Crime & Justice

Multi-racial protest calls for end to police violence in US

By Alex Segura Lozano

Minneapolis, US, Apr 18 (EFE).- The rhythm of the gong’s healing sound Sunday signaled the end of a protest by more than 300 Asian, African-American, Latino, and white people in memory of the victims of racial violence in the United States.

The protest was held at the corner in south Minneapolis, where George Floyd was allegedly choked to death by a police officer in May last year.

The protesters raised their fists to demand “justice” for the six women of Asian descent killed in Atlanta in March as well as African-American Daunte Wright and Hispanic Adam Toledo, aged 20 and 13 respectively, who died in Brooklyn Center in Minnesota and Chicago after allegedly being shot by police officials.

The demonstration by racial minorities, often the subject of discussion in the US, was also supported by “white allies,” the organizers said.

They marched towards the Powderhorn neighborhood to protest against the police system in the country on the eve of the start of the final stretch of the trial against former officer Derek Chauvin, accused of killing Floyd.

The protest, born under the slogan, “Black and Yellow,” and organized by Stop AAPI (Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders) Hate and other Asian groups, aimed to be a “healing exercise” for two “traumatized” communities.

“The community believes that unity is important right now because the two groups are going through a traumatic healing period,” one of the organizers, who preferred to remain anonymous, told EFE.

The crowd recited the names of the latest victims of racial violence and chanted slogans already common in such events in the US, such as “No Justice, No Peace, Prosecute the Police.”

Latinos have also been recently affected by police violence in the US after teenager Adam Toledo was shot dead, on Mar. 29, even as he raised raised his empty hands in the air, according to a video released by the Chicago Police Department.

It caused outrage as Hispanics took to the streets of Minneapolis on Sunday to call for the “abolition” of the police as it is currently structured.

“The police are killing our people, they are not here to protect. They are here to cause problems and violence,” a young man of Mexican origin told EFE.

The Mexican, dressed in military colors and a bulletproof vest, beret and sunglasses, but without weapons, also carried a “walkie-talkie” that allows him to talk to his companions of the “Brown Berets in Minnesota”, an organization formed by Latinos whose name is a play of words alluding to the US Army Special Forces, popularly known as the “Green Berets.”

The communities, gathered on Sunday at ground zero of the fight against police violence, the 38th Street and Chicago Avenue, also expressed their rejection of the heavy security measures implemented in Minneapolis recently.

Security reinforcements have been added to the double three-meter high fence that has been constructed around the court, where the trial is being held in the heart of the city, as well as the armored vehicles present outside.

More than 3,000 members of the National Guard and some 1,100 officials from different local agencies patrol the metropolitan area of the “twin cities”, Minneapolis and Saint Paul, the state capital, according to official data.

“They’re doing it to instill fear in us. When night comes, these officials leave: they don’t care about our safety,” criticized the “Brown Beret”, which claims to be an example of self-managed security by residents that puts an end to the police. EFE

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