Peaceful protesters campaigning for the Black Lives Matter movement across the US in the wake of George Floyd’s murder face savage violence from their police forces and National Guard. The vast majority of protesters are doing so unarmed, with non-violent means. Despite this, medical staff, unarmed protesters and journalists recording these events are being indiscriminately attacked, shepherded into groups to have tear gas canisters thrown at them, and being unfairly shot at with rubber bullets. Such actions have led to serious injuries including Linda Tirado - a journalist who was blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet shot at her face whilst she was doing her job and exercising her right to cover the protest - and even deaths, with restaurant owner David McAtee shot dead in Louisville, Kentucky on 1st June.

This same approach is not seen to have been taken against white vigilante groups in cities such as Philadelphia, where these armed men are seen patrolling the streets, taking photos with the police and being allowed to hang around rooftops with their guns - all the while peaceful, unarmed protesters are being treated horrifically by the same police force. The double standards shown here are truly abhorrent and blatantly anti-demonstration, and should not be tolerated in our modern age. This movement demands justice for those we have lost, and reassurance that these crimes will never happen again.

We demand that the UK Government:

• Suspend the sale of tear gas, riot shields, and rubber bullets to the US, where they are being used against peaceful protesters.
• Publicly condemn Trump's use of military force against his own citizens, along with the brutal actions of individual police departments against the innocent. It is fascistic, cruel, and anti-democratic; setting a dangerous precedent, stoking violence and intimidating the vulnerable.

Amnesty International has already made a similar request, and we add our voices to theirs.
https://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/usa-police-must-end-excessive-militarised-response-george-floyd-protests

#BlackLivesMatter #BLM