Latest news with #crowdControl
CNN
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Video shows police using water cannons, tear gas on protesters in Kenya
Protests in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi erupted on Monday with police seen in video using tear gas and water cannons from armored trucks to disperse crowds. At least 11 people have died and more than 500 were arrested, according to Kenya's National Police Service. Each reported incident will be "subject to further investigation, in accordance with the law," police said in a statement.
CNN
07-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Video shows police using water cannons, tear gas on protesters in Kenya
Protests in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi erupted on Monday with police seen in video using tear gas and water cannons from armored trucks to disperse crowds. At least 11 people have died and more than 500 were arrested, according to Kenya's National Police Service. Each reported incident will be "subject to further investigation, in accordance with the law," police said in a statement.
Japan Times
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Marines arrive in LA as tensions grow over immigration raids
Marines deployed by President Donald Trump arrived in the Los Angeles area with orders to protect federal property and officers, as the city is gripped by tensions over anti-deportation protests. Seven hundred troops from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines have made it to the greater LA area, a spokesperson for the U.S. Northern Command said, without disclosing their specific location. They will join about 2,100 members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team who are also in the area, including in Paramount and Compton, according to the spokesperson. Marine Corps Commandant General Eric Smith told the Senate Armed Services Committee members on Tuesday that the deployed troops are trained in crowd control. They're equipped with "shields and batons,' but "do not have arrest authority,' he said, adding that they are there to support law enforcement, not replace it. On Monday evening, Los Angeles police chief Jim McDonnell warned of significant challenges to law enforcement if troops were deployed without coordination with his department, adding that that he hadn't been formally notified of the Marines arrival in advance. The department declined to comment on Tuesday. The extraordinary deployment of military forces comes after Los Angeles saw a fourth night of clashes between police and demonstrators rallying in response to increasingly aggressive raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. On Monday, largely peaceful daytime protests morphed into scattered skirmishes with police shooting less-lethal ammunition and some protesters throwing bottles. Over the previous few days, some of the demonstrations — especially at night — have been marked by violence, destruction of property, looting, blocking of freeways and the burning of vehicles, including self-driving Waymo cars. On Monday night, Los Angeles security personnel made 99 arrests during protests downtown, including 96 for failure to disperse, and one each for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and vandalism. The arrests add to the 31 made by police over the weekend. So far, the National Guard troops in the city have only been guarding federal buildings and clashes have involved the police and demonstrators. Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom have repeatedly sparred over the response to the protests, with the state suing the administration for mobilizing the National Guard and Marines in the city. Newsom has accused the administration of sending in troops without providing food or water and saying more are being sent in while hundreds sit in federal buildings without orders. Members of the clergy and other protestors place flowers at the feet of a California National Guardsman stationed outside federal buildings near the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI The president said on Tuesday that troops would remain in LA until "there's no danger' and indicated he had spoken directly with Newsom this week. "A day ago, called him up to tell him, got to do a better job,' Trump said. "He's done a bad job, causing a lot of death and a lot of potential death.' Newsom denied he spoke with Trump. "There was no call. Not even a voice mail,' the governor said in a post on X. Trump also said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act to justify the use of the military in California. "I mean, I could tell you there were certain areas of Los Angeles — you could have called it an insurrection,' he said. "It was terrible. But these are paid insurrectionists. These are paid troublemakers.' It was a comment the president echoed while addressing troops at Fort Bragg in North Carolina on Tuesday, claiming protesters wearing armor and face shields are being financed by an unknown entity and that the Department of Justice will investigate. A day earlier, Trump suggested that Newsom — a Democrat widely seen as a potential presidential contender in 2028 — could be arrested if he interferes with the federal immigration raids or response to the unrest. Tensions remain high in the city as the immigration raids that set off the protests aren't letting up. Representative Jimmy Gomez, a Democrat whose district covers downtown Los Angeles, said ICE enforcement actions are expected to continue seven days a week for at least 30 days. Mayor Karen Bass has said there were at least five raids on Monday. Newsom, speaking on the Pod Save America podcast released Tuesday, suggested the administration may intend to use the National Guard to support a broader immigration crackdown. "We're getting word that he's looking to operationalize that relationship and advance significantly larger-scale ICE operations in partnership and collaboration with the National Guard,' Newsom said. Protests have been limited to a few parts of a city that spreads over several hundred square miles and is connected by a web of freeways. There have been no signs of unrest in areas such as Century City, Hollywood Hills and Santa Monica that are miles away from downtown, with businesses and residents largely unaffected. Protesters face members of the California National Guard and US Customs and Border Protection agents holding up shields outside the Federal Building as people continue to protest in response to federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI However, incidents have started to spread beyond LA, with demonstrations against ICE popping up in New York City, San Francisco, Chicago and Washington. In Santa Ana, southeast of Los Angeles in Orange County, protesters faced off with law enforcement after immigration raids took place there. Police also clashed with protesters in Dallas and Austin late Monday, with tear gas deployed to disperse a crowd near the Texas state Capitol building. The Trump administration has argued the conditions in LA are spiraling and that federal forces are needed to support immigration agents and restore order. The active-duty Marines in LA are setting up security posts and patrolling federal property as well as forming quick-reaction teams that can reinforce sites within minutes, according to the Northern Command. They're also backing up National Guard troops in the event of large protests. The California National Guard soldiers are handling perimeter security, entry points and patrols, and supporting local agencies with medics, engineers and communications teams. Bass said at a press conference on Tuesday that the Trump administration has given her and McDonnell, the LAPD chief, little to no information about the deployment. "We aren't being told pretty much anything,' she said. A unified command being led by McDonnell includes the Sheriff's Department, California Highway Patrol and other local authorities and the city may impose a curfew if unrest grows, said Bass. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying before Congress on Tuesday, pushed back on criticism and said the Trump administration is seeking to protect immigration agents and keep demonstrations from getting out of control. ICE "has the right to safely conduct operations in any state and any jurisdiction in the country, especially after 21 million illegals have crossed our border under the previous administration,' Hegseth said. Speaking alongside the defense secretary, Acting Pentagon Comptroller Bryn MacDonnell said the deployment is estimated to cost $134 million, which covers travel, housing and food. U.S. law generally bars the use of the active-duty U.S. military — the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines — from carrying out domestic law enforcement. The deployment of the Marines adds to Trump's order over the weekend that directed the U.S. Northern Command to assume control of the National Guard and dispatch them to LA. California and Newsom on Tuesday asked a federal judge in San Francisco to temporarily limit the mobilization in a way that would still let the troops physically protect federal courthouses, offices and personnel, but bar them from helping in federal law enforcement like immigration raids. In its request for an emergency order by early afternoon, attorneys for the state argued that the military deployment "creates imminent harm to state sovereignty' and "escalates tensions.' In a 22-page lawsuit filed Monday, California and Newsom accused the president of "another unprecedented power grab' and asked for the National Guard troops to be transferred from Defense Department control "back to the rightful command' of the state. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, who was appointed by Bill Clinton and is the brother of retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, will oversee the case.
ABC News
10-06-2025
- ABC News
Death toll dramatically lower in 2025 Hajj pilgrimage, though experts fear climate change will increase risk
Early reports indicate a much lower death toll than previous years at this year's Hajj pilgrimage, in which Muslims from all over the world travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The annual pilgrimage, which took place from June 4 to 9, is an essential right of passage for those of the Muslim faith, but has historically resulted in thousands of fatalities due to extreme heat and crowd crushes. More than 1.6 million pilgrims attended Mecca during the Hajj this year, the lowest number for 30 years, excluding the COVID-19 pandemic period. While a final death toll is yet to be confirmed, individual countries have reported relatively low numbers of fatalities. According to local reports, 175 Indonesian pilgrims died, along with 10 from Malaysia, 13 from Iran and seven from Nigeria. Death tolls from other nations widely represented at the Hajj, including Pakistan and India, have not yet been released. In 2024, 1,300 people died after temperatures exceeded 51 degrees Celsius. According to Saudi Arabia's health minister Fahad Al-Jalajel, those deaths were caused by "walking long distances under direct sunlight without adequate shelter or comfort". The timing of the Hajj is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar and varies from year to year, but since 2015, it has fallen during Saudi Arabia's hottest months. The drastic drop in deaths this year may indicate that new crowd control measures implemented by the Saudi Arabian government have been successful. The government invested heavily in heat-resilient infrastructure, including air-conditioned shelters, field hospitals, misting systems and portable water stations, and has banned children under 12 from attending. It has also been particularly rigorous in enforcing the Hajj permit system, which limits the number of pilgrims according to country quotas. In 2024, 83 per cent of those who died did not have official permits, which prevented them from accessing cooling systems or health services. Ahead of this year's Hajj, Saudi officials conducted raids and used drone surveillance to identify unregistered pilgrims and crack down on fraudulent travel providers. Billboards, media and mass text alerts warned pilgrims: "No hajj without a permit." On June 1, authorities reported stopping almost 270,000 unregistered pilgrims from entering Mecca. Those who enter the city illegally risk fines, deportation and 10-year bans from the country. In 25 years, Hajj will once again take place during Saudi Arabia's hottest season. And as climate change drives temperatures ever higher, will preventative measures be enough to ensure the safety of millions of pilgrims? Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and a holy rite of passage. Every Muslim is expected to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives, if they are physically and financially able. The pilgrimage includes rituals performed in and around the city of Mecca. It begins with walking in circles around the Kaaba, a small black building near the centre of the Great Mosque believed to have been originally built by Prophet Adam and later reconstructed by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismail. The pilgrimage ends with Rami al-Jamarat, or the Stoning of the Devil, a custom in which pilgrims throw pebbles at three walls in the city of Mina in symbolic rejection of the devil. This coincides with Eid al-Adha, an important celebration commemorating sacrifice. Secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association Gamel Kheir says Hajj is the "single most spiritually significant experience" that many Muslims will have in their lifetime. "Symbolically, it is a reflection of abandoning this world and going to the house of God in order to cleanse oneself of worldly sins," he says. Ahead of Hajj, the Lebanese Muslim Association runs training sessions to prepare pilgrims for the spiritual and physical challenges. Kheir, who has undertaken the pilgrimage twice, says the experience is "incredible". "When you go there, you see the love and the difference in race, skin colour, language," he says. "They're all there in obedience. No-one has any pride there, everyone humbles themselves." Milad Haghani, associate professor of urban resilience and mobility at the University of Melbourne, says Hajj presents a "cocktail of crowd-safety risks". "The scale is massive. It's one of the biggest crowds that ever gathers," he says. "The crowd is spiritually motivated, [which is] a category of crowd that we deem very prone to risk taking." While the Hajj has a history of fatal incidents — mostly crowd crushes — Dr Haghani says climate change marks "a new emerging threat". "Across the world, we are seeing that crowded events are being affected by extreme weather conditions. In Australia, we have festivals that get cancelled," he says. "But when it comes to Hajj, it's very, very rare that it gets cancelled for any reason. It will go ahead regardless." Other aspects of Hajj increase the risks of heat-related injury, too. "The vast majority of the activities do take place in an outdoor environment where you're exposed to the sun directly," Dr Haghani says. "And being in a crowded environment [can] create a microclimate, so inside the crowd could be hotter than the [outside] temperature." Many of those making the pilgrimage do so later in life, especially if they have had to save for years or decades to afford the journey. Hajj packages from Australia typically cost upwards of $10,000. "That crowd tends to be older, compared to a crowd that you get in a typical music festival or a sporting event — that means a higher prevalence of health issues," Dr Haghani says. The pilgrims are also a highly diverse group, hailing from more than 180 countries. "You cannot communicate via a single language in terms of risk communication. That is a major, major barrier," Dr Haghani says. Research suggests that increased educational campaigns in multiple languages, as well as new technologies like smart bracelets for health tracking, could help mitigate the effects of extreme heat during Hajj. A study published last year in the journal, Nature, found that the upper limits of human heat tolerance were breached for a total of 43 hours over the six days of Hajj in 2024. On the hottest day of the pilgrimage, humid heat reached levels considered dangerous even for young and healthy people. Emma Ramsay, an urban climate scientist at Nanyang Technological University Singapore and a co-author of the study, says rising humidity during Hajj poses a serious health risk. "We showed that the heat and humidity during the Hajj crest these upper survival limits … thresholds where our bodies really struggle to cope with the heat physiologically," she says. Though Hajj is set to move out of peak summer next year, it will cycle back to the hot season in 25 years. By that time, global temperatures are predicted to rise 1.5 degrees Celsius, which researchers predict would increase the risk of heat stroke during Hajj fivefold. Dr Ramsay says while Saudi Arabian authorities are experienced in handling extreme heat, "there are limits". "These adaptations are never available to everyone — there are always people left out and people who don't have access," she says. "And these adaptations aren't fail-safe. We see in heat waves, everyone switches on their AC (air-conditioning) and a blackout [occurs], and then people are left really vulnerable. Gamel Kheir says pilgrims in his community are not overly worried about how climate change will affect the Hajj. He believes Saudi Arabian authorities "have mitigated risks the best they can", while cracking down on unauthorised entries. "We do have global warming, clearly, but counter to that is the fact that the authorities have provided a very sheltered environment," he says. "You're not in the desert so much anymore … You've got five-star hotels, you've got water provided constantly, and there's shade everywhere." He says rising temperatures are unlikely to deter faithful Muslims from making the journey. "Do I have concerns? No, because at the end of the day, I think what most people would look at is the religious significance of it over the harshness that they may have to experience."
ABC News
07-06-2025
- ABC News
Protesters clash with US authorities over California crackdown on immigration
US Border Patrol officers fire tear gas in an attempt to disperse angry crowds outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount.
