Arson, assault, harassment and vandalism: as the rising cost of housing funnels more Los Angeles residents out of their homes and onto the streets, homeless people and their advocates are reporting an alarming rise in vigilante attacks against the unhoused.

In late August, a fast-moving fire in the hip, residential neighborhood of Eagle Rock briefly dominated headlines when it temporarily closed down two freeways and triggered a small-scale evacuation. In the week that followed, authorities revealed the fire had started in a homeless encampment, and was set by two men, one the son of the local chamber of commerce president. No one was injured, but prosecutors are reportedly considering charges of attempted murder.

By the time of the Eagle Rock fire, advocates for the homeless say they had already clocked a steady rise in vigilantism. Statistics have long shown that the homeless are more likely than the housed to be the victims of a variety of crimes. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) doesn’t keep specific records of vigilante attacks against the homeless. But in interviews with close to a dozen people who live on the streets and in their cars, all said there had been a noticeable increase in attacks and harassment from people who target them for being homeless over the past year.

Many of those attacks have occurred in the San Fernando Valley, a sprawling network of suburbs with a growing homeless population.(The Guardian)…[+]

A British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran is to send her daughter home to the UK to start school, she has said in an open letter. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was jailed for five years in 2016 after being convicted of spying, which she denies. Her family insist she was in Iran to introduce her daughter to relatives.

Five-year-old Gabriella – who has been living with her grandparents in Tehran – has visited her mother at least once a week since her arrest. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab described the letter as “heart-breaking” and said Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detainment was “unjustifiable and unacceptable”.

Her daughter will be back in London before Christmas, according to the Times. Speaking to the BBC, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, confirmed that the couple have decided to bring Gabriella back to the UK to start school. He added that his wife is hoping for a last minute release to enable her to come home with Gabriella. “I don’t think she’s expecting it though,” he said.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family told the Times they had agreed Gabriella should return to the UK for the start of the school year in September but postponed the decision after Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was taken to a psychiatric hospital.(BBC)…[+]

The cen­tu­ry-old Clax­ton Bay Ju­nior An­gli­can School has been shut down be­cause of un­safe con­di­tions, leav­ing over 170 pupils dis­placed. The clo­sure of the school was high­light­ed by for­mer UNC Min­is­ter De­vant Ma­haraj in a Face­book post yes­ter­day.

Ma­haraj said the school was or­dered closed with im­me­di­ate ef­fect and a rec­om­men­da­tion was made by the Oc­cu­pa­tion­al Safe­ty and Health Au­thor­i­ty in­spec­tion of­fi­cers on Sep­tem­ber 30, 2019 for it to be de­mol­ished. “The ne­glect of the school by the Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion con­tin­ues de­spite the state of the school. Over 170 stu­dents have been af­fect­ed by the no­tice to close the school pur­suant to the OSH Act Sec­tion 71 (1). This school which is over 100 years old was not on the list for ren­o­va­tions for the last pe­ri­od,” Ma­haraj wrote.

Dur­ing a meet­ing of par­ents and teach­ers at the An­gli­can church next to the con­demned build­ing, school of­fi­cials made clear the po­si­tion of the OS­HA.(Stabroek News)…[+]