Villagers resist India's biofuel push, fearing hidden health risks


24 November 2023 - BY BHASKER TRIPATHI

“The government might reduce pollution by blending ethanol, but the hidden cost is the pollution that locals like us face wherever its ethanol is produced”.
Image: 123RF/Ralph Fiskness / File photo

On a sunny afternoon last month, two dozen people gathered at the council office in a south Indian village to protest against a new ethanol plant they say is polluting their backyard.

Over a year ago, locals were alarmed when they saw construction begin on the government-sanctioned grain distillery on a vacant plot about a kilometre (0.62 miles) away from their homes.

Touted as a green fuel and a solution to cut tailpipe emissions from vehicles when blended with gasoline, ethanol — a biofuel — is key to India’s action to tackle climate change.

But the residents of Chittanur village in Telangana state say they are not ready to pay for the national clean energy drive with their health.

This September, the plant started operating for a trial period. Villagers told Context that, despite claiming to be a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) facility, it had released hazardous effluent in the stream running near the village.

Effluent discharged by distilleries can contain acids and heavy metals, which if untreated can harm soil fertility, aquatic life and human health, according to Indian researchers.

The stream is an essential source of water for surrounding villages. Local people said a child fell seriously ill after swimming in contaminated water while adults who came into contact with it developed skin rashes.

“The government might reduce pollution by blending ethanol, but the hidden cost is the pollution that locals like us face wherever its ethanol is produced,” said Sugunakar Reddy, a village resident who works in the IT industry in Hyderabad.

Reddy said inhabitants had repeatedly complained about the ethanol plant to the district administration and pollution control bodies, but to no avail.

Jurala Organic Farms and Agro Industries, the company that owns the plant near Chittanur, did not respond to questions about its operations.

Once fully functional, the distillery will use food crops like rice to produce 800,000 litres of ethanol daily to be sold to Indian gasoline retailers.

Many countries around the world, from the US to Indonesia and Brazil, blend biofuels with gasoline to reduce their fossil-fuel import burden and curb climate-heating emissions from the transport sector.

Starting from the early 2000s, India used sugar cane to ramp up ethanol production to 4 billion litres annually to meet a target of blending 10% ethanol into gasoline.

In addition, about five years ago, it decided to harness food crops — rice and maize — to increase production for a higher 20% blend target that took effect in 2021, requiring 12 billion litres of ethanol each year.

Since 2020, the government has approved nearly 200 new grain-based distilleries, nine of them sited in Telangana.

It has eased the way for such facilities by weakening regulations to exempt them from public hearings before getting environmental clearance, offering financial support and putting in place long-term purchase agreements for their output.

The biofuel push has seen experts flag the risks of increased pollution impacts and warn that over-use of crops for ethanol production could threaten food security for the poor and hurt a sector already hit by climate change.

India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, which also steers biofuel policy, did not respond to a request for comment.

WATER AND FOOD DIVERTED FOR FUEL

The Chittanur protests, which started a year ago, foreshadow the risk of local conflicts erupting in other areas with ethanol distilleries.

Farmer Vakiti Ramanji said residents found out that the Chittanur plant had been given the green light without public consultation, triggering demonstrations and a village council resolution against it.

Locals fear toxic effluent from the plant could contaminate groundwater in the future. “This will have scary outcomes for our health and the crops we grow,” Ramanji said.

After they raised objections, residents said the plant's operator started taking effluent out in tankers and releasing it on the roadside, sparking angry protests and clashes between villagers and police which led to many arrests in October.

Locals are also worried about how ethanol production will affect their food and water supplies in a drought-prone region.

Farmer Puttapalli Murli noted that producing one litre of ethanol takes three kilos of rice and six litres of water.

While the ethanol company has been given permission by the government to take water from a nearby dam, farmers are not getting enough for their irrigation needs, he added.

According to government data, sugar cane and rice use up to 70% of India's irrigation water

Murli said the plant had promised to buy rice directly from villagers but the government is already selling subsidised rice from public stocks to ethanol producers, undercutting farmers.

The Food Corporation of India, which maintains national food stocks, released 2.5 million tonnes of rice to 100 distilleries from March 2020 to July 2023, according to data requested by Context.

The body is also responsible for allocating rice and wheat to India’s public food distribution system for the poor.

With India ranking 111 out of 125 countries in the 2023 Global Hunger Index, the national policy of diverting food crops for ethanol has been criticised by experts.

“The use of rice for food should be prioritised over its use as fuel,” wrote Siraj Hussain, a former Indian agriculture secretary, and agricultural economist Shweta Saini in an opinion piece published in June by online news platform The Wire.

In August, the government stopped releasing subsidised rice for ethanol production amid concerns over depleting stocks, but the halt may only be temporary, according to Indian media.

LOW-EMISSIONS FUEL?

Promit Mookherjee, an associate fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a Delhi-based think-tank, said the government should not set an ambitious biofuels target and then make changes to the “fragile” agriculture sector to achieve it.

Instead it should assess how much ethanol can be produced sustainably from existing farmland and then seek other efficient ways to boost ethanol production, he said.

Incentivising farmers to grow feedstock for ethanol will deter them from diversifying into new crops and cultivation methods needed to adapt to climate change, while the policy could increase planet-heating emissions from land-use change, he added.

A 2022 study published in the journal of the National Academy of Sciences in the US — which produces most of its ethanol from corn — found that expanding crop production for biofuel intensified the use of fertiliser and water.

This resulted in the carbon footprint of corn-based ethanol being “no less than gasoline and likely at least 24% higher”, the researchers wrote.

While using food crops to produce ethanol — known as “first-generation” biofuel — is easier, technology now allows the use of agricultural waste to produce “second-generation” ethanol.

Several companies have successfully demonstrated this new method in India but are struggling to scale it up, Mookherjee said, calling for a government road map for sustainable ethanol production.

In the meantime, Chittanur residents are refusing to be pushed aside in the race to hit national biofuel targets.

“Everyone tells us that this plant is for the development of India,” said IT worker Reddy. “Is our village, our farmers not a part of India? Do we not have the right to live a healthy life?”

Reuters

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BIOFUELS 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BIOFUEL

PAKISTAN

Mountain villages fight for future as melting glaciers threaten floods

Tariq Jamil, 51, chair of the Community Based Disaster Risk Management Centre, walks with a hiking stick to check the ice on the Shisper glacier, near Hassanabad village, Hunza valley, in the Karakoram mountain range in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan, on October 10 2023.
Image: REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro

24 November 2023 - BY CHARLOTTE GREENFIELD

On the steep slope of a glacier jutting through the Hunza valley in Pakistan's mountainous far north, Tariq Jamil measures the ice's movement and snaps photos. Later, he creates a report that includes data from sensors and another camera installed near the Shisper glacier to update his village an hour's hike downstream.

The 51-year-old's mission: mobilise his community of 200 families in Hassanabad, in the Karakoram mountains, to fight for a future for their village and way of life, increasingly under threat from unstable lakes formed by melting glacier ice.

When glacial lakes overfill or their banks become unsound, they burst, sparking deadly floods that wash out bridges and buildings and wipe out fertile land throughout the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Himalayan mountain ranges that intersect in northern Pakistan.

Himalayan glaciers are on track to lose up to 75% of their ice by the century's end due to global warming, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).

After all the sensors are installed, village representatives will be able to monitor data through their mobiles, Jamil said. “Local wisdom is very important: we are the main observers. We have witnessed many things.”

Hassanabad is part of the UN-backed Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) II project to help communities downstream of melting glaciers adapt.

Amid a shortfall in funding for those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, village residents say they urgently need increased support to adapt to threats of glacial lake floods.

“The needs are enormous,” said Karma Lodey Rapten, Regional Technical Specialist for Climate Change Adaptation at the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

Pakistan is the only country to receive adaptation funding from the Green Climate Fund — the Paris Agreement's key financing pot — to ease the risk of such floods.

While countries like Bhutan have worked with other funders to minimise the threat from glacial lake floods, the $36.96m (R697.94m) GLOF II scheme — which ends in early 2025 — is a global benchmark for other regions grappling with this threat, including the Peruvian Andes and China.

Since 2017, weather stations as well as sensors measuring rainfall, water discharge, and river and lake water levels have been installed under the administration of Islamabad and UNDP. GLOF II has deployed speakers in villages to communicate warnings, and infrastructure like stone-and-wire barriers that slow floodwater.

In Hassanabad, a villager regularly monitors the feed from a camera installed high up the valley for water levels in the river by the glacier's base during risky periods such as summer, when a lake dammed by ice from Shisper glacier often forms.


Pakistan is among the world's most at-risk countries from glacial lake floods, with 800,000 people living within 15km of a glacier. Many residents of the Karakorams built their homes on lush land along rivers running off glaciers.

In neighbouring India in October, floods probably triggered by a partial glacial lake burst in the Himalayas, following an avalanche and heavy rains, likely killed 179 people. Many remain missing. An early warning system was being installed near the lake, but it had not been completed.

DEADLY RISKS

As many as 15-million people worldwide are at risk of glacial lake flooding, with 2-million of them in Pakistan, according to a February study published in scientific journal Nature Communications.

From 2018 to 2021, about 14 GLOFs occurred in Pakistan, but that spiked to 75 in 2022, according to UNDP.

Jamil's village had close calls from floods, according to residents and officials. Over the past three years, residents repeatedly evacuated just in time to avoid loss of life, and many fear a flood while they sleep. Others struggle financially as their land and homes were destroyed, most recently in 2022.

In Chalt village, a few hours away, a torrent of black water rushed down the valley last year. Zahra Ramzan's 11-year-old son Ali Mohammad was swept away.

“I'm in very deep grief. I could not see my son again, even a body,” said the 40-year-old.

The village has had little information about the risks, residents said. Ramzan gets nervous whenever there is heavy rain or flooding, refusing to allow her surviving children out of sight.

In Hassanabad, Jamil is trying to manage these risks. He and 23 other volunteers have trained in first aid and evacuation planning. They monitor the glacier and consult with outside experts and officials each summer.

They are hoping to receive international financing for 20 times the length of barrier wall than is currently funded. They also want interest-free loans to rebuild destroyed homes and adapt their housing with stronger material, as well as better mobile reception to access the monitoring feed.

PLEA FOR ADAPTATION FUNDING

With the UN's COP28 climate summit scheduled to begin on November 30, pressure is ramping up on wealthy countries to fulfil promises to help developing nations.

The Green Climate Fund said in October it had raised $9.3bn (R175.62bn), short of its $10bn (R188.84bn) target.

Wealthy nations are set to meet a broader $100bn (R1.89-trillion) climate finance pledge to developing countries this year, three years late and short of the actual needs, estimated by the UN at over $200bn (R3.78-trilion) annually by 2030.

ICIMOD said changes driven by global warming to glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region are “largely irreversible.” The region has over 200 glacial lakes considered dangerous.

Darkut village, also part of GLOF II, sits surrounded by mountains and glaciers above verdant plains where yaks graze. At the bottom of nearby Darkut Glacier lies a deep turquoise lake.

“Until 1978 ... this whole place was a glacier, the pool of water came later,” said 75-year-old Musafir Khan, pointing at the lake that formed as the glacier receded.

Unlike the ice-dammed lake at Shisper, Darkut is formed in the soil and rock landscape left by a receding glacier.

In northern Pakistan, such moraine-dammed lakes are linked to comparatively few GLOFs, according to ICIMOD researcher Sher Muhammad, but in other parts of mountainous Asia they have been associated with higher casualty rates than ice-dammed lakes.

The risks of both types of lakes may increase, Muhammad said.

Muhammad Yasin, an environmental sciences graduate researcher at Karakorum International University, is studying the extent to which Darkut glacier is melting.

“We have [told] the community that risk factors exist in this lake, you should be aware of this,” he said.

Many families have left over the years after previous flash floods, said Khan, who was born in the remote village, but hundreds rebuilt nearby.

In Hassanabad, the prospect of moving also fills many with disbelief. Their families have lived off orchard fields surrounded by soaring mountains for 400 years, growing produce and grazing livestock high in the plains. Many say they have no resources to move from the village, where their ancestors are buried.

“If the flood will cut us off, we will miss the nature of this village, our neighbours and relatives,” said Tehzeeb, Jamil's 15-year-old daughter.

“Like a bird in a cage,” Jamil said of moving to a city. He was open to exploring the option, but said he would focus on keeping the village alive.

“It's my responsibility to prevent the community from (facing) any disaster.”

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/11/pakistan-facing-melting-glaciers.html

Armenia Says Azerbaijan Still Vague On Commitment To Peace

AZERBAIJAN, TURKIYE'S CLIENT STATE

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian answers questions sent in by citizens, November 24, 2023.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Friday that it still remains unclear whether Azerbaijan will ultimately commit to signing a peace agreement with Armenia based on the three principles that he said were agreed upon during negotiations mediated by the European Union.

Answering questions sent in by citizens during a live session, Pashinian referred to his meetings with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that were held with the mediation of European Council President Charles Michel in May and July.

The Armenian premier reiterated the three principles, including mutual recognition of territorial integrity and borders, border delimitation based on a 1991 declaration signed by a dozen former Soviet republics, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, after the collapse of the USSR, and the sovereign jurisdictions of the states over transportation links passing through their territories.

“Now we cannot say with certainty that Azerbaijan refuses to sign a peace agreement based on these three principles, but we cannot say with certainty that Azerbaijan reaffirms its commitment to these three principles either. There is a need to clarify these issues and nuances during the negotiations,” Pashinian.

Azerbaijan appears to have avoided Western platforms for negotiations with Armenia after Azerbaijani forces recaptured the whole of Nagorno-Karabakh in a one-day military operation on September 19, causing more than 100,000 people, virtually the entire local Armenian population, to flee to Armenia.

Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev were scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the EU’s October 5 summit in Granada, Spain, for talks mediated by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and European Council President Charles Michel.

Pashinian had hoped that they would sign there a document laying out the main parameters of an Armenian-Azerbaijani peace treaty. However, Aliyev withdrew from the talks at the last minute.

Baku cited France’s allegedly “biased position” against Azerbaijan as the reason for skipping those talks in Spain.

The Azerbaijani leader also appears to have canceled another meeting which the EU’s Michel planned to host in Brussels in late October.

Most recently Azerbaijan refused to attend a meeting with Armenia at the level of foreign ministers in Washington after allegedly “one-sided and biased” remarks by a senior U.S. official made during a congressional hearing on Nagorno-Karabakh. That meeting had reportedly been scheduled to take place on November 20.

In doing so Azerbaijan recently offered to hold direct talks with Armenia, including at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border.

Pashinian reaffirmed today that a meeting of the two countries’ officials engaged in border delimitation and demarcation activities will be held at a yet undisclosed location along the state frontier on November 30.

He said that Yerevan will draw conclusions from those discussions as to whether “Azerbaijan is ready for peace based on those principles or whether Azerbaijan rejects those principles.”

“We don’t have that confidence until today,” Pashinian said.

The Armenian leader did not say whether Yerevan also considers direct negotiations with Azerbaijan at the highest level.

On Thursday, Armenia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mnatsakan Safarian said that there are issues in negotiations “where the presence of mediators is mandatory and plays a very important role.”

“For example, issues related to the rights of the population forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. The existence of international mechanisms is important here. There are also other issues where guarantees are important,” the senior Armenian diplomat said.

Ireland’s PM slams anti-immigrant violence in Dublin

"These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland"

 

 Irish police officers try to disperse a demonstration near the scene of an attack in Dublin city center, Thursday Nov. 23, 2023. A 5-year-old girl is receiving emergency medical treatment in a Dublin hospital following an attack on Thursday that involved a knife. A woman and two other children were injured. Irish police said they weren’t treating the case as terror-related, and that a man in his 50s, who was also hospitalized with serious injuries, is a “person of interest.” 

(Brian Lawless/PA via AP)

PUBLISHED: November 24, 2023 

By Danica Kirka | Associated Press

LONDON — Ireland’s prime minister on Friday condemned anti-immigrant protesters who rampaged through central Dublin after three young children were stabbed, saying the rioters simply wanted to cause chaos, not protect the country’s way of life.

Police arrested 34 people overnight after up to 500 people looted shops, set fire to vehicles and threw rocks at crowd control officers equipped with helmets and shields. The violence began after rumors circulated that a foreign national was responsible for the attack outside a Dublin school on Thursday afternoon.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said Ireland’s capital had endured two attacks, one on innocent children and the other on “our society and the rule of law.”

“These criminals did not do what they did because they love Ireland, they did not do what they did because they wanted to protect Irish people, they did not do it out of any sense of patriotism, however warped,” Varadkar told reporters on Friday morning. “They did so because they’re filled with hate, they love violence, they love chaos, and they love causing pain to others.”

A 5-year-old girl was in critical condition at a Dublin hospital and a teacher’s aide was in serious condition, police said. A 6-year-old girl continues to receive treatment for less serious injuries and another child was discharged overnight. The alleged assailant, who was tackled by witnesses, remains hospitalized in serious condition.

A burned out bus is removed from O’Connell Street in the aftermath of violent scenes in the city centre on Thursday evening, in Dublin, Friday, Nov. 24, 2023. 

Brian Lawless/PA via AP

Thursday’s unrest came amid rising tensions over immigration in Ireland that mirror trends in other parts of Europe. Earlier this year, people carrying signs reading “Ireland is full” demonstrated in Dublin and protesters blockaded a hotel housing asylum seekers in County Clare on the west coast.

An analysis of more than 13 million social media posts over the past three years found that right-wing groups were increasingly using platforms such as X, formerly known as Twitter, to stir up opposition to immigration. Recent activity has characterized the refugees and asylum seekers as an “existential threat to Ireland,” according to a report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based group that seeks to combat extremism.

Ireland received more than 141,000 immigrants in the 12 months through April, the highest total since 2007, the latest government statistics show. The influx of migrants drove an 11.7% increase in Ireland’s population over the past 11 years, contributing to a steady increase in housing prices.

When he was questioned about anti-immigration tensions earlier this year, Varadkar told Ireland’s parliament that there was always a place for peaceful protest, but violence, intimidation and racism were never legitimate.

“I think when it comes to this matter, we should never lose sight of the bigger picture — we’re facing a major refugee crisis not just here in Ireland but all across Europe,” he said in May.Commissioner Drew Harris, head of Ireland’s national police force, described those who took part in Thursday’s unrest as a “complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology.”

More than 400 officers, including many in riot gear, were deployed throughout the city center to contain the violence. A cordon was set up around the Irish Parliament building, Leinster House, and mounted officers were dispatched to nearby Grafton Street.

One officer was seriously injured in clashes with the rioters, some of whom were armed with metal bars and covered their faces.

“These (riots) are scenes that we have not seen in decades, but what is clear is that people have been radicalized through social media and the internet,” Harris told reporters.

“But I don’t want to lose focus on the terrible event in terms of the dreadful assault on schoolchildren and their teacher. There’s a full investigation ongoing. There’s also a full investigation in respect on the disorder.”

Varadkar praised people of multiple nationalities who intervened to stop the attack as it unfolded, describing them as “real Irish heroes.”

One of them was Caio Benicio, a Brazilian delivery driver who stopped when he saw the teacher’s aide trying to save the children. Spotting a knife, he ripped off his helmet and slammed it into the attacker with all his strength.

“I pray for her to survive,” Benicio said of the child in critical condition. “I’m a parent myself, I have two kids and I know how hard it is.”

Benicio told Britain’s Press Association that the disturbances seemed to be caused by a “small group of people” who “wanted an excuse to do what they did.”

“I’m here for about 20 years now, I don’t know politics here deeply to have an opinion about it,” he said. “What I can say is I know the protest is against immigrants and for me it doesn’t make sense because I’m an immigrant myself and I was the one who helped out. For me it doesn’t make sense.”

Violence, looting as school stabbing triggers riots in Dublin, 34 arrested

Rioters could face prison sentence up to 12 years, says Justice Minister McEntee

Web Desk Updated: November 24, 2023 
Protesters vandalise a police vehicle before setting it on fire during a demonstration following a suspected stabbing that left few children injured in Dublin, Ireland | Reuters


The riot that broke out in Dublin after the stabbing incident, severely injuring three young children, turned violent with many including police officials injured. According to Irish Police, 34 were arrested in connection with the riot.

"Overall we have 34 arrests, 32 of which will be appearing before the courts this morning," Police Commissioner Drew Harris told a press conference.

Irish Justice Minister Helen McEntee described the situation as “very volatile”. “There could be prison sentences of up to 12 years for attacking gardai,” she said.

At least 100 people took to the strerts with some armed with metal bars and covering their faces on Thursday evening. The riot police had to intervene to calm the situation on the streets with the rioters torching the vehicles and attacking stores.

Following the attack outside a school, the girl was grievously injured and is currently receiving medical treatment in a Dublin hospital. The two others injured in the incident was also undergoing medical treatment.

Over 400 police officers were deployed in Dublin city centre to contain the unrest.

A police cordon was also set up around the Irish Parliament building, Leinster House, and officers from the Mounted Support Unit were in nearby Grafton Street.

A number of police vehicles and a tram were damaged during the clashes, while a bus and car were also set on fire on the city's O'Connell Bridge.

Several stores were looted amid the riots as well. Public transport in the city including trams and buses was suspended. Many companies urged their staff to work from home on Friday.

“We have a complete lunatic hooligan faction driven by far-right ideology, and also then this disruptive tendency engaged in serious violence," said Harris.

Police and politicians called for calm and warned against misinformation over the attack earlier in the day.

Justice Ministe said that the scenes we were witnessing this evening won't be tolerated.

Earlier the police had said that they have not ruled out the potential terrorist link as the motive behind the attack.

Irish police also said one police officer was seriously injured in Dublin riot.

After three young children was stabbed, it had sparked a night of rioting rarely seen before the capital.

Police blamed the far right agitators for starting the violence after a small group of anti-immigrant protesters arrived at the scene of the stabbing attack beside the main thoroughfare of O'Connell Street and clashed with police.

(With agencies inputs)

Far-right protesters burn and loot Dublin in worst violence ‘in decades’

By Karla Adam

November 24, 2023 

Riot police officers face down demonstrators next to a burning police car near a crime scene of a school stabbing that left several children and adults injured in Dublin on Thursday. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

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LONDON — Ireland’s police chief on Friday described the unrest in central Dublin, in which double-decker buses, trams and police cars were torched, as “scenes that we have not seen in decades.”

The violence and looting through some of Dublin’s most famous streets began after a stabbing attack outside a school that left five people hospitalized, including three young children and a woman. Police detained a man who is also being treated for injuries.

What police later identified as far-right protesters then took to the streets of Dublin, setting vehicles ablaze and clashing with police.

A fire blazes following a suspected stabbing that left several children injured in Dublin on Thursday. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

“What we saw last night was an extraordinary outbreak of violence,” Police Commissioner Drew Harris told reporters on Friday. “These are scenes that we have not seen in decades.”

He said that 34 people had been arrested.

Police blamed a “lunatic, hooligan faction driven by a far-right ideology” for the violence that broke out after a small group of anti-immigrant protesters arrived at the scene of the knife attack.

Protesters vandalize a police vehicle before setting it on fire during a demonstration following a suspected stabbing that left children injured in Dublin on Thursday. (Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters)

The “riotous mob” caused “huge destruction” in Dublin, police said, with some wielding metal bars. Rioters smashed windows and looted shops as they stormed through the city.

The Dublin Fire Brigade on Friday morning said firefighters were continuing to dampen down smoldering vehicles.

A bus on fire on O'Connell Street after violent scenes unfolded in Dublin city center on Thursday following a knife attack. (Brian Lawless/AP)

Police said they weren’t looking for anyone else involved in the knife attack and were “keeping an open mind” about any motive.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar told reporters said that those involved in the riots “brought shame on Ireland.”

Irish police officers form a line to block a demonstration near the scene of an attack in Dublin city center on Thursday. (Brian Lawless/AP)

Dublin riots: Immigrant Deliveroo driver 'hit attacker with helmet' to save little girl

Caio Benicio, a Brazilian, said he acted out of 'pure instinct' when he stepped in to defend the child

Deliveroo driver Caio Benicio, who stopped a knife attacker outside a school


Gillian Duncan
Nov 24, 2023

A Brazilian Deliveroo driver who stepped in to defend a young girl from a knife attack in Dublin that sparked rioting has spoken out, saying: "It looks like they hate immigrants."

Caio Benicio, 43, said he was on his bike when he saw the attack unfold and immediately dismounted, took off his helmet and hit the man with it.

Tanaiste Micheal Martin praised Mr Benicio on Friday, saying his part “should not be forgotten” and said he may have saved other children from attack.

“We had a horrific, violent attack on children and adults, we think of them, and we think of the Deliveroo person who came along to save the situation, perhaps for other children,” he said.

Police officers near the scene from yesterday's stabbing in Dublin. 

Violence broke out in the wake of Thursday afternoon's attack after at least 100 people took to the streets, some with their faces covered and armed with metal bars.

It spiralled into a night of violence and disorder as buses, trams and at least one Garda vehicle were burnt and shops were looted on one of Dublin’s most famous throughfares, O’Connell Street.

There were clashes with riot police as some demonstrators let off flares and fireworks, while others flung chairs and stools grabbed from outside bars and restaurants.

Police blamed far-right agitators for starting the violence after a small group of anti-immigration protesters arrived at the scene of the stabbing and clashed with police.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar promised to use the full resources of the law and the full machinery of the state to punish those involved in the “grotesque events” in Dublin. He said measures will be put in place to ensure that any repeated attempts will meet the “full measure of the law”.

“As a country we need to reclaim Ireland, we need to take it away from the cowards who hide behind masks and try to terrify us with their violence,” he said.

“We need to reclaim Ireland from the unscrupulous who prey on the fears of those easily led into darkness and we need to reclaim Ireland from the criminals who seek any excuse to unleash harm on our streets.”

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris singled out a "complete lunatic faction driven by far-right ideology" for the disorder.

A police cordon was set up around the Irish parliament building, Leinster House, late on Thursday night with officers from the Garda Mounted Support Unit in nearby Grafton Street, as concerns rose that the violence may spread to the seat of Ireland's democratic institutions.

Shortly before midnight, gardai said calm had been restored in the city.

The five-year-old girl was seriously injured in the stabbing attack outside a school, which also left a woman and two other children injured.




















Mr Benicio said he acted on "pure instinct" when he intervened.

“I didn’t even make a decision, it was pure instinct, and it was all over in seconds. He fell to the ground, I didn’t see where the knife went, and other people stepped in,” he told Irish newspaper The Journal.

“I have two kids myself, so I had to do something. I did what anyone would do. People were there but they couldn’t step in because he was armed, but I knew I could use my helmet as a weapon.”

Mr Benicio said he was sad to see the outbreak of violence, adding: “It looks like they hate immigrants. Well I am an immigrant, and I did what I could to try and save that little girl."

Mr Benicio, who came to Ireland for work, said he hopes his children can join him one day.

Mr Martin condemned the rioting in Dublin, saying “this is not who we are as a people”.


Before a meeting of the British-Irish Council at Dublin Castle, the Tanaiste said in the first instance his thoughts are with the families of the children and adults who were injured in the knife attack.

Police officers work at the scene. Reuters

Turning to the later rioting, Mr Martin acknowledged people are “obviously very, very concerned” about “the lawlessness and the rioting that occurred last evening in our city”.

"Ireland has built a modern and inclusive society. It is something precious that we should all work to hold,” he said.

“We understand the need to respect others, the need to respect difference and the need to respect the dignity of every human being. This is something that we should hold precious and we should collectively, as a society, come together to recommit to those fundamental values.”

Police dispatched 400 officers, many of whom were in riot gear, to contain the unrest. Officers made 34 arrests. Police said convicted rioters could face prison sentences of up to 12 years.

Commissioner Harris said on Friday one Garda officer received a serious injury, with "numerous other members injured" when missiles were thrown at them.
The aftermath of the Dublin riots - in pictures

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris discusses the violence at a press conference in Dublin. PA

He said there was an “element of radicalisation” in the riots in Dublin on Thursday.

He told a press conference on Friday: “These are scenes that we have not seen in decades but what is clear is that people have been radicalised through social media and the internet."

He said 13 shops were significantly damaged or looted and 11 Garda cars were damaged during the chaotic scenes in the aftermath of a knife attack which left three young children and a woman injured.

Later, 32 people are to appear before court in the city.

The woman, a teacher in her 30s, also suffered serious injuries during the knife attack shortly after 1.30pm. The two other children, who are pupils at the school, a five-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, sustained less serious injuries and the boy was discharged from hospital.

Police said preliminary indications suggest that the man attacked a number of people on Parnell Square East.

A man in his late 40s, also being treated for serious injuries, was arrested by police who said they were not looking for any other suspect.

Updated: November 24, 2023

Film star Hend Sabri quits as WFP ambassador over Gaza war


AFP
Thu, 23 November 2023 
In this article:
Hend Sabry
Tunisian actress




Tunisian actress Hend Sabri poses for photos at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival (LOIC VENANCE)

Tunisian film star Hend Sabri has resigned as World Food Programme goodwill ambassador in protest at what she called the use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.

Sabri, a leading figure in Arab cinema, said that she had decided with "a heavy heart and deep sadness" to step down after 13 years with the United Nations agency.

In a statement published on social media platform X late Wednesday, the 44-year-old said that she had asked the WFP leadership to push for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory.

She said that she had hoped the agency "would use its voice forcefully" as it had done in previous crises.

"However, hunger and starvation have been used as weapons of war... against more than two million civilians in Gaza," Sabri said.

A pause in fighting, due to take effect on Friday, was "too little too late," she added.

Sabri's most recent film, "Four Daughters," was named joint winner of a documentary film prize at this year's Cannes festival.

Directed by Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania, it explores the true story of how a mother comes to terms with the decision by two of her children to flee to Libya and join the Islamic State group.

Following her resignation, the WFP offered its "heartfelt gratitude" for Sabri's "unwavering support and dedication" as goodwill ambassador.

Israel tightened its siege of Gaza alongside relentless bombardment after Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out the deadliest attack in the country's history on October 7.

Israel says that around 1,200 people were killed in the cross-border raids -- most of them civilians -- and about 240 taken hostage.

The Hamas-run government in Gaza says Israel's operations have killed more than 14,000 people, also mostly non-combatants, and left much of the territory in ruins.

The planned four-day truce will see hostages freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

The pause is also intended to provide aid to Gaza's 2.4 million residents struggling to survive with shortages of food, water and fuel.

bam-dr/kir

‘Not in my name’: Jews in UK take a stand against Israel’s Gaza assault

Many Jewish people, organizations ‘hate what’s going on and trace the problem back to 1948 when Israel was founded on violent, racist theft,’ says David Cannon, chair of Jewish Network for Palestine

Burak Bir |24.11.2023


LONDON

Mass protests have been raging across the world against Israel’s devastating offensive on the Gaza Strip, with millions taking to the streets to demand action from their own governments and the international community.


The same has been the case in the UK, where demonstrations have been held on a regular basis, drawing thousands of people.

One such recent protest was organized by Jewish organizations in Britain which strongly oppose Israel’s deadly onslaught, and their message was clear: “Not in my name.”

“We think it’s really important to get away from the narrative which is out in the media a lot. This suggests all Jews support Israel’s action against the Palestinians now,” Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, co-founder of Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), told Anadolu at the protest.

“We can see a very far-right wing Israeli government carrying out ethnic cleansing and genocide against a captive population. And many, many Jews find that completely unacceptable.”

She said there are many others who feel “frightened” by the way the media has projected pro-Palestinian demonstrations as being a sort of threat to Jewish people.

“So, it’s up to us to give a voice to Jews who do not want to be associated with what the Israeli government is doing,” she said.

David Cannon, chair of the Jewish Network for Palestine, emphasized the importance of a Jewish presence at pro-Palestinian protests.

He said many Jewish people and organizations “hate what’s going on and trace the problem back to 1948, when Israel was founded on violent, racist theft.”

“Hundreds of Palestinian villages destroyed, thousands of innocent Palestinian men, women and children were slaughtered. 750,000 Palestinian refugees were created, they fled from their land, their businesses, their homes. That’s what Israel is founded on,” he told Anadolu.

“And that’s been the problem ever since. It’s called the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe, and it’s been continuing for the last 75 years. The reason what’s going on is just another symptom of exactly the same thing, and we need to stop it and solve it.”

In Cannon’s assessment, it is clear that “there will be no peace without justice.”

Accusing the British government of being part of the problem from the very beginning, he said the UK is “complicit in what’s going on” and has been supporting Israeli violence.

“And we need to stand up and stop it,” he said.

“One democratic state, from the river to the sea, with equality for everyone,” he added.

‘This is a war against Palestinians, not Hamas’

Tony Booth, member of the JVL Committee, called for the “end of government and opposition complicity in the massacre and expulsion of people in Gaza, to end the complicity in war crimes.”

Israeli attacks have so far killed more than 14,800 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, including over 10,000 women and children, with more than 36,000 others injured. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have also been displaced as Israeli bombs have damaged or destroyed more than 250,000 houses and buildings in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

An Israeli blockade has also cut off Gaza from fuel, electricity and water supplies, and reduced aid deliveries to a trickle.

The Israeli death toll is around 1,200, according to official figures.

Booth emphasized that there will never be a solution to the Palestine-Israel dispute without a political solution, which would only come about through negotiations.

“At the moment, we’re heading in the opposite direction, which is the forced expulsion of the Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, which is not going to end well,” he said.

“This is a war on Palestinians. It’s a complete propaganda exercise to suggest this is a war between Israel and Hamas. It’s a war for territory against the Palestinians.”

Pointing to reports that Israel has issued licenses to explore gas deposits off the coast of Gaza, he said that was part of this “land grab” equation.

Israel ‘breaking international law’ for 75 years

Dennis McEldownay, from the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), a group opposed to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian homes and territories, said they “condemn all killing, whether it’s by Hamas or Israel or the US or anybody else.”

“Neither Israel nor the US are members of the International Criminal Court, but Israel is guilty on a daily basis, going back 75 years of breaking international law,” he asserted.

McEldownay said they want to promote “the idea of one democratic state that is a state for all the inhabitants of Israel, Palestine,” where there can be “equality and freedom for everybody.”

Joen, a protester who preferred to give only her first name, said she fully supports Palestinian people who are facing “completely inhumane bombardment.”

“I’m hoping that one day there will be a peaceful solution in Israel, so that everyone can live humanely, equally, in peace in that part of the world,” she said.

Joen underlined that she would like to see people talk to each other and have compassion for each other and to see the advantages and benefits of working together and living together in peace.

John Keidan, who described himself as a proud Jew, emphasized that the actions of the Israeli government are “not in our name.”

He said many civilians, both Israeli and Palestinian, have been killed, but stressed that Israeli attacks are “asymmetric and it should stop.”

“The Bible, the Jewish and Christian Bible, talks of eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. At the moment, the Israeli government is taking five, 10 or 20 teeth,” he said.

Keidan said the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of people toward the south of the Gaza Strip is against international law.

“Which is why it’s right for the Palestinian people not to leave the territory, the Gaza Strip, because they might never be allowed back,” he added.​​​​​​​

SIDE DEAL

Gaza: 23 Thai hostages also expected to be released with Tehran's mediation

Negotiations are being carried out by Iran, with a different channel than the truce with prisoner exchange brokered between Israel and Hamas. Among those kidnapped is a 35-year-old woman who recently left during captivity. The Thai Foreign Ministry 'welcomes' reports of a release, but there is still no official confirmation 

Bangkok (AsiaNews) - There are hours of waiting and hope for the fate of the Thai citizens kidnapped by Hamas in the attack on Israel on 7 October, part of the large group of Asian migrants who make up the "forgotten face" of the hostages in Gaza.

According to the London-based pan-Arab site Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, in fact, thanks to Iran's mediation, at least 23 out of a total of 26 could be freed in the next few hours. In the hands of the militiamen who control the Strip there is also a woman who was pregnant at the time of the kidnapping and who, in recent days and in conditions of imprisonment, gave birth to her child.

Sources in Bangkok report that at least 26 Thai citizens are detained by Hamas, while 39 were killed in the initial and heated phases of the terrorist attack on the heart of Israel. Three others are still hospitalized for more than a month and a half due to their serious injuries.

Before 7 October there were thousands of Thai citizens employed in the agricultural sector in Israel so much so that they constituted, as the Israeli government itself admitted, the "largest group" of foreign people killed or missing in Hamas attacks.

In these hours the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has released a note in which it "welcomes" the agreement on the release of the hostages "especially women and children" captured during the "violence" in Israel and Gaza.

This is an "important step forward after many weeks of intense negotiations" as well as "the humanitarian pause" to ensure that aid reaches "those who need it". Thailand, the note concludes, "reiterates its strong appeal" for the release of the hostages, among whom there is a large group of fellow citizens.

The release, ventilated by many parties but without official confirmation at the moment, is not linked to the agreement signed between Israel and Hamas itself, which provides for a four-day truce in the fighting and the release of some of the prisoners on both fronts.

According to an Egyptian source, the issue of Thai citizens is linked to a negotiation started thanks to the mediation of Iran between the Palestinian extremist group and Bangkok government officials.

Tehran provided the Thai counterpart with details on the condition of the fellow citizens seized and ready to be released. In recent days, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said she hoped that a pause in the fighting could allow the Thai hostages to leave Gaza safely; Last week a senior government official said he had received "reassurances" from Hamas that 25 of its citizens held hostage were "safe" and would be released within the next few days.

Among the hostages in the hands of Hamas there is also 35-year-old Nutthawaree Munkan (in the photo), who gave birth to her son in recent weeks of captivity. The woman worked in a town on the border with the Strip, attacked by militiamen in the operation of 7 October and since then has found herself in the hands of the kidnappers, although her story has gone unnoticed in these hectic weeks in which the news has dominated the Israeli hostages.

The Thai government also kept a low profile and the disappearance of the pregnant young woman only emerged some time after the kidnapping thanks to an investigation published by Channel News Asia.

The article shows that her mother had not received any phone call from the government to be informed that her daughter was in the hands of the kidnappers. “It's already been a month. I'm still perplexed - the 56-year-old Boonyarin told Cna - as to who can help me... There has been no confirmation, no photo. Everything I learned came out of the news."

German government's pro-Israeli policy not supported by public: Poll

November 24, 2023 

People gather to stage a demonstration in support of Palestinians who under Israeli attacks, at Invalidenpark in Berlin, Germany on November 18, 2023.

 [Halil Sağırkaya – Anadolu Agency]


The German government’s pro-Israel stance on the Gaza war is not supported by the public, a new poll revealed on Friday, Anadolu Agency reports.

The poll by the Allensbach Institute found that the majority of Germans are against taking sides in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and strongly oppose providing military support to Israel.

Some 43 per cent of those surveyed said Germany should stay out of the conflict, and only 34 per cent said they agree with the view that Germany bears special responsibility for Israel due to its Nazi past.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly said that Israel’s security is non-negotiable, and in the current conflict with Hamas, Germany “has only one place” and that is “firmly at the side of Israel”.

In the poll, only 31 per cent of respondents backed Scholz’s approach, and said they are supporting Israel’s military campaign in Gaza against Hamas.

In contrast, 38 per cent of those surveyed said Israel should be urged to exercise restraint to prevent casualties among the Palestinian civilian population.

The poll showed that the majority of the Germans expect the government to take a more balanced stance and step up efforts for a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

Overall, 57 per cent of Germans said Scholz’s government should pursue a mediating role between the warring parties.

Meanwhile, 17 per cent of the respondents criticised the Israeli government, saying it does not want peace at all.

Around 38 per cent said Israel has “too little understanding for its Arab neighbours” and “unjust occupying territories”.

Asked about the German government’s offer of military support to Israel, the majority of the respondents opposed sending ammunition or weapons.

Some 8 per cent of Germans said they support sending weapons, and only 3 per cent said the German armed forces, Bundeswehr, should offer support Israel in its military campaign.

UK gags MPs from asking questions about alleged arms supply to Israel

November 24, 2023 at 4:49 pm

ZM411 Royal Air Force Airbus A400M Atlas C.1 at RAF Brize Norton, in Oxfordshire, England on 6 September 2020 [Jon Hobley/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images]

The British government is refusing to answer questions over whether it is supplying weapons to the Israeli military to conduct its operations in Gaza which bears disturbing hallmarks of genocide and ethnic cleansing.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reported to have enforced an extraordinary blockade on parliamentary questioning about ongoing secret operations in the UK air base in Cyprus, Akrotiri, Declassified UK has revealed. Since the start of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, there has been ongoing speculation over its activity in Cyprus.

It’s claimed that Britain’s Cyprus air base has secretly become an international military hub supporting Israel’s bombing of Gaza, and previously military operations conducted in the Middle East.

Reports by Declassified UK exposed frequent flights between RAF Akrotiri and Tel Aviv since Israel began its latest aggression on Gaza. At least 30 trips have delivered unknown cargo and personnel between Britain’s vast Cyprus installation, located just 40 minutes from Israel. Yet all MP requests for information have hit a dead end.

Read: US rushes to deploy arms to Israel amid ‘textbook genocide’ in Gaza

Blocking all parliamentary questions from MPs is a highly unusual move which is often associated with highly secretive authoritarian regimes.

This week a A400M Atlas military transport aircraft operated by the RAF is reported to have landed in Tel Aviv from Akrotiri. The aircraft can carry 116 soldiers, a Chinook helicopter or a payload of 37 tonnes.

“This is totally unacceptable in a democracy,” Kenny MacAskill MP is reported saying about the government’s refusal to reveal details about its military aircraft flying to Israel. His queries about British operations in Cyprus were dismissed outright. Invoking unnamed “national security” reasons, the Ministry of Defence has now barred any MP scrutiny about its activities in Akrotiri.

A US military source admitted that half of American flights from Akrotiri carry munitions for Israeli forces, which is inflicting unspeakable suffering upon Gaza’s 2.3 million population. Over 14,000 Palestinians have been killed by bombs, some of which are suspected to have been supplied by the UK. Yet the UK government remains evasive about the use of its territory and facilities to sustain war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide.

Read Accused of ‘genocide’ in Gaza and fearing ICC prosecution: US seeks to hide arms deal with Israel

MacAskill told Declassified that he had put down a number of parliamentary questions concerning what military support the UK is providing to Israel and the role of RAF Akrotiri in the supply of military equipment.

“Your question has been queried because it is subject to a block by Government,” he was told in an email. “The Department [Ministry of Defence] has stated that it will not comment on operational matters at this base.”

MacAskill said he had never experienced such a “block” on asking parliamentary questions before. “The failure to call for an immediate ceasefire is bad enough but any complicity raises issues of participating in war crimes. We need openness and transparency by our government. This is not in our name,” MacAskill added.

BBC Report: Israeli ground forces KILL &  wound Palestinians in Gaza trying to return home

November 24, 2023
Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians trying to return to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, as reported by the BBC. Despite warnings against such actions, numerous individuals from southern Gaza have been using side roads in their desperate attempts to go back, leading to 2 deaths and several injuries, according to local reports.