Brussels, (Samajweekly) More “Black Lives Matter” protests against racism and police brutality took place in major European cities such as Brussels, Copenhagen, London, Budapest, Madrid and Barcelona.
The protests on Sunday came a day after tens of thousands of people took to the streets of European cities like Berlin, Paris, Munich, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Dublin and Prague on Saturday in support of the “Black Lives Matter” movement, which has swept the US and other countries worldwide following the May 25 killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man in police custody, reports Xinhua news agency.
In Brussels, home to the European Union headquarters, more than 10,000 people demonstrated on Sunday afternoon at Place Poelart.
Protesters of all ages and ethnic backgrounds came from all over Belgium, chanting “Black Lives Matter”, “No Justice, No Peace”.
Their banners and placards read — “The Police Kill, it’s written white on black”, or “We can’t breathe”, echoing the last words of Floyd.
“The murder of George Floyd has visibly awakened many people,” newspaper Brussels Times quoted Ange Kazi, spokesperson of the Belgian Network for Black Lives Matter, which called for the protest, as saying.
“Many people are fed up with police violence, which systematically affects Blacks,” she said.
In the Danish capital of Copenhagen, more than 15,000 protesters gathered peacefully in front of the US embassy on Sunday afternoon, shouting slogans and holding banners as part of the Danish “Black Lives Matter” demonstration.
After demonstrating in front of the embassy for about an hour chanting “I can’t breathe”, demonstrators marched through central Copenhagen, in the vicinity of the iconic Little Mermaid, along Kongegade street, before arriving at Christiansborgs Slotsplats, home of the Danish Parliament, for speeches.
In Spain, thousands of people added their voices to the “Black Lives Matter” protests.
According to Spanish TV station RTVE, an estimated 3,000 people took part in a demonstration in Madrid, which began outside the US embassy.
he Spanish Government Delegate had given permission for 200 people to participate in the protest, but far more people than expected turned up to show their support, as also happened in other European cities.
A further 3,000 people also marched in Barcelona for the same cause.
There were also demonstrations in cities such as Bilbao, San Sebastian and Vitoria in the Basque Region of northern Spain, as well as in Logrono and Murcia.
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, more than 1,000 people gathered at a peaceful demonstration in front of the US embassy. Almost all of the protesters wore masks.
The police presence was strong, but they did not intervene.
After the speeches and music, protesters knelt in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the time it took for Floyd to lose consciousness as the police officer knelt on his neck.
