By Andrew Irumba
The United States of America, which claims to be the watchdogs over other countries on Human Rights violations, camouflaging to be Human Rights observers all over the world, has again come under sheer shame and accusations of virulent racism after their white policemen strangled an African American to death on Monday.
George Floyd (45) was killed in an altercation when a white American police man choked him to death by kneeling on his neck and chest, till he breathed his last, while the other three fellow police officers shielded him against the helpless citizens and passers by who watched the horrifying act.
Floyd died late on Monday, when officers responded to a call from a grocery store that claimed Floyd had used a forged check. Police said Floyd “physically resisted arrest” while possibly under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
In the video footage, witnesses can be heard shouting at officer to get off Floyd’s neck. One yells: “Bro, he’s not even fuc…n moving!” Another asks if “you’re going to just sit there with your knee on his neck?”
Following his brutal murder, Police and protesters clashed in Minneapolis during a demonstration at the intersection where he was killed, as many of the protesters demanded for justice.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in the city on Tuesday evening to demand justice for Floyd’s family. Footage of the incident showed Floyd shouting “I cannot breath” and “please please…Don’t kill me!”
A large and diverse crowd had gathered at the start of the protest, with some carrying signs reading “I can’t breath” and “Jail killer KKKops” and chanting “Prosecute the police.” Activists had blocked traffic for several blocks in every direction, and the crowd spilled out into the streets. News choppers hovered overhead and TV camera operators had found their way on to the roof of the building across the street from where protesters spoke.
Protesters carried signs saying ‘I can’t breath’, quoting Floyd.
The Twin Cities have seen several consecutive years of protests against police killings of black men, and in one case, an unarmed white Australian woman, but the gathering Tuesday was one of the largest the metro area has ever seen.
When asked why they had come, most people spoke about the need for police accountability, before inevitably turning to remembering Floyd’s unheeded final pleas. “It could have been my son. It could have been me. It shouldn’t be,” said a protester carrying a sign saying “Lock them up”.
A group of riders from the Vital Kings, a black motorcyclist club based in St Paul, accompanied the protesters, revving their engines over and over, the ear-splitting noise reverberating off the concrete. “We wanted to make some noise for the crowd. This is my voice,” one of the riders said.
From the intersection, protesters marched through the neighborhood to a city police precinct, where a small but angry and persistent crowd faced off for hours with officers guarding the building.
At the precinct, as the rain came down heavily, windows were damaged and squad cars sprayed with graffiti. Protesters threw water and milk bottles at the officers, shouting “pigs” and “how could you”. Police fired green teargas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd approaching the station. Dozens of protesters gathered in a Target parking lot.
Minneapolis police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In a press conference on Tuesday, the Minneapolis police department confirmed he “died a short time” after a “medical incident”, after being transported to hospital.
“[They] were able to get the suspect into handcuffs and realized that the suspect was suffering a medical distress,” a spokesman said, saying officers “called for an ambulance”.
The Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, apologized to Floyd’s family on Tuesday morning, saying “[Floyd] should not have died.”
“For five minutes we watched as a white officer pressed his knee to the neck of a black man,” Frey said. “For five minutes. This officer failed in the most basic human sense.
The FBI and authorities in Minnesota announced on Tuesday they had launched an investigation into Floyd’s death, and the incident is being investigated by the FBI for possible civil rights violations. Four police officers involved in the incident have been fired.
