Politics
Thousands protest in Paris over death of migrant worker
Several thousand people protested in Paris on Sunday over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, yelling slogans against “a police force that kills us”, an AFP journalist saw.
The controversy over his death is just the latest in a series of cases in which activists have accused French police of racism and violence.
The demonstration gathered at the shelter in the northeast of the capital where the man, El Hacen Diarra, 35, had been living and in front of which he was violently arrested by police on the night of January 14.
Video filmed by neighbours, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.
The protesters, gathered to support Diarra’s family, members of whom also took part, unfurled banners reading “Justice” and “RIP”, before marching to the local police station.
The family has filed a legal complaint accusing security forces of “intentional violence that led to a death”, their lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou told AFP a week ago.
Paris police have launched an internal investigation into what happened.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Sunday again rejected calls for the officers concerned to be suspended until there is clear evidence they did something wrong.
“The officer who, in the footage, throws two punches will have to explain himself,” he told Sunday´s edition of Le Parisien newspaper.
“But nothing indicates, at this stage, what the causes of death are,” he added.
‘Kind, smiling’ man
According to the family, Diarra had been drinking a coffee outside the shelter when he encountered police officers and the situation deteriorated.
Prosecutors say police alleged they had seen Diarra roll a cannabis joint and proceeded to arrest him when he refused a body search.
He was taken into custody for allegedly resisting arrest and allegedly possessing “a brown substance resembling cannabis” and “forged administrative documents”.
While waiting on a bench at the police station, officers said Diarra was seen to pass out and paramedics were called who tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead.
At the protest, Diarra’s cousin, Diankou Sissoko, told AFP: “I don’t believe at all that we will see justice, because even before El Hacen died there were other deaths and there has never been justice.”
She described Diarra as “kind, smiling” and “quiet”, nothing like the police account that described him as aggressive.
There have been an increasing number of allegations of police violence in France in recent years, notably during the “yellow vest” protests between 2018 and 2019.
Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France, as most are dealt with internally.
Prosecutors have called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.
A court is to rule in March whether he will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.
In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries to a black man during a stop-and-search in 2017.
- Over 3,200 events planned across all 50 states of United States.
- Organisers expect more protests in smaller communities this time.
- Protests driven by backlash against Iran conflict, Trump’s policies.
Massive protests against President Donald Trump kicked off Saturday across the United States and beyond, as millions of people vent fury over what they see as his authoritarian bent and other forms of cruel, law-trampling governance.
It is the third time in less than a year that Americans have taken to the streets as part of a grassroots movement called “No Kings,” the most vocal and visual conduit for opposition to Trump since he began his second term in January 2025.
Now they have something new to fume over — the war against Iran that Trump launched alongside Israel, with ever-shifting goals and timelines for completion.
The anti-Trump mood has spilled beyond US borders, with rallies Saturday in European cities including Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome.
US protests began in several cities, including Atlanta, where thousands of people gathered in a park to decry authoritarianism.
One man at the rally held a sign that read “We Are Losing Our Democracy.”
In the Michigan town of West Bloomfield, near Detroit, people braved below-freezing temperatures to protest.
Record numbers expected
The first “No Kings” nationwide protest day came last June on Trump´s 79th birthday and coincided with a military parade he organised in Washington. Several million people turned out, from New York to San Francisco.
The second such protest, in October, drew an estimated seven million protesters, according to organisers.
The goal now is to bring out even more people Saturday, as Trump´s approval rating sinks below 40% and midterm elections loom in November, when Trump´s Republicans could lose control of both chambers of Congress.
Just as Trump is worshipped by many in his “Make America Great Again” movement, he is disliked with equal passion on the other side of America’s wide political chasm.
Foes bemoan his penchant for ruling by executive decree, his use of the Justice Department to prosecute opponents, his apparent obsession with fossil fuels and climate change denial.
They also dislike his gutting of racial and gender diversity programs, and his taste for flexing US military power after campaigning as a man of peace.
“Since the last time we marched, this administration has dragged us deeper into war,” said Naveed Shah of Common Defence, a veterans association connected to the “No Kings” movement.
“At home, we’ve watched citizens killed in the streets by militarised forces. We´ve seen families torn apart and immigrant communities targeted. All of it done in the name of one man trying to rule like a king.”
Springsteen in Minneapolis
Organisers say more than 3,000 rallies are planned, in major cities and in suburbs and rural areas — even in the Alaskan town of Kotzebue, above the Arctic circle.
Minnesota is a key focal point, months after becoming ground zero for the national debate over Trump´s violent immigration crackdown.
Legendary rocker Bruce Springsteen, a fierce critic of the president, is scheduled to perform his song “Streets of Minneapolis” in the twin city of St. Paul, the capital of the northern state.
Springsteen wrote and recorded the protest ballad in just 24 hours in memory of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two US citizens shot dead by federal agents during January protests against Trump´s immigration offensive.
What began in 2025 as a simple day of defiance has mushroomed into a “No Kings” movement of national resistance to Trump.
Organisers say two-thirds of those who plan to rally Saturday do not live in big cities, which in America are often Democratic strongholds — a data point that is up sharply since the last protest.
- Zelenskiy continuing Gulf visit after arriving in Riyadh on Thursday.
- Qatar says Doha, Kyiv have signed defence cooperation agreement.
- UAE, Ukraine earlier agreed to cooperate on security and defence.
Ukraine on Saturday agreed to cooperate on defence with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled to both countries amid escalating tensions in the region.
Qatar’s defence ministry said in a statement on Saturday that Doha and Kyiv have signed a defence cooperation agreement, which includes the exchange of expertise in countering missiles and unmanned aerial systems.
Zelenskiy had earlier been to the UAE and met President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the two countries agreed to cooperate in the fields of security and defence.
“Our teams will finalise the details,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram app with reference to the UAE discussions.
Ukraine, which now has years of experience shooting down Russian drones and missiles, was close to clinching several security agreements to counter Iranian attacks, its foreign minister Andrii Sybiha had told Reuters on Friday.
The US-Israeli war on Iran has killed more than 2,000 people, upended global markets and spurred Iranian retaliatory strikes that have effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz and targeted several countries across the Gulf with missiles and drones.
Zelenskiy had first arrived in Saudi Arabia on Thursday where the two countries also signed an agreement on defence cooperation.
- After Oli’s arrest, supporters staged protest rallies.
- Oli had resigned after fatal protests last September.
- Police say Oli and Lekhak will be brought to court Sunday.
KATHMANDU: Nepal’s former prime minister, KP Sharma Oli, was arrested on Saturday as police investigate whether he was negligent in failing to prevent dozens of deaths in a crackdown on Gen Z-led anti-corruption protests last September, said officials.
Oli’s arrest, which his lawyer said was illegal and sparked protests by supporters who clashed with police, followed rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah’s swearing in as prime minister on Friday and a recommendation by a panel investigating violence during the protests that he should be prosecuted for negligence.
His former home minister, Ramesh Lekhak, was also arrested.
76 people were killed last September during a police crackdown and arson and violent unrest during the protests, which led to Oli’s resignation.
After his arrest on Saturday, supporters staged protest rallies and clashed with police who tried to stop them burning tyres near the prime minister’s office. Police lobbed a teargas shell and used batons to break up the protests, injuring one person, witnesses said.
Oli’s Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) called his arrest illegal and said it was an act of “revenge”. It demanded his immediate release and said more protests were planned for Sunday.
Shankar Pokhrel, a senior party official, told reporters that protest notes against the arrest would be handed to the government in all 77 districts of the country on Sunday.
Home Minister Sudan Gurung dismissed the criticism, saying on Facebook: “It is the beginning of justice. The country will take a new direction now.”
Election defeat
Oli was prime minister four times between 2015 and 2025 but never served a full five-year term. In 2020, he published a new political map including in it a small stretch of disputed land controlled by India, giving him a popularity boost in Nepal.
His popularity did not last, and he was beaten by Shah in his home constituency in an election this month, his second defeat since the restoration of multi-party democracy in 1990. Anger over the deaths in September’s protests helped Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party win the election by a landslide.
The panel investigating last September’s violence held Oli and Lekhak responsible for not taking any action to stop hours of firing on the protesters by police.
Police spokesperson Om Adhikari said Oli and Lekhak would be brought to court on Sunday.
Oli, 74, who has had two kidney transplants, has been transferred to a hospital from the police office where he was first taken, witnesses said.
His lawyer, Tikaram Bhattarai, told Reuters that the arrest was unwarranted and would be challenged in the Supreme Court.
“They have said it (the arrest) is for investigation. It is illegal and improper because there is no risk of him fleeing or avoiding questioning,” he said.
Lekhak and his lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.
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