Far-right activists scuffled with police Saturday in London and Paris as more Black Lives Matter demonstrations unfolded across Europe. In the U.S., protesters called attention to the deaths of two Black men -- one who was fatally shot by police outside an Atlanta restaurant and another found hanging from a tree in California.
Tensions were high in cities around the globe, nearly three weeks after George Floyd, another Black man, died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee to his neck. European protesters sought to show solidarity with their American counterparts against police brutality and racism, and to confront bias in their own countries. The demonstrations also posed a challenge to policies intended to limit crowds to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Many gathered around the statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Cenotaph war memorial, which were boarded up Friday to protect them from vandalism. Officials feared far-right activists would seek confrontations with anti-racism protesters under the guise of protecting statues. Police fired tear gas and blocked people from marching through Paris to protest racial injustice. The rally, which drew 15,000, was led by supporters of Adama Traore, a French Black man who died in police custody in 2016. No one has been charged in his death.
As a Black woman living in mainland France, she said, "I'm constantly obliged to adapt, to make compromises, not make waves -- to be almost white, in fact."In the U.S., police said a 27-year-old man whose car was blocking a Wendy's restaurant drive-thru was fatally shot late Friday after resisting Atlanta officers.
Authorities said the death appeared to be a suicide, but an autopsy was planned. The city said there were no outdoor cameras that could have recorded what happened.
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