Thousands gather in Paris to protest police brutality
From CNN's Eva Tapiero
Thousands of people demonstrate against police brutality and racism in Paris, France, on June 13. Thibault Camus/AP
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.”
“We will fight that battle with all the French people. If you don’t suffer discrimination, good for you, join us in the fight anyway," she added.
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.
11:41 a.m. ET, June 13, 2020
George Floyd's family intends to file a civil lawsuit against Derek Chauvin, lawyer says
Attorney Ben Crump speaks with CNN's Victor Blackwell on Saturday morning. CNN
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.
"We have to terminate people when they use these bad policies, despite what the police unions say, because if we don't terminate them, it is absolutely predictable that you'll have somebody do a choke hold or neck restraint for 8 minutes and 46 seconds because they know there's no accountability," he said.
"There's no discipline when they do this to black people in America," Crump added.
WATCH:
12:06 p.m. ET, June 13, 2020
Protesters gather in London as statues boarded up amid fears of violence from far-right hate groups
From Nic Robertson, Simon Cullen, Max Ramsay, Mick Krever and Luke Wolagiewicz in London
Protesters gathered in Parliament Square, London, on Saturday, where statues including one of Winston Churchill are boarded up. Mick Krever/CNN
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.
Workers build a protective barrier around the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square on June 12 in anticipation of protests on Saturday in London. Peter Summers/Getty Images
London Mayor Sadiq Khan urged residents 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 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:
7:42 a.m. ET, June 13, 2020
"People go to protests to be heard." Reflections on the '60s and today
Analysis by CNN's Brandon Tensley
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.
"What happened to Floyd has been happening over and over for decades. For instance, when I was in high school, there was a man named Jim Duncan, from Lancaster, South Carolina. He was a football player at Barr Street High School, which was a black school, and he eventually played for the Baltimore Colts and the New Orleans Saints. He died in 1972. He was 26 years old. Police officials said that he died by suicide. But many of the black residents in Lancaster didn't believe the report, suspecting instead that the police killed him," he said.
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.
The race-related things that have changed since protests began around George Floyd's death
From CNN's Scottie Andrew and Leah Asmelash
A Christopher Columbus statue was beheaded in Boston and has since been removed. Tim Bradbury/Getty Images
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.
These films explore black lives affected by white authority
From Craigh Barboza
A still from "Selma," directed by Ava DuVernay. Pathé
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.
Trump to address West Point graduates after criticism of alumni in government positions
From CNN's Kevin Bohn and Caroline Kelly
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.
"Saturday's graduation is about these incredible cadets and their amazing accomplishments, and as the Commander-in-Chief, President Trump wants to celebrate that and thank them for their service to our country."
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.
The Asian Americans helping to uproot racism in their communities
From CNN's Alisha Ebrahimji and Alicia Lee
A woman holding a sign reading "South Asians with / 4 / by Black Lives Matter," as protesters gathered in the death of George Floyd and support of Black Lives Matter, in Los Angeles, on Friday, June 5. Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images
It's a common rule in Asian American households: Don't bring home a black boyfriend or girlfriend.
It's one that many young people ridicule or challenge when talking with their parents, but it helps illustrate the racism and anti-blackness characteristic of some older Asian immigrants.
Joyce Kang, a 30-year-old Korean American from Washington, D.C., has heard her friends share similar experiences.
"Dating or marrying a black person is not preferred within the Korean community," Kang told CNN. "People have heard that said to them directly from their parents."
But George Floyd's death and global protests supporting the Black Lives Matter movement have helped change the discussion. Young Asian Americans are increasingly engaging in difficult conversations with their parents and community about uprooting their anti-black sentiments and supporting African Americans.
Kang decided to help by joining the "Letters for Black Lives" project and translating the open letter into Korean. She is one of more than 330 people who have helped translate it into 26 languages.
The letter was written in 2016 after the shooting of Philando Castile, a black man who died during a routine traffic stop. Recently, however, it has been rewritten to include Floyd's death and to better reflect the current state of the nation.
"Mom, Dad, Uncle, Auntie, Grandfather, Grandmother," the English version of the letter begins. "We need to talk. You may not have many Black friends, colleagues, or acquaintances, but I do. Black people are a fundamental part of my life: they are my friends, my neighbors, my family. I am scared for them."
London Police impose time limit on Black Lives Matter and right-wing protests
From Max Ramsay in London and Seb Shukla
London’s Metropolitan Police have imposed a time limit on Saturday’s Black Lives Matter and right-wing protests expected to take place in the UK’s capital that means they will have to end at 5 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET).
They have also imposed conditions on the route and area the protesters can use, to try to prevent the two groups clashing.
In a statement released Friday, Met Police Commander Bas Javid said:
“I absolutely understand why people want to make their voices heard – there is a really strong depth of feeling out in the communities, but the Government direction is that we remain in a health pandemic and people are asked not to gather in large groups. By doing so, you are putting your own safety, and that of your family or friends at risk. We are asking you not to come to London, and let your voices be heard in other ways.”
CNN has previously reported comments from Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick that her forces have “information that people are intent on coming to cause violence and confrontation" at BLM marches across London this weekend.
The UK’s official Black Lives Matter group distanced themselves from the protest that they had planned in central London on Saturday and asked demonstrators to march in their local areas.
UK anti-racism charity Hope Not Hate had warned about the possibility of violence from "football hooligans" and far-right groups at protests this weekend. "While the hooligans claim that they are coming to London to 'protect the war memorials' [it] is also clear from the racist comments of many that they also hope to confront BLM and anti-fascists," Hope Not Hate wrote in a statement on Monday.
