The novel coronavirus has complicated the election-year calendar for Africa, as elsewhere, prompting some polling delays, suspensions and uncertainties. It also has created openings for leaders to exploit fears and tighten their grips on power, political observers say.At least nine African countries – including Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe – have postponed elections at some level because of COVID-19 infection risks, the FILE – A police officer prods a man at a checkpoint during lockdown in the Eastleigh neighborhood of Nairobi, Kenya, May 7, 2020.Punitive measuresThe storms already have started, says Human Rights Watch’s Africa director, Mausi Segun.Governments have declared states of emergency and imposed lockdowns to halt the spread of infection. But some have used restrictions to crack down on perceived enemies, she told VOA.In Guinea’s capital, Conakry, “we have seen it used against political opposition. Many are being arrested in their homes under the cover” of COVID-19 restrictions, Segun said. “We’ve seen them [governments] use it against journalists in Somalia, Rwanda and in Nigeria.”She also noted crackdowns against the LGBT community in Uganda, where a presidential election is expected early next year – and where longtime leader Yoweri Museveni has hinted at a possible delay. “It will be madness” to vote while COVID infection risks lurk, Reuters reported him saying in a local television interview last month.Lockdowns have weakened opposition forces – including minority political parties and civil society groups – across the continent, Fomunyoh says. He points out they are unable to hold public meetings. Without rallies, it’s harder to mobilize support – especially in countries where communications technology is limited.The COVID-19 crisis already is sparking political instability, with opposition parties and civil society groups accusing government security forces of abuse and attacks in South Africa, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and elsewhere.Push to protect healthIn campaigning and polling, health experts have called for coronavirus safeguards.”It is very important to keep that physical distance and assuring these events do not become an occasion for the virus to spread further into the population,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s regional director for Africa, was quoted by the AFP newswire. South Korea has been held up as a model for protecting this fundamental democratic exercise. In its April 15 parliamentary elections, voters respected social distancing in polling lines, wore masks and gloves, and used hand sanitizer, a VOA reporter observed.South Koreans Preserve Democracy, Even During Pandemic South Korea vote could serve as model for other democratic countries The country had its largest turnout in nearly three decades in giving the ruling liberal party a victory, CNN reported. With a population of 51 million, South Korea had almost 11,600 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 273 deaths as of Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers.Precautions against COVID-19 infection were far less prevalent in the central-east African country of Burundi, where leaders permitted large political rallies and unrestricted movement before its May 20 vote. In campaigning, retired General Evariste Ndayishimiye, the ruling party’s presidential candidate, downplayed fears, saying, “God loves Burundi, and if there are people who have tested positive, it is so that God may manifest his power.” Burundi’s election commission named Ndayishimiye the winner with 69% of the vote, an outcome that leading opposition candidate Agathon Rwasa has challenged in the constitutional court.Crowds also have turned out in Malawi, where a rerun of last year’s contested presidential vote is set for July 2 but may be moved up to June 23. As of Wednesday, 358 COVID-19 cases and four deaths were confirmed in the landlocked southeast African country of 18 million.Conflicting currentsEspecially in countries with upcoming elections, Fomunyoh says he sees two opposing currents. The first is what he calls “authoritarian opportunism.” The second is “democratic resilience.”With authoritarian opportunism, leaders “use the cover of the pandemic and COVID-19 to shrink political space even further,” he says. They “tilt the playing field for elections in a way that would favor either themselves or their preferred candidates.””The strongest arm of government, as we see right now, is the executive branch, in most countries,” Fomunyoh says. “And so, it’s an imbalance that existed in the past but that has now been aggravated by the crisis.”Democratic resilience, the second current that he sees flowing from the COVID-19 situation, is positive.”Despite these challenges, political leaders, electoral officials, civil society, the media and all of the progressive forces that we continue to see across Africa are going to work collectively,” he says, “to make sure that the emerging democracies that we see on the continent come out of this crisis stronger.”Ideally, the analyst says, leaders will resist the temptation to stifle critics and will go beyond “patronage networks” to consult other stakeholders when making important decisions. They’ll choose accountability and transparency rather than use coronavirus as an excuse for secrecy. But, he says, “it’s a long shot. Old autocratic habits die hard.”Fomunyoh encourages all political parties to engage with citizens. Otherwise, he says, “the electoral process could become a very hollow process, and whoever gets declared as the winner may not have the legitimacy to be able to govern.”Carol Guensburg contributed to this report, which originated in VOA’s English to Africa Service.
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Month: June 2020
Scientist Defends Sweden’s Hotly Debated Virus Strategy
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist on Wednesday defended his country’s controversial coronavirus strategy, which avoided a lockdown but resulted in one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world.
Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency denied that “the Swedish strategy was wrong and should be changed. That’s not the case.”
“We still believe that our strategy is good, but there is always room for improvement. … You can always get better at this job,” Tegnell told a news conference in Stockholm.
Sweden has stood out among European nations and the world for the way it has handled the pandemic, not shutting down the country or the economy like other nations but relying on citizens’ sense of civic duty. Swedish authorities have advised people to practice social distancing, but schools, bars and restaurants have been kept open the entire time. Only gatherings of more than 50 people have been banned.
Tegnell’s statement to reporters came after more contrite comments earlier in the day to Swedish radio in which he said “I think there is potential for improvement in what we have done in Sweden, quite clearly.”
Asked if the country’s high death toll has made him reconsider his unique approach to the pandemic, Tegnell told Swedish radio “yes, absolutely.”
According to the national health agency, Sweden, a nation of 10.2 million people, has seen 4,542 deaths linked to COVID-19, which is far more than its Nordic neighbors and one of the highest per capita death rates in the world. Denmark has had 580 coronavirus deaths, Finland has seen 320 and Norway has had 237, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
“If we were to encounter the same disease again, knowing precisely what we know about it today, I think we would settle on doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done,” Tegnell, considered the architect of the unique Swedish pandemic approach, told SR.
Still, authorities in Sweden, including Tegnell, have been criticized — and some have apologized — for failing to protect the country’s elderly and nursing home residents.
But Tegnell said Wednesday it was still unclear what the country should have done differently. He also said other nations are unable to tell exactly what measures affected the outcomes of their outbreaks because they threw everything at the crisis at once.
“Maybe we know that now, when you start easing the measures, we could get some kind of lesson about what else, besides what we did, you could do without a total shutdown,” Tegnell said in the radio interview.
At the news conference, Tegnell made it clear that his previous statement “was an admission that we always can become better. I’m sure my colleagues all over the world would say the same thing. There are always aspects which we could have handled this situation even better than we do today, now, as we learn more and more things,” he told The Associated Press.
“Sometimes I feel like a personal punchbag, but that’s OK. I can live with that,” Tegnell added.
Sweden’s COVID-19 infection rate of 43.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants is lower than Spain’s (58.1) and Italy’s (55.4), but is higher than reported rates in the United States (32.1) and Brazil (14.3), according to Johns Hopkins University.
Last week, the country’s former state epidemiologist, Annika Linde, said in retrospect she believes an early lockdown could have saved lives in Sweden. Political pressure has also forced the Swedish government to speed up an investigation into the handling of the pandemic.
Ordinary Swedes are not sure what to think.
“I’m not walking around thinking that we have a real disaster here in Sweden,” Jan Arpi, a 58-year-old sales executive, told The Associated Press. “I think we have it more or less under control, but we have to be even more careful now after we learned how the virus is spread, especially among elderly people.”
Tegnell’s pandemic tactics made Sweden a bit of a local pariah in the Nordics and didn’t spare the Swedish economy.
Sweden’s economy, which relies heavily on exports, is expected to shrink 7% in 2020 and the finance minister says the Scandinavian country is headed for “a very deep economic crisis.”
More than 76,000 people have been made redundant since the outbreak began and unemployment, which now stands at 7.9%, is expected to climb higher.
On the travel front, neighboring Norway and Denmark said they were dropping mutual border controls but would keep Sweden out of a Nordic “travel bubble.”
The Danes said they will reopen the border next month to residents of Germany, Norway and Iceland as the country eased its coronavirus lockdown. But Denmark, which has a bridge that goes directly into Sweden, has postponed a decision reopening to Swedish visitors until after the summer.
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US to Bar Air China Planes From Entering Country
The United States said Wednesday it will prohibit Air China planes from entering the country beginning on June 16 as part of an effort to pressure Beijing to allow American air carriers to resume flights to China. The U.S. Department of Transportation said the move came after China did not conform to an existing deal between the two countries that addresses international travel. The agency said China rejected requests from United Airlines and Delta Airlines to resume flights to China on June 1. China “remains unable” to say when it will revise its rules “to allow U.S. carriers to reinstate scheduled passenger flights,” the agency said. The requests from the U.S. airliners came even as Chinese carriers have continued flights to the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic, further escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies. The U.S. is also restricting Chinese passenger airline charter flights and will warn carriers not to expect approvals. Because of the pandemic, the U.S. barred most non-U.S. citizens who had been in China within the previous 14 days from entering the U.S. but did not impose restrictions on Chinese flights. Most large U.S. airlines voluntarily stopped all passenger flights to China in February. Delta Airlines said Wednesday “we support and appreciate the U.S. government’s actions to enforce our rights and ensure fairness.” United Airlines did not immediately comment, nor did the Chinese Embassy in Washington. An earlier version of this story mistakenly featured a photo of a Taiwan China Airlines plane, which is distinct from China’s Air China. VOA regrets the error.
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Scientists Warn Of Dangers As Britain Eases Covid-19 Lockdown
Britain this week eased its lockdown rules, with some pupils returning to school and many families allowed to meet for the first time since March, when measures were implemented to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Britain was one of the slowest countries to lock down and is now one of the worst-hit, with almost 50,000 COVID-19 deaths. Some scientists are now warning that relaxing lockdown rules could trigger a second wave of the pandemic. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.Camera: Henry Ridgwell Produced by: Jon Spier
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Turkey: Officers Disperse Anti-Police Brutality Protest
Police in Istanbul have dispersed a small group of demonstrators who gathered in the Turkish city to denounce police violence and to stand in solidarity with protesters in the United States. At least 29 demonstrators were detained, Turkey’s state-run agency reported.
Anadolu Agency said riot police broke up the demonstration in Istanbul’s Kadikoy district late Tuesday after the group of about 50 activists ignored calls to disperse.
Some of the anti-police violence activists were seen carrying a poster of George Floyd, who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while the handcuffed black man called out that he couldn’t breathe.
Floyd’s death on May 25 sparked protests that spread across the U.S. and beyond.
Turkish authorities frequently impose bans on public demonstrations or gatherings on security grounds. Human rights groups often accuse police of using disproportionate force to break up demonstrations.
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Curfews Give Sweeping Powers to Cops, But Are Often Flouted
Hundreds of cities have imposed curfews to keep the peace during a week of violent unrest across the U.S., employing a tactic that gives law enforcement sweeping arrest powers but is frequently flouted and criticized as being unconstitutional.From New York City to Fargo, North Dakota, cities large and small have put curfews in place — in some cases for the first time in decades — sending out emergency notices on phones and highway signs urging people to stay off the streets.But the deadlines aren’t hard and fast — many of them have exceptions for people heading to and from work, reporters, public transportation and even people buying groceries. Many protesters and citizens have routinely disregarded the restrictions, and police have allowed peaceful demonstrations to continue after curfew while focusing their attention on violent unrest.In New York City, an 11 p.m. curfew was originally put in place this week for what appeared to be the first time in nearly 80 years. Mayor Bill de Blasio rolled it back to 8 p.m., but thousands of people defied the curfew Tuesday night, continuing to march in parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan. After initially standing by and letting protesters continue, officers began ordering people to leave and some people were taken into custody.On an overall calmer night in New York City, de Blasio said the relative quiet was due partly to the curfew. ” So far, the curfew is certainly helping, based on everything I’ve seen in Brooklyn and Manhattan over the last three hours,” de Blasio tweeted.A curfew allows police the ability without any other reason to threaten to arrest or detain crowds of protesters that linger or groups that appear to be a danger to order. And curfews can be a deterrent to get law-abiding citizens off the street and allow police to focus their efforts on the unrest and not get bogged down in run-of-the-mill violations.They have been installed in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Detroit, Denver, Philadelphia and hundreds of other cities and communities across the country.Curfews aren’t unusual in the United States but are typically used in natural disasters like hurricanes, floods and tornadoes to allow law enforcement to stop anyone on the streets and prevent stealing when many homes and empty or damaged. New York City has used curfews in specific locations like parks — sometimes with controversial results.The 1988 Tompkins Square Park riot in Manhattan had to do in part with a then-newly imposed 1 a.m. parks department curfew in a bid to rid the park of drugs and crime. In enforcing the curfew, police flooded the park with officers and were accused of rampant abuses.Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani ramped up enforcement of Central Park’s nightly closure after a string of robberies in the late 1990s. Giuliani was so strict about the curfew, he wouldn’t grant an exception for a late-night vigil to John Lennon, despite intercession from the lord mayor of Liverpool on behalf of aggrieved Beatles fans.During the unrest of the past week, police also want bystanders off the street during unrest — and the curfew solves that.”The curfew really is to keep people from coming sort of to gawk at what’s going on and keep the looky-loos away,” said Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen, whose city’s 8 p.m. Monday curfew appeared to help prevent the destructive demonstrations from the night before.The curfews also come on the heels of lockdowns and stay-at-home orders imposed during the coronavirus pandemic, making for an unprecedented stretch in cities like New York.In Columbia, South Carolina, officials lifted a weekend curfew and the mayor joined an afternoon protest at the state capitol calling for police reform. But several dozen people stayed for hours after the protest ended as tensions with police grew as shadows got longer.Just before 7:30 p.m. Monday, Columbia, South Carolina , Mayor Steve Benjamin set a curfew for 7:45 p.m. for a small area of downtown and an areas of restaurants and shops. The city sent an emergency notice and protesters looked at their screens as their phones started to buzz and the curfew set in. The protesters immediately started to walk away.But some civil rights organizations think hastily issued curfews are unfair and against the First Amendment of the Constitution.”By making presence on public streets anywhere in these cities unlawful, these measures give police too much discretion over whom to arrest,” said the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California after a number of cities issued curfews.New York City on Monday found out an unintended consequence of a curfew is keeping away law-abiding protesters. The night before, they banded together to stop vandalism and help police find lawbreakers.It also sends a subtle message, said New York City Council member Ydanis Rodriguez.”Implementing a curfew and increasing the number of police officers patrolling the streets is a tactic to effectively silence the voices raised in protest against the abuse of power and looting of black and colored bodies by members of the police,” Rodriguez said.Curfews can cause other problems too. Charleston, South Carolina, had a curfew for three days after late night Saturday protests led to shattered windows for restaurants and businesses and stolen merchandise downtown.Monday night was quiet. And Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said he immediately heard from a certain group of people.”We want to give our businesses a chance to get back into business,” Tecklenburg told his City Council at a Tuesday meeting lifting the curfew.A curfew also allows police to separate people who want to protest while following the law from people who want to cause harm, said Tamara Herold, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. That makes it easier for law enforcement to decide how to use force to break up unrest.”One of the things police always want to avoid is using indiscriminate force against a large crowd,” Herold said.
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Ethiopian Diaspora Champions Digital Apps in Fight Against COVID
In Ethiopia, mobile applications are spreading fast to help health care workers and the public fight against COVID-19, which has claimed 12 lives in the country and affected about 1,100 people. Ethiopian web developers have designed seven apps that do everything from virus tracing to sharing data and patient information among health workers. But while the apps are spreading in cities, getting into remote and poor areas of Ethiopia remains a challenge. FILE – Ethiopians have their temperature checked for symptoms of the new coronavirus, at the Zewditu Memorial Hospital in the capital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 18, 2020.Just days after Ethiopia confirmed its first case of the coronavirus in March, 38-year-old software engineer Mike Endale, who emigrated to the U.S. 20 years ago, sent out a solitary tweet calling for help. He called on all software developers and engineers in the Ethiopian diaspora to help the health ministry by contributing open source software to respond to COVID-19. Endale became coordinator of the Ethiopia COVID-19 Response Team, a volunteer force of doctors, artificial intelligence specialists, software engineers and data analysts. He spoke via a messaging application from Washington, D.C., where he works as principal technologist at BLEN Corporation, a company that provides technology solutions for the public sector and charities. “People just organically gathered around a slack channel and we started figuring out how to help,” he said. “So, the impetus for the group was… to see if we could augment the Ministry of Health’s work in a couple of areas. One originally was around tech. Luckily for that there was already an internal initiative going on that started a day before [we originated]. We got connected with them and we started working on broad-based solutions.” Alongside software engineers at the Ministry of Health and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, Endale’s army of tech gurus helped to develop a series of applications to aid health workers. The apps allow health workers to register the identity and medical profiles of people entering the country and also record information about those in contact with COVID-19 patients. The ministry’s contact tracing team is then sent into communities with tablet computers to identify suspected infections and test for the virus. Though still limited in their use, the apps are modernizing how health workers and hospitals accurately and quickly share information in Ethiopia, where — until the pandemic — patient data was recorded on paper. Other apps created through the response team can be downloaded by the public. The COVID-19 Ethiopia app was launched in late May so that the public can self-report cases or alert health authorities to others with symptoms. And an app called Debo captures the identity of anyone who comes within two meters of the user so that contacts can be traced should the person one day test positive. “This is very important work for the country in responding to COVID-19,” said Biruhtesfa Abere, a senior health information specialist at the Ministry of Health. “Also, for decision makers, the ministry task force is sitting here trying to forecast how many cases they’re going to have in the future, next month. So, they need data, they need baseline data.” Biruhtesfa says the digital tools mean that test results — thousands per day — can be shared to health workers nationwide within 24 hours, allowing those who test negative for the virus to leave isolation quicker. Data in the apps are also being used to record where test kits are sent in Ethiopia, how many are being used, and how many are being wasted. But while the apps are making progress in cities, Biruhtesfa says getting rural health workers using the tools where good internet and smartphones are rare, is a challenge. “The tool can help you manage your records, maintain contact listing and [record] the relationship of the positive person’s contacts in the past 14 days. That is basically automated and fully functional,” he said. “But the problem is bringing the users on board to use the system. We are strongly pushing contact tracing and the follow-up team to record using the system and they are coming a little bit at a time. They will be on board very soon.” Biruhtesfa says the health ministry is rolling out training sessions via video link to health workers in rural areas so they can learn how to use the applications. And 30,000 tablet computers that were to be used for Ethiopia’s national census are being repurposed so that health workers in areas with poor internet can also use the applications. Endale’s global network of volunteers are now organizing themselves beyond developing digital apps for Ethiopia. He says members of the community have organized themselves into ten different work streams for tasks such as donation drives and repairing ventilators.
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Cameroon Silent on Reports That Detained Journalist Died in Military Custody
Journalists and activists in Cameroon are calling on the government to respond to media reports this week that the military has killed in detention journalist Samuel Wazizi. The military detained Wazizi about a year ago for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists and he has not been seen in public since. Lawyer and rights defender Christopher Ndong says he has reliable information that Cameroonian journalist Samuel Wazizi died in a military hospital in Yaoundé of wounds inflicted on him by the military.”The brutal torture that was exerted on Wazizi by military officers is a condemnable act,” said Ndong. “He was arrested and badly tortured and when he fell ill, they took him to a military hospital in Yaoundé, where he finally died. And so, we are asking for an independent investigation to detect all the culprits so that they should be brought to book and punished.”Ndong says does not know when Wazizi died but most local media have this week been reporting his death as confirmed and that military officials are refusing to release his body. Cameroonian activists and journalists are calling on the government to respond to the reports and explain the circumstances, if Wazizi is in fact dead. Ambe Macmillan Awah is president of Cameroon’s Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ). He says Wazizi’s death in prison would prove how officials continue to abuse the media. “Cameroon is a state of law and our laws provide for journalists to be tried. So, we keep asking, why was the law not applied? We are calling on the competent authorities to investigate and bring all the perpetrators to book,” said Awah. “Nobody is above the law.”Samuel Wazizi, whose legal name is Samuel Ajiekah Abuwe, worked for Chillen Music Television. Police arrested Wazizi last August for allegedly supporting anglophone separatists in Cameroon’s English-speaking western regions and turned him over to the military. He hasn’t been seen since. The military claims Wazizi was hosting rebels on his farm. After Wazizi’s disappearance, authorities threatened to go after any journalists reporting on alleged military abuses or giving a voice to the rebels. Yaoundé-based freelance journalist Ndi Eugene Ndi says it is becoming impossible to report in Cameroon’s English-speaking west regions under such pressure. “If you do a report which seems like giving some little credit to the separatists, you should be sure of meeting a military court,” said Ndi. “It is not easy. We are not safe.”Cameroon’s Association of English-Speaking Journalists (CAMASEJ) says Wazizi was being held in a prison in the capital, Yaounde. Both a military spokesman and a government spokesman refused to comment on Wazizi and the reports of his death.
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AP Sources: White House Softens on Sending Troops to States
After threatening states that he would dispatch the military to quell protests, President Donald Trump appeared to be privately backing off, with White House officials saying the response to demonstrations across the country indicated that local governments should be able to restore order themselves.
The shift came as protests in Washington and other cities over police brutality against minorities proceeded Tuesday with relative calm, a striking contrast to the harsh crackdowns outside the White House on Monday night. The president wanted to make the aggressive action in the nation’s capital an example for the rest of the country, a senior White House official said Tuesday.
The Defense Department has drafted contingency plans for deploying active-duty military if needed. Pentagon documents reviewed by The Associated Press showed plans for soldiers from an Army division to protect the White House and other federal buildings if the security situation in the nation’s capital were to deteriorate and the National Guard could not secure the facilities.
But interest in exerting that extraordinary federal authority appeared to be waning in the White House. Though the crackdown on the Washington demonstrations was praised by some Trump supporters Tuesday, a handful of Republicans expressed concern that law enforcement officers risked violating the protesters’ First Amendment rights. Trump’s defense secretary also distanced himself from Trump’s decision to walk across Lafayette Park for a photo opportunity at a church after the demonstrators had been cleared.President Donald Trump stands outside St. John’s Church, June 1, 2020, in Washington. Standing with Trump are Mark Esper, from left, William Barr, Robert O’Brien, Kayleigh McEnany and Mark Meadows.Pentagon Chief Mark Esper, who walked with Trump to St. John’s Church on Monday evening, insisted he did not know the president’s destination.
“I didn’t know where I was going,” Esper told NBC News. He said he had expected to view damage to a bathroom facility that had been vandalized in Lafayette Park, across from the White House, and talk with National Guard troops positioned there.
Protests have sprung up following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pinned him down and pressed Floyd’s neck with his knee. Violent demonstrations have raged in scores of American cities, a level of unrest unseen for decades.
The situation in Washington escalated Monday, becoming a potent symbol of Trump’s policing tactics and a physical manifestation of the rhetorical culture war he has stoked since before he was elected. Nearly 30 minutes before a 7 p.m. curfew in Washington, U.S. Park Police repelled protesters with what they said were smoke canisters and pepper balls.
“D.C. had no problems last night. Many arrests. Great job done by all. Overwhelming force. Domination,” Trump tweeted Tuesday, after a night in which heavily armed military forces and federal officers swarmed the city. Trump added, “(thank you President Trump!).”
The clampdown followed a weekend of demonstrations outside the White House. Trump had been furious about images juxtaposing fires set in the park outside the executive mansion with a darkened White House in the background, according to current and former campaign and administration officials. He was also angry about the news coverage revealing he had been rushed to the White House bunker during Friday’s protests.A line of DC National Guard members stand in Lafayette Park as demonstrators gather to protest the death of George Floyd, June 2, 2020, near the White House in Washington.In a Monday address in the Rose Garden, he called on governors to ramp up the National Guard presence to tamp down the protests. If they didn’t, Trump said, he would dispatch the military to their states — a step rarely taken in modern American history.
The federal government has provided affected states with a list of National Guard resources available to them, the White House official said. The official added that Trump’s message to governors was that if they don’t use all the tools in their arsenal, they shouldn’t expect a sympathetic response to any request for federal dollars to help with cleanup and recovery down.
On Monday, 715 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division arrived in the capital area in case the situation in Washington escalated. They are stationed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and Fort Belvoir in Virginia. Two more 82nd Airborne battalions, totaling 1,300 soldiers, are on standby at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, according to documents reviewed by the AP. The plan is named Operation Themis.
The soldiers on standby in the Washington area are armed and have riot gear and bayonets. After the AP first reported the issuing of bayonets Tuesday, orders came down that soldiers would not need the knife-like weapons that can be affixed to rifles, according to two soldiers from the 82nd who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear they would be punished for commenting publicly.
The idea that bayonets could be used in confronting civilians provoked an outcry on social media and among some members of Congress.
Administration officials were privately acknowledging that Monday’s events didn’t serve the administration well. Some Republican lawmakers, typically in lockstep with the president or at least refrain from publicly criticizing him, said Trump had gone too far in appearing to use force to clear the way for his visit to the church.
“There is no right to riot, no right to destroy others’ property, and no right to throw rocks at police,” said Nebraska Republican Sen. Ben Sasse. “But there is a fundamental — a constitutional — right to protest, and I’m against clearing out a peaceful protest for a photo op that treats the Word of God as a political prop.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, said of Trump posing for photos holding up a Bible, “I just wish he opened it once in a while.”
It was Attorney General William Barr who gave the order for law enforcement to clear out the protest before Trump’s walk to the church ahead of Washington’s 7 p.m. curfew. A person familiar with the matter said the decision was made earlier Monday, but had not been executed by the time Barr arrived in Lafayette Park to survey the scene. He verbally gave the order at that time.
After the demonstrators had been pushed out of the park, Trump emerged from the White House with several officials, including Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Senior defense officials told reporters Milley was also not aware that the Park Police and law enforcement had made a decision to clear the square or that Trump intended to visit the church. They had been in Washington to coordinate with federal law enforcement officials but were
diverted to the White House to brief Trump on military preparations, the officials said.
The White House, Defense, campaign officials and others with knowledge of Monday’s events all insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
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Asian Markets Post Solid Gains for 3rd Straight Day
Asian markets rose for a third consecutive day Wednesday thanks to growing optimism over a gradual post-pandemic recovery. The Nikkei in Tokyo closed 1.2% higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index is trading 1.2% higher in late afternoon trading. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index and the TSEC in Taiwan are both up 1.7%, while the KOSPI in Seoul is 2.8% higher. The Shanghai Composite index is trending upward but is basically unchanged. Oil markets are also on the upswing, with U.S. crude selling at $37.59 per barrel, up 2.1%, while Brent crude is selling at $40.19 per barrel, up 1.5%. All three major U.S. indexes are trending upward in futures trading Wednesday, indicating another good day for investors on Wall Street.
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Indigenous Australians Show Solidarity With US Protesters
As protests take place in the United States of America, indigenous families who have had bad experiences with law enforcement say police brutality is a serious problem in Australia. Aboriginal Australians make up about 3 percent of the total population, but almost a third of the prison population are indigenous. David Dungay Jr died in a prison hospital in Sydney in 2015 after being forcibly moved to an observation cell, restrained face down by guards, and sedated. The incident was captured on video, and the inmate was heard telling staff that he could not breathe ten times. The 26-year old Australian Aboriginal man eventually lost consciousness and could not be revived.For his family, the death of George Floyd many thousands of kilometers away in the US state of Minnesota has brought back traumatic memories. They believe the two men died in similar circumstances, although David Dungay Jr.’s death attracted no international headlines and no formal charges were made. His mother Leetona Dungay believes George Floyd’s death is another example of deep-seated racism. “It was very devastating to look at that, too, because of the memory of putting my son in the ground just like that had to put George (Floyd), their son, in the ground. Black lives do matter and Aboriginal lives matter. David Junior life’s matter(s),” Dungay said.
More than 430 indigenous Australians have died in custody since a landmark inquiry in the early 1990s. The royal commission made sweeping recommendations. Its key finding was the need to reduce the rate at which Aboriginal people are jailed. That has not happened. 30 percent of Australia’s prison inmates are indigenous, as are half of those in youth detention. However, Australia’s original inhabitants make up just 3 percent of the national population. Campaigners have long argued that Aboriginal Australians suffer widespread racism and discrimination.This week, an Australian police officer was filmed tripping up an Aboriginal boy, who was then pinned to the ground. Onlookers claim unnecessary force was used, but assistant police commissioner Mick Willing says it was not an act of brutality. “I am concerned that people will use this video, this footage, to create it into something it is not. As I said, we are all well aware of what is happening overseas but this is not the United States of America. We have very, very good relations with our local community,” Willing said.Four Australian states have indigenous courts. They abide by Australian law, but allow Aboriginal elders to take part in the process to help create a more culturally-sensitive forum for sentencing Indigenous offenders. Researchers say that Aboriginal people have lived in Australia for at least 65,000 years, and believe that this predates the human settlement of Europe and the Americas. Their land was colonized by the British in 1788. Despite a rich history and enduring culture, the Aboriginal people suffer high rates of poverty, ill-health and imprisonment.
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‘Dangerous’: Around World, Police Chokeholds Scrutinized
Three days after George Floyd died with a Minneapolis police officer choking off his air, another black man writhed on the tarmac of a street in Paris as a police officer pressed a knee to his neck during an arrest. Immobilization techniques where officers apply pressure with their knees on prone suspects are used in policing around the world and have long drawn criticism. One reason why Floyd’s death is sparking anger and touching nerves globally is that such techniques have been blamed for asphyxiations and other deaths in police custody beyond American shores, often involving non-white suspects. “We cannot say that the American situation is foreign to us,” said French lawmaker Francois Ruffin, who has pushed for a ban on the police use of face-down holds that are implicated in multiple deaths in France, a parliamentary effort put on hold by the coronavirus pandemic. The muscular arrest on May 28 in Paris of a black man who was momentarily immobilized face-up with an officer’s knee and upper shin pressing down on his jaw, neck and upper chest is among those that have drawn angry comparisons with the killing of Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis. The Paris arrest was filmed by bystanders and widely shared and viewed online. Police said the man was driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and without a license and that he resisted arrest and insulted officers. His case was turned over to prosecutors. In Hong Kong, where police behavior is a hot-button issue after months of anti-government protests, the city’s force says it is investigating the death of a man who was immobilized face-down during his arrest in May by officers who were filmed kneeling on his shoulder, back and neck.A man walks past extra barricades that have been erected near the Legislative Council in Hong Kong on May 26, 2020.Police rules and procedures on chokeholds and restraints vary internationally. In Belgium, police instructor Stany Durieux says he reprimands trainees, docking them points, “every time I see a knee applied to the spinal column.” “It is also forbidden to lean on a suspect completely, as this can crush his rib cage and suffocate him,” he said. Condemned by police and experts in the United States, Floyd’s death also drew criticism from officers abroad who disassociated themselves from the behavior of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. He was charged with third-degree murder after he was filmed pushing down with his knee on Floyd’s neck until Floyd stopped crying out that he couldn’t breathe and eventually stopped moving. In Israel, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said “there is no tactic or protocol that calls to put pressure on the neck or airway.” In Germany, officers are allowed to briefly exert pressure on the side of a suspect’s head but not on the neck, says Germany‘s GdP police union. In the U.K., the College of Policing says prone suspects should be placed on their side or in a sitting, kneeling or standing position “as soon as practicable.” Guidance on the website of London’s police force discourages the use of neck restraints, saying “any form of pressure to the neck area can be highly dangerous.” Even within countries, procedures can vary. The thick Patrol Guide, hundreds of pages long, for the New York Police Department says in bold capitals that officers “SHALL NOT” use chokeholds and should “avoid actions which may result in chest compression, such as sitting, kneeling, or standing on a subject’s chest or back, thereby reducing the subject’s ability to breathe.” But the so-called “sleeper hold,” where pressure is applied to the neck with an arm, blocking blood flow, was allowed for police in San Diego before Floyd’s death triggered a shift. Police Chief David Nisleit said he would this week order an end to the tactic. Gendarmes in France are discouraged from pressing down on the chests and vital organs of prone suspects and are no longer taught to apply pressure to the neck, said Col. Laurent De La Follye de Joux, head of training for the force. “You don’t need to be a doctor to understand that it is dangerous,” he said. But instructions for the National Police, the other main law and order force in France, appear to give its officers more leeway. Issued in 2015, they say pressure on a prone suspect’s chest “should be as short as possible.” Christophe Rouget, a police union official who briefed lawmakers for their deliberations in March about the proposal to ban suffocating techniques, said if officers don’t draw pistols or use stun-guns then immobilizing people face-down is the safest option, stopping suspects from kicking out at arresting officers. “We don’t have 5,000 options,” he said. “These techniques are used by all the police in the world because they represent the least amount of danger. The only thing is that they have to be well used. In the United States, we saw that it wasn’t well used, with pressure applied in the wrong place and for too long.” He added that the “real problem” in France is that officers don’t get enough follow-up training after being taught restraints in police school. “You need to repeat them often to do them well,” he said.
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Nation’s Streets Calmest in Days, Protests Largely Peaceful
Protests were largely peaceful and the nation’s streets were calmer than they have been in days since the killing of George Floyd set off demonstrations that at times brought violence and destruction along with pleas to stop police brutality and injustice against African Americans. There were scattered reports of looting in New York City overnight, and as of Wednesday morning there had been over 9,000 arrests nationwide since the unrest began following Floyd’s death May 25 in Minneapolis. But there was a marked quiet compared with the unrest of the past few nights, which included fires and shootings in some cities. The calmer night came as many cities intensified their curfews, with authorities in New York and Washington ordering people off streets while it was still daylight. A block away from the White House, thousands of demonstrators massed following a crackdown a day earlier when officers on foot and horseback aggressively drove peaceful protesters away from Lafayette Park, clearing the way for President Donald Trump to do a photo op at nearby St. John’s Church. Tuesday’s protesters faced law enforcement personnel who stood behind a black chain-link fence that was put up overnight to block access to the park. “Last night pushed me way over the edge,” said Jessica DeMaio, 40, of Washington, who attended a Floyd protest Tuesday for the first time. “Being here is better than being at home feeling helpless.” Pastors at the church prayed with demonstrators and handed out water bottles. The crowd remained in place after the city’s 7 p.m. curfew passed, defying warnings that the response from law enforcement could be even more forceful. But the crowd Tuesday was peaceful, even polite. At one point, the crowd booed when a protester climbed a light post and took down a street sign. A chant went up: “Peaceful protest!” Trump, meanwhile, amplified his hard-line calls from Monday, when he threatened to send in the military to restore order if governors didn’t do it. “NYC, CALL UP THE NATIONAL GUARD,” he tweeted. “The lowlifes and losers are ripping you apart. Act fast!” Thousands of people remained in the streets of New York City Tuesday night, undeterred by an 8 p.m. curfew, though most streets were clear by early Wednesday other than police who were patrolling some areas. Midtown Manhattan was pocked with battered storefronts after Monday’s protests. Protests also passed across the U.S., including in Los Angeles, Miami, St. Paul, Minnesota, Columbia, South Carolina and Houston, where the police chief talked to peaceful demonstrators, vowing reforms. “God as my witness, change is coming,” Art Acevedo said. “And we’re going to do it the right way.” More than 20,000 National Guard members have been called up in 29 states to deal with the violence. New York is not among them, and Mayor Bill de Blasio has said he does not want the Guard. On Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo called what happened in the city “a disgrace.” Demonstrators greet members of the National Guard as they march along Hollywood Boulevard, Tuesday, June 2, 2020, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.“The NYPD and the mayor did not do their job last night,” Cuomo said at a briefing in Albany. He said the mayor underestimated the problem, and the nation’s largest police force was not deployed in sufficient numbers, though the city had said it doubled the usual police presence. Tuesday marked the eighth straight night of the protests, which began after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck while the handcuffed black man called out that he couldn’t breathe. The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged with murder. The mother of George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, said she wanted the world to know that her little girl lost a good father. “I want everybody to know that this is what those officers took,” Roxie Washington said during a Minneapolis news conference with her young daughter at her side. “I want justice for him because he was good. No matter what anybody thinks, he was good.” Some protesters framed the burgeoning movement as a necessity after a string of killings by police. “It feels like it’s just been an endless cascade of hashtags of black people dying, and it feels like nothing’s really being done by our political leaders to actually enact real change,” said Christine Ohenzuwa, 19, who attended a peaceful protest at the Minnesota state Capitol in St. Paul. “There’s always going to be a breaking point. I think right now, we’re seeing the breaking point around the country.” “I live in this state. It’s really painful to see what’s going on, but it’s also really important to understand that it’s connected to a system of racial violence,” she said. Meanwhile, governors and mayors, Republicans and Democrats alike, rejected Trump’s threat to send in the military, with some saying troops would be unnecessary and others questioning whether the government has such authority and warning that such a step would be dangerous. A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the president is not rushing to send in the military and that his goal was to pressure governors to deploy more National Guard members. Such use of the military would mark a stunning federal intervention rarely seen in modern American history. Amid the protests, nine states and the District of Columbia held presidential primaries that tested the nation’s ability to run elections while balancing a pandemic and sweeping social unrest. Joe Biden won hundreds more delegates and was on the cusp of formally securing the Democratic presidential nomination. Also Tuesday, Minnesota opened an investigation into whether the Minneapolis Police Department has a pattern of discrimination against minorities.
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French Police Disperse Crowd Marking 2016 Death of Black Man
French police fired tear gas early on Wednesday to disperse protesters marking the 2016 death of a black man in a police operation that some have likened to the death of George Floyd in the United States. Reuters reporters saw police use tear gas after some of the protesters started fires and set up barricades around the Avenue de Clichy in northern Paris, which was littered with rubbish and broken glass. Thousands of people assembled earlier for a demonstration in memory of Adama Traore, a 24-year-old black Frenchman who died in a 2016 police operation. The protesters were defying a police ban imposed because of the risk of disorder and the danger of spreading the novel coronavirus. The demonstration had drawn attention on social media of people supporting the “Black Lives Matter” movement and those backing U.S. protests in response to the May 25 killing in Minneapolis of Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes. Traore’s family blamed excessive force during his arrest, when he was pinned down by three gendarmes. Successive pathology reports have reached conflicting conclusions over whether his death two hours later resulted from asphyxiation or other factors including pre-existing conditions.
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Singapore Begins to Lift Lockdown on Battered Economy
Singaporeans got perms and car repairs Tuesday when the first phase of life after lockdown began, but that will not be enough economic activity to stave off what looks to be the worst recession in the state’s history. If Singapore’s economy shrinks between 4% and 7% in 2020 because of Covid-19, which is what the trade ministry forecast last week, that would be the biggest downturn on record. The current record is from 1964, when the post-colonial economy shrank 3.1%, according to data from the World Bank. As an election looms, raising the stakes for decision makers, other records are being broken. The downturn forced Singapore to dip into its reserves, marking the first time that it has done so twice in a year. The island nation has tapped into savings to unveil yet another stimulus, the “Fortitude Budget,” to help those hurt by the virus emergency. The budget gives 33 billion Singapore dollars for programs such as wage subsidies, worker training and digitalization of things like payments and invoicing. Soh Pui Ming, who heads the tax division of consulting firm Ernst & Young Solutions LLP, said she is particularly impressed by the aid for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) “The Fortitude Budget continues to provide timely financial relief to businesses and individuals, while adopting a forward-looking approach,” she said. “I am most impressed with how the government is using this downtime to help our SMEs accelerate their transformation and upskill our workforce.” The parliament will take up debate on the budget on Thursday, which is the fourth aid package of the year, after the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, adding up to 92.9 billion Singapore dollars in aid. Hong Kong tailwind Nearby Hong Kong faces an existential crisis after China passed a law to crack down on perceived security threats on the island. For business fleeing the Hong Kong turmoil, Singapore is a common alternative. Inflows have started already, with foreign currency deposits in Singapore banks in April at nearly four times the amount in April 2019, according to data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank. That is only one example of the tailwinds in Singapore despite COVID-19. Some businesses that will grow in 2020 are those dealing in biomedical products and information technology, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. There “are pockets of resilience in the Singapore economy,” the ministry said in a press release last week. With the economy reopening further on Tuesday, Singaporeans got to work in new ways. Some had to scan QR codes when they entered office buildings, part of a national program to trace contacts of people who get infected with the virus. Others added sanitation procedures like using machines to sterilize objects. “We are doing our part to combat the spread of the virus by encouraging our customers to shop online,” Wendy Han, co-founder of a floral shop in Singapore called Floristique, said. “Even after more and more firms resume business as usual at their physical stores, we will still encourage our customers and our team to practice effective social distancing.”
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US, South Korea Agree to Fund Furloughed Workers on US Bases
Thousands of furloughed South Korean workers could soon return to their jobs on U.S. military bases in South Korea under the terms of a deal announced by the Pentagon. In a statement late Tuesday, the Defense Department said it has accepted South Korea’s offer to fund labor costs for all Korean national employees on U.S. bases through the end of 2020. The agreement does not completely resolve a months-long impasse between Washington and Seoul over how to split the cost of the roughly 28,000 U.S. troops in South Korea. The allies’ previous military cost-sharing agreement expired at the end of the year. Over 4,000 South Korean civilian employees were placed on unpaid leave in March, after temporary U.S. funding ran out. Military officials and analysts have warned the furloughs could jeopardize military readiness, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic and increasing North Korean provocations. Under the new agreement, South Korea will provide more than $200 million for the entire Korean national (KN) workforce through the end of 2020, the Pentagon said. The U.S. said it expects all Korean employees to return to work “no later than mid-June.” “This decision enables a more equitable sharing of the KN employee labor burden by (South Korea) and the U.S.,” the U.S. statement said. “More importantly, it sustains the Alliance’s number one priority – our combined defense posture.” A South Korean foreign ministry official confirmed the arrangement, according to the Yonhap news agency. But the announcement does not mean that a broader cost-sharing deal, or Special Measures Agreement (SMA), has been reached. Critical defense infrastructure projects will remain suspended and all logistics support contracts for USFK will continue to be paid completely by the United States, the Pentagon statement said. “Burden sharing will remain out of balance for an Alliance that values and desires parity,” the U.S. statement added. “USFK’s mid- and long-term force readiness remains at risk.” President Donald Trump, who has long accused South Korea of taking advantage of U.S. protection, last month said he rejected South Korea’s latest offer. The negotiations have spilled over into the public – a rarity for such talks – greatly straining the alliance. South Korean officials have said publicly that a 13 percent increase is their final offer. Washington is reportedly now asking for a 50 percent increase. “It does not seem like we are anywhere close to an agreement,” said David Maxwell, an analyst who focuses on U.S.-South Korea military relations at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “This is only a band-aid. It will not stop the bleeding in the alliance.” Any eventual cost-sharing deal must be approved by South Korea’s National Assembly, and observers have noted that allies of South Korean President Moon Jae-in may be less likely to cede ground on the issue after winning a landslide election last month. It is not clear if the narrower labor proposal will need to be approved by parliament.
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Floyd Family Demands Justice
The mother of George Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter struggled to hold back tears Tuesday as she described Floyd as a devoted father and family man. Floyd, an African American man, died last week after his arrest in Minneapolis on suspicion of counterfeiting. A white police officer kneeled on the handcuffed Floyd’s neck for more than 8 minutes. His death has sparked outrage with complaints of racism and police brutality across the country and in some European capitals. Gianna stood silently by Tuesday while her mother, Roxie Washington, spoke to reporters at Minneapolis City Hall. Washington was flanked by lawyers and retired National Basketball Association player Stephen Jackson, who had known Floyd since childhood. “I want justice for him because he was good,” Washington said. “He loved (Gianna) so much.”Gianna Floyd, the daughter of George Floyd, listens to a a news conference with Stephen Jackson, June 2, 2020, in Minneapolis, Minn.The officer whose actions allegedly contributed to Floyd’s death has been charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Three other officers who stood by while Floyd was on the ground have been fired. But Washington said the officers will still get to see their children graduate from school and marry — something Floyd will never experience. Attorney Justin Miller said, “We just want to show the world that George Floyd is not just a name, not just a meme and not just something to be chanted. George Floyd was a real person. He was a good person. And these are the people that loved him.” Two autopsies were carried out on Floyd. Both concluded that Floyd was the victim of a homicide. The autopsy by the Hennepin County, Minnesota, medical examiner concluded that Floyd died after the officer cut off the blood supply to his lungs and brain. But the report also said Floyd had other health problems. His family, whose lawyers commissioned its own autopsy, denies this.
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Recent Attack in Western Niger Sends More Then 1,000 Fleeing
The U.N. refugee agency reports more than 1,000 people have fled a site in western Niger following an attack by unidentified armed men on Sunday. The group — a mix of Malian refugees, displaced and local Niger nationals — has arrived in the town of Telemces, some 27 kilometers away. The attack, which occurred about 70 kilometers from the Malian border, left two Malian refugee leaders and a local host community leader dead. The U.N. refugee agency says it fears more deadly assaults will occur in this volatile region. The agency said there has been a sharp increase in attacks in the past few months in the Liptako Gourma region where the borders of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger intersect. UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic told VOA armed groups operating in the area are deliberately targeting local communities to drive people further inland in Niger. “It is clear that this is an area where they see the possibility of being able to use the border area between the three countries and to operate with impunity,” Mahecic said. “Obviously, that is why it is so important that there is a response to this.” While security is important, Mahecic said it also is important to take into account the huge humanitarian and displacement needs in the region. Militant Islamist groups and armed criminal gangs operating in the Sahel have terrorized the civilian population for years, creating a huge displacement crisis. The UNHCR reports more than three million people are displaced in the region, including an estimated 820,000 refugees. Mahecic said the UNHCR, along with partners and local authorities, are providing immediate aid to those fleeing, especially water so people do not die of thirst in the desert heat. He said water also is needed to help fight COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. “Despite violent attacks and insecurity severely limiting humanitarian access to those in need of protection and assistance, we are stepping up our response in Niger, focusing especially on providing shelter, education and programs to prevent and address sexual and gender-based violence,” Mahecic said.The UNHCR has condemned what it calls the assassination of the Malian refugee leaders. It is calling on all sides to respect civilian lives. The agency says those responsible for these crimes must be brought to justice to deter others from committing similar acts.
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Confederate Symbols Torn Down in US South
A Confederate soldiers’ monument that stood in Birmingham, Alabama, for more than 100 years is no more.Construction workers Tuesday dismantled the last piece of the five-story structure after Mayor Randall Woodfin ordered it gone.The mayor acted Sunday after a group of demonstrators protesting the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis threatened to tear down the monument themselves. They had already vandalized it and destroyed a statue of Confederate Navy Captain Charles Linn, one of Birmingham’s founders.”Allow me to finish the job for you. I wanted you to hear it directly from me. But I need you to stand down,” Woodfin told the crowd before declaring a state of emergency and curfew in Birmingham.Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has sued the city, accusing it of violating a state law ordering protecting Confederate memorials that are at least 40 years old.The Washington Post reported that a statue honoring Confederate troops in Alexandria, Virginia — a Washington suburb — was taken also taken down Tuesday.Demonstrators in Nashville took matters in their own hands and tore down the statue of Edward Carmack, a former state lawmaker and newspaper publisher who espoused racist views, who was gunned down in the streets of Nashville in 1908, according to the Tennessean newspaper.FILE – Protesters toppled the statue of Edward Carmack outside the state Capitol after a peaceful demonstration turned violent, in Nashville, Tenn., May 31, 2020.And outside Tampa, Florida, a Sons of Confederate Veterans chapter voluntarily lowered a huge Confederate battle flag that flew within sight of two major highways for years.City and state officials across the southern U.S. have been removing Civil War Confederate-era memorials over the past several years.African Americans and others call the structures monuments to slavery, institutionalized racism, and terror.Alabama statue of LinnSarah Collins Rudolph’s sister Addie Mae Collins was one of four black girls killed in a 1963 church bombing in Birmingham by Ku Klux Klansmen — one of the most shocking acts of violence during the civil rights era.”I’m glad it’s been removed because it has been so long, and we know that it’s a hate monument,” said Rudolph, referring to the Linn monument. “It didn’t represent the blacks. It just represented the hard times back there a long time ago.”Rudolph continued, “The things that we were fighting for in the ’60s aren’t solved yet. We shouldn’t be treated the way they treat us.”A large group of southern states broke away from the United States in the 19th century in part to preserve the institution of slavery. Other areas of disagreement with the northern states included states’ rights and westward expansion. The resulting Civil War from 1861 until 1865 resulted in the official end of slavery in the U.S. when Congress passed the 13th Amendment three months before the Confederate surrender.
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Tech Advocacy Group’s Lawsuit Says Trump’s Order on Social Media Is Unconstitutional
An advocacy group backed by the tech industry filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against President Donald Trump’s executive order on social media, as U.S. technology companies have been fighting White House efforts to weaken a law that protects them. The Washington-based Center for Democracy & Technology said in its lawsuit that Trump’s executive order violates the First Amendment rights of social media companies. It noted that the order was issued after Twitter Inc amended one of Trump’s tweets and called it “plainly retaliatory.” The lawsuit argues that Trump’s executive order will “chill future online speech by other speakers” and reduce the ability of Americans to speak freely online. Trump, in an attempt to regulate social media platforms where he has been criticized, said last week he will introduce legislation that may scrap or weaken a law that has protected internet companies, including Twitter and Facebook. The proposed legislation was part of an executive order Trump signed on Thursday afternoon. Trump had attacked Twitter for tagging his tweets about unsubstantiated claims of fraud about mail-in voting with a warning prompting readers to fact-check the posts. Trump said he wants to “remove or change” a provision of a law known as Section 230 that shields social media companies from liability for content posted by their users. He also said Attorney General William Barr will begin drafting legislation “immediately” to regulate social media companies. The White House declined comment on the lawsuit. “Twitter appended the President’s tweets … in immediate retaliation, the President issued the Executive Order,” said the lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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Kenyan Capital’s Water Shortage Raises COVID-19 Risk
Some parts of Kenya’s capital have been without running water for weeks, after a landslide destroyed a water pipe, making frequent hand washing for coronavirus prevention a challenge. Water distribution points have been set up to help tens of thousands of Kenyans cope.For more than two months, Maureen Mkala has taken a narrow alley in Mathare slum in Nairobi to get water for her family, including three children. She ends up at a crowded water point and it takes her an hour to get 20 liters of water. “I look for water to clean my hands so that I don’t get the virus. We have a water problem and you are forced to go to the crowded water points to get water,” she said. A landslide in April destroyed a major water pipe in central Kenya, cutting off running water to entire Nairobi neighborhoods. The need for water has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as more people are encouraged to wash their hands regularly to limit the spread of the virus. Roda Angaya said she is forced to ignore health guidelines in order to get water. There are many people at the water point, and they are told to keep one-meter distance to limit the spread of coronavirus, Angaya said, questioning how that is possible when everyone is fighting to get the little water that is available. In central Kenya, engineers are fixing the water line to restore running water supplies, which fell by as much as 20%.The Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company said they have reduced the water loss to about 10% and the new line being installed will resolve the shortage.“There won’t be landslides where we are taking the line through,” said Nashashon Muguna, Managing Director at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company. “The line realignment is about 3.4 kilometers. We expect by mid-June we will be through with it. Already, road work has been done on 8 kilometers. So, all the materials can be able to access the site easily.”For the people of Mathare, and tens of thousands of others forced to collect water during the pandemic, the work cannot be finished soon enough.
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Malawi COVID-19 Cases Rise as Citizens Return from South Africa
Malawi is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases as citizens return from South Africa, the country hit harder than any other in Africa. Hundreds of returnees are expected to arrive in Malawi this week, raising fears the figures will increase even more. Out of nearly 1,000 Malawian migrant workers who recently came home, 134 tested positive for the coronavirus, almost doubling the country’s total cases. Malawi started registering a rise in COVID-19 cases on Thursday, a few days after the return of a group of migrant workers who had been stranded in South Africa because of a coronavirus lockdown.Of the 102 cases confirmed Thursday, 92 were among the returnees, the highest number of new cases in a single day since Malawi confirmed its first case on April 2.The trend continued this week. The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 said out of 52 cases confirmed Monday, 42 were from people who have just returned from South Africa.And in a more alarming development, about 400 returnees escaped last week from a stadium where they were being held in quarantine. Officials are concerned the escapees will spread the virus when they go back to the rural areas where most of them live.Dorothy Ngoma, former president of Malawi’s National Organization of Nurses and Midwives, told VOA that it’s time for Malawian political leaders and clergy to help teach people about ways to prevent the virus from spreading.“We must go house to house and I want to encourage UTM [United Transformation movement Party], Malawi Congress [Party], DPP [Democratic Progressive Party], whatever party; the chiefs, the churches to continue doing this 24 hours a day until we make sure that everybody understand,” said Ngoma.Critics blame the government for failing to enforce anti-coronavirus measures, which include social distancing, use of face masks and closing borders to prevent imported coronavirus.FILE – President Peter Mutharika of Malawi said cash payments aims to support Malawians who normally depend on the markets for their livelihood. (Lameck Masina/VOA)Speaking on live television Monday, President Peter Mutharika said his administration has tried to contain the spread of the virus but politics has undermined those efforts. The country is preparing for a June 23 presidential election.“Our fight against coronavirus is being undermined by politics and politicians. The courts stopped us from going on a lockdown. The same courts want us to go to an election. Now, we have a situation that is encouraging everybody to campaign and undermining social distancing,” he said.Mutharika, who later in the day conducted a political rally, said it is now up to Malawians to choose between fighting coronavirus and going to an election.A survey released this week about public perception of COVID-19 has shown that 82 percent of Malawians are more scared of hunger than being infected with coronavirus.Boniface Dulani is the research director at the Institute for Public Opinion and Research, which conducted the survey.“Our findings, interestingly enough, also show that Malawians support that the elections should be held notwithstanding the risk of coronavirus. So this actually has basically made people think that maybe social distancing is not the best way to fight the coronavirus, which is really dangerous in itself,” said Dulani.Health experts have warned that the ongoing political rallies, coupled with the return of people from South Africa, puts Malawi at higher risk of more COVID-19 cases in the near future.
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US Hotels Reopen – But With New Rules In Place
As the US is gradually reopening after many weeks of strict lockdown, hotels are about to start welcoming visitors again. Their owners need to figure out a way to provide traditional hospitality services with health and safety in mind. Medical experts and analysts of the industry believe a lot will change from new cleaning protocols to how room keys are handled. Lesia Bakalets has the story, narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Aleksandr Bergan
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France Releases Contact-Tracing StopCovid App
French citizens are among the first to be able to download the government-sponsored StopCovid app as the government begins coronavirus contact tracing through cell phones.The release of the public health StopCovid app Tuesday coincides with phase three of the government’s re-opening plan, during which restaurants, high schools and universities once again welcome students and patrons.The coronavirus has claimed nearly 29,000 French lives. Using a Bluetooth signal from cell phones, the app collects the presence of nearby anonymous users. If an individual tests positive, the app notifies those they were in close contact with for a minimum of 15 minutes so they can take the proper health protocols.Other EU nations are developing similar apps in the hopes that they will mitigate COVID-19 flare-ups as the bloc’s economies begin to re-open.The Euronews television channel reported in May that the continent was in disagreement over best practices for a pan-European app, with Switzerland and Spain exiting the initiative due to privacy concerns and Germany seeking assistance from tech giants Apple and Google.France and Britain reportedly rejected external backing, preferring to develop their own tech infrastructure.The French system differs from software jointly developed by Apple and Google in that it stores user information on a centralized, government-run server, rather than storing the data directly on mobile phones.The French government denies claims from critics that the app mimics a surveillance state.“The problem with a centralized protocol is that you have to be confident and to trust your state but we’re in a democratic state, we have checks and balances,” Cédric O, France’s junior minister for the digital economy, told the AP.An article in Le Monde newspaper published May 29 stated that officials preferred not to leave the security of citizen’s data to private firms, necessitating the need for a centralized, government-run system.The government says the app does not utilize location tracking and deletes user data after 14 days, the amount of time it takes the virus to exhibit symptoms.The project’s website listed transparency, regard for public health, and the respect and protection of an individual’s privacy as a top priority.Although use of the app overwhelming passed the upper body of parliament last week, some lawmakers expressed apprehension, citing additional security concerns and fears that the app would not be effective if the population does not use it.
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