Black Lives Matter, worldwide

This 12 June 2020 video from Minnesota in the USA says about itself:

Restaurant Owner Feeds BLM Protesters | In This Together | NowThis

This Minneapolis Black-owned and vegan restaurant fed hundreds of people who protested the death of George Floyd.

In US news and current events today, Louis Hunter is the owner of Trio Plant-Based, Minnesota’s first Black-owned 100% plant-based restaurant. Hunter says his restaurant’s mission is simple. Hunter’s cousin, Philando Castile, was shot and killed by a police officer in 2016. So for him, supporting the Black Lives Matter protestors is deeply personal.

Thanks to activists’ efforts, the idea of reshaping the police force is gaining momentum. One reform often proposed is to train cops to recognize their own biases. This idea gets pushed in the business world too, which is facing its own reckoning over racism. But there’s a problem: There’s plenty of research showing that implicit bias training doesn’t actually work. And there’s a recent real-world example: Police in San Jose, California, shot a Black man who works as an implicit bias trainer for their department with a rubber bullet at a protest. So why does implicit bias training keep getting talked up in efforts to reform police? Michael Hobbes, a HuffPost senior reporter, dug into the topic.

This photo shows protesters taking part in an event in Leeds, England organised by Black Lives Matter, following the death of George Floyd, who was killed on May 25 while in police custody in the United States city of Minneapolis.

From daily The Morning Star in Britain, 14 June 2020:

Veteran anti-apartheid campaigner praises Black Lives Matter activists

VETERAN anti-apartheid campaigner Ken Keable has praised Black Lives Matter protesters for fighting state racism and removing statues honouring slavers.

A message from Mr Keable, a Communist who was sent to apartheid South Africa in 1968 as one of the “London Recruits” tasked with helping the African National Congress in its struggle against apartheid, was read out on Saturday at a Black Lives Matter rally in Shepton Mallet, Somerset, which the activist was unable to attend for health reasons.

He said: “I am thrilled to see so many people taking to the streets all over the world to fight state racism, to assert that black lives matter and to demand the removal of monuments that honour slave traders and slave owners.

“To those who toppled the statue of Edward Colston, I say thank you. To those who want them prosecuted, I say removing an obscenity is not a crime.

“Capitalism in Britain was founded on the enslavement of African people.

“To the young people who are here today, I say join a union! Build the unity of the working class! Solidarity forever!”

ANTI-RACISM protesters who tear down, ‘deface’ or graffiti statues and monuments to imperialism face jail sentences of up to 10 years under a forthcoming bill which Tory Home Secretary Priti Patel is to bring before Parliament: here.

By Ben Chacko, 14 June 2020:

Riot police attack anti-racism protest in Paris

RIOT police attacked anti-racism demonstrators in Paris with tear gas on Saturday after Paris Prefect Didier Lallement banned the demo.

Mr Lallement said the protest could not go ahead because of lockdown restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus, though the Council of State later stated that the right to protest remained.

An estimated 15,000 demonstrators were blocked by police from carrying out their intended march.

The rally was addressed by Assa Traore, sister of Adama Traore who died in police custody in 2016. Nobody has yet been charged over his death.

“We are all demanding the same thing — fair justice for everyone,” she said.

French Senator Laurence Cohen of the Communist Party told the crowds that it was “very important to be here, to demand a society of solidarity, fraternity and respect.”

She called on demonstrators to continue mobilising for reform of the police.

Officers assaulted protesters in some neighbourhoods, with videos being shared of peaceful activists being attacked.

A group of far-right demonstrators scaled a building overlooking the demo and unveiled a banner attacking “anti-white racism,” but residents were able to open their windows and tear it down. The rightwingers were later arrested.

La France Insoumise leader Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted his support for the demo: “Congratulations to the Adama Traore committee and the anti-racists in the Place de la Republique,” he wrote.

“Beautiful demonstration, and beautiful resistance to the violent provocations of Prefect Lallement.”

Protests in France in solidarity with the George Floyd demonstrations in the US have already seen Interior Minister Christophe Castaner ban chokeholds and turned the spotlight on police violence.