The reigning European champion and very likely next English champion, Liverpool, marked his solidarity with the protesters demanding justice in the affair of the death of George Floyd in the United States on Monday, placing his knees on the ground in the central circle of their Anfield Road stadium.
Several players of the English club have tweeted the photo accompanied by these few words: "Unity is strength", with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter "(Life of blacks counts), slogan of the American anti-racist movement.
Andy Robertson, Dejan Lovren, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander Arnold were the first before being joined by the rest of the workforce. The club's official account whose motto is “You'll never walk alone” then relayed all of their messages.
Unity is strength # BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/N1Iu6RuM4l
- Fabinho (@_fabinhotavares) June 1, 2020The knee-down pose was popularized by NFL player Colin Kaepernick, who became a voice for protests in the United States against police violence, especially against colored minorities. The day before, Marcus Thuram, Borussia Mönchengladbach's striker, Lilian's son, had taken this posture after scoring his team's second goal against Union Berlin.
At the same time, in the United States, more and more police officers fraternize with the demonstrators by also putting a knee on the ground, which gives rise to many strong images. Other footballers also displayed their desire for union and solidarity. This is particularly the case of Kylian Mbappé, the PSG striker, who chose a drawing of demonstrators launching the slogan: "The police with us, not against us." "
pic.twitter.com/95SoRjggxK
- Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) June 1, 2020Again in England, Manchester United international striker Marcus Rashford, for his part, published a short text in which he deplored the fact that people appear "more divided than ever". "People are suffering and people are waiting for answers," he added, also mentioning Ahmaud Arbery, shot dead while running on February 23 in Brunswick, Georgia by a father and son, or even Breonna Taylor, an employee. 26-year-old emergency medical practitioner, killed at home in Kentucky by police in March.
