Tear Gas And Prayers Amid Global Outrage Over U.S. Police Death

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – Global outrage over the unarmed black man who died in U.S. police custody last week spread to the streets of Paris Tuesday where protesters clashed with riot police.

George Floyd’s death prompted at least 20,000 people to rally in the French capital against police abuse in defiance of a coronavirus-related ban on protest. Demonstrators also paid homage to Floyd and Adama Traore, a French black man who died in police custody four years ago. Later peaceful protests turned violent with police during tear gas and firefighters struggling to extinguish multiple blazes.

Earlier in the Dutch capital Amsterdam up to 5,000 people, many more than authorities expected, defied coronavirus social distancing regulations to protest.

Elsewhere as many as 3,000 people marched peacefully through Sydney, Australia. Protestors said they had been inspired by a mixture of sympathy for African Americans and to call for change in Australia’s treatment of its indigenous population, particularly involving police.

Diplomats were also reeling of the impact of Floyd’s death. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the protests should force awareness of racism everywhere.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called Floyd’s death a result of an abuse of power. ”Like the people of the United States, we are shocked and appalled by the death of George Floyd.” He stressed that Europeans “support the right to peaceful protest, and also we condemn violence and racism of any kind, and for sure, we call for a de-escalation of tensions.”

African leaders also condemned the killing of Floyd. Kenyan opposition leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga offered a prayer for the U.S., “that there be justice and freedom for all human beings who call America their country.”

Ghana President Nana Akufo-Addo said black people the world over are shocked and distraught. ”It cannot be right that, in the 21st century, the United States, this great bastion of democracy, continues to grapple with the problem of systemic racism.”

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