Tara Petrović

Last year, watchdogs identified a deterioration of democratic space in Italy, Germany, and France. Using so-called emergency security measures, the EU’s leading states are squashing the right to dissent. jacobin.com/2026/05/europe…

Europe’s protest landscape is being transformed by force. Detentions and excessive force show how authorities are cracking down on the right to protest. A closer look at trends in our latest ratings report 🔴🟡🟢web.civicus.org/ECA2025

#Europa presume de democracia, pero en 2025 fue el principal escenario de la represión contra la solidaridad con el pueblo palestino. Más del 60% de las violaciones documentadas por el @CIVICUSMonitor ocurrieron en este continente #PeoplePower2025 youtube.com/watch?v=xB7Bo9…

🇬🇪#Georgia downgraded to ‘Repressed’ in new ratings report: 🟠Draconian protest laws 🟠Controls on foreign funded NGOs & media 🟠Opposition leaders detained Press Release (#PeoplePower2025): web.civicus.org/GeorgiaRating25

🇷🇸#Serbia downgraded to ‘Repressed’ in new ratings report: 🟠Crackdown on student-led protests with mass detentions 🟠Excessive force, including use of sonic weapons 🟠Judicial harassment and prosecutions of activists Press Release (#PeoplePower2025): web.civicus.org/SerbiaRating

🇩🇪#Germany downgraded to 'Obstructed': 🟡Berlin police filed nearly 9,000 criminal charges linked to pro-Palestinian protests 🟡Police brutality & language bans at demonstrations 🟡Raids & surveillance of NGOs critical of Israel Press release: web.civicus.org/GermanyRating25

🇮🇹#Italy downgraded to 'Obstructed' in ratings report: 🟡“Anti-Gandhi” security law imposes harsh penalties for protests 🟡Expanded police powers & surveillance 🟡 Govt critics hit with military-grade spyware Press release (#PeoplePower2025): web.civicus.org/ItalyRating

🇨🇭#Switzerland downgraded to 'Narrowed' in new ratings report: 🟢​​Peaceful protests met with tear gas & rubber bullets 🟢Surveillance of climate activists 🟢Press freedom under strain with raids & deportations Press release (#PeoplePower2025): web.civicus.org/SwitzerlandRat…

🇫🇷#France downgraded to 'Obstructed' in ratings report: 🟡Peaceful protests met with tear gas & mass arrests 🟡NGOs dissolved under anti-separatism law 🟡Journalists & activists face harassment & harsh sentences Press Release (#PeoplePower2025): web.civicus.org/FranceRating

In #Europe & #CentralAsia a look at civic freedoms: Out of 54 countries: 🟢35 countries rated open or narrowed 🟡8 rated obstructed 🟠5 rated repressed 🔴6 rated closed ⬇️ #France #Georgia #Germany #Italy #Serbia #Switzerland #PeoplePower2025 report: web.civicus.org/ECA2025

Milena Vasić već godinama stoji uz građane i građanke. Zaslužile smo i zaslužili Poverenicu poput nje.

@rochowanski @judeinlondon i just don't know that's the case in albania. berisha's party, which tried hard to attach itself to trump and ride the global anti-DEI & anti-gender wave, got trounced in the election. no real reason to think the silent majority is with them (or cares) and this law will backfire

@judeinlondon @ptrvctr Precisely. The painstaking work of locals trying to build deeply routed change on the basis of locally articulated beliefs in justice, equality, compassion is often steamrolled over by oven-ready technocratic solutions that are literally imported.

When women's rights/gender equality etc become a transactional litmus test for EU membership and processes of societal change and grassroots mobilization are skipped, these new norms stand on clay feet and the whole thing blows up in women's faces. Latest example: Albania. More⬇️

@rochowanski @judeinlondon on the flip side to your main point, i think backlash from actors trying to import US culture war grievances is often given too much weight as a genuine expression of deeply held societal attitudes. no way to see how people "really" feel when we take away the foreign influence

@rochowanski @judeinlondon english-language coverage missed a lot. i don't speak albanian, but from a machine translation there's nothing radical in the law apart from defining gender as socially constructed in line with the istanbul convention. the opposition wanted it defined as biological and immutable

@rochowanski @judeinlondon there's no third gender. the uproar was over a formulation defining gender as having an "inclusive meaning", which berisha's conservative opposition party (which boasted of having its programme written by the heritage foundation) used to push false narratives about 70 genders

@judeinlondon IDK from the reporting what was included and what wasn't, but I think these political elites neither want nor don't want progressive policies. They just adopt them in return for EU candy. That's not going to work for things that require fundamental societal transformation.

@lilyslynch they NEED to take him on as an urban planning consultant. I'm sure he has the time

Over the weekend, #UK authorities arrested 500+ peaceful protesters for expressing support for Palestine Action. We call to #LiftTheBan and stop worldwide repression of solidarity with Palestine. Calls to uphold international law must be heard, not silenced. #PalestineAction

🇷🇸Srbija ostaje na listi za praćenje: 🟡Na građansku neposlušnost se odgovara brutalnošću i hapšenjima 🟡Država pruža podršku i pravnu zaštitu batinašima 🟡Prisluškivanje i zastrašivanje aktivista Građanski prostor u zemlji ocenjen kao “opstruiran”: web.civicus.org/Srbija

U.S. highlighted on international human rights watchlist for "sustained attacks on civil freedoms" under Trump ti.me/4feNVlC

🇷🇸Serbia remains on our latest watchlist: 🟡Widespread civil disobedience met with brutality and detentions 🟡State providing support and legal protection to violent goons 🟡Surveillance and intimidation of activists Country rated as ‘Obstructed’: web.civicus.org/SerbiaWL-2025