🔥 Strong mag. 5.5 earthquake – Āfar, 64 km east of Ādīgrat, Tigray, Ethiopia, on Monday, Dec 26, 2022 at 3:21 pm (GMT +3)
The German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) reported a magnitude 5.1 quake in Ethiopia near Ādīgrat, Tigray, only 12 minutes ago. The earthquake hit early afternoon on Monday, December 26th, 2022, at 3:21 pm local time at a shallow depth of 10 km. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 5.1 as well. A third agency, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), reported the same quake at magnitude 5.3.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Ādīgrat (pop. 65,000) located 62 km from the epicenter, Adi Keyh (pop. 13,100) 73 km away, and Mek’ele (pop. 215,500) 127 km away.
VolcanoDiscovery will automatically update magnitude and depth if these change and follow up if other significant news about the quake become available. If you’re in the area, please send us your experience through our reporting mechanism, either online or via our mobile app. This will help us provide more first-hand updates to anyone around the globe who wants to know more about this quake.
😈 1984 Thought Police! Wow. Now it’s illegal to pray?!?
💭 Arrest of Catholic woman protester for silently PRAYING outside abortion clinic sparks debate between her supporters who condemn ‘thought crime’ and critics who accuse her of harassing women patients in ‘buffer zone’
Anti-abortion group director was arrested for praying outside abortion clinic
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, 45, charged with four counts of violating buffer zone
She was arrested by police after she said she might have prayed in her head
Supporters said arrest was ‘thoughtcrime’ but critics say she harassed women
Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of anti-abortion group March for Life UK, was arrested after being accused of violating the council’s ‘buffer zone’ which bans protest nearby.
She was confronted by a police officer when she was standing on the street outside the BPAS Robert Clinic in Kings Norton, Birmingham.
The protestor, 45, was charged with four counts of violating the abortion clinic ‘buffer zone’ after she admitted that she might have been praying silently while standing outside.
She had been standing there some time, and was not carrying a sign, when an officer approached after a complaint from a member of the public on December 6.
The West Midlands Police officer told the campaigner that he had to caution her and then asked her: ‘What are you here for today?’
‘Physically, I’m just standing here,’ Mss Vaughan-Spruce, from Malvern, Worcestershire, replied.
‘Why here of all places? I know you don’t live nearby,’ the officer asked.
She responded: ‘But this is an abortion centre.’
The officer said: ‘Okay, that’s why you’re stood here. Are you here as part of a protest? Are you praying?’
She denied she was protesting but when asked if she was praying she said: ‘I might be praying in my head, but not out loud.’
The officer then arrested her on suspicion of failing to comply with a public spaces protection order.
She is now due to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court on February 2 charged with four counts of failing to comply with a Public Space Protection Order.
Ms Vaughn-Spruce’s arrest has already sparked a fierce debate, with supporters saying she has effectively been arrested for ‘thoughtcrime’, a term which her legal representatives ADF UK used.
ADF UK are a British branch of American the conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, who have campaigned and lobbied against the right to an abortion and against the decriminalisation of homsexuality in the States.
‘Still surreal to observe a thought crime arrest in the West,’ said data scientist Justin Co on Twitter.
‘Good Lord. The thought police are with us,’ tweeted Tobye Pierce.
But John Michael Leslie criticised Ms Vaughn-Spruce, accusing of her harassing women.
He wrote on Twitter: ‘No, you’re in violation of if you repeatedly harass women going to a family planning clinic who might be asking for abortion advice.
‘”Praying in her head” is the spin from her supporters.’
Mrs Vaughn-Spruce said: ‘It’s abhorrently wrong that I was searched, arrested, interrogated by police and charged simply for praying in the privacy of my own mind.
‘Censorship zones purport to ban harassment, which is already illegal. Nobody should ever be subject to harassment.
‘But what I did was the furthest thing from harmful – I was exercising my freedom of thought, my freedom of religion, inside the privacy of my own mind.
‘Nobody should be criminalised for thinking and for praying, in a public space in the UK.’
MPs voted to introduce buffer zones around abortion clinics in October after Labour proposed an amendment to the Public Order Bill to make it an offence to intimidate or harass anyone within 150 metres of the buildings.
Anyone found guilty of breaching the zone to intimidate, threaten or persuade women will face a fine or six months’ imprisonment, increasing to two years for repeat offences.
Talking to Tucker Carlson on American news channel Fox News today she said: ‘To be arresting somebody for what they’re thinking… it’s actually quite surreal.
‘The amount of people that have used the word “Orwellian” to me to describe this, likening it to the 1984 novel – and it’s really seemed like that to me from start to finish.’
Carlson said: ‘Arresting someone for praying is an act of evil. Period.
‘And it just breaks your heart to think of all the people in charge… who are standing by and allowing this to happen.’
‘Isabel’s experience should be deeply concerning to all those who believe that our hard-fought fundamental rights are worth protecting,’ said Jeremiah Igunnubole, Legal Counsel for ADF UK.
‘It is truly astonishing that the law has granted local authorities such wide and unaccountable discretion, that now even thoughts deemed “wrong” can lead to a humiliating arrest and a criminal charge.’
‘Isabel, a woman of good character, and who has tirelessly served her community by providing charitable assistance to vulnerable women and children, has been treated no better than a violent criminal.
‘The recent increase in buffer zone legislation and orders is a watershed moment in our country. We must ask ourselves whether we are a genuinely democratic country committed to protecting the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of speech.
‘We are at serious risk of mindlessly sleepwalking into a society that accepts, normalises, and even promotes the “tyranny of the majority”.’
As part of her conditions for bail, Vaughan-Spruce was told that she should not contact a local Catholic priest who was also involved in pro-life work – a condition that was later dropped.
Police also imposed restrictions, as part of her bail, on Vaughan-Spruce engaging in public prayer beyond the PSPO area, stating that this was necessary to prevent further offences.
A West Midlands Police spokesperson said: ‘Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, aged 45 from Malvern, was arrested on 6 December and subsequently charged on 15 December with four counts of failing to comply with a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO).
‘She was bailed to appear at Birmingham Magistrates Court on 2 February 2023.
‘The PSPO creates a zone around a specific facility to protect women from harassment by any means if they are seeking a medical procedure or advice at an abortion clinic.’
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