London Black Lives Matter protester tries to BURN Union Flag at Cenotaph as demonstrations turn ugly
A BLACK Lives Matter protester tried to burn a Union Flag at the Cenotaph as peaceful demonstrations in London turned ugly.
The yob was filmed using a lighter to set the flag alight as it draped off the iconic memorial to Britain’s war dead in Westminster.
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Home Secretary Priti Patel branded the escalation of violence as "lawless and reckless" and described the scenes as "disgraceful vandalism" by a "thuggish minority".
Boris Johnson tweeted: "People have a right to protest peacefully & while observing social distancing but they have no right to attack the police.
"These demonstrations have been subverted by thuggery - and they are a betrayal of the cause they purport to serve. Those responsible will be held to account."
Protests in London and the rest of the UK have mostly been peaceful throughout the weekend.
But petty acts of vandalism included the Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi statues being defaced in Parliament Square.
Churchill's name was crossed out and in black spray paint “was a racist” was written underneath.
Similar graffiti was also sprayed on Gandhi’s memorial was “racist” daubed on its plinth.
Four thousand people descended on a peaceful demonstrations in Bristol where a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was toppled by protesters.
The statue was later seen being thrown off a bridge and into the River Avon.
The Met Police said there were 29 arrests in relation to the London protests and 14 officers were injured - including a female cop thrown from her horse.
Video showed the officer colliding with a traffic light before the horse bolted through a crowd of protesters.
FLOYD COPS CHARGED
The officer was taken to hospital with "nasty injuries" following the incident in Whitehall on Saturday.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock has warned there is "undoubtedly a risk" there will be an increase in coronavirus cases following the protests.
He urged: "Please don't gather in groups of more than six people because there is also a pandemic that we must address and control.”
The death of dad Mr Floyd, 46, has been classified as a homicide after an autopsy found his heart stopped as police restrained him and compressed his neck.
A separate autopsy commissioned for Floyd’s family also found he died of asphyxiation due to neck and back compression.
Chauvin, filmed in the now-viral video kneeling on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes before he lost consciousness, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
The other three officers on scene have now been charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
All four have been sacked from their jobs in the police force.
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