Beijing on Alert after COVID-19 Cases Discovered in School

Commuters wearing face masks walk in a subway station in Beijing, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP)
Commuters wearing face masks walk in a subway station in Beijing, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP)
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Beijing on Alert after COVID-19 Cases Discovered in School

Commuters wearing face masks walk in a subway station in Beijing, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP)
Commuters wearing face masks walk in a subway station in Beijing, Friday, April 22, 2022. (AP)

Beijing is on alert after 10 middle school students tested positive for COVID-19, in what city officials said was an initial round of testing.

City officials suspended classes in the school for a week following the positive test results on Friday. The Chinese capital also reported four other confirmed cases that day that were counted separately.

Mainland China reported 24,326 new community-transmitted infections on Saturday, with the vast majority of them asymptomatic cases in Shanghai, where enforcement of a strict "zero-COVID” strategy has drawn global attention.

China has doubled down on the approach even in face of the highly transmissible omicron variant. The zero-COVID policy warded off many deaths and widespread outbreaks when faced with less transmissible variants through mass testing and strict lockdowns where people could not leave their homes.

But recent developments in Shanghai have led some to question whether the strategy is worth the tradeoffs. Many residents in the city have struggled to get adequate food supplies during a lockdown this month, while some were also unable to get drugs or medical attention. Some elderly people died after an outbreak at an hospital led medical staff to be quarantined.

The country is now facing its worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic in the central city of Wuhan.

Local media reported that in Beijing’s Chaoyang district, the government ordered the suspension of in-person after-school activities and classes. The city government is now conducting a round of mass testing to look for more cases.

In Shanghai, city officials reported 12 new deaths Saturday, all elderly patients with underlying illnesses.



Moroccan Community Calls for Calm after Anti-migrant Clashes in Spanish Town

A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
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Moroccan Community Calls for Calm after Anti-migrant Clashes in Spanish Town

A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
A man throws an object at police, amid anti-migrant unrest following an attack on an elderly man by unknown assailants earlier in the week, in Torre Pacheco, Spain, July 13, 2025. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura

Moroccan community leaders in the Spanish town of Torre Pacheco called for calm following four nights of clashes between North African migrants and the far-right, in some of the worst such unrest in the country in recent times.

Police have detained at least 14 people so far over the clashes that flared up on Friday after an attack last week on a local man in his 60s.

Far-right groups have called for anti-migrant protests on Tuesday and over 120 Civil Guard officers have been deployed to maintain security in the town, a government spokesperson for the region said, Reuters reported.

Authorities said three Moroccan citizens suspected of involvement in the assault have been apprehended, including a 19-year-old alleged to be the main perpetrator. He was detained on Monday evening in northern Spain on assault and battery charges.

A spokesperson for the central government's office in the Murcia region said none of the suspects lived in Torre Pacheco.

After xenophobic messages on social media to "hunt down" residents of North African origin, leaders of the local Moroccan community urged calm and advised younger members to remain in their homes after dozens took to the streets over the weekend and on Monday, clashing with far-right groups and police.

"We want peace ... We don't want criminals, we don't want violence or people who come from outside to make trouble here," Abdelali, an informal spokesperson for the Moroccan community who has lived in the town for 25 years, told reporters.

Police arrested three people overnight after a confrontation with dozens of young men in the San Antonio neighbourhood, home to a majority of the town's first- and second generation migrants who represent nearly a third of the town's population of 40,000, according to local government data.

Reuters footage showed some of the protesters, mostly masked, lobbing fireworks at officers clad in riot gear, who responded by firing rubber bullets.

HATE CRIMES INVESTIGATION

Spain's top hate crimes prosecutor, Miguel Angel Aguilar, told SER radio on Tuesday that his office was investigating the events in Torre Pacheco, as well as social media messages inciting violence towards migrants.

He also confirmed regional prosecutors were looking at statements by the leader of far-right party Vox in Murcia, Jose Angel Antelo, who is accused by Spain's ruling Socialist Party of linking immigration to criminality in speeches, media appearances and posts on X.

Late on Monday, the messaging app Telegram shuttered a channel named "DeportThemNowSpain" for "inciting violence".

Reuters reviewed dozens of messages in the channel that included expletive-laden calls to attack Moroccans residing in Torre Pacheco or set fire to their homes.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said police in Mataro, near Barcelona, had arrested an unnamed leader of supremacist movement "Deport Them Now Europe" suspected of inciting hatred and seized two computers.