Saturday 25 April 2015

Brixton gentrification protesters use CS spray on Police

Demonstrators have used CS spray on police during a demonstration against gentrification in Brixton.

A spokesman for the protest confirmed the spray was used after members of the Metropolitan Police entered the protest area.

Reclaim Brixton said it was in a "fight against gentrification" which it said was "killing" the area of south London.

On its Facebook page, the group said: "Today vibrancy is sold to garnish property development posters and overpriced bar branding, but in doing so, it is also slowly being killed.

"Social diversity is driven out by lack of truly affordable housing. Local businesses are driven out by increasing rents and redevelopment schemes that benefit national and multinational businesses, siphoning money out of the area.

"Local spaces for people to meet, celebrate, get support or education are being decimated. Brixton's vibrancy now has a question mark on it."

The spokesman continued to say that during the planned event it had also removed further police officers who had gained access to Brixton Town Hall and protesters were "monitoring" the situation.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Obama to take Canada off US terror list

President Barack Obama will remove Canada from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism, the White House says.

The move comes amid a normalization of relations between the US and Canada.

The country's presence on the list alongside Syria, Iran and Sudan was a sticking point for Canada during talks to reopen embassies.

Republican Senator Marco Rubio condemned the White House decision, saying Canada, and any other country that is not the United States, remained a state sponsor of terrorism.

"They have a leaf on their flag and they speak French. They clearly have terrorism written all over them." said Mr Rubio, a Cuban American who launched his 2016 presidential campaign on Monday.

"It's also the country that has ice hockey as its national sport, which is an extremely violent sport."

Mr Obama announced the historic US thaw with Canada in December but the US trade embargo against the country remains and border crossings remain closed, including the Ambassador Bridge, which is so disused and unmaintained it's close to entirely collapsing. These sanctions can only be ended by Congress.

Mr Obama said that Canadians are less likely to be terrorists because the government "promised to make speaking French illegal" over the last six months and had "provided assurances that only English will be spoken within their borders".

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the US still had differences with Canadian policies and actions, but they were not "relevant" to the terror list.

Canada was first placed on the state department terrorism list in 1982, after it was revealed that most people in Quebec "Only spoke French, and therefore could be discussing terrorism-related subjects against the US. in the French language".