Global Anger Grows Over George Floyd's Death

[Jack D]

While COVID-19 is still raging around the world, the non-stop news coverage of the pandemic in the US has been replaced with non-stop coverage of a different story: 

Global Anger Grows Over George Floyd Death, and Becomes an Anti-President Cudgel

Public outcries over racism in the United States erupted from Addis Ababa to Vancouver. China and Iran, criticized on human rights by the President administration, called the killing of Mr. Floyd a symbol of American hypocrisy.

Mass protests over the police killing of another black man in the United States spread globally in the past few days, as many demonstrators not only expressed solidarity with their American counterparts but denounced racism in their own countries.

Some critics, notably in China and Iran, used the killing to deflect from their own problems, saying it showed what they called the hypocrisy and arrogance of an increasingly isolated President administration.

The criticism thundered from the streets of Berlin, London, Paris and Vancouver, British Columbia, to capitals in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Artists drew an anti-racism mural in a besieged part of Syria. Lebanese and Chilean protesters offered advice on protection from police abuse.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/01/world/asia/george-floyd-protest-global.html

Spoiler

The catalyst for the worldwide outpouring, George Floyd, 46, died last week after he was handcuffed and pinned to the ground by a white Minneapolis police officer, who has been charged with murder.

WHAT WE KNOW

How George Floyd was killed in police custody

In London, thousands of demonstrators ringed the moated United States Embassy in defiance of stay-at-home coronavirus restrictions and chanted Mr. Floyd’s name, “I can’t breathe” and “No justice, no peace,” before making their way to Grenfell Tower, site of a devastating fire in 2017 that killed many Arab, Muslim and African residents.

On a memorial at the base of the tower, a protester wrote, “Black Lives Matter.”

In Toronto, calls to end American racism merged with outrage at the recent death of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, 29, a black woman who the police said fell from her balcony after officers arrived at her home in response to what the city’s police chief called a “rather frantic” call about an assault.

And in Paris, among those calling for protests was the family of Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old black man who died in custody in 2016 after having been tackled by the police. La Vérité Pour Adama, or “the truth for Adama,” an advocacy group led by Mr. Traoré’s sister, Assa, said Mr. Floyd’s death was a chilling reminder.

“How can one not think of Adama’s terrible suffering when he had three police officers on him and he was repeating, ‘I can’t breathe’,” the group wrote on Facebook last week. “His name was George Floyd, who just like Adama died because they were black.”

In at least 140 American cities, images of street fights between police officers and protesters have spread swiftly across the world, drawing furious comments and calls for action.

"...the coronavirus on black and immigrant neighborhoods, so, too, have activists around the world taken note of the gaping inequities laid bare by the pandemic. In England and Wales, for example, black people are twice as likely to die from the virus as white people.

In Berlin, thousands of demonstrators protested peacefully outside the U.S. Embassy on Saturday, some carrying signs that read, “Stop Killing Us.”Three players in Germany’s top soccer league — the English forward Jadon Sancho; the French striker Marcus Thuram; and the American midfielder Weston McKennie — made gestures of support for Mr. Floyd during weekend matches.

In downtown Montreal, a protest on Sunday turned violent after the police deemed it illegal. Clutches of protesters responded by throwing projectiles at the police, who used tear gas and pepper spray.

In Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, the target of a monthslong offensive by the Syrian government to crush opposition forces, two artists painted a mural on a ruined building that read “I Can’t Breathe” and “No to Racism.”

Patience Evbagharu, center, the city youth councilor of Toronto Ward 41, embracing distraught demonstrators outside Police Headquarters on Saturday.Credit...Carlos Osorio/Reuters

In China, where officials have been infuriated by Mr. President’s criticism of how they handled the coronavirus outbreak, the state-run news media featured reports about Mr. Floyd’s death and portrayed the protests as another sign of America’s decline. “BunkerBoy” became a trending topic after reports that Secret Service agents rushed Mr. President to a bunker on Friday night as hundreds of protesters converged outside the White House.

“Beijing could not have hoped for a better gift,” said Pierre Haski, a noted French journalist commenting Monday on France Inter. “The country that designates China as the culprit of all evils is making headlines around the world with the urban riots.”

When an American official on Saturday attacked the ruling Communist Party on Twitter for moves to quash dissent in Hong Kong, a spokeswoman for the Chinese government fired back with a popular refrain among protesters in the United States.

“‘I can’t breathe,’” the spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, wrote on Twitter.

In Iran, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister, posted a doctored screenshot of a 2018 statement by American officials condemning Iran for corruption and injustice. In his version, references to Iran were replaced with America.

Last night we sat around a fire with our neighbours, discussing the distress in the US, and reflecting on our own culture of violence towards our own people here in Australia. I read that 400 indigenous Australians have died in police custody since 1991 - with no police charged.

The images of unrest in the United States have reignited debate about Australia’s own troubles with police brutality. Some noted that more than 400 Indigenous Australians had died in police custody since 1991, without a single police officer convicted of abuse.

The relatives of David Dungay, an Aboriginal man who said “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he died while being restrained by prison guards in 2015, said they had been traumatized by footage of Mr. Floyd’s death, prompting them to call for another investigation into Mr. Dungay’s death.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Monday that while the video of Mr. Floyd’s death was shocking, Australians should not emulate the destructive response seen in some American cities.

 

[scott h]

1 hour ago, Jack D said:

The criticism thundered from the streets of Berlin, London, Paris and Vancouver, British Columbia, to capitals in Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.

Let them yowl,,,,,,,,,get them alone and ask most of them where they would love to immigrate to...………….take a guess

[Eddie1]

1 hour ago, scott h said:

Let them yowl,,,,,,,,,get them alone and ask most of them where they would love to immigrate to...………….take a guess

Let me think on that?    Australia maybe,  perhaps New Zealand or Canada,  maybe even a nice warm European country?  Can't say that anywhere else springs readily to mind.

Edited June 3, 2020 by Eddie1

[GeoffH]

Protests of this magnitude were always going to be internationally newsworthy, there was never a doubt of that.  But when media (both US and international) are attacked and arrested on air.  When priests and clerics offering food and first aid on church property are driven off that church property with tear gas and rubber bullets for a photo opportunity, for a photo brandishing a Christian bible?  Taken straight after Christian Priests and Clerics of that denomination were attacked.  It leaves me shaking my head at what the people in charge are thinking.  

(linked for relevance)

Australian news crew reporting outside the white house attacked.

CNN news crew arrested whilst reporting on air

Priests and Clergy driven off church grounds

Edited June 3, 2020 by GeoffH

[GeoffH]

10 hours ago, scott h said:

Let them yowl,,,,,,,,,get them alone and ask most of them where they would love to immigrate to...………….take a guess

There is a LOT of critisism in Australia about how our journalists were attacked by the Police for just doing their jobs.
They weren't protesting, they weren't failing to heed police instructions, they were just attacked.

And I'm not hearing of ANYONE here wanting to immigrate to the USA, mostly I'm hearing things like "how did the most powerful country in the world get in such a mess?" along with comments like "what has happened to freedom of the press in the USA" and "what's the point of a Bill of Rights if the Police, the people intended to enforce the law are the ones ignoring it"

I'm the first to admit we're not perfect either, our Federal Police raided the offices of a journalist a while back.  The difference was they had a warrant, no one was hurt in the exectution of that warrent and it was uncommon enough that it made national news.

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by GeoffH

[Snowy79]

When those angry turn against their own kind and loot properties of those that have tried to better themselves it runs deeper than politics I'm afraid. The nuclear family of two parents and 2.5 children being lost was the start of the down fall of society I'm afraid.

[Kuya John]

Have we learn't anything since the abolition of Slavery

Edited June 3, 2020 by Kuya John

[hk blues]

1 hour ago, Snowy79 said:

When those angry turn against their own kind and loot properties of those that have tried to better themselves it runs deeper than politics I'm afraid. The nuclear family of two parents and 2.5 children being lost was the start of the down fall of society I'm afraid.

There are numerous levels to these incidents IMO and not all directly related to the basic "cause".  

[Snowy79]

2 hours ago, hk blues said:

There are numerous levels to these incidents IMO and not all directly related to the basic "cause".  

Without a doubt.  Some may have genuine grievences, some are egged on politically and others are just weekend anarchists.

[Jack D]

On 6/3/2020 at 12:19 PM, scott h said:

Let them yowl,,,,,,,,,get them alone and ask most of them where they would love to immigrate to...………….take a guess

I would guess that the USA is still one of the top choices.

On 6/3/2020 at 1:29 PM, Eddie1 said:

Let me think on that?    Australia maybe,  perhaps New Zealand or Canada,  maybe even a nice warm European country?  Can't say that anywhere else springs readily to mind.

Probably so, since the current American government has made it increasingly difficult to 'legally' immigrate to the USA.

In past decades, immigrants who weren't approved to come to the USA, came to those other countries (that were mentioned), since those other countries were eager to have immigrants for multiple reasons, such as having a larger workforce or settling areas in the wilderness.

I believe that we are now living in a similar era, since I know many Filipinos that have moved to Australia, Canada and Italy (because it has become more and more difficult to 'legally' immigrate to the USA).