BRUSSELS: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has condemned the crisis in Myanmar as a “shocking catastrophe,” as the European Parliament demanded an immediate end to violence against Rohingya Muslims.
The interventions add to international pressure over the crisis that has sent nearly 380,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh, particularly on Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been pilloried by rights groups for failing to speak up for the Rohingya minority.
“What is happening in Myanmar is a shocking catastrophe really, because once again people are trying to eradicate whole ethnic groups,” Juncker said during a question and answer session with a young YouTube star.
“Europe is in the process of seeing with the Myanmar government and neighboring countries in what way we can be useful.”
Juncker, however, declined to say whether Suu Kyi should be stripped of the Nobel Peace Prize, an award the EU itself won in 2012.
Euro-MPs meeting in Strasbourg, France, passed a resolution urging Suu Kyi to “condemn unequivocally” all incitement to racial and religious hatred.
The European Parliament resolution “strongly urges the military and security forces to immediately cease the killings, harassment and rape of the Rohingya people, and the burning of their homes.”
It also urges the EU to make it clear it is prepared to consider sanctions against Myanmar if human rights abuses continue.
A crackdown by Myanmar’s army, launched in response to attacks by Rohingya militants on August 25, has pushed vast numbers of the stateless Muslim minority across the border, triggering a humanitarian crisis.
The violence has driven a humanitarian crisis on both sides of the border and put intense global pressure on Suu Kyi to condemn the army campaign, which the UN says amounts to “ethnic cleansing.”
Chilling accounts have emerged from Rohingya refugees telling of soldiers firing on civilians and razing entire villages in the north of Rakhine state with the help of Buddhist mobs. The army denies the allegations.
“We have put Myanmar on notice that unless the persecution and violence stops, we will take action,” British MEP Amjad Bashir said.
Suu Kyi, whose reputation as a human rights champion has been left battered by her response to the crisis, is to make a speech on the issue next week.
Her limited comments so far have referenced a “huge iceberg of misinformation” and played down alleged atrocities against the Rohingya.
Bangladesh is struggling to provide relief for the huge influx of exhausted and hungry refugees — some 60 percent of whom are children — while nearly 30,000 ethnic Rakhine Buddhists as well as Hindus have also been displaced inside Myanmar.
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EU condemns Rohingya ‘catastrophe’
EU condemns Rohingya ‘catastrophe’
US judge declines to halt Trump’s Minnesota immigration agent surge
- State officials’ lawsuit accused federal agents of illegal activities
- Ruling came amid protests in Minneapolis over immigration clampdown
A Minnesota federal judge on Saturday declined to order a halt to President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis, in a lawsuit by state officials accusing federal agents of widespread civil rights abuses.
US District Judge Kate Menendez in Minneapolis handed down the ruling. The lawsuit by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office sought to block or rein in a US Department of Homeland Security operation that sent thousands of immigration agents to Minneapolis-St. Paul, sparking weeks of protests and leading to the killings of two US citizens by federal agents.
Trump said on Saturday that he has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to “under no circumstances” get involved with protests in Democratic-led cities unless they ask for federal help or federal property is threatened.
Menendez was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden.
Menendez noted the federal appeals court recently stayed a much narrower injunction curtailing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics in Minnesota. “If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would,” she wrote.
State alleges racial profiling, unlawful detainment
The lawsuit accused federal agents of racially profiling citizens, unlawfully detaining lawful residents for hours and stoking fear with heavy-handed tactics. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, an elected Democrat, also accused the Trump administration of targeting Minnesota out of animus for its Democratic political leanings.
The Trump administration said the operation was aimed at enforcing federal immigration laws pursuant to the Republican president’s policies. Some administration officials said the surge would end if Minnesota acquiesced to certain demands, including ending legal protections for people living in the US without legal authorization.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the court’s ruling today, but this case is in its infancy and there is much legal road in front of us, so we’re fighting on,” Ellison said in a statement.
Tensions in Minneapolis-St. Paul ramped up after the January 7 killing of Renee Good, who was shot in her car by a federal immigration agent in an incident captured in widely circulated bystander videos. The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent on January 24 further inflamed tensions.
The Trump administration defended the agents, saying they had acted in self-defense. But videos of the events cast doubt on those narratives and fueled calls for the agents to be criminally prosecuted. Federal authorities refused to cooperate with local law enforcement investigations of the killings.
Trump and Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz said they spoke on Monday and had a productive conversation about de-escalating tensions.
Trump has deployed federal law enforcement officers into several cities and states largely governed by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon. He said his actions were necessary to enforce immigration laws and control crime, but Democrats accused Trump of abusing his powers as the top federal law enforcer.
But comments by Trump on Saturday suggested that federal law enforcement deployments will only happen in the future if cities request it.
“If they want help, they have to ask for it,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. “Because if we go in, all they do is complain.”
US District Judge Kate Menendez in Minneapolis handed down the ruling. The lawsuit by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office sought to block or rein in a US Department of Homeland Security operation that sent thousands of immigration agents to Minneapolis-St. Paul, sparking weeks of protests and leading to the killings of two US citizens by federal agents.
Trump said on Saturday that he has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to “under no circumstances” get involved with protests in Democratic-led cities unless they ask for federal help or federal property is threatened.
Menendez was appointed by Democratic former President Joe Biden.
Menendez noted the federal appeals court recently stayed a much narrower injunction curtailing US Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics in Minnesota. “If that injunction went too far, then the one at issue here — halting the entire operation — certainly would,” she wrote.
State alleges racial profiling, unlawful detainment
The lawsuit accused federal agents of racially profiling citizens, unlawfully detaining lawful residents for hours and stoking fear with heavy-handed tactics. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, an elected Democrat, also accused the Trump administration of targeting Minnesota out of animus for its Democratic political leanings.
The Trump administration said the operation was aimed at enforcing federal immigration laws pursuant to the Republican president’s policies. Some administration officials said the surge would end if Minnesota acquiesced to certain demands, including ending legal protections for people living in the US without legal authorization.
“We’re obviously disappointed in the court’s ruling today, but this case is in its infancy and there is much legal road in front of us, so we’re fighting on,” Ellison said in a statement.
Tensions in Minneapolis-St. Paul ramped up after the January 7 killing of Renee Good, who was shot in her car by a federal immigration agent in an incident captured in widely circulated bystander videos. The fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent on January 24 further inflamed tensions.
The Trump administration defended the agents, saying they had acted in self-defense. But videos of the events cast doubt on those narratives and fueled calls for the agents to be criminally prosecuted. Federal authorities refused to cooperate with local law enforcement investigations of the killings.
Trump and Minnesota’s Democratic Governor Tim Walz said they spoke on Monday and had a productive conversation about de-escalating tensions.
Trump has deployed federal law enforcement officers into several cities and states largely governed by Democrats, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Portland, Oregon. He said his actions were necessary to enforce immigration laws and control crime, but Democrats accused Trump of abusing his powers as the top federal law enforcer.
But comments by Trump on Saturday suggested that federal law enforcement deployments will only happen in the future if cities request it.
“If they want help, they have to ask for it,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday. “Because if we go in, all they do is complain.”
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