Green activist Claude Alvares arrested for symbolic protest, released
Panaji, July 2: Green activist Claude Alvares, whose petition in the Supreme Court led to the shutdown of the mining industry in Goa earlier this year, was on Monday arrested along with an associate, for symbolically locking the offices of the state Mines and Geology Department here.
Alvares and his associate Rahul Basu, both of green NGO Goa Foundation, were technically arrested and released on a personal bond of Rs 10,000 each by officials of the Panaji police station.
"We symbolically locked the office of Mines and Geology Department and police symbolically arrested me," Alvares told reporters here after he was released.
Alvares also said that the "technical" arrest was in sync with the order of the Panaji District and Sessions Court, which had granted the duo anticipatory bail last week.
On May 12 this year, Alvares, who co-heads NGO Goa Foundation, had symbolically locked the office premise of the Goa Mines and Geology department in Panaji, accusing department officials of turning a blind eye to alleged theft of iron ore by mining companies, despite directions of the Supreme Court, which scrapped 88 mining leases in February this year.
The keys were later handed over to police officials at the Goa Police Headquarters, located nearby.
Following a petition by Alvares, ore extraction in all 88 operational mines in Goa was stopped by the apex court, bringing the multi-billion industry to a grinding halt from March this year.
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‘Take all the cameras and leave’: Israel raids Al Jazeera office in West Bank
Ramallah: The Israel Army raided the offices of Al Jazeera in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday and ordered the bureau to shut down.
Heavily armed and masked Israeli soldiers forcefully entered the building where Al Jazeera’s bureau is and handed the 45-day closure order to the network’s West Bank bureau chief Walid al-Omari, reported Al Jazeera. However, they did not give a reason for the decision.
Israeli soldiers reportedly began to confiscate documents and equipments in the office while tear gas and gunshots were heard in the premises. Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim remarked that the raid and closure order “comes as no surprise,” adding that the Israeli officials have been threatening to close down the bureau.
“There is a court ruling for closing Al Jazeera for 45 days. I ask you to take all the cameras and leave the office at this moment,” an Israeli soldier was reportedly heard as saying in a live footage broadcasted by the channel.
In response to the incident, al-Omari stated that such actions against journalists are aimed at “erasing the truth and preventing people from hearing the truth.”
The Government Media Office in Gaza has called on media organisations and human rights groups worldwide to condemn this action, labelling it a “deafening scandal” and a blatant violation of press and media freedom.
The raid comes months after Israel banned Al Jazeera from operating inside the country in May, alleging that it threatened national security.
