Kenya human rights watchdog says 10 killed, 29 hurt in anti-government protests
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The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Police fears over summer riots as forces already ‘stretched to the maximum'
Protests and demonstrations that have turned violent are taking a 'massive toll' on police forces across the UK, it has been warned, as fears rise over the prospect of another summer of riots. Recent scenes of unrest in Epping outside a hotel believed to house asylum seekers have already cost £100,000, with Essex Police forced to draft in support from neighbouring forces after the protests turned ugly with bottles and flares thrown at police, injuring eight officers. Last July and August, 40,000 officer shifts were worked by public order officers over 10 days to tackle the riots sparked by misinformation online after three girls were stabbed to death in Southport. With concerns mounting that the UK could be facing another summer of unrest, the police union has warned that forces are close to breaking point. Brian Booth, deputy chair of the Police Federation, said the UK's national mobilisation plan, which sees officers redeployed to assist other forces when needed, means staff miss rest days and additional hours at a time when resignation rates are 'off the scale' due to low morale and pay. 'What we've seen throughout this year is sporadic incidents that need dealing with. 'It's a good idea, we're not knocking it, but it means officers are pulled from frontline duties and puts an extra demand on forces. It comes from frontline policing and you then have traffic officers missing from duties, those in the community pulled out and they then have to cancel their rest days and extend their working patterns.' He added: 'The demand has got too high, the service is stretched to the maximum. It's like an elastic band, and all of a sudden, we'll have a snap. There's only so much pressure that can be placed on them.' He stressed that while police chiefs had a designated budget to assist lawful protests, that budget is stretched when demonstrations turn violent and require a larger police response. 'The budgets are cut so slim now that there's no fat left,' he said. A new report from the Police Federation, published on Tuesday, found 17,700 police officers have been signed off for mental health reasons – an 182 per cent increase in the past 12 years – with many citing burnout, stress and post-traumatic stress disorder. It comes as anger mounts among police forces, with average annual pay falling by a fifth in real terms since 2010. 'The morale is terrible,' Mr Booth said. 'A lot of my colleagues are really angry. People are leaving, we have the highest rate of mid-service leavers, and the resignation scales are off the scale.' 'I know over the next few weeks that the anger will be rising among the ranks now that the government has broken for recess, and we're the only public service that hasn't had the pay award. We've got an unhappy workforce and I think the government needs to realise that.' It comes as 1,500 officers will be redeployed from frontline duties to Scotland on Friday to support President Donald Trump's private visit to his golf courses. 'We were notified over the Trump visit in a short period, we were told they needed 1,5000 officers only last week. That's one per cent of the population of policing. Chief constables are now trying to scramble around trying to find the numbers to detract from other duties,' he said. On Tuesday, Angela Rayner addressed the Epping protests and warned the UK faces another summer of riots unless 'the government shows it can address people's concerns'. In a dramatic intervention, the deputy prime minister said economic insecurity, immigration, the increasing time people spend online, and declining trust in institutions were having a 'profound impact on society'. On Wednesday, Essex Police said they had arrested 10 people after a series of protests outside the Bell Hotel, in Epping, which began after a 38-year-old, believed to be an asylum seeker being housed there, was charged with sexual assault. Meanwhile, Kemi Badenoch played down the notion of further riots this summer, but said 'we need to be very, very vigilant'. The leader of the Conservatives also blamed Labour for the strains on social cohesion, adding: 'Yvette Cooper is waving things through. Rachel Reeves is not providing the money. I'm not surprised. Angela Rayner is saying the social fabric is fraying, but she needs to do something about it.'
STV News
37 minutes ago
- STV News
First Minister to discuss whisky tariffs, Gaza, and Ukraine with Trump
John Swinney and Donald Trump are expected to have a one-to-one meeting later this week to discuss whisky tariffs, Gaza, and Ukraine. Swinney said it's his duty as First Minister to 'engage, protect, and promote' the interests of Scotland during the US President's visit. Trump will be at both of his golf courses in Scotland: Turnberry in Ayrshire and Menie in Aberdeenshire, between July 25 and 29. He will meet with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Aberdeen, and plans are also being made for him to meet Swinney, according to the Scottish Government. 'Many of the economic ties that are so significant for Scotland will be issues that I would want to discuss, particularly some of the issues around tariffs, which can have a very negative effect on some of our key industries, particularly around Scottish whisky, which is so important to the American market,' Swinney said on Wednesday. 'And then, of course, there are issues of international significance that trouble us all — the situation in Gaza and the situation in Ukraine, which are obviously issues of significant importance to me and the people of Scotland.' Trump's visit is the biggest policing operation that Police Scotland has faced since Queen Elizabeth's death. The Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, warned again that the Presidential visit will have a significant impact. But Swinney said he's 'confident' Police Scotland has the resources and planning to deal with the visit. Trump's visit is expected to spark protests from community members who object to the Republican president's views on a variety of issues, including the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. Swinney previously urged protesters to express their views 'peacefully' and 'within the law'. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Telegraph
37 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Turkey's Islamist-leaning government risks putting off Western tourists
A recent crackdown on booze-fuelled nightlife in the popular Turkish resort of Marmaris, and sensationalist reports that it has subsequently turned into a 'ghost town', have led to speculation that the country's conservative, Islamist-leaning government is reducing Turkey's appeal to Western tourists. This is a worry not only for the tourists concerned, many of whom return to this beautiful country time and again (not least Britons, 4.43 million of whom came in 2024), but for everyone in Turkey employed by tourism. Any significant drop in visitor numbers would be a major headache for the government too, with the industry accounting for 12 per cent of the country's GDP. But before looking at the likelihood of Turkey turning into another Dubai, where drinking is strictly regulated for visitors and forbidden for Muslims, it's worth looking at what happened in Marmaris at the beginning of the summer. Far from a curfew or slew of new, stricter rules on the closing times of bars and clubs, the local authorities simply started enforcing regulations which had been in existence over a decade. This means most bars must close at midnight, with a half-hour grace period. And the many premises on one 'zoned' street, Barlar Sokak (Street of the Bars), are permitted to stay open until 4am. A primary motivation for the local municipality, led by mayor Acar Unlü, to clamp down on bars in the town is that many were flouting existing regulations. At least 28 establishments were temporarily closed for breaking the rules, though one premise that persisted in staying open beyond the statuary time has been permanently shut. To find a raft of bars closed, and an increased police presence, when you're looking for a late-night beer in Marmaris, must have been annoying. But it's hardly evidence of a government plot to introduce ever-stricter rules around alcohol. Especially when you consider that both the municipality and the province of which it is a part are both strongholds of the staunchly secularist opposition CHP (Republican People's Party). Another much-touted reason for the clampdown is public ire about the number of bars where shirtless male waiters danced on the tables. Turkey may be a polarised country, with a sometimes-unbridgeable chasm between the ruling AKP (Justice and Development Party) and the CHP, but Turks of nearly every stripe are united in their relative conservatism. Fire-safety concerns also played their part in the 'crackdown', as part of the tabletop revelry often included sparklers and other fireworks as part of the impromptu 'show'. Both activities are now banned. I talked to long-term residents involved in the tourism trade in the pretty resort of Kaş, Turkey's outdoor adventure capital, and the resort city of Antalya, both in Antalya province. They told me that, as in Marmaris, bars in Kaş close at midnight, clubs at 1am. In Antalya, many bars remain open until 2am, though live music is required to cease at 1am. There have been no recent clampdowns or curfews in either of these major tourist centres. So what happened in Marmaris appears to have been an isolated event caused by specific circumstances. But there is little doubt that the current government, in power since 2002, have made Turkey harder for drinkers. Laws introduced in 2013 forbade alcohol to be sold within 100 metres of a mosque or school, and off licences and markets could only sell alcohol between 6am and 10pm. Alcohol advertising on TV became unlawful in the same year, with authorities even enforcing the blurring of alcoholic beverages on TV and cinema screens. Massive increases in the price of alcoholic beverages have crept in during the current government's reign too – up to 70 per cent of the retail price of many alcoholic drinks is now tax. Once considerably cheaper than the UK, a pint of beer in a cheap bar in Marmaris, Kaş or Antalya will now cost you around £4, but it's way more in more upmarket establishments. Hotel prices can be extremely high: £10 for a 33cl beer and £12 for a glass of wine are now common. The number of Turkish tourists holidaying in long-time rival Greece rather than their own country made the news in 2024. This trend shows no sign of abating – Aegean Airlines opened a new, twice-weekly route between Istanbul and Santorini at the end of May. One motivating factor for this exodus to Turkey's Aegean neighbour is that Greece is cheaper than Turkey for many things – including alcoholic drinks. A glass of wine in a modest Greek taverna is around £2.60; it's hard to find one for less than £5.50 in Turkey. But despite government-led moves to restrict opening hours, 'zone' drinking establishments and increase the price of alcoholic drinks well beyond the rate of inflation, Turkey is highly unlikely to become another Dubai. Although the number of Turks who admit to drinking is only 17 per cent, the true figures are probably much higher, and the government cannot afford to completely alienate too many of its own citizens. And tourism is far too valuable to the economy to risk putting off foreign visitors by introducing Dubai-style rules. Yet it remains impossible to gauge how much tourism in Turkey will be affected long-term by the spiralling costs of alcoholic drinks, or concerns that Turkey is becoming a less liberal destination. A friend who runs a travel agency in Antalya told me that, after a decent spring, numbers had dropped in June, and that Antalya's walled old quarter of Kaleiçi was quiet. She attributed the fall to the unrest in the wider Middle East, however. Official figures also show signs of falling demand – in late June, Hürriyet Daily News published figures from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism showing a 1.8 per cent year-on-year drop in foreign visitors for May 2025 over the preceding year, and a more modest 1 per cent overall drop in the first five months of 2025. Yet in the same five-month period, the number of Britons coming to Turkey actually rose by 1.3 per cent. In recent decades, Turkey has weathered coups and wars, terrorist atrocities, hyper-inflation and many other setbacks. Yet tourism has grown exponentially. In 2003, 16.5 million tourists came to Turkey, by 2011 that had risen to 30 million, and 57 million tourists visited in 2024, making Turkey the fourth most visited country globally. The Turks are far too resilient and resourceful to let slip the appeal of the country of which they are so proud to foreign visitors, especially when it is so vital to the economy.
