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Category: Protest

  • Filipino activists protest China’s new South China Sea rule | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Lloyds of London gets an early Father’s Day present but not one it wanted

    ‘Super Dad’, supported by Mothers Rise Up – a group of concerned mums who campaign for action on climate breakdown – delivered a giant Father’s Day card and poem to Lloyd’s of London on Thursday 13 June as a gift to CEO John Neal in time for Father’s Day this weekend. It was over the insurance giant’s complicity in the climate crisis due to its huge fossil fuels underwriting.

    Lloyd’s of London: superhero or climate villain?

    Accompanied by a group of brightly dressed mini superhero children in capes, and mums, Super Dad presented the card and gift to Lloyd’s of London:

    Lloyd's of London

    The card asks John Neal if he will be a climate hero and a super dad… or a climate villain:

    Mothers Rise Up calls for Lloyd’s of London to cease insuring fossil fuel expansion, along with phasing down current insurance cover, in line with climate science.

    The poem, Mum-Splaining The Apocalypse, was written by leading climate poet Liv Torc, and speaks of how to win back the future from profiteering fossil fuel companies, and the available clean, renewable energy solutions:

    Insurance companies can be pivotal in accelerating a fair, rapid transition to a world powered by clean, renewable energy. Yet insurers in the Lloyd’s marketplace continue to insure and enable dangerous fossil fuel projects and continue oil and gas expansion.

    Fossil fuel underwriters

    Lloyd’s of London is the world’s biggest insurance market and the single largest source of fossil fuel insurance globally. Its members insure some of the most damaging fossil fuel projects in the world, such as oil and gas expansion in the North Sea and the Adani Coal Mine in Australia.

    It has also refused to rule out insuring the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which if built would be the world’s largest crude oil pipeline, destroying communities, livelihoods, and endangered wildlife in Uganda and Tanzania. Without insurance, these dangerous projects could not go ahead.

    In line with the science-led recommendations of the International Energy Agency, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and António Guterres – the UN secretary-general, insurance companies must cease underwriting fossil fuel expansion and phase down current underwriting for fossil fuels.

    Mothers Rise Up’s Lorna Powell said:

    Today we are delivering a giant card and a crucial Father’s Day message to John Neal, CEO of Lloyd’s of London, the mega fossil fuel insurance marketplace: be a climate hero or continue enabling the fossil fuel industry at the expense of our children and planet.

    Fossil fuel companies represent a dying, destructive industry. We need insurers to turn away from polluting projects and supercharge the green energy revolution. Without insurance, new fossil fuel projects can’t go ahead. Many European insurers are starting to do the right thing. Yet Lloyd’s of London remains intent on propping up lucrative new fossil fuel deals, wreaking more and more climate chaos.

    Our children deserve better. We will continue to demand insurers prioritise a safe future for children everywhere.

    Feature image and additional images via Anna Gordon

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Turkish photojournalist shoved to the ground by police at NYC protest

    Fatih Aktaş, a photojournalist for the Turkish state-run outlet Anadolu Agency, was shoved to the ground by multiple New York City police officers while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Brooklyn on May 31, 2024.

    Protesters gathered outside Barclays Center arena at 3 p.m., NBC News reported, before walking the mile to the Brooklyn Museum, where they occupied the plaza and entered the building, hanging banners both inside and on the facade and calling for a cease-fire in the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

    Aktaş told Anadolu he was photographing the violent police response to the protests when he became a target of it. “While I was trying to capture the police intervention in the protests, a police officer strongly pushed me backward,” Aktaş said. “To avoid damaging my camera, I had to fall on my back, hitting my elbow hard on the ground.”

    In footage of the incident, Aktaş appears to be standing and photographing police while demonstrators march in front of the museum. At least three officers can then be seen shoving Aktaş, with the photojournalist landing on the ground approximately 10 feet back from the officers. Moments later, another officer can be seen helping him to his feet as two supervisory officers walk past, with one of the higher-ranking officers then pushing him again and ordering him to back up.

    Aktaş said that he didn’t initially notice the scrapes and bruises on his elbow, but was grateful that his injuries weren’t worse. “I could have hit my head on the ground at that moment, which could have had more severe consequences,” he told Anadolu.

    In a video published by a Turkish media association, Aktaş described the incident and showed the injury to his elbow. Neither Aktaş nor Anadolu responded to requests for further comment.

    Turkish public officials condemned the attack and stated their support for Aktaş and Anadolu.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • England’s most NOTORIOUS judge just sent a climate activist to JAIL for breaking a window

    Just weeks after JPMorgan Chase was identified as the largest lender to fossil fuel companies by far in 2023, five women from Extinction Rebellion who “broke glass in case of climate emergency” at the bank’s European headquarters have been sentenced by a notorious judge for what the bank claimed to be £306,000 worth of criminal damage. It comes after they took the action over the climate crisis.

    Extinction Rebellion: sentenced to 10 months for breaking a window

    Appearing at Inner London Crown Court in front of Judge Silas Reid, Extinction Rebellion’s Amy Pritchard was given a 12 month sentence which was reduced to 10 months due to overcrowding, while the other four were given a total of 45 months suspended sentences between them plus a total of 330 hours of unpaid work in their communities.

    A date for the appeal against these convictions is expected soon and may lead to the convictions being deemed ‘unsafe’.

    The five women sentenced on Wednesday 12 June are: Stephanie Aylett, 29, a former medical device representative from St Albans; Pamela Bellinger, 67, a vegetable grower from Leicester; Amy Pritchard, 39, an agricultural and woodland worker from Liverpool; Adelheid Russenberger, 33, PhD student from Richmond, London, and Rosemary (Annie) Webster, 66, a retired cook and beekeeper from Dorchester, Dorset.

    Before she was sent to jail, Amy Pritchard, who has previously been sent to jail by Judge Silas Reid for mentioning climate change in front of a jury, said:

    I support and stand by proportionate and appropriate action to prevent harm. As Naomi Klein says: “Our economic system and our planetary system are at war … only one of these sets of rules can be changed, and it’s not the laws of nature.” I call on people to continue to engage with injustice with as much courage as possible.

    JPMorgan should have been in the dock

    In his extraordinary World Environment Day “Moment of Truth” speech last week UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on financial institutions to “stop bankrolling fossil fuel destruction and start investing in a global renewables revolution.”

    The latest Banking On Climate Chaos report (May 2024) shows that JPMorgan Chase committed $40.8 billion to fossil fuels in 2023 – way more than any other bank. It was also the leading lender to companies expanding fossil fuels, and the bank that has pumped the most into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement in 2016 – an ‘investment’ of $430 billion.

    Such funding makes achieving the Paris Agreement targets unachievable and keeps us locked in to the business as usual trajectory of 3C-4C of average planetary warming of untold suffering and destruction.

    The bank is operating in the full knowledge that it is putting all of humanity in grave danger as a leaked report produced by the bank’s own economic advisors warned its directors that carrying on with business-as-usual:

    would likely push the earth to a place that we haven’t seen for many millions of years… something will have to change at some point if the human race is going to survive.

    Judge Reid: notorious

    The sentencing comes after all defendants lodged appeals on grounds of abuse of process by Judge Silas Reid.

    During the JPMorgan trial Reid threatened the jurors with criminal charges if they brought their conscience to bear on their deliberations. What Reid said told the jury would be criminal however has subsequently been affirmed in the high court to be actually:

    an established feature of our constitutional landscape and has been affirmed, as set out below, in the highest courts.

    Reid also cast doubt on the existence and severity of the climate crisis during the trial in front of the jury. Commenting on this development Professor James E. Hansen, the former NASA scientist and ‘godfather of climate science’, said:

    The cruelty of such ‘know nothing’ judges is not so much to the defendant as it is to our children and grandchildren.

    As a result of these actions Reid is the subject of a public complaint and a call for his suspension that is supported by more than 1,800 people. Signatories include Chris Packham, leading international lawyers, James E. Hansen, Jonathon Porritt CBE, health professionals, retired police and probation officers, and people from all walks of life.

    Extinction Rebellion: not stopping

    Last November nine Extinction Rebellion women were acquitted for breaking windows at the headquarters of HSBC. The trial was run by a different judge who did not threaten the jury with criminal charges.

    Natasha Walter, writer and campaigner, said:

    The women who took this action against the biggest financier of fossil fuels in the world are carrying forward a vital legacy of nonviolent civil disobedience. As with the Suffragettes who broke the law in order to make the case for progressive change, these women should not be seen as criminals. The real criminals are those who, despite all the evidence that we are on track to create an unliveable climate for future generations, continue to pour money into oil and gas and continue to drive us into a dangerously warming world.

    Arizona Muse, fashion model, mother and environmentalist said:

    I have so much admiration for the forward-thinking, community-minded actions taken by these brave women waving the XR flag. I know that in the future we will look back on them and we will all be grateful for their selflessness and courage.

    Featured image via Extinction Rebellion 

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • The Guardian view on the rule of law in Hong Kong: the verdict of foreign judges is damning | Editorial

    The conviction of peaceful pro-democracy activists is another shameful moment in the ongoing crackdown

    Seven years ago, Lord Neuberger, a judge of the Hong Kong court of final appeal – and formerly president of the UK’s supreme court – described the Chinese region’s foreign judges as “canaries in the mine”. Their willingness to serve was a sign that judicial independence remained healthy, “but if they start to leave in droves, that would represent a serious alarm call”.

    That was before the extraordinary uprising in 2019 to defend Hong Kong’s autonomy, and the crackdown that followed. The draconian national security law of 2020 prompted the resignation of an Australian judge, and two British judges quit in 2022. Last week, two more birds flew: Lord Sumption and Lord Collins of Mapesbury. Lord Sumption (with other judges) had said that continued participation was in the interests of the people of Hong Kong. Now he says that those hopes of sustaining the rule of law are “no longer realistic” and that “a [once] vibrant and politically diverse community is slowly becoming a totalitarian state”. He cited illiberal legislation, Beijing’s ability to reverse decisions by Hong Kong courts and an oppressive political environment where judges are urged to demonstrate “patriotism”.

    Continue reading…

    This post was originally published on Human rights | The Guardian.

  • Right wing genocide apologists cry hard over Palestine Action’s latest Barclays hit

    Palestine Action’s latest assault on Barclays, over its complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, was its most effective yet. And by effective, we mean the volume of right-wing war crimes apologist’s tears that were cried.

    Palestine Action: smashing across the country

    Activists broke windows of Barclays branches and offices across England and Scotland on Monday 10 June to demand the bank divests from Israel’s weapons trade and fossil fuels:

    Palestine Action and friends shattered glass, sprayed paint, and stencilled over the façades of around 20 buildings from Glasgow to Brighton:

    In Edinburgh, rocks were thrown through windows, inscribed with the names of Palestinians killed in the genocide:

    Shut the System, a recently launched underground climate movement, has partnered with Palestine Action’s underground division to mastermind this nationwide campaign of targeted property damage.

    Barclays: propping up Elbit, propping up genocide

    Palestine Action aims to halt the Palestinian genocide by undermining suppliers of weapons to the Israeli military, including Elbit Systems, along with financial companies involved with these weapons suppliers. Shut the System targets banks and insurance companies which enable fossil fuel expansion.

    Both groups have adopted radical direct action tactics which include sabotage of key infrastructure to physically prevent continued support for destructive and lethal business operations. Collaboration between the groups is designed to maximise effectiveness.

    Barclays have funnelled billions of dollars worth of loans and underwriting to companies facilitating the Gaza genocide. The bank’s investments include shareholdings in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons firm.

    Elbit Systems provide 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bombs, missiles and other weaponry. The Israeli weapons maker market their weapons as “battle-tested” after they are developed during bombardments on occupied Palestine.

    The continuing illegal land grabs, apartheid regime, and unfolding genocide perpetuated by Israel are clear reasons to boycott the state, but companies such as Barclays are continuing to invest in its military industry, all in the name of profit.

    Cry more

    Of course, none of this matters too much to the right wing; more concerned with some smashed glass and red paint on branches on one of the world’s richest banks:

    A GB News grifter called Palestine Action’s campaign “domestic terrorism”. Stop laughing at the back, please:

    Others quietly screamed ‘ANTISEMITISM’ when it very clearly wasn’t:

    An escalation in tactics

    Shut the System’s strategy involves targeting companies and institutions most responsible for causing the climate crisis. Between 2016 to 2022 Barclays provided $190.5bn to fossil fuel companies and recent commitments to phase out project finance are way off what is necessary for keeping within safe levels of global warming.

    This latest action marks a significant escalation in activist tactics. Up until now most groups have relied on peaceful demonstrations and open engagement with staff and managers.

    Now this has proven futile, groups like Palestine Action and Shut the System are escalating matters.

    Frustration with Barclays limited progress towards stopping their genocidal and climate-destructive financing, has helped spawn this new radical flank of activism. According to Palestine Action, targeted actions will continue until Barclays completely eliminates this financing from its business model.

    The only evidence that remains at the scene are splintered windows, shards of broken glass and red paint:

    Palestine Action won’t be stopped

    Of course, this was all too much for snivelling ex-Labour MP John “Walney” Woodcock – the guy the Tories jumped into bed with to advise them on ‘political violence’. The ‘lord’ who is an adviser to arms and fossil fuel lobbyists posted on X:

    Cry more, Woodcock – because Palestine Action aren’t quitting any time soon.

    An activist who wished to remain anonymous stated:

    Barclays is funding the crises of climate collapse and genocide in Palestine. Decades of polite campaigning, petitions, letter writing and lobbying MPs have failed. We will continue to escalate until Barclays pulls it’s finger out and stops funding genocide and climate destruction.

    Featured image and additional images via Palestine Action

    By Steve Topple

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Student journalist arrested while covering Stanford protest

    Dilan Gohill, a student journalist for The Stanford Daily, was arrested while reporting on a protest at the university’s campus in Stanford, California, on June 5, 2024.

    The Daily reported that a group of students barricaded themselves into a building housing the president’s office at around 5:30 a.m., while more protesters gathered outside. The students demanded the school divest from weapons manufacturers, disclose endowment investments and drop disciplinary and criminal charges against pro-Palestinian students at Stanford.

    Officers from the Stanford Department of Public Safety and Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office entered the building at approximately 7:20 a.m., according to the Daily, and arrested at least a dozen protesters. The Daily reported that one of its reporters — later identified as Gohill — was among those detained, despite identifying himself as a journalist and showing law enforcement his press credential.

    Gohill was transported to the Santa Clara County Jail alongside the protesters, where he was held for approximately 15 hours before being released on $20,000 bail, the Daily reported. He faces a felony burglary charge, according to the Los Angeles Times.

    Stanford President Richard Saller and Provost Jenny Martinez, whose office was also in the occupied building, issued a statement that day saying they were appalled and saddened by the protest, and that in addition to pursuing the criminal charges, all arrested students would be suspended and seniors would be barred from graduating.

    In a subsequent letter to the Daily’s board of directors on June 7, Saller and Martinez claimed that the incident raised “serious questions of journalistic ethics,” and that Gohill had no First Amendment right to cover the protest.

    “The First Amendment does not protect the right to break, enter and/or trespass in a locked private building, and this case did not involve a police line or rolling closure,” the letter read. “Moreover, as a matter of policy, allowing reporters a right to trespass in private buildings merely because there are newsworthy materials or events of interest inside would create a multitude of problems.”

    Saller and Martinez added that while they fully support having Gohill criminally prosecuted and have referred him to Stanford’s Office of Community Standards alongside the other students arrested that day, they have lifted his interim suspension and campus ban.

    In an op-ed about Gohill’s arrest, the Daily’s editors wrote, “His arrest constitutes a threat to the freedom of the press, including protection from unreasonable search and seizure, and we are disappointed in the actions of officers and the University.”

    Neither Editor-in-Chief Kaushikee Nayudu nor an attorney representing the Daily responded to requests for additional information.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Corporate Media Push Conspiracy Theories to Discredit Student Protesters

     

    Across corporate media, journalists and pundits introduced conspiracy theories to discredit the pro-Palestine student protest movement, particularly that they are funded by foreign countries or “outside agitators.”

    Morning Joe: Hillary Clinton on the College Campus Protests

    Joe Scarborough and Hillary Clinton on MSNBC‘s Morning Joe (5/9/24) to talk about “misinformation,” agreeing that student protesters are “extremists…funded by Qatar.”

    MSNBC‘s Joe Scarborough (5/9/24) went on a rant about the college students who have been staging the protests, suggesting to guest Hillary Clinton that they were influenced by China or Qatar:

    I’m going to talk about radicalism on college campuses. The sort of radicalism that has mainstream students getting propaganda, whether it’s from their professors or whether it’s from Communist Chinese government through TikTok, calling the president of the United States “Genocide Joe.” Calling you and President Clinton war criminals.

    Eventually, he called the students “extremists—I’m sorry—funded by Qatar.”

    Clinton responded: “You raised things that need to be vented about.”

    Scarborough’s claim that Qatar funds the students likely comes from a Jerusalem Post article (4/30/24), which called the protests “despicable.” The story reported, “Qatar has invested $5.6 billion in 81 American universities since 2007, including the most prestigious ones: Harvard, Yale, Cornell and Stanford.” Of course, funding  universities is not the same as funding student protests; the university administrations that actually received the Qatari funding have often been quite hostile to the protesters.

    ‘Mr. Putin’s message’

    CNN: Pelosi suggests some pro-Palestinian protesters are connected to Russia

    Nancy Pelosi, interviewed by Dana Bash on CNN (1/28/24), accused protesters of being “connected to Russia” because “to call for a ceasefire is Mr. Putin’s message.”

    House Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D–Calif.) suggested on CNN’s State of the Union (1/28/24) that Russia has played a role in the protests:

    And what we have to do is try to stop the suffering and gossip….. But for them to call for a ceasefire is Mr. Putin’s message…. I think some of these protesters are spontaneous and organic and sincere. Some I think are connected to Russia.

    CNN’s Dana Bash asked, “you think some of these protests are Russian plants?” Pelosi responded: “I don’t think they’re plants; I think some financing should be investigated.”

    Like MSNBC, Fox News (5/2/24) has also pushed the narrative suggesting that China is behind the protests: “China may be playing a significant role in the anti-Israel protests by using TikTok to foment division on college campuses,” Alicia Warren wrote.

    Gordon Chang, a senior fellow at the far-right, anti-Muslim Gatestone Institute, told Fox that “China is using the curation algorithm of TikTok to instigate protests.”

    The presence of pro-Palestinian advocacy on TikTok has been cited by lawmakers as a justification for censoring the social media platform (FAIR.org, 5/8/24). But the messages on TikTok, which is popular among younger people, may simply reflect public opinion among that demographic. According to the Pew Research Center, “Younger adults are much less supportive of the US providing military aid to Israel than are older people.”

    In a story headlined, “Campus Protests Give Russia, China and Iran Fuel to Exploit US Divide,” the New York Times (5/2/24) described “overt and covert efforts by the countries to  amplify the protests.” The story included some speculation about foreign influence: “There is little evidence—at least so far—that the countries have provided material or organizational support to the protests,” Steven Lee Myers and Tiffany Hsu wrote. If there was any evidence, they did not present it.

    The journalists blamed the protests for having “allowed” these “foreign influence campaigns…to shift their propaganda to focus on the Biden administration’s strong support for Israel.”

    ‘Professional outside agitators’

    CNN: Police in Riot Gear Arrest Students at University of Texas Austin

    ADL’s Jonathan Greenblatt on CNN (4/29/24): “There’s no rule that says the school needs to tolerate students or, again, outside activists dressing like they’re in Al Qaeda.”

    Beyond foreign influence, another conspiracy theory pushed by corporate media about student protesters is that they are influenced by “outside agitators.” While people who are not students have joined the protests, the term has long been used to delegitimize movements and portray them as led by nefarious actors.

    New York City Mayor Eric Adams was an early source of this claim, announcing at a press conference (4/30/24) that Columbia students have “been co-opted by professional outside agitators.” He made a similar statement in mid-April as well (4/21/24).

    On MSNBC (5/1/24), NYPD deputy police commissioner Kaz Daughtry defended the claim, holding up a bicycle lock with a substantial metal chain that police had found at Columbia. “This is not what students bring to school,” he said. In fact, Columbia sells the bike lock at a discount to students (FAIR.org, 5/9/24).

    CNN‘s Anderson Cooper (4/29/24) asked the Anti Defamation League’s Jonathan Greenblatt about the outside agitators, “How many of them are actually students?” “A lot of them are not students,” Greenblatt replied, adding unironically: “You can’t even tell who’s an outside agitator and who’s an actual student.”

    CNN senior political commentator David Axelrod tweeted (4/30/24): “It will be interesting to learn how many of those arrested in Hamilton Hall at Columbia are actually students.”

    Fox: Trump condemns 'brainwashed' anti-Israel mob as NYPD moves in, dings Dems: 'Where is Schumer?'

    “I really believe they are brainwashed,” Donald Trump (Fox News, 4/30/24) said of student protesters.

    Former president Donald Trump made a similar claim on Fox (4/30/24). “I really think you have a lot of paid agitators, professional agitators in here too, and I see it all over. And you know, when you see signs and they’re all identical, that means they’re being paid by a source,” he told Fox host Sean Hannity. He continued: “These are all signs that are identical. They’re made by the same printer.”

    It’s worth noting that a political movement is not like an intercollegiate athletic competition, where it’s cheating for non-students to play on a college team; it’s not illegitimate for members of the broader community to join an on-campus protest, any more than it’s unethical for students to take part in demonstrations in their neighborhoods.

    “If you’re a protester who’s planned it, you want all outsiders to join you,” Justin Hansford of the Thurgood Marshall Civil Rights Center told PolitiFact (5/6/24). “That’s why this is such a silly concept.”

    That didn’t stop the New York Post (5/7/24) from publishing an op-ed by former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey  headlined “Pursue Anti-Israel ‘Outside Agitators’ Disrupting Colleges—and End the Nonsense for Good.” McCaughey wrote, “Ray Kelly, former NYPD commissioner, nailed it Sunday when he said the nationwide turmoil ‘looks like a conspiracy.’” It looks like a conspiracy theory, anyway.

    Tents situation

    Good Day NY: Protests Grow on Columbia University Campus

    NYPD deputy police commissioner Kaz Daughtry (Fox 5 New York, 4/23/24): “Look at the tents. They all were the same color. They all were the same type of tents.”

    One key piece of evidence offered for the “outside agitators” claim was the uniformity of many of the encampments’ tents. When Fox 5 New York (4/23/24) invited two NYPD representatives to discuss the protests, NYPD’s Daughtry said: “Look at the tents. They all were the same color. They all were the same type of tents.” He continued: “To me, I think somebody’s funding this. Also, there are professional agitators in there that are just looking for something to be agitated about, which are the protests.”

    “Somebody’s behind this, and we’re going to find out who it is,” Daughtry said.

    That students might be observing the world and their role in it, and acting accordingly, was not considered.

    Newsweek (4/23/24) quoted Daughtry’s claim with no rebuttal or attempt to evaluate its veracity, under the headline, “Police Investigating People ‘Behind’ Pro-Palestinian Protests.” Fox News anchor Bret Baier (4/23/24) also cited the tents as a smoking gun: “We do see, it is pretty organized. The tents all look the same. And it’s expanding.”

    The problem with this conspiracy theory is that the look-alike tents at most encampments were not expensive at all. As HellGateNYC (4/24/24) pointed out, the two-person tents seen at Columbia cost $28 on Amazon (where they’re the first listing that comes up when you search “cheap camping tent”), and the ones at NYU were even cheaper, at $15. While many Columbia students receive financial aid, the basic  cost of tuition, fees, room and board at the school is $85,000 a year. What’s another $15?

    ‘Soros paying student radicals’

    Fox: Anti-Israel protests nationwide fueled by left-wing groups backed by Soros, dark money

    Fox News (4/26/24): “Progressive anti-Israel agitators across the country…are associated with groups tied to far-left groups with radical associations backed by dark money and liberal mega-donor George Soros.”

    And finally, some news outlets alleged that the student protesters are funded by financier George Soros. For example, Fox (4/26/24) reported that a group that funds National Students for Justice in Palestine (NSJP) received a donation from an unnamed nonprofit that is funded by Soros. Fox was apparently referring to the Tides Foundation, a philanthropy that Soros has given money to; Tides gave $132,000 to WESPAC, a Westchester, N.Y., peace group that serves as a financial sponsor to NSJP in Palestine (PolitiFact, 5/2/24; Washington Post, 4/26/24). In standard conspiratorial reasoning, this three-times-removed connection means that, as Fox put it, protests attended by SJP members are “backed by dark money and liberal mega-donor George Soros.”

    The New York Post (4/26/24) published a similar piece, headlined “George Soros Is Paying Student Radicals Who Are Fueling Nationwide Explosion of Israel-Hating Protests.”

    On NewsNation (5/1/24), House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also suggested Soros may be connected, saying that the FBI should investigate:

    I think the FBI needs to be all over this. I think they need to look at the root causes and find out if some of this was funded by—I don’t know—George Soros or overseas entities. There’s sort of a common theme and a common strategy that seems to be pursued on many of these campuses.

    “It looked pretty orchestrated to me,” NewsNation host Blake Burman agreed.

    Soros is a billionaire philanthropist who survived the Holocaust. He has come to represent an antisemitic trope among right wingers of a puppet master controlling events behind the scenes (see FAIR.org, 3/7/22). To put it simply, these supposedly antisemitic protesters are now on the receiving end of antisemitism.

    Featured image: New York Post graphic (4/26/24) alleging that Jewish billionaire George Soros is bankrolling “Israel hate camps.”

     

    This post was originally published on FAIR.

  • Mozambique journalist arrested, 2 harassed and robbed at protest

    New York, June 7, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists on Friday expressed alarm that police arrested one journalist and two others were robbed of equipment while covering a protest in the Mozambican capital, Maputo. 

    At around 6:00 p.m. on June 4, seven police officers chased and arrested Sheila Wilson while she was reporting live from a protest by hundreds of former secret service agents over alleged non-payment of pensions, according to news reports and the journalist, who spoke to CPJ.

    Wilson, a reporter with the the non-governmental organization Center for Democracy and Human Rights, was broadcasting live on the Facebook page of the advocacy group’s President Adriano Nuvunga.

    Wilson said the police officers grabbed her, threw her under the seat of a police van, and took her to the Fourth Station in Maputo where she was held for six hours without being allowed to contact anyone.

    Wilson told CPJ that upon her release, the police retained her phone and told her that she would face an investigation, without specifying the charges. 

    “I handed my life to God when they told me that they would have a little chat with me at the station,” she said, adding that she was fearful that she would die in police custody like an activist did in 2023. “I was lucky to get off with a bruise and a bump on the head only.”

    Robbed while interviewing police spokesperson

    During the June 4 protest, five unidentified men grabbed the arms of reporter Laves Macatane and camera operator Hélder Matwassa, immobilizing them and pushing Matwassa to the ground, the journalists told CPJ. Macatane and Matwassa, who both work with the private broadcaster STV, were interviewing Maputo police spokesperson Leonel Muchina when the assailants stole their camera,  the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom group Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) said in a statement, and the journalists told CPJ.

    The journalists told CPJ that their assailants ran through a police security cordon and left in a Toyota vehicle that had no license plates without being questioned or chased, despite the heavy presence of police officers.

    “It paints a very disheartening picture of press freedom in Mozambique that instead of protecting journalists covering a protest, police violently arrested one reporter and stood by as two others were robbed,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Muthoki Mumo in Nairobi. “Authorities should credibly investigate the robbery of the two STV journalists and discontinue any criminal proceedings against CDD reporter Sheila Wilson.”

    Macatane told CPJ that police spokesperson Muchina approached him after they filmed police charging at elderly protestors, including a woman who cried as she was dragged on the ground and beaten, and asked the journalists not to air the footage due to the risk of it causing “unrest.” When Macatane refused, Muchina spoke to his colleagues, then came back a few minutes later and asked to be interviewed. 

    “While we were doing [the interview] the men in plainclothes came and grabbed us, threw Matwassa to the ground, and took his camera — all while the police spokesman watched unmoved,” Macatane said. 

    That evening, the journalists said, police at Maputo’s Third Station initially refused to record the complaint on the grounds that the stolen equipment belonged to STV, not the individual journalists.

    When STV editor-in-chief Emildo Sambo came to the station to press their case, the police finally agreed to register the complaint, the journalists and STV’s director of information Olivia Massango told CPJ.

    Macatane said he believed that he recognized some of his assailants among officers inside the police station, as well as the same Toyota car with no license plates outside of the building.

    The officer who registered the journalists’ complaint said it would be handled by the independent National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) as it was outside the police’s jurisdiction, Macatane said.

    Muchina referred CPJ’s request for comment to the national police as he said he was not authorized to speak with an “international institution.”

    National police commander Bernardino Rafael did not respond to CPJ calls and text messages requesting comment.   


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • 15th Palestine march in London since October aims to put Gaza on the general election ballot paper

    On Saturday 8 June hundreds of thousands of people are expected to demonstrate on the 15th march for Palestine in London since Israel began its genocidal assault on Gaza in October 2023. This time the march takes place in the midst of the UK general election, in which millions of people who support justice for the Palestinian people will be carefully weighing up the voting records and policies of candidates from all parties:

    Putting Israel and Palestine on the general election map

    Israel’s prolonged and brutal attack on Gaza, judged by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to be a plausible case of genocide, has killed more than 36,000 people, with thousands more missing, presumed dead. Earlier this week an Israeli bombing of an UNRWA school killed at least 40 people including children.

    Israel has severely restricted humanitarian supplies to the besieged Gaza Strip in violation of international law. UN agencies have warned this week that one million people face the highest level of starvation by mid-July.

    Despite this, the British government has refused even to halt arms exports to Israel or to restore funding to UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, the only agency on the ground capable of providing aid at scale.

    The demonstration on Saturday will be attended by a range of groups, including large student, trade union, medical worker, and Jewish blocs. Speakers will include Chris Smalls (President of the Amazon Labor Union, America), Michael Rosen (poet and author), Juliet Stevenson (actress), and George the Poet (writer and podcaster).

    Political leaders must act

    Ben Jamal, Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) director, said :

    The massacre this week at a school in Nuseirat refugee camp, central Gaza, is another horrifying chapter in Israel’s genocide. The failure of political leaders in the UK to condemn it or even comment, demonstrates the extent to which the political establishment is prepared to normalise Israel’s massacres.

    But the extent of popular protest against this complicity is growing not diminishing. This election will see the issue of justice for the Palestinian people on the election agenda like never before. PSC will be issuing its election demands of candidates next week. Tomorrow, we expect again to be joined by hundreds of thousands bringing that call for change and an end to UK complicity in Israel’s crimes, once more to London’s streets.

    The Jeremy Corbyn-founded Peace and Justice Project said:

    Gaza is now home to the highest number of child amputees in the world, a devastating consequence of the ongoing conflict. This grim reality underscores the urgent need for an immediate, permanent ceasefire.

    This demonstration is particularly significant as it will be the first since the general election was called. It presents a crucial opportunity to demand that our leaders prioritise peace and end arms sales to Israel that perpetuate this cycle of violence.

    Join us to raise our voices and call on our political leaders to act. The demonstration will be a powerful statement of our collective demand for a ceasefire and an end to the arms sales that perpetuate this cycle of violence.

    Featured image via the Canary

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • German police launch criminal probe of video journalist after beating him during pro-Palestinian protest

    Berlin, June 7, 2024—German authorities must swiftly and transparently investigate the recent police attack on video journalist Ignacio Rosaslanda, ensure the responsible police officers are held to account, and drop all criminal investigations against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Friday.

    Police beat and detained Ignacio Rosaslanda, a video journalist for daily newspaper Berliner Zeitung, as he reported on police’s eviction of more than 150 pro-Palestinian protesters occupying a building at the Humboldt University in Berlin on May 23, according to news reports, a recording of the incident published by the outlet, and Rosaslanda, who spoke with CPJ. 

    Police summoned Rosaslanda on Thursday, questioned him for three hours, and told the journalist he was being investigated for resisting police action, causing bodily harm to police, and trespassing. Rosaslanda told CPJ he denies the charges. If charged and convicted, Rosaslanda faces up to three years imprisonment, according to the criminal code. 

    “German authorities must investigate the officers responsible for attacking video journalist Ignacio Rosaslanda while he was covering a pro-Palestinian encampment at the Humboldt University in Berlin,” said Attila Mong, CPJ’s Europe representative. “Journalists must be allowed to cover events of public interest without police interference or fear that they will be charged for simply doing their jobs.”  

    A man takes a mirror selfie in an elevator.
    Video journalist Ignacio Rosaslanda wearing a press badge in the elevator before documenting the protest at Humboldt University in Berlin on May 23, 2024. (Photo: Ignacio Rosaslanda)

    Rosaslanda, who was wearing press insignia and carrying a camera, was filming as police broke through barricades in the building to clear out protesters, according to the reports and the journalist. An officer assigned him a corner to film from, which he did until another officer grabbed him from behind and pushed him to the ground. In the recording, a helmeted officer repeatedly beat the journalist, hitting Rosaslanda twice in the head, as he repeatedly said, “I am press.” 

    The journalist was handcuffed and detained with the protestors for around three or four hours before he was released. Rosaslanda was treated in an emergency room for multiple abrasions and hematomas over his left ear and on his face, chest, and left arm. 

    Rosaslanda told CPJ he filed a criminal complaint against police for the attack and denial of treatment while detained but had not received any further updates as of Friday. A police spokesperson told Berliner Zeitung on May 30, that they had started investigating two officers on suspicion of assault, one in connection with an injured Berliner Zeitung journalist. 

    A spokesperson for Berlin police told CPJ via email that they could not provide further details about the investigation due to privacy and data protection regulations.


    This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Matt Gertz on Trump Trial Verdict, Kandi Mossett on Dakota Access Struggle

     

     

    Yahoo: Donald Trump Blasts Judge As A “Devil” And Justice System As “Rigged” In Speech After Guilty Verdict

    Yahoo (5/31/24)

    This week on CounterSpin: Surprising no one, Donald Trump and his sycophants responded to his 34-count conviction on charges of lying in business records by claiming that the trial was “rigged,” the judge and jury corrupt, that it was somehow Joe Biden’s doing, and “you know who else was persecuted? Jesus Christ.” Trump publicly calling the judge a “devil,” and Bible-thumping House Speaker Mike Johnson and others showing up at the courthouse in Trump cosplay, were just some of the irregular, shall we say, elements of this trial. It is a moment to examine the right-wing media that have fomented this scary nonsense, but also to look to reporting from the so-called “mainstream” to go beyond the “some say, others differ” pablum we often see. We’ll talk with Matt Gertz, senior fellow at Media Matters, about press response to the trial and the verdict.

     

     

     

    New York Times photo of tear gas at Standing Rock (photo: Stephanie Keith/Reuters)

    New York Times (11/21/16)

    Also on the show: For some people the violent police crackdown on peaceful college students protesting their schools’ investments in Israel’s war on Palestinians has been eye-opening. For others, it’s one more example of the employment of law enforcement to brutally enforce corporate power. The fight led by Indigenous women against the Dakota Access pipeline is not long enough ago to have been forgotten. We’ll hear a bit from an August 2017 interview with North Dakota organizer Kandi Mossett.

     

    This post was originally published on CounterSpin.

  • Brighton Council caves into pressure over Israel-supplying arms manufacturer on its doorstep

    A council has pulled the plug on an arms manufacturer’s planning permission; one that has been complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee met on Wednesday 5 June to consider the permanent retention of a temporary extension to a building owned by arms manufacturer L3Harris at Home Farm Business Centre.

    Stop L3Harris are pleased the council have unanimously opted to vote with their conscience and deny this extension.

    Brighton stops L3Harris

    Planning permission for the site in Home Farm Road was temporarily given for five years from 2018, but it expired in September 2023.

    While L3Harris has been operating without planning consent, Israel has killed over 37,000 Palestinians in Gaza alone, including more than 15,000 children. The actual number killed is much much higher – many people have not been included in the death count due to being either under the rubble or unidentifiable.

    Brighton’s Campaign Against the Arms Trade has evidenced that many of these deaths are directly linked to indiscriminate bombing made possible by the use of the bomb release mechanisms made in Brighton.  This is contributing to residents of all denominations and none feeling unsafe and the Council has upheld its duty to protect its citizens and their right to family life.

    In a deputation inside the meeting, Maude Casey, a representative of Brighton Migrant Solidarity and the Stop L3Harris campaign shared statements from a Palestinian member of the community and a Jewish member of the community, both of whom have loved ones in Gaza.

    A demonstration attended by over 100 people took place outside Hove Town Hall during the Planning Committee council meeting to show support for the representative speaking. This also includes an art installation of hundreds of names of children written on ribbons who have been killed in Gaza since October 7.

    Complicit in Israel’s genocide in Gaza

    Herbie, a Jewish Palestinian activist and Moulsecoomb resident, said:

    I can see L3Harris factory on Home Farm Road from my house. Living across the road from a factory that’s profiting from the killing of innocent civilians in Gaza has contributed to my declining mental health over the last 8 months.

    It haunts me knowing that my Gazan friends’ families could be killed at any moment, by weapons made in a factory in eyesight from my kitchen. I feel powerless and hopeless and have had to go on antidepressants to cope with my plummeting mental health. Please, shut it down.

    Nidaa, a Palestinian Brighton constituent said:

    I’m a Palestinian woman living in Brighton with my family. It deeply saddens me knowing there’s an arms manufacturer on our doorstep. This mustn’t be normalised and they need to shut down immediately.

    My family in Gaza have been deeply affected by the use of chemical weapons by the occupation. They killed a four year old girl and her dad in front of her mum and six year old sister. The little girl can’t forget what happened to her sister and her dad. Lots of sad stories in Gaza. All of them have been told to stay in the safe places they asked them to move to and after they bomb the place.

    Strong opposition in Brighton

    The application was open to public consultation from December 2023, and received 655 comments – 651 objections, and only two in support. A petition with over 1,400 signatures was submitted. Originally, the extension was to be reviewed in March, but the committee was delayed while councillors sought legal advice.

    Members of the local community have been protesting outside of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Planning Committee Meeting every month since March. They have also taken action at the factory on Home Farm Road, held a Peace Camp for five weeks at the bottom of Home Farm Road and disrupted the last council meeting demanding that Brighton and Hove City Council.

    L3Harris is the 12th largest arms manufacturer in the world, and is making huge profits from Israel’s war on Palestinians, supplying Israel with bomb release mechanisms for its F-35 and F-15 fighter jets.

    Lucy from the Stop L3Harris Campaign said:

    The decision is a landmark victory, sending the message that people in Brighton and Hove will not be complicit in genocide – but there is much more to be done to shut down L3Harris in our city for good, and to end the UK’s wider support of Israel’s massacre of Palestinian civilians.

    This is a small and important first step taken by our council, the next will be to ensure they work with Paxton, the landlords of L3Harris to evict L3Harris immediately for undertaking activity which is illegal under international humanitarian law.

    Featured image via Brighton Against The Arms Trade

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Jury finds Just Stop Oil supporters not guilty in petrol pump case

    In a unanimous verdict delivered on Wednesday 5 June by a jury at Guildford Crown Court, Just Stop Oil supporters Nathan McGovern, Rosa Sharkey, and Louis Hawkins were found not guilty of causing criminal damage exceeding £5,000 over their fossil fuel, climate crisis protest.

    Just Stop Oil: not guilty

    During the trial, Judge Sellers ruled that none of the defence’s three arguments would be allowed for the jury to consider. Despite this, the 12 member jury made a factual determination and found all three defendants not guilty.

    On 28 April 2022, Just Stop Oil supporters blocked the entrances to Clacket Lane Services on the M25 by sitting in the road with Just Stop Oil banners. They also decommissioned the petrol pumps by breaking the display glass and covering it with spray paint. This action was taken in support of their demand for the UK government to end all new oil and gas projects in the country.

    The verdict flies in the face of a previous court ruling.

    As the Canary previously reported, following a pattern of jury acquittals of environmental defenders and anti-genocide activists, which exposes the media fiction that the British government’s ‘crackdown on protest’ is in any way democratic, the Court of Appeal in March backed the Attorney General’s call to remove what was for many their last remaining line of legal defence.

    It has ruled that mass loss of life from climate breakdown and the government’s failure to act on the science are irrelevant to the circumstances of an action, for the purposes of the defence of consent to damage to property. That is – protesters deeply-held and factual beliefs are no defence.

    This case was one such example of where that applied. However, clearly the jury were unconcerned.

    Nathan McGovern spoke about the outcome:

    Despite Attorney General rulings, despite losing every legal defence, despite the Conservative Party demonising those taking action to protect our communities from the crimes of oil companies – 12 ordinary members of the public have returned a resounding not guilty verdict.

    This is a clear sign that the British public sides with those taking action to prevent catastrophic climate breakdown, not BP or the Tory party.

    From a jury in the heart of England, this could not make it clearer where the public lies on the need to end fossil fuels and protect all life.

    Featured image via Just Stop Oil

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Cops arrest disabled pro-Palestine activist and force him to walk without his mobility aid

    At a Palestine demonstration in Cardiff cops were out doing what cops do best: being racist, ableist tools of the racist, ableist state.

    Cardiff comes out for Palestine

    On Monday 3 June, pro-Palestine protesters turned out to demonstrate against Israel’s abhorrent genocide in Gaza:

    As Wales Online reported, protesters blockaded a Cardiff city centre A road, bringing rush-hour traffic “to a standstill”. Students from the Cardiff University encampment joined members of the community to rally against Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza.

    In particular, they instigated the blockade in response to Israel’s massacre of displaced Palestinians in Rafah.

    As the Canary previously reported, on 26 May, Israel rained down fire and death on displaced Gazans in a refugee camp. Naturally, the repentless murderous state did so just days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals, including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Co-chair of Stop the War Cymru Lujane Abdalla told Wales Online that was precisely why protesters were there. She reminded the outlet that Israel has CONTINUED bombing Rafah with impunity:

    The reason there was an emergency protest today and there was an emergency protest last week is because Israel has now started bombing Rafah, the only designated safe-zone in Gaza, and it’s the only safe-zone that Israel has asked the Palestinians to move to – they told them they will be safe and there will be no bombing there and no killing there.

    What they did after the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu (Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime minister) was attack the refugee camps in Rafah and they were bombing makeshift tents, with innocent women and children in these tents.

    What we have to say is that nine months on, this isn’t OK. It doesn’t matter if you’re Palestinian or Arab, wherever you come from, we should all be appalled at what is going on. This is why we’re coming out, to tell people that they should also be coming out, demanding the UK stops arming Israel and demanding that the UK calls for a ceasefire, just like so many other countries have.

    Violent policing of peaceful protest

    Of course, where pro-Palestine protesters appear, racist cops are never far behind. People on X reported how the police arrested between 15 to 17 peaceful protesters blockading the road:

    In classic cop fashion, the police targeted a disabled protester. Reports vary, but between eight to ten police violently arrested the protester as he was moving off the road:

    Unsurprisingly, as per usual, the police’s raging institutional ableism was on show. Despicably, they forced the pro-Palestine protester to walk without his mobility aid:

    Predictably, the police were ready to make up any old drivel to arrest him too:

    Did I forget to mention rampant misogyny and Islamophobia? Because Cardiff cops had that covered too, naturally:

    On top of this, according to Black Lives Matter Cardiff & Vale, police ramped up their racist abuse in holding cells. Of course, this was out of sight of the cameras:

    Systemic bigotry

    Yet while the state’s fascist pigs had numerous officers to protect the daily motorist rat-race, it somehow had none spare to stop motorcyclists literally attempting to ram through the crowd:

    Predictably, the state’s Zionist propaganda machine-come-local media conveniently omitted this detail:

    However, as one poster rightly pointed out, the cops behaviour is neither unusual, nor anything new:

    Because ultimately, it’s not just a case of a few “rotten apples”, as the toxic establishment and its corporate media sycophants would have you believe. Rather, the bigotry is systemic:

    Specifically, Netpol referred to its report from May which found that:

    there is ample evidence supporting the accusation of racist and Islamophobic policing. This was significantly more intense during protests in late 2023. Overall, there has been a pattern of racial profiling at demonstrations that has included not only the targeting of Palestinians or Arabic-speaking protesters but also Black and brown children and young people in a way that has reinforced established patterns of racist policing

    There’s a four letter acronym for this phenomenon, which one X poster dared not spell out in letters, lest old Musk-y boy threw a hissy on his pet Zionist-amplifying hell-site. Though we did catch that numerical cipher:

    Don’t worry though, the Canary isn’t a media site to hedge on injustice, and isn’t about to equivocate now: ACAB.

    Rattled the cops

    Following the arrests, the good pro-Palestine people of Cardiff stepped up the solidarity. Folks flooded the police station in support of Neezo, the disabled protester who the police had violently arrested:

    Clearly, protesters showing up rattled the cops, because they quickly closed ranks around the station:


    Time and again, the cops keep showing their supremely racist ass on Gaza.  However, they can’t, and won’t stop people turning out for Palestine. Until it is finally free, protesters of principle everywhere will continue risking their liberty regardless.

    Featured image via Black Lives Matter Cardiff and Vale – screengrab

    By Hannah Sharland

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Worcester comes together to defend Palestine art – under threat thanks to UK Lawyers for Israel

    Local community leaders, artists, and Green Party councillors united to defend a pro-Palestine mural in Worcester, which is at risk of being torn down by Worcester City Council – under pressure from notorious UK Lawyers for Israel.

    Heroes of Palestine not allowed to be honoured in Worcester

    The ‘Heroes of Palestine’ mural, located in Lowesmoor, was created by artist Auberi Chen after Sam Iqbal, a local campaigner, successfully launched a fundraiser for the project on behalf of the Worcester Palestine Solidarity Campaign and art platform Creative Debuts.

    The mural aims to honour Palestinian journalists who have risked their lives to show the reality of life in Gaza and Palestine to the world. It is in honour of two people in particular: one, a journalist and mother of two who was separated from her children for months during the conflict, and another, a nine-year-old budding journalist showing the perspective of Gaza’s children to the world.

    Worcester City Council officers have deemed the mural an ‘advertisement’ and suggested that the landowners – Munchies, a fast food establishment – must seek retrospective planning consent to accommodate the artwork.

    Campaigner Sam Iqbal and landowners believe that the council’s recent actions resulted from lobbying by UK Lawyers for Israel.

    The council has given a 14 June deadline for responding to a letter it sent to the landowners about the mural and planning consent. More recently, it issued the following warning:

    You should not assume that it will be possible to make changes to the mural so that it is no longer an advertisement without substantially changing the mural to the extent that it may be completely unrecognisable without meaning and not serving its original purpose.

    ‘Peaceful political art’

    So, on Saturday 1 June people came together to oppose Worcester City Council’s plans and UK Lawyers for Israel’s pressuring:

    Auberi Chen, mural artist, said of Heroes of Palestine:

    The ‘Heroes of Palestine’ collection of murals has always been intended to raise awareness and are peaceful political art statements. Calum Hall from Creative Debuts (whose concept this project was) only wanted to spread positivity and awareness, which is why we are painting Palestinian heroes who are putting their safety at risk to document and share news of what is happening in Palestine.

    It seems a shame that the council has been put under so much pressure to remove this mural from the UK Lawyers for Israel who are clearly trying to censor freedom of expression and speech.

    The beauty about painting art in public spaces is that it is subjective and some people might not like a certain subject matter or (as in this case) when it is political they might have a different view, but everyone is allowed an opinion and a voice.

    This mural is clearly trying to spread a positive message and the efforts the UK lawyers are going to — to have this mural removed — seem quite extreme and negative.

    UK Lawyers for Israel: childrens’ art is ‘victimising’

    UK Lawyers for Israel appear to be behind the lobbying of the council. This is a national trend as the group has identified Worcester, along with Redbridge, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, and Lambeth, as locations where murals “promote divisiveness” – or rather, show the reality of the Zionist occupation. The prime example of this was kids’ artwork at Chelsea and Westminster hospital.

    As the Guardian reported:

    A display of artwork by Palestinian children at Chelsea and Westminster hospital in London has been removed after a complaint by a pro-Israel organisation [UK Lawyers for Israel], which said it made Jewish patients feel “vulnerable, harassed and victimised”.

    Artist Sam Iqbal said of Worcester’s artwork:

    UK Lawyers for Israel have made it clear on their website that they are behind pressuring the council about this artwork, stating it is classed as an advertisement of a cause. This is not an advert but artistic expression and a celebration of the strength of humanity.

    There are multiple artworks across the city that actually do advertise products or services that have not had enforcement actions served on them – the double standard is very sad to see.

    On 28 November 2023, Green councillors successfully passed a motion calling for the government to call a ceasefire.

    All Greens voted in favour of the motion, but it only passed with the Mayor of Worcester’s additional casting vote. The Mayor was councillor Louis Stephen (the Green Party). Labour councillors tried to water down the motion, and Labour and Lib Dem councillors disputed that a genocide was happening.

    Earlier this year, Stephen received a group of Palestinian children at the Guildhall.

    Featured image via councillor Karen Lewing

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • BDS successfully forces Pret a Manger to abandon plans for 40 stores in Israel

    Coffee and snack giant Pret a Manger has confirmed it has pulled out of plans to open 40 new stores in Israel. It comes after a successful Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS) campaign against the brand – all against the backdrop of Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

    Pret outta Israel

    In 2022 UK coffee chain Pret a Manger signed a franchise agreement with Israeli conglomerate Fox Group and restaurant operator Yarzin Sella to open 40 stores in Israel over the next decade.

    Activists and branches of Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) had begun to call for a boycott of Pret arguing that to invest in Israel as it conducts a genocide in Gaza and operates a system of apartheid over all Palestinians was unjustifiable and reprehensible:

    Pret Israel

    It’s now been reported that Pret has gone back on this agreement, worth millions of pounds, and will not open Pret stores in Israel. The boycott campaign that had begun against Pret has forced it to reconsider and reverse a major business decision.

    As Globes reported:

    Fox had been planning to open Israel’s first Pret a Manger outlet in Tel Aviv towards the end of 2024. It has been reported recently that there has been major pressure from pro-Palestinian organizations that have threatened to boycott the network, if it does open in Israel. The plan has been to set up about 40 branches in Israel.

    It also noted that Fox said in a statement:

    On May 30, 2024, Pret A Manger announced its decision to cancel the license agreement, and this, according to it, due to the occurrence of a force majeure event as a result of the Iron Swords War and its effect on the company’s ability to carry out the preliminary actions required to open the activity according to the license agreement.

    Israel is the subject of a global, Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement to force an end to its regime of settler-colonialism, military occupation and apartheid against Palestinians:

    Pret is the latest in a long line of companies withdrawing from, or reversing plans, to invest in Israel leading to financial and political isolation in much the same way as South Africa under the apartheid regime.

    BDS and protest do work

    For example, Palestine Action has successfully stopped a handful of companies working with arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. In an email to Palestine Action on 23 April, MLL Legal’s partner Dunja Koch confirmed the law firm is no longer working for Elbit Systems and will not do so in the future. This came after a two year direct action campaign which involved repeatedly spray painting the law firm’s London office.

    In February, transportation giants Kuehne+Nagel (K+N) declared it had ended all ties with Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems, and would not be working with the company again in the future. It is one of only six companies licensed for the secure collection, delivery, and disposal of firearms and weapons in Britain.

    Its sole recruiters, iO associates, the property managers of Elbit’s Shenstone factory Fisher German, and the website hosts for Elbit’s Leicester factory also dropped all ties with the Israeli weapons maker.

    Ben Jamal, Director of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, says:

    This decision sends a message to all companies – if you provide support for Israel’s apartheid and genocide against Palestinians, you will face the strength of our movement who will boycott your products and protest at your stores. Israel has got away with crimes against humanity for too long.

    The people of the world are holding Israel to account by refusing to let their spending or saving finance war crimes. It’s high time our political leaders followed suit by ending arms sales, and financial and diplomatic support to Israel.

    Featured image and additional images via PSC

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Tiananmen square massacre protest in front of Chinese embassy in DC| Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Tiananmen Square massacre protest in front of Chinese embassy in DC | Radio Free Asia (RFA)


    This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by Radio Free Asia.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist pushed with baton while reporting on protest in NYC

    Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was shoved with a baton by a New York City police officer while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Manhattan on May 6, 2024.

    Pacheco told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that they were reporting on a protest that began at Hunter College at 4 p.m. and marched toward the Met Gala, an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 blocks away. WCBS-TV reported that the protesters were stopped by police before they reached the museum.

    At 1:10 in the WCBS-TV video report on the protests, police can be seen using batons to push multiple individuals who appear to be wearing press credentials and holding professional cameras. Pacheco confirmed that they were one of the journalists, and a second was identified as independent photojournalist Peter Hambrecht.

    Pacheco reported on social media that as the march moved up Madison Avenue, police arrested multiple protesters and attacked members of the press with batons. In their footage, someone can be heard saying, “We’re all press, stop pushing us!”

    The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist shoved while reporting on protest in NYC

    Independent photojournalist Peter Hambrecht was shoved with a baton by a New York City police officer while covering a pro-Palestinian protest in Manhattan on May 6, 2024.

    Hambrecht told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker he was reporting on a protest that began at Hunter College at 4 p.m. and marched toward the Met Gala, an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 blocks away. WCBS-TV reported that the protesters were stopped by police before they reached the museum.

    At one point when police were making arrests, Hambrecht said, an officer tackled a demonstrator against a car near where he was standing.

    “The police really started aggressively pushing us back,” Hambrecht said. “Then an officer came with their club and just rams me on my side and slams me against a car. They tried to push me back onto the sidewalk, behind the car so I can’t see what they’re doing to this person.”

    Hambrecht said it appeared to be a deliberate police strategy to obstruct the press, as he was standing alongside other journalists who were also forced out of view of the detainment.

    At 1:10 in the WCBS-TV video report on the protests, police can be seen using batons to push multiple individuals who appear to be wearing press credentials and holding professional cameras, including Hambrecht and independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco.

    Pacheco reported on social media that as the march moved up Madison Avenue, police arrested multiple protesters and attacked members of the press with batons. In their footage, someone can be heard saying, “We’re all press, stop pushing us!”

    After beginning to document protests in early 2024, Hambrecht said, he has observed police singling out visual journalists. “Ever since getting my city-issued pass I’ve noticed that they target the photographers and really they try to get you out of there and separate you.”

    The New York City Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Divest from Genocide”: 1,000+ Protest Brooklyn Museum for Israel Ties; NYPD Arrests 34


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • “Divest from Genocide”: 1,000+ Protest Brooklyn Museum for Israel Ties; NYPD Throws Punches, Arrests 34

    Seg2 banner

    At least a thousand pro-Palestinian protesters took over the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Friday, with a small group occupying the lobby while others unfurled banners on the facade of the building reading “Free Palestine: Divest from Genocide.” Police arrested at least 34 people, including Within Our Lifetime founder Nerdeen Kiswani, whose hijab was ripped off as officers tackled and arrested her. Democracy Now! was on the scene and spoke with protesters, who said that almost eight months into Israel’s brutal assault on the Gaza Strip, prominent institutions in the U.S. have an obligation to disclose their ties to the occupation and divest. “We are making it clear that we will continue to occupy institutions just like this one and call out individuals like the board of the Brooklyn Museum to make clear that their money and our money is being used for this genocide,” said Abdullah Akl, a member of Within Our Lifetime, a Palestinian-led community organization.


    This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Palestine Action hit two Barclays branches – annihilating one and redecorating the other

    On Monday 3 June Palestine Action upped the ante over genocide-enabling Barclays – by targetting two locations of the Israel-complicit bank.

    Palestine Action: going after Barclays again

    Overnight, Palestine Action activists targeted the Bradford and Bolton branches of Barclays, investors in Israel’s largest weapons firm – Elbit Systems. This was Bolton:

    Activists left windows smashed and sprayed the banks red, marking them with a symbol of Palestinian bloodshed. This was Bradford:

    Barclays Bank holds over £1bn in shares and provides over £3bn in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components, and military technology are being used by Israel in its genocidal attacks on Palestinians.

    Complicit in Israel’s genocide

    This includes General Dynamics, which produces the gun systems that arm the fighter jets used by Israel to bombard Gaza, and Elbit Systems, which produces armoured drones, munitions, and artillery weapons used by the Israeli military.

    Amongst Barclays £3bn investments and loans in companies facilitating the Gaza genocide, the bank holds shares in Elbit Systems which is the primary target of Palestine Action’s campaign. Elbit Systems provide 85% of Israel’s military drone fleet and land-based equipment, as well as bombs, missiles and other weaponry.

    The Israeli weapons maker market their weapons as “battle-tested” after they are developed during bombardments on occupied Palestine. Palestine Action’s campaign of direct action has seen hundreds of occupations, redecorations and other disruptive actions against Elbit Systems directly, forcing two of their weapons factories permanently shut.

    The direct action network has also undertaken to ensure that firms which facilitate Elbit operations are exposed and undermined, with Elbit investors targeted alongside landlords, suppliers, and other collaborators. To date, several companies including recruiters and an international law firm have all ended ties following a relentless campaign by the group.

    A Palestine Action spokesperson said:

    Broken windows and red paint is incomparable to the Palestinian blood spilt and the destruction of Gaza, which Barclays continues to profit from. Banks can not get away with murder and when all else fails, it’s up to the people to ensure humanity is upheld. Palestine Action will continue to act until the bank divests from Israel’s biggest weapons firm, Elbit Systems.

    Featured image and additional images via Neil Terry and Palestine Action

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Farnborough airport and its super-rich clients like Boris Johnson just got the Extinction Rebellion treatment

    An outer London airport – Farnborough – frequently used by the super-rich and politicians, including Boris Johnson, has been the target of Extinction Rebellion and other groups. They highlighted how the flying habits of the super rich are effectively helping to kill us all via their contribution to the climate crisis.

    Farnborough: you’re killing us all!

    On Sunday 2 June, a group of activists blocked all the main gates of Farnborough airport, the biggest private jet airport in the UK, which has plans to greatly expand. This was part of an international week of action targeting private jets and the injustice of aviation, with protests happening in Denmark, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the US.

    At Farnborough, protesters barricaded the airport’s Gulfstream Gate with the Extinction Rebellion pink boat:

    Ively Gate had four protesters locked on to oil drums:

    At the airport’s departure gate activists mounted two tripods blockading the entrance:

    A fourth group of protesters moved between the airport’s other gates to block them:

    At all three main gates, protesters released colourful smoke flares, chanting slogans and engaging with members of the public, accompanied by the XR Rebel Rhythms band of drummers:

    Farnborough airport extinction rebellion

    Dr Jessica Upton, a veterinary surgeon and foster carer from Oxford, said:

    I’m here today because private airports are an abomination. Expanding Farnborough would be putting the indulgent wants of the rich minority over the needs of the majority. Local people need cleaner air and less noise pollution, and the world’s population urgently needs rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to survive.

    Private airports disproportionately contribute to climate breakdown and closing them would boost our chances of sticking to the Paris Climate Accords, the supposedly legally binding international treaty agreed to and signed by our government.

    More than 100 people took part in the protests and several were arrested.

    Farnborough airport: private jets should be banned

    Inês Teles, campaigner at Stay Grounded, said:

    It’s utterly obscene that, during a climate and cost of living crisis, while people are burning under scorching heat in India and Mexico or being displaced by catastrophic flooding in Brazil, the super-rich keep flying on their private jets and pouring gas in a world on fire.

    These are the worst form of bullshit flights, and need to be banned, as well as short-haul flights or night flights. We need to stop this madness and hold the super-rich and institutions accountable for the destruction they are causing.

    The actions happened under the banner of the Make Them Pay campaign, supported by Stay Grounded, Scientist Rebellion, and Extinction Rebellion groups. It unites citizens and scientists from around the globe behind three demands:

    1. Ban Private Jets
    2. Tax Frequent Flyers
    3. Make Polluters Pay

    Gianluca Grimalda, university researcher and climate activist, said:

    Private jets are the single most polluting form of transport, causing about 10 times more CO2 emissions per passenger than a regular flight, and up to 100 times more than trains. About two thirds of such flights are done for leisure over short stretches on which a lower-emitting alternative exists.

    The ‘collateral damage’ of such flights is to cause about 20.000 deaths every year, as we know that every 4.000 ton of CO2 will kills one person and private jets produce about 80 million tons of CO2 every year. This is unacceptable, inhumane, and abhorrent.

    Aviation is the pinnacle of climate injustice

    But private jets are not the only problem: aviation as a whole is the pinnacle of climate injustice, with 1% of the population being responsible for 50% of its emissions and 80% of the world population never having set food on a plane.

    As the world witnesses the announced death of the 1.5º C barrier, scientists and people worldwide call for a full shift in terms of how society relates to aviation and other high emission sectors, to be able to avert the worst effects of climate breakdown which, while affecting everyone, will be even more deadly for the poorest and most vulnerable parts of society.

    The rich need to step up and cut superfluous habits such as using private jets, if the entire society is to support a move towards the necessary change.

    A report by Oxfam highlighted that the richest 1% grabbed nearly two-thirds of all new wealth created since 2020, totaling $42 trillion, almost twice as much money as the bottom 99% of the world’s population.

    The demands of the Make Them Pay campaign seek to pave the road towards a fairer wealth distribution: an annual wealth tax of up to 5% on the world’s billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to deliver a 10-year plan to end hunger, support poorer countries being ravaged by climate impacts, and deliver universal healthcare and social protection for everyone living in low-income countries.

    Climate inequality is one of the world’s most pressing problems, and questions of social and economic justice must be at the heart of how we act on the climate collapse.

    Featured image and additional images via Extinction Rebellion

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Beta goon Laurence Fox smashes un-MOT’d Audi into bus after far-right rally – then selfies himself with the cops

    On Saturday 1 June, several thousand goons descended on London – probably not expecting a bus to end up the centre of attention:

    This latest protest was supposedly about ‘two-tiered’ policing, which was weird because the attendees were chanting things like “who the fuck is Allah?”. While they might be unsure who Allah is, we can tell you definitively that he doesn’t work for the Met Police.

    Like all such protests, this one ended with a seemingly drunk goon getting himself into trouble. Hilariously, the goon in question was failed London Mayor Laurence Fox:

    Laurence Fox: bang tidy (the goon rally, not him)

    Laurence Fox claims that the goon rally was “clean”, “tidy” and “respectful”:

    What Fox mistook for cleanliness, however, may have been streets rinsed with piss:

     

    Nick Lowles of Hope not Hate was one of the people documenting the “respectful” behaviour of the goons:

    Lowles was of the opinion that for all his self-promotion, Fox is a very minor player in all this – what his friends might think of as a ‘beta goon’:

    Ironically, the goons who are dead against foreign influence seem content for Britain to carry on serving as America’s lapdog:

    Meanwhile, left-wing counter protestor Dr Louise Raw had this message for soon-to-be-redundant MP Suella Braverman:

    Mukhtar vs Fox

    Another person documenting the day was Mukhtar – the man Laurence Fox infamously failed to sue. Byline Times interviewed Mukhtar on that matter:

    I told Laurence Fox he was ‘a racist piece of shit’ on social media, and stand by every word

    He added:

    Fox’s threat of libel action against me was ridiculous and never stood a chance of succeeding. He tried to flex his muscles and bully me, and it didn’t work. If I continue to call out Laurence Fox as a racist, he can try to sue me again if he wants, but he won’t because he knows he’ll lose.

    And he didn’t lose to just anybody, he lost – badly, and very publicly – to a young Black boy. I think that will have hurt and embarrassed him. Now he even gets heckled about it in the streets.

    That saga spawned from this tweet of Fox’s:

    On Saturday 1 June, Mukhtar provided observations such as the following:

    The tweet that really captured everyone’s attention, however, was the following:

    Laurence Fox: bus wanker

    Mukhtar’s tweets provided interesting commentary on the aftermath of the accident:

    According to Mukhtar, Laurence Fox failed to live up to his ‘man of the people’ image (not that surprising given the man in question wasn’t white):

    Twitter user Michael Morgan uploaded a video in which Fox can be heard discussing the crash with the driver:

    To give Fox the benefit of the doubt, he had just been in a car crash with a bus, so may have been concussed. Additionally, he’d spent several hours at a goon rally which almost certainly destroyed several of his remaining brain cells.

    Regardless of Fox’s state of sobriety, people had fun with it:

    Some people pointed out that Fox recently claimed he was leaving the capital – a story we reported on at the time:

    Perhaps funniest of all is this allegation:

    We verified this ourselves:

    According to RAC, Fox could be fined up to £1,000 for this, with that amount rising if he failed an MOT because the car was found to be ‘dangerous’. That’s a drop in the ocean to Fox, obviously, given that he was recently ordered to pay £180k after losing a different court case.

    Culture

    Protesters arguing it’s ‘London not Londonistan’ might be interested to know the capital’s history, given that it was originally founded by the Romans.

    While the Romans weren’t Muslim, they also weren’t natives of the British Isles. Following the logic these people don’t have, should London be returned to the Romans? Or should so-called British people with Roman, Viking, and/or French DNA be split into parts and deported back to where their ancestors came from?

    The past has been and gone, and the world we have now is the only one we can build from.

    Do we want a world in which several thousand goons dictate who can and can’t live here?

    No, of course not. And if people don’t like that London is and always has been multicultural, maybe they should do what they keep threatening to do and leave:

    It’s like the old saying goes: ‘if you can’t take the pace of modern life, get out of the bus lane‘:

    Featured image via Twitter

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.

  • Photojournalist shoved, microphone damaged at NYC protest

    Independent photojournalist Peter Hambrecht was shoved into a bus mirror by a New York City police officer, damaging his microphone, while he was covering a pro-Palestinian protest near the Manhattan Bridge on May 11, 2024.

    Hambrecht told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that the protest began in downtown Brooklyn near Barclays Center before demonstrators marched up Flatbush Avenue. The protest broke into separate groups following rounds of arrests by police, with a large group walking beside and attempting to enter the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.

    He said that he was walking behind officers from the New York City Police Department’s Strategic Response Group, a heavily armored unit used for crowd control, and higher-ranking officers wearing white shirts when they arrested a demonstrator who had been drumming.

    “They grabbed someone and pushed them against the school bus that’s right next to me,” Hambrecht said. “I’m trying to back up a little bit and then I get shoved by a white shirt, ramming me into the front mirror and it ends up cutting my shoulder open and pinning my microphone, which damaged it.”

    In Hambrecht’s footage of the drummer’s arrest, an officer can be seen pushing a second individual against the bus in front of Hambrecht. Within seconds and without warning, a commanding officer shoves Hambrecht backward into the mirror extending from the hood of the bus and the sound on the footage cuts out. When sound resumes, the officer can be heard saying, “On the sidewalk.”

    “He pushed me on the sidewalk and kept pushing me further even once I was on it,” Hambrecht told the Tracker. “It was very aggressive.” He added that he was wearing a press credential issued by the mayor’s office and was clearly identifiable as a journalist.

    After beginning to document protests in early 2024, Hambrecht said, he has observed police singling out visual journalists. “Ever since getting my city-issued pass I’ve noticed that they target the photographers and really they try to get you out of there and separate you.”

    The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Journalist arrested while covering Virginia campus protest

    Journalist Evan Urquhart was arrested while covering a Virginia State Police operation to clear pro-Palestinian protesters from the University of Virginia’s campus in Charlottesville on May 4, 2024.

    Students had set up an encampment on a university lawn April 30 to protest Israel’s war in Gaza and call for the school to divest its endowment from Israel, according to Virginia Public Media. After protesters erected tents to shelter from rain on the night of May 3, in violation of what the university said was school policy, state police in riot gear moved in the next day to clear the encampment. At least 25 protesters and onlookers were arrested.

    Urquhart, a freelance journalist and founder of news website Assigned Media, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker via email that he had visited the encampment for a potential story around five times, to “look around, looking for things like anti-semitic signs or chants, counter-protesters, and of course police activity.”

    “I was very careful all of the times I went, including on May 4, to identify myself clearly as press and avoid anything that could be construed as participating in the protest or showing support for the protest,” he told the Tracker. “I told anyone who asked my name, my website's name, and some of the outlets where I'd freelanced in the past.”

    When he arrived at the campus May 4 to cover the protest, the journalist said that police had already separated the encampment itself from a gathering crowd of onlookers and protesters.

    Urquhart ended up at the front of the crowd, straining to see around the police line and taking photos. He said he was wearing a name tag with “PRESS” handwritten on it and told the police he was a journalist. “This not being my usual beat, I realize now my positioning was bad to avoid what happened after the encampment itself was cleared,” he added.

    He went on to describe how the police line pushed forward, moving the crowd of onlookers back. “Near the start of that process I was pushed over by one of the police officers as he moved forward, and then arrested after I fell.” The journalist added that he had “no reason to think the officer intended to push me down,” saying, “I may have been distracted or I may have tripped as I tried to step back, maybe both.”

    Urquhart said he was charged with misdemeanor trespassing and released five or six hours after his arrest. The charges were dropped May 15, after the district attorney said there wasn’t enough evidence to justify proceeding with the case.

    He said he also received a no trespass order from the university May 4, denying him access to the campus grounds. “Until that moment I hadn't heard anything about trespassing from the police or through any sort of sign or alert,” Urquhart said.

    He said he appealed the order May 9 and it was lifted May 15.

    The Virginia State Police did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Photojournalist shoved, camera equipment damaged at NYC protest

    Independent photojournalist Michael Nigro was shoved and his camera equipment damaged by a New York City police officer while documenting a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Brooklyn on May 18, 2024.

    Brooklyn Paper reported that the rally marking Nakba Day — which commemorates the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 — has been held in the Bay Ridge neighborhood for years without incident.

    Nigro told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he has documented the rally six or seven times in years prior and described the demonstration as a generally family-friendly, community event. He said that the police response was markedly different this year, with officers in riot gear and from the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a heavily armored group used for crowd control, present from the beginning.

    Shortly after protesters took to the street, Nigro said, officers made the first arrest of the day. Nigro said he filmed the detainment and had complied with orders to step back when an officer assaulted him.

    “I didn’t see him coming,” Nigro said, “he just came over and smacked my camera. With the vibration in the camera and the sound that I heard, I thought, ‘He just broke my lens.’ Then I saw that the hood was cracked and thankfully the lens was not.”

    In footage of the incident captured by another photojournalist, a commanding officer can be seen grabbing Nigro’s camera and using it to shove him back and to the side, striking the camera against another photographer in the process. As the first officer walks away, a second can be seen pushing Nigro backward.

    Nigro followed the commanding officer to ask him for his name and badge number, and the officer identified himself as Jesse Lance, deputy chief executive officer patrol borough Brooklyn South. Nigro told the Tracker that Lance has interfered with members of the press documenting protests multiple times in recent months, and that officers routinely obstruct photojournalists.

    “The tactic of late with the NYPD and the press is to block us from covering it,” Nigro said. “They’ll stand in front of your camera and put their hands in front of it or just push you back and back. Or, the newest tactic has been taking the press and detaining them, sometimes flexy-cuffing them, and then letting them go.”

    Independent photojournalist Josh Pacheco was detained that day in the “catch-and-release” fashion Nigro described. Independent videographer Sam Seligson was also arrested and released the following morning on three charges. Nigro called such tactics extremely troubling.

    “They are preventing us from doing our work and from documenting the history that is happening in front of us,” Nigro told the Tracker. “It seems that they are just looking at us as the enemy, which we’re not.”

    In the meantime, Nigro added, journalists covering pro-Palestinian demonstrations in New York are banding together to watch each others’ backs and document police aggressions against them. “There needs to be some kind of pushback and accountability because if we do not it’s only going to continue and likely get worse.”

    The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.


    This content originally appeared on U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database and was authored by U.S. Press Freedom Tracker: Incident Database.

    This post was originally published on Radio Free.

  • Time’s up for the government to stop Israel arms exports – as group vows to ‘disrupt London’

    A youth-led protest group has threatened to “disrupt London” unless the government stops all arms export licences to Israel. However, the ‘youth demand’ is time-constrained – and the clock is ticking before time is up.

    Stop arming Israel says Youth Demand

    Youth Demand is a recently-formed direct action group. It not only focuses on the climate crisis, but has also be taking action over Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza. For example, Palestine Action and Youth Demand teamed up to paint the MoD headquarters in London, while other supporters marched through the capital, on Wednesday 10 April.

    They were demanding an end to the MoD contracts with Israel’s largest weapons firm, Elbit Systems and an end to all future licensing and consents for the exploration, development and production of fossil fuels in the UK, including revoking oil and gas licences issued since 2021:

    Israel Youth Demand

    However, now Youth Demand are taking things a big step further.

    As the group announced on X, it gave the UK government one week from 23 May to stop all arms licences to Israel. As the Canary previously reported Spain, Canada, Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands have all paused arms licenses or shipments to Israel over fears that they may be used in violation of international humanitarian law.

    So now, that week is just about up. Youth Demand noted that if the government didn’t comply:

    we will be disrupting London every Saturday, beginning on the 1st [June]

    Time is up

    So it seems that the disruption will go ahead. It is unclear at this point exactly what this will look like. However, the group is saying that on 1 June:

    In Jubilee Gardens at 12PM we will be meeting to take action, because we cannot allow the Israeli State to continue murdering every child, parent, sibling and grandparent in Palestine, while our government lets them.

    The group said on its website that the Tories and Labour are “fully backing the live-streamed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza”. To this end, Youth Demand is adamant it has to act. If you agree, join them in Jubilee Gardens on 1 June at 12pm. With Israel continuing its slaughter in Gaza, someone has to act.

    Featured image and additional images via Youth Demand

    By The Canary

    This post was originally published on Canary.