Europe
Belarus: growing tensions at Ukraine border over Jewish pilgrims
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, runs from 18 to 20 September. Hasidic Jews travel to Ukraine every Jewish New Year in their tens of thousands to worship at Rabbi Nahman's tomb. But…
France: return of Yellow Vests
After pausing for the coronavirus lockdown and summer holidays, the Yellow Vests brought their anger back to the streets for a series of protests in Paris and a number of other French cities.…
Greece: Fire destroys Lesbos refugee camp
A fire has destroyed Greece's Moria migrant camp on Lesbos. 13,000 are sleeping rough in fields, car parks and roads. Authorities have sent three ships to temporarily shelter 2,000 and are working to…
Belarus: Church request prayer
Leonid Mikhovich from the Baptist Union in Belarus said recent events have divided the church, ‘The situation has created a lot of tension in society as well as among Christians and churches. There…
Belarus: Russian influence
On 7th September Maria Kolesnikova, a Belarus opposition leader was forced into a van by masked men. She was next seen on 9th September at the Ukraine border where she prevented officials from…
Montenegro: ruling party could lose power after 30 years
Montenegro’s election campaign was dominated by divisions over the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church. There have been months of protests since a law was adopted in December allowing the state to seize religious assets…
Germany: far-right protesters storm parliament building
Germany’s lockdown measures and Covid-19 restrictions provoked a protest march by around 38,000 people. Hundreds of demonstrators breached a security barrier and raced up the steps outside Berlin's parliament building. They were dispersed…
Belarus protests: Mass rally keeps pressure on Lukashenko
Tens of thousands have again taken to the streets in Belarus, facing off against riot police to protest against President Alexander Lukashenko. A huge police presence cordoned off areas such as Independence Square…
Belarus: election protests update
Two senior figures in Belarus's protest movement were given ten-day jail terms at the notorious Okrestino detention centre for organising demonstrations. Olga Kovalkova and Sergei Dylevsky are high-profile members of the National Coordination…
Germany scraps plans for Brexit talks
The German government, which holds the rotating presidency of the EU council, had intended to discuss Brexit during a meeting of EU ambassadors on 2 September, but has now decided to drop the…
