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Islamabad, Pakistan – An uneasy calm hangs over Pakistan-administered Kashmir as the region marked the fourth day of a complete shutdown on Thursday, with at least 15 people killed – including three police officers – during violent clashes between protesters and security forces.

Dozens more have been injured on both sides as the standoff continues.

The federal government has dispatched a negotiating committee that arrived on Thursday in Muzaffarabad, the territory’s capital, to hold crucial talks with the Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), an umbrella organisation representing traders and civil society groups that has emerged as the voice of grassroots discontent across the region.

Led by activist Shaukat Nawaz Mir, the JAAC-organised lockdown commenced on September 29 and has brought several districts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir – locally known as Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) – to a grinding halt.

The government, on its part, has meanwhile imposed a complete communications blackout, with residents cut off from mobile telecommunications and internet access since September 28.

In Muzaffarabad, the usually bustling markets have remained shuttered, while street vendors and public transport have vanished from the roads. The paralysis has left the region’s roughly four million residents in a state of uncertainty.

The government said in a statement that authorities were working to restore order and urged the public not to be swayed by what officials described as propaganda and “fake news” circulating on social media as part of a “specific agenda”.

This JAAC-led protest – the third such major mobilisation in the past two years – erupted after the government failed to agree to the committee’s 38-point demands, according to the group’s leaders.

The current crisis marks the latest escalation in a two-year confrontation between Pakistan-administered Kashmir’s local government and a grassroots movement that has shown its street power on several occasions.

What sparked the protests?

The Kashmir valley is the picturesque yet deeply contentious Himalayan region over which Pakistan and India have fought multiple wars since both nations gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Both control parts of it, with China also administering two slivers of the region’s north. The region is claimed in its entirety by India, while Pakistan claims all of Kashmir except the parts held by China, its ally.

With a population exceeding four million, according to the 2017 census, Pakistan-administered Kashmir operates under a semi-autonomous system with its own prime minister and legislative assembly.

The current unrest has roots in May 2023, when residents first took to the streets to protest against what they said were skyrocketing electricity bills. Simultaneously, complaints emerged about widespread flour smuggling and acute shortages in subsidised wheat supplies.

By August 2023, these disparate grievances had coalesced into organised resistance. In September of that year, hundreds of activists gathered in Muzaffarabad to formally establish the JAAC, bringing together representatives from all districts of the region.

The movement reached its first major flashpoint in May 2024, when protesters launched a long march towards Muzaffarabad. Violent clashes ensued, resulting in the deaths of at least five people, including a police officer.

The violent protests were suspended only after Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif agreed to key demands to slash flour prices and reduce electricity tariffs, with the government allocating billions of rupees in subsidies to make flour affordable and support electricity price reductions.

However, the peace proved short-lived. In August of this year, the JAAC announced it would launch another lockdown, this time broadening its critique beyond economic grievances.

Why are protesters dissatisfied, and what are their demands?

The latest charter of demands presented by the JAAC consists of 38 distinct points. The demands range from providing free education and healthcare facilities and launching major infrastructure projects to changing the structure of the provincial legislature.

But topping the list is the abolition of what the JAAC characterises as “ruling elite privileges”, a demand that has featured prominently in previous sets of grievances as well.

The JAAC maintains that following the May 2024 protests, the government acknowledged that a judicial commission would be formed to review “privileges granted to high government officials”.

Some of the perks provided to senior government officials, such as ministers, include two government-provided vehicles, personal staff including bodyguards, as well as unlimited fuel for vehicles they use for government work.

A second key demand, incorporated into the JAAC’s list for the first time, involves ending the system of 12 reserved seats for refugees in the autonomous region’s legislative assembly.

According to the JAAC, refugees and their descendants, who migrated from Indian-administered Kashmir after the 1947 partition, now constitute a powerful political bloc that has monopolised development funds.

The charter also demands the withdrawal of legal cases filed against activists during the protests that erupted in 2023 and 2024.

Demands also include tax exemptions and improved employment opportunities, among others.

Infrastructure development features prominently in the JAAC’s vision. The committee has demanded new projects, including tunnels and bridges connecting the mountainous region with the rest of Pakistan, apart from an international airport.

Muzaffarabad currently has an airport that has remained nonoperational for years. However, in April of this year, Prime Minister Sharif formed a committee to work on reviving the project. He also issued instructions to examine the feasibility of the development of another airport in Mirpur, the second-largest city in the region.

How is the government responding?

The local administration has implemented a communications blackout and has ordered educational institutions shut indefinitely.

More controversially, it has called for paramilitary forces as well as additional police contingents from the rest of Pakistan.

The JAAC has objected to the deployment of paramilitary forces. Mir, the JAAC leader, told reporters earlier this week that with local police already present, “there was no need to order paramilitary from mainland Pakistan”.

Abdul Majid Khan, the finance minister of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, acknowledged that while there had already been a first round of negotiations, a new committee had now arrived in Muzaffarabad specifically tasked with addressing the protesters’ grievances.

“Initially, when they launched their protest last year, it was all about electricity and flour price, and we agreed on those. But they also must understand that things cannot happen overnight, and they take time,” Khan said, defending the government.

However, Khan acknowledged that while the government has agreed to most of the JAAC’s 38 points, negotiations have reached a deadlock on two particularly contentious issues – the elimination of the 12 reserved seats for refugees and what the JAAC calls ending “ruling elite perks”.

The minister challenged the logic behind eliminating seats reserved for refugees, pointing to what they lost at the time of the subcontinent’s partition.

“These are the people whose families migrated from India, where they were landowners and businesspeople, but moved to Pakistan in abject poverty, having left their wealth behind, but JAAC thinks it is unjust to give them a quota of seats. If we don’t give these people the rights, then why did they even go through the trouble of moving here?” Khan argued.

The minister himself belongs to the estimated 2.7 million people in the region whose families migrated from Indian-administered Kashmir.

Khan also questioned the logic of renewed protests, given that the JAAC’s previous demands had largely been met. He said that for many of the current issues, local authorities must seek funding from the federal government in Islamabad.

“There is barely any taxation on the people here, with already reduced electricity tariffs. Additionally, we have less than 5,000 tax filers in the entire region, which shows little revenue generation for the government,” he said.

What happens next?

Thursday’s negotiations between government representatives and JAAC members concluded without any resolution, with the next round of talks expected on Friday.

Both sides publicly profess their commitment to dialogue, but distrust runs deep after repeated cycles of promises and disappointments.

Despite the JAAC’s persistent protests, the government maintains it has met most demands and that constitutional and electoral reforms require legislative processes that cannot happen overnight.

Khan indicated that once there is meaningful progress in negotiations, the government will move quickly to restore internet and mobile services, which he said “had to be curtailed due to the situation on the ground”.

“With the negotiation team being present in Muzaffarabad, I am sure there will be a solution to this deadlock, and things will return to normalcy soon,” Khan said.

PRO-Palestinians have hit the streets of Manchester to protest against Greta Thunberg’s flotilla detention.

It comes just hours after the vile terror attack on Manchester‘s Heaton Park synagogue, which unfolded on the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.

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Protesters were marching at Manchester Piccadilly station today in solidarity with the members of Global Sumud Flotilla – a fleet of 40 ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Israeli navy intercepted several vessels at sea beginning Wednesday, after warning activists against entering waters it says fall under its blockade.

As the nation mourned the sick terror attack against the Jewish community – which killed two people – protesters marched through the streets of Manchester.

Hundreds of them gathered outside the Manchester Piccadilly Station banging drums and chanting slogans against the Israeli authorities. 

They were seen waving Palestine flags and holding placards that read “Freedom for Palestine” and “Stop starving Gaza”.

Organisers of the protest said they “condemned in the strongest possible terms” the attack in Heaton Park – and called for a minute’s silence in respect for the victims.

Another protest took place in Parliament Square as activists gathered to demonstrate against Israeli authorities.

The protest sparked fury, including from Conservative MP Susan Hall, who described it as “disgraceful, disrespectful, despicable behaviour”.

The demonstrations come in the wake of today’s vile Manchester attack.

An assailant drove a car into people outside a synagogue and then began stabbing them, killing two and seriously wounding four in what police called a terrorist attack on the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Officers shot and killed the suspect outside Manchester, police said.

Authorities said he was wearing a vest that made it appear as if he had explosives. Police later said he did not have a bomb.

The Metropolitan Police force in London, which leads the nation’s counter-terrorism policing operations, declared the rampage a terrorist attack.

Israel slammed the UK government for not doing enough and warned that antisemitism is on the rise after the vile synagogue attack.

Tel Aviv said British authorities “failed” to tackle the “toxic wave of antisemitism” which led to the terror rampage.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said: “I am appalled by the murderous attack near the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester on the morning of the holiest day for the Jewish people: Yom Kippur.

“The truth must be told: blatant and rampant antisemitic and anti-Israeli incitement, as well as calls of support for terror, have recently become a widespread phenomenon in the streets of London, in cities across Britain, and on its campuses.

“The authorities in Britain have failed to take the necessary action to curb this toxic wave of antisemitism and have effectively allowed it to persist.”

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country “grieves with the Jewish community in the UK” after this morning‘s “barbaric terror attack” in Manchester.

“Our hearts are with the families of the murdered, and we pray for the swift recovery of the wounded,” he said on X.

“As I warned at the UN: weakness in the face of terrorism only brings more terrorism. Only strength and unity can defeat it.”

Sir Keir – who cut short his trip to Denmark and rushed back to chair a Cobra meeting – condemned antisemitism and said that Britain “must defeat it once again”.

Speaking from Downing Street, the PM blasted the “terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews”, committed by “a vile individual”.

Sir Keir said: “Earlier today, on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jewish community, a vile individual committed a terrorist attack that attacked Jews because they are Jews, and attacked Britain because of our values.

“So many Jewish families first came to this country as a place of refuge, fleeing the greatest evil ever inflicted on a people, and Britain welcomed them.

“Communities like the one attacked in Manchester provided safety, but also the security that comes from a promise that this is a country that stands up to hatred and that we don’t just provide refuge, we provide a home.”

Starmer said the Jewish community in Britain will see a “more visible police presence” as he promised to do “everything in my power to guarantee you the security that you deserve”.

Protests spread in Europe

Thousands of people marched through the streets of Barcelona today to denounce Israel’s interception of a pro-Palestinian aid flotilla bound for Gaza.

Columns of demonstrators, many waving Palestinian flags, converged on the central Plaza de les Drassanes from multiple parts of Spain‘s second-largest city.

Protesters chanted slogans including “Gaza, you are not alone,” “Boycott Israel,” and “Freedom for Palestine.”

Other protests were reported in other Spanish cities tonight, including Madrid, Valencia, and Bilbao.

Thousands also gathered in Italy on Thursday in support of the Gaza aid flotilla ahead of a strike in solidarity with activists.

As dusk fell in Rome, several thousand protesters gathered near the Colosseum in solidarity with the flotilla and against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni‘s support of Israel — a day after a similar protest on Wednesday evening.

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Footage showed Israeli forces boarding the boats and detaining activists, including Greta Thunberg, as they headed for war-ravaged Gaza.

In video footage, Greta Thunberg can be seen being detained, as well as onboard vision of the flotilla at the time of the interception.

In a statement posted to the social media platform X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said: “several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port”.

“Greta and her friends are safe and healthy”.

In a second post, the ministry shared two images of the flotilla activists, saying: “Hamas-Sumud passengers on their yachts are making their way safely and peacefully to Israel, where their deportation procedures to Europe will begin”.

“The passengers are safe and in good health,” the post ended.

Activists can be seen with life jackets on, holding their hands up in the surrender position.

Yesterday, members of the Global Sumud Flotilla reported army personnel jumped onboard and “illegally intercepted” their journey just hours after they were circled by a warship.

The humanitarian convoy was attempting to get essential aid, including baby formula and medication, to Gaza.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is made up of more than 40 civilian boats carrying an estimated 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists, including Thunberg.

On Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said the activists aboard the flotilla will be deported once the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur ends on Thursday.

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As many as 100,000 people in Berlin rallied in support of Palestinians in what was Germany’s largest Gaza protest to date. The demonstration, dubbed ‘All Eyes on Gaza’, demanded an end to German support for Israel. Police were filmed violently arresting participants.

Italian race organiser says there is high possibility of race disruption due to participation of Israeli team.

The Israel-Premier Tech cycling team has been excluded from Italy’s upcoming Giro dell’Emilia competition due to concerns over public safety, race organisers said.

The decision announced on Saturday comes after the recent Vuelta a Espana cycling race suffered several disruptions by pro-Palestinian protesters who took to the streets of the Spanish capital, Madrid, to block the participation of Israel-Premier Tech, forcing the cancellation of the race’s final stage.

Calls for Israel to be excluded from global sporting events, festivals and music competitions have been growing since the country’s invasion of Gaza, which has killed almost 66,000 Palestinians, in an operation the United Nations has described as a “genocide”.

“It is with regret that, following recent events and given the characteristics of the final circuit, for the safety of all athletes, technical staff, and spectators, I have had to forgo the participation of the Team this year,” said Adriano Amici, organiser of the one-day Giro dell’Emilia, which will take place on October 4, finishing in Bologna.

“We had to make this decision for reasons of public security,” Amici told the Reuters news agency.

“There’s too much danger for both the Israel Tech riders and others. The race’s final circuit is run five times so the possibility of the race being disrupted is very high,” he said.

Police in the Italian city of Milan clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters on Monday, during a nationwide strike in Italy called by trade unions to protest against Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The Giro dell’Emilia race concludes with a climb to the Madonna di San Luca sanctuary, not far from the historic centre of Bologna, which has a large student population and a long history of left-wing politics.

Bologna’s local government, which is controlled by the centre-left Democratic Party, called for Israel-Premier Tech’s exclusion from the race, noting the Israeli government’s guilt in carrying out “serious crimes against the civilian population in the Gaza Strip”.

Roberta Li Calzi, the city’s sport councillor, welcomed the decision to exclude the Israeli team, which is owned by Israeli-Canadian property developer Sylvan Adams.

Adams, the president of the Israel region of the World Jewish Congress, is referred to by that organisation as “committed to promoting Israel’s global image”.

“Given what is happening in Gaza it would have been hypocritical to consider the presence of a team linked to this [Israeli] government as insignificant,” Calzi said in a statement.

Pressure is mounting on Israel on all fronts over its brutal war and continued ignoring of international calls to end the slaughter of Palestinians.

European football’s governing body, UEFA, is expected to soon vote on whether to suspend Israel’s football team, whose men’s side is in the middle of attempting to qualify for next year’s World Cup, from all competitions under its jurisdiction. The 20-member UEFA ruling committee is expected to secure a majority to exclude Israel from games if that vote is called.

Members of the Eurovision Song Contest are also due to vote on excluding Israel from the 2026 competition due to its military onslaught in Gaza.

Drug gang suspected in torture and murder of two young women, and a 15-year-old girl, in crime that shocks Argentina.

Clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police as thousands protested in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, to demand justice over the torture and killing of two young women and a teenager, which was livestreamed on social media by a purported drug gang.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday to denounce the killings that shocked Argentinians after it was revealed that the murders were perpetrated live on the Instagram platform and watched by 45 members of a private account, officials said.

The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried on Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.

Investigators said the victims, thinking they were going to a party, were lured into a van on September 19, allegedly as part of a plan to “punish” them for violating gang code and to serve as a warning to others.

Police discovered a video of the triple murder after a suspect in the disappearance of the three revealed it under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, the security minister for the Buenos Aires province.

In the footage, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”

Argentinian media reported that the torturers cut off fingers, pulled out nails, and beat and suffocated the victims.

While most of the protesters who took part in the demonstration on Saturday marched peacefully, some confronted police who responded by aggressively pushing them away using their batons and shields, according to video clips and images posted by the La Izquierda Diario online news site.

As they marched towards the Argentinian parliament with thousands of supporters, family members of the victims held a banner with their names, “Lara, Brenda, Morena”, and placards with the images of the three.

“Women must be protected more than ever,” Brenda’s father, Leonel del Castillo, was quoted by the AFP news agency as telling reporters at the protest. He had earlier said he had not been able to identify his daughter’s body due to the torture she had endured.

“It was a narco-femicide!” read a sign at the protest. Another declared, “Our lives are not disposable!”

The protesters also banged on drums as they marched and denounced the “inaction” of the administration of President Javier Milei against what they called the growing “narco” influence in the country.

An image posted on social media showed protesters burning an image of Milei and other political allies of his administration.

Antonio del Castillo, the grandfather of the slain 20-year-old cousins, was in tears, calling his granddaughters’ killers “bloodthirsty”.

“You wouldn’t do what they did to them to an animal,” he said.

On Friday, Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich announced the arrest of a fifth suspect in the case, bringing the total to three men and two women. The fifth suspect, accused of offering logistical support in the killing by providing a vehicle involved in the crime, was arrested in the Bolivian border city of Villazon .

Authorities have also released a photograph of the alleged mastermind, a 20-year-old Peruvian, who remains at large.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has disputed that the livestream occurred on its platform, according to the AFP, citing a company spokesperson.

WASHINGTON — The FBI has fired agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, three people familiar with the matter said.

The bureau last spring had reassigned the agents but has since fired them, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss personnel matters with the Associated Press. The number of FBI employees terminated was not immediately clear, but two people said it was roughly 20.

The photographs at issue showed a group of agents taking the knee during one of the demonstrations after the May 2020 killing of Floyd, a death that led to a national reckoning over policing and racial injustice and sparked widespread anger after millions of people saw video of the arrest. The kneeling had angered some in the FBI but was also understood as a possible deescalation tactic during a period of protests.

The FBI Agents Assn. confirmed in a statement late Friday that more than a dozen agents had been fired, including military veterans with additional statutory protections, and condemned the move as unlawful. It called on Congress to investigate and said the firings were another indication of FBI Director Kash Patel’s disregard for the legal rights of bureau employees.

“As Director Patel has repeatedly stated, nobody is above the law,” the agents association said. “But rather than providing these agents with fair treatment and due process, Patel chose to again violate the law by ignoring these agents’ constitutional and legal rights instead of following the requisite process.”

An FBI spokesman declined to comment Friday.

The firings come amid a broader personnel purge at the bureau as Patel works to reshape the nation’s premier federal law enforcement agency.

Five agents and top-level executives were known to have been summarily fired last month in a wave of ousters that current and former officials say has contributed to declining morale.

One of those, Steve Jensen, helped oversee investigations into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol. Another, Brian Driscoll, served as acting FBI director in the early days of the second Trump administration and resisted Justice Department demands to supply the names of agents who investigated Jan. 6.

A third, Chris Meyer, was incorrectly rumored on social media to have participated in the investigation into President Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. A fourth, Walter Giardina, participated in high-profile investigations like the one of Trump advisor Peter Navarro.

A lawsuit filed by Jensen, Driscoll and another fired FBI supervisor, Spencer Evans, alleged that Patel communicated that he understood that it was “likely illegal” to fire agents based on cases they worked but was powerless to stop it because the White House and the Justice Department were determined to remove all agents who investigated Trump.

Patel denied at a congressional hearing last week taking orders from the White House on whom to fire and said anyone who has been fired failed to meet the FBI’s standards.

Trump, who was twice impeached and is the only U.S. president with a felony conviction, was indicted on multiple criminal charges in two felony cases. Both cases were dismissed after he was elected, following long-standing Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.

Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

Ladakh, a high-altitude cold desert region in the Himalayas that has been at the heart of recent India-China tensions, was rocked on Wednesday by violent Gen Z-led protests as youth torched the regional office of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

As protesters, including school students, clashed with the police in Leh, the regional capital, at least four of them were killed and dozens were injured, protest coordinators told Al Jazeera, following additional deployment of the armed forces. Authorities said dozens of security forces were also injured in the clashes.

For the past six years, thousands of people in Ladakh, led by local civic bodies, have taken out peaceful marches and gone on hunger strikes demanding greater constitutional safeguards and statehood from India, which has governed the region federally since 2019. They want the power to elect a local government.

On Wednesday, however, groups of disillusioned youth broke with those peaceful protests, said Sonam Wangchuk, an educator who has been spearheading a series of hunger strikes.

“It was an outburst of youth, a kind of Gen-Z revolution, that brought them on streets,” Wangchuk said in a video statement, referring to recent uprisings in South Asian countries, including in Nepal earlier this month, that led to the overthrow of the government of Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

So, what’s happening in Ladakh? What are their demands? How did the Himalayan region get to this point? And why does the crisis in Ladakh matter so much?

What triggered clashes in Ladakh?

On Wednesday morning, a hunger strike by local Ladakhi activists, led by the Ladakh Apex Body, an amalgam of socio-religious and political organisations, entered its 15th day.

Two activists, aged 62 and 71, had been hospitalised the previous evening after two weeks of hunger strike, leading to a call by organisers for a local shutdown. The protesters were also angry with the Modi government for delaying talks with them.

These issues led the youth to believe that “peace is not working”, Wangchuk said on Wednesday evening in a virtual press meeting, during which he appeared frail.

Then the youth-led groups broke away from the protest site in Leh at the Martyrs’ Memorial Park and moved towards local official buildings and a BJP office, raising slogans, leading to clashes with the police. Four were killed and another remains critical, while dozens were injured.

“This is the bloodiest day in the history of Ladakh. They martyred our young people – the general public who were on the streets to support the demands of the strike,” said Jigmat Paljor, the coordinator of the apex body behind the hunger strikes.

“The people were tired of fake promises for five years by the government, and people were filled with anger,” Paljor told Al Jazeera. Amid the violence, he said, his organisation withdrew the hunger strike, calling for peace.

In a statement, India’s home ministry said that clashes “unruly mob” had left over 30 forces personnel injured — and that “police had to resort to firing” in self defence, leading to “some casualties”.

The government said that “it was clear that the mob was incited by [Wangchuk]”, adding that the educator was “misleading the people through his provocative mention of Arab Spring-style protest and references to Gen Z protests in Nepal.” Wangchuk has been warning that youth sentiments could turn to violence if the government does not pay heed to the demands of peaceful protesters — but insists he has never advocated violence himself.

What do protesters want?

In 2019, the Modi government unilaterally stripped the semi-autonomous status and statehood that Indian-administered Kashmir had previously enjoyed under the Indian constitution.

The state had three regions – the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley, the Hindu-majority Jammu, and Ladakh, where Muslims and Buddhists each form about 40 percent of the population.

Then, the Modi government bifurcated the erstwhile state into two territories: Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Ladakh without one. While both are federally governed and neither has the powers of other states in India, Jammu and Kashmir’s legislature at least allows its population to elect local leaders who can represent their concerns and voice them to New Delhi. Ladakh, locals argue, doesn’t even have that.

Kashmir is a disputed region between India, Pakistan and China – the three nuclear-armed neighbours each control a part. India claims all of it, and Pakistan claims all except the part held by China, its ally. Indian-administered Kashmir borders Pakistan on the west, and Ladakh shares a 1,600km (994-mile) border with China on the east.

Since the end of statehood, Ladakhis have found themselves under the rule of bureaucrats. More than 90 percent of the region’s population is listed as Scheduled Tribes. That status has prompted a demand for Ladakh to be included under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which provides autonomous administrative and governance structures to regions where recognised Indigenous communities dominate the population. There are currently 10 regions in India’s northeastern states that are listed under the schedule.

However, the Modi government has so far resisted both statehood and the protections of the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh.

The separation of Jammu and Kashmir from Ladakh has meant that it is harder for Ladakhis to find work in Jammu and Kashmir, where most jobs in the previously unified region were. Since 2019, locals have also accused the Indian government of not putting in place clear policies for hirings to public sector jobs.

“[The young protesters] are unemployed for five years, and Ladakh is not being granted [constitutional] protections,” Wangchuk said on Wednesday. “This is the recipe of social unrest in society: keep youth unemployed and then snatch their democratic rights.”

Ladakh has a 97 percent literacy rate, well above India’s national average of about 80 percent. But a 2023 survey found that 26.5 percent of Ladakh’s graduates are unemployed – double the national average.

On Wednesday, the anger tipped over.

“What’s happening in Ladakh is horrific,” said Siddiq Wahid, an academic and political analyst from Leh. “It is scary to see Ladakh sort of pushed to this edge.”

“In the last six years, Ladakhis have realised the dangers that their identity faces,” he said, adding that the people have been “adamant about the need to retrieve their rights since they were snatched away six years ago”.

“The youth anger is a particularly worrisome angle because they’re impatient. They’ve been waiting for a resolution for years,” said Wahid. “Now, they are frustrated because they don’t see a future for themselves.”

Have there been protests earlier in Ladakh?

Yes. Since the abrogation of the region’s semi-autonomous status and the removal of statehood, several local civic groups have staged protest marches and at times gone on hunger strikes.

Wangchuk, the educator, has led five hunger strikes in the last three years, demanding constitutional protections for Ladakh. He is also the most well-known face of the protests in Ladakh – having a wider reach due to his past sustainability innovations. Wangchuk’s life has also inspired a Bollywood blockbuster movie that has also gained legions of fans in China.

The site of the hunger strike, the Martyrs’ Memorial Park, is also dedicated to three Ladakhis who were killed in August 1989 in a firing incident during protests. At the time, the protests were over anger about perceived Kashmiri dominance in the unified state that Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir belonged to.

The site also honours two other protesters who were killed in January 1981 during an agitation demanding Scheduled Tribe status for Ladakhis.

But Wednesday’s protest marked the deadliest day in Ladakh’s political history.

Sajad Kargili, a civil member of a committee constituted by the Modi government to speak with the protesting activists, said that the violence in Ladakh “highlights the frustration of our youth”.

“The government needs to understand that there are young people here who are angry and not opting to sit on a hunger strike,” Kargili said. “The Modi government should not turn its back on these calls.”

Why Ladakh is so significant

Ladakh sits at India’s Himalayan frontier, bordering China.

The region also connects to vital mountain passes, airfields, and supply routes that are critical for India’s military in the event of a conflict with China. In 2020, the Indian and Chinese forces clashed in eastern Ladakh along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), following a Chinese incursion.

At least 20 Indian forces personnel were killed alongside four Chinese. The confrontation triggered the mobilisation of tens of thousands of troops on both sides, with heavy weaponry and infrastructure being rushed to high-altitude posts.

Since then, Ladakh has remained the nerve centre of India-China border tensions. Multiple rounds of military and diplomatic talks have led to a thaw since late last year.

Now, Wahid, the political analyst, said that the Modi government’s actions in 2019 are returning to haunt India with a new threat in Ladakh – an internal one. Indian authorities, he pointed out, have long had to deal with Kashmir as a “centre of discontent”. Now, they have Ladakh to contend with, too.

Protesters are angry over bills that could grant Bolsonaro amnesty after a coup attempt and give lawmakers immunity.

Thousands of Brazilians have taken to the streets to protest against moves by the National Congress to boost lawmakers’ immunity and push for an amnesty that could include far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro, sentenced to 27 years and three months in prison on charges related to an attempted military coup.

Protesters in rallies in more than a dozen cities accused the conservative-majority Congress of putting its own interests above social and economic issues. Music legends Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque and Gilberto Gil – who defied censorship during the military dictatorship of the 1960s – reunited in Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana neighbourhood to perform a protest concert.

Aline Borges, a 34-year-old environmentalist who attended the protest in the capital, Brasilia, expressed her frustration at the political establishment. “We are here to protest this Congress, which is made up of criminals and corrupt people dressed as politicians, who are pushing for a law that protects them,” she told the AFP.

Calls for demonstrations grew after the lower house of parliament passed a constitutional amendment that would make it harder to arrest or launch criminal proceedings against lawmakers. Under the so-called “Shielding Bill”, lawmakers voting in a secret ballot must give the go-ahead for one of their own to be charged or arrested.

The following day, the lower house voted to fast-track a bill backed by right-wing opposition lawmakers – dubbed by critics as the “Bandit’s Bill” –  that could grant amnesty to Bolsonaro, his closest allies and hundreds of supporters convicted for their roles in the January 2023 uprising.

Both bills face an uphill battle in the Senate. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he would veto the amnesty bill.

Ahead of Bolsonaro’s Supreme Court trial on September 11, thousands of his supporters had rallied in his defence. The former president, who has denied any wrongdoing, is the first to be convicted of trying to overturn an election in Latin America’s largest economy.

Polls show the country remains deeply divided over his fate. According to a recent Datafolha poll, 50 percent of 2,005 respondents said Bolsonaro should be jailed, while 43 percent disagreed and 7 percent declined to answer.

Currently under house arrest, Bolsonaro faces up to 40 years in prison after being found guilty on five charges, including leading a “criminal organisation” to conspire to overthrow Lula. A detailed operational plan called “Green and Yellow Dagger” was identified, which included a plan to assassinate Lula.

Bolsonaro has maintained he will run for president in 2026, despite Brazil’s top electoral court barring him from running in elections until 2030 for spreading unfounded claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.

Sept. 17 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump‘s visit to England with King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Wednesday has sparked large protests in London and at Windsor.

Police estimated there were about 5,000 protesters at Parliament Square in London, and a smaller protest gathered outside of Windsor Castle.

Trump is unlikely to see the protests since most of his day and evening will be spent inside Windsor Castle. On Wednesday evening, the king and Queen Camilla will host a banquet, at which Charles and Trump are expected to give speeches. The king’s speech was written on the advice of the United Kingdom government, BBC’s Chris Mason reported.

The protests were organized by the Stop Trump Coalition, a group of more than 50 unions and charities.

Some protesters carried signs with slogans written across them, including “no to racism,” “no to Trump” and “stop arming Israel,” BBC reported. The 20-foot-tall Trump Baby blimp that greeted the president during his visit in 2019 has been made into smaller balloons that some protestors carried.

Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Louise Puddefoot said police had been in close contact with the organizers and had asked them to be “considerate to the local community” and keep disruption to a minimum.

Before the march, a spokesperson for the coalition said: “A government that will bow down to Trump and to racism is one that will open the door to fascism.”

The protest groups said they would demonstrate to “defeat the politics of Trumpism” and to promote “an alternative, democratic vision of the world based on peace, social justice and international cooperation.”

The march ended at Parliament Square, and several people spoke on a stage. There was a performance by singer Billy Bragg, and speakers included former Labour Party members of Parliament Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, comedian Nish Kumar and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

Zoe Gardner, a political commentator and one of the organizers of the protest, said that the president “represents everything that we hate.”

“We want our government to show some backbone, and have a little bit of pride and represent that huge feeling of disgust at Donald Trump’s politics in the U.K.,” she said.

Auriel Dowty Glanville, a climate activist from Wimbledon, said she was demonstrating because climate change was “the biggest threat facing us on Earth.”

She said the government giving him a second state visit was “appalling,” saying, “It’s all about the trade deal.”

On Tuesday, four men were arrested for projecting large images and videos of Trump and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein on the walls of a turret at Windsor Castle. On Wednesday, as Trump toured the grounds and visited with the king, a van with a similar image was being driven around the castle, with the words, “Welcome to the U.K., Donald.” Police stopped the man and sent him on his way. He wasn’t arrested.

As the Trumps arrived via Marine One Wednesday morning, they were greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales — William and Kate — and then by Charles and Camilla.

Britain’s Ministry of Defense described the ceremonial welcome as “unprecedented.”

The delegation was then taken on a carriage ride around the grounds of the castle. Trump and Charles rode in the gilded Irish Stage Coach. It’s the coach that Queen Elizabeth II used to travel to the State Opening of Parliament. The queen and first lady followed behind in the Scottish State Coach, which was built in 1830.

After the ride around the castle grounds, they went to the Quadrangle at the Castle to inspect the British Army Guard of Honor. The group of royals and American visitors then went inside for a private lunch.

The unprecedented nature of the visit is that second-term presidents don’t usually get state visits. Instead, they are invited for lunch or tea with the monarch. Former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were treated to the usual protocol.

“This is really special. This has never happened before. Unprecedented,” said U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at the White House in February. “I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us.”

British officials understand that Trump admires the royal family, so “if you have those assets, that opportunity, then why not absolutely make the most of it,” Matthew Doyle, a former communications director and adviser for Starmer, told CNN.

The president will travel on Thursday to Chequers, the prime minister’s country house in Buckinghamshire, where talks will begin. Agreements on “tech and trade” are expected to be discussed, Doyle said. Trump and Starmer will also meet with tech CEOs.

Doyle said Britain also wants to hear that Trump has a “plan to get Russia to the table,” adding that “Ukraine is clearly the biggest issue on the foreign agenda” for this meeting.

Pro-Palestine demonstrators have repeatedly targeted the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team during the race in Spain.

Pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Madrid have forced the abandonment of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race’s final stage, with Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard declared the overall winner as police fought with protesters.

Demonstrators blocked sections of the race route in the Spanish capital on Sunday, moving past metal barriers and stepping out onto the road. Police deployed in large numbers, but the race was abandoned.

Organisers confirmed the suspension of the event. “The race is over,” a spokesperson told Reuters.

Spanish authorities said that 100,000 pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets of Madrid on Sunday.

The protests have repeatedly targeted the Israel-Premier Tech cycling team, owned by Israeli-Canadian property developer Sylvan Adams, over Israel’s war on Palestinians in Gaza.

Adams, the president of the Israel region of the World Jewish Congress, is referred to by that organisation as “committed to promoting Israel’s global image”.

Demonstrations disrupted multiple stages in recent weeks, with some riders threatening to quit after blockades caused falls on the course.

In Bilbao, stage 11 of the race was neutralised with no winner declared after protesters blocked the approach to the finish last week, while on Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators forced stage 16 in Galicia to be shortened after confronting police near the route.

More than 1,000 police officers were deployed on Sunday in Madrid to secure the finale of the 21-day race in Madrid, which had been scheduled to finish at 7pm (17:00 GMT).

While race organisers denied they were considering cancelling earlier stages, they had suggested Israel-Premier Tech withdraw to protect the safety of other teams.

The participation of Israel-Premier Tech has drawn widespread criticism in Spain, where support for the Palestinian cause is strong.

Lily Mayers, a freelance journalist, told Al Jazeera: “This afternoon, thousands of protesters gathered … with flags and banners in support of Palestine. At around 6.30pm [16:30 GMT], crowds flooded onto the street, pushing down the barriers and clashing with police quite dramatically.

“Police in response used tear gas on protesters to push them back.”

The Spanish government this week recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv and barred two far-right Israeli ministers from entering the country, while it officially recognised a Palestinian state last year.

Sports Minister Pilar Alegria has previously argued that Israeli teams should be banned from international competitions, similar to restrictions imposed on Russian teams following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. She said allowing them to compete showed a “double standard”.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly praised Israel-Premier Tech for continuing in the race despite the protests.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez also voiced support for the pro-Palestine protesters. Speaking at a Socialist Party rally in Malaga on Sunday, he said: “Today marks the end of the Vuelta.”

“Our respect and recognition [is] for the athletes and our admiration for the Spanish people who are mobilising for just causes like Palestine,” he said. “Spain today shines as an example and as a source of pride, an example to an international community where it sees Spain taking a step forward in the defence of human rights.”

Sept. 13 (UPI) — More than 100,000 Britons who are frustrated with the United Kingdom’s immigration policies marched in central London during a Saturday afternoon and evening event billed as “Unite the Kingdom.”

The event was organized by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson and included a video address from Elon Musk.

Musk, 54, accused the U.K. government of not protecting “innocent people, including children who are getting gang-raped,” The Times reported.

“There’s this genuine risk of rape and murder and the destruction of the country and the dissolution of the entire way of life,” Musk told the protesters.

“If you weren’t under a massive attack, then people should go about their business and live their lives, but unfortunately, if the fight comes to you, you don’t have a choice,” he continued.

“Whether you choose violence or not, violence is coming to you,” Musk added. “You either fight back or you die.”

An estimated 110,000 people participated in the protest march from Waterloo Bridge to Whitehall and at times clashed with police, 26 of whom were injured when pelted with bottles and other projectiles, according to The BBC.

Four officers suffered serious injuries, and at least 25 people were arrested for what London’s Metropolitan Police called “wholly unacceptable” violence.

The Metro Police deployed 1,000 officers, who were assisted by 500 others from nearby jurisdictions.

“There is no doubt that many came here to exercise their lawful right to protect, but there were many who came intent on violence,” Matt Twist, assistant commissioner of the London Metropolitan Police, told the BBC.

A counter-protest called “Stand Up to Racism” drew about 5,000 participants and was organized by Women Against the Far Right, The Guardian reported.

Those protesters carried placards saying, “Refugees Welcome” and “Oppose Tommy Robinson,” among others.

Jockey Tom Marquand said he and wife Hollie Doyle, also a leading rider, could be forced to move abroad if the funding of British racing is hit.

“It seems pretty sad we might have to think about emigrating somewhere else to make a living out of the sport that we so enjoy,” he told BBC Sport.

“It’s an important day for racing and hopefully a step in the right direction. It’s a huge industry employing 85,000 people. The effect would be enormous.”

When the BBC filmed at Windsor races on Monday, many punters were supportive of the action.

“It’s a wonderful day out and we have a little flutter,” said racegoer Alan Mills.

“Bookmakers need the money to come in to keep the business going. The sport should be promoted, rather than taking people’s livelihoods away.”

But the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) – which represents betting shops, online betting and gaming operators and casinos – says it was not consulted.

“Racing’s decision to reschedule fixtures was taken without consultation with betting operators, whose support for the funding of the sport is mission critical,” it said in a statement.

“We are concerned that futile political gestures will only antagonise the government and frustrate punters instead of delivering a solution to a shared challenge facing both racing and betting.”

Police arrested about 425 people at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in the United Kingdom, in the latest round of detentions of its supporters since the pro-Palestinian group was banned by the government as a “terrorist” organisation.

Defend Our Juries, the organising campaign, estimated 1,500 people joined the London demonstration on Saturday, assembling with placards stating “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.

Police immediately began detentions while crowds chanted “Shame on you” and “Met Police, pick a side, justice or genocide”. Confrontations intensified as officers removed nonresistant protesters who became passive during arrest.

Following the eight-hour protest, authorities confirmed more than 425 arrests, with at least 25 people facing charges of assaulting officers or public order violations, while the remainder were held under the Terrorism Act.

The UK-based PA Media reported that police drew their batons during the clashes, and one protester was seen with blood streaming down his face behind a barrier after being arrested.

The agency also reported that police had screaming arguments with demonstrators and had water and plastic bottles thrown at them while several protesters fell over in a crush at one point.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart said, “In carrying out their duties today, our officers have been punched, kicked, spat on, and had objects thrown at them by protesters.” She described the treatment as “intolerable”.

Defend Our Juries disputed the narrative, asserting that police initiated the aggression and calling claims of protester violence “frankly laughable”.

Earlier, related demonstrations had resulted in more than 700 arrests, of which 138 individuals were charged under the Terrorism Act.

Mike Higgins, a 62-year-old blind wheelchair user previously arrested at a protest, returned to demonstrate on Saturday.

“And I’m a terrorist? That’s the joke of it,” he said. “I’ve already been arrested under the Terrorism Act, and I suspect I will be today.

“Of course I’ll keep coming back. What choice do I have?”

The United Nations human rights chief has criticised the British government’s approach, stating the new law “misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism”.

The classification of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation “raises serious concerns that counterterrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature, and risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK”, Volker Turk warned.

He further noted that by international standards, “terrorist” acts should be limited to crimes such as those intended to cause death or serious injury or the taking of hostages.

Huda Ammori, Palestine Action’s cofounder, denounced the government’s ban as “catastrophic” for civil liberties, creating a “much wider chilling effect on freedom of speech”.

The organisation has received support from notable cultural figures, including bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney, who stated she planned to use the proceeds of her work “to keep backing Palestine Action and direct action against genocide”.

Israel strongly rejects accusations of committing genocide, though numerous countries, rights groups and scholars have confirmed it is carrying out a clear and systematic genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The government emphasised that designating Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group does not impact other lawful organisations — including pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel voices — campaigning or peacefully protesting.

A separate pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday attracted approximately 20,000 participants, according to police estimates.

WASHINGTON — Thousands of protesters marched across Washington, D.C., on Saturday in one of the largest demonstrations against President Trump’s federal takeover of policing in the nation’s capital.

Behind a bright red banner reading, “END THE D.C. OCCUPATION,” in English and Spanish, protesters marched more than two miles from Meridian Hill Park to Freedom Plaza near the White House to rail against the fourth week of National Guard troops and federal agents patrolling D.C.’s streets.

The “We Are All D.C.” protest — put together by local advocates of Home Rule and the American Civil Liberties Union — was perhaps the most organized demonstration yet against Trump’s federal intervention in Washington. The president justified the action last month as a way to address crime and homelessness in the city, even though city officials have noted that violent crime is lower than it was during Trump’s first term in office.

Trump targeted D.C. after deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles earlier this year as the administration ramped up its immigration enforcement efforts and attempted to quell protests. The White House then turned to Washington, which presented a unique opportunity for Trump to push his tough-on-crime agenda because of its subservient legal status to the federal government.

The presence of armed military officers in the streets has put Washington on edge and spurred weeks of demonstrations, particularly in D.C. neighborhoods. Trump’s emergency declaration taking charge of D.C. police is set to expire on Wednesday.

Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. diplomat who has been a D.C. resident for about a decade, told the Associated Press on Saturday that he’s worried about the “authoritarian nature” in which the administration is treating his city.

“Federal agents, national guards patrolling our streets, that’s really an affront to the democracy of our city,” he said, adding that it’s worse for D.C. residents due to their lack of federal representation. “We don’t have our own senators or members of the House of Representatives, so we’re at the mercy of a dictator like this, a wannabe dictator.”

Among the protesters Saturday were also former D.C. residents like Tammy Price, who called the Trump administration’s takeover “evil” and “not for the people.”

Jun Lee, an artist living in Washington, showed up with a “Free DC” sign that she made on a woodcut block. She said she came to the protest because she was “saddened and heartbroken” about the effect of the federal intervention on her city.

“This is my home, and I never, ever thought all the stuff that I watched in a history documentary that I’m actually living in person, and this is why this is important for everyone. This is our home, we need to fight, we need to resist,” she said.

Also Saturday, Trump repeated threats to add Chicago to the list of other Democratic-led cities he wants to target for expanded federal enforcement. His administration is set to step up immigration enforcement in Chicago, similar to what took place in Los Angeles, and deploy National Guard troops. Like the District of Columbia, Chicago’s recent crime data do not reflect the war zones Trump has repeatedly compared it to.

Violent crime in Chicago dropped significantly in the first half of the year, representing the steepest decline in over a decade, according to city data. Shootings are down 37%, and homicides have dropped by 32%, while total violent crime dropped by over 22%.

In response to Trump’s threats, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, called the president a “wannabe dictator” who is “threatening to go to war with an American city.”

“This is not a joke,” Pritzker wrote on X. “This is not normal.”

Pesoli and Amiri write for the Associated Press and reported from Washington and New York, respectively.

UK police were recorded arresting a Palestine Action supporter for allegedly taking part in a Zoom meeting to plan a protest against the government’s designation of the group as a “terrorist” organisation.

As the Labor Day holidays get under way, tens of thousands of protesters have gathered at rallies across the United States to call for stronger worker protections and attack a range of policies undertaken by the administration of US President Donald Trump.

More than 1,000 demonstrations are expected on Monday to span all 50 states, under the banner “Workers Over Billionaires.”

Protesters are demanding stronger worker protections, fully funded schools, healthcare and housing for all, and an end to corporate corruption, attacks on marginalised communities, and federal overreach under the Trump administration.

In New York, hundreds of people gathered outside the Trump Tower, chanting for Trump to step down and calling the president a fascist. As a brass band played, workers held up signs demanding a living wage and universal healthcare.

‘Subminimum’ wage

Giovanni Uribe, with the restaurant worker advocacy organisation One Fair Wage, told Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey he had come out to protest against billionaires whittling away the rights of workers.

“Service workers in New York City are the backbone of this city,” he said. “The National Restaurant Association is our number one opponent that’s fighting to keep subminimum wage intact so they don’t have to pay their workers their full minimum wage to survive. So we’re just asking for a livable wage.”

The federally set minimum wage in the US is $7.25 an hour – a figure that has not been raised since 2009 due in part to the successful lobbying of industry groups. Tipped workers, like wait staff, have a federally mandated “subminimum” wage of $2.13, a figure set in 1991 that is legally required to be offset to reach the $7.25 minimum – but which advocates say often results in wage theft.

While some states have higher minimum wages – New York City’s currently stands at $16.50 – the figure is often far below a living wage.

According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, a single adult without children would need an hourly wage of nearly $33 in NYC to cover average basic expenses. Mississippi, which has one of the lowest costs of living in the country and has no state minimum wage, has a living wage of $20.75 – nearly three times the minimum wage.

Chicago protests target National Guard

In downtown Chicago, thousands turned out to demonstrate against Trump’s promise to target Chicago next in a deployment similar to those under way in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, two other Democrat-run cities.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, speaking to the crowd, vowed that Chicago would resist federal encroachment.

“This is the city that will defend the country,” he said, receiving loud cheers from protesters waving blue-striped Chicago flags.

As the crowd wove through the city, some marchers walking dogs and carrying children on their shoulders, diners sitting outside at local restaurants and cafes pumped their fists and cars honked in support.

Protesters said they were concerned by Trump’s threat to send out the National Guard and additional agents from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Filiberto Ramirez, 72, feared violence if additional ICE agents came to the city. “Do we feel there’s gonna be trouble? Yes,” Ramirez said. “I hope nobody gets hurt.”

Trump has singled out Chicago in recent weeks over violent crime, calling the city “a mess”, “a hellhole”, and a “killing field”. But on Monday, Chicagoans at the protest said they did not feel the National Guard was a solution to crime in the city.

“There is a crime problem,” said Yvonne Spears, 67, “but the National Guard is supposed to fight for us, not against us.”

Homicide rates in the nation’s third-largest city have plunged in recent years, according to city crime data. And though a 2025 University of Chicago survey reported roughly half of Chicagoans feel unsafe in their neighbourhoods at night, many protesters said on Monday that they felt largely safe in the city.

City and state leaders have already readied measures to shield Chicago from federal troops and would likely launch a slew of lawsuits challenging a deployment, which legal experts said would violate the US Constitution and a 19th-century law prohibiting the military from enforcing domestic laws.

‘Workers Over Billionaires’

Matt Duss, executive vice-president at the Center for International Policy and a former adviser to US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, told Al Jazeera that while protesters in different locales may be attending rallies for a range of reasons, many of their financial concerns are likely to overlap.

“I think there are a set of shared concerns: the cost of living, the cost of housing, the cost of basic goods, groceries, the cost of education, the overall sense that people in the United States have lost control of their economic and political lives and their futures,” he said.

Trump, a real estate scion who came to power on a platform that in part tapped into popular economic frustration, is a billionaire himself and has loaded his administration with billionaires.

The most famous of them – Elon Musk – served as Trump’s top adviser before stepping down amid a falling-out.

In the name of improving government efficiency, Musk oversaw the gutting of a number of federal agencies, at a cost of nearly $22bn, according to a congressional investigation carried out by Democratic US Senator Richard Blumenthal in July.

Media outlets have staged a front page protest to highlight the killings of more than 200 journalists in 22 months.

More than 250 media outlets in over 70 countries have staged a front page protest highlighting the killing of more than 200 journalists in Israel’s war on Gaza, the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) media freedom group says.

“At the rate journalists are being killed in Gaza by the Israeli army, there will soon be no-one left to keep you informed,” the group’s general director, Thibaut Bruttin, said in a statement on Monday.

The protest, also supported by the global campaign movement Avaaz, was featured on the websites of news outlets including Al Jazeera, the British newspaper The Independent, French newspapers La Croix and L’Humanite, and the German newspapers Tageszeitung and Frankfurter Rundschau, according to RSF.

About 220 journalists have been killed during Israel’s war in Gaza since it began on October 7, 2023, according to RSF data. Independent analysis by Al Jazeera reveals that at least 278 journalists and media workers have been killed by Israel over the past 22 months, including 10 from the network.

Monday’s protest was staged a week after five journalists – Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Salama, Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, freelance journalist Mariam Abu Daqqa working for The Associated Press, Ahmed Abu Aziz and Moaz Abu Taha – were killed in two Israeli strikes on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza.

Earlier in August, six journalists, including Al Jazeera’s Anas al-Sharif, were killed in an Israeli air strike on a tent sheltering media workers outside the main gate of Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital. The strike targeted al-Sharif.

In total, seven people were killed in the attack, including three other Al Jazeera staff – correspondent Mohammed Qreiqeh, 33, and cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, 25, and Mohammed Noufal, 29.

Those participating in the protest “demand an end to impunity for Israeli crimes against Gaza’s reporters, the emergency evacuation of reporters seeking to leave the Strip and that foreign press be granted independent access”, the RSF statement said.

The media group said it has filed four complaints at the International Criminal Court for war crimes it said the Israeli army has committed against journalists in Gaza.

International media have been denied free access to the Gaza Strip since the war broke out.

A few selected outlets have embedded reporters with Israeli army units operating in Gaza under the condition of strict military censorship.

Israel has killed at least 63,459 Palestinians in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.