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Reporters Without Borders Decries ‘Wave of Violence’ Against Journalists at LA Protests

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Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Police take security measures during demonstration as the Trump administration continues its immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, United States on June 8, 2025. Hundreds of protesters are seen demanding an immediate halt to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at workplaces in America’s second largest city. (Photo: Taurat Hossain/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“These protests are a matter of huge public interest and the public has a right to know exactly what’s going on,” said the executive director of RSF USA.

The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders, also known as RSF, on Monday condemned recorded attacks carried out largely by law enforcement, but also by protestors, against journalists reporting on protests that took place in Los Angeles this past weekend.

Protests began on Friday to oppose federal immigration raids on workplaces.

In a statement, RSF said that it has verified at least 27 recorded incidents of violence against journalists since June 6 with the help of its local partner, the Los Angeles Press Club. Twenty four of those incidents were carried out by law enforcement, and three were carried out by individual protestors, according to the statement.

“The wave of violence against journalists on the streets of Los Angeles this weekend is unacceptable. These protests are a matter of huge public interest and the public has a right to know exactly what’s going on. The only way that can happen is if journalists are allowed to do their jobs freely,” said Clayton Weimers, the executive director of RSF USA.

“This is inherently dangerous work, but it’s made more dangerous by authorities who are unable or unwilling to distinguish press from protestors, and by private actors who attack members of the media,” Weimers continued. “Authorities in LA must do more to ensure press freedom is respected during these protests.”

In one incident caught on camera, police hit reporter Lauren Tomasi, a U.S. correspondent for CNN-affiliate Nine News in Australia, with a rubber bullet while she was reporting live on on air.

Several media workers reported being hit with “less-than-lethal munitions,” such as pepper balls, rubber bullets, and tear gas canisters, by police, according to RSF.

According to the group, U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to call in National Guard troops in response to protests “contributed to the violence against journalists already being perpetrated by law enforcement.” On Saturday, Trump ordered that 2,000 National Guard members be called up to help quell the anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests, over the objections of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. As of Sunday, some 300 federal troops were on the ground in Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press.

Alleged incidents of violence carried out by protestors against media workers include an episode, caught on video, of a KTTV Fox 11 TV crew being heckled and forced to leave a protest.

Original article by Eloise Goldsmith republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.

Continue ReadingReporters Without Borders Decries ‘Wave of Violence’ Against Journalists at LA Protests

Palestine Action activists occupy Allianz’s offices in the City of London

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/palestine-action-occupy-allianz-building-city-london

A screenshot from footage showing Palestine Action Activists outside Allianz Commercial offices in London, March 10, 2025

CAMPAIGNERS targeted the offices of insurance giant Allianz in the City of London today over the firm’s complicity in the Gaza genocide.

Palestine Action activists scaled the premises’ main entrance and doused it in red paint, rebuking the firm for insuring and investing in Elbit Systems, Israel’s biggest weapons manufacturer.

A spokesperson for Palestine Action said: “By providing insurance, Allianz is directly enabling the production of Israeli weapons in Britain which are ‘battle-tested’ on Palestinians.

…

Today also saw the launch of the Boycott Bloody Insurance campaign, with a groundbreaking report showing how major global insurers actively enable Israel’s ongoing assault on Palestinians.

The report, Ensuring Genocide: The Insurance Industry and Israel’s War Machine, reveals that insurers including Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Zurich, and RSA collectively invested over $1.7 billion (£1.3bn) in companies supplying military equipment used by Israel since October 7 2023.

“Insurance giants claim to protect communities, but they’re funnelling our money into war, exploitation, and violence,” said Monika Nielsen, lead researcher at the new campaign, which “demands accountability from insurers profiting from human suffering.”

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/palestine-action-occupy-allianz-building-city-london

Continue ReadingPalestine Action activists occupy Allianz’s offices in the City of London

Women take to the streets across the world demanding end to inequality and violence

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/women-take-streets-across-world-demanding-end-inequality-and-violence

Women chant slogans during a protest marking International Women’s Day in Istanbul, Turkey, March 8, 2025

WOMEN took to the streets of cities across Europe, Africa, South America and elsewhere to mark International Women’s Day with demands for ending inequality and gender-based violence.

On the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey’s biggest city, a rally in Kadikoy saw members of dozens of women’s groups listen to speeches, dance and sing in the spring sunshine.

The colourful protest was overseen by a large police presence, including officers in riot gear and a water cannon truck.

Protesters pushed back against the idea of women’s role being confined to marriage and motherhood, carrying banners reading “Family will not bind us to life” and “We will not be sacrificed to the family.”

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From Athens to Madrid, Paris, Munich, Zurich and Belgrade and in many more cities across the continent, women marched to demand an end to treatment as second-class citizens in society, politics, family and at work.

…

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/women-take-streets-across-world-demanding-end-inequality-and-violence

Continue ReadingWomen take to the streets across the world demanding end to inequality and violence

European Leaders Condemn Musk’s ‘Ominous’ Push for Germany to ‘Forget’ Holocaust

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Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Protesters hold up a banner reading “NO” with the O shaped like an Adolf Hitler caricature during a demonstration against right-wing extremism, U.S. President Donald Trump, and right-wing billionaire Elon Musk on January 25, 2025 in Berlin, Germany. (Photo: Omer Messinger/Getty Images)

“We must not forget the tragic lesson of our past,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. “Evil, violence and contempt cannot triumph anew.”

Billionaire enterpreneur Elon Musk insisted at a far-right rally in Germany over the weekend that the European country must move “beyond the past” and leave behind the memory of one of the deadliest genocides in history—but as leaders on the continent marked the 80th anniversary of the Auschwitz concentration camp liberation on Monday, several made clear that Musk’s advice was not welcome.

Musk’s comments on “‘the need to forget German guilt for Nazi crimes’ sounded all too familiar and ominous,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Sunday. “Especially only hours before the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on the social media platform X, “I couldn’t agree more.”

The country’s ambassador to Israel said that while Musk claimed German children are treated as “guilty of the sins” of the Nazis during World War II, the government simply wants “them to grow up informed and responsible and to apply the lessons of Germany’s past.”

As Common Dreams reported, the Tesla CEO and key adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump made the remarks at a rally for Alternative for Germany (AfD) on Saturday, five weeks before Germans are set to vote in federal elections.

AfD is currently polling at 19%, trailing the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which is in first place at 28%. But leaders across Europe, including Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Scholz have warned that Musk appears to be angling for the spread of far-right ideologies—including neo-Nazism—in European countries.

The AfD has been designated a “suspected extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, and one of its candidates for public office last year said that “not all” Nazis who worked for Adolf Hitler’s government were criminals.

The party has been ostracized in Germany, with other political groups including the CDU ruling out the formation of a coalition government with the AfD, but last week CDU leader Friedrich Merz said he would push for tougher anti-immigration proposals even if they were submitted by the AfD.

Scholz, who represents the Social Democrats, toldStuttgarter Zeitung in response to Merz’s comments that “the firewall to the AfD must not crumble.”

As Tusk oversaw the liberation of Auschwitz anniversary on Monday, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, he alluded to Musk’s comments at the AfD rally.

https://twitter.com/donaldtusk/status/1883818460054163902?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1883818460054163902%7Ctwgr%5Ecf2d7f515151e94748916bbf163a93631d35079a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Felon-musk-europe

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X

“We must not forget the tragic lesson of our past,” he said on X, which is owned by Musk. “Evil, violence, and contempt cannot triumph anew.”

Musk’s comments came days after he appeared to flash a Nazi salute twice at an event for Trump’s inauguration.

In the U.S. on Sunday, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker addressed Musk’s remarks at the AfD rally on CNN, asking why Trump hadn’t spoken out against them.

“President Trump ought to be calling that out,” said the Democratic governor. “If he doesn’t agree with Elon Musk, if he doesn’t agree with two Sieg Heils at his own rally, and backing a party that backs Nazis, then he ought to say so. Why isn’t Donald Trump speaking out?”

Original article by Julia Conley republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingEuropean Leaders Condemn Musk’s ‘Ominous’ Push for Germany to ‘Forget’ Holocaust