demonstration

Riots in Minnesota: Police officer apparently drew her gun by mistake, instead of her Taser – VIDEO

minneapolis-police-riots

A suburban Minneapolis police officer apparently drew her gun by mistake, instead of her Taser, when she shot a young Black man to death during a traffic stop, a police chief said on Monday, hours before a second night of unrest sparked by the killing.

Family members of the slain motorist, Daunte Wright, 20, rejected the notion that a mere accident was to blame for Sunday’s shooting in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, with Wright’s grieving brother denouncing the police as “trigger happy.”

The shooting roiled a region already on edge, as last year’s killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died with his neck pinned to a Minneapolis street under a white policeman’s knee, was being recounted in graphic detail in the trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, charged with his murder.

Wright was killed just 10 miles from where Floyd, 46, lost his life while under arrest for allegedly passing a bogus $20 bill, unleashing a months-long nationwide upheaval of protests against racial injustice in the U.S. law enforcement system.

Brooklyn Center’s police chief, Tim Gannon, said during a news briefing on Monday that Wright was pulled over for an expired vehicle registration and that the shooting was apparently unintentional, judging from his initial review of police video footage of the incident.

‘ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE’

“This appears to me, from what I viewed and the officers’ reaction and distress immediately after, that this was an accidental discharge that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Wright,” said Gannon.

The Hennepin County medical examiner on Monday ruled the death a homicide, confirming in an autopsy that Wright was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest.

Sunday’s shooting immediately ignited a night of street skirmishes between police and protesters in Brooklyn Center, with local news media reporting looting and burglaries of about 20 businesses at a nearby shopping center.

Disturbances flared anew on Monday, as hundreds of protesters braving a steady downpour and defying a curfew ordered by Governor Tim Walz clashed with law enforcement as darkness fell outside police headquarters in Brooklyn Center.

A crowd surged against a fence erected to keep protesters at bay, some hurling bottles and other projectiles and lighting off fireworks as police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and what appeared to be non-lethal plastic rounds.

A nearby discount store was looted and vandalized, but most of the demonstrators drifted away by 10 p.m. local time. As calm was restored, police reported 40 arrests in Brooklyn Center for offenses ranging from curfew violations to rioting charges.

Three officers suffered minor injuries from debris thrown at them, authorities said at a late-night news conference.

Police in Minneapolis said several people were arrested there in connection with five retail burglaries.

‘BROKEN IN A THOUSAND PIECES’

During a memorial vigil Monday evening at the spot where Wright was killed, relatives remembered him as a good-natured father who worked multiple jobs to support his 2-year-old son and voiced anguish over his death at the hands of police.

“My brother lost his life because they were trigger happy,” his older half sibling, Dallas Wright, told the crowd as rain began to fall.

“My heart is broken in a thousand pieces… I miss him so much, and it’s only been a day,” his mother, Katie Wright, said as she wept. “He was my life, he was my son and I can never get that back. Because of a mistake? Because of an accident?”

Wright’s father, Aubrey, told the Washington Post his son had dropped out of high school a few years earlier due to a learning disability.

Police chief Gannon told reporters hours earlier that a routine traffic stop of Wright had escalated into a deadly confrontation when officers ran a check on his expired vehicle registration and found an outstanding warrant for him.

Police did not elaborate, but the New York Times cited public records showing a judge had issued a warrant for Wright’s failure to appear in court on two misdemeanor charges last year.

Police video footage presented by Gannon showed one officer trying to handcuff Wright next to the car, before Wright broke free and got back into his car. At that point, a second officer yells, “Taser, Taser, Taser,” before firing a single shot from her handgun, the video shows.

“Holy shit, I just shot him,” the policewoman is heard to shout as the car rolls away with Wright still in the driver’s seat. The car struck another vehicle and came to a stop moments later.

The police officer who fired the fatal shot, later identified as 26-year department veteran Kim Potter, who is white, was placed on administrative leave. Mayor Mike Elliott called for her immediate dismissal.

Russia beefs up security at Navalny prison ahead of protest

prison winter fence

Russian police stepped up security at the prison holding Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday as his supporters prepared to stage a protest outside the facility to demand that authorities give him proper medical care.

Navalny, 44, a prominent opponent of President Vladimir Putin, announced a hunger strike last week in protest at what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to treat him properly for acute back and leg pain.

A group of his allies said they would protest at the prison in the town of Pokrov 100 km (60 miles) east of Moscow from Tuesday unless he saw a doctor of his choice and was given what they regarded as proper medicine.

Prison authorities say his condition is satisfactory and he has been provided with all necessary medical care.

Late on Monday, his allies said the protest would go ahead after Navalny said he was continuing his hunger strike, although he had a high temperature and bad cough and three inmates in his ward had been hospitalised with tuberculosis.

The pro-Kremlin Izvestia newspaper later cited the state prison service saying that Navalny had been moved to a sick bay and tested for the coronavirus.

On Tuesday morning, police officers, one with a police dog, set up a makeshift checkpoint in front of the prison gate and used a metal barrier to block the road 100 metres from it.

They closed the parking lot to all but prison staff, and checked the IDs of reporters and prison workers.

“It is now under a special (security) regime,” a police woman told Reuters.

Antonina Romanova, a Navalny supporter, said she had come to show solidarity.

“I believe he is innocent. I’m fully on his side,” she said. “It happens that for some reason the people who can sort things out in the country end up in jail,” she said.

Read alsoRussia not seen as security threat in Hungary, says foreign minister in Brussels

Half of Republicans believe false accounts of deadly U.S. Capitol riot – poll

capitolium washington

Since the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.

Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists “trying to make Trump look bad,” a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.

Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November’s presidential election “was stolen” from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.

Since the Capitol attack, Trump, many of his allies within the Republican Party and right-wing media personalities have publicly painted a picture of the day’s events jarringly at odds with reality.

Hundreds of Trump’s supporters, mobilized by the former president’s false claims of a stolen election, climbed walls of the Capitol building and smashed windows to gain entry while lawmakers were inside voting to certify President Joe Biden’s election victory. The rioters – many of them sporting Trump campaign gear and waving flags – also included known white supremacist groups such as the Proud Boys.

In a recent interview with Fox News, Trump said the rioters posed “zero threat.” Other prominent Republicans, such as Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, have publicly doubted whether Trump supporters were behind the riot.

Last month, 12 Republicans in the House of Representatives voted against a resolution honoring Capitol Police officers who defended the grounds during the rampage, with one lawmaker saying that he objected using the word “insurrection” to describe the incident.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows a large number of rank-and-file Republicans have embraced the myth.

While 59% of all Americans say Trump bears some responsibility for the attack, only three in 10 Republicans agree. Eight in 10 Democrats and six in 10 independents reject the false claims that the Capitol siege was “mostly peaceful” or it was staged by left-wing protestors.

“Republicans have their own version of reality,” said John Geer, an expert on public opinion at Vanderbilt University. “It is a huge problem. Democracy requires accountability and accountability requires evidence.”

The refusal of Trump and prominent Republicans to repudiate the events of Jan. 6 increases the likelihood of a similar incident happening again, said Susan Corke, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.

“That is the biggest danger – normalizing this behavior,” Corke said. “I do think we are going to see more violence.”

In a fresh reminder of the security threats the U.S. Capitol faces since Jan. 6, a motorist rammed a car into U.S. Capitol police on Friday and brandished a knife, killing one officer and injuring another and forcing the Capitol complex to lock down. Officers shot and killed the suspect.

Allie Carroll, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, said its members condemned the Capitol attack and referred to a Jan. 13 statement from Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel. “Violence has no place in our politics … Those who partook in the assault on our nation’s Capitol and those who continue to threaten violence should be found, held accountable, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” McDaniel said.

A representative for Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

‘DANGEROUS SPIN ON REALITY’

The disinformation campaign aimed at downplaying the insurrection and Trump’s role in it reflects a growing consensus within the Republican Party that its fortunes remain tethered to Trump and his devoted base, political observers say.

According to the new Reuters/Ipsos poll, Trump remains the most popular figure within the party, with eight in 10 Republicans continuing to hold a favorable impression of him.

“Congressional Republicans have assessed they need to max out the Trump vote to win,” said Tim Miller, a former spokesman for Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. “That that is the path back to the majority.”

Republicans in Congress show few signs of breaking with Trump. Right after the deadly Capitol siege, 147 Republican lawmakers voted against certifying Biden’s election win. The Democratic-led House of Representatives impeached Trump for “inciting an insurrection”, making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice, but most Senate Republicans acquitted him of the charge in a trial.

Last week, Republican congressman Jim Banks of Indiana said the party must cater to the working-class voters that comprise Trump’s political base ahead of next year’s critical midterm elections that will dictate control of Congress.

“Members who want to swap out working-class voters because they resent President Trump’s impact… are wrong,” Banks wrote in a memo to Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy, contents of which he posted on Twitter.

Banks was one of the 147 lawmakers who voted to block certification of Biden’s win, and he later voted against impeaching Trump. Banks did not respond to requests for comment.

Some mainstream Republicans contend that after Republicans lost both the White House and control of both chambers of Congress on Trump’s watch, the party must move on from the former president in order to attract suburban, moderate and independent voters.

In the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, only about three in 10 independents said they have a favorable view of Trump, among the lowest level recorded since his presidency. Most Americans — about 60% — also believe Biden won the November election fair and square, and said Trump should not run again.

Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, one of Trump’s top Republican critics in Congress, has criticized the push to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.

The disinformation effort is “such a dangerous, disgusting spin on reality,” Kinzinger wrote in a fundraising appeal to supporters last month, “and what’s even worse is that it goes unchallenged by so many in the Republican Party.”

The window for the Republican Party to distance itself from Trump seems to have passed, Miller said.

“There was a chance after January 6 for Republican leaders to really put their foot down and say, ‘We can’t be the insurrectionist party,’” he said. “Now that opportunity is totally gone.”

The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted online, in English, throughout the United States. It gathered responses from 1,005 adults between March 30-31. The poll has a credibility interval, a measure of precision, of about 4 percentage points.

Click here to see the full poll results

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Read alsoMedia company Bloomberg enters the Hungarian market

Myanmar protesters make Easter eggs a symbol of defiance

myanamar egg easter

Opponents of military rule in Myanmar inscribed messages of protest on Easter eggs on Sunday while thousands of others were back on the streets, denouncing a Feb. 1 coup and facing off with the security forces who shot and killed at least three men.

In the latest in a series of impromptu shows of defiance, messages including “Spring Revolution”, “We must win” and “Get out MAH” – referring to junta leader Min Aung Hlaing – were seen on eggs in photographs on social media.

“Easter is all about the future and the people of Myanmar have a great future in a federal democracy,” Dr Sasa, international envoy for the ousted civilian government, said in a statement.

Sasa, who uses only one name, is a member of a largely Christian ethnic minority in the predominantly Buddhist country.

The campaign against the ousting of the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi has included protests, a civil disobedience campaign of strikes and quirky acts of rebellion that spread on social media.

Young people in the main city Yangon handed out eggs bearing the messages of protest, pictures in posts showed.

Crowds have come onto the streets day and night, despite a bloody crackdown and round-ups of activist leaders, to reject the return of military rule after a decade of tentative steps towards democracy.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), an activist group monitoring casualties and arrests, said the toll of dead had risen to 557, as of late Saturday.

In the capital, Naypyitaw, two men were killed when police fired on protesters on motorbikes, the Irrawaddy news site reported. One man was killed earlier in the northern town of Bhamo, the Myanmar Now news outlet said.

A social media user later posted pictures of what appeared to be a women medic lying wounded and unattended on a street after curfew in the second city Mandalay following a protest there.

Police and a spokesman for the junta did not answer telephone calls seeking comment.

A huge crowd, including many women in straw hats, streamed through the central town of Taze chanting slogans, pictures from DVB TV News showed. Crowds were also out in other towns.

The AAPP said 2,658 people were in detention, including four women and a man who spoke to a visiting CNN news crew in interviews on the streets of Yangon last week.

A spokesman for CNN said the network was aware of reports of detentions following the team’s visit and was pressing the authorities for information.

In a leaked clip from a CNN interview with the junta’s spokesman, Zaw Min Tun, CNN asked what Suu Kyi’s father, the hero of Myanmar’s independence, General Aung San, would think if he could see the state the country now.

“He would say ‘my daughter, you are such a fool’,” Zaw Min Tun responded.

The clip, which has yet to be aired by the broadcaster, was filmed by an unknown person present during the interview and has gone viral in the country.

‘CONSCIENCE IS CLEAR’

The jutna, struggling to end the protests, has intensified a campaign to stifle criticism, ordering internet providers to cut wireless broadband which most people use for internet access.

It has also announced arrest warrants for nearly 60 celebrities known for opposition to the coup, including social media influencers, models and a hip-hop star, under a law against inciting dissent in the armed forces.

The charges, announced on state television news bulletins over the past three days, can carry a three-year prison term.

One of those charged, blogger Thurein Hlaing Win, told Reuters he was shocked to be branded a criminal and was in hiding.

“If I get punished for that, my conscience is clear … Everyone knows the truth,” he said by telephone.

The military ruled the former British colony with an iron fist after seizing power in 1962, until it began withdrawing from politics a decade ago, releasing Suu Kyi from house arrest and allowing an election that her party swept in 2015.

It says it had to oust Suu Kyi’s government because a November election, again won easily by her party, was rigged. The election commission says the voting was fair.

The military has promised a new election but not set a date.

Suu Kyi is in detention facing charges that could bring 14 years in prison. Her lawyer says the charges are trumped up.

Ethnic minority forces that have been battling for autonomy for decades have mostly thrown their support behind the pro-democracy movement, raising fears of growing conflict and chaos.

The Karen National Union, which signed a ceasefire in 2012, has seen the first military air strikes on its forces in more than 20 years, sending thousands of refugees into Thailand. Fighting has also flared in the north between the army and ethnic Kachin insurgents.

Suu Kyi’s party has vowed to set up a federal democracy, the minority groups’ main demand.

Easter Eggs Decoration Dekoráció Díszítés
Read alsoTraditional Hungarian methods to decorate Easter eggs – PHOTOS, VIDEOS

‘We are at war’: Poles mark Women’s Day after abortion rules tightened

Women's Day in 2021 has a specific flavour,

Poles took to the streets on Monday to mark International Women’s Day, in demonstrations around the country that took on added significance months after a constitutional court banned almost all abortions.

The October ruling, which took effect in January, unleashed a wave of protests that has morphed into broader anger at the government, particularly among young people. Recent protests have been much smaller, but the ruling party’s ratings in most opinion polls have slipped to around 30% from more than 40% in August.

In Warsaw, several dozen protesters brandishing placards with slogans such as “I am a feminist warrior” gathered in the city centre, where they were outnumbered by a heavy police presence.

Previous protests organised by the Women’s Strike movement, which opposes the tightening of restrictions regarding abortion, have been marred by violence, with the police criticised for heavy-handed tactics.

“It is difficult to say anything positive about Women’s Day today. We are at war and all I can hope for is that we will win the war,” Klementyna Suchanow, co-founder of the Women’s Strike told Reuters before the demonstration began.

“Women’s Day in 2021 has a specific flavour,” she said.

“After the abortion regulations were tightened, this holiday takes on the significance of a battle, just like in the beginning when it was first established, over a 100 years ago.”

As police formed a cordon around the protestors, speech therapist Aleksandra Gajek, 24, called it an intimidation tactic. “The number of police is intended to scare us and force us to stop fighting for our rights,” she told Reuters.

The police was trying to keep traffic moving, spokesman Sylwester Marczak said by phone. “The actions of the police are determined by the blocking of traffic on one of the most important roundabouts in Warsaw.”

Deutsche Welle
Read alsoDeutsche Welle starts to create Hungarian contents because critical press is under pressure

Hungarian caterers protest against restrictions

demonstration hungary budapest coronavirus 2021

Some 300 people on Monday held a demonstration in central Budapest with the demand that restaurants, bars, and hotels be allowed to reopen.

Restaurateurs, waiters, cooks, and hoteliers from around the country gathered in Heroes’ Square to draw attention to their lack of income for the past year, saying their reserves had ran out. “We want no Covid-communism”, “Open up!” and “I want to work”, they chanted.

Some staged a sit-down protest against the strong police presence in the square, while the organisers said that

the protests would continue in front of Parliament.

Police issued warnings and on-the-spot fines at the protest held on Monday, the Budapest police headquarters said on its website. Despite the organisers having officially cancelled the gathering, on social media they continued to encourage people to show up, police said.

Participants were warned that they were “attending a gathering which was against the law”, seven people were fined for refusing to wear a mask and eleven people were booked for committing an offence.

The Budapest police headquarters has initiated administrative proceedings against the organisers, police.hu said.

As we said yesterday, a couple of hundred people gathered at Budapest’s Heroes’ Square to demonstrate against coronavirus-related restrictions affecting businesses on Sunday afternoon. Most demonstrators at the event organised on Facebook were wearing masks. Police presence was heavy at the site with the authorities checking several people’s IDs. Read more details HERE.

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Read alsoBREAKING! Coronavirus restrictions to stay in place in Hungary until March 1

Breaking – protest held in downtown Budapest against restrictions affecting businesses – UPDATED

Hungary protest Budapest
A couple of hundred people gathered at Budapest’s Heroes’ Square to demonstrate against coronavirus-related restrictions affecting businesses on Sunday afternoon. Most demonstrators at the event organised on Facebook were wearing masks. Police presence was heavy at the site with the authorities checking several people’s IDs.

Budapest Police said on its website on Friday that a private individual had called a gathering at Heroes’ Square for Sunday noon which the person later called off. Later the organisers of the Facebook event dubbed
 
“Demonstration for Life and Freedom January 31. Mass Shop Reopening February 1”
 
said they “had reworded” the event’s description so that it would not qualify as “a gathering”.
 
They said that “those exercising their right to the freedom of expression at the event will most likely disagree with the government’s ban on allowing entrepreneurs to set their own opening hours”. The organisers also said the event was also meant to call attention to the government’s “irresponsible policies” and
 
“failure to bail out entrepreneurs going bankrupt as a result of the pandemic”.  

The police put out a notice as early as Friday reminding the public of an ongoing ban on holding or appearing at public events or gatherings under a government decree defining protection measures during the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

UPDATE

Budapest police said late in the afternoon on Sunday that administrative proceedings had been launched against the event’s organisers and hosts. It said on its website that two participants were fined on the spot for violating mask-wearing rules and misdemeanour charges were filed against another four.

Opposition MEP: PM Orbán’s acts can destabilize Europe as Trump did so in the USA

usa capitol demonstration

Remarks from Jobbik MEP Márton Gyöngyösi:

If you followed the events unfolding in Washington on 6 January, you saw some shocking images. Instigated by Donald Trump, who lost the presidential election but refused to admit his defeat, the crowd broke into the Capitol. This botched attempt at a coup was unable to shake the political system of the US.

However, the event has a much larger significance: this example may lead to quite a lot of problems in Europe in the future…

Even though you can be sure that Donald Trump will step down at the end of January at the latest to let Joe Biden’s presidency begin, there’s something frightening about the fact that the United States of America got to this point despite being one of the homelands of democracy. Of course, we are witnessing decades-long taboos being lifted these days, while loud and narcissistic “mobocrats” are busy trying to shape to their image all those political systems that have so far been built upon pluralism, tolerating different opinions, seeking compromises and trusting each other.

From now on, Donald Trump, the role model for the world’s populist leaders, will be represented in the history books as the man who thought that he could use his Tweets to single-handedly control the sophisticated system of checks and balances that forms the very core of the United States, and when he failed, he instigated his followers with conspiracy theories and sparked a skirmish that eventually led to human casualties in the Capitol.

Trump will leave, but the people whom he has been leading by the nose for years will stay here with their questions and their doubts raised by the president’s refusal to acknowledge the election results.

The next administration will have a huge task at hand to restore peace in the American society.

On the other hand, the politicians who considered Trump as their role model will stay among us. Not just in the US, but here in Hungary, too.

As a Hungarian, I obviously cannot ignore Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán’s acts but I think the debate of the EU budget clearly revealed for everyone that he was no longer just a “Hungarian affair” and his acts can destabilize Europe as a whole. Just as Hungary is much smaller than the United States, our political system is that much more vulnerable, which allowed Orbán to completely shape the state administration to his own liking over the past eleven years. Trump could only dream of what Orbán has already put into practice.

While Trump relied on his personal magic and communication to cling to the hope, perhaps even until early 2020, that he might spend a second term in the presidential seat, Orbán methodically reshaped Hungary’s electoral system, wrote a new, customized constitution and put tried-and-tested Fidesz cadres in key state administration positions. This is how Orbán’s loyal servant could become the chief prosecutor, and active Fidesz politicians were appointed to head the tax authority and the State Audit Office.

When he had some concerns in terms of keeping his power in 2018, he used this network to bombard his challengers through administrative means before the elections.

In 2022 however, the next national elections will be held in a different Hungary, which has suffered a significant economic decline due to the pandemic and lost almost all of its European allies, and where the united opposition will nominate joint MP candidates, a joint list and a joint PM candidate to face Fidesz that is weakening according to the polls. Fidesz is likely to keep following the example of its American role model with the same fervour it demonstrated in supporting Trump during the US election campaign.

To illustrate Fidesz’ attitude, it is enough to note that such a key politician as Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szíjjártó personally accused Joe Biden’s family of criminal acts while Viktor Orbán used every platform to announce that he rooted for Donald Trump’s victory. They insisted on their positions even after Joe Biden’s triumph, in fact, Orbán was among the last to congratulate Biden while Speaker of the Parliament László Kövér has repeatedly said in public that he thought the American election was marred by fraud and Biden was helped into his seat by the same “powers that be” which are also behind the Hungarian opposition, according to Kövér.

All these acts mean that the Hungarian opposition is likely to face a difficult period until the 2022 national elections as well as a less than seamless transition of power in the weeks after. Fidesz’ involvement of the far right to quickly amend the election law in December is probably just the first step of its manipulation scheme to stay in power at all costs. Considering how Orbán and other key Fidesz figures, including those currently heading supposedly “independent” institutions, have constantly been throwing the same accusations at opposition leaders that Trump used for inciting hatred against his rival, it seems naive to hope that the Hungarian elections can be held in order. Fidesz has already begun preparing for such a scenario. Among other things, Speaker László Kövér has questioned the outcome of the election in advance, provided that the winner is not Fidesz.

This is especially frightening because while the US political system clearly determines what happens when a president’s mandate expires, Orbán has built a country where the leaders occupying nearly all key institutional positions are loyal to Orbán and Fidesz rather than Hungary or the Hungarian people. We can only hope that Hungary’s 2022 elections will not bring such events that we saw in Lukashenko’s Belarus.

Populism and the political agenda based on instigating people against each other has indeed lost a major battle in America.

In Hungary however, it still lives with us for the time being. We hope it doesn’t stay much longer

Car ploughs into anti-racism protestors in New York City leaving many injured

new york car accident protest

A vehicle injured six demonstrators while driving through a group of demonstrators in Manhattan on Friday afternoon, according to local reports citing a spokesman with New York Police Department (NYPD).

The incident occurred after 4 p.m. (2100 GMT) at the corner of Third Avenue and 39th Street, according to the NYPD.

The six protestors with seemingly non-life-threatening injuries were taken to hospital for treatment and a female driver of the vehicle was apprehended with no further details available.

It is reported that about 40 to 50 people were holding a protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

As can be seen in the video, the car was standing at an intersection when suddenly several people surrounded it, and many even crashed into the car. The woman sitting inside got frightened and suddenly stepped on the accelerator.

The 57-year-old woman who caused the accident was immediately detained along with her passenger, writes the New York Times.

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Read alsoIntroducing Willie from New York City making Hungary famous on his Youtube channel

Film, drama university to be shut down until February 1

freeszfe demo

The supervisory board of the foundation overseeing Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) has ordered the institution to be shut down from Monday until Feb 1, citing unsuitable conditions for continuing classes, enforcing and protecting student rights and ensuring academic autonomy.

“The supervisory board of the foundation has determined that under the current situation, conditions for organising classes, enforcing and safeguarding student rights, ensuring a safe work environment as well as the university’s academic autonomy cannot be met,” a letter addressed to SZFE’s students and staff and posted on the university’s website on Friday evening said.

Because the completion of credits for the courses students had registered for at the start of the autumn semester of the current academic year cannot be verified, the university is not in the position to recognise the credits, the letter, signed by Chancellor Gábor Szarka and acting deputy rector Emil Novak said.

The supervisory board of the Theatre and Film Foundation has asked the SZFE’s leadership to inform the university’s citizens on its decisions and take the necessary steps for extending the academic year. Students should also be given an opportunity to complete their first-semester subjects in the next semesters, it added.

The foundation said a blockade of SZFE’s buildings by students and teachers since early September had prevented the university’s recently appointed leadership from entering the buildings and overseeing the teaching taking place at the institution.

The letter said students and teachers had declined talks with the university’s leadership. It said the decision to temporarily shut down the institution would not lead to the suspension of the students’ legal status with the university, neither would if affect student employment contracts or student loan contracts.

Students will not be required to make tuition payments until Feb 1 and may decide whether they want to be refunded the payments they have made this semester or have them be counted towards the spring semester, the letter said.

The foundation’s supervisory board will notify the Education Office of its decisions, it added.

On Monday, SZFE’s students and teachers invited László Palkovics, the minister of innovation and technology whose purview includes universities, for talks to be held on Nov. 11 at the university’s Odry Theatre.

They told MTI on Friday that the minister had declined their invitation, saying that the government wanted the funds it spends on film and drama education to serve professional, rather than “political goals”.

SZFE’s previous senate and leadership announced their resignation on Aug. 31, saying the foundation that took over the university on Sept. 1 under a government decree had deprived them of “all essential powers”.

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Read alsoDrama students stage march for university autonomy

Hungarian monument damaged during Warsaw protests restored – PHOTOS

protest poland

The monument dedicated to the Hungarian soldiers who took part in the anti-Nazi uprising in Warsaw has been restored after being damaged during recent anti-abortion protests in the Polish capital, the Hungarian embassy in Warsaw said on Monday.

The embassy said in a statement that there was no discernable connection between what the monument which stands near the Polish Parliament buildings symbolises and the imagery that was daubed on it.

Hungarian monument damaged during Warsaw protests restored
Photo: Portal Warszawski

The embassy has thanked a volunteer who tried to remove the graffiti as well as the Polish National Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) for clearing the monument.

Hungarian Ambassador Orsolya Kovács Zsuzsanna and military attache József Szabó laid wreaths at the restored monument together with IPN deputy head Mateusz Szpytma.

Warsaw, Poland. Hungarian monument damaged during Warsaw protests restored. Photo: Hungarian Embassy in Poland
Warsaw, Poland. Hungarian monument damaged during Warsaw protests restored. Photo: Hungarian Embassy in Poland
Warsaw, Poland. Hungarian monument damaged during Warsaw protests restored. Photo: Hungarian Embassy in Poland
Warsaw, Poland. Hungarian monument damaged during Warsaw protests restored. Photo: Hungarian Embassy in Poland
Protest
Read alsoProtest against new Polish law on abortion held in Budapest

Protest against new Polish law on abortion held in Budapest

Protest

As a reaction to Poland’s horrific and cruel new law on abortion, a peaceful protest was organised in front of the Polish Embassy in Budapest. Poland outlawed abortion in cases where the foetus is severely damaged or malformed.

A peaceful demonstration was held in front of the Polish Embassy in Budapest on Wednesday night (28 October), hvg reports. Approximately 600 people attended the demonstration, chanting “Enough is enough!”. Protesters aimed to show sympathy with all Polish women affected by the new law on abortion in Poland.

Poland outlawed abortion in cases where the foetus is severely damaged or malformed. This means that almost all forms of abortion have been banned in the country. The only exception is when the woman can prove that the pregnancy is a result of rape.

Unfortunately, women can rarely prove this in time, so abortion is basically banned in all its forms.

Forcing women to give birth to a dead foetus is extremely cruel and inhumane, and it deeply traumatises women.

There have been over 73 million abortions annually between 2015 and 2019, which means that every fourth pregnancy ended in abortion. The ratio of legal and illegal abortions is about 50-50%.

Statistics prove that legalising abortion does not have a direct impact on the number of abortions carried out, it only influences the mortality rate of abortion.

Poland has some of the strictest abortion legislation in the EU, The Guardian writes.

“Since 1997, of approximately 1,000 legal terminations performed annually in Poland, the vast majority cite severe foetal abnormality. After last week’s ruling by the tribunal, this too will be illegal.”

Luckily, laws on abortion are not as strict in Hungary as they are in Poland. However, based on the recent statements of government politicians (all male, of course), they probably would not mind introducing similar laws here.

orbán in brussels
Read alsoHungary among the few backing Trump’s anti-abortion campaign

House Speaker László Kövér recently made the following statement: “the world belongs to those who fill it by birthing children.”

I apologise for the weak translation, but “teleszülni” is a hard word to translate, as it has not really existed in the Hungarian language before. Please keep in mind that this is the same man who claimed that “normal homosexuals do not consider themselves equal,” and he also came to the conclusion that according to him, there is really no difference between a gay couple wanting to adopt a child and a paedophile.

Kövér László
Read alsoHungarian House Speaker: “Normal homosexuals don’t consider themselves equal”

Reacting to Kövér’s statement, one protester said:

“People who want women to fill the world by birthing children are the ones who pretend that the world is theirs, even though they are not capable of giving birth themselves.”

Sides disagree at EP debate on involvement of political influence at SZFE standoff

Budapest's University of Theatre and Film Arts SZFE students demonstration

Sides were in disagreement at a European parliamentary debate on Tuesday about whether political parties are influencing the current standoff at the Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE).

Attila Vidnyánszky, head of the board of a foundation that took over the university on Sept. 1 under a government decree, told the CULT Committee on Culture and Education’s online debate that all current developments were orchestrated by left-wing political parties. The parties concerned launched their electoral campaign on October 23 instead of expressing solidarity, Vidnyánszky said commenting on a protest march organised by students. He said the board had clear intentions wanting to implement changes in demand for several decades but the SZFE “is increasingly demonstrating exclusion rather than moving towards openness and diversity”, he added.

“We are open to negotiations and cooperation in any form,” he said.

The students should demonstrate that they are “indeed open and are ready to accept new ideas, methodologies and aesthetic approaches”, he added.

State secretary at the Ministry of Innovation and Technology László György said that more than a dozen consultations had been held with SZFE leaders before the model change was implemented in line with the constitution and current legal regulations, as part of the modernisation of Hungarian higher education.

The new model will ensure increased autonomy to the institution and budget support will grow four-fold, he added.

László Upor, former deputy rector of the university, said the SZFE had never acted in line with a political agenda and its demands always in protection of autonomy. The institution was “forced into restructuring” which caused a loss of autonomy, he said. Its senate has lost the right to appoint the university’s leaders, he added. Upor said they had rejected invitations to talks after none of the university’s requests and demands were accepted at preliminary negotiations. “Changes were implemented without the university’s involvement,” he said.

Hanna Milovits, head of the SZFE student government, said the university’s restructuring had been carried out in an undeserving manner because government representatives refused to negotiate with anyone among the SZFE’s former leaders and students. The students are “forced to maintain” a blockade of the university buildings because “under the current circumstances the university’s autonomy is not guaranteed”, she said.

MEP of ruling Fidesz Andrea Bocskor said in a statement that

“left-wingers have created a political case from the SZFE reform” and “it is unacceptable that the left wing is using students for its own political purposes”.

SZFE’s previous senate and leadership announced their resignation on Aug. 31, saying the foundation that took over the university had deprived them of “all essential powers”. The students cordoned off the university’s main building and employees went on strike.

drama university blocade
Read alsoStudents blockading drama university campus refuse to leave

Drama students stage march for university autonomy

october 23 szfe demonstration

Students of Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) organised a protest march for the autonomy of higher education on Friday, the anniversary of the 1956 revolution.

Participants walked from the Technical University on the Buda side to SZFE’s campus in central Pest, where they commemorated the revolution and held speeches. The crowd filled Rákóczi Road between Vas Street and Elisabeth Bridge.

The demonstration was supported by trade unions and students of other universities.

Speaking on behalf of SZFE students Noémi Vilmos said that “Hungary is not doing better” and called on the government to resolve the country’s problems rather than “cover them up, lie, or blackmail”.

Other student speakers warned that “what is happening to SZFE could happen to other universities, too”.

They suggested that the government was expanding its powers and the “model shift” would be extended to other universities, too. “Don’t be afraid to stand up for your university, get organised and act up,” the speakers said.

Erzsébet Nagy, of teachers’ union PDSZ, said that the government was “systematically dismantling the autonomy” of institutions, and insisted that the same thing had happened when schools were centralised, with decisions made “far from the schools, in the ministries”. “The goal is not to raise autonomous citizens but ones that follow norms; the government wants slaves without rights, faithful supporters rather than educated minds,” she said. “There is no free country without free education,” Nagy added.

Tamas Székely, deputy leader of trade union federation MSZSZ said that “everyone has the right to resist violence, and the way the government kicked in SZFE’s door was violence itself”.

Andrea Szkaliczki, a doctor, criticised a recent law on the legal status of medical professionals, and said that imposing restrictions on doctors working in secondary jobs would lead to the elimination of health services in many places. She also said that doctors subjected to a system in which they could be transferred from one place to the other without their consent was unacceptable.

drama university blocade
Read alsoStudents blockading drama university campus refuse to leave

Students blockading drama university campus refuse to leave

drama university blocade

Striking students of Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Art have rejected an order by the university’s new leadership to vacate buildings of the central campus in Vas and Szentkirályi streets.

Representatives told a press conference they also rejected the management’s bringing the autumn break forward and said they would go on vacation between October 22 and 28 as originally scheduled.

They added that the students would seek legal remedy for “modifying the order of the school year”, a decision made by one of the vice-deans, whose appointment they consider illegitimate.

According to the students, Gábor Szarka, recently appointed chancellor of the university, could not support his decision to vacate the buildings in any way, while “the decision is a declaration of a political intent to silence the students”. Szarka, the students insisted, “abuses his powers, threatening unlawfully suspending salaries and cutting internet services (off the campus)”.

The students vowed to guard “each room” at the campus and continue the blockade until autonomy was restored.

According to press reports earlier in the day, the students had been called on to vacate the buildings by 6pm, and start their autumn break earlier than scheduled.

Szarka said earlier in the day that currently “there is no leader in the facility to control the situation and make decisions”. He went on to say that “some time is needed for everybody to calm down”. “Students need to move out of this psychotic state, go home, talk to their parents, calm down and make decisions other than ones concerning moves against their own university,” he said.

Meanwhile, the university’s teachers condemned the evacuation order in a statement, saying that the chancellor and the new vice-dean were using the coronavirus pandemic “as a lame excuse” to make students give up their blockade. The new management had earlier accused the protesters of hindering teaching at the campus, while now, extending the autumn break “they have banned courses altogether”, the statement said.

The university’s previous leadership announced their resignation on Aug. 31, saying the foundation that took over the university on Sept. 1 under a government decree had deprived them of “all essential powers”. The students cordoned off the university’s main building and employees went on strike in protest against the new board and officials whose appointments they considered illegitimate.

Budapest's University of Theatre and Film Arts SZFE students demonstration
Read alsoDrama students dismiss university leadership’s declaration on ‘student republic’

Drama students dismiss university leadership’s declaration on ‘student republic’

Budapest's University of Theatre and Film Arts SZFE students demonstration

The “student republic” at Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) “cannot be banned”, striking students at the university’s central campus told a press conference on Wednesday.

“This is an ideal under which all citizens of the university are considered equal,” the students said, adding that they would go on with the blockade.

The university’s new leadership said on Tuesday that it considered the strike “terminated with immediate effect”, and it would not provide “infrastructure or financing” to the facility in future.

The students said in response that they were not looking to “anybody else to provide the conditions” for their operations at the campus.

The students also insisted that

the university’s “illegitimate” leadership must not oblige students and teachers sign “loyalty declarations” indicating their readiness to cooperate.

They said that the management had cut internet services at the campus, which includes a student hostel, for the night starting at 6pm, when they were still having classes and were preparing for the next day. They added that they were paying for those services to the university.

The students also insisted that technical staff at the campus were being forced not to allow them access to rooms where they kept costumes and equipment, and banned making recordings in a facility where film makers are trained.

szfe-protest
Read alsoSZFE – Protest held against changes at drama, film university

SZFE students, strike committee reject new leadership’s offer

szfe

The new deputy rector and the chancellor of Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) said on Wednesday that the students and the strike committee of the university have rejected the leadership’s recent conciliatory gestures in connection with the current standoff.

The deadline for accepting the new management’s offer was set for midnight on Wednesday, Emil Novák and Gábor Szarka said in a statement.

They said that none of their offers, including a phased 10-15 percent pay rise for full-time employees and an agreement to maintain their current working schedule, could be implemented as long as the strike and standoff continued.

Novák and Szarka appealed to students and the strike committee to “reconsider” and accept their offer.

“It’s still not too late to start cooperating,” they said.

The deputy rector and the chancellor noted that in a written statement sent to the chancellor one-third of SZFE’s employees said they rejected cooperation with organisers of the university’s blockade, and indicated their willingness to work with Szarka.

The students on Monday vowed to maintain their blockade of university premises, insisting the new leadership was “illegitimate” and its overtures were “an ultimatum” rather than conciliatory.

They said they would continue to exercise their democratic right to protest and maintain their blockade. Read details HERE.

SZFE’s previous senate and leadership announced their resignation on Aug. 31, saying the foundation that took over the university on Sept. 1 under a government decree had deprived them of “all essential powers”. The students cordoned off the university’s main building and employees went on strike.

szfe-protest
Read alsoSZFE – Protest held against changes at drama, film university

SZFE students reject new leadership’s ‘ultimatum’

Daily News Hungary

The students of Budapest’s University of Theatre and Film Arts (SZFE) on Monday vowed to maintain their blockade of university premises, insisting the new leadership was “illegitimate” and its overtures were “an ultimatum” rather than conciliatory.

The students held a press conference in response to an open letter by university leaders promising full-time employees a wage hike in two stages, talks on the university’s planned developments as well as a promise not to punish the student organisers of the blockade.

The students said the country’s law on higher education set down the conditions regarding the autonomy of universities, and this was not up for discussion. They said they were prepared to discuss the university’s transformation in the presence of a guarantee of autonomy.

The students insisted that only a leadership “appointed lawfully” would have the authority to certify the validity of the school year.

They said they would continue to exercise their democratic right to protest and maintain their blockade.

SZFE‘s previous senate and leadership announced their resignation on Aug. 31, saying the foundation that took over the university on Sept. 1 under a government decree had deprived them of “all essential powers”. The students cordoned off the university’s main building and employees went on strike.