Public outraged after UK police confront mourners
LONDON (Reuters) – London’s police force which dragged mourners from a vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer faced a backlash from the public and politicians on Sunday, with the government demanding it account for its actions.
The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3 has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in Britain at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.
Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London’s Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout the day, including Kate, Britain’s Duchess of Cambridge.
Footage shared on social media from late on Saturday showed dozens of police officers marching into the crowd to shouts of “shame on you,” scuffles breaking out, and officers dragging women away from the scene.
An image of officers handcuffing a woman as she lay screaming on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.
“Last night people were very, very upset, there was a great deal of emotion, completely understandably, and the police, being as they are operationally independent, will be having to explain that to the Home Secretary,” safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News.
Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as “upsetting” and said she had asked police for a full report on what happened.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball defended the officers’ actions.
“Officers on the ground were faced with a very difficult decision. Hundreds of people were packed tightly together, posing a very real risk of easily transmitting COVID-19,” she said in a statement.
MURDER CHARGE
A police officer charged with Everard’s murder appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodlands about 50 miles (80 km.) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder’s refuse bag, and identified using dental records.
Everard’s murder has resonated with women across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.
“I think the sense of your body not being your own is something that a teenage girl learns far too early,” said theater director Noona Murphy, who attended Saturday’s vigil.
The leader of the Liberal Democrats opposition party called for the resignation of London police chief Cressida Dick.
“Your officers should have been standing in solidarity with those on Clapham Common tonight not being ordered to disrupt this display of grief and peaceful protest,” Ed Davey wrote in a letter to Dick.
Elon Musk’s electrical vehicle (EV) vision made local headlines when Tesla announced its cars would be available in Israel too. “REVOLUTION!” cried the headlines as consumers rejoiced. They forgot one crucial fact. As modern and smart as it may be, an electric vehicle requires electric infrastructure to run it, which, alas, Israel does not have.
Several thousand EV’s can be seen on Israeli roads. Experts predict that they will equal the number of gasoline-powered cars by the end of the decade. Bloomberg says over 200 million electric cars will be sold in the US by 2035. Clearly, this is where the market is heading, and Israel will follow suit at some point. More people will switch to electric cars as the technology continues to mature.
In a world plagued by the climate crisis, electric cars also play an essential role in fighting environmental damage. On top of being less polluting and quieter, researchers from MIT found that EVs are cheaper to maintain than gasoline cars. Moreover, EVs are less prone to malfunctions than gasoline and diesel cars. They do not even require an oil change.
It is heartwarming that Israel aims to join the advanced nations by becoming part of the EV revolution and of environmental protection. Still, the good intentions are of no value as long as consumers cannot drive their EVs to work or anywhere else.
Electric vehicles represent a substantial increase in power consumption which Israeli infrastructure is unable to support. Imagine the following scenario: every day at 7 p.m. hundreds of thousands of vehicles owned by people who just returned home from work, simultaneously connect to the power grid. It will not be long before the power grid collapses.
We are used to hearing about the new power consumption records broken every summer and winter. Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) makes a point of warning consumers that Israel’s power
generation is nearing 100% of its capacity. The most recent record was set last September when power consumption reached 14,600 megawatts due to a heatwave. Add one million electric cars, and you get a 20th-century infrastructure incapable of accommodating 21st-century technology.
The number of car-charging stations in Israel is small compared with the rest of the world. It should come as no surprise to discover the absolute majority of these stations are located in central Israel. While the current technology provides a range of 300500 kilometers without recharging, Israelis living in the periphery will face difficulties charging their brand new electric cars. Simultaneously, the residents of central Israel will have to charge and recharge their cars frequently. The burden on the aging infrastructure will be immense, adding to the social gaps between central Israel and peripheral communities.
As in every other domain, the solution lies in early planning and creative thinking. Israel has to start investing in a
reliable electricity infrastructure independently of IEC if it wants to welcome Tesla and the other brands that would follow. IEC alone will not be able to meet the demand. Many solutions are available to create adequate conditions for the hundreds of thousands of electric cars coming to Israel. Israel already has advanced clean energy technologies to meet the demand.
Israel justly takes pride in being an early adapter and in possessing advanced hi-tech. However, most of the time, the innovative solutions are implemented in other countries and Israelis are the last to benefit from technology developed 20 minutes from their homes.
I call upon the parties involved to start working now on preventing the next crisis. Get down to drafting the plans for an electricity grid that combines clean energy with traditional electricity. Only in this way will we ensure that our new, shiny electric car will get us to our destination.
The writer is the CEO of TurboGen, which develops a green power generation technology for buildings and infrastructure.
It played out like a scene from a horror movie. on March 12, 2020, the film world was upended by the coVId-19 pandemic, with disney’s live-action adaptation of Mulan, the latest Fast & Furious movie F9 and john Krasinski’s freaky monster follow-up A Quiet Place Part II each postponing their release dates within hours of each other.
others, including the X-Men installment New Mutants; the Keri russell supernatural horror film Antlers; and The Lovebirds, a romantic comedy starring Issa rae and Kumail nanjiani, were also removed from the spring theatrical schedule that day.
While several films, including the james Bond thriller No Time To Die, had sporadically vacated their early 2020 releases in the preceding days, it was on March 12 that the collective exodus confirmed moviegoers’ worst fears — that moviegoing wouldn’t be the same for a while.
the dominoes continued to fall from there, with theater chains aMc, regal and cinemark each pausing operations less than a week later, and dozens of movies announcing delays or going straight to home releases in the subsequent months.
exactly one year later, the film release schedule still remains in motion. cinemas in new york city only just reopened last week for the first time in nearly a year, while theaters stay shuttered in other markets, including los angeles.
Film fans still haven’t seen many of the anticipated blockbusters – including F9, A Quiet Place Part II and No Time to Die – that were originally scheduled for 2020.
however, streaming services have experienced a surge during the past year, giving people movies to watch at home.
Mulan, about a woman who disguises herself as a man to join the chinese military, came out exclusively on disney+ last year, as did the filmed version of the Broadway blockbuster Hamilton and pixar’s Soul, an animated exploration of what inspires a person’s passions.
tom hanks’s World War II drama Greyhound, meanwhile, was sold by sony and debuted last summer on apple tV+.
Warner Bros. pictures recently started releasing movies simultaneously in theaters and on hBo Max. the superhero sequel Wonder Woman 1984 and Judas and the Black Messiah,
about an FBI informant befriending Black panther chairman Fred hampton, are among the studio’s films to follow that format so far.
others will include the monster mashup Godzilla vs. Kong, the film adaptation of lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In The Heights, the supervillain story The Suicide Squad and the timothee chalemet-led adaptation of the classic
Dune book.
there’s reason for optimism for more theatrical releases moving forward. last weekend marked the first time in more than 11 months that the domestic box office totaled at least $25 million.
and with millions of people getting coronavirus vaccines, the late spring and summer movie slates are pretty loaded.
A Quiet Place Part II and Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway, starring james corden as the title rabbit, both recently moved their release dates up to this May after experiencing multiple delays.
Black Widow, starring scarlett johansson as her longtime Marvel superhero, is due out May 7 and is the next blockbuster expected to debut exclusively in theaters.
Many of the other major titles delayed in 2020 are scheduled to come out soon, including In The Heights on june 18, F9 on june 25 and Top Gun: Maverick, a highly anticipated sequel starring tom cruise, on july 2.
No Time to Die, meanwhile, comes out on october 8. add those to the long list of films that were always scheduled for 2021, such as leBron james’ basketball and looney tunes crossover Space Jam: A New Legacy”on july 16 and “he Suicide Squad”on august 6, and movie buffs have plenty to look forward to.
(new york daily news/tns)