(Newswire.net— June 7, 2020) — Anti-racist demonstrations by supporters of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, instigated by the murder of African-American George Floyd in the United States, were held in cities all around the world.
Floyd was declared dead on May 25 in a hospital in Minneapolis, after the intervention of white police officer Derek Covin, who held his knee on Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes during his arrest, despite Floyd saying that he could not breathe.
In central London today, thousands of people demonstrated against police violence and racial inequality. Protesters first knelt in silence, then chanted Floyd’s name and applauded his honor.
Among those gathered were celebrities, including boxer Anthony Joshua who ignored the recommendation of the authorities not to come to the protest due to the coronavirus epidemic. Due to the measures to fight COVID-19, the UK government forbids the gathering of more than six people. However, thousands stood together in protests in London, Manchester, Cardiff, and other British cities.
In Paris, police banned three such protests, citing the risk of spreading the coronavirus and fear of unrest as reasons for the ban.
It is forbidden to gather more than 10 people in France, but protesters tried to gather in front of the US Embassy in Paris until the police blocked the entire area and prevented them from gathering.
In Italy, in front of the American consulate in Naples, several hundred citizens protested, shouting “I can’t breathe”, “Freedom” and “No justice, no peace”. The rally in Naples is one of the first protests in Italy over the murder of Floyd, as there has been an increase in racially motivated incidents in recent years, following the influx of large numbers of migrants from Africa.
Protests were also announced in other Italian cities over the weekend.
Thousands of people gathered across Australia to express support for the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
In Seoul, the capital of the North Korea, where a protest over Floyd’s murder was held for the second day in a row, dozens of demonstrators in black T-shirts carried banners reading “Rest in Peace” and “Koreans for the Movement Lives of Blacks Matter.”
A peaceful protest was also held in the capital of Japan, Tokyo.
The murder of Floyd sparked protests in Minneapolis on May 26, which soon became violent and spread to dozens of American cities, with hundreds of people getting arrested and great material damage.
On Friday night, citizens peacefully protested in numerous American cities, unlike the previous days when the protests were followed by the destruction of property, arson, looting, and clashes between demonstrators and police.
The change came as a result of the determination of many protesters and protest organizers to turn anger over Floyd’s death into a civil rights movement, with a demand for reform of the American criminal system and against racial profiling.