SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees on Tuesday (Jun 2) that he stood by his decision not to challenge inflammatory posts by US President Donald Trump, refusing to give ground a day after staff members staged a rare public protest.
A group of Facebook employees - nearly all of them working at home due to the coronavirus pandemic - walked off the job on Monday. They complained the company should have acted against Trump's posts containing the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts".
Zuckerberg told employees on a video chat that Facebook had conducted a thorough review and was right to leave the posts unchallenged, a company spokesperson said.
She said Zuckerberg also acknowledged the decision had upset many employees and said the company was looking into "non-binary" options beyond either leaving up such posts or taking them down.
One Facebook employee, who tweeted criticism on Monday, posted again on Twitter during the all-hands meeting to express disappointment.
"It's crystal clear today that leadership refuses to stand with us," Facebook employee Brandon Dail wrote on Twitter. Dail's LinkedIn profile describes him as a user interface engineer at Facebook in Seattle.
On Friday, Twitter Inc affixed a warning label to a Trump tweet about widespread protests over the death of a black man in Minnesota that included the phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts".
Twitter said the post violated its rules against glorifying violence but was left up as a public interest exception, with reduced options for interactions and distribution.
Facebook declined to act on the same message, and Zuckerberg sought to distance his company from the fight between the president and Twitter. He maintained that while he found Trump's remarks "deeply offensive", they did not violate company policy against incitements to violence.
Twitter last week also put a fact-checking label on two Trump tweets containing misleading claims about mail-in ballots. Facebook, which exempts politicians' posts from its program with third-party fact-checkers, took no action on that post.
Timothy Aveni, a junior software engineer on Facebook's team dedicated to fighting misinformation, announced his resignation in protest over that decision.
"Mark always told us that he would draw the line at speech that calls for violence. He showed us on Friday that this was a lie. Facebook will keep moving the goalposts every time Trump escalates, finding excuse after excuse not to act," he wrote in a Facebook post.
Civil rights leaders who attended an hour-long video call on Monday night with Zuckerberg and other top Facebook executives called the CEO's defense of the hands-off approach to Trump's "incomprehensible."
"He did not demonstrate understanding of historic or modern-day voter suppression and he refuses to acknowledge how Facebook is facilitating Trump's call for violence against protesters," said a joint statement from leaders of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and Color of Change.
Some critics posted calls on Twitter for Facebook's independent oversight board to weigh in. But the board will not review any cases until early fall, and users initially will only be able to appeal to the board about removed content, not content that Facebook has decided to leave untouched. The board, which can overrule Zuckerberg, will only review a small slice of content decisions.
Zuckerberg spoke with Trump on Friday, as first reported by news website Axios.
WASHINGTON: At least five US police officers were hit by gunfire during violent protests over the death of a black man in police custody, police and media said, hours after President Donald Trump vowed to use the military to halt the unrest.
Trump deepened outrage on Monday (Jun 1) by posing at a church clutching a bible after law enforcement officers used teargas and rubber bullets to clear the way for him to walk there after he made his remarks in the White House Rose Garden.
The US Secret Service, charged with protecting the president, on Tuesday closed down until further notice the streets around the White House, media reports said.
Demonstrators set fire to a strip mall in Los Angeles, looted stores in New York City and clashed with police in St Louis, Missouri, where four officers were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
An emotional St Louis police commissioner, John Hayden, said about 200 protesters were looting and hurling fireworks and rocks at officers.
"They had officers with gas poured on them. What is going on? How can this be? Mr Floyd was killed somewhere else and they are tearing up cities all across the country,” he told reporters.
A protestor kicks in a window on a Sheriff van during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of African-American man George Floyd, in St Louis, Missouri, U.S., June 1, 2020. Picture taken June 1,2020 REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant
A police officer was also shot during protests in the Las Vegas Strip area, AP news agency said, quoting police. Another officer was "involved in a shooting" in the same area, the agency said without giving details.
It did not give details of the shootings or the officers' condition. Police declined to comment to Reuters.
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak said in a tweet his office had been notified of two separate incidents in Las Vegas. "The State is in contact with local law enforcement and continues to monitor the situation," he said.
Trump has condemned the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African American who died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25, and has promised justice.
But, with anti-police brutality marches and rallies having turned violent after dark each day in the past week, he said rightful protests could not be drowned out by an "angry mob".
"Mayors and governors must establish an overwhelming law enforcement presence until the violence has been quelled," Trump said. "If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them."
Floyd's death has reignited simmering racial tensions in a politically divided country that has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, with African Americans accounting for a disproportionately high number of cases.
Protesters rally against police brutality and the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Seattle, Washington, U.S. June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
Protesters rally against police brutality and the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Seattle, Washington, U.S. June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
Democratic Illinois Governor J B Pritzker on Tuesday urged patience, saying Americans could work through these tough issues. He pledged to take legal action if Trump carried out his military threat.
"We can bring down the temperature, but not when the president ... is standing up calling for troops, and law and order, and domination," he told MSNBC. "We will fight him, and we will take it to federal court."
Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, in a separate MSNBC interview on Tuesday, said there were no signs of active duty US military in the city overnight.
CRITICISM OF CHURCH VISIT
Following his address, Trump walked through an area that had been cleared by police to nearby St John's Episcopal Church, where he posed for pictures with his daughter, Ivanka, and US Attorney General William Barr.
The presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church diocese in Washington DC, Michael Curry, was among those who criticised Trump's use of the historic church for a photo opportunity.
"In so doing, he used a church building and the Holy Bible for partisan political purposes," he said on Twitter. The church suffered minor fire damage during protests on Monday night.
The White House said it was clearing the area before a curfew.
A few hours later, thousands of people marched through Brooklyn, shouting "Justice now!" while some passing drivers honked in support.
On Tuesday, Trump was scheduled to visit the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington.
Two police officers were struck by a car at a demonstration in Buffalo, New York, on Monday night. Officials said the driver and passengers were believed to be in custody. It was not clear whether the incident was intentional.
In Hollywood, dozens of people were shown in television images looting a drug store. Windows were shattered at a nearby Starbucks and two restaurants.
A local store is looted by protesters after a rally against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
NYPD officers try to take control of the Soho area as they detain protesters who were looting in local stores after marching against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
AUTOPSIES
A second autopsy ordered by Floyd's family and released on Monday found his death was homicide by "mechanical asphyxiation", or physical force that interfered with his oxygen supply. The report says three officers contributed to his death.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later released autopsy findings that also called Floyd's death homicide by asphyxiation. The county report said Floyd suffered cardiopulmonary arrest while being restrained by police and that he had arteriosclerotic and hypertensive heart disease, fentanyl intoxication and recent methamphetamine use.
Derek Chauvin, the 44-year-old Minneapolis police officer who kneeled on Floyd, was arrested on third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter charges. Three other officers involved in the arrest have not been charged.
Floyd's death was the latest case of police brutality against black men that was caught on videotape and prompted an outcry over racism in US law enforcement.
Dozens of cities are under curfews not seen since riots after the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The National Guard deployed in 23 states and Washington, DC.
Most Americans were just emerging from weeks of strict "stay-at-home" orders imposed over the pandemic.
Protesters wearing protective face coverings peacefully march down Broadway from the State Capitol despite the 9 p.m. curfew in Denver, Colorado, U.S., June 1, 2020. Picture taken June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Alyson McClaran
Demonstrators raise their fists as they sit in silence for nine minutes in a peaceful protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, at 19th and Broadway in Denver, Colorado, U.S., June 1, 2020. Picture taken June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Alyson McClaran
On Monday, dozens paid their respects to Floyd outside Cup Foods, the scene of his death, leaving flowers and signs. A little girl wrote, “I’ll fight with you,” in the road.
Terrence Floyd, the victim's brother, told the gathering he wanted people to get educated and vote rather than resort to violence and destruction. "Let's do this another way," he said.
James Pool, a 31-year-old former Marine, said he hoped peaceful protests would make a difference.
"I want to see more community and this country come together and stop letting the powers that be divide us," he said.
WASHINGTON: The United States is considering the option of welcoming people from Hong Kong in response to China's push to impose national security legislation in the former British colony, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in remarks released on Monday (Jun 1).
Influential Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell also said on Monday he hoped the Trump administration would soon identify specific ways to "impose costs on Beijing" for curbing freedoms in Hong Kong.
McConnell said the United States should mirror the response of other democracies and open its doors to people from the territory.
Addressing the Senate, McConnell said the United States had "a rich heritage of standing as a beacon of light" to refugees from war and communism.
"We should exercise it again for the people of Hong Kong," he said.
President Donald Trump on Friday ordered his administration to begin the process of eliminating special US treatment for Hong Kong to punish China for curbing freedoms there, but stopped short of immediately ending privileges that have helped the territory remain a global financial center.
Last week, Britain said it was prepared to offer extended visa rights and a pathway to citizenship for almost 3 million Hong Kong residents.
While speaking to the American Enterprise Institute on Friday, Pompeo was asked if Washington was considering welcoming people from Hong Kong "to come here and bring their entrepreneurial creativity".
"We are considering it. I don’t know precisely how it will play out," he replied in remarks shared by the State Department on Monday.
"The British have, as you know, a different relationship. A lot of these folks have British national passports. There’s a long history between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom; it’s very different. But we’re taking a look at it," he added.
When asked about Pompeo's comments, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Tuesday that China would not tolerate any foreign interference in Hong Kong.
"We wish the US would do more to benefit Hong Kong's stability and prosperity and the development of China-US relations," he said, speaking at a daily news conference in Beijing.
Last year, Trump approved legislation stating that Hong Kong residents may not be denied visas because they have been subjected to politically motivated arrest, detention, or other "adverse" government action.
On Friday, Trump also issued a proclamation suspending entry of Chinese nationals identified as potential security risks, something sources said could affect thousands.
In a statement on Monday, Pompeo said the move would apply only to graduate students and researchers "targeted, co-opted and exploited" by the Chinese government, representing "only a small subset" of such applicants.
HONG KONG: Many Hong Kong people will find their own way to mark the 31st anniversary of Chinese troops opening fire on protesters in and around Tiananmen Square, after an annual candlelight vigil was cancelled for the first time because of the coronavirus.
The anniversary of the crackdown on the student-led democracy protests has a special poignancy this year, coming a week after Beijing gave the green light to move ahead with national security legislation for Hong Kong, which critics fear will crush freedoms in the former British colony.
"I can't be silent. If people tell me to keep silent, I won't," said office worker Daisy Lam, 52, who has attended nearly every vigil since Jun 4, 1989, with her children.
Former Hong Kong student leader Chan Ching-wah, 56, was in Beijing on Jun 4, 1989, and recalled the kindness of a customs officer who let him to take a bag full of photos and video of the military crackdown when he left Beijing.
"I feel like I had never left because the danger that Hong Kong is facing, the repression it's going to face is no small thing," Chan told Reuters as he held a photo of himself in Tiananmen Square.
"I hope the battle in Hong Kong won't lead to a crackdown like the one on Jun 4."
Former Hong Kong student leader Chan Ching-wah speaks to Reuters at the June 4th Museum in Hong Kong, China May 30, 2020. Picture taken May 30, 2020. REUTERS/Yoyo Chow
Fears have intensified over what many residents of Hong Kong see as Beijing's encroachment on its freedoms, and the impact of that on the city's status as a global financial hub.
Mainland and Hong Kong authorities reject criticism of the security legislation and insist the city's high degree of autonomy will remain intact under a "one country, two systems" formula.
In past years, Hong Kong's candlelight memorials have drawn tens of thousands of people to the city's Victoria Park.
But police said this week a mass gathering would pose a serious threat to public health just as the city reported its first locally transmitted coronavirus cases in two weeks.
Hong Kong has banned gatherings of more than eight people to prevent the spread of the virus.
Embattled city leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday the restrictions were not about limiting freedom and public health was also a part of national security.
Despite the ban, online forums and the organiser of the vigil have called on people to light candles to remember those who perished.
Priscilla Leung, a retired civil servant who volunteers for non-government organisations, said she would continue to inform young people about the Tiananmen crackdown, which is a taboo issue on the mainland. The anniversary is not marked by the government.
"I have already bought some electronic candle lights and I plan to light them on the streets," said Leung.
"It doesn't matter if it's one person or a few people, as long as there's fire in our hearts, we'll be able to pass on the message to the next generation."
HONG KONG: A cluster of nine coronavirus cases raised concerns in Hong Kong over renewed local transmission in a city that has been one of the most successful in keeping the pandemic under control.
The first two cases in the cluster - a husband and wife - were confirmed on Sunday. Since then four neighbours, two of the wife's work colleagues, and a fire department medical officer who had sent the woman to hospital have been confirmed to have been infected. None had been abroad recently.
"We are very concerned about this cluster of nine," Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam told her weekly news conference on Tuesday (Jun 2), before an executive council meeting.
The infected woman is a night-shift worker at a Kerry Logistics warehouse, where she labels food items imported from Britain, local media reported.
The government was expected to extend a ban on group gatherings larger than eight later on Tuesday. It was due to expire at the end of Thursday, and has been extended several times for two-week periods.
The limits on the size of gatherings prompted police to reject for the first time an application of the annual vigil tens of thousands of Hong Kong people traditionally hold in a downtown park to commemorate protesters killed in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square 31 years ago.
A further extension is also likely to thwart plans for legally organising anniversary marches of the anti-government protests that started in June last year and resumed recently after Beijing announced plans to impose national security laws on Hong Kong.
Lam has repeatedly said health measures had no political motive. On Tuesday, she said they were not about "taking away people's freedom", but about protecting people, adding that public health was "also part of national security."
As of Monday, Hong Kong had reported 1,088 coronavirus cases and four deaths.
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday (Jun 1) suggested he would use federal troops to end unrest that has erupted following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in police custody last week.
"If a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them," Trump said during brief remarks at the White House.
The demonstrations have been largely peaceful, but police in some cities have used force against journalists and protesters, and protesters have clashed with police. Many US cities have set curfews.
To deploy the armed forces, Trump would need to formally invoke a group of statutes known as the Insurrection Act.
WHAT IS THE INSURRECTION ACT?
Under the US Constitution, governors generally have the authority to maintain order within state borders. This principle is reflected in a law called the Posse Comitatus Act, which generally bars the federal military from participating in domestic law enforcement.
San Diego Police officers in riot gear and a special tactics group face off with demonstrators in downtown San Diego, California, as people gather to protest against the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd. (Photo: ARIANA DREHSLER/AFP)
The Insurrection Act, which dates to the early 1800s, creates an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act.
It permits the president to send in US forces to suppress a domestic insurrection that has hindered the normal enforcement of US law.
CAN TRUMP SEND IN TROOPS WITHOUT A GOVERNOR'S APPROVAL?
Yes. The law lays out a scenarios in which the president is required to have approval from a state's governor or legislature, and also instances where such approval is not necessary, said Robert Chesney, a professor of national security law at the University of Texas.
Yes. The Insurrection Act has been invoked on dozens of occasions through US history. Since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, its use has become "exceedingly rare," according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.
Police in riot gear are seen on an armoured vehicle during nationwide unrest following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in Long Beach, California, US on May 31, 2020. (Photo: REUTERS/Patrick T. Fallon)
The Insurrection Act was last used in 1992, when the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of black motorist Rodney King led to deadly riots.
CAN A COURT STRIKE DOWN TRUMP'S APPLICATION OF THE LAW?
Chesney said a successful legal challenge to Trump's use of the law was "very unlikely." Courts have historically been very reluctant to second-guess a president's military declarations, he said.
"The law, for all practical purposes, leaves this to the president with very little judicial review with any teeth," Chesney said.
