Global cases of the novel coronavirus topped seven million, as case numbers surge in Brazil and India, according to a Reuters tally. About 30 percent of those cases, or two million infections, are in the US. Latin America has the second-largest outbreak, with over 15 percent of cases. Globally, deaths from the novel coronavirus are approaching 400,000. Approximately three million people have recovered.
Brazil has removed from public view months of data on its COVID-19 epidemic, as President Jair Bolsonaro defended delays and changes to official record-keeping of the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak. At least 36,000 people have died of the coronavirus in the country.
Indonesia has reported nearly 993 new cases of the coronavirus, a new single-day high for the country that brought its total caseload past 30,000, with 1,801 deaths – the most in Southeast Asia as the government unveiled an enhanced stimulus package worth $47.6bn.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has changed its position on face masks and is now encouraging people to wear them in crowded places, citing anecdotal evidence that supports their value in stopping the spread of the coronavirus.
Here are the latest updates:
June 7, Sunday
04:18 GMT – Germany’s confirmed coronavirus cases rise by 301 to 183,979
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Germany increased by 301 to 183,979, data from the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) for infectious diseases showed on Sunday.
The reported death toll rose by 22 to 8,668, the tally showed.
03:27 GMT – El Salvador’s Bukele sustains veto of coronavirus legislation
Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has for the second time vetoed emergency legislation passed to regulate the Central American country’s coronavirus policy and usher in a gradual reopening of its economy, his legal team said.
Bukele’s legal counsel, Conan Castro, said Bukele had vetoed the law backed on May 30 by Congress because it breached a number of constitutional guarantees including the rights and health of workers and cooperation between organs of government.
Castro was speaking to reporters at a news conference in San Salvador with other members of Bukele’s legal team.
Bukele, who has been at loggerheads with Congress for weeks over coronavirus policy, had vetoed a similar law in May on the grounds it put the public’s health at risk. He had said he would do the same with the law passed last weekend. El Salvador has about 2,934 coronavirus cases and 53 deaths reported.
El Salvador has about 2,934 coronavirus cases and 53 deaths reported [Jose Cabezas/Reuters]
03:03 GMT – China would make a coronavirus vaccine a “global public good”
China will increase international cooperation if it succeeds in developing a novel coronavirus vaccine, the science and technology minister said on Sunday.
China would make a vaccine a “global public good” when it is ready, the minister, Wang Zhigang, was quoted by Reuters news agency during a news conference in Beijing.
02:32 GMT – Brazil takes down COVID-19 data, hiding soaring death toll
Brazil has removed from public view months of data on its COVID-19 epidemic, as President Jair Bolsonaro defended delays and changes to official record-keeping of the world’s second-largest coronavirus outbreak.
Brazil’s Health Ministry removed the data from a website that had documented the epidemic over time and by state and municipality.
The ministry also stopped giving a total count of confirmed cases, which have shot past 672,000 – more than anywhere outside the United States – or a total death toll, which passed Italy this week, nearing 36,000 by Saturday.
“The cumulative data … does not reflect the moment the country is in,” Bolsonaro said on Twitter, citing a note from the ministry. “Other actions are underway to improve the reporting of cases and confirmation of diagnoses.”
Bolsonaro has played down the dangers of the pandemic, replaced medical experts in the Health Ministry with military officials and argued against state lockdowns to fight the virus, hobbling the country’s public health response.
02:06 GMT – Second day of 50-plus cases in South Korea virus spike
South Korea has reported 57 additional cases of the coronavirus, marking a second day in a row that its daily jump is above 50 as authorities struggle to suppress a spike in fresh infections in the densely populated Seoul metropolitan area, the Associated Press news agency reported.
The figures released on Sunday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took the country’s total to 11,776 cases, with 273 deaths. The agency says 10,552 people have recovered while 951 remain in treatment.
South Korea’s caseload peaked in late February and early March but a later significant easing amid aggressive tracing, testing and treatment prompted authorities to loosen strict social distancing rules. The country has since seen an increase in new infections, mostly in the Seoul region.Â
01:43 GMT – China reports six new COVID-19 cases, five asymptomatic cases
China reported six new cases of the novel coronavirus on Sunday, three more than the previous day.
Five of the new cases, recorded by late Saturday, involved travellers arriving from abroad, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on its website.
One locally transmitted case was found in the southern island province of Hainan.
The NHC also confirmed five new asymptomatic cases, or people who are infected with the virus but do not show symptoms, compared with two the previous day.
The total number of infections in China, where the virus first emerged late last year, stands at 83,036. With no new deaths reported, the death toll remained 4,634.
01:34 GMT – Brazil reports 904 new coronavirus deaths in 24 hours -health ministry
Brazil reported an additional 904 coronavirus deaths and 27,075 new cases over the last 24 hours, Reuters news agency reported on Sunday quoting the country’s health ministry.
The Latin American nation has registered 35,930 total coronavirus deaths and 672,846 confirmed cases.
Brothers Carlos Alexandre and Wagner Cardninot, attend the burial on Saturday of their father, 76- year-old Jose Herminio de Farias, who died from the coronavirus disease in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [Pilar Olivares/Reuters]
01:08 GMT – Sri Lanka to reopen for international tourism on August 1
Sri Lanka says it will be reopen for international tourists starting August 1 after a “successful containment” of the novel coronavirus.
The country’s airports had been closed since March because of the global pandemic.
Sri Lanka Tourism said in a statement on Saturday that all precautionary measures recommended by global health and travel authorities have been put in place to keep visitors and residents safe.
Sri Lanka has reported 1,810 confirmed cases, including 11 deaths.
00:34 GMT – Mexico reports 3,593 new cases, 341 new fatalities
Mexico’s health ministry has reported 3,593 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infection and 341 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 113,619 cases and 13,511 deaths.
The government has said the real number of infected people is likely significantly higher than the confirmed cases.
00:01 GMT – Russia reports second-highest one-day death toll
Russia has reported its second-highest one-day death toll from COVID-19 even as the number of new coronavirus infections remained steady.Â
The national coronavirus task force said 197 people died during the past day, sharply up from 144 a day earlier. The highest one-day death toll was 232 on May 29.
There were 8,855 new infection cases overall. Russia has recorded more than 458,000 cases, including 5,725 deaths.
Growing up in Melbourne in the 1990s, Laura Coriakula had never thought she would one day appear on a televised social experiment like ‘Big Brother’. If anything, she looked for ways to attract the least attention, and furthermore, longed to try change who she was.Â
“As a kid you don’t say these things, you don’t know how to articulate it. You would only feel them and have thoughts in my head of, ‘I want light skin, I want blue eyes, I want blonde hair’,†she told HuffPost Australia.Â
The now-25-year-old, whose father hails from Matuku Island in Fiji, was recalling the impact of facing racism during her childhood.Â
Channel 7 ‘Big Brother Australia’ contestant Laura Coriakula
Schoolyard taunts from other students were regular. “I had lots of things like, ‘Why is your dad black? Why is your dad’s hair funny?’†she explained.
“He’s got an afro, and then I used to be so embarrassed of my dad, I didn’t want him to come to school because kids would laugh.
“I was seven or eight years old so I didn’t have any awareness or I wasn’t educated about racism. But I guess as parents you don’t expect your little children to be saying those things in school grounds, and we don’t go and tell teachers.â€Â
Laura said she began asking herself, “Why does my face look like this? Why am I getting bullied for big lips or my body’s bigger?â€
After attending four different high schools and even doing some schooling in Fiji because “I just never felt I belonged anywhereâ€, Laura moved to the US at age 19 to pursue a dance career.
“I feel like I only ever felt at home when I actually moved to the US, and I mean home in a sense of I felt comfortable with who I am with people who are not Fijian,†she reflected.
“Being a coloured person in the US, I actually felt better. There were more of us, there was more education and awareness. I felt so empowered there because my African American friends were just so welcoming and they were like, ‘Let me teach you how to be black’.â€Â
The overseas move did take some time to adjust to in other respects such as America’s gun laws, leading to her fear of being in the “wrong time, wrong place†and getting “caught in a crossfireâ€.Â
“Being there and knowing how authorities and police operate, that was the hard thing because there’s really no justice,†she said.
“We can’t afford there to be bad apples within the justice system because that just does not work because those bad apples are what will kill you. There should be zero tolerance.â€Â
After finishing up in the dance studios in New York’s Times Square, Laura would often come out and see Black Lives Matter protests underway.
“I was like that’s exactly where I need to be, I need to be standing here whether that’s my country or not,†she said about participating. “This is my people, we all look the same and it’s about supporting each other, otherwise once you start thinking ‘this is not my country or this is not my battle, I don’t want to fight’, you become ignorant and part of the problem.â€Â
Laura is one of 20 contestants on the 12th season of ‘Big Brother Australia’ this year which is hosted by Sonia Kruger.Â
Contestants living in the Sydney house will choose who is eliminated each episode, but the winner of the final prize of $250,000 will be decided by the public.
‘Big Brother Australia’ premieres on Monday June 8 at 7:30pm on Channel 7.
Hundreds of people held a private memorial in honor of George Floyd in his North Carolina birth town.
Wochit
On Saturday, hundreds of mourners gathered to honor George Floyd in North Carolina, thousands of peaceful protesters across the country continued to rally against police brutality, and multiple police departments announced investigations and arrests tied to allegations of officer misconduct.
In a high-profile case, two suspended Buffalo, New York, police officers were charged with second-degree assault Saturday amid outcry over video showing police shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground as they cleared an area of demonstrators. Graphic video from the incident showed the man motionless and bleeding from his head.
Protesters have continued to call for justice for Floyd, a black man killed when a white Minneapolis police officer held his knee to Floyd’s neck for more than eight minutes as other officers stood by. Amid the demonstrations Saturday, multiple other police departments announced actions against officers tied to misconduct allegations.
In San Diego, police say they are investigating after a Thursday incident captured on video, which appears to show police forcing a protester into an unmarked vehicle. In the video an officer can be heard telling other protesters, “You follow us, you will get shot.”
Meanwhile, local media reports say a Missouri officer has been suspended after allegedly hitting a person with his vehicle, and a white Virginia officer is facing assault charges for his use of a stun gun on a black man in a recent domestic call.
Some recent developments:
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser joined the crowd outside the White House and has demanded Trump withdraw military and federal law enforcement from the city.
Minneapolis officials voted Friday on the first changes to the police department since Floyd was killed on Memorial Day.Â
Facing pressure from players, NFLC commissioner Roger Goodell said he wants to do his part to fight against racism and systematic oppression. USA TODAY’s Christine Brennan writes how this could be a watershed moment.
Our live blog will be updated throughout the day. For first-in-the-morning updates, sign up for the Daily Briefing. Here’s the latest news.
Protesters briefly stopped traffic when marching across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, covered miles of highway near the LOVE statue in Philadelphia and chanted “Revolution, nothing less!†on Los Angeles’s Hollywood Boulevard Saturday. That’s in addition to the biggest day of demonstrations yet in Washington, D.C.Â
In Philadelphia, moms with strollers, priests and nuns, groups of school teachers and LGBTQ organizations were among the crowds that marched through downtown. Crowds surrounded the city’s police and National Guard troops at the Philadelphia Municipal Building. Still visible there: burn marks from patrol cars toppled and torched by demonstrators in protests that turned violent and destructive last weekend. Later Saturday, the Philadelphia Inquirer said its top editor had resigned after outcry over a headline that had declared “Buildings Matter, Too.”Â
Late-night protests in Atlanta ended at the Georgia Capitol, where dozens of demonstrators faced a statue of former Gov. John Brown Gordon, a Confederate general believed to have been a leader in the Ku Klux Klan. “Tear down Gordon!” they shouted before dispersing, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
And in Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey was booed by a large crowd after saying he did not support abolishing the city’s police department. As the mayor walked through the cr, chants of “Shame!” and “Go home, Jacob!” rang out in a video of the incident published by the New York Times.
Thousands gather in Washington on ninth day of protests
In the ninth – and by far the largest – day of demonstrations in the nation’s capital, thousands of protesters from all walks of life poured into downtown Washington Saturday.
Protesters gathered at the city’s most iconic sites – the Capitol building, the Lincoln Memorial and near the White House – for simultaneous marches and mass demonstrations with an almost festive air.  Even if protesters were not celebrating, the tension that had marked earlier demonstrations was not evident.Â
After marching down Constitution Avenue, thousands of protesters knelt at an intersection north of the Lincoln Memorial. Music blared up and down 16th Street, a main city artery. Most people wore masks to guard against COVID-19, but the idea of social distancing seemed a thing of the past.
The District of Columbia metropolitan police declined to provide a crowd estimate, and with thousands of protesters gathered at multiple sites across the city, it was difficult to get an accurate assessment.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told reporters on Friday that local officials were projecting between 100,000 and 200,000 protesters.
President Donald Trump spent the day inside the White House and had no public appearances. Just before 7 p.m., he tweeted a message that seemed aimed at the scene outside his front door: “LAW & ORDER!”
After nightfall, half a dozen Secret Services agents engaged protesters outside the U.S. Treasury building in Washington Saturday. “Do you want an all-white police force?” asked one black officer. “When I take this uniform off, I’m still black.â€
– Rebecca Morin, David Jackson, Joey Garrison, Kristine Phillips, Nicholas Chu and John Fritze
Floyd’s death while in police custody sparked “a movement” nationwide, his eulogist said, as hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday in Raeford, North Carolina, to mourn his death while in police custody.Â
The memorial was held inside a church just outside Fayetteville, North Carolina, where Floyd was born. Before the service, the 46-year-old’s body was placed in the center of the lobby, where mourners from the public were allowed in groups of 10.
Rev. Christoppher D. Stackhouse delivered a stirring eulogy about Floyd, noting “there was something different about that day” he died under police custody in Minneapolis.
Floyd was a gentle giant who loved banana-and-mayonnaise sandwiches, Stackhouse said.Â
“A movement is happening today, and George Floyd sparked that fuel,” Stackhouse said. “He sparked the fuel that is going to change this nation.”
As the memorial started, a crowd of peaceful protesters lined the road outside. Â A group of black men on horses rode into the parking lot, followed a few minutes later by a local motorcycle group. Flowers and signs lined the street, including one that read “George Floyd changed the world.”
– Ken Alltucker, Melody Brown-Peyton, Michael Futch, Rachael Riley
Thousands rally in London, across Australia
Following a series of protests seen across the world, thousands of people took a knee and observed a minute of silence Saturday in London in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. More protests were planned in the city and across England over the weekend.
In Australia, thousands of people also joined protests across the country. Dozens also gathered in Mexico City, Seoul, Tokyo, Rome and Berlin.
In Paris, police banned a protest planned for Saturday, citing fears of coronavirus spread and public unrest.
‘Love and humanity’: Couple married in Philadelphia amid protest
As thousands of people marched from Philadelphia’s Museum of Art to City Hall on Saturday, a bride and groom in wedding attire emerged from the Logan Hotel and joined the protesters in a celebratory moment of love and hope.
Rachel Lopez, a professor of law at Drexel University, told USA TODAY that she was marching along when she came upon the wedding party. In Lopez’s video of the moment, the crowd parts for the bride and groom as they hold hands and kiss in the middle of the street, the marchers cheering and holding up “Black Lives Matter” signs.
“With all of the horrifying and shameful videos circulating on the internet right now, I am glad that mine is one of love and humanity!” Lopez said.
— Rachel E. Lopez (@Rachel_E_Lopez) June 6, 2020
AG Barr unapologetic for ordering law enforcement to clear protesters
Attorney General William Barr was unapologetic for ordering law enforcement to clear protesters from a street near the White House on Monday, asserting that some in the demonstration were throwing “projectiles” and had defied at least three orders to move to accommodate a larger security perimeter.
In his first public comments on the aggressive federal action that continues to fan a firestorm of criticism, the attorney general also defended President Donald Trump’s controversial visit to a nearby church later that evening after the street-clearing operation.
“It was not a political act,” Barr said of the visit where the president was photographed with a bible. “It was entirely appropriate for him to do.”
Barr claimed that his decision to expand the security perimeter around Lafayette Square was made early Monday, well before Trump’s decision to visit St. John’s Church, and was not coordinated.
– Kevin Johnson
Judge limits police use of tear gas, rubber bullets in Denver
A federal judge is limiting police use of tear gas, rubber bullets and other non-lethal weapons against people protesting police brutality in Denver.
In a temporary restraining order issued late Friday, U.S. District Judge Brooke Jackson says the four people who sued the city had made a strong case the police had used excessive force. He says an on-scene supervisor with the rank of captain or above must approve the use of any chemical weapons and projectiles. They also must wear body cameras.Â
Denver police say they would comply with the order but would ask for some changes given the limitations of staffing and cameras.
– Associated Press
Seattle mayor bans use of type of tear gas
Seattle’s mayor has banned the police use of one type of tear gas as protests continue over the killing of George Floyd. Mayor Jenny Durkan said at a news conference Friday that the ban on CS gas would last for 30 days.
The move came hours after three civilian police watchdog groups urged city leaders to do so. Police Chief Carmen Best says officials will review police crowd control policies.Â
Local health officials had also expressed concerns over the use of the gas and other respiratory irritants based on the potential to increase spread of the coronavirus.
– Associated Press
Town hall on racism comes to ‘Sesame Street’
In a program aimed to educate children about racism, CNN and “Sesame Street” joined forces for a town hall Saturday.Â
Big Bird joined CNN commentator Van Jones, CNN anchor and national correspondent Erica Hill in moderating the event, featuring other “Sesame Street” characters talking to kids about racism, the recent nationwide protests, embracing diversity and being more empathetic and understanding.
– Bryan Alexander
Two Chicago officers relieved of police powers after brutal encounter seen in video
Bystander video of the Chicago incident posted to social media appears to show a swarm of about a dozen male officers surrounding a small car in a strip mall parking lot on a sunny day, beating the car and its windows with batons. Officers appear to pull a person out of the passenger’s side door and another person out on the driver’s side. At least two officers appear to hold down the person pulled out of the passenger’s side.
The Chicago Police Department relieved the two officers Friday, one day after the department’s civilian police oversight agency, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), recommended the department “either modify their duty status or relieve them temporarily of police power until COPA can further assess the events and circumstances surrounding the use of force.”
More on protests, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor:
Michael Jordan, NFL say it’s time to address racial equality
Charlotte Hornets owner and Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and his Jordan Brand have pledged $100 million over 10 years to organizations “dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education,” Jordan Brand announced in a statement Friday afternoon.
And a day after a group of players released a video and challenged the NFL to join their fight against racism and systematic oppression, commissioner Roger Goodell responded with a video of his own and said he wants to do his part.
“Without black players, there would be no National Football League. And the protests around the country are emblematic of the centuries of silence, inequality and oppression of black players, coaches, fans and staff,” Goodell said in a statement. “We are listening. I am listening, and I will be reaching out to players who have raised their voices and others on how we can improve and go forward for a better and more united NFL family.”
The statement did not mention then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who four years ago began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racism and social injustices, earning him banishment from the league the following offseason.
– Jeff Zillgitt and Mike Jones
Contributing: Associated Press;Â James McGinnis, Bucks County Courier Times; Khrysgiana Pineda, USA TODAY
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/06/george-floyd-protests-raeford-north-carolina-memorial-dc-protest/3155096001/
Police said 11 people in total were taken to hospital with injuries from the scene.
Four children have been taken to hospital with burns and smoke inhalation. Three of the children were flown by air ambulance to the Royal Children’s Hospital in a serious condition – a male infant, a female infant and a primary school-aged boy.
A preschool-aged girl was in a serious but stable condition and was taken to the Northern Hospital.
An Ambulance Victoria spokesperson said on Sunday morning that three adults were in a serious condition following the fire, and had been taken to The Alfred hospital burns unit – two females in their 30s and a male in his 30s – while another adult who was serious but stable was taken to the Northern Hospital.
A CFA media spokesman said 16 tankers were called to the fire, and it took firefighters about two hours to bring the blaze under control.
“A single-storey structure was fully involved [with fire] on arrival,” he said. “The last crews left the scene at around 5am. Crews will attend later this morning to ensure no further hotspots on the structure.”
A Victoria Police spokesman said the exact circumstances surrounding the fire are yet to be determined.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
India is the fifth most-affected nation in the cornoanvirus pandemic in terms of total number of cases, according to data compiled by USA’s Johns Hopkins University.
India had 246,662 cases and 6,946 deaths from the disease, according to Johns Hopkins on Sunday. The US, Brazil, Russia and the United Kingdom were ranked one to four. India’s deaths from the disease put it at number 12.
India was the sixth most-affected nation in in terms of total number of cases, according to data put out by its health ministry Saturday.
The ministry data said India reported 9,887 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours in the biggest one-day spike so far.
There has been a minor fall in recovery rate compared to Friday, from 48.27 per cent to 48.20 per cent. The number of deaths reported in the last 24 hours is 294, taking the total in India to 6,642.
The country on Friday took over Italy, one of the biggest sufferers of the disease, in terms of total cases. Figures from CSSE around Friday midnight showed India has 2,35,769 coronavirus positive cases and Italy has 2,34,531.
Though the count of recoveries has risen, India still has more than 1 lakh active cases across the country. The cases have been rising sharply, by 8,000 or more, for several days now.
At least 19 states now have their tallies of confirmed cases in four or more digits, as against just nine on May 1. Also, three states now have five-digit tallies, as against only Maharashtra in that category on May 1.
While Delhi and Gujarat already have their tallies running into five digits, at least three other states – Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – have total confirmed cases of more than 9,000.
Maharashtra tops the charts in terms of total confirmed cases, active cases, recoveries and deaths. Delhi is at the second place in terms of active cases, though it is third after Tamil Nadu in terms of total cases. Gujarat is ranked second for fatalities, followed by Delhi at the third place.
Globally, the total number of global coronavirus has increased to over 6.8 million, while the death toll has topped 394,000, according to the university data.
With 1,919,430 confirmed cases and 109,791 deaths, the US currently accounts for the highest number of infections and fatalities in the world..
In terms of cases, Brazil comes in the second place with 645,771 infections.
He started at 2 a.m. on Monday and did not stop cleaning for the next 10 hours. When an organized group of neighbors arrived later that morning to start clearing the damage, they found that Gwynn had already done most of the work.
Gwynn is an 18-year-old high school senior. He told CNN that he saw on the local news that Bailey Avenue in Buffalo was covered in glass and garbage, and he knew people needed to use that street to get to work in the morning.
When word spread of how Gwynn single-handedly took action, his community responded.
Matt Block saw Gwynn’s story on the news and decided to give him his prized 2004 red Mustang convertible. Block, 27, told CNN the car is one he wanted since he was a child, but these days he is only using it occasionally. He saw Gwynn ask for some car buying advice on Facebook, and Matt decided to offer up his sports car.
It turns out that gift has more meaning than Block ever imagined. Gwynn’s mother, who passed away in 2018, also drove a red Mustang. When he realized the coincidence, Gwynn says that he was so shocked he “didn’t have any words,” and Block says it gave him “goosebumps.”
Local businessman Bob Briceland learned of Block’s gift, and he decided to extend a year of free auto insurance coverage through his insurance agency.
“I just felt compelled to help him out. We just need to get together our whole city and show people how there’s so many good people here,” Briceland told CNN affiliate WKBW.
After high school, Gwynn had planned to go to trade school while saving up to go to college. Upon hearing Gwynn’s story, Medaille College in Buffalo offered him a full scholarship where he plans to study business starting this fall. One of his many career goals is to open a cleaning business.
This is the first time Gwynn received this type of recognition for his good deeds, but this is not the first time he stepped up to help others. He is a member of Kappa Phi where he enjoys doing community service, and he helps out at churches.
Gwynn is thankful for the community response, saying, “I appreciate everything everyone is doing for me.”
new video loaded: Minneapolis Mayor Booed Out of Rally
transcript
transcript
Minneapolis Mayor Booed Out of Rally
Chanting “Shame†and “Go home, Jacob, go home,†demonstrators drove Mayor Jacob Frey out of a rally after he declined to commit to defunding the police.
Jake O’Brien, we have a yes or no question for you. Yes or no. Will you commit to defunding Minneapolis Police Department? We don’t want No more police. Is that clear? We don’t want people with guns toting around in our community shooting us down. You haven’t answered. It is a yes or a no. It is a yes or a no. Will you defund the Minneapolis Police Department? All right, be quiet. Be quiet. Because it’s important that we actually hear this. It’s important that we know this because if you don’t know, he’s up for re-election next year He’s up for re-election next year. And if he says no, guess what we’re going to do next year. You’re wasting our time Go home, Jacob. Go home Go home, Jacob. Go home. Go home, Jacob. Go home. Shame, shame, shame.
Australia’s finance minister Mathias Cormann has condemned Saturday’s mass protests to demand an end to Indigenous deaths in custody as reckless, selfish and self-indulgent.
Cormann used an interview on Sky News on Sunday to launch a full-throated attack on participants of Saturday’s events in several cities because the protests proceeded in contradiction of current health advice to avoid mass gatherings.
“It’s quite irresponsible what we’ve seen there,†Cormann said. “As I think about the heartbreak of families who haven’t been able to attend funerals for their loved ones because they were doing the right thing by taking the health advice, my heart just goes out to them.â€
“I mean, as they see people going recklessly to these sorts of demonstrations, that must be just awful for them to watch. I think it is incredibly selfish. It’s incredibly self-indulgent. And yes, it does impose unnecessary and unacceptable risk on to the community.â€
The deputy leader of the opposition, Richard Marles, acknowledged that protests in the middle of a pandemic were a “vexed issue†but he said Cormann’s rebuke on Sunday was “tone deafâ€. Marles said if people were born Indigenous in Australia, life outcomes in education, employment, mortality and incarceration were materially worse than non-Indigenous Australians.
“I don’t feel like I’m in a position to say to Indigenous Australians who are protesting against that, that this is a selfish and indulgent act,†the deputy Labor leader told the ABC. “I felt uncomfortable about the mass gathering, but I’m not about to engage in that kind of judgment of those who did it.â€
Ahead of the protests, the prime minister validated the cause as important, but his strong advice, and the advice of the chief medical officer, Brendan Murphy, was that people not attend the mass gatherings.
While acknowledging wrongs were done in this country, Morrison also questioned those drawing comparisons between Australia and the situation in the United States, where protesters have rallied for several days following George Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.
“There’s no need to import things happening in other countries here to Australia,†Morrison said last week. The prime minister insisted problems of Indigenous disadvantage were being dealt with and “we don’t need to draw equivalence hereâ€.
“We don’t need the divisions that we’re seeing in other countries – we need to stick together and look after each other,†the prime minister said.
The health minister Greg Hunt said it was unclear whether the weekend rallies would cause a spike in Covid-19 infections, “but if there is someone who is infectious in the midst of a crowd like that, that can have a catastrophic impact.â€
Marles said he would not attend any mass gathering in contravention of the health advice, but he said Morrison’s suggestion that anxiety about institutional racism was being imported “is patently ridiculousâ€.
“To say to those who are standing up against it and to do something about it, that this is an act of selfishness and indulgence, is wrong.â€
There have been at least 434 deaths recorded since the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody ended in 1991. There have been at least five deaths since Guardian Australia updated its Deaths Inside project in August 2019, two of which have resulted in murder charges being laid.
The economist and Labor parliamentarian Andrew Leigh also published research last year that indicates Indigenous Australians are now more likely to be in prison than African-Americans. The research shows that over the past three decades, the share of Indigenous adults in prison has more than doubled, from 1,124 per 100,000 adults in 1990 to 2,481 per 100,000 adults in 2018.Â
The National Guard’s crackdown on peaceful protesters in Washington, D.C., last week was spurred by a Pentagon threat that active-duty military units would be mobilized against American civilians if the Guard was ineffective, The New York Times reported.
Top Pentagon officials ordered the use of two Army National Guard helicopters, including a Black Hawk, to hover loudly and ominously over the heads of civilians — a tactic called “persistent presence†— to disperse the protesters, sources told The Times.
Pentagon pressure on the National Guard to get tough may have been part of a strategy to calm President Donald Trump, who The Washington Post reported was insisting that 10,000 troops be deployed to the capital.Â
Dozens of cell phone and press videos failed to reveal any violence by protesters that would warrant the crackdown.
People were tear-gassed, manhandled, shoved, battered with clubs and slammed with shields on Monday to clear the way for Trump to cross the street from the White House for a photo op at St. John’s Episcopal Church. The onslaught against the protesters began 25 minutes before a 7 p.m. curfew.Â
I imposed a curfew at 7pm. A full 25 minutes before the curfew & w/o provocation, federal police used munitions on peaceful protestors in front of the White House, an act that will make the job of @DCPoliceDept officers more difficult. Shameful!
An attack on an Australian television news crew (which can be seen below) was so severe that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison demanded an investigation in a complaint to the American embassy.Â
The startling, aggressive attacks on peaceful protesters by the National Guard occurred after a “pointed threat†from the Pentagon that if the Guard couldn’t handle the situation, active-duty military units would be sent to deal with civilians, the Times reported.
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, one of the officials who authorized part of the planning for the helicopters, according to the Times, said on Friday that the Army had opened an investigation into use of the aircraft.
The looming military threat against citizens exercising their First Amendment rights appeared to expose confusion in the Pentagon power structure. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark Milley — wearing his fatigues — and Defense Secretary Mark Esper walked alongside Trump to his photo op as the Guard moved against protesters. The Post reported that both Esper and Milley opposed using active troops in the capital as Trump wanted.
The choice to use the National Guard against protesters was roundly criticized inside and outside of the military.
“What we saw on Monday night was our military using its equipment to threaten and put Americans at risk on American soil,†said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), a former Army Black Hawk pilot. She slammed Trump as a “tinpot dictator†who is “perverting†the role of the military.
James N. Miller, a member of the Pentagon’s science advisory board, resigned on Tuesday, accusing Esper of breaking his oath to defend the Constitution. “Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op,†Miller said in his resignation letter.Â
Esper issued an order sending active-duty troops out of Washington back to their home bases Wednesday, saying at a press briefing that military involvement was not warranted at this time. He then reversed himself later that same day after a meeting with Trump, and then reversed the reversal on Thursday, again sending hundreds of active-duty troops back to their bases.
Both Esper and Milley have now reportedly refused to testify about the military’s response to the protesters before the House Armed Services Committee.
McCarthy signed a statement Wednesday vowing that the Army would “continue to support and defend†the constitutional rights of Americans to “peaceably assemble and petition the government for a redress of grievances.†Yet McCarthy, according to documents viewed by the Times, was also involved in oversight of the aggressive National Guard operation, including use of the helicopters against civilians doing just that.
The harshest attack on Trump and military action against civilians was issued in The Atlantic on Wednesday by former Defense Secretary and retired Marine Corps general Jim Mattis. He hailed peaceful protesters for working for a better future. “Militarizing†the response to protests “erodes the moral ground that ensures a trusted bond between men and women in uniform and the society they are sworn to protect,†he warned.Â
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