Why thousands in the UK engaged in protests spurred by George Floyd death in US

[C C]

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52877803

EXCERPTS: Over the weekend thousands of people chanted "Black Lives Matter" across the UK -- at protests in London, Manchester and Cardiff. They were marching in support of protesters in America angered by the death of George Floyd on 25 May. He died nearly 4,000 miles away from the UK in Minnesota, but his death was felt here in our black community too.

That's why people like Shayne defied UK government coronavirus guidance and went out to protest on the weekend. "We didn't expect that many people to turn up at the protests, it was mad," the 20-year-old tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.

[...] Shayne says although George Floyd was killed in the US, "we know that it happens here too", citing the case of Mark Duggan. He was a 29-year-old who was shot and killed in 2011 while police in London were trying to arrest him under suspicion of planning an attack and being in possession of a gun. His death sparked riots in London, where police officers are four times more likely to use force against black people than white people, and later across the UK.

In 2016, ex-Aston Villa footballer Dalian Atkinson died when he was restrained by police and Tasered in Telford, Shropshire. Rasharn Charles died in hospital due to a cardiac arrest and obstructed airway during restraint from police officers in 2017. Last week a public inquiry was announced into the death of Sheku Bayoh in police custody in Scotland in 2015. Protesters in London held signs bearing their names, and the names of other black people who have died after encounters with British police, at the weekend.

[...] Eyram Kiakia, who's 20 and has a YouTube channel speaking about the UK Black Lives Matter movement, says she became more upset about the death of George Floyd the more she learned about his life. Eyram says people think the UK is more progressive on race than America, "when actually it isn't".

[...] The Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 ... The UK Home Office was accused of racism following the Windrush scandal ... "Race clearly played a part in what occurred," the long-awaited review into what happened said earlier this year.

[...] Eyram says racism in the UK is institutionalised and also evident in schools - where Black Caribbean pupils are more likely to be excluded than White British pupils - and the workplace.

"There's a lot of more covert things that have happened to us and still happen to us, like when we were in school they policed black people's hair, we weren't allowed certain hairstyles or colours even though our white counterparts were able to dye their hair any colour," she says. "In the workplace, there's always micro-aggressions. Everyone I know has experienced some sort of ignorant comment at the hands of a fellow employee or even an employer. Just because it's so subtle and it's not overt, it doesn't mean it's not racist." (MORE - details)

[stryder]

During the Labour regime of the 1990's, it was declared the local county that I live in "wasn't ethnically diverse enough". This was during a time point where various concerns were being drawn in regards to the "holding facilities" for immigrants entering the country and the problems they were causing. (It was being voiced that such holding facilities were mixing both criminal elements and people escape persecuting in the same facility which was leading to the criminal element to bully the persecuted element)

At which point in time the government came up with the strategy through the home office to start deploying CCTV across the centre of towns and cities. They then moved from placing the immigrants into holding facilities and started integrating them into those towns and cities where they felt ethnic diversity was suffering (Of which the local county was).

One of the main problems of the government moving the immigrants to be where the government wanted is that some immigrants/ex-patriots of other countries preferred to maintain having a community with their own rather than being isolated elsewhere in the country. This caused those immigrants to actually shift from where they were slotted to various towns and cities that have a higher degree of ethnicity given to other areas of the UK. (That's why the figures of ethnic related crimes in some major cities are seen as higher)

The local town in which I'm situated ended up with a large number of Eastern Europeans (Lithuanians, Polski etc.) Personally I didn't mind the cutural change (It was better than having the deadbeat skag heads discarding their needles and the number of derelict builds they were sneaking into) however not everyone agreed with overhearing town chatter in a multitude of languages. (One of the National Front Treasurers lived in the town at one point, so you can guess they weren't happy. Which might even be the reason the home office did it.)

The town had previously had some diversity with the Cypriot refugee's that originated from the Greek/Turkish clash about the rights of the island of Cyprus (circa 1960's) and a small Portuguese community that had it's own share of violence handed to them by local idiots.

[Secular Sanity]

I don’t think it’s an issue of race by any means. It’s not just race, it’s good and evil/cops and robbers. Everybody becomes a thug in their mind. There's also a lot of dumbass cops when it comes to the law and people's rights. A little more education wouldn't hurt.

We had a case near here last year where an officer applied the choke hold for too long and the (white) guy died. He was fired and he's being charged with manslaughter. I think we need to look more closely at the profiles of officers with potential excessive force issues, e.g., personality disorders such as lack of empathy, narcissistic tendencies, anger and frustration issues, sensitivity to challenge or provocation and officers with personal problems such as divorce, financial issues or perceived loss of status.

[Secular Sanity]

I think that the lockdowns contributed to the riots. We’ve had them before but they weren’t as violent and usually stayed in the cities where the shooting happened.

Northern California has a curfew now. It’s 8:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. but most of the businesses are closing at around 3:00 p.m.

This sucks!

[Zinjanthropos]

If all police depts are like the one here then most of them are related. Nepotism a big problem IMHO. Do American cops get paid well? Canadian cops dominate the Sunshine List ($100G’s+ per year) and have one of the best pensions you can have. Yet there are some guys who should never be carrying a gun, never. But they are.

[Secular Sanity]

If all police depts are like the one here then most of them are related. Nepotism a big problem IMHO. Do American cops get paid well? Canadian cops dominate the Sunshine List ($100G’s+ per year) and have one of the best pensions you can have. Yet there are some guys who should never be carrying a gun, never. But they are.

You're right. Nepotism never even crossed my mind. They show that the average starting pay in the U.S. is anywhere from $35,000 to $90,000. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people with those personality traits that I mentioned that somehow end up in that profession.

[Zinjanthropos]

If all police depts are like the one here then most of them are related. Nepotism a big problem IMHO. Do American cops get paid well? Canadian cops dominate the Sunshine List ($100G’s+ per year) and have one of the best pensions you can have. Yet there are some guys who should never be carrying a gun, never. But they are.

You're right. Nepotism never even crossed my mind. They show that the average starting pay in the U.S. is anywhere from $35,000 to $90,000. Unfortunately, there's a lot of people with those personality traits that I mentioned that somehow end up in that profession.

For $35G/year you’ll get some cops nephew, someone you wouldn’t trust with a slingshot, needs anger management and as been acquitted of several charges (another perk).

[C C]

Depending on the region and distribution of minorities, in the small water-tower towns I was once familiar with it's the white-trash population group that garners the police brutality. Like a dealer or out of control substance abuser getting "accidentally" shot in the back while being handcuffed or "accidentally" hitting his head on _X_, or whatever. I mean, wherever the greatest amount of illegal or frequent disturbance element lies is the group that receives the statistical guarantee of some percentage rate of law enforcement abuse. In those places it's usually white people, even if there is a sprinkling of diversity.

[Secular Sanity]

Here’s a good example. One thing that most police officers aren’t aware of, is that you can resist an unlawful arrest.

If they had probable cause to believe that he had broken the law, even if he hadn’t, and he resisted, then he would be guilty of resisting arrest.  They can detain someone suspected of being under the influence but not for simply dancing in the street. According to the police report, he was later cited for resisting arrest.

Depending on the state where you live, you may or may not have the right to resist an unlawful arrest by using force. If you have this right, the use of force must be reasonable and necessary, such that it responds to the use of force by the officer making the unlawful arrest. The resistance must occur during the attempted arrest, and the arrest must have no legal basis. Any use of force must be no more than what is needed to prevent the arrest. [1]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/diCo7ljFx7E

[stryder]

Here’s a good example. One thing that most police officers aren’t aware of, is that you can resist an unlawful arrest.

If they had probable cause to believe that he had broken the law, even if he hadn’t, and he resisted, then he would be guilty of resisting arrest.  They can detain someone suspected of being under the influence but not for simply dancing in the street. According to the police report, he was later cited for resisting arrest.

Depending on the state where you live, you may or may not have the right to resist an unlawful arrest by using force. If you have this right, the use of force must be reasonable and necessary, such that it responds to the use of force by the officer making the unlawful arrest. The resistance must occur during the attempted arrest, and the arrest must have no legal basis. Any use of force must be no more than what is needed to prevent the arrest. [1]

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/diCo7ljFx7E

That's the problem between civil rights and judicial law. You might well have the right to resist what you deem as unlawful, but who actually defines what law is or isn't? Generally that's not left to the public alone, it requires paperwork, Judges, possibly Senators and time. (Judges are suppose to play an impartial role to make the decisions within the confines of law, while Senators would literally have to push for changes where necessary. At least that's what I assume in my limited understanding of the US Judiciary.)

A jury might find a person innocent or guilty, however the Judge is still the one that applies the sentence.

Perhaps in this day and age with the camera availability, perhaps Judges should be sat in a location in front of screens where they can overview how their "agents of law" conduct themselves and consider the rights of the people that are being intervened on. (However this would only really work in the protester environments, and not unfortunately in the case of pulling someone over during what should of been a routine legal enquiry.)