Armed police pointed machine guns at people as they removed them from a house
Dramatic footage has emerged showing the moment armed police swoop on
a house in Birmingham, leading out young suspects while pointing
machine guns at them.
Among the people they lead out of the property in Pretoria Road is a boy believed to be aged 12.
Mobile phone footage revealed armed police leading four young people from the house.
A number of officers, police dogs and a force helicopter can clearly be seen in the video.
Children were lined up in the road covered by officers with machine guns, forced to lie down and handcuffed.
An eyewitness said he was driving along the busy road when police stopped traffic after the raid.
‘I was stuck for about 45 minutes so I just got out and started filming,’ he said.
‘The police led the kids out one by one. The youngest only looked about 11 or 12 and the oldest about 19.
‘Some were still in their night clothes and some didn’t have any shoes or slippers on.’
The bystander, who said his name was Mohammed, claimed: ‘There were loads of people watching this and many were filming.
It later turned out that they had been misinformed
‘The police were still there after I left and so were the people – two were in one van and two in another.
It was also alleged that police detained a woman nearby.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Police said: ‘Police were called to
reports of a man believed to be carrying firearms in Pretoria Road,
Bordesley Green, at around 10.50am.
‘Officers and the police helicopter attended the scene but despite a
thorough search no firearms were recovered and no arrests were made.
‘Appears that a call was made with good intent.’
Russia has warned the US over last week’s airstrikes on the country (Picture: AP)
Russia and Iran have renewed their support for the Syrian government,
saying the US missile strike violated Syrian sovereignty but failed to
boost the morale of ‘terror groups’ in the war-torn country.
In a phone call with Syrian president Bashar Assad, Iranian president
Hassan Rouhani called Friday’s strike a ‘blatant violation’ of Syrian
sovereignty, Syrian state media reported.
Mr Assad accused the US of trying to boost the morale of ‘terror
groups’ in Syria. The government refers to all those fighting against it
as terrorists.
A statement carried on the military media arm of Hezbollah condemned
the American strike in much stronger language, saying it had ‘crossed
red lines’ and vowing to ‘reply with force’ to any future aggression ‘in
a variety of ways’.
(Picture: AP)
(Picture: AP)
The Lebanese militant group has invested thousands of fighters in the defence of Mr Assad’s government.
The statement was made in the name of a previously unheard of ‘shared operations room’ between Russia, Iran and allied forces.
There was no comment from Russia or Iran about the statement.
The Kremlin said in a statement Mr Rouhani also spoke with Russian president Vladimir Putin by phone.
‘Both sides noted the inadmissibility of aggressive US actions
against a sovereign state in violation of international law,’ the
statement said.
‘Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani spoke in favour of an objective,
unbiased investigation of all the circumstances of the chemical weapons
incident on April 4 in the Syrian province of Idlib.’
(Picture: Reuters)
(Picture: Reuters)
Mr Rouhani said the US strike would not affect Iran’s Syria policy,
while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not withdraw
in the face of similar aggression.
‘What the Americans did is a strategic mistake and offence.
‘They are repeating the offence of their predecessors,’ Mr Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.
Iran has provided crucial military and economic assistance to Mr Assad throughout Syria’s six-year civil war.
It has organised several Shiite militias from around the Middle East
to fight in support of Mr Assad’s government and has sent troops and
officers from its own Revolutionary Guards.
The US says the strike was in response to a nerve gas attack on the
rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun last week, which has been widely
blamed on government forces.
(Picture: AFP)
(Picture: AFP)
The Syrian government has denied using chemical weapons.
US secretary of state Rex Tillerson denied in an interview on CBS’s
Face The Nation that the strikes signalled an overhaul of American
policy, saying its priority remained to defeat Islamic State militants
in the Middle East.
The strike was the first time American forces targeted a Syrian government installation in the course of the war.
US Treasury officials say they are preparing sanctions in response to
the chemical weapons attack, although the Syrian government is already
buried under US and EU sanctions.
Mr Tillerson will meet with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow later this week.
Moscow has been a steadfast ally of the Syrian government and has
defended it against claims of chemical weapons use in front of the UN
Security Council.
(Picture: Getty)
(Picture: AFP)
Satellite images of the first attack on a Syrian government military base by the US (Picture: Reuters)
A Syrian Sukhoi jet took off from the Shayrat airbase targeted by the
volley of US strikes, Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV channel reported on
Sunday, saying repairs to the base began within hours of the attack.
Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu played down concerns of a
rift with Russia over Ankara’s support for the strike, saying Turkey was
committed to the cease-fire mechanisms it has developed with Russia for
Syria. 14,000-year-old village 'older than Egyptian pyramids' is unearthed in Canada
Turkey provides military support to some of Syria’s opposition forces.
But he said Turkey could not ‘remain silent’ on the Syrian
government’s chemical weapons use, and insisted Moscow work with Ankara
to establish a transitional government in Damascus.
‘We want to continue our efforts with Russia in the Astana process in
terms of measures to increase trust and establish a cease-fire,’ he
told reporters in Antalya, according to the Anadolu state news agency.
In the days after the Khan Sheikhoun attack, Turkey provided the
Syrian Civil Defence search and rescue outfit with 50 protective kits
for responding to chemical attacks, and trained them in their use,
Anadolu said.
L-R:
Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma;
Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; President Muhammadu Buhari; Senate
President
Bukola Saraki; and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Yakubu
Dogara, during the formal launch of the four-year Economic Recovery and
Growth
Plan (ERGP) at the council chamber of the Presidential Villa,
Abuja…wednesday
After months of waiting, President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday
finally launched the four-year Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP)
in Abuja, declaring that his administration would henceforth drive
aggressive economic growth with the same zeal it has deployed to fight
corruption and insecurity.
The plan, spanning the years 2017-2020, was launched by the president
in the council chamber of the Presidential Villa ahead of the weekly
Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
He was joined at the launch by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo; Senate
President Bukola Saraki; Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu
Dogara; Chairman of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Zamfara
State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari; Minister of Budget and National
Planning, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma; the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi
Adeosun; and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Govermor, Mr. Godwin
Emefiele, among other members of the Economic Management Team.
The president, who said he was glad to launch the plan, added that
the government would deploy the same commitment it had employed to fight
corruption and insecurity to improve local content and transform
Nigeria from an import-dependent nation to a producing economy where the
country would consume what it produces.
He also said the plan would serve as a veritable platform for the economy to thrive.
Buhari said his administration would remain committed to his
electoral promise to change the way of doing things in Nigeria and
consequently change Nigeria for good.
He challenged the state governors to draw inspiration from the plan
to articulate economic programmes for their respective states. He also
appealed to Nigerians to co-operate with the government in its drive to
achieve the objectives of the plan.
He equally called on the National Assembly, the business community and the civil society organisations to embrace the plan.
Buhari, who commended the economic team under the leadership of the
vice-president for developing the plan, further explained that it would
improve security, tackle corruption and grow the economy.
He also listed other objectives of the plan to include agricultural
revolution, infrastructure development and social interventions,
stressing that the ERGP would provide the roadmap for Nigeria’s economic
breakthrough.
While introducing the plan earlier, Senator Udoma said it had three
cardinal objectives, namely: to restore security, fight corruption and
guarantee economic recovery.
Furthermore, Udoma who described the plan as the fulfilment of
Buhari’s electoral campaign promise to promote and reinvigorate the
economy, added that the plan would restore economic growth, invest in
Nigerians, boost a competitive economy, and build a self-reliant economy
where Nigeria will consume what it produces and also export same to
foreign countries.
Udoma also said the plan consisted of 60 interventions which he said
would touch various spheres of the nation, make the market function
better and promote discipline, integrity, social justice, national
cohesion and inclusion.
Other features of the plan as listed by Udoma included stabilising
the economy, expanding the economy, improving energy consumption,
transportation and driving industrialisation.
He said in the bid to ensure effective implementation, a special
delivery unit would be established in the presidency to monitor the
implementation process with a view to ensuring that the objectives are
implemented “with vigour, focus and success”.
Yari, in his remarks, described the plan as a significant landmark
which provides the basis for inclusive growth and development.
He assured Nigerians that state governments would co-operate with the federal government to achieve the objectives of the plan.
Also speaking, Hon. Dogara said such an event usually gladdens the
hearts of students of development economics, pointing out that the plan
has set out to address all aspects of development in Nigeria.
Recalling that the plan drew inputs from relevant stakeholders across
the country, he said the National Assembly was not left out of the
consultations.
However, Dogara recalled that at various times in the nation’s
history, good and strategic development agendas had been developed but
failed at the point of implementation.
He said he was glad that a unit meant to monitor the ERGP’s
implementation had been proposed to forestall failure and pledged the
co-operation of the House of Representatives to ensure it is well
implemented.
In the same vein, Saraki described Wednesday
as a day of restoration of hope as he echoed Dogara that the proposal
for the establishment of implementation unit was cheery, in view of
several unimplemented goals in the past.
He also said besides the unit, everyone has a responsibility to ensure that the plan is well implemented.
He disclosed that some bills that are currently before the Senate
including the bill on ease of doing business and Made-in-Nigeria goods
were initiated to serve as impetus for the plan’s success.
