Black Lives Matter supporter speaks out after carrying counter-protester to safety
London: The Black Lives Matter demonstrator who carried a counter-protester to safety during Saturday’s protests in London has spoken out about the moment he decided to intervene to help the man.
Describing his decision to step in, Patrick Hutchinson said: “His life was under threat, so I just went under, scooped him up, put him on my shoulders and started marching towards the Police with him.”
In an interview with Channel News, the personal trainer and grandfather said: “You don’t think about it [being scary] at the time, you just do what you’ve got to do.” Mr Hutchinson contrasted the intervention with the lack of action taken by the Minneapolis Police officers who were involved in George Floyd’s death.
“If the other three Police officers that were standing around when George Floyd was murdered had thought about intervening, and stopping their colleague from doing what he was doing, like we did, George Floyd would be alive today.
“I just want equality, equality for all of us. At the moment, the scales are unfairly balanced and I just want things to be fair for my children and my grandchildren.”
Police said 113 people were arrested on Saturday, including a 28-year-old man detained on suspicion of urinating by a Westminster memorial dedicated to the murdered police officer Keith Palmer, after far-right activists organised a counter-protest to BLM groups.
The Metropolitan Police said its officers were injured after being kicked, punched or hit by missiles as they faced hundreds of angry demonstrators, who claimed they were protecting statues.