HONG KONG (Reuters) – Dozens of people gathered in front of the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong on Sunday to protest the death of American George Floyd, who died when a white police officer in Minneapolis knelt on his neck.
The protesters, mainly international students and members of Hong Kong’s League of Social Democrats, a political advocacy group for human rights, stood in pouring rain holding photos of Floyd and signs that read “Black Lives Matter”, a movement against racial injustice that has gone global in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic since Floyd’s death on May 25.
“It’s important get our message across to others around the world to remind them that even though we are far away, we are with them 100% in spirit – black lives matter,” 28-year-old Quinland Anderson, who is British, said while holding a “BLM” banner.
Floyd died after a white officer detaining him knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as other officers stood nearby.
The protest in Hong Kong came after thousands of people took to the streets in European and Asian cities on Saturday, demonstrating in support of U.S. protests against police brutality. Tens of thousands of people marched from the Lincoln Memorial to the White House in Washington D.C. later in the day.
Police reminded protesters of Hong Kong’s limit of eight people per gathering, a rule put in place as the city seeks to contain the coronavirus.
The protesters left peacefully after reading a speech to the consul general condemning police brutality and racism.
(Reporting by Joyce Zhou; writing by Kane Wu. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
