BREAKING: President Trump tramples right to protest
Responding to remarks by President Donald Trump today in the Rose Garden, @AmnestyErnest, the End Gun Violence campaign manager at Amnesty International USA said:
“The violence that can no longer be ignored is the violence committed against Black lives by the police. The real disgrace is the anti-Black racism of the Trump administration. The President swore an oath to the nation to protect all of its people – not just those he deems worthy
“The time for justice has passed for George Floyd, his children, and his loved ones. The possibility for justice was taken away the day that he was killed.
"All that remains is accountability – and accountability has been absent from an administration that continues to fan the flames of hate.
“People are angry. People are exhausted. They have a right to take to the streets and peacefully protest – everyone has that right.
"The rights of the many to take to the streets and demand justice and comprehensive police reform cannot be trampled upon, for any reason. No longer can police be allowed to run rampant and terrorize our communities.
"Law enforcement exists to work for the people – but it only seems to work for some. Black lives matter. Trans Black lives matter. Black immigrant lives matter. Black asylum-seeker lives matter.
"Sending in the military to respond to a peaceful revolution has been the only action this administration has taken. What’s been absent is a legitimate attempt to change a system that does not work for Black people, but directly oppresses them.
“The U.S. system of policing is broken and needs systemic reform to root out racism and radically change its approach to law enforcement and human rights.
"Amnesty International USA is calling for a number of reforms, including passage of the PEACE Act to limit the use of deadly force, which should only ever be used as a last resort.
"When real reforms take place, only then will it send a message to Black people that their lives matter and our Black communities can live in safety, justice and freedom."
“The Israeli military has intensified its efforts to forcibly displace the entirety of the civilian population in the area north of Wadi Gaza to the south, starting with the North Gaza governorate, forcing civilians to choose between starvation or displacement, while their homes and streets are relentlessly pounded by bombs and shells.
“The world must stop standing by while Israel uses siege, starvation and atrocity crimes to forcibly displace and destroy civilians and civilian life.
In a few hours, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be addressing a joint session of Congress.
His visit comes as daily military strikes in Gaza, powered by U.S.-made weapons, are killing children and tearing families apart.
A human rights thread.⬇️
Here are the facts.
Netanyahu has evaded calls for a ceasefire and denied critical aid, even as Palestinian civilians are being starved and remain at risk of genocide.
Specifically, Amnesty International’s findings have uncovered an immense scale of violations, including:
❌Evidence of war crimes committed by Israeli forces, which have targeted civilians and wiped out entire Palestinian families using U.S.-made weapons.
❌Torture, ill-treatment, enforced disappearance, and mass detention of thousands of Palestinian civilians, including children.
❌Escalating attacks and limitations on humanitarian aid have combined to kill more than 38,000 people and internally displaced at least 75% of Gaza’s total population. amnestyusa.org/blog/no-weapon…
“No one is above international law: no leaders of armed groups, no government officials – elected or not, no military officials. Regardless of the cause they are pursuing, no one is above the law.
“This move by the ICC Prosecutor sends an important message to all parties to the conflict in Gaza and beyond that they will be held accountable for the devastation they have waged on the peoples of Gaza and Israel.
“One day President Biden expresses concerns about the actions of Israeli forces in Rafah, the next day he plans to send them weapons. This is at best mixed messages, or worse, total complicity.
"He knows that Rafah will be an unmitigated—and unlawful— disaster of human suffering and death that he and the U.S. government is enabling with U.S. taxpayer dollars.
“Amnesty International’s devastating research findings link US-made weapons to civilian killings. This demands urgent attention and action by President Biden and the U.S. Congress.
“The United States has an outsized role and responsibility to do everything in its power to ensure civilians are protected, including suspending the supply, sale, or transfer of arms until there is no longer a risk they will be used unlawfully.
“Secretary Blinken’s trip to Ethiopia comes at a critical time in the implementation of the Cessation of Hostilities (CoH)...
" ...and when the Ethiopian government is actively mobilizing support to terminate the mandate of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE).