Briefs: LAPD shoots another Black man; socialist wins 22% in Seattle primaries; and more

August 18, 2014
Issue 

After Brown killing, LAPD shoot another Black man dead

Just two days after the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, 25-year-old Ezell Ford was shot by Los Angeles Police Department officers in South Central Los Angeles, teleSUR English said on August 13.

Officers came to the scene of West 65th and Broadway on the night of August 11 to conduct “an investigative stop”. Witnesses say that Ford was complying with police and lying on the ground when he was shot in the back.

TeleSUR English said Ford was the fifth unarmed black man to be murdered by police in the past three weeks in the United States. Eric Garner was suffocated by New York Police Department officers; John Crawford was killed in Dayton, Ohio, while holding a toy gun in Walmart; Michael Brown was fatally shot in Ferguson, Missouri after surrendering to police; and Jeremy Lake was murdered by two married white police officers, angry that he was dating their daughter.

Across the nation, communities are holding protests against the rise in police brutality in poor communities of color.

Hunger-striking Guantanamo prisoner 'must see doctors'

A United States federal judge ordered the US military to allow an independent medical evaluation on Tuesday for hunger-striking Guantanamo prisoner Abu Wa’el Dhiab, Morning Star said on August 13.

Judge Gladys Kessler directed the government to allow the Syrian prisoner to be examined by experts chosen by his lawyers as soon as possible.

Lawyers had warned her on August 5 that Dhiab’s health had deteriorated sharply as a result of his protest at the US concentration camp on Cuba. The US government had opposed the request, claiming his health had not deteriorated.

Dhiab has been held without charge since August 2002. He has been on a long-term hunger strike to fight the delay in getting final approval from the US government for his resettlement in Uruguay.

Socialist wins 22% in Seattle primaries

US Socialist Alternative candidate Jess Spear has won more than 20% of the vote in the August 5 primary election. Spear was running against Frank Chopp, a 20-year Democrat incumbent in the Washington State parliament and speaker of the house.

The election for the seat will take place in November. The campaign builds on the victory of Kshama Sawant, a socialist who won a position on the Seattle city council last year.

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