#Thousands defy bans in France to rally against police violence

[puppyboyumi]

[TikTok video from AjPlus.

The caption: “This young activist (@khahliso.amahle) from South Africa is calling out double standards around support for protests in France vs those across Africa”]

(Transcript Start)

Khahliso Myataza: When Africans protest, we are barbaric. When French people and Europeans protest, it’s like, “Yeah! Let’s do it the way that French people are doing it—they’re doing it right!”

Narrator: This young activist is calling out double standards around support for protests in France vs. those across Africa.

Myataza: Hi, I’m Khahliso. I’m from Johannesburg, South Africa. There were protests in South Africa on the Monday I made that video. And then, in other parts of the continent, there were protests in Nairobi, Kenya, and in Lagos, Nigeria.

Narrator: Around the world, protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform bill have been celebrated as heroic. This wave of protest across France has been understood to form part of a longstanding tradition of French workers rising up to safeguard their rights. But protests in Africa rarely attract similar international attention and sometimes go unnoticed.

Myataza: Necropolitics and neocolonialism are killing us. So there is a certain urgency to our protests or to our struggles, right? And so, when our voices aren’t met with the urgency that we want, it is disheartening.

Narrator: Did you know that in November 2022 a nationwide strike took place in South Africa among unions that represent some 800,000 workers? Or what about the thousands of protesters who took to the streets of Kenya against the cost-of-living crisis in March 2023? Kenyan protesters even defied a government ban on rallies that came in after the protests began.

Narrator: But less coverage and support around protests in Africa isn’t the only thing troubling Myataza. She explains that how Africans and Black people globally are portrayed and perceived when they challenge systems of power is still influenced by violent colonial legacies.

Myataza: Media has the legacy of portraying African people as barbaric, whether it be through our protests [or] through the way that poverty is framed in our countries. And I do think that people need to understand that these come as a product of colonialism. This was how colonialism framed African people to be; It’s not just with Africans on the continent, you know—looking at how Black Lives Matter was framed, looking at how Haitian people are still demonized.

Narrator: How media chooses to cover a story influences public perception on events and people. Here’s one example: vandalism, property damage, and looting received widespread coverage at the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. during summer 2020. But it’s reported that at least 93% of the BLM protests that summer were peaceful. Nonetheless, negative images of violence and looting remain front and center for many—overshadowing the organized calls for an end to police violence in the U.S.

Myataza: French people being the face of resistance is something that angers me because they’re not the only people to have resisted oppressive forces. And as much as we praise the French, we should also be praising communities outside of Europe—people who are doing the same things, for people who are fighting other struggles, right?

Myataza: I’m not dismissing or invalidating the pain that French people have or the vitriol that they might have to their administration, but what they’re doing is not more, or it’s not, like, more special than what is happening on the African continent.

(End Transcript)

I’ve reblogged posts on this topic before, but this is always something that irks me with the hype around the French protests and riots, especially when someone says something along the lines of “Why haven’t Americans done this?” or “Americans are too damn weak. We should protest like the French!” Because, well, WE DID! The BLM protests, especially the few riots that occurred, were a call to action against an oppressive government, police force, and justice system.

They were killing us in the streets and our own homes and when we did the smallest “everyone’s idea of a revolution” shit like breaking a window or spray painting on walls or stealing a tv from Walmart, y’all wanted to switch up on us and tell us that we were going too far and overreacting. No matter how peaceful we are, how much abuse we take, how many of us are killed trying to be peaceful, the media will still paint us as “thugs,” and our murders will continue to be excused in some bullshit way all while we’re thrown scraps of “reform” to make us think we’ve won.

[newstfionline]

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Pandemic aftershocks overwhelm global supply lines (Washington Post) One year after the coronavirus pandemic first disrupted global supply chains by closing Chinese factories, fresh shipping headaches are delaying U.S. farm exports, crimping domestic manufacturing and threatening higher prices for American consumers. The cost of shipping a container of goods has risen by 80 percent since early November and has nearly tripled over the past year, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. The increase reflects dramatic shifts in consumption during the pandemic, as consumers redirect money they once spent at restaurants or movie theaters to the purchase of record amounts of imported clothing, computers, furniture and other goods. That abrupt and unprecedented spending shift has upended long-standing trade patterns. “It’s crazy. Prices are at record highs. Multiple things are happening all at once,” said Phil Levy, an economist with Flexport, a San Francisco-based freight forwarder. “People work off of expectations. But now there’s just so much uncertainty.” At the Port of Los Angeles one day last week, 42 ships were anchored offshore, waiting to unload their cargoes, even as every warehouse within 60 miles was already full. A shortage of dock workers amid California’s worsening coronavirus outbreak is further complicating operations; inbound cargo volumes in December were more than 23 percent higher than one year earlier. “Some areas of the supply chain need to be sharpened,” Gene Seroka, the port’s executive director, said. “People are a little bit on edge.” It’s a global problem, and it may get worse before it gets better.

Destructive protests by anarchists and extremists signal divided left as Biden administration begins (Washington Post) The hundreds of far-left and anarchist demonstrators who gathered in protest mere hours after President Biden swore the oath of office Wednesday signal a fracturing on the left that could become a scourge for the new administration, political leaders and experts say. Some activists are carrying their destructive tactics into a new administration to voice rejection of centrist ideologies they believe will do little to address existential worries over climate change, economic inequality, foreign wars and racism. The vandalizing of the Oregon Democratic Party headquarters by extreme-left demonstrators on Inauguration Day has split Portland liberals, and federal agents’ launching of tear gas at crowds that descended on the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters produced scenes reminiscent of similar summer standoffs ordered by President Donald Trump. In Seattle, a march organized by anarchists and the city’s Youth Liberation Front branch roved through neighborhoods, chanting expletives at both Trump and Biden, some breaking windows. James Ofsink, president of Portland Forward, a local advocacy group for liberal causes, said the growing tension in Portland’s progressive circles is emblematic of a larger tug of war happening in the nation. “Portland is going to continue to be a microcosm of the political divides, especially among the left, that we’re seeing across the country,” Ofsink said. “The idea that middle-of-the-road Democrats can say with a straight face that we need to take things slowly or do things in a very deliberate way rubs a lot of people the very wrong way.”

Trump’s coming impeachment trial aggravates rift among Republicans (Reuters) The coming second impeachment trial of former U.S. President Donald Trump on a charge of inciting the deadly storming of the Capitol has aggravated a rift among his fellow Republicans that was on full display on Sunday. At least one Republican, Senator Mitt Romney, said he believed the trial, which could lead to a vote banning Trump from future office, was a necessary response to the former president’s inflammatory call to his supporters to “fight” his election defeat before the Jan. 6 attack. Ten Republicans joined the House of Representatives in voting to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting insurrection. But a significant number of Republican lawmakers, concerned about Trump’s devoted base of voters, have raised objections to the impeachment. Trump is the first U.S. president to be impeached after leaving office. Senator Tom Cotton, another Republican, said the Senate was acting beyond its constitutional authority by holding a trial. “I think a lot of Americans are going to think it’s strange that the Senate is spending its time trying to convict and remove from office a man who left office a week ago,” Cotton told Fox News on Sunday. “I think the trial is stupid,” Republican Senator Marco Rubio told Fox News on Sunday, saying he would vote to end it at the first opportunity. “I think it’s counterproductive. We already have a flaming fire in this country and it’s like taking a bunch of gasoline and pouring it on top of the fire.”

Ununited Kingdom (Times of London) The UK is facing a constitutional crisis that will strain the Union as new polls reveal a majority of voters in Scotland and Northern Ireland want referendums on the break-up of Britain. A four-country survey we commissioned, based on separate polls in Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales, also found that the sense of British identity that once bound the country together is disintegrating. And in another significant move, the Scottish National Party (SNP) announced that it is prepared to call a wildcat referendum of its own if Boris Johnson refuses to grant one himself—a move that puts the two governments on a constitutional collision course.

Riots explode across Netherlands over covid restrictions (Washington Post) Dutch rioters who attacked police and destroyed property over the weekend while protesting new coronavirus measures are “criminals,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Monday, as law enforcement officials warned that the violence could last for weeks. The unrest across the Netherlands, some of the worst in decades, had “nothing to do with protest,” Rutte, who resigned last week following a scandal, told reporters outside his office in The Hague, news agencies reported. Protesters had gathered in defiance of lockdown orders in at least 10 towns and cities Sunday, looting stores and clashing with police after authorities imposed a new nighttime curfew — the first in the Netherlands since World War II. The violence continued Monday night in several cities, including Amsterdam and The Hague. The curfew, from 9 p.m. to 4:30 a.m., tightens an already-strict lockdown aimed at curbing coronavirus infections and comes amid fears that a new, more contagious variant, first identified in Britain, will cause a surge in cases.

In France, growing alarm over students’ well-being as pandemic pushes some to the brink (Washington Post) he hardships of university students during the pandemic have now reached the attention of the highest levels of the French government, with President Emmanuel Macron promising to provide more assistance. “You haven’t been forgotten,” he said this month. But students protesting de facto campus closures, seeking psychological support and lining up for free food handed out by private donors have come to a different conclusion. In a country that prides itself on having one of the world’s most generous public welfare systems, student food banks have become the most visible display of the economic impact of the pandemic on young people. After 10 months of varying degrees of isolation and restrictions, a less visible but increasingly worrisome mental health crisis is taking form among students, too. Some have been confined for months under lockdown or curfew in 97-square-foot dorm rooms off campus. New measures by Macron last week indicated growing alarm among French officials that financial distress and mental health are increasingly intertwined and are fueling one another. Students have written open letters asking French ministers for more support. Mental health hospitals have expanded their offerings to cope with a surge in demand among high school and university students. Some professors have themselves requested psychological support after finding their students in distress.

Navalny Protests Sweep Russia (Reuters) Russian authorities have attempted to deflect attention from Saturday’s nationwide street protests—the largest in years—by accusing the United States of interfering in the country. On Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the U.S. embassy in Moscow of fanning the flames of dissent by publishing protest times and routes (as part of a notice to avoid such gatherings) on the embassy website. “What was that: a setup or an instruction?” Zakharova told the Russian news agency TASS, adding that if the Russian embassy in Washington had done the same during U.S. protests “global hysteria” would ensue. The government’s rhetorical counters came after thousands of Russians across roughly 100 towns and cities protested amid freezing winter temperatures on Saturday, heeding a call from detained anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny to take to the streets to demand his release. Over 3,500 people were arrested during the protests, according to the monitoring group OVD Info—the most arrests the NGO had ever recorded in one day.

Angry farmers drive thousands of tractors into New Delhi (AP) Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day. They waved farm union flags from the ramparts of the fort, where prime ministers annually hoist the national flag to mark the country’s independence. Thousands more farmers marched on foot or rode on horseback while shouting slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. At some places, they were showered with flower petals by residents who recorded the unprecedented rally on their phones. Leaders of the farmers said more than 10,000 tractors joined the protest. For nearly two months, farmers have camped at the edge of the capital, blockading highways connecting it with the country’s north in a rebellion that has rattled the government. They are demanding the withdrawal of new laws which they say will commercialize agriculture and devastate farmers’ earnings.

Syrian refugees in Lebanon are under pressure as never before (Washington Post) Millions of Syrians have sought safety in Lebanon and across the region since the Syrian uprising began nearly a decade ago. Now they are stuck between untenable options: ongoing instability and violence back in Syria as President Bashar al-Assad consolidates control, and deteriorating conditions in cash-strapped Lebanon, where politicians are pressing refugees to leave. Syrians have long struggled in Lebanon, where about a million refugees make up some 20 percent of the population. But 2020 brought a new cascade of problems. The country’s financial system collapsed, and the prime minister resigned, ousted by protesters fed up with endemic corruption. Then the coronavirus hit, followed by the devastating Beirut port explosion, of which many Syrians were among the victims. In less than a year, the currency depreciated by more than 80 percent. Communities across Lebanon are hurting, especially Syrians, amid mounting competition for resources, said Elena Dikomitis, advocacy adviser for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Lebanon. “The landscape of needs in Lebanon has changed dramatically over the last year,” she said. “There are a lot of increasing tensions as one can expect over access to jobs, to aid, to basic services.” In October, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated that nearly 90 percent of Syrians in Lebanon lived below the extreme poverty line, up from 55 percent the year before. Already legally excluded from many jobs, 90 percent of Syrians reported losing their income or having salaries reduced, the agency found in July. [Many Lebanese want the refugees to go home. Syria, however, remains a very dangerous homeland.]

Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea (Reuters) Pirates are stepping up attacks on ships in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea, defying regional navies. On Saturday, pirates off Nigeria kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish container ship and killed one. Pirates in the Gulf of Guinea kidnapped 130 seafarers in 22 separate incidents last year, accounting for all but five of those seized at sea worldwide. The pirates come from Nigeria’s turbulent Niger Delta, experts say. The region produces the bulk of the nation’s petroleum, but is woefully underdeveloped, scarred by pollution and has some of the highest unemployment in the country. Bands of men desperate for money engage in a variety of illegal but lucrative activities, including kidnapping, stealing and refining oil, and piracy. Last year’s oil price crash and Nigeria’s second recession in five years worsened unemployment and economic hardship. Saturday’s attack, which took place 200 nautical miles offshore, reflected increasing sophistication, as vessels further from shore are less likely to have naval protection.

Satellites (Space.com) SpaceX launched a record 143 small satellites into orbit on Sunday, the most ever on a single rocket. The launch was the first mission where SpaceX ferried lots of satellites up rideshare-style along with 10 of its own Starlink internet satellites. In 2019, the company announced that at various points in the year smaller satellites could hitch a ride at launch for $1 million a pop. Among the payload was a South Korean military communications satellite, two Taiwanese satellites which will improve navigation, a payload called Celestis 17 containing cremated human remains, three Hawk 2 radio satellites and a cargo capsule for the space station. The team successfully recovered the Falcon 9’s first stage in the Atlantic, which was the 73rd recovery of a booster for the company.

[itsfinancethings]

(LONDON) — Anti-racism demonstrators held protests across the U.K. for a fourth weekend on Saturday, despite a ban on large gatherings because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Demonstrations inspired by the Black Lives Matter campaign were taking place in cities including London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Several thousand people gathered in London’s Hyde Park, sitting on the grass and listening to speakers, before setting off on a boisterous, peaceful march to Trafalgar Square. A smaller group marched from south London, near the U.S. Embassy.

“We are all here today because we know that black lives matter. We are all here today because we know that black is beautiful,” Imarn Ayton, one of the protest organizers, told the crowd in Hyde Park. “And we are all here today because we know that it is time to burn down institutional racism.”

The largely youthful crowds in London were smaller — and more socially distanced — than those seen in the first two weeks after Floyd’s death. Since then the protest movement has become more geographically widespread, with hundreds of demonstrations held in towns, cities and neighborhoods across the U.K.

Jeremy Mukel, 33, originally from New York, said he was encouraged by the number of white people among the protesters in London.

“I think people are becoming a lot more aware,” he said.

Hundreds attended a socially distanced Say No to Racism rally in Glasgow’s George Square, where earlier this week members of the far right attacked a refugee-rights gathering.

In Edinburgh, protesters including “Trainspotting” author Irvine Welsh called for the removal of a statue of Henry Dundas from its column in the city’s St. Andrew Square. The late 18th-century Scottish politician was responsible for delaying Britain’s abolition of the slave trade by 15 years until 1807. During that time, more than half a million enslaved Africans were trafficked across the Atlantic.

Hundreds of thousands of people have held mostly peaceful protests across Britain since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, urging the U.K. to confront its own history of imperialism and racial inequality.

After some protesters scuffled with police and defaced a statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London, and demonstrators in Bristol toppled a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, counter-protesters rallied last week with the stated aim of protecting monuments.

Hundreds of soccer hooligans and far-right activists clashed June 13 with police near the Churchill statue in London, which had been boarded up for protection.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced he is setting up a commission to look at what more can be done to eliminate racial injustice, but opponents accuse the Conservative government of opting for talk rather than action.

Protests were also being held Saturday in France, where hundreds of people in Paris marched against racism and police violence and in memory of Black men who have died following encounters with French police or under suspicious circumstances.

[hellofastestnewsfan]

PARIS — Tear gas choked Paris streets as riot police faced off with protesters setting fires Tuesday amid growing global outrage over George Floyd’s death in the United States, racial injustice and heavy-handed police tactics around the world.

French protesters took a knee and raised their fists while firefighters struggled to extinguish multiple blazes as a largely peaceful, multiracial demonstration degenerated into scattered tensions. Several thousand people defied a virus-related ban on protests to pay homage to Floyd and Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.

Electric scooters and construction barriers went up in flames, and smoke stained a sign reading “Restaurant Open” — on the first day French cafes were allowed to open after nearly three months of virus lockdown.

Chanting “I can’t breathe,” thousands marched peacefully through Australia’s largest city, while thousands more demonstrated in the Dutch capital of The Hague and hundreds rallied in Tel Aviv. Expressions of anger erupted in multiple languages on social networks, with thousands of Swedes joining an online protest and others speaking out under the banner of #BlackOutTuesday.

Diplomatic ire percolated too, with the European Union’s top foreign policy official saying the bloc was “shocked and appalled” by Floyd’s death.

Floyd died last week after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The death set off protests that spread across America — and now, beyond.

As demonstrations escalated worldwide, solidarity with U.S. protesters increasingly mixed with local worries.

“This happened in the United States, but it happens in France, it happens everywhere,” Paris protester Xavier Dintimille said. While he said police violence seems worse in the U.S., he added, “all blacks live this to a degree.”

Fears of the coronavirus remain close to the surface and were the reason cited for banning Tuesday’s protest at the main Paris courthouse, because gatherings of more than 10 people remain forbidden.

But demonstrators showed up anyway. Some said police violence worsened during virus confinement in working class suburbs with large minority populations, deepening a feeling of injustice.

As the Paris demonstration wound down, police fired volley after volley of tear gas and protesters threw debris. Police were less visible than usual at the city’s frequent protests. Tensions also erupted at a related protest in the southern city of Marseille.

The demonstrations were held in honor of Traore, who died shortly after his arrest in 2016, and in solidarity with Americans demonstrating against Floyd’s death.

The Traore case has become emblematic of the fight against police brutality in France. The circumstances of the death of the 24-year-old Frenchman of Malian origin are still under investigation after four years of conflicting medical reports about what happened.

The lawyer for two of the three police officers involved in the arrest, Rodolphe Bosselut, said the Floyd and Traore cases “have strictly nothing to do with each other.” Bosselut told The Associated Press that Traore’s death wasn’t linked with the conditions of his arrest but other factors, including a preexisting medical condition.

Traore’s family says he died from asphyxiation because of police tactics — and that his last words were “I can’t breathe.”

“I can’t breathe” were also the final words of David Dungay, a 26-year-old Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015 while being restrained by five guards.

As 3,000 people marched peacefully through Sydney, many said they had been inspired by a mixture of sympathy for African Americans and to call for change in Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population, particularly involving police. The mostly Australian crowd at the authorized demonstration also included protesters from the U.S. and elsewhere.

“I’m here for my people, and for our fallen brothers and sisters around the world,” said Sydney indigenous woman Amanda Hill, 46, who attended the rally with her daughter and two nieces. “What’s happening in America shines a light on the situation here.”

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump fanned anger by threatening to send in troops on American protesters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refrained from directly criticizing him and said the protests should force awareness of racism everywhere.

“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States,” he said after pausing 21 seconds before answering. “But it is a time for us as Canadians to recognize that we, too, have our challenges, that black Canadians and racialized Canadians face discrimination as a lived reality every single day. There is systemic discrimination in Canada.”

More protests in various countries are planned later in the week, including a string of demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies on Saturday.

The drama unfolding in the U.S. drew increasing diplomatic concern.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s remarks in Brussels were the strongest to come out of the 27-nation bloc, saying Floyd’s death was a result of an abuse of power.

Borrell told reporters that “like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.” He underlined that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said peaceful protests in the U.S. following Floyd’s death are “understandable and more than legitimate.”

“I can only express my hope that the peaceful protests do not continue to lead to violence, but even more express the hope that these protests have an effect in the United States,” Maas said.

More African leaders are speaking up over the killing of Floyd.

“It cannot be right that, in the 21st century, the United States, this great bastion of democracy, continues to grapple with the problem of systemic racism,” Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a statement, adding that black people the world over are shocked and distraught.

Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga offered a prayer for the U.S., “that there be justice and freedom for all human beings who call America their country.”

Like some in Africa who have spoken out, Odinga also noted troubles at home, saying the judging of people by character instead of skin color “is a dream we in Africa, too, owe our citizens.”

___

Associated Press writers Rick Rycroft in Sydney, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Peter Dejong in The Hague contributed.

from TIME https://ift.tt/308tse5

[newstechreviews]

PARIS — Tear gas choked Paris streets as riot police faced off with protesters setting fires Tuesday amid growing global outrage over George Floyd’s death in the United States, racial injustice and heavy-handed police tactics around the world.

French protesters took a knee and raised their fists while firefighters struggled to extinguish multiple blazes as a largely peaceful, multiracial demonstration degenerated into scattered tensions. Several thousand people defied a virus-related ban on protests to pay homage to Floyd and Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody.

Electric scooters and construction barriers went up in flames, and smoke stained a sign reading “Restaurant Open” — on the first day French cafes were allowed to open after nearly three months of virus lockdown.

Chanting “I can’t breathe,” thousands marched peacefully through Australia’s largest city, while thousands more demonstrated in the Dutch capital of The Hague and hundreds rallied in Tel Aviv. Expressions of anger erupted in multiple languages on social networks, with thousands of Swedes joining an online protest and others speaking out under the banner of #BlackOutTuesday.

Diplomatic ire percolated too, with the European Union’s top foreign policy official saying the bloc was “shocked and appalled” by Floyd’s death.

Floyd died last week after a police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes even after he stopped moving and pleading for air. The death set off protests that spread across America — and now, beyond.

As demonstrations escalated worldwide, solidarity with U.S. protesters increasingly mixed with local worries.

“This happened in the United States, but it happens in France, it happens everywhere,” Paris protester Xavier Dintimille said. While he said police violence seems worse in the U.S., he added, “all blacks live this to a degree.”

Fears of the coronavirus remain close to the surface and were the reason cited for banning Tuesday’s protest at the main Paris courthouse, because gatherings of more than 10 people remain forbidden.

But demonstrators showed up anyway. Some said police violence worsened during virus confinement in working class suburbs with large minority populations, deepening a feeling of injustice.

As the Paris demonstration wound down, police fired volley after volley of tear gas and protesters threw debris. Police were less visible than usual at the city’s frequent protests. Tensions also erupted at a related protest in the southern city of Marseille.

The demonstrations were held in honor of Traore, who died shortly after his arrest in 2016, and in solidarity with Americans demonstrating against Floyd’s death.

The Traore case has become emblematic of the fight against police brutality in France. The circumstances of the death of the 24-year-old Frenchman of Malian origin are still under investigation after four years of conflicting medical reports about what happened.

The lawyer for two of the three police officers involved in the arrest, Rodolphe Bosselut, said the Floyd and Traore cases “have strictly nothing to do with each other.” Bosselut told The Associated Press that Traore’s death wasn’t linked with the conditions of his arrest but other factors, including a preexisting medical condition.

Traore’s family says he died from asphyxiation because of police tactics — and that his last words were “I can’t breathe.”

“I can’t breathe” were also the final words of David Dungay, a 26-year-old Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015 while being restrained by five guards.

As 3,000 people marched peacefully through Sydney, many said they had been inspired by a mixture of sympathy for African Americans and to call for change in Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population, particularly involving police. The mostly Australian crowd at the authorized demonstration also included protesters from the U.S. and elsewhere.

“I’m here for my people, and for our fallen brothers and sisters around the world,” said Sydney indigenous woman Amanda Hill, 46, who attended the rally with her daughter and two nieces. “What’s happening in America shines a light on the situation here.”

Even as U.S. President Donald Trump fanned anger by threatening to send in troops on American protesters, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau refrained from directly criticizing him and said the protests should force awareness of racism everywhere.

“We all watch in horror and consternation what’s going on in the United States,” he said after pausing 21 seconds before answering. “But it is a time for us as Canadians to recognize that we, too, have our challenges, that black Canadians and racialized Canadians face discrimination as a lived reality every single day. There is systemic discrimination in Canada.”

More protests in various countries are planned later in the week, including a string of demonstrations in front of U.S. embassies on Saturday.

The drama unfolding in the U.S. drew increasing diplomatic concern.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell’s remarks in Brussels were the strongest to come out of the 27-nation bloc, saying Floyd’s death was a result of an abuse of power.

Borrell told reporters that “like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.” He underlined that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said peaceful protests in the U.S. following Floyd’s death are “understandable and more than legitimate.”

“I can only express my hope that the peaceful protests do not continue to lead to violence, but even more express the hope that these protests have an effect in the United States,” Maas said.

More African leaders are speaking up over the killing of Floyd.

“It cannot be right that, in the 21st century, the United States, this great bastion of democracy, continues to grapple with the problem of systemic racism,” Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a statement, adding that black people the world over are shocked and distraught.

Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga offered a prayer for the U.S., “that there be justice and freedom for all human beings who call America their country.”

Like some in Africa who have spoken out, Odinga also noted troubles at home, saying the judging of people by character instead of skin color “is a dream we in Africa, too, owe our citizens.”

___

Associated Press writers Rick Rycroft in Sydney, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Aritz Parra in Madrid, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Lorne Cook in Brussels, Peter Dejong in The Hague contributed.

[bountyofbeads]

🍁☕🍂🥐🍁☕🍂🥐🍁☕🍂🥐🍁☕

Iraq and Lebanon’s protesters may achieve what Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ could not

By Ishaan Tharoor | Published

November 04 at 12:59 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted Nov. 5, 2019

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President Trump has long decried the effects of Iran’s influence operations beyond its borders. On the campaign trail, he embraced the rhetoric of Washington’s hawks, casting his domestic rivals as timorous enablers of an Iranian project for Middle East hegemony. His decision to end American commitments to the nuclear deal forged between Tehran and world powers in 2015 was in part premised on the belief that the accord did not do enough to curb Iran’s support for proxy militias in countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.

Since then, the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign of sweeping sanctions has strangled Iran’s oil exports and enfeebled its economy. But it’s hardly put a dent in Iran’s “malign” regional behavior. On the contrary, as a summer of explosive stealth attacks showed, the current confrontation has only emboldened elements within the Iranian regime to up the ante and defy Washington’s challenge. Even as ordinary Iranians endure the hardships that followed Trump’s measures, the sanctions have not compelled Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, leader of the powerful paramilitary organization’s overseas arm, to scale back their activities.

But Soleimani’s agenda is nonetheless facing a serious threat — not via American confrontation, but popular unrest. Weeks of mass protests in Lebanon and Iraq have pitted an infuriated populace against an establishment they see as feckless and corrupt. The uprisings have also seen demonstrators openly reject the Iranian hand in their countries’ politics, which in both cases have democracies built around power-sharing agreements within diverse, multi-confessional societies.

And they’ve already scored significant victories: On Tuesday, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced his resignation, though he will stay on in a caretaker role as the government struggles to find a way out of a crisis it first sparked when it tried to levy a tax on WhatsApp phone calls. On Thursday, Iraqi President Barham Salih said that the government would overhaul the country’s electoral commission and draft a new electoral law — one of the demands of the protests — ahead of possible new elections. He indicated that Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, a target of popular ire, would stay on in his post only until a successor was identified.

But these steps did not mollify the rage on the streets. Mass protests took place in both countries over the weekend. Tens of thousands of Iraqis rallied in Baghdad’s central Tahrir Square on Saturday and in cities elsewhere, clamoring for more sweeping change. Clashes with security forces in the capital led to at least one death and dozens of injuries, adding to a death toll of around 250 people since the protests first flared last month. The violence is largely blamed on pro-Iranian militias that have operated alongside the Iraqi military in recent years and appeared to have gunned dow

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Turkey's Erdogan says Kurdish YPG have not left Syria 'safe zone'

By Nevzat Devranoglu, Ali Kucukgocmen | Published NOVEMBER 5, 2019 | Reuters | Posted Nov. 5, 2019 |

ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday the Kurdish YPG militia had not withdrawn from some Syrian border areas and that U.S. forces were still carrying out joint patrols with the group, contrary to an agreement between them.

He was speaking as Turkish and Russian soldiers in armored vehicles held their second joint ground patrol in northern Syria near the town of Kobani, under a deal to push the YPG some 30 km (19 miles) away from Turkey’s border.

Nearly a month ago, Turkey and Syrian rebel allies launched a cross-border incursion against Kurdish YPG fighters, seizing control of 120 km (75 miles) of land along the frontier.

Turkey subsequently struck two separate deals with the United States and Russia for the YPG to withdraw from the “safe zone” it plans to form in the region, in return for Ankara stopping its offensive against the group.

While Washington and Moscow have said the fighters had left the border region, Erdogan said this was not the case.

“These areas are not cleared of terrorists. Terrorists have not been taken out of either Tel Rifaat or Manbij,” Erdogan said, referring to two towns in the western border area where he said YPG fighters remained.

They were also still present east of Ras al Ain, a town Turkey targeted in the incursion, Erdogan said in parliament.

He said Turkey would abide by the deals as long as Washington and Moscow kept their promises.

He later told reporters that U.S. forces were still holding joint patrols with the YPG inside the 30-km border strip from which the militia was meant to withdraw.

“How can we explain America holding patrols with terrorist organizations in this region even though they made the decision to withdraw? This is not in our agreement,” he said.

Ankara considers the YPG a terrorist group because of its ties to militants who have waged an insurgency in southeast Turkey since 1984. U.S. support for the YPG, which was a main ally in the fight against Islamic State, has infuriated Turkey.

A survey by pollster Metropoll on Tuesday showed Turks’ support for Erdogan surged last month, when Ankara launched the incursion.

Erdogan’s approval rating rose by 3.7 points in October to 48%, the survey showed, its highest since shortly after last year’s elections. His disapproval rating fell 9.3 points to 33.7%, its lowest since a failed 2016 coup.

JOINT PATROL NEAR KOBANI

The joint Turkish-Russian patrol on Tuesday was launched some seven km (four miles) east of Kobani, a Syrian border town of special significance to the YPG, which fought off Islamic State militants trying to seize it in 2014-15. The patrol was completed in two hours, a witness said.

The Turkish Defence Ministry shared photos on Twitter showing Turkish and Russian soldiers meeting at the border and studying maps before the start of the patrol. It said drones were also taking part.

Russia is the Syrian government’s most powerful ally and since 2015 has helped it retake much of the country from rebels, turning the tide in the civil war. The Turkish-Russian deal enabled Syrian government forces to move back into border regions from which they had been absent for years.

Russian military police arrived in Kobani on Oct. 23 under the deal reached by Erdogan and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Ankara launched its offensive against the YPG following President Donald Trump’s abrupt withdrawal of 1,000 U.S. troops from northern Syria in early October. The YPG helped the United States smash the Islamic State caliphate in Syria.

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Iran takes new step away from nuclear deal by activating sensitive enrichment facility

By Erin Cunningham | Published November 05 at 9:20 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted Nov. 5, 2019 |

ISTANBUL —

Iran will begin injecting gas into centrifuges at its Fordow uranium-enrichment facility in its latest step away from the 2015 nuclear accord it struck with world powers, President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday.

In a televised address, Rouhani said that Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization would begin the new measures Wednesday, feeding gas to more than 1,000 centrifuges installed at the plant.

Iran’s envoy to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later announced that an official letter has been sent to the U.N. nuclear watchdog informing it that uranium hexafluoride gas would be injected into centrifuges at Fordow, starting the process usually used to produce enriched uranium.

Under the nuclear agreement, Iran is allowed to maintain 1,044 empty IR-1 centrifuges at Fordow and is banned from enriching uranium or even bringing uranium to the site for 15 years from the start of the accord. The site was revealed as a covert enrichment facility by Britain, France and the United States in 2009. It was constructed deep inside a mountain near the Iranian city of Qom.

It was unclear Tuesday if Iran would begin enriching uranium at the site. But experts said the move marked a significant escalation in Iran’s simmering confrontation with the West.

“We know how sensitive they are to the Fordow facility,” Rouhani said in his address, referring to Western powers that negotiated the deal.

But, he said, “when they begin living up to their commitments [under the agreement], then we will stop feeding gas to the centrifuges.

He added that the IAEA would be allowed to monitor the new activities.

Iran has taken several steps this year to reduce its nuclear obligations under the pact, which curbed Iran’s atomic energy program in exchange for widespread sanctions relief. The landmark accord was negotiated between Iran and world powers, including the United States under President Barack Obama.

President Trump, however, withdrew the United States from the agreement last year, reimposing a near-total trade embargo on the Iranian economy. The economic restrictions are part of what the administration has called a “maximum pressure campaign” against Iran to force it to renegotiate restraints on its nuclear activities, as well as its support for proxy forces in the region and ballistic missile construction.

Instead, Iran in recent months has exceeded caps on the size and purity of its enriched uranium stockpile and doubled the number of its advanced centrifuges.

“We have made clear that Iran’s expansion of uranium-enrichment activities in defiance of key nuclear commitments is a big step in the wrong direction, and underscores the continuing challenge Iran poses to international peace and security,” a State Department spokesman said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

“Iran has no credible reason to expand its uranium enrichment program,” the spokesman continued. “It is a clear attempt at nuclear extortion that will only deepen its political and economic isolation.”

Iranian officials have said that the moves are part of a bid to persuade European nations to offset the effects of U.S. sanctions. Iran has given Europe a series of 60-day deadlines to reset the terms of the deal, including facilitating the sale of Iranian oil, which is blocked under the U.S. embargo.

“We should be able to sell our oil, we should be able to make banking transactions, and all sanctions on other sectors should be lifted,” Rouhani said Tuesday. “Then we will return to our previous commitments.”

Despite the recent moves, Iran continues to enrich uranium far below the 90 percent level needed to produce a nuclear weapon, according to the IAEA. In its latest report in September, the agency said Iran was enriching uranium at 4.5 percent, sightly above the 3.67 percent cap established under the nuclear agreement.

In June, the agency reported that Iran had not conducted any uranium or related research at the Fordow plant.

“There has not been any nuclear material at the plant,” the report said.

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[wionews]

Ten news events that shaped the world in 2017

The year 2017 has a significant share of world events which has redefined the cultural and political boundaries of the world. From  Robert Mugabe's fall from grace to the rise of Catalan independence movement, many events in 2017 made headlines.

Below are the top ten news events that shaped the world in 2017:

Robert Mugabe's ouster: Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for thirty seven years and planned to rule for longer, even if that meant running the economy aground and becoming increasingly ruthless. The trigger was Mugabe favouring his wife, Grace Mugabe, to "usurp constitutional power" shoving aside his vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. Mugabe clung onto the presidency even after tanks rolled into the streets of country's capital Harare in November. Rather than going out quietly, the man known as "the Crocodile" - because of his ruthlessness - struck back by refusing to vacate his seat despite coming under tremendous pressure from his own party the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the members of the public who rallied behind for years. He quickly lost the support of his party, and after some hesitation, finally resigned. Zimbabweans rejoiced at the news of his ouster, and Mnangagwa promised to hold new elections next year. But if Mnangagwa's moves are anything to go by, he looks more like his former boss.

  Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, was forced of power in November. Mugabe is seen here with his wife Grace. (Reuters)

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  Harvey Weinstein's fall from grace: In early October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women had accused Harvey Weinstein, a prominent Hollywood film producer and executive, of engaging in sexual harassment, sexual assault, or rape. More than 80 women in the film industry subsequently accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein denied "any non-consensual sex". Shortly after the first allegations, Weinstein was dismissed by his company, The Weinstein Company, and expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations. Criminal investigations into complaints from at least six women are ongoing in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. The scandal triggered many similar allegations against powerful men around the world and led to the ousting of many of them from their positions. It also led a great number of women to share their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social media under the hashtag #MeToo. The scandal's impact came to be called the "Weinstein effect".

File photo of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. (Reuters)

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  The Rohingya crisis: The Rohingya may be the most persecuted minority group in the world. They have lived in Myanmar for centuries. The latest and ugliest surge of violence began in August when Rohingya began fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh telling stories of mass killings, systematic rape, and torture. At last count, more than 4,00,000 have fled Myanmar and thousands more have been displaced internally. The Myanmar military denies committing atrocities, insisting that it is combating attacks on police posts and army bases by Rohingya insurgents. But it's clear, as the US government has charged, that the Myanmar government is engaged in ethnic cleansing. Aung San Suu Kyi, a recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and Myanmar's most prominent political face, has done little publicly to end the violence.

Rohingya refugees stand in a queue at a refugee camp in Bangladesh (Reuters)

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  Saudi Arabia's modernisation: Back in June, Saudi Arabia's King Salman made thirty-two-year-old prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud his heir, after deposing the previous crown prince, the king's nephew, Mohammed bin Nayef. Prince Saud immediately got to work. His vehicle for remaking the country is Vision 2030, a two-year-old initiative that seeks to modernise Saudi Arabia's economy and society. The idea is to prepare the country for a post-oil future and to loosen its conservative social structure. The former goal has Saudi Arabia proposing to take its state-owned oil company, Saudi Aramco, public, while the latter has it allowing women to drive. Prince Saud moved quickly to consolidate power. In November, he had 11 of his cousins arrested on corruption charges (Their jail cell was a Ritz-Carlton). Some experts think that MBS - as the prince is colloquially known - is Saudi Arabia's best chance for a moderate and prosperous future. Others worry that he is reckless. A lot depends on which side is right.

File photo of Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud. (Reuters)

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  Hassan Rouhani's election win: Riding a large turnout from Iran's urban middle classes, Rouhani won re-election in a landslide, giving him the mandate to continue his quest to expand personal freedoms and open Iran's ailing economy to global investors. Out of 41 million votes cast, Rouhani won 23 million (or 57 per cent), soundly defeating his chief opponent, Ebrahim Raisi, who received 15.7 million (38.5 per cent). Turnout was heavy, with more than 70 per cent of Iran's 56 million voters casting ballots. After his victory, he said after invoking the name of God, "With more than 41 million of your votes, you have pulled out the history of our country away from inertia and doubt." Rouhani, long known as a cautious and mild-mannered establishment insider, reinvented himself as a bold champion of reform during the election campaign, which culminated in his victory. In his first televised speech after the result, Rouhani appeared to openly defy conservative judges by praising the spiritual leader of the reform camp, former President Mohammad Khatami. A court has banned quoting or naming Khatami on air.

Hassan Rouhani won this year's Iran re-election in a landslide (Reuters)

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  Emmanuel Macron winning France's election: Macron, the pro-European centrist, resoundingly won France's landmark presidential election, heading off a fierce challenge from the far-right in a pivotal vote for the future of the divided country and Europe. The victory was an extraordinary rise for the 39-year-old former investment banker, who became country's youngest-ever leader. The result resonated worldwide, particularly in Brussels and Berlin, where leaders heaved a sigh of relief that Le Pen's anti-EU, anti-globalisation programme has been defeated. After Britain's vote last year to leave the EU and Donald Trump's victory in the US, the French election was widely watched as a test of how high a tide of right-wing nationalism would rise. Outgoing President Francois Hollande, who plucked Macron from obscurity to name him minister in 2014, said voting "is always an important, significant act, heavy with consequences" as he cast his vote.

File photo of France President Emmanuel Macron (Reuters)

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  Catalan independence movement: Although deemed illegal by the Spanish government and Constitutional Court, the referendum was held on October 1, 2017. In a vote where the anti-independence parties called for non-participation, results showed a 90 per cent vote in favour of independence, with a turnout of 43 per cent. Based on this result, on October 27, 2017, Catalonia's Parliament approved a resolution creating an independent Republic unilaterally, by a vote considered illegal by Spain's Parliament. On October 10, 2017, in the aftermath of the referendum, the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Carles Puigdemont, declared the independence of Catalonia but left it suspended. On October 21, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that he planned to remove Puigdemont and the rest of the Catalonian administration from office, with the central government in Madrid directly ruling over Catalonia until a new President is elected. On October 27, 2017, the Catalan Parliament voted in a secret ballot to approve a resolution declaring independence from Spain by a vote of 70-10 in the absence of the constitutionalist deputies, who refused to participate in a vote considered illegal for violating the decisions of the Constitutional Court of Spain. On December 21, snap polls were held in Catalonia and the pro-independence parties won the majority, though the Catalan Republic is still unrecognised by the international community.

A woman casts her ballot in Catalonia's regional elections on December 21. (Reuters)

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  North Korea defies the world: Successive US presidents have insisted that they would prevent North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. They backed that up by offering carrots, imposing sanctions, and threatening military action. But North Korea hasn't listened. In early September, North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test. Three months later, it tested a ballistic missile that looks capable of hitting any US city. President Trump says he will stop North Korea in its tracks, vowing that North Korea "will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen," tweeting that "military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded," and calling North Korean leader Kim Jung-un "Little Rocket Man".

People in Seoul watch the news about North Korea's launch of ICBM. (Reuters)

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  Xi Jinping's "extraordinary elevation": Xi's biggest success came in October at the nineteenth Chinese Communist Party Congress. It was a coronation. Xi was named to his second five-year term as party general secretary. He was also named a "core leader," a title denied to his immediate predecessor, Hu Jintao. The Congress also wrote "Xi Jinping Thought" into the party's constitution, an honour previously bestowed only on Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Best of all for Xi, the congress ended without naming anyone as his successor. When Trump called Xi "king of China" during his November "state visit-plus," he wasn't far off the mark. Xi is China's most powerful leader since Mao, and he's likely to be around for a while.

File photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Reuters)

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  Donald Trump's inauguration: Donald Trump campaigned on a pledge to do things differently and to do different things in foreign policy. He has been good to his word since getting to the White House. He has canceled US participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement, refused to certify that Iran is in compliance with its nuclear obligations, recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, ramped up the use of drones, and relegated democracy and human rights to the sidelines of US foreign policy. To be sure, Trump hasn't enacted all of his campaign promises. He beefed up rather than withdraw US troops from Afghanistan, and he hasn't declared China a currency manipulator or kicked NAFTA to the curb. But his tough campaign trade talk may soon be US policy. Trump is poised to take punitive actions against Chinese trade practices, his demands for a revamped NAFTA look to be unacceptable to Canada and Mexico, and he's waging a low-level war against the World Trade Organisation.

File photo of US President Donald Trump. (Reuters)

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  Other stories of note in 2017: In January, Antonio Guterres became the ninth secretary general of the United Nations. In February, Israel announced plans for its first new settlement in the West Bank in more than twenty years. Violent protests wracked Venezuela in April, a critical point in the country's constitutional crisis. The G-20 met in Hamburg in July and failed to agree on climate action. In November, thousands attended a far-right nationalist rally in Warsaw. The Australian Parliament voted in December to legalise same-sex marriage, making Australia the twenty-fifth country to do so.

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[wionews]

Several hundred thousand Catalans rally against 'occupation forces'

Several hundred thousand Catalans rallied Tuesday in fury at police violence against voters during a banned independence referendum, as Madrid accused regional authorities of "inciting rebellion".

Crowds yelled for national security forces to get out of the region, branding them "occupation forces", as the national government's standoff with the region dragged Spain deeper into its worst political crisis since emerging from dictatorship in 1977.

Demonstrators including students and young families filled the streets in the regional capital Barcelona waving red- and yellow-striped Catalan flags.

"Closed for revolution," read one banner in the crowd.

Barcelona football club refused to train

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Barcelona football club refused to train as part of an accompanying strike, which officials said slowed down public transport and freight shipments in the port of Barcelona.

"On October 1 we became an occupied country, and they still have not left," said one protester in Barcelona, 56-year-old schoolteacher Antonia Maria Maura, referring to the police sent to prevent Sunday's vote.

Police besieged Pictures of police beating unarmed Catalan voters with batons and dragging some by the hair during Sunday's ballots drew international criticism.

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas warned Monday that "violence can never be an instrument in politics".

But tensions rose further overnight as Catalans defied the Spanish government's vows to keep Catalonia as one of Spain's regions.

Protesters besieged Catalan hotels where state security forces were lodged, police groups said.

"They are fleeing from hotel to hotel, they are like rats who have to hide," said the spokesman for Spain's main police union SUP, Ramon Cosio.

He warned that the state was losing control of security.

At least one hotel said local authorities had ordered it to ask the police staying there to leave.

- 'Inciting rebellion' - Spain's national government and courts have ruled the independence referendum illegal and Madrid blames the Catalan regional authorities for the tensions.

"We see how day after day the government of Catalonia is pushing the population to the abyss and inciting rebellion in the streets," Spain's Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said on Tuesday.

He said his government would take "all measures necessary to stop acts of harassment".

Tourist sites closed Claims for independence for Catalonia date back centuries but have surged during recent years of economic crisis.

A rich industrial region of 7.5 million people that accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy, it has its own language and cultural traditions.

Catalan pro-separatist trade unions, schools and cultural institutions called Tuesday's stoppage to "vigorously condemn" the police response to the poll.

Catalan regional leader Carles Puigdemont said nearly 900 people had received medical attention on Sunday, though regional authorities confirmed a total of 92 injured. Four were hospitalised, two in serious condition

Schools and some businesses shut down during  Tuesday's strike. Protesters stood on roads and highways across Catalonia, blocking traffic. On the  highway linking Barcelona to France two youths set up a folding table and played chess.

Tourist sites like the city's emblematic Sagrada Familia Church were closed.

At the city's Sants train station all shops remained open except for the one run by Barcelona football club, which issued a statement saying both its professional and youth teams would not train on Tuesday.

- Emergency talks - The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy held emergency talks after Puigdemont declared Sunday that Catalonia had "won the right to an independent state". 

Puigdemont has appealed for international mediation to help solve the crisis.

The regional government said 2.26 million people took part in the poll, or just over 42 percent of the electorate.

But any attempt to unilaterally declare independence is likely to be opposed not just by Madrid but also a large section of the Catalan population, which polls indicate is split on the issue.

Puigdemont has said he will now present the results to the region's parliament, where separatist lawmakers hold a majority, and which has the power to adopt a motion to declare independence.

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