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UK’s Johnson condemns George Floyd killing, calls for ‘lawful’ protests
LONDON, June 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson on Wednesday condemned the killing of George Floyd by police
in the United States but declined to say whether he had spoken about
the issue with key ally Donald Trump.
“I think what happened in the United States was appalling,
inexcusable,” Johnson told lawmakers in parliament, in his first
public comment on the case.
“We all saw it on our screens and I perfectly understand people’s
right to protest what took place,” he added.
“Obviously I also believe that protests should take place in a
lawful and reasonable way.”
But Johnson avoided answering questions as to whether he had raised
the matter with the president, as Britain eyes a post-Brexit trade
deal with the United States.
Floyd, an unarmed African-American, died last week after a police
officer in the US city Minneapolis knelt on his neck, an incident
captured on video by a witness. The officer concerned has been charged
with third-degree murder.
The killing has prompted waves of angry and sometimes violent
protests in cities across the country and around the world.
Johnson’s comments echoed those of British police chiefs Wednesday.
“We stand alongside all those across the globe who are appalled and
horrified by the way George Floyd lost his life,” they said in a joint
statement.
“Justice and accountability should follow.
“We are also appalled to see the violence and damage that has
happened in so many US cities since then.”
The police chiefs appealed for people in Britain to “work with
officers” as protests mount over Floyd’s killing, just as a nationwide
coronavirus lockdown is being eased.
MORE/MRU/1855hrs
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– ‘Challenging time’ –
Hundreds of people defied the virus restrictions and rallied in the
British capital on Sunday, including outside the US embassy and in
Hyde Park.
The Metropolitan Police said it arrested 23 people, and issued a
further 10 people with fines for breaching the rules.
Protests also took place in other cities, including Liverpool and
Manchester, and more are expected on Wednesday.
In their statement, police chiefs said they understood “people want
to make their voices heard” but appealed to them “to work with
officers at this challenging time”.
“The right to lawful protest is a key part of any democracy, which
UK police uphold and facilitate,” they added.
“But coronavirus remains a deadly disease and there are still
restrictions in place to prevent its spread, which include not
gathering outside in groups of more than six people.”
Britain has its own fraught history of racism within policing, with
a landmark 1999 report finding “institutional racism” within London’s
police force.
The report was commissioned after the racist murder of a black
teenager, Stephen Lawrence, at a bus stop in south London in 1993.
The police investigation was marred by a catalogue of failures that
saw no one convicted until 2012.
Despite programmes of reform, a 2015 study by the Runnymede Trust,
an educational charity which aims to promote a successful multi-ethnic
Britain, found “systemic and institutional racism persists” within
British policing.
“Britain is no stranger to racialised police violence,” it noted.
“Black and minority ethnic people are disproportionately represented
in the criminal justice system at every level, from arrests to stop
and search, to imprisonment, to deaths in custody.”
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