Are the people protesting in London mad?

[JKD1982]

I agree that what happened in the USA is appalling but why would anyone risk their own health and go against all the social distancing rules to protest in London? It won’t make a difference to what’s happened and could cause another crisis in London hospitals because people catch COVID.

AIBU thinking they are mad and there is a better way (from a laptop?) to express anger

.. to march about an issue which has been appalling for generations and which one march won’t change anything .. this is a defeatist attitude. I bet you wouldn’t employ it if the issue at hand directly affected YOU.

I find it hard to credit that the level of police brutality that exists in the US is still in play today. The expression on that guy’s face. He was smug. It makes me feel ill to think about and if there was a sensible, social distancing protest near me I’d be on it.
Surely, surely the police force in the US can’t just keep on doing what they like with no consequences?

@wink1970 so it's irrelevant that the protests & attention have at least resulted in a charge against the cop because a couple of opportunists stole some trainers?

I love the protests if they're demonstrated safely with the socials distancing. Black lives matter and I am all for that

I remember being in a car with my friends in NY some years back. I’d had a few. We got stopped by the cops. I was all indignant “what have we done wrong?” etc. Friends begged me not to say anything. The fear in that car was palpable. They knew they were in for a beating if not worse, if a word was spoken out of line. They live their whole lives like that. It’s so sad and so fucking unjust.

We need to let Americans know that the rest of the world is disgusted by their attitude.

Apologies to non-racist Americans of course.

@frazzledfatty I think it's awesome that the protests have resulted in this. I think it's disgusting that people are using the protests as an excuse to loot. Many of these shops are BAME owned, many of the houses burned are BAME owned. They should be ashamed. It lessens the message.

You're conveniently ignoring the scientific evidence that part of the reason BAME people are more at risk is because we absorb less vitamin D which is showing to be key in fighting the virus

I did not know this - can someone post a link to an accessible scientific study ?

www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-21211/v1

@wink1970 that's great then. Although it's a bit odd that your initial response to the OPs question re protesting & covid was

Nothing says 'protesting against unlawful killing' like looting a JD Sports shop.

I mean why would you align the looters with the protesters?

@frazzledfatty I think the media are sadly doing a bang up job of doing just that. Peaceful protests - rioting - looting. It’s different but I think people are a group of people on the tv or whatever and immediately jump to conclusion, doesn’t help when one shot on the news is of an organized, effective protest and the next is of someone smashing the windows of Target and spraying the walls of a Starbucks with expletives. People conflate the two with the other

@TabbyMumz yes? The murder of Mark Duggan is one example. This whole point is that the killing of George Floyd wasn’t a one off incident, it’s part of an entire system that sanctions this, and YES it also exists in the UK.
The met police were found to be institutionally racist in their response to Stephen Lawrence’s murder. This is not just an American issue

@TabbyMumz

Similar cases? One is enough to be quite frank but of course there are plenty.

Black man detained for a drugs search with absolutely no cause before being grabbed and cuffed: www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/metropolitan-police-officer-accused-racism-22114788

Female Black Lives Matter protester's head pinned to ground by police:
www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-2182600/Video-Moment-Black-Lives-Matter-protestant-pinned-ground-police.html

Black woman pinned to ground by 6 police officers: www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/18486899.woman-shouts-i-cant-breathe-pinned-police-lewisham/

Black man killed by police while being physically retrained and pinned to the ground:
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/nov/12/public-inquiry-ordered-sheku-bayoh-death-in-custody-kirkcaldy-2015

Police brutality exists wherever there are police. It's really not for white people to tell protesters of any race that they shouldn't be outraged at the systemic and individual racism that has affected every single non-white person.

Racism is a global issue so the response should be too.

Stephen Lawrence was 1993 and Mark Duggan 2011. Are they the only ones in recent history in the UK? Whereas in the US a lot more common.

@ChilliCheese123 yes some parts of the media are doing that & have an agenda but people who consume the media need to have apply a bit of critical thinking do they not?

I agree with the protests, but how many BAME people are going to take that virus home to their black, over 50s father, whose demographic have the highest mortality rate if infected? Shouting (and singing) causes spittle. I would hope that young kids who have that demographic at their home took extra care to socially distance.

@TabbyMumz look at the list of violence that @Nousernamehistory posted? I can’t believe you think more than even one example is necessary?!

Handling....yes I've seen the links, thanks. It's just the UK isnt well known for violence against BAME or murder, unlike the US, which is very well known for it and I'm sure would show data as long as your arm. So I wasnt understanding why protest outside no.10.

@tabbymumz I bet if you walked into Tottenham, Stratford or Croydon and asked the residents, they'd have a much different experience of the police than you do.

It's disingenuous to state that a country doesn't have racism when you're unlikely to ever experience it. Racism is alive and well in the UK, instead of desperately trying to claim it isn't, find a way to help eradicate it.

@TabbyMumz is harassment & suspicion ok?

@RomeoLikedCapuletGirls

Of course it shouldn't be happening. The gathering, the protesting, the looting, all of it.

But blame the police officer who knelt on an unarmed man's neck for 9 minutes till he died.

Blame every person who complained when the NFL athletes took the knee and said "that's not the way to protest".

Blame the dogwalker in Central Park who called in a false claim to the cops.

Blame the cops who shot Breonna Taylor in her bed in the middle of the night.

Blame every lawmaker who has turned a blind eye to the obvious racism of the US police.

They're the ones that made this situation inevitable.

No we’re all to blame if we don’t don’t stand up against it.

We expected the Muslim community to come together and say ISIS do not represent us. Which they did. They spoke out about it.

This is exactly the same. Where’s all the white folks at? If your not enraged over this and wont speak out your on the side of the oppressor with out even doing anything

I agree OP.
We are in the middle of a pandemic with a virus that easily spreads, often without the host showing symptoms. I'm not against protest but was shocked to see the them yesterday, here In the UK. They are not social distancing and giving the virus the ability to peak for a 2nd time. That is irresponsible and will cost more lives.
Surely looking at the beaches over the weekend along with the protests, all the hard work of lockdown was a waste of time.

@Spillinteas how do you know what people are doing though ? Not everyone puts everything they’re doing on social media x

God I put an ‘x’ sorry I’m in between texting my Nan 🙈