Derek Chauvin and other cops in George Floyd murder appear in court
Derek Chauvin and the other three ex Minneapolis police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd appeared in court on Friday.
Chauvin has been charged with first degree murder.
The other three accomplices to the murder of George Floyd – Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao – are charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter and are free on bail.
Police defence claims that Floyd died from an overdose although the world saw him die because a policeman had his knee pressed on his neck for 8 minutes and 45 seconds.
As civil rights lawyer Ben Crump put it: ‘The only overdose was an overdose of police force.
The world saw what happened. ‘Who are you going to believe? Your eyes, or these killer cops?’
The ex cops were greeted with jeers and abuse from protesters when they left the court.
Solidarity with George Floyd
In the UK there were solidarity protests to demand justice for George Floyd on Friday.
Cop fired after tasering of black woman in Georgia
A police officer in Georgia was fired as of Friday after videos on TikTok that drew millions of views showed him using a Taser in the arrest of a Black woman, the authorities said.
The Police Department in Gwinnett County, which is about 20 miles northeast of Atlanta, said it had begun its investigation into the officer, Michael Oxford, before the video spread widely on TikTok.
Investigators examined whether Officer Oxford, who is white, used de-escalation techniques and whether he violated departmental policy on Aug. 18 when he arrested the woman, Kyndesia Smith. more
Police arrest 14-year-old, youth workers – Colindale fights back! Join Tottenham BLM protest on Saturday
Police have arrested at least five people including two youth workers after an outrageous raid in Colindale in the north London borough of Barnet.
Young people from the 4FrontProject were helping do their bit to promote the Tottenham BLM protest at the police station.
The police dragged youth workers along the ground in a violent and totally racist and oppressive outburst of policing, even by the Metropolian police’s standard.
The confrontation with the police all began with the arrest of a 14 year old and the arrival of at least six police vans of territorial support group heavies.
The police deliberately escalated the situation and young people gathered at the police station to force the release of those arrested.
Andre, one of the arrested and organiser of the 4FrontProject event didn’t get home until late evening. All those arrested have now been released. One person has a broken wrist.
Andre has led campaigning work to expose the ‘Gang Matrix’ and the way the police use it to justify their victimisation of black youth.
This outrage will be met with a protest at Tottenham police station against racist policing that had been previously planned, and 4FrontProject were helping to build.
Temi spoke to the Guardian:
Temi Mwale, director of the 4Front Project, which works with young people on the Grahame Park estate, used a PA sound system to berate officers inside the station. “We tried to de-escalate the situation, I actually think it was going well,” she said. “But at some point, someone … decided it would be appropriate to send four, five huge vans full of hundreds of you, to start dragging community workers across the floor.” more
Temi Mwale
BLM Protest at Tottenham police station
– Saturday 8 August, 1pm
Protest called by Monitoring Project and others.
Scrap Section 60 – Briefing
Protest at Tottenham police station Saturday 8 August 1pm – No Justice, No Peace
No justice, No peace
Saturday 8th August 2020
Protest at Tottenham Police Station – 1pm
Our immediate demands:
Stop the overpolicing of black communities
Stop the use of excessive force
Stop the use of tasers
Stop S60 searches
Stop the disproportionate use of handcuffs during searches
Supporters include: by Tottenham Rights, Stopwatch and BLMUK