From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps.

And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in the 1960s and 1980s.

But authorities have cracked down at some institutions against the peaceful demonstrations with at least 550 being arrested in the US, reports Al Jazeera.

Clashes between students and police officers have been reported across the US during intensifying university protests with encampments in at at least 20 institutions.

Ali Harb, a Washington-based commentator on US foreign policy, Arab-American issues, civil rights and politics, says the Gaza-focused campus protest movement “highlights a generational divide over Israel” in the US.

Young people are willing to challenge politicians and college administrators across the country, he says.

“The opinion gap — with younger Americans generally more supportive of Palestinians than the generations that came before them — poses a risk to 81-year-old Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election chances,” says Harb.

“It could also threaten the bipartisan backing that Israel enjoys in Washington.”

Divestment from Israel
What started as the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, where students camped inside campus to push their institute to divest from companies linked to Israel, has since spread to campuses in California, Texas and other states.

The students are protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 34,000 people and its blockade has caused starvation.

Students have been demonstrating worldwide in support of Gaza since the outbreak of the war on October 7.

Following the Columbia encampments, the protests have further spread to universities from France to Australia. Here is a summary:

In Paris, France, Sorbonne University students have taken to the streets. Additionally, the Palestine Committee from Sciences Po, is organising a protest where students set up about 10 tents on Wednesday. Despite a police crackdown, the protesters regathered on Thursday.

In Australia, students from the University of Sydney set up pro-Palestine encampments on Tuesday, and they were continuing to protest yesterday. Also, University of Melbourne students have pitched tents on the south lawn of their main campus.

In Rome, Italy, students from Sapienza University organised demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes on April 17 and April 18.

Investigating Israeli ties
In the United Kingdom, students from the University of Warwick’s group Warwick Stands With Palestine have occupied the campus piazza. In Leicester, a protest broke out on Monday in which students from the University of Leicester Palestine Society also participated.

Last month, students from the University of Leeds occupied a campus building in protest against the university’s involvement with Israel.

Hicham, a student protesting at Sciences Po, which is also called the Paris Institute of Political Studies, told Al Jazeera, “We have a few demands but one of them is to start investigating all of the ties they [Sciences Po] have with the state of Israel, which [are] academic and financial”.

The students are calling on the French government to provide more help to the Palestinians.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

American expats are feeling grateful to be living in Aotearoa after watching the chaos and violence unfold at the Capitol building in Washington.

Madeline Nash, her husband, and her two children looked at moving to New Zealand after the 2016 presidential election.

Her eldest child was just about to start school and during the hour-long school tours they went on, 20 minutes were spent explaining the school’s shooter protocol.

They finally made the big move to Auckland from Austin, Texas, in 2018.

Although she is not surprised, she said what was happening in Washington, DC, was far worse than they had ever imagined.

“To actually see that people have taken it so far that they are willing basically, I would say to hop over the line to sedition and treason, they’re really just trying to tear down the country.”

Nash said partisan politics had become extremely polarising in the US but living in New Zealand was like being in an alternate reality.

“I’m glad that we have this ability to be here and our children are a bit sheltered from what’s going on, but as an adult it is very hard to be straddling both worlds right now.”

US ‘in shambles’
Jade De La Paz is an American citizen who moved to Dunedin to complete her PhD at Otago University.

She has been feeling stressed and can’t take her eyes off the news.

“We just had this huge victory and now the whole country is falling apart, but there’s nothing I can do from here except for vote.

“You’re sitting here thinking my country is in shambles,” De La Paz said.

Katie Smith moved from Southern California to Auckland in 2017 with her New Zealand partner and is flabbergasted.

“I want to know what alternate reality these people live in.”

While Smith is a Democrat, much of her family are Republicans, but even they don’t agree with what is happening.

“It’s not about and it hasn’t been about politics for a very long time. it’s about being a decent human being.”

Smith said that everything that has been happening in the US has been affecting her mental health.

“I can’t see things getting better for the States any time soon.”

She said she is grateful to be living in Auckland here at the moment and wishes she could move her friends and family living in the US to New Zealand.

In the 2018 census more than 16,000 people living in New Zealand identified as American.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announced today that Armed Response Teams will not be part of the New Zealand policing model in the future.

A trial of the teams of police carrying firearms (ARTs) were launched in Counties Manukau, Waikato and Canterbury last year and ended in April.

In recent days, mass protests across New Zealand against police brutality – sparked by the killing of African-American George Floyd in the US on May 25 – have renewed opposition to armed police and the response teams specifically.

READ MORE: Democrats to unveil sweeping police reforms in US in wake of Black Lives Matter protests

Commissioner Coster said the decision to scrap the teams was based on preliminary findings from the trial evaluation – which is yet to be completed – feedback from the public, and consultation with community forum groups.

“It is clear to me that these response teams do not align with the style of policing that New Zealanders expect,” Coster said.

“We have listened carefully to that feedback and I have made the decision these teams will not be a part of our policing model in the future,” he said.

“As part of this, I want to reiterate that I am committed to New Zealand Police remaining a generally unarmed police service.”

Valued community relationships
Commissioner Coster said police valued their relationships with the various communities they served, and this meant working with them to find solutions that worked for both.

“How the public feels is important – we police with the consent of the public, and that is a privilege,” Coster said.

The trial aimed to have specialist police personnel ready to deploy and support frontline staff in critical or high risk incidents.

“We can only keep New Zealanders safe if we can keep our staff safe too,” he said.

“That is why police has invested in the new body armour system, we have strengthened training, and given our officers more tools and tactical options.”

Police were looking into “broad tactical capability” to ensure critical response options remained fit for purpose, he said.

“We will still complete the evaluation into ARTs and that will now inform the wider tactical capability work programme.”

Any further options arising from this would undergo consultation with communities, Coster said.

Opposition to trials
There had been widespread opposition to the trials, including a Waitangi Tribunal claim being filed by justice advocates arguing the Crown breached Te Tiriti o Waitangi by failing to work in partnership with, consult, or even inform Māori about the trial.

Māori Associate Professor of Law Dr Khylee Quince said the new Police Commissioner had clearly “read the room” in deciding to scrap ARTs.

She said Māori and Pasifika communities were already at the receiving end of a disproportionate amount of police force and adding guns to the mix would have only led to a death.

“It’s important we have a police force that not only the public trusts but that commits to the kind of policing we want in New Zealand.

“And we’ve had a clear public message that people do not want routine arming or militarisation of New Zealand police.”

She said if the ARTs had been rolled out as a permanent fixture it would have only been a matter of time before someone was killed.

‘Someone was going to get harmed’
“I don’t buy the fact that the police only drew their firearms five times. At some stage someone was going to harmed.

“I think the fact that the trial was only six months is the only reason there wasn’t a fatality in that time.”

Last week, Labour Māori Caucus said they had met with Police Minister Stuart Nash and made their views opposing the general arming of the police force very clear.

“While the decision to deploy the ART trial was independently made by the then commissioner of police, and not a government initiative, we as a caucus acknowledge the general feeling of lack of consultation about the trial that exists – especially within Māori,” Labour Māori caucus co-chair Willie Jackson said.

A survey on on the ARTs found 85 percent of participants did not support the trial.

Justice reform advocate Laura O’Connell Rapira said 91 percent of people surveyed were less likely to call the police in family violence situations if they knew the police had guns.

‘Better off’ without armed police
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said she welcomed the decision and communities were “better off” without ARTs.

“This is something to celebrate. We commend the New Zealand Police for listening to the public outcry during and after the ART trials. They have listened to the community, and made the right call,” Davidson said.

“This decision today reinforces the need for people to make their voices heard. We know that people of colour, in particular black and brown communities, do not feel protected with armed police on patrol.”

However, Davidson said there were still systemic problems police needed to address.

“There is still work to do in terms of ending systemic discrimination and systemic racism within the police, it has been well established that is still continuing and that’s why the further arming of police was heading in the wrong direction,” she said.

She said more holistic solutions were needed instead to keep communities safe, such as mental health and youth support.

The party’s justice spokesperson, Golriz Ghahraman, said the move was a step “against the American-style militarisation” of the police force.

National Party police spokesperson, Brett Hudson also agreed that the commissioner made the right choice, saying that firearms were already available to police when needed for public safety.

• This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.
• If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre.
• Follow RNZ’s coronavirus newsfeed

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The organisers of Black Lives Matter protests in several main centres will not be prosecuted.

On Monday, thousands gathered at several events around the country for Black Lives Matter marches in solidarity with protesters in the United States after the police killing of George Floyd.

The protests prompted calls from Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters to prosecute the event organisers for flouting alert level 2 rules around social distancing and mass gathering rules.

READ MORE: US protesters defy curfew as Trump decries ‘lowlifes’

National Party leader Todd Muller told RNZ he thought the Black Lives Matter protests made a mockery of the Covid-19 alert levels and accused the government of sending mixed messages.

Assistant Commissioner Lauano Sue Schwalger said police would speak to organisers to set clear expectations for any further protests.

She said organisers made an effort to ensure participants complied with level 2 rules, such as providing hand sanitiser and encouraging people to maintain social distancing.

“It was an unfortunate reality, with the numbers of people who attended, that this quickly became impractical.”

Schwalger said police always acted in accordance with the situation at hand.

“In these circumstances, it was probable that attempts to enforce alert level 2 would have caused tension in an otherwise peaceful protest, without being effective to enhance physical distancing, given the numbers in attendance.”

• This article is republished by the Pacific Media Centre under a partnership agreement with RNZ.
• If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, call the NZ Covid-19 Healthline on 0800 358 5453 (+64 9 358 5453 for international SIMs) or call your GP – don’t show up at a medical centre.
• Follow RNZ’s coronavirus newsfeed

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The death of African-American man George Floyd at the hands of police has sparked protests across the United States and inspired many people to reflect on our own history of police violence against Indigenous people in Australia and New Zealand.

After thousands marched across New Zealand on Monday, a series of rallies and vigils are planned in Australian cities this week, and many have wondered: how should we safely protest during a pandemic?

As an infection prevention researcher, I am, of course, genuinely worried by the prospect of large crowds gathering. But I also completely understand why people want to go and make their feelings known on racism – not just in Australia and New Zealand, but internationally.

READ MORE: US protesters teargassed for Trump photo-op

It is a clash when we are trying to manage covid-19 and puts us in a dilemma.

But I can’t stand and judge people who want to go.

Colleagues in the US who are so moved by what’s happening there are forgoing their social distancing and putting themselves and their colleagues at risk by attending the protests. For them, it is a personal decision and a risk they are prepared to take.

In New Zealand, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said while “I utterly understand” why people had marched, New Zealand had social distancing rules in place to protect people’s health – and the June 1 marches were “a clear breach of them”.

If we had one person, one person in that crowd, just think what could happen there because we’ve seen it before […] I understand the strength of feeling and I understand the sentiment and I understand that sense of urgency that everyone felt. But my job is to look after the country’s health as well.

NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says while she doesn’t want to stop peaceful protests, the June 1 Black Lives Matter protests across NZ were a “clear breach” of COVID-19 rules.

In Australia, people should remember many states have strict rules about public gatherings and it’s likely you’ll be breaching them if you attend a protest. In Victoria, there’s a limit of 20 people at an outdoor gathering. For NSW the limit is 10, while in Queensland the limit is 20.

Remember, coronavirus is spread via close contact, so you are significantly increasing your risk of infection if you are in a large crowd.

All that said, if you’re considering attending a protest, here are four things to think about

1. Is there another way I can show support?
Given I’m an infection prevention researcher, working to prevent the spread of covid-19, I have to say this: if there is any other way you can show support, other than attending a mass gathering – whether that’s donating to a group doing good work, doing any sort of online protest or whatever option you can find – you should consider it.

Think about whether you yourself are at higher risk – by being older or immuno-compromised, for example – and whether there is a more sustainable way for you to support a movement you care about.

2. Think about how you’ll get there
Plan your trip to and from the protest carefully. Avoid crowded public transport – consider driving or riding a bike if possible – and follow social distancing rules if you must travel by bus, train or tram.

Make sure you bring hand sanitiser and use it liberally. Wash hands as soon as you get home.

3. If you go, observe social distancing

If you’re in Australia, download and use the COVIDSafe app. Try as best you can to observe social distancing at any event you attend. That means staying at least 1.5 metres apart from everyone else (or 2 metres in New Zealand) whether you are standing in an open space or marching down a street.

Remember that coronavirus is spread by droplets released when people breathe, talk, cough, sneeze, sing or shout in close proximity to others. No hugging to demonstrate solidarity.

When you get lots of people together and emotions run high, things can go awry very quickly. I’d be prepared to leave the demonstration if I started to get concerned about the proximity of people around me. There’s a risk more people will turn up than you or the event organisers anticipated; if there are bigger crowds than expected, be prepared to make a decision to head home.

A mask alone will not protect you, they’re only one piece of the armoury and are only useful if you socially distance and wash hands as well. If you throw yourself into a situation where you are close to other people, a mask will not be enough to protect you or others.

4. Do not attend if you feel unwell or have any covid-19 symptoms
This should go without saying: absolutely stay home, no matter how strongly you feel about the issue, if you have any symptoms, such as a sore throat or a cough.

Indigenous Australians are an at-risk demographic for covid-19, as are Māori and Pasifika, so you need to think carefully about the risk you may pose to others if you turn up while experiencing symptoms.

If there was to be a small cluster in one of these protests, and the virus was passed to an Indigenous community, the effects could be devastating.

If you feel that compelled to attend a demonstration, think about anything you can do to minimise the chances of spread, or you will undo the gains Australia and New Zealand have made in keeping the coronavirus spread under control.

Dr Philip Russo, is associate professor and director of Cabrini Monash University Department of Nursing Research, Monash University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The protests were triggered by the killing by Minneapolis police officers of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, as they arrested him on May 25.

So far at least 68 incidents have been documented of attacks by police and protesters alike against journalists covering the protests.

They have been shot by rubber bullets and pepper balls, exposed to tear gas and pepper spray, beaten, threatened and intimidated and had their news vehicles vandalised, simply for doing their jobs.

“President Trump’s demonization of the media for years has now come to fruition, with both the police and protesters targeting clearly identified journalists with violence and arrests,” said Christophe Deloire, RSF’s secretary general.

“It has long been obvious that this demonisation would lead to physical violence. RSF has warned about the consequences of this blatant hostility towards the media, and we are now witnessing an unprecedented outbreak of violence against journalists in the US.

“RSF calls on all US authorities to ensure the full protection of journalists and honour the country’s founding principles in respecting press freedom,” Deloire added.

Among serious attacks
Among the most serious attacks:

·       In Minneapolis, Linda Tirado, has been left permanently blind in one eye after being struck by what she believes was a rubber bullet fired by police officers as she photographed protests.

·       In Pittsburgh, Ian Smith – a photojournalist for KDKA TV – posted to Twitter that he had been “attacked by protesters downtown by the arena. They stomped and kicked me. I’m bruised and bloody but alive. My camera was destroyed. Another group of protesters pulled me out and saved my life.”

·       In Phoenix, CBS reporter Briana Whitney was tackled live on air as a protester made a grab for her microphone.

·       In Washington, D.C., Fox News reporter Leland Vittert and his crew were punched, hit by projectiles, and chased by protesters who had gathered outside the White House.

Reports are also emerging of arrests and detention of journalists by police.

In Minneapolis, Australian 9News US correspondent Tim Arvier was detained by police at gunpoint.

Arrested for ‘failure to disperse’
In Las Vegas, freelance photojournalist Bridget Bennett was arrested for “failure to disperse” and held overnight while working on assignment for AFP.

Ellen Schmidt, a photojournalist at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, was also arrested and held overnight in Las Vegas.

RSF calls for urgent action by US authorities to ensure the safety of journalists covering the continuing protests, including a moratorium on the arrests of journalists and immediate guidance to police making it clear that journalists are not to be shot at or otherwise directly targeted by crowd-control measures, and that journalists must be protected from violent attacks by protesters.

The US is ranked 45th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2020 World Press Freedom Index.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz