WMarch 19, 2008, being the fifth anniversary of the United States 2003 invasion of Iraq and in protest and demonstration in opposition to the war in Iraq, anti-war protests were held throughout the world including a series of autonomous actions in the United States' capitol, Washington, D.C., in London, Sydney, Australia, and the Scottish city of Glasgow with the latter three being organized by the UK-based Stop the War Coalition. Actions included demonstrations at government buildings and landmarks, protests at military installations and student-led street blockades. The protests were notable, in part, for mostly replacing mass marches with civil disobedience – including religious-focused protests – and for utilizing new technologies to both coordinate actions and interface with traditional print and broadcast media.
WMarch 1 events, a series of anti-government riots in Armenia following the February 19, 2008 presidential elections. Riots were held in the capital of the country, Yerevan and organized by supporters of presidential candidate and first president of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosyan and other opposition leaders, with the aim of violent seizure of power.
WThe 2008 Cameroon protests were a series of violent demonstrations in Cameroon's biggest cities that took place from 25 to 29 February 2008. The protests followed on the heels of a strike by transport workers, who were opposing high fuel prices and poor working conditions. Further political turmoil had been caused by President Paul Biya's announcement that he wanted the constitution to be amended to remove term limits; without such an amendment, he would have to leave office at the end of his term in 2011. Large groups of youths, whom the opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF) political party and the government blame one another for organising, took to the streets of Douala, Yaoundé, Bamenda, and other major cities, looting and vandalising property. The government sent in troops to crack down on the unrest, and protesters and troops alike were killed. The official government tally is that 40 people were killed, but human rights groups claim that the total is closer to 100. Government figures place damage to property at tens of billions of francs CFA.
WThe Dissenters' March was a series of Russian opposition protests that took place on December 16, 2006 in Moscow, on March 3, 2007 in Saint Petersburg, on March 24 in Nizhny Novgorod, on April 14 for the second time in Moscow, on April 15 again in Saint Petersburg, on May 18 in Samara, and on May 19 in Chelyabinsk. Some of them were featured in various media outlets.
WThe 2008 Icelandic truck driver protests were protests started by truck drivers in Iceland through March−April 2008. The protest came about due to increasing oil prices and working hours.
WThe anti-austerity movement in Ireland saw major demonstrations from 2008 to 2015.
WThe 2006–2008 Lebanese protests were a series of political protests and sit-ins in Lebanon that began on 1 December 2006, led by groups that opposed the US and Saudi-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and ended on 21 May 2008 with the signing of the Doha Agreement. The opposition was made up of Hezbollah, Amal, and the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM); a number of smaller parties were also involved, including the Marada party, the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party. A majority of the members of the government were part of the anti-Syrian March 14 Alliance, a coalition of political parties and independents in Lebanon. The two groups were also divided along religious lines, with most Sunnis and Druze supporting the government, and most Shi'a supporting the opposition. The Christian community was split between the two factions, with Michel Aoun, the leader of the FPM, claiming to have more than 70% support among the Christians, based on the results of the 2005 parliamentary election.
WOn November 15, 2008, thousands of people in cities across the United States and ten other countries protested California voters' approval of Proposition 8, which changed the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to opposite-sex couples and eliminated same-sex couples' right to marry. The demonstrations were organized by Join the Impact, a grassroots group that emerged in light of the election results.
WWidespread protests and riots in Serbia and North Kosovo followed the proclamation of independence by the Republic of Kosovo on February 17, 2008. Protests were also held by Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
WProtests against Proposition 8 supporters in California took place starting in November 2008. These included prominent protests against the Roman Catholic church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which supported California's Proposition 8. The proposition was a voter referendum that amended the state constitution to recognize marriage only as being between one man and one woman, thus banning same-sex marriage, which was legal in the state following a May 2008 California Supreme Court case.
WWidespread protests and riots in Serbia and North Kosovo followed the proclamation of independence by the Republic of Kosovo on February 17, 2008. Protests were also held by Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
WDuring the Russo-Georgian War, demonstrations were held all over the world to protest the Russian invasion of Georgia. Manifestations were also held in support of Russia and the separatists of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Pro-Georgian demonstrations received the largest turnout in the Baltic States, where thousands marched in protest, whereas large pro-Russia camps were observed in Russia and Serbia.
WThe 2008 Gafsa strikes, also referred to as the Gafsa Social Movement, Gafsa events or the revolt in the Gafsa mining basin is an important social movement that shook the mining region of southwestern Tunisia—particularly the town of Redeyef, but also Moularès, Métlaoui, and Mdhilla—for nearly six months in 2008. These events took place in the phosphate-rich Gafsa mining basin, 350 kilometers southwest of Tunis, in a central region hard hit by unemployment and poverty. The protests were the most important social unrest known by Tunisia since the “bread riots” in 1983–84 and since the coming to power of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 1987.
WThis article is about the university strike movement in France during 2007 and 2009. Since Valérie Pécresse was appointed Minister for Higher Education and Research, the mood had been tense in the French university system. Several reform projects had led to protest movements, including that of 2009, the longest-lasting yet since 1968, still on-going after several months. It had put a heavy strain on France's political environment, even within the leading UMP party, and led to a reconsideration of the Bologna process within intellectual circles. A similar movement has simultaneously taken place in Spain.
WThe 2008 US beef protest in South Korea was a series of protest demonstrations made between 24 May 2008 and mid August 2008. against president Lee Myung-bak in Seoul, Korea. The protest involved several hundred thousands and at its height up to one million people. The protest began after the South Korean government reversed a ban on US beef imports. The ban had been in place since December 2003, when mad cow disease was detected in US beef cattle.