A concert in Italy by Russian conductor Gergiev is canceled after protests
Gergiev had been invited to conduct during a summer festival at the Royal Palace of Caserta near Naples next Sunday. The regional governor, Vincenzo de Luca, had defended the invitation, saying that 'the logic of preclusion … does not help peace.''
The invitation had been widely criticized by human rights activists, Russian opposition figures and European parliamentarians.
Gergiev, who is head of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Russian state theaters, is considered close to President Vladimir Putin.
Milan's La Scala was the first theater in the West to cut off relations with Gergiev, who was engaged at the theater when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, after he failed to respond to Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala's appeal to speak out against the war.
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The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Julian Assange joins pro-Palestine march across Sydney Harbour Bridge before police stop rally citing safety fears
Huge crowds of pro-Palestine marchers, including Julian Assange, Bob Carr and Ed Husic, have marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge in the rain to protest against Israel's conduct in Gaza and to speak out about the children starving there. The world-famous landmark was closed to traffic at 11.30am on Sunday, with protesters gathering in Lang Park in the city centre in chilly weather before walking north to Bradfield Park across the bridge. About 3pm NSW police sent out a mass text message to phones throughout the city ordering the pro-Palestine march to stop due to safety concerns, with authorities turning protesters around at the north end. Sign up: AU Breaking News email 'Message from NSW Police: In consultation with the organisers, the march needs to stop due to public safety and await further instructions,' the message read. A police helicopter hovered overhead with instructions for the hordes of protesters to turn around and walk back towards the city. A second text message read: 'After consultation with the protest organisers, we are asking that everyone stops walking north. As soon as the march has stopped, we will look at turning everyone around back towards the city BUT it needs to be done in a controlled way in stages to keep everyone safe. Earlier the Indigenous actor Meyne Wyatt and the former Socceroo and Australian of the Year Craig Foster were among tens of thousands of people marching in the wet weather, while the Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi spoke passionately before the walk began. Faruqi, who has been an outspoken critic of the federal government's action in relation to Israel's conduct in Gaza, commended protesters for 'defying Chris Minns' after the New South Wales premier said: 'We cannot allow Sydney to descend into chaos.' 'Thank you for defying Chris Minns,' she said. 'This is a man who wants you to stay home and be silent in the face of a genocide. 'It was never about logistics. It was never about traffic. It was never about communications or anything else. It was always about stopping us and silencing us. It was always about protecting Israel and the Labor government from accountability.' Police had rejected an application from organisers for them to facilitate the march, arguing there was not enough time to prepare a traffic management plan and warned of a potential crowd crush and huge disruptions. But on Saturday the NSW supreme court ruled the march could go ahead. On Sunday protesters turned out carrying pots and pans – to highlight the starvation in Gaza – while many carried Palestinian flags and signage along with their wet weather gear and umbrellas. One protester that Guardian Australia spoke to, a British man called Dan, held a sign reading 'Gay Jews 4 Gaza'. 'I grew up in a north London Jewish community, and I think there's a widespread Zionism that exists within the Jewish community that is difficult to separate from religion,' he said, adding: 'I think it's important for people within the community to stand up and raise their voice against the state of Israel because they're not representative of the Jewish community as a whole.' Guardian Australia also spoke to Philomena McGoldrick, a registered nurse and midwife, who has spent stints working in Gaza and described her heartbreak at images circulating of starving children. 'Innocent babies have no colour, no religion, no language. In this day and age … it's heartbreaking … But it's nice to meet people standing on the right side. The tide has changed.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The WikiLeaks founder was also spotted in the crowd, one of few public appearances since Assange arrived home in Australia after a decade-long extradition battle. He was photographed alongside Carr, the former NSW premier and federal foreign affairs minister who last week told Guardian Australia the federal government should sanction the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and move quickly to recognise Palestinian statehood. Carr said it would send 'a message that we are turned inside out with disgust by what appears the deliberate starvation' of Gaza. Carr's call was echoed by Husic, a federal Labor MP and former cabinet minister, who joined the rally to march across the bridge alongside the five state Labor MPs who defied Minns. Labor's Stephen Lawrence, Anthony D'Adam, Lynda Voltz, Cameron Murphy and Sarah Kaine were among 15 NSW politicians who signed an open letter on Thursday evening calling on the government to facilitate 'a safe and orderly event' on Sunday. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters in Melbourne's city centre, who had planned to shut down King Street Bridge in solidarity with the Sydney protest, appeared to have been blocked from crossing the bridge. Video shared on social media by the protest organisers showed police in riot gear and shields blocking the bridge with trucks. Victoria police were approached to confirm the bridge had been shut down; a spokesperson said a statement would be released at the end of the day. In Sydney, Transport for NSW urged people to avoid non-essential travel around the central business district and northern parts of the city.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Pro-Palestine march closes Sydney Harbour Bridge
A planned protest across the Sydney Harbour Bridge has gone ahead after it was authorised by the Supreme Court just one day prior, in what organisers called a "historic" turned out for the March for Humanity on Sunday despite torrential founder Julian Assange was spotted among the protesters, with other notable attendees including federal MP Ed Husic and former NSW Premier Bob Sydney Harbour Bridge was last closed for a public assembly in 2023, when some 50,000 people marched over the iconic roadway for World Pride. Two hours into the march, attendees received a text from NSW Police that read, "In consultation with the organisers, the march needs to stop due to public safety and await further instructions". They have asked everyone on the bridge to stop walking north and turn back toward the city in a "controlled" way. Police have not yet provided an estimate of the numbers attending the march. Transport for NSW told motorists to avoid the city, warning of major delays and disruptions across Sydney's road and public transport network due to the activist organisation Palestine Action Group lodged a notice of intention for the march across the Sydney Harbour Bridge last Sunday, in response to what it called the "atrocity" in rejected the application on the grounds that there was not enough time to prepare a traffic management plan, and warned of a potential crowd crush and other safety a statement the following day, NSW Premier Chris Minns said they could not allow Sydney to "descend into chaos" and would not be able to support a protest of "this scale and nature" taking place on the bridge. The police also made an application to the NSW Supreme Court for a prohibition order for the event, which was declined just 24 hours before the protest was due to go to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Justice Belinda Rigg said safety concerns regarding the march were "well founded", but march organiser Josh Lees from the Palestine Action Group had "compellingly" explained the reasons why he believed there is an urgency for a response to the humanitarian situation in said there was no evidence that a prohibition order would enhance public safety, and ordered the Sydney Harbour Bridge to be closed to vehicles, in addition to the roads surrounding the proposed final-hour authorisation means that attendees will be protected under the Summary Offences Act, meaning they will not be charged for offences specifically relating to public assembly, such as blocking NSW Jewish Board of Deputies said that they were "disappointed" by the Supreme Court's decision to authorise the protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, in a statement published to their has been under mounting pressure to recognise Palestinian statehood, after France, Canada and the UK all separately indicated that they would do so with conditions at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in on ABC's 7.30 programme, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he wants to see conditions met that achieve lasting security for Israel before Australia commits to recognition of a Palestinian state, and that he would not be pushed into the decision by other nations.
Daily Mail
5 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Pro-Palestine protest LIVE updates: Sydney Harbour Bridge is shut down ahead of 50,000-strong demonstration - as cops issue final warning
'Do not come to the city' NSW Acting Assistant Police Commissioner Adam Johnson urged people to avoid Sydney's CBD where possible. He warned 'the risk is the numbers [of protesters] are unknown' 'If you're not going to engage in the assembly I would suggest you do not come to the city,' Johnson said. 'There's going to be major disruptions. 'But if you choose to come in and participate in the assembly, please do so reasonably, lawfully, listen to police instructions, listen to the marshals who are leading the procession as well.'
