Biodun.BBC: police officers

Monday, March 2, 2020

Top Los Angeles prosecutor apologizes after husband points gun at Black Lives Matter activists

March 3, 2020 04H:40 GMT/ZULU

by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, BBC News and Reuters, Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey delivered an emotional apology on behalf of her husband on Monday, hours after he pointed a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters gathered outside the couple’s home and threatened to shoot them.

The confrontation, captured on videotape by the activists, came a day before Lacey, the county’s first African-American top prosecutor, faces off against two challengers in the Democratic primary. Black Lives Matter believes she has been too lenient on police officers in excessive-force cases.

“My husband, I spoke to him just before I came here. His response was in fear and now that he realizes what happened, he wanted me to say to the protesters, the person that he showed the gun to, that he was sorry,” Lacey, 63, told a morning news conference.

“He’s profoundly sorry. He meant no one any harm. It was just him and I in that house and we really didn’t know what was about to happen,” Lacey said of her husband, David.

In the videotape, posted to Twitter by Black Lives Matter activist Melina Abdullah, David Lacey is seen standing in the doorway of his home, pointing a large handgun and repeatedly telling people off camera: “Off my porch.”

At one point during the 45-second tape, he is heard to say: “I will shoot you.”

Abdullah said on Twitter that David Lacey pointed the gun at her chest when he made the threat.

Jackie Lacey, a career prosecutor, criticized Black Lives Matter activists for demonstrating outside the couple’s home, a move she considers out of bounds.

“We expect that people will exercise their First Amendment rights,” she said in reference to the constitutional protection of free speech and assembly. “But our home is our sanctuary and we do not believe, I do not believe, it is fair or right for protesters to show up at the homes of people who dedicate their lives to public service,” Lacey said.

The District Attorney’s Office said in a written statement that the Los Angeles Police department would investigate the incident and “if appropriate bring to an independent prosecutor’s office for review.”

Lacey said during her news conference that she had in the past offered to meet with Black Lives Matter activists face-to-face but had been turned down.

“I too am sorry if anybody was harmed. It’s never my intent to harm any protester. I just want to live in peace and do my job,” she said.

Sunday, June 17, 2018

BREAKING: Aquarius in Valencia: Spain welcomes migrants from disputed ship

Media captionAquarius: Migrant ship arrives in Spain

by Elodie Bagnol and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Valencia

Migrants rescued from the Mediterranean and turned away by Italy and Malta have arrived in Spain's port of Valencia.

Three vessels, including the Aquarius, which rescued the 630 migrants last weekend, have now docked in the harbour.

Health officials, interpreters and Red Cross workers are on hand to offer support.

Spain's new socialist government has promised free healthcare and says it will investigate each asylum case.

"It is our duty to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and offer a safe port to these people, to comply with our human rights obligations," Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said earlier this week.

He has adopted a migrant-friendly stance since taking up his post two weeks ago.

How are the migrants being received?

An Italian coast guard ship, the Dattilo, entered the port of Valencia at 06:20 (04:20 GMT). It was carrying 274 migrants, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.

On Valencia's quayside, 1,000 Red Cross workers were on hand to greet the migrants as they stepped off the ship. Police officers have also been drafted in to handle their arrival.

The Aquarius itself entered the port shortly after 09:30 carrying another 106 migrants. They were seen celebrating as the ship arrived.

Another Italian ship, the Orione, docked later with the rest of the migrants.

Who are the migrants?

The migrants spent 20 hours in overcrowded rubber dinghies before being rescued by the Aquarius. They have since spent a week in rough seas - with many suffering seasickness.

"The weather was very bad unfortunately, and the sea was rough," Sophie Beau of aid organisation SOS Méditerranée told us at the BBC.

"So people are in a bad state..., and they are really relieved to come on safe land at the moment."

They come from 26 countries. Reports say the largest groups (about 150 each) are from Sudan and Nigeria, with dozens more from Eritrea, South Sudan and Algeria.

Most of the rest of the 630 are from other African countries but a handful are from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Officials say the rescued migrants include 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 younger children under the age of 13 and seven pregnant women.

What will happen to them now?

Initially, the migrants will receive food and hygiene kits and everything else necessary to make them comfortable after weeks of hardship, Red Cross official Pedro Redon told us at the BBC.

The pregnant women will be taken for check-ups. Everyone on board will receive psychological help and the Spanish government has promised them medical assistance.

Police will have to identify them and take them to police stations to initiate immigration procedures.

French President Emmanuel Macron's government will work with Spain to deal with the migrants.

Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said that any migrants who wish to go to France would be allowed to do, providing they had a legitimate claim to asylum.

Why the fuss about the Aquarius?

The Aquarius sparked a major diplomatic row when it was left stranded on Monday.

Italy's populist coalition - and in particular its interior minister, the right-wing League party leader Matteo Salvini - has taken a hard-line approach to immigration and refused to let it dock.

Mr Salvini says it is unfair that countries on the frontline of the EU have had to carry most of the burden of handling the migrant influx.

He said Malta should accept the Aquarius, but it refused, arguing that it fell under Italian jurisdiction.

Valencia's Mayor Joan Ribo, who has offered the ship a safe berth, described Italy's decision to turn the vessel away as inhuman.

Media captionOn board the Aquarius, people rest in cramped conditions

He told us at the BBC that he hoped the city's actions would act as an "electric shock" and lead to reform of Europe's migration policies.

Earlier, Mr Macron accused Italy of "irresponsibility" for turning the Aquarius away.

Migration reform is likely to be a key topic at a meeting of EU leaders later this month, as many countries continue to grapple with the political fallout caused by an influx of migrants in recent years.