Anti-Racism Protests Erupt Across The UK

Anti-racism protests 'subverted by thuggery'

That's according to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson after a number of anti-racism protests were held around the country at the weekend.

Thousands of people attended largely peaceful demonstrations in cities across the UK. There was a large amount of unrest in London on Sunday which led to eight officers being injured and twelve people being arrested. There is going to be a criminal investigation launched in Bristol following criminal damage to a statue of Edward Colston who was a prominent seventeenth century slave trader. The statue was ripped down by protestors in what Home Secretary Priti Patel described as utterly disgraceful.

Most of the arrests in London were for public order offences and one for criminal damage.

Mr Johnson condemned all the damage and violence and later turned to Twitter to post,

"People have a right to protest peacefully & while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police. These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery - and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account."

A statue of former British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill was also sprayed with graffiti and defaced by the mob before a Black Lives Matter sign was attached to it, an act described as "stupid and counterproductive" by foreign office minister James Cleverly.

Opposition MPs have criticised comments made by Health Secretary Matt Hancock that protests were fuelled by events in America "rather than here".

Shadow justice secretary David Lammy said that racism and prejudice exist in the UK, as well as across the Atlantic, and that to suggest there is only a problem in the US "shows real ignorance".

Mr Lammy tweeted: "People in this country are not only showing solidarity with George Floyd and other African Americans. We must turn this moment into one of change and justice in the UK too."

Timeline of Events

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, an African-American man, died in the Powderhorn community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. While Floyd was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street during an arrest, Derek Chauvin, a white American Minneapolis police officer, kept his knee on the right side of Floyd's neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds; according to the criminal complaint against Chauvin, 2 minutes and 53 seconds of that time occurred after Floyd became unresponsive.

On May 26, Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo announced that the officers were placed on leave. Later in the day, the four responding officers were fired.

On May 27, misinformation targeting Chauvin began to circulate on social media. Particularly prominent were claims that Chauvin was the subject of a photo wearing a "Make Whites Great Again" hat and that Chauvin was onstage with President Donald Trump at a political rally; both claims were later proven to be false.

On May 29, Robert Paule, the attorney for Tou Thao, confirmed Thao had left Minnesota and was "safely elsewhere", refusing to comment further. While J. Alexander Kueng was thought to be staying with his family in Minneapolis, Thomas Lane had left the area for an unknown location as of May 29, according to a relative.

Before the weekend, people were advised not to gather in groups or take part in mass demonstrations as it could cause an increase in the Coronavirus infection rate. At the moment the R rate is below 1 in most of the country apart from in the South West where it had risen to 1 and the North West where it is slightly above 1. This could mean that infections will rise in these regions soon.

The Government were trying to keep the R rate below 1 to make sure that the infection rate was steady and not many people caught the virus but now that it has risen above one in certain locations, it will most likely rise and the Government will have to enforce local or regional lock downs to try and regain control of the R rate and bring it below 1 again.