Thousands of Ecuadorians flee their homes as gang violence worsens

-
By Yury Garcia and Alexandra Valencia Reuters | Posted by TOE For one grandmother, it was when bullets began hitting the rooftops of her neighborhood that she decided she would have to leave the housing development where she had lived for nearly 20 years. A sharp rise in fighting between gang factions in Ecuador has prompted thousands ​of families to flee and abandon their homes to the gangs, who strip the houses for drug money or use them to hide kidnapping victims, according to residents and police. One of the areas ‌that has been the site of the heaviest bloodshed is the Nueva Prosperina district in the coastal city of Guayaquil, where fighting between factions of the Los Tiguerones gang last year killed 22 people. Among those who fled was a 66-year-old woman, who, like other residents of the district Reuters spoke to for this story, asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals from the gangs. Armed groups were targeting people indiscriminately, assuming that an...
Post a Comment

Iran declares five days of mourning for president

-

By Parisa Hafezi Reuters

Iran proclaimed five days of mourning for President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday, though the muted atmosphere revealed little of the spectacular public grief that has accompanied the deaths of other senior figures in the Islamic Republic’s 45-year history.

While government loyalists packed into mosques and squares to pray for Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, both killed in a helicopter crash, most shops remained open and the authorities made little effort to interrupt ordinary life.

A year after Raisi’s hardline government cracked down violently to end the biggest anti-establishment demonstrations since the 1979 revolution, opponents even posted furtive video online of people passing out sweets to celebrate his death.

Laila, a 21-year-old student in Tehran, told Reuters by phone that she was not saddened by Raisi’s death, “because he ordered the crackdown on women for hijab.”

“But I am sad because even with Raisi’s death this regime will not change,” she said.

Rights groups say hundreds of Iranians died in 2022-2023 demonstrations triggered by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman arrested by morality police for violating the country’s strict dress codes.

The authorities’ handling of an array of political, social and economic crises have deepened the gap between the clerical rulers and society.

Supporters of the clerical establishment spoke admiringly of Raisi, a 63-year-old former hardline jurist elected in a tightly controlled vote in 2021.

“He was a hard working president. His legacy will endure as long as we are alive,” said Mohammad Hossein Zarrabi, 28, a member of the volunteer Basij militia in the holy Shi’ite city of Qom.

But there was little of the emotional rhetoric that accompanied the deaths of publicly revered figures, like Qasem Soleimani, a senior commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards killed by a U.S. missile in 2020 in Iraq, whose funeral drew huge crowds of mourners, weeping with sorrow and rage.

For opponents of Iran’s clerical rulers at home and in exile, Raisi has been a hate figure since the 1980s when he was blamed for playing a leading role as a jurist in the execution of dissidents. Iran has never acknowledged that mass executions took place; amnesty International says 5,000 Iranians, possibly more, were executed in the first decade after the revolution.

“I congratulate the families of the victims of the executions,” internet user Soran Mansournia posted in an online forum debating the legacy of Raisi’s death.

However, Narges, another user, lamented Raisi as having died “a martyr’s death”.

Many Iranians said they expected that Raisi’s death would have little impact on how the country would be ruled, with the establishment likely to replace him with another figure with similarly hardline views.

“Who cares. One hardliner dies, another takes over and our misery continues,” said Reza, 47, a shopkeeper in the central desert city of Yazd who did not give his full name fearing reprisals.

“We’re too busy with economic and social issues to worry about such news.”



from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/8rigaN6

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as fresh tremors further complicate rescue efforts

-
Image
A5.1-magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The tremor was part of a series of aftershocks following Friday’s devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which resulted in the collapse of numerous buildings and significant infrastructure damage. The death toll has risen to over 1,600, with more than 3,400 individuals reported missing; these numbers are expected to increase as rescue operations continue. Foreign rescue teams and supplies arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to help the impoverished country cope with an earthquake that killed over 1,600 and left many near the epicentre scrambling for help without proper equipment. The 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar’s strongest in a century, jolted the Southeast Asian nation on Friday, leaving 1,644 people dead, 3,408 injured and 139 missing, the military government said. India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar’s neighbours that have sent relief ...
Read more

Israel says situation on Lebanon border ‘not sustainable’

-
By James Mackenzie Reuters  Israeli officials and media reacted with satisfaction on Monday after a  long-expected missile attack  by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement appeared to have been largely thwarted by pre-emptive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel seemed content to let Sunday’s attack, in retaliation for the  killing of a senior Hezbollah commander  in Beirut last month, count as settled for the moment. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Hezbollah had suffered a “crushing blow” from the Israeli strikes but that a longer lasting solution was still needed. “The current situation is not sustainable,” he told a briefing, referring to the tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, a situation mirrored on the other side of the border in southern Lebanon. “Israel will do its duty and return its population to our sovereign territory.” Hopes that children might return for the start of the ...
Read more