After George Floyd's death: worldwide protests against racism. Right-wing counter-demonstrations are escalating in London.
- Ironically, in times of the global coronavirus * pandemic *, people are taking to the streets worldwide.
- One topic seems to make distance rules * secondary for many: The Black Lives movement * from the USA .
- There were partial escalations in demonstrations and counter-protests on Saturday.
Australia / France / Taiwan / London - Not only does the world seem to be dealing with the corona pandemic at the moment, a second topic is emerging from the shadows: After the violent death of George Floyd , more and more people worldwide are taking to the streets to demonstrate against exclusion, discrimination and police violence.
As in the corona pandemic, there are regional varieties and their own themes that come to the fore.
Anti-racism demonstrations worldwide: protests and counter-protests in London escalate
Symbols for racism have been smeared or destroyed, especially in Great Britain, for days - among other things, the monument to Winston Churchill or Penny Lane of the Beatles in Liverpool was smeared with color because their namesake is said to have behaved racially. The fact that the statue of a slave trader had been thrown into the sea basin in Bristol shows that the protests are increasingly directed against the country's colonial heritage.
Right-wing counter-demonstrators in London gather in front of the wrapped statue of Winston Churchill
© AFP / BEN STANSALL
In order to avoid clashes with right-wing extremists , the demonstration of the Black Lives movement in London had already taken place on Friday. Nevertheless, hundreds of right-wing extremists had gathered in Hyde Park today to go to parliament and "protect statues". Videos show how, especially in a right-wing demo around Parliament Square, the corona rules are violated and right-wing agitators threw bottles at police officers .
Anti-racism demonstrations worldwide: demonstrations in Taiwan, Australia and France
At the heart of the protests in France is the death of Traoré - he died in police custody in 2016 and his sister is now demanding that the investigation be resumed. Many of the demonstrators see parallels to the George Floyd * case in the United States. Several thousand people are said to have been on the streets in Paris alone, some of the police using tear gas. Previously unconfirmed pictures on social networks show the volume of people in the city:
The Paris #BlackLivesMatter protest today has to be seen to be believed. pic.twitter.com/p61geun2er
- Joshua Potash (@JoshuaPotash) June 13, 2020In addition to Germany or Poland, demonstrations were also held in Australia and Taiwan - the suppression of the Aboriginis seems to be the focus here. In Tokyo (Japan) and Taiwan, people kneeled for eight minutes - in memory of the time of the death struggle of George Floyd.
In Berlin a woman at Rossmann is said to have been racially attacked.
