Crowd Security

Shortly after President Donald Trump used an inflammatory speech about his unfounded allegations of voter fraud in the last election, Republican loyalists stormed Capitol Hill in a protest which left one woman dead. In the first incident of its kind since 1954, when a few Puerto Rican nationalists breached security, the mob broke into Congress shortly after it began debating a move by Republican dissidents to overturn the election results and the National Guard was eventually deployed. [node:read-more:link]

More than two dozen domestic terrorism cases have been opened in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 protests and breach of Congress security by extremists supporting outgoing President Donald Trump. Six deaths have been attributed to the riot and firearms and various explosive devices have been recovered. [node:read-more:link]

More than 30 persons died and hundreds have been injured in a stampede as Iranians flocked to the burial of Gen Qassem Soleimani, killed in Iran by a U.S. drone strike along with several other senior officials. The interment in his hometown of Kerman was postponed. [node:read-more:link]

Myanmar’s senior military commander has been told by other leaders in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that his forces should stop killing protestors and should release political prisoners “Violence must be stopped, democracy, stability and peace in Myanmar must be returned immediately," host Indonesian President Joko Widodo said. More than 700 demonstrators have been killed since a Feb. 1 coup. [node:read-more:link]

Russian police arrested nearly 1,800 persons involved in widespread protests April 21 over the alleged mistreatment of jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny. The demonstrations across the country occurred only hour after President Vladimir Putin’s state-of-the-nation speech. [node:read-more:link]

In a bid to head off potential disruption at next week’s presidential inaugurations, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff have warned that any protests by service members would be a bad idea. Citing last week’s ransacking of Congress, in which several veterans were involved, they have told personnel that “the rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition, and insurrection.” [node:read-more:link]

Hundreds of thousands of protesters returned to the streets in Myanmar in one of the largest demonstrations against the country's recent military coup. Businesses closed as employees joined a general strike, despite a military statement that said protesters were risking their lives by turning out. At least two demonstrators were killed Feb. 21. [node:read-more:link]

The U.N. says that at least 18 people were killed on the weekend during protests against Myanmar’s Feb. 1 coup. The military’s forceful response signalled a renewed determination to quash unrest which has seen thousand or protestors taking to the streets in major centres. [node:read-more:link]

Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations has been fired by military leaders who overthrew recent democratic elections. Kyaw Moe Tun had urged other countries not to cooperate with the junta until it restores the democratically elected government. [node:read-more:link]

In what the United Nations says is the “bloodiest day” since Myanmar’s military toppled the country’s government a month ago, at least 38 pro-democracy demonstrators were killed today. [node:read-more:link]

India's border state of Manipur has rescinded an order to officials to “politely turn away” refugees from Myanmar in the aftermath of last month’s military coup. Meanwhile, continued protests in Myanmar evidently have resulted in more than 500 deaths at the hands of the country’s military. [node:read-more:link]

A long-standing U.S. program whereby surplus military vehicles and other equipment is donated to local law enforcement agencies is coming under fire amidst allegations of abuse. President Joe Biden is being urged by members of the Democrat caucus in the House of Representatives to limit the program. More than $7.4 billion in equipment has been transferred to police in nearly all states. [node:read-more:link]

Draft bipartisan legislation which would require law enforcement to have a warrant to use facial recognition technology to track U.S. citizens has been introduced in Congress by Delaware Democrat Chris Coons and Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee. The growing use of facial recognition has raised concerns about individual privacy and civil liberties. [node:read-more:link]