‘No regrets’ says pardoned but defiant Catalan separatist

Catalan separatist Jordi Cuixart, center, chats with people as he walks in his hometown of Montblanc, near Tarragona on June 25, 2021. (AFP)
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Updated 27 June 2021
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‘No regrets’ says pardoned but defiant Catalan separatist

  • ‘These pardons don’t reflect a desire to resolve the political conflict’
  • Jordi Cuixart was arrested on October 16, 2017 after a demonstration outside a regional government building

MONTBLANC, Spain: He spent three years and eight months behind bars for his involvement in Catalonia’s 2017 failed independence bid. But Jordi Cuixart says he has no regrets, days after being pardoned by Spain.
One of nine Catalan separatist leaders freed on Wednesday as a gesture of “reconciliation,” Cuixart says the olive branch will not resolve the separatist crisis in this wealthy northeastern region of Spain.
“These pardons don’t reflect a desire to resolve the political conflict,” says the 46-year-old who heads Omnium Cultural, one of the region’s biggest grassroots pro-independence groups.
Speaking to AFP, Cuixart pointed to widespread criticism of their imprisonment from NGOs like Amnesty International as a factor behind the release of the separatists, but said what tipped the balance was that “our being in prison was creating problems for the Spanish state.”
Cuixart was arrested on October 16, 2017 after a demonstration outside a regional government building during which several police vehicles were destroyed.
In 2019, he was sentenced to nine years in prison for sedition.
The image of Cuixart addressing protesters while standing on a police vehicle remains one of the enduring images of the failed independence bid which sparked Spain’s worst political crisis in decades.
The prisoners were serving between nine and 13 years each for their role in holding a referendum banned by Spain’s courts and that was marred by police violence.
Several weeks later, Catalonia’s separatist regional parliament made a short-lived declaration of independence, prompting Madrid to sack the regional government and suspend its autonomy.
And after much thought while in prison, Cuixart says he has almost no regrets.
“I don’t regret anything except the violence that was inflicted (by police) on ordinary citizens,” he said, blaming the Spanish state for all the unrest.
Others have been slightly more self-critical.
Oriol Junqueras, deputy head of the Catalan government at the time of the crisis and the prisoner serving the longest sentence of 13 years, recently admitted the separatists made mistakes back in 2017.
Even so, Cuixart believes that the talks between Madrid and Catalonia’s separatist leadership, which are to resume soon, may end up being a “turning point.”
“I don’t see Spanish society as being ready for progress on autonomy, but politicians are responsible for engaging in dialogue,” said Cuixart, who has a salt-and-pepper beard and wears his hair in a longish curly mullet.
A fervent advocate of the right to self-determination, a key separatist demand, he is nonetheless aware that the central government remains categorically opposed to such an idea.
While he missed his children, the youngest of whom was born while he was behind bars, Cuixart said he has fond memories of prison — although he was held in a semi-open regime and able to leave regularly.
Now totally free, he is enjoying his first days of real freedom in a small village about 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Barcelona, where his family has a house and where all the locals recognize him, his face being very well-known within Catalan society.
He says his time in jail has made him stronger.
“They wanted me to lose everything but the only thing I lost was fear. I am not afraid of the Spanish state,” he said defiantly.
“Will we ever have a Catalan Republic? If that’s what Catalans want, it’s very likely it will happen one day.”


UK Mideast minister: Israel’s actions leaving its allies ‘pretty challenged’

Updated 14 May 2024
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UK Mideast minister: Israel’s actions leaving its allies ‘pretty challenged’

  • Lord Ahmad: Many are uneasy about adherence to international humanitarian law
  • UK FM opposes arms ban despite ‘grave concerns around humanitarian access issue in Gaza’

LONDON: The UK’s Middle East minister has warned that the war in Gaza is causing Israel’s allies numerous problems over allegations that it has broken international humanitarian law, the Daily Telegraph reported.

“I think Israel is really leaving many of its partners, including ourselves, pretty challenged on where we are currently on the issue of IHL, and how they are fulfilling their obligations,” Lord Ahmad told the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

“Israel has obligations. We are allies of Israel and as a constructive friend to Israel, we’d land these points very directly to them.”

On Sunday, UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said an arms ban against Israel would not be “a wise path.”

In April, he said the UK’s stance on selling arms to Israel was “consistent with the advice that I and other ministers have received, and as ever we will keep the position under review.

“Let me be clear, though, we continue to have grave concerns around the humanitarian access issue in Gaza.”

UK law requires a ban on the sale of weapons to states that breach or fall short of adhering to international humanitarian law.

So far Canada, Japan, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands have suspended arms sales to Israel. The UK’s main opposition Labour Party called for a halt on exports this week.


8 dead, at least 40 injured as farmworkers’ bus overturns in central Florida

Updated 14 May 2024
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8 dead, at least 40 injured as farmworkers’ bus overturns in central Florida

  • The bus was transporting 53 farmworkers at about 6:40 a.m. when it collided with a truck
  • The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon

FLORIDA: A bus carrying farmworkers in central Florida overturned on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring about 40 other passengers, authorities said.
The bus was transporting 53 farmworkers at about 6:40 a.m. when it collided with a truck in Marion County, north of Orlando, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
Authorities say the bus swerved off State Road 40, a straight but somewhat hilly two-lane road that passes through farms. It crashed through a fence and ended up on its side in a field. The workers were being transported to Cannon Farms in Dunellon, which has been harvesting watermelons.
Photos taken by the Ocala Star-Banner at the scene show the bus lying on its side with both its emergency rear door and top hatch open. The truck that hit it shows extensive damage to its driver’s side.
There is no immediate indication that weather was a factor.
“We will be closed today out of respect to the losses and injuries endured early this morning in the accident that took place to the Olvera Trucking Harvesting Corp.,” Cannon Farms announced on its Facebook page. “Please pray with us for the families and the loved ones involved in this tragic accident. We appreciate your understanding at this difficult time.”
Cannon Farms describes itself as a family owned commercial farming operation that has farmed its land for more than 100 years, focusing now on peanuts and watermelons, which it sends to grocery stores across the US and Canada.
No one answered the phone at Olvera Trucking on Tuesday afternoon. The company had recently advertised for a temporary driver to bus workers to watermelon fields. The driver would then operate harvesting equipment. The pay was $14.77 an hour.


Harvard students end protest as university agrees to discuss Middle East conflict

Updated 14 May 2024
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Harvard students end protest as university agrees to discuss Middle East conflict

  • The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands”
  • Students at many college campuses this spring set up similar encampments

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts: Protesters against the war between Israel and Hamas were voluntarily taking down their tents in Harvard Yard on Tuesday after university officials agreed to discuss their questions about the endowment, bringing a peaceful end to the kinds of demonstrations that were broken up by police on other campuses.
The student protest group Harvard Out of Occupied Palestine said in a statement that the encampment “outlasted its utility with respect to our demands.” Meanwhile, Harvard University interim President Alan Garber agreed to pursue a meeting between protesters and university officials regarding the students’ questions.
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.
The latest Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas and other militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking an additional 250 hostage. Palestinian militants still hold about 100 captives, and Israel’s military has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Harvard said its president and the dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Hopi Hoekstra, will meet with the protesters to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.
The protesters said they worked out an agreement to meet with university officials including the Harvard Management Company, which oversees the world’s largest academic endowment, valued at about $50 billion.
The protesters’ statement said the students will set an agenda including discussions on disclosure, divestment, and reinvestment, and the creation of a Center for Palestine Studies. The students also said that Harvard has offered to retract suspensions of more than 20 students and student workers and back down on disciplinary measures faced by 60 more.
“Since its establishment three weeks ago, the encampment has both broadened and deepened Palestine solidarity organizing on campus,” a spokesperson for the protesters said. “It has moved the needle on disclosure and divestment at Harvard.”


At least 15 injured in Russian strike on high-rise in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

Updated 14 May 2024
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At least 15 injured in Russian strike on high-rise in Ukraine’s Kharkiv

  • A fire broke out at another strike site, and at least ten garages were affected

KYIV: A Russian air attack on Kharkiv city center in Ukraine hit a high-rise residential building, injuring at least 15 people, including two children, local officials said on Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear what kind of weapon was used in the strike, but it landed on the 10th floor of the 12-story apartment block, officials said on Telegram.
Ihor Terekhov, the city’s major, said rescuers were searching for the injured.
One person was hospitalized in a serious condition, Oleh Syniehubov, the regional governor, added.
A fire broke out at another strike site, and at least ten garages were affected, Syniehubov said.
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, and the surrounding region have long been targeted by Russian attacks but the strikes have become more intense in recent months, hitting civilian and energy infrastructure.


Two French prison officers killed in inmate's escape

Updated 14 May 2024
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Two French prison officers killed in inmate's escape

  • The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France
  • The inmate was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy

ROUEN, France: Gunmen on Tuesday attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing at least two prison officers and freeing a convict who had been jailed last week.
President Emmanuel Macron vowed that everything would be done to find those behind the attack as hundreds of members of the security forces were deployed for a manhunt to find the attackers and the inmate who were all still at large.
Two prison officers were killed in the attack and two others are receiving urgent medical care, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.
The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France, a source close to the case added.
The inmate was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy.
A police source said several individuals, who arrived in two vehicles, rammed the police van and then fled.
One of them was wounded, the police source said.
It was not immediately clear how many attackers there were in total.
"Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime," Macron wrote on X.
"We will be uncompromising," he added, describing the attack as a "shock".
Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti immediately headed to a crisis cell at his ministry.
"These are people for whom life counts for nothing. They will be arrested, they will be judged and they will be punished according to the crime they committed," he said.
Both the officers killed were men and they were the first prison officers to be killed in the line of duty since 1992, he added.
One of them was married and had two children while the other "left a wife five months pregnant", he said.
"I am frozen with horror at the veritable carnage that took place at the Incarville toll," said Alexandre Rassaert, the head of the Eure region council.
"I hope with all my heart that that the team of killers which carried out this bloody attack will be arrested quickly."
A unit of the GIGN elite police force has been despatched to apprehend the suspects.
Traffic was stopped on the A154 motorway where the incident took place.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote on X he had ordered the activation of France's Epervier plan, a special operation launched by the gendarmerie in such situations.
"All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised," he said.
Prosecutor Beccuau named the inmate as Mohamed Amra, born in 1994, saying that last week he had been convicted of aggravated robbery and also charged in a case of abduction leading to death.
The case has been handed to prosecutors from France's office for the fight against organised crime known by their acronym JUNALCO.
Law and order is a major issue in French politics ahead of next month's European elections and the incident sparked fierce reactions from politicians, especially the far right.
"It is real savagery that hits France every day," said Jordan Bardella, the top candidate for the far-right National Rally (RN) which is leading opinion polls for the elections.