Civil Liberties

A growing conflict between India’s Hindu-majority government and Sikh separatists spilled over into Canada on Saturday, as hundreds of Canadian citizens with family ties to India’s Punjab gathered in Vancouver to protest reported human rights violations by Indian security forces.

A plurality of the British public believe the government was “not strict enough” in its lockdown agenda during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

A Canadian commission of inquiry has cleared Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s use of emergency powers to stop protests against his coronavirus vaccine mandates a year ago, over the objections of civil liberties groups.

Police in the Swedish city of Stockholm have imposed an indefinite ban on granting permission for protests involving the burnings of the Islamic Qur’an, supposedly due to concerns over threats to Swedish security.

The head of a mosque in the Swedish city of Gothenburg has called for a law to ban the destruction of holy books and texts in the aftermath of the burnings of the Islamic Qur’an.

Norwegian authorities cancelled a Qur’an burning protest that was set to take place on Friday after Turkish officials summoned the Norwegian ambassador in Ankara.

The Russian government’s embassy in Denmark has condemned protests in the Scandinavian country that saw the Qur’an burned, declaring the “mockery” of Islam should not be covered by the freedom of expression.

CINCINNATI (AP) – Novak Djokovic pulled out of next week’s hard-court tournament in Cincinnati on Friday because he has not gotten any COVID-19 vaccine shots and so is not allowed to travel to the United States.

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) – Canada plans to temporarily ban the import of handguns into the country without the approval of Parliament, using a regulatory measure that comes into effect in two weeks.

The Canadian government has admitted that some travellers were erroneously told to go into quarantine upon arriving in Canada due to glitches in the Trudeau government’s ArriveCAN app.

A clinic in Ireland has been ordered to pay a patient over $3,000 after it was found to have discriminated against him due to him being unable to wear a mask.

The Canadian government is set to reinstate random mandatory Wuhan virus tests for airline passengers after briefly suspending the tests due to long delays at Canadian airports.

A German court has rejected attempts by members of the country’s armed forces to challenge the government’s mandatory Wuhan virus vaccination policy for all troops.

NICE, France (AP) – Tourism is booming again in France – and so is COVID-19. French officials have “invited” or “recommended” people to go back to using face masks but stopped short of renewing restrictions that would scare visitors away or revive anti-government protests.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has claimed that Jeremy Hunt, Britain’s longest-serving Health Secretary, wanted a China-style regime in which people testing positive for Covid would be taken from their homes and confined in “isolation hotels”. 

Gun stores in Canada have seen handguns fly off the shelves, with many selling out altogether after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was freezing all pistol purchases.

Italy is moving to drop its Wuhan virus health pass system, but the EU member-state will maintain mask mandates for public transit, cinemas, and other venues until the middle of June.

OTTAWA (AP) – Police wearing helmets and shields made several arrests Friday night in Canada’s capital after facing off against protesters opposed to COVID-19 mandates.

BERLIN (AP) – German lawmakers who proposed a requirement for all adults to be vaccinated against COVID-19 sought a compromise on Monday after struggling to win a majority in parliament, suggesting a less sweeping mandate that would initially oblige everyone aged 50 and above to get shots.

BERLIN (AP) – A 60-year-old man allegedly had himself vaccinated against COVID-19 dozens of times in Germany in order to sell forged vaccination cards with real vaccine batch numbers to people not wanting to get vaccinated themselves.

Average British citizens are reportedly being fined thousands of pounds by closed-door courts over COVID-19 lockdown breaches.

The British government has claimed they will give free speech a “trump card” status in an effort to combat woke cancel culture, despite the fact it is currently legislating to increase censorship online.

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Poland is abolishing practically all of its COVID-19 restrictions next week, a government official said Thursday.

The Greek government is set to halt its mandatory vaccination policy for those over the age of 60 on April 15th but may bring back fines for the still-unvaccinated in September of this year.

Around 600,000 Italians over the age of 50 are set to receive a fine for being unvaccinated despite the Italian government reviewing a loosening of various Wuhan virus restrictions.

The “65 Project,” designed to intimidate lawyers from engaging in election challenges, is McCarthyist and contemptible.

The Canadian authorities have made dozens more arrests in the capital city of Ottawa as they move to crush the anti-vaccine mandate Freedom Convoy.

Italian lawmakers over the age of 50 require a coronavirus health pass in order to enter the country’s parliament, with some comparing the rules to living under the former Fascist regime.

Some members of Ottawa’s “Freedom Convoy” — which urges Canada’s government to drop pandemic-related vaccine mandates and restrictions — dismissed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to use a federal Emergencies Act against the peaceful protest as a “scare tactic” on Wednesday, the Canadian Press reported.

Two Canadian Civil Liberties groups criticised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for invoking the Emergencies Act on Monday, arguing the move could normalise emergency legislation and threaten democracy.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) shut down a road leading to the Pacific Highway border crossing — which connects Canada and the U.S. via their respective towns of Surrey and Blaine — on Monday in an effort to block anti-coronavirus vaccine mandate protesters from walking toward the U.S. border on foot, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported.

Conservative lockdown-sceptic MP Steve Baker has accused Boris Johnson’s government of creating a “miserable dystopia” in pushing for new coronavirus restrictions.

Britain’s Health Secretary Sajid Javid has revealed that the double-vaccinated will no longer be entitled to Covid passes “once all adults have had a reasonable chance to get their booster jab”. 

Boris Johnson appeared to issue a veiled threat to citizens that failing to “get boosted” as a matter of urgency could see their “freedoms” and “way of life” taken away in an address to the nation.

BERLIN (AP) – German lawmakers are debating a bill Friday that would require staff at hospitals and nursing homes to get vaccinated against the coronavirus or risk losing their jobs.

A member of the populist Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) has expressed concern that amendments to a law on administrative enforcement could be used to imprison unvaccinated people for as long as a year.