CHICAGO: Police began dismantling a pro-Palestinian encampment early Thursday at DePaul University in Chicago, hours after the school’s president told students to leave the area or face arrest.
Officers and workers in yellow vests cleared out tents and camping equipment at the student encampment, leaving behind yellow squares of dead or dying grass where the tents had stood. Front-loaders were being used to remove the camping equipment.
Just across the street from where the encampment was spread across a grassy expanse of DePaul’s campus known as “The Quad,” a few dozen protesters stood along a sidewalk in front of a service station, clapping their hands in unison as an apparent protest leader paced back and forth before them, speaking into a bullhorn.
All of the protesters at the encampment “voluntarily left” the area when police arrived early Thursday, said Jon Hein, chief of patrol for the Chicago Police Department.
“There were no confrontations and there was no resistance,” he said at a news briefing. “As we approached, all the subjects voluntarily left the area.”
Hein said, however, that two people, a male and female in their 20s, were arrested outside the encampment “for obstruction of traffic.”
The move to clear the campus comes less than a week after the school’s president said public safety was at risk.
The university on Saturday said it had reached an “impasse” with the school’s protesters, leaving the future of their encampment on the Chicago campus unclear. Most of DePaul’s commencement ceremonies will be held the June 15-16 weekend.
In a statement then, DePaul President Robert Manuel and Provost Salma Ghanem said they believe that students intended to protest peacefully, but “the responses to the encampment have inadvertently created public safety issues that put our community at risk.”
Efforts to resolve the differences with DePaul Divestment Coalition over the past 17 days were unsuccessful, Manuel said in a statement sent to students, faculty and staff Thursday morning.
“Our Office of Public Safety and Chicago Police are now disassembling the encampment,” he said. “Every person currently in the encampment will be given the opportunity to leave peacefully and without being arrested.”
He said that since the encampment began, “the situation has steadily escalated with physical altercations, credible threats of violence from people not associated with our community.”
Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments, calling for their schools to cut ties with Israel and businesses that support it, to protest lsrael’s actions in the war with Hamas. The protests began as schools were winding up their spring semesters and are now holding graduation ceremonies.
Separately, some students and faculty were detained Wednesday after police removed an encampment and pro-Palestinian protesters briefly took over a lecture hall at the University of California, Irvine. There was a large law enforcement response when demonstrators demanding the university divest from Israel blocked the building’s entrance with a makeshift barricade. Police declared an unlawful assembly, cleared the building and took an unknown number of people into custody.
Also Wednesday, 11 members of a group protesting at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville who did not vacate the area despite repeated warnings were arrested for trespassing, the university said in a statement. Those arrested included three students and eight people who are not affiliated with the university. Any students who were arrested will also be referred to student conduct, officials said.
“The University of Tennessee respects individual’s rights to free speech and free expression and is committed to managing the campus for all,” the university said in the statement. “We will continue to be guided by the law and university policy, neutral of viewpoint.”
Tensions at DePaul flared the previous weekend when counterprotesters showed up to the campus in the city’s Lincoln Park neighborhood and prompted Chicago police to intervene.
The student-led DePaul Divestment Coalition, who are calling on the university to divest from Israel, set up the encampment April 30. The group alleged university officials walked away from talks and tried to force students into signing an agreement, according to a student statement late Saturday.
“I don’t want my tuition money to be invested in my family’s suffering,” Henna Ayesh, a Palestinian student at DePaul and Coalition member, said in the statement.
DePaul is on the city’s North Side. Last week, police removed a similar encampment at the University of Chicago on the city’s South Side.
The Associated Press has recorded at least 79 incidents since April 18 where arrests were made at campus protests across the US More than 2,900 people have been arrested on the campuses of 60 colleges and universities. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.
Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University in Chicago
https://arab.news/2rnq5
Police dismantle pro-Palestinian encampment at DePaul University in Chicago
- All of the protesters at the encampment “voluntarily left” the area when police arrived early Thursday
- The move to clear the campus comes less than a week after the school’s president said public safety was at risk
Hong Kong invokes new law to cancel passports of 6 overseas-based activists
- Police last year offered rewards of $128,000 each for information leading to their arrests
- Authorities also banned anyone from providing funds or economic resources to the six
Among them were former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law, unionist Mung Siu-tat and activists Simon Cheng, Finn Lau, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi — all accused of endangering national security by authorities in the southern Chinese city. The government said they have “absconded” to the UK.
Last year, police offered rewards of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($128,000) each for information leading to their arrests and drew sharp criticism from Western governments.
Authorities also banned anyone from providing funds or economic resources to the six, leasing properties to them or forming any joint venture with them, or risk a penalty of up to seven years in prison.
The government said it acted because the six were continuing to engage in activities that endanger national security, smearing the city and colluding with external forces.
“We have to combat, deter and to prevent those people who have committed the offenses relating to endangering national security through absconds,” said Secretary for Security Chris Tang said. He said the six activists were sheltered in the UK and accused some British officials and media outlets of attempting to damage the rule of law in the financial hub and influence judicial decisions in some national security cases.
Tang, when asked whether subscribing to the activists’ accounts on Patreon and YouTube is illegal, said anyone who provides funds to them would be seen as violating the rules, regardless of the platform.
The measures were taken under the new powers granted by Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law enacted in March.
Beijing imposed a similar national security law on the territory in 2020 that has effectively wiped out most public dissent following huge anti-government protests in 2019. Many activists were arrested, silenced or forced into self-exile.
Both the Chinese and Hong Kong governments insisted the law restored stability after the protests.
Over 144,400 people from Hong Kong have moved to the UK using a special visa that allows them to live and work in the country and apply for British citizenship after six years. The UK introduced the pathway in 2021, in response to the 2020 security law.
Additionally, the British government granted asylum to activists Law and Cheng.
Law said on Facebook he had submitted his passport to UK authorities when he applied for asylum in 2020, and has not collected it back, calling the government’s statement “a redundant move.” He urged people who remain in Hong Kong to prioritize their safety if the other restrictions under the new law worry them.
Lau said on X that he never owned a Hong Kong passport, so “it is ridiculous to cancel something that never exists.” He said the latest measure is an act of transnational repression, but that it would not deter him from advocating for human rights and democracy.
Mung also vowed to continue to fight for Hong Kong, while Cheng said the government’s moves were politically motivated and ineffective, adding that their lives in the UK would not be affected.
In Beijing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the measures taken by Hong Kong authorities were legitimate and necessary to safeguard the city’s rule of law and national security. He stressed that the city’s affairs are China’s internal affairs and “brook no external interference.”
Hong Kong’s political changes have long been a source of tension between the UK and the city government, as well as with Beijing due to the territory’s unique history as a former British colony that was returned to China in 1997 with a promise to keep freedoms of expression and assembly.
Last week, two British judges confirmed they resigned from the city’s top court, with one citing as the reason “the political situation in Hong Kong.” The other published a strongly worded article on Monday that said the rule of law in the city is in “grave danger” and that judges operate in an “impossible political environment created by China.”
That article drew swift criticism from the Hong Kong government.
In May, UK authorities charged three men with agreeing to engage in information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist the Hong Kong intelligence service. One of the trio was later found dead in a park.
Chinese authorities in the UK and Hong Kong have decried the charges, saying they were the latest in a series of “groundless and slanderous” accusations that the UK government has leveled against China.
Greece, Jordan assist in tackling Cyprus wildfire
NICOSIA: Aircraft from Greece and Jordan were helping Cypriot authorities battle a large wildfire in the southwestern Paphos region believed to have been started by an illegal landfill, officials said Wednesday.
The fire broke out Tuesday east of the village of Giolou, triggering a national emergency plan that saw civil defense evacuate five mountain villages at risk.
Officials said two air tractors from the Royal Jordanian Air Force and two planes from Greece were deployed Wednesday to tackle the blaze in the rugged terrain.
Nicosia activated the European Union fire assistance protocol to seek help in containing the fire.
Fire service chief Nicos Logginos told state radio Wednesday that seven aircraft, including two Canadair planes from Greece, are operating over the active fronts.
He said that due to harsh terrain, ground forces are unable to reach the area.
Over 300 people, including fire crews, supported by bulldozers, are working to secure the perimeter of the fire.
Logginos said police have evidence the fire started from an illegal landfill site.
Around 48 people evacuated from the fire zone were taken to hotels, said local daily Kathimerini Cyprus.
The scale of the fire prompted President Nikos Christodoulides to return early from a Gaza aid summit in Jordan on Tuesday to visit the crisis control center.
During a meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, he requested additional aerial support to combat the fire in Paphos.
Fire service spokesman Andreas Kettis said a number of homes suffered extensive damage or were destroyed, but the scale of the destruction has yet to be determined.
Residents have complained that homes were destroyed because of the slow response to the fire’s outbreak.
The community leader in the village of Lemona, Kyriakos Charalambous, told the Cyprus News Agency it took “too long” for aerial firefighting units to arrive.
Wildfires often erupt in Cyprus during the sweltering summer months on the island which suffers from a severe lack of rainfall.
The Department of Meteorology issued a yellow alert for Wednesday for extreme heat, with maximum temperatures expected to reach 41 degrees Celsius.
Cyprus recorded its hottest-ever June day last Friday as temperatures soared to an unprecedented 44 degrees Celsius, the department said.
On Eid Al-Adha, Senegal’s star sheep are for luxury, not sacrifice
- The animals that can fetch tens of thousands of dollars live a life of luxury in special parlors where they are massaged, groomed and fed syringes full of vitamins
DAKAR: When Cheikh Moustapha Seck, a 24-year-old sheep breeder from Senegal, speaks about his animals, his face lights up.
“You need love and patience to work with the sheep,” said Seck, affectionately stroking the long neck of Sonko, his champion sheep, named after the country’s new prime minister.
Sonko is no ordinary sheep. It is a locally bred Ladoum, the equivalent of a Ferrari among the woolly creatures. The majestic-looking Ladoum can weigh up to 397 pounds (180 kilograms), and it has made this coastal West African nation famous among breeders.
As Muslims worldwide prepare to celebrate Eid Al-Adha this weekend, the second most important holiday in the Islamic calendar, the Ladoum get their moment to shine.
During Tabaski, as the holiday is locally known, Muslims commemorate the Qur’anic tale of Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice Ismail as an act of obedience to God. They kill and eat a sheep, making the animal extremely sought after in the days before the holiday.
Sonko the sheep was born last year, when its namesake Ousmane Sonko was still an imprisoned opposition leader and seemingly far from leading the country. Just like him, Sonko the sheep “was a warrior and our hope,” Seck said.
As political events have calmed since Senegal’s election earlier this year, this weekend’s celebrations have new life. People have turned their attention from protests to pampering — the prize sheep, at least.
Celebrated for their gleaming white fur and symmetrical horns, the Ladoum is most often bought for prestige breeding and beauty contests, and not to be eaten. On Eid Al-Adha, like Ibrahim’s son, they will be spared.
Very few in Senegal can afford a Ladoum. Worth up to $70,000, the sheep is the ultimate symbol of social prestige in a country where the GDP per capita does not exceed $1,600. After years of record inflation, many struggle to afford regular sheep at prices starting from around $280.
The Ladoum spend their days being groomed, massaged and fed syringes of vitamins in special parlors, decorated with photos of champion sheep and their lineage.
Balla Gadiaga, a parlor owner who inherited the passion for sheep from his parents, said his clients come from all over the African continent.
“Just yesterday, I had someone from Abuja on the phone,” he said, referring to Nigeria’s capital. “We sell to clients in Senegal but also in Gambia, Nigeria, Mali. Everywhere.”
His favorite sheep is named BRT after the acronym for electric buses driving around Dakar, the capital. It is of “excellent measurements” and “extraordinary beauty,” he said. It is also worth $40,000, a deal compared to Gadiaga’s most expensive at over $65,000.
Gadiaga said the sheep are not only great business but also a source of happiness.
“When you are stressed out and you go in front of the sheep, you are cool,” he said. “You feel at ease.”
Malawi announces state funeral and 21 days of mourning for vice president killed in a plane crash
- Everyone was killed on impact when the twin propellor aircraft went down in a hilly, forested area in bad weather
- The plane was carrying Vice President Saulos Chilima and members of his staff on a short flight
BLANTYRE, Malawi: The Malawi government said Wednesday that Vice President Saulos Chilima will be honored with a state funeral after he died in a plane crash along with eight other people.
President Lazarus Chakwera had already announced 21 days of national mourning on Tuesday, when the wreckage of the small military plane carrying Chilima and a former first lady was discovered in a mountainous area in the country’s north. Flags will fly at half-staff across the southern African nation during the period of mourning.
Chakwera has appointed a ministerial committee to oversee preparations for Chilima’s state funeral, the government said in a statement. No date was announced.
Chakwera previously said that there were 10 people on the plane but the government now says that a total of nine were on board when it crashed.
Everyone was killed on impact when the twin propellor aircraft went down in a hilly, forested area in bad weather, the president said. The victims included former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, the ex-wife of former Malawian President Bakili Muluzi. Six passengers and three military crew members were killed.
The plane was carrying Chilima and members of his staff on a short flight from the capital, Lilongwe, to the northern city of Mzuzu to attend a funeral of a former government minister when it went missing Monday morning. The president said that air traffic controllers had told the plane not to land in Mzuzu because of bad weather and poor visibility and to return to Lilongwe. Air traffic controllers then lost contact with the plane and it disappeared from radar.
Hundreds of soldiers, police officers and forest rangers searched for more than 24 hours before the wreckage was discovered in a forest plantation south of Mzuzu.
The remains of the victims were brought back to Lilongwe on a Zambian Air Force helicopter on Tuesday night, when officials and mourners including Chakwera and Chilima’s wife, Mary, gathered at an airport. The bodies of Chilima and the others were transported from the airport in ambulances as soldiers lined the tarmac and saluted.
Biden heads to G7 summit focused on Ukraine aid, China’s support for Russia
- The G7 leaders arrive at the summit confronting myriad woes at home even as they seek solutions for many of the world’s most pressing problems
- Shoring up funding for Ukraine will be a top priority at the G7 meeting
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden flies to Italy on Wednesday for meetings with Group of Seven leaders aimed at increasing pressure on Russia over its war against Ukraine and China for its support of Moscow and excess industrial capacity.
The G7 leaders arrive at the summit confronting myriad woes at home even as they seek solutions for many of the world’s most pressing problems.
Biden, 81, spent Tuesday evening at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, after a 12-member jury convicted his son Hunter Biden of lying about his drug use to illegally buy a gun in 2018, making him the first child of a sitting US president to be convicted of a crime.
The trial followed the May 30 criminal conviction of Republican former President Donald Trump, the first former US president to be found guilty of a felony. Biden and Trump are running against each other in the November presidential election and are neck-and-neck in the polls.
The heads of the world’s most developed democracies will address multiple challenges during the June 13-15 meeting, including wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, trade imbalances with China, threats posed by artificial intelligence and development challenges in Africa.
The leaders will announce new sanctions and export controls against Russia that target entities and networks helping President Vladimir Putin’s forces fight the war in Ukraine, White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Tuesday. “We’re going to continue to drive up costs for the Russian war machine,” Kirby said.
Washington plans to widen sanctions on the sale of semiconductor chips and other goods to Russia, with the goal of targeting third-party sellers in China, sources familiar with the plans said late on Tuesday.
The administration will announce it is broadening existing export controls to include US-branded goods, not just those made in the United States, the sources said. It will identify certain Hong Kong entities it says are shipping goods to Moscow.
Shoring up funding for Ukraine will be a top priority at the G7 meeting, with US and European officials eager to lock in solutions, ahead of a possible Trump re-election and the uncertainty it would raise over future US support for Kyiv.
The Group of Seven nations and the European Union are considering how to use profits generated by Russian assets immobilized in the West to provide Ukraine with a large up-front loan to secure Kyiv’s financing for 2025.
“We will announce new steps to unlock the value of the immobilized Russian sovereign assets to benefit Ukraine and to help them recover from the destruction that Mr. Putin’s army has caused,” Kirby said.
Biden will press other G7 leaders to agree to an innovative plan to use future interest on some $281 billion of Russian central bank funds to back up a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
G7 leaders also face electoral challenges, with polls indicating British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will likely to lose power in a national vote next month, and the leaders of France and Germany reeling from heavy defeats in recent European elections.
Biden will meet again with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, followed by a joint press conference, Kirby said.
