International report

Turkey braces for 

more protests 

over Istanbul

 mayor's arrest

Issued on: 22/03/2025 -  RFI                     PODCASTCLICK LEFT

Anger is mounting over the arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption and terror charges. Seen as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, Imamoglu was arrested on Wednesday, just days before he was due to be named as the candidate for the main opposition CHP party in the 2028 presidential election.

Supporters of the mayor of Istanbul demonstrate against his detention in Istanbul, 19 March, 2025. AFP - YASIN AKGUL

Imamoglu's opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has denounced the detention as a "coup" and vowed to keep up the demonstrations, which by Thursday night had spread to at least 32 of Turkey's 81 provinces, according to a count by French news agency AFP.

Opposition leader Ozgur Ozel told supporters: "This is not the time for politics in rooms and halls but on the streets and squares."

Imamoglu was arrested in a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday, on corruption and terror charges, ahead of his expected election on Sunday as the CHP's candidate for Turkey's presidential elections in 2028. 

According to political analyst Mesut Yegen of the Reform Institute, an Istanbul-based think tank, Imamoglu is more than just a mayor. 

"Imamoglu is now [Erdogan's] main rival, it's obvious," Yegen told RFI, adding that as Istanbul's mayor he has a unique opportunity. "Istanbul is important for the resources it has, it's the biggest municipality. Here in Turkey, municipalities are important to finance politics."

Popular appeal

Opinion polls give Imamoglu – who defeated Erdogan's AK party three times in mayoral elections – a double-digit lead over Erdogan. This is because he is widely seen as reaching beyond his secular political base to religious voters, nationalists and Turkey's large Kurdish constituency. 

Some observers see Imamoglu's arrest as a sign that Erdogan is reluctant to confront the mayor in presidential elections.

"If Erdogan could beat him politically with regular rules, he would love that. But he cannot be doing that. Erdogan wants to take him out of the political sphere one way or the other," explained Sezin Oney, a commentator on Turkey's independent Politikyol news outlet. 

"The competitive side has started to be too much of a headache for the presidency, so they want to get rid of the competitive side and emphasise the authoritarian side, with Imamoglu as the prime target," she said.

Erdogan’s local election defeat reshapes Turkey’s political landscape

Turkey's justice minister Yilmaz Tunc has angrily rejected claims that Imamoglu's prosecution is politically motivated, insisting the judiciary is independent. 

Erdogan sought to play down the protests, saying on Friday that Turkey "will not surrender to street terror" and discouraged any further demonstrations.

"We, as a party and individuals, have no time to waste on the opposition's theatrics. We are focused on our work and our goals," Erdogan declared. 

Imamoglu's arrest comes as Turkey's crisis-ridden economy took another hit, with significant falls on the stock market and its currency falling by more than 10 percent as international investors fled the Turkish market.

'Out of sight, out of mind'

However, Oney suggests Erdogan will be banking on a combination of fear and apathy eventually leading to the protests dissipating, and that Imamoglu, like other imprisoned political figures in Turkey, will be marginalised.

"The government is counting on the possibility that once Imamoglu is out of sight, [he will be] out of mind," she predicts. "So he will just be forgotten, and the presidency will have its way [more easily]."

Turkey is no stranger to jailing politicians, even leaders of political parties. However, Oney warns that with Imamoglu facing a long prison sentence if convicted, the significance of such a move should not be underestimated.

"It's going to be extremely detrimental to Turkish democracy. You have jailing of politicians, but someone on the scale of Imamoglu will be unique," she said.

Despite Imamoglu's detention, the CHP vowed it would press ahead with its primary on Sunday, at which it would formally nominate him as its candidate for the 2028 race.

The party said it would open the process to anyone who wanted to vote, not just party members, saying: "Come to the ballot box and say 'no' to the coup attempt!"

Observers said the government could seek to block the primary, to prevent a further show of support for Imamgolu.

By:Dorian Jones

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu's arrest sparks mass protests

Issued on: 22/03/2025 - 

After his third night in custody, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was to appear before prosecutors Saturday, just hours after hundreds of thousands hit the streets across Turkey in a massive show of defiance. It was the third straight night that protesters had rallied against the arrest of Imamoglu – the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose arrest early Wednesday sparked Turkey's biggest street protests in more than a decade.

Video by: FRANCE 24

Turkey arrests protesters as detained Istanbul mayor faces second day of questioning

Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya on Saturday said 343 people were arrested following a third night of protests against the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoglu, a major opposition politician.


Issued on: 22/03/2025 
By: FRANCE 24

01:34

Protesters clash with Turkish anti riot police during a demonstration following the arrest of Istanbul's mayor in Ankara on March 21, 2025. © Adem Altan, AFP

Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu appeared before police for questioning on terror-related charges on Saturday, a day after his interrogation over corruption allegations. His arrest this week has sparked widespread protests across Turkey, with demonstrators rallying in multiple cities to voice their opposition.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya posted on social media that 343 suspects had been detained in protests in major cities on Friday night, adding “There will be no tolerance for those who seek to violate societal order, threaten the people’s peace and security, and pursue chaos and provocation.” The cities listed included Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Adana, Antalya, Çanakkale, Eskişehir, Konya and Edirne.

The mayor, who is a popular opposition figure and seen as a top challenger to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was detained on Wednesday following a dawn raid on his residence over allegations of financial crimes and links to Kurdish militants. Dozens of other prominent figures, including two district mayors, were also detained.

01:55



Many view the arrest as a politically driven attempt to remove a popular opposition figure and key challenger to Erdogan in the next presidential race, currently scheduled for 2028. Government officials reject accusations that legal actions against opposition figures are politically motivated and insist that Turkey’s courts operate independently.


On Friday, police questioned Imamoglu for four hours over the corruption accusations, during which he denied all of the charges, Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported. He was expected to be transferred to a courthouse later on Saturday for questioning by prosecutors and to face possible charges.

His arrest has ignited protests that have steadily increased in intensity.

On Friday, police in Istanbul used pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets to push back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a barricade in front of the city’s historic aqueduct while hurling flares, stones and other objects at officers. Police also dispersed groups that had rallied outside of the city hall for a third night running, after the opposition Republican People’s Party leader, Ozgur Ozel, delivered a speech in support of the mayor.

Simultaneously, police broke up demonstrations in Ankara, the capital, as well as in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, resorting to forceful measures at times, according to television images. Thousands marched in several other cities calling on the government to resign.

03:35

Earlier, Erdogan said the government would not tolerate street protests and accused the opposition party of links to corruption and terror organizations. Authorities in Ankara and Izmir meanwhile, announced a five-day ban on demonstrations, following a similar measure imposed earlier in Istanbul.

“An anti-corruption operation in Istanbul is being used as an excuse to stir unrest in our streets. I want it to be known that we will not allow a handful of opportunists to bring unrest to Turkey just to protect their plundering schemes,” Erdogan said.

Imamoglu’s arrest came just days before he was expected to be nominated as the opposition Republican People’s Party’s presidential candidate in a primary on Sunday. Ozel has said that the primary, where around 1.5 million delegates can vote, will go ahead as planned.

The opposition party has also urged citizens to participate in a symbolic election on Sunday — through improvised ballot boxes to be set up across Turkey — to show solidarity with Imamoglu.

In a message posted on his social media account Saturday, Imamoglu described his arrest as a “coup” and accused the government of exploiting the judiciary and worsening the country’s troubled economy.

“With your support, we will first defeat this coup, and then we will send packing those who caused this,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

Thousands protest for second night over Istanbul mayor's arrest


Issued on: 20/03/2025 - 


Turkish riot police fired teargas and rubber bullets on Thursday, as demonstrators protested for a second night outside Istanbul City Hall over the shock arrest of the Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu in a graft and terror probe. 

Riots break out at Ankara university campus after Erdogan rival detained

FRANCE24
Issued on: 20/03/2025 - 


Riots broke out at the campus of Ankara's Middle East Technical University as students protested against the detention of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Thousands have been protesting in major Turkish cities for a second night in a row as Imamoglu, President Erdogan's main political rival, called for judges to take a stand against the Turkish government's misuse of the courts. FRANCE 24's Jasper Mortimer

  

Erdogan could use Imamoglu detention to extend the term limit to presidency, analyst says

Issued on: 19/03/2025 - 

FRANCE24

 Video by: Yinka OYETADE

Anger has erupted on the streets of Istanbul, with thousands of people rallying in the cold in front of the city hall on Wednesday evening, yelling: "Erdogan, dictator!" and "Imamoglu, you are not alone!", after the city's mayor and Erdogan's main political rival was detained. Şebnem Gümüşçü, Ass. Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College and Sabancı University, says that Erdogan could use the detention as leverage 'to negotiate opposition support for a third or fourth term'.

 

'Erdogan trying to play a bigger role internationally but he's not reliable, nor is he predictable'

Expert Analysis
Issued on: 20/03/2025 

FRANCE24

Turkish police detained Istanbul's powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, Wednesday over graft and terrorism allegations, prompting outrage from the opposition which slammed it as a politically-motivated "coup". For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen welcomes Dr. İlhan Uzgel, Professor of International Relations and Turkey's opposition CHP Deputy Chairperson.

Video by:Mark OWEN

 

From Lebanon refuge, trauma scars Syria's minority Alawites

Masaoudiyeh (Lebanon) (AFP) – When he arrived in the town of Masaoudiyeh in northern Lebanon earlier this month, fleeing massacres on Syria's Mediterranean coast, Dhulfiqar Ali had escaped death not once but twice.


Issued on: 22/03/2025 - 
FRANCE24

Syrians from the Alawite minority take shelter at a school in Lebanon's Masaoudiyeh village, after mass killings in their homeland © ANWAR AMRO / AFP


He is among thousands of Syrians who have fled across the border after armed groups descended on the Syrian coastal heartland of ousted president Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority and killed hundreds of civilians, mostly Alawites.

"They didn't even speak Arabic... they knew only: 'Alawites, pigs, kill them'," Ali said of the gunmen.

A mobile phone shop owner who lived in an Alawite neighbourhood of Homs, Ali had already been attacked before, soon after Assad was toppled in a lightning offensive by Islamist-led rebels in December.

"They shot and killed my two brothers in front of me and they shot me and thought I was dead," said the 47-year-old father of two, who now lives with his family at a school in Masaoudiyeh.

He escaped to the mountains near Latakia in January to receive treatment, only to be forced to flee again, this time across the border.

Lebanon says nearly 16,000 Syrians have arrived since early March -- adding to the already substantial population of 1.5 million Syrians who sought refuge in the country during the nearly 14-year civil war.

Most are now in predominantly Alawite villages and towns in Lebanon's northern region of Akkar, including nearly 2,500 in Masaoudiyeh.

Masaoudiyeh Mayor Ali Ahmed al-Ali said the town was "above capacity".
'Extermination'

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor, security forces and allied groups in Syria killed at least 1,614 civilians, the vast majority of them Alawites, during the violence that erupted on March 6.

Still using a crutch to walk because of his gunshot injury, Ali said those who had descended on the coastal areas were "not Syrians".

The group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad is an offshoot of the Syrian branch of Al-Qaeda, and is still proscribed as a terrorist organisation by countries including the United States.

Lebanon says nearly 16,000 Syrians have arrived since early March -- many of them, like these men, are sheltering in predominantly Alawite villages © ANWAR AMRO / AFP

After the massacres in Syria, a fact-finding committee was formed to investigate.

But Ali and many others told AFP the violence began well before March.

Samir Hussein Ismail, a 53-year-old farmer from Hama province, said his small village of Arzeh was attacked in late January, and nine people were killed.

He fled alone first, and only after the coastal killings did his family follow.

The armed groups "came to my village again on Friday morning, on March 7", Ismail told AFP.

"They exterminated everything," he said, adding that more than 30 men from Arzeh were killed.

Among them were six of his cousins, he said in the modest schoolroom with a tall pile of mattresses in a corner.

Like most now living in the school, he was among 10 people, or two families, sharing the space.

"We have to distinguish between massacres -- the massacres are still ongoing in Syria -- but everything that happened after March 7 is extermination, and not a massacre," Ismail said.
'No one dared leave'

Many people AFP spoke to described men being lined up and shot dead.

Almost unanimously, they called for "international protection" so they could return home.

Masaoudiyeh Mayor Ali Ahmed al-Ali said his Lebanese town, hosting nearly 2,500 Syrians, was 'above capacity' © ANWAR AMRO / AFP

Among those was Ammar Saqqouf, who said his cousin was taken by Syria's new security forces and found dead days later.

He said security forces began a sweep of his town. "Five or six days later, we found his body, decapitated."

One woman, who gave her name only as Mariam, arrived in Lebanon last week with her son after her husband, a conscripted soldier, was killed.

She fled her home town of Al-Qabu in Homs on foot, crossing the border by wading through the Al-Kabir River that divides it, like many others.

"They attacked us in Al-Qabu," she said from where she now lives alongside scores of others at a mosque in Masaoudiyeh.

"People began fleeing and my husband told me and my son, 'I will flee like those people.'"

He fled, she said, "so they killed him".

Mariam described living in fear before they finally left.

"No one dared leave to get a piece of bread. They surrounded the whole town.

"We don't even dare say we're Alawites any more."

Ismail, the farmer from Arzeh, said he felt "deprived of his humanity".

"What future do we have ahead of us?" he asked.

"We fled from hell."

Exclusive: Syria's Latakia province reels after massacre of Alawites

Issued on: 21/03/2025 - 

06:03 min
From the show

Our Syria correspondents travelled to the country's western coastal province of Latakia, which was the scene of the shocking massacre of civilians from the Alawite minority between March 7 and 9. They bring us this exclusive report.

On March 6 in Syria, factions loyal to the ousted regime of Bashar al-Assad launched an offensive against the new Islamist government's security forces. This led to several days of brutal violence, during which many Alawite civilians were targeted and summarily executed. Over 1,000 people were killed, according to NGOs. Bodies piled up and morgues were overwhelmed.

The region is now living in fear of a new cycle of violence. FRANCE 24's Dana Alboz and Yousef Gharibi bring us this exclusive report, with Lauren Bain.

By:
Dana ALBOZ
Lauren BAIN
Video by:
Dana ALBOZ
Lauren BAIN

In the name of the family: Yes, Europe could be headed for a ‘Project 2025’ too


In almost every election in Europe in recent years, a discreet but increasingly powerful force has been at play to help bolster the far right. Much like the architects behind “Project 2025”, a set of ultra-conservative networks are waging a campaign to dismantle progressive European policies and replace them with traditionalist Christian values – leaving little room for feminists, LGBTQ+ activists and other marginalised groups.


Issued on: 21/03/2025 -

FRANCE24
By: Louise NORDSTROM

IWD PROTEST BY FASCISTS IN POLAND
\

A bucket with a doll representing a newborn baby covered in red paint is displayed as pro-life activists protest in front of Poland's first activist-run abortion consultation point, on March 8, 2025. © Wojtek Radwanski, AFP


In the summer of 2017, a peculiar document was leaked and published on the whistle-blowing platform WikiLeaks. The secret document, labelled “Restoring the Natural Order: an Agenda for Europe”, outlined a detailed strategy on how to roll back progressive legislation including the right to divorce, women’s access to contraception and abortion, and equal rights for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Behind the manifesto was a vast transatlantic network of more than 100 hard-line Catholic groups in 30 countries from all over the world called “Agenda Europe”.

Although the network was largely dispersed after a 2018 expose by Franco-German broadcaster Arte, the ideologies and ambitions that had brought them together in such an organised manner have not.

“Agenda Europe was just one of the many platforms on which they cooperate,” said Elzbieta Korolczuk, a Polish sociologist and associated professor at Sodertorn University in Sweden whose research interests involve gender, social movements and civil society and are funded by the European Commission.


Although some of the organisations, like the Brazil-based but European franchised Tradition, Family, Property (TFP), have been around for decades, others, like Ordo Iuris in Poland – which in large part engineered the country’s strict 2021 ban on abortion – have popped up in the last 10 years or so in the form of NGOs, think tanks and lobby groups.

And they are getting increasingly organised, convening conferences and meetings, and in some cases, even setting up universities to train a future ultraconservative elite of lawyers, journalists, teachers, and business- and political leaders.

Many of the groups, like European Dignity Watch (EDW), One of Us, and the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECIJ), are Brussels- or Strasbourg-based, with access to – and thereby the power to influence – the European Parliament.
Hooking up with the far right

One of the keys to their increased exposure to power, Korolczuk explained, is that these groups are increasingly cooperating with far-right political parties, riding on the wave of populism over issues, for example, like migration and economic hardship.

“It’s sort of an opportunistic synergy,” she said, noting that while far-right parties may be able to reach the upper echelons of power through their often vague ideological projects that are mainly aimed at “bringing down the elite”, the ultraconservatives can help them stay there, by lending them their rhetoric of protecting traditional family values.

“By adopting this ultra-conservative language they [the far right] can position themselves as protectors of the family and protectors of children, creating moral panics around issues such as transgender rights which people might not know much about and can be made to worry about,” she said. “Because who doesn’t want to protect children?”

In the meantime, the ultraconservatives are handed key positions in, for example, the government or the judiciary where they can enforce their traditionalist agenda. Like in Poland, where Przemyslaw Czarnek, an Ordo Iuris supporter, acted as the education minister while the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party was still at the helm.

“They are very clear about what they want: They want to promote so-called family values, meaning that they want to reverse progressive, tendencies concerning LGBTQ+ rights, sexual and reproductive rights and minority rights,” Korolczuk said.

Surge in attacks against LGBTQ+ community

Minority groups are indeed already very much being targeted.

In mid-February, ILGA-Europe, the European chapter of the LGBT+ rights group, sounded the alarm by issuing a report warning that the LGBTQ+ community was being “weaponised to erode the foundations of freedom and democracy across Europe”.

In its 162-page annual review, ILGA-Europe warned of a new era where a growing number of European governments were fuelling anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment “to push laws that restrict freedom of expression, association, and fair elections”.

Chaber, ILGA-Europe’s executive director, who only goes by their surname, said that even more frighteningly, the group had seen – only in the past four to six weeks – “very similar proposals being raised by politicians in Albania, Slovakia, Latvia, Hungary. And they are around anti-trans, anti-propaganda and foreign agents laws”.

“They are all popping up essentially in the same language, with the same argumentation, obviously in different languages, but the same nomenclature, in different parts of the region where there is a strengthened far right presence.”

The direct consequence of this, they said, is a surge in anti-LGBTQ+ violence – “there has been a significant increase over the past year”, with as many as 17 attacks on Pride parades, including in Germany and France – but in the longer term, a severe weakening of democracy, as seen in Georgia recently.
Project 2025 a blueprint for Europe

Korolczuk is not surprised. “They [the ultraconservatives] are also producing knowledge. They publish papers, they publish amicus briefs for court proceedings and so on. And they share those,” she said.

The reason the LGBTQ+ is being targeted is no coincidence, she said. “Because they are a minority. They are going after the weakest. That's very clear.”

Korolczuk said she had no doubt that many European ultraconservative groups are also cooperating with like-minded peers in the US, like the Heritage foundation that authored “Project 2025”, the conservative governance plan that President Donald Trump appears to base at least some of his decisions on.

And, she said, “I think Project 2025 will be used as a blueprint in some European elections as well”.

She could be right. On March 11, the Heritage Foundation convened a “closed-door workshop” for hardline conservative groups, including Ordo Iuris and the Mathias Corvinus Collegium – the Hungarian conservative university that has received generous funding by Viktor Orban’s right-wing government – in Washington DC to discuss how they could dismantle the European Union.

Kenneth Haar, a researcher and campaigner at the transparency watchdog Corporate Europe Observatory, told DeSmog, an international journalism organisation that focuses on climate change, that it was “quite simply terrifying” to see the Heritage Foundation "moving its attention to Europe”.

“Most of the attacks made by the Trump presidency in recent weeks on civil rights, on migrants, on LGBTQ+ rights and more, can be traced back to Project 2025,” he said. “We should be worried about them building up ambitions and strength in Europe.”

 

Trump brand alternately loved, loathed worldwide

Paris (AFP) – His business is booming in India, but his golf courses have been vandalized in Ireland and Scotland, and he has had business setbacks in Indonesia: two months after his frenetic return to the White House, Donald Trump's brand has had mixed success worldwide.


Issued on: 22/03/2025 -

The Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland was recently splashed in blood-red paint, an immaculate green spray-painted with the words: "GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE" © Andy Buchanan / AFP/File


No stranger to blending business and politics, the US president got a taste of the hazards recently when the elegant clubhouse of the Trump Turnberry golf resort in Scotland was splashed in blood-red paint, an immaculate green spray-painted with the words: "GAZA IS NOT 4 SALE."

A pro-Palestinian group claimed the "act of resistance," saying it was in answer to Trump's proposal to take over the Gaza Strip, expel its inhabitants and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East."

Another Trump golf course in Ireland was targeted last week, when activists planted Palestinian flags on the greens.

But management at the property in the village of Doonbeg says the golf course is receiving record numbers of membership applications since its owner's re-election.

Luxury symbol

A world away, on the tropical island of Bali, weeds have overrun the Nirwana golf resort, which the Trump Organization and a local partner signed a deal in 2015 to develop a six-star destination.

The resort closed two years later, costing local workers their jobs. The Trump family empire has since then joined up with local partners in a large real estate project near Indonesia's capital Jakarta.

But that venture, a vast luxury development called Lido City, has also run into problems. In February, the Indonesian government halted the billion-dollar project over environmental violations.

Still, a Trump-branded golf course should soon open on the site in collaboration with a local group.

"Trump as a brand in Indonesia is not too famous, different than Trump as a president," Yoes Kenawas, a political scientist at Indonesia's Atma Jaya University, told AFP.

India is another story: there, flamboyant Trump towers already scrape the smoggy skies of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Pune, making the country the most important overseas market for the Trump organization.

Like in the Philippines, Turkey, South Korea and Uruguay, the real-estate tycoon's family does not invest directly in the properties, which are built and managed by local developers.

Indian laborers work on the road leading to the under-construction Trump Tower in Kolkata in February 2018 © Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP/File

Instead, the Trump family collects royalties, sometimes running into the millions of dollars, for licensing its brand -- which, to a newly wealthy Indian jet set, is widely seen as a byword for luxury and success.

"I think the brand has become much larger than life, particularly after he's come back for a second term," Anuj Puri, chairman of real-estate consultancy Anarock, told AFP.

"He's more in the newspapers than even any Indian politician."

Another Trump-branded office and retail project was announced this week in Pune, and there are plans for five new Trump towers around the country in the coming years.
Conflicts of interest?

As in his first term, Trump, 78, has officially ceded management of his business interests to his children during his presidency.

But that has not erased concerns over potential conflicts of interest.

"The Trump presidency is transactional, and is turning America into a more neo-patrimonial state, where there are blurred lines between the public and private space," said Deepanshu Mohan, a professor at India's OP Jindal Global University.

"This is how the Trump government operates and (what it) expects of its allies. India has also accordingly reacted to cozy up to Trump."

A blooming bromance between Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on display during the latter's recent visit to Washington.

In January, the Trump Organization pledged it would engage in "no new transactions with foreign governments" during Trump's second term, except for "ordinary course transactions."

It said all money generated by transactions such as foreign dignitaries staying at Trump properties would be donated to the US treasury.

But the boundaries can be fuzzy.

A Trump-branded hotel and golf complex is currently under construction in Oman on government-owned land. The Trump family also has a deal with LIV Golf, the pro tour controlled by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

The Trump Organization did not respond to requests to comment from AFP.

burs-sdu/jhb/gv

© 2025 AFP

Paris police evacuate hundreds of migrants from theatre after months-long occupation

Police forced their way into a 19th-century theatre in Paris on Tuesday morning, with the aim of evacuating hundreds of young migrants that have been occupying the venue for months. Demonstrators and migrants chanted slogans such as "we are all the children of migrants" as the police broke the cordons formed by activists.


Issued on: 18/03/2025
By: FRANCE 24

Police charged the historic building early Tuesday amid protests from pro-migrant activists. © Thibaud Moritz, AFP


Police on Tuesday evacuated hundreds of young migrants from a central Paris theatre they had occupied for months, AFP journalists said.

Police charged at the migrants, who had found shelter in the historic Gaite Lyrique venue, with batons as many people gathered outside to protest against the eviction, they said.

Shortly before 6am local time (5am GMT), members of the anti-riot CRS police forced their way through cordons that activists had formed to prevent them from entering the venue.

But in chaotic and turbulent scenes police forced their way into the 19th-century theatre, which is famous for performances of opera, operetta and ballet and which had cancelled all performances during the three-month occupation by migrants demanding food and shelter.




Many are underage and asked to be treated as such in their immigration process.

The police prefect gave the order for the eviction on Monday. © Alain Jocard, AFP

AFP reporters saw some migrants leaving the building carrying personal belongings, with several suitcases and bags left abandoned on the pavement.

Danielle Simonnet, a leftist lawmaker on site to protest against the police action, called it "extremely violent", telling AFP that officers had "hit and beaten" the migrants, who she said were behaving "peacefully".

Demonstrators and migrants chanted slogans such as "we are all the children of migrants" as they were surrounded by police in riot gear.

Read more

French authorities accused of ‘social cleansing’ of migrants and homeless before Paris Olympics

The eviction came a day after Paris police prefect Laurent Nunez gave the order to clear the building, occupied by up to 450 migrants, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa.

Nunez called the occupation of the theatre a threat to "public order". He promised that the young migrants would be offered shelter, and that their legal situation would be looked at.

Agents working for the Paris region's emergency shelter services were on site and talking to migrants, an AFP reporter said.

"I need to go to class at 10am today," said Adama, who said he was 15 and from Ivory Coast. "I don't know what to tell my teacher. I need to leave a message saying that I won't make it."

He added: "We haven't killed anybody, we don't steal. We came here to become integrated."

The Gaite Lyrique opened in the 19th century and has hosted many opera, operetta and ballet performances. © Thibaud Moritz, AFP

The occupation of the Gaite Lyrique began on December 10, 2024, with around 200 young migrants.

The theatre cancelled all planned performances a week later, saying it condemned the occupation but also "the inaction by authorities".

The following months became an illustration of a standoff between left-wing activists fighting for migrant rights, and the far right calling for their expulsion.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER WAR CRIME!

Israeli forces advance further into Gaza and destroy its only cancer hospital


The Israeli military said its forces advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip on Friday and blew up the only specialised cancer hospital in the war-torn territory. Defence Minister Israel Katz said Friday that his country would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity" until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive.


Issued on: 21/03/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24

 

Displaced Palestinians, carrying their belongings, wood and other items, move between southern and northern Gaza after Israel's renewed offensive in the Gaza Strip on Friday March 21, 2025. © Abdel Kareem Hana, AP


Israeli forces advanced deeper into the Gaza Strip on Friday and blew up the only specialised cancer hospital in the war-torn territory, as Israeli leaders vowed to capture more land until Hamas releases its remaining hostages.

The hospital was located in the Netzarim Corridor, which splits Gaza in two and was controlled by Israeli troops for most of the 17-month-long war. Israel moved to retake the corridor this week shortly after breaking the ceasefire with Hamas. The truce delivered relative calm to Gaza since late January and facilitated the release of more than two dozen hostages.

Read moreTwo French nationals 'seriously injured' in strike on UN buildings in Gaza

The Israeli military said it struck the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital, which was inaccessible to doctors and patients during the war, because Hamas militants were operating in the site. Turkey, which helped build and fund the hospital, said Israeli troops at one point used it as a base.


Dr. Zaki Al-Zaqzouq, head of the hospital’s oncology department, said a medical team visited the facility during the ceasefire and found that, while it had suffered damage, some facilities remained in good condition.

“I cannot fathom what could be gained from bombing a hospital that served as a lifeline for so many patients,” he said in a statement issued by the aid group Medical Aid for Palestinians.

The Turkish foreign ministry condemned the hospital's destruction and accused Israel of deliberately “rendering Gaza uninhabitable and forcibly displacing the Palestinian people”.

Hospitals can lose their protected status under international law if they are used for military purposes, but any operations against them must be proportional. Human rights groups and UN-backed experts have accused Israel of systematically destroying Gaza’s health care system.

02:02




Israel’s renewed military offensive in the Gaza Strip threatens to be even deadlier and more destructive than the last, as it pursues wider aims with far fewer constraints.

Defence Minister Israel Katz said Friday that his country would carry out operations in Gaza “with increasing intensity" until Hamas frees the 59 hostages it holds — 24 of whom are believed alive.

“The more Hamas continues its refusal to release the kidnapped, the more territory it will lose to Israel,” Katz said.
Sirens sound over Jerusalem

The Israeli military said Friday its forces were planning fresh assaults into three neighbourhoods west of Gaza City, and issued warnings on social media for Palestinians to evacuate the areas.

The warnings came shortly after the military said it intercepted two rockets fired from northern Gaza that set off sirens in the Israeli coastal city of Ashkelon. Hamas had also fired three rockets the previous day in its first attack since Israel ended the ceasefire.

A long-range missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels set off air raid sirens over Jerusalem and central Israel for the fourth day in a row Friday, with the military saying it was intercepted.

Israeli troops had moved Thursday toward the northern town of Beit Lahiya and the southern border city of Rafah, and resumed blocking Palestinians from entering northern Gaza, including Gaza City.

Displaced Palestinians fled northern Gaza along a coastal road Friday carrying their belongings, firewood and other items on horse-drawn carts.

12:45

TALKING EUROPE © FRANCE 24



A strike east of Gaza City on Friday killed a couple and their two children, plus two additional children who weren’t related to them, according to witnesses and a local hospital. The Israeli army said it struck a militant in a Gaza City building and took steps to minimize civilian harm. It was not immediately clear if the army was referring to the same strike.

And in the southern city of Rafah, Palestinian municipal officials said Israeli bombardments forced residents to move outdoors in rainy weather, deepening their suffering.
Netanyahu defiant over push to fire domestic security chief

In Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu 's push to fire the country’s domestic security chief has deepened a power struggle focused largely over who bears responsibility for the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that sparked the war in Gaza. It also could set the stage for a crisis over the country’s division of powers.

Hours after Netanyahu's Cabinet unanimously approved the firing Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet security service, the Supreme Court ordered a temporary halt to his dismissal until an appeal can be heard no later than April 8. Netanyahu’s office had said Bar’s dismissal was effective April 10, but that it could come earlier.

Israel’s attorney general has ruled that the Cabinet has no legal basis to dismiss Bar. However, Netanyahu sounded defiant in a social media post Friday evening, saying: “The State of Israel is a state of law and according to the law, the Israeli government decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet.”

Critics say the move is a power grab by the prime minister against an independent-minded civil servant, and tens of thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of Bar, including outside Netanyahu’s residence on Friday.

Netanyahu has resisted calls for an official state commission of inquiry into the attack and has tried to blame the failures on the army and security agencies.

Around 600 Palestinians have been killed since Israel relaunched the war with a wave of predawn air strikes across Gaza on Tuesday, which came as many families slept or prepared to start the daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan.

Israel had already cut off the supply of food, fuel and humanitarian aid to Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians, aiming to pressure Hamas over the ceasefire negotiations.

The attack by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have been freed in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)

LAST WEEK

Israel attack on Gaza IVF clinic a 'genocidal act': UN probe

Geneva (AFP) – A United Nations investigation concluded Thursday that Israel carried out "genocidal acts" in Gaza through the destruction of its main IVF clinic, maternity facilities and other reproductive healthcare facilities.


Issued on: 13/03/2025 - 

The UN commission found that Israeli authorities carried out 'systematic' destruction of reproductive facilities in Gaza 

© Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP/File

The UN Commission of Inquiry said Israel had "intentionally attacked and destroyed" the Palestinian territory's main fertility centre, and had simultaneously imposed a siege and blocked aid including medication for ensuring safe pregnancies, deliveries and neonatal care.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted by calling the findings "false and absurd".

In a statement, the UN commission said it found that Israeli authorities "have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare".

It said this amounted to "two categories of genocidal acts" during Israel's offensive in Gaza, launched after the attacks by Hamas militants on Israel on October 7, 2023.

The United Nations' genocide convention defines that crime as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

Of its five categories, the inquiry said the two implicating Israel were "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction" and "imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group".
'Chronic lying'

The three-person Independent International Commission of Inquiry was established by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2021 to investigate alleged international law violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Commission member Chris Sidoti explained that the crime of genocide concerned action and intention -- both general and then specific -- and the report had so far only looked at action.

"We have not made any finding of genocide. We have identified a number of acts that constitute the categories of genocidal act under the law. We have not yet examined the question of genocidal purpose," he told a press conference.

"We'll be soon in a position to deal comprehensively with the question of genocide," he added, potentially later this year.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP the report "confirms what has happened on the ground: genocide and violations of all humanitarian and legal standards".

He said it underscored "the urgent need to expedite the prosecution of its (Israel's) leaders for these crimes and ensure their swift trial at the International Criminal Court".

Netanyahu branded the Human Rights Council an "anti-Israeli circus".

He said the UN "once again chooses to attack the state of Israel with false accusations, including absurd claims".

Israel's mission in Geneva accused the commission of advancing a "predetermined and biased political agenda... in a shameless attempt to incriminate the Israel Defence Forces".

In response, Sidoti said Israel "continues to obstruct" the inquiry's investigations and prevent access to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

"They clearly do not read our documents. They clearly have an agenda that they pursue, totally devoid of any relationship to fact. It's chronic lying," he said.
Destruction of IVF clinic

The report said maternity hospitals and wards had been systematically destroyed in Gaza, along with the Al-Basma IVF Centre, the territory's main in-vitro fertility clinic.

It said Al-Basma was shelled in December 2023, reportedly destroying around 4,000 embryos at a clinic that served 2,000 to 3,000 patients a month.

The commission found that the Israeli Security Forces intentionally attacked and destroyed the clinic, including all the reproductive material stored for the future conception of Palestinians.

It concluded that the destruction "was a measure intended to prevent births among Palestinians in Gaza, which is a genocidal act".
'Extermination'

Furthermore, the report said the wider harm to pregnant, lactating and new mothers in Gaza was on an "unprecedented scale", with an irreversible impact on the reproductive and fertility prospects of Gazans.

Such underlying acts "amount to crimes against humanity" and deliberately trying to destroy the Palestinians as a group -- "one of the categories of genocidal acts", the commission concluded.

The report concluded that Israel had targeted civilian women and girls directly, "acts that constitute the crime against humanity of murder and the war crime of wilful killing".

Women and girls died from complications related to pregnancy and childbirth due to the conditions imposed by the Israeli authorities impacting access to reproductive health care, "acts that amount to the crime against humanity of extermination", it added.

Sidoti said the next steps "certainly involve the courts", and countries could take action themselves under international law.

"If they waited for action by the Security Council they'd be waiting until hell froze over," he said.

© 2025 AFP

 

Netanyahu says government ‘will decide’ new intel chief, ignoring court freeze

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted on Friday that "the government of Israel will decide" who heads the domestic security agency Shin Bet. The statement on X did not mention the decision of the court and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who said that the prime minister’s governnent was ‘prohibited’ from selecting a new chief.


Issued on: 21/03/2025 
 FRANCE 24

File photo of Ronen Bar (left) taken at a ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the October 7 attack taken October 27, 2024. © Gil Cohen-Magen, AP

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu insisted on Friday "the government of Israel will decide" who heads the domestic security agency, after the Supreme Court froze its bid to oust the incumbent, Ronen Bar.

"The State of Israel is a state of law, and according to the law, the government of Israel decides who will be the head of the Shin Bet," Netanyahu said on X without mentioning the court's decision.

Israel's Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara said earlier Friday that the prime minister was not allowed to appoint a new internal security agency chief after the government decided to sack Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar.

"According to the decision of the Supreme Court, it is prohibited to take any action that harms the position of the head of the Shin Bet, Ronen Bar," she said in a message to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu published by a spokesperson. "It is prohibited to appoint a new head of Shin Bet, and interviews for the position should not be held."


The statement came after Israel's High Court of Justice earlier announced it was freezing the dismissal of Bar, just hours after Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously to sack him.

The court said the order will remain in place until it can hear petitions that have been filed against his dismissal by rights groups and the country's opposition.

"It is hereby ordered that a provisional measure be taken to stay the effect of the decision subject to the appeals until another decision is made," the court said in a document obtained by AFP.

The court said it would hear the appeals no later than April 8.

Netanyahu's government voted overnight to remove Bar from his position by April 10 at the latest, in what critics described as a "personal vendetta" by the Israeli prime minister.

Read moreA game of political survival: Netanyahu’s personal vendetta against Shin Bet chief

Israel’s attorney general earlier ruled that the cabinet had no legal basis to dismiss Bar, who is meant to end his tenure only next year.
October 7, 'Qatargate' probes

The Shin Bet chief's expected dismissal provoked the anger of the opposition and led to huge demonstrations accusing Netanyahu of threatening democracy.

Several thousand people braved bad weather late Thursday to demonstrate outside Netanyahu's private residence in Jerusalem and then the Israeli parliament, where ministers were meeting.

02:03

Israel Security Agency Ronen Bar is shown at a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen Israeli soldiers and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl cemetery on May 13, 2024. © Gil Cohen-Magen, AFP

In a letter made public on Thursday, Bar said Netanyahu's arguments were "general, unsubstantiated accusations that seem to hide the motivations behind the decision to terminate (his) duties".

Bar argued that the real motives were based on "personal interest" and intended to "prevent investigations into the events leading up to [Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks] and other serious matters" being looked at by the Shin Bet.

He referred to the "complex, wide-ranging and highly sensitive investigation" involving people close to Netanyahu who allegedly received money from Qatar, a case dubbed "Qatargate" by the media.

A first Shin Bet report into the October 7 attacks that triggered the war in Gaza acknowledged failures by the security agency. But it also said policies by Netanyahu’s government created the conditions for the attack.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

  

A game of political survival: Netanyahu’s personal vendetta against Shin Bet chief

Analysis
Middle East

When Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced this weekend that he was seeking to dismiss the top brass of Israel’s domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, he claimed that it was down to a lack of trust in bureau chief Ronen Bar, and to clear out officials who had failed to prevent Hamas’s devasting October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. But analysts say that at least two Shin Bet investigations hang over Netanyahu, and that he is desperate to save his own skin.


Issued on: 18/03/2025 - 
By:Sébastian SEIBT

Photo of Ronen Bar, chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency, taken on May 13, 2024. © Gil Cohen-Magen, AP


Netanyahu dropped the bombshell on Sunday: Ronen Bar, the head of one of Israel’s internal intelligence agencies, Shin Bet, would have to go. The reason, he said, was his “ongoing distrust” with Bar, adding that “this distrust has grown over time”. It was also part of Israel’s need to get rid of the officials who failed to prevent Hamas’s devastating October 7 attacks.

Read moreHamas terrorist attacks on October 7: The deadliest day in Israel's history

Netanyahu said he would submit his motion to the government for a vote this week.

If Bar, who was appointed to the job in 2021, is dismissed, it would be a first in Israeli history. Opposition media, like Haaretz, said the motion – and the outcome of it – represents the greatest test of Israeli democracy since the war against Hamas broke out.

A question of ‘loyalty’

Netanyahu’s key ministers were quick to back the premier on his decision. Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi even went as far as labelling Bar as a “dictator under a security guise”, that was seeking to undermine the prime minister’s authority.

Bar himself, however, gave another version of events, suggesting that Netanyahu was demanding personal loyalty to the extent that it risked overriding public interest.

Shin Bet’s loyalty, he insisted, was “first and foremost” to the people of Israel. “The prime minister’s expectation of a duty of personal loyalty [...] is a fundamentally wrong expectation.”

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, who has herself been the target of Netanyahu’s dismissal threats, reacted by sending a letter to the prime minister, saying he would need to clarify the legal basis for his decision before taking any action. She also issued a stark warning, noting that “the role of the Shin Bet is not to serve the personal trust of the prime minister”.

The current power play between Netanyahu and the top members of the intelligence community underscores the frictions in the country.

On Tuesday, massive demonstrations were planned in Jerusalem to protest against Netanyahu’s bid to oust Bar.
No October 7 responsibility probe?

According to the experts FRANCE 24 has spoken to, Netanyahu’s bid to dismiss Bar is less about the Shin Bet’s inability to protect Israel from Hamas, and more about the prime minister’s own personal vendetta against the intelligence chief.

The first proof of that, said Clive Jones, director of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (IMEIS) at Britain’s Durham University, is the timing.

“If Netanyahu was so dismayed by the performance of Shin Bet, why has he waited more than a year to call for Bar’s dismissal?” he asked.

The question becomes even more poignant when you look at the fact that Bar has already acknowledged that Shin Bet is partly to blame for Israel’s security failures in the wake of the Hamas attacks. He has also pledged to resign before his term runs out at the end of next year. But first, he has said he wants to ensure all remaining hostages in Gaza have been freed, and launch a major public enquiry into which Israeli officials should bear responsibility for the October 7 attacks.

Read moreLive: Israel says return to fighting in Gaza was 'fully coordinated with Washington’

Amnon Aran, a professor of international politics at City University in London, said that the investigation Bar wants to launch is something Netanyahu would rather do without.

“Netanyahu does make a reasonable argument that this is not the time to start a national inquiry,” he said, noting that it would become a distraction while Israel is still very much at war. But the more serious question, he said, “is the fact that he's not even willing to commit to a public national inquiry once the war ends”.

Ahron Bregman, a political scientist and specialist in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at King's College in London, has made the same observation. “Bar advocates for a State Commission of Inquiry into the October 7 disaster, which Netanyahu opposes, fearing – correctly – that he will bear responsibility for it.”

Aviva Guttmann, an intelligence agency expert who has worked on the Israeli security debacle at Aberystwyth University in Wales, said that by dismissing Bar, Netanyahu can make the inquiry seem obsolete. “Bar is one of the last ones still in power who has taken responsibility for the October 7 attacks,” he said. “And by removing the head of Shin Bet, Netanyahu will be able to say: ‘everybody who took responsibility has now been removed from power. So we don't need to have an investigation anymore’.”

Bregman agreed that it is a way for the prime minister to deflect “blame away from himself”.
Quatargate and the confidential document leak

But there are other Shin Bet probes in the making that are likely causing the Israeli head of government a headache or two.

The first one is Qatargate. Shin Bet is currently investigating three close Netanyahu associates for allegedly accepting money from Qatar to improve the kingdom’s image in Israel ahead of the 2022 World Cup – all the while performing their official duties in the government.

“The decision by Netanyahu to try and fire Bar comes only after this investigation into these individuals opened,” Jones noted.

The second probe was launched in November, and looks into accusations that a Netanyahu spokesman leaked classified documents to a German media outlet, thereby “endangering national security”, according to Haaretz.
Acting like Trump

Guttmann said that by attempting to replace a top intelligence official like Bar with someone deemed more loyal and less of a threat, Netanyahu is in fact acting very “Trumpian”.

Aran said it was also important to look at the wider context of things, taking into account that Netanyahu in November decided to dismiss his critical defence minister Yoav Gallant, and his more recent push to try to oust the attorney general.

In short, Netanyahu is trying to get rid of those who can limit his power, he said.

Bregman warned that: “The Israeli public, if it fails to wake up and resist the sacking of those whose task is to protect Israeli democracy, will soon find itself living in a place resembling Hungary or Turkey.”

Aran added that a dismissal of Bar, the boss of one of Israel’s most important intelligence agencies, also comes with a serious national security risk. “Shin Bet is not only significant for the Israelis in terms of the Gaza Strip. There has also been an escalation of what's happening of the operations in the West Bank,” he said, noting that to do his job properly, the head of the agency needs to have a good working relationship with the head of the government.

The problem, Guttmann concluded, is that if Netanyahu and his cabinet “completely mistrust” Shin Bet, and ignore their intelligence reports “then their work is almost useless”.

This article was translated by Louise Nordstrom from the original in French.

Tesla attacks surge across US in backlash over Musk's White House role

Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations across the United States have been vandalised in recent weeks amid growing anger against the company's CEO Elon Musk, a key ally of US President Donald Trump. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wednesday the attacks were akin to "domestic terrorism" and vowed to impose severe punishments on perpetrators.


Issued on: 19/03/2025 -
By: FRANCE 24
Video by: Wassim CORNET

01:59

A burned Tesla Cybertruck parked at a Tesla lot in Seattle on March 10, 2025. 

© Lindsey Wasson, AP


Cybertrucks set ablaze. Bullets and Molotov cocktails aimed at Tesla showrooms.

Attacks on property carrying the logo of Elon Musk's electric-car company are cropping up across the US and overseas. While no injuries have been reported, Tesla showrooms, vehicle lots, charging stations and privately owned cars have been targeted.

There has been a clear uptick since President Donald Trump took office and empowered Musk to oversee a new Department of Government Efficiency that is slashing government spending. Experts on domestic extremism say it's impossible to know yet if the spate of incidents will balloon into a long-term pattern.

In Trump’s first term, his properties in New York City, Washington and elsewhere became a natural place for protest. In the early days of his second term, Tesla is filling that role.


“Tesla is an easy target,” said Randy Blazak, a sociologist who studies political violence. “They’re rolling down our streets. They have dealerships in our neighbourhoods.”

People protesting Elon Musk's actions in the Trump administration hold signs outside a Tesla showroom in Seattle on February 13, 2025. © Manuel Valdes, AP file photo

Musk critics have organized dozens of peaceful demonstrations at Tesla dealerships and factories across North America and Europe. Some Tesla owners, including a US senator who feuded with Musk, have vowed to sell their vehicles.

But the attacks are keeping law enforcement busy.

Prosecutors in Colorado charged a woman last month in connection with a string of attacks on Tesla dealerships, including Molotov cocktails thrown at vehicles and the words “Nazi cars” spray-painted on a building.

And federal agents in South Carolina last week arrested a man they say set fire to Tesla charging stations near Charleston. An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit that authorities found writings critical of the government and DOGE in his bedroom and wallet.

“The statement made mention of sending a message based on these beliefs,” the agent wrote.

A number of the most prominent incidents have been reported in left-leaning cities in the Pacific Northwest, like Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, where anti-Trump and anti-Musk sentiment runs high.

An Oregon man is facing charges after allegedly throwing several Molotov cocktails at a Tesla store in Salem, then returning another day and shooting out windows. In the Portland suburb of Tigard, more than a dozen bullets were fired at a Tesla showroom last week, damaging vehicles and windows, the second time in a week that the store was targeted.

Four Cybertrucks were set on fire in a Tesla lot in Seattle earlier this month. On Friday, witnesses reported a man poured gasoline on an unoccupied Tesla Model S and started a fire on a Seattle street.

01:59

A Tesla boycott call, in Pasadena, California, March 2025 © France 24

In Las Vegas, several Tesla vehicles were set ablaze early Tuesday outside a Tesla service centre where the word “resist” was also painted in red across the building’s front doors. Authorities said at least one person threw Molotov cocktails – crude bombs filled with gasoline or another flammable liquid – and fired several rounds from a weapon into the vehicles.

“Was this terrorism? Was it something else? It certainly has some of the hallmarks that we might think – the writing on the wall, potential political agenda, an act of violence,” Spencer Evans, the special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office, said at a news conference. “None of those factors are lost on us.”

On Wednesday, US Attorney General Pam Bondi said the recent spate of attacks on Tesla property was akin to "domestic terrorism", vowing to impose severe punishments on perpetrators.

She said the Department of Justice has "already charged several perpetrators with that in mind, including in cases that involve charges with five-year mandatory minimum sentences".

'I just wanted an electric car'

Tesla was once the darling of the left. Helped to viability by a $465 million federal loan during the Obama administration, the company popularised electric vehicles and proved, despite their early reputation, that they didn’t have to be small, stodgy, under-powered and limited in range.

More recently, though, Musk has allied himself with the right. He bought the social network Twitter, renamed it X and erased restrictions that had infuriated conservatives. He spent an estimated $250 million to boost Trump’s 2024 campaign, becoming by far his biggest benefactor.

Musk continues to run Tesla – as well as X and the rocket manufacturer SpaceX – while also serving as Trump’s adviser.

Tesla stock doubled in value in the weeks after Trump’s election but has since shed all those gains.

Trump gave a boost to the company when he turned the White House driveway into an electric vehicle showroom. The president promoted the vehicles and said he would purchase an $80,000 Model S, eschewing his fierce past criticism of electric vehicles.

Tesla did not respond to a request for comment. Musk briefly addressed the vandalism Monday during an appearance on Sen. Ted Cruz’s podcast, saying “at least some of it is organized and paid for” by “leftwing organizations in America, funded by leftwing billionaires, essentially.”

“This level of violence is insane and deeply wrong,” Musk wrote Tuesday on X, sharing a video of burning Teslas in Las Vegas. “Tesla just makes electric cars and has done nothing to deserve these evil attacks.”

The progressive group Indivisible, which published a guide for supporters to organize “Musk Or Us” protests around the country, said in a statement that all of its guidance is publicly available and “it explicitly encourages peaceful protest and condemns any acts of violence or vandalism”.

Some Tesla owners have resorted to cheeky bumper stickers to distance themselves from their vehicle’s new stigma, and perhaps deter would-be vandals. They say things like “I bought this before we knew Elon was crazy,” or “I just wanted an electric car. Sorry guys.”

Prices for used Cybertrucks, Tesla’s most distinctive product, have dropped nearly 8% since Trump took office, according to CarGurus, which aggregates used car vehicle listings. The market as a whole remained steady over the period.

The White House has thrown its weight behind Musk, the highest-profile member of the administration and a key donor to committees promoting Trump's political interests. Trump has threatened retribution, warning that those who target the company are “going to go through hell.”

A burned Tesla vehicle in Las Vegas on March 18, 2025. 

© Steve Marcus, AP

Colin Clarke, a senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, said left-wing political violence tends to target property rather than people. He views the rise of neo-Nazi groups as a bigger security threat at this point.

“I’s not the type of act that I would prioritise,” Clarke said. “Not right now compared to all the other threats that are out there.”

Theresa Ramsdell is the president of the Tesla Owners of Washington state, a club for Tesla enthusiasts, and she and her husband own three of them.

“Hate on Elon and Trump all you want – that’s fine and dandy, it’s your choice,” she said. “It doesn’t justify ruining somebody’s property, vandalising it, destroying it, setting it on fire. There’s other ways to get your voice heard that’s more effective.”

Someone recently slapped a “no Elon” sticker on the tailgate of her Cybertruck, but she said she doesn’t intend to stop driving her Teslas. Other club members have taken a similar view, she said.

“I love my car. It’s the safest car,” Ramsdell said. “I’m not going to let somebody else judge me for the car I drive.”

(FRANCE 24 with AP)