ACLU sues Trump, Barr over 'criminal attack' on Lafayette Square protesters

President Donald J. Trump returns after posing with a bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., on Monday. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI | License Photo

June 4 (UPI) -- Protesters and the American Civil Liberties Union sued President Donald Trump, Attorney General William Barr and other top officials on Thursday, alleging their civil rights were violated when police used violent crowd control measures to disperse hundreds of peaceful demonstrators from Lafayette Square so Trump could pose for photos before a nearby church.

In the lawsuit filed on behalf of Black Lives Matter D.C. and individual protesters in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the plaintiffs argue that their First Amendment rights to protest and their Fourth Amendment rights were violated when U.S. law enforcement agents fired tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and flash bombs to force them and other peaceful protesters to disperse Monday evening near the White House.

"Defendants had no legitimate basis to destroy the peaceable gathering," the court filing reads. "Defendants' professed purpose -- to clear the area to permit the President to walk to a photo opportunity at a nearby church -- was a wholly illegal reason for abridging the constitutional rights of Plaintiffs and the others assembled in Lafayette Square."

BREAKING: Together with allies, @ACLU_DC is taking Trump, Barr and Esper to court for firing tear gas and other weapons on protesters outside the White House.
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The use of a chemical weapon was an inhumane violation of the First Amendment.
Our government must be held accountable.— ACLU (@ACLU) June 4, 2020

The use of force to disperse the peaceful demonstrations and the subsequent photos of Trump brandishing a bible before the St. John's Episcopal Church, which had sustained damage from a fire lit in its basement during protests the night before, attracted widespread condemnation from the Democratic Party and the Washington Catholic Diocese as well as some Republicans.
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The White House has compared the photo op to seminal images of American and world leaders showing bravery amid tragedy and said that critics were attempting to politicize the event.
Barr, during a press conference Thursday, said the use of force was not connected to Trump's movement to the church but due to the escalation of the protest in the area and was done to protect federal property and agents by expanding a "buffer zone," stating violent protesters were throwing projectiles amid the peaceful protesters.

"We could not continue to protect the federal property involved and protect our federal agents with such a tight perimeter and so our object was to move it out by one block," he said.

The ACLU argued in the lawsuit, which also names Defense Secretary Mark Esper and several others as defendants, that the actions by the Trump administration are "the manifestation of the very despotism against which the First Amendment was intended to protect."

According to the court filing, Trump and Barr directed the law enforcement agents to disperse the crowd, leaving several protesters injured, some severely.

"The President's shameless, unconstitutional, unprovoked and frankly criminal attack on protesters because he disagreed with their views shakes the foundation of our nation's constitutional order," Scott Michelman, legal director at the ACLU of the District of Columbia, said in a statement. "And when the nation's top law enforcement officer becomes complicit in the tactics of an autocrat, it chills protected speech for all of us."

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The ACLU said more lawsuits will be filed across the country in response to police attacks against protesters and journalists documenting nationwide protests that have rocked the country demanding justice for the police-involved death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died May 25 while in police custody.

The arresting officer, Derek Chauvin, who was seen in video kneeling on a prostrate and handcuffed Floyd's neck for more than 8 minutes, has been fired and charged with murder. Three other officers involved in the arrest have been charged with aiding and abetting a murder.

"Across the country, law enforcement armed with military weaponry are responding with violence to people who are protesting police brutality," Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy and Technology Project, said in a statement. "The First Amendment right to protest is under attack, and we will not let this go unanswered. This is the first of many lawsuits the ACLU intends to file across the country in response to police brutality against protesters."

DISARM

 DEFUND

DISMISS

COPS

South Korea joins global Black Lives Matter rallies



A South Korean demonstrator holds up a sign in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in downtown Seoul on Saturday. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Photo

Protesters hold up signs at demonstration against police brutality in downtown Seoul Saturday. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI | License Phot

June 6 (UPI) -- Activists in South Korea held a Black Lives Matter rally Saturday, joining other demonstrations spreading across the globe after the death of George Floyd.

An estimated crowd of some 100 people participated in the BLM rally in South Korea's capital of Seoul.


They began marching from Myeongdong, central Seoul, to Cheonggye Stream, as some held signs reading "Black Lives Matter."

Floyd, an African-American security guard and community leader, died at age 46, on May 25, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer, prompting the BLM movement to spread. All four officers involved in Floyd's arrest and death have been charged. Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer, who pressed his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes as he was dying, has been charged with second-degree murder. Three other officers involved were charged with aiding and abetting.

Protesters call for convictions of the Minneapolis officers, an end to systemic racism and an end to police brutality, which disproportionately impacts black people.

"We want to show solidarity with the U.S. movement and remember Floyd who was sacrificed due to racism," said Shim Ji-hoon, 34, who organized the event.

Rallies in solidarity with BLM have been held worldwide.

In Australia, thousands protested the deaths of indigenous people in police custody in their country.

NOT 1918, NOT 1928, NOT 1948, BUT 1998

On This Day : James Byrd Jr. lynched in Texas
On June 7, 1998, three white supremacists killed James Byrd Jr. by dragging him for 3 miles behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas.

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2020/06/07/On-This-Day-James-Byrd-Jr-lynched-in-Texas/9371590944074/?sl=11


President Barack Obama (L) claps with Louvon Harris (C) and Betty Byrd Boatner, the sisters of James Byrd, Jr., who was a victim of a hate crime, as he delivers remarks on the passing of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act, at the White House in Washington on October 28, 2009. On June 7, 1998, three white supremacists killed Byrd by dragging him for 3 miles behind a pickup truck in Jasper, Texas. File Photo by Kevin Dietsch/UPI | License Photo

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UPI Archives:  Texas executes Brewer for dragging death

UPI Archives: Funeral held for James Byrd Jr.

Europeans join global wave of anti-racism protests

AFP / Gabriel BOUYSThousands of protesters gathered outside the US embassy in Madrid

Calling for racial justice, protesters rallied across Europe Sunday, joining a wave of demonstrations sparked by the death of African American George Floyd at the hands of US police.

A video of the incident with Floyd pleading for his life in Minneapolis as a white police officer knelt on his neck has sparked protests worldwide, even as countries continue to discourage large gatherings to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

Several thousand people massed outside the US embassy in Madrid, shouting "I can't breathe", Floyd's last words, and demanding justice.

"Racism knows no borders," said Leinisa Seemdo, a 26-year-old Spanish translator from Cape Verde. "In all the countries where I have lived, I have experienced discrimination because of the colour of my skin."

AFP / Alberto PIZZOLIProtesters raised their fists and held eight minutes' silence in a protest in Rome

Rome's Piazza del Popolo ("People's Plaza") fell silent for eight minutes -- roughly the time the policeman pressed his knee on Floyd's neck -- as thousands of people took a knee in memory of Floyd, their fists in the air.

"We can't breathe," shouted the crowd, after the collective silence.

"It's really hard to live here," said Senegalese migrant Morikeba Samate, 32, one of the thousands to have arrived in Italy after risking the perilous crossing across the Mediterranean.

AFP / Alberto PIZZOLIProtesters carried placards and played drums during a rally in solidarity with the "Black Lives Matter" movement in Rome

Opposition to that wave of migration buoyed the far-right in Italy and elsewhere in Europe.

Floyd's death last month has unleashed the most serious and widespread civil unrest in the United States since Martin Luther King was assassinated in 1968.

The police officer, Derek Chauvin, has been charged with second-degree murder while three fellow officers face lesser charges.

- 'No Justice, No Peace' -

More than 1,000 people on Sunday also gathered at a Black Lives Matter protest near the US embassy in Budapest.

Hungarian reggae singer G Ras told cheering protesters: "If we want to live in a better world, we need to radically change the way we live."

Almost 4,000 attended two similar events in the Netherlands, while thousands marched in cities across Britain.

Hip-hop artist Stormzy joined protesters marching for a second day running in London despite a ban against large gatherings during the coronavirus.

For the second day running, some demonstrators scuffled with police near Downing Street. There were also clashes outside the US embassy.

AFP / Fabrice COFFRINISome protesters in Lausanne carried placards with the name of 40-year-old Nigerian Mike Ben Peter, who died while being arrested by the city's police two years ago

Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: "These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery -- and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account."

In Bristol, a city linked to the slave trade, the statue of trader Edward Colston was torn down Sunday and thrown into the harbour.

In Lausanne, Switzerland, a black-clad demonstrator's placard read: "my colour is not a threat".

Some protesters there carried placards with the name of 40-year-old Nigerian Mike Ben Peter, who died while being arrested by the city's police two years ago

- Brussels clashes -

Almost 10,000 people marched in Brussels, police said. "The murder of George Floyd has clearly woken up a lot of people," said Ange Kaze of the Belgian Network for Black Lives.

AFP / Aris OikonomouPolice said 10,000 people marched in Brussels

After the demonstration, police arrested around 150 people for vandalism, which the city's mayor, Philippe Close, blamed on "troublemakers and delinquents". Close had authorised the march against the advice of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes.

A demonstration by 15,000 in Copenhagen ended peacefully.

But there was fighting reported at the end of a protest in Goteborg, Sweden, were almost 2,000 people turned out for a march authorised for just 50 owing to coronavirus restrictions.

Governments are struggling to balance people's need to express their anger, against the risk of protests spreading a disease that has killed more than 400,000 worldwide.

In France, more than 23,000 people demonstrated on Saturday, and football players from a half dozen German teams knelt over the weekend in Floyd's memory.

His death occurred during a pandemic that has disproportionately affected black people and ethnic minorities in mega cities such as London, New York and Rio de Janeiro.

The historic economic recession triggered by virus lockdowns has hammered the poor and marginalised even more.

A combination of economic woes, social tensions and anger at US President Donald Trump's response has refocused attention on racial divides like few other events since the 1960s.

India sends 'man-eater' tiger to lifetime in captivity

AFP/File / STRNearly 225 people were killed in tiger attacks in India between 2014 and 2019, according to government figures

A tiger blamed for killing three people will spend the rest of its life in captivity, Indian officials said Sunday, saying the big cat was "too dangerous" to be allowed to roam free.

The five-year-old male predator, also blamed for attacking cattle, had embarked on a trek more than 500 kilometres (310 miles) long from western Maharashtra state to central India's Betul district in Madhya Pradesh state in 2018.

"We gave it several chances to re-wild but it habitually went into human habitations," Madhya Pradesh's chief wildlife warden, S.K. Mandal, told AFP.

"The only option left was to put it in captivity to ensure both the tiger and humans are safe."

The tiger -- dubbed the "vagabond" or "nomad" by some local media -- was first trapped in December 2018 after its long journey and held in captivity for two months.

The big cat was eventually fitted with a tracking collar and shuttled between a tiger reserve and a national park.

Officials however said it repeatedly strayed and hunted near human settlements, attacking cattle and endangering humans.

Finally the tiger was tranquilised and sent to a zoo in Madhya Pradesh capital's Bhopal on Saturday.

Officials said the decision to capture the adult tiger was taken a few months ago, but was delayed due to the novel coronavirus lockdown.

"It will take sometime for him to adjust to the new environment. We will be monitoring his behaviour," Bhopal's Van Vihar National Park director, Kamlika Mohanta, told AFP.

"As of now it will remain in solitary confinement. A decision to put it on display at the zoo or send it to a (fenced) safari will be taken later."

Human encroachment on tiger habitats have increased in recent decades in the nation of 1.3 billion people, leading to deadly conflicts with the animals.

Nearly 225 people were killed in tiger attacks between 2014 and 2019, according to government figures.

More than 200 tigers were killed by poachers or electrocution between 2012 and 2018, the data showed.

India is home to around 70 percent of the world's tigers. Last year, the government said the tiger population had risen to 2,967 in 2018 from a record low of 1,411 in 2006.

A World Redrawn: Iranian photographer sees chance for solidarity

AFP / Hamed NOORIIranian photographer Gohar Dashti hopes people will learn resilience from the coronavirus pandemic

Iranian photographer Gohar Dashti has created a body of work that explores the relationship between nature, human migration and the ripple effects of conflict and social upheaval.

The coronavirus pandemic presents, she believes, an opportunity to remind us of our mutual responsibility toward each other.

With the pandemic creating a collective sense of unmooring from the familiar, what is important is that "it will make us understand that we're all in the same boat," she said.

"This is a shared pain," she told AFP from Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States, where she has been based for several years.

"I hope that from this situation, we will come to an understanding that the world is one. If a tree is cut in Africa, it impacts the life of someone in France," the 40-year-old photographer and video artist said.

"It's good that we understand the relationship between the world, economy and nature and maybe this epidemic has allowed us to think about all these issues again."

Nature and its relationship to mankind trace a thread through Dashti's 15-year oeuvre -- exhibited worldwide and featured in prestigious permanent collections -- with nature often acting as a foil for examining social issues and identity in her large-scale, staged photographs.

Dashti's own life was marked by conflict and its legacy. She was born in Iran's Khuzestan province at the start of the Iran-Iraq war that ravaged the oil-rich eastern region that borders Iraq and killed hundreds of thousands from 1980-1988.

- 'Not separate' -

AFP / Gohar DASHTIGohar Dashti explores nature and its relationship to mankind through her photography

One of her series, "Today’s Life and War", placed a couple going about day-to-day domestic life -- cooking, watching TV, hanging up washing -- amid the trappings of a battlefield, with tanks and soldiers looming in the background.

Another series, "Stateless", produced in 2014/2015, features scenes similar to those familiar in news coverage of refugees and migrants but rendered stark and semi-theatrical against vast and towering landscapes.

Touching on ongoing conflicts, she said she hopes people, particularly those in wealthy countries, will come to recognise amid the pandemic that they are not unaffected by the suffering of others around the world.

"What is much more important to me is the view of countries with high economic power. For them to understand that they are not separate ... we all live in the same world," she said.

"Sometimes we see something like war in the media and think that it has nothing to do with us -- that's Afghanistan's problem or that's Yemen's problem.

"But what's happening now shows that it has to do with all of us. If a war breaks out in Yemen or in Afghanistan, it also has an effect on our lives, so we can't stay silent."

She said her compatriots in Iran, which is facing the deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East, had rallied in solidarity in the face of the pandemic, drawing on resilience from previous crises.

"Iran, like all countries, was taken unawares by the virus and experienced very difficult conditions and continues to see very difficult conditions. But, really, with the cooperation between people and the commendable efforts of medical staff, they have been able to manage the crisis," she said.

"In my opinion, the people in Iran have shown a lot of solidarity -- one reason is that they are a people that have known crisis."

- Resilience -

AFP / Gohar DASHTIIranian photographer Gohar Dashti says the coronavirus pandemic should remind us of our mutual responsibility toward each other

Resilience to the anxiety triggered by uncertainty is something Dashti thinks we can learn from the pandemic.

"The conditions created by the coronavirus all over the world teach us how to live with instability," she said.

"In my opinion, artists and migrants can deal with these situations better. They know how to live and work with an uncharted future."

Thrown into her own state of uncertainty with exhibitions of her work "Land/s" -- a meditation on finding the familiar in foreign landscapes -- cancelled or postponed, Dashti is still working on a film about the project, but like many others around the world, experiencing a change of pace.

"I am spending a lot of time with my four-year-old son, giving him lessons. Really, I feel like I have never spent so much with him," she said. "Another activity that I love is to take walks in nature.

"More and more I think I should pay more attention to and work on nature and its relationship with humanity."

Reebok slams CrossFit in outrage over CEO's tweet

AFP/File / TIMOTHY A. CLARYReebok said it would end its partnership with CrossFit Inc. once it fulfils its current contract obligation as the title sponsor for the 2020 CrossFit Games

Sports footwear giant Reebok has decided to end its partnership with CrossFit Inc. later this year following an insensitive comment by the fitness organization's chief executive concerning protests against racial injustice roiling the US.

Reebok said Sunday it would make the move once it fulfils its current contract obligation as the title sponsor for the 2020 CrossFit Games.

"Recently, we have been in discussions regarding a new agreement, however, in light of recent events, we have made the decision to end our partnership with CrossFit HQ," Reebok said in a statement Sunday.

CrossFit chief executive Greg Glassman tweeted, "It's FLOYD-19" on Saturday after the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation classified racism and discrimination as a public health issue.

Human rights groups expressed outrage at the tweet, calling it insensitive to the current events and the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Floyd was killed when officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.

Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter, while three other officers have been charged with abetting murder and manslaughter.

Reebok and CrossFit previously signed a deal that named the athletic footwear company as the title sponsor for the CrossFit Games.

Other affiliates like CrossFit Magnus also decided to cut ties with the Washington, DC-based global fitness organization.

"After eight years as a CrossFit affiliate we are ending our affiliation," CrossFit Magnus spokesman Nick Hurndon wrote in a social media post.

"We will no longer continue to 'carry your water,' as it is antithetical to anything we stand for and only serves the continuation of systemic racism."

CrossFit has over 13,000 gyms in more than 120 countries and generates some US$4 billion in annual revenues.

Minneapolis council vows police dismantling as protests continue

AFP / Kerem YucelA man raises his fist during a memorial for George Floyd after a day of demonstrations on June 7, 2020 in Minneapolis

Councilors in the US city of Minneapolis pledged late Sunday to dismantle and rebuild the police department, after the death in custody of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests about racism in law enforcement, pushing the issue onto the national political agenda.

Floyd was killed on May 25 when white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on the unarmed black man's neck for nearly nine minutes. Chauvin has been charged with second-degree murder and is to appear in court Monday.

"We committed to dismantling policing as we know it in the city of Minneapolis and to rebuild with our community a new model of public safety that actually keeps our community safe," Council President Lisa Bender told CNN, after a majority of councilors committed to the effort.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, however, is against getting rid of the department, and the head of the city's powerful police union, Bob Kroll, appeared on stage last year with President Donald Trump.

The vow by the majority of councilors came a day after Frey was booed at and asked to leave a "Defund the Police" rally. He later told AFP he supported "massive structural reform to revise this structurally racist system" but not "abolishing the entire police department."

AFP / Jose Luis MaganaHundreds of demonstrators walk down 16th Street NW during a rally north of Lafayette Square near the White House to protest police brutality and racism, on June 7, 2020

Bystander video of the incident -- which captured Floyd calling for his mother and saying he could not breathe -- has sparked two weeks of mostly peaceful demonstrations across the country.

On Sunday, protesters in cities including Washington, New York and Winter Park, Florida, began focusing their outrage over the death of the unarmed Floyd into demands for police reform and social justice.

Mitt Romney, a Republican senator from Utah, joined a group of Christian protesters marching toward the White House. He tweeted photos of himself in the procession, along with the simple caption, "Black Lives Matter."

Although Romney has been a rare Republican voice of opposition to Trump, he was joined last week by Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, who said criticism of Trump was overdue.

Trump's tough approach to putting down protests continued to draw exceptional rebukes from top retired military officers, a group normally loath to criticize a civilian leader.

Former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Colin Powell joined them Sunday, saying Trump had "drifted away" from the Constitution. Powell, a Republican moderate, said Trump had weakened America's position around the world and that in November's presidential election he would support Democrat Joe Biden.

- 'This isn't a battlefield' -

AFP / Kerem YucelA woman cries in front of an installation created by Anna Barber and Connor Wright called 'Say Their Names' to honor victims of police brutality on June 7, 2020 in Minneapolis

Condoleezza Rice, who succeeded Powell as secretary of state under President George W. Bush, told CBS she would "absolutely" oppose using the military against peaceful protesters, adding, "This isn't a battlefield."

The president has ordered National Guard troops to begin withdrawing from the nation's capital, whose Mayor Muriel Bowser, a Democrat who jousted with Trump over the use of force in her city, told Fox News there had been no arrests on Saturday despite the protests which saw thousands moving through the capital's streets.

A week earlier, however, there were fires and vandalism.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told ABC that Washington had been "a city out of control" and denied a problem of systemic racism among police.

The Trump administration has proposed no specific policy changes in response to the widespread outrage over Floyd's death.

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) said they would introduce legislation in the House of Representatives on Monday to make policing more accountable.

The legislation is expected to make it easier to sue police officers over deadly incidents, to ban the sort of choke holds that led to Floyd's death, and to establish a national database to record police misconduct.

- 'A lot of work to do' -

One member of the caucus, Representative Val Demings of Florida, a former police chief in the city of Orlando, told ABC that "systemic racism is always the ghost in the room."

AFP / Gal ROMAExample of the "use of force continuum", a recommended series of actions that guide US police in handling situations at hand, according to the National Institute of Justice (US Department of Justice)

"What we have to do as a nation is hold police accountable," said Demings, who has been mentioned as a possible running mate for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

It is unclear what support the proposed reforms might find in the Republican-controlled Senate -- or whether Trump might sign such legislation into law.

Some jurisdictions have moved already to embrace reforms -- starting with bans on the use of tear gas and rubber bullets against protesters.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters Sunday that he would cut the city's police budget and shift some funds to youth and social services, local media reported.

Trump seized on the call by some protesters to slash police funding to attack Biden, tweeting without evidence that "not only will Sleepy Joe Biden DEFUND THE POLICE, but he will DEFUND OUR MILITARY!"

The president is scheduled to host a roundtable with law enforcement on Monday.

Biden, who has accused Trump of fanning "the flames of hate," plans to travel to Houston on Monday to visit Floyd's family. He will also record a message to be read at Floyd's funeral on Tuesday.

 Armenians – Aryans. The “Blood Myth”, the Race Laws of 1938 and the Armenians in Italy

ENRICO FERRI


Armenians – Aryans. The “Blood Myth”, the Race Laws of 1938 and the Armenians in Italy
https://novapublishers.com/shop/armenians-aryans-the-blood-myth-the-race-laws-of-1938-and-the-armenians-in-italy/

Enrico Ferri
University “Niccolò Cusano” (UNICUSANO) – Rome, Italy

Series: Focus on Civilizations and Cultures
BISAC: HIS003000

Binding
Hardcover CLEAR

$210.00
Publication Date: October 2016
Status: Available
162 pages

ISBN: 978-1-63485-252-4Categories: Focus on Civilizations and Cultures, European History, History, HumanitiesTags: 9781634852524, 9781634857062, european history


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Several laws “in defense of the race” were readily enacted in Germany (1935) and successively applied further in Italy (1938). The hypothetical existence of a primeval Indo-European language was assumed to be associated with a similar ancestral Aryan race. Its psycho-physical traits and characteristic vision of the world were typical of the warrior race; a sense of honor, penchant for risk, willingness to emerge and respect for hierarchy were highly valued. These were the traits that identified with the race’s primacy. While the Aryan race split up into various ethnic groups, its constituent characteristics continue to be visible in most European populations today. In the 1930s these somewhat frail bases, besides a number of pseudo-sciences, such as phrenology, physiognomy and other ill-conceived theories on race, contributed to establishing the criteria according to which peoples were considered Aryans or Semites. These doctrines formed the ideological background for the discrimination, segregation and persecution of entire populations and communities, like the Jews and the Roma people. The following study traces the complex framework within which the Armenian community developed in Italy and Europe, highlighting the various arguments that emerged in favor of or against the inclusion of the Armenian people in the Aryan family and the historical milieu in which the debate took place. (Imprint: Nova)