HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s police watchdog is currently unequipped to investigate the force’s handling of months of pro-democracy protests, a panel of international experts appointed by the city’s own government has found.
The international finance hub has been upended by five months of huge and increasingly violent rallies, but Beijing has refused to give in to most of the movement’s demands.
One of the core demands, alongside fully free elections, is an independent inquiry into the police, who have been left to battle protesters for 24 consecutive weeks and are now loathed by large chunks of the deeply polarized population.
City leader Carrie Lam has repeatedly dismissed an independent probe, saying the current watchdog — the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) — is up to the job.
Protesters argue the IPCC lacks adequate investigatory powers, is stacked with pro-establishment figures and has previously been toothless when it comes to holding police to account.
In September, Lam appointed a panel of independent experts to advise the watchdog.
Chaired by Sir Dennis O’Connor — who was tasked by the UK government to look at police tactics following the 2011 London riots — it includes policing specialists from Britain, New Zealand and Canada.
It has now issued a damning assessment of the IPCC’s ability to do the job it has been tasked with and suggested a fully independent inquiry would be better suited for the task.
The report, dated 8 November, found “a shortfall in IPCC powers, capacity and independent investigative capability necessary to match the scale of events and the standards required of an international police watchdog operating in a city that values freedoms and rights.”
The panel said if resources were enhanced, the IPCC might be able to issue an interim report “with limited, but sufficient facts” on the cause of the protests and the handling by authorities.
But it said there was “a compelling case” for a “deeper more comprehensive inquiry... by an independent body with requisite powers.”
The report was not available on the IPCC’s website.
But it was posted on Twitter late Saturday by one of the panel members, UK-based academic Clifford Stott.
The Hong Kong government and police did not respond to a request for comment.
The panel’s conclusion is an embarrassment for Lam as she battles record low approval ratings and tries to face down calls for an independent inquiry.
“This panel of international experts was hand-picked by the government and presumably had been expected to endorse the IPCC’s work,” Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong-based lawyer who wrote a book about the city’s pro-democracy movement, said.
“For them to come out with a statement effectively saying that IPCC is not up to the task is quite damning and only reinforces the urgency of an independent inquiry,” he added.
Beijing and Lam appear determined to wait out the protests.
While crowd numbers are smaller than earlier this summer when millions marched, rallies and increasingly violent clashes are still happening on a weekly basis.
Tensions soared this week when a 22-year-old student died from a fall during clashes with police in unclear and disputed circumstances.
Tens of thousands of people attended a peaceful vigil on Saturday evening, one of the few large gatherings in recent months to be granted police permission.
Hong Kong police watchdog unequipped to probe protest response: experts
Hong Kong police watchdog unequipped to probe protest response: experts
- The international finance hub has been upended by five months of huge and increasingly violent rallies
- Protesters argue the Independent Police Complaints Commission lacks adequate investigatory powers
Germany: ICC asking for arrest warrants for Hamas leaders is logical
BERLIN: A request by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for arrest warrants for Hamas leaders is logical and no comparisons can be made with Israel’s prime minister and defense minister, for whom warrants are also being sought, a German government spokesperson said.
“The accusations of the chief prosecutor are serious and must be substantiated,” said the spokesperson on Tuesday. He added that Germany assumed Israel’s democratic system and rule of law with a strong, independent judiciary would be taken into account by judges deciding whether to issue the warrants.
Indonesia, UAE to build mangrove research center in Bali
- Countries are part of Mangrove Alliance for Climate launched at COP27
- Southeast Asian country is home to about 23% of global mangrove ecosystems
JAKARTA: Indonesia and the UAE are collaborating to build a mangrove research center in Bali as part of a partnership to promote nature-based solutions to climate change.
The Southeast Asian country is home to about 23 percent of all mangrove ecosystems in the world. In the face of climate change, mangroves are essential in protecting coastal communities against rising sea levels and capturing massive amounts of emissions and greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
At COP27, the 2022 UN climate summit held in Egypt, the archipelagic country partnered with the UAE to launch the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, an initiative focused on nature-based efforts to address issues related to climate change. It was later joined by dozens of other countries, including Australia and India.
As part of that cooperation, the two countries will start building an international mangrove research center in Bali, following a groundbreaking ceremony held over the weekend.
“This institution represents one of the UAE’s most important contributions in its partnership with Indonesia to promote nature-based solutions to address impacts of climate change in the two countries and in the world,” UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al-Dahak said in a statement on Tuesday.
“Taking into consideration the significant decline of mangrove forests in the world, the UAE is aware that losing even more mangrove trees will worsen the impacts of climate change … this research center will work to create solutions.”
Al-Dahak attended the ceremony alongside Suhail Mohamed Al-Mazrouei, a special envoy of the UAE president, and Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister of maritime affairs and investment.
According to Indonesia’s Maritime Affairs and Investment Ministry, the center will focus on conducting research, conservation and providing education related to mangroves, particularly on harnessing biotechnology and innovative uses of artificial intelligence to identify and restore mangrove ecosystems.
“I’m proudly announcing that the International Mangrove Research Center will be built in a strategic location in Bali, which has already shown its success in preserving mangrove ecosystems and will garner international attention,” Pandjaitan said.
Indonesia has made mangrove planting a key feature in the international events that it hosts, including the Group of 20 Meeting in 2022 and the 10th World Water Forum, which runs until May 25. The research center will be built within the Ngurah Rai Forest Park, Bali’s largest mangrove conservation area covering about 1,300 hectares.
Police break up pro-Palestinian camp at the University of Michigan
- Video posted online by Detroit-area TV stations showed police moving people away from the camp on the Diag, a common site for campus protests
- The encampment had been set up in late April near the end of the school year
MICHIGAN: Police broke up a pro-Palestinian encampment Tuesday at the University of Michigan, less than a week after demonstrators showed up at the home of a school official and placed fake body bags on her lawn.
Video posted online by Detroit-area TV stations showed police moving people away from the camp on the Diag, a common site for campus protests. The encampment had been set up in late April near the end of the school year.
President Santa Ono said in a statement that the encampment had become a threat to safety, with overloaded power sources and open flames. Organizers had refused to comply with requests to make changes following an inspection by a fire marshal, he said.
“The disregard for safety directives was only the latest in a series of troubling events,” Ono said.
Protesters have demanded that the school’s endowment stop investing in companies with ties to Israel. But the university insists it has no direct investments and less than $15 million placed with funds that might include companies in Israel. That’s less than 0.1 percent of the total endowment.
“There’s nothing to talk about. That issue is settled,” Sarah Hubbard, chair of the Board of Regents, said last week.
A group of 30 protesters showed up at her house before dawn last week and placed stuffed, red-stained sheets on her lawn to resemble body bags. They banged a drum and chanted slogans over a bullhorn.
Masked protesters also posted demands at the doors of other board members.
“This conduct is where our failure to address antisemitism leads literally — literally — to the front door of my home,” board member Mark Bernstein, a Detroit-area lawyer, said at a board meeting last week. “Who’s next? When and where will this end? As a Jew, I know the answer to these questions because our experience is full of tragedies that we are at grave risk of repeating. Enough is enough.”
Students and others have set up tent encampments on campuses around the country to press colleges to cut financial ties with Israel. Tensions over the war have been high on campuses since the fall, but demonstrations spread quickly following an April 18 police crackdown on an encampment at Columbia University.
UK announces compensation package for blood scandal victims
- Damning report blames successive governments, officials and doctors for failures that resulted in more than 3,000 deaths
LONDON: Britain said on Tuesday it would begin making further interim compensation payments to the victims of the contaminated blood and blood products scandal.
“The government will be making further interim payments ahead of the establishment of the full scheme,” minister John Glen told parliament, a day after a damning report blamed successive governments, officials and doctors for failures that resulted in more than 3,000 deaths.
“Payments of 210,000 pounds will be made to living infected beneficiaries,” he added.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made a “wholehearted unequivocal apology for this terrible injustice” on Monday, adding that those affected would receive “comprehensive compensation.”
More than 14,000 displaced from Ukraine’s Kharkiv region: WHO
- WHO official in Ukraine: Conflict in Kharkiv ‘has significantly increased the number of trauma patients’
- UNHCR voices concerns that conditions in Kharkiv could become even more difficult if the ground assault and aerial attacks continue
GENEVA: More than 14,000 people have been displaced in recent days from Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region, where Russia launched a ground offensive on May 10, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.
The assault has seen Russian forces achieve their largest territorial gains in Ukraine in the last 18 months.
“Over the past two weeks, fighting in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine has severely escalated,” Jarno Habicht, the WHO’s representative in Ukraine, told a press briefing in Geneva, via video-link from Kyiv.
“Over 14,000 people have been displaced in a matter of days, and nearly 189,000 more still reside within 25 kilometers of the border with the Russian Federation, facing significant risks due to the ongoing fighting,” he said.
He said the UN health agency was using these figures after speaking with local authorities.
“With the worsening security situation, humanitarian needs in the region are growing, and growing fast,” Habicht said.
The conflict in Kharkiv “has significantly increased the number of trauma patients,” he added.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Since then, more than 20,000 amputations have been carried out, said Habicht.
And 200 ambulances per year, on average, have been damaged or destroyed in shelling attacks, “depriving the Ukrainian people of urgent care,” he added.
The UNHCR voiced concerns that conditions in Kharkiv — already home to 200,000 internally displaced people — could become even more difficult if the ground assault and aerial attacks continue.
“UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, is extremely worried about the worsening situation and resulting spike in humanitarian needs and forced displacement owing to the new ground offensive,” spokeswoman Shabia Mantoo told the Geneva briefing.
She said the Ukrainian authorities had evacuated more than 10,300 people from villages in the Kharkiv region’s border areas, while others have left by their own means.
“The majority of the evacuees, who had to escape their homes with only a few belongings, are already highly vulnerable and include mainly older people and those with low mobility or disabilities who were not able to flee earlier,” Mantoo said.
Those registered at a transit center in Kharkiv city have been given basic relief items and advised on accommodation options.
“The vast majority of evacuees have expressed a clear wish to stay with family members or in rental accommodation and collective sites in Kharkiv and not move further from their homes, to be able to return when the situation allows,” Mantoo said.
The United Nations’ 2024 humanitarian plan for Ukraine amounts to $3.1 billion this year. UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said that it was thus far only 23 percent funded.
