‘Bring Julian home’: the Australian campaign to free Assange

Assange’s supporters say what Wikileaks revealed about power and access to information is as relevant today as ever.


By Lyndal Rowlands
Published On 19 May 2024

AL JAZEERA

Melbourne, Australia – At home in Australia, Julian Assange’s family and friends are preparing for his possible extradition to the United States, ahead of what could be his final hearing in the United Kingdom on Monday.

Assange’s half-brother Gabriel Shipton, who spoke to Al Jazeera from Melbourne before flying to London, said he had already booked a flight to the US.

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A filmmaker who worked on blockbusters like Mad Max before producing a documentary on his brother, Shipton has travelled the world advocating for Assange’s release, from Mexico City to London and Washington, DC.

Earlier this year, he was a guest of cross-bench supporters of Assange at US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

The invitation reflected interest in his brother’s case both in Washington, DC and back home in Australia. Biden told journalists last month he was “considering” a request from Australia to drop the US prosecution.

Assange rose to prominence with the launch of Wikileaks in 2006, creating an online whistleblower platform for people to submit classified material such as documents and videos anonymously. Footage of a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad, which killed a dozen people, including two journalists, raised the platform’s profile, while the 2010 release of thousands of classified US documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables, cemented its reputation.

Shipton told Al Jazeera the recent attention from Washington, DC had been notable, even as his brother’s options to fight extradition in the UK appeared close to running out.

“To get attention there on a case of a single person is very significant, particularly after Julian’s been fighting this extradition for five years,” Shipton told Al Jazeera, adding that he hoped the Australian prime minister was following up with Biden.

“We’re always trying to encourage the Australian government to do more.”
A test for US democracy

Assange’s possible extradition to the US could see freedom of expression thrown into the spotlight during an election year that has already seen mass arrests at student antiwar protests.

Shipton told Al Jazeera the pro-Palestinian protests had helped bring “freedom of speech, freedom to assembly, particularly in the United States, front of mind again”, issues he notes have parallels with his brother’s story.

While Wikileaks published material about many countries, it was the administration of former US President Donald Trump that charged Assange in 2019 with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act.

US lawyers argue Assange is guilty of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former army intelligence analyst, who spent seven years in prison for leaking material to WikiLeaks before former US President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.

“It’s an invaluable resource that remains utterly essential to understand how power works, not just US power, but global power,” Antony Loewenstein, an independent Australian journalist and author, said of the Wikileaks archive.

“I always quote and detail [Wikileaks’s] work on a range of issues from the drug war, to Israel/Palestine, to the US war on terror, to Afghanistan,” Loewenstein said, noting that Wikileaks also published materials on Bashar al-Assad’s Syria and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

“It’s just an incredible historical resource,” he said.

Loewenstein’s most recent book, the Palestine Laboratory, explores Israel’s role in spreading mass surveillance around the world, another issue Loewenstein notes, that Assange often spoke about.

“One thing that Julian has often said, and he’s correct, is that the internet is on the one hand an incredibly powerful information tool… but it’s also the biggest mass surveillance tool ever designed in history,” said Loewenstein.

Emma Shortis, a senior researcher in international and security affairs at the Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute, told Al Jazeera that while she hoped Assange would not be extradited, if he was, his case might come to trial around November’s US election when Biden is hoping to beat off a challenge from presumptive Republican candidate Trump.

Prosecuting a First Amendment case against an Australian while presenting the election as “an existential test for American democracy” would be “politically irreconcilable” for Biden, Shortis said.

As the Biden administration struggles to attract young voters disenchanted over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza, Shortis noted that younger generations were aware of the underlying issues Assange’s case could bring up.

“I think young people, in particular, are deeply aware of those contradictions and the way that American power functions and the way it selectively bestows rights on people,” she said.

For Loewenstein, pursuing Assange would set “an incredibly dangerous precedent at a time where in so many countries freedom of the press is under attack”.

“This is not by any means a defence of Biden, I’ve been critical of him for 20 years, but a second Trump term would be a real acceleration of that authoritarian turn, including against the press and journalists and freedom of information,” Loewenstein added.

Demonstrators gather outside Australia House to protest against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in London [Alberto Pezzali/AP]

At home in Australia Assange’s supporters include the national journalist association the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and a cross-bench alliance of parliamentarians, including independent Andrew Wilkie.

“Surely this man has suffered enough,” Wilkie implored the Australian parliament earlier this year.

“Who could possibly forget the grainy image, provided to WikiLeaks by a brave whistleblower, that subsequently was released under the title ‘collateral murder‘?”, Wilkie said.

“It was footage of a US attack helicopter gunning down and killing innocent civilians and Reuters journalists in a street in Iraq,” he added.

Many of Assange’s supporters fear his possible extradition to the US could come with serious personal consequences.

He was first arrested in London in 2010 on a Swedish warrant accusing him of sexual assault. Allowed bail pending the extradition case, Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London Embassy in 2012 after a court ruled he could be sent to Sweden for trial.
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He spent the next seven years in the tiny embassy – during which Swedish police withdrew the rape charges – before UK police arrested him on charges of breaching his bail conditions.

Assange was jailed and the US filed its case for extradition.

“I worry that if Julian is extradited to the US, that he would never see the light of day again, barring a deal between Australia and the US, and he would die in prison,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera.

As the hours to the UK court’s decision tick down, Shortis noted that Assange’s fate could still change.

“Biden could end it in a moment. It’s a political decision for the President to make, and he could do it in an instant if he chose to,” she said.
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SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

MAYDAY: Assange extradition decision tomorrow – get there if you can, watch live if not

SKWAWKBOX (SW)

19/05/2024

Wikileaks founder faces court tomorrow to find out if UK will give in to disgraced US extradition case – supporters have asked for you to join them at the High Court if possible and will be streaming live from London

Julian Assange faces the High Court tomorrow in London to find out whether judges will agree a disgraced US request to extradite the Wikileaks founder to the US to face 175 years in maximum-security jail. The US case fell apart when its main witness admitted he had been lying the whole time, but the UK state has continued to hold and punish Assange pending extradition for revealing US war crimes, despite known US plots to kill him – plots that the court has already refused to admit as new evidence.

His campaign has asked anyone who can get there to gather tomorrow at the High Court by 8.30am and will also be running a live-stream of developments from 6.30am, which will run below as soon as it goes live:

Video will go live from 6.30am on Monday 20 May

Freedom for Assange is a moral imperative, but it is also essential for all our freedom, as governments try to increase suppression of information vital to democracy and justice and to make Assange an example to intimidate other journalists into silence.

Cargo ship that caused Baltimore bridge collapse had power blackouts hours before leaving port

LEA SKENE and DENISE LAVOIE
Updated Tue, May 14, 2024 









APTOPIX Maryland Bridge Collapse
A bird flies past the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge resting on the container ship Dali on Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Baltimore, as seen from Riviera Beach, Md. An effort to remove sections of the collapsed bridge resting on the Dali was postponed on Sunday.

 (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)


BALTIMORE (AP) — The cargo ship Dali experienced electrical blackouts about 10 hours before leaving the Port of Baltimore and yet again shortly before it slammed into the Francis Key Bridge and killed six construction workers, federal investigators said Tuesday, providing the most detailed account yet of the tragedy.

The first power outage occurred after a crew member mistakenly closed an exhaust damper while conducting maintenance, causing one of the ship’s diesel engines to stall, investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said in their preliminary report. Shortly after leaving Baltimore early on March 26, the ship crashed into one of the bridge’s supporting columns because another power outage caused it to lose steering and propulsion at the exact worst moment.

The report provides new details about how the ship’s crew addressed the power issues it experienced while still docked in Baltimore. A full investigation could take a year or more, according to the safety board.


Testing of the ship’s fuel did not reveal any concerns related to its quality, according to the report.

The Dali was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, laden with shipping containers and enough supplies for a monthlong voyage.

After the initial blackout caused by the closed exhaust damper, investigators say a backup generator automatically came on. It continued to run for a short period — until insufficient fuel pressure caused it to kick off again, resulting in a second blackout. That’s when crew members made changes to the ship’s electrical configuration, switching from one transformer and breaker system that had been in use for several months to another that was active upon its departure, according to the report.

Investigators stopped short of drawing a direct line between those earlier power issues and the blackout that ultimately caused the bridge collapse.

“The NTSB is still investigating the electrical configuration following the first in-port blackout and potential impacts on the events during the accident voyage,” investigators wrote.

The safety board launched its investigation almost immediately after the collapse, which sent six members of a roadwork crew plunging to their deaths. Investigators boarded the ship to document the scene and collect evidence, including the vessel’s data recorder and information from its engine room, according to board chair Jennifer Homendy. Investigators also interviewed the captain and crew members.

“Our mission is to determine why something happened, how it happened and to prevent it from recurring,” Homendy said at a news conference days after the disaster.

The preliminary report details the chaotic moments prior to the bridge collapse while crew members scrambled to address a series of electrical failures that came in quick succession as disaster loomed.

At 1:25 a.m. on March 26, when the Dali was a little over half a mile away from the bridge, electrical breakers that fed most of the ship’s equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped, causing a power loss. The main propulsion diesel engine automatically shut down after its cooling pumps lost power, and the ship lost steering.

Crew members were able to momentarily restore electricity by manually closing the tripped breakers, the report says.

Around that time, the ship’s pilots called for tugboats to come help guide the wayward vessel. The tugboats that guided it out of the port had peeled off earlier per normal practice, according to the report. Crew members also started the process of dropping anchor, and the pilots’ dispatcher called the Maryland Transportation Authority Police and relayed that the ship had lost power. The pilots’ dispatcher notified the Coast Guard.

The ship was less than a quarter of a mile from the bridge when it experienced a second power blackout because of more tripped breakers, according to the report. The crew again restored power, but it was too late to avoid striking the bridge.

One of the pilots ordered the rudder turned at the last minute, but since the main engine remained shut down, there was no propulsion to assist with steering, the report says. They also made a mayday call that allowed police to stop traffic to the bridge.

At 1:29 a.m., the 1.6-mile steel span came crashing down into the Patapsco River. The construction workers were sitting in their vehicles during a break when disaster struck.

The last of the victims’ bodies was recovered last week.

One member of the seven-person roadwork crew survived the collapse by somehow freeing himself from his work truck. He was rescued from the water later that morning. A road maintenance inspector also survived by running to safety in the moments before the bridge fell.

On Monday, crews conducted a controlled demolition to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed bridge, which landed draped across the Dali’s bow, pinning the grounded ship amid the wreckage. The ship is expected to be refloated and guided back to the Port of Baltimore in the coming days.

It arrived in the U.S. from Singapore on March 19, a week before the crash, according to the report. It made stops in Newark, New Jersey, and Norfolk, Virginia, before coming to Baltimore. Investigators said they were not aware of any other power outages occurring in those ports.

They said they’re working with Hyundai, the manufacturer of the ship’s electrical system, to “identify the cause(s) of the breakers unexpectedly opening while approaching the Key Bridge and the subsequent blackouts.”

The board’s preliminary report released Tuesday likely includes a fraction of the findings that will be presented in its final report, which is expected to take more than a year.

The FBI has also launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collapse.




Ship lost power twice before striking Baltimore bridge: probe

AFP
Tue, May 14, 2024 

Crews conduct a controlled demolition of a section of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resting on the Dali container ship, in Baltimore on May 13, 2024 (ROBERTO SCHMIDT)


The container ship that collided with a major bridge in Baltimore, collapsing it within seconds, suffered two electricity blackouts in the moments before the disaster, a preliminary report by federal investigators released Tuesday said.

The Singapore-flagged Dali also lost power during maintenance twice on the previous day, though the report by the National Transportation Safety Board said it was still probing what impact that may have had.

It had been clear that the ship had lost power in the seconds before the stunning collapse.

But the report is the first detailed examination of the events leading up to the disaster, which killed six construction workers who were making repairs on the bridge, and blocked the busy Port of Baltimore, a key US hub.

In a timeline of the accident, it said the Dali was just 0.6 miles from the bridge when the electrical breakers that fed most of the ship's equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped, causing the first blackout.

The ship lost propulsion and steering and began to drift off course. The crew managed to restore power briefly, but with the Dali just 0.2 miles from the bridge the lights went out again.

An emergency generator gave the crew some steering and they made a hard turn to port -- but without propulsion, the bridge's fate was sealed.

The report also detailed two blackouts about ten hours before leaving Baltimore.

"The first in-port blackout was caused by the mechanical blocking of the online generator's exhaust gas stack. The second blackout in port was related to insufficient fuel pressure for the online generator," it said.

It also said the crew had been tested multiple times, before and after the disaster, for drugs and alcohol, and that none had showed.

In April, the FBI launched a criminal probe targeting the ship, with its agents boarding the Dali as part of the investigation.

President Joe Biden promised last month to "move heaven and earth" to rebuild the bridge, pledging federal funds and saying a new channel for shipping traffic would open by the end of May.

On Monday, crews demolished part of the bridge in a bid to free the Dali, which has been pinned beneath the wreckage since the collapse.

bur-st/md

Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: Cargo ship that caused disaster had 2 power failures before departure

Bradford Betz
Tue, May 14, 2024 a

A crewmember’s mistake caused a Singapore-flagged cargo ship to blackout a day before it crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in late March, causing it to collapse, according to a preliminary report from federal investigators.

The report, from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), determined that a crewmember of the Dali was responsible for accidentally disabling the vessel’s equipment during in-port maintenance while moored at the Seagirt Marine Terminal in Baltimore on March 25. Crewmembers experienced a second blackout due to insufficient fuel pressure for the online generator.

It is still unclear what role these earlier technical malfunctions may have played in the vessel’s loss of power before it hit the bridge.

When the Dali was a little more than half a mile from the bridge in the early hours of March 26, a primary electrical breaker that fed most of the ship's equipment and lighting unexpectedly tripped, causing the ship to lose electrical power and experience another blackout.

FLORIDA BUS CARRYING FARM WORKER CRASHES, KILLING AT LEAST 8 AND INJURING DOZENS MORE: OFFICIALS

The main propulsion diesel engine shut down after the pumps lost electrical power. The ship's crew was able to restore power, then called for an assist from tug boats and the senior pilot ordered the ship's anchor to be dropped.

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A second blackout then happened, and a marine radio call was made to warn waterborne traffic. The ship then struck a main support pier on the bridge, causing it to collapse within seconds.

The ship, which was headed from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, issued a mayday alert with just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save the bridge workers who plunged to their deaths.

52 CONFIRMED DEAD, 20 MISSING AFTER FLASH FLOODS DEVASTATE INDONESIA'S SUMATRA ISLAND

The board launched its investigation almost immediately after the collapse. Investigators boarded the ship to document the scene and collect evidence, including the vessel's data recorder and information from its engine room, according to board chair Jennifer Homendy. Investigators also interviewed the captain and crew members. The FBI has also launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances leading up to the collapse.

Investigators also planned to review policies, training practices and other factors that could be relevant. And the design, engineering and condition of the bridge would be studied, she said.

On Monday, crews conducted a controlled demolition to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, a major step in freeing the grounded Dali container ship.

A full investigation could take a year or more, the NTSB said. The board's preliminary report likely includes a fraction of the findings that will be presented in its final report.

Original article source: Baltimore Key Bridge collapse: Cargo ship that caused disaster 

5 takeaways from congressional hearing on Key Bridge collapse, response

Darcy Costello and Alex Mann, The Baltimore Sun
Wed, May 15, 2024 



BALTIMORE — A day after a preliminary report revealed new details about what happened in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore after a vessel strike, members of Congress peppered officials behind the federal response with questions about the ship’s power outage, the safety of other bridges and how to pay for a new bridge.

How might the ship’s power problems have been avoided? How prepared for massive ships was this bridge and others across the country? How should the federal government recoup costs for a new bridge?

In the early morning of March 26, a huge container ship left the Port of Baltimore on a voyage to Sri Lanka, but didn’t make it very far. The 984-foot Dali lost power twice within about half a mile of the Key Bridge and it drifted into one of the bridge’s support piers around 1:30 a.m., collapsing the span and killing six construction workers.

A Coast Guard official said Tuesday that response officials in Baltimore believe the Dali will be refloated and removed from the middle of the waterway “early next week.” The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to reopen the federal channel by the end of May, if not sooner.

Meanwhile, other work remains ongoing. The National Transportation Safety Board, which released its preliminary report Tuesday, continues to investigate the cause of the vessel’s strike. The FBI has a criminal investigation. Transportation officials are planning for a new bridge.

The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure convened Tuesday’s hearing to explore the federal response. Here are five takeaways:
Dali’s power losses were distinct

About 10 hours before it left port, the Dali experienced a pair of blackouts, or complete losses of power, while the crew undertook engine maintenance, the NTSB’s preliminary report revealed.

The power losses in port, originally triggered by a mechanical problem caused by crewmember’s mistake, led the crew to switch the ship’s power supply to a different electrical transformer and circuit breakers, the report said. Those breakers tripped twice as the ship approached the bridge, rendering it mostly rudderless and without propulsion as it plowed into the support pier.

During her testimony, Homendy distinguished the Dali’s four power outages.

“Preliminary information indicates that the March 25 blackouts were mechanically distinct from those that occurred on March 26,” Homendy told lawmakers. “Two were related to routine maintenance in port. Two were unexpected tripping of circuit breakers on the accident voyage.”

Figuring out what caused the breakers to trip as the Dali approached the bridge is at the center of what Homendy described as an investigation of “unprecedented” scale for her agency, which probes transportation disasters with the goal of preventing future tragedies, not holding anyone accountable.

“Switching breakers is not unusual but may have affected operations the very next day on the accident voyage,” Homendy testified. “So the configuration of the breakers remains under investigation.”
Coast Guard to assess major ports

The Key Bridge collapse spawned numerous questions about the safety of maritime operations around American ports and infrastructure.

Coast Guard Vice Adm. Peter Gautier said Wednesday that those questions warrant immediate attention, and that officials can’t wait until the conclusion of federal investigations into the disaster in Baltimore for answers.

“While we look forward to the results of these investigations, it is evident, looking more broadly, that the size and complexity of ships has grown over the years, placing greater demands on our marine transportation infrastructure that may not have kept pace with the increased risk that these vessels pose,” Gautier testified. “It’s time for us to more broadly understand these risks.”

Gautier told lawmakers he was convening a “nationwide Board of Inquiry” to evaluate the efficacy of the Coast Guard’s risk management resources and how they’re being put to use in major ports.

Describing the probe as a critical step to ensure “safe and secure flow of commerce on our waterways,” Gautier said it would “establish a holistic national level approach to develop risk profiles, identify ways to address vulnerabilities and propose actions to reduce the risk of major incidents.”

Homendy said she was “very encouraged” to hear the Coast Guard’s plan for a board of inquiry for ports across the country.
Questions over funding bridge reconstruction

President Joe Biden has pledged that the federal government would pay entirely to rebuild the bridge. But if Congress is fronting the cost of a new bridge, anticipated to approach a price tag of $2 billion, committee members asked Tuesday, how can it expect to get some money back?

Shailen Bhatt, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, told lawmakers that under existing rules, any insurance funds recovered after an “emergency relief” event go back into the emergency relief fund. That program covers most of the costs of repairs to damaged roads and bridges following natural disasters and external catastrophic failures.

The roughly $1.7 to $1.9 billion emergency relief request related to the Key Bridge collapse is the second-largest ever received by the Federal Highway Administration, according to Bhatt. It is second to a $2.2 billion request made following Hurricane Katrina, he said Wednesday.

Bhatt also acknowledged, in response to lawmakers’ questions, that the Key Bridge had been redesignated following the collapse as part of the interstate highway system, rather than a state facility. That redesignation means it will be eligible for 90% or more of the costs to be covered by the federal program, rather than the 80% it would have qualified for without the designation.

The Federal Highway Administration has told Maryland officials that they “believe” emergency relief funding will be available, which Bhatt said helps to relieve some “uncertainty.”

“I can pretty much with certainty guarantee this will not be 100% federally funded eventually, because we will recoup all of the insurance payments … and they will go back into the [emergency relief] funds,” Bhatt said. “But as the ranking member mentioned, we don’t want to wait through all of the litigation and the NTSB investigations, insurance issues, for that.”
Questions linger about pier protection — for Key Bridge and others

The NTSB’s preliminary report noted that the Key Bridge had four dolphins, or island-like structures in the water, designed to protect its piers — two on each side of the bridge.

But those devices didn’t stop the drifting Dali from striking one of the bridge piers, which was surrounded by timber, concrete and steel. The surrounding protection remained relatively tight to the pier itself, Homendy said Wednesday, and the dolphins were “rather small.”

She said the NTSB has been comparing the Key Bridge to others that “have pier protection that comes out farther, so that a vessel can’t get to the column” and larger dolphins.

“In this situation, you have a bridge that began operations in 1977. If it was built today, it would be built differently,” Homendy said. “That has to be taken into consideration.”

She urged other bridge owners to conduct risk assessments of their own bridges with this in mind, alongside the growing size of containerships. It’s not necessary to wait until the NTSB investigation is complete to evaluate how protected a bridge is, she said.

“From a risk assessment standpoint, what is now going through? What is the vessel traffic? And how is our infrastructure protected?” Homendy suggested bridge owners ask.
Ancient law used by companies behind Dali may get fresh look

Less than a week after the Dali crashed into the bridge, the Singaporean companies that own and manage the ship cited a pre-Civil War law enacted more than a century ago to llimit or eliminate their liability in the disaster.

On April 1, Grace Ocean Private Ltd., the owner, and Synergy Marine Pte Ltd., which manages the 984-foot cargo ship, asked a federal judge in Maryland to clear them from liability or limit damages to the salvage value of the ship plus the revenue it stood to make from its cargo, which they estimated at $43.7 million.

In order to be successful, the companies have to prove they did nothing wrong. The City of Baltimore and a group of businesses argued in lawsuits they were negligent in allowing an allegedly unseaworthy vessel to sail.

No matter how the case plays out, one lawmaker said Wednesday, the law, designed to protect the maritime industry, needs to be reevaluated.

The Limitation of Liability Act of 1851 “really has to change,” said U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, a Democrat from California.

He told fellow lawmakers he intended to introduce legislation that would ensure “the owners of these vessels would be held responsible for the costs of their mistakes.”

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Power outages and an urgent warning: NTSB details Dali crew’s scramble before Key Bridge collapse

Darcy Costello, Alex Mann, Baltimore Sun
Wed, May 15, 2024 



Two electrical blackouts on the Dali freighter sent members of its crew and the pilots on board scrambling to control the vessel as it approached the Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning hours of March 26.

Their efforts — which would prove unsuccessful — are laid out in detail in a preliminary report released Tuesday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

The 984-foot container ship struck the bridge just before 1:30 a.m. March 26, collapsing much of the 1.6-mile span into the Patapsco River and killing six construction workers who were repairing potholes.

The preliminary report offers no conclusions or likely causes, but does present a minute-by-minute — sometimes second-by-second — account, including key radio broadcasts and actions like the Maryland Transportation Authority Police swiftly shutting down bridge traffic.

Here’s how federal investigators say things played out:

Afternoon, March 25: About 10 hours before its departure from the Port of Baltimore, the Dali experiences two electrical blackouts during in-port maintenance. In the first, a crew member mistakenly closes an exhaust damper, stalling the engine. A second blackout occurs when insufficient fuel pressure slows a generator.

12 a.m. March 26: Seven construction workers, accompanied by one inspector, repair potholes in the southbound lanes of the Key Bridge. Maryland Transportation Authority Police units are stationed at either end of the bridge.

12:05 a.m. A senior pilot and an apprentice pilot, both with the Association of Maryland Pilots, board the Dali. The captain reports to the pilot that the ship is in “good working order,” according to NTSB investigators.

12:36 a.m. The Dali is pulled away from a dock in the Port of Baltimore by two tugboats, the Bridget McAllister and the Eric McAllister.

1:07 a.m. The Dali enters the Fort McHenry Channel and, around the same time, the senior pilot gives orders for the tugboats to depart, as is “normal practice,” according to the NTSB. The senior pilot turns over control to the apprentice pilot.

1:09 a.m. The vessel’s speed is increased from “dead slow ahead” to “slow ahead.”

1:25 a.m. The first blackout occurs, about 0.6 miles away from the Key Bridge — or, as the NTSB noted, three ship lengths. The Dali experiences a loss of electrical power to its lighting and most equipment, resulting in its propeller stopping along with its three steering pumps, which means the rudder cannot be moved.

1:26 a.m. The apprentice pilot calls the pilot dispatcher by cellphone as the senior pilot takes control. The pilots call for assistance from a tugboat; the Eric McAllister, 3 miles away, immediately heads that way, but doesn’t reach the Dali in time. After an emergency generator starts, restoring partial power to the rudder, the senior pilot orders the vessel turned 20 degrees to the left.

1:27:01 a.m. The pilot dispatcher tells the Maryland Transportation Authority Police’s duty officer that the ship lost power, and then informs the Coast Guard. At the same time, the senior pilot orders an anchor to be dropped and the crew begins to do so. The Dali suffers a second electrical blackout, this time about 0.2 miles from the bridge.
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1:27:23 a.m. The pilot orders a sharper turn to the left, but the main engine is shut down and there is no propulsion to power the maneuver.

1:27:25 a.m. A pilot issues a warning to other boats over a very high frequency (VHF) marine radio.

1:27:32 a.m. The crew manually closes breakers, regaining electrical power for the ship but not propulsion.

1:27:53 a.m. The duty officer with the Maryland Transportation Authority Police orders the police officers at either end of the Key Bridge to close it to traffic.

1:29:10 a.m. The Dali strikes the southern pier supporting the central span of the Key Bridge, sending it tumbling into the Patapsco River along with seven construction workers. A Dali crew member told investigators that the ship struck the bridge as he was releasing the brake on the port anchor, and he had to run to escape pieces of the bridge falling on the bow. Another crew member is injured escaping debris. A road maintenance inspector on the bridge is able to run to safety by reaching a span of the bridge that didn’t collapse.

1:34 a.m. The Coast Guard issues urgent notice, requesting assistance.

1:51 a.m. The first Coast Guard boats arrive on the scene.

1:55 a.m. A construction worker, who fell from the bridge in his truck but escaped the vehicle, is rescued by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police boat.

The search for the other workers continued through the day before efforts shifted to recovery. All six bodies have now been recovered with the last found last week.

Authorities also have been removing the bridge wreckage from the shipping channel and, on Monday, used explosives to cut the bridge trestle draped across the bow of the Dali as part of the effort to refloat the grounded ship.

Demolition to remove part of Baltimore’s Key Bridge to free trapped ship postponed until Monday due to inclement weather

Nicole Grether and Gloria Pazmino, CNN
Sun, May 12, 2024 

The planned demolition to remove a portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Maryland has been rescheduled to Monday afternoon due to inclement weather conditions, according to the United States Coast Guard.

Crews were expected Sunday evening to use small explosives to break apart a massive chunk of the Baltimore bridge that collapsed on a cargo ship six weeks ago after the US Coast Guard previously pushed back the controlled demolition by an hour.

The operation was originally to take place Saturday, but officials on Friday announced it would be postponed due to an adverse weather forecast.


The explosion is now slated to take place at 5 p.m. ET on Monday, according to the Coast Guard.

The planned demolition is aimed at helping officials remove debris and ultimately free the 213-million-pound Dali cargo ship, which veered off course March 26 and struck a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, causing it to fall into the water below. The collapse killed six construction workers and destroyed a key thoroughfare, threatening the economy at the Port of Baltimore.

Sunday’s weather in the Baltimore area – which included lightning strikes – is what led officials to hold off on the demolition.

“We were all set to do the precision cuts … today,” Nick Ameen with the US Coast Guard told reporters Sunday. “There’s several factors, environmental factors among them, that have unfortunately pushed that event until tomorrow.”

Ameen called the process a “dynamic” one and said, “We will absolutely not sacrifice safety for speed.”

He added: “Whenever there’s a lightning strike in the area, that pushes the clock back, and so that clock just kept getting pushed back and pushed back.”

Officials last week recovered the sixth and final body, allowing them to proceed with the plan to free the Dali. If the operation succeeds this weekend, the ship could be refloated and returned to the Port of Baltimore as soon as this week, The Baltimore Sun and CNN affiliate WBAL previously reported.

“The safest and swiftest method to remove the bridge piece from on top of the M/V Dali is by precision cuts made with small charges,” the Key Bridge Response Unified Command said in a news release last week.

“This is an industry-standard tool in controlled demolition that will break the span into smaller pieces,” it added, “which will allow the work of refloating the vessel and removing it from the federal channel.”

Salvage crew members work on the deck of the cargo ship Dali on Friday, May 10, 2024. - Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

According to an infographic from the US Army and the US Army Corps of Engineers, the process will “look like multiple puffs of smoke and sound like fireworks.” Nearby communities should receive a “cellular notification” beforehand, according to Unified Command, which includes state and federal authorities, the US Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers among them.

The 21 members of the ship’s crew – who have not left the ship since it struck the bridge in late March – will remain onboard during the operation, according to Darrel Wilson, a spokesperson for Synergy Marine Group, which manages the Dali.

“They will have a safe place on the vessel where they can shelter during the controlled explosion,” Wilson said, adding that the crew was “holding up well” despite the stress of recent weeks.

“Even though they are not sailing, they are still performing their normal crew duties,” Wilson said. “This is still a large, complicated piece of equipment and there is a lot they have to look after.”

While the Dali’s management company has tried to support the crew on board, members of Baltimore’s seafaring community remain concerned for their wellbeing given the length of time they’ve been aboard the ship.

Rev. Josh Messick, executive director of the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center, told CNN the crew is well taken care of but feels disconnected from the rest of the world. They have internet access, thanks to hotspots Messick’s group helped deliver, but they do not have their cellphones, which were confiscated by authorities as part of the investigation.

“They are a little anxious because of the phone situation. We are trying to get their cellphones back to them,” Messick said. “It’s not just a phone, they can’t access their online banking, their finances, their contacts, they can’t look at photos of their loved ones before they go to sleep at night. It’s a lot more than just a phone.”

In the meantime, several investigations continue into the cause of the disaster and who is responsible. The House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure plans to hold a hearing Wednesday on the catastrophe, with testimony expected from the chair of the National Transportation Safety Board and officials from the Coast Guard, Army Corps of Engineers and the US Department of Transportation.

CNN’s Paradise Afshar, Holly Yan and Dakin Andone contributed to this report.


Controlled demolition at Baltimore bridge collapse site postponed due to weather

LEA SKENE
Updated Sun, May 12, 2024 at 2:29 PM MDT·4 min read
21







Remnants of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge and the cargo ship Dali are seen, Sunday, May 12, 2024, in Baltimore. For safety reasons, officials postponed a controlled demolition, which was planned for Sunday, to break down the largest remaining span of the collapsed bridge. The bridge came crashing down under the impact of the massive container ship on March 26. (AP Photo/Steve Ruark)
ASSOCIATED PRESSMore


BALTIMORE (AP) — The controlled demolition of the largest remaining steel span of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore has been postponed because of weather conditions, officials said Sunday afternoon.

Crews have been preparing for weeks to use explosives to break down the span, which is an estimated 500 feet (152 meters) long and weighs up to 600 tons (544 metric tons).

It landed on the ship’s bow after the Dali lost power and crashed into one of the bridge’s support columns shortly after leaving Baltimore. Since then, the ship has been stuck amidst the wreckage and Baltimore’s busy port has been closed to most maritime traffic.

Officials said the demolition had been tentatively moved to Monday evening. They said lightning in the area and rising tides Sunday prompted them to reschedule.

Six members of a roadwork crew plunged to their deaths in the March 26 collapse. The last of their bodies was recovered from the underwater wreckage last week. All the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the U.S. for job opportunities. They were filling potholes on an overnight shift when the bridge was destroyed.

The controlled demolition will allow the Dali to be refloated and guided back into the Port of Baltimore. Once the ship is removed, maritime traffic can begin returning to normal, which will provide relief for thousands of longshoremen, truckers and small business owners who have seen their jobs impacted by the closure.

The Dali’s 21-member crew will stay onboard the ship while the explosives are detonated.

William Marks, a spokesperson for the crew, said they would shelter “in a designated safe place” during the demolition. “All precautions are being taken to ensure everyone’s safety,” he said in an email.

Officials said the demolition is the safest and most efficient way to remove steel under a high level of pressure and tension.

“It’s unsafe for the workers to be on or in the immediate vicinity of the bridge truss for those final cuts,” officials said in a news release Sunday.

In a videographic released last week, authorities said engineers are using precision cuts to control how the trusses break down. They said the method allows for “surgical precision” and the steel structure will be “thrust away from the Dali” when the explosives send it tumbling into the water.

Once it’s demolished, hydraulic grabbers will lift the resulting sections of steel onto barges.

“It’s important to note that this controlled demolition is not like what you would see in a movie,” the video says, noting that from a distance it will sound like fireworks or loud thunder and give off puffs of smoke.

So far, about 6,000 tons (5,443 metric tons) of steel and concrete have been removed from the collapse site. Officials estimate the total amount of wreckage at 50,000 tons (45,359 metric tons), about the equivalent of 3,800 loaded dump trucks.

Officials previously said they hoped to remove the Dali by May 10 and reopen the port’s 50-foot (15.2-meter) main channel by the end of May.

The Dali is currently scheduled to be refloated during high tide on Tuesday, officials said Sunday. They said three or four tugboats will be used to guide the ship to a nearby terminal in the Port of Baltimore. It will likely remain there for a few weeks and undergo temporary repairs before being moved to a shipyard for more substantial repairs.

The Dali crew members haven’t been allowed to leave the vessel since the disaster. Officials said they have been busy maintaining the ship and assisting investigators. Of the crew members, 20 are from India and one is Sri Lankan.

The National Transportation Safety Board and the FBI are conducting investigations into the bridge collapse.

Danish shipping giant Maersk chartered the Dali for a planned trip from Baltimore to Sri Lanka, but the ship didn’t get far. Its crew sent a mayday call saying they had lost power and had no control of the steering system. Minutes later, the ship rammed into the bridge.

Officials have said the safety board investigation will focus on the ship’s electrical system.

Removal of Francis Scott Key Bridge wreckage rescheduled due to lightning

IVAN PEREIRA and LEAH SARNOFF
Sun, May 12, 2024 

Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge removal has been rescheduled until Monday after lightning was spotted near the site on Sunday, officials told ABC News.

Engineers were scheduled Sunday to set off controlled explosives in the steel remains of the Key Bridge to help remove the debris from the freighter that crashed in March.

The removal process is rescheduled for Monday at 5:00 p.m., officials said.

Ongoing storms in the Baltimore and Washington D.C. region have delayed the demolition since Friday.

The explosives will split a large section of truss at specific locations to allow "salvors to use cranes and barges already on scene to remove these sections of the bridge and ultimately remove the MV Dali from the channel," Unified Command, the group in charge of the recovery and salvage operations, said in a statement.

PHOTO: Salvors with the Unified Command prepare charges for upcoming precision cuts to remove section 4 from the port side of the bow of the M/V DALI, April 21, 2024, during the Key Bridge Response 2024. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Christopher Rosario)

"By using precision cuts, we reduce risks to our personnel and can safely and efficiently continue clearing the channel for the Port of Baltimore," Capt. David O’Connell, the Key Bridge Response federal on-scene coordinator, said in a statement.

MORE: Baltimore bridge collapse timeline: Inside the cargo ship collision

Officials said hearing protection will not be required outside of a 2,000-yard radius of the site.

PHOTO: Salvors with the Unified Command prepare charges for upcoming precision cuts to remove section 4 from the port side of the bow of the M/V DALI, April 21, 2024, during the Key Bridge Response 2024. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Christopher Rosario)

"Sound levels outside of the noise radius will be no louder than a standard fireworks show and will last two to five seconds," Unified Command said.

A cellphone alert will go out to residents warning them about the explosion, Unified Command said.

The freighter has been stuck in the location ever since it slammed into the bridge during the early morning hours on March 26 after the vessel experienced a malfunction.

MORE: Containers being removed from ship that struck Baltimore bridge

Body camera footage of the incident, which was released Friday by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources in response to a public records request by ABC News, shows officers getting an up-close look at the location where the bridge once stood.

PHOTO: Wreckage removal is ongoing on the M/V DALI to prepare to refloat and remove the vessel from the Fort McHenry Federal Navigation Channel, April 21, 2024. (Christopher Rosario/U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District)

"There is no bridge," an officer can be heard saying. "The whole center span is gone completely. It’s in the water."

Another officer reported encountering a "large debris field" with containers on the side of the river closest to Baltimore. In one video, he can be heard shouting toward the freighter to ask if anyone was hurt. Someone aboard the ship responded that their finger was cut.

MORE: Body of 6th construction worker killed in Key Bridge collapse recovered

The bridge suffered a near-total collapse and caused massive logistical delays in the Port of Baltimore. Six construction workers who were on the bridge at the time were killed in the incident.

PHOTO: Salvors with the Unified Command prepare charges for upcoming precision cuts to remove section 4 from the port side of the bow of the M/V DALI, May 7, 2024, during the Key Bridge Response 2024. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Christopher Rosario)

The incident is still under investigation and the recovery efforts are ongoing.

ABC News' Beatrice Peterson, Jared Kofsky and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.



Body camera footage captures first responders' reactions in wake of Baltimore bridge collapse

Julia Gomez, USA TODAY
Sun, May 12, 2024 

Body camera footage caught the moment first responders were left shocked by the Baltimore bridge collapse.

"This is [expletive] bad," one officer is heard saying in the footage. "Like, there is no bridge."

In the video, which was originally published by The Baltimore Banner, an officer is heard stuttering while standing on a boat as he looks out to where the Francis Scott Key Bridge once stood.

"It's like something's missing here in the skyline..." said the officer. "The whole center span is gone completely. It's in the water."

The media outlet reports that at 5 a.m., the officer was talking on his cell phone. He stood on a boat that neared the collapsed bridge and spoke with someone who reported that everything was suspended until there was sunlight.
What happened during the bridge collapse?

On March 26, early in the morning, a 984-foot container ship struck the bridge, which left it in ruins. A video posted to YouTube shows how the bridge collapsed and plunged into the water that morning.

The incident killed six construction workers who were on the bridge fixing potholes.

On May 7, more than a month after the collapse, the final victim was recovered from the river according to police.

Salvage work continues on the Francis Scott Key Bridge on May 9, 2024. The major span over the Patapsco River in Baltimore collapsed on March 26, 2024 after it was struck by a Singapore-flagged container ship 'Dali’, killing six road workers who were on the bridge at the time.

 

Body of final worker killed in US bridge collapse recovered

By

 AFP

The body of the sixth and final victim who died after a container ship struck a bridge in the US city of Baltimore has been recovered, Maryland state authorities said Tuesday.

The Francis Scott Key Bridge, a major transit route into the busy port of Baltimore, collapsed on March 26 when the Dali container ship lost power and collided into a support column, killing six roadway construction workers.

The victim was identified by authorities as 37-year-old Jose Mynor Lopez, a construction worker from Baltimore, Maryland, who had been working on the bridge when it collapsed.

“Today, Jose Mynor Lopez, the sixth and final missing victim, was recovered,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon M Scott said on X, formerly Twitter.

The Unified Command, a joint task force made up of police, the coast guard and government agencies responding to the disaster, said Lopez’s family members had been notified.

Maryland State Police said the recovery of the body was a “milestone” in recovery efforts.

Work to fully reopen the shipping channel would continue “as we close this chapter in this (recovery) effort,” Scott said.

The 1,000-foot (300-meter) Dali ship had issued a Mayday call moments before the collision which gave police time to stop traffic to the bridge, likely saving lives.

But an eight-man construction crew repairing potholes on the bridge could not be reached in time, and plummeted with the tons of concrete and twisted steel into the Patapsco River. 

Two workers were rescued alive, one briefly hospitalized and the other uninjured.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Transportation Safety Board have both opened criminal investigations into the disaster.

 

Mayday Mayday Mayday

by Philip A. Faruggio / May 1st, 2024

Fifty four years ago today this writer was getting ready to hitchhike to classes at Brooklyn College. It was a sunny, blue sky, early Spring day, and the college was a few miles from our apartment building. This writer was into just two important things in May of 1970: Meeting girls (as we called them then) and preparing for our school’s first football schedule in over 15 years. Ah, to be twenty years old and looking “lean and mean” with my bellbottom jeans, longish, wavy hair, Joe-Namath green eyes, and white buck shoes. I was ready to Rock and Roll at the campus.

Hanging out on the campus that day, I first heard the news of President Nixon’s latest edict of sending US soldiers into the sovereign nation of Cambodia, along with our bombers, to rout the Vietcong. Up to that point, quite candidly, I cared too little (for my own good) about the shit that was going down in Nam. Why should I? My self-centered narcissism was on cruise control with my 2-S draft deferment. As long as I stayed in school and took at least 12 credit hours a term Uncle Sam could not touch me. The way I looked at it that would be at least three more years before I might be forced into uniform. Yet, when one of my old freshman baseball team pals gave me the lowdown on this latest dose of Nixonian craziness, I took notice… finally! My friend, Larry, in addition to his addiction to the trotters (harness racing) and his girlfriend, was the first “Lefty” I had ever met at school. All of my football team compatriots were not into any sort of politics at all. Why I don’t really know, but I was just like them at this time. Larry said that this latest news was just too much to take for any sane American.

We all got the news about the many college campuses throughout the nation where there were not only demonstrations, but student strikes as well. Everything accelerated when some of our college’s more radical students were demanding that all military recruiters must get off our campus… NOW! Having experienced a few guys from my neighborhood coming home in boxes now hit home with me… finally! I joined the ranks of the protestors and got myself deep into the strike that just like that fermented.

Before you know it I was up inside the school President’s office with a group of fellow strikers. The President had left his office, as had most of the other staff , including all of our professors and instructors. I organized a group of student strikers to join me in getting the campus grounds cleaned up of all the thousands of flyers throughout. I knew the local news would be there real soon, and wanted to show the world that protestors can be diligent in keeping things copacetic. A real trip was when I got a guy I knew from Buildings and Grounds, a handball buddy, to help us with the tools we needed to make things look normal.

The strike took a more ominous tone on May 4 when those four Kent State student protestors were shot dead by National Guardsman; I was just about the same age as them. The cops were soon called in, but our student strike had already petered out. You see, it’s tough to maintain such an energy when 100% of the student population are commuters. So, the war in Vietnam had finally reached many of us students. I for one grew up that May of 1970 to become what I am today, a lifelong Anti (Phony) War Activist.

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Philip A Farruggio is regular columnist on itstheempirestupid website. He is the son and grandson of Brooklyn NYC longshoremen and a graduate of Brooklyn College, class of 1974. Since the 2000 election debacle Philip has written over 500 columns on the Military Industrial Empire and other facets of life in an upside down America. He is also host of the It’s the Empire… Stupid radio show, co produced by Chuck Gregory. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net. Read other articles by Philip.

 The Origins and Traditions of May Day

I wrote the Origins and Traditions of Mayday in 1997. Yes way back then, it was one of my first web postings. It was used to launch MayDay on the Web and the Edmonton May Week celebrations that have continued since.

Here it is again and the original web page is here.

An Australian labour historian used it as the basis for his article on May Day which expands on my points.

THE ORIGINS AND TRADITIONS OF MAYDAY

By Eugene W. Plawiuk

The international working class holiday; Mayday,
originated in pagan Europe. It was a festive holy day
celebrating the first spring planting. The ancient
Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1st as Beltane or the
day of fire. Bel was the Celtic god of the sun.

The Saxons began their May day celebrations on the eve
of May, April 30. It was an evening of games and
feasting celebrating the end of winter and the return
of the sun and fertility of the soil. Torch bearing
peasants and villager would wind their way up paths to
the top of tall hills or mountain crags and then
ignite wooden wheels which they would roll down into
the fields

The May eve celebrations were eventually outlawed by
the Catholic church, but were still celebrated by
peasants until the late 1700's. While good church
going folk would shy away from joining in the
celebrations, those less afraid of papal authority
would don animal masks and various costumes, not
unlike our modern Halloween. The revelers, lead by the
Goddess of the Hunt; Diana (sometimes played by a
pagan-priest in women's clothing) and the Horned God;
Herne, would travel up the hill shouting, chanting and
singing, while blowing hunting horns. This night
became known in Europe as Walpurgisnacht, or night of
the witches

The Celtic tradition of Mayday in the British isles
continued to be celebrated through-out the middle ages
by rural and village folk. Here the traditions were
similar with a goddess and god of the hunt.

As European peasants moved away from hunting gathering
societies their gods and goddesses changed to reflect
a more agrarian society. Thus Diana and Herne came to
be seen by medieval villagers as fertility deities of
the crops and fields. Diana became the Queen of the
May and Herne became Robin Goodfellow (a predecessor
of Robin Hood) or the Green Man.

The Queen of the May reflected the life of the fields
and Robin reflected the hunting traditions of the
woods. The rites of mayday were part and parcel of
pagan celebrations of the seasons. Many of these pagan
rites were later absorbed by the Christian church in
order to win over converts from the 'Old Religion'.

Mayday celebrations in Europe varied according to
locality, however they were immensely popular with
artisans and villagers until the 19th Century. The
Christian church could not eliminate many of the
traditional feast and holy days of the Old Religion so
they were transformed into Saint days.

During the middle ages the various trade guilds
celebrated feast days for the patron saints of their
craft. The shoemakers guild honored St. Crispin, the
tailors guild celebrated Adam and Eve. As late as the
18th century various trade societies and early
craft-unions would enter floats in local parades still
depicting Adam and Eve being clothed by the Tailors
and St. Crispin blessing the shoemaker.

The two most popular feast days for Medieval craft
guilds were the Feast of St. John, or the Summer
Solstice and Mayday. Mayday was a raucous and fun
time, electing a queen of the May from the eligible
young women of the village, to rule the crops until
harbest. Our tradition of beauty pagents may have
evolved , albeit in a very bastardized form, from the
May Queen.

Besides the selection of the May Queen was the raising
of the phallic Maypole, around which the young single
men and women of the village would dance holding on to
the ribbons until they became entwined, with their (
hoped for) new love.

And of course there was Robin Goodfellow, or the Green
Man who was the Lord of Misrule for this day. Mayday
was a celebration of the common people, and Robin
would be the King/Priest/Fool for a day. Priests and
Lords were the butt of many jokes, and the Green Man
and his supporters; mummers would make jokes and poke
fun of the local authorities. This tradition of satire
is still conducted today in Newfoundland, with the
Christmas Mummery.

The church and state did not take kindly to these
celebrations, especially during times of popular
rebellion. Mayday and the Maypole were outlawed in the
1600's. Yet the tradition still carried on in many
rural areas of England. The trade societies still
celebrated Mayday until the 18th Century.

As trade societies evolved from guilds, to friendly
societies and eventually into unions, the craft
traditions remained strong into the early 19th
century. In North America Dominion Day celebrations in
Canada and July 4th celebrations in the United States
would be celebrated by tradesmen still decorating
floats depicting their ancient saints such as St.
Crispin.

Our modern celebration of Mayday as a working class
holiday evolved from the struggle for the eight hour
day in 1886. May 1, 1886 saw national strikes in the
United States and Canada for an eight hour day called
by the Knights of Labour. In Chicago police attacked
striking workers killing six.
The next day at a demonstration in Haymarket Square to
protest the police brutality a bomb exploded in the
middle of a crowd of police killing eight of them. The
police arrested eight anarchist trade unionists
claiming they threw the bombs. To this day the subject
is still one of controversy. The question remains
whether the bomb was thrown by the workers at the
police or whether one of the police's own agent
provocateurs dropped it in their haste to retreat from
charging workers.

In what was to become one of the most infamous show
trials in America in the 19th century, but certainly
not to be the last of such trials against radical
workers, the State of Illinois tried the anarchist
workingmen for fighting for their rights as much as
being the actual bomb throwers. Whether the anarchist
workers were guilty or innocent was irrelevant. They
were agitators, fomenting revolution and stirring up
the working class, and they had to be taught a lesson.

Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engle and Adolph
Fischer were found guilty and executed by the State of
Illinois.

In Paris in 1889 the International Working Men's
Association (the First International) declared May 1st
an international working class holiday in
commemoration of the Haymarket Martyrs. The red flag
became the symbol of the blood of working class
martyrs in their battle for workers rights.

Mayday, which had been banned for being a holiday of
the common people, had been reclaimed once again for
the common people.

 

Monday, May 01, 2006