The protesters on streets across China know what will follow for them
The pictures we have been seeing from China have been astonishing.
People using loudhailers to demand democracy – others calling for freedom, their faces exposed.
We have not seen this for more than three decades for good reason.
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Why are people protesting in China?
China tolerates no political dissent. Dissidents go to jail often for very long times. Under Xi Jinping’s totalitarian rule, their lawyers have been imprisoned too.
The protesters on streets across China know what will follow for them.
There are reports that many who attended protests over the weekend have already been called or texted on their phones by the police using surveillance technology to track them.
“We know what you have been doing” is the message. “Stop or face the consequences.”
Others have already been arrested and could face years behind bars.
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Police detain screaming protester
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China has been building a massive billion-dollar system of national surveillance to repress and control its people. It is now being put through its paces to sweep up thousands of protesters.
After Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, Chinese authorities bided their time, then rounded up ringleaders using technology to trace them and track them down.
In Beijing, there are reports police have been one step ahead of protesters, pre-empting protests at locations where they due to be held.
There will be a cat-and-mouse game and it will cost many their liberty.
But the Chinese have shown they are prepared to take the risk. Chinese students sweat blood and tears to gain coveted university places in their hugely competitive society.
But in more than 50 universities it seems students have risked all that by turning out to demonstrate and demand change, such is their strength of feeling.
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China’s President Xi Jinping
China’s authoritarian leader Xi Jinping has big ambitions. Chairman Mao may have united China, Deng Xiaoping made it richer, but he will take it to its rightful place leading the world, he believes, and he is not going to let a few days of unrest jeopardise that.
But he faces a dilemma. He can crack down on these protests tightening the lid of China’s pressure cooker but that might risk further explosions of unrest.
Or he could ease the lockdowns, as the people are demanding.
But China’s health system is not ready for that. Told their infallible leader had beaten the virus, many Chinese – especially the elderly have not been vaccinated – or had all their shots. And there are not enough intensive care beds to cope with an increase in infections.
If the lockdowns ease, COVID will spike and many could die, especially the old. In a country that venerates the elderly, that could be politically disastrous for the government. Either option could only make matters worse.
A woman has been arrested after 12 people were reportedly injured in a stabbing at Hamburg’s central train station in Germany.
An attacker armed with a knife targeted people on the platform between tracks 13 and 14, according to police.
They added that the suspect was a 39-year-old woman.
Police at the scene. Pic: AP
Officers said they “believe she acted alone” and investigations into the stabbing are continuing.
There was no immediate information on a possible motive.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
The attack happened shortly after 6pm local time (5pm UK time) on Friday in front of a waiting train, regional public broadcaster NDR reported.
A high-speed ICE train with its doors open could be seen at the platform after the incident.
Railway operator Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” by what had happened.
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Four tracks at the station were closed in the evening, and some long-distance trains were delayed or diverted.
Hamburg is Germany‘s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
In mid-May, the World Health Organisation assessed that there were “nearly half a million people in a catastrophic situation of hunger, acute malnutrition, starvation, illness and death”.
“This is one of the world’s worst hunger crises, unfolding in real time,” its report concluded.
Warning: This article contains images of an emaciated child which some readers may find distressing
Israel‘s decision this week to reverse the siege and allow “a basic level of aid” into Gaza should help ease the immediate crisis.
But the number of aid trucks getting in, so far fewer than 100 per day, is considered dramatically too few by aid organisations working in Gaza, and the United Nations accuses Israel of continuing to block vital items.
Israel-Gaza latest: Gaza enduring ‘atrocious death and destruction’, UN boss warns
“Strict quotas are being imposed on the goods we distribute, along with unnecessary delay procedures,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres in New York on Friday.
“Essentials, including fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies, are prohibited. Nothing has reached the besieged north.”
Nineteen of Gaza’s hospitals remain operational, all of them are overwhelmed with the number of patients and a lack of supplies.
Baby Aya at Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza is dangerously thin
“Today, we receive between 300 to 500 cases daily, with approximately 10% requiring admission. This volume of inpatient cases far exceeds the capacity of Rantisi hospital, as the facility is not equipped to accommodate such large numbers,” Jall al Barawi, a doctor at the hospital, told us.
At least 94% of the hospitals have sustained some damage, some considerable, according to the UN.
Jall al Barawi, a doctor at Rantisi hospital
Paramedic crews are close to running out of fuel to drive ambulances.
The lack of food, after an 11-week blockade, has left thousands malnourished and increasingly vulnerable to surviving injuries or recovering from other conditions.
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Children are the worst affected.
Our team in Gaza filmed with baby Aya at the Rantisi hospital in northern Gaza. She is now three months old and dangerously thin.
Her skin stretches over her cheekbones and eye sockets on her gaunt, pale face. Her nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Aya’s nappy is too big for her emaciated little body.
Lethal spiral
Her mother Sundush, who is only 19 herself, cannot get enough food to produce breastmilk. Baby formula is scarce.
Aya, like so many other young children, cannot get the vital nutrition she needs to grow and develop.
It’s a lethal spiral.
This is what Aya looked like shortly after she was born
“My daughter was born at a normal weight, 3.5kg,” Sundush tells us.
“But as the war went on, her weight dropped significantly. I would breastfeed her, she’d get diarrhoea. I tried formula – same result. With the borders closed and no food coming in, I can’t eat enough to give her the nutrients she needs.”
“I brought her to the hospital for treatment, but the care she needs isn’t available.
“The doctor said her condition is very serious. I really don’t want to lose her, because I lost my husband and she’s all I have left of him. I don’t want to lose her.”
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Aya and her mother Sundush
Some of the aid entering Gaza now is being looted. It is hard to know whether that is by Hamas or desperate civilians. Maybe a combination of the two.
The lack of aid creates an atmosphere of desperation, which eventually leads to a breakdown in security as everyone fights to secure food for themselves and their families.
Only by alleviating the desperation can the security situation improve, and the risk of famine abate.
World
Police launch ‘major operation’ after 12 people injured in knife attack at Hamburg train station
Twelve people are reported to have been injured after a knife attack at Hamburg’s central train station.
A “major operation” has been launched and a suspect was arrested, police said in a post on X.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed.
Reports in Germany said the suspected attacker was a woman.
The fire service said six of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, three others were seriously hurt, and another three sustained minor injuries, news agency dpa reported.
Bild newspaper said the motive for the attack was so far unknown.
Hamburg is Germany’s second biggest city, with the train station being a hub for local, regional and long-distance trains.
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