LONDON — Thousands of people took to the streets in European and Asian cities on Saturday, demonstrating in support of U.S. protests against police brutality.
Several hundred “hooded and aggressive people” had put officers under pressure in the city centre, police said in a tweet, adding “We have already had to use pepper spray. With all due respect for emotions: attacks on police officers are unacceptable!”
At another location nearby, the authorities said some 350 people were standing in front of police water cannons and that officers were calling on loudspeakers for them to disperse.
One officer was injured, the police added.
The rolling, global protests reflect rising anger over police treatment of ethnic minorities, sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white officer detaining him knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as fellow officers stood by.
In London, thousands of protesters ignored wet weather to crowd into Parliament Square, wearing face masks amid the coronavirus threat and waving placards and chanting: “No justice, no peace, no racist police.”
Interior minister Priti Patel urged people not to protest in view of the pandemic, which has killed more people in Britain than anywhere in the world outside the United States
“I completely understand people’s views and their desire for the right to protest but … we are in a health pandemic across the United Kingdom,” Patel told UK broadcasters. “I would say to those who want to protest – please don’t.”
In Paris the authorities banned demonstrations planned outside the U.S. Embassy and on the lawns near the Eiffel Tower.
However, several hundred protesters, some holding “Black Lives Matters” signs, gathered on Place de la Concorde, close to the Embassy. Police had installed a long barrier across the square to prevent access to the embassy, which is also close to the Elysee presidential palace.
In Berlin, demonstrators filled the central Alexanderplatz, while there was also a protest in Warsaw.
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(REUTERS)
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