Reading Time: < 1 minute New Delhi | Reuters – India’s main opposition party pressed the government on Thursday to call a special parliamentary session to withdraw new agricultural laws that farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations. Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader from the opposition Congress party, handed the president a copy of a petition […] Read more
Indian opposition demands repeal of farm laws after protests
Farmers protest across India against Modi’s farm market reforms
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Delhi/Mumbai | Reuters — Farmers’ protests against new laws liberalizing agricultural markets spread across India on Tuesday, as farm organizations called for a nationwide strike after inconclusive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. In eastern and western states, farmers blocked roads and squatted on railway tracks, delaying hordes of people getting to work, […] Read more
Peru farm protests grip country, turn deadly
'There are no harvests, there is nothing'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Lima | Reuters — Protests by farm workers demanding better wages in Peru raged on for a fourth day Thursday, spreading north into key agricultural areas of the Andean nation, derailing harvests of some crops, snarling transport of produce and leaving at least one dead. Peruvian interim President Francisco Sagasti called the death of a […] Read more
India’s Modi refuses to back down on farm reforms despite protests
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Delhi | Reuters — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday resisted calls for the repeal of farm reforms that have ignited the biggest protests by farmers in years around the national capital, saying they were being misled and that deregulation would benefit them. Thousands of people from the big farming state of Punjab […] Read more
OPP clear rail blockade, arrest 10
No word yet on when CN service through area will resume
Reading Time: 2 minutes Tyendinaga, Ont. | Reuters — Ontario Provincial Police on Monday made 10 arrests and cleared a rail blockade that had been stopping freight and passenger traffic for almost three weeks on one of the country’s busiest lines. OPP secured the area just east of Belleville, Ont., Canadian National Railway Co (CN) said, and CN technicians […] Read more
Fraser: Rail blockades should be a lesson for all
Reading Time: 3 minutes Our latest so-called national crisis led to calls for police to arrest protesters and tear down blockades, but perhaps we should be thinking about how to prevent conflicts like this from happening in the first place. It’s amazing how much can change in just a few days. Canada’s Agriculture Day on Feb. 11 brought together […] Read more
Passenger trains to run again, pipeline protests block freight
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Passenger rail operator Via Rail said Tuesday it would soon resume partial services between Quebec City and Ottawa while the government sought to end anti-pipeline protests that are blocking rail freight in Eastern Canada. Via said passenger services between the two cities would start on Thursday after it received a notification […] Read more
CN halts rail traffic in East due to protests
Grain groups seek dispute resolution or enforcement of court orders
Reading Time: 2 minutes Canadian National Railway (CN) is shutting down its Eastern Canada operations due to ongoing blockades on its rail lines in Ontario. The company announced Thursday it’s been “forced to initiate a disciplined and progressive shutdown” in the region, which means “stopping and safely securing all transcontinental trains across its Canadian network.” The decision “may imminently […] Read more
CN could shut parts of network over pipeline protests
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canadian National Railway said Tuesday it would be forced to shut down parts of its network unless rail line blockades in protest against a natural gas pipeline in British Columbia are removed. The protests of recent weeks are seen as a flashpoint for indigenous rights and reconciliation and demonstrators on Tuesday also blocked […] Read more
Angry farmers cause Dutch police to close off parliament square
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Hague | Reuters — Police in the Dutch city of The Hague closed its central parliament square on Wednesday to keep out farmers protesting over what they see as attempts to blame them for nitrogen pollution. Thousands of irate farmers had driven tractors to The Hague hours earlier in their third large protest in […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
