Dozens of demonstrators in Peckham surround coach, preventing it from taking people to barge in Dorset
Hundreds of protesters have blocked an attempt to collect asylum seekers from a London hotel and take them to the Bibby Stockholm barge.
Arrests were made as police waded into the crowd blocking the road near a Best Western hotel in Peckham. It was not until 3pm, seven hours after it turned up, that the coach sent for the asylum seekers was able to leave the area – without asylum seekers onboard – and a number of police vans carrying protesters who had been detained were also able to leave.
A total of 45 people were arrested for offences including obstruction of the highway, obstructing police and assault on officers, according to the Met.
The home secretary, James Cleverly, condemned the protesters and said they “will not … deter us from doing what is right for the British public”. But the scenes illustrated the challenges the government may yet face when it comes to carrying out deportations to Rwanda.
It emerged on Thursday that the Home Office was abandoning plans to move asylum seekers in Margate to the Bibby Stockholm in the wake of protests there.
The infant triplets of Palestinian mother Nuzha Awad face the threat of dying from malnutrition and lack of medical care due to constant Israeli attacks and blockades as they take shelter in Nuseirat camp in Deir al Balah, Gaza on March 25, 2024. (Photo: Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“And it’s moving its way south,” she warned.
United Nations World Food Program Executive Director Cindy McCain said Friday that Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip are experiencing “full-blown famine” after nearly seven months of Israeli bombardment and invasion—and that deadly malnutrition is “moving its way south” through the embattled enclave.
While U.N. agencies have warned since March that famine was imminent in Gaza, McCain’s remarks—which came during an interview with Kristen Welker that is scheduled to air on Sunday’s edition of NBC News‘ “Meet the Press”—make her the most high-profile international official to date to publicly acknowledge a state of famine in parts of the Palestinian territory.
“It’s horror,” said McCain, who is American. “There is famine—full-blown famine—in the north, and it’s moving its way south.”
UN World Food Program @WFPChief: “There is famine — full-blown famine — in the north of Gaza, and it’s moving its way south.”
McCain’s remarks come as hundreds of thousands of Gazans are on the brink of starvation. Dozens of Palestinians—the vast majority of them children and infants—have already died of malnutrition and dehydration in northern Gaza.
According to Palestinian and international officials, Israel’s 211-day assault on Gaza—which many experts including Israelis call genocidal—has killed or maimed more than 123,000 Palestinians since the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, including an estimated 11,000 people who are believed to be dead and buried beneath the ruins of the hundreds of thousands of destroyed or damaged homes and other buildings.
In addition to not allowing adequate humanitarian aid into Gaza, Israeli forces have also repeatedly attacked both aid workers and desperate civilians trying to access the lifesaving provisions.
“What we are asking for and what we continually ask for is a cease-fire and the ability to have unfettered access, to get in safe through the various ports and gate crossings,” McCain said during the interview.
On Saturday, Hamas spokesperson Osman Hamdan said there have been “some forward steps” toward a cease-fire agreement during negotiations in Egypt. Egyptian mediators proposed a six-week cessation of hostilities, the release of an unspecified number of Israeli and international hostages, and a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
However, one Israeli official told ABC News on condition of anonymity Saturday that “Israel will under no circumstances agree to the end of the war as part of an agreement to release our abductees.”
The negotiations come as Israeli forces prepare for an expected ground invasion of Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where more than a million refugees forcibly displaced from other parts of the strip are sheltering alongside around 280,000 local residents. On Friday, the U.N.’s humanitarian agency warned that an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah would put hundreds of thousands of Palestinians “at imminent risk of death.”
Israel has killed over 100 Palestinian journalists in seven months of its war on Gaza while Julian Assange has spent over 1850 days in prison for merely doing his duty
Journalists and independent media outlets are facing an unprecedented decline in press freedom and a rise of state repression all across the world, according to the annual report published by Reporters without Borders (RSF) on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day on May 3.
RSF claims that the physical security of journalists continues to be the main threat to press freedom, noting that over 100 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israel in Palestine in the last seven months of war in Gaza. RSF’s World Press Freedom Index of 2024 notes with worry that in most of the countries, political authorities supposed to protect press freedom, have emerged as the primary threat and the world has seen a “worrying decline in respect for media autonomy.”
RSF’s findings draw attention to the long incarceration of Julian Assange with a threat to his life. Assange’s example presents the significant indictment of the governments in the West who otherwise claim to cherish media freedom.
World Press Freedom Day was first proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in December 1993 on the recommendations of the UNESCO general conference as a reminder to governments across the world of their commitment to free press. The day also underlines the need to take steps to defend the media from attacks on its independence and to commemorate all the journalists and media workers who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Several reports confirm RSF’s figure of the killing of over 100 Palestinian journalists by Israel in its war against the people of Gaza in the last seven months. Meanwhile, local Palestinian sources claim the figure is above 140. Due to Israel’s genocide, Palestinian territories, with a population of less than seven million, have emerged as the deadliest place on earth for journalists in the last year.
Reminder on the World Press Freedom Day:
🗣️Israeli has KILLED 141 journalists since the start of the ongoing onslaught in #Gaza!
Julian Assange, the co-founder of Wikileakes, will be spending his 1850th day in prison for his work exposing the deliberate killing of civilians by the US forces during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars more than a decade ago.
Assange has been kept in the British jail with repeated threats of extradition to the US, where he would face charges under the Espionage Act that could total a sentence of 175 yearsAssange’s continued incarceration despite his severe mental and physical health issues by some of the most “celebrated governments” on the RSF’s Index, is the best example of intolerance of the governments in the West to the truth.
Activists and friends of Assange have used the occasion of the World Press Freedom Day, reminding that it “was established to celebrate the value of truth and to protect the people who work courageously to uncover it” reiterated their demand of dropping all the charges and his immediate release from prison.
On World Press Freedom Day we call for Julian Assange's immediate release from prison & @POTUS to #DropTheCharges.
— People For Assange (@people4assange) May 3, 2024
In the same countries that try to cover up Assange’s unjust imprisonment while championing press freedom, journalists and media groups also face challenges. Some journalists have lost their jobs altogether, especially with regards to opposition to outlets’ position on Israel’s genocide in Gaza. In recent years, several media organizations have faced forced closures and censorship under the guise of “foreign state influence”. Some of these countries are among the highest ranked in the RSF’s index as well, with Germany, one such offender, apparently improving its rankings.
The threat of losing their jobs has historically forced many journalists in the West to fall in line and manipulate truth. For example, in the case of Israeli genocide in Gaza many journalists fall in line with their outlets role to support the unshakeable US support to Israel and deliberately misrepresent the horrific truth of what is happening.
The fight for press freedom continues but as the threats to the well being of Julian Assange and the journalists in Gaza show us, there can be no free press as long as imperialists continue to vie for global domination.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi may still be popular after a decade in power but his government’s failures to address basic livelihood issues for the majority of the people may give an advantage to the opposition.
India, the world’s most populous nation, is in the middle of its 18th national elections. Two of the eight phases are already over, sealing the fate of over one third of representatives. However, the fight is still on for the majority of the seats. The incumbent Narendra Modi-led right-wing government, seeking a third straight term, is facing an upbeat center and left alliance led by Congress.
This national election for India’s lower house of the parliament, called the Lok Sabha (the house of the people), is stretched between April 19 and June 1 and takes place in eight phases. The votes will be counted on June 4 and results will be declared on the same day.
India is a parliamentary democracy with the first past the poll system. It is divided into 543 constituencies for the national elections with each constituency electing a single member for the Lok Sabha each. The party or alliance which wins the majority of seats (272) in the Lok Sabha elects the prime minister and forms the central government.
Though India has a multiparty system, most of the parties this time are aligned with the two major pre-poll alliances seeking popular mandate. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led right-wing National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Congress-led, center-left opposition, Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.) or just INDIA.
All the major left parties are part of the INDIA alliance and are contesting a large number of seats in states of Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and elsewhere with an objective to increase the presence of the left in the Indian parliament.
Along with the national election, three states/provinces, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh in the country’s south-east, and Sikkim in the north-east, will also elect members of their respective state assemblies.
Key issues
Unlike the last national elections in India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was able to use the popular polarization of votes around the issue of nationalism and national security, the present elections are largely being fought on the issue of his government’s failure on all major fronts affecting the majority of the population, principally economic issues such as price rises and unemployment.
Indians are facing an unprecedented rise in the prices of all major essential commodities which has, in the absence of corresponding rise in the income, created a major crisis of living for the majority of the households in the country but particularly among the urban poor. India has seen an unprecedented decline in its standing on the annual global hunger index despite being one of the major food producers in the world and world’s fastest growing economy.
The rising inequality and the growing perception of the Modi government being pro-big capital and allegations of cronyism have also become a major poll issue. Opposition parties have pointed out that while select corporate houses in the country have risen and made tremendous profits, it is at the cost of most of the small and medium sized enterprises in the country as well as public sector entities.
The International Labor Organization (ILO) report on rising unemployment among educated youth in India has also attracted the attention of major opposition parties and become a major poll issue.
Apart from the major economic issues, the opposition has raised the issue of alleged threats to democracy under the BJP rule. They have accused BJP of trying to suppress the voices of dissent by misusing the central law enforcement agencies. Several opposition leaders such as sitting chief minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal, and former chief minister of Jharkhand, Hemant Soren, were arrested in allegedly trumped up corruption charges. BJP has also been accused of intimidating opposition leaders to switch sides using the threats of persecution or by offering them money.
BJP and NDA have rejected most of the claims made by the opposition and instead accused INDIA alliance partners of being corrupt. The right-wing alliance has also declared that the INDIA alliance and particularly Congress is against the interest of the majority community in the country. It has sought the third term by also claiming it has been able to keep the Indian economy afloat amidst the challenges of COVID-19 and global recession.
Uncertain predictions
In the last elections in May 2019, the BJP-led NDA won 353 seats. BJP alone scored over 37% of votes and over 300 seats. It now seeks an over two-third majority in the ongoing elections with a slogan of “abki baar, 400 paar” (More than 400 seats in this election). While most of the pre-poll surveys predict a comfortable win for the NDA, the opposition has rejected those surveyed as compromised and claimed that the NDA will not get a majority.
There are over 970 million eligible voters in the country of over 1.4 billion according to the Election Commission of India (ECI). A significant number of them are first time voters who are facing the challenges of unemployment and price increases, and the opposition is hoping they will vote for their agenda which promises more jobs and increased social spending.
The left and other constituents of the INDIA alliance also believe that the most important factor in the revival of the opposition’s fate would be the farmers and workers who have faced complete neglect during the BJP rule in the last decade and even faced state repression during the months-long farmers’ agitation at Delhi’s borders and during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
The opposition also believes that there is growing disenchantment among Dalits and other marginalized sections of the Indian society from the Narendra Modi government as there is a growing threat to affirmative action and social justice policy measures enshrined in the Indian constitution due to BJP’s aggressive pro-corporate and pro-market orientation.
Will the BJP-led NDA fall under the weight of its own contradictions as the center-left alliance predicts, or will the BJP’s pro-corporate politics prevail? On June 4, the world will find out.
