16 Established 1961 News Thursday, May 28, 2020 Furor after black man dies as white cop kneels on neck Anger as white woman reports black birdwatcher to police

WASHINGTON: A video of a handcuffed black man abusive, excessive and inhumane use of force cost the video showing Ahmaud Arbery, 25, being followed and dying while a officer knelt on his neck for life of a man who was being detained by the police for then shot with a shotgun in broad daylight. The families more than five minutes sparked a fresh furor in the US questioning on a non-violent charge,” he said. Floyd’s of Arbery and Taylor are also being represented by over police treatment of African Americans Tuesday. death recalled the 2014 choking death of New Yorker Crump. The American Civil Liberties Union said the Minneapolis Mayor fired four police offi- Eric Garner by police, who was being detained for ille- Minneapolis case showed that US police continue to cers following the death in custody of on gally selling cigarettes. use harsh treatment on African Americans accused of Monday as the suspect was pressed shirtless onto a His death helped spark the nationwide Black Lives minor charges. Minneapolis street, one officer’s knee on his neck. Matter movement. Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria “This tragic video shows how little meaningful “Your knee in my neck. I can’t breathe... Mama. Arradondo said he had passed the case to the FBI for change has emerged to prevent police from taking the Mama,” Floyd pleaded. Bystanders filmed the scene as investigation, which could turn it into a federal rights lives of black people,” said ACLU policing specialist Floyd, thought to be in his 40s, slowly grew silent and violation case. But there were mounting calls for the Paige Fernandez. “Even in places like Minneapolis, motionless, unable to move even as the officers taunted officers’ arrest on homicide charges. “This is pure evil,” where chokeholds are technically banned, black him to “get up and get in the car”. He was taken to hos- tweeted Nekima Levy Armstrong, an African American people are targeted by the police for low-level offenses pital where he was later declared dead. Minneapolis civil rights attorney. “Those same officers and are subjected to unreasonable, unnecessary vio- Frey expressed outrage as calls rose for the officers need to be charged and convicted of murder,” she said. lence,” she said in a statement. to be prosecuted for murder. “What I saw was wrong Floyd’s death comes on the heels of two other Separately, a video of a white woman calling the at every level,” he said of the video. “For five minutes, deaths of African-Americans that involved police police about a black birdwatcher in New York’s Central we watched as a white officer pressed his knee into the wrongdoing. On March 13 in Louisville, three white Park has gone viral, sparking anger about African neck of a black man,” Frey said. “Being black in Kentucky policemen forced their way into the home of Americans being falsely reported to cops. The clip, America should not be a death sentence.” a black woman, Breonna Taylor, and shot her in a drug posted on Twitter and viewed 30 million times, was Civil rights attorney Ben Crump said he had been investigation. And police and prosecutors in Brunswick, filmed by the man, Christian Cooper, who said he had retained by Floyd’s family. Crump said in a statement Georgia allegedly covered up the killing of a young asked the woman to leash her dog. She was walking that Floyd had been stopped by police over a forgery black jogger by the son of a retired investigator for the pooch on Monday in a wooded area of the park accusation, a charge often used for writing bad local law enforcement. popular with birdwatchers where dogs are meant to be cheques or using fake banknotes for purchases. “This The police allegedly withheld for two months a kept on leads. As the woman struggles to control the dog, she approaches Cooper and is then seen making a phone call. “I’m going to tell them there’s an African-American circulated statements falsely attributed to Italian man threatening my life,” she tells Cooper while Religion looms Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that only “solutions appearing to dial 911. “There is an African-American from the heavens” could save his country. man, I’m in Central Park. He’s recording me and threat- Dina Matar of the School of Oriental and African ening me and threatening my dog,” she then tells the large in Mideast... Studies in Britain said religious-themed “conspiracy operator. discourse” is not only a regional phenomenon. “We The exchange prompted outrage on social media, Continued from Page 1 should not construe this in exceptionalist language with users calling the woman a “”, a term popular that the Middle East is different,” she told AFP. In online to describe an entitled white woman. New York Islamic call to prayer, or azan, being heard for the the region, and elsewhere, these narratives are City mayor Bill de Blasio condemned her actions as first time in 500 years in Spain, one of the countries “symptomatic of practices that have intentionally “racism, plain and simple”. “She called the police worst hit by the pandemic. However, there has been invoked religion to legitimize political practices”, BECAUSE he was a Black man. Even though she was no ban on the azan in Spain in recent times. “In our she said. “Religion has always been used as a politi- the one breaking the rules. She decided he was the region, religious claims are sometimes in tension cal discourse, not only in the Middle East, but in the criminal and we know why. This kind of hatred has no with science and medicine,” said Sari Hanafi, pro- West as well,” she told AFP. place in our city,” he tweeted. fessor of sociology at AUB. “But religion is also a As in other regions, conspiracy discourse does The woman was identified as Amy Cooper, no rela- main source for social solidarity which is integral to not only focus on religion but also feeds on exag- tion to the man she argued with. She worked in insur- resisting the psychological stress of quarantine.” gerated patriotic sentiments, social stigmas and ance at investment management company Franklin Beyond religion, AFP fact checkers have also racist stereotypes, according to Hanafi of AUB. Templeton. She apologized during an interview with observed a trend of false claims suggesting the col- Conspiracy theories claiming the coronavirus was NBC but denied that she was racist, saying she had lapse of countries in the West as they grapple with created in US bioweapon labs to hit China and overreacted after feeling threatened. “I sincerely and MINNEAPOLIS: This still image taken from a May the pandemic. A video named “Italians commit sui- Iran, and misleading claims that refugees attract humbly apologize to everyone, especially to that man, 25, 2020 video via Facebook shows a police offi- cide” was shared widely on Arabic social media COVID-19 have featured alongside religious- his family,” she said. In a statement posted on Twitter cer arresting George Floyd. — AFP platforms, purporting to show Italians committing themed posts on social media, the sociologist Tuesday, Franklin Templeton said it had fired an mass suicide in a public square because of coron- added. This kind of disinformation becomes preva- employee with immediate effect following an investiga- the dog a treat after the woman refused his request to avirus. However, the video – filmed months before lent “when we feel powerless in the face of reality tion. “We do not tolerate racism of any kind at Franklin leash the dog. “That’s when I started video recording the COVID-19 outbreak – actually depicts a protest and do not know how to explain something scien- Templeton,” the company said. with my iPhone, and when her inner Karen fully against the Italian far-right. Social media users also tifically”, he said. — AFP On Facebook, Christian Cooper said he had offered emerged and took a dark turn,” he wrote. — AFP

More than 47,000 of Qatar’s 2.75 million people the other side of the border, “Israel is still here”. Dubai puts tech have tested positive for the respiratory disease – 1.7 Israel Lebanon Israel’s pullout from Lebanon was celebrated as a percent of the population – and 28 people have died. major achievement both inside Lebanon and across Security forces manned checkpoints across Qatar on the Arab world, gaining Hezbollah regional acclaim. to test; backlash... Sunday to ensure use of the app, local media reported, pullout inspires... Its popularity further surged among supporters after alongside checking for use of masks. Criticism of the it fought a 33-day war against Israeli forces in Continued from Page 1 government is rare in Qatar and laws prohibit disrespect Continued from Page 1 Lebanon in 2006. Hezbollah has since evolved into a towards officials. regional Iran-backed military force, operating in Police wear smart helmets that take the temperature However, officials have said that the law on the app Also popular for its social services helping the Syria and supporting groups in Yemen and Iraq, of passers-by while laboratories make protective masks will be enforced with “understanding”. The app’s simple poor, it continues to leverage the memory of this era leading some to criticize it for turning its guns away using 3D printers. interface displays colored bar-codes containing the to mold a new generation of loyalists gearing up to from Israel and towards fellow Arabs. user’s ID number – green for healthy, red for COVID-19 When a night-time curfew begins, Dubai residents – join its regional operations. “We all wish we were Hezbollah is today the only Lebanese group not to positive and yellow for quarantined cases. Grey indi- 90 percent of whom are expats – receive a reminder there standing beside (Hezbollah) during the libera- have disarmed after the country’s 1975-1990 civil message on their mobile phone in Arabic, English or cates suspected cases or those who have come into tion war,” Jalal told AFP over the phone, asking to contact with infected individuals. war and commands a military arsenal that rivals that other languages. The UAE has regularly announced use a pseudonym. We wish we had been “fighting on of Lebanon’s own US-backed army. At home, cross- research advances into the COVID-19 illness, develop- Mohamed bin Hamad Al-Thani, a director at Qatar’s their side and offering ourselves for our country,” health ministry, said that data gathered is “completely sectarian support for the group dwindled after an ing several apps to help manage the pandemic. said the young man, whose brother has since fought confidential”. “There will be an update for the Ehteraz armed faceoff with fellow Lebanese during a political One of them, Alhosn, which the government has with Hezbollah in neighboring Syria. app to address the issues of concern and further crisis in 2008. encouraged residents to download, helps track people Bashir Saade, author of a book on Hezbollah, said Nonetheless Hezbollah, which entered the political who are infected with the virus or who may have come improve its efficiency,” he added in an interview on state television on Thursday. A new version of the software “the party always needs to jump back into the past... scene after Israel’s withdrawal, has become a domi- in close contact with confirmed cases. But the use of to make sense of its political presence and vision”. nant political player in Lebanon. Together with its technology to fight the pandemic has raised concern was duly released for Apple and Android on Sunday, The main site where Hezbollah celebrates its histori- allies it commands a majority in parliament and the across the world over government surveillance and pri- promising “minor bug fixes”, but without indicating that the invasive aspects had been removed. cal legacy is a memorial and museum in the hilltop cabinet. The movement also runs a TV channel and vacy risks. Tech experts and the media have highlighted bastion of Mleeta, built in 2010 to commemorate this issue in the UAE, where some foreign websites and A security flaw in the app exposed sensitive informa- an extensive social services network – complete with tion of more than one million users, rights group Israel’s withdrawal. At the former Hezbollah launch- schools, hospitals and charitable organizations. applications are already blocked. pad for operations, an Israeli Merkeva tank is dis- But Sharif pushed back against skepticism. “Dubai Amnesty International warned Tuesday. The glitch, Since 2006, Hezbollah and Israel have avoided all- played in a pit with its barrel twisted into a knot, next and the Emirates respect privacy, whether it is a ques- which was fixed on Friday after being flagged by out conflict, but Israel routinely targets Hezbollah to a mock grave for Israeli soldiers. tion of patient records or smart applications”, he said. Amnesty a day earlier, made users’ ID numbers, location positions in Syria. Both sides have exchanged spo- The emirate was creating its “own model” of respond- and infection status vulnerable to hackers. Under oak trees, a mannequin representing a radic gunfire and endless threats, but analysts say a ing to the health crisis, Sharif added, though authori- “Amnesty International’s Security Lab was able to Hezbollah fighter in military fatigues lies on a stretch- new conflict is not in the interest of either side. But if ties were also looking at countries such as South access sensitive information, including people’s name, er with a cast around his neck, while two similar fig- there were a return to full hostilities, the 2000 Israeli Korea, seen as a positive policy response to the crisis. health status and the GPS coordinates of a user’s desig- urines are seen carrying a heavy case of equipment. pullout would likely provide inspiration for many “We must follow the developments... but also add to nated confinement location, as the central server did not Below them, visitors can walk through a 200 m long young Hezbollah loyalists. them,” he said. have security measures in place to protect this data,” the tunnel that Hezbollah fighters built over three years “I was young on the day of liberation and didn’t Meanwhile, privacy concerns over Qatar’s coron- rights group said in a statement. to combat Israeli forces. understand what was going on, but I understood avirus contact tracing app, a tool that is mandatory on “The Ehteraz app’s user privacy and platform “The objective of the museum is to give the com- from my parents that it was something great,” anoth- pain of prison, have prompted a rare backlash and security are of the utmost importance,” Qatar’s health ing generations tangible proof of what happened,” er Hezbollah supporter, aged 24, told AFP by phone. forced officials to offer reassurance and concessions. ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “A compre- said tour guide Mohammad Lamah. It shows them “It is now the ambition of every one of us to take up Like other governments around the world, Qatar has hensive update of the app was rolled out on Sunday that “the struggle is worth it”, he said. But unlike most arms to defend the oppressed,” he said. – AFP turned to mobile phones to trace people’s movements May 24 with expanded security and privacy features memorial landmarks, he said, the former Hezbollah and track who they come into contact with, allowing for all users.” outpost does not “immortalize a resolved case”. On officials to monitor coronavirus infections and alert peo- “There are two key concerns... with the app,” said ple at risk of contagion. Human Rights Watch researcher Hiba Zayadin. It “is The apps use Bluetooth radio signals to “ping” highly invasive, with a range of permissions allowing the nearby devices, which can be contacted subsequently government access to things that are not needed for the attack last weekend, firing off blistering tweets if a user they have been near develops symptoms or purpose of contact tracing, permissions that are unnec- Biden in stark against Biden and other critics, promoting tests positive, but the resultant unprecedented access essary and present a concerning invasion of privacy.” debunked conspiracies and warning that mail-in to users’ location data has prompted fears about But also “many migrant workers in the country don’t ballots will lead to a “rigged election”, the latter state surveillance. have compatible phones that would allow them to contrast with... earning him an “unsubstantiated” flag by Twitter. Qatar’s version goes considerably further – it forces download the app and comply”. On Tuesday, Trump questioned why Biden would Android users to permit access to their picture and Online reviews have also complained that the app Continued from Page 1 wear a mask outdoors, in “perfect conditions, per- drains battery power and cannot be installed on older video galleries, while also allowing the app to make fect weather”, while he does not wear a mask in his unprompted calls. “I can’t understand why it needs all iPhone handsets. Some have looked for ways around home with his wife. “So I thought it was very unusu- the policy. “People are spending money and waiting in The mask itself has emerged as a political flash- these permissions,” wrote Ala’a on a Facebook group al that he had one on,” Trump said at the White queues just to get burner phones to protect their pri- point. Polling shows women, who are tilting towards popular with Doha’s large expat community – one of Biden, strongly favor social distancing measures and House. Biden argued that “this macho stuff” – several such forums peppered with concerns over the vacy,” wrote expat engineer Janko on one forum, referring to cheap handsets that could subsequently mask-wearing. By contrast, Trump is heavily support- Trump refusing to wear a mask in public, barefaced app. Justin Martin, a journalism professor based in ed by blue-collar white men, and “they regard the Americans demonstrating for states to immediately Qatar, warned authorities in a tweet not to “erode” trust be disposed of. There have been reports of a few users being mask as a sign of weakness,” University of Virginia re-open – “cost people’s lives”. by enforcing “an app with such alarming permissions”. Trump is gambling that his call to swiftly end The government launched the “Ehteraz” app, mean- wrongly classified as “quarantined” or “suspected cas- political science professor Larry Sabato said. lockdowns will win over undecided voters. But May ing “precaution”, in April and on Friday it became es”. “There’s no need for photo access and other things. As the country approaches the dreadful mile- mandatory for all citizens and legal residents to install it But it could be a good tool. It is a good way to priori- stone of 100,000 deaths caused by COVID-19, and polling has shown that a majority of Americans on their phones. Non-compliance is punishable by up to tize whom to test,” technology lawyer Rahul Matthan with some 38.6 million Americans made jobless by worry that states are opening too quickly. three years in jail – the same term as for failing to wear a told AFP. But “to work, they need a large number of the crisis, Trump is intensifying his push to jump- Meanwhile on Tuesday, Biden won the endorse- mask in public – in a state battling one of the world’s people to use it. If people are dissuaded because of the start the US economy. “States should open up ment of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest collection highest per capita infection rates. app’s overreach, then that would be a worry.” — AFP ASAP,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. He went on the of labor unions. — AFP