Far-right protesters and police scuffle in London as officers try to separate them from BlackLivesMatter demonstrators
Demonstrations have been taking place around the world over the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis after a white policeman knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
In Britain, debate is raging over monuments to those involved in the nation's imperialist past, especially after the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down and thrown into the harbour of Bristol port last weekend.In London, Churchill's statue was daubed with the words "was a racist." "We have intelligence that extreme far right groups are coming to London ostensibly, they say, to protect the statues, but we think the statues may be a flashpoint for violence," London's mayor Sadiq Khan said on BBC Radio.
Police imposed strict restrictions in a bid to avoid violent clashes. Authorities also fenced off other statues in Parliament Square, including memorials to Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday it was "absurd and shameful" that the statue of Churchill was at risk.
"Yes, he sometimes expressed opinions that were and are unacceptable to us today, but he was a hero, and he fully deserves his memorial," Johnson wrote."It is above all extraordinarily sad that my grandfather who was such a unifying figure in this country appears to have become a sort of icon to being controversial," she said.
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