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Following reports that hundreds of refugees and migrants--including women and children--were wounded on Sunday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border, protesters marched in the small village of Idomeni on Monday, highlighting what one human rights expert described as an "absurd humanitarian crisis" that is "becoming more unbearable by the day."
Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Sunday that Macedonian police had employed tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades to disperse crowds gathered in front of the Greek police barricade at the Idomeni border crossing. Idomeni is home to a sprawling, makeshift refugee camp where thousands are stuck in "purgatory."
"Today, frustration and a growing feeling of anger are spread among the refugees who have been stranded in Idomeni for over one month," said Jose Hulsenbek, MSF's head of mission in Greece. "What we see is the inevitable result of thousands being trapped in Greece, a country unable to respond to the humanitarian and protection needs of those in search of safety in Europe."
Deutsche Welle reported:
Clouds of chemicals spread throughout the refugee camp and the village of Idomeni. People with red eyes attempted to cover the gas clouds with blankets. Some refugees had smeared toothpaste on their faces, foreseeing the tear gas and hoping to mitigate its effects. Activists had brought washbasins to allow those who had been hit to rinse their eyes.
"Do you see this?" a refugee who was watching the clashes said. "This is like Palestine, Gaza."
The Macedonian police deployed the tear gas for over two hours. They even threw stones and later fired water cannons and rubber bullets. People were fainting; volunteers and activists rushed to get them out of the conflict zone and provide first aid.
MSF said its teams treated 300 people on Sunday, including 200 with respiratory problems after being subjected to tear gas and around 30 children between 5 and 15 years old. Dozens of patients received psychological care as they were in shock, according to MSF, and seven people with open wounds or suspected fractures were referred to a local hospital.
"The MSF clinic has been full all day," said Conor Kenny, MSF doctor in Idomeni. "Three children were brought in with head injuries due to rubber bullets. People outside were shouting and many of them were carrying rubber bullets in their hands. A pregnant woman from Syria came into the clinic with her two children; she told me she was close to the border when tear gas was used to disperse the crowd, people started to run and she fell down."
Protests began again on Monday morning.
\u201cLIVE: Around 200 #people are heading towards the border but for now it's all quite calm.\u201d— MSF Sea (@MSF Sea) 1460371316
\u201cLIVE: Protesters at #Idomeni have dragged a train wagon in front of the police bus. Tensions are high.\u201d— MSF Sea (@MSF Sea) 1460369469
The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday condemned the use of force, saying it was "a matter of great worry to UNHCR" and "should be too for all who are concerned with Europe's response to the situation of refugees and migrants."
"Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other," said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards. "People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europe's image alike. Everyone loses."
What's more, Edwards said the episode should serve as a reminder that while chaos unfolds in the Aegean islands and in Turkey, the situation is similarly desperate in Idomeni, where "about 11,000 have been sleeping for many weeks now in the open in dismal conditions, fueling hopelessness and despair."
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras chimed in on Monday, saying the actions by Macedonian police brought "great shame" to Europe. Greek government spokesman George Kyritsis added: "The indiscriminate use of chemicals, rubber bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable populations... is a dangerous and deplorable act."
Indeed, said MSF's Hulsenbek, "What people need is to be treated with dignity, not violence or unpredictable border closures and more uncertainty. This absurd humanitarian crisis created by European states' policies is becoming more unbearable by the day."
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Following reports that hundreds of refugees and migrants--including women and children--were wounded on Sunday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border, protesters marched in the small village of Idomeni on Monday, highlighting what one human rights expert described as an "absurd humanitarian crisis" that is "becoming more unbearable by the day."
Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Sunday that Macedonian police had employed tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades to disperse crowds gathered in front of the Greek police barricade at the Idomeni border crossing. Idomeni is home to a sprawling, makeshift refugee camp where thousands are stuck in "purgatory."
"Today, frustration and a growing feeling of anger are spread among the refugees who have been stranded in Idomeni for over one month," said Jose Hulsenbek, MSF's head of mission in Greece. "What we see is the inevitable result of thousands being trapped in Greece, a country unable to respond to the humanitarian and protection needs of those in search of safety in Europe."
Deutsche Welle reported:
Clouds of chemicals spread throughout the refugee camp and the village of Idomeni. People with red eyes attempted to cover the gas clouds with blankets. Some refugees had smeared toothpaste on their faces, foreseeing the tear gas and hoping to mitigate its effects. Activists had brought washbasins to allow those who had been hit to rinse their eyes.
"Do you see this?" a refugee who was watching the clashes said. "This is like Palestine, Gaza."
The Macedonian police deployed the tear gas for over two hours. They even threw stones and later fired water cannons and rubber bullets. People were fainting; volunteers and activists rushed to get them out of the conflict zone and provide first aid.
MSF said its teams treated 300 people on Sunday, including 200 with respiratory problems after being subjected to tear gas and around 30 children between 5 and 15 years old. Dozens of patients received psychological care as they were in shock, according to MSF, and seven people with open wounds or suspected fractures were referred to a local hospital.
"The MSF clinic has been full all day," said Conor Kenny, MSF doctor in Idomeni. "Three children were brought in with head injuries due to rubber bullets. People outside were shouting and many of them were carrying rubber bullets in their hands. A pregnant woman from Syria came into the clinic with her two children; she told me she was close to the border when tear gas was used to disperse the crowd, people started to run and she fell down."
Protests began again on Monday morning.
\u201cLIVE: Around 200 #people are heading towards the border but for now it's all quite calm.\u201d— MSF Sea (@MSF Sea) 1460371316
\u201cLIVE: Protesters at #Idomeni have dragged a train wagon in front of the police bus. Tensions are high.\u201d— MSF Sea (@MSF Sea) 1460369469
The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday condemned the use of force, saying it was "a matter of great worry to UNHCR" and "should be too for all who are concerned with Europe's response to the situation of refugees and migrants."
"Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other," said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards. "People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europe's image alike. Everyone loses."
What's more, Edwards said the episode should serve as a reminder that while chaos unfolds in the Aegean islands and in Turkey, the situation is similarly desperate in Idomeni, where "about 11,000 have been sleeping for many weeks now in the open in dismal conditions, fueling hopelessness and despair."
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras chimed in on Monday, saying the actions by Macedonian police brought "great shame" to Europe. Greek government spokesman George Kyritsis added: "The indiscriminate use of chemicals, rubber bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable populations... is a dangerous and deplorable act."
Indeed, said MSF's Hulsenbek, "What people need is to be treated with dignity, not violence or unpredictable border closures and more uncertainty. This absurd humanitarian crisis created by European states' policies is becoming more unbearable by the day."
Following reports that hundreds of refugees and migrants--including women and children--were wounded on Sunday when Macedonian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at crowds on the Greek side of the border, protesters marched in the small village of Idomeni on Monday, highlighting what one human rights expert described as an "absurd humanitarian crisis" that is "becoming more unbearable by the day."
Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Sunday that Macedonian police had employed tear gas, rubber bullets, and stun grenades to disperse crowds gathered in front of the Greek police barricade at the Idomeni border crossing. Idomeni is home to a sprawling, makeshift refugee camp where thousands are stuck in "purgatory."
"Today, frustration and a growing feeling of anger are spread among the refugees who have been stranded in Idomeni for over one month," said Jose Hulsenbek, MSF's head of mission in Greece. "What we see is the inevitable result of thousands being trapped in Greece, a country unable to respond to the humanitarian and protection needs of those in search of safety in Europe."
Deutsche Welle reported:
Clouds of chemicals spread throughout the refugee camp and the village of Idomeni. People with red eyes attempted to cover the gas clouds with blankets. Some refugees had smeared toothpaste on their faces, foreseeing the tear gas and hoping to mitigate its effects. Activists had brought washbasins to allow those who had been hit to rinse their eyes.
"Do you see this?" a refugee who was watching the clashes said. "This is like Palestine, Gaza."
The Macedonian police deployed the tear gas for over two hours. They even threw stones and later fired water cannons and rubber bullets. People were fainting; volunteers and activists rushed to get them out of the conflict zone and provide first aid.
MSF said its teams treated 300 people on Sunday, including 200 with respiratory problems after being subjected to tear gas and around 30 children between 5 and 15 years old. Dozens of patients received psychological care as they were in shock, according to MSF, and seven people with open wounds or suspected fractures were referred to a local hospital.
"The MSF clinic has been full all day," said Conor Kenny, MSF doctor in Idomeni. "Three children were brought in with head injuries due to rubber bullets. People outside were shouting and many of them were carrying rubber bullets in their hands. A pregnant woman from Syria came into the clinic with her two children; she told me she was close to the border when tear gas was used to disperse the crowd, people started to run and she fell down."
Protests began again on Monday morning.
\u201cLIVE: Around 200 #people are heading towards the border but for now it's all quite calm.\u201d— MSF Sea (@MSF Sea) 1460371316
\u201cLIVE: Protesters at #Idomeni have dragged a train wagon in front of the police bus. Tensions are high.\u201d— MSF Sea (@MSF Sea) 1460369469
The United Nations' refugee agency, UNHCR, on Monday condemned the use of force, saying it was "a matter of great worry to UNHCR" and "should be too for all who are concerned with Europe's response to the situation of refugees and migrants."
"Time and again in recent months we have seen tension unfolding at various European borders, between security forces on the one hand and people fleeing war and in need of help on the other," said UNHCR spokesperson Adrian Edwards. "People get hurt and property is damaged. Harm is done to perceptions of refugees and to Europe's image alike. Everyone loses."
What's more, Edwards said the episode should serve as a reminder that while chaos unfolds in the Aegean islands and in Turkey, the situation is similarly desperate in Idomeni, where "about 11,000 have been sleeping for many weeks now in the open in dismal conditions, fueling hopelessness and despair."
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras chimed in on Monday, saying the actions by Macedonian police brought "great shame" to Europe. Greek government spokesman George Kyritsis added: "The indiscriminate use of chemicals, rubber bullets and stun grenades against vulnerable populations... is a dangerous and deplorable act."
Indeed, said MSF's Hulsenbek, "What people need is to be treated with dignity, not violence or unpredictable border closures and more uncertainty. This absurd humanitarian crisis created by European states' policies is becoming more unbearable by the day."
"Look at what members of Congress are invested in private prison companies," said Ocasio-Cortez.
"It's corruption in plain sight."
That's how U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) described congressional colleagues who support Republican-authored legislation that immigrant rights advocates warn is a right-wing power grab under the guise of public safety.
The Laken Riley Act—named after a young woman murdered last year by a Venezuelan man who, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), entered the United States illegally—was passed by a vote of 263-156 in the House of Representatives on Wednesday afternoon. Forty-six Democrats and every Republican present voted "yes." That was a near-identical tally to the 264-159 vote on a previous version of the bill passed earlier this month.
Senate lawmakers passed the bill on Monday, with 12 Democrats joining 52 Republicans in voting for the measure, which, among other things, expands mandatory federal detention of undocumented immigrants who are accused of even relatively minor crimes. With the House's Wednesday vote, the Laken Riley Act is set to be the first bill signed into law since President Donald Trump returned to office.
Speaking on the House floor on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez said:
I want the American people to know, with eyes wide open, what is inside this bill because we stand here just two days after President Trump gave unconditional pardons to violent criminals who attacked our nation's Capitol on January 6th, and these are the people who want you to believe, who want us to believe that they're trying to quote unquote "keep criminals off the streets," when they are opening the floodgates...
In this bill, if a person is so much as accused of a crime, if someone wants to point a finger and accuse someone of shoplifting, they will be rounded up and put into a private detention camp and... sent out for deportation without a day in court, without a moment to assert their right, and without a moment to assert the privilege of innocent until proven guilty without being found guilty of a crime they will be rounded up, that is what is inside this bill, a fundamental suspension of a core American value, and that is why I rise to oppose it.
"You may wonder why so many of our friends across the aisle who care so deeply about the rule of law happen to be so desperate to pass this bill," Ocasio-Cortez continued. "Look no further than the price tag of this bill, $83 billion. [Lawmakers] know that it can't be paid for. They know that the capacity is not there, and you know what will be there? Private prison companies are going to get flooded with money."
"Look at what members of Congress are invested in private prison companies who receive this kind of money and look at the votes on this bill," she added. "It is atrocious that people are lining their pockets with private prison profits in the name of a horrific tragedy and the victim of a crime. It is shameful. It is absolutely shameful."
The congresswoman's comments came two days after Trump reversed a 2021 executive order issued by former Democratic President Joe Biden meant to phase out U.S. Department of Justice contracts with private prisons. Despite Biden's order, more than 90% of people held by ICE in July 2023 were locked up in for-profit facilities, which are rife with serious human rights abuses, according to the ACLU and other advocacy groups.
Anthony Enriquez, vice president of U.S. advocacy and litigation at Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights and Hill opinion contributor, recently called the Laken Riley Act "a sweetheart deal for the private prison industry."
"Private prison executives look poised to pull off a multibillion-dollar cash grab at taxpayer expense via a cynical ploy to capitalize on the tragic death of a Georgia nursing student," he warned.
Shares in private prison stocks, which had been languishing for much of 2024, have soared since Trump's victory in November, with GeoGroup surging more than 127% since Election Day and competitor CoreCivic up over 63%.
Responding to reporting that ICE is preparing to more than double its detention capacity by opening 18 new facilities, American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick said on social media Wednesday: "That would likely mean tens of billions in taxpayer funds sent to private prison companies. They are salivating."
"This bill is the very definition of pernicious: It attacks women's healthcare using false narratives and outright fearmongering," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
U.S. Senate Democrats on Wednesday blocked from a final vote a Republican bill that, according to Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, made clear that under newly sworn-in President Donald Trump, "it will be a golden age, but for the extreme, anti-choice movement."
"This bill is the very definition of pernicious: It attacks women's healthcare using false narratives and outright fearmongering, and adds more legal risk for doctors on something that is already illegal," Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the chamber's floor before senators voted 52-47 along party lines, short of the 60 votes needed to advance the so-called Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (S. 6) to a final vote.
Introduced by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), S. 6 would "prohibit a healthcare practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion," under the threat of fines and up to five years in prison. Healthcare professionals and rights advocates have condemned the legislation as deeply misleading.
"So much of the hard-right's anti-choice agenda is pushed, frankly, by people who have little to no understanding of what women go through when they are pregnant," said Schumer. "The scenario targeted by this bill is one of the most heartbreaking moments that a woman could ever encounter, the agonizing choice of having to end care when serious and rare complications arise in pregnancy. And at that moment of agony, this bill cruelly substitutes the judgment of qualified medical professionals, and the wishes of millions of families, and allows ultraright ideology to dictate what they do."
After honoring Cecile Richards, a longtime Planned Parenthood leader who died earlier this week, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Wednesday that "of all the bills that we could be voting on—lowering the cost of healthcare, expanding childcare, helping our families—it's an absolute disgrace that Republicans are spending their first week in power attacking women, criminalizing doctors, and lying about abortion."
"This isn't how abortion works; Republicans know it," stressed Murray, a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. "All babies are already protected under the law, regardless of the circumstance of their birth. Doctors already have a legal obligation to provide appropriate medical care. And we already know this sham bill from Republicans is not going anywhere."
"Last time we voted down this bill, I actually spoke about something Republicans refuse to acknowledge in this debate: the struggles, the struggles of a pregnant woman, who has received tragic news that her baby had a fatal medical condition and would not be able to survive, and who were able to make the choice that was right for their family," she noted. "But now, here we are, already hearing stories of women who were denied that choice by extreme Republican abortion bans."
Wednesday's vote fell on the 52nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that affirmed abortion rights nationwide—until it was reversed by right-wing justices in 2022, with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, which provoked a fresh wave of state-level restrictions on reproductive freedom.
"It's no accident that congressional Republicans used the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a watershed case for liberty, equality, and bodily autonomy, to vote on a bill that perpetuates myths about abortion care, shames the people who seek that care, and vilifies those who provide it," said Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women's Law Center, in a statement.
"A majority of the electorate continues to support abortion rights and access," she noted. "Americans have seen the results of the Supreme Court's unjust and callous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade—from abortion bans forcing people to travel across state lines to access the care they need to pregnant people being denied care and even dying to an exodus of doctors that is exacerbating the existing maternal health crisis we face—and they reject restrictive abortion policies. That's why anti-abortion advocates must rely on disinformation like this bill to further their extreme agenda."
Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, also highlighted the country's sweeping healthcare crisis in her Wednesday statement about Republicans' failed bill.
"This bill is deliberately misleading and offensive to pregnant people, and the doctors and nurses who provide their care," she said. "At a time when we are facing a national abortion access crisis, lawmakers should be focused on how to bring more care to the communities they serve, not spending their time spreading misinformation, criminalizing doctors, and inserting themselves further into medical decisions made by healthcare professionals."
"This bill is not based in any reality of how medical care works," she added, "and it's wrong, irresponsible, and dangerous to suggest otherwise."
As the GOP works to restrict reproductive rights, advocacy groups are determined to fight back. All* Above All marked the Roe anniversary by releasing an Abortion Justice Playbook that the organization's president, Nourbese Flint, said "is our blueprint for a future where abortion access is equitable, universal, and free from discrimination."
"This wasn't an accident. The far-right members of the Israeli government wanted to render Gaza unlivable with the aim of forcing 2 million Palestinians to flee (forever)," said one human rights leader.
Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip are returning home after a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel went into effect Sunday, halting 15 months of war that local health officials say killed over 46,000 people. But for many, there are no homes to return to.
Footage of Gaza shows what once were houses, shops, and other buildings severely damaged or completely reduced to gray rubble.
One Gaza resident, Islam Dahliz, told The New York Times that he and his brother and father set out to find their family home—a once spacious two-story dwelling in Rafah—almost as soon as the cease-fire went into effect. What they found instead was unrecognizable.
"It took us a few minutes to accept that this pile of rubble was our home," said Dahliz. The house had been built by Dahliz's father, Abed Dahliz, in the 1970s.
"I was shocked when I saw my entire life—everything I worked for—flattened to the ground," said Abed Dahliz, according to the Times. "The home I spent so many years building, pouring my savings into, is gone."
Versions of this story are playing out all around Gaza. All told, roughly 90% of the population across Gaza was displaced from their homes, many multiple times, according to the United Nations.
"The images emerging from Gaza are haunting. This is a site where Palestinian captives were forced to strip, their clothes left behind among the ruins as a reminder of what Israeli soldiers did," wrote Assal Rad, a scholar of modern Iran, on X. Rad's post is accompanied by a video of a man showing a strip of land covered in clothes. In the video, the man says that the clothes are from Palestinians who were arrested by Israeli forces after they stormed areas in northern Gaza, like the Kamal Adwan Hospital.
In response to reporting of Gazans returning home to destruction, Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote: "This wasn't an accident. The far-right members of the Israeli government wanted to render Gaza unlivable with the aim of forcing two million Palestinians to flee (forever), "
Human Rights Watch, which late last year issued a report accusing Israel of committing "acts of genocide" by depriving Palestinians of water access in Gaza, wrote in November 2024 that "the destruction [in Gaza] is so substantial that it indicates the intention to permanently displace many people."
A preliminary U.N. satellite imagery analysis found that as of December 1, 2024, 60,000 structures in Gaza have been destroyed. The total number of damaged or destroyed structures constitutes roughly 69% of the total structures in the enclave, according to the analysis. A separate U.N. estimate published in January found that 92% of homes have been destroyed or damaged.
The footage coming out of Gaza underscores how long it will take for Palestinians to reconstruct their communities. The cease-fire deal that went into effect Sunday includes three phrases, the third of which is supposed to entail reconstruction of Gaza. Dima Toukan, a nonresident scholar at the Middle East Institute, told NPR that it's important to note the last phase could be a long way off, and could possibly never happen at all.