REIMAGINING MENA

Militant Hamas group back in Damascus after years of tension





In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, speaks with Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas' political branch, center, with Ziad Nakhaleh, leader of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group, right, in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2022. Al-Hayeh was one of two senior officials from the Palestinian militant Hamas group who visited Syria's capital on Wednesday for the first time since they were forced to leave the war-torn country a decade ago over backing armed opposition fighters. (SANA via AP)

ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE
Wed, October 19, 2022 

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Two senior officials from the Palestinian militant Hamas group visited Syria's capital Wednesday in the first such visit since the faction was forced to leave the war-torn country a decade ago over backing armed opposition fighters.

The visit appears to be a first step toward full reconciliation between Hamas and the Syrian government and follows a monthslong mediation by Iran and Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group — both key backers of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Over the years, Tehran and the Iran-backed Hezbollah have maintained their relations with Hamas, despite Assad's rift with the Palestinian militants.

Before the rift, Hamas had long kept a political base in Syria, receiving Damascus’ support in its campaign against Israel. Hamas’ powerful leadership-in-exile remained in Syria even after the group took power in the Gaza Strip in 2007.

But when Syria tipped into civil war, Hamas broke with Assad and sided with the rebels fighting to oust him. The rebels are largely Sunni Muslims, like Hamas, and scenes of Sunni civilian deaths raised an outcry across the region against Assad, who belongs to the Alawites, a minority Shiite sect in Syria.


Over the past few years, Syrian government forces have captured much of Syria with the help of Assad's main backers Russia and Iran. The 11-year conflict has killed hundreds of thousands, destroyed large parts of the country and displaced half of Syria's pre-war population of 23 million, including more than 5 million refugees outside the country.

“The new rapprochement is a belated recognition on the part of Hamas that all roads to continuing Iranian assistance lead to Damascus,” said Fawaz Gerges, professor of international relations and Middle Eastern politics at the London School of Economics. “Hamas bit the bullet. Assad’s political gain is Hamas’ moral loss.”

On Wednesday, Khalil al-Hayeh, a senior figure in Hamas’ political branch, and top Hamas official Osama Hamdan were among several officials representing different Palestinian factions who were received by Assad.

Al-Hayeh has regularly visited Beirut over the years, meeting with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah; their last meeting was in August.

After Wednesday's meeting, al-Hayeh said Assad was “keen on Syria’s support to the Palestinian resistance” and called his visit a “glorious day.”

“God willing, we will turn the old page and look for the future,” al-Hayeh said, adding that Hamas is against any “Zionist or American aggression on Syria.”

Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes around Syria over the past years, mainly targeting Iran-backed fighters.

Assad told the Palestinian delegation that “despite the war that Syria is being subjected to, it did not change its stance of backing resistance by all forms,” state news agency SANA reported. He added that the Syria “that everyone knew before and after the war will not change and will continue as a supporter of resistance” movements.

Hamas' re-establishing of a Damascus base would mark its rejoining the so-called Iran-led “axis of resistance” as Tehran works to gather allies at a time when talks with world powers over Iran's nuclear program are stalled.

The move by Hamas also comes after Turkey restored relations with Israel and after some Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, normalized relations with Hamas’ archenemy Israel.

“This is a marriage of convenience, a tactical alliance based on common interest,” said Gerges, adding that Hamas has become dependent on Iranian aid and has little support from Arab governments. Hezbollah has also provided Hamas with much-needed logistical support, he said.

The pro-government Al-Watan daily says Damascus will be reconciling with the “resistance branch” of Hamas and not the Muslim Brotherhood faction — an apparent reference to Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal who was once based in Damascus but is now in Qatar.

At the start of the Syrian conflict, Hamas’ leadership in exile remained largely silent. But tensions grew with the increased bloodshed, and finally in January 2012, Mashaal left Syria to Qatar, one of the main backers of fighters trying to remove Assad from power.

The following September, Mashaal gave a speech in Turkey, also a backer of the opposition, proclaiming, “we welcome the revolution of the Syrian people who are seeking freedom and independence” and that “the pure blood of these great people is being shed” because they seek democracy.

Within hours, Syrian authorities sealed up all Hamas offices in the country and expelled its members to Lebanon. They have not been allowed back since until Wednesday's visit.

Al-Hayeh said the decision to come to Damascus has the support of all Hamas leadership. In an apparent reference to Mashaal, al-Hayeh said that “unilateral behaviors by some Hamas members were not approved by the group.”

“We are here in Syria today representing the leadership that made this decision,” he said about reconciling with Damascus.

Meanwhile, Hamas announced that Saudi Arabia released a Hamas official after three years in custody.

Mohammed Al-Khoudary, a longtime Hamas official who had been based in the Saudi capital Riyadh, was on his way to Jordan, which agreed to host him, said another Hamas official, Izzat al-Reshq.

Al-Khoudary was among dozens of Palestinians and Jordanians the kingdom rounded up in 2019 in a massive crackdown on the Islamic group’s supporters. At the time, Hamas said the detainees were arrested for “collecting donations for Palestinian charities, not on security charges.”

In 2021, Al-Khoudary, 84, was sentenced to 15 years on terrorism charges that the kingdom never revealed. Other detainees received sentences of prison terms up to 22 years. Al-Khoudary’s sentence was reduced to six years.

___

Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Fares Akram contributed to this report from Hamilton, Ontario.

STALINISM REDUX
Danilov on Putin's declaration of martial law: preparation for mass deportation and another crime

He stated that Russia entered the strategic zugzwang [a term derived from chess - ed.] phase of the war, where every move worsens its situation and brings it closer to the end.



Ukrayinska Pravda

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO – WEDNESDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2022

By declaring martial law in the temporarily occupied territories [of Ukraine], Vladimir Putin's regime plans to commit another crime that the world must condemn.

Source: Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, on Twitter

Quote from Danilov: "Putin's martial law in the annexed regions of Ukraine is in preparation for the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population to depressed areas of Russia in order to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territory. A crime that should be condemned by the UN and that was already committed by Russia in Crimea and remains unpunished".

Background: On 19 October, the president of the aggressor country of Russia, Vladimir Putin, announced the decision to declare martial law in the annexed parts of the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.

In addition, representatives of the occupation "administration" of Kherson city and oblast are planning to take approximately 50,000-60,000 residents from four right-bank districts in the oblast to the left bank of the Dnipro River or to Russia on grounds that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly preparing a counteroffensive.

Reminder: Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, believes that Russia has initiated the process of its own decolonisation by launching a full-scale war against Ukraine. He stated that Russia entered the strategic zugzwang [a term derived from chess - ed.] phase of the war, where every move worsens its situation and brings it closer to the end.

Journalists fight on their own frontline. Support Ukrainska Pravda or become our patron!

Putin’s martial law aims to hide “resettlement” of Ukrainians, Ukrainian official says

Wed, October 19, 2022 


Oleksii Danilov is sure that Russia wants to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territories

“Putin’s martial law in ‘annexed’ Ukrainian regions amounts to preparation for mass deportations of the Ukrainian population to (economically) stagnant Russian regions, and attempts to alter the ethnic structure of (Russia-) occupied territories,” said Danilov.

Read also: Putin announces martial law in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories

“The UN ought to condemn this crime, as it repeats what Russia has previously done in occupied Crimea, and suffered no consequences for it.”

Earlier on Oct. 19, Putin declared martial law across occupied Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine – regions he claims to have recently annexed as parts of the Russian Federation.


Ukrainian officials maintain the move changes nothing in how Kyiv intends to prosecute the war.

“Russia introducing martial law in occupied territories should be considered as nothing else but attempts to legitimize the looting and plundering of Ukrainian assets before another (Russian) withdrawal,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

Ukraines Foreign Ministry asks for more air defence systems after Putin declares martial law

EUROPEAN PRAVDA — WEDNESDAY, 19 OCTOBER 2022, 1

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considers the decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin introducing "martial law" in four occupied regions of Ukraine to be a new stage of terror, and asks partners to increase military support.

European Pravda reported on the Ministry’s statement to this effect, published on Thursday.

Ukraine’s Ministry highlights that martial law is intended to suppress the resistance of residents of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts who oppose Russian occupation. The Ministry also stated that Putin’s decree proclaiming martial law is null and void and has no legal effect.


"Despite the agony of the regime in the Kremlin, Ukraine will continue liberating occupied territories and rescuing its people," the Foreign Ministry declared.

The Ministry has called on Ukraine’s Western partners to decisively condemn the intention of Russian occupation administrations "to deprive residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine of even basic human rights, as well as to condemn their illegal plans to legalise looting, forced deportations and mobilisation."

"We also appeal [to our partners - ed.] to provide Ukraine with modern anti-missile and anti-air defence systems as soon as possible to protect our civilian population from Russia's barbaric missile and kamikaze drone attacks," the Ministry’s statement added.

As reported earlier, on 19 October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the decision to impose martial law in the annexed parts of the Ukrainian oblasts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.

Chinese diplomat involved in protester attack, says UK MP

Yvette Tan & Simon Fraser - BBC News
Tue, October 18, 2022

One of China's most senior UK diplomats was involved in violence against protesters at the Manchester consulate on Sunday, a British MP says.

"What we saw was the Chinese consul-general then ripping down posters and peaceful protest," Alicia Kearns told MPs in the House of Commons.

MPs in Parliament have privilege, allowing them to speak freely without fear of legal action.

China has not commented on Zheng Xiyuan's alleged involvement.

But the foreign ministry in Beijing defended the actions of consulate staff.

A protester is pulled at the gate of the consulate on Sunday - the consul-general is alleged to be in a mask and hat (far left)

Spokesman Wang Wenbin said people had "illegally entered" the grounds and any country's diplomats would have taken "necessary measures" to protect their premises.

But the official Chinese version is at odds with video footage and statements from police. Officers had to drag back a protester from inside the consulate gate as he was being attacked.

After Consul-General Zheng Xiyuan ripped down the placards, Ms Kearns told MPs, there was "grievous bodily harm against a Hongkonger, one of whom was hospitalised for taking part in a peaceful protest.

"Some were then dragged onto consulate territory for a further beating by officials who have been recognised to be members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

"We cannot allow the CCP to import their beating of protesters, their silencing of free speech and their failure to allow time and time again protests on British soil. This is a chilling escalation."

According to a statement by the Greater Manchester Police, around 30 to 40 people had gathered outside the consulate to protest.

"Shortly before 4pm a small group of men came out of the building and a man was dragged into the consulate grounds and assaulted," the statement said.

"Due to our fears for the safety of the man, officers intervened and removed the victim from the consulate grounds."

The consulate is UK territory, but cannot be entered without consent.

Another MP, Labour's Afzal Khan - who represents the constituency where the consulate is, Manchester Gorton - told the House of Commons he was "sickened" by the scenes.

"The UK stands for freedom, the rule of law, and democracy," said the Labour MP. "The quashing of peaceful protests will never be tolerated on British soil."

Mr Khan and other MPs called for the consul-general to be declared a "persona non grata" - meaning a person who is unwelcome in the country.

As a diplomat, the consul-general has diplomatic immunity, meaning he is theory protected from prosecution. Declaring someone "persona non grata" can remove diplomatic status and potentially result in expulsion.

Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith asked if the government would "be prepared to expel the consul-general and any of those that are found to have been part of that punishment beating and the vandalism?"

Foreign Office minister Jesse Norman said "we will take action once we have a full understanding of the facts". He added the government had issued a summons to the Chinese charge d'affaires in London - the Chinese ambassador's deputy - for an explanation.

Mr Norman told the House of Commons: "We've already outlined a process of raising this formally with the Chinese embassy... and we will see where these procedures, these legal and prosecutorial procedures, may lead to, and at that point we will take further action."

Some MPs called for the Foreign Office to go further, including Labour's Andrew Gwynne who said: "Had these incidents happened on the streets of Hong Kong, there would have been outrage from the British government, rightly so.

"They happened on the streets of Manchester and yet we have this situation where the minister is basically sending a memo to the Chinese embassy, an offer of a cup of tea and a chat with the ambassador."

Zheng Xiyuan on the right, and the man accused of being involved in the violence on the left



Senior Chinese diplomat involved in 'chilling' violence at consulate, MP says

Daniel Capurro
Tue, October 18, 2022 


A scuffle between a Hong Kong pro-democracy protester and Chinese consulate staff, as a British police officer attempts to intervene - MATTHEW LEUNG /AFP

One of China’s most senior diplomats has been accused of attacking protesters in clashes that led to an anti-Beijing demonstrator being dragged onto consulate property and beaten.

Alicia Kearns, a Conservative Party MP, told parliament that Zheng Xiyuan, the consul-general took part in violence on Sunday against Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester.

“What we saw was the Chinese consul-general then ripping down posters and peaceful protest,” the newly elected head of the foreign affairs select committee said in the House of Commons.

Video footage of the incident showed staff from the consulate exit out on the road, tear down anti-Beijing posters and scuffle with protesters before dragging one of them into the consulate compound and beating him.

A local police officer then entered the compound to drag the protester back out.

A man is pulled at the gate of the Chinese consulate in Manchester after a demonstration against China's President Xi Jinping - MATTHEW LEUNG/THE CHASER NEWS /via REUTERS

The Telegraph spoke to the man, who went only by the name Bob to protect his identity, on Monday. He said he didn’t recognise Mr Zheng at the time of the incident but did so afterwards when he was shown photographs.

He called for Mr Zheng and other diplomats involved to be expelled from Britain and banned from returning. Bob, who went to hospital after the beating, fled Hong Kong in 2021, having been beaten by police for taking part in pro-democracy protests.

Ms Kearns said in the Commons: "Some [protesters were] dragged onto consulate territory for a further beating by officials who have been recognised to be members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

"We cannot allow the CCP to import their beating of protesters, their silencing of free speech and their failure to allow time and time again protests on British soil. This is a chilling escalation."

Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative Party leader, asked if the Government would be willing to expel Mr Zheng and others.

Jesse Norman, a Foreign Office minister, said that the Chinese charge d’affaires had been summoned to explain the incident.

“We will see where these procedures, these legal and prosecutorial procedures, may lead to, and at that point, we will take further action," he said.

A Chinese spokesperson told the BBC that the protesters in Manchester had "illegally entered" the consulate grounds and that the diplomats took "necessary measures" to protect it.

However, video footage of the incident appears to directly contradict this claim.

Greater Manchester Police said: "Shortly before 4pm a small group of men came out of the building and a man was dragged into the consulate grounds and assaulted," the statement said.

"Due to our fears for the safety of the man, officers intervened and removed the victim from the consulate grounds."

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I was dragged into China consulate, protester Bob Chen says

George Bowden - BBC News
Wed, October 19, 2022 

Bob Chan speaks to the media on Wednesday

A protester says he was not trying to enter Manchester's Chinese consulate during a pro-democracy demonstration that saw violent scenes on Sunday.

Bob Chen told a news conference he was dragged onto the consulate grounds and beaten by men, leaving him with injuries requiring hospital treatment.

It comes a day after a British MP accused one of China's most senior UK diplomats of being involved.

Amid the growing row, China has claimed there were attempts at illegal entry.

Speaking at a news conference organised by several British MPs, Mr Chen, a Hongkonger, said he was left physically and mentally hurt by Sunday's incident.


He described being beaten by masked men outside the consulate, some of whom he said were trying to take down a display of banners.

"I then found myself being dragged into the grounds of the consulate. I held on to the gates where I was kicked and punched, I could not hold on for long," he said.

"I was eventually pulled onto the ground of the consulate. I felt punches and kicks from several men. Other protestors were trying to get me out of this situation, but to no avail.

"The attack only stopped when a man who turned out to be a uniformed officer from the Greater Manchester Police pulled me outside the gates.

"Let me say it again so I am clear: I was dragged into the consulate I did not attempt to enter the consulate."

Police in Manchester have said up to 40 protesters gathered outside the consulate - a smaller diplomatic office that is UK territory but cannot be entered without consent.

At about 16:00 BST, Greater Manchester Police said a group of men "came out of the building and a man was dragged into the consulate grounds and assaulted".

"Due to our fears for the safety of the man, officers intervened and removed the victim from the consulate grounds," a statement said.

Mr Chen spoke of his shock at the incident and told of his fear for family members still in Hong Kong.

"I am shocked because I never thought something like this could happen in the UK. I still believe the UK is a place where free speech and protest are basic human rights.

"No amount of violence or diplomatic pressure will change that. I am hurt physically and mentally," he said.

The demonstrators - many of whom were from Hong Kong - were protesting as the ruling Communist Party congress began in Beijing.

A spokesperson for the consulate said the protesters had "hung an insulting portrait of the Chinese president at the main entrance".

Beijing later claimed its consulate staff were subjected to harassment and said there were attempts to enter the consulate grounds.

China has "made representations" to the UK government to increase protection for its diplomatic staff.

Meanwhile, the senior Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith criticised the UK government's diplomatic response to the incident so far.

He told the news conference it had been "wholly inadequate... and I think I'm being slightly kind to them".

Mr Duncan Smith described Foreign Office Minister Jesse Norman as having to be "dragged" to the despatch box in Parliament to respond to the situation.

He said a meeting between the UK and a Chinese official about Sunday's incident resulted in "a gentle rap on the knuckles".

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said earlier the incident was "absolutely unacceptable, that the protests were peaceful and legal. They were on British soil and it is absolutely unacceptable for this kind of behaviour".

"Now, my understanding is the Greater Manchester Police will be conducting an investigation into this and when I see the details of that investigation, I'll then decide what more we might need to do on that," he told Sky News.

Last year, a new visa system gave about 70% of Hong Kong's population the right to live, work and study in the UK with a route to citizenship.

More than 100,000 people have arrived on the new visas, as Beijing's influence over the former British colony increases and following the introduction of a controversial national security law.

An incident that could impact UK-China relations

Analysis box by Caroline Hawley, diplomatic correspondent

After the extraordinary scenes at the Chinese consulate on Sunday, MPs from across the political divide are now pushing for the UK government to take a much tougher stance against Beijing.

The Manchester MP, Afzal Khan of Labour, said the actions of the diplomats had "crossed a red line".

Conservative Ian Duncan-Smith said they revealed the long arm of the Chinese state. He expressed concern that the UK government was being cautious in its response for fear of provoking a "tit-for-tat" from a country with such strong economic clout.

The two agreed - as did Bob Chen - that Britain should expel the men involved, even if prosecutions aren't possible because the attack happened on what is officially Chinese territory.

Greater Manchester Police have appealed to anyone with video evidence to upload it to their website, as they look at images from CCTV, mobile phones and officers' body cameras - part of a "complex and sensitive inquiry".

Sensitive it certainly is - with the impact it could have on relations between Britain and China.

The force says the investigation will "take time", but many MPs says a quick and forceful message needs to be sent to China, as soon as the diplomats involved are identified.

SunPower CEO: Bidirectional charging

'will change the world for consumers'

Akiko Fujita

·Anchor/Reporter

Wed, October 19, 2022 

Solar energy company SunPower built its reputation on creating a reliable infrastructure to power up homes through clean energy.

Now, it’s betting that electric vehicles will play a critical role in building that green system for consumers.

Speaking to Yahoo Finance Live (video above), CEO Peter Faricy pointed to bidirectional charging, EV charging that allows electricity to flow both ways, as key to accelerating the move towards electrification.

“This is really going to change the world for consumers,” Faricy said. “The grid today doesn't have enough capacity for all the future EV sales that we expect.”

Faricy’s comes on the heels of SunPower’s new collaboration with General Motors, agreeing to develop and install a new home energy system, allowing GM’s EVs to provide backup energy to residences. SunPower specifically plans to provide solar panels to GM customers to help bring energy costs down and provide a clean energy solution that allows drivers to avoid charging using fossil fuels.

“If you just plug in to your garage, and you don't have solar power, you're just connecting to usually coal or gas or whatever fossil fuel the local utility uses. You're only as green as your charging source,” Faricy said.

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While high gas prices helped accelerate EV adoption in the U.S., with emission-free cars accounting for roughly 5% of the market share, bidirectional charging has largely been limited so far. Only a handful of cars currently sold allow for that capability, including the Ford F-150 Lightning (F) and Kia EV6.

But researchers have increasingly pointed to the use of vehicles themselves as key sources of power, to fill the supply gaps that still remain in the power grid. With an aim to move to 100% zero-emission cars by 2035, California alone is expected to see peak charging demand more than double by 2030, according to a recent study by Stanford University.

While the Biden administration has targeted the deployment of half a million public charging units by 2030, most experts admit that number falls far short of the number of units needed to support the larger goal of slashing half of all gas-powered cars by 2030.

Globally, the transition to electrification is estimated to add 2,000 TWh to annual energy demand by 2050 - a 40% increase - according to a study by global advisory group ICF, with 400 million EVs expected on the roads by 2040.

A Ford Motors pre-production all-electric F-150 Lightning truck prototype is seen at the Rouge Electric Vehicle Center in the Rouge Complex in Dearborn, Michigan, U.S. September 16, 2021 REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Bidirectional charging enables energy to flow in and out of vehicles, allowing EVs to provide backup power to buildings or specific loads, through vehicle-to-building charging. Its mobility also allows for EVs to be deployed to sites prior to expected power outages and be used in an emergency, responding to natural disasters.

Faricy said SunPower’s new home energy system with GM will be deployed alongside the Silverado Pickup launch, set for 2024. In addition to providing homeowners with an additional source of energy, Faricy said it will also give drivers the opportunity to stretch their wallets while expanding the grid’s capacity.

“Silverado EV customers with a home energy system are also expected to be able to store solar-generated electricity in their compatible electric vehicle’s battery and export it directly into their properly equipped home during the hours when electricity costs the most, providing an opportunity for them to save even more money on electricity bills depending on home size, energy usage, and utility rates,” he said.

Fact check: ‘Filipino’ refers to both an identity and the national language of the Philippines

NEXTSHARK
Editorial Staff
Wed, October 19, 2022 

Claims that the term “Filipino” is not a language and solely refers to the identity and/or nationality of citizens of the Republic of the Philippines are false.

The allegations: On Oct. 14, NextShark published a story about Miss Universe Spain 2022 Alicia Faubel catching the attention of social media users — particularly Filipinos — for speaking fluently in Filipino. Its title, “Miss Universe Spain wins netizens’ hearts with fluency in Filipino,” sparked outrage among several social media users who claimed that NextShark misused the term “Filipino” by referring to it as a language, adding that the publication should “do better.”

One user wrote in a now-deleted comment: “Fluency in Filipino?! On an Asian American news source?!” followed by a skull emoji.

Another attempted to correct NextShark: “Fluency in TAGALOG. Not Filipino. One is a culture, the other is an actual language,” the user wrote, followed by a facepalm emoji.

Another tried to make a meme out of the headline, suggesting NextShark is “failing.” “Me when I’m an Asian American news outlet but I’m failing at being an Asian American news outlet,” the user wrote.

Similar comments remain live as of this writing. One even accused the NextShark story of racism, writing: “This entire post is so ignorant that it’s racist.”

Another user demanded, “NextShark. Do better. Tagalog. Respect our Filipino brethren enough to at least know that.”

The facts: “Filipino” is a language, and it is the national language of the Republic of the Philippines. Along with English, it is the Southeast Asian nation’s official language. Similarly, a citizen of the country is called a “Filipino.” The term, like in other countries, may also be used as a cultural identifier, such as in “Filipino food,” “Filipino products” and “Filipino values.”

Over 100 languages are spoken in the Philippines, but only eight of them are identified as “major languages”: Tagalog, Ilocano, Pangasinan, Pampango, Bicol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon and Waray-Samarnon. Filipino – the national language of the Philippines – is a standardized form of Tagalog, which also incorporates words from other languages such as Spanish, Sanskrit and Malay.

As stated in Section 6 of Article XIV of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, “The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages.”

The designation is specified in government publications. For one, an article published by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) explicitly states it in the title “Development of Filipino, The National Language of the Philippines.”

The Institute of National Language (now the Commission on the Filipino Language), which was established in 1936, first endorsed Tagalog as the basis for the Philippines’ national language in November 1937. This was born out of expert opinion that Tagalog had the most number of speakers, and at the time, already had a rich literary tradition.

Still, the only time Tagalog was specifically designated as the Philippines’ national language was in the 1943 Constitution, while Imperial Japan was occupying the archipelago in World War II. Prior to this, the country’s official languages were Spanish and English, based on its previous Spanish and American colonizers.

Under the current Constitution, the Philippine government vows – subject to legal provisions – to “take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system.” Filipino, alongside English, is taught as a subject from Grade 1 (with a focus on oral fluency); introduced as a language of instruction in Grades 4 to 6; and used as a primary language of instruction in Junior High School (JHS) and Senior High School (SHS).

“Miss Universe Spain wins netizens’ hearts with fluency in Filipino” remains live on NextShark. 

The article was written by a Filipino, copy-edited by a Filipino and published by a Filipino.

Exact burial spot of St. Nicholas, inspiration for Santa Claus, discovered in Turkish church


Kristina Killgrove
Wed, October 19, 2022 

Mural in the Church of St. Nicholas in Demre, Turkey.
A fresco of Jesus in a church in Turkey's Antalya region hinted at the exact location of Saint Nicholas' burial. (Image credit: Izzet Keribar/Getty Images)

Archaeologists in southern Turkey have just uncovered the original burial place of Father Christmas himself, formally known as St. Nicholas, but whose modern nicknames of Santa Claus, Saint Nick and Kris Kringle are known by children the world over.

While researchers already knew that the saint's body was buried in the fourth century A.D. church in Turkey's Antalya province, the holy man's remains were stolen around 700 years after he died, so the specific spot where he was originally interred was a mystery.

Now, clues gathered during a new excavation of this church, including the eccesiastical building's similarity to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the placement of a fresco depicting Jesus, hint at exactly where St. Nick's body was likely laid to rest.

Related: Possible Crusader ring depicting St. Nicholas unearthed in Israel

Located on Turkey's southern coast, the modern town of Demre boasts the Church of St. Nicholas, built in A.D. 520 on top of an older church where the Christian saint served as bishop in the fourth century A.D. Then known as Myra, the small town was a popular Christian pilgrimage spot following St. Nicholas' death and burial there in A.D. 343.

Very little is known about Nicholas's life, but legends abound — he is said to have rescued three girls from prostitution, to have chopped down a demon-possessed tree, to have resurrected three murdered children who were pickled in brine, and to have gotten into a fist-fight during the First Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, according to Britannica. And, of course, Nicholas was said to have frequently given away his inherited wealth anonymously to the poor, eventually leading to the legend of St. Nick as Santa Claus.

Unfortunately, in A.D. 1087, "some wise and illustrious men of Bari [Italy]… discussed together how they might take away from the city of Myra… the body of the most blessed confessor of Christ, Nicholas," according to a contemporaneous manuscript translated from Latin by late medievalist Charles W. Jones. Their plan was to "break open the floor of the church and carry away the holy corpse." The group succeeded, carting off most of the skeletal remains of St. Nicholas, and leaving just a few bones and a broken sarcophagus in Myra.

In spite of this desecration, the church of St. Nicholas in Demre itself has survived for more than a millennium, with archaeological excavation beginning at the end of the 20th century. Through this work, researchers discovered the foundations of the earliest church, covered by many feet of sand and silt. Last week, Osman Eravşar, chairman of the Antalya Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board, announced the discovery of the location of St. Nicholas's tomb at the base of a fresco of Jesus.

In an interview with the Turkish news organization DHA (Demirören Haber Ajansı), Eravşar noted that the current excavations have revealed "the floor on which St. Nicholas's feet stepped" from the original church. "This is an extremely important discovery, the first find from that period," DHA's English coverage quoted Eravşar as saying.

The sarcophagus of Saint Nicholas is located in a church named after the saint in the town of Demre, Turkey.

The original burial place of St. Nicholas has also been found, according to Eravşar. When the Bari contingent removed the saint's bones in the 11th century, they also shoved some sarcophagi aside, obscuring their original location. Eravşar told DHA that "his sarcophagus must have been placed in a special place, and that is the part with three apses covered with a dome. There we have discovered the fresco depicting the scene where Jesus is holding a Bible in his left hand and making the sign of blessing with his right hand." A marble floor tile with the Greek words for "as grace" could mark his exact grave.

Supporting that hypothesis is the shape of the church itself. Just as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has an unfinished dome on top, so does the Church of St. Nicholas at Myra. When it was restored by Emperor Alexander II of Russia in the 1860s, the dome was never completed. This unfinished dome may have been a purposeful attempt to link St. Nicholas with the story of Jesus's crucifixion and ascension into the sky.

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"It's not unusual for churches to be built atop one another," William Caraher, an archaeologist at the University of North Dakota with a specialty in early Christian architecture, who was not involved in the excavation, told Live Science in an email. "In fact, the presence of an earlier church on a site has been a reason to build a church since Early Christian and Byzantine times."

But Caraher thinks that the marble floor tile with Greek letters could be from some other context, reused possibly in antiquity because of the common word "charis" (grace) etched into it.

Caraher noted that St. Nicholas is significant in Orthodox and Catholic traditions, with churches and chapels dedicated to him throughout the Mediterranean. "I think many people — from eager kiddos on Christmas Eve to world weary science reporters and grizzled archaeologists — have at some point in their lives hoped to get a little glimpse of the real St. Nick," Caraher said.

U$A

'They Forgot About Us': Inside the Wait for Refugee Status

Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Miriam Jordan
Wed, October 19, 2022 

Ferozah Binti Abdul Rashid, a Rohingya refugee, and her 5-year-old daughter at their home in Milwaukee, Wis. on Sept. 16, 2022. (Taylor Glascock/The New York Times)

WASHINGTON — For the past eight years, Ahmed Mohamed Aden has been trying to reunite with the sons he left behind when he fled Somalia.

He sought help from immigration advocates in Wisconsin, where he was legally resettled. He filed reams of paperwork with the United Nations refugee agency. He submitted DNA samples to prove he shares a genetic relationship with his children, which he hoped would speed up processing.

But earlier this month, he learned that their applications were still pending, stuck in a backlog of people fleeing violence and persecution who hope to find sanctuary in America.

“I did everything I can,” an emotional Aden said, holding his head in his hands as the social worker assigned to his case explained that his children would not be joining him in Milwaukee any time soon. “I tried.”

Aden’s sons are among thousands of people living in limbo as delays in the U.S. refugee system stretch to an average of five years or more, according to government estimates.

The average wait used to be roughly two years, before the Trump administration gutted the refugee program with the intention of sealing off the United States from refugees and other immigrants. And the coronavirus pandemic forced many U.S. embassies to close or curtail their operations, allowing cases to back up even more.

Many of the people who have been in the pipeline for years have grown increasingly frustrated, saying they are being pushed to the back of the line as the Biden administration prioritizes those fleeing crises in Ukraine and Afghanistan.

Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said she understands that the Biden administration is working with an overburdened system inherited from the Trump years.

But, she said, her patience is wearing thin.

“We’re at a point in the administration that while we recognize how the Trump administration decimated the infrastructure, it can’t be an excuse for too much longer,” Vignarajah said. “Because lives depend on the administration stepping up.”

President Joe Biden, who has promised to rebuild the refugee program, issued an executive order last year that directed his administration to cut the processing times to six months.

But in a report submitted to Congress last month, the White House acknowledged that the effort to provide temporary protection to roughly 180,000 people escaping Ukraine and Afghanistan “required a significant reallocation of time and resources” and “hampered the program’s rebound.” Last week, the administration said it would offer a similar status for up to 24,000 Venezuelans looking to escape their broken country, even as many more who cross the border would be expelled under a pandemic-era rule put in place by President Donald Trump.

The shift means people in desperate conditions in countries like Somalia, Eritrea and Myanmar are facing the prospect of even longer waits. More than 76,000 prospective refugees were in the system’s pipeline waiting to be cleared for travel as of this summer, according to State Department data obtained by The New York Times.

Mulugeta Gebresilasie, a case manager at a resettlement agency in Columbus, Ohio, said that refugees already in the United States have felt penalized as their loved ones languish in camps for displaced people.

“Suddenly, the resettlement agencies were focusing on Afghan people,” Gebresilasie said. “The African refugees told me: ‘They forgot about us. We have been waiting so many years.’”

The U.S. refugee system was designed to provide a legal pathway for displaced people to find protection in the United States. Applicants must be recommended by the United Nations, a U.S. Embassy or a nonprofit; undergo interviews with U.S. consular officers overseas; and gather documents that can be difficult or impossible to procure in failed states: birth certificates, marriage certificates, travel documents, school records. They also undergo extensive medical and security vetting.

Once they are resettled, the refugees can petition for their immediate relatives to join them in the United States by providing DNA or other evidence of their relationship. The relative would then be interviewed at an embassy by a U.S. official before being approved for travel.

But millions of people are being admitted into the United States outside the traditional refugee program, diverting resources from those who have been waiting for years.

Much attention has been paid to migrants crossing the border in record numbers, in part because of decisions by Republican-led states like Florida and Texas to send some of them to liberal bastions like Martha’s Vineyard as a way to provoke outrage.

Those migrants can secure asylum if they can prove they would be persecuted at home; otherwise they face deportation. More than 1 million have been turned away on the basis of a Trump-era public health measure called Title 42, which allows the United States to expel people who would have otherwise been admitted for an evaluation of their asylum claims or placed into deportation proceedings.

In special circumstances, the United States government can grant “parole” to people from other countries, a legal tool that allows them to enter the country but does not automatically confer a green card or citizenship. That is what Biden’s administration has done in the cases of many refugees from Afghanistan, Ukraine and now Venezuela.

Over the past two years, the Biden administration has taken some steps to rebuild the overburdened refugee system, even as the president and his senior aides have debated how to unwind the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda. Biden has expressed concern about Republican attacks over his immigration policies, particularly as apprehensions at the U.S. southern border have hit record levels.

The White House named Andrew Nacin, a former WordPress developer who worked on immigration issues for the Obama administration, to lead the effort. Nacin is streamlining the White House’s digital services and is trying to apply some lessons learned from the scramble to assist Afghans and Ukrainians.

His team plans to expand a program, currently used for Afghans and Ukrainians, that has allowed private citizens to sponsor refugees who seek to move to the United States.

Officials also are developing a more efficient application system, modeled after the emergency response to help Afghans, that would allow refugees to do their medical exams, interviews and security screening in tandem rather than waiting years between each step.

While the administration has a goal of hiring nearly 400 refugee officers, it currently has just 240, according to data from Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The president has said he is committed to fulfilling a campaign promise to reverse Trump’s limits on accepting refugees. The administration recently informed Congress that it would set the annual cap on the number of refugees at a maximum of 125,000 people, the same level as last year.

Trump, by contrast, set the limit at 15,000, the lowest it has been in the history of the refugee program.

The refugee numbers include only those who are legally resettled in the United States; asylum-seekers who cross the border from Mexico, for example, do not count toward the limit. Nor do the Ukrainians, Afghans or Venezuelans who come in under humanitarian parole.

But the United States has not even come close to hitting the 125,000-person limit, in part because it simply has not had enough personnel to get through the backlog.

By the end of 2021, the United States had tallied just 11,411 refugees, the smallest number since the establishment of the refugee program. The Biden administration resettled about 25,400 refugees this past fiscal year, according to the State Department.

In interviews, senior administration officials said it was unlikely they would hit their target in the coming year.

For some applicants, time has run out.

Redi Rekab, an Eritrean widower, applied more than four years ago for his two teenage children stranded in Ethiopia to join him in Columbus, Ohio. He thought their reunion was imminent after the family submitted DNA.

Almost two years later, there had been no movement in their case. His son, Tiferi, grew impatient.

A few weeks ago, Rekab, a 54-year-old warehouse worker, said he was shocked to receive a call from his son, who said he had reached Libya and needed money to pay a smuggler for onward travel. Rekab said that he has been trying, in vain, to persuade his son to wait a little longer for approval to make a fresh start in the United States, rather than take the perilous — and often deadly — trip by sea for an uncertain future in Europe.

“The U.S. didn’t help me bring my children,” Rekab said. “But they approved people from Afghanistan and Ukraine in a very short time. It shows the U.S. doesn’t value us.”

Back in Milwaukee, Aden says his sons, who are now 21 and 22, represent a gaping hole in the life he has built in the United States. They were babies when he left Somalia and young teenagers when he started the process to bring them to the United States eight years ago. He missed their entire childhoods.

His 13-year-old daughter, Aisha, who was born in Uganda while Aden waited for approval to come to the United States, has yet to meet her siblings.

“I kind of lost hope,” she said. “And I feel like they’re not going to come.”

Feroza Binti Abdul Rashid, a 32-year-old Rohingya Muslim — a minority group that has faced a campaign of ethnic cleansing — arrived in Milwaukee in the summer of 2021, but her husband has not even been interviewed by U.S. authorities yet.

Through an interpreter, Rashid said her 5-year-old daughter will often point at airplanes in the sky and ask if her father is finally coming. Last week, she called her father on WhatsApp and said she would send him $2 to help fly him over.

“She always says: ‘I only need my dad. I don’t need anything else,’” Rashid said.

© 2022 The New York Times Company

Migrant survivors of West Texas shooting detained by ICE

ACACIA CORONADO

Wed, October 19, 2022 

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — One migrant is dead, another is wounded and at least seven others are languishing in detention three weeks after twin brothers allegedly opened fire on them in the Texas desert, claiming they mistook them for wild hogs during a hunting trip.

Yet, the accused shooters, 60-year-old brothers Michael and Mark Sheppard, who both worked in local law enforcement, were initially released on half a million dollars bail after being jailed briefly on manslaughter charges.

The case has caused outrage among advocates for the victims and survivors, who say their detention violates a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement directive that calls for giving strong consideration to the fact that they were crime victims who cooperated with authorities in determining whether they should be released.

“This is a hate crime that occurred immediately after they were crossing into the United States,” said Zoe Bowman, the supervising attorney at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, who is representing the seven detained survivors.

Michael Sheppard, who was a warden at the troubled West Texas Detention Facility where he was accused of abuse, and his brother, Mark, who worked for the Hudspeth County sheriff's office, were recently again taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the Sept. 27 shooting.

The sheriff's office did not say where they were being held or why they were initially released on bond. The case is being investigated by the Texas Rangers, an arm of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border are often victims of crimes, including human trafficking, but most happen south of the border. A clear cut case like this one, in which migrants are the victims of a widely publicized crime on U.S. soil in which charges have been brought against identified suspects, can provide a rare paper trail to protection under a visa for migrants who are crime victims in the U.S., Bowman said.

But despite the August 2021 ICE directive that strongly encourages the release of crime victims while the lengthy visa process is underway, these migrants remain in detention, Bowman said.

Six of the surviving migrants are being held at the El Paso Processing Center — an ICE detention facility — while a seventh is in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and is expected to be transferred to the West Texas Detention Facility, the embattled lockup where Michael Sheppard was a warden.

“It certainly seems like they are not putting the needs of these people first by choosing to hold onto them,” Bowman said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials did not respond to phone and email requests for comment on the migrants' detention.

The migrants told authorities they were drinking water from a reservoir on county land in Sierra Blanca, south of El Paso in the hot, dry Chihuahuan Desert, when two men — identified in court documents as the Sheppard brothers — pulled over in a truck. The migrants said they ran to hide.

Mark Sheppard told investigators he and his brother were out hunting and thought they had spotted a javelina, a kind of wild hog, when they opened fire. “Mark Sheppard told us he used binoculars and saw a ‘black butt’ thinking it was a javelina,” court documents said.

But the migrants told authorities the men in the truck yelled and cursed at them in Spanish, taunting at them to come out, and revved their engine as they backed up. When the group emerged from hiding, the driver exited the vehicle and fired two shots at them.

Jesús Iván Sepúlveda was shot and killed. Brenda Berenice Casias Carrillo was struck in the stomach and seriously wounded.

Silvia Carrillo, the wounded woman's aunt, told The Associated Press that she heard from her niece via WhatsApp on Sept. 25 that the group was beginning the precarious desert journey from Mexico into Texas and was turning off their phones. When she next made contact with Casias two days later, her niece told her the group had been shot at and she lay wounded, fearing she would die.

Carrillo encouraged her niece to call 911 for help. Also in the group of 13 migrants were Carrillo's two sons, another niece and a son-in-law. Casias told her they were all okay but another man who was with them — 22-year-old Sepulveda of Durango, Mexico, — was dead.

“I felt like I was going to die, I was desperate and imagined the worst,” Carrillo said.

When authorities arrived in response to her 911 call, Casias was taken to a hospital and the other survivors were questioned by federal and immigration officials. Their testimonies led to the arrest of the Sheppard brothers, after which the witnesses were placed in ICE custody.

On Oct. 7, Carrillo said she spoke to Casias again, this time from the hospital. Casias sounded weak, but said she was slowly getting better and had one more surgery to go.

Casias remains stable and improving and has some legal protection, her attorney, Marysol Castro, managing attorney for Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso, said Tuesday. She declined to provide specifics because she said her client is afraid for her safety since learning of the Sheppard brothers’ initial release.

Bowman said she is seeking visas intended for migrants who are crime victims for her clients, but even though the case has been widely publicized it could take months to produce the necessary court documents.

In the meantime she has petitioned, without success so far, for them to be released to sponsors in the U.S. — a decision that is solely at the discretion of ICE authorities.

John Sandweg, an attorney who served as ICE director during the Obama administration, said other factors like the survivors' role as witnesses could mean that authorities choose to keep them in detention so they are nearby to testify in the case.

Still, on the face of it, he said, “there is not a good reason” why these migrants remain detained.

“The bottom line is that study after study after study and ICE’s own data has demonstrated the effectiveness of alternatives to detention,” Sandweg said, adding that the system “is in critical need of reform.”

Meanwhile, Carrillo said she and relatives of the other survivors await answers on the fate of their loved ones in the country they journeyed to for a better life, and are calling for the shooters to be brought to justice.

“I just want them to do justice for my niece and for Jesus, the man who died,” Carrillo said.

———

Associated Press reporters Jake Bleiberg in Dallas, Texas, and Paul Weber in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.

Tensions between Black and Latino residents in L.A. spike in wake of Nury Martinez scandal

Joel Huerto

·Editor

Wed, October 19, 2022

Officials in Los Angeles are struggling to contain the fallout stemming from the leaked audio of racist comments made by former City Council President Nury Martinez that forced her to resign.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the council held virtual meetings to try to move forward from the Martinez scandal after angry protesters disrupted in-person meetings at City Hall last week. But the topic that nearly all the callers wanted to discuss during the public comments portion of the virtual meetings was the leaked audio involving Martinez, a Hispanic woman who hurled crude and racist comments against Blacks and Americans of Oaxacan descent during a private meeting in October 2021.

Much of the anger was directed at council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, neither of whom attended this week's meetings, for their involvement in the Martinez scandal, with several callers demanding their resignations. So far, the two men have refused to step down. Both chaired high-profile committees that dealt with housing and homelessness before being stripped of their duties this week.

De León defended himself in a television interview with Univision, saying he "will not resign."

"I'm so sorry. I am extremely sorry, and that is why I apologize to all my people, to my entire community, for the damage caused by the painful words that were carried out that day last year," he told "Noticiero Univision" anchor León Krauze, according to a transcript released by the network.

"No, I will not resign, because there is a lot of work ahead," de León said.

Hundreds of people from L.A.'s Oaxacan community, along with leaders from Indigenous communities across California, protest at City Hall on Oct. 15. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

During Wednesday’s meeting, a representative from the L.A. County Business Federation — an alliance of 220 organizations representing over 410,000 employers in the city — delivered a stark message to Cedillo and de León.

“Your residents and our own colleagues have spoken,” she said. “It’s time for you to step down so that our city can move forward and begin to heal and finish tackling the many important issues that have been placed on hold because of your refusal to do the right thing for the city. You’re proving yourself completely unfit for office, and we’re calling on you to step down now."

Christian Green, a sociology and African American history professor at Cal State University, said during Tuesday’s meeting that the past week was a “total disgrace and disheartening,” adding it was mind-boggling to see Cedillo and de León maintain their seats on the council.

“We deserve more than an apology,” Green said. "We keep talking about the word 'healing.' But we cannot heal without facing the truth. What these elected officials did was revolting, repelling, repulsive, sickening, uninviting and unsavory."

Khansa Jones-Muhammad, a Black commissioner on L.A.'s reparations task force, called in Tuesday in her capacity as a regular citizen, decrying the “institutional racism” that still exists. “Racism from the city's leadership will in no way be tolerated by Black Angelenos,” she said.

Anger flares at a Los Angeles City Council meeting on Oct. 11. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Dozens of angry callers — many using expletives and insults — flooded the meetings, giving credence to the perception that the relationship between the Black and Latino communities is in an especially precarious state. One caller used clown music to mock the chamber, while others suggested the removal of the entire council.

Several callers raised past grievances relating to systemic racism, while others called the chamber complicit with the actions of their Hispanic colleagues who had been caught on tape.

Callers sharply criticized acting President Mitch O'Farrell for not allowing the hearings to go forward in person, with one describing him as “cowardly.” O'Farrell had justified moving the hearings online after Councilman Mike Bonin, who delivered an emotional speech at an Oct. 11 meeting addressing racist comments that Martinez made about his young son, tested positive for COVID in the hours after that meeting. Bonin was in close physical contact with several other council members.

But not all callers were against de León and Cedillo remaining on the council. A woman who didn't identify herself asked de León not to resign. “[He] has done a great job, and his real voters in his district respect him,” she said. “I know the pressure on him is great with the L.A. City Council, [and his critics] acting like he killed someone.”

Former L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

The virtual forums did not stop dozens of protesters on Tuesday and Wednesday from making their voices heard outside City Hall.

“No resignations, no meeting!” protesters chanted, with some attempting to force their way into City Hall. Police officers in riot gear were able to push them back without incident.

Cedillo and de León, along with labor union leader Ron Herrera, who has also since resigned, were present in the room in 2021 when Martinez referred to white council member Bonin’s 7-year-old son, who is Black, as “parece changuito,” or “that little monkey.”

“They’re raising him like a little white kid,” Martinez can be heard saying in the audio. "I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner, and then I'll bring him back." She also referred to Bonin, who is gay, as a “little bitch.”

A female caller at Tuesday’s meeting who did not identify herself by name vented frustration over the remarks. “This is nothing new for us. We’ve dealt with this kind of specific racism towards Black Americans from the Latino community before,” she said. “We’ve been dealing with it for a long time.”

The recording of the three powerful politicians discussing with a labor leader how to maintain their grip on power and expand Latino influence in the city has plunged the council into turmoil, and with Martinez’s resignation could dramatically reshape it. Cedillo, who lost his bid for a third term in June, is leaving office in December. De León is not up for reelection this year.

L.A. City Council members Gil Cedillo, front left, and Kevin de León at the council meeting on Oct. 11. (Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

A group of protesters affiliated with Black Lives Matter has been camping near de León’s home in Eagle Rock since Sunday morning to ramp up the pressure on the embattled council member to resign. They also want a review of redistricting decisions and other policies affecting the Black community that the council worked on.

“What came out of the recordings we heard last week was clear evidence that our city’s redistricting process was manipulated for personal political gain,” said council member Nithya Raman, who successfully pushed for a city charter amendment that created an independent redistricting commission.

Council member Paul Krekorian now has the unenviable task of restoring trust in the City Council after being voted unanimously to be the next president. On Tuesday, he described this moment as “one of the most challenging times” the city has ever faced and said it was time for Angelenos to begin to heal.

“I just need to reiterate that we just can’t allow two members who are in a position now of having dishonored their offices to hold the business of the city hostage,” said Krekorian, who has vowed to advance tangible steps to ensure that the power of the council president is reduced and not increased.

“It’s a privilege to serve in City Hall,” he said. “It’s a privilege to serve in any kind of public service. And we have that privilege. We have to commit ourselves to setting aside the differences that divide us, setting aside the idea that we serve a faction or a group or a neighborhood at the expense of others. Los Angeles can’t afford that kind of thinking anymore. We have to recognize that you serve all of the people of Los Angeles.”