Displaying items by tag: violence

Thursday, 08 April 2021 21:01

Mozambique: MSF helping thousands

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said they will continue to work around the clock assisting thousands of people evacuated from the shores of Palma after violent attacks by insurgents. At the seaport of Pemba MSF teams have been assisting refugees who are scared, traumatised, hungry and desperate. Project director Luiz Guimaraes said, ‘We have three mobile clinics around Pemba city. We provide for 400 to 450 consultations per day.’ He said that out of fear people fled, walking long distances on foot without food and shelter. Teams are also assisting with water and sanitation, as people need clean water to drink. ‘In this situation, they drink dirty water, and they have a lot of diseases caused by waterborne pathogens.’ He said that they had also implemented mental health services to help people cope with their traumatic experiences. Pray for God’s peace to comfort the refugees.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 01 April 2021 21:15

USA: attacks on Asian-Americans

Hate crimes involving Asian-American victims soared in New York city last year. Officials are grappling with the problem as new incidents occur. ‘I’ve never cried like that before,’ Maggie Cheng said, after seeing security footage showing her mother being shoved to the ground on a crowded street. ‘To see my mother get thrown like that, she looks like a feather, a rag doll.’ The attack, which gained widespread attention on social media, was one of four attacks in a day against Asian-American women in New York. Concerns intensified after an Asian man was stabbed on Thursday night near Chinatown. Asian-Americans make up 16% of the population of the city: it is feared that the wave of racism and violence against them during the pandemic is surging again. The attacks are random, fast and furious, stoking a lot of fear and paranoia. Many Asians are not leaving their homes.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 04 March 2021 20:22

DRC: Christian persecution

Over a dozen lives are claimed in nightly raids in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. On 1 March Italian diplomats and World Food Programme workers were killed in an attack on a UN convoy. Officials blame the Allied Democratic Forces, or ADF, for this incident - the latest in a disturbing trend. Armed groups have killed over a thousand civilians in eastern DRC since late 2019. ‘In 2021, we’ve seen mass attacks by these Muslim extremists,’ said Voice of the Martyrs Canada. There are more than 100 armed groups operating in DRC. Not all of them are Islamic, but those that are have one goal in mind. They are radical, and even though they may have lost some control in places like Iraq and Syria they’re doing whatever they can to cause destruction, particularly where a large majority of people are Christian.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 18 February 2021 20:11

Mozambique: IS terrorism

IS has taken a firm grip on territory in Mozambique, far from its original strongholds in Syria. Even though it is losing territory in most other places, it has killed and kidnapped thousands in the country since 2017. Sphiwe, a Christian worker with Trans World Radio, says, ‘They behead people, they attack homes and villages. People live in fear. It causes displacement, as people move away to protect themselves.’ Many fear the next attack so much they avoid working in the fields. Christian broadcasting continues in troubled areas and also provides support for refugees. Sphiwe says, ‘It is emotionally draining. Sometimes they are adopted or taken in with other families, so that one family may end up having fifty people within one home because they are trying to help out.’ Pray for those fleeing from trauma in Mozambique to find hope and life in Jesus.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 11 February 2021 21:05

Teens and hard drugs

Among 17-year-olds in the UK, one in ten will have used hard drugs, such as ketamine and cocaine, a study by the University College London suggests. Nearly a third of 17-year-olds had tried cannabis and more than half admitted to binge-drinking alcohol. Almost 20,000 young people, born between 2000 and 2002, were surveyed as part of the Millennium Cohort Study. Drug-use rates were higher among white teens than black teens. A quarter of 17-year-olds had assaulted someone, including shoving, slapping or punching, over the previous 12 months. Levels of vandalism and weapon use were similar to when they were 14 but shoplifting rose from 4% in early adolescence to 7% a few years later. It remains to be seen how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected engagement in these behaviours.

Published in British Isles
Thursday, 11 February 2021 20:27

Israel: soaring crime in Arab towns

Ahead of the March elections, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is repeating promises he made nine years ago to control crime rates in Arab towns and villages. A recent firefight broke out on 1 February, when the police tried to stop men from shooting at a house. The Arab gang started shooting at the police with automatic weapons. When it was over, two young people were dead. One was suspected of firing at the house, but the other, Ahmed Hijazi, was a nursing student who happened to be in the vicinity but was not involved in the incident. The next day, thousands from local Arab towns and villages took to the street to protest Hijazi’s death and the police's inability to rein in crime in Arab society. Over the weekend, thousands more marched against escalating crime rates. Netanyahu has spent the last few weeks visiting Arab towns and villages and holding Zoom meetings with Arab mayors to discuss crime and violence in their towns.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 28 January 2021 20:36

Ethiopia: surge in violence - 1,000 deaths

Up to 1,000 people – including priests and church leaders – were killed in recent attacks in Ethiopia. A Belgium-based nonprofit organisation released reports of 1,000 people hiding in an Orthodox church in Aksum, thought to contain the Ark of the Covenant. They were brought out and shot in the square. 750 were definitely murdered, and possibly more of the injured died later. Inside Ethiopia there is political conflict. The government’s term of office ended in September, and the May elections were cancelled due to coronavirus. This has created political unrest where Christians and Muslims are dying in a long line of fatal assaults against innocent people in the Tigray region. 154 were killed in December in Maryam Dengelat, and ten from one family were killed on Christmas Day. Also, Eritrean troops have been killing dozens.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 28 January 2021 20:19

India: protests over farm laws

Indian farmers have been protesting against farm acts passed by the parliament last September. Their unions have demanded the laws be repealed, and will accept nothing less. The new acts, which exclude guarantees giving farmers a fair price for their produce, are described as ‘anti-farmer laws’ by the unions and opposition politicians. Since September the protests have become more violent. On 26 November a nationwide general strike by 250 million people took place in support of the farmer unions,and on 30 November 300,000 farmers converged in various places from the Punjab to Delhi. On 26 January tens of thousands violently fought the police, overturned vehicles, and hoisted religious flags from the ramparts of Delhi’s Red Fort. See

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 07 January 2021 20:43

USA: Trump transmission turmoil

On 5 January a throng of Trump supporters swathed in red, white and blue had a ‘Jericho march’ around Washington in imitation of the Israelites besieging the city of Jericho. Some wore ‘Make America Great Again’ hats, waved flags featuring Trump, and held signs saying ‘Donald v Goliath’. Some were singing ‘How great Is our God’. The Georgia runoff on 6 January gave legislative advantages to the Democrats, while a rally gathered at the nation’s capital. Then Trump’s supporters stormed and ransacked the Capitol building, abruptly forcing Congress members and vice-president Mike Pence to flee the premises. Dozens were arrested, and at least four people were killed during the chaos. The next morning Trump agreed to leave office in an orderly transition of power, but he did not admit defeat or say he was conceding. He also failed to acknowledge publicly the deadly riot by his supporters inside the Capitol.

Published in Worldwide
Thursday, 17 December 2020 18:22

USA: election protests escalating

Before the election, political tensions were boiling over in a particularly divisive campaign season. Brawling between people with American flags, people dressed in black and others sporting red gear saying ‘Make America Great Again’ launched eggs at each other, yelled expletives, and became violent. These political tensions worsened in November as many refused to accept Joe Biden’s election victory. Violent demonstrators on the streets of Washington and other cities resulted in stabbings and arrests. In recent battles between BLM, Trump supporters, and the extremist right Proud Boys, five police officers were stabbed, two more were hospitalised, many were arrested, and several were shot, including a Washington police officer. The media is calling this season ‘Make America break again’ not ‘Make America great again’. Meanwhile the most recognisable female Christian speaker, Pastor Beth Moore, warned believers of the dangers of Christian nationalism and called on Christians to ‘move back’ from supporting dangerous and seductive Trumpism. See

Published in Worldwide