While anti-racism protesters clashed with French police in Paris it was far right activists causing problems in London.
BBC – French police clash with anti-racism activists in Paris
French police have clashed with activists protesting in Paris against racism and alleged police brutality.
About 15,000 anti-racism protesters gathered on the Place de la République in central Paris early on Saturday afternoon.
They chanted slogans such as “No justice, no peace”. Some climbed on the the statue of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.
Police used tear gas against stone-throwing protesters who tried to hold a march that was banned.
The rally is part is a worldwide movement inspired by America’s Black Lives Matter protests.
It was organised under the banner “Justice for Adama”, after Adama Traoré, a young black man who died in French police custody in 2016.
BBC – London protests: Demonstrators clash with police
Groups including some far-right activists congregated in the capital, claiming they were protecting statues from anti-racism activists.
Some anti-racism protests also took place in London and across the UK.
Various groups from around the country, including some far-right activists, said they had come to London to protect symbols of British history.
Hundreds of mostly white men gathered around the Cenotaph war memorial in Whitehall and the boarded-up statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.
There were a number of clashes with police in riot gear as crowds – chanting “England” and raising their arms – surged towards lines of officers.
CNN: Europeans forced to re-examine their colonial histories
The police killing of George Floyd in the US last month has galvanized a global anti-racism movement. Now it is forcing Europeans to re-examine their colonial histories and even question their national identities.Few Europeans will explicitly defend their country’s historical use of slavery, yet challenging the celebration of the very leaders and merchants who profited from slavery and the horrors of colonialism is proving a less comfortable conversation.
And in the US protests continue.
Fox News: Seattle police chief and mayor at loggerheads over how to handle zone seized by demonstrators
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and police chief Carmen Best are at odds over the city’s handling of the self-declared autonomous zone set up by protesters spanning several blocks surrounding a police precinct.
Best has accused the mayor of shirking her responsibilities as an elected official and allowing protesters to oust police officers from a precinct located inside the 6-block radius now deemed a “cop free zone.”
Demonstraters inside the perimeter of the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone” – or “CHAZ” – have battened down for almost a week decrying police brutality after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and are demanding the city abolish the Seattle Police Department.
CNN: These are the confederate statues coming down
The death of George Floyd is leading to the removal — by protesters in some cases and city leaders in others — of contentious statues that have riled some residents for decades, if not longer.
Controversial monuments, especially Confederate monuments, have been the subject of nationwide debate, particularly since Dylann Roof killed nine African Americans in a Charleston, South Carolina, church in 2015 in an effort to “start a race war.”And it flared up again after white nationalists marched in 2017 to protest the removal of a Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a counterprotester was killed amid violent clashes between demonstrators.Some say they mark history and honor heritage. Others argue they are racist symbols of America’s dark legacy of slavery. While some cities have already made efforts to remove them, others have passed laws to protect them.
It looks like an issue that is going to linger.
Meanwhile Donald Trump has backed off what was seen as provocative rally: Trump Reschedules Rally After Criticism of Juneteenth Overlap
The rally would have fallen on Juneteenth, a day that memorializes the end of slavery. The site of the rally, Tulsa, was home to a notorious instance of racial violence in which hundreds of black people were massacred 99 years ago.
“Tulsa was the site of the worst racist violence in American history. The president’s speech there on Juneteenth is a message to every Black American: more of the same,” Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) tweeted.
Trump and his allies defended the timing of the rally. The president told Fox News the date was not intentional.
“Think about it as a celebration. They’re always a celebration,” Trump said. “In the history of politics, I think I can say there’s never been any group or any person that’s had rallies like I do.”
But:
The Federalist: Trump Addresses Protests And Riots: ‘Toughness Sometimes Is The Most Compassionate’
“Toughness sometimes is the most compassionate,” Trump said when asked if he intends to be both a law and order leader and a consoler. “When you look at the damage, and the travesties, and the small businesses, and the death. When you act soft and weak you end up not being compassionate.”
Trump and compassion usually appear to be as divided as the US is divided over race and politics.