Photo of Patrick Hutchinson coming to the man’s aid went viral after Saturday’s protests
Clea Skopeliti
Sun 14 Jun 2020
Patrick Hutchinson carries the injured man near Waterloo station in London.
Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
The Black Lives Matter demonstrator who carried a counter-protester to safety during Saturday’s protests in London has spoken out about the moment he decided to intervene to help the man.
Describing his decision to step in, Patrick Hutchinson said: “His life was under threat, so I just went under, scooped him up, put him on my shoulders and started marching towards the police with him.”
In an interview with Channel 4 News, the personal trainer and grandfather said: “You don’t think about it [being scary] at the time, you just do what you’ve got to do.”
Hutchinson contrasted the intervention with the lack of action taken by the Minneapolis police officers who were involved in George Floyd’s death. “If the other three police officers that were standing around when George Floyd was murdered had thought about intervening, and stopping their colleague from doing what he was doing, like we did, George Floyd would be alive today.
“I just want equality, equality for all of us. At the moment, the scales are unfairly balanced and I just want things to be fair for my children and my grandchildren.”
Police said 113 people were arrested on Saturday, including a 28-year-old man detained on suspicion of urinating by a Westminster memorial dedicated to the murdered police officer Keith Palmer, after far-right activists organised a counter-protest to BLM groups. The Metropolitan police said its officers were injured after being kicked, punched or hit by missiles as they faced hundreds of angry demonstrators, who claimed they were protecting statues.
Hutchinson and his friends, who are security and martial arts experts, attended an anti-racist protest on Saturday to “try and keep the peace”. When far-right groups began to clash with black protestors, Hutchinson said the man he helped had been caught alone and left by his friends.
Pierre Noah, a businessman and friend of Hutchinson’s, said of the incident: “It would have turned out really bad because someone’s life would have been taken and you know what would have happened. Straight away – black boys have killed somebody, and they’ve killed a white man – it’s just going to be worse. So we had to go out there. I couldn’t sleep.”
Describing his motivation to help the protester, Jamaine Facey, a personal trainer, said: “I’m not protecting him, I’m protecting our kids. I was protecting their future, because I know the judge would not have saw what happened before. I was protecting their future.”
Chris Otokito, a businessman, described the group’s effort to de-escalate the situation. “We were there to serve a purpose. We saw it escalating, we tried to get around the guy to try and stop it from happening. Patrick came in and assessed the situation straight away, picked him up and just tried to do what we could to get him back to a safer place.”
A photo of Hutchinson carrying the injured man went viral on Sunday, with people describing the BLM protester as a hero.
Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP for Leicester East, tweeted: “A national hero – this is what humanity looks like.”
David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, shared the photo on Twitter, writing: “Patrick Hutchinson carries an injured stranger to safety during yesterday’s protests. It’s easy to focus on the worst instincts of human behaviour. But it is vital we also celebrate the best.”
Boris Johnson condemned the “racist thuggery” of the rightwing protests in London, while the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, on Sunday described the scenes as “shocking and disgusting”.
Similar demonstrations took place elsewhere in the country, including in Bolton and Bristol, but appeared to proceed mostly peacefully.
The Black Lives Matter demonstrator who carried a counter-protester to safety during Saturday’s protests in London has spoken out about the moment he decided to intervene to help the man.
Describing his decision to step in, Patrick Hutchinson said: “His life was under threat, so I just went under, scooped him up, put him on my shoulders and started marching towards the police with him.”
In an interview with Channel 4 News, the personal trainer and grandfather said: “You don’t think about it [being scary] at the time, you just do what you’ve got to do.”
Hutchinson contrasted the intervention with the lack of action taken by the Minneapolis police officers who were involved in George Floyd’s death. “If the other three police officers that were standing around when George Floyd was murdered had thought about intervening, and stopping their colleague from doing what he was doing, like we did, George Floyd would be alive today.
“I just want equality, equality for all of us. At the moment, the scales are unfairly balanced and I just want things to be fair for my children and my grandchildren.”
Police said 113 people were arrested on Saturday, including a 28-year-old man detained on suspicion of urinating by a Westminster memorial dedicated to the murdered police officer Keith Palmer, after far-right activists organised a counter-protest to BLM groups. The Metropolitan police said its officers were injured after being kicked, punched or hit by missiles as they faced hundreds of angry demonstrators, who claimed they were protecting statues.
Hutchinson and his friends, who are security and martial arts experts, attended an anti-racist protest on Saturday to “try and keep the peace”. When far-right groups began to clash with black protestors, Hutchinson said the man he helped had been caught alone and left by his friends.
Pierre Noah, a businessman and friend of Hutchinson’s, said of the incident: “It would have turned out really bad because someone’s life would have been taken and you know what would have happened. Straight away – black boys have killed somebody, and they’ve killed a white man – it’s just going to be worse. So we had to go out there. I couldn’t sleep.”
Describing his motivation to help the protester, Jamaine Facey, a personal trainer, said: “I’m not protecting him, I’m protecting our kids. I was protecting their future, because I know the judge would not have saw what happened before. I was protecting their future.”
Chris Otokito, a businessman, described the group’s effort to de-escalate the situation. “We were there to serve a purpose. We saw it escalating, we tried to get around the guy to try and stop it from happening. Patrick came in and assessed the situation straight away, picked him up and just tried to do what we could to get him back to a safer place.”
A photo of Hutchinson carrying the injured man went viral on Sunday, with people describing the BLM protester as a hero.
Claudia Webbe, the Labour MP for Leicester East, tweeted: “A national hero – this is what humanity looks like.”
David Lammy, the Labour MP for Tottenham, shared the photo on Twitter, writing: “Patrick Hutchinson carries an injured stranger to safety during yesterday’s protests. It’s easy to focus on the worst instincts of human behaviour. But it is vital we also celebrate the best.”
Boris Johnson condemned the “racist thuggery” of the rightwing protests in London, while the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, on Sunday described the scenes as “shocking and disgusting”.
Similar demonstrations took place elsewhere in the country, including in Bolton and Bristol, but appeared to proceed mostly peacefully.
This powerful image of a Black man carrying a white counter-protester to safety frames a day of chaos and race-inspired violence in London
A protester carries an injured counter-protester to safety, near the Waterloo station during a Black Lives Matter protest in London, Britain, on June 13, 2020.
Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Dylan Martinez/Reuters
INSIDER•June 14, 2020
Image of Black man carrying white counterprotester to safety goes viral
A powerful photo taken during anti-Black Lives Matter protests in London on Saturday shows a Black man carrying a white protester to safety after he got injured.
The picture was taken after hundreds of demonstrators, some of which belonged to far-right groups, clashed with police in Parliament Square.
Videos on social media show protesters, mostly white, throwing bottles, cans, and smoke canisters at mounted police officers.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the violence as "racist thuggery."
An alleged far-right protester at the protest was also pictured urinating next to a memorial for PC Keith Palmer, a police officer stabbed to death during the Westminster Bridger terror attack in 2017.
A Black Lives Matter group in the British capital had to call off their demonstration planned for Saturday over fears of clashes, but small groups still gathered.
A powerful photo taken during an anti-Black Lives Matter demonstration in London on Saturday shows a Black man carrying a white protester to safety after he got injured.
It came at the end of sporadic violence across the capital between white protesters, some members of far-right groups, and Black Lives Matter supporters. Police made more than 100 arrests.
If you're feeling tired, fuzzy, or unmotivated, you're not alone. Stress related to the COVID-19 coronavirus and the pandemic can take a huge short- and long-term toll on your mental and physical health. Turns out, our bodies weren't meant to maintain high levels of stress for long periods of time. The wear and tear it causes our bodies is called allostatic load, with symptoms like depression, irregular menstrual cycles, and an increased susceptibility to disease. Here's what's happening in your brain when you're chronically stressed and what it does to your body.
The picture, which is trending on social media, was taken as hundreds of demonstrators, some of which belong to far-right groups and organizations, clashed with police in central London's Parliament Square.
The protesters, many of which were middle-aged white men, claimed they were there to "protect" statues, after recent calls to remove them because of their colonial associations.
"Easily my favourite photo of the day," someone wrote on Twitter
—Lauren Townsend (@LaurenJTownsend) June 13, 2020
"Wow. This is it. This is the photo," another person commented.
Videos on social media of the demonstrations show white protesters gathered in Parliament Square, many of which were shirtless or clutching beers, throwing bottles, cans, and smoke canisters at mounted police.
In response, police in riot gear formed lines and blocked exits to contain protesters in the square.
—Matthew Thompson (@mattuthompson) June 13, 2020
In a post on Twitter, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the violence used by the protesters as "racist thuggery."
"Anyone attacking the police will be met with full force of law. These marches & protests have been subverted by violence and breach current guidelines. Racism has no part in the UK and we must work together to make that a reality" he wrote
—Boris Johnson #StayAlert (@BorisJohnson) June 13, 2020
Many of the protesters gathered around a statue of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, which was boarded up on Friday, claiming to be protecting it after it was vandalized during a BLM protest, the previous week. Authorities also fenced off other statues in Parliament Square, including memorials to Nelson Mandela and Abraham Lincoln.
Speaking before the protest, Paul Golding, the leader of the far-right political organization Britain First, was cited in the Guardian as saying: "I am extremely fed up with the way that the authorities have allowed two consecutive weekends of vandalism against our national monuments."
Another protester told the New York Times: "People are defacing my history and my culture. That's why these people are here because we feel we're getting attacked."
Statues and monuments have become flashpoints in ongoing demonstrations against police brutality and racism sparked by the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis after a white a police officer kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
The demonstration on Saturday came partly in response to a social media callout to "protect the monuments," according to the Guardian.
At one point, a protester was pictured urinating next to a memorial for PC Keith Palmer, a police officer who was after stabbed to death during the Westminster Bridger terror attack in 2017.
Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned the act as "appalling and shameful."
"We have seen some shameful scenes today, including the desecration of PC Keith Palmer's memorial in parliament, in Westminster Square, and quite frankly that is shameful, that is absolutely appalling and shameful," Patel said.
The 28-year-old man has since been arrested "on suspicion of outraging public decency," according to the BBC.
By Saturday evening, more than 100 arrests were made "for offences including breach of the peace, violent disorder, assault on officers, possession of an offensive weapon, possession of class A drugs, and drunk and disorder," according to a statement by The Metropolitan Police. Around 15 people were injured, two of which were police officers.
A Black Lives Matter group in the British capital had to call off their demonstration planned for Saturday over fears of clashes with counter-protesters.
But small groups of anti-racist protesters still gathered in the capital and briefly clashed with counter-protesters in Trafalgar Square. The two groups were throwing bottles and fireworks at one another as police tried to separate them, the New York Times reported.
The alteration comes a few days after protesters at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in the southwest city of Bristol, tore down a statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, and dumped it in a river.
London isn't the only European city that saw protests this weekend. In Paris, around 15,000 people rallied to condemn police brutality and racism on Saturday, also demanding justice for Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old Black man who died in 2016 after police arrested him.
Traoré's sister, who was at the demonstration, said: "What's happening in the United States is happening in France. Our brothers are dying," according to the BBC.
No comments:
Post a Comment