International

India women lead night protests after doctor’s rape and murder

Published

4 months ago

August 15, 2024

'We are seizing the night', the protestors at the march said

India women lead night protests after doctor’s rape and murder

Tens of thousands of women in West Bengal state marched through the streets on Wednesday night in protest against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at a state-run hospital in Kolkata last week.

The Reclaim the Night march was the culmination of nearly a week of frenzied protests ignited by the brutal killing of the 31-year-old at the RG Kar Medical College last Friday.

After a gruelling 36-hour shift, she had fallen asleep in a seminar room due to the lack of a designated rest area.

The next morning, her colleagues discovered her half-naked body on the podium, bearing extensive injuries. A hospital volunteer worker has been arrested in connection with the crime.

Responding to calls on social media, women from all walks of life marched across Kolkata city and throughout the state on a rainy Wednesday night.

Though protests were largely peaceful, they were marred by clashes between the police and a small group of unidentified men who barged into the RG Kar Hospital, the site of the doctor’s murder, and ransacked the emergency department.

Police fired tear gas to disperse the unruly crowd. Some police vehicles were also damaged.

Smaller protests were also held in many other Indian cities like Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune.

In Kolkata, women marched resolutely, holding placards of protest, their faces illuminated by the glow of mobile phones, candlelight and flaming torches. Some carried India’s flags. They were joined by men, both young and elderly.

During the marches and at many gatherings near a university, theatre hall and bus terminus, they stood united, holding hands as the humid air echoed with loud and powerful chants of “we want justice”. Protesters blew conch shells – the sound is considered auspicious.

At the stroke of midnight, as India completed 77 years of Independence, the soundscape of protest changed.

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The air filled with a spontaneous chorus of the national anthem. Then it began raining, but the protesters walked in the rain, or holding umbrellas over their head.

“We have never seen anything like before in the city, such a huge gathering of women marching at night,” a reporter belonging to a news network said.

It was a night of barely concealed rage and frustration.

A woman, who joined the march well after midnight with her 13-year-old daughter said: “Let her see whether a mass protest can set things right. Let her become aware of her rights”.

“Women have no respect!” said another. “Our worth is less than cows and goats.”

“When do we get our independence? How long do we have to wait to work without fear? Another 50 years?” asked a student.

Sanchari Mukherjee said she marched with thousands of others from a bus terminus in Jadavpur, undeterred by the rain.

She met “people of all ages, from all classes, the well-to-do, the middle class and the poor”.

“I saw an elderly couple, the husband helping the woman to walk,” she said.

“One family brought their little girl along, perhaps so the memory of this event would be etched in her mind – how her parents stood up against injustice, and how she, too, can protest one day.”

Ms Mukherjee said the entire city seemed awake as the marchers passed by illuminated homes, with people peering out of windows and crowding verandahs to watch.

“They may not have participated but they were with us in spirit,” she said.

“‘We want justice’ had become the anthem of the march, and it didn’t feel like just a slogan,” Ms Mukherjee said.

“It felt like every young woman was deeply hurt and determined, frustrated that they still face these issues in 2024.”

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Ms Mukherjee added that she had to walk a few miles to join the march because the streets were gridlocked late at night.

“I was instantly swept up in a sea of people heading to the protest site. There was no excitement, just a stoic determination to create an event which would become a symbol for the times to come.”

The protests have been fuelled by anger over local authorities’ handling of the young trainee doctor’s rape and murder.

She had fallen asleep in a seminar room after a 36-hour shift last Thursday, as there was no designated rest area for her to sleep in.

The next morning, her colleagues discovered her half-naked body on the podium, bearing extensive injuries.

Police later arrested a hospital volunteer worker in connection with what they said was a case of rape and murder.

But there have been accusations of cover-up and negligence. The case has since been transferred from local police to the federal Central Bureau of Investigation.

Despite scant resources, Kolkata’s Reclaim the Night march appeared to have been meticulously organised. In an advisory, organisers welcomed women and people from marginalised sexual and gender identities to the march.

“Men are welcome as allies and observers,” the advisory added.

They also emphasised that politicians were not welcome and requested that no party flags be brought to the protest.

It was not the first time that a Reclaim the Night march has been staged in India.

Inspired by similar marches elsewhere in the world by women to assert their rights to walk in public areas without fear, a march was held in 1978 in Bombay (now Mumbai) in protest against the rape of a woman on the street.

Blank Noise, a community-based art project and activist collective, has organised several midnight walks in Delhi to encourage women to assert their right to walk freely at night.

But in terms of scale, the Kolkata march, echoed by smaller ones across other cities, stands as the largest yet.

“We seized the night. We’ve never seen anything like this in the city. This is unprecedented. I hope it wakes up the authorities,” said Chaitali Sen, a protester.

India women lead night protests after doctor’s rape and murder

BBC

Related Topics:doctor's rape India Murder protests

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International

UN health chief at Yemen airport during Israeli strikes

Published

23 hours ago

December 27, 2024

Trends Admin

Dr Tedros said he was unhurt after the bombardment

UN health chief at Yemen airport during Israeli strikes

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) and other UN staff were at Yemen’s international airport in Sanaa on Thursday during Israeli air strikes which are reported to have killed at least six people.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said they were about to board a plane when the attacks began.

Houthi-run Saba news agency said three people were killed at the airport and 30 injured. It said another three people were killed and 10 wounded in the western Hodeidah province.

The Iran-backed rebel group described the attacks – which also hit power stations and ports – as “barbaric”. Israel’s military said it carried out “intelligence-based strikes on military targets”.

It is unclear whether the fatalities were civilians or Houthi rebels.

In a statement on X, Dr Tedros said he was in Yemen “to negotiate the release of UN staff detainees and to assess the health and humanitarian situation” in the country. He provided no further details about who the UN detainees were.

Referring to the strikes on Sanaa’s airport, he said: “The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge – just a few meters from where we were – and the runway were damaged.

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“We will need to wait for the damage to the airport to be repaired before we can leave,” Dr Tedros added.

UN Secretary General António Guterres called the strikes “especially alarming”.

“I regret the recent escalation between Yemen and Israel, and remain deeply concerned about the risk of further escalation in the region.” he wrote on X.

In a statement, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its “fighter jets conducted intelligence-based strikes on military targets belonging to the Houthi terrorist regime on the western coast and inland Yemen”.

It targeted “military infrastructure” at Sanaa’s airport as well as the Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations, and sites in the Al-Hudaydah, Salif and Ras Kanatib ports on the west coast, the IDF said.

In comments shortly after the strikes, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would “continue to cut off the terror arm of the Iranian axis of evil until we complete the job”, adding “we are only just starting with [the Houthis]”.

Early on Friday, the IDF reported that one missile fired from Yemen was intercepted before crossing into Israeli territory.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of the Houthis’ supreme revolutionary committee, called Thursday’s strikes on Yemen “barbaric” and “aggressive”.

He said that “confrontations with American and Israeli arrogance” will continue until the conflict in Gaza stops.

Several people injured by the strikes at the airport in Sanaa told Houthi-run broadcaster Al Masirah that the runway was struck three times before the airport’s control tower was also hit.

One man, who identified himself as Dr Abbas Rajeh, said the police hospital he works in treated 10 patients after the attacks – one had already died, another was in critical condition, and others had minor injuries or broken bones.

Iran described the strikes as a “clear violation of international peace and security”.

Houthi rebels have been attacking Israel since the first months of the Gaza war, which began in October 2023.

A Houthi missile strike injured more than a dozen people in Israel last week.

Israel has carried out intermittent strikes against Houthis in retaliation.

Earlier this week, Israel’s defence minister said the country was preparing to “strike hard” at the Houthis, warning it would “decapitate” the group’s leadership.

The Houthis are an armed political and religious group backed by Iran. The group has ruled large parts of western Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, since ousting the internationally recognised government in 2015.

UN health chief at Yemen airport during Israeli strikes

BBC

International

Baby freezes to death overnight in Gaza as ceasefire delays

Published

2 days ago

December 26, 2024

Trends Admin

The father of Sila, Mahmoud Al-Faseeh, wrapped her in a blanket to try and keep her warm in their tent in the Muwasi area, but it wasn’t enough. (Getty Images)

Baby freezes to death overnight in Gaza as ceasefire delays

JERUSALEM: A baby girl froze to death overnight in Gaza, while Israel and Hamas accused each other of complicating ceasefire efforts that could wind down the 14-month war.

The 3-week old baby was the third to die from the cold in Gaza’s tent camps in recent days, doctors said, deaths that underscore the squalid conditions, with hundreds of thousands of Palestinians crammed into often ramshackle tents after fleeing Israeli offensives.

Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza has killed over 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The offensive has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Hundreds of thousands are packed into tent camps along the coast as the cold, wet winter sets in. Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies and say there are shortages of blankets, warm clothing and firewood.

Israel has increased the amount of aid it allows into the territory, reaching an average of 130 trucks a day so far this month, up from around 70 a day in October and November. Still, the amount remains well below than previous months and the United Nations says it is unable to distribute more than half the aid because Israeli forces deny permission to move within Gaza or because of rampant lawlessness and theft from trucks.

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The father of 3-week-old Sila, Mahmoud Al-Faseeh, wrapped her in a blanket to try and keep her warm in their tent in the Muwasi area outside the town of Khan Younis, but it wasn’t enough, he told The Associated Press. He said the tent was not sealed from the wind and the ground was cold, as temperatures on Tuesday night dropped to 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit.) Muwasi is a desolate area of dunes and farmland on Gaza’s Mediterranean coast.

“It was very cold overnight and as adults we couldn’t even take it. We couldn’t stay warm,” he said. Sila woke up crying three times overnight and in the morning they found her unresponsive, her body stiff.

“She was like wood,” said Al-Faseeh. They rushed her to a field hospital where doctors tried to revive her, but her lungs had already deteriorated. Images of Sila taken by the AP showed the little girl with purple lips, her pale skin blotchy.

Ahmed Al-Farra, director of the children’s ward at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, confirmed that the baby died of hypothermia. He said two other babies — one 3 days old, the other a month old — had been brought to the hospital over the past 48 hours after dying of hypothermia.

Meanwhile, hopes for a ceasefire looked complicated Wednesday, with Israel and the militant Hamas group that runs Gaza trading accusations of delaying an agreement. In recent weeks, the two sides appeared to be inching toward a deal that would bring home dozens of hostages held by the militants in Gaza, but differences have emerged.

Although Israel and Hamas have expressed optimism that progress was being made toward a deal, sticking points remain over the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, people involved in the talks say.

On Wednesday, Hamas accused Israel of introducing new conditions related to the withdrawal from Gaza, the prisoners and the return of displaced people, which it said was delaying the deal.

Israel’s government accused Hamas of reneging on understandings that have already been reached.” Still, both sides said discussions are ongoing.

Israel’s negotiating team, which includes members from its intelligence agencies and the military, returned from Qatar on Tuesday evening for internal consultations, following a week of what it called “significant negotiations.”

During its Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, Hamas and other groups took about 250 people hostages and brought them to Gaza. A previous truce in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, while others have been rescued or their remains have been recovered over the past year.

Israel says about 100 hostages remain in Gaza — at least a third whom it believes were killed during the Oct. 7 attack or died in captivity.

Sporadic talks have taken place for a year, but in recent weeks there’s been a renewed push to reach a deal.

President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month for his second term, has demanded the immediate release of Israeli hostages, saying on social media that if they’re not freed before he is sworn in, there will be “HELL TO PAY.”

Families of the hostages are becoming increasingly angry, calling on the Israeli government for a ceasefire before Trump is sworn in.

After Israel’s high-level negotiation team returned from Doha this week, hostage families called an emergency press conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, pleading for a ceasefire and a complete end to the war.

Shir Siegel, the daughter of Israeli-American Keith Siegel, whose mother was released after more than 50 days in captivity, said every delay could endanger their lives. “There are moments when every second is fateful, and this is one of those moments,” she said.

Families of the hostages marked the first night of Hannukah with a candle lighting ceremony in Tel Aviv as well as by the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The agreement would take effect in phases and include a halt in fighting, an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid to the besieged Gaza, according to Egyptian, Hamas and American officials. The last phase would include the release of any remaining hostages, an end to the war and talks on reconstruction.

Baby freezes to death overnight in Gaza as ceasefire delays

ARAB NEWS

International

At least 10 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

Published

2 days ago

December 26, 2024

Trends Admin

At least 10 killed in Israeli strikes on Gaza

At least 10 people were killed and more than a dozen wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza early on Thursday, medics with the Gaza health authorities said.

Five people were killed and 20 wounded in an Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, the medics reported. They warned the death toll could rise as many remained trapped under the rubble.

In a separate incident, five journalists were killed when their vehicle was struck in the vicinity of Al-Awda hospital in Nuseirat in central Gaza, the enclave’s health authorities said. The journalists worked for the Al-Quds Al-Youm television channel.

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Palestinian media and local reporters said the vehicle was marked as a media van and was used by journalists to report from inside the hospital and Nuseirat camp.

There was no immediate Israeli comment on the reported strikes.

On Wednesday, Palestinian militant group Hamas and Israel traded blame over their failure to conclude a ceasefire agreement despite progress reported by both sides in past days.