Rebellion Over the Past Decade

Protesters took to the streets in their thousands demanding the resignation of President Ahmadinejad after his landslide victory during presidential elections amid widespread allegations of ballot fixing and vote-tampering.

The Arab Springs were a wave of protests and rebellions that resulted in the ousting of the Egyptian, Tunisian, Yemeni and Libyan government as well as other countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East. The Arab Springs sparked the civil war in Syria and sustained massive protests in Bahrain. To date, they have resulted in 2,500 deaths.

Also known as the Jasmine Revolution, The Tunisian Revolution was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. It eventually led to a thorough democratisation of the country.

The Libyan Revolution was an armed conflict in North Africa, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Zawiya on 8 August 2009 and finally ignited by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011. The protests escalated into a rebellion that spread across the country.

In February 2014, a series of violent events involving protesters, riot police, and unknown shooters in the capital, Kyiv, culminated in the ousting of the elected Ukrainian President, Viktor Yanukovych, and the overthrow of the Ukrainian Government. On 5 August 2016, protesters demanded social and political reforms, including an end to human rights abuses (including government killings of civilians, mass arrests, government land seizures, and political marginalisation of opposition groups). The government responded to this by restricting access to the internet and arresting as well as attacking protestors.

The Catalan Crisis was a political conflict between the Government of Spain and the Generalitat de Catalunya under former President Carles Puigdemont - the government of the autonomous community of Catalonia until 28 October 2017 - over the issue of Catalan independence. It started after the law intending to allow the 2017 Catalan independence referendum was denounced by the Spanish Government under Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and resulted in many protests. The Hong Kong Protests are ongoing demonstrations triggered by the introduction of the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill by the Hong Kong Government. If enacted, the bill would have allowed the extradition of criminal fugitives who are wanted in territories with which Hong Kong does not currently have extradition agreements, including Taiwan and Mainland China. This led to concerns that the bill would subject Hong Kong residents and visitors to the jurisdiction and legal system of Mainland China, thereby undermining Hong Kong people's civil liberties. The protests have become progressively more violent as time has gone on.

Extinction Rebellion, established in the UK in May 2018, is a nonviolent civil disobedience movement campaigning for government action to avoid tipping points in the climate system, biodiversity loss, and the risk of social and ecological collapse. In November 2018, five bridges across the River Thames in London were blockaded and in April 2019, Extinction Rebellion occupied Piccadilly Circus, Oxford Circus, Marble Arch, Waterloo Bridge, and the area around Parliament Square. Following the death of African-American George Floyd during a police arrest on 25 May 2020, non-violent protests began in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. These were in anger over the injustice of the police officers involved not being arrested. These protests became violent when actions of the police force escalated and riots broke out. At the time of writing, one police officer has been charged with second degree murder and the other three have been arrested. There have been protests and riots in 50 states. The protests have also sparked anger in the historic and systemic racism black people have had to face not only in the US.