SAN FRANCISCO: San Francisco prosecutors have charged 26 protesters who blocked the Golden Gate Bridge for hours in April to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
The protest on April 15 was one of many held by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked roadways around the country, causing traffic jams and temporarily shutting down travel into some of the nation’s most heavily used airports.
The protesters were charged with felony conspiracy, false imprisonment, trespassing to interfere with a business, obstruction of a thoroughfare, unlawful assembly, refusal to disperse at a riot, and failure to obey the lawful order of a uniformed officer, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office announced Saturday.
Traffic snarled for hours after demonstrators blocked lanes with vehicles, shutting down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. The demonstration was part of coordinated protests across the country to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to Israel.
Prosecutors said the protest trapped hundreds of motorists on the bridge “who had no choice but to remain imprisoned on the freeway for several hours.”
“While we must protect avenues for free speech, the exercise of free speech can not compromise public safety,” District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said in a statement. “The demonstration on the Golden Gate Bridge caused a level of safety risk, including extreme threats to the health and welfare of those trapped, that we as a society cannot ignore or allow.”
The San Francisco Public Defender’s Office said it anticipates it will represent some of those charged and asked that the charges be dropped. The office said Jenkins “went fishing on Twitter for complaints about the protest even though no one was injured and the California Highway Patrol cleared the roadway with no resistance from protesters.”
“The protesters are opposing American tax dollars being used to fund ongoing attacks on the people in Gaza, which the International Criminal Court has deemed crimes against humanity,” San Francisco Public Defender Mano Raju said. “Our attorneys intend to vehemently defend any individuals we are appointed to represent.”
In March, the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office dropped criminal charges against 78 protesters who blocked traffic on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge for hours in November to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, prosecutors said. The demonstrators were instead ordered to do five hours of community service and pay restitution.
The Nov. 16 protest came as San Francisco was hosting President Joe Biden and other world leaders for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. Protesters calling for a ceasefire have also blocked major roadways in cities including Los Angeles, New York, Boston and Philadelphia.
San Francisco prosecutors charge 26 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked Golden Gate Bridge
https://arab.news/wy9ux
San Francisco prosecutors charge 26 pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked Golden Gate Bridge
- Traffic snarled for hours after demonstrators blocked lanes with vehicles, shutting down all vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge
- The demonstration was part of coordinated protests across the country to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and an end to military aid to Israel
New details in Air India crash probe shift focus to senior pilot, WSJ reports
A black-box recording of dialogue between the Air India flight’s two pilots indicates it was the captain who turned off switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane’s two engines, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with US officials’ early assessment of evidence uncovered in the crash investigation.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
Air India did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested at Tour de France
- The protester, who was holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran toward the finish line
TOULOUSE: A protester wearing a t-shirt reading “Israel out of the Tour” was arrested on Wednesday after running onto the final straight of the Tour de France 11th stage.
The protester, who was also holding a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf, got past security barriers and ran toward the finish line in Toulouse as Norway’s Jonas Abrahamsen won a sprint finale.
The man was intercepted by a race staff member and arrested, the local prefecture said.
Several police officers have been assigned to protecting the Israel-Premier Tech team during the Tour. The team was set up by Israeli-Canadian billionaire Sylvan Adams, but there are no Israeli riders in this year’s race.
With the Gaza war causing international controversy, last year the team said it had asked its riders not to wear jerseys with any reference to Israel while out training as a precaution.
French town withdraws pop festival funding over Kneecap appearance
- Saint Cloud said its council had now voted to withdraw the subsidy
- The group have said they are committed to the Palestinian cause
NANTERRE, France: A town that hosts one of France’s biggest pop festivals announced Wednesday that it was withdrawing its subsidy to the event because controversial Irish rappers Kneecap had been booked to play.
British police are investigating Kneecap’s lead singer under a terror offense after he was accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag at a concert last year. The Lebanese militant group is banned in Britain.
Police said they are also investigating videos allegedly showing calls for the death of British lawmakers.
The Paris suburb of Saint Cloud approved a 40,000 euro ($46,500) subsidy this year for the Rock En Seine festival that last year attracted 180,000 people over four days.
The town council said the money had been agreed before the lineup was announced. Kneecap are to appear at the event on August 24. Saint Cloud said its council had now voted to withdraw the subsidy.
A statement said the town “finances, within its means, a cultural and artistic project. On the other hand it does not finance political action, nor demands, and even less calls to violence, such as calls to kill lawmakers, whatever their nationality.”
The town said it respects the festival’s “freedom” to decide its lineup and had not sought “any kind of negotiation with the aim of influencing the program.”
Kneecap have been taken off the bill for festivals in Scotland and Germany this year because of the controversy.
The group have said they are committed to the Palestinian cause but have denied any terrorism connection. Singer Liam O’Hanna, who appears under the name Mo Chara, has condemned the charges against him as political. O’Hanna is to appear in court again four days before the Rock En Seine show.
South Korean teacher, mother arrested for stealing exam
SEOUL: A teacher and a parent of a high school student in South Korea have been arrested for breaking into a school to steal exam papers, police told AFP on Wednesday.
The country is known for placing extreme emphasis on academic achievement — with its annual college entrance exam forcing airplanes to be grounded during English listening tests.
The pair are accused of breaking into a high school in Andong, about 270 kilometers south of the capital Seoul, at around 1:00 a.m. on July 4 to steal exam papers, triggering an alarm and leading to their arrest.
“A 31-year-old teacher and the 48-year-old mother have confessed to the crime,” said a detective at the Andong Police Station, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The teacher was a private tutor for the student while working at the school, where she was employed until February last year, authorities said.
Police suspect the pair may have committed similar thefts in the past, helping the student ace academically, and that money was exchanged between the teacher and the mother.
“They tried to steal exam papers across many subjects, not confined to Korean, which the suspect was teaching,” the detective told AFP.
A school maintenance worker was also arrested for aiding the late-night breach, investigators said.
The student, who had maintained top grades since enrolling in 2023, has been expelled and her grades nullified, according to the Yonhap news agency.
Trump says supporters questioning Jeffrey Epstein case are ‘weaklings’
- Trump says Republicans are not sticking together
- Some supporters want more details on sex offender’s case
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday attacked fellow Republicans critical of his administration’s handling of the case of dead sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
On social media and in the Oval Office, Trump lashed out at allies he said were falling for a “hoax” pushed by Democrats, who “unlike Republicans ... stick together like glue.”
Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, was facing federal charges of sex-trafficking minors when he died by suicide in jail in 2019. He had pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed after his death.
Some of Trump’s most loyal followers were enraged when the Trump administration last week reversed course on its pledge to release documents it had suggested contained major revelations about Epstein and his alleged clientele.
“It’s all been a big hoax,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “It’s perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans, and foolish Republicans fall into the net and so they try and do the Democrats’ work.”
On Truth Social earlier in the day, Trump said of Republicans raising concerns about the case: “Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!” The backlash over the Epstein case has laid bare tensions inside Trump’s coalition and is testing one of Trump’s most enduring political strengths: his ability to command loyalty and control the narrative across the right.
A former Trump adviser, Mike Flynn, on Wednesday said on X that the matter was not a hoax. “With my strongest recommendation, please gather your team and figure out a way to move past this,” he said.
The Justice Department last week concluded there was “no incriminating client list” or any evidence that Epstein may have blackmailed prominent people. The review also confirmed prior findings by the FBI that Epstein killed himself in his jail cell while awaiting trial, and that his death was not the result of a criminal act such as murder.
Some House Republicans, including Speaker Mike Johnson, have continued to call for the Justice Department to release more Epstein documents. But Republicans have blocked efforts by Democratic lawmakers to push measures that would force the agency to make those documents public.
Trump, who knew Epstein socially in the 1990s and early 2000s, on Wednesday again defended Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the matter and said she could release any credible documents related to the case.
“Whatever’s credible, she can release,” he told reporters. “If a document’s there that’s credible, she can release. I think it’s good.”
But he was also eager to move past the issue.
“I’d rather talk about the success we have with the economy,” he said.
