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It was in front of this imposing monument that Atlanta pastor Martin Luther King had, on August 28, 1963, in front of nearly 250,000 people, launched “I have a dream“in a speech that has become a benchmark in the fight for civil rights.”We are back here with a new message of hope“, says AFP Deniece Laurent-Mantey, 31-year-old African-American.
Unlike this iconic movement of the 1960s, or other gatherings that the capital used to host, Saturday’s protests were not centered on an event or a speech.
More than a dozen collectives, many of whom formed spontaneously on social media after the death of George Floyd, called to invade the streets of the capital.
On the imposing fence erected in front of Donald Trump’s residence were hung the heads of George Floyd, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Breonna Taylor, African-Americans all dead at the hands of American police in recent years.
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From the White House, where he spends the weekend, Donald Trump continued his intense activity on Twitter without mentioning the demonstrations.
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Donald Trump disconnected from reality? (subject of this Saturday’s news)
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“Institutional racism”
Opposite, in a very family atmosphere, the demonstrators sang in turn classic soul and political slogans like “No Justice, No Peace, No racist Police“(No justice, No peace, No racist police), taking advantage of the bottles of ice water distributed by many associations, in oppressive heat.
Present on the spot, the mayor of Washington Muriel Bowser, target of the mocking tweets of the American president, judged that it was time to say “Next“in November, in reference to the presidential election scheduled in 150 days.
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“I feel like we fought, fought, fought and all of a sudden it all came out“welcomes Patricia Thompson, 55, in reference to all the American companies and organizations which she believes have taken a public stand”against institutional racism“for the first time after this deadly arrest.
►►► Read also : Death of George Floyd: where does the #BlackLivesMatter movement come from? A rallying cry that has existed since… 2013
Driven by a massive mobilization on social networks, the movement has spread to London, Pretoria, Paris and even Sydney, where at least 20,000 people demonstrated on Saturday.
After a first moving ceremony in Minneapolis on Thursday, the relatives of this 46-year-old African-American asphyxiated by a white police officer during an arrest, paid him a new homage in family intimacy in Raeford, in his native state of Caroline North. His funeral is scheduled for June 9 in Houston.
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Extracts from the Minneapolis Tribute Ceremony
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New examples of police violence, especially during the repression of these sometimes violent protests, fuel the anger that has fueled the protests that have rocked the United States since the death of George Floyd. Several videos showing muscular police interventions against peaceful protesters have emerged in recent days.
In anticipation of the new protests, the Seattle police chief has announced a 30-day ban on the use of tear gas.
Minneapolis police also announced on Friday that it will now ban “choke plugs“, a dangerous technique used in particular in 2014 in New York on Eric Garner, another black man who died at the hands of the police, whose cries”I can not breathe“were also spoken by George Floyd when he died.
But the marches now go beyond this one case, to denounce systemic racism and demand real change.
They have remained peaceful in recent days and several cities, including Washington, Seattle and Los Angeles, have now lifted their curfew. But not New York, where it is kept until Sunday evening.
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Events around the world in our 7:30 p.m. this Saturday June 06
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