The Full Belmonte, 7/2/2023
France Arrests Hundreds More in Fifth Night of Unrest
The authorities arrested more than 700 people, deploying additional officers in the cities of Grenoble, Lyon and Marseille to quell violent protests.
By Vivek Shankar and Emma Bubola
“Several cities in France were surveying the fallout on Sunday after protesters clashed with riot police and hundreds were arrested during another night of violent demonstrations, the fifth in a row, that have flared across the country in response to the killing of a 17-year-old by a police officer.
Saturday evening was calmer than recent ones, but still, local news media reported rioting, looting and clashes in Marseille, France’s second-largest city. And in L’Haÿ-les-Roses, a town south of Paris, Mayor Vincent Jeanbrun said in a statement that a car had rammed into his house and then been set on fire, leaving his wife and one of his children injured.
‘Last night, a milestone was reached in terms of horror and ignominy,’ Mr. Jeanbrun wrote.
While the number of police officers deployed across the country had not increased, more were sent to quell protesters in Grenoble, Lyon and Marseille, according to the interior minister, Gérald Darmanin.
Tensions remained high after the funeral on Saturday for the 17-year-old, named publicly only as Nahel M., of Algerian and Moroccan descent, who was fatally shot on Tuesday during a traffic stop in Nanterre, a Paris suburb. Many protesters said that they saw themselves in the victim, connecting his fate with their own experiences of neglect and racial discrimination in France’s poorer urban suburbs….” Read more at New York Times
Baltimore shooting: two dead and dozens injured in US city
Two adults killed and 28 wounded in incident, according to local police who are still searching for shooter
“Two people have been killed and 28 wounded in a mass shooting in Baltimore, including three who are in critical condition, police have said.
The Baltimore Police Department acting commissioner, Richard Worley, confirmed there were a total of 30 victims during a press conference at the scene on Sunday. Police said they were still looking for the shooter.
The shooting took place shortly after 12.30am at a block party in the Brooklyn Homes area of South Baltimore in the 800 block of Gretna Avenue, Worley said.
All of the victims were adults. Nine victims were taken by ambulance and 20 victims walked into area hospitals with injuries from the shooting, Worley said….” Read more at The Guardian
Sheriff Recorded Making Inflammatory Comments Won’t Face Charges
Oklahoma’s attorney general said he had found no evidence to charge the sheriff, who was caught on a recording as county officials discussed killing journalists and Black people.
By John Yoon
June 30, 2023
“Oklahoma’s attorney general said on Friday that a sheriff who was caught on a recording as other county officials discussed killing journalists and Black people would not face criminal charges but suggested that the governor endorse another candidate in the next election.
The attorney general, Gentner Drummond, said in a letter to Gov. Kevin Stitt that he had not found evidence that the sheriff of McCurtain County, Kevin Clardy, had committed a criminal act or found any legal grounds to remove him from office.
‘There are countless examples of incidents from across the country where public officials make inflammatory comments that spark severe condemnation,’ Mr. Drummond wrote. ‘Regardless, there is no provision of law in Oklahoma to throw elected officials out of office merely for saying something offensive.’
Mr. Stitt, a Republican, had called in April for the resignations of Sheriff Clardy and three other county officials who were part of the recorded conversation: a sheriff’s office investigator, Alicia Manning; the county jail administrator, Larry Hendrix; and a county commissioner, Mark Jennings.
Mr. Jennings resigned.
Mr. Hendrix was placed on paid administrative leave in May, The McCurtain Gazette-News reported. His current status was not immediately clear and he could not be reached for comment on Friday night. Ms. Manning also could not be reached. Sheriff Clardy could not be reached on Friday, and his office said that he would release a statement next week.
Bruce Willingham, the publisher and editor of The Gazette-News, which posted audio from the recording in April, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday.
The small newspaper in rural Oklahoma published a secret recording of what it said was an illegal public meeting that took place in March that involved Sheriff Clardy and the other county officials.
According to the transcript posted by the newspaper, Mr. Jennings talked about hanging Black people by a creek.
‘But you can’t do that anymore,’ he said, according to the transcript. ‘They got more rights than we got.’…” Read more at New York Times
“Lives Lived: Peg Yorkin was a feminist activist who helped bring the abortion pill to the United States. She died at 96.” [New York Times]