Despite the pandemic of new coronaviruses, tens of thousands of people around the world beat the pavement on Saturday June 6 and Sunday June 7 to express their rage of racism and police brutality after the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black American killed when arrested by a white police officer.
From the United Kingdom to Australia, via France and Tunisia, the demonstrators defied the calls of the authorities to stay at home because of the health crisis in an unprecedented protest movement which was grafted on that having ignited the United States and which, in certain countries, reasons with the local news.
- United States
Washington, Philidelphia, New York: Tens of thousands of Americans demonstrated on Saturday in a peaceful atmosphere against racism and police brutality on a day marked by a new ceremony in memory of George Floyd. These are, according to the Washington Post, the largest demonstrations in the history of the United States.
Under a blazing sun, sometimes stopping to put a knee on the ground, a dense crowd invaded the streets of the American federal capital, near the White House, the Capitol or the Lincoln Memorial.
On the imposing fence erected in front of Donald Trump's residence were hung the heads of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, African-Americans all dead at the hands of the American police in recent years.
>> Read: Death of George Floyd: a huge "Black Lives Matter" painted near the White House
- Australia
First country to open the international ball of indignation on Saturday, Australia saw thousands of people demonstrate across the country, brandishing "I can't breathe" banners, in reference to the complaint made by George Floyd, killed by a police officer who arrested him for a minor crime.
For the organizers, this affair finds many echoes in their country: they also wanted to denounce the very high imprisonment rate among the Aborigines, and the deaths - more than 400 in the last thirty years - of members of this community while they were detained by the police.
- Japan
Protesters in Tokyo marched not only in support of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, but also to denounce the treatment of a Kurd claiming that he was brutalized and tackled by the police during his arrest .
"I want to show that there is racism in Japan now," said Wakaba, a 17-year-old high school student holding up a sign with her friend Moe saying "If you are not angry, you are don't pay attention. " "No justice, no peace, no racist police," chanted the crowd.
>> Read: George Floyd, icon of police violence around the world
- United Kingdom
Gathered in London near the Parliament, thousands of people, their faces often covered with a mask, but without necessarily respecting the rules of distancing, held up signs bearing the slogan "Black Lives Matter".
"The United Kingdom is not innocent," the demonstrators denounced, beating drums. They also observed a minute of silence, kneeling and fists raised, before heading for some to the US Embassy, greeted by the horns of motorists.
As in the British capital, there were thousands in Manchester to "put an end to racism", another "pandemic".
- France
In France, where the American drama rekindled the memory of Adama Traoré, a young black man who died in 2016 after an arrest by the gendarmes, actions which brought together a total of more than 23,000 people according to the police were organized in several cities to denounce the "racism" and "impunity" which would reign within the police.
In Paris, despite the authorities' ban, several thousand people demanded "Justice for all" near the American embassy, from which they were kept apart by the police forces deployed en masse.
>> To read: Cascading revelations on racism in the French police, Castaner takes legal action
- Germany
In Germany, tens of thousands of demonstrators marched across the country in the afternoon. The players of Bayern Munich, the championship leader, and Borussia Dortmund also showed their solidarity on Saturday. The former warmed up with a t-shirt bearing the inscription "Red card against racism - BlackLivesMatter", before the Bundesliga match against Leverkusen, before playing with an armband bearing the inscription "BlackLivesMatter"; the latter, who were playing opposite Hertha Berlin, arrived at the warm-up with black t-shirts bearing two inscriptions: "No Justice, No Peace" and the words "Black, White, Yellow, Red" crossed out and underlined with the word "Human".
Before kick-off, players from Dortmund and Hertha gathered around the center circle to observe a minute's silence on one knee, imitating the now symbolic gesture of NFL (American Football League) player Colin Kaepernick, a voice for protests in the United States against police violence.
- Tunisia
In Tunis, around 200 people demanded "justice" and to be able to "breathe" in the face of racism, which "stifles".
"This scourge also exists in Tunisia," said an official of the Tunisian association for the support of minorities, while migrants from sub-Saharan Africa often claim to be victims of verbal and physical aggression in the country.
- Canada
In Canada, several thousand people demonstrated in Toronto on Saturday for the second day in a row. Demonstrations also took place in other Canadian cities, including Saint-Jean de Terre Neuve. A large-scale event is scheduled for Sunday in Montreal.
>> See: When asked about Trump, Justin Trudeau remains silent, then says he follows the situation in the United States with "horror"
- Italy
The rallies continued on Sunday, as in Rome, where an unforeseen demonstration gathered in the vast Piazza del Popolo thousands of young people who knelt in silence, their fists raised, for almost nine minutes, the time during which a policeman rested his knee on George Floyd's neck until his death. When they got up, they shouted, "I can't breathe!"
- Spain
Thousands of Spaniards also joined protesters who speak out against racism around the world on Sunday. Faced with a large police cordon, they knelt for a minute of silence in protest against the police violence against blacks.
With AFP and Reuters
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