Mainichi Auction Inc.'s Yoshiaki Onoyama attends a ceremony for the return of Alessandro Turchi's painting to Poland at the Polish embassy in Tokyo on May 31, 2023. (Photo courtesy of the Polish cultural institute in Tokyo via Kyodo)
TOKYO – A valuable painting looted from a Polish aristocrat in 1940 by Nazi Germany has been discovered in Japan and returned to Poland, according to the Polish Embassy in Japan and a Tokyo-based art auction company.
While it is not clear how the painting, called “Madonna with Child” by Italian Baroque-Era painter Alessandro Turchi, came to be in possession of its former Japanese owner, the artwork was handed into the Polish Embassy in Tokyo in late May at no cost to Poland.
It is the first time that a work of art taken from Poland during the Nazi occupation has been discovered in the Far East, according to the embassy.
The painting had been missing since the 1990s after it was put up for auction in New York, according to Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
Mainichi Auction Inc. in Tokyo said it received a request from the painting’s former owner to sell it at an auction in the fall of 2021 and posted a photograph of it on their website, valuing the artwork at around 3 million yen ($21,000).
The company was contacted by the Polish ministry before the auction, which was scheduled for late January 2022.
Polish authorities had initially said some of the painting’s details did not match those shown in an old photograph of the looted artwork believed to be taken in 1939 or 1940, according to the company.
A Polish team of experts later visited Japan to confirm that the painting was authentic and that it had been looted during the Nazi occupation. An ultraviolet scan showed that part of the original had been painted over.
“Polish citizens, who give the highest acclaim to Madonna with Child, have once again become its owner,” said Yoshiaki Onoyama, Mainichi Auction’s official who negotiated with the former Japanese owner for the return of the painting.
“There was no financial incentive for us, but I think we got the job done.”
Asian elephant Sak Surin, gifted by the Thai Royal family and named Muthu Raja or pearly king in Sri Lanka, stands by a water pond at the national zoological garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
By KRISHAN FRANCIS, COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Veterinarians are preparing to airlift an Asian elephant from Sri Lanka back to its home country of Thailand this weekend after it spent more than two decades at a Buddhist temple where activists alleged it was abused.
The Thai royal family gave the elephant as a gift in 2001 to Sri Lanka’s government, which in turn gifted it to the temple where it was named Muthu Raja and given honored roles in religious processions.
Kanchana Silpa-archa, advisor to the Thai environment ministry, stands by the Asian elephant Sak Surin gifted by the Thai Royal family and named Muthu Raja or pearly king in Sri Lanka at the national zoological garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
However, the activist group Rally for Animal Rights and Environment, or RARE, raised allegations it was being mistreated, including that it had a stiff leg from a long-neglected injury. It lobbied last year for the intervention of Thai officials, who asked Kande Viharaya temple officials to allow the animal’s return to Thailand for medical treatment.
“This is not the end, but the beginning of a new life for Muthu Raja,” RARE group founder Panchali Panapitiya said.
Mahouts take Asian elephant Sak Surin, gifted by the Thai Royal family, towards a container at the national zoological garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, June 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
The temple agreed to transfer the elephant last November to Sri Lanka’s National Zoological Garden, where it has been receiving treatment and preparation for the airlift to Thailand planned for Sunday.
Madusha Perera, a veterinary surgeon at the zoo, said two big abscesses the elephant was suffering from when it arrived have mostly healed. However, the zoo has not been able to fully treat the animal’s leg because of a lack of facilities, she said.
“Once he gets back to Thailand the experts there will attend to the conditions so that one day we will be able to see him walk the normal way,” Perera said.
Visit Arsaithamkul, a visiting Thai veterinarian, said the treatment in Thailand could include hydrotherapy, laser treatment and acupuncture.
Thai veterinarian Visit Arsaithamkul gestures as he stands by the container which will carry the Asian elephant Sak Surin. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
At the zoo, Muthu Raja’s morning routine has included veterinarian check-ups, bathing in a small pond and practice getting into the container that will carry him on the nearly six-hour flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The container is cushioned and has windows for feeding — which will include bananas, pumpkin and sugar cane. Zoo officials have hoisted the 9-foot-tall, 4-ton creature in trial lifts to test the container’s strength.
A veterinary surgeon attends to the Asian elephant Sak Surin, gifted by the Thai Royal family and named Muthu Raja or pearly king in Sri Lanka, at the national zoological garden in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, June 30, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Muthu Raja will be sedated if needed, and two vets will monitor him during the journey. Three Thai and one Sri Lanka elephant tenders also will be on the plane.
Panapitiya said her group had unsuccessfully sought to raise the issue of Muthu Raja’s neglect with the Sri Lanka government for months before turning to the Thai government, and said the failure of Sri Lankan wildlife officials to act had brought “disrepute” to the country.
Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena told Parliament earlier this month that he expressed his regret to the Thai prime minister over the treatment of the elephant during trip to Thailand in May.
Panapitiya said her group also is pushing for the release of another elephant at the Kande Viharaya temple.
People go to the night market to shop in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced a one-year extension of trial visa-free entry from August 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024, for nationals of Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines under the New Southbound Policy.
Bureau of Consular Affairs, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press statement on June 30, 2023 as follows:
In line with efforts to promote the New Southbound Policy (NSP), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) convened a meeting on April 25 with relevant government agencies on further improving visa measures for nationals of NSP partner countries traveling to Taiwan.
The meeting conducted a comprehensive review of existing visa and entry measures, focusing on the trial visa-free entry program for nationals of Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines; the Project for Simplifying Visa Regulations for High-end Group Tourists from Southeast Asian Countries; and conditional visa-free entry through the Online Application for R.O.C. (Taiwan) Travel Authorization Certificate (TAC) scheme for nationals of Southeast Asian countries.
After evaluating the effectiveness of the above convenience measures over the past years and considering the need to revive mutual bilateral exchanges and tourism in the postpandemic era, participating agencies decided to extend the trial visa-free entry measure for one year for nationals of Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines from August 1, 2023, to July 31, 2024.
The Project for Simplifying Visa Regulations for High-end Group Tourists from Southeast Asian Countries will continue for a further year through December 31, 2024. Any announcements on the TAC scheme will be made on the related website. (https://niaspeedy.immigration.gov.tw/nia_southeast)
MOFA will continue to review and fine-tune visa policies, with a view to strengthen bilateral exchanges and attract more visitors while ensuring border and public security. We will also continue to communicate with the governments of related countries to enhance visa treatment for Taiwan nationals and make their overseas travel more convenient.
People go to the night market to shop in Taipei, Taiwan, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, representing His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn, King Rama X of the Kingdom of Thailand, attended the royal bathing ceremony for the funeral of Khunying Tawee Chearavanont at Windmill Village, Bangplee, Samut Prakan Province, on June 29. The ceremony, which included praying for the funeral, was accompanied by royal blessings until July 5.
This shows the importance of the Chearavanont family in Thailand.
Khunying (Lady) Tawee, the wife of Dhanin Chearavanont, a prominent Thai businessman and founder of the CP Group, who had been together for 61 years, passed away at Chulalongkorn Hospital on June 29 at the age of 83.
They married in 1962 and had five children: Mrs Varnnee Chearavanont Ross, Mr Soopakij Chearavanont, Mr Narong Chearavanont, Mr Suphachai Chearavanont and Mrs Tipaporn Ahriyavraromp Chearavanont.
“At the age of about 18, I had just returned to Bangkok from Hong Kong when I unexpectedly met 17-year-old Tawee for the first time in a flower garden. In my heart, she was as beautiful as a celestial maiden come down from heaven!” I thought.” Dhanin tells of love’s journey in “Nikkei My Personal History”
Tawee already knew Dhanin’s siblings and was also a relative of Dhanin’s friend who worked in the company’s animal feed department. They had several opportunities to meet after that, but no close relationship developed because Dhanin believed he was not ready for a romantic attachment. He was determined to focus on his work and grow the company.
After four years had passed, they met again at their friend’s wedding reception. At that moment, Dhanin made the decision to propose to Tawee, start a family together, and get married.
Tipaporn, the youngest daughter, said that her mother was a kind-hearted person. She was a good cook and did well in the household. She did a lot of things with her children and guided them with good principles and philosophies.
Mrs Tipaporn Ahriyavraromp Chearavanont said that her mother, Tawee, was a kind-hearted person.
She taught them manners, respect for elders and the importance of being humble and honorable. She taught them the value of thrift and saving and encouraged love among siblings. Therefore, their mother was both the center of their hearts and the cement that holds everyone in the family together.
Khunying Tawee was recognized as an outstanding woman in the category of promoting social and religious development. This recognition was bestowed upon her during the Thai Women’s Day event in the year 2017, organized by the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MOSD) and the National Council of Women of Thailand (NCWT).
Chearavanont family
In March this year, Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, another wealthy person of Chinese descent in Thailand and owner of TCC Group and Thai Beverage, also lost his wife Khunying Wanna at the age of 80. They had raised their five children together.
The life histories of both women indicate that they are influential in the success in family and profession of their husbands.
FILE - U.S. B-52H bombers, center, and F-16 fighter jets and South Korean Air Force F-35A fighter jets, right bottom, fly over the Korean Peninsula during a joint air drill in South Korea on April 14, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP, File)
By HYUNG-JIN KIM, SEOUL — The United States flew nuclear-capable bombers to the Korean Peninsula on Friday in its latest show of force against North Korea, days after the North staged massive anti-U.S. rallies in its capital.
The long-range B-52 bombers took part in joint aerial drills with other U.S. and South Korean fighter jets over the peninsula, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said in a statement. The bombers’ flyover is the latest in a series of temporary U.S. deployments of strategic assets in South Korea in response to North Korea’s push to expand its nuclear arsenal.
Two weeks ago, the U.S. deployed a nuclear-powered submarine capable of carrying about 150 Tomahawk missiles to South Korean waters for the first time in six years. The USS Michigan’s arrival came a day after North Korea resumed missile tests to protest previous U.S.-South Korean drills that it views as an invasion rehearsal.
The South Korean Defense Ministry said the B-52 bombers’ deployment boosted the visibility of U.S. strategic assets to the peninsula. It said the allies have been demonstrating their firm resolve to strengthen combined defense postures and will continue joint drills involving U.S. strategic bombers.
On Sunday, more than 120,000 North Koreans participated in mass rallies in Pyongyang to mark the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War. During the rallies, officials and residents delivered speeches vowing “merciless revenge” against the United States over the war while accusing the U.S. of plotting an invasion on North Korea.
Pyongyang people take part in a mass rally to mark what North Korea calls “the day of struggle against U.S. imperialism” at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, June 25, 2023. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
The Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty, leaving the peninsula in a technical state of war. The U.S. stations about 28,000 troops in South Korea as deterrence against potential aggression by North Korea.
Since its June 15 launches of two short-range ballistic missiles, North Korea hasn’t performed any further public weapons tests. But the U.S. bombers’ deployment could prompt it to launch weapons again in protest.
Pyongyang people take part in a demonstration after a mass rally to mark what North Korea calls “the day of struggle against U.S. imperialism” at the May Day Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea Sunday, June 25, 2023.(AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)
Enhancing “regular visibility of U.S. strategic assets” to the Korean Peninsula was part of agreements reached between U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol during their summit in Washington in April. Biden stated at the time that any North Korean nuclear attack on the U.S. or its allies would “result in the end of whatever regime” took such action.
Since the start of 2022, North Korea has carried out more than 100 missile tests in a bid to enlarge its arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles targeting the U.S. mainland and South Korea. The allies have responded by expanding their military exercises.
In late May, a North Korean launch of a rocket carrying its first spy satellite ended in failure, with the rocket plunging into waters soon after liftoff. North Korea has since repeatedly said it would attempt a second launch, saying it’s crucial to build space-based surveillance system to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility.
Charoen Pokphand Foods PCL (CP Foods) has partnered with the Scholars of Sustenance Foundation (SOS) Thailand, a global food rescue organization, to continue the Circular Meal program for three consecutive years, with the goal to reduce food waste and ensure food security.
This partnership aims to ensure equitable access to high-quality and hygienic food for all segments of the population, including underprivileged populations, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. This CSR program has partnered with GEPP Sa-ard, a Thai start-up focusing on waste management, to implement a take-back system based on the closed-loop principle.
The program follows the principles of zero food waste and a take-back system, supporting responsible food production and consumption in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Since the project began in June 2020, the ‘Circular Meal’ program has successfully delivered 130,000 meals to vulnerable communities in and around Bangkok from 2021 to May 2023. This has led to a reduction in food waste by 31.19 tons and a decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 23.84 tons of CO2 equivalent – equivalent to planting 2,492 trees.
Tawit Thanhakarnjanakul, director at CPF Global Food Solution PCL. (CPFGS), the leading global food solutions provider engaged in food products and services under CP Foods, stated that the company has committed to establishing food security by adhering to a Zero Food Waste to Landfill policy to achieve the goals of CPF’s 2030 Sustainability Action Plan.
CPFGS utilizes fresh, safe, and high-quality surplus food from its inventory to create nutritionally balanced meals for the residents of the Klong Latpachee community and supplies surplus food to nearby communities, which is used as cooking ingredients.
The success of this project is attributed to the combined efforts of CP Foods volunteers, the SOS Foundation’s Thailand branch staff, and executives from GEPP Sa-ard.
“CPFGS reaffirms the company’s dedication to CP Foods’ food security goals and the Zero Food Waste to Landfill policy. This aligns with CP Foods’ 2030 Sustainability in Action objective of reducing landfill waste. By redistributing surplus nutritious food, we are ensuring equal access to food and enhancing the health of vulnerable communities,” he said.
In recognition of its endeavors in ensuring food access equality, CP Foods was honored with the “Outstanding Food Rescue Award – Big Manufacturing Group” by the SOS Foundation in 2022.
To accomplish its goal of zero food waste, CP Foods collaborates with CPFGS and SOS as part of the ongoing Circular Meal initiative. Meanwhile, GEPP Sa-ard has participated in the take-back and recycling of plastic and paper packaging materials, following a closed-loop system. From the beginning of 2021 until May 2023, GEPP has collected more than 7,000 packaging units for recycling.
Ms. Gib's parents sobbed as they carried her body to the funeral service on June 30, 2023.
Instances of violence against women continue to occur regularly, yet campaigns against such violence remain confined within the narrow scope of politics.
On June 30, at the Institute of Forensic Medicine in the Police Hospital, the parents of Gib,” a 19-year-old female university student, tragically cried when they received the body of their daughter, who was stabbed to death by her 20-year-old high school boyfriend.
The incident occurred in the Minburi state housing complex, more specifically in building 21, on the sidewalk between the 3rd and 4th floors at the night of June 29.
The victim’s body had stab wounds in the chest and abdomen, as well as injuries to the neck and the left side of the face. The murder weapon was a sharp-edged knife found near the stairwell.
a sharp-edged knife found near the stairwell
Police officers discovered the suspect, whose name is Nattachon, injured on the lower floor of the building. The rescue team immediately transported him to Serirak Hospital.
The witness at the scene, Rassapa Tepsa, a 51-year-old corporate manager who oversees this building, testified that the man in question tried to jump off the building to commit suicide. She tried to calm him down, told him to stay calm and reminded him that there was a way out. However, he replied, “I can not live anymore, Gib is dead,” before deciding to jump off the side of the building and land in a water tank, sustaining injuries.
A young man jumped off the building.
The young man, 20, is a 12th grade student at a school in the Minburi area of Bangkok. He is a relative of the room owner. As for the deceased, she visited him frequently. It is reported that the woman may have been dating other men, causing the young man to become jealous and possibly triggering the incident.
Violent acts and murders of women driven by male jealousy remain commonplace in Thailand. However, there is a lack of clear campaigns and consistent statistics derived from daily police records or concrete legal action against perpetrators. The available statistics are mainly based on reports from selected women’s organizations, which rely on news from the mainstream media.
According to the Women and Men Progressive Movement Foundation, which collected data from media reports on domestic violence in 2021, 52.4 per cent of cases were found to be domestic incidents resulting in death. The highest percentage of these cases involved the killing of the wife by the husband (63.4 per cent).
Recently, Akanat Promphan, general secretary of the United Thai Nation Party, sparked a movement by publishing posters and a call to unite against violence against women. However, this action was seen merely as a political maneuver to attack the Move Forward party, especially after a member of the party was implicated in an assault on a woman.
Akanat has also been criticized for not truly understanding the issue of violence against women, as he previously participated in the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) movement that opposed the former Prime Minister, the first female Prime Minister of Thailand, Yingluck Shinawatra, using offensive language and gestures towards women.
According to UN Women, violence against women and girls is defined as any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women and girls, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.
Violence against women and girls encompasses, but is not limited to, physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family or within the general community, and perpetrated or condoned by the State.
During the PDRC rallies against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in 2014, a sign reading “Run away from the patient to chase E Pu” was seen. E is the word to call before the name of a woman to look down on her.
In his response, Akanat stated, “I did not criticize the former prime minister based on gender issues. It was not about discrimination against male, female, or LGBTQ gender identities. It was about fulfilling the duties as the leader of the country, whether that was right or wrong. This matter is in the past, and I am open to accepting criticism as well.”
He also mentioned the case of a member of the Move Forward party, stating that when the accused holds a significant political position, if everyone remains silent out of fear of political backlash, the voices may fade away.
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Police forces walk past burning cars in Nanterre, outside Paris, Thursday, June 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
NANTERRE, France (AP) — France braced for another feared eruption of urban rioting Thursday night after the deadly police shooting of a suburban 17-year-old, with tens of thousands of officers hitting the streets and commuters rushing home before transport services closed down early for safety reasons.
Despite government appeals for calm and vows that order would be restored, smoke from cars and garbage set ablaze was already billowing over the streets of the Paris suburb of Nanterre following a peaceful afternoon march in honor of the teen identified only by his first name, Nahel.
The police officer accused of pulling the trigger was handed a preliminary charge of voluntary homicide after prosecutor Pascal Prache said his initial investigation led him to conclude “the conditions for the legal use of the weapon were not met.”
Cars burn after a march for Nahel, Thursday, June 29, 2023 in Nanterre, outside Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
After a morning crisis meeting following violence that injured scores of police and damaged nearly 100 public buildings, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the number of police officers would more than quadruple, from 9,000 to 40,000. In the Paris region alone, the number of officers deployed would more than double to 5,000.
“The professionals of disorder must go home,” Darmanin said. While there’s no need yet to declare a state of emergency — a measure taken to quell weeks of rioting in 2005 — he added: “The state’s response will be extremely firm.”
Bus and tram services in the Paris area were shutting down before sunset to as a precaution to safeguard transportation workers and passengers, a decision sure to impact thousands of travelers in the French capital and its suburbs.
“Our transports are not targets for thugs and vandals!” Valerie Pecresse, head of the Paris region tweeted.
The town of Clamart, home to 54,000 people in the French capital’s southwest suburbs, said it was taking the extraordinary step of putting an overnight curfew in place from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. through to Monday.
It cited “the risk of new public order disturbances” for the decision, after two nights of urban unrest. “Clamart is a safe and calm town, we are determined that it stay that way,” it said.
The shooting captured on video shocked the country and stirred up long-simmering tensions between police and young people in housing projects and other disadvantaged neighborhoods.
Youth throws a bottle to police forces during riots Thursday, June 29, 2023 in Nanterre, outside Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
The teenager’s family and their lawyers haven’t said the police shooting was race-related and they didn’t release his surname or details about him.
Still, his death instantly inflamed raw nerves in neighborhoods that have welcomed generations of immigrants from France’s former colonies and elsewhere. Their France-born children frequently complain that they are subjected to police ID checks and harassment far more frequently than white people or those in more affluent neighborhoods.
Anti-racism activists renewed their complaints about police behavior in the shooting’s wake.
“We have to go beyond saying that things need to calm down,” said Dominique Sopo, head of the campaign group SOS Racisme. “The issue here is how do we make it so that we have a police force that, when they see Blacks and Arabs, don’t tend to shout at them, use racist terms against them and in some cases, shoot them in the head.”
Prache, the Nanterre prosecutor, said officers tried to stop Nahel because he looked so young and was driving a Mercedes with Polish license plates in a bus lane.
He ran a red light to avoid being stopped then got stuck in traffic. Both officers involved said they drew their guns to prevent him from fleeing.
The officer who fired a single shot said he feared he and his colleague or someone else could be hit by the car, according to Prache. The officers said they felt “threatened” as the car drove off.
Two magistrates are leading the investigation, Prache said. Under French law, which differs from the U.S. and British legal systems, magistrates often lead investigations.
Preliminary charges mean investigating judges have strong reason to suspect wrongdoing, but they allow time for further investigation before a decision is made on whether to send the case to trial. The police officer has been placed in provisional detention, according to the prosecutor’s office.
In a separate case, a police officer who fatally shot a 19-year-old Guinean man in western France has preliminarily been charged with voluntary homicide, the local prosecutor said Wednesday. The man was fatally shot by an officer as he allegedly tried to flee a traffic stop. The investigation is still ongoing.
Despite a beefed-up police presence Wednesday night, violence resumed after dusk with protesters shooting fireworks and hurling stones at police in Nanterre, who fired repeated volleys of tear gas.
As demonstrations spread to other towns, police and firefighters struggled to contain protesters and extinguish numerous blazes. Schools, police stations, town halls and other public buildings were damaged from Toulouse in the south to Lille in the north, with most of the damage in the Paris suburbs, according to a spokesperson for the national police.
Fire damaged the town hall in the the Paris suburb of L’Ile-Saint-Denis, not far from the country’s national stadium and the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Darmanin said 170 officers had been injured in the unrest but none of the injuries was life-threatening. At least 90 public buildings were vandalized.
The number of civilians injured was not immediately released.
Scenes of violence in France’s suburbs echo 2005, when the deaths of 15-year-old Bouna Traoré and 17-year-old Zyed Benna led to three weeks of nationwide riots, exposing anger and resentment in neglected, crime-ridden suburban housing projects.
The two boys were electrocuted after hiding from police in a power substation in the Paris suburb of Clichy-sous-Bois.
The mother of killed 17-year-old Nahel, center on truck, gestures during a march for Nahel, Thursday, June 29, 2023 in Nanterre, outside Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
French President Emmanuel Macron held an emergency security meeting Thursday about the violence.
“These acts are totally unjustifiable,” Macron said at the beginning of the meeting, which aimed at securing hot spots and planning for the coming days “so full peace can return.”
Macron also said it was time for “remembrance and respect” as Nahel’s mother called for a silent march Thursday that drew a large crowd to Nelson Mandela Square, where he was killed.
Some marchers had “Justice for Nahel” printed on the front of their T-shirts. “The police kill” read one marcher’s placard.
“I’m afraid of what might come next,” said marcher Amira Taoubas, a mother of four boys, the eldest aged 11. “I’d like it to stop and that it never happens again. It’s just not possible to die like this, for no reason. I wouldn’t want it to happen to my own children.”
Bouquets of orange and yellow roses now mark the site of the shooting.
Government officials condemned the killing and sought to distance themselves from the police officer’s actions.
Videos of the shooting shared online show two police officers leaning into the driver-side window of a yellow car before the vehicle pulls away as one officer fires into the window. The videos show the car later crashed into a post nearby.
The driver died at the scene, the prosecutor’s office said.
Deadly use of firearms is less common in France than in the United States, though several people have died or sustained injuries at the hands of French police in recent years, prompting demands for more accountability. France also saw protests against racial profiling and other injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police in Minnesota.
The most recent government statistics available show that 17 people were killed after police and gendarmerie officers shot at them in 2021.
Asked about police abuses, Macron said justice should be allowed to run its course.
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Sylvie Corbet, Alex Turnbull and John Leicester reported from Paris. Oleg Cetinic, Christophe Ena and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Nanterre; Angela Charlton in Paris; and Brian Melley in London contributed to this story.
On June 29, Move Forward Phitsanulok‘s official Facebook page announced that Pita Limjaroenrat, the party’s leader and candidate for prime minister, would travel to Phitsanulok province on June 30 to thank the people.
According to news reports, it was an impromptu trip when the party announced the candidacy of Patipat Santipada, a Phitsanulok MP, for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives. This was seen as a political show of force. However, negotiations for the post of speaker have not yet been concluded.
Move Forward Phitsanulok’s official Facebook
It was also reported that Pita will visit Khon Kaen province on Saturday, July 1 and he will join a motorcade to thank the people together with Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the Pheu Thai Party, if the negotiations for the speaker post can be successfully concluded. However, the Pheu Thai Party denied the existence of such a schedule.
Pheu Thai Party leader Cholnan Srikaew said on Thursday he’s confident the party will eventually find a solution with the MFP as to which party should have the House Speaker post. Cholnan said it’s just a matter of negotiation and his party is committed to be part of a democratic coalition.
Pheu Thai Party leader Cholnan Srikaew
However, news sources in the Palang Pracharat Party said on the same day that in the end, Pheu Thai will not set up a government with the MFP but with the Palang Pracharat and General Prawit Wongsuwan will be the 30th Prime Minister.
The MFP and the Pheu Thai have scheduled a meeting for Sunday, July 2, followed by meetings with other parties to form a coalition government. All negotiations must be completed before July 3, the day the parliamentary session opens, and the House will elect the Speaker of the House of Representatives and two Deputy Speakers of the House of Representatives on July 4.
Members of the Move Forward Party
Move Forward is still seen as in an uncertain position to lead the government, especially after the Pheu Thai Party announced its intention to take over as Speaker of the House. This has led to a stalemate in reaching an agreement. Meanwhile, Pita himself is also under scrutiny, and complaints have been filed about his share ownership of ITV during the election campaign.
In addition, the party has faced strong opposition from conservatives over proposed amendments to Article 112 of the Penal Code.
