Secretary of state says he is considering immigration option similar to move announced last week by UK
The US is considering letting people who no longer “feel comfortable” in Hong Kong move to the US, secretary of state Mike Pompeo has suggested.
The comments, made in a conversation with the American Enterprise Institute on Friday, come amid worsening relations between the two countries over China’s moves to impose national security laws on the semi-autonomous region.
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Bobby Rush, an Illinois congressman and a Civil Rights era leader who co-founded the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers in 1967, responded to Trump’s Rose Garden address with this:
We are living in a police state. https://t.co/YjO8x7QZjt
The Episcopal bishop of DC told The Washington Post that she was “outraged” after the officers cleared peaceful protestors gathered near the White House with tear gas and rubber bullets, to clear the way for Donald Trump to take photos outside St. John’s Church.
The Episcopal bishop of DC – who oversees the DC church Trump just stopped at – tells the @washingtonpost she is "outraged" and that neither she nor the rector was asked or told… “that they would be clearing with tear gas so they could use one of our churches as a prop.." 1/3
"We so disassociate ourselves from the messages of this president. We hold the teachings of our sacred texts to be so so grounding to our lives and everything we do and it is about love of neighbor and sacrificial love and justice." @Mebudde Bishop Mariann Budde 3/3
Continue reading...George Floyd’s brother implores protesters to remain peaceful, urging people to go out and vote rather than turn to violence. ‘Stop thinking our voice don't matter, and vote,’ Terrence Floyd said, visiting the site of his brother’s death. ‘If I’m not over here wilding out, if I'm not over here blowing up stuff, if I'm not over here messing up my community, then what are y'all doing?’
Continue reading...Protests calling for justice for George Floyd, a black man who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, have spread across the US. Thousands have taken to the streets to express their anger at the systemic racism black people continue to face across the country. As the protests become more forceful, with fires breaking out near the White House on Sunday evening, many have been calling for a return to peaceful demonstrations
Continue reading...Announcement means event will not be held for first time since massacre in 1989
Hong Kong police have formally banned this week’s vigil for the Tiananmen Square massacre, citing Covid-19 measures.
The move had been expected, especially after the Hong Kong government extended its ban on public gatherings in groups larger than eight, but the announcement confirms that for the first time since the Chinese military killed untold numbers of protesters on 4 June 1989, there will be no commemorative event.
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A striking detail from tonight’s coverage has been reports that as protesters surged towards the White House on Friday night, US president Donald Trump, his wife Melania and son Barron briefly retreated to the Presidential Emergency Operations Centre – a fortified bunker-like structure beneath the residence.
The last time a US head of state was publicly known to have used the bunker was on 11 September, 2001, where senior members of the George W Bush administration spent that day after their west wing offices were evacuated. There are no other public reports of presidents needing to use the area since - the New York Times, which first reported this detail, says “it has not been used much, if at all” since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. But it notes the area has since been strengthened to withstand the impact of a passenger jet.
Related: Trump fled to bunker as protests over George Floyd raged outside White House
My colleague Julian Borger in Washington DC has just filed this update on a tense evening the capital.
Multiple fires broke out near the White House late on Sunday evening, as angry protesters gathered in Washington DC for the third night in a row following the death of George Floyd.
Sunday evening’s protests in front of the White House started relatively cheerfully, with a crowd of a few thousand in Lafayette park. Earlier in the day, demonstrators had marched through the city’s downtown, chanting “George Floyd! Say his name!” and “No Justice! No Peace!”
Related: Fires light up Washington DC on third night of George Floyd protests
Continue reading...A sheriff in Michigan on Saturday was welcomed with cheers as he gave a rousing speech before joining demonstrators on a George Floyd protest. 'The only reason we're here is to make sure you have a voice, that's it' said Chris Swanson. 'I want to make this a parade, not a protest.' Swanson then joined the demonstrators after they chanted 'walk with us' at him
Continue reading...Footage of two police SUVs driving into a crowd of demonstrators in Brooklyn has been widely shared on social media. The incident involving NYPD vehicles occurred near Prospect Park on 30 May, as protests took place across the US following the death of George Floyd, an African American who died after a police officer kneeled on his neck in Minneapolis. New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: 'Running SUVs in crowds of people should never, ever be normalised. No matter who does it, no matter why.'
Continue reading...Protests over the death of George Floyd and other police killings of black people spread across the country as mayors imposed curfews and governors called in the national guard
Rapper Killer Mike addressed demonstrators in Atlanta asking them not to destroy the city but to 'plot, plan, strategise, organise and mobilise' for political change.
'I'm mad as Hell,' he said, tearful at a news conference on Friday night, urging protesters to seek political reform instead of destroying the city of Atlanta
The Guardian’s Ankita Rao, reporting from New York, on the mayor’s controversial late-night statements:
Mayor Bill de Blasio took to the podium on Saturday night to tell protestors across the city that they were “heard, loud and clear”.
I’m in Brooklyn to talk about tonight’s protests. https://t.co/oBVXGh7JWo
US prosecutors have filed federal charges against three people in New York, accusing them of using “molotov cocktails” on New York police vehicles during the Friday protests:
BREAKING: Three people charged with federal crimes in connection with Molotov cocktail attacks on the NYPD during #GeorgeFloyd protests in NYC Friday night. pic.twitter.com/dyaDJByMit
Continue reading...Protests against police brutality ignited across the US overnight and into Saturday morning following the killing of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, who died after a white police officer kneeled on his neck.
Demonstrators chanted 'hands up, don't shoot' and 'I can't breathe' as they clashed with police
China has effectively torn up the treaty it signed with the Thatcher government – yet the UK’s response is feeble
To understand how wide Beijing now casts its security net in Hong Kong, consider the case of Martin Lee. Now in his 80s, Lee is a distinguished barrister, a politician and a lifelong defender of civil liberties. He has never committed an act of violence or advocated that others do so.
Last month, in an early sign of what was coming, Lee was arrested at his home. Fourteen other prominent Hong Kong citizens were taken into custody that day and charged with taking part in illegal demonstrations. He has pointed out that he was already facing 14 similar charges in mainland China, and had the extradition law that triggered last year’s protests in Hong Kong been adopted he could have been sent for trial in China under a system that not even the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) most generous supporters could describe as adequate. The CCP regards rule of law and separation of powers as threats to its power. Law, for the party, is one instrument among many that can be used to eliminate opponents – who can be anyone from dissenting public intellectuals to prominent businessmen.
Continue reading...Demonstrators in cities across the country took to the streets on Friday following police killings in Minneapolis and Louisville
Continue reading...Cities across the US have been convulsed by protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after being arrested and handcuffed by a white officer who then kneeled on his neck for several minutes. Floyd pleaded that he 'could not breathe' and among his last words were 'don't kill me'.
The incident has sparkd a reckoning over race and police killings of black Americans - and demonstrations have spread from Minnesota to other parts of the US including New York, Denver, Chicago and Oakland
Minnesota governor, Tim Walz, pledges 'swift' justice for George Floyd, adding that 'normal was not working for many communities' after huge protests across the state following Floyd's death in which a white police officer pressed a knee on his neck
Minneapolis was rocked by a third night of protests on Thursday over the death of George Floyd, as thousands of demonstrators took to the streets and fires erupted around the city, including at a police precinct
Continue reading...‘National security’ laws seen as Beijing signalling intention to put city firmly under its control
China’s unprecedented plans to impose sweeping anti-sedition laws on Hong Kong have prompted mass protests and international condemnation.
Beijing says the legislation is meant to stop subversion, terrorism and secessionism as well as foreign interference that could endanger national security. In the aftermath of the increasingly violent mass protests last year, China’s government has said such laws are urgently needed to plug Hong Kong’s “national security loophole”. The legislation will be written in Beijing and directly added into Hong Kong’s de facto constitution, known as the basic law.
Continue reading...Protests after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis grew as demonstrators rallied in Los Angeles, marching through the city and blocking both sides of a freeway.
Floyd, who was black, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes, which was captured on video
Beijing’s attempts to bring the territory to heel since handover have resulted in pushback and protest
Beijing’s rubber-stamp parliament is to vote to move forward with a national security law for Hong Kong, in an unprecedented push that many fear will result in silencing critics of the government in the territory.
The legislation, which would bypass the semi-autonomous territory’s legislature as well as widespread opposition to such measures, comes on Thursday after years of controversial government-proposed measures aimed at bringing Hong Kong more in line with Beijing’s wishes.
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