fears of further violence.

Serbia is formally seeking European Union membership, but Vucic has maintained strong ties with Russia and China, and has been accused of stifling democratic freedoms since coming to power 13 years ago.

Human rights office calls for accountability after 31 people are killed, and 107 others wounded in nationwide ‘Saba Saba’ marches.

The death toll from antigovernment protests in Kenya has surged to at least 31 people, the country’s human rights commission said, with at least 107 others wounded during the nationwide marches.

In a statement on Tuesday, the National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) also reported two forced disappearances in the wake of Monday’s marches, which commemorated a 1990 uprising against undemocratic governance in the East African nation.

The commission, which initially gave a toll of 10 dead and 29 wounded, said it has also counted at least 532 arrests.

The marches saw clashes erupt between protesters and police in the capital,  Nairobi, as well as the city of Eldoret, with the KNCHR accusing the police of cooperating with armed gangs, who were armed with machetes and spears, in the wake of the violence.

There was widespread destruction of property, too, including supermarkets.

The KNCHR said it “strongly condemns all human rights violations and urges accountability from all responsible parties including police, civilians and all other stakeholders”.

Monday’s marches marked Saba Saba Day, meaning Seven Seven, which celebrates the date when Kenyans rose up to demand a return to multi-party democracy on July 7, 1990, after years of rule by then-President Daniel arap Moi.

They came amid more than a year of mostly youth-led protests that have swept across Kenya since June 2024, when proposed tax rises triggered anger about wider issues, including the state of the economy, corruption and police brutality.

Protesters have also been calling on President William Ruto to resign.

Their actions have been met with harsh repression from the police.

The Law Society of Kenya and Police Reforms Working Group said that “heavily armed police with military grade weapons were deployed in violation of court orders, using masks and unmarked vehicles to conceal their identities”.

Overall, the Police Reforms Working Group said that the protests on Monday took place in 20 of Kenya’s 47 counties on Monday, including Nairobi, Kajiado, Nyeri, Mombasa, Kisii, Embu, Kisumu, Kiambu, Meru, Nakuru, Nyandarua, Vihiga, Narok, Kirinyaga, Uasin Gishu, Tharaka Nithi, Makueni, Laikipia and Kakamega.

Tuesday’s toll takes the number of people dead in the protests since they began last year to more than 100.

This includes at least 16 people killed in nationwide rallies against police brutality and government corruption in Kenya, on June 25, less than two weeks ago.

Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for the Interior Kipchumba Murkomen last week told police to “shoot on sight” anyone who approaches police stations during protests after several were burned.

The Kenya National Cohesion and Integration Commission, a government body whose commissioners are appointed by the president, on Tuesday urged politicians not to heighten ethnic tensions and criticised police for using excessive force towards protesters.

In a statement issued before the revised death toll, the United Nations human rights office, OHCHR, expressed deep concern over the killings of protesters in Kenya on Monday.

It said the deaths occurred “amid reports that police and security forces used lethal force to quell violent demonstrations in Nairobi and across the country”.

Anti-government protests in Kenya again turned deadly with police opening fire and several people killed, as nationwide rallies marked the 35th anniversary of the pro-democracy uprising known as “Saba Saba.”

Deadly anti-government protests have been taking place in Kenya for more than a year, but a key event from over 30 years ago is providing crucial inspiration. Al Jazeera’s Malcolm Webb explains from on the ground in Nairobi.

Dozens of antigovernment protesters have been arrested amid clashes with riot police in Serbia’s capital during a massive rally against populist President Aleksandar Vucic, demanding an early parliamentary election.

The protest by tens of thousands of demonstrators was held after nearly eight months of persistent dissent led by Serbia’s university students, which has rattled Vucic’s firm grip on power in the Balkan country.

“We want elections!” the huge crowd chanted on Saturday as they filled the capital’s central Slavija Square and several blocks around it, with many unable to reach the venue.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said some protesters attacked the police. He said police used their powers to restore public order and “arrest all those who attacked the police”.

Some demonstrators wore scarves and masks over their faces as they clashed with law enforcement, using rubbish bins as protection against baton-wielding police. Police used pepper spray before pushing protesters with their shields.

Vucic and his right-wing Serbian Progressive Party have repeatedly refused the demand for an early vote and accused protesters of planning to incite violence on orders from abroad, which they did not specify or provide evidence of.

While numbers have shrunk in recent weeks, the massive turnout for Saturday’s anti-Vucic rally suggested that the resolve persists, despite relentless pressure and after nearly eight months of almost daily protests.

Serbian police said 36,000 people were present at the start of the protest on Saturday. An independent monitoring group that records public gatherings said about 140,000 people attended the student-led rally.

Serbian presidential and parliamentary elections are due in 2027.

June 28 (UPI) — Serbian police clashed with some protesters who marched in Belgrade on Saturday, while demanding an early election to replace President Aleksander Vucic and seat a new government.

The protest was scheduled from 6 p.m. to 9 local time but lasted about an hour longer, and some protesters threw flares at riot police, who were carrying shields and batons and at times used tear gas on protesters.

“There were clashes between police and protesters in Serbia’s capital of Belgrade on Saturday night as police tried to ensure security for a pro-government encampment near the national parliament,” the Balkan Insight news outlet reported on X.

Student organizers billed the event as the “See you on Vidovdan” protest, which drew tens of thousands of participants. Vidodvan is a Serbian national and religious holiday.

Before the protest got underway, Vucic on Saturday said he anticipated some violence, the Sarajevo Times reported.

“It is impossible for someone to invest huge money against a country without at least trying something,” Vucic said.

The Serbian president said a “lot of evil has been done to Serbia” by anti-government protests, which he called a “mistake.”

“Serbia is very strong. This is not a handful of oats that every crow is a pretty to,” Vucic said.

“We will do our best to be restrained,” he added. “The state will be preserved and defended, and the bullies will be brought to justice.”

Vucic said government and police officials anticipated violence occurring around the same time the protest was scheduled to end and were ready to handle it.

The protest organizers previously demanded early elections by Saturday.

Protests in Kenya to mark the anniversary of deadly 2024 anti-tax protests turned deadly themselves. Rights group Amnesty Kenya said at least 16 people were killed, and 400 others were injured in Wednesday’s demonstrations. A government minister accused the protesters of attempting a coup.