Calling pro-Palestine protesters extremists is ‘outrageous’: UK govt adviser

Calling pro-Palestine protesters extremists is ‘outrageous’: UK govt adviser
Labeling protesters on pro-Palestinian marches in the UK extremists is divisive, “outrageous” and dangerous, a government adviser has warned. (Reuters/File)
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Updated 08 March 2024
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Calling pro-Palestine protesters extremists is ‘outrageous’: UK govt adviser

Calling pro-Palestine protesters extremists is ‘outrageous’: UK govt adviser
  • Dame Sara Khan: ‘To try to frame these demonstrations as Islamist extremism is completely far-fetched and untrue’
  • Intervention follows criticism of protests by senior Conservative politicians, including PM

LONDON: Labeling protesters on pro-Palestinian marches in the UK extremists is divisive, “outrageous” and dangerous, a government adviser has warned.
Demonstrations against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza have drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the streets of London and other major cities in the UK since Oct. 7 last year.
They have drawn criticism from senior Conservative politicians, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who called them “hate marches.”
However, Dame Sara Khan, who is conducting a review into British social coherence and the resilience of democracy, told The Guardian that politicians need to be wary of using divisive rhetoric.
“I think it’s really important that we don’t conflate those protesters, somehow saying or portraying them as somehow as being all extremists,” Khan said.
“What I’ve been really uncomfortable with over the last couple of weeks is the kind of argument that they’re all Islamist extremists on these demonstrations. I think that’s actually outrageous.
“Some are not even pro-Palestinian people, just anti-war. There are clearly Jewish people there, there’s a whole range of people there, and to try to frame these demonstrations as Islamist extremism is completely far-fetched and untrue.”
Last week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak claimed that pro-Palestine protests had “descended into intimidation, threats, and planned acts of violence.”
This week, the government’s commissioner for counter-extremism, Robin Simcox, wrote in the Daily Telegraph: “We will not have become an authoritarian state if London is no longer permitted to be turned into a no-go zone for Jews every weekend.”
However, the government’s independent terrorist legislation reviewer, Jonathan Hall KC, warned: “When you’re thinking about something as important as the right to protest, there doesn’t seem to be a solid enough basis for curtailing that because I think we can all think of causes very personal to us that we would want to protest an awful lot and that will make some people very, very unhappy indeed.”
The government is expected to announce a new definition of extremism next week, which will inform what organizations it is allowed to work with.


Londoners march in support of Ukraine to mark three years of war

Londoners march in support of Ukraine to mark three years of war
Updated 8 sec ago
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Londoners march in support of Ukraine to mark three years of war

Londoners march in support of Ukraine to mark three years of war
Protesters started at a statue of St. Volodymyr in west London and marched toward the Russian embassy, waving Ukrainian flags and signs of support
At the rally, one sign read “Ukraine defends peace for the entire Europe“

LONDON: Hundreds gathered in London on Saturday to march in support of Ukraine, ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion on Monday and amid increasing tensions between Washington and Kyiv.
Protesters started at a statue of St. Volodymyr, a national saint of Ukraine, in west London and marched toward the Russian embassy, waving Ukrainian flags and signs of support.
The three-year long war was sparked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Britain has been a key backer of Ukraine since, sanctioning Moscow, providing financial and military support to Kyiv and opening its door to over 250,000 Ukrainian refugees.
At the rally, one sign read “Ukraine defends peace for the entire Europe,” while another said “If Ukraine falls, war will come to your house.”
“I’m not Ukrainian but I recognize the great danger they are in,” 68-year-old Briton Martin Vincent told AFP.
“We cannot abandon them it’s a duty for the UK to stand up with Ukraine,” the protester added.
Among the crowd were some Ukrainians, including Nataliya, a university student who did not want to share her last name for security reasons.
“I feel so homesick and so vulnerable right now. I don’t know If I’ll be able to come back to my country,” said Nataliya, wearing a floral crown in the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag.
“What’s next? Uncertainty and uncertainty,” she added.
Stella Robinson, 27, was “afraid of what might happen next” as well. “This is not only Ukraine, this is Europe.”
“We can’t turn a blind eye on the war just because Trump wants peace,” added Robinson, referring to recent diplomatic talks between the US and Russia on the future of the war that have sidelined Kyiv and its European backers.
“But what kind of a peace? Frankly, it’s terrifying,” added the law student.
British public support for Ukraine is strong, with 67 percent saying they both want Ukraine to win the war and care a “great deal or fair amount” that it does so, according to a YouGov poll from last week.
And eight in ten Britons said it is “unacceptable” for Ukraine not to be included in negotiations on the conflict, per the poll.
Thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed since the start of the war, although the exact toll is unclear.

Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government

Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government
Updated 37 min 21 sec ago
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Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government

Trump urges Musk to be more aggressive in bid to shrink US government
  • "Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive," Trump posted

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged billionaire Elon Musk to be more aggressive in his efforts to shrink the federal government despite uproar over layoffs and deep spending cuts.
"Elon is doing a great job, but I would like to see him get more aggressive," Trump posted all in uppercase letters on his Truth Social platform. "Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than ever before. MAGA!"
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE - an entity created by Trump - has swept across federal government agencies, firing tens of thousands of federal government workers from scientists to park rangers, mostly those on probation.


Mali army opens an investigation into deaths of civilians blamed on soldiers

Mali army opens an investigation into deaths of civilians blamed on soldiers
Updated 22 February 2025
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Mali army opens an investigation into deaths of civilians blamed on soldiers

Mali army opens an investigation into deaths of civilians blamed on soldiers
  • Analysts say it’s unlikely the investigation would fault the troops or the Russian mercenaries.
  • “The objective of the investigations is going to be more about countering the allegations against (the army) and Wagner,” said Lyammouri

BAMAKO: Mali’s army said it’s investigating soldiers who were accused by separatist Tuareg rebels of killing at least 24 civilians earlier this week, in a rare probe of human rights abuses since the military took power in 2020.
The Front for the Liberation of Azawad, the Tuareg independence movement in the north of the country, accused soldiers and Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group of intercepting two civilian transport vehicles bound for Algeria from Gao on Monday, and “coldly executing” at least 24 people among the passengers.
The general staff of the Malian armed forces, without referring to the killings, on Wednesday denounced “intoxicating campaigns” against the army. On Friday, the authorities announced the opening of an investigation into the civilian deaths.
Analysts say it’s unlikely the investigation would fault the troops or the Russian mercenaries.
“The objective of the investigations is going to be more about countering the allegations against (the army) and Wagner, rather than trying to find any wrongdoing by the latter. The conclusion of the investigation is likely to say that those allegations are false,” said Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at Policy Center for the New South, a Moroccan think tank.
Mali has been in a crisis for more than a decade. In 2020, a military group, riding on popular discontent over attacks by armed militant groups, seized power in a coup that toppled the democratically elected president.


Russian forces repel three Ukrainian counter attacks in Russia’s Kursk border region

Russian forces repel three Ukrainian counter attacks in Russia’s Kursk border region
Updated 22 February 2025
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Russian forces repel three Ukrainian counter attacks in Russia’s Kursk border region

Russian forces repel three Ukrainian counter attacks in Russia’s Kursk border region
  • Russia has been fighting to eject Ukrainian forces from Kursk since August

MOSCOW: Russian troops repelled three counter attacks by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s western Kursk region bordering Ukraine, the Russian defense ministry said on Saturday.
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
Russia has been fighting to eject Ukrainian forces from Kursk since August, when Kyiv’s troops staged a lightning incursion over the border and seized a chunk of Russian territory.


Peace in Ukraine cannot be ‘imposed’: Spanish PM

Peace in Ukraine cannot be ‘imposed’: Spanish PM
Updated 22 February 2025
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Peace in Ukraine cannot be ‘imposed’: Spanish PM

Peace in Ukraine cannot be ‘imposed’: Spanish PM
  • He added any “just and lasting peace” required Ukrainian and European participation

MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Saturday that peace in Ukraine cannot be “imposed,” as he prepares to visit the country.
“Peace in Ukraine and security in Europe cannot be imposed,” said Sanchez, who will embark on a visit to Kyiv on Monday as Ukraine prepares to mark three years since the start of the Russian invasion. He added any “just and lasting peace” required Ukrainian and European participation.