” I hear you “said the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to anti-racist protesters who denounced the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by a white police officer in the United States, while sentencing lawbreakers.
“You are right, we are right, to say that the lives of blacks matter and to all those who have chosen to protest peacefully and have respected social distancing, I say” Yes, of course I can hear you, and I understand »», the conservative leader said in a video message released Monday evening.
Let us work peacefully and lawfully to defeat racism and discrimination wherever we find it, and let us continue to work together as we put Britain back on its feet. pic.twitter.com/onUqXbcCGB
– Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) June 8, 2020
The words of George Floyd, ” I can not breathe “, while he was being held on the ground by the policeman, “Aroused anger and a widespread, indisputable, undeniable feeling of injustice”said the head of government.
Vandalism and attacks on the police convicted
However, when the United Kingdom, the second country most affected by the virus in the world, with more than 40,000 dead, gradually came out of containment, the leader warned that he “Would not support those who flout the rules of social distancing, for the obvious reason that we risk further contamination at this critical time”.
“And no, I will not support or give in to those who break the law, attack the police or vandalize public monuments”, he added, with reference to the debunking of the statue of a slave trader in Bristol (south-west England) and the deterioration of the statue of Winston Churchill near the London Parliament last weekend.
Some 200 anti-racist rallies mobilized more than 100,000 people across the country on Saturday and Sunday and resulted in some spillovers. A total of 135 people were arrested.
London’s Labor Mayor Sadiq Khan announced Tuesday that a commission will be created to make the city’s monuments and streets more reflective of the diversity of the population.
“The diversity of our capital is our greatest strength, but our statues, the names of our roads and our public spaces reflect a bygone era […] It can’t go on any longer “he said in a statement, noting that anti-racist protesters had “Rightly brought this subject to the public eye”.
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