British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that demonstrations condemning racism in the United Kingdom have been kidnapped by extremists, in an interview similar to a statement made by US President Donald Trump earlier.
The British Prime Minister said that protesters were attacking national monuments in an effort to "impose censorship on our past."
"Unfortunately, the protests have been kidnapped by extremists bent on violence," he wrote on Twitter Friday.
Police stepped up protection measures in the vicinity of well-known personalities across London ahead of a new wave of demonstrations and marches this weekend.
A famous statue of Winston Churchill in front of parliament was vandalized at the end of last week during the demonstrations that raised the slogan "life of blacks is important", in the wake of the death of George Floyd of African American descent during the arrest of police in Minnesota on May 25 last year.
Johnson described sabotage of the statue as "ridiculous and flawed."
"The statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a constant reminder of his accomplishments in saving this country and all of Europe from the fascist and racist tyranny," he said.
"Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and still are not acceptable to us today, but he was a hero and deserves his memorial," Johnson wrote.
The demonstrators blame Churchill for the policies that led to the deaths of millions of people during the famine in the Indian state of Bengal in 1943.
Several symbols of the British colonial past have been the target of demonstrators since the death of the black American citizen George Floyd.
And in Liverpool, the media reported on Friday that banners indicating "Penny Line", a city street that gained its fame through a song of the "Beatles" group in the 1960s, were vandalized.
This came after controversy arose over whether the street was known by this name after a slave dealer.
"We cannot now modify or censor our past," Johnson said. "We cannot pretend we have a different history." "The statues in our cities and towns were developed by previous generations," he added.
Trump's approach
Johnson's statements came after President Donald Trump stressed that his country needs strong police, and underestimates the value of accusing Americans of racism, amid continuing protests denouncing the violence and racism of security men against African Americans.
The US president said that his administration will increase investment in police training, and take measures to increase capital access for small businesses in minority communities.
During an event at a church in Dallas, Trump stressed that the United States needed stronger police forces and could not advance the stigmatization of millions of Americans.
Mayor calls for calm
, too. London Mayor Sadiq Khan called on residents to stay home, and said he was "very concerned about the danger of further demonstrations in central London that will not only lead to the deployment of Covid-19, but will also lead to chaos, sabotage and violence."
The "Blacks Life is Important" movement canceled a demonstration in Hyde Park that was scheduled Saturday, after a call for demonstrations in the same place was issued by right-wing militant groups.
On the other hand, the movement suggested that the activists demonstrate in their neighborhoods on Saturday. On Friday, the movement published a list bearing "more than 3,000 names of people who died as a result of racist and state violence."
Restricting demonstrations
For its part, London police imposed restrictions on the demonstrations that both parties intend to organize. It announced that citizens who intend to participate in Saturday's demonstrations should leave the streets by 5 pm.
The capital's police chief, Cressida Dick, said that the available information indicates that some demonstrators intend to cause violence and confrontations, urging everyone to avoid participating in these demonstrations, claiming that the country is still undergoing a public health crisis due to the Corona virus.
The police did special powers to designate two different paths to the planned demonstrations.