Best Of

Talking of ICE, masked up agents pulling a legally-in-USA PhD student off the streets. She wrote a piece in the student newspaper criticising Israel. It's getting nastier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGDVKBdq3Gw&t=179s

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and PhD student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, was arrested outside her off-campus apartment. Then renditioned in violation of a Court Order.
...
Khanbabai said Ozturk had valid F-1 visa status as a PhD student. She has filed a habeas petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for Ozturk’s release from detention.
...
“Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, petitioner shall not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without first providing advance notice of the intended move,” wrote federal judge Indira Talwani in a three-page order to ICE on Tuesday night.
...
But shortly after the judge made that order, federal authorities transferred Ozturk to Louisiana, according to her attorney.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-03-26/tufts-international-graduate-student-taken-into-ice-custody

The op ed she wrote:
https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj

Land of free speech my arse.

It couldn't happen here, Oh wait:

https://bsky.app/profile/georgemonbiot.bsky.social/post/3llit6dd7es2u

You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

Is there any more reporting on that ?
Your link provides very little detail.

A Met spokesperson said: “Youth Demand have stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April using tactics including ‘swarming’ and roadblocks.

“While we absolutely recognise the importance of the right to protest, we have a responsibility to intervene to prevent activity that crosses the line from protest into serious disruption and other criminality.

“On Thursday, officers raided a Youth Demand planning meeting where those in attendance were plotting their April action.

“Six people were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance.”

The force confirmed that a number of houses were also raided on Thursday and Friday as part of the same operation.

Youth Demand said the meeting was intended to be “an opportunity to share plans for non-violence civil resistance actions” and alleged that one of those arrested is a journalist.

The group has made anti-Israel demands central to its messaging, calling for the UK government to cut all trade with Israel and accusing it of enabling genocide. It also wants the state to raise money from “the super-rich and fossil fuel elite” to pay damages for the effects of fossil fuel burning.

A Youth Demand spokesperson said: “It’s clear that the government sees Youth Demand as a threat. They know that we are right.

“The government is facilitating genocide. Thousands of us are horrified.

“We will not be silenced. Young people all over the country are coming together to shut London down day after day throughout April.”

The group’s tactics have previously drawn criticism, including from within the Jewish community. In April last year, three activists hung a banner and laid rows of children’s shoes outside the home of Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. Lenorah Ward, 21, Zosia Lewis, 23, and Daniel Formentin, 24, were each handed suspended prison sentences over the stunt.

More arrests followed in July when Youth Demand announced plans to disrupt the State Opening of Parliament.

Despite the latest police intervention, the group is promoting another “welcome talk” in Brighton on Monday evening.

https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/youth-activists-arrested-over-plan-to-shut-down-london-in-anti-israel-campaign/

I do wonder what crime was broken by flying a banner and leaving shoes on the pavement. Littering?

Section 42 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 covers the harassment of a person at their home address if a police officer suspects it is causing alarm or distress to the occupant.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx77ljll077o

Three people have been found guilty of public order offences after a pro-Palestinian demonstration outside Sir Keir Starmer's house.

Leonorah Ward, 21, from Leeds; Zosia Lewis, 23, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and Daniel Formentin, 24, also from Leeds, were also found guilty of breaching court bail, but had denied all the charges.

It would be helpful if the press routinely told us which crime had been broken when reporting a trial. Even that report just calls it "public order offences". I also don't see how the above would cause "alarm or distress" to Sir Keir but his family probably see it differently. Maybe we need a better method of protecting the pavement outside his home.

It might be worth remembering that Starmer's wife and children are Jewish.

We are not told what was on the banner, so we can't make our own judgment about whether it was offensive or not. Presumably it didn't pass the test for anti-semitism or they would have been charged with a hate crime. Protesting against the actions of a sovereign state should not be a crime.

Why would they pick Starmer's house? It's not like he could do much about it. He wasn't even PM at that stage.

The whole case seems to be 'we will protest' (fair enough) 'we will protest to the wrong person' (silly, but not a crime) 'we will ignore the police when ordered to leave' (stupid, and illegal as the police can make that decision) 'we are martyrs for free speech' (not buying it).

I can understand in this case that the protest being pro-Palestinian which movement has contained some pretty ugly anti-Semitic traits could be especially intimidating to a household with Jews in it.

I don't disagree and I am coming to the opinion that, now I know more about it, it is reasonable. However you have to get right to the bottom of the long Independent piece before it says that they refused to move along when asked to. The other reports quoted here erroneously give the impression they were arrested for protesting or expressing an opinion - whereas if they had done it outside Sir Keir's office, they would have probably been allowed to get on with it. Let's have some better reporting "protesters outside Sir Keir Starmer's family home were arrested for a public order offence which protects people's homes after refusing to move along when asked to by the police". See, it's easy.

Talking of ICE, masked up agents pulling a legally-in-USA PhD student off the streets. She wrote a piece in the student newspaper criticising Israel. It's getting nastier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGDVKBdq3Gw&t=179s

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and PhD student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, was arrested outside her off-campus apartment. Then renditioned in violation of a Court Order.
...
Khanbabai said Ozturk had valid F-1 visa status as a PhD student. She has filed a habeas petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for Ozturk’s release from detention.
...
“Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, petitioner shall not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without first providing advance notice of the intended move,” wrote federal judge Indira Talwani in a three-page order to ICE on Tuesday night.
...
But shortly after the judge made that order, federal authorities transferred Ozturk to Louisiana, according to her attorney.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-03-26/tufts-international-graduate-student-taken-into-ice-custody

The op ed she wrote:
https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj

Land of free speech my arse.

Talking of ICE, masked up agents pulling a legally-in-USA PhD student off the streets. She wrote a piece in the student newspaper criticising Israel. It's getting nastier.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGDVKBdq3Gw&t=179s

Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish national and PhD student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, was arrested outside her off-campus apartment. Then renditioned in violation of a Court Order.
...
Khanbabai said Ozturk had valid F-1 visa status as a PhD student. She has filed a habeas petition in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for Ozturk’s release from detention.
...
“Unless otherwise ordered by the Court, petitioner shall not be moved outside the District of Massachusetts without first providing advance notice of the intended move,” wrote federal judge Indira Talwani in a three-page order to ICE on Tuesday night.
...
But shortly after the judge made that order, federal authorities transferred Ozturk to Louisiana, according to her attorney.
https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2025-03-26/tufts-international-graduate-student-taken-into-ice-custody

The op ed she wrote:
https://www.tuftsdaily.com/article/2024/03/4ftk27sm6jkj

Land of free speech my arse.

It couldn't happen here, Oh wait:

https://bsky.app/profile/georgemonbiot.bsky.social/post/3llit6dd7es2u

You think the arbitrary arrest of political dissenters cannot happen in the UK? It already does. www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-eve...

Is there any more reporting on that ?
Your link provides very little detail.

https://www.quaker.org.uk/news-and-events/news/quakers-condemn-police-raid-on-westminster-meeting-house

It was a meeting of the group "Youth Demand" who rented a room at the Meeting House. They are protesting for a boycott of Israel and for climate action.

https://youthdemand.org/

And this as well

https://x.com/c_kletzer/status/1905888893737590924?
t=0ax4E2LsJ9FxEAZG7gXwuA&s=19

According to radio 4 they sent 80 emails in a 6 month period (basically one every 2 working days) having been banned from the school premises after challenging the appointment process for the head teacher and “casting aspersions” on the chair of the governors.

While the police may have been heavy handed it does seem like there could potentially be a case to answer on harassment

From reporting, it seems that most of the emails were about managing their disabled daughter - they were not allowed into the school to show the teachers how to give medication, for example.

The mum locked up is a producer for Times Radio.

The Times article is quite good and detailed (I commend the journo):
https://archive.is/20250328191932/https://www.thetimes.com/article/d8c8566b-99b1-45c6-814b-008042d74a3a

Interview with the dad:
https://x.com/timesradio/status/1905693691416883419

It is a far more credible complaint imo that Allison Pearson's. I'd call it afaics that it was an acting head who they had been slightly rude about ("control freak" - imo accurate from the accounts) in a parents' group on Whatapp, who put in an over-juicy complaint and so the police went in feet first and mob handed.

The one negative point I can see for the parents is that the Whatsapp group was a little large with 1.2 million members. And perhaps initially emailing all the Governors when he did not get a reply was a bit OTT.

I think the arrest may have been unnecessary - chap said he would quite happily have toddled along to the station for an interview.

The authorities are trying to let it lie. I don't think it will.

A school whatsapp group has... 1.2 million members? This is a part of social media I am completely unfamiliar with. The biggest one I'm in is about 200 hundred, and that's for organising climbing trips.

Class sizes have really ballooned of late.

EU plans concessions to the Trumpdozer after tariffs - Bloomberg

https://x.com/wallstengine/status/1905609090606456980?s=61

People looking for a western counterweight to Trump will need to look to Canada rather than Europe.

What do you think about this one from your team? Critic of Putin arrested and due to be sent back to Russia.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/harvard-scientist-russia-deportation-antiwar-b2723063.html

It sounds like she screwed up by trying to bring something into the country that she shouldn't have and is just using the war critic angle in a bid for sympathy.

So she gets sent back to the tenth floor french windows.

I don’t think she’s likely to be on anyone’s radar as a dissident.

Having been poisoned in front of the world that's possibly what Navalny thought when he boarded the plane from Berlin.

He wasn’t an obscure scientist but a high-profile thorn in Putin’s side.

There are plenty of obscure Russians in Siberian jails for far less high profile expressions of opposition to the war.
You’re either being naive or obtuse.