SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The amorphous internet activist movement known as Anonymous staged an online resurgence in the past week on the back of real-world protests against police brutality.
A man wears an “anonymous” mask on the fourth and final day of the Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Delaware U.S., June 17, 2018. REUTERS/Mark Makela
Born from internet chat boards more than a dozen years ago, the collective was once known for organizing low-skill but effective denial-of-service attacks that temporarily shut down access to payment processors that had stopped handling donations to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks.
But accounts using variations of the Anonymous name recently claimed credit for temporarily knocking a Minneapolis police website offline and, inaccurately, for hacking police passwords.
At the same time, millions of Twitter accounts began following longstanding Anonymous posters and retweeting them, helping boost Anonymous into Twitter’s Trending column and greater attention. Many of the boosted tweets opposed police actions, defended Black Lives Matter or faulted President Donald Trump.
It is unclear who or what is driving the resurgence, and exactly why. McGill University anthropology professor Gabriella Coleman, who wrote a book on Anonymous, said she was told by insiders that some key figures from a decade ago are involved and they are being assisted by mechanical amplification.
“The ability to create so many new accounts is classic Anonymous social-technological hacking,†Coleman said. “It’s low-hanging fruit.â€
Even one of the heavily boosted old accounts, YourAnonNews, tweeted that it had no idea what was going on. It experimented by tweeting nonsense and asking not to be retweeted, only to see those tweets repeated hundreds of thousands of times.
A Twitter spokeswoman said the company had seen no evidence of “substantial coordinated activity†among longstanding Anonymous accounts, but deleted one spammy new one brought to its attention by a researcher Tuesday.
“We have seen a few accounts change their profile names, photos, etc. in an attempt to visibly associate with the group and gain followers,†said Twitter spokeswoman Liz Kelley.
Anyone can call themselves a member of Anonymous and adopt its Guy Fawkes mask, other imagery and slogans, such as “we are legion.†It has no acknowledged leaders, making it more of a brand than an ordinary assemblage.
One account with 120,000 followers, AnonNewz, had deleted all prior tweets before June 1, when it started promoting protests. But it had neglected to delete its old “likes,†which were about Korean pop music, and it had interacted in the past with other K-pop fans touting giveaways.
After researcher Marcus Hutchins of cybersecurity company Kryptos Logic tweeted about the account, Twitter suspended it.
Twitter told Reuters it removed AnonNewz for “spam and coordination with other spammy accounts.â€
Reporting by Joseph Menn; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Leslie Adler
We’re here to guide you through the coronavirus lockdown. Check out HuffPost LIFE for daily tips, advice, how-tos and escapism.
Kids may say the darndest things, but parentstweet about them in the funniest ways. So each week we round up the most hilarious quips via Twitter from mums and dads to spread the joy.
You feel like you’re an okay parent winging it as best as possible and then you ask your almost 4yo what her favorite number is and she says “Aâ€.
Me: whatcha doing? 5 year old: looking up ways you can get stronger. Me: Why? 5 year old: so you can play The Rock in my movie. Me: I can’t do that as I am? 5 year old: …
If my kids wind up growing into sociopaths and they question me for a Netflix special, I plan on answering all interview questions with “whoopsie doodle.â€
I gave the kids a big amazon box to play with and they all climbed inside and seemed happy so I taped up the box and returned it to amazon I’m sure they’re fine
Don’t ever tell a child you’re going to do something with them before you’re ready to start the activity. They will be on you like white on rice. pic.twitter.com/278Wr75ifO
— Rideshare to FREEDOM 💣💣💣 (@Steph_I_Will) May 21, 2020
My kids always ask for things like, "Can I have four cookies because I'm four?"
By that logic, can I have 30 million dollars because I'm thirty?
Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the coronavirus pandemic. I’m Kate Mayberry in Kuala Lumpur.Â
Brazil reported 1,262 deaths from COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Tuesday night, another daily record.
South Africa has said it has taken note of a High Court judgement declaring its coronavirus restrictions unconstitutional and is studying the judgement. The lockdown will remain in force for now.
More than 6.3 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed around the world, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. More than 378,000 people have died, including more than 106,000 in the US. More than 2.7 million have recovered from the disease.
Here are the latest updates:
Wednesday, June 3
02:00 GMT – UK government says traveller quarantine crucial to stop second wave
The UK government says the 14-day traveller quarantine it plans to introduce on June 8 is crucial to stop a second wave of coronavirus hitting the country.
Home Minister Priti Patel and Transport Minister Grant Shapps confirmed the plan – despite criticism from airlines, business groups and some members of their own party – in an article published in the Daily Telegraph late on Tuesday.
The two ministers said travel details and contact information would need to be provided, and there would be spot checks and fines to ensure compliance. There had been a lot of “misinformed speculation” about the measures, they added.
The quarantine will apply to all international arrivals including citizens. The UK has the most deaths in the world from coronavirus, after the United States.
International arrivals at London’s Heathrow Airport last month. From June 8, all travellers from overseas including British citizens will have to complete a 14-day quarantine [Toby Melville/Reuters]Â
01:25 GMT – Malaysia locks down housing estate near Kuala Lumpur airport
Malaysia has imposed a “semi-enhanced” lockdown in two housing estates near the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), according to Malaysiakini.
The two housing areas are surrounded by razor wire and the local health authorities will screen all residents for COVID-19 by Friday. Â
Malaysiakini said the move was believed to be linked to a cluster of 28 coronavirus cases among cleaners working at KLIA.
Authorities in Bolivia are making door-to-door checks in regions with severe coronavirus outbreaks to try and stem the spread of COVID-19.
The landlocked country registered its first novel coronavirus cases on March 10, and until May 21 had reached 5,000 cases. That number has since doubled, government data shows.
00:00 GMT – Brazil sets another daily record for coronavirus deaths
Some 1,262 people in Brazil died from coronavirus in the 24 hours to Tuesday evening, the country’s Health Ministry said.
It’s another daily record for the South American country where the outbreak shows no sign of slowing down.
Brazil also confirmed 28,936 additional cases of the disease, bringing the total to 555,383. A total of 31,199 people in Brazil have died from coronavirus.
COVID-19 began in the country’s wealthy neighbourhoods and large cities where there were links with international travellers, but the virus is now making its way to poorer and more isolated areas to devastating effect. You can read more on that here.
A patient being treated for coronavirus in the intensive care unit (ICU) of a field hospital in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo state, Brazil [Amanda Perobelli/Reuters]Â
23:30 GMT (Tuesday) – Lancet raises new questions about hydroxychloroquine study
The Lancet has commissioned an independent audit of the data behind a study it published last month that found hydroxycholorquine increased the risk of death in COVID-19 patients.
The May 22 study was based on data provided by healthcare analytics firm Surgisphere and not a traditional clinical trial that would have compared hydroxychloroquine to a placebo or other medicine.
The editors of the British medical journal said serious scientific questions had been brought to their attention.
Several clinical trials into the use of the drug, including one by the World Health Organization, were suspended after the paper was published. Hydroxychloroquine is usually prescribed for illnesses such as malaria or lupus, but has been trumpeted as a COVID-19 treatment by US President Donald Trump and other right-wing leaders.
—-
Read all the updates from yesterday (June 1) here.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once again defended his decision to let an incendiary post by President Donald Trump stay up on his platform, saying on a staff-wide call leaked to the press that his post suggesting looters would be shot was not inciting violence.
Zuckerberg held the call after employees staged a virtual walkout after his decision to leave up Trump’s post from last week, which called police brutality protesters “THUGS†and warned, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.â€
In a call with about 25,000 employees Tuesday, according to ReCode, Zuckerberg said the company looked into the phrase Trump used and found it didn’t call for people to attack protesters and therefore did not violate the company’s policies. Â
“We basically concluded after the research and after everything I’ve read and all the different folks that I’ve talked to that the reference is clearly to aggressive policing — maybe excessive policing — but it has no history of being read as a dog whistle for vigilante supporters to take justice into their own hands,†he said on the call, which was also leaked to Bloomberg News.
Facebook did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment on the call. Â
The phrase in question, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,†originated with a combative Miami police chief during the height of civil rights protests in the 1960s. He uttered the threat while trashing the young, largely Black, people involved in the movement, saying his officers “don’t mind being accused of police brutality.†Trump has denied that repeating the language was a threat and says he was “misunderstood.â€
Zuckerberg issued a lengthy statement last week saying that, although “the post had a troubling historical reference, we decided to leave it up because the National Guard references meant we read it as a warning about state action, and we think people need to know if the government is planning to deploy force.â€
Civil rights activists have denounced the innocent interpretation, and several of them issued a joint statement saying Zuckerberg “is setting a very dangerous precedent for other voices who would say similar harmful things on Facebook.â€
The decision has also outraged several Facebook employees, one of whom reportedly challenged Zuckerberg on Tuesday’s call to say how many Black people were involved in the decision. He answered that there was one, global diversity officer Maxine Williams, among about six people who made the final call. Â
At least one Facebook employee, an engineer who worked to stop the spread of misinformation on the platform, has resigned in response to Zuckerberg’s stance on Trump’s post.Â
Twitter has set itself apart from Facebook by flagging Trump’s post, which he also posted to that platform, by marking it with a warning that it is “glorifying violence.†In order to see the post, users have to click through and remove the warning. Trump claimed the move suppressed his free speech and soon thereafter signed an executive order weakening legal protections for social media companies. But without congressional approval to regulate tech companies, the policy is likely unenforceable.Â
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Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang, two black women who work in music marketing, proposed that the music industry hold a day of reflection on Tuesday after the death of George Floyd.
At Styles, we spend a lot of our days chatting with each other about things we see online, trying to make sense of it all. Here, four women of color — Jasmine Howard, an operations manager; Tariro Mzezewa, a travel reporter; Lindsey Underwood, a Styles editor; and Caity Weaver, a Styles reporter — talk about the blackout on Instagram.
Lindsey: I don’t post on Instagram often, but today I felt a pull to post. My feed was flooded with black squares, but I just couldn’t pull the trigger. I felt conflicted about seeing so many of my white friends — who may have great intentions — posting the blackout. I just imagine some level of satisfaction they may feel that they “spoke out,†but I’m not sure what it really accomplishes.
Jasmine: I think most of them feel they should, or have to, so they’re not singled out for being the only ones not posting.
Tariro: We’ve all seen performative and insincere allyship in the days since George Floyd died in police custody, and some of us may come at something like this with some degree of skepticism.
I think it’s great that people want a visual uniting symbol of solidarity, but I can also see how people who haven’t said a word in the past — or in the past week — feel like they’ll look bad to their followers if they don’t post. So they post, but with no real intention of listening, learning, donating, protesting or helping beyond the post. The post makes them feel like they’ve done their part.
Jasmine: I’ve seen a few posts where I’m like, “I would’ve rather you’d done nothing.â€
Tariro: Yes! You say you’re posting to not take up space, but you’re still taking up space. Might as well use that to share resources and info, no?
Jasmine: Definitely — I’ve also gotten a lot of “I love you†or “tell me how to be better†texts from white friends attempting to be allies. Some of it seems sent with the expectation that I will immediately respond and acknowledge that they’ve made the effort and checked on their black friend. It’s still asking me to do the work.
Caity: My initial reaction was: This feels sort of empty. A couple of my black friends posted the squares, but the vast majority of people who did it on my feeds were white. Non-black people of color seemed to be split.
I started texting with a few friends — some black, some other POC — and the reaction from them, and from a lot of black people I follow on social media and whose judgment I tend to trust, was that they didn’t like the squares. But! Jasmine is also someone whose judgment I trust, who is vocal about activism on Instagram, and she posted a square. So I am eager to hear all her thoughts on it.
Jasmine: One friend flat out told me she’s happy I still love her.
Tariro: It feels like it’s a way for white people who aren’t comfortable talking about racism to avoid doing so entirely, while acting like they are doing something. Instead of having to confront this thing that makes you so uncomfortable, you can now post a square and feel like you did something.
Caity: I think it all gets back to meaning well versus doing well.
I have a white friend who, on Monday, posted videos of herself at a protest and shared information and links about activism in her Instagram Stories. It’s not her usual tone on Instagram. And I was genuinely touched by it. It made me feel happy and supported and loved.
(And she wasn’t tagging her black friends in these posts, mind.)
Early in the day I checked to see if she had done a black square post, and she hadn’t. So I sent her a note to say that I really appreciated all the other stuff she was doing, and to let her know, just in case she was wondering about it, that I personally was not loving the black squares. I wanted to make it clear her other actions mattered more to me.
I have felt overwhelmed by the news but also invigorated by all the people sharing ways to be helpful. To have huge black voids suddenly appear on Instagram was jarring. I don’t begrudge any black person, especially, posting the black box. Cardi B posted one, and she’s a super-vocal advocate.
Her account also highlights what I perceive as one of the flaws. She posted the box on her main feed and later uploaded an Instagram Story where she apologized for breaking the blackout to share information about voting in primary elections. And it’s like, oh, Cardi, please don’t apologize!
Tariro: I think that might be the only thing I’ve posted: someone else’s post urging people to vote. Also, guys, BRANDS! Brands love the square!
Caity: I love holding brands accountable financially. I’m glad record companies are making donations today. But also: I don’t look to brands for inspiration, news or guidance.
Gene Demby from NPR has been doing a Twitter thread of brands’ well-meaning but often tone-deaf responses. Seeing them in aggregate is surreal.
Did we need to hear this from a Garfield-themed food app?
Jasmine: LOL, we definitely did not. Also, WHERE HAVE YOU ALL BEEN THE LAST 60 YEARS?! Like, Land O’Lakes just took the Native woman off of their packaging. The Cleveland Indians are still the Cleveland Indians. So much wrong and you all think one black square makes you Malcolm X.
Caity: One brand that is actually helpful is Ben & Jerry’s. They are doing things like reminding voters in Montana to apply to vote by mail. They are not posting platitudes.
Tariro: I did a casual scroll-through some of my favorite beauty and clothing companies’ Instagrams yesterday. Crickets for a week. Today, the square. I always try to buy from black businesses, but I do think this has really made it a priority for me.
Caity: Yes! And in a month, I will still feel positively toward Ben & Jerry’s. I will not remember that a makeup brand posted a black square. Because Ben & Jerry’s is putting in the work regularly and not making a huge deal about it. I think people are rushing to seem profound, to show how deeply they are affected right now. But, really, the best thing for a brand to do is to throw money at important causes.
Tariro: Use that money and donate more than $50, brands.
Jasmine: Just pay.
Caity: Pay!
Jasmine: That’s really all any of them can do for us anyway. That’s why I post places to donate.
Caity: Look at it this way: You are paying for the pass that allows you to say nothing. This is your awkward-statement-avoidance tax.
Paul Hackett/ReutersEmma Watson has an Instagram following of more than 57 million.
Emma Watson has responded to scrutiny after critics accusing her of jumping on a trend by posting a trio of black squares on her Instagram account as part of the “Blackout Tuesday†campaign.
Watson’s feed initially featured three black squares with white borders, accompanied by the hashtags #blackouttuesday, #theshowmustbepaused, #amplifymelanatedvoice and #amplifyblackvoices.
The posts attracted thousands of comments on both Instagram and Twitter, with some arguing that Watson, with a platform of more than 57 million Instagram followers, could have done more to amplify Black voices, especially considering her role as a UN Women’s goodwill ambassador. Other commentators highlighted Watson’s stylistic choice of bordering each black square in white, arguing that she had focused on maintaining the aesthetic of her Instagram feed instead of communicating a message of solidarity.Â
emma watson has 57.1M followers on instagram, her first post about blm has over 1M likes and instead of sharing links to petitions and donations, she thought the best idea was sharing 🔳🔳🔳? tf is that, open your purse, SPREAD INFORMATION
emma watson not saying anything for the whole week and then posting a black blank pic in instagram that won’t help in anything is just the peak of white feminism
emma watson gave a 1000+ word, fact checked speech about women’s rights (heforshe movement) at UN headquarters but posted 3 identical pictures for blm on ig and logged off. this shit ain’t addin up sis
— AOS S7 SPOILERS | ᵇˡáµ🌈 natalie rushman lovebot (@widowsquake) June 2, 2020
Defenders were quick to point out Watson has frequently used her Instagram account to highlight Black creators and activists.
Emma Watson has been speaking up about racism since 2015 but y’all want to cancel her because she posted 6 posts in order to amplify a movement. Don’t talk about aesthetic when your fav never address issues on their Instagram. Emma’s whole feed is giving voice to minorities. pic.twitter.com/yEdHlgpcZg
Following the initial controversy, Watson added two more posts to her Instagram feed, one including artwork and a poem by Black painter Fahamu Pecou. Watson wrote that she had been “holding off posting until #blackouttuesday ended in the UK†and would devote future space on social media to sharing anti-racism resources.Â
The Blackout Tuesday campaign, which encourages people to post black squares to Instagram, was created by music executives Jamila Thomas and Brianna Agyemang. The campaign is part of their #theshowmustbepaused initiative “in response to the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless other Black citizens at the hands of police,†according to a message on the movement’s website.Â
Despite the campaign’s objective, multiple voices on social media pointed out that many people had used the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter when posting the black squares, inadvertently covering up information related to donations and the struggles of Black Americans during the ongoing protests in the United States.Â
Groups of people from coast to coast protest police brutality after George Floyd died in Minneapolis police custody.
USA TODAY
The state waits on hundreds of millions of N95 masks. And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls on President Trump to be a “healer in chief.” Plus:Â I talk with the attorney who successfully argued to the state’s high court that video and other electronic records should not come with an out-of-reach price tag.Â
“For all those people hating cops across the nation,” the most controversial one said. “Just leave your name and address at your local police agency and let them know whenever you dial 911 or need emergency police services you no longer wish for them to respond to your calls for help.”
Sacramento County declared astate of emergency Tuesday afternoon as protests sparked by George Floyd’s death by a Minneapolis police officer continue across the country.
In Los Angeles County, officials continued a 6 p.m. curfew for the third day as protests across the region continued; 2,500 people were taken into custody between Friday and Tuesday morning, the LAPD told the LA Times. As curfew neared, the gatherings remained strong.
Pelosi condemns use of tear gas to clear church path
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was one of several elected officials to condemn law enforcement officers using tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a peaceful protest at Lafayette Park near the White House.Â
Reporters at the scene described it as one of mayhem. President Trump would use the route to walk to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church, where he held up a Bible. Trump’s appearance came after he said he would use military intervention if needed to quell the protests.Â
She said protesters were “beaten” so Trump could walk to the church. “That has no place and it’s time for us to do away with that. A time to heal,’ she said.
National Parks, the hottest May, evictions and the next stimulus bill
Your next stimulus check could be higher, but really, the proposal by House Democrats for the next stimulus package is more a starting point for negotiations.
What else we’re talking aboutÂ
Their lacrosse season was cut short, like the rest of their senior year activities, but these triplets at least, have had each other.Â
Bring your money and your masks: The Cabazon Band of Mission Indians has reopened Fantasy Springs Resort Casino in Indio. It follows Spotlight 29, Tortoise Rock, both Agua Caliente casinos in Palm Springs and several others that reopened last month.
Kids, teens and adults looking for ways to learn and talk about race have lots of good options. Here’s a good place to start.Â
Transparency files: Governments can’t charge for editing out 411 from public records
In December 2014, hundreds of people showed up to demonstrations in Berkeley to protest the decisions not to indict the officers involved in the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown.Â
Garner died in July 2014 after New York City Police Officer Daniel Pantaleo placed him in a chokehold, a move prohibited by the department. Video captured Garner face down as he said “I can’t breathe” 11 times. Five years later, Pantaleo was fired but faced no criminal charges.
A month later, Brown was fatally shot by Ferguson (Missouri) Police Department Officer Darren Wilson. A grand jury opted not to indict Wilson, who resigned from the force not long after the shooting.Â
Several protesters who attended the Berkeley demonstrations claimed police injured them, which prompted the San Francisco chapter of the National Lawyers Guild to request footage from body cameras worn by officers at the protest.
The city of Hayward and its police department charged the Guild nearly $3,000 for the footage.Â
The American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Law Offices of Amitai Schwartz sued, alleging agencies can’t charge for redacting information — in this case, billing the labor costs for editing out portions of the video police determined were “confidential.”
Last week, the California Supreme Court ruled against Hayward, agreeing the costs of redacting information couldn’t be transferred to the public.
Rachel Lederman, the attorney who requested the videos on behalf of the Guild, called the ruling an important victory for transparency.
“Body cameras can’t fully serve their function of promoting police accountability if it is prohibitively expensive for the public to get access to the videos,†she said in a release announcing the decision.
I talked to Schwartz, an attorney in Emeryville, more about the case. Over his 45 years in law, Schwartz has handled several California Public Records Act cases and numerous cases for the ACLU, including ones involving police accountability.Â
We talked via email. Answers have been edited for length and clarity.Â
Q: How did you get involved with this particular case?
A:Â In 2015, the ACLU asked me if I would represent the National Lawyers Guild, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter after it had been charged close to $3,000 by the City of Hayward for its labor costs in taking out certain portions of police body camera videos of police actions at a street demonstration.
Q: What did the state Supreme Court decision say, in essence?
A: The California Supreme Court interpreted the California Public Records Act, which is the state equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act. On May 28, the court issued its unanimous opinion, saying that the CRPA does not permit public agencies to charge requesters for the labor costs of taking confidential information out of electronic records, including police videos, before copies are released to the public and news media.
Q: Why was the ruling so significant?
A: If California agencies had been allowed to charge labor costs for removing information from public records, records including videos would be inaccessible because most persons, and most organizations and new media, would not be able to afford the costs charged. A long video, for example, could come to many thousands of dollars, if not more. This would have destroyed public access to most public records in California, at least those that include any confidential information.
Q: Another law that went into effect in 2019, SB 1421, was also designed to improve access to police records. Will the Hayward ruling have any impact on that law?
A: It will have an enormous effect because most SB1421 records will contain some confidential information. Now, requesters won’t have to pay for the labor costs of taking out the confidential information.
Q: Law enforcement in California historically has had great latitude when it comes to keeping records out of public view. Is that changing or getting better?
A: The landscape has changed over the past several years. Records of police agencies are far more open now and public accountability has gotten much better due to work of the Legislature and this court decision.
Q: The Hayward ruling seems particularly relevant today, as protests take place across the state, from the stay-at-home gatherings to the ones in response to George Floyd’s death by a Minnesota police officer. Will this ruling make it easier to get information on the response and see who was involved?
A: Yes, it should. (Author note: Body camera footage from the officers involved in Floyd’s death has not been released).
Q; Why is there such resistance to releasing the videos? Law enforcement has said the cameras are there to protect the officers as much as the public, providing less of a ‘they said, they said,’ back-and-forth situation.
A: In the Hayward case, the resistance was not to the idea of releasing the videos. Resistance came in the form of deciding who pays the labor costs involved. In effect, though, imposing excessive labor costs and charging requesters would put up a barrier to disclosure.
Q:Â Â Do you have any thoughts or reactions when you see what’s going on following Floyd’s death, in California or across the rest of the country?
A: It’s tragic. This has been going on during all the years I’ve practiced law. Mostly it was out of sight of the public, but not always. I think accountability has improved, but I am not optimistic that things will change much unless public attitudes change substantially and police reform becomes more than aspirational. And, of course, rooting out structural racism is essential.
By the way, if you’re planning to request electronic records, the Electronic Frontier Foundation recommends including language like this: “Pursuant to NLG vs. Hayward, S252445 (May 28, 2020), government agencies may not charge requesters for the cost of redacting or editing body-worn camera footage.â€
In California is a roundup of news from across USA TODAY Network newsrooms. Also contributing: San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Sacramento Bee.
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/02/california-n-95-trump-george-floyd-public-records-tuesday-news/3123206001/
Written by Kamaal Saiyed |
Published: June 3, 2020 6:25:02 am
Fishermen take their boats to safety in Umargam taluka of Valsad in Gujarat. (Express photo by Javed Raja)
Dattatray Davne, 55, was out on the sea since Saturday, hoping to make up for the season lost during the lockdown. But the group he was part of was soon disappointed with the warning of cyclone Nisarga in the Arabian Sea and was forced to return to the shore. The fishing season ends on June 15 but now they have to wait for further advisories before venturing out into the sea.
When The Indian Express met Davne, fishermen were anchoring their boats on the Nargol beach and covering them with plastic sheets. The sky was overcast and it had started drizzling.
“This is end of season and we have been out on the sea for the past two days, hoping to get a good catch. We were around 13 nautical miles when we got information from other fishermen that a cyclone had developed and it might pass through south Gujarat. The Coast Guard officials in their boats also told us the same and we returned back. Had we waited for one more day, we might have got a good catch. Now we have to wait till we get further instructions from the authorities,†says Davne, president of Nargol Fishermen Association, who was accompanied by his two sons.
The Gujarat government has evacuated close to 79,000 persons living in coastal districts of Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Valsad on Tuesday, with 6,000 of them from Valsad alone.
The famous black sand beach, Tithal, was closed for visitors and police were deployed.
The high tide at Tithal were the only remaining signs of the cyclone, as moderate rainfall with high speed winds brought immense relief from the scorching heat.
On Tuesday morning, two NDRF teams arrived in the district and took stock of the situation in the coastal villages and Tithal beach as people chose to stay indoors in Valsad town. Shops were open with no customers.
In Valsad, 35 villages — 18 in Valsad taluka, 13 in Umargam taluka and 4 in Pardi taluka — were put on alert in view of the cyclone. “We shifted around 6,000 people from coastal villages to 35 shelter homes in nearby places, maximum number being in Umargam taluka where families staying in 145 kutcha houses were shifted. We are also mantaining Covid-19 protocol in the shelter homes where food and other facilities are provided. Arrangements have been made in hospitals to deal with emergencies. We are well prepared,†said Valsad District Collector RR Rawal, who took charge of the district on Monday.
Hundreds of fishermen returned to Nargol village in Umargam taluka from the sea by Monday evening following the cyclone alert. The village is dominated by Mangela fishermen community though most of the residents of around 10,000 people, work in different factories in nearby Sarigam GIDC and Umargam GIDC. Many fishermen work as assistants in larger vessels in Diu, Okha and Porbander.
“During the past two months, due to lockdown, our business went down by 60 per cent. My sons and I were going round villages to sell our catch of shrimps, pomphret, lobsters, crabs, etc. We faced huge loss and are just surviving. I am planning to send my sons for some other work once the lockdown lifts. I will try to get them job in some industries in Vapi or Sarigam,†says Davne.
Sushmita Sen returns to screen with Hotstar Special show Aarya
A decade after her last Hindi film released, actor Sushmita Sen on Tuesday announced her digital debut with Disney+ Hotstar’s series Aarya. The actor will star in the title role in the Hotstar Specials series, directed by Ram Madhvani. Sushmita took to Instagram to share the first look of the show. “‘Because of You… I am.’ Aapne bulaya aur hum chale aaye! Hotstar Specials presents #Aarya. Coming soon!” she posted on Instagram.
Other details about the show are currently under wraps.
Sushmita, 44, announced her “second innings” in the showbiz in December 2019. The former Miss Universe was last seen in the 2015 Bengali film “Nirbaak”, while Anees Bazmee’s multi-starrer comedy “No Problem” marked her last Hindi film in 2010. She is best known for her performances in Bollywood films such as “Biwi No 1”, “Zor”, “Filhaal”, “Main Hoon Na” and “Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya?”.
Recently, Sushmita opened up about her struggle with the autoimmune condition, Addison’s disease, which she fought for over four years through Nunchaku workout sessions. While Sushmita had been away from the big screen, she kept the fans entertained with her interesting social media posts with her boyfriend Rohman Shawl and two daughters. The actress keeps treating fans with her workout videos with Shawl and garners much praise. Recently, she shared a workout video which was all about what a ‘stable relationship needs’. Slaying a yoga posture in the video, Sushmita and Rohman looked madly in love.
Sushmita Sen wrote, “I love you my tough guy Rohman Shawl. A stable relationship needs a balanced center, flexible mind, mutual strength and deep trust. How symbolic is this posture! I love you guys.” Rohman shared the same video on Instagram and captioned it, “My strength.”
WhileRohman Shawl is 15 years younger than the actress, he fits perfectly into her family and the two are frequently seen complimenting each other on social media. Sushmita has always been quite vocal about her love for boyfriend Rohman as well. She never attempted to hide her relationship from the prying eyes of media. Â
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Fishermen take their boats to safety in Umargam taluka of Valsad in Gujarat. (Express photo by Javed Raja)