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WORLD NEWS Saturday 21 March 2020
Moscow activists vow to fight on after clashes with police

MOSCOW (AP) — Activists meeting. zor.
in Moscow vowed Friday to Awareness about environ- Digging into this contami-
persist with their campaign mental issues has been nated land is dangerous
against plans to bulldoze a growing in Russia in recent as it would stir up a huge
highway through a radio- years. In a poll released amount of radioactive
active waste site, despite in December 2019 by the dust, Alexei Ozerov, a phys-
a police crackdown and Levada independent poll- icist supporting the activists,
mass detentions. ster, 48% of Russians named told the AP. "People will be
The campaign started two environmental pollution as inhaling it, and (the dust)
months ago as a small the number one threat of will spread quite far — 10-
grassroots effort, and made the 21st century, prioritizing 15 kilometers (around the
national headlines on it over terrorism. site)," Ozerov said.
Thursday night after riot po- Environmental activism Radiation levels on the sur-
lice stormed the protesters' has been on the rise too. face of the soil in the area
make-shift command post In 2018-2019, spontaneous are already several times
near the site and detained environmental campaigns higher than normal, ac-
more than 60 people. across the country — most- In this photo taken on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020, Alexei Ozerov, tivists who regularly take
physicist and activist fighting against turning a nuclear waste
On Friday, several dozen ly against toxic landfills op- repository into a construction site of a highway, measures radia- measurements argue.
people gathered near erating at capacity — ac- tion levels at the place in southeastern Moscow, Russia. Construction work was
the site once again. "We counted for the biggest Associated Press supposed to start in early
will continue to fight. Of non-political protests. January, but the activists
course, we're not willing to Bodrova and dozens of oth- ties plan to build a multi- least 60,000 tons of nuclear blocked the entrance to
give up," Larisa Bodrova, er activists live in residential lane motorway. Part of it waste are buried, accord- the contaminated area,
one of the activists, told The blocks in southeast Mos- is supposed to go through ing to Russia's public health not letting workers and
Associated Press before the cow, where city authori- a plot of land where at watchdog Rospotrebnad- trucks in. q

Dutch court convicts tram shooter

of deadly terror attack

THE HAGUE, Netherlnads
(AP) — A Dutch court con-
victed a radicalized Muslim
man Friday of murder with
a terrorist motive and sen-
tenced him to life imprison-
ment for opening fire on a
tram and killing four people
last year.
The defendant, 38-year-old A nun wearing a mask and gloves stands at the Istituto Figlie di
Gokmen Tanis, was not in San Camillo (Institute of Daughters of St. Camillo) in Grottafer-
court to hear the verdict rata, near Rome, Friday, March 20, 2020.
due to restrictions imposed Associated Press
to prevent the spread of
the coronavirus. Italy sees biggest
"The suspect spread death In this Monday March 18, 2019, file image, the body of one of
three victims is covered with a white sheet as it lies next to a
and destruction in broad tram after a shooting incident in Utrecht, Netherlands.
daylight in a tram in Utre- Associated Press day-to-day rise in
cht," said presiding judge
Ruud van Veldhuisen. Tanis walked onto a tram in was detained hours after coronavirus deaths
Tanis stepped into the tram, Utrecht on March 18, 2019 the shooting.
then "pulled out a pistol and used a pistol with a si- Prosecutors said the silenc-
with which he, while shout- lencer attached to shoot er was adorned with texts ROME (AP) — Italy has re- betes before they were in-
ing the name of his god, passengers at close range. referring to Islam that foren-
Allah, shot at innocent pas- He then jumped out of the sic tests later established corded its highest day-to- fected with the virus.
day-rise in the number of Borrelli says Italy also saw
sengers in cold blood. Not tram and shot a driver sit- were written by Tanis.
once, but many times in ting behind the wheel of a He also left a note in a sto- deaths of people infected a staggering increase of
5,986 cases from a day
with the new coronavirus.
just over two minutes," the car. len getaway car that said
judge added. Three people in the tram in Dutch: "I'm doing this for Civil Protection Chief An- earlier, bringing the official
gelo Borrelli said Friday the total in Italy to 47,021.
He said the terror attack were killed and the man in my religion. You kill Muslims
sent shock waves through the car died of his injuries and you want to take our country recorded 627 more The soaring numbers come
deaths in the 24 hours since despite a national lock-
the central city of Utrecht more than a week later. religion away from us, but
and the rest of the Nether- The attack, which hap- you won't succeed. Allah Italy surpassed China on down that drastically limits
Thursday as the nation with when residents are allowed
lands. pened just days after the is great." However, witness
Tanis did not answer ques- massacre at two mosques statements cited at trial de- the most COVID-19-relat- to leave their homes. Po-
ed deaths. The total now lice have issued citations
tions during his trial and was in the New Zealand city of scribed him as a part-time
repeatedly removed from Christchurch, sent the his- Muslim who veered be- stands at 4,032. to thousands of people for
Authorities said most of the being out and about with-
court for insulting judges, toric university city of Utre- tween strictly observing the
his lawyer and families of cht into lockdown as police religion and drinking, gam- people who died had exist- out valid reasons, such as
ing health problems such going to work or shopping
victims. hunted for the gunman. He bling and taking drugs.q
as heart disease and dia- for food.q