Canary Islands officials beg residents to lose their ‘tourismphobia’ and warn growing resentment towards holidaymakers such as Brits could see a slump in their crucial tourist economy

• The islands have seen resident protests against holidaymakers this summer

By Christian Oliver

Updated: 21:13 EDT, 31 August 2023

The death toll from the Hawaiian wildfires has climbed to 93 as new video emerges of residents being tossed around the ocean after diving in to flee flames. 

Blazes on the island of Maui have now become the deadliest wildfires in modern US history, as authorities continue to work to identify the victims. 

As the fires swept the island, new footage has also emerged of people who had jumped into the Pacific Ocean in an effort to escape the flames.  

Those from the town of Lahaina are seen being thrown around the choppy waters as thick smoke and embers surround them. 

Resident of the historic town Joan Hayashi told Fox 11 that those in the water had to wait for eight hours to be rescued.

Hayashi said: ‘It sounded like a giant blow torch, we had to run in the ocean. We’re in the ocean probably like eight hours. Flames were hitting, things were falling from the palm tree.’

Federal emergency workers are now tasked with picking through the ashen moonscape left by the fire that razed the centuries-old town of Lahaina. 

Teams have been marking homes with a bright orange X to record an initial search, and contacting HR when they discover human remains.  

Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said that crews with cadaver dogs had covered just 3 percent of the search area, with the death toll expected to rise again. 

Pelletier said identifying the dead is extremely challenging because ‘we pick up the remains and they fall apart’

Pelletier said: ‘When we find our family and our friends, the remains that we’re finding is through a fire that melted metal.’ 

So far, the remains of two people have been identified and Pelletier is urging those with missing family members to go to the family assistance center. 

He said: ‘We need you to do the DNA test. We need to identify your loved ones.’ 

On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that a report by fire researchers in 2014 warned the area was at an extremely high risk of burning. 

Another report in 2020 is also said to have tied fires to winds from a passing hurricane, similar to the ones that turned the town of Lahaina to ash. 

The 2014 report warned that Lahaina was among Maui’s most fire-prone areas due to its parched grasslands, winds and steep terrain. 

A plan was laid out to shield the area around Lahaina from fires, which included thinning vegetation, improving response capabilities and working with landowners. 

On Saturday, Governor Josh Green toured the devastation on the historic Front Street of Lahaina. 

He said: ‘It will certainly be the worst natural disaster that Hawaii ever faced.

‘We can only wait and support those who are living. Our focus now is to reunite people when we can and get them housing and get them healthcare, and then turn to rebuilding.’ 

At least 2,200 buildings were damaged or destroyed in West Maui, Mr Green said, of which 86% were residential. 

Across the island, he added, damage is estimated at close to 6 billion US dollars, Green said it will take ‘an incredible amount of time’ to recover. 

At least two other fires have been burning on Maui, with no fatalities reported thus far: in south Maui’s Kihei area and in the mountainous, inland communities known as Upcountry.

A fourth broke out on Friday evening in Kaanapali, a coastal community north of Lahaina, but crews were able to extinguish it, authorities said.

Peg Alm spent Wednesday night sleeping in her truck after being forced from her home in Kuhei as another fire broke out.

‘I didn’t know about Lahaina until the next day because we made to evacuate’ she tells DailyMail.com.

After seeing those heartbreaking pictures of the devastation on the local news, Alm signed up to help with the relief effort after answering a call put out on social media.

‘I was tired of waking up and crying the whole morning,’ she says before wiping away more tears as she recounts her memories of the historic beachside town.

‘This is like the soul of the island has been ripped up,’ says the Michigan native, who has lived on Maui for 15 years.

For the past three days, a long-shuttered and derelict wharfside restaurant in the nearby Ma’alaea harbor has been a meeting place for a community still reeling from the deadly wildfires.

Buzz’s Wharf, which closed its doors for good in 2014, is now a hub where local volunteers gather to send much-needed supplies to the displaced and desperate residents of the fire-ravaged town.

From the early hours of Saturday morning, they have been sorting through the donation and forming human chains to load up trucks bound for Lahaina.

As they do so, some of the Native Hawaiians break out into prayer, asking for the deliveries to be blessed, to the sound of the Pacific crashing on the nearby shore.

The cargo is made up entirely of donations from fellow islanders, stepping in whereaid agencies or the government have been too slow to do.

They include food, water, diapers, clothes and other medical supplies.

Peg, who runs paddleboard trips for tourists, was amongst the dozens of locals who have been showing up at Ma’alaea and other aid centers across the island since Thursday. 

Michael Lynn, a 41-year-old who moved to Maui from Oregon ten years ago to start a coconut harvesting business, had been on a camping trip in a remote eastern part of the island when the fire engulfed Lahaina.

‘We had no idea what was happening and then we switched on our phones and there were dozens of messages from our friends asking if we were ok,’ he explains.

‘The biggest challenge right now is getting the supplies to where they need to go,’

Lynn adds, admitting there has been some ‘frustration’ over the response from local authorities to the fire.

‘When we hit a certain spot, we try to figure out what they need and relay that information back to our volunteers here,’ he says. ‘We are delivering supplies but also hope.’

The newly released death toll passed that of the 2018 Camp Fire in northern California, which left 85 dead and destroyed the town of Paradise.

A century earlier, the 1918 Cloquet Fire broke out in drought-stricken northern Minnesota and raced through a number of rural communities, destroying thousands of homes and killing hundreds.

The wildfires are the state’s deadliest natural disaster in decades, passing a 1960 tsunami that killed 61 people.

An even deadlier tsunami in 1946, which killed more than 150 on the Big Island, prompted development of a territory-wide emergency alert system with sirens that are tested monthly.

Michigan‘s House of Representatives has passed a hate speech bill, known as HB 4474, which criminalizes causing someone to feel threatened by words, including the misusing of their pronouns, with the possibility of a hefty fine or even jail time.

The bill introduces hate crime penalties for causing someone to ‘feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened,’ with ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity or expression’ included as protected classes. 

Offenders could face up to five years in prison for such a felony offense or a $10,000 fine.

It is part of a continues effort by Democrats in the state to advance a pro-LGBTQ+ agenda in their first months in power. 

The proposed legislation aims to replace the existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and extends protection against intimidation.

Critics argue that the bill poses a threat to First Amendment rights and lacks clarity in defining ‘harassment’, leaving it open to subjective interpretation. 

The bill reads as follows: ‘Intimidate’ means a willful course of conduct involving repeated or continuing harassment of another individual that would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened, and that actually causes the victim to feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened.’

If passed, penalties would be based on how the supposed victim and court ‘feel’ about a particular matter. 

What constitutes as being deemed ‘intimidation and harassment’ would be up to the interpretation of the listener and a local prosecutor.

Critics argue that the legislation could infringe on free speech rights and undermine the principles of due process. 

Michigan Democrats have made it a priority to further protect LGBTQ+ people since they took control of all levels of state government this year.

In March, lawmakers codified LGBTQ+ protections into the state’s civil rights law, permanently outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity in the state. 

This new hate speech bill passed in the Democrat-controlled House 59-50 and will now move to the Michigan State Senate (also Democrat controlled) for further consideration.

If approved, it would expected to be signed into law by the Democratic state Governor Gretchen Whitmer.     

Distinguished Professor Emeritus William Wagner, an expert in constitutional law and former federal judge warns that the legislation could be used to silence conservative viewpoints and would oppose the due process required by the Constitution. 

‘Make no mistake about it. Those advocating for this legislation will wield these policies as a weapon capable of destroying conservative expression or viewpoints grounded in the sacred,’ Wagner told The Daily Wire. 

‘One merely needs to look at the scores of cases brought against schools, churches, businesses, and individuals around our country. Proponents use these laws to silence and financially cripple those who dare to adhere to a different viewpoint and oppose their agenda.’ 

Meanwhile, Republican Representative Angela Rigas shared her concerns about the bill targeting conservatives who speak against radical gender ideology. 

‘The state of Michigan is now explicitly allowing the gender delusion issue to be used as a ‘protected class.’ This opens up numerous issues when it comes to the courts and the continued weaponization of the system against conservatives,’ Rigas said.

‘We saw similar concerns when they wanted to pass blocks on ‘conversion’ therapy. It seems Dems want to be in the business of telling people how to think. We are determined to keep choice and opinion a free choice despite those efforts.’ 

Rigas suggested that conservatives would have to rely on the courts to challenge the legislation such is the lack of Republican influence in Michigan’s branches of power. 

‘While my colleagues are introducing great bills to counter the infringements to our freedoms, there is no current way to fix these issues without higher courts becoming involved,’ she explained. 

Earlier this week Michigan lawmakers gave final approval to legislation banning so-called conversion therapy for minors.

The legislation would prohibit mental health professionals from engaging youths in the scientifically discredited practice of trying to convert people who are LGBTQ+ to heterosexuality and traditional gender expectations.

The Michigan Senate approved the ban on a 21-15 vote – with one Republican siding with Democrats – late Tuesday after the state House previously approved the legislation. 

It now awaits final approval by Gov. Whitmer, who has previously called the therapy a ‘dangerous practice.’

Death Valley is the hottest place on Earth, baking in temperatures of more than 120°F (49°C) during the summer.

Aside from the heat, Death Valley is also home to numerous horrifying scorpions, tarantulas and venomous sidewinder snakes that silently lurk in the Californian desert.

And you might want to watch your step too, as mineshafts filled with poisonous gas are in more places than you might expect. 

So, how do people survive in a place like this?

MailOnline explores the tops threats of Death Valley National Park and what park rangers advise to get by in the extreme conditions. 

1.  Weather that can kill

‘Travel prepared to survive’ is the guidance of the National Park’s service as they warn of killer local temperatures.

Death Valley is famously known as the hottest place on Earth and the driest place in North America.

It’s not unheard of for people to die here, but the real toll of heat-related illnesses remains unknown.

The valley’s top temperatures peaked at 134°F (57°C) almost 110 years ago at the tiny village of Furnace Creek, before dropping to around 32°F (0°C) at night.

These hot-to-cold temperatures are quite normal in the region, with its sand cooling so rapidly at night that freezing conditions often occur.

‘Don’t become a Death Valley victim,’ rangers advise.

‘Drink at least one gallon (4 litres) of water per day to replace loss from sweat, more if you are active. Be aware of balancing fluid and electrolyte levels. 

‘Stay on paved roads in summer. If your car breaks down, stay with it until help comes. Carry extra drinking water in your car in case of emergency.’ 

Although winter is a little milder in Death Valley, the area continues to be plagued by occasional thunderstorms and huge flash floods.

Even still, rangers urge visitors and locals to always watch out for trouble, as nausea and dizziness can be a sign of heatstroke. 

2. Gnarly animals

The 140-mile desert is home to some pretty creepy creatures, from rattlesnakes to scorpions and even black widow spiders.

That’s why park leaders warn that anyone venturing through this harsh terrain should never place their hands or feet in something they can’t see clearly.

The Wernerius inyoensis scorpion was newly discovered in the Inyo Mountains of the valley in 2009, and is one of the smallest to be discovered in the US.

Although it is venomous, this species probably won’t kill you – unlike numerous others in the park – though its pincers still risk a hospital trip.

Tarantulas and Mojave desert sidewinder snakes also lurk here, with the latter potentially capable of killing a young child or animals up to 30Ibs.

But you may be surprised to know that rodents actually pose a huge risk of death in the area as contact with them or their excrement can spread hantaviruses. 

Fatigue, fever and muscle aches are among the symptoms of this, in addition to chills and abdominal problems. 

While it’s unclear if anyone has contracted this in the valley, researchers have found traces of a hantavirus variant in local cactus mice.

3. Treacherous roads

With scorching temperatures and countless scorpions, you may expect these to be the leading cause of death in the aptly named Death Valley.

But park leaders say that car crashes actually kill the most people here, having reported numerous incidents over the years.

Poor phone signal limits efforts to get help, with the valley completely isolated from neighbouring Las Vegas.

‘More people die in single-car accidents than by any other means,’ they claim.

‘To avoid an accident, follow the speed limits, shift to a lower gear on steep downhill grades, and wear your seatbelt.’

4. Poisonous mineshafts

During the late 1800s, many eagerly flocked to Death Valley in an attempt to mine for gold and silver.

But these efforts were met with failure, thanks to the scarcity of water, fuel and technology that made it impossible to find anything valuable.

To this day, abandoned mines are scattered all across the desert.

One of the most controversial is the 500ft-deep Boraxo Mine, which reportedly caused public outcry over the exploitation of national parks.

While these historic sites may seem interesting to explore, rangers say they should be avoided at all costs.

They’re not only unstable but may contain ‘pockets of bad air’ and even poisonous gas, they claim.

This bad air can consist of insufficient oxygen and potentially carbon-monoxide, with the University of Nevada warning that someone may not feel the effects until they leave a mine.

‘A person may enter such areas breathing the good air above the gases but the motion caused by walking will mix the gases with the good air, producing a possibly lethal mixture for him to breathe on the return trip,’ they explain. 

‘Because little effort is required to go down a ladder, the effects of “bad air” may not be noticed, but when climbing out of a shaft, a person requires more oxygen and breathes more deeply. The result is dizziness, followed by unconsciousness. If the gas doesn’t kill, the fall will.’

5.  Dangerous cannabis farms

If you’ve watched Breaking Bad you may be familiar with Walter White’s cannabis farm planted at the centre of an isolated desert. 

As it turns out, some areas of Death Valley are home to very similar sites, which rangers claim are potential hazards.

If a local stumbles upon one of these, the service advises them to ‘run, walk, crawl or hide’ just to make themselves safe.

Lingering to take photos or grab location coordinates is also a bad idea, with a physical description good enough to alert authorities.

Rangers add: ‘Hikers, backpackers and drivers need to be self reliant and well prepared. Always plan ahead, carry detailed maps, and let someone know your plans.’

Horrified residents today gathered at the French playground where four preschool children were stabbed by a Syrian refugee, with one local man weeping uncontrollably and screaming ‘why was I not here yesterday’.

Devastated locals congregated in the town of Annecy to lay floral tributes and light candles for the four victims, including a three-year-old British girl, who were stabbed by Abdalmash Hanoun, 31, in a savage attack.

One local resident, Salih Ismajl, was overcome with emotion as he stood in front of the playground today and screamed: ‘Don’t touch the kids! Don’t touch the kids! Why was I not here yesterday!? Why was I not here?’

The attacker had screamed ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ and clinched onto a necklace with a crucifix as he launched his ‘abominable’ rampage in Annecy, a tourist hotspot in southeastern France, on Thursday.

Hanoun first targeted two French cousins named as Ennio and Alba, both two, and then attacked Ettie Turner, a three-year-old British girl on holiday with her parents, and Peter, a 22-month-old Dutch baby, before he was chased by locals and arrested. 

Today, French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte visited Ettie’s family as well as the relatives of Ennio and Alba at the University Hospital in Grenoble, who have been left traumatised by yesterday’s savage attack.

The victims’ families, witnesses and locals in Annecy have been left reeling from the attack. Standing next to the scene of the brutal attack today, local resident Leo, 21, said: ‘We feel rage, incomprehension. I have the impression with how horrible it was. It affects us all.

‘We must all think about all these children, all these parents, who went through that yesterday.’

Distressing video shows Hanoun, a self-professed Christian, running into the small playground and repeatedly stabbing a toddler in his pram while his screaming mother tried to protect him from the attack. 

Further dramatic footage shows the recently divorced Hanoun later being chased across the park by locals and cops before he was shot by a police officer and pinned to the ground. 

The attack left the four children with serious stab injuries and medics at Grenoble hospital today said that Ennio and Albia remain in a ‘critical’ condition. 

Three-year-old Briton Ettie Turner, who is at the same hospital, is in a ‘stable’ condition as is Peter after being transferred to a specialist medical unit in Geneva.

Macron spent almost two hours with the three young victims at the hospital in Grenoble and their parents, while also speaking to the medics treating them. The French president spoke to Ettie’s parents, a source said.

A source close to the Elysee Palace told MailOnline: ‘The president spoke to the parents of the young English girl. The president’s wife Brigitte Macron was there as well.

‘They spoke with her family and to the families of the French children who were injured. The president was in a room with parents for quite a long time.’

Macron and Brigitte are now travelling an hour-and-a-half north to Annecy from Grenoble in a motorcade to meet with other victims, their families and the people who came to their aid following the attack which is not being treated as terror-related. Investigators are still trying to understand what Hanoun’s motives were for the onslaught.

Horrified witnesses said mothers ran past them screaming ‘run, run’ in the aftermath of the frenzied attack, which was condemned by Macron as ‘absolute cowardice’. 

Witnesses said the knifeman, who was rejected for asylum in France four days before the onslaught, had begun attacking the preschool children while they were playing at a small playground in a scene of utter ‘carnage’. They said he had launched his onslaught on the toddlers because they were ‘easy targets’.

The four children targeted in the attack remain in intensive care today.  

Line Bonnet-Mathis, the Annecy Prosecutor who is leading the investigation into the crimes, said: ‘We are dealing with very young victims whose state of health is still extremely fragile. All are in intensive care.’ 

One of the two pensioners injured in the attack said he was sitting on a bench by the park when Hanoun tried to stab him. 

‘I heard a commotion and then I saw someone being followed by people. He had a knife, I saw that he was behind me,’ Youssouf, 78, told Reuters. 

‘Suddenly he came in front of me and tried to stab me with his knife and I made a movement with my left arm to avoid the blow. Fortunately, I was injured slightly on the elbow.’ 

‘Afterwards I was treated by the fire brigade and the paramedics. He was still followed by civilians in front of me, so he ran to the left. Afterwards he attacked other people, I think, and was caught by the police and I heard the shot.’

The victim continued: ‘I felt like there was no reason for him to come and attack me. I stayed calm, I didn’t go after him, to chase him. I stayed quiet, still sitting, but he came like that and he probably wanted to make one more victim, to bother another person.

‘I’m calm but I can imagine the stress of family of the children and their loved ones or other children who saw the incident.’

Hanoun, who was recently divorced, had previously lived for 10 years in Sweden where he was granted refugee status in April, security sources and his ex-wife said. 

‘He called me around four months ago. He was living in a church,’ his ex-wife said on condition of anonymity, saying he had left Sweden because he had been unable to get Swedish nationality. 

He had applied for asylum in France but was rejected four days before launching his barbaric attack due to him already having refugee status in Sweden.

Horrific video of the attack shows Hanoun carrying a knife and clinching a necklace around his neck, which reportedly had a crucifix on it.

Wielding the knife, the Syrian refugee shouted ‘in the name of Jesus Christ’ as he ran towards a screaming mother whose little boy is in a stroller before a local man hits the attacker with his rucksack and chases him away. 

But the knifeman jumps into the playground again and runs towards the mother and her toddler. The woman screams and tries to protect her son with her body but Hanoun quickly moves around her and stabs the little boy twice.

The toddler can be seen screaming in pain as the mother and terrified parents scream for help as the attacker runs away again.

But the carnage continues. Hanoun runs back towards the child in the pram and stabs him again in front of his horrified mother before he is chased away by a local man who throws his bag at him. 

Further video taken minutes after the stabbing shows the attacker being chased by locals across the park. Parents can be heard in the background screaming for help for their injured children.

Soon afterwards, armed police arrived at the scene and chased the suspect before a shot is heard and the attacker falls to the ground before a desperate struggle with the cops. 

Hanoun was subdued and arrested for the attack that left four children and an adult seriously injured. The attacker was slightly injured by police and taken to hospital.

The man who tried to stop Hanoun with his bag has been identified as Henri, a 24-year-old management and philosophy student. He’s been hailed in France as ‘the backpack hero’.  

A class of secondary school children witnessed the atrocity. They are now receiving counselling following the traumatic incident.

Mathilde Fuzat, 18, who was in a sports class at the school nearby said: ‘I saw a mother picking up a child from the ground.’

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly confirmed that a British girl is among the injured. The Annecy prosecutor said another child who was injured was a Dutch national. 

Police sources told BFMTV that a two year-old boy and his sister, three, are in a critical condition. A three-year-old British girl and a 22-month-old German boy was also injured in the attack, according to C-News. 

Describing the attack, a witness who gave his name as Ferdinand told BFM TV: ‘He jumped (in the playground), started shouting and then went towards the strollers, repeatedly hitting the little ones with a knife.

‘Mothers were crying, everybody was running,’ said George, another witness and owner of a nearby restaurant.

Another witness, who asked not to be named, said: ‘The man was shouting in English, and caused absolute panic when he started attacking the little ones. 

‘He wanted to hurt as many people as he could. He caused carnage. The young children were just easy targets.’

Another witness told Le Dauphine: ‘We saw a person attacking children playing games, small ones, obviously that was his target. After people tried to scare him, he walked away and the police intervened.’

Former Liverpool footballer Anthony Le Tallec said he saw a group of people running at him before a mother shouted at him: ‘Run, run, there is someone who is stabbing everyone all along the lake. They are stabbing children, run run!’ 

He continued: ‘I was so surprised, I continued and then suddenly the guy appeared in front of me, then I saw the police who were ten metres behind him but they hadn’t managed to get him yet. He was so near to me so I got out of the way.’ 

‘Mothers were crying, everybody was running,’ said George, owner of a nearby restaurant. 

An ice cream seller who works in the waterside park said he’d seen the attacker there several days earlier, looking out at the lake ringed by mountains. 

‘I had already seen him, he had been sitting on a bench for two to three days’, he told BFMTV.

‘He was looking at the lake like anyone else was looking at the lake,’ the witness said but added the suspect was sitting with ‘a trembling leg and a big black bag’.

France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who travelled to Annecy yesterday, said Hanoun is a Syrian national who had been granted asylum in Sweden ten years ago. At the time of his application, he stated he was a Syrian Christian. 

He had entered France legally, Borne said, and was carrying Swedish identity documents and a Swedish driving license. He was not known to security agencies and has no criminal or psychiatric record, Borne said.

The local prosecutor leading the investigation said man’s motives were unknown but did not appear to be terrorism-related. He is under investigation for attempted murder and will undergo a psychiatric examination today. 

Hanoun had applied for asylum in France in November last year but police sources said his application was rejected four days ago on the grounds that he already had refugee status in Sweden. 

An investigating source said Hanoun is himself a married father of a three-year-old girl, and a devout Christian who carried a prayer book and a cross at the time of his arrest.

It was claimed that the suspect and his ex-wife, who lived in Trollhattan, north of Gothenberg, separated eight months ago and had not been in contact for four months. The pair had reportedly been training to be nurses.

Following the attack, Macron tweeted: ‘Attack of absolute cowardice this morning in a park in Annecy. Children and an adult are between life and death. 

‘The Nation is in shock. Our thoughts are with them as well as their families and the emergency services that mobilised.’ 

Several witnesses described Le Paquier park as an usually tranquil place popular with tourists for its stunning views of Lake Annecy and the mountains.

‘It’s a place where babysitters and parents take young children to play. I often see around 15 toddlers there in the morning, and the atmosphere is fantastic,’ said Yohan, who works at an ice-cream parlour just opposite the park.

France has been shocked by a number of violent incidents over the past few months, including the fatal stabbing last month of a nurse in the northern town of Reims. Also last month, a drunk driver accidentally killed three policemen.

Macron has denounced what he calls a ‘de-civilisation process’ in the country, while opposition lawmakers say his government has been too lax on law and order.

‘Nothing more abominable than to attack children,’ National Assembly speaker Yael Braun-Pivet said on Twitter. Parliament observed a minute of silence to mark the incident.

In recent years, France has suffered a series of traumatic attacks.

In 2012, a Franco-Algerian Islamic extremist named Mohamed Merah killed seven people including three children and a rabbi at a Jewish school during a shooting rampage in the southern city of Toulouse.

Most recently, the beheading of a teacher in broad daylight in 2020 near his school in a Paris suburb by a radicalised Chechen refugee led to shock and grief, as well as a national debate about the influence of radical Islam in deprived areas of the country.

Thursday’s attack is likely to spur greater scrutiny of France’s immigration and asylum policy, with right-wing politicians seizing on the suspected culprit’s identity as a refugee.

‘The investigation will determine what happened, but it seems like the culprit has the same profile that you see often in these attacks,’ the head of the right-wing Republicans party, Eric Ciotti, told reporters at parliament.

‘We need to draw conclusions without being naive, with strength and with a clear mind,’ he said.

Images showed police forensics at work today outside the headquarters of Loc Prud’homme, MP of the left-wing party La France Insoumise, in Villenave-d’Ornon. The building had been vandalised with far-right slogans. 

The leader of the far-right National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, wrote that she had learned the news with ‘dread and horror’.

A Californian state senator has urged black residents of his state to be ‘realistic’ about reparations, a week after the task force – set up to look into the issue – approved its final proposals.

The task force has not announced how much they think should be given to eligible residents.

Economists studying the issue have argued the state is responsible for more than $500 billion, due to decades of over-policing, mass incarceration and redlining that kept black families from receiving loans and living in certain neighborhoods. 

Some have calculated that black residents who meet all the criteria could receive $1.2 million. 

Their plan must be approved by the governor, Gavin Newsom, who has already said he does not support the distribution of checks, arguing that there are better ways to deal with the legacy of racist policies. 

On Friday, Newsom said the state’s budget deficit is expected to soar to almost $32 billion, nearly $10 billion more than he had projected in January.

A state senator who sits on the nine-member task force said people should not get their hopes up. 

Steven Bradford, of Los Angeles, said ‘anything’s possible if the money’s there,’ but he remains ‘realistic’ that it could be difficult to garner enough support for large payments at a time when lawmakers haven’t even debated where the money would come from.

‘I don’t want to set folks’ expectations and hopes up that they’re going to be getting, you know, seven-figure checks,’ the California Senator said in an interview with Associated Press on Friday.

‘That’s just not happening.’

California became the first state to form a reparations task force in September 2020, following national protests over the death of George Floyd, who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer.

The task force’s hearings have attracted large crowd, and impassioned activists.

Marcus Champion, a Los Angeles resident and organizer with the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, a reparations advocacy group, said he was disappointed with Bradford’s comments.

‘That is not the way you come to the table to pay a historic debt,’ he said. 

‘That is not the way that you come to the table in any type of negotiation. 

‘Start as high as you possibly can, and then work from there.’

Assembly member Reggie Jones-Sawyer, another Los Angeles-area Democrat on the task force, said he did not agree with Bradford, and it was too early to say what would be decided.

‘We have absolutely no idea right now what will or will not be approved,’ he said.

Assembly member Lori Wilson, who chairs the state Legislative Black Caucus, said in a statement that the caucus will champion policy proposals included in the task force’s report.

‘We look forward to working collaboratively with our Legislative colleagues and Governor Newsom’s Administration as we continue to fight for equity in our communities,’ the San Francisco Bay Area Democrat wrote.

Newsom on May 9 came out against reparations checks being handed out to black residents of his state.

Newsom said dealing with the legacy of slavery and discrimination is ‘about much more than cash payments.’ 

He told Fox News in a statement: ‘Many of the recommendations put forward by the task force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond. 

‘This work must continue.’

Newsom on Friday revealed his revised budget plan for the fiscal year starting on July 1, proposing a plan that to cover the shortfall while potentially leaving the state with multibillion-dollar deficits in the future.

‘This was not an easy budget, but I hope you see we will try to do our best to hold the line and take care of the most vulnerable and most needy, but still maintain prudence,’ Newsom said.

To cover the projected shortfall, Newsom proposed a combination of modest spending cuts, increased borrowing, and a plan to push some expenses into future budget years, creating a projected $14 billion annual deficit by 2027.

Republicans in the state legislature slammed Newsom’s plan, with GOP Assembly Leader James Gallagher saying it was ‘dangerous’.

He said: ‘His cuts to drought programs are dangerous, his ‘fiscal gimmicks’ are shortsighted, and his words about good government and efficiency are yet another empty promise. Californians deserve better.’

The projected $31.5 billion shortfall would mark California’s first budget deficit since Newsom took office in 2019, and follows several years of booming surpluses as tax revenues surged. 

California has a progressive tax system that relies heavily on rich people and taxes investment gains as regular income, meaning it gets about half its revenues from just 1 percent of the population. 

When the economy is good and the stock market surges, the wealthy pay more in taxes and revenues can soar quickly. When the economy is bad, they pay less and revenues can plunge just as fast. 

The economic reality means that payments of hundreds of thousands in reparations were exceptionally unlikely. 

The amount the reparations would cost the state were not outlined in the report, but previous calculations from economists predicted it could cost around $800 billion – more than twice California’s approximate $300 billion annual budget.

The report suggests that the amounts, based on what has been lost to specific types of racial discrimination, should be paid back to black residents.

This includes $2,352 lost per person per year for the over-policing and mass incarceration of black communities and $3,366 per person per year of residence between 1933 and 1977 for ‘discriminatory lending and zoning’.

It also includes $13,619 per person per year for residents in California for ‘injustices and discrimination in health’ and $77,000 per person for black-owned business losses and devaluations. 

This means a lifelong black California resident aged at least 71 could receive more than $1.2million in compensation. 

Newsom said: ‘Following the task force’s submission of its final report this summer, I look forward to a continued partnership with the Legislature to advance systemic changes that ensure an inclusive and equitable future for all Californians.’

But the 100 residents and activists who gathered at the meeting at the beginning of May were not impressed with the calculations in the draft report, and said it should be more.

Reverend Tony Pierce, CEO of the Oakland-based Black Wall Street organization, aired his frustration and pointed to the country’s ‘broken promise’ to offer 40 acres and a mule to newly freed slaves.

He said: ‘You know that the numbers should be equivocal to what an acre was back then. We were given 40, OK? We were given 40 acres. 

‘You know what that number is. You keep trying to talk about now, yet you research back to slavery and you say nothing about slavery, nothing.

‘So, the equivocal number from the 1860s for 40 acres to today is $200 million for each and every African-American.’

He then hit out at the panel for not being ambitious enough with the reparations plan.

‘You’re not supposed to be afraid,’ he added. 

‘You’re just supposed to tell the truth. You’re not supposed to be the gatekeepers. You’re supposed to say what the people want and hear from the people.’

One woman said: ‘$1.2million is nowhere near enough. It should be starting at least $5million like San Francisco.

‘We want direct cash payments just like how the stimulus [checks] were sent out. It’s our inheritance, and we can handle it.’

And another resident added: ‘This million dollars we’re hearing on the news is just inadequate and a further injustice if that’s what this task force is going to recommend for black Americans for 400-plus years and continuing of slavery and injustice that we have been forced to endure.

‘To even throw a million dollars at us is just an injustice.’

Elaine Brown, former Black Panther Party chairwoman, urged people to express their frustrations through demonstrations.

The report insisted the figures are just estimates and that lawmakers would have to conduct additional research to work out the specifics.

Panel members recommended direct payments for those eligible in the report.

‘The initial down payment is the beginning of a process of addressing historical injustices not the end of it,’ it read.

The reparations task force has also asked for those eligible to receive cash ‘down payments’ as soon as any recommendations are forged into law while they wait for the compensation to be calculated.

The task force, made up of elected officials, academics and lawyers, decided on the eligibility criteria last year.

It determined that any descendant of enslaved African Americans or of a ‘free black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century’ should be entitled to reparations.

If legislation is passed for the payments, the committee suggested that a state agency be created to process claims and make payments with elderly black residents being the priority.

Around 1.8 million people in California identify as black or African American. 

No other state in the country is more advanced than California in its consideration of reparations proposals for black Americans, although multiple cities – among them Evanston, Illinois and Ashville, North Carolina, are considering their own schemes. 

Task Force Chair Kamilah Moore said she is hopeful recommendations including the payments could get enough support from state lawmakers.

‘We’ve gone above and beyond,’ Moore said of the group’s work.

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Published: 18:10 EDT, 13 May 2023 | Updated: 19:34 EDT, 13 May 2023