“Take your knee out of our neck!”. Thousands of demonstrators converged on Saturday in the center of the American capital Washington to protest against racism and police brutality on a day marked by a new ceremony in memory of George Floyd.
Under a blazing sun, the crowd began to mass in the American federal capital, in the streets leading to the White House but also near the Lincoln memorial.
It was in front of this imposing monument that Atlanta pastor Martin Luther King had, on August 28, 1963, in front of nearly 250,000 people, launched “I have a dream” in a speech that had become a reference in the fight for civil rights.
“We are back here, with a new message of hope,” said AFP Deniece Laurent-Mantey, 31-year-old African-American.
More than a dozen collectives, many of them spontaneously trained on social networks after the death of George Floyd, whose death rekindled the country’s racial wounds, called to invade the streets of the capital.
“I have the impression that we fought, fought, fought and that all of a sudden, it all came to light” welcomes Patricia Thompson, 55 years old, in reference to all the American companies and organizations that have , she said, took a public stand “against institutional racism” for the first time after this deadly arrest.
On the imposing fence erected in front of Donald Trump’s residence were hung the heads of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, African-Americans all dead at the hands of the American police in recent years.
From the White House, where he spends the weekend, Donald Trump continued his intense activity on Twitter without mentioning the demonstrations.
Opposite, in a very family atmosphere, the protesters chant “No Justice, No Peace, No racist Police” and take advantage of the bottles of ice water distributed by many associations , in oppressive heat.
Tens of thousands of people are expected during the day, which is expected to be the largest mobilization since the movement began in the capital 9 days ago.
Protesters also gathered in many American cities, including New York, Philadelphia, or Minneapolis, where George Floyd died and where the riots began.
After a first moving ceremony in Minneapolis on Thursday, a second tribute will be paid to this 46-year-old African American who was asphyxiated by a white police officer during an arrest on May 25 in this city in the north of the country. The new ceremony will take place in Raeford, in his native state of North Carolina.
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