US protests find support around the world
PROTESTS sweeping the United States over the death of George Floyd reverberated around the globe, with events in London and Berlin on Sunday and others yesterday including in New Zealand, Australia and the Netherlands.
Several thousand people marched in New Zealand’s largest city yesterday to protest the killing of George Floyd in the US as well as to stand up against police violence and racism in their own country.
Many people around the world have watched with growing unease at the civil unrest in the US after the latest in a series of police killings of black men and women.
Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis after a white police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck until he stopped breathing. The officer was fired and charged with murder.
The protesters in Auckland marched to the US Consulate, where they kneeled. They held banners with slogans like “I can’t breathe” and “The real virus is racism.” Hundreds more joined the peaceful protests and vigils elsewhere in New Zealand, where it was a public holiday yesterday.
In other places, too, demonstrators wove solidarity with the US protesters with messages aimed at local authorities.
In Brazil, hundreds of people protested crimes committed by the police against black people in Rio de Janeiro’s workingclass neighborhoods, known as favelas. Police used tear gas to disperse them, with some demonstrators saying “I can’t breathe,” repeating Floyd’s own words.
In Canada, an anti-racism protest degenerated into clashes between Montreal police and some demonstrators. Police declared the gathering illegal after they say projectiles were thrown at officers who responded with pepper spray and tear gas.
At a gathering in central London on Sunday, thousands offered support for American demonstrators, chanting “No justice! No peace!” and waving placards with the words “How many more?”
Floyd’s death has received wide condemnation across the US and the rest of the world, with ever-growing calls for police accountability.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi urged the US government and police to stop the violence.
“To American officials and police: Stop violence against your people and let them breathe,” Mousavi said in Tehran yesterday. He also told the American people that “the world is standing with you.” He added that Iran is saddened to see “the violence the US police have recently” set off.
Russia said the United States had systemic human rights problems.
China said yesterday unrest in the United States highlighted its severe problems of racism and police violence, and exposed Washington’s double standards in supporting Hong Kong’s protesters.
“Black people’s lives are also lives. Their human rights must also be guaranteed,” foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters in Beijing.
“Racism against ethnic minorities in the US is a chronic disease of American society,” Zhao added.
“The current situation reflects once more the severity of the problems of racism and police violence in the US.”
Zhao said the US government’s response to protests at home was a “textbook example of its world-famous double standards.” “Why does the US lionize the so-called Hong Kong independence and black violence elements as heroes and activists, while calling people who protest against racism ‘rioters?’” Zhao asked.
The head of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, condemned the “murder” of Floyd and said on Friday the continental body rejects the “continuing discriminatory practices against black citizens of the USA.”
(Agencies)