USA: Donald Trump announces the national guard will be deployed in Washington DC
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France 24
18 minutes ago
- France 24
'Not welcome': English town protests against JD Vance's holiday
Around 60 people gathered for the demonstration in the town of Charlbury in the Cotswolds region, carrying signs including "Go Home", "Not Welcome Party" and "Sod Off". UK police and US security detail dotted the usually quiet roads leading to the nearby hamlet where Vance was staying, blocking some roads and footpaths in the countryside region popular with tourists. "The people of the Cotswolds are out here today telling JD Vance that he is not welcome here," Jake Atkinson from the Stop Trump Coalition told AFP at the gathering. Co-organiser Atkinson cited US President Donald Trump's policies including on immigration and the war in Gaza for the local anger. He said the anti-Trump coalition would also turn out against the US president, who is due in the UK for a state visit in September. Earlier in the day, a black van bearing a meme image of Vance edited to look bald and bloated drove past the quaint cottages and winding streets of the town. "We wanted to extend the same welcome that he extended to (Volodymyr) Zelensky from the White House," said 75-year-old Charlbury resident Lou Johnson, referring to the cold reception Vance gave the Ukrainian leader during a press conference in Washington in February. Vance kicked off his British holiday last week by meeting UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who hosted the American politician in his country retreat in Chevening in Kent, southeast of London. Reports have also said Vance will later visit Scotland, where Trump spent five days at his golf resorts last month. Heightened security Residents said they were surprised by the heavy security around Dean, the village where Vance was staying. "If somebody's just in the Cotswolds on holiday, you wouldn't imagine they'd need a 20-car motorcade and all the roads to the entire village," said Phil Ball, 53, a local resident and cameraman. "It's been disruptive and quite a surprise." Victoria Dawson, an artist from nearby Witney, said locals were protesting "against somebody who we think is immoral... somebody who is doing terrific damage around the world along with Trump". "Because JD Vance is here, suddenly roads are closed everywhere, there are police everywhere," she added. "It's not what we expect or accept." Lou Johnson also complained that heightened security had been "invading everywhere" in the rural area he has called home for 50 years. "People think it's just a gentle little village but every now and then we do stand up for what we believe in," said Johnson.
France 24
18 minutes ago
- France 24
Washingtonians tired of crime but skeptical of Trump takeover
The shooting broke out just a few hours after President Donald Trump announced a federal takeover of the US capital, which Trump described as overrun by crime -- though official data shows that violence has recently decreased. "It's sickening," Tony told AFP early Tuesday. "It's not safe anymore." "You do need change, you do need help," Mike said. But Mike added that the city does not need the help Trump is sending in -- "not National Guards." The day after Trump's press conference, residents of the area near the city center told stories of drug sales on the street, but were skeptical that federal intervention would make a difference. Tony has always lived in the area and, like the other residents interviewed, did not want to give his last name. He described a local street corner as an "open air market" with "all the drugs that you want." Anne, who was holding pruning shears as she weeded, said needles are often discovered in the flowerbed of the church on the corner. It was near this spot that Tymark Wells, 33, was shot around 7:00 pm Monday before later dying in hospital, according to a police report that did not mention a motive or suspect. 'Stunt' The area is the "wild wild West and it's always been like that," said Lauren, who lives in a building nearby. "We're so desensitized," the 42-year-old added. When Trump announced his DC plan, he said it was "becoming a situation of complete and total lawlessness." However the Department of Justice said in January that violent crime in Washington recently hit its lowest level in 30 years. Because of easy access to guns in the United States, the crime number still "may look differently in America than it does in other parts of the world," Brianne Nadeau, a member of DC's overwhelmingly Democratic city council, told AFP. "But we have made substantial strides here," she said, calling Trump's federal takeover a "political stunt." The annual number of homicides in the city peaked at 274 in 2023, before falling to 187 last year. That is still one of the highest per capita homicide rates in the country. Trump also justified the takeover by citing the number of homeless people in the city. Ace, a 16-year-old walking her dog, said the presence of the homeless contributed to the feeling of insecurity. Sometimes unhoused people would get on top of her parents' car, she said. "You don't know if they are going to break in." 'Only the beginning' While waiting for the National Guard, around 850 federal agents were deployed to Washington on Monday, making 23 arrests, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. "This is only the beginning," she said. Terry Cole, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration tasked with leading the federal takeover of the city's police, said patrolling would be ramped up. Federal agents and police will work "hand in hand" during these patrols, Cole added. The city's Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has been forced to accommodate the takeover, said this approach is "the wrong way to do it." Federal agents do not go out on patrol, she said. "That's not what they're trained to do." Tom, who lives near the scene of Monday's shooting, told AFP there were not enough police patrols in the area. But he also criticized Trump's "draconian approach," saying it was unlikely to "yield any good results." Across the street, a small memorial stood in tribute to a different shooting victim. A picture of a young Black man has been wrapped around a tree, with flowers arrayed at its base. Turell Delonte, 30, was shot dead by police at the spot in 2023, after he was suspected of drug trafficking.
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
US judge orders humane conditions for migrant detainees at NY site
Images have emerged showing unsanitary and cramped conditions in a holding room in New York City's 26 Federal Plaza, where migrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are detained. Manhattan Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a temporary restraining order directing that no detainee be kept in less than 50 square feet (4.6 square meters) of space, without clean bedding and hygiene products, or be deprived of private attorney-client calls. ICE "shall not retaliate in any manner against Plaintiff (including in his or her immigration proceedings...) for complaining about any alleged violation of this temporary restraining order," Kaplan ordered. Hundreds of migrants have passed through the facility as immigration officers have stepped up their arrests of those going through the immigration court in a downtown skyscraper. Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to deport large numbers of migrants, has encouraged authorities to be more aggressive as he seeks to hit his widely reported target of one million deportations annually. Since Trump's return to the White House, Homeland Security agents have adopted the tactic -- criticized by rights groups -- of waiting outside immigration courts nationwide and arresting migrants as they leave at the end of asylum hearings. Armed agents with badges from different federal agencies loiter outside court hearings in the tower block in central New York, holding paperwork with photographs of migrants to be targeted, AFP has seen. In the complaint filed Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Foundation sued the Department of Homeland Security on behalf of Sergio Mercado and other unnamed detainees. The filing alleged that "immigrants (are) being detained in crowded rooms at a federal building in the heart of Manhattan without beds, sufficient food, hygiene products, access to showers, or the ability to communicate confidentially with attorneys." "They bring this action to challenge these unlawful conditions of confinement and ban on attorney access," said the class action suit. Eunice Cho, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU's National Prison Project, said "today's order sends a clear message: ICE cannot hold people in abusive conditions and deny them their Constitutional rights to due process and legal representation." "We'll continue to fight to ensure that peoples' rights are upheld at 26 Federal Plaza and beyond." The judge set a deadline of August 18 for the government to respond to the claims in the complaint ahead of a ruling on a preliminary injunction.
