Black Lives Disrupt White House

Apparently under political pressure from the Republican Party, the US capital Washington began removing the "Black Lives Matters" landmark within sight of the White House on Monday (local time).

While workers used pneumatic hammers to remove the huge yellow lettering from the street on Monday (local time), numerous onlookers gathered, as journalists from the AFP news agency noted.

Two African-American women told AFP they had come to take one last look at the famous sign. They made no secret of their dismay at its removal. "What's next?" asked 57-year-old Tajuana McCallister. Referring to US President Donald Trump, she said: "He obviously doesn't care about black history."

commemoration of the death of George Floyd

The two-block-long sign with yellow letters more than ten meters high was created after the violent death of the African-American George Floyd at the hands of the police in May 2020. On May 25, 2020, in Minneapolis, a police officer pressed his knee into the handcuffed Floyd's neck for around nine and a half minutes, even though the 46-year-old black man repeatedly complained that he could no longer breathe. Floyd suffocated. The police officer was later sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder .