June 13 Black Lives Matter protests

Intermittent violent scuffles have broken out between police and far-right protesters in central London.

Video from the scene shows a small number of protesters throwing objects at a line of police, while some officers respond with their batons.

Far-right groups are staging a counter-protest to the Black Lives Matter demonstrations and to "protect" statues around Parliament Square, including that of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.

Videos captured by CNN’s Chris Jackson also showed the far-right protesters gathering by the boarded up Churchill statue.

Authorities in the UK capital have urged people to stay away from Saturday’s protest activity, given the high likelihood of violence.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel described the behavior as “thoroughly unacceptable thuggery”.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also urged residents earlier to stay away from protests this weekend amid a “high” risk of violence in the city.

“I’d like to make a direct appeal to Londoners to urge you not to take to the streets to protest over the coming few days,” Khan said in a video posted on social media.

“I stand with the millions of around the world that say that Black Lives Matter,” he said, adding that the majority of protesters are peaceful.

“However, I’m extremely concerned that further protests in central London could not only risk spreading Covid-19, but also lead to disorder, vandalism and violence.”

Read more about today's London protests here.

WATCH:

A Houston police officer was relieved of duty after a "social media post with racial undertones," according to the Houston Police Department (HPD).

In a tweet Friday, HPD said it has initiated an internal affairs investigation. 

President of the Houston Police Officers' Union Joe Gamaldi called the post "vile" and "disgusting."

"I am aware of a post circulating that is reported to come from one of our officers. It is is vile, it is is disgusting, I know it is under investigation but I am confident the @houstonpolice department will act swiftly. This is not who we are as Houston Police Officers," Gamaldi said in a tweet.

Read the police department's tweet:

Thousands of people have gathered in central Paris to protest against police brutality – an issue symbolized by the 2016 death of a young black man, Adama Traoré, in police custody.

Saturday’s protests have been organized by 17 groups, including the family’s "Truth for Adama" campaign.

Speaking ahead of the start of the march, Adama’s sister Assa Traoré called for justice.

“Why did my brother die? Why was my brother pinned down?” she said. “My brother died the same way George Floyd did.”

In response, a small number of far-right protesters scaled a nearby building to unfurl banners reading: “Justice for the victims of anti-white racism.”

While police have not formally banned today’s protests, gatherings of more than 10 people are not permitted under France’s coronavirus laws.

Authorities on Friday urged businesses in Place de la République and Place de l'Opéra to close and to remove anything that could be used as a weapon.

Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for the family of George Floyd, told CNN they will also file a civil lawsuit against the officer who had his knee on Floyd's neck.

He said the family "intends on holding Derek Chauvin fully accountable in every aspect, criminal and civil."

Chauvin is currently facing second-degree murder charges, but CNN reported he could still receive more than $1 million in pension benefits during his retirement years even if convicted.

While a number of state laws allow for the forfeiture of pensions for those employees convicted of felony crimes related to their work, this is not the case in Minnesota.

Systematic change: Crump said the culture of police departments is what needs to change.

"It wasn't just the knee of Derek Chauvin that killed George Floyd in Minneapolis, it was the knee of the entire police department. Because when you have that kind of culture and behavior of a police department, it is foreseeable that something like this is going to happen," he said.

Crump said changing this culture starts with having transparency not only in how officers are trained, but also how they are fired.

"There's no discipline when they do this to black people in America," Crump added.

WATCH:

Black Lives Matters protesters gathered in central London today ahead of the 5 p.m. end time set by authorities concerned after plans by far-right hate groups to stage counter-protests.

Statues of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi were boarded up in Parliament Square. One self-declared England fan and soccer hooligan confirmed to CNN that there were threats to pull down the Mandela statue.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged residents to stay away from protests this weekend amid a “high” risk of violence in the city.

“I stand with the millions of people around the world who are saying loud and clear that Black Lives Matter,” he said, adding that the majority of protesters are peaceful. “However, I’m extremely concerned that further protests in central London could not only risk spreading Covid-19, but also lead to disorder, vandalism and violence.”

“We know that extreme far-right groups, who openly advocate hatred and division, are planning counter protests.

“This means that the risk of disorder is high.”

Khan said the counter-protests were clearly designed to provoke violence, and the best way to respond was to stay home and ignore them.

He said more than 60 police officers had already been injured while responding to previous demonstrations, adding that authorities will respond forcefully to those causing violence this time.

The UK's official Black Lives Matter group also asked protesters to stay in their local areas, and an anti-racism charity warned about the possibility of violence from "football hooligans" and far-right groups.

An earlier version of this post misidentified the statues boarded up in London. Statues of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi have been covered.

WATCH:

Lawrence Moore, 64, grew up in Lancaster, South Carolina, where he both observed prominent civil rights figures condemning racial injustice on TV and witnessed the specter of white violence hanging over his own community.

In 1972, when Moore was in high school, the mysterious death of a well-known black football player at a local police station further inflamed mistrust among Lancaster's black residents.

For Moore, then, that decades-old slogan is true: The personal is political. His work has ranged from organizing local civil rights marches in the 1980s to taking on the role of the South Carolina political director for Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

As a 1972 New York Times headline describes it: "Jim Duncan, 1946-1972: The Case is Closed, but the Mystery Remains." The story shines a light on how, despite the coroner's announcement that Duncan "came to his death by a self-inflicted .38‐caliber gunshot wound," black residents thought otherwise.

"When I fast-forward to the present, I see how police brutality has been a part of my life as a black man. I grew up in the 1960s -- I was 12 years old when the 1968 riots happened -- and was moved by watching figures like Stokely Carmichael and John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr," Moore added.

Read the full story here:

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'People go to protests to be heard': Reflections on the '60s and today

As protests around the world continue over police brutality and the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, change is happening across the US.

Conversations, self-reflection and education are taking place across the country around institutional racism in the US, as well as changes in public life.

Changes in police departments:

Minneapolis has banned the use of choke holds, as have Washington, DC, Chicago and Denver -- among other locales. 

The Aurora Police Department in Michigan banned the carotid control hold, a move that cuts off blood flow to the brain, after police used it to restrain Elijah McClain, an unarmed black man who wasn't accused of any crime.

Phoenix also banned the technique following protests, and the mayors of Chicago, Cincinnati and Tampa, Florida, and the police chiefs of Baltimore, Phoenix and Columbia, South Carolina, have come together to create the Police Reform and Racial Justice Working Group.

After public protests, prosecutors upgraded charges against Derek Chauvin and the other three officers involved were charged. The FBI launched an investigation into the death of Breonna Taylor after local public pressure.

Read the full story here:

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The race-related things that have changed since protests began around George Floyd's death

Following the wave of demonstrations sparked by the killing of George Floyd, many of us have been thinking about the history of race in America, and the ongoing narrative of police violence. We are all looking for resources to help better understand the moment. 

Movies can offer a different perspective on how African Americans have contended with white authority over the decades and centuries. They both speak to and echo what is happening now. 

These films range from underground classics to big-studio productions, and all put a human face on timely and difficult social justice issues that have shifted the conversation on racial equality in America in a way that only movies can. 

If you've seen the films on this list, you can rewatch them in a new light. And if it's your first time, you might recognize something that resonates with the Black Lives Matter and anti-racism protests that have erupted worldwide calling for wide-reaching reform.

Read the full story here:

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These films explore black lives impacted by white authority

Craigh Barboza

President Donald Trump will address a socially distanced group of 1,100 graduates at the US Military Academy at West Point for the annual commencement exercises Saturday morning.

As to what the President's message will be and whether he would comment on the controversy over renaming some Army bases named for Confederate military leaders, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere told CNN:

Trump isn't the only one looking to convey a message to the graduates. On Thursday, a group of US Military Academy graduates issued a message to the Class of 2020 outlining concerns that "fellow graduates serving in senior-level, public positions" are undermining the credibility of an apolitical military and betraying their "commitment to Duty, Honor, Country."

The "Concerned Members of the Long Gray Line," a coalition of several hundred West Point alumni who collectively served across 10 presidential administrations, wrote following protests over the murder George Floyd.

Their letter came in the aftermath of Trump's walk from the White House to a nearby church after law enforcement officials violently cleared protesters peacefully demonstrating in the area. Trump was accompanied a number of officials, including Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Milley, who apologized for his presence at the extended photo-op, did not study at West Point, but Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both graduates of the class of 1986.

Read the full story here:

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Trump will address a socially distanced West Point graduation Saturday