This archive report was first published on 14 June 2020.
Published on June 14, 2020, as protests against racial discrimination swept across Europe, energized by demonstrations in the United States following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Protesters in Europe had denounced bigotry within their own countries and demanded that authorities address it. However, on Saturday, far-right groups and protesters, mostly white, fiercely pushed back against the demonstrations.
Clashes between white male counterprotesters and the police grew increasingly tense in London, where crowds repeatedly clashed with law enforcement.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had previously criticized the anti-racism demonstrations, denounced the far-right attacks on the police as “racist thuggery.” He declared that “racism has no place in the U.K.”
More than 100 people were arrested by the Metropolitan Police for offenses including breach of the peace, violent disorder, and assault on officers.
Protests and counterprotests reached a boiling point in Trafalgar Square, where Black Lives Matter supporters and their antagonists threw bottles and fireworks at each other, while the police attempted to separate them.
Meanwhile, in Paris, some 15,000 people rallied to demand justice for Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old who died in 2016 after being arrested by the police. The rally remained largely peaceful, although police officers clashed with protesters in the late afternoon.
