MIDDLEBORO, Mass. (AP) — Weeks before Thanksgiving, some of the cranberries on dinner plates Thursday are floating on the Rocky Meadow bog in southeastern Massachusetts.
The cranberries have turned this pond pinkish crimson. Several workers, up to their waist in water, gently coral the berries toward a pump that vacuums them up onto a waiting truck. There, the berries are run through a system that separates them from leaves and vines and are transported to processing plant, which eventually turns them into sauce, juice or sweet and dried berries.
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Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Cans of cranberry sauce line a turkey display case at Bongi's Turkey Roost in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Duxbury, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Cranberries float while being harvested at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, gestures from the edge of his bog during a harvest at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers adjust floating booms, left, as cranberries are loaded for transport and processing during a wet harvest at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
The native wetland plants that produce cranberries start growing in May. When they are ready to be harvested, farmers flood their bogs with water and send out a picking machine to shake the berries from the vines. Then more water is added to the bog, and the freed cranberries float to the surface.
“The season has been pretty good this year. We’ve had a pretty good crop,” said Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, on the edge of his bog.
The harvest runs from September through early November, and Ward is expected to produce between 15,000 and 20,000 barrels, the best crop he has had in three years. About 80% of those berries will go to Ocean Spray, a massive producer of cranberry products in the U.S.
This bog is one of nearly 300 in Massachusetts that cover some 14,000 acres, and this year farmers are projected to produce 2.2 million barrels of cranberries, with one barrel amounting to 100 pounds (45 kilograms). That's an increase of 12% over last year. Massachusetts is the second-biggest cranberry producing region in the U.S. behind Wisconsin, and the industry there dates back to the 1800s.
Despite the size of the sector, farmers in the state have weathered several challenges over the years, from trade wars to falling prices to a glut of berries. Some have sold off their bogs or moved to diversify by putting solar panels around their bogs. Ward has two solar sites near his bogs and is considering putting floating solar installations on his water holes and reservoirs.
Ward said farmers are also having to adapt to a changing climate — which the Massachusetts Cranberries, a group that advocates on behalf of the industry, said could lead to a lower harvest this year.
“We have had some challenges with some of the hot weather and had one of the longest dry spells we have ever had," he said. “We are having more 90-degree (32 degrees Celsius) days clumped together. The cranberry plants just don't like that type of weather. Our average temperatures, especially at night, are higher. Cranberries need cooler temperatures at night."
Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Cans of cranberry sauce line a turkey display case at Bongi's Turkey Roost in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2022, in Duxbury, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Cranberries float while being harvested at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Steve Ward, a second-generation cranberry grower, gestures from the edge of his bog during a harvest at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers adjust floating booms, left, as cranberries are loaded for transport and processing during a wet harvest at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Workers adjust floating booms while wet harvesting cranberries at Rocky Meadow Bog, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Middleborough, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A prominent Bangladeshi Hindu leader who has been leading rallies demanding security for Hindus in the overwhelmingly Muslim nation was ordered detained on charges of sedition Tuesday.
The magistrate court of Kazi Shariful Islam denied bail to Krishna Das Prabhu and ordered him detained pending further proceedings.
One lawyer was killed and scores were injured after clashes broke out following Tuesday's court order.
As police attempted to transport the Hindu leader to jail, hundreds of his supporters surrounded the van carrying him, forcing it to stop for over an hour before security officials fired teargas to disperse the crowd. Protesters threw stones at police during a brief confrontation, before the way was cleared and Prabhu was taken to jail.
As the tension grew, live TV showed dozens of Muslims joining the security officials, chasing Hindu protesters and throwing stones at them.
The United News of Bangladesh news agency quoted a police official as saying that lawyer Saiful Islam Alif was hacked to death during the melee. Some reports blamed the Hindu protesters for the killing, but details were sketchy.
Hindus and members of other minority groups say they have faced more attacks than ever since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina fled the country amid a mass uprising in August and an interim government took over. The government says the threat to Hindus has been exaggerated.
Around 91% of Bangladesh’s population is Muslim, with Hindus making up almost all of the rest.
Prabhu, also known as Chinmoy Krishna Das Brahmachari, faces charges of sedition filed in October after he led a huge rally in Chattogram in which he was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag.
He was arrested in Dhaka’s main airport on Monday while traveling to Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh.
Kushal Baran Chakrabarty, who was accompanying Prabhu at the time of his arrest, said that several detectives took the Hindu leader to a police car at the airport.
“Chinmoy Prabhu gave his phone to me as he was forcefully taken to the police car. The police detectives jostled with us to forcefully take his phone and they took it away. We then followed the police car that headed for the headquarters of the Detective Branch at Minto Road in Dhaka,” he said. “We stayed outside the Detective Branch’s office.”
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council, an umbrella organization of the country's minority groups, denounced the arrest of Prabhu in a statement and demanded his release.
India's Ministry of External Affairs expressed “deep concern” in a statement on Tuesday.
“This incident follows the multiple attacks on Hindus and other minorities by extremist elements in Bangladesh. There are several documented cases of arson and looting of minorities’ homes and business establishments, as well as theft and vandalism and desecration of deities and temples,” the statement said.
It also condemned attacks on peaceful protests by Hindus.
“We urge Bangladesh authorities to ensure the safety and security of Hindus and all minorities, including their right of freedom of peaceful assembly and expression,” the ministry wrote.
Bangladesh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday night criticized the reaction by India, saying that the issue was the “internal affairs” of Bangladesh.
“It is with utter dismay and deep sense of hurt that the government of Bangladesh notes that the arrest of Chinmoy Krishna Das has been misconstrued by certain quarters since Chinmoy Krishna Das has been arrested on specific charges,” its statement said.
Bangladesh also said that India's statement misrepresents facts and contradicts the spirit of friendship and understanding between the neighboring countries.
Also, India's statement does not reflect the harmony that exists among the peoples of all faiths and the commitment and the efforts of the government and the people in this regard, said the statement by Bangladesh.
Prabhu faces charges of sedition filed in October after he led a huge rally in Chattogram in which he was accused of disrespecting Bangladesh’s national flag. Dhaka-based leading Prothom Alo daily reported that Prabhu would be produced before a court on Tuesday, and that two other people have been arrested in the case.
On Tuesday, the Hindu leader was brought before the magistrate court of Kazi Shariful Islam in southeastern city of Chattogram, the United News of Bangladesh agency reported. The court was packed and dozens of lawyers stood for him to seek bail.
Since August, Prabhu has led several large rallies demanding safety for the Hindus, as the interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus said reports of attacks have been exaggerated.
Many in the interim government see the rallies by Hindus as a threat to stability and a ploy to rehabilitate Hasina and her Awami League party.
The long-ruling secular party is seen as a protector of the Hindu minority and has close ties to neighboring India. Hundreds of Hasina’s supporters, including many close aides, are believed to have fled to India after her fall.
Prabhu is a prominent Hindu leader and a respected figure. He is a member of the Bangladesh Sammilito Sanatan Jagaran Jote group. He is also associated with the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, widely known as the Hare Krishna movement, and acts as a spokesman for the group in Bangladesh.
On Tuesday, authorities in Dhaka and Chattogram deployed paramilitary border guards, apparently to avert any violence.
Prabhu's followers took to the streets in Chattogram and Dhaka to demand his release on Monday.
In Dhaka, a mob armed with sticks attacked Hindu protesters on Monday night at Shahbagh intersection near the Dhaka University.
Kalbela, a Bengali-language daily, said in a video report on Monday night that the attackers drove the Hindu protesters away from the area.
Hasina fled the country on Aug. 5 after a student-led protest morphed into a mass uprising, ending her 15-year rule. The country's security agencies are struggling to keep order as the police agencies remained demoralized after dozens of their members were killed during the mass uprising in July and August.
Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu shows a victory sign as he is taken in a police van after court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
Supporters of Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu surround the van carrying the leader after court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
Policemen charge baton to disperse the supporters of Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu after they surrounded police van carrying their leader at the court premises, in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
Bangladeshi Hindu leader Krishna Das Prabhu shows a victory sign as he is taken in a police van after court ordered him detained pending further proceedings in Chattogram in southeastern Bangladesh, Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024. (AP photo)
