MADRID (AP) – Human rights organizations in Spain and Morocco have called on both countries to investigate the deaths of at least 18 Africans and injuries suffered by dozens more who attempted to scale the border fence that surrounds Melilla, a Spanish enclave in North Africa. Moroccan authorities said the casualties occurred when a “stampede” of people tried to climb the iron fence that separates Melilla and Morocco. In a statement released Friday, Morocco’s Interior Ministry said 76 civilians were injured along with 140 Moroccan security officers. Local authorities cited by Morocco’s official MAP news agency said the death toll increased to 18 after several migrants died in the hospital. The Moroccan Human Rights Association reported 27 dead, but the figure could not immediately be confirmed. The association also shared videos on social media that appeared to show dozens of migrants lying on the ground, many of them motionless and a few bleeding, as Moroccan security forces stood over them. “They were left there without help for hours, which increased the number of deaths,” the human rights group said on Twitter. It called for a “comprehensive” investigation. In another of the association’s videos, a Moroccan security officer appeared to use a baton to strike a person lying on the ground.

 

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CALIFORNIA (RT) – Protesters clashed with police officers in Los Angeles, California, as street unrest broke out in cities across the U.S. following the Supreme Court’s repeal of a landmark abortion case.  The clashes were captured in videos circulating on social media late on Friday night, with demonstrators seen hurling objects, including fireworks, at police and openly tussling with law enforcement. Officers responded with batons, and appeared to make several arrests, later issuing a dispersal order for those gathered in the area around 4th and Main Street in downtown LA. The decision to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case – which underpinned federal abortion protections – was quickly met with outrage from ‘pro-choice’ activists around the country, with a crowd of protesters gathering around the Supreme Court in Washington, DC within hours of the announcement. Demonstrations later popped up in other cities, and forceful police responses were also seen in Phoenix, Arizona, where officers were filmed firing tear gas into a crowd from the state capitol building.

 

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OSLO (Dispatches) – Two people were killed and 14 others wounded, several seriously, in shootings in central Oslo, Norwegian police said Saturday. Police said a suspect had been arrested following the shootings, which occurred around 1:00 am (2300 GMT Friday) in three locations close together in the center of the Norwegian capital. Police reported two dead and 14 wounded, and said two weapons had been seized. “Now everything indicates that there was only one person who committed this act,” police official Tore Barstad told a press briefing. Police numbers had however been reinforced in the capital to deal with other incidents, he added, without wishing to specify whether it was a terrorist act. Police received the first reports at 1:14 am and the suspect was arrested five minutes later, he said. Heavily armed police equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets were patrolling the scene of the shootings. “He looked very determined about where he was aiming. When I realized it was serious, I ran. There was a bleeding man lying on the ground,” a woman who saw the incident told the Verdens Gang newspaper. Another witness quoted by the paper mentioned the use of an automatic weapon -- which the police did not confirm -- and described it as “a war zone”. “There were a lot of injured people on the ground who had head injuries,” he said.

 

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BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing on Saturday said it would allow primary and secondary schools to resume in-person classes and Shanghai’s top party boss declared victory over Covid-19 after the city reported zero new local cases for the first time in two months.  The two major cities were among several places in China that implemented curbs to stop the spread of the omicron wave during March to May, with Shanghai imposing a two month-long city-wide lockdown that lifted on June 1. The efforts, part of China’s adherence to a zero-Covid policy that aims to eradicate all outbreaks, have brought case numbers down but many of the heavy-handed measures have fueled anger and even rare protests and taken a heavy toll on the economy. Beijing shut its schools in early May and asked students to move to online learning amid a spike in locally transmitted Covid cases. Senior year students at middle and high schools were allowed to return to classrooms from June 2. On Saturday, with case numbers trending lower in recent days, the capital’s education commission said all primary and secondary school students in the capital can return to in-person classes from Monday. Kindergartens will be allowed to reopen from July 4.

 

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BERLIN (Xinhua) – The Omicron sub-lineage BA.5 became the dominant COVID-19 variant in Germany, accounting for around half of infections, according to the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases. “The strong increase in share of this variant has continued together with BA.4 and BA.2.12.1,” the RKI said in its weekly report. With the increasing spread of these more contagious variants, a “rebound in infection numbers” was also been observed. Daily COVID-19 infections continued to rise as 108,190 new cases were registered on Friday, according to the RKI. Germany’s seven-day COVID-19 incidence rate climbed from 533 infections per 100,000 inhabitants on the previous day to 618. Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is supporting expert demands to vaccinate or booster 40 million people before winter. “BA.5 is not harmless. In winter we must be very well prepared, otherwise chaos is looming,” he said on Twitter. In order to avoid last year’s shortfalls, Germany is procuring a wide range of vaccines. These include vaccines adapted to the Omicron variant, the Ministry of Health said. In addition, “vaccination gaps are to be closed.”