Hundreds of people protested in protest in the United States, in London, Berlin and São Paulo, Brazil, over the killing of George Floyd, an African American, by the police in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Hundreds of Londoners defied the closure measures linked to the emerging Coronavirus and organized a protest march in front of the US embassy on Sunday.
The protesters in London chanted "No justice, no peace," carrying banners reading "Important Black Life" outside the US embassy complex on the south bank of the Times River.
A few hundred earlier gathered in Trafalgar Square in the heart of London, then sat on their knees nine minutes, the time that an American policeman continued putting his knee on Floyd's neck.
"When you take someone's life as it has happened, this matter concerns you wherever you are in the world ... because it is totally wrong," said protester Trevor Joseph. "It is a global matter. It happened in America, and we have to show solidarity."
"I'm here because I'm tired," said protester Dorine Pierre. "When will this stop?"
A protest march also took place in the city of Manchester in northern Britain, in which hundreds participated, according to local media.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Rapp described the footage of Floyd’s killing as “very painful”. But he declined to comment on the controversial comments of US President Donald Trump about the protests in the United States.
And in Germany, hundreds organized a demonstration in front of the US embassy in Berlin to condemn the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The demonstrators demanded an end to what they called the attacks by the American police on the citizens of African descent. They also announced their solidarity with the demonstrators in the United States.
The protesters held up banners saying "Retribution for George Floyd", "Stop killing us" and "Who will break his neck next?"
The Brazilian city of Sao Paulo also witnessed clashes between the police forces and dozens of activists who were demonstrating to denounce racism and what they called the fascist rule in the world, and in an expression of their rejection of the policy of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
The police fired tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators, who were chanting slogans in support of the demonstrations in the United States of America.
Activists had called on social media to gather, to counter what they described as police racist measures against black people in the United States and Brazil, and likened the rule and actions of Brazilian President Gayer Bolsonaro to the rule of US President Donald Trump.
The demonstrators demanded an end to the police assaults against black people. They also declared their support for the protesters' demands in the demonstrations taking place in American cities.
Chinese “gloating”
On the other hand, the Chinese media have targeted the US government, and have compared violent protests in American states with the democracy movement in Hong Kong.
And Chinese media released videos showing that Hong Kong police practiced "restraint" compared to the behavior of American security personnel.
"US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has once described the violent protests in Hong Kong as a beautiful sight to look at ... American politicians can now enjoy this scene from their own windows," wrote Hu Xi Jin, editor of the national "Global Times" newspaper.
As violence erupted in the United States over the weekend, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunning attacked Washington.
"I can't breathe," she wrote on Twitter, with a copy of a tweet by US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagos criticizing the Chinese government for its policy in Hong Kong.
The killing of George Floyd during his arrest a week ago sparked protests in the United States, fueled by the underlying anger at what protesters see as a "racial bias" in the US criminal justice system.
Some of the demonstrations turned violent with demonstrators closing traffic, setting fire to, and clashing with the police, personnel who fired tear gas and plastic bullets to restore order.