Latest news with #Quakers'
Axios
04-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Your Philadelphia weekend: Metal and Beer Fest, Play-a-Palooza
🕺 Get jiggy with it at the Barbary in Fishtown. The dance club is back open and better than ever. They've added new lighting, a sound system, a lobby and an upstairs outdoor patio. 🍸Longer hours mean more time to sip! The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's pop-up gardens are back on South Street and in Manayunk. 🎺 Check out the Jazz Cultural Voices Concert Series. Grammy Award-winning trumpeter Nabaté Isles hits the stage at the Philadelphia Clef Club on Saturday from 7:30-10pm. Stop by the Stenton mansion and learn about the Quakers' fight to abolish slavery. The museum has a 2,700-volume library once used by people like Benjamin Franklin. Public tours: Tuesday-Saturday, 1-4pm. Admission: $8 adults; $6 children YOWIE, the hip South Street store and hotel, is hosting a free exhibition of piggy banks from dozens of artists, most of them local. Friday, 6-9:30pm. 🖼️ Elfreth's Alley, the city's colonial landmark, opens for the season Friday. The museum opens this week, too. House tours, plus a free First Friday: Poetry on Elfreth's Alley.
The Guardian
29-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Met raids Quaker meeting house and arrests six women at Youth Demand talk
Police have raided a Quaker meeting house and arrested six women attending a gathering of the protest group Youth Demand. More than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with Tasers, forced their way into the Westminster meeting house at 7.15pm, according to a statement by the Quakers. 'No one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory,' said Paul Parker, the recording clerk for Quakers in Britain. 'This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest. 'Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy.' In a video posted on Youth Demand's Facebook page, a woman who claimed to have attended the meeting described it as a 'publicly advertised welcome talk' about the group. She said police seized attenders' phones and laptops. Youth Demand describes itself as 'a youth-led nonviolent civil resistance campaign demanding the UK stops arming Israel and cancels all new oil and gas granted since 2021'. The Quakers' statement said they 'strongly condemned the violation of their place of worship' and pointed to the stricter protesting laws brought in by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023, which they claimed were directly responsible for the raid. The Met police said it had arrested six people at the meeting on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. It said it arrested five other people for the same offence on Friday – four in London and one in Exeter. The police said those arrested were part of Youth Demand and claimed those attending the meeting were planning direct action in the capital next month. 'Youth Demand have stated an intention to 'shut down' London over the month of April using tactics including 'swarming' and road blocks,' police said. 'While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.' Police said all those arrested had been released on bail, except for one who was released and will face no further action. Quakers, a nickname for members of the Religious Society of Friends, follow a religious tradition that grew from Protestant Christianity in the 17th century. Quakers have a long history of supporting protest movements and nonviolence is one of their core beliefs.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Community protesting demolition of Eastern High School
LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – A group advocating for parts of Eastern High School to be saved gathered at Lansing City Hall to voice their concerns. 'The Eastern grads are many in this town,' said Linda Peckham, a member of the Coalition to Preserve Eastern High School and Promote Mental Health. 'There are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds who vote and they are very attached to the building for emotional reasons [and] personal reasons because it's a gorgeous building.' Eastern High School is nearly a century old, and some people in the Greater Lansing area feel connected to the space. For some, it even runs in the family. 'I have four younger sisters, and we all graduated from Eastern, and even my mother graduated from Eastern,' said Faye Norris, who is also part of the coalition. The group says they are interested in preserving the West Wing and the auditorium. 'The building is quite dilapidated,' said Margaret Dimond, regional president of U-M Health. Unfortunately, the building hasn't held up the same way many Quakers' memories have. 'The auditorium has water intrusion, mold, black mold, and the asbestos is everywhere…Anyone going through there should have an N95 mask on,' Dimond continued. She says that given its current state, saving the space simply isn't an option. 'I don't think they understand that a lot of the water intrusion is behind the walls,' said Dimond. Dimond says plans have been made to keep and highlight artifacts that could be preserved on the new property. 'That includes the beautiful arches and includes the cupula…Things that are historic, we can put around the park,' she said. The coalition is hoping for the city to do a preservation analysis. 'We're trying to get the mayor to pause the demolition long enough to have that analysis made,' said Peckham. The group also says they understand and support the need for a new mental health facility '[They] say we're not interested in mental health, we're only interested in preserving an old building… No. Not true,' said Peckham. Thursday morning, Lansing Mayor Andy Schor gave 6 News a statement saying if Sparrow meets all the requirements, the city has to issue the permit to allow for demolition. The city added that if it were to intervene in the project, a lawsuit would likely follow—costing taxpayers money and still resulting in the demolition of Eastern High School. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Quakers challenge Trump order allowing immigration raids at religious sites
A collection of Quaker groups sued the Trump administration Monday over a policy allowing federal officials to arrest undocumented immigrants in "sensitive" spaces, like houses of worship. Why it matters: The policy, issued as part of a bevy of measures meant to carry out Trump's long-promised immigration crackdown, reversed a long-standing federal policy against raiding spaces like churches and schools. The policy provoked immediate outcry from Christian denominations around the country. Driving the news: Five Quaker congregations, also known as the Religious Society of Friends, filed the lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security and new DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in federal court in Maryland on Monday. The lawsuit argued allowing raids in places of worship violates Quakers' freedom to practice their religion, which they said requires them to welcome everyone. "Quaker religious practices depend on communal worship. And Quakers believe that the presence of worshippers from different backgrounds is integral to hearing messages from God," the suit said. As such, the policy "substantially burdens" the Quakers' ability to freely exercise their religion in the way intended, interfering with their "ability to hear and receive messages from God," the suit argued. A DHS spokesperson told Axios the department does not comment on pending litigation. What they're saying: Skye Perryman, the president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which is representing the Quaker groups in the suit, called out President Trump Monday for violating the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights. "A week ago today, President Trump swore an oath to defend the Constitution and yet today religious institutions that have existed since the 1600s in our country are having to go to court to challenge what is a violation of every individual's Constitutional right to worship and associate freely," Perryman said in a statement. The big picture: The Quakers appear to be the first religious organization to challenge the policy, according to NBC News, which first reported the lawsuit. Zoom out: Other lawsuits have been brought to slow Trump's immigration crackdown. Advocacy groups supporting the sanctuary city movement in Chicago filed a lawsuit against the federal government Sunday over its plans to conduct mass deportation raids in the city, Bloomberg Law reported. Flashback: The original DHS policy restricting ICE arrests in sensitive areas was issued during the Obama administration, in 2011. Go deeper: Trump's immigration orders rebuked by Christian leaders ICE can raid churches and schools to arrest immigrants under new policy Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from Skye Perryman.
Yahoo
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Quaker meetings sue DHS over directive to make arrests in 'sensitive' spaces
Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A coalition of five Quaker meetings is suing the Trump administration over its move last week to permit federal immigration authorities to make arrests in so-called sensitive spaces, which include places of worship. Represented by nonprofit legal services group Democracy Forward, the Quaker meetings filed their lawsuit Monday, asking the U.S. District Court of the District of Maryland to block the Department of Homeland Security from executing a directive allowing federal immigration authorities to arrest suspected migrants in or near sensitive areas, such as schools, hospitals and churches. "Welcoming and worshiping with all people, including immigrants, is a fundamental element of our religious exercise," Richmond Friends Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, said in a statement. "The federal government's new policy is anathema to Quaker religious exercise, to all that we believe in and impinges on our ability to freely exercise." The Department of Homeland Security, under President Donald Trump, issued a controversial directive last week to rescind a President Joe Biden-era policy barring law enforcement from making arrests in and near areas deemed sensitive, such as schools and churches. Having run on a platform to mass deport migrants, Trump has used his first week in office to crack down on not only immigrant who enter the country illegally but those legally present as well. Most controversially was his executive order to end birthright citizenship. Critics of the move have said allowing immigration enforcement in such places is an attack on immigrant communities, making space central to civil life feel unsafe. In the lawsuit, the Quaker communities state the new directive is already having the intended effect of sowing fear within migrant-friendly congregations and goes against what their religious stands for. "Allowing armed government agents wearing ICE-emblazoned jackets to park outside a religious service and monitor who enters or to interrupt the service and drag a congregant out during the middle of worship is anathema to Quaker religious exercise," the lawsuit states. The threat of enforcement, the meetings state, will deter congregants from attending services, and losing congregants is "a substantial burden" on the Quakers' religious exercise. The coalition alleges the new directive violates the First Amendment rights of association and other protections. "Quakers believe that those with varied life experiences -- including immigrants -- can provide unique messages from God," they said. "Being able to receive those messages is fundamental to Quaker religious exercise." The lawsuit names the DHS and its newly Senate-confirmed secretary, Kristi Noem, as defendants.
