Time_23Mar2020

Time March 16–23, 2020

TheBrief News

NEWS

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Migrant death

after Turkey

opens border

A child died after a boat

carrying 48 people

capsized off the Greek

island of Lesbos on

March 2. It was the first

reported death since

Turkey announced

it was opening its

borders with Europe to

migrants on Feb. 29,

resulting in a huge

increase in people

attempting to get from

there to Greece.

U.S. seeks

new fees from

immigrants

Under a proposed

Executive Office for

Immigration Review

regulation released

Feb. 27, it could cost

immigrants nearly

$1,000 to fight

deportation in court—

nearly 10 times the

previous amount. The

rule would also charge

asylum seekers a $

court fee, with waiver

applications available

for those who can’t pay.

Netanyahu

tops Israel’s

election

Prime Minister

Benjamin Netanyahu

claimed victory over

centrist rival Benny

Gantz in Israel’s

general election

on March 2, the

country’s third in less

than a year. Results

suggested Netanyahu’s

conservative Likud

party failed to win an

outright majority, but

he called it a “victory

against all odds.”

TRAIL OF DESTRUCTION Fallen trees and other debris covers buildings in northern downtown

Nashville after a tornado ripped through the city and surrounding area in the early hours of

March 3. At least 24 people were killed across four counties, including several children—making

it the second-deadliest tornado in Tennessee history. Dozens of structures, including homes and

churches, collapsed during the storm, and disrupted power lines cut electricity for 50,000 buildings.

Surrounded by Smoldering houSeS

and burned cars in northeast New Delhi,

Mohammed Efaz said he would never return

to India’s capital. “We will never come back

here to live among Hindus,” Efaz told TIME

as he loaded his small truck, preparing to

flee to his home village after riots in Delhi

left at least 47 people, mostly Muslims, dead

in late February. “The divide between Hin-

dus and Muslims is unbridgeable now.”

MEAN STREETS Beginning Feb. 23 and

lasting several days, the riots were a

bloody milestone after six years of Hindu-

nationalist rule. Since winning re-election

with a huge majority in May, Prime Minis-

ter Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP) has pushed policies that critics say put

Muslims at risk, including a controversial

citizenship law in December that sparked

months of protests. The Delhi riots began

after a local Hindu- nationalist politician

called for Muslim protesters to be cleared

from the streets, but many observers said

the febrile climate made violence inevitable.

MOB RULE Some Hindus were also killed,

but it quickly emerged that Modi’s BJP and

the Delhi police force his government over-

sees had quietly supported the mobs tar-

geting Muslims; rioters chanted slogans,

burned buildings and beat Muslims as po-

lice reportedly looked on. “They have tacit

permission, and probably also protection,”

says Thomas Blom Hansen, a scholar of

Hindu nationalism at Stanford University.

Modi condemned the violence three days

after it began, but experts say that while the

BJP claimed noninvolvement, its rhetoric

and policies were responsible.

BURNED BRIDGES Muslims, who make up

some 15% of India’s population to Hindus’

79%, fear not only more violence but also

continued government persecution. Before

driving away with his wife and son, Efaz

had no doubt who was to blame. “The BJP

has won in its battle to paint all Muslims as

traitors,” he said. “This is what the Hindu

nationalists wanted.” —billy Perrigo/

london and Sameer yaSir/delhi

THE BULLETIN

After Delhi violence, Muslims

in India fear what’s next

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