Washington, Oct 29 : After the 2020 presidential election, thousands of Donald Trump’s most fervent supporters heeded his call to join a “wild” protest of his defeat.
Following Trump’s lies about a stolen election, hundreds of them stormed the US Capitol under the banners of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and other extremist groups and movements.
Many of those far-right networks have dissolved, splintered or receded from public view since the January 6, 2021, attack. But the spectre of election-related chaos hasn’t vanished with them. Political violence remains a persistent threat heading into the November 5 election, experts warn.
Election officials have been inundated with threats, misinformation and the prospect of “ election denialist” organisations wreaking havoc. The FBI was investigating on Monday after fires destroyed hundreds of ballots inside drop boxes in Portland, Oregon, and in nearby Vancouver, Washington.
Trump has used social media to promote violent conspiracy theories that have become mainstream features of Republican politics. Many, including Trump himself, have tried to recast Capitol rioters as 1776-style patriots and political prisoners. Trump also has vowed to use the military to go after “enemies from within”.
Four years ago, most of the Trump supporters in the mob had no criminal record or any group affiliations beyond their shared allegiance to a president who exhorted them to “fight like hell”.
That helps explain why it can be difficult for authorities to identify and ward off threats.
“It only takes one person to cause a lot of damage,” said American University professor Kurt Braddock, who studies extremism.
Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said the extremists she monitors don’t seem to be fixated on this year’s election — at least in their public chatter online.
Many likely learned a lesson from the Capitol riot defendants who flooded social media with self-incriminating posts before, during and after the siege.
“We have no idea if there’s something going on in encrypted chats,” she added.
During this election cycle, Trump and his allies have stirred up anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant discourse in a way that galvanizes extremists, experts say. After January 6, the Proud Boys staged protests at drag queen story hours. More recently, Springfield, Ohio, was overwhelmed with hoax bomb threats after Trump and running mate JD Vance amplified bogus, xenophobic rumours about Haitian immigrants in the city.
All manner of far-right conspiracy theories are spreading virtually unchecked on mainstream platforms, including a firehose of lies about the federal government’s response to hurricane-ravaged North Carolina, a swing state.
Trump and his allies often use his rallies as a platform for spewing racism and xenophobia, including one Sunday at New York’s Madison Square Garden that drew comparisons to a pro-Nazi rally in 1939. Vice President Kamala Harris said she believes Trump is a fascist after his former chief of staff, John Kelly, said the former president praised Adolf Hitler while in office.
Trump was struck in the ear by gunfire during one of two assassination attempts against him this year. He has accused Democrats of fostering a volatile political climate by accusing him of being a threat to democracy.
Beirich said it could be difficult for authorities to curb election-related threats “because it can happen all over the country”. She and other experts fear extremists will try to disrupt ballot counting, possibly in battleground states.
“It feels a bit like a calm before the storm,” she said.
Extremism experts are hardly alone in their fears: About 4 in 10 registered voters say they are “extremely” or “very” concerned about violent attempts to overturn the results of next month’s election, according to a new poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Centre for Public Affairs Research.
Of the more than 1,500 defendants charged in the January 6 attack, more than 200 have been linked to extremist groups or movements by federal authorities, according to an Associated Press review of court records.
That includes approximately 80 leaders, members or associates of the far-right Proud Boys and over 30 defendants linked to the anti-government Oath Keepers. Other groups, including the Groyper movement, have had smaller numbers of followers charged in federal court.
Four years ago, Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate against Democrat Joe Biden. Group leaders celebrated Trump’s shout-out and eagerly joined the fray when Trump invited supporters to Washington for his “Stop the Steal” rally.
Today, some of the top leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are serving prison terms of up to 22 years for violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden.
Imprisoning the groups’ national leaders left a void. For the Proud Boys, it was partially filled by local chapters that consider themselves autonomous and tend to promote more extreme ideologies, said Jared Holt, a senior research analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, which tracks online hate.
“Their organisational capabilities are greatly diminished from where they were in 2020,” Holt said. “There’s always the possibility that, in a post-election period, these groups will all of a sudden find the motivation to mobilize and start showing up at events. But they’ve been pretty docile this year.”
The Oath Keepers, which the Yale Law School-educated Stewart Rhodes founded in 2009, has withered since his arrest and incarceration.
“It was his baby, and no one has really stepped up to fill his void,” Holt said.
Dozens of Capitol rioters were followers of the anti-government Three Percenters movement or belonged to militia groups with names like the Gray Ghost Partisan Rangers, the Southern Indiana Patriots and the Patriot Boys of North Texas.
The government’s response to January 6 seems to have placed a “huge damper” on militias, Beirich said.
“They don’t disappear,” she said. “They might pop up somewhere else, but I have to say: Militias in the last year or so have been relatively inactive compared to earlier eras.”
Many other January 6 rioters were inspired by QAnon, which centred on the baseless belief that Trump was secretly fighting a Satan-worshipping, child sex trafficking cabal of prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites. The self-described “QAnon Shaman” remains one of the most recognizable figures from the riot.
Mike Rothschild, author of “The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything”, said the QAnon movement has evolved beyond its bizarre web of “riddles and codes”.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube cracked down on QAnon after January 6, driving believers to platforms like Telegram or Trump’s Truth Social. Rothschild said many of them flocked back to Twitter, now called X, after Elon Musk bought it. He believes QAnon adherents remain “extremely dangerous”.
“They’ve had four years to build up their anger and grievance,” he said.
Election Threats Remain High Four Years After Far-Right Extremists Stormed the U.S. Capitol
Nagpur Police Identify Suspect in Airline Bomb Hoaxes; Manhunt Launched
Nagpur, Oct 29: Authorities in Nagpur, Maharashtra, have pinpointed a 35-year-old man from Gondia as the individual responsible for a series of hoax bomb threats that incited panic, caused flight delays, and heightened security measures at airports and other facilities. The suspect, identified as Jagdish Uikey, is an author who previously wrote a book on terrorism and was arrested in 2021 for unrelated charges.
According to a senior police official, Uikey is currently evading capture following the trace of emails linked to him. The investigation, spearheaded by Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Shweta Khedkar, revealed substantial evidence connecting Uikey to the threats.
Uikey reportedly sent emails to various government agencies, including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Railway Minister, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy, airline offices, and the Director General of Police (DGP), as well as the Railway Protection Force (RPF).
On Monday, security was heightened outside the residence of Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis after Uikey issued an email threatening to stage a protest unless he was granted a meeting to share his alleged insights on a “secret terror code” he claims to have deciphered. He also sought a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss potential terror threats.
Uikey’s email to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, sent on October 21 and also forwarded to the DGP and RPF, prompted increased security measures at railway stations.
In the 13 days leading up to October 26, over 300 flights operated by Indian carriers received bomb threats, with most threats communicated through social media. On October 22 alone, approximately 50 flights, including 13 from IndiGo and Air India, reported bomb threats, according to earlier government reports.
A special team has been established to apprehend Uikey, and officials are confident he will be caught soon.
Over 150 Injured, 8 Critical in Fireworks Mishap at Kerala Temple Festival
Kasaragod (Kerala), Oct 29: A major fireworks accident during the Veerarkavu Temple festival near Neeleswaram left over 150 people injured, with eight in critical condition, local police reported on Tuesday.
Those injured have been rushed to hospitals across Kasargod, Kannur, and Mangaluru. District Collector stated that the critically injured suffered burns covering up to 80 percent of their bodies.
An investigation into the cause of the accident is underway. Authorities have collected samples from the site, and a case has been registered. Initial findings suggest that the fireworks storage facility was located dangerously close to the area where the crackers were ignited, with a lack of safety precautions and failure to maintain the required 100-meter distance. Additionally, no permissions had been obtained for fireworks storage.
Police suspect the fire began when the storage facility near the temple ignited around midnight, causing the tragic incident.
Two Terrorists Neutralized in Ongoing Jammu Encounter After Attack on Army Convoy
Jammu, Oct 29: Security forces eliminated two more terrorists in a forested area near a village in the Akhnoor sector, Jammu and Kashmir, concluding a 27-hour encounter that began after an attack on an army convoy near the Line of Control (LoC) on Monday. This brings the total number of militants killed in the operation to three, officials confirmed.
The encounter commenced when three terrorists opened fire on an army convoy ambulance near the LoC. Special forces, NSG commandos, and BMP-II infantry combat vehicles were deployed, leading to the elimination of one terrorist by Monday evening. The remaining two were neutralized Tuesday morning in a final assault near the Assan temple in Jogwan village, Battal-Khour area, after a tense night of tracking and cordoning by joint army and police teams.
Following a brief lull, security forces launched the final push at around 7 a.m., triggering an intense gunfight marked by explosions and sustained firing. Within two hours, both remaining terrorists were eliminated. Retrieval of the bodies is underway; officials believe the militants infiltrated from across the border on Sunday night before appearing near the temple and attacking the army convoy.
Tragically, Phantom, a four-year-old army dog, lost his life after being hit by a bullet during the operation. The army also deployed BMP-II combat vehicles and used helicopters and drones for surveillance and locating the terrorists.
This encounter follows a recent uptick in militant activities in Kashmir, with seven attacks in the past two weeks leading to 13 casualties, including two soldiers.
Delhi Air Quality Deteriorates with AQI at 272; Morning Temperature Hits 20.3°C
New Delhi, Oct 29 – Delhi’s air quality remained in the ‘poor’ category on Tuesday morning, registering an AQI of 272, a slight improvement from the previous day’s AQI of 304, as per Central Pollution Control Board data.
Out of 40 monitoring stations, data from 37 was reported, with 10 stations – including Anand Vihar, Alipur, Aya Nagar, Bawana, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, Narela, Wazirpur, Vivek Vihar, and Sonia Vihar – recording air quality in the “very poor” category, while the rest were classified as “poor.”
A layer of smog continues to cover the city during the early morning and evening hours, limiting visibility. The weather department noted a calm wind speed at 8:30 am, and a minimum temperature of 20.3 degrees Celsius, four degrees above the seasonal average. Relative humidity stood at 85 percent.
The forecast indicates clear skies for the day, with the maximum temperature expected to reach around 33 degrees Celsius. The AQI scale categorizes air quality as follows: 0-50 ‘good,’ 51-100 ‘satisfactory,’ 101-200 ‘moderate,’ 201-300 ‘poor,’ 301-400 ‘very poor,’ and 401-500 ‘severe.’
Amit Shah: Sardar Patel’s Legacy Overlooked, Bharat Ratna Delayed
NEW DELHI, Oct 29: Union Home Minister Amit Shah remarked on Tuesday that Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy had faced repeated attempts to diminish its significance, noting that the Bharat Ratna was only conferred upon him decades after his passing.
At the ‘Run for Unity’ event ahead of Patel’s birth anniversary, Shah emphasized Patel’s critical role in uniting India, citing his leadership in merging over 550 princely states, including Lakshadweep, Junagarh, and Hyderabad, into the Union of India. Shah noted that despite these monumental achievements, “efforts were made to erase Sardar Patel’s legacy, and he was deprived of the Bharat Ratna for a long time.” Patel ultimately received the honor posthumously in 1991, 41 years after his death.
Shah highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to honoring Patel, which began during Modi’s tenure as Chief Minister of Gujarat and included the creation of the world’s tallest statue, the Statue of Unity, in Kevadia. Shah praised Patel as a unifying figure and noted that India is now “dedicated to fulfilling the prime minister’s vision of a developed nation by 2047.”
The ‘Run for Unity’ is traditionally held on Patel’s birth anniversary, October 31, which has been observed as ‘Rashtriya Ekta Diwas’ (National Unity Day) since 2014 to honor Patel’s legacy. This year’s event was scheduled earlier due to the Diwali festivities.
Amit Shah also announced that the government will commemorate Patel’s 150th birth anniversary with a nationwide, two-year program from 2024 to 2026 to celebrate his pivotal role in shaping modern India.
Opposition Members Stage Walkout During WAQF Panel Meeting
NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Several opposition members staged a walkout during the meeting of the Joint Committee on the WAQF Amendment Bill on Monday, protesting the presentation made by the Delhi Waqf Board.
The opposition alleged that the Delhi Waqf Board administrator altered the presentation without the knowledge of the Delhi Government. Members from AAP, DMK, and Congress, including Sanjay Singh, Mohammed Abdulla, Naseer Hussain, and Mohamed Jawed, were among those who left the meeting in protest.
They accused MCD Commissioner and Delhi Waqf Board Administrator Ashwini Kumar of completely changing the initial report of the Waqf Board without obtaining the Chief Minister’s approval.
India Delivers Rooftop Solar Systems to Religious Sites in Sri Lanka
Colombo, Oct 28 — In a significant step towards enhancing energy collaboration, India has delivered rooftop solar systems to several religious sites in Sri Lanka, as announced by the Indian High Commission. The initiative, which includes solar panels and installation materials, benefited a Buddhist temple in Hokandara, the Sri Aanjaneyar Temple, St. Anthony’s Church, and Mutwal Jumma Mosque.
This initiative is part of a broader USD 17 million project aimed at installing 25 MW of solar rooftop systems across 5,000 religious institutions throughout Sri Lanka. Designed to lower energy costs and facilitate the nation’s transition to renewable energy, the project will cover all nine provinces and 25 districts, supplying approximately 37 million units of electricity annually.
“The project is designed to reduce energy costs for these institutions while bolstering Sri Lanka’s transition to clean energy,” stated the Indian High Commission. It is expected to be completed by early next year and includes a five-year maintenance plan to ensure long-term effectiveness and sustainability.
This effort aligns with India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, which emphasizes cooperation based on Sri Lanka’s energy priorities. Other renewable initiatives include the solar electrification of around 9,000 Buddhist temples and Pirivenas with a grant of USD 10 million, as well as hybrid renewable energy projects in the islands off Jaffna. Major projects also include LNG supply and infrastructure development, along with a solar power plant in Sampur.
Punjab Police Seizes Additional Six Kilograms of Heroin Following Record Drug Bust
CHANDIGARH, Oct 28: Punjab Police announced on Monday the arrest of a man found in possession of six kilograms of heroin, part of a larger investigation following a record drug seizure of 105 kilograms in the state.
The initial bust occurred on Sunday when authorities uncovered a cross-border smuggling racket, leading to the arrest of two associates of a Turkey-based drug smuggler and the seizure of 105 kilograms of heroin and six firearms. Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav stated that, as part of follow-up investigations, police apprehended Lovepreet Singh from Kapurthala and discovered the additional six kilograms of heroin in his vehicle.
Yadav noted, “In the follow-up investigations of the 105 kg heroin haul, acting swiftly on the forward-backward linkages, Counter Intelligence, #Amritsar apprehends Lovepreet Singh resident of Kapurthala and recovers 6 kg of heroin from his car.” Singh was reportedly set to deliver the heroin, which he had collected from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, to another drug dealer, Navjot Singh, who was arrested on the same day.
Previously, police had detained Navjot Singh from Guru Tegh Bahadur Colony in Baba Bakala, and Lovepreet Kumar from Kala Sanghian in Kapurthala as part of the ongoing investigation into the 105 kg heroin case. In addition to the heroin, police confiscated a substantial quantity of other scheduled drugs, including 31.93 kg of caffeine anhydrous and 17 kg of dextromethorphan (DMR) from the suspects.
Both Navjot and Kumar were identified as associates of a Turkey-based drug smuggler known as Navpreet Singh, alias Nav Bhullar. According to police reports, these scheduled drugs were being used as cutting agents to multiply the heroin’s quantity by four times.
Investigations revealed that drugs were transported via water routes from Pakistan. Bhullar was allegedly operating a Pakistan-backed smuggling ring with associates residing in a rented accommodation on Colony Lady Road in Baba Bakala.
In a related incident, the Border Security Force (BSF) recovered 568 grams of heroin near the International Border in the Tarn Taran district. Additionally, the BSF discovered a drone in a field near Ballaharwal village in Amritsar. On October 10, the BSF had also intercepted over 13 kg of heroin near the India-Pakistan International Border in Tarn Taran.
Rain and Snow Expected in Higher Regions of Kashmir Valley Within 24 Hours: Meteorological Department
SRINAGAR, Oct 28: The Meteorological Department has forecasted rain and snow in the higher reaches of the Kashmir Valley over the next 24 hours.
Officials indicated that the weather will be generally cloudy on Monday, with light rain and snow anticipated in certain areas, especially in the higher elevations of north Kashmir towards the evening.
On October 29, the forecast continues to show cloudy conditions, with potential light rain and snow expected in the higher reaches of both north and central Kashmir.
Independent weather observer Faizan Arif noted that there could be snowfall in upper regions of popular ski destinations like Gulmarg and the picturesque Sonamarg in the Ganderbal district, as well as on the Zojila Pass, which connects Srinagar to the strategically important Ladakh highway. Other higher reaches of the Kashmir Valley may also see snowfall during this period.
Additionally, snowfall is possible in the early morning hours of October 30, after which dry weather is predicted to prevail until November 8. Notably, there is currently no forecast for snowfall in the plains of the Kashmir Valley.
The Meteorological Department has advised farmers to proceed with harvesting and safely storing their crops, as well as to continue with other agricultural operations. Starting November 1, the possibility of mist or shallow fog in the plains of Kashmir during morning hours is also expected.
Currently, the sky in Srinagar and surrounding areas is overcast, accompanied by a light cold breeze that has prompted residents and tourists to don warmer clothing. The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar during the night between Sunday and Monday was 5.8 degrees Celsius, which is 2.8 degrees above normal for this time of year. The maximum temperature reached 21.0 degrees Celsius on Sunday, 4.3 degrees above the seasonal average, according to the Meteorological Department.