Repression in Burma, Covid-19 in the Alpes-Maritimes, Australian Open… The five things to remember from the weekend

Did you catch the news this weekend? We summarize the main headlines of the last two days.

• In Burma, police shoot at protesters, crackdown intensifies

Two protesters were killed and around 30 injured on Saturday (February 20) in Mandalay, central Burma, by police fire during a rally against the ruling junta, rescuers reported. One of the two people killed is a minor who was shot in the head, they said, adding that “Half of the victims were targeted by live ammunition”.

Symbolically, the country paid tribute, Sunday, February 21, to the first victim of resistance to the junta, the day after the most deadly violence since the coup. Despite the violence and the risks, the mobilization in favor of democracy does not weaken: tens of thousands of people again took to the streets on Saturday and Sunday, in the country’s major cities and in remote villages.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also In Burma, a large-scale military repression is organized

• Covid-19: the government strengthens measures in the Alpes-Maritimes

Nice and the whole of the Alpes-Maritimes department soon under cover on Saturdays and Sundays? In an attempt to counter the outbreak of Covid-19 in the region, the government plans to confine the fifth largest city in France and its surroundings during weekends – a measure so far unprecedented at the local level in metropolitan France.

The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced on Saturday February 20 that he had asked the prefect to “Continue the consultation (…) with all the elected representatives of the territory ” in order to “Additional measures” which could be taken before Sunday evening.

On a national level, “The trend over the last three days is not good”, lamented Olivier Véran, recalling that we counted on Friday “More than 3,000 additional cases [quotidiens] compared to Friday of the previous week “. “Unfortunately, the trend is not to loosen the constraint”, government spokesman Gabriel Attal also told the RTL-LCI Grand Jury on Sunday.Le Figaro.

Read also: Covid-19: declining indicators but an increasing circulation of variants

• Alexei Navalny sentenced again in Russia

The second “Navalny trial” – if we count since the opponent’s return to Russia in mid-January – has come to an end and, with it, it is another facet of the formidable grinding machine deployed by the Russian state that has revealed itself. On Saturday February 20, Alexeï Navalny was ordered to pay a fine of 850,000 rubles (9,500 euros) for having “Defamed” a WWII veteran in a Tweet.

The punishment itself is secondary – in recent years Mr. Navalny has collected fines, for a variety of reasons. The essentials had already been assured on February 2: by recognizing him guilty of having violated the terms of his judicial control during the period of convalescence which followed his poisoning, the justice had sent the opponent in prison for two and a half years. .

Alexei Navalny has repeatedly taken offense at its use as “Puppet” in one “Political trial”, and castigated the judges as the grandson of the veteran, “The real fascists and political prostitutes here”.

Article reserved for our subscribers Read also The Kremlin chooses the hard way against the ‘enemy’ Navalny

• In Spain, clashes between police and demonstrators following the imprisonment of a rapper

The case has become a symbol of the issue of freedom of expression in the country and tensions are not easing. Clashes between the police and thousands of demonstrators in Barcelona, ​​from Saturday to Sunday, protesting for the fifth successive night against the imprisonment of a 32-year-old Catalan rapper, Pablo Hasel.

According to the police of Catalonia, “Multiple acts of looting of shops” took place during this new night of demonstrations. “Serious incidents took place, including throwing stones and blunt objects at the police”, added the Mossos d’Esquadra, the regional police, who said they had made 38 arrests.

This series of protests began on Tuesday after the rapper’s jail and sentenced to nine months in prison for tweets in which he insulted the monarchy and the police, as well as for “Apology for terrorism”.

• Novak Djokovic wins Australian Open for ninth time

The world number 1 offers a 9^e victory at the Australian Open, a record, and his 18^e Grand Slam title. Novak Djokovic outclassed Russian Daniil Medvedev (4^e) in three sets 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 in less than two hours, Sunday February 21, in Melbourne.

At 33, Djokovic thus returns to two lengths of the record number of Grand Slam trophies held by both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, who have twenty successes each. The physical bet of the Serbian, who had seemed on the verge of abandonment in the third round, affected the abdominals, is perfectly raised. Medvedev lost his second major final after the 2019 US Open and saw his streak of twenty successive victories abruptly interrupted.

Read also: quarantine imposed on tennis players creates tensions

And also…

Finance. Bitcoin market surpasses $ 1 trillion, raising fears of bubble explosion

Justice. In Pau, the man suspected of having killed an official of a reception center for asylum seekers indicted and imprisoned

Virus. Russia says it has identified cases of human transmission of the H5N8 strain of bird flu

Disappearance. Arturo Di Modica, the sculptor of the famous “Bull of Wall Street”, is dead

Demonstration. In Paris, members of the far-right movement Generation Identity demonstrate against its dissolution

The world