Bayern Munich came from behind to claim a 4-2 victory at Bayer Leverkusen and move a step closer to the Bundesliga title.
In the process, Robert Lewandowski netted his 30th goal of the Bundesliga season.
Bayern on course for Bundesliga titleÂ
Lucas Alario had secured an early lead for the hosts, but Bayern struck twice in quick succession just before half-time to turn the game in their favour after Kingsley Coman’s had put the defending champions on level terms.
Lewandowski got on the scoresheet in the second half as Bayern moved into a 10-point lead over title rivals Borussia Dortmund, who host Hertha Berlin later on Saturday 6 June. Leverkusen teenager Florian Wirtz’s strike late on made him the Bundesliga’s youngest-ever scorer, but it was not enough to deprive Bayern of the three points.
 Youngest scorer in the Bundesliga
Wirtz set the new record for the youngest scorer in the Bundesliga, aged 17 years and 34 days, beating the record set by Nuri Sahin for Borussia Dortmund in November 2005 by 48 days.
The Bundesliga contest also saw Bayern lend their support to protests over the murder of African-American man George Floyd, with all their players wearing armbands bearing the slogan “Black Lives Matterâ€.
Leverkusen turned to Alario to lead the line against the champions in the absence of Liverpool target Kai Havertz.
The Argentine would deliver inside the first ten minutes, beating the offside trap after a throw-in to slot the ball past Manuel Neuer.
That lead would not last the half though as a mistake from Moussa Diaby allowed Coman to curl in the equaliser. A fizzing shot from Leon Goretzka and an audacious lob from Serge Gnabry saw Bayern take a two-goal lead before half-time.
Lewandowski finished the job with a clinical header early in the second half, equalling his most prolific Bundesliga season in the process.
The relegation battle
In other Bundesliga action, a late equaliser from Christian Strohdiek gave bottom-of-the-table Paderborn a glimmer of hope in the race for survival, after they snatched a 1-1 draw away to RB Leipzig.
Chelsea-bound striker Timo Werner set up Patrik Schick on 27 minutes to give Leipzig the lead. The hosts were forced to defend their slender lead with ten men after Dayot Upamecano was booked twice in the first half.
Strohdiek’s last-minute strike gave Paderborn their fourth draw in five games, but Steffen Baumgart’s are still eight points adrift of Fortuna Duesseldorf who occupy the relegation play-off place.
Duesseldorf themselves missed the chance to leap towards safety battling to a dramatic 2-2 draw against Hoffenheim who also finished that match with ten men.
The head of Rouwen Hennings and a red card for Hoffenheim’s Benjamin Huebner put Dusseldorf on top, but the visitors struck back with goals from Munas Dabbur and Steven Zuber before Hennings saved a point with a late penalty.
Uwe Roesler’s Dortmund are three points adrift of safety, after goals from Moussa Niakhate and Pierre Kunde Malong gave fellow strugglers Mainz a rare 2-0 win over local rivals Eintracht Frankfurt.
In Ranville cemetery, a lone piper playing Amazing Grace walked solemnly between the graves as the early morning sun reflected off the rows of white headstones.
Every 6 June for the last 75 years, the soldiers who made it off the Normandy beaches in 1944 have returned to remember comrades who did not. Every year, the pilgrimage became a different kind of battle but still they came, in fewer numbers but just as determined to overcome the odds as they were when they landed to liberate France.
This year, however, the veterans are absent, defeated not by age or infirmity, nor walking sticks or wheelchairs, but by the coronavirus.
France ended its strict two-month Covid-19 lockdown almost a month ago, but ongoing health regulations ban gatherings of more than 10 people, meaning the usual D-day commemorations were cancelled.
For locals along the 50-mile stretch of northern French coastline, where 150,000 troops swarmed ashore as part of Operation Overlord leaving 10,000 casualties including 2,500 dead, the 76th D-day anniversary was a glimpse of a future bereft of living heroes.
“It’s very strange to come here and find no veterans,†said Oly, 50, a former soldier who served in Iraq. Now a gendarme in Lille, he comes to mark D-day every year. “It’s like they have all disappeared, as have the soldiers from the 1914-18 war.â€Â
He added: “It’s not idolatry or nostalgia but our duty not to forget.â€
Normally, the Normandy D-day villages would be a riot of French and Allied national flags and the roads jammed with re-enactors in jeeps, motorcycles with sidecars and vintage military vehicles. This year, the bunting, like the veterans, is absent and the roads almost deserted.
Under a full moon on Friday evening, a handful of people gathered at Pegasus Bridge where, at exactly 00.16 on 6 June 1944, three gliders carrying members of D Company, 2nd (Airborne) Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, led by Major John Howard, landed in a small field. (Their arrival was so bumpy, Howard hit his head and thought he had gone blind until one of his men pointed out his tin helmet was wedged over his eyes.)
“It’s sad for us this year. Normally there are lots of our British friends here. It’s hard for us that they cannot be with us,†Le Marrec said afterwards.
“But it has made us realise we will have to find another way to remember them when they have all gone.â€
At a moving ceremony at the Arromanches site of Gold Beach, on Saturday afternoon, officials paid tribute to the British and Dutch troops who landed there.Â
American veteran of the D-day landings and now a local, Charles Norman Shay, stands looking over Omaha Beach in Normandy. Photograph: Kiran Ridley
British-born Adrian Cox, a local councillor in Arromanches where he runs a bed and breakfast, says the disappearance of the veterans – now in their 90s – is something the Normandy coastline will have to accept.
“In a few years there will be no veterans returning and so it will be about remembering them… If we want to keep the story of D-Day alive and people interested, we have to find a way to do it without the veterans,†Cox said.
In the absence of the old soldiers and their families, Steven Oldrid, a British expat who has lived in Normandy for more than 20 years, was a man on a mission to honour the dead, laying wreaths and crosses around Sword Beach, one of five Allied landing sites.
“I’m more than happy to do this. The veterans have suffered a lot during this two-month lockdown and we have lost a couple of them recently. We are losing more and more so every year really does count,†Oldrid said, turning away as his eyes filled with tears.
“We have to keep remembering these men. They were true heroesâ€.
With the planned international ceremony cancelled, it was left to representatives from nine countries – including the British and American ambassadors to France – to lay wreaths at Vierville-sur-Mer near the American landing sector at Omaha Beach.
There was the traditional commemorative service for British fallen at Bayeaux cathedral but, as with all this year’s events, the order was to keep it swift, short and at a “social distance†of 1 metre.
At midday, in the British cemetery at Bayeaux, the UK’s ambassador to France Ed Llewellyn led a simple wreath-laying commemoration.
“It’s a very simple ceremony but we hope the veterans who were not able to be here today will see that we were here to commemorate their comrades who were left behind. It’s a great honour to be here to pay tribute on behalf of our country and the veterans,†Llewellyn said afterwards.
There was just one Allied soldier on the D-day beaches this year: Charles Norman Shay, a native American, 95, who was drafted into the US military aged 19. Shay, who now lives in Normandy, was a combat medic on Omaha Beach on D-day treating – and saving – many of the wounded.
“This year, I feel very fortunate that I am still alive,†Shay said, admitting he would miss the presence of veteran comrades. “It’s a sad thing that something like this has happened [the virus] but there’s not much we can do about it.â€
“It’s 76 years from what happened here… so many young men were lost. We all hoped it would never happen again, but we can never be sure. It’s important to send, to reinforce and renew this message of peace.â€
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The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has called for a National Day of Action in solidarity with African-Americans who are protesting against the violent killings of black people by police in the United States.Â
Since the tragic murder of George Floyd by police, people across the world have mourned him and protested. The EFF said South Africans should be apart of the protests in solidarity and also for one of our own — Collins Khosa.Â
Khosa was allegedly beaten to death members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in April for being in possession of alcohol.Â
EFF CALLS FOR MASS PROTEST ON MONDAY 8 JUNEÂ
The EFF has called on a mass protest to take place across the country on Monday 8 June — also the same day our schools are meant to reopen.Â
The EFF has called on all South Africans, in accordance with social distancing regulations, to come out at 9:00 on Monday and get on their knee for 8 minutes and 46 seconds — the amount of time Derek Chauvin placed his knee George Floyd’s throat — eventually leading to this death. Â
“The demonstrations must be done in a safe and responsible manner considering the realities of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which still poses a risk to the lives of all people. Accordingly, the protests must be in accordance with Level 3 regulations that allow jogging in a proper social distancing form,†said the EFF.Â
STANDING IN SOLIDARITYÂ
The EFF said Africa must take a stand and defend Africans.Â
“Let’s make our contribution in accordance with social distancing rules. South Africans must come out and take a knee where ever they are, 9:00 in the morning, 8 June for 8 mins and 46 seconds,†it said.Â
The EFF will lead a demonstration in front of the American Embassy in Pretoria led by the Commander-in-Chief Julius Malema and in front of the U.S Consulate General in Sandton led by Deputy President Floyd Shivambu and in Cape Town led by the National Chairperson Veronica Mente.Â
RAMAPHOSA: KILLING OF GEORGE FLOYD HAS OPENED UP OLD WOUNDSÂ
“The killing of George Floyd has opened up deep wounds for all us, but this are the wounds that our brothers and sisters in United States live with day-in and day-out, week-in and week-out, year-in and year-out,†he said.Â
“That is why we stand in solidarity with our African American brothers and sisters and express our wish that American people can reconcile as we did, and close once and for all the doors of racial injustice,†he added.Â
Sarasota police launched an internal investigation after video surfaced of an officer kneeling on a man’s neck during an arrest in mid-May.
Wochit
SARASOTA, Fla. — In a memo copied to Sarasota Police Chief Bernadette DiPino on May 19, a captain concluded that when an officer “placed a knee on the neck†of a suspect during an arrest a day earlier, “the application of force appears reasonable.â€
The conclusion by Capt. Demetri Konstantopolous came in a Use of Force report to Officer Matthew Hughes — and cc’d to DiPino, according to the document — recounting actions by Officer Drusso Martinez as he struggled with 27-year-old Patrick Carroll, a black Sarasota resident, while arresting him on alleged domestic battery charges on May 18.
The arrest and Martinez’s kneeling on Carroll’s neck did not become public until June 1, when a video of the encounter was posted to social media.
The police department did not reference the use of force report but issued a statement then saying the agency had been tagged in the video post, and that DePino “was disturbed to see an officer kneeling on the head and neck of an individual in the video.
“While it appears the officer eventually moves his leg to the individual’s back, this tactic is not taught, used or advocated by our agency.â€
The department said DiPino had placed the officer, who wasn’t identified earlier this week by the agency, on administrative leave.
On June 2 — two weeks after the Use of Force Report said the review had been closed following the conclusion that the force was reasonable — the document shows Officer Hughes sent a message to Sgt. Daniel Weinsberg stating: “I have concerns regarding the officer putting his knee in the back of the subject’s neck to maintain control. For your reviewâ€
Weinsberg responded that the Use of Force “is currently under investigation by Internal Affairs.â€
Attempts to reach DiPino for comment on Friday were unsuccessful.
Two days before Carroll’s arrest became public, DiPino had condemned the tactic of police using a knee to a suspect’s neck to subdue them, in response to a viral video that showed the death of George Floyd, a black man who died May 25 after Minneapolis policeman Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nine minutes, leaving him unable to breathe.
On May 30, as public anger over Floyd’s death was rising nationwide, DiPino issued a statement condemning the kneeling tactic and promising her agency would be “professional, transparent and compassionate†in working to keep the public safe.
“I was shocked and outraged by the actions and conduct of the Minneapolis police officer and the inaction of the other officers I observed on the video,†her statement said. “The senseless death of Mr. Floyd is tragic, heartbreaking and never should have happened….The men and women of the Sarasota Police Department are not trained to use tactics I’ve seen in the videos in Minneapolis. The actions of the officers in Minneapolis were inexcusable…..â€
Other law enforcement leaders sent out similar statements.
DiPino said it was the bystander’s video and overhead video taken by the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office helicopter Air-1 that prompted her to put the officer on administrative leave.
Deputy Chief Pat Robinson told the Herald-Tribune DiPino had not seen the footage of the incident until June 1.
Michael Barfield, president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, questioned the timing of DiPino’s message.
“DiPino needs to stop pretending she was unaware of the knee-on-the-neck tactic,†Barfield said. “Her patrol captain signed off on it as ‘reasonable’ and sent her that message six days before the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis.â€
Barfield said the chief could have acted much sooner.
“Condemning this terrible tactic after-the-fact is a political move,†he said. “The time for Chief Dipino to be a leader was on May 19th when she knew one of her officers used the knee-on-the-neck tactic. She didn’t condemn it then. Worse, she pretended not to know anything about it when it came to light. That conduct is disappointing and inconsistent with being a public servant.â€
Carroll’s arrest
According to an SPD arrest report, Carroll was arrested May 18 in connection with a domestic battery case on Dixie Avenue in the Newtown neighborhood. Officers Martinez and Amelia Wicinski found him wearing a light blue backpack, and at first, he was cooperative with police.
Carroll said he went to the female victim’s house to pick up some clothes but they argued. He found some of his clothes strewn on the lawn. He said she cursed and yelled at him and threatened to call the police, so he packed a few things and left.
Carroll denied striking the woman, according to the report.
Officers found enough evidence to arrest Carroll for domestic battery. The woman had visible bruising and swelling on her arms, face and chest area, the report said.
Carroll began to yell at officers asking why he was being placed into handcuffs.
While being placed in handcuffs, Carroll continuously attempted to reach into his pockets, police said. His attempts to reach into his pockets were reported in the use of force report but not his arrest report.
In the arrest report, officers said that Carroll simply refused to comply with a body search. It said they attempted to walk him to the rear of the patrol vehicle to conduct the search.
Officers were able to get Carroll to the door of the patrol vehicle but he turned his body and yelled at them. He appeared to struggle with Martinez and Wicinski’s efforts to search him and they took him to the ground “with minimal force,†the arrest report said.
The use of force report added more detail.
In the document, Martinez said that as he moved to arrest Carroll, the suspect became uncooperative, and “began to flail his body and drop his bodyweight to the ground in an attempt to defeat†officers’ moves to search him.
“I grabbed a hold of Carroll’s right wrist and right elbow area and conducted a takedown. Carroll landed on his stomach, at which time he continued to flail his body and head,†Martinez recounted in the use of force report. “I placed my right knee on the back of his neck to better control his body, at which time he calmed down.â€
The sheriff’s helicopter pilot flying overhead can be heard in the video telling dispatchers Carroll was resisting arrest and to send more officers.
A search of Carroll’s body found a baggie of marijuana; his backpack contained a box of change and four .22-caliber bullets, police said. A criminal search found that he had a felony conviction.
In addition to domestic battery, Carrol was charged with felony possession of ammunition and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
The use of force report included a diagram showing where officers exerted force on Carroll’s body. Dots indicated that they exerted force on his wrists, elbow and neck.
None of the comments prior to June 1 questioned if the officer’s use of force was excessive.
Photos provided by Martinez show Carroll had no injuries, the report said.
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/06/florida-police-chief-condemned-use-chokeholds-department-allowed/3163296001/
“The Confederate battle flag has all too often been co-opted by violent extremists and racist groups whose divisive beliefs have no place in our Corps.†the military branch said in a statement released Friday.Â
The Confederacy lost the Civil War, which it fought to preserve slavery.
In its decision, the Marine Corps cited the violent white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 in which anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was murdered by a white supremacistÂ
The hate symbol “presents a threat to our core values, unit cohesion, security and good order and discipline,†the statement said.
Last week, Confederate statues in Virginia and Alabama were taken down. The removals come as protests have ignited across the country following the police killing of Black Minneapolis man George Floyd.Â
“I am mindful that many people believe that flag to be a symbol of heritage or regional pride,†Marine Corps commandant Gen. David Berger said in an April memo. “But I am also mindful of the feelings of pain and rejection of those who inherited the cultural memory and present effects of the scourge of slavery in our country.â€
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TAIPEI, Taiwan — Voters in the southern port city of Kaohsiung voted overwhelmingly on Saturday to remove their China-friendly mayor from office, just months after he lost his bid to unseat President Tsai Ing-wen in national elections.
The vote caps a roller-coaster two years for the mayor, Han Kuo-yu, who emerged from political obscurity to win the 2018 race in Kaohsiung, a traditional stronghold of Ms. Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party. That victory served as a launching pad for Mr. Han’s presidential bid.
Saturday’s vote, known as a recall, appeared to reflect Taiwan’s hardening attitude toward China, which has been intensifying efforts to bring the island democracy under its control. The vote is the first time that Taiwanese voters have removed a mayor, whose status is similar to a governor in the United States. A new election will choose his successor.
Mr. Han, of the opposition party, Kuomintang, had campaigned for president on a platform of forging closer ties with China’s Communist government, which claims Taiwan as its territory but has never ruled it. Running on the slogan, “Safety for Taiwan, money for the people,†Mr. Han said having better ties with China would lessen the risk of conflict and improve the economy.
But Ms. Tsai, who has vowed to preserve the island’s sovereignty, scored a convincing victory in the January presidential election. Beijing later denounced her inauguration.
Mr. Han’s pro-China stance, as well as his taking leave from the mayoralty to run for president, upset Kaohsiung voters. When running for mayor, he had told voters that he would not seek Taiwan’s highest office.
“He’s not a good mayor, he shouldn’t have run for president while in office,†Tsai Meng-hua, 48, said after casting her vote. “I also have misgivings about his leaning toward China. Some of his economic policies are very pro-China.â€
The recall was supported by all but 2.6 percent of the votes cast.
But for the recall to succeed, it also needed the support of at least 25 percent of the city’s 2 million eligible voters. That threshold was easily surpassed on Saturday, when more than 939,000 votes were cast, according to the Kaohsiung Municipal Election Commission.
“We’re Kaohsiung! We’re proud!†a crowd chanted Saturday outside the headquarters of WeCare Kaohsiung, the group that had pushed for the recall vote.
Before declaring his presidential bid last year, Mayor Han visited China, where he met with the head of Beijing’s office for Taiwan policy, among other officials. In Hong Kong, he met with the island’s embattled chief executive, Carrie Lam, who has sought to implement Beijing’s highly unpopular policies.
President Xi Jinping of China has attempted to woo Taiwan with a “one country, two systems†arrangement similar to that of Hong Kong.
But Beijing has tightened its grip on Hong Kong this spring, pursuing a series of laws intended to suppress seemingly any act it perceives as a threat to China’s national security.
“The crisis in Hong Kong has given us a sense of crisis,†said Kao Rui-hong, a 40-year-old supermarket worker who voted to recall Mr. Han. “People in Kaohsiung are worried that he will make Taiwan follow in the footsteps of Hong Kong.â€
Mr. Han conceded Saturday afternoon, but seemed to hold to his views.
“The only path for Kaohsiung in the future is globalization,†he said, in an oblique reference to closer economic interactions with China.
Chris Horton reported from Taipei, Taiwan, and Amy Chang Chien from Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Thousands of people, many wearing masks, were already gathered in front of Sydney Town Hall yesterday when the Court of Appeal declared the Stop All Black Deaths in Custody rally an authorised public assembly.
The decision, overturning a Supreme Court ruling on Friday night, gave protesters immunity from arrest for blocking roads along the planned route from Town Hall to Belmore Park.
The march stretched between Belmore Park near Central Station in Sydney to Town Hall (9News)
Following the march, protesters clashed with police at Central Station.
A short scuffle broke out between officers and protesters as police tried to move forward in an underground section of the station.
At least two officers used pepper spray, with up to 30 people in the firing line.
Police spraying protesters with pepper spray inside Central Station after a Black Lives Matter rally in Sydney, Saturday, June 6, 2020 (AAP Image)
Over the past five years, as demands for reform have mounted in the aftermath of police violence in cities like Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore and now Minneapolis, police unions have emerged as one of the most significant roadblocks to change. The greater the political pressure for reform, the more defiant the unions often are in resisting it — with few city officials, including liberal leaders, able to overcome their opposition.
They aggressively protect the rights of members accused of misconduct, often in arbitration hearings that they have battled to keep behind closed doors. And they have also been remarkably effective at fending off broader change, using their political clout and influence to derail efforts to increase accountability.
While rates of union membership have dropped by half nationally since the early 1980s, to 10 percent, higher membership rates among police unions give them resources they can spend on campaigns and litigation to block reform. A single New York City police union has spent more than $1 million on state and local races since 2014.
In St. Louis, when Kim Gardner was elected the top prosecutor four years ago, she set out to rein in the city’s high rate of police violence. But after she proposed a unit within the prosecutor’s office that would independently investigate misconduct, she ran into the powerfullocal police union.
The union pressured lawmakers to set aside the proposal, which many supported but then never brought to a vote. Around the same time, a lawyer for the union waged a legal fight to limit the ability of the prosecutor’s office to investigate police misconduct. The following year, a leader of the union said Ms. Gardner should be removed “by force or by choice.â€
Politicians tempted to cross police unions have long feared being labeled soft on crime by the unions, or more serious consequences.
When Steve Fletcher, a Minneapolis city councilman and frequent Police Department critic, sought to divert money away from hiring officers and toward a newly created office of violence prevention, he said, the police stopped responding as quickly to 911 calls placed by his constituents. “It operates a little bit like a protection racket,†Mr. Fletcher said of the union.
A spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department said he was unable to comment.
A few days after prosecutors in Minneapolis charged an officer with murder in the death of George Floyd, the president of the city’s police union denounced political leaders, accusing them of selling out his members and firing four officers without due process.
“It is despicable behavior,†the union president, Lt. Bob Kroll, wrote in a letter to union members obtained by a local reporter. He also referred to protesters as a “terrorist movement.â€
Mr. Kroll, who is himself the subject of at least 29 complaints, has also chided the Obama administration for its “oppression of police,†and praised President Trump as someone who “put the handcuffs on the criminals instead of us.â€
In other instances, unions have not resisted reforms outright, but have made them difficult to put in place. Federal intervention is often one of the few reliable ways of reforming police departments. But in Cleveland, the union helped slow the adoption of reforms mandated by a federal consent decree, according to Jonathan Smith, a former U.S. Justice Department official who oversaw the government’s investigation of policing practices there.
Mr. Smith said union officials had signaled to rank-and-file officers that the changes should not be taken seriously, such as a requirement that they report and investigate instances in which they pointed a gun. “I heard this in lots of departments,†Mr. Smith said. “‘Wait it out. Do the minimum you have to do.’†He said he believed that the reforms have since taken hold.
Steve Loomis, the Cleveland police union president at the time of the consent decree, said he and his colleagues saw some of the mandated rules as counterproductive.
“Every time a kid points a gun, he has to do a use-of-force investigation,†Mr. Loomis said of his younger colleagues. “Now guys aren’t pointing their guns when they should be pointing their guns.â€
Robert Bruno, a professor of labor relations at the University of Illinois, posited that many police officers see themselves as authority figures who equate compromise with weakness. Other experts said it was rational for police unions, which are often regarded with suspicion by others in the labor movement and see themselves as distinct from it, to protect their members so relentlessly.
“A major role for police unions is basically as an insurance policy,†said Dale Belman, a labor relations professor at Michigan State University who has consulted for police unions. “The feeling of a lot of officers is that it’s very easy to sacrifice them. Something goes wrong and boom.â€
This has only become more true in an era of ubiquitous cellphone cameras and social media. And the feeling of being under siege has only strengthened demands from union members that they be protected.
In Baltimore, where the city and the Justice Department reached a consent decree in 2017 to overhaul police conduct, the union has described a police department in chaos, with severe staff shortages and low morale. Those who remain said they feel unsupported by their commanders.
“They’re ready to throw police officers under the bus to appease the media and don’t support us even when our actions are appropriate,†said one officer surveyed in a report released last year by a group helping the department implement reforms.
It remains to be seen how the unions will respond to reform initiatives by cities and states since Mr. Floyd’s death, including a new ban on chokeholds in Minneapolis. But in recent days, unions have continued to show solidarity with officers accused of abusive behavior.
The president of a police union in Buffalo said the union stood “100 percent†behind two officers who were suspended on Thursday after appearing to push an older man who fell and suffered head injuries. The union president said the officers “were simply following orders.â€
All 57 officers on the Emergency Response Team, a special squad formed to respond to riots, had resigned from their posts on the team in support of the suspended officers, according to The Buffalo News.
Unions can be so effective at defending their members that cops with a pattern of abuse can be left untouched, with fatal consequences. In Chicago, after the killing of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald by officer Jason Van Dyke, it emerged that Mr. Van Dyke had been the subject of multiple complaints already. But a “code of silence†about misconduct was effectively “baked into†the labor agreements between police unions and the city, according to a report conducted by task force.
New York City’s police unions have been among the most vocal opponents of reforms in Albany, including calls to reform the state’s tight restrictions on the disciplinary records of officers. Amid growing momentum in recent days for making those records public, the city’s police unions joined statewide police groups on Friday in urging the Legislature to keep the law in place.
“No rational policy discussion can take place against a backdrop of burning police vehicles and looted store fronts,†read a memo of opposition from the police groups.
The city’s patrol officers’ union, with roughly 24,000 active members, and another representing sergeants have been sharp critics of Mayor Bill de Blasio, who took office in 2014 riding a wave of discontent over stop-and-frisk policing.
The mayor promised reform, but after the fatal shooting of two uniformed officers in Brooklyn by a man who invoked the police killing of Eric Garner, Mr. de Blasio faced an all-but-declared revolt by rank-and-file officers.
The head of the patrol officers’ union, Patrick J. Lynch, said at the time that the mayor had “blood on the hands.†Many officers turned their backs on Mr. de Blasio at the slain officers’ funerals. And, days later, many more engaged in what amounted to a de facto work slowdown. Arrests plummeted as did tickets for minor infractions.
Mr. Lynch has stood by officers even when there is ample evidence of misconduct, defending the officers who killed Amadou Diallo in 1999 and another who, in 2008, shoved a bicyclist to the ground during a protest ride. The union provided lawyers for the officers involved in both cases.
When liberal politicians do try to advance reform proposals, union officials have resorted to highly provocative rhetoric and hard-boiled campaign tactics to lash out at them. This past week, the head of the sergeants’ union in New York posted a police report on Twitter revealing personal information about the daughter of Mr. de Blasio, who had been arrested during a protest.
In St. Louis, the business manager of a local police union, Jeff Roorda, penned an unflattering poem about Ms. Gardner, the local prosecutor, in a union newsletter that read: “You’re a disaster, Misses Kim/ Your heart is dark and vile/You’d rather charge a policeman/ Than all the murders you could file.†The union has also run social media ads against an alderwoman who has also advocated reform, Megan Green, referring to her as a “Communist Cop-Hater†and superimposing her head on the body of Mao Zedong.
Mr. Roorda declined to comment.
At times, the strident leadership appears to beget still more strident leadership. In 2017, Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police elected a new president who denounced a federal Justice Department investigation prompted by the shooting of Mr. McDonald as “politically motivated†and pledged to fight the “anti-police movement.†That president was ousted this year by a candidate who had derided the ensuing consent decree as “nonsense†and criticized his predecessor for failing to stand up to City Hall.
While statistics compiled by the group Campaign Zero show that police killings and shootings in Chicago have fallen following a set of reforms enacted after a federal investigation, advocates worry that the union will undermine them in contract negotiations. Police unions have traditionally used their bargaining agreements to create obstacles to disciplining officers. One paper by researchers at the University of Chicago found that incidents of violent misconduct in Florida sheriff’s offices increased by about 40 percent after deputies gained collective bargaining rights.
“By continuing to elect people who stand for those values, it more deeply entrenches the break between the community and the police,†said Karen Sheley, director of the Police Practices Project for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “It makes it far more difficult for reform efforts to go forward.â€
As critics of the police get louder and more mainstream, union members have elected more aggressive leaders. In Minneapolis in 2015, Mr. Kroll defeated the union’s longtime president by a nearly two-to-one margin after the city installed a police chief intent on reform.
Mr. Kroll did not return a call seeking comment. John Elder, the Police Department spokesman, said the current police chief and Mr. Kroll have a strong relationship.
Ms. Harteau said that the department introduced new rules requiring officers to protect the “sanctity of life†and intervene if they saw a colleague improperly using force, but that the union under Mr. Kroll undermined the changes by protecting officers who violated the policies. Data on police shootings and killings in the city appear to show little change despite the reforms.
“I struggle to know if they have gotten more extreme, or if the world has changed and they haven’t,†Mr. Fletcher, the city councilman, said of the union. “Either way, they are profoundly misaligned with the moment.â€
Rotovators and shovels are mostly sold out at Tractor Supply; stock in Miracle-Gro has doubled in two months; Johnny’s, one of the largest seed distributors in the north-eastern US, has told customers it’s back up on 40,000 orders.
As the Covid pandemic wreaks havoc on the US food chain, with outbreaks reported among workers in large midwestern factory producers, second-homers sheltering in the Hudson Valley and Catskill mountain foothills, are planting vegetables.
At the same time, New York’s farm-to-table supply chain has been shaken by the loss of the restaurant trade and are is contending with the complexities of distributing directly to consumers and supplying food banks.
Larger commercial farm operations, dependent on half a million seasonal migrant workers, are grappling with flare-ups of Covid-19. In New Jersey, more than 50 workers had the virus at a farm in Gloucester County, adding to nearly 60 who fell ill in a neighbouring county. Almost 170 fell sick at a tomato and strawberry greenhouse complex in Oneida, New York.
Dan Barber, founder of the pioneering farm-to-table Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns restaurants, has warned of a “generational catastrophe†for smallholding farmers. Faced with higher costs, Barber estimates that more than 30% of smallholding farmers could be forced out of business by the end of the year.
Food insecurity, underscored by government figures that 40% of lowest-paid workers are now idled, has led to calls for a profound adaptation or wholesale reform of the food system, if a sustained crisis is to be avoided.
“People are gardening like never before,†says Mark Dunau, owner of Mountain Dell, an organic farm near the New York-Pennsylvania border. Dunau has partially pivoted from supplying restaurants to selling vegetable starts to local home-owners trying their hand at small-scale agriculture.
For the most part, he says, this isn’t part of a “The Good Life†backyard-cultivation comedy, but people trying to “cover their assesâ€.
“They’re afraid for their food supply. They’re thinking, if they have some land and you can’t go anywhere, they might as well try to grow something.â€
Laura Ferrara, of Westwind Orchard organic farm, with her pet dog. The farm’s supplies of frozen pork have almost sold out during the pandemic
Similar themes are emerging across the US. Some states have recorded record spikes in hunting licence applications, a reversal of recent trends and in Vermont, fishing license sales are up more than 50%.How much of this can be ascribed to people with time on their hands, and how much to need is still hard to discern. What is clear is some trends, including the smallholding organic farm movement, coupled with greater awareness of food justice and food insecurity, are coalescing under Covid-19.
Some years ago, New York artist Dan Colen purchased Sky High Farm in the Hudson Valley with the idea of giving back. With no farming experience to act on, he called on a friend with experience in public health programme development.
Colen sought to form relationships with food-justice organisations, and has delivered more than 81,000lb of vegetables and 41,000lb of protein to date. Last week he dropped off food to elder residents at Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects.
What’s clear is that the least advantaged, in the city and beyond, are looking at being poorer, and organisations that were focused on farming education are turning to feeding people and building coalitions with community farms.
“I don’t know that we’re going to see the extent of it for a while, but the food pantries are experiencing a massive increase in clients,†he says. “You’ve suddenly got a middle class looking at being food-insecure.â€
At the same time, pressure adapt is revealing cracks in the system: farmers have reported that crops and herds may have to be destroyed if processing and distribution doesn’t pick up. New York governor Andrew Cuomo identified the problem last week, announcing a $25m New York food bank grant to spend on agricultural products grown in the state.
“It makes no sense to have upstate farmers who can’t sell their product and downstate families who can’t get enough to eat,†he said.
Under the shadow of the Catskill mountains, the cold spring has forced Fabio Chizzola to light fires under his apple trees to ward off frost damage into mid-May. He and wife, Laura Ferrara, sidelined careers in fashion, purchasing Westwind Orchard in 2002.
Chizzola’s supplies of frozen pork have virtually sold out. As the major food supply chains are threatened, and higher supermarket prices are going some way to narrow the price gap with organic, small-farm produce, he detects a shift.
“In all this craziness, hopefully something positive will come out. Small farmers are the soul of this country and every country. This is not a machine of mass-production, it’s a livelihood, and I hope the world is catching up on that.â€
Comedy is made of the Covid-quarantined showing-off newfound bread-baking skills, Ferrara shifting dozens of sourdough starters. “You really can’t fail with bread if you keep trying. So it’s slow-food out of necessity, but also people trying to connect with a different set of values and taking time to make things.â€
Earlier in the week, Ferrara was out delivering to a food coalition in Kingston whereby some estimate that demand is up 10-fold. Local restaurants are delivering there, too, in part to keep their staff employed during lockdown. If the big food companies could do anything, she ventures, they could join that effort.
Ninety miles from New York, where many might typically compete for heirloom tomatoes at a city farmers’ market, the message, amplified by Covid, is to take more care with ourselves and those around us. “We’ve been taking a lot of things for granted, and it’s our responsibility to be in the community,†Ferrara says. “There are people who can’t just call out for a meal.â€
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