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THE POLICE SHOOTING of a young black man in the St Louis, Missouri suburb of Berkeley has sparked protests and further debate on racial tensions in the United States.
Antonio Martin, 18, was shot dead by a police officer outside a gas station in Berkeley last night after he raised a pistol at the officer, according to local law enforcement. The shooting sparked protests and clashes with police at the scene.
The incident joins a growing list of similar incidents which have stoked racial tensions in the United States in the last six months:
July 17
African American father-of-six Eric Garner, 43, dies after being held in a police chokehold while he is being arrested for selling individual cigarettes illegally in New York. A coroner declares the death a homicide, but a grand jury opts not to charge the white officer involved, unleashing demonstrations in several cities.
August 9
A white police officer kills an unarmed black teenager, aspiring college student Michael Brown, 18, unleashing ten days of protests and riots and heavy-handed police tactics in Ferguson, Missouri. The later decision not to indict the police officer, Darren Wilson, prompts riots in Ferguson and raises racial tensions.
November 20
An unarmed black man, Akai Gurley, 28, a father of a young daughter, is shot by a white police officer who opens fire in a dimly lit staircase at a Brooklyn, New York apartment block. On the day of his funeral on December 7, New Yorkers take to the streets to denounce the spate of police killings.
November 22
In Cleveland, Ohio, a video of US police officers shooting dead Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy carrying a replica gun seconds after confronting him stokes anger.
December 23
Police say they shot dead an African American teenager in the town of Berkley, near Ferguson. Police said an officer opened fire on the teen who was carrying a handgun at a petrol station (see below), hitting him several times and killing him.
In another incident on December 20 an African American gunman with an apparent grudge kills two New York police officers, Wenjian Liu, 32 and Rafael Ramos, 40.
They are shot in cold blood in the head in their car parked in front of an poor apartment block in Brooklyn. Their killer, a suspected member of the “Black Guerilla Family” gang, which is known to the police, then commits suicide on the platform of a subway station.
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I was very impressed, Well done to all concerned.
@David Huston: Well that was the objective i’m sure.
@David Huston: I only saw it on TV3 channels.
The private sector did not know if they would get paid or not if they didn’t risk their lives travelling to work on Monday including building sites even in the worst affected areas.
@Jay Lane: Government should have ordered all businesses to close.
@Eamonn Sheen: they don’t have the power to do that
@Hurt Stoogie: They have the power to ban any employers from punishing an employee for not going out in a red warning.
@Hurt Stoogie: Gardaí where I live visited all local businesses and made them close
@Sandra Turner: What businesses they close & what power would they had to make them close?
@Sandra Turner: Bullshit. Gardai have no such powers.
@Cian O Donoghue: even if they don’t have official power I’d be shocked if any reputable business stayed open after a Garda visit advising not to open for safety of staff and customers
@the phantom: how many gardai would it take to get that done????
@Cian O Donoghue: doesn’t public safety have precedence?
@Jay Lane: my sister works for the private sector and got a text message not to come into work. I work for the public sector and I got no such message and went into work.
The national emergency may not have materialised nation wide on this occasion but the procedures put in place worked well and a bualadh bos is deserved for all concerned…let’s hope the expertise is in place for more serious incidents such as another nuclear disaster at windscale or a flu/disease pandemic.
@winston smith: This is the first i’m finding out about this service.. i don’t have tv and don’t listen to radio, so this emergency broadcast is useless in reaching me. in fact, only for my mother going onto facebook to check in with my workplace, i would have been out at the peak of the storm!
warnings like this need to be far more generalised – as others have said, take mobile phone operators into account as well.. THAT would reach me.
at 30, i don’t bother with tv, radio, or social media usage…my old facebook account is basically for stuff that forces a sign-in. if i didn’t need it for things like the journal, i would get rid (and nope, i don’t have twitter, or whatsapp, or instagram, or whatever else is popular currently).
i get my news from newspapers and the journal. (not a technophobe, just not into social media, etc)
@Mirabelle Stonegate: in fairness, I’d say you’re very much in the minority as a person who doesn’t watch TV or listen to radio. Also you use the journal which had plenty of warnings.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: so.the numerous articles the journal.had warning us and telling us of the red alert was lost on you because tou don’t watch tv or listen to the radio…..
@Mirabelle Stonegate: ya, good man, you’re 30 and mammy is checking to see if you have school in the morning.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: do you realize how dumb you sound. When a Hurricane is approaching you should be looking for news and updates yourself. Depending on your Mother at age 30 is pathetic. I hope she is not depending on you.
@Aine O Connor: I didnt ask her to do that, she did it herself and then rang me.
I was keeping an eye on the journal and the like, but im in a very new job, and still on probation. Im used to working for a company that doesnt care two whits about its employees, so i was of the mind that i needed to get to work no matter what, to ensure i kept my job. I was genuinely shocked that, not only did my new employer close for the day, but that they are still paying us.
A friend at my old company got stuck in england because of the storm and didnt get home until tuesday. They have issued him with a written warning, even though this is the first time he has ever had to call off work in 5 years. The same company gave me a stern talking to for missing a week and a half of work due to a broken wrist. My doctor recommended i be off for 4-6 weeks, but i was told that they couldnt guarantee i would have a job if i stayed off that long. This sort of employer is why i would have been out in the peak of the storm had my mother not thought to check social media.
Unless i were to move home to my parents, i have absolutely no way of getting tv channels in my house. Ive also never really cared for radio, i hated trying to tune as a kid, and now with internet based streaming, it never works right for me.
And im not just talking about for somethinglike a storm that this should be generalised. I check the news when i wak up, and again when i go to bed. If i think of it, i check during the day.
Or what about people who are out of the country? My parents were away earlier in the year, and knew nothing about a couple of the terror attacks that happened at that time, as they make a point not to watch the news whilst on holiday. I know other people who are the same, andignore the news whilst abroad. A text-based system would reach those people.
@Mirabelle Stonegate: so you don’t watch or listen to anything broadcast but you’re upset if you don’t get a broadcast warning?
@Mirabelle Stonegate:
I have a 30 year old daughter and she was constantly in touch with me as I live alone to check that I was ok. Do you get my drift.
These red alerts should come up every time Michael Martin is on TV
@Shaun Gallagher: crazy comment but I do agree. Nothing politician.
@Shaun Gallagher: who is Micheal Martin?
Hmm didn’t see the warning but rarely watch Irish channels.
This should be done on the mobile networks. Regionally or national. The mechanism is already in place with all operators but not licensed. Whilst the alert on tv screens was better than nothing, its from an era when we were all watching Glenroe on sunday eve.
@Colum Cusack: we’ll all the news apps I have sent push notifications.
@Deborah Behan: *well stupid autocorrect
It should use the mobile messaging network to notify all mobile users. It’s a bit old school to broadcast a message on TV. What percentage of the population will be watching TV if there’s a national emergency at 10am?
There was nothing on Netflix
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Same here – I guess the national emergency is only for those who decide to pay €180 a year.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: There never is anything on Netflix
What if the lecky is the first thing to go??
@Tony Murphy: On Sunday night? I suppose they’d continue to broadcast to areas with electricity. You can get radios with batteries in Euro shops now.
Should probably show it on stations people actually watch. Rte could show a flash message of “get free money” and nobody would see it. Close them down. Waste of money!
I have a strong feeling that July 2018 will be a busy month in Ireland’s maternity hospitals.
@Mickelodian Ranks: All with the middle name of Ophelia?
So that’s what we pay the tv license for?! :P
Yeah.. there was no proper warnings for the deaf community! I had to rely on online written news instead of the tv! No subtitles, no ISL… ireland is so backwards when it comes to providing proper services for deaf people
@Ruth McCann: To be fair, journal, FB, Twitter, emergency texts all served both deaf and non deaf people equally.
With almost everyone in the country having a mobile device would it not make sense to also send a message to all mobile devices?
Someone removed the ! From the rte notice just after..
I lived in Florida for 20 years. Seen plenty of hurricanes. I would give the emergency centre a “B” grade. More definitive instructions on what workers should do regarding a Red warning could have been given. This would apply especially for government employees, such as HSE and other critical services. A continuous crawl on all TV channels would have been helpful, too many surfers changing channels to ensure they read a momentary bulletin. Lastly, the EBS must include cable providers. Let’s face it, with hundreds of channels on offer not everyone is tuned into RTE in spite of what RTE might believe.
Was the man crying into his cup of tea part of the message
@Brian Harney: Seems an odd choice of screensaver all right. Is his name Hamlet?
WOW, they actually think people still watch this stuff? Put it on netflix etc. and people might actually have seen it.
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