World takes a knee for Floyd
At protests around the world , thousands have been “taking a knee” in memory of George Floyd and the hundreds of unarmed black people killed every year by police.
Copying the gesture adopted by the American football star Colin Kaepernick, protesters in London’s Hyde Park dropped to one knee and bowed their heads to demonstrate against anti-black violence.
Addressing a Black Lives Matter protest in London on Thursday before it marched to Westminster, the Star Wars actor John Boyega said: “I need you to understand how painful this s*** is. I need you to understand how painful it is to be reminded every day that your race means nothing and that isn’t the case any more, that was never the case any more.
“We are a physical representation of our support for George Floyd. We are a physical representation of our support for Sandra Bland. We are a physical representation of our support for Trayvon Martin. We are a physical representation of our support for Stephen Lawrence.” He added: “I’m speaking to you from my heart. It is very, very important that we keep control of this moment. That we make this as peaceful and as organised as possible.”
More than 1000 people had gathered, trying in vain to maintain social distancing and wearing masks and gloves, to express their anger at the death of Floyd at the hands of a white policeman who had knelt on his neck.
The chant of “I can’t breathe” rang out around Hyde Park and in cities as far afield as Paris, Sydney, The Hague and Tel Aviv, echoing the dad-of-two’s last words as he died in Minneapolis 11 days ago.
Pointing to his black T-shirt emblazoned with those chilling, words Kaled Smith, a 17-year-old student from Essex, sitting next to his parents, told the Telegraph : “I came here today because it is important to be part of my community and fight for what is right. Black lives matter everywhere. While we are protesting about the death of George Floyd in America, we are still trying to get a message cross to everyone — black lives matter.”
Kaled says he has been stopped and searched by police while his white friends look on. “It’s embarrassing,” he said. “It’s only me and my black friends who are stopped. We are all equal and want to be treated equally.”
Dr Gail Lewis, a psychotherapist and academic, admitted a sense of sadness that she has been protesting “for decades” about the rights of black people in the UK. “I have been going on anti-racist demos since I was knee high. I am here because the fact black lives matter isn’t recognised in this country and America,” the 69-yearold said.
“That black and other racial minorities are overrepresented among deaths from Covid-19 shows why we need to be here. These deaths from coronavirus are because of racial segregation in this country. We are being pushed into those jobs, which are low paid and wrongly described as unskilled.”
Protesters in Paris on the same day also took the knee in front of the city’s main courthouse and riot police fired tear gas at the protesters. Around 3000 marched in Sydney to remember Floyd and call for a radical change in Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population.