Protesters call attention to deaths of two more black men
Demonstrators in France condemn deaths, injuries blamed on police
SAVANNAH, Ga. — Anti-racism protesters on Saturday sought to call attention to the deaths of two more black men — one who was found hanging from a tree in California and another who was fatally shot by police outside an Atlanta restaurant. The Atlanta police chief resigned hours later.
Meanwhile in Europe, far-right activists scuffled with police in London and Paris as more Black Lives Matter demonstrations unfolded nearly three weeks after George Floyd, another black man, died at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer who pressed a knee to his neck.
Atlanta police were called late Friday about a man said to be sleeping in a car blocking a Wendy’s restaurant drive-thru. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation
was investigating reports that 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks failed a sobriety test and was shot in a struggle over a police Taser.
By Saturday evening, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced that she had accepted the resignation of Police Chief Erika Shields.
In Palmdale, California, hundreds marched to demand an investigation into the death of 24-year-old Robert Fuller, who was found hanging from a tree early Wednesday near City Hall. The protesters marched from where the body was found to a sheriff’s station.
Authorities said the death appeared to be a suicide, but an autopsy was planned. The city said there were no outdoor cameras that could have recorded what happened.
European protesters sought to show solidarity with their American counterparts and to confront bias in their own countries.
In Paris, police stopped protesters from confronting far-right activists who unfurled a huge banner from a building denouncing “anti-white racism.” The banner was partly torn down by residents in the building.
A rally in Paris drew 15,000, led by supporters of Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody in 2016. No one has been charged in his death. Police fired tear gas and blocked people from marching.
Banners strung between trees around Republique plaza bore the names of dozens who have died or suffered violence at the hands of French police.
Myriam Boicoulin, 31, who was born on the French Caribbean island of Martinique, said she marched because she wanted to be heard.
As a black woman living in mainland France, she said, “I’m constantly obliged to adapt, to make compromises, not make waves — to be almost white, in fact.”
“It’s the first time people see us,” Boicoulin said. “Let us breathe.”
A Black Lives Matter group in London called off a demonstration, saying the presence of counterprotesters would make it unsafe.
Right-wing activists and soccer fans descended on the U.K. capital, saying they wanted to guard historical monuments that have been targeted by anti-racism protesters.