February: Activists in Russia oppose Putin's war
On February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin launched a military campaign against Ukraine, with the intention of invading.
The same day, more than 800 demonstrators who oppose this armed conflict are arrested in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
In the following days, thousands of demonstrators were arrested across the country.
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A man holding flowers in the colors of the Ukrainian flag attends a demonstration against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in central Moscow on February 24, 2022. KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
Police officers arrest a man during a demonstration against the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Moscow, February 24, 2022. Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
Russian propaganda and very strong repression, however, prevent a more virulent protest.
Ilial Iachine, for example, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison for opposing the regime.
The Kremlin tightens the legislative arsenal in order to silence any dissenting voice.
Protests also broke out at the end of September, following the announcement of partial mobilization by Vladimir Putin.
More than 2,300 people were arrested in this context, according to OVD-Info.
Police officers detain a man in Saint Petersburg on September 24, 2022, following calls to protest against the partial mobilization announced by the Russian president.
AFP
Police officers arrest protesters in Saint Petersburg on September 21, 2022, following calls to protest against partial mobilization.
OLGA MALTSEVA / AFP
To read on the subject:
"I can't help but be ashamed": these Russians who found refuge in France after the invasion of Ukraine
Riga, capital of the Russian press in exile
Russia: booksellers face the specter of censorship
July: in Sri Lanka, the president falls under the pressure of the people
At the beginning of July, Sri Lanka, in the grip of the most serious economic crisis in its history, saw its interest rates increase by one point while the Central Bank warned that inflation could reach 80%.
The executive is shaking.
The people, angry, accuse the president of being responsible.
Marked by severe shortages of food, fuel and medicine, and lack of foreign currency to finance imports of essential products, the country is on fire.
Caught in the turmoil and under the pressure of the crowd that invaded his residence after the monster demonstrations in Colombo, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives, then to Singapore.
He announced on Saturday July 9 that he would resign soon.
He will do so the following Wednesday.
Protesters demanding the resignation of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa swim in a swimming pool in the grounds of Sri Lanka's presidential palace in Colombo on July 9, 2022. AFP
That same day, July 13, the protesting crowd this time invaded the office of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Nearly 85 people are injured in the clashes, and a man dies of asphyxiation by tear gas.
Thousands of anti-government protesters storm the office of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on July 13, 2022. AFP
The former prime minister is appointed interim president on Friday July 15.
Five days later, he was finally elected by Parliament.
Once in power, he adopts a very hard line against the militants who forced his predecessor to resign.
Figures of the protest movement are arrested and sentenced.
The demonstrations are intensifying, as is the repression.
A demonstrator rinses his face near police fired tear gas canisters to disperse demonstrators protesting against the Sri Lankan government, August 30, 2022. Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP
Anti-government protesters fight with police during a demonstration in Colombo, September 24, 2022. Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP
A protester faces a policeman during an anti-government demonstration by university students demanding the release of their leaders, in Colombo, October 18, 2022. Ishara S. KODIKARA / AFP
To read on the subject:
In Sri Lanka, the crisis pushes the population to the limit
Inside the anger that took power away in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka: first fall in the inflation rate to 66%
August: In Afghanistan, a year after the return of the Taliban, women continue to fight
In August 2021, the Taliban took over Kabul and installed an authoritarian and ultra-rigorous regime.
Despite the promise to be more flexible when they return to power, they restore a climate of terror.
The rules that organize women's lives are rapidly tightening: wearing the full veil, exclusion from secondary schools, ban on going to parks and gardens, going to a gym or a public bath, going out alone outside the city, to go to university, to work in NGOs...
“
August 15 is a black day,
” read the banners of a demonstration of women fighting for their freedom.
On August 13, 2022, the repression was violent: the women were chased and beaten with rifle butts.
Taliban fighters fire into the air to disperse women protesting in Kabul, August 13, 2022. WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP
Afghan women continue to fight, encouraged by events in Iran.
When universities are closed to women on December 20, 2022, they take to the streets, despite the immense risk they run.
Afghan women chant slogans to protest against the ban on university education for women, in Kabul on December 22, 2022. AFP
To read on the subject:
In Afghanistan, the Taliban stage their vision of women
With the new masters of Kabul, our report at the heart of Taliban power
These Afghan women who live in terror of the "Taliban order"
September: In Iran, the country rises against the veil
On September 16, 2022, “
Iranian morality police stopped a girl on the street and found her a lock of hair that was a little too loose from her chador.
She took her to “talk” to the police station, and the 22-year-old girl came out on a stretcher.
She was young, lovely, she had her life ahead of her and
she died
, ”said Chantal de Rudder in our pages last September.
The death of this young Iranian Kurd immediately triggers a wave of protest across the country.
The revolt, unprecedented since the Islamic Republic in 1979, is brewing.
An Iranian policeman tries to disperse protesters after the death of Mahsa Amini, in Tehran, on September 19, 2022. AFP
Initially, it was young women who fought for their freedom: social networks became their field of struggle.
They film themselves removing their veil, burning it, dancing.
Soon, men join them.
The movement then broadened and was directed against the mullahs' regime, in universities and schools.
In front of him, the repression is always stronger.
The authorities report at least 300 dead, when NGOs speak of more than 450 dead.
A photo obtained by AFP outside Iran shows a motorcycle on fire in the capital Tehran on October 8, 2022. AFP
On December 4, 2022, the government made a gesture towards the demonstrators, announcing the dissolution of the morality police.
But at the same time, Iran sentences several young people to death in connection with the demonstrations.
To read on the subject:
Iran: the mullahs' regime powerless in the face of the revolt
Iran: where are the protests, one hundred days after the death of Mahsa Amini?
Iran: “A theocracy ready to do anything to survive”
November: in China, a country's exasperation with the "zero Covid" policy
The fire in a building in Urumqi in the province of Xinjiang, on November 24, 2022, is the trigger for an unprecedented wave of protest.
This drama, in which 10 people lost their lives, catalyzed the anger of the people, who accused the health restrictions of having hindered the work of the relief workers.
Cars and poles, for example, blocked the passage of firefighters.
Protesters gather along a street for the victims of a fatal fire.
They are also demonstrating against China's harsh Covid-19 restrictions in Beijing on November 28, 2022. Michael Zhang / AFP
From the largest iPhone factory in the world or from the megacities Beijing and Shanghai, anger is brewing at the draconian “zero covid” policy established as an absolute rule by President Xi Jinping.
For nearly three years, the Chinese have lived to the rhythm of health restrictions.
This reaction also comes a month after the reappointment of the president for an unprecedented third term.
Clashes then broke out in several places.
“
Sociologically and geographically, it is a very diffuse movement, sporadic in several large cities and which affects different layers of Chinese society
”, affirmed the sinologist Emmanuel Lincot in our pages.
Quickly, the protest becomes political: “
Xi Jinping, resign!
chanted protesters across the country.
The authorities are facing the largest protest movement since the pro-democracy mobilizations in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Faced with this, the Chinese authorities are deploying their security arsenal to prevent the spread of protests.
In addition to a heavy police force, the security services track the participants to their homes.
Any mention of the protests is censored online.
In response to these protests, the executive is ending its “zero covid” policy at the beginning of December.
China is now facing one of the largest waves of contamination in the world, while it persists in covering up the figures.
To read on the subject:
In China, the “zero Covid” policy unleashes anger against Xi Jinping
China has not been able to get out of “zero Covid” and is exposed to more than 1 million deaths
Xi Jinping's supremacy shaken by the anti-containment sling
