Courtesy: The Daily Beast

Despite police crackdowns, curfews, boiling heat, rain, and fears of a global pandemic that continues to plague America, huge crowds of protesters swelled to their largest size yet on Saturday in some of the country’s biggest cities.

On the 11th day of nationwide protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on Union Park in Chicago, downtown Philadelphia, New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle.

Thousands converged in Washington, D.C., where protesters covered a metal fence recently erected around the entire perimeter of the White House with banners and posters calling for an end to police brutality and racism.

Trump did not make any public appearances, instead blasting out a random “LAW & ORDER!” tweet while totally peaceful demonstrations were underway. Later, he reminded the nation he never was very good at crowd estimates, proclaiming that the protests in the nation’s capital were “much smaller” than anticipated.

Across the nation, the almost festival-like marches and rallies provided a jarring contrast to footage of hundreds of police officers cheering outside a Buffalo, New York, courthouse that morning, in support of two colleagues charged with second-degree assault for shoving a 75-year-old protester to the ground two days earlier.

There were no reports of major clashes between crowds and law enforcement, with the exception of scuffles between demonstrators and police in Seattle that ended an otherwise peaceful day of protest in the city. 

In Washington, there were no low-flying National Guard helicopters, like the ones that had buzzed demonstrators earlier in the week—reportedly on orders of the Pentagon. And in New York, where officials have been under fire over scenes of cops surging against curfew breakers and hitting them with batons, there were close calls, but they ended in de-escalation. At one point after curfew, the situation in Brooklyn seemed bound to spin out of control.

As a crowd of protesters merged at Eastern Parkway and Brooklyn Avenue, a dozen NYPD vans rushed east, lights blaring. Squads of riot cops assembled, putting on their helmets and swinging their batons, primed for action. A protester climbed the lamppost at the intersection, while a hundred or so protesters lay down in the street. It became clear that there was an equal number of cops on the west side of the junction: The activists were penned in. 

Earlier in the week, scenes like this one had ended in violent climaxes, with NYPD officers attacking, clubbing, and pepper-spraying protesters who were guilty of … well, of not much. “The aggression—it literally came out of nowhere. I’d kept thinking someone must have hit a cop, but that was never the case,” said Jumaane Williams, a local activist who now serves as New York City’s Public Advocate. This corner seemed ripe for a replay on Saturday night.

“Come back tomorrow, they will arrest you,” one protester shouted. “Time to disperse! If you need water or shelter follow me!” another yelled.

But no one left. And there was no confrontation. While chants of “fight another day,” erupted, Williams and a local city councilman huddled with the police commanders on scene. After a few minutes, an agreement was set: the marchers could continue north. Most chose to hang around instead—a man was being cuffed for attempting to run over some protesters, and they decided to shout some suggestions about what ought to happen to him at the prison at Riker’s Island. 

Scenes not dissimilar to this played out all over Brooklyn on Saturday night, with the police keeping their distance, and even making tactical truces with the protesters calling for their reform, defunding, and even abolition. “At least right here, right now, there’s been some pullback,” Williams said. “The cops are giving us some space.”

“I’ve seen the protesters self-regulate, too,” added Williams. One woman was getting too aggressive in how she approached the cops; the protesters circled around her to prevent a confrontation. Some activists threw garbage on the streets they were marching through; others cleaned up the trash. 

Asked who was responsible for pulling the police back, New York’s second highest-ranking public official responded: “I don’t know who’s in charge.”

Throughout the day, many marchers made the protests a family affair. “I’m letting them learn right here, in person. I want them to see firsthand that it’s not just black people fighting for them. We’re all family,” said Demetrius Oliver, 38, who bought his three young children to a march in Philadelphia.

The importance of demanding change for the next generation was echoed by demonstrators in other cities.

“I wanted him to see what it is to protest and that he has to stand up for his rights, because he has rights,” said Stacey Samuels, a nurse practitioner who attended a protest in Brooklyn with her 11-year-old son.

“I think the crescendo is building,” she said of the huge turnout at protests across the country. 

“My whole life has been spent trying to keep my sons from being killed and out of the school-to-prison pipeline. Seven of their friends were killed, two by police. One when police were dispersing a crowd and another when he was being chased for missing a court date and crashed. The police don’t act like that in white communities,” said Tevis Duncan, who took part in a demonstration in Louisville, Kentucky.

“I want a future that I can be proud of for my children,” said Chad Nasr, a 24-year-old grad student in Louisville.

Heather Orsini, who lives in New Jersey, marched in Philly with a sign that read, “If the shooting starts, get behind me.” She told The Daily Beast: “I know that things have been getting crazy and I want my friends to know they’re protected. That I’ll protect them.”

Following days of unrest stoked by an at-times irritated and defiant President Trump, Washington, D.C. officials said they expected Saturday to mark the biggest turnout yet.

Around 2 p.m. huge crowds gathered in front of Congress and the Supreme Court and chanted the names of the victims of police brutality.

Some came with portable speakers, blasting audio of speeches from such black leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcom X. Onlookers offered “free water, free snacks!” and complimentary hand sanitizer in the 90 degree heat.

A casually dressed Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) greeted waves of protesters passing between two Senate office buildings, handing out bottles of water and Kind bars.

“I think members of Congress need to support peaceful protests,” he told The Daily Beast, saying the crowds sent “an incredibly powerful message of unity.” 

Kimberly Walker, 28, from Maryland, and some other licensed therapists set up a table outside St. John’s Episcopal Church, the church across from the White House that Trump used to stage his pointless Monday photo op. They were offering free protein bars, fresh fruit, and water to protesters. 

“We noticed that there was a need, that while the protests were happening… a lot of people were getting really emotional. We just wanted to kind of be out here to de-escalate everybody,” Walker said. The group, who called themselves Social Workers 4 Justice said they were offering 10 minute therapy sessions and had, moments earlier, spoken to a distraught woman. 

“She’s like, ‘Nobody listens to me. They don’t help me. They don’t have any resources for me,’” Walker said. “And I said, ‘What is it that you need? Let’s write it down.’ We got a notepad out. We took some notes and then we gave her our information.”

As the march passed Trump International Hotel on Pennsylvania Ave.—just a few blocks from the White House—a long line of protesters started lustily booing and shouting at the wall of security and police flanking the president’s hotel. They shouted, “Fuck Donald Trump” and “Vote him out!” Others opted to walk past silently, middle fingers raised high at the president’s namesake.

Many demonstrators made clear they blamed the president for encouraging racism.

“We are tired of the blatant racism in this country and Trump incited it. This had been coming for a while. We expect change,” Annette Bridges, 67, told The Daily Beast in Louisville.

At a public memorial held for Floyd in Raeford, North Carolina, on Saturday as protests were underway, a local sheriff called on fellow law enforcement officers to listen to protesters and realize that “we are part of the problem.” 

“Enough. Don’t let the life of George Floyd be in vain. It has become a sacrifice,” Hoke County Sheriff Hubert Peterkin said at the memorial service, held 12 days after white Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin held his knee on Floyd’s neck until he lost consciousness and died.

A vigil was also held for Breonna Taylor in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday, a day after she would have turned 27 had she not been gunned down in a botched “no-knock” police raid in March. An EMT, she was asleep when she was shot eight times in her own home. 

Taylor’s death sparked protests and an FBI investigation, but even the outrage over her death was not enough to stop other cases of excessive force by police, a fact which protesters have said makes them more determined to keep protesting. 

“Don’t forget while we were peacefully protesting they killed David McAtee,” Sadiqa Reynolds, the head of the Louisville Urban League, said at Saturday’s vigil. McAtee, a black restaurant owner in Louisville, was fatally shot by authorities during protests earlier this week after he allegedly fired a gun.

“Breonna was an essential worker. Everyday her mother prayed for her to make it home. But imagine that your baby makes it home and the police break through the door and shoot. What do you say? You say no justice, no peace,” Reynolds said. 

Demonstrators sang happy birthday in honor of Taylor and chanted her name, with plans for the crowd to release balloons to pay tribute. 

In New York City, where the streets were flooded Saturday with people coming together and sharing free food and drinks with demonstrators, there was a strong sense of hope after nearly two weeks of unrest.

“There was a Muslim community that came out and prayed a few days ago. Yesterday the Jewish community was out here holding hands. People are realizing that this is a movement, this is a revolution, the last time this happened was with Martin Luther King. This is our time. People are losing patience, they’re losing hope, they don’t want to live in fear. They want to live equal,” said Sami Rahman, attending a protest in Brooklyn.

“I couldn’t sit home and watch TV.”

(Courtesy: Daily Beast, a New York based newsportal.)

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And in an article “Stay in the Streets. It’s Working”: Two Weeks Into Racial Justice Protests, New York State Classifies Use of Chokeholds as Felony published on Common Dreams on 8 June, Julia Conley adds (extract):

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Monday urged Americans to stay the course in the massive protests which have been held in cities and towns across the U.S. for the past two weeks, pointing to New York State lawmakers passing long-awaited legislation to classify chokeholds as a felony as evidence the pressure is working.

The Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act passed in the New York State Assembly with a vote of 140-3. The bill now heads to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is expected to sign it into law. 

“Stay in the streets,” tweeted Ocasio-Cortez. “It’s working.”

The bill was passed two weeks into a nationwide uprising over police brutality and racial injustice sparked by the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and countless other black Americans.

The legislation is named after Eric Garner, whose killing in 2014 by former NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo also sparked widespread protests. At Black Lives Matter protests since Garner’s killing, many participants have chanted and carried signs reading Garner’s last words as he was placed in a chokehold: “I can’t breathe.” The phrase was also uttered by George Floyd on May 25 when he was killed by Minneapolis police officers, sparking the most recent protests.

The NYPD banned the use of chokeholds in 1993, but there is no law holding police officers accountable for using the maneuver. The Eric Garner Anti-Chokehold Act will classify its use as a Class C felony, carrying a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

(Common Dreams is a US based non-profit newsportal.)

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The Police Murder of George Floyd Sparks Mass Protests Worldwide

Thomas Scripps

This weekend, hundreds of thousands of workers and youth will protest the police murder of George Floyd, not only in the United States, but in Australia, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Hungary, Brazil, South Korea and many other countries.

Demonstrations have already taken place this week in hundreds of towns and cities, in countries on every inhabited continent in the world.

In South and Central America, thousands of people protested in front of the Federal University of Paraná in Brazil. Others demonstrated outside the state government building in Rio de Janeiro. Hundreds have also protested in Mexico and demonstrations have been held in Bermuda and Argentina.

Australasia has seen dozens of protests, including of more than 3,000 people in Sydney, Australia, more than 2,000 in Perth and tens of thousands in Auckland, New Zealand. They carried banners that declared, “The government does not care! We the people must help each other!” and “Australia is not innocent.”

In Asia and the Middle East, demonstrations have been held in India, Japan, the Philippines, Turkey, Israel and Iran.

In Africa, rallies have been organised in Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa.

At least 19 towns and cities in Canada have seen protests, including many thousands in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.

Across Europe, Germany saw thousands protest outside the U.S. embassy in Berlin and the consulate in Hamburg. Slogans included “Your Pain Is My Pain, Your Fight Is My Fight.” Thousands have protested in Amsterdam and Rotterdam in the Netherlands; in Athens, Greece; in Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm, Sweden; Helsinki, Finland; Oslo, Norway and Reykjavik, Iceland. Other demonstrations have been held in Italy, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Switzerland.

The United Kingdom has witnessed at least 25 separate protests. Over 15,000 people gathered in Hyde Park on Wednesday and marched to the prime minister’s residence on Downing Street, carrying placards reading, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor,” and, as in Australia, “The UK is not innocent.” In France, 5,000 marched in Montpellier and 25,000 people defied a ban to protest in Paris. A speaker at the rally announced, “What’s happening in the United States highlights what is happening today in France.”

Of extraordinary significance, in Austria, a massive 50,000 demonstrated in Vienna Thursday. If a similar percentage of the urban population protested in New York, this would equate to a rally of over 200,000 people.

The international outpouring of solidarity is animated by opposition to Donald Trump’s brutal repression of peaceful multi-ethnic protests. Their scale also indicates an initial recognition of the dangers posed to the American working class and billions throughout the world by Trump’s drive to establish a presidential dictatorship. Moreover, the working class in every country sees in the scenes playing out in the U.S. an echo of its own social conditions, dominated by extreme and growing levels of inequality, which dictate ever more fascistic forms of rule the world over.

In addition to the state violence in the US, Tuesday’s demonstration in Paris protested the death of French youth Adama Traoré, beaten and asphyxiated by police in 2016. It follows more than two years in which “yellow vest” protests against social inequality have been brutalised by the riot police of President Emmanuel Macron, the man who has sought to rehabilitate the Nazi collaborator Marshal Petain.

Brazilian workers are demonstrating against the wave of killings carried out by police in Rio de Janeiro’s favellas under the oversight of fascistic President Jair Bolsonaro.

German workers and youth have spent the past six years watching the unfolding of a conspiracy within the state and academia to rehabilitate the Third Reich, bring the fascist Alternative for Germany (AfD) to the fore and prepare a return to unrestrained imperialist militarism. Trump’s threat to designate protestors as “terrorists” follows the German state security service’s placing of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei on its extremism watchlist for the “crime” of conducting a fight against this fascist revanchism.

The global protests sparked by Floyd’s killing have also erupted nearly three months into a pandemic, which, due to the deliberate and criminal actions of the ruling class, continues to have a devastating impact on billions of workers and young people. Hundreds of thousands have died, and millions have lost their jobs, while trillions have been funnelled into the coffers of the major corporations by governments of the financial oligarchy. Now workers are being forced back to work in unsafe conditions on pain of poverty and starvation.

The police murder of George Floyd, and the daily scenes of unrestrained state violence against black, white and Hispanic youth have acted as a trigger event setting simmering class tensions alight.

Last year saw a massive escalation of class struggle worldwide, with millions protesting worsening social inequality and the assault on democratic rights. Remembering this, the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a leading imperialist think tank recenlty warned:

“We are living in an age of global mass protests that are historically unprecedented in frequency, scope and size… The coronavirus will likely suppress protests in the short term both due to government restrictions in urban areas and citizens’ own reluctance to expose themselves to large public gatherings. However, depending on the future course of this likely pandemic, government responses may themselves become another trigger of mass political protest.”

The moment lockdowns were ended, the first act of murderous police violence in America triggered a social explosion. Even under conditions in which millions rightly fear an escalation in the spread of the coronavirus, “global mass protests” have returned, in united opposition to the brutality of the capitalist state.

(Thomas Scripps is a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party (Britain). Article courtesy: World Socialist Web Site.)