Latest news with #unrulybehavior
CTV News
13 hours ago
- CTV News
French ministers condemn ‘excessive use of force' after Jewish youths were removed from a flight
A Vueling Airbus A321 approaches for landing in Lisbon at sunrise, while the moon sets in the background, Feb. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File) PARIS — A summer camp counsellor has accused Spanish law enforcement officers of using brute force against her during the removal of a group of French Jewish teenagers from a plane bound for Paris from Spain, French government ministers and her lawyer said Wednesday. Ministers Aurore Bergé and Benjamin Haddad met with the counsellor on Tuesday after French authorities last week contacted the CEO of the Spanish low-cost airline Vueling and the Spanish ambassador to France to determine whether the youngsters had been discriminated against on the basis of their religion. Forty-four minors and eight adult French passengers were kicked off flight V8166 from Valencia to Paris on July 23, for what Spanish police and the airline described as unruly behavior. But the ministers said the counsellor, who asked to remain anonymous and is described as 'shocked,' disputed that account. They say she described the crew as hostile from the outset, saying a child briefly sang but stopped when asked, and claimed no behaviour warranted the group's removal or the Civil Guard's response. 'No action justified the disembarkation or the excessive and brutal use of force by the Civil Guard against the young woman, who has just been notified of 15 days of total incapacity to work,' the ministers said in a statement, adding that her testimony had been corroborated by other passengers on board. The counsellor's lawyer, Muriel Ouaknine Melki, told The Associated Press that she was left with bruises on her legs, arms and body after she was brutally handcuffed and held in an arm lock. Ouaknine Melki said her team is collecting evidence before lodging a complaint. The Club Kineret association, which organized the summer camp, did not immediately answer requests from The Associated Press for direct testimonies from people who were removed from the plane. A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane's emergency equipment and interrupted the crew's safety demonstration. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the plane captain ordered the group's removal at Valencia's Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored crew instructions. Bergé and Haddad also lashed out at a statement from the Spanish Minister of Transport 'equating French children of Jewish faith with Israeli citizens, as if that somehow justified the treatment they received.' Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente has deleted a tweet from July 26 in which he called the minors 'Israeli brats.' 'At a time when antisemitic acts have been on the rise across Europe since the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel, the ministers call on Vueling and the Spanish authorities to fully investigate and clarify the events,' Bergé and Haddad said. 'We will never accept the normalization of antisemitism. We will always stand with our fellow citizens who suffer from antisemitic hatred, and we will never compromise.' Vueling has denied that the incident was related to the passengers' religion. Some Israeli news outlets reported that the students were Jewish and that their removal was religiously motivated, a claim that was repeated by an Israeli minister online. The Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved were not aware of the group's religious affiliation. Samuel Petrequin, The Associated Press
Associated Press
7 days ago
- Associated Press
Spanish airline denies reports that passengers were removed from a plane because they are Jewish
MADRID (AP) — Several dozen French passengers were removed from a flight leaving the Spanish city of Valencia for Paris for what Spanish police and the airline on Thursday described as unruly behavior. The carrier, Vueling, denied reports that Wednesday's incident, which involved the removal of 44 minors and eight adults from flight V8166, was related to the passengers' religion. Some Israeli news outlets reported that the students are Jewish and that their removal was related to their religion, a claim that was repeated by an Israeli minister online. Spain's Civil Guard said the minors and four adults are French nationals. A Civil Guard spokesperson said the agents involved was not aware of the group's religious affiliation. A Vueling spokesperson said the passengers were removed after the minors repeatedly tampered with the plane's emergency equipment and interrupted the crew's safety demonstration. 'A group of passengers engaged in highly disruptive behavior and adopted a very confrontational attitude, putting at risk the safe conduct of the flight,' Vueling said Thursday in a statement. 'We categorically deny any suggestion that our crew's behavior related to the religion of the passengers involved.' A Civil Guard spokesperson said the captain of the plane ordered the removal of the minors from the plane at Valencia's Manises Airport after they repeatedly ignored the crew's instructions. On Thursday, the Federation for Jewish Communities of Spain expressed its concern about the incident and said that Vueling needed to provide documentary evidence of what happened on the plane. 'The various accounts circulating on social media and in the media to which we have had access do not clarify the cause of the incident,' the organization said. 'We are particularly interested in clarifying whether there were any possible religiously discriminatory motives toward the minors,' the group said.
CTV News
18-07-2025
- CTV News
Plane makes emergency landing after passenger tries to open door during flight
A passenger is escorted off Delta Connection flight 3612 after making an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday. (Jonathan Spencer Van der Waarden via CNN Newsource) A regional jet made an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday evening after a passenger tried to open an emergency exit door and got into an altercation with a flight attendant. Delta Connection flight 3612, operated by SkyWest Airlines, was flying from Omaha to Detroit when the disturbance happened around 7 p.m. local time, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. A passenger was 'in a fight with our flight attendant right now, trying to open the emergency exit,' the pilot radioed the tower at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, according to a recording by the website The passenger did not get the door open and the plane landed safely and taxied to the gate. Video posted to social media by a passenger showed law enforcement escorting a man off the plane with his hands restrained behind his back. 'SkyWest has zero tolerance for unruly behavior as safety for our customers and crew is our top priority,' the airline said in a statement. So far this year there have been more than 870 reports of unruly passengers on planes in the US, according to FAA data. Potential penalties include jail time, fines and travel restrictions. By Aaron Cooper, Pete Muntean, CNN CNN's Carol Alvardo contributed to this report.
CNN
18-07-2025
- CNN
Plane makes emergency landing after passenger tries to open emergency exit in flight
A regional jet made an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday evening after a passenger tried to open an emergency exit door and got into an altercation with a flight attendant. Delta Connection flight 3612, operated by SkyWest Airlines, was flying from Omaha to Detroit when the disturbance happened around 7 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. A passenger was 'in a fight with our flight attendant right now, trying to open the emergency exit,' the pilot radioed the tower at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, according to a recording by the website The passenger did not get the door open and the plane landed safely and taxied to the gate. Video posted to social media by a passenger showed law enforcement escorting a man off the plane with his hands restrained behind his back. 'SkyWest has zero tolerance for unruly behavior as safety for our customers and crew is our top priority,' the airline said in a statement. So far this year there have been more than 870 reports of unruly passengers on planes in the US, according to FAA data. Potential penalties include jail time, fines and travel restrictions. CNN's Carol Alvardo contributed to this report.
CNN
18-07-2025
- CNN
Plane makes emergency landing after passenger tries to open emergency exit in flight
A regional jet made an emergency landing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Thursday evening after a passenger tried to open an emergency exit door and got into an altercation with a flight attendant. Delta Connection flight 3612, operated by SkyWest Airlines, was flying from Omaha to Detroit when the disturbance happened around 7 p.m. local time, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement. A passenger was 'in a fight with our flight attendant right now, trying to open the emergency exit,' the pilot radioed the tower at Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids, according to a recording by the website The passenger did not get the door open and the plane landed safely and taxied to the gate. Video posted to social media by a passenger showed law enforcement escorting a man off the plane with his hands restrained behind his back. 'SkyWest has zero tolerance for unruly behavior as safety for our customers and crew is our top priority,' the airline said in a statement. So far this year there have been more than 870 reports of unruly passengers on planes in the US, according to FAA data. Potential penalties include jail time, fines and travel restrictions. CNN's Carol Alvardo contributed to this report.
