Tag: Black Lives Matter

US police publish footage showing officer shoot Black man

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Authorities in the US city of Minneapolis, where George Floyd was murdered in 2020, published body-cam video Thursday showing the police shooting of a 22-year-old African American man. According to the police, Amir Locke was shot on Wednesday by officers who were executing a search warrant on the apartment he was in, after Locke pulled a gun from beneath a blanket. The total time between the officers’ entrance and […]

Protesters stream into US capital for mass anti-racism march

  by Charlotte Plantive and Michael Mathes Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Anti-racism protesters gathered for a mass march in the US capital on Friday, after a white officer’s shooting of African American Jacob Blake rekindled outrage over police violence and sparked a boycott movement in the sports world. Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected on Washington’s National Mall to mark the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s historic “I have a […]

Anti-racism protests turn spotlight on icons of US history

by Cyril JULIEN Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — As the wave of anti-racism protests rocking the United States brings down monuments to figures linked to the country’s history of slavery, the spotlight is shifting to historic characters long considered untouchable. Although protesters initially focused on removing statues of Confederate generals, the movement has begun to turn its focus to icons of US history, including the nation’s founders Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, […]

Lenin statue unveiled in western Germany after legal battle

by Tom BARFIELD Agence France-Presse GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany (AFP) — A divisive new monument to Soviet leader Lenin was unveiled in Germany on Saturday, in the middle of a global row over the controversial background of historical figures immortalised as statues. More than 30 years after the post-World War II communist experiment on German soil ended, the tiny Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) installed Lenin’s likeness in the western city of Gelsenkirchen. A few hundred gathered […]

UN condemns systemic racism – without naming US

by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse The UN’s top human rights body on Friday condemned discriminatory police brutality and demanded a report on “systemic racism”, but rights groups accused Washington of wielding pressure to strip out any mention of the United States in the resolution. The UN Human Rights Council’s 47 members approved by consensus a revised resolution, which was presented by African countries for an urgent council debate, called following the death of George […]

London Churchill statue to be uncovered before Macron visit

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The London statue of British wartime leader Winston Churchill that was controversially boxed up after anti-racism protests will be uncovered for a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, the mayor’s office said Wednesday. “The covering around the Winston Churchill statue will be removed for the visit of President Macron to London,” said a spokesman for mayor Sadiq Khan. Other monuments to Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi, and the Cenotaph war […]

Over 100 arrested after violent disorder at far-right linked UK protest

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Police in London said they arrested more than 100 people on Saturday after far-right protesters holding a counter-demonstration against anti-racism activists clashed with officers. Thousands of people defied the coronavirus restrictions to assemble in and around Parliament Square, in the centre of the capital. That required “major” policing operation the Metropolitan Police Service said, adding that they had encountered “pockets of violence directed towards our officers”. Television footage showed some […]

Global race protests mark George Floyd’s death

  by Dmitry ZAKS with AFP bureaus Taking a knee, chanting and ignoring social distancing measures, outraged protesters from Sydney to London kicked off a weekend of global rallies Saturday against racism and police brutality. The death during the arrest of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in the US state of Minnesota, has brought tens of thousands out onto the streets during a pandemic that is ebbing in Asia and Europe, but spreading in […]

Sacramento State University newspaper sparks protest

By Rabinna Taloy and Gevon Rubi EBC Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO, California (Eagle News) — An open discussion between a group protesting The State Hornet’s newspaper coverage of the Stephon Clark case and supporters of the Black Livers Matter movement quickly became heated on the grounds of the California State University, Sacramento campus Friday afternoon, March 7th, 2019. Students and faculty of Sacramento State gathered around the main campus’ quad area adjacent to the University Library to […]

Pepsi drops ad accused of mocking ‘Black Lives’ protests

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Pepsi said Wednesday it was dropping an ad featuring the supermodel Kendall Jenner that appeared to use the “Black Lives Matter” protests to promote the soda brand. The spot provoked an outcry and widespread derision on social media claiming Pepsi was seeking to profit from the social justice movement. “Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we […]

Violence shakes Milwaukee after police kill suspect

  (Reuters)  Protesters in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood of the U.S. midwestern city of Milwaukee fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a gas station on fire on Saturday night after a patrol officer shot dead an armed suspect there, authorities said. Police did not disclose the race of the suspect or the officer involved in the shooting, which occurred on Saturday afternoon in Sherman Park. The violence comes as anger over police killings of […]

Protesters demand justice after latest US police shooting

by Joy Powell SAINT PAUL, United States (AFP) — For Ericka Cullars-Golden, one of hundreds of people protesting the fatal police shooting of a black man in Minnesota, the incident provoked a sadly familiar feeling of shock. Cullars-Golden said she lost her son Marcus Golden at the hands of Saint Paul police last year — shot in the head. “I am so traumatized,” she said of her son’s death. Like Philando Castile, the man fatally […]