Viral clip shows London police ‘assaulting’ pro-Palestine activist

A video has surfaced online appearing to show a pro-Palestine campaigner being violently arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police. (Screesnhot/X/@SiddiqiSyed)
A video has surfaced online appearing to show a pro-Palestine campaigner being violently arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police. (Screesnhot/X/@SiddiqiSyed)
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Updated 13 July 2024
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Viral clip shows London police ‘assaulting’ pro-Palestine activist

Viral clip shows London police ‘assaulting’ pro-Palestine activist
  • Man punched in head multiple times as group of officers stage arrest
  • Ex-Labour Party staffer condemns ‘level of violence’ seen in footage

LONDON: A video has surfaced online appearing to show a pro-Palestine campaigner being violently arrested by London’s Metropolitan Police.

The clip, which was met with angered reaction across social media, follows a series of policing controversies in the UK capital amid weekly pro-Palestine rallies.

In the video, a man is seen protesting his arrest as he stands next to a convertible bearing a large Palestinian flag and a sign saying: “Free Palestine. Stop Gaza genocide.”

A group of officers drag the man to the ground, punching him in the head as he shouts: “I haven’t done nothing. I haven’t done nothing.”

The clip was filmed in the borough of Tower Hamlets, home to a large Muslim community.

Halima Khan, a former Labour Party staffer who ran as a parliamentary candidate in the UK general election last week, condemned the violence seen in the footage.

“The level of violence by the hands of the London Metropolitan Police in East London, for just waving the flag of Palestine. Are we Britain or are we Israel,” she wrote on X.

Other users responded to Khan’s post, criticizing the Met officers for their conduct. One said: “I am tired of answering that question. Is our police force trained in Israel? The Itamar Ben-Gvir school of policing.”

Another said: “There should be charges against that officer — you can clearly see his rage. That man didn’t do anything.”

The officer in question, who is seen in the clip throwing multiple punches at the activist’s head, was accused by another X user of wanting to cause “maximum damage” as part of a “premeditated” attack.

The Met Police, in an online statement, denied that the man was arrested for having a Palestinian flag.

Superintendent Brittany Clarke said: “We’re aware of the video and commentary online following an incident that took place in Whitechapel Road ... A PCSO (police community support officer) requested urgent assistance from officer colleagues. A man was arrested for assault on police and is in custody at this time.”

Clarke added that the Met’s Directorate of Professional Standards is reviewing the footage and body-worn camera videos from the officers involved.

“I can assure local people that we are understanding of their concerns and that we will be working to establish the circumstances,” she said.

The controversy is the latest to beset the Met Police, after the force was accused of using heavy-handed tactics to clamp down on the weekly pro-Palestine rallies that have taken place in London since last October.


Zelensky says Ukraine’s victory ‘depends’ on United States

Zelensky says Ukraine’s victory ‘depends’ on United States
Updated 5 sec ago
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Zelensky says Ukraine’s victory ‘depends’ on United States

Zelensky says Ukraine’s victory ‘depends’ on United States
“As for the plan for victory... it depends mostly on the support of the United States. And other partners,” Zelensky said
Zelensky has said he will outline a plan to end the war by November

KYIV: President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that Ukraine’s plan to defeat Russia depended on Washington’s support, speaking as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv.
“As for the plan for victory... it depends mostly on the support of the United States. And other partners,” Zelensky said in a press conference.
His remarks come just under two months before US elections that could be challenging for Ukraine if Donald Trump is back in the White House.
Trump aides have suggested that if he wins, he would leverage aid to force Kyiv into territorial concessions to Russia to end the war.
Zelensky has said he will outline a plan to end the war by November.
He has argued that a surprise incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region allows Kyiv to enter potential negotiations from a position of strength.
Ukraine held a peace summit in June in Switzerland with leaders and top officials from more than 90 countries but did not invite Russia.
Zelensky has since said Moscow should be included in the next gathering.
The Kremlin has ruled out talks since the assault in Kursk, and has demanded Ukraine cede swathes of territory for a ceasefire.

Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says

Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says
Updated 15 min 14 sec ago
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Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says

Philippines deadliest place for environmental defenders in Asia, rights group says
  • Global Witness recorded 17 killings of environmentalists in Philippines in 2023
  • Colombia was the deadliest country for environmental activists, with 79 killed

MANILA: The Philippines is the deadliest country in Asia for environment defenders, the latest Global Witness report shows, with the country recording the most environmental killings in the region for over a decade.

At least 196 environmentalists and land activists were killed globally in 2023, according to UK advocacy group’s estimates released earlier this week.

The figure brings the total number of people killed for trying to protect their homes, community or the planet to 2,106 since 2012, when Global Witness started its monitoring.

Colombia was the deadliest country for environmentalists and land rights defenders in 2023, the Philippines was fourth.

“Colombia had record-high defender killings in 2023 with 79 deaths: the highest annual total ever recorded by Global Witness Followed by Brazil (25), Mexico (18) and Honduras (18) and the Philippines (17),” the report read.

At the same time, the Philippines was the third — preceded only by Colombia and Brazil — in the total number of such killings since the first Global Witness report, with 298 environmental and land activists killed between 2012 and 2023.

The report also highlighted “cases of enforced disappearances and abductions, pointed tactics used in both the Philippines and Mexico in particular, as well as the wider use of criminalisation as a tactic to silence activists across the world.”

Besides the Philippines, only two other Asian countries are featured in this year’s report: India, where five activists were killed, and Indonesia, where three such killings were recorded.

Jashaf Shamir Lorenzo, environmentalists and head of research at BAN Toxics Philippines, told Arab News that environmentalists were oppressed in a number of ways.

“The most extreme cases include red-tagging, abduction, and even killings ... It seems that environmentalists who are most at risk are those who get in the way of big industries, big politicians. It doesn’t really differ much from what we see happening to journalists, human rights defenders, and activists,” he said.

“We need the government to really take action — environmental concerns have always been a big part of political platforms for decades, but major incidences of abuse point towards a lack of commitment to not only protect the environment, but to protect its stewards.”

He said impunity of the abusers has been aided by government inaction since the times of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, who was in office from 2016 to 2022.

“Ever since Duterte, the government has been really lenient with these things,” he said.

“Unless the government really commits to protecting the environment, these abuses will only worsen.”


UK summons Iranian charge d’affaires over transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia

An Iranian Shahab-3 missile rises into the air after being test-fired at an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert. (AFP)
An Iranian Shahab-3 missile rises into the air after being test-fired at an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert. (AFP)
Updated 6 min 22 sec ago
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UK summons Iranian charge d’affaires over transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia

An Iranian Shahab-3 missile rises into the air after being test-fired at an undisclosed location in the Iranian desert. (AFP)
  • “UK Government was clear in that any transfer of Ballistic Missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response”: Ministry

LONDON: Britain’s foreign ministry on Wednesday summoned Iran’s charge d’affaires, the country’s most senior diplomat in London, over the transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.
“Today, in coordination with European partners and upon instruction from the Foreign Secretary, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Iranian Embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The UK Government was clear in that any transfer of Ballistic Missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerous escalation and would face a significant response.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday during a visit to London that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran and would likely use them in its war in Ukraine within weeks.
On Tuesday, Britain, the US and European allies all condemned the move.
Britain sanctioned Iranian individuals and entities involved in drone and missile production, as well as Russian cargo ships it said were involved in transporting the missiles from Iran to Russia.


Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says

Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says
Updated 11 September 2024
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Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says

Russia pushes back Ukrainian troops in some areas of Kursk, commander says
  • Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control
  • “A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated”

MOSCOW: Russian forces have begun a significant counter-offensive against Ukrainian troops who smashed their way into western Russia last month, and have taken some territory back, pro-Moscow war bloggers and a senior Russian commander said.
Ukraine on Aug. 6 launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two, bursting through the border into the region of Kursk with thousands of troops supported by swarms of drones and heavy weaponry, including Western-made arms.
Major General Apti Alaudinov, who commands Chechnya’s Akhmat special forces fighting in Kursk, said that Russian troops had gone on the offensive and taken back control of about 10 settlements in Kursk, TASS reported.
“The situation is good for us,” said Alaudinov, who is also deputy head of the Russian defense ministry’s military-political department.
“A total of about 10 settlements in the Kursk region have been liberated,” he said.
Reuters was unable to verify the battlefield reports due to reporting restrictions on both sides of the war. Russia’s defense ministry said it had defeated Ukrainian units at a number of villages in Kursk.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that his forces controlled 100 settlements in Kursk region over an area of more than 1,300 sq km (500 sq miles), a figure disputed by Russian sources.
Yuri Podolyaka, an Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, and two other influential bloggers — Rybar and the Two Majors — said that Russian forces had begun a significant counter-offensive in Kursk.
“In the Kursk region, the Russian Army launched counter-offensive actions on the western flank of the enemy’s wedge, reducing the Ukrainian zone of control near the state border,” the Two Majors blog said.
Podolyaka said that Russian forces had taken several villages on the west of the sliver of Russia that Ukraine carved out, pushing Ukrainian forces to the east of the Malaya Loknya River south of Snagost.
Russian forces also advanced in eastern Ukraine, and were fighting in the center of the town of Ukrainsk in the Donetsk region, according to Russian war bloggers and open source maps of the war.


Italian court ends detention for MSF migrant rescue ship

Italian court ends detention for MSF migrant rescue ship
Updated 11 September 2024
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Italian court ends detention for MSF migrant rescue ship

Italian court ends detention for MSF migrant rescue ship
  • A court in Salerno, the southern Italian port where the vessel had been blocked, suspended the measure, the charity wrote on X
  • “The ship is free to rescue lives!” it said

ROME: The international aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders — MSF) on Wednesday obtained the release of its migrant rescue ship, which had been grounded two weeks ago by Italy’s right-wing government.
MSF’s Geo Barents vessel was handed a 60-day detention order, the longest on record, for allegedly failing to properly coordinate with Italian and Libyan authorities as it picked up migrants off Libya on Aug. 23.
A court in Salerno, the southern Italian port where the vessel had been blocked, suspended the measure, the charity wrote on X.
“The ship is free to rescue lives!” it said.


The detention order was the third against the vessel, and the longest to date. MSF International President Christos Christou traveled to Salerno to support the organization’s appeal against it.
“At this exact moment the Mediterranean is a huge emergency room and Geo Barents and the doctors are sitting in a corner with their hands tied,” Christou told Reuters, accusing the government of obstructing humanitarian sea rescues.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has passed legislation to curb the activities of NGOs in the Mediterranean, including by impounding of their vessels or forcing them to travel long distances to disembark migrants, increasing their fuel costs.
Christou dismissed government charges against the MSF ship, saying it had been “waiting for instructions” as it approached a migrant boat, and spontaneously picked up its passengers after they jumped into the sea.
Meloni has defended her approach, pledging at a cabinet meeting last month to launch another crackdown — this time on migrant work permits — and saying the fall in sea arrivals under her watch also resulted in fewer migrant drownings.
“The only way to prevent further tragedies at sea is to stop departures and fight unscrupulous traffickers,” she said.
The MSF chief said Meloni’s claims overlooked the fact that many deaths at sea go unreported, and argued that migrants blocked on their way to Italy would reach Europe via other routes.
In the year to date, there have been about 44,500 sea arrivals in Italy, and around 1,100 people drowned or went missing at sea. Year-on-year, arrivals are down by 62 percent, while the dead or missing have fallen by a lesser extent — about 50 percent.
As part of its deterrence strategy, Meloni’s government is also building detention camps in Albania for migrants picked up at sea. The plan, hit by delays and criticism from human rights advocates, is expected to be operational within weeks.
Christou said MSF had “serious concerns” about the initiative, calling it “another new way of externalizing the duty of the Italians and Europeans” to assist people fleeing from poverty or conflict.