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Oxfam activists with a big head with the effigy of Shinzo Abe (C) perform during a demonstration in Biarritz, France on August 23, 2019, on the eve of the Group of Seven (G7) summit. (Photo: Vernault Quentin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Despite Massive Police Lockdown, Protesters Vow to Offer 'Radical Solutions' to Counter G7 Failures
"If they were really interested in building a fairer world, surely the G7 would not need to put the whole region of France into lockdown, with thousands of police and 'unprecedented' levels of security."
Aug 23, 2019
As leaders of the world's biggest economies head to France for the annual G7 summit this weekend, social justice campaigners expressed concern over the ramped up police presence and said the gathering's focus on inequality will likely offer up nothing more than lip service from the nations fueling the crisis.
The site of the summit is the southwestern French city of Biarritz, which, as Reuters reported this week, "will be transformed into more of a fortress than a surfers' paradise."
"France is deploying 13,200 police backed up by soldiers and drones to make sure [protesters] are kept far from the summit," the news agency reported.
The country is rolling out "a raft of unprecedented measures" to deal with potential unrest. "Authorities have banned all demonstrations, not just in Biarritz but also the conjoined towns of Anglet and Bayonne," Agence France-Presse reported.
"Our vigilance is maximum," French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Tuesday.
AFP reported:
Two security perimeters will be set up in Biarritz, with a "red zone" including the beach and the Hotel du Palais off limits to anyone without summit accreditation.
Outside that area, much of the rest of the city center will be in a blue zone where locals and businesses will need a badge obtained from the town hall to gain access.
Critics of the summit, including members of the "yellow vest" movement, are set to lay out a different vision at a counter summit held roughly 18 miles away in the twin cities of Hendaye, France and Irun, Spain. Some protesters will also defy the protest ban with marches on Saturday and Sunday, AFP reported.
Amnesty International, in a statement on Thursday, called on police to respect protesters' rights.
"As thousands of protesters prepare to take to the streets this weekend, the announced presence of more than 13,000 police, extensive restrictions on public assemblies, and enhanced judicial measures to arrest and prosecute protesters, gives cause for concern," said Marco Perolin, a researcher with the organization.
"The hasty erection of pre-fabricated cells in front of the court in Bayonne and the arrival of dozens of additional prosecutors and judges," said Perolin, "are a signal of intent that could lead to indiscriminate mass arrests and fast-track prosecutions."
Perolin also urged authorities to "avoid the sort of heavy-handed policing we have seen during recent demonstrations. They must not apply draconian laws to prosecute protesters who are exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully."
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, expressed criticism about the heavy police presence as well.
"If they were really interested in building a fairer world," he said, "surely the G7 would not need to put the whole region of France into lockdown, with thousands of police and 'unprecedented' levels of security."
"The real source of hope is far more likely to come from the protestors outside the summit, who rather than colluding with fascists like [President Donald] Trump, include many people already starting to build a better world," said Dearden.
The French President Emmanuel Macron put the focus for the upcoming summit on "intolerable" inequality, stating, "Beyond the individual suffering it causes, inequality makes the status quo unbearable and legitimately fuels many of the social and political protests which are destabilizing certain world regions."
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of anti-war group CodePink, isn't buying it.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Benjamin said, "The streets are rising up against the very people in power who have continued to allow this to happen and are not going to be fooled by their nice words."
"I don't think that Macron would have even, or Trump, or any of them, would have even had this as a focus were it not for popular pressure. But I don't think they are at all ready to hear the radical solutions that those of us on the outside want to see," she added.
Dearden concurred.
"When world leaders claim they're coming together to create a more equal, peaceful, and sustainable world," he said, "it's important to judge them on their actions rather than their rhetoric."
"The truth is that these leaders represent the countries most responsible for driving global inequality, arms sales, and climate change. Unless they're prepared to break with corporate interests and big-business-first policies," said Dearden, "they will continue pushing the world into the abyss."
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As leaders of the world's biggest economies head to France for the annual G7 summit this weekend, social justice campaigners expressed concern over the ramped up police presence and said the gathering's focus on inequality will likely offer up nothing more than lip service from the nations fueling the crisis.
The site of the summit is the southwestern French city of Biarritz, which, as Reuters reported this week, "will be transformed into more of a fortress than a surfers' paradise."
"France is deploying 13,200 police backed up by soldiers and drones to make sure [protesters] are kept far from the summit," the news agency reported.
The country is rolling out "a raft of unprecedented measures" to deal with potential unrest. "Authorities have banned all demonstrations, not just in Biarritz but also the conjoined towns of Anglet and Bayonne," Agence France-Presse reported.
"Our vigilance is maximum," French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Tuesday.
AFP reported:
Two security perimeters will be set up in Biarritz, with a "red zone" including the beach and the Hotel du Palais off limits to anyone without summit accreditation.
Outside that area, much of the rest of the city center will be in a blue zone where locals and businesses will need a badge obtained from the town hall to gain access.
Critics of the summit, including members of the "yellow vest" movement, are set to lay out a different vision at a counter summit held roughly 18 miles away in the twin cities of Hendaye, France and Irun, Spain. Some protesters will also defy the protest ban with marches on Saturday and Sunday, AFP reported.
Amnesty International, in a statement on Thursday, called on police to respect protesters' rights.
"As thousands of protesters prepare to take to the streets this weekend, the announced presence of more than 13,000 police, extensive restrictions on public assemblies, and enhanced judicial measures to arrest and prosecute protesters, gives cause for concern," said Marco Perolin, a researcher with the organization.
"The hasty erection of pre-fabricated cells in front of the court in Bayonne and the arrival of dozens of additional prosecutors and judges," said Perolin, "are a signal of intent that could lead to indiscriminate mass arrests and fast-track prosecutions."
Perolin also urged authorities to "avoid the sort of heavy-handed policing we have seen during recent demonstrations. They must not apply draconian laws to prosecute protesters who are exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully."
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, expressed criticism about the heavy police presence as well.
"If they were really interested in building a fairer world," he said, "surely the G7 would not need to put the whole region of France into lockdown, with thousands of police and 'unprecedented' levels of security."
"The real source of hope is far more likely to come from the protestors outside the summit, who rather than colluding with fascists like [President Donald] Trump, include many people already starting to build a better world," said Dearden.
The French President Emmanuel Macron put the focus for the upcoming summit on "intolerable" inequality, stating, "Beyond the individual suffering it causes, inequality makes the status quo unbearable and legitimately fuels many of the social and political protests which are destabilizing certain world regions."
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of anti-war group CodePink, isn't buying it.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Benjamin said, "The streets are rising up against the very people in power who have continued to allow this to happen and are not going to be fooled by their nice words."
"I don't think that Macron would have even, or Trump, or any of them, would have even had this as a focus were it not for popular pressure. But I don't think they are at all ready to hear the radical solutions that those of us on the outside want to see," she added.
Dearden concurred.
"When world leaders claim they're coming together to create a more equal, peaceful, and sustainable world," he said, "it's important to judge them on their actions rather than their rhetoric."
"The truth is that these leaders represent the countries most responsible for driving global inequality, arms sales, and climate change. Unless they're prepared to break with corporate interests and big-business-first policies," said Dearden, "they will continue pushing the world into the abyss."
As leaders of the world's biggest economies head to France for the annual G7 summit this weekend, social justice campaigners expressed concern over the ramped up police presence and said the gathering's focus on inequality will likely offer up nothing more than lip service from the nations fueling the crisis.
The site of the summit is the southwestern French city of Biarritz, which, as Reuters reported this week, "will be transformed into more of a fortress than a surfers' paradise."
"France is deploying 13,200 police backed up by soldiers and drones to make sure [protesters] are kept far from the summit," the news agency reported.
The country is rolling out "a raft of unprecedented measures" to deal with potential unrest. "Authorities have banned all demonstrations, not just in Biarritz but also the conjoined towns of Anglet and Bayonne," Agence France-Presse reported.
"Our vigilance is maximum," French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said Tuesday.
AFP reported:
Two security perimeters will be set up in Biarritz, with a "red zone" including the beach and the Hotel du Palais off limits to anyone without summit accreditation.
Outside that area, much of the rest of the city center will be in a blue zone where locals and businesses will need a badge obtained from the town hall to gain access.
Critics of the summit, including members of the "yellow vest" movement, are set to lay out a different vision at a counter summit held roughly 18 miles away in the twin cities of Hendaye, France and Irun, Spain. Some protesters will also defy the protest ban with marches on Saturday and Sunday, AFP reported.
Amnesty International, in a statement on Thursday, called on police to respect protesters' rights.
"As thousands of protesters prepare to take to the streets this weekend, the announced presence of more than 13,000 police, extensive restrictions on public assemblies, and enhanced judicial measures to arrest and prosecute protesters, gives cause for concern," said Marco Perolin, a researcher with the organization.
"The hasty erection of pre-fabricated cells in front of the court in Bayonne and the arrival of dozens of additional prosecutors and judges," said Perolin, "are a signal of intent that could lead to indiscriminate mass arrests and fast-track prosecutions."
Perolin also urged authorities to "avoid the sort of heavy-handed policing we have seen during recent demonstrations. They must not apply draconian laws to prosecute protesters who are exercising their right to demonstrate peacefully."
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice Now, expressed criticism about the heavy police presence as well.
"If they were really interested in building a fairer world," he said, "surely the G7 would not need to put the whole region of France into lockdown, with thousands of police and 'unprecedented' levels of security."
"The real source of hope is far more likely to come from the protestors outside the summit, who rather than colluding with fascists like [President Donald] Trump, include many people already starting to build a better world," said Dearden.
The French President Emmanuel Macron put the focus for the upcoming summit on "intolerable" inequality, stating, "Beyond the individual suffering it causes, inequality makes the status quo unbearable and legitimately fuels many of the social and political protests which are destabilizing certain world regions."
Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of anti-war group CodePink, isn't buying it.
Speaking to The Associated Press, Benjamin said, "The streets are rising up against the very people in power who have continued to allow this to happen and are not going to be fooled by their nice words."
"I don't think that Macron would have even, or Trump, or any of them, would have even had this as a focus were it not for popular pressure. But I don't think they are at all ready to hear the radical solutions that those of us on the outside want to see," she added.
Dearden concurred.
"When world leaders claim they're coming together to create a more equal, peaceful, and sustainable world," he said, "it's important to judge them on their actions rather than their rhetoric."
"The truth is that these leaders represent the countries most responsible for driving global inequality, arms sales, and climate change. Unless they're prepared to break with corporate interests and big-business-first policies," said Dearden, "they will continue pushing the world into the abyss."
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LATEST NEWS
US State Dept Releases 'Shameful' Human Rights Report Revamped to Shield Allies, Including Israel
"This sends a chilling message that the U.S. is willing to overlook some abuses, signaling that people experiencing human rights violations may be left to fend for themselves," said one Amnesty campaigner.
Aug 12, 2025
After leaked drafts exposed the Trump administration's plans to downplay human rights abuses in some allied countries, including Israel, the U.S. Department of State released the final edition of an annual report on Tuesday, sparking fresh condemnation.
"Breaking with precedent, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not provide a written introduction to the report nor did he make remarks about it," CNN reported. Still, Amanda Klasing, Amnesty International USA's national director of government relations and advocacy, called him out by name in a Tuesday statement.
"With the release of the U.S. State Department's human rights report, it is clear that the Trump administration has engaged in a very selective documentation of human rights abuses in certain countries," Klasing said. "In addition to eliminating entire sections for certain countries—for example discrimination against LGBTQ+ people—there are also arbitrary omissions within existing sections of the report based on the country."
Klasing explained that "we have criticized past reports when warranted, but have never seen reports quite like this. Never before have the reports gone this far in prioritizing an administration's political agenda over a consistent and truthful accounting of human rights violations around the world—softening criticism in some countries while ignoring violations in others. The State Department has said in relation to the reports less is more. However, for the victims and human rights defenders who rely on these reports to shine light on abuses and violations, less is just less."
"Secretary Rubio knows full well from his time in the Senate how vital these reports are in informing policy decisions and shaping diplomatic conversations, yet he has made the dangerous and short-sighted decision to put out a truncated version that doesn't tell the whole story of human rights violations," she continued. "This sends a chilling message that the U.S. is willing to overlook some abuses, signaling that people experiencing human rights violations may be left to fend for themselves."
"Failing to adequately report on human rights violations further damages the credibility of the U.S. on human rights issues," she added. "It's shameful that the Trump administration and Secretary Rubio are putting politics above human lives."
The overarching report—which includes over 100 individual country reports—covers 2024, the last full calendar year of the Biden administration. The appendix says that in March, the report was "streamlined for better utility and accessibility in the field and by partners, and to be more responsive to the underlying legislative mandate and aligned to the administration's executive orders."
As CNN detailed:
The latest report was stripped of many of the specific sections included in past reports, including reporting on alleged abuses based on sexual orientation, violence toward women, corruption in government, systemic racial or ethnic violence, or denial of a fair public trial. Some country reports, including for Afghanistan, do address human rights abuses against women.
"We were asked to edit down the human rights reports to the bare minimum of what was statutorily required," said Michael Honigstein, the former director of African Affairs at the State Department's Bureau of Human Rights, Democracy, and Labor. He and his office helped compile the initial reports.
Over the past week, since the draft country reports leaked to the press, the Trump administration has come under fire for its portrayals of El Salvador, Israel, and Russia.
The report on Israel—and the illegally occupied Palestinian territories, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank—is just nine pages. The brevity even drew the attention of Israeli media. The Times of Israel highlighted that it "is much shorter than last year's edition compiled under the Biden administration and contained no mention of the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza."
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, Israeli forces have slaughtered over 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to local officials—though experts warn the true toll is likely far higher. As Israel has restricted humanitarian aid in recent months, over 200 people have starved to death, including 103 children.
The U.S. report on Israel does not mention the genocide case that Israel faces at the International Court of Justice over the assault on Gaza, or the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The section on war crimes and genocide only says that "terrorist organizations Hamas and Hezbollah continue to engage in the
indiscriminate targeting of Israeli civilians in violation of the law of armed conflict."
As the world mourns the killing of six more Palestinian media professionals in Gaza this week—which prompted calls for the United Nations Security Council to convene an emergency meeting—the report's section on press freedom is also short and makes no mention of the hundreds of journalists killed in Israel's annihilation of the strip:
The law generally provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and the government generally respected this right for most Israelis. NGOs and journalists reported authorities restricted press coverage and limited certain forms of expression, especially in the context of criticism against the war or sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza.
Noting that "the human rights reports have been among the U.S. government's most-read documents," DAWN senior adviser and 32-year State Department official Charles Blaha said the "significant omissions" in this year's report on Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank render it "functionally useless for Congress and the public as nothing more than a pro-Israel document."
Like Klasing at Amnesty, Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN's executive director, specifically called out the U.S. secretary of state.
"Secretary Rubio has revamped the State Department reports for one principal purpose: to whitewash Israeli crimes, including its horrific genocide and starvation in Gaza. The report shockingly includes not a word about the overwhelming evidence of genocide, mass starvation, and the deliberate bombardment of civilians in Gaza," she said. "Rubio has defied the letter and intent of U.S. laws requiring the State Department to report truthfully and comprehensively about every country's human rights abuses, instead offering up anodyne cover for his murderous friends in Tel Aviv."
The Tuesday release came after a coalition of LGBTQ+ and human rights organizations on Monday filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department over its refusal to release the congressionally mandated report.
This article has been updated with comment from DAWN.
Watchdog Unveils Standards for Countermeasures to 'Authoritarian' GOP Gerrymandering
"We will not sit idly by while political leaders manipulate voting maps to entrench their power and subvert our democracy," said the head of Common Cause.
Aug 12, 2025
As Republicans try to rig congressional maps in several states and Democrats threaten retaliatory measures, a pro-democracy watchdog on Tuesday unveiled new fairness standards underscoring that "independent redistricting commissions remain the gold standard for ending partisan gerrymandering."
Common Cause will hold an online media briefing Wednesday at noon Eastern time "to walk reporters though the six pieces of criteria the organization will use to evaluate any proposed maps."
The Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group said that "it will closely evaluate, but not automatically condemn, countermeasures" to Republican gerrymandering efforts—especially mid-decade redistricting not based on decennial censuses.
Amid the gerrymandering wars, we just launched 6 fairness criteria to hold all actors to the same principled standard: people first—not parties. Read our criteria here: www.commoncause.org/resources/po...
[image or embed]
— Common Cause (@commoncause.org) August 12, 2025 at 12:01 PM
Common Cause's six fairness criteria for mid-decade redistricting are:
- Proportionality: Any mid-decade redistricting should be a targeted response proportional to the threat posed by mid-decade gerrymanders in other states.
- Public participation: Any redistricting must include meaningful public participation, whether through ballot initiatives or open public processes.
- Racial equity: Redistricting must not further racial discrimination or dilute the political voice of Black, Latino, Indigenous, Asian American, and Pacific Islander, or other communities of color.
- Federal reform: Leaders pursuing mid-decade redistricting must publicly endorse the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, including provisions banning mid-decade redistricting and partisan gerrymandering.
- Endorsement of independent redistricting: Leaders pursuing mid-decade redistricting must publicly endorse citizen-led independent redistricting commissions as the long-term solution.
- Time-limited: Any new redistricting maps must expire following the 2030 Census, which counts all people in our country, and be replaced through the regular decennial redistricting process.
"We will not sit idly by while political leaders manipulate voting maps to entrench their power and subvert our democracy," Common Cause president and CEO Virginia Kase Solomón said in a statement. "But neither will we call for unilateral political disarmament in the face of authoritarian tactics that undermine fair representation."
"We have established a fairness criteria that we will use to evaluate all countermeasures so we can respond to the most urgent threats to fair representation while holding all actors to the same principled standard: people—not parties—first," she added.
Common Cause's fairness criteria come amid the ongoing standoff between Republicans trying to gerrymander Texas' congressional map and Democratic lawmakers who fled the state in a bid to stymie a vote on the measure. Texas state senators on Tuesday approved the proposed map despite a walkout by most of their Democratic colleagues.
Leaders of several Democrat-controlled states, most notably California, have threatened retaliatory redistricting.
"This moment is about more than responding to a single threat—it's about building the movement for lasting reform," Kase Solomón asserted. "This is not an isolated political tactic; it is part of a broader march toward authoritarianism, dismantling people-powered democracy, and stripping away the people's ability to have a political voice and say in how they are governed."
'These Officials Abused Their Power': Texas Woman Unlawfully Arrested for Murder Over Abortion Seeks Justice
"Texas law is clear: A pregnant person cannot be arrested and prosecuted for getting an abortion. No one is above the law, including officials entrusted with enforcing it," said an ACLU attorney.
Aug 12, 2025
When officials in Starr County, Texas arrested Lizelle Gonzalez in 2022 and charged her with murder for having a medication abortion—despite state law clearly prohibiting the prosecution of women for abortion care—she spent three days in jail, away from her children, and the highly publicized arrest was "deeply traumatizing."
Now, said her lawyers at the ACLU in court filings on Tuesday, officials in the county sheriff's and district attorney's offices must be held accountable for knowingly subjecting Gonzalez to wrongful prosecution.
Starr County District Attorney Gocha Ramirez ultimately dismissed the charge against Gonzalez, said the ACLU, but the Texas bar's investigation into Ramirez—which found multiple instances of misconduct related to Gonzalez's homicide charge—resulted in only minor punishment. Ramirez had to pay a small fine of $1,250 and was given one year of probated suspension.
"Without real accountability, Starr County's district attorney—and any other law enforcement actor—will not be deterred from abusing their power to unlawfully target people because of their personal beliefs, rather than the law," said the ACLU.
The state bar found that Ramirez allowed Gonzalez's indictment to go forward despite the fact that her homicide charge was "known not to be supported by probable cause."
Ramirez had denied that he was briefed on the facts of the case before it was prosecuted by his office, but the state bar "determined he was consulted by a prosecutor in his office beforehand and permitted it to go forward."
"Without real accountability, Starr County's district attorney—and any other law enforcement actor—will not be deterred from abusing their power to unlawfully target people because of their personal beliefs, rather than the law."
Sarah Corning, an attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said the prosecutors and law enforcement officers "ignored Texas law when they wrongfully arrested Lizelle Gonzalez for ending her pregnancy."
"They shattered her life in South Texas, violated her rights, and abused the power they swore to uphold," said Corning. "Texas law is clear: A pregnant person cannot be arrested and prosecuted for getting an abortion. No one is above the law, including officials entrusted with enforcing it."
The district attorney's office sought to have the ACLU's case dismissed in July 2024, raising claims of legal immunity.
A court denied Ramirez's motion, and the ACLU's discovery process that followed revealed "a coordinated effort between the Starr County sheriff's office and district attorney's office to violate Ms. Gonzalez's rights."
The officials' "wanton disregard for the rule of law and erroneous belief of their own invincibility is a frightening deviation from the offices' purposes: to seek justice," said Cecilia Garza, a partner at the law firm Garza Martinez, who is joining the ACLU in representing Gonzalez. "I am proud to represent Ms. Gonzalez in her fight for justice and redemption, and our team will not allow these abuses to continue in Starr County or any other county in the state of Texas."
Gonzalez's fight for justice comes as a wrongful death case in Texas—filed by an "anti-abortion legal terrorist" on behalf of a man whose girlfriend use medication from another state to end her pregnancy—moves forward, potentially jeopardizing access to abortion pills across the country.
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