08 May 2021
At least 178 Palestinians have been injured in clashes with Israeli police in Jerusalem, Reuters reported late Friday.
The big picture: The clashes come amid growing anger over the threatened eviction of Palestinians from their homes on land claimed by Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem. Tensions have also escalated in the occupied West Bank in recent weeks.
- Israeli police fired rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians protesting at Al-Aqsa mosque, Al Jazeera reported. Protests also took place near the homes of families facing eviction in Sheikh Jarrah, which is near the Old City's Damascus Gate.
- The Palestine Red Crescent said that 88 Palestinians have been taken to the hospital. At least six Israeli police officers have also been injured, per Reuters.
What they're saying: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an urgent session to address the violence, saying he holds Israel "responsible for the dangerous developments and sinful attacks taking place in the holy city."
- Israel has accused Palestinians of using the evictions, which it calls a "real estate dispute between private parties," as a "nationalist cause" to "incite violence" — an allegation Palestinians reject, according to Reuters.
A spokesperson UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called on Israel to "immediately halt all forced evictions, including those in Sheikh Jarrah, and to cease any activity that would further contribute to a coercive environment and lead to a risk of forcible transfer."
- A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. was "deeply concerned about the heightened tensions in Jerusalem," and called for "all sides to ensure calm and act responsibly to deescalate tensions," per Reuters.
Israeli police clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli security forces deploy during clashes with Palestinian protesters at the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem. Photo: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP via Getty Images
Israeli security forces use tear gas to disperse protesters during a demonstration against the planned evictions in the Sheikh Jarrah. Photo: Ilia Yefimovich/picture alliance via Getty Images
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.