A Black Lives Matter protest taking place in London has tonight erupted into violence as a number of demonstrators have clashed with police, resulting in riot police being called into the nation's capital.
As the protest began to come to an end, a number of demonstrators stayed behind and turned violent. A police van outside Downing Street was attacked and damaged around 9.30pm with the two police officers being helpless to intervene.
The group of demonstrators then turned their attention to the gates and officers protecting Downing Street, the residence of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, where glass bottles and other objects were thrown. While most protesters left the area relatively peacefully, Britain will be keen to avoid scenes similar to those seen across the USA.
The Clashes tonight follow earlier violence which took place this evening which saw one police officer assaulted and punched in the face as officers struggled to remain in control of the large crowd.
UK, Rioters in London attack police as they attempt to load a criminal into the van.#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/PvBvBRI3tz
— Farhang F. Namdar (@FarhangNamdar) June 3, 2020
It appears that the UK police are not in full control of the situation however with many police officers seen fleeing from the rioters and giving up ground. Unlike their US counterparts, the Metropolitan police have refused to stand their ground despite the number of rioters appearing to number the low hundreds.
London. Police in retweet. Shambolic. pic.twitter.com/sZWVpkku0d
— David Vance (@DVATW) June 3, 2020
While the clashes in London are not on the scale as those seen in cities across the USA, the violence will no doubt come as a concern to Prime Minister Boris Johnson who will be keen to avoid an escalation, particularly given the current lockdown due to coronavirus.
Had there been an incident or purely inspired by George Floyd?
I don't think any of this is purely inspired by George Floyd.
It has to be in part at least due to the covid lockdowns.
I am in my Alameda home right now (walking distance from Oakland) and it is eeerily quiet at night with all of the curfews and lockdowns. Usually when we erupt in violence, we erupt alone. It seems like all California, including San Diego is joining in. #blacklivesmatter protests are usually not that widespread.
It would definitely appear that the situation in the US has eased up slightly. For starters there's been very little coverage of any events that happened overnight here in the UK and for the past week it's all the news has been showing.
As for the London protest yesterday, it was inspisred by George Floyd and the protests in America. We have had some covid lockdown protests previously but these were tackled and disrupted immediately by the police. Yesterday though they not only allowed it to take place but stood back and let the BLM march erupt into violence as it came to an end.
I can't speak for all of the US but last night, I could hear the helicopters (more than the other nights) and I could hear gunshots (firecrackers? loud noise makers?).
My husband works in San Francisco and had a hard time getting to work last night, once there, his building was boarded up, with extra security and such.
My sister in LA is having a similar experience to mine, and even family in San Diego (and San Diego usually doesn't join in) are seeing the riots keep going strong.
What I meant by it being covid related, is that people have been holed up with nowhere to put their energy, lots of job losses, lines to buy groceries, kids home from school, and just a difficult time in general. It kind of feels like we were ripe for an outbreak of "can't hold us down."
That's a fair point, the timing of Covid is unfortunate and I agree that it is likely to have contributed somewhat. People are at breaking point for a number of reasons and whether or not you agree with the lockdown, it's been tough on us all. I guess it's only natural that all it needs is a spark in these circumstances to escalate things very quickly.
The protest that took place in London was inspired by George Floyd with the protesters also appearing to use it as an opportunity to protest against perceived police brutality and racism here in the UK, which is a totally different kettle of fish to the US's situation.
Dear @innerhive, with all respect, but I can´t see why this post and the other one were that massively downvoted and the rep. of the author completely destroyed.
Should free speech on this platform not be of especially high priority? There was no spam or hate in this post. Violence is always bad, there is no bad or good violence!
Maybe you could offer the author a discussion on Discord to sort things out and advise him/her what to do in order to potentially get removed the downvotes?
We shouldn´t put off users here, but in contrast promote posts with content, regardless what opinions are stated, as long as no cursing, or crimes are done or promoted.
It is kind of unfair to demote those posts and others like this one get almost 50$ in votes. Seems a little off and not easy to understand for newcomers.
Thanks for the support. I'm just someone who has become disenfranchised with the one street portrayed by the media, especially when they downplay events such as this or make it appear as they passed off peacefully. You're right, violence is always bad, regardless of who it is committing it or who it is against.
I'm a reasonable person and I want to start discussions to hear the other side. I completely understand the anger felt by many, I myself was appalled at the death of George Floyd like any other decent human being would be. However, the scenes we are seeing are not helping bring about genuine change which is needed.
I hope this can be resolved and that Hive can be a platform that welcomes all voices where users are able to kindly disagree while having civil debate. If not, I'll probably be done with the platform. Will my loss be a big one? Definitely not. But I fear many others will be put in the same situation and that can only be to the detriment of Hive...unless the biggest players only want one opinion in which case they can continue doing what their doing.
The scenes we are seeing may not help bring genuine change, but, we are seeing them, which is something.
I have lived amongst peaceful protests and demonstrations, and we seem to get marginalized and ignored.
How long can people be ignored until they become "in your face" about it.
I am sad for the small businesses getting destroyed.
I am sad for the people getting hurt.
I am sad for the unrest.
But the people are finally being heard. It must mean ... something.
I'm with you, something does need doing. We can't keep going on like this. To be honest, the main issue comes with the double standards and the hypocrisy of the media.
I'm not sure if you're in the US or the UK, but in the UK we have no where near the same level of police brutality or violence as in the states. In fact, lots of the data shows that the UK is one of the least racist countries in the world. Is it perfect though and can we do more? Absolutely.
But I feel the attacks on the police officers is undermining that effort. Our officers don't have the problems as in America. And let's not forget that as a raw number, way more white people die at the hands of police officers than any other race in the western world. Not only that, but the death of George Floyd took place on the other side of the world, we are not impacted by the same issues and for these protesters to imply that we are by using violence is wrong. We have our own problems to deal with.
Instead of tackling it as a systemic racism problem in our police forces and institutions, it's my view that we need to be focusing more on fixing the socio-economic issues that are plaguing and segregating minority communities in our country. That's the root of the problem. Poverty breeds negative outcomes in life, regardless of your race.
I am in the US.
I was very surprised to learn that there were riots worldwide in honor of Floyd.
Raw numbers don't mean much when percentages speak loads.
Poverty plaguing our minority communities, the underfunded schools, the lack of resources, the difficulty in getting fresh food, the lack of programs, all of that is besides the fact that we have a problem with police brutality here.
And it is not just black lives which are being lost, being a brown man is just as dangerous here in the states.
Yes Black Lives Matter.
Every Human Being Lives Matter.