Anti-racism protesters bring Washington to a standstill
Thousands of protesters demanding a finish to racial injustice and police brutality thronged the united states capital on Friday (Saturday in Malaysia), sign of a renewed groundswell of anger gripping the country carrying out a white officer's shooting of African American Jacob Blake.
Huge crowds flooded the National Mall for a mass march marking the anniversary of Rev. Martin Luther King's historic "I have a dream" speech, delivered at the Lincoln Memorial on Aug 28, 1963.
Friday's demonstration was dubbed "Get Your Knee Off Our Necks," in mention of George Floyd, who suffocated under the knee of a white officer in Minneapolis in-may, igniting the most widespread civil unrest in the united states in decades.
Often fighting back tears, relatives of Floyd, Blake and Breonna Taylor - a 26-year-old killed in a police shooting in her own apartment - took turns addressing the ocean of individuals, who called out the victims' names in reponse, again and again.
"What we are in need of is change and we're at a spot where we can get that change," said Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer. "But we have to stand together."
Like his father did 57 years back, King's son, Martin Luther King III, stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial prior to the vast crowd lining a reflecting pool and urged Americans to keep fighting inequality between whites and persons of colour - and also to vote in November by any means to defeat President Donald Trump.
"We are going for a step forward on America's rocky but righteous journey towards justice," King told a crowd enduring muggy Washington heat, sometimes wiping sweat from his brow.
"We're marching to overcome what my dad called the triple evils of poverty, racism and violence," King said.
The same spot was the scene of a lavish fireworks display the night time before, as Trump wrapped up the Republican Party's pre-election convention with an angry "law and order" speech at the close by White House.
Thousands of people, included in this many families with children, streamed towards the function from dawn, with Covid-19 facemasks mandatory - but planned temperature checks abandoned because of long queues and large crowds.
Following the speeches, the crowd tripped in the direction of the local Martin Luther King Memorial.
Local store front windows were boarded up as a result of risk of violence, and much police occurrence blocked off streets.
As she headed toward the Mall, Karisha Harvey, 46 and black, held a poster depicting a weeping Statue of Liberty cradling a crying baby swaddled in the American flag.
"Not coming wasn't an option," said Harvey.
Her white companion Cortney Smith, white and in addition 46, said, "I'm fed up with hearing about a black man getting killed in the pub every week."
After mass protests sparked by Floyd's death, outrage has revived during the last week since Blake was shot multiple times in the trunk throughout a confrontation with police in the Midwestern city of Kenosha.
Blake survived and is hospitalised, but may never walk again, in line with the 29-year-old's lawyer.
Many at the protest expressed fury at news that Blake is shackled to his hospital bed despite the fact that he is paralyzed.
Authorities identified the officer who opened fire as Rusten Sheskey, saying police were wanting to arrest Blake and had tried to subdue him with a stun gun. They added that a knife had been within his car.
In the violent and chaotic protests that followed in Kenosha, two persons were shot dead by a guy with an assault rifle.
Authorities arrested a 17-year-old in the killings and filed intentional homicide charges against him.
Major sports teams and leagues have called off games and matches to protest against racism and police abuse, as the most recent shooting rekindled the anti-racism demonstrations that contain convulsed the country all summer.
Trump, who is behind in polls for the Nov 3 election, has dismissed the wave of protests as criminal looting and violence - presenting himself as a bulwark against social anarchy and a defender of the authorities.
The Department of Justice has announced an FBI civ
il rights investigation into Blake's shooting.
But activists continued to demand action against police who shot Blake on Sunday as he tried to enter his car, along with his three sons watching.
Don Carlisle, a black man in his mid-50s attending Friday's march with friends, told AFP "we execute a lot for this country, but still a whole lot of African-American individuals, male or female, are still treated unjustly."
"(Police violence) not going to stop until we voice our opinion. We've been waiting for 300 years for equality." - AFP
