Man charged with online threat to lynch Muslim candidate

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Man charged with online threat to lynch Muslim candidate

2019-07-02 04:09 Last Updated At：04:50

A North Carolina man has been charged with posting an anonymous threat on social media to lynch a Muslim-American candidate for a state Senate seat in Virginia.

A warrant for the arrest of Joseph Cecil Vandevere, 52, of Black Mountain, was issued after his June 20 indictment, federal court records show. Federal authorities hadn't yet arrested Vandevere as of Monday afternoon, according to Lia Bantavani, spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office for the western district of North Carolina.

The indictment identifies the victim only by the initials "Q.R.," but Virginia state Senate candidate Qasim Rashid posted a screenshot of the threatening tweet in March 2018 and flagged it for Twitter. Rashid also said he reported the threat to the FBI.

Rashid, an attorney who works on immigrant rights cases and won a Democratic primary last month, told The Associated Press on Monday that he is pleased law enforcement officials are treating the tweet as an act of "extremism."

"I think this is how you protect free speech and a genuine exchange of ideas," he said.

The charge against Vandevere — interstate communication of a threat to injure a person — carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Online court records don't list an attorney for Vandevere, whose Twitter account was called "DaDUTCHMAN5." Twitter has suspended that account.

Vandevere also has used the aliases "Da Dutchman" and "Bob Smith," according to the two-page indictment, which says the offense occurred in Buncombe County, North Carolina.

The tweet directed at Rashid included a picture of a lynching and read, "PLEASE ... VIEW YOUR DESTINY."

"Hey @twitter this white supremacist @DaDUTCHMAN5 is threatening me with lynching b/c I am a Muslim. Please tell me this violates your terms & conditions?" Rashid wrote, adding the hashtag "WhereWasHeRadicalized?"

Rashid, 36, said he has reported approximately a dozen threats against him to law enforcement over the past few years. This is the first time one of his complaints has led to a criminal charge, he said.

"It spikes any time there is (anti-Muslim) rhetoric from the political leadership of this country," he said. "It's almost predictable."

Venice launches experiment to charge day-trippers an access fee in bid to combat over-tourism

2024-04-25 12:09 Last Updated At：13:42

VENICE, Italy (AP) — Under the gaze of the world’s media, the fragile lagoon city of Venice launches a pilot program Thursday to charge day-trippers a 5-euro (around $5.35) entry fee that authorities hope will discourage visitors from arriving on peak days and make the city more livable for its dwindling residents.

Signs advising arriving visitors of the new requirement for a test phase of 29 days through July have been erected outside the main train station and other points of arrival.

Some 200 stewards have been trained to politely walk anyone unaware of the fee through the process of downloading a QR code. A kiosk has been set up for those not equipped with a smartphone. Once past designated entry ports, officials will carry out random checks for QR codes that show the day-tripper tax has been paid or that the bearer is exempt.

Transgressors face fines 50 euros to 300 euros. The requirement applies only for people arriving between 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. Outside of those hours, access is free.

“We need to find a new balance between the tourists and residents,’’ said the city’s top tourism official, Simone Venturini. “We need to safeguard the spaces of the residents, of course, and we need to discourage the arrival of day-trippers on some particular days.”

Venice has long suffered under the pressure of over-tourism, but officials say that pre-pandemic estimates ranging from 25 million to 30 million visitors a year — including day-trippers — are not reliable and that the pilot project also aims to come up with more exact figures to help better manage the phenomenon.

By contrast, registered visitors spending the night last year numbered 4.6 million, according to city figures, down 16% from pre-pandemic highs.

Venturini said the city is strained when the number of day-trippers reaches 30,000 to 40,000. Its narrow alleyways are clogged with people and water taxis packed, making it difficult for residents to go about their business.

Not all residents, however, are persuaded of the efficacy of the new system in dissuading mass tourism, and say more attention needs to be paid to boosting the resident population and services they need.

Venice last year passed a telling milestone when the number of tourist beds exceeded for the first time the number of official residents, which is now below 50,000 in the historic center with its picturesque canals.

“Putting a ticket to enter a city will not decrease not even by one single unit the number of visitors that are coming,’’ said Tommaso Cacciari, an activist who organized a protest Thursday against the measure.

“You pay a ticket to take the metro, to go to a museum, an amusement park; you don’t pay a ticket to enter a city. This is the last symbolic step of a project of an idea of this municipal administration to kick residents out of Venice,” he said.

Venturini said about 6,000 people had already paid to download the QR code, and officials expect paid day-tripper arrivals Thursday to reach some 10,000.

More than 70,000 others have downloaded a QR code denoting an exemption, including to work in Venice or as a resident of the Veneto region. People staying in hotels in Venice, including in mainland districts like Marghera or Mestre, should also get a QR code attesting to their stay, which includes a hotel tax.

The tourist official says interest in Venice's pilot program has been keen from other places suffering from mass tourism, including other Italian art cities and cities abroad such as Barcelona and Amsterdam.