Habib Siddiqui

Holding Palestinian flags and placards in the pouring rain, tens of thousands of people on Saturday descended on the streets of central London to protest against Israeli attacks in Gaza and the rest of historic Palestine. Gathering on London's Embankment, protesters marched past the parliament buildings and through Oxford Street as they chanted "Free Palestine" and demanded an end to Israel's occupation. Israel-Palestine: The girl who showed the world the suffering of Gaza's children Some protesters lit flares showing the colours of the Palestinian flag as they gathered in the capital's iconic Trafalgar Square, chanting "Palestine will be free". Organisers, including the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of Al-Aqsa, estimated that at least 180,000 people attended the London demonstration, making it the largest pro-Palestine protest in British history. Protests also took place in other UK cities, including Birmingham, Liverpool, Bris...

The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said Israel destroyed more than 33 media institutions during its bombing of the Gaza Strip, as it sought to obscure the truth over its bombing campaign. Israel targeted a large building in Gaza housing AP News and Al Jazeera offices [Getty] Israel's bombardment has destroyed over 33 media offices in the Gaza strip during its 11-day long offensive on the blockaded enclave, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate said late on Friday. "At least 33 media offices in Gaza have been destroyed, according to we have counted so far," the head of the syndicate, Nasser Abu Bakr, said in a statement. On Friday, journalist Yousef Abu Hussein was killed in an Israeli bombing of his home in Gaza, the syndicate's statement added. Over 170 journalists Palestinians were injured, Abu Bakr said, adding that 70 of them were wounded during the Gaza Strip bombing, and around 100 were injured following Israeli security forces' attacks on Palestinian...

Dozens of Jewish settlers, flanked by heavily armed Israeli special forces, entered the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem in the early morning, further raising tensions hours after Palestinian worshippers were beaten and assaulted by Israeli police, according to the Islamic authority overseeing the site. Citing witnesses, Palestinian news agency WAFA said Israeli police had earlier on Sunday assaulted Palestinian worshippers who were performing dawn prayers at the mosque and “excessively beat” them in order to make way for Israeli Jewish settlers to storm the compound – Islam’s third-holiest site. WAFA added that at least six Palestinians had been arrested, including Fadi Alyan, a guard at the Al-Aqsa Mosque who tried to film the incident, and Ali Wazouz, an employee of the Islamic Waqf Council, the religious body appointed by Jordan to oversee the Al-Aqsa compound. Occupation forces remove young men from Al-Aqsa Mosque moments ago. Israeli police also increased re...

Brussels, 23/05/2021 - 10:38, Statements by the Spokesperson We have heard the statement of U Thein Soe, the junta-appointed chairman of the Union Election Commission, according to which the Commission may dissolve the National League for Democracy, which overwhelmingly won the last general elections in November. If the Commission were to proceed with this proposal, it would show yet again the junta’s blatant disregard for the will of Myanmar’s people and for due legal process. The EU reiterates that the elections in November faithfully represented the will of Myanmar’s people. This was confirmed by all independent domestic and international observers. No arbitrary decision by the military junta and their illegally-appointed members of the Electoral Commission can cancel that. The EU will continue to denounce all attempts to overturn the will of the Myanmar people and to alter the outcome of the last general elections. No repression or unfounded pseudo-legal proceedings can gran...

A local administration in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has defied a state high court order and bulldozed a mosque, in one of the most inflammatory actions taken against a Muslim place of worship since the demolition of the Babri Mosque by a mob of Hindu nationalist rioters in 1992. The mosque, called Masjid Gareeb Nawaz Al Maroof, in the district of Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh, had stood for at least six decades, since the time of British rule, according to documents held by its committee. On Monday, police and security services moved into the area and cleared it of people, then brought in bulldozers and demolished the mosque buildings. Debris was then thrown into a river, according to images and local accounts. Security services have been deployed to prevent anyone coming within a mile of where the mosque stood. The state government of Uttar Pradesh is controlled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which also governs at national level. The chief minister is...

The news below is a month old but quite relevant to the latest demolition of a centry-old mosque in Modi's India lately. == Varanasi court orders ‘comprehensive physical survey’ of Mughal-era mosque located next to a famous Hindu temple. The Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi is adjacent to a prominent Hindu temple [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] The Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi is adjacent to a prominent Hindu temple [Screengrab/Al Jazeera] By Valay Singh 9 Apr 2021 New Delhi, India – A court in India’s Uttar Pradesh state has passed an order related to a dispute over a centuries-old mosque and a temple situated next to each other – a case reminiscent of a similar and bloody dispute in another temple town, controversially resolved in 2019. The court in Varanasi town on Thursday directed the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to find out whether the centuries-old Gyanvapi Mosque “standing at present at the ‘disputed site’ is a superimposition, alteration or addition, or there is a structural ...

Officials in India’s northern state of Uttar Pradesh have allegedly bulldozed an old mosque, triggering anger and anguish among the Muslim minority, with a prominent community organisation saying it will approach the high court over the matter. The Ghareeb Nawaz Al Maroof Mosque, which residents in the state’s Barabanki district say was nearly 100 years old, was demolished on Monday evening by the local administration after hundreds of policemen surrounded the area and halted the movement of people to prevent any protest. Since 2017, Uttar Pradesh – India’s most populous state with nearly 220 million residents, almost one-fifth of them Muslim – is governed by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with a controversial saffron-robed monk Yogi Adityanath, known for his anti-Muslim hate speech, as the state’s chief minister. On Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, a Muslim body that looks after mosques and other community assets in the state, condemned the d...