Johnson argued that although the protesters are right to criticise the conditions that led to the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of the police; their cause would be undermined, should a violent minority continue to dominate national headlines. But are protesters right to gather in such large numbers amid the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic? Political Commentator Mandy Boylett gave her views on the matter.
Sputnik: Could acts of violence de-legitimise UK-wide protests against the death of George Floyd in the US?
Mandy Boylett: I think that the protesters have gone too far, and I think that the police should have been stricter. As often happens with these things; many of the protesters demonstrating against the killing of George Floyd go out with the best of intentions, but then you get an ugly mob of anarchists who basically just go out to indulge in thuggery and disruption.
When they are doing things like actually trying to deface statues of Winston Churchill or Edward Colston in Bristol; which is another issue, as to whether it should be there or not, but it is not for a bunch of thugs to go out and just cause complete anarchy, and take the matter into their own hands.
Sputnik: Will the mass gatherings at British anti-racism protests be damaging to public health amid the ongoing Coronavirus Pandemic?
Mandy Boylett: They are demonstrating for Black Lives Matter, but we are in the middle of the Coronavirus Pandemic, and it seems to me that they think that no lives matter, because they are not social distancing, so it makes me feel very uncomfortable.
Sputnik: Is it unfair to say that the UK is a "racist" country?
Mandy Boylett: I think that the UK is a very tolerant country. Obviously, there is a racist element, and you are always going to get the odd incident of racism, but I think that the US is a far more racist country than the UK; they have a lot of segregation in the US, and certainly, in the south, you still have at workrooms for black people, and rooms for white people, they are not integrated.
It's an appalling thing, racism in the US. I don't think it is the same in the UK, and certainly, I don't think that the police in the UK are racist at all, I think they bend over backwards to be inclusive, and I know at some of the protests that there were banners saying "I've got my hands up, don't shoot", and saying it to an unarmed British bobby, it's kind of irrelevant really.
