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world news Diamars 21 December 2021

Channel rescuers accused of manslaughter in migrant deaths

(AP) — The Paris prosecutor’s every day.”
office said it has received a man-
slaughter lawsuit for failure to The only two survivors of the disas-
help in the tragic capsizing last ter told Kurdish media that the mi-
month of a boat in the English grants on the boat made distress calls
Channel that cost the lives of at that were ignored as their canoe de-
least 27 people trying to reach flated and their engine broke. They
Britain. claim the British said the boat was
in French waters, and the French the
The manslaughter lawsuit, filed Fri- reverse. These accounts were con-
day by the French humanitarian or- firmed by victim family members,
ganization Utopia 56, accuses the who were in telephone contact dur-
maritime prefect of the Channel and ing the attempted crossing.
North Sea, the Regional Operational
Centre for Surveillance and Rescue The maritime prefect of the Channel
of Gris-Nez in the Pas-de-Calais and and North Sea was not immediately
the British Coast Guard of not doing available for comment Monday.
enough to prevent the deaths.
In London, proceedings have also
Utopia 56 said it “intends that inves- formally been launched by families
tigations be carried out to determine of victims from Iraqi Kurdistan. four Afghan men and an Egyptian hoping to win asylum or find better
the responsibilities of the French and man, the statement said. The adults opportunities in Britain. The cross-
British rescue services in this trag- Earlier this month, 26 victims were ranged in age from 19 to 46. ings have tripled this year compared
edy,” adding that the people were formally identified, including seven to 2020.
abandoned “despite calls to the Eng- women, a teenager and a 7-year-old Their boat capsized on Nov. 24 off
lish and French rescue services.” girl. The identity of one migrant re- the coast of northern France, in what The tragedy prompted a new politi-
mains unknown. Investigators were the country’s interior minister called cal crisis between Britain and France,
Nikolai Posner, Utopia 56’s spokes- able to confirm the identity of 16 the biggest migration tragedy on the who each accused each other of not
man, told The Associated Press on Iraqi Kurds, including four women, a dangerous crossing to Britain to date. doing enough to deter people from
Monday that the lawsuit also intend- 16-year-old teenager and a 7-year-old crossing the Channel. European mi-
ed to “remind our governments that girl. The victims also included an Ira- Ever-increasing numbers of people gration officials agreed to send a plane
it is urgent to question the policies at nian Kurd, three Ethiopians includ- fleeing conflicts or poverty are risk- to monitor the shores of the English
our borders, which take human lives ing two women, a Somali woman, ing the perilous journey from France, Channel for smuggling activity.

Pro-Beijing candidates sweep Hong Kong elections

(AP) — Candidates loyal to China in 1997. the previous one, therefore by U.S. Secretary of State
to China’s Communist Under the new laws, the you cannot compare directly. Antony Blinken, the foreign
Party won a landslide vic- She said that the number number of directly elected And I believe that with the ministers of Australia, Brit-
tory in Hong Kong’s legis- of registered voters reached lawmakers was reduced from new system, people need ain, Canada, New Zealand
lative elections after pro- 92.5%, a record high com- 35 to 20, even as the legisla- time to get used to that.” and the United States ex-
democracy activists were pared to the 2012 and 2016 ture was expanded from 70 to pressed “grave concern” over
imprisoned and authori- elections, when around 70% 90 seats. Most of the lawmak- The opposition camp has the erosion of democratic
ties received the power to of voters had registered. ers were appointed by largely criticized the elections, with elements of Hong Kong’s
exclude those deemed in- pro-Beijing bodies, ensuring the largest pro-democracy electoral system and growing
appropriate for office. “For registered voters, decid- that they make up the major- party, the Democratic Party, restrictions on freedom of
ing whether they want to ex- ity of the legislature. fielding no candidates for the speech and assembly.
Candidates loyal to Beijing ercise their voting rights in a first time since the 1997 han-
won a majority of the seats particular election is entirely All candidates were also vet- dover. “Protecting space for peace-
in Sunday’s election after the a matter for themselves,” she ted by a largely pro-Beijing ful alternative views is the
laws were changed to ensure said. committee before they could Chinese Foreign Ministry most effective way to ensure
that only pro-Beijing “patri- be nominated. spokesperson Zhao Lijian the stability and prosperity of
ots” could run the city. “In this election, 1.35 million said there were “multiple rea- Hong Kong,” they said.
voters cast their votes. They Lam said that even if there sons” for the decline in voter
Hong Kong leader Car- did not just return candidates was a high turnout based on turnout. Lam said she expects that
rie Lam said during a news of their choice to LegCo, and “poor politics,” such as the work with the 90 legisla-
conference Monday she was I think it was also because political polarization during “It is not only the impact of tors will be “very exciting”
“satisfied” with the election of their support for the im- the period of political strife in the pandemic, but also the because they have different
despite a 30.2% voter turnout proved electoral system,” said 2019, that is “not something disruption and sabotage of opinions on many social is-
— the lowest since the Brit- Lam, referring to the city’s we should be glad to have.” anti-China elements in Hong sues.
ish handed Hong Kong over Legislative Council. Kong and external forces,”
Starry Lee, an elected pro- Zhao said at a daily briefing. Lam was to travel to Beijing
Beijing legislative council later Monday on a duty-re-
candidate from the Demo- Some overseas pro-democ- porting trip, which she says is
cratic Alliance for the Better- racy activists, including to give a full account to Bei-
ment and Progress of Hong London-based Nathan Law, jing of the latest political and
Kong party, said the 30% urged a boycott of the vote, economic situation in Hong
turnout was within “general saying the elections were un- Kong.
public expectation.” democratic. Under the new
election laws, incitement to “I expect to cover a wide
“As I have mentioned before, boycott the voting or to cast range of issues on this par-
this is a new system, this is a invalid votes could be pun- ticular duty visit because
system that we call patriots ished by up to three years in through two very decisive
administrating Hong Kong,” jail and a 200,000 Hong Kong acts of the central authorities,
Lee said. dollar ($26,500) fine. Hong Kong is now back on
the right track of ‘one coun-
“This is a different one from In a joint statement released try, two systems,’” she said.