By JOSEPH WILSON

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A group of tourists were sitting at an outdoor table in the Spanish city of Barcelona, trying to enjoy their drinks, when a woman raised a cheap plastic water gun and shot an arc of water at them.

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Her weapon of choice — the cheap, squirt-squirt variety — is an increasingly common fixture at anti-tourism protests in the southern European country, where many locals fear that an overload of visitors is driving them from their cherished neighborhoods.

How did the humble water gun become a symbol of discontent?

From refreshing to revolutionary

The phenomenon started last July, when a fringe, left-wing activist group based in Barcelona that promotes the “degrowth” of the city’s successful tourism sector held its first successful rally. Some brought water guns to shoot one another and stay cool in the summer heat.

“What happened later went viral, but in reality it was just kind of a joke by a group of people who brought water guns because it was hot,” Adriana Coten, one of the organizers of Neighborhood Assembly for Tourism Degrowth, told The Associated Press.

Then, some turned their water guns from each other to tourists. The images went around the world, becoming a publicity coup for the anti-tourism cause.

The guns reappeared in April when the same group stopped a tour bus in Barcelona, the Catalan capital.

Guns drawn

On Sunday, around a thousand people marched from a luxury shopping boulevard popular with affluent foreigners before police stopped them from getting closer to Barcelona’s top sight-seeing destination: La Sagrada Familia church.

The marchers spritzed unsuspecting tourists along the way, chanting slogans and carrying protest signs. One read: “One more tourist, one less resident!”

They left a trail of stickers on hotel doors, lampposts and outdoor café tables showing a squirting water gun encircled by a message in English: “Tourist Go Home!”

Still, the number of Barcelona protesters carrying water guns was a minority — and in the gun-toting group, many were only shooting in the air or at each other. One dad was toting his baby in a front-pack, water gun in hand.

Outside the protests, Barcelona locals are not toting water guns or taking aim at tourists. And many in the city still support tourism, which is a pillar of the local economy.

‘A symbol’

Can the water gun really change the minds of tourists, authorities or the businesses that drive the industry? Depends on who you ask.

Protester Lourdes Sánchez and her teenage daughter, each holding a water gun, said the gun “really isn’t to hurt anyone.”

“This is a symbol to say that we are fed up of how tourism industry is transforming our country into a theme park,” Sánchez said.

Another demonstrator, Andreu Martínez, acknowledged it was “to bother the tourists a bit.”

Laurens Schocher, a 46-year-old architect, said he didn’t shoot any suspected tourists but hoped that carrying a water gun would bring more attention to their cause.

“I don’t think the tourists will get it,” he said. “I think this is to send a message to authorities.”

A squirt can hurt your feelings

The marchers had no monster, pump-action water cannons most kids use for backyard battles in the summer. Theirs were the old-school, cheap-o water guns that send a slim jet of water not that far away.

Some tourists who were sprayed took it in stride, even claiming it was refreshing on a day with temperatures pushing up to around 87 Fahrenheit.

But there were moments of tension. When several marchers squirted workers at a large hostel, tempers flared and one worker spat at his attackers as he slammed the hostel door shut.

Nora Tsai, who had just arrived from Taiwan on a short visit, was among those spritzed on Sunday. She said she was a bit frightened and saddened. The “Tourist go home!” chants didn’t help either.

“I still like Barcelona,” she said. “I have met a lot of people who were kind.”

Ever since his childhood, Dean Van Nguyen has felt a connection with Tupac Shakur. 

The journalist and cultural critic first encountered the late rapper’s music as a student in an all-boys Catholic school in Ireland, and Shakur was a natural fit when Van Nguyen was deciding to write his second book, following his debut, “Iron Age: The Art of Ghostface Killah” in 2019. Van Nguyen knew he had a fresh angle on Shakur’s life and career.

“What made me really want to get into the book was the question of, ‘How does this happen?’” Van Nguyen says. “How does a guy who made music that you can play in the club become this figure on par with Che Guevara or a Bob Marley?”

Van Nguyen’s “Words for My Comrades: A Political History of Tupac Shakur,” out now from Doubleday, seeks to answer those questions. The book looks at Shakur through a political lens, examining his childhood spent around members of the Marxist–Leninist Black Panther Party — especially his influential mother, the late activist Afeni Shakur. 

Van Nguyen talked about his book via Zoom from his home in Dublin, Ireland. This conversation has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Dean Van Nguyen is the author of “Words for My Comrades: A Political History of Tupac Shakur.” (Credit: Daragh Soden / Courtesy of Doubleday)

Q: How did you discover the music of Tupac Shakur?

It was back in school. When I was a kid, I had a bit more of a focused music taste than a lot of kids. A lot of the kids would just be into chart singles, but I quite liked R&B. I had young uncles and one young aunt, and they introduced me to a lot of stuff. It was the mid-’90s where the lines between R&B and hip-hop were starting to kind of blur and you were getting a lot of cross-genre collaborations. When I was a teenager, more in the late ‘90s, rap, gangsta rap was becoming quite popular in the schoolyard. This kind of music was a bit of an escape for us, especially because at that time, the videos were always really good and there always seemed to be stories around the music as well. Tupac was one of the artists that I grew up on, and I always maintained a fandom for him.

Q: What do you think made him so popular in Ireland?

He is the greatest icon the culture has ever produced. I think I’d say he’s probably one of the two most instantly recognizable artists alongside Eminem. But what I noticed, and one of the impulses behind this book, is that his icon is particularly strong in places of the world that have experienced colonial oppression or any sort of resistance, any sort of sense of rebellion or revolution. Ireland is in that vein; obviously, we were colonized by Great Britain for a long time. 

There’s also something about Tupac as a symbol of resistance that is particularly interesting to Irish people. In the early 2000s, I went to a Nelly gig and a bunch of guys were waving a Tupac flag. And when the DJ who was warming up the crowd played “Ambitionz az a Ridah,” they all went nuts. I was quite young when he died. And dying young and dying violently sealed his reputation because that’s what happened to a lot of Irish heroes. They were killed young. That’s happened to a lot of revolutionaries around the world, and I think that strengthened his icon too. There’s just something in that that appeals to the Irish psyche, I suppose.

Q: You did a lot of interviews for this book. 

Coming from a journalism background, the tenets of feature writing served me well. I like to talk to people, and for this, I was particularly keen to talk to people who may be voices in the Tupac story haven’t been heard quite as much. I wanted to chat with anyone who wanted to, but I found, for example, when you’re talking about a rap crew, sometimes it’s like the fourth or fifth most famous guy who’s actually got the most interesting things to say.

These guys aren’t recognized on the street, but they’re there observing history all the time. One of the real pleasures of doing the book was talking to the ex-Panthers and the other ‘60s and ‘70s activists who, at this stage of their life, are very eager to have their stories put down. Crucially, as well, they’ve gotten to a stage in their life where they’re no longer fearing any kind of government reprisal. They don’t think they’re going to get in trouble for speaking to me candidly. 

Tupac Shakur, Snoop Doggy Dogg and Hammer (R-L) joined the activist group Brotherhood Crusade Aug. 15, 1996, in Los Angeles to kick off a campaign against the “three-strikes” law and to oppose the California Civil Rights Initiative, the anti-affirmative action measure. (AP Photo/Frank Wiese)

Q: When do you think that Tupac’s Panther background first became evident in his music, or was it always there?

It’s there from some of his earliest recordings. One of his early recordings that he made before he had a [record] deal was called “Panther Power,” and it was overtly about his background. This was always a part of his upbringing. But he was also raised in the backdrop of the revolution that never really came. The Panthers, by the mid- to late ‘70s and ‘80s, a lot of them were suffering from addiction, like Tupac’s own mother. A lot of them are still in prison on charges that were drummed up to stifle them. So I think he grew up in an environment where his elders are probably speaking a lot about regrets. I think he recognized that he needed to tailor his own worldview and his own message and his words to meet America. That was important in terms of his artistry, but certainly, I think that was always there in his music.

Toward the end of his career, his music became a little bit more macho and a little bit more violent. But then on the Makaveli album [“The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory”], which was released after he died, you can see he’s coming back to his roots, and he namechecks a lot of the activists who would’ve been his mother’s contemporaries, who he would’ve known growing up. So yeah, it was always there. He just took on different forms and shaped it for his own. He saw Los Angeles in the 1990s, which had specific issues in terms of racism, police brutality and all that. He had that spirit in him, but the music was very tailored for his own age as well.

By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV warned Friday that artificial intelligence could negatively impact the intellectual, neurological and spiritual development of young people as he pressed one of the priorities of his young pontificate.

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History’s first American pope sent a message to a conference of AI and ethics, part of which was taking place in the Vatican in a sign of the Holy See’s concern for the new technologies and what they mean for humanity.

In the message, Leo said any further development of AI must be evaluated according to the “superior ethical criterion” of the need to safeguard the dignity of each human being while respecting the diversity of the world’s population.

He warned specifically that new generations are most at risk given they have never had such quick access to information.

“All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development,” he said in the message. “Society’s well-being depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities,” and not allow them to confuse mere access to data with intelligence.

“In the end, authentic wisdom has more to do with recognizing the true meaning of life, than with the availability of data,” he said.

Leo, who was elected in May after the death of Pope Francis, has identified AI as one of the most critical matters facing humanity, saying it poses challenges to defending human dignity, justice and labor. He has explained his concern for AI by invoking his namesake, Pope Leo XIII. That Leo was pope during the dawn of the Industrial Revolution and made the plight of workers, and the need to guarantee their rights and dignity, a key priority.

Toward the end of his pontificate, Francis became increasingly vocal about the threats to humanity posed by AI and called for an international treaty to regulate it. Francis said politicians must take the lead in making sure AI remains human-centric, so that decisions about when to use weapons or even less-lethal tools always remain made by humans and not machines.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By SAM MEDNICK, JON GAMBRELL and DAVID RISING

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel and Iran exchanged strikes a week into their war Friday as President Donald Trump weighed U.S. military involvement and new diplomatic efforts got underway.

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Trump has been weighing whether to attack Iran by striking its well-defended Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which is buried under a mountain and widely considered to be out of reach of all but America’s “bunker-buster” bombs. He said he’ll decide within two weeks whether the U.S. military will get directly involved in the war given the “substantial chance” for renewed negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi appeared to be en route to Geneva for meetings with the European Union’s top diplomat and counterparts from the United Kingdom, France and Germany. A plane with his usual call sign took off from the Turkish city of Van, near the Iranian border, flight-tracking data from FlightRadar24 showed. Iran typically acknowledges his departure hours afterward.

Britain’s foreign secretary said he met at the White House with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the potential for a deal that could cool the conflict.

Before his flight, Araghchi said on Iranian state television that his country was “not seeking negotiations with anyone” as long as Israel’s attacks continued, underscoring the diplomatic challenges ahead. He also accused the U.S. of collaborating with Israel, noting that Trump regularly used “we” in social media posts and interviews talking about the attacks on Iran.

“It is the Americans who want talks,” he said in comments Thursday that were broadcast Friday. “They’ve sent messages several times — very serious ones — but we made it explicitly clear to them that as long as this aggression and invasion continue, there is absolutely no room for talk or diplomacy. We are engaged in legitimate self-defense, and this defense will not stop under any circumstances.”

He added that he expected the Switzerland talks to focus only on Iran’s nuclear program, and that Iran’s missile capabilities were “for defending the country” and not up for discussion.

French President Emmanuel Macron said top European diplomats in Geneva will make a “comprehensive, diplomatic and technical offer of negotiation” to Iran, as a key response to the “threat” represented by Iran’s nuclear program.

“No one can seriously believe that this threat can be met with (Israel’s) current operations alone,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show, saying some plants are heavily fortified and nobody knows exactly where all uranium enrichment is taking place.

“We need to regain control on (Iran’s nuclear) program through technical expertise and negotiation.”

Iran had previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors in to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the U.S., France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief and other provisions.

After Trump pulled the U.S. unilaterally out of the deal during his last term, however, Iran began enriching uranium to higher levels and limiting access to its facilities.

Israel says air campaign will target more sites

Israel said it conducted airstrikes into Friday morning in Iran with more than 60 aircraft hitting what it said were industrial sites to manufacture missiles. It did not elaborate on the locations. It also said it hit the headquarters of Iran’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, known by its acronym in Farsi, SPND. The U.S. in the past has linked that agency to alleged Iranian research and testing tied to the possible development of nuclear explosive devices.

It also carried out airstrikes targeting the areas around Kermanshah and Tabriz in western Iran, where the military said 25 fighter jets struck “missile storage and launch infrastructure components” Friday morning. There had been reports of anti-aircraft fire in the areas.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the losses, and has not discussed the damage done so far to its military in the weeklong war.

“We are strengthening our air control in the region and advancing our air offensive,” Israeli military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters.

“We have more sites to strike in Tehran, western Iran and other places.”

Israeli airstrikes also reached into the city of Rasht on the Caspian Sea early Friday, Iranian media reported. The Israeli military had warned the public to flee the area around Rasht’s Industrial City, southwest of the city’s downtown. But with Iran’s internet shut off to the outside world, it’s unclear just how many people could see the message.

Damage from missiles in southern Israel

In Israel, the paramedic service Magen David Adom said Iranian missiles struck a residential area in southern Israel causing damage to buildings, including one six-story building. They have provided medical treatment to five people with minor injuries such as bruises, smoke inhalation, and anxiety, it said.

Later Friday, as Araghchi’s plane approached Geneva, Israel’s military warned of more incoming Iranian missiles and air raid sirens blared in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

On Thursday, at least 80 patients and medical workers were wounded in a strike on the Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba.

After that attack, Israel’s defense minister threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after the Iranian missile crashed into the hospital. Israel’s military “has been instructed and knows that in order to achieve all of its goals, this man absolutely should not continue to exist,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he trusted that Trump would “do what’s best for America.” Speaking from the rubble and shattered glass around the hospital, he added: “I can tell you that they’re already helping a lot.”

The war between Israel and Iran erupted June 13, with Israeli airstrikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group.

Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel’s multitiered air defenses, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded.

Iran has long maintained its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. But it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons program but has never acknowledged it.

The Israeli air campaign has targeted Iran’s enrichment site at Natanz, centrifuge workshops around Tehran, a nuclear site in Isfahan and what the army assesses to be most of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers. The destruction of those launchers has contributed to the steady decline in Iranian attacks since the start of the conflict.

Gambrell and Rising reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.