Protesters march in Europe, Japan, New Zealand
PARIS: Social justice demonstrations sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement were held on Sunday across European cities, Japan and New Zealand, in the wake of deaths of African Americans at the hands of police officers in the US.
Thousands demonstrated in several French ci t i es, and clashes broke out in Paris and Lyon. Holding handmade signs that read “Black Lives Matter,” several hundred people marched peacefully at a Tokyo park Sunday, highlighting the outrage over the death of George Floyd even in a country often perceived as homogeneous and untouched by racial issues.
In New Zealand, thousands protested in Auckland and Wellington on Sunday. The Auckland protest began at the central Aotea Square and ended at the US consulate, where people took a knee and observed a minute of silence for Floyd.
“When George Floyd took his last breath, it allowed the rest of us to breathe,” social activist Julia Whaipooti told the crowd.
In Wellington, New Zealand’s capital, protesters marched from Civic Square to the grounds of Parliament, chanting “Black Lives Matter” and holding placards with slogans including “Racism is a pandemic, let’s fight it!”
Sunday’s turnout in Tokyo underlined how Japan has historically been reticent in dealing with diversity and is now trying to understand the Black Lives Matter movement and grapple with its own history of discrimination.
The US embassy in Seoul displays Black Lives Matter banner in support of anti-racism protests.
More weekend demonstrations were held in Germany, with police expecting as many as 20,000 people for the biggest event in Berlin.
Protesters in Paris demonstrated against the death in 2016 of a black Frenchman in police custody.
I n Engl a n d , a s t a t u e o f Edward Colston was pulled out of the water. In Australia, police arrested two people after a statue of Captain Cook was defaced
In the UK, outrage was high after hordes of angry, white males, many of them chanting soccer slogans and some giving Nazi salutes, clashed with police who were trying to keep them away from social justice demonstrators.
Many were self-proclaimed statue defenders. Police made more than 100 arrests.
Public anger was also fanned by the image of man urinating next to a memorial to a police officer murdered in 2017 when he tried to stop a knife-wielding terrorist from entering the UK Parliament. Police on Sunday said they arrested a 28-year-old man “on suspicion of outraging public decency.”
WEST POINT: As the nation struggles to confront its complicated racial legacy, President Donald Trump preached unity to West Point graduates and told them never to forget the legacy of soldiers from generations ago who fought “a bloody war to extinguish the evil of slavery.’’
His appeal to reconciliation and remembrance came at a time when his own relationship with the military is under strain, and the commander in chief and Pentagon leaders have faced unrelenting criticism over their response to the protests that overwhelmed the country after George Floyd’s death.
Trump appeared to allude to those tensions as he addressed more than 1,100 graduates at an unusual outdoor ceremony held during a global pandemic.
“What has historically made America unique is the durability of its institutions against the passions and prejudices of the moment,” Trump said. “When times are turbulent, when the road is rough, what matters most is that which is permanent, timeless, enduring and eternal.”
In the past two weeks, Trump has yelled at defence secretary Mark Esper for publicly opposing his call to deploy active-duty troops to quell the protests stemming from the killing of Floyd, who was black, by a white Minneapolis police officer. AP