1 of 2 protesters hit by driver on Seattle freeway dies

Protesters had shut down the interstate for 19 days in a row

THIS IS A RESULT OF BOTH CHARLOTTESVILLE 

AND GOP GOVERNMENTS PASSING ANTI-PROTESTING

LAWS ALLOWING VEHICULAR ASSAULT OF ANTI-PIPELINE

PROTESTERS IN THE DAKOTA'S
1 of 7 https://apnews.com/ff3c4fb3a627d694b5d888dcd48c89b0
Emergency workers tend to an injured person on the ground after a driver sped through a protest-related closure on the Interstate 5 freeway in Seattle, authorities said early Saturday, July 4, 2020. Dawit Kelete, 27, has been arrested and booked on two counts of vehicular assault. (James Anderson via AP)
SEATTLE (AP) — One of two people hit by a man who drove his car onto a closed Seattle freeway and into a crowd protesting police brutality has died.

Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle died Saturday evening at Harborview Medical Center, spokesperson Susan Gregg said.

Taylor and Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Oregon, were hit by the car that barreled through a panicked crowd of protesters on Interstate 5 early Saturday morning, officials said.

Dawit Kelete of Seattle drove the car around vehicles that were blocking I-5 and sped into the crowd about 1:40 a.m., according to a police report released by the Washington State Patrol. Video taken at the scene by protesters showed people shouting “Car! Car!” before fleeing the roadway.

Love is in serious condition in the intensive care unit, Harborview, Gregg said.

Love was filming the protest in a nearly two-hour-long Facebook livestream captioned “Black Femme March takes I-5” when the video ended abruptly; with about 15 seconds left, shouts of “Car!” can be heard as the camera starts to shake before screeching tires and the sound of impact are heard.

A graphic video posted on social media showed the white Jaguar racing toward a group of protesters who are standing behind several parked cars, set up for protection. The car swerves around the other vehicles and slams into the two protesters, sending them flying into the air.

The driver, who was alone, fled the scene after hitting the protesters, Trooper Chase Van Cleave told The Associated Press. One of the other protesters got in a car and chased the driver for about a mile. He was able to stop him by pulling his car in front of the Jaguar, Van Cleave said.

Troopers arrived, and the driver was put in custody, Washington State Patrol Capt. Ron Mead said.

Kelete was described by officers as reserved and sullen when he was arrested, according to court documents. He also asked if the pedestrians were OK, the documents say.

Kelete was booked into the King County Correctional Facility on Saturday morning on two counts of vehicular assault. Bail was denied.

A judge found probable cause to hold Kelete on an investigation of vehicular assault. He faces a second court hearing on Monday at which the judge will determine if he can be released on bail, according to court documents.

It was not immediately clear if Kelete had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Officials were trying to determine the motive as well as where he got onto the interstate, which had been closed by the state patrol for more than an hour before the protesters were hit. Mead said they suspect Kelete drove the wrong way on a ramp. Trooper Rick Johnson said the driver went through a barrier that closed the freeway.

Troopers did not know whether it was a targeted attack, but impairment was not considered a factor, Mead said.

Kelete has a Seattle address. He is listed in public records as a student who attended Washington State University between 2011 and 2017 majoring in business and commerce. His enrollment status could not be confirmed because the university was closed Saturday.

The Washington State Patrol said Saturday evening that going forward it won’t allow protesters to enter I-5 and would arrest pedestrians on the freeway.

Seattle has been the site of prolonged unrest following the May 25 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked nationwide protests. Dozens of people were arrested this past week in connection with protests as demonstrations continue after authorities cleared the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest” zone Wednesday morning.

Protesters had shut down the interstate for 19 days in a row, Mead said at a press conference.

‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ hymn ignites hope across nation

By JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr.

In this June 19, 2020, photo, people attend a peaceful rally in Chicago to mark Juneteenth. The holiday celebrates the day in 1865 that enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed from bondage, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Black national anthem was born more than a century ago, but the popular hymn within the African American community called “Lift Every Voice and Sing” has resurrected a beacon of hope during nationwide protests.

In recent weeks, countless rallies were held from D.C. to Seattle with arm-locked protesters of different races reciting the song’s lyrics while marching against police brutality of unarmed Black people. The demonstrations throughout the U.S. were ignited after George Floyd, who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for several minutes.

FILE - In this June 15, 2020 file photo, people march down the street towards the Georgia state Capitol to protest against the mistreatment of black people and to press for policy change, in Atlanta. “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was created more than a century ago. But the hymn dubbed as the Black national anthem has resurrected a beacon of hope during recent nationwide protests. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Some marches were peaceful, while others turned violent. But one common thread at protests were people chanting the anthem‘s long-lasting message of faithfulness, freedom and equality.

“I saw whites singing that song saying ‘No justice, no peace’ and ‘’Black Lives Matter.’ It’s something I didn’t see early in my career or even 15 years ago,” recalled Rev. Al Sharpton while protesters in Minneapolis in the aftermath of Floyd’s death. “You got to see people other than us appreciating our song, our anthem. This is just not a moment. This is a real movement.”

Growing up, Sharpton said he learned self-identity through the anthem, which was written as a poem by James Weldon Johnson before his brother, J. Rosamond, turned it into music. The song was performed for the first time in 1900, not long after it was written.


In this June 19, 2020, photo, singers perform "Lift Every Voice and Sing," dubbed as the Black national anthem, in Lincoln, Neb., during a Juneteenth rally. Juneteenth is the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that enslaved black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed from bondage, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)


The NAACP dubbed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” as the Black national anthem in 1919. The decision came more than a decade before “The Star-Spangled Banner” was adopted as the national anthem of the U.S.

During the civil rights movement, the song was popular during protests with the likes of “We Shall Overcome” and “Amazing Grace,” which was written by former slave trader John Newton but his song helped define racial equality.

Sharpton said the ability of “ Lift Every Voice and Sing ” enduring several generations speaks volumes.

“The fact that this song could survive us going from the back of the bus and the outhouse to the Truman Balcony at the White House, it shows that this song really resonates in our hearts,” he said. “Very few songs would last through those kinds of changes in Black America. That’s why it’s a great barometer to the cultural shift.”

Protesters are certainly making the song heard. In Dallas, hundreds flocked to the plaza where John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963 to march before collectively taking a moment to sing the song. Protesters sang the song last month at the historic Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The same happened in Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore and Minneapolis.

FILE - In this Jan. 20, 2009 file photo, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery gives the benediction at the end of the swearing-in ceremony for President Barak Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Lowery began his benediction reciting the third verse of "Lift Every Voice and Sing," known as the Black national anthem. "Lift Every Voice and Sing" has been resurrected as a beacon of hope for all races during nationwide protests. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds, File)

“The song is a refreshment and renewal of my faith,” said Young, the civil rights leader and former Atlanta mayor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He said the singing of the song at protests shows how “desegregation of America is really the integration of cultures, ideals, energies and spirituality.”

Young has known the song’s lyrics since kindergarten and even recited every word during a recent interview. He believes the Black anthem is a more “powerful and patriotic” song than America’s national anthem, which was written by a slave owner who made a painful reference to slavery in its little-known third stanza.

“It’s much more applicable to the United States as we would love it to be more than the ‘Star-Spangled Banner,’” Young said of the black anthem.

Along with the protest, the staying power of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” into broader audiences can also be credited to the biggest entertainers and political figures who have referenced it.


Beyoncé performed the song in front of a mostly white audience at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in 2018. The late Rev. Joseph Lowery began his benediction reciting the song’s third verse at the inauguration for President Barack Obama in 2009; and musicians Mike Phillips and West Byrd sprinkled in snippets of the song while playing the national anthem at NASCAR’s 2020 Pocono 350 on Sunday.

The NFL will play “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before each game during Week 1, a person familiar with the discussions told The Associated Press. It’ll be played first when the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs host the Houston Texans to kick off the NFL regular season on Sept. 10.

In this April 18, 2020 file photo Harlem resident who goes by the name New World Warrior, center, plays "Lift Every Voice And Sing" on his trumpet at one of multiple stops along 125th Street, blaring the song repeatedly as people walk on by, in New York. The Black national anthem was born more than a century ago, but the popular hymn within the African American community called "Lift Every Voice and Sing" has been resurrected as a beacon of hope for all races during nationwide protests. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

Last month, Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden released the “Lift Every Voice” plan, which is a reference to the song. The plan proposes to address issues in the black community, including “systemic misconduct” in police departments and prosecutors’ offices.

Rev. Markel Hutchins said Biden’s reference to the song and hearing white Americans singing the lyrics has given him “hope and confidence, although we’re in a dark place as a nation today.”

“There’s new inspiration and motivation in America today for people of every walk of life, every race, every culture and every orientation,” he said.

Some NBA and collegiate teams played the song at games during Black History Month years ago, thanks to Eugene Williams. The retired Howard University professor lobbied for teams to play the song in February.

Williams wants the song to be played in all U.S. sporting venues, but Young and Hutchins are unsure if that should be the case. Hutchins thinks the song should be sung with pride and not taken lightly.

“I think the song is just too sacred to be reduced to what the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ is,” he said. “The ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ is patriotic and inherently and uniquely American. It represents the complexities of America. But ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’ is much more sacred on my view and should be handled as such.”

Sharpton confidently said the song should be performed at big venues for sporting events and beyond.

“It should because it recognizes the heritage and the true authentic America struggle,” he said. “There’s always been the controversy about race being involved in the national anthem. Here’s an authentic anthem coming out of the American experience that does not denigrate the country, but also uplifts the struggle and affirmation of people that have been part of this country.”

___

Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter: http://twitter.com/MrLandrum31

Facebook groups pivot to attacks on Black Lives Matter

WHITE RACIST CONSERVATIVE GROUPS ON FACEBOOK SAY IT AIN'T SO

By AMANDA SEITZ

FILE - In this June 19, 2020, file photo, protesters wear protective masks as they march after a Juneteenth rally outside the Brooklyn Museum, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. A loose network of Facebook groups that took root across the country in April to organize protests over coronavirus stay-at-home orders has become a hub of misinformation and conspiracies theories that have pivoted to a variety of new targets. Their latest: Black Lives Matter and the nationwide protests against racial injustice. (AP Photo/John Minchillo
CHICAGO (AP) — A loose network of Facebook groups that took root across the country in April to organize protests over coronavirus stay-at-home orders has become a hub of misinformation and conspiracies theories that have pivoted to a variety of new targets. Their latest: Black Lives Matter and the nationwide protests of racial injustice.

These groups, which now boast a collective audience of more than 1 million members, are still thriving after most states started lifting virus restrictions.

HOMEMADE SIGNS PROVES THIS IS A GENUINE GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT

NOT PAID PROTESTERS, THEY WOULD HAVE PROFESSIONALLY PRINTED 

SIGNS.

And many have expanded their focus.

One group transformed itself last month from “Reopen California” to “California Patriots Pro Law & Order,” with recent posts mocking Black Lives Matter or changing the slogan to “White Lives Matter.” Members have used profane slurs to refer to Black people and protesters, calling them “animals,” “racist” and “thugs”— a direct violation of Facebook’s hate speech standards.

Others have become gathering grounds for promoting conspiracy theories about the protests, suggesting protesters were paid to go to demonstrations and that even the death of George Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died in the custody of Minneapolis police, was staged.

An Associated Press review of the most recent posts in 40 of these Facebook groups — most of which were launched by conservative groups or pro-gun activists — found the conversations largely shifted last month to attacking the nationwide protests over the killing of Black men and women after Floyd’s death.
Full Coverage: Racial injustice

Facebook users in some of these groups post hundreds of times a day in threads often seen by members only and shielded from public view.

“Unless Facebook is actively looking for disinformation in those spaces, they will go unnoticed for a long time and they will grow,” said Joan Donovan, the research director at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics, and Public Policy. “Over time, people will drag other people into them and they will continue to organize.”

Facebook said it is aware of the collection of reopen groups, and is using technology as well as relying on users to identify problematic posts. The company has vowed in the past to look for material that violates its rules in private groups as well as in public places on its site. But the platform has not always been able to deliver on that promise.

Shortly after the groups were formed, they were rife with coronavirus misinformation and conspiracy theories, including assertions that masks are “useless,” the U.S. government intends to forcibly vaccinate people and that COVID-19 is a hoax intended to hurt President Donald Trump’s re-election chances this fall.

Posts in these private groups are less likely to be scrutinized by Facebook or its independent fact-checkers, said Donovan. Facebook enlists media outlets around the world, including The Associated Press, to fact check claims on its site. Members in these private groups have created an echo chamber and tend to agree with the posts, so are therefore less likely to flag them for Facebook or fact-checkers to review, Donovan added.

At least one Facebook group, ReOpen PA, asked its 105,000 members to keep the conversation focused on reopening businesses and schools in Pennsylvania, and implemented rules to forbid posts about the racial justice protests as well as conspiracy theories about the efficacy of masks.

But most others have not moderated their pages as closely.

For example, some groups in New Jersey, Texas and Ohio have labeled systemic racism a hoax. A member of the California Facebook group posted a widely debunked flyer that says “White men, women and children, you are the enemy,” which was falsely attributed to Black Lives Matter. Another falsely claimed that a Black man was brandishing a gun outside the St. Louis mansion where a white couple confronted protesters with firearms. Dozens of users in several of the groups have pushed an unsubstantiated theory that liberal billionaire George Soros is paying crowds to attend racial justice protests.

Facebook members in two groups — Wisconsinites Against Excessive Quarantine and Ohioans Against Excessive Quarantine — also regularly refer to protesters as “animals,” “thugs,” or “paid” looters.

In the Ohio group, one user wrote on May 31: “The focus is shifted from the voice of free people rising up against tyranny ... to lawless thugs from a well known racist group causing violence and upheaval of lives.”

Those two pages are part of a network of groups in Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York and Pennsylvania created by conservative activist Ben Dorr, who has for years raised money to lobby on hot-button conservative issues like abortion or gun rights. Their latest cause — pushing for governors to reopen their states — has attracted hundreds of thousands of followers in the private Facebook groups they launched.
Private groups that balloon to that size, with little oversight, are like “creepy basements” where extremist views and misinformation can lurk, said disinformation researcher Nina Jankowicz, a fellow at the nonpartisan Wilson Center, a Washington, D.C., think tank.

“It’s sort of a way that the platforms are enabling some of the worst actors to stay on it,” said Jankowicz. “Rather than being de-platformed — they can organize.”

__

Associated Press technology writer Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, contributed.

Turkish fireworks factory explosion: At least 4 dead, dozens injured - VIDEO

By Jean Lotus July 3 (UPI) --

At least four people were killed and more than 90 injured Friday in an explosion at a Turkish fireworks factory, and the hunt continued for dozens of people feared to be trapped in rubble, authorities said.

Social media posters captured videos of the explosion, in Turkey's northeastern Sakarya province.

"A total of 97 patients were admitted to five hospitals," Fahrettin Koca, the country's health minister told state-run TRT World. Koca reported that rescue teams were working to free at least 45 others trapped in the rubble.

"All kinds of measures are being taken as of now," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told the broadcasting agency.

About 110 tons of explosive material were stored in the factory of Big Coskunlar Fireworks, the country's largest pyrotechnics manufacturer, the governor of Sakarya, Cetin Oktay Kaldirim said.

Firetrucks and ambulances initially were blocked from the scene because the fire was so intense, Kaldirim said.

The explosion was believed to be the the third at the factory since 2009, NBC News reported. Fireworks are used in Turkey to celebrate weddings, graduations and other family holidays, NBC said.

PALESTINIAN LIVES MATTER

A woman carries a poster of a Palestinian girl during a protest by Palestinians and Israelis against Israel's plan to annex parts of the West Bank at the Almog Junction near Jericho in the West Bank on Saturday, June 27, 2020. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Jewish settlements in Palestinian Territories could be annexed by Israel as early as July 1. Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI - Permalink

COVID-19: WHO discontinues trial on hydroxychloroquine

The World Health Organization announced Saturday that it has discontinued the hydroxychloroquine trial for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. UPI File Photo | License Photo
July 4 (UPI) -- The World Health Organization announced Saturday that it discontinued its trial on hydroxychloroquine's effect on COVID-19 patients in hospitals.

WHO said in a statement that it accepted a recommendation from the Solidarity Trial's International Steering Committee that it stop the testing of the drug.

The decision to cease the trial came after interim trial results showed that the anti-malaria drug had little or no reduction in mortality of patients hospitalized for the novel coronavirus.
WHO also announced Saturday that it discontinued a trial for lopinavir/ritonavir arms, which are used along with other medications to treat HIV infection after finding in the interim trial that it similarly had little or no reduction on deaths of hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

The decision does not affect other studies evaluating these drugs for non-hospitalized patients, WHO said.

The National Institute of Health similarly halted a hydroxychloroquine trial last month after a study showed no harm or benefit from the anti-malaria drug's use in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.
Last month, British researchers similarly found no benefit of hydroxychloroquine.

President Donald Trump has touted hydroxychloroquine's potential use against COVID-19

and said he used the drug himself for two weeks in May. White House physician Dr. Sean Conley said last month that Trump completed the two-week regimen "safely," after weighing risks and hypothetical benefit.

Still, citing safety and efficacy concerns, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration withdrew Emergency Use Authorization for anti-malaria drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine last month.

FDA Chief Scientist Denise Hinton said the agency would no long allow either drug to be prescribed to hospitalized COVID-19 patients or be used in clinical trials through the emergency authorization it gave in March as both are "unlikely to be effective."

RELATED Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump campaign official, Donald Trump Jr.'s girlfriend, has COVID-19  

SHE WAS AT MOUNT RUSHMORE AND INTRODUCED DON JR.
SHE WAS A SUPER SPREADER AT A SUPER SPREADER EVEN

A report published in the journal Heart Rhythm last month found that hydroxychloroquine led to a potentially deadly heart rhythm disorder in an 84-year-old woman treated for COVID-19. The FDA also recently cautioned against using hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine for COVID-19 outside of hospital setting or clinical trial due to risk of heart rhythm problems.
https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-cautions-against-use-hydroxychloroquine-or-chloroquine-covid-19-outside-hospital-setting-or

The WHO had resumed the hydroxychloroquine medical trials early last month after pausing the tests on May 25 for review by the Data Safety Monitoring Board.

upi.com/7019190

China appoints tough-talking party official to oversee security law

A man is detained and searched by police during a rally against the national security law in Hong Kong Wednesday. On Friday Chinese officials confirmed that party hardliner Zheng Yanxiong had been appointed to oversee implementation of the new law. Photo by Jerome Favre/EPA-EFE
July 3 (UPI) -- Chinese government officials confirmed Friday that they have appointed hardline party official Zheng Yanxiong to lead its new security agency and implement a far-reaching national security law.

Yanxiong is best known in China for his role in dealing with a protest over a land dispute in Wukan, in the southern part of the country, in 2011.

The new law, overseen by an agency that reports directly to Beijing, targets secession, subversion and terrorism with harsh punishments that can include life in prison.

Critics say it erodes Hong Kong's freedoms, and some pro-democracy activists have resigned their roles in government and even fled the territory.

RELATED Senate passes bill to punish China over Hong Kong national security law

The law expands Beijing's oversight of Hong Kong, which had been subsumed by pro-democracy protests that erupted last summer as China attempted to pass legislation that would allow some fugitives in Hong Kong to be extradited to the mainland for trial before Chinese Communist Party Courts.

It went into effect earlier this week, and police made the first arrests under the new law Wednesday.

One of the individuals arrested Wednesday, a motorcyclist accused of riding into a group of police while carrying a flag calling for the liberation of Hong Kong, was charged Friday with inciting secession and terrorism.

RELATED CBP officers seize 13-tons of human hair products imported from China

Also on Friday, another senior Beijing official said China's top legislative body could draft more laws affecting Hong Kong in the near future.

"Based on Hong Kong's actual situation, the standing committee can continue to make more laws, and lay down penalties for acts that threaten national security," Deng Zhonghua, deputy chief of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told CCTV.

AFL-CIO SUPPORTS BLACK LIVES MATTER!

BANNERS ON HQ UP THE STREET FROM WHITE HOUSE

AFTER BEING VANDALIZED AND SET ON FIRE 

THE NIGHT THE WHITE HOUSE CAUSED A POST PROTEST RIOT

Left to right, Clearance Thompson, Jendaya Heredia, and London Williams, pose for a photo at Black Lives Matter Plaza near the White House in Washington, DC on Thursday, June 25, 2020. Protests continue around the country over the deaths of African Americans while in police custody. Photo by Ken Cedeno/UPI - Permalink

People walk through and sit near tents at Black Lives Matter Plaza on Saturday, July 4, 2020 in Washington, DC. On the evening of July 3, activists set up tents and plan to occupy the Plaza. Photo by Leigh Vogel/UPI

Labor Leaders Call For Police Reform Even As Police Unions Face Growing Criticism

June 10, 2020 DON GONYEA NPR

Signs outside the boarded-up entrance to AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., read "AFL-CIO Supports Black Lives Matter" and "Criminal Justice Reform Now!"Patrick Semansky/AP

A loud and longtime complaint of civil rights activists and police reform advocates is that police unions are part of the problem of police brutality. Unions are designed to protect their members, and when it comes to officers charged with wrongdoing or excessive force, that means police unions are too often protecting bad cops and saving their jobs.

Richard Trumka, who heads the nation's largest federation of labor organizations, announced Tuesday night that the board of the AFL-CIO has adopted a set of recommendations aimed at addressing "America's long history of racism and police violence against black people."

In a statement, the AFL-CIO called for the resignations of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for their participation last week in a presidential photo-op in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. The park was cleared of peaceful protesters by the U.S. Park Police and other federal forces, including military, who used rubber projectiles and gas as well as riot shields, batons and horses.


The labor federation also said the local police union president in Minneapolis, where George Floyd was killed, should be forced to resign. Further, the AFL-CIO said its own 2013 findings must be acted upon, which the statement said could allow for a crackdown on such brutality while protecting due process rights of all public service workers. Specifically, the statement called for banning chokeholds, expanding use of body cameras, ending racial profiling, demilitarizing police forces or limiting no-knock warrants, and creating a more community-centric policing culture.

Last week, the AFL-CIO headquarters — located on 16th Street NW at what is now known as Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington — suffered some fire damage and had sidewalk-level plate glass windows smashed during a night of massive protests near the White House.


The AFL-CIO building was damaged last week during protests in Washington.Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Today, those windows are boarded up. And large black posters affixed to the building read "AFL-CIO Supports Black Lives Matter" in bold white letters on a black background. Someone, however, affixed smaller white signs next to such proclamations of support that say, "Hey AFL-CIO, The Posters Are Nice, But If You Believed It You Would Kick The Police Unions Out."

Enlarge this image
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Protesters added a sign on the AFL-CIO building wall saying, "Hey AFL-CIO, The Posters Are Nice, But If You Believed It You Would Kick The Police Unions Out."Don Gonyea/NPR

That sign singles out the International Union of Police Associations. In its statement, the AFL-CIO responded that it will not cut ties with that union, one of a dozen within the federation that counts law enforcement workers as members. The AFL-CIO said those members are officers of "every color, background and stripe in America." It went on to say that they deserve the right to collective bargaining, and that the best way to influence the issue of police brutality is to "engage unions rather than isolate them."

One of those unions that represents police officers is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. AFSCME President Lee Saunders wrote in an op-ed this week in USA Today, "No union contract is or should be construed as a shield for misconduct or criminal behavior." Saunders, who is African American, also condemned the actions of the Minneapolis police officers in the Floyd case as "heinous," saying there is no justification for what they did.


LIVE UPDATES: PROTESTS FOR RACIAL JUSTICE
The 'Concerned Citizen Who Happens To Be Armed' Is Showing Up At Protests

Police unions often wield considerable political clout in many communities. Their endorsements are much sought after by candidates for office up and down the ballot.

The Fraternal Order of Police is the largest single law enforcement organization in the United States. Its president, Patrick Yoes, told NPR's Morning Edition that he agrees that police reforms are needed.

"We welcome the opportunity to sit down and have some meaningful fact-based discussions on ways to improve the law enforcement community," Yoes said.

He said there are police departments across the U.S. that have fine records when it comes to community relations. According to Yoes, they can learn from them and by creating a national standard for all communities to follow. "The last thing we want to do is have bad cops on the street," he said. "We want to correct this."

Such statements from the national head of the Fraternal Order of Police don't necessarily reflect those of local police union leaders in any given community. In Buffalo, New York, this past week, two police officers on the site of a protest were charged with assault after an elderly protester they pushed suffered a head injury when he fell backward to the pavement. In response, more than 50 officers backed their suspended colleagues by resigning en masse from the department's emergency response team.

The head of the local union — the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association — praised the resignations and told local TV station WGRZ that the accused officers were simply executing orders. President Trump also weighed in on Twitter, posting a conspiracy theory that the injured activist was working for antifa and had set up the entire incident. The White House has stood by that tweet.

That episode underscores just how polarized and partisan the debate over police reforms has become. And that only increased the difficulty of what already promised to be a complicated process.

LA RAZA 2.0 

Lowriders fill the streets near City Hall to protest the criminalization of cruising, George Floyd's murder, Latin rights and police brutality and accountability in Los Angeles. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Demonstrations and other activities continue across the nation, targeting systemic racism and police brutality. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Green, left-wing Michèle Rubirola becomes Marseille’s first woman mayor
Issued on: 05/07/2020 -

Michèle Rubirola, head of the green-left coalition Printemps Marseillais, arrives at Marseille city hall on July 4, 2020. © Clement Mahoudeau, AFP
Text by:FRANCE 24Follow

Marseille became the latest French municipality to elect a Green mayor on Saturday, in a wave that has swept the country since local elections at the end of last month.

Michèle Rubirola, the first female leader of France’s second city, won the most votes from city councillors, ending almost a week of suspense after the June 28 poll that failed to give her slate an absolute majority.

Rubirola, of the left-wing Printemps coalition, will succeed Mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin, who made the city a conservative stronghold in his 25 years in office.

FRANCE 24’s Yinka Oyetade reports.