Thousands of people Monday demonstrated in various New Zealand cities against racism and in solidarity with the death of George Floyd after a white police officer held him on the ground and put pressure on his neck with his knee in Minneapolis. "The New Zealand crowds were largely made up of young workers and students, of all ethnicities including white people, Maori, Pacific Islanders and immigrants from many nationalities," the outlet WSWS reported. "Black lives matter, Indigenous lives matter, Muslim lives matter" was a slogan that echoed through Auckland city's streets during the march in which thousands of people took part. As a tide of people swept the street, a group of protesters knelt in front of the United States consulate chanting "we are next" and "black lives matter." Demonstrations of solidarity with George Floyd and the U.S. protestors were repeated in the country's capital Wellington and in other cities such as Christchurch, where a white supremacist killed 51 people during an attack on two mosques on March 15, 2019. In addition, people protested the possibility of the New Zealand Police going armed after completing a pilot program last month that was implemented after last year's attack. "There is widespread public opposition to Police Armed Response Teams (ARTs), with thousands of people tweeting the hashtag #ArmsDownNZ in recent days. Many tweets said they did not want New Zealand to become like the U.S.," as explained by WSWS. Source URL |
