A stunt by Amnesty International to project the image of Georges Floyd on the US Embassy in Brussels in Brussels was shut down by police last night, just 4 minutes into the 8 minutes and 46 seconds planned for the event.
The NGO projected the portrait of Georges Floyd on Monday evening at 11:40 pm, with the intention to have it up for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, in reference to the length of time the officer responsible for Floyd's death knelt on the man's throat.
#BREAKING Amnesty Belgium crew Illuminating the @usembbrussels to show that ?More than 20 000 Belgian people signed the petition asking #justiceforgeorgesfloyd ?#BlackLivesmatter ?Stop #PoliceBrutality There's a crucial need to reform US policing ? https://t.co/exjbNaFy2Z pic.twitter.com/PfOVwX77g9
— Amnesty Belgique FR (@amnestybe) June 29, 2020
The identities of the few activists and journalists present were checked by police at the event, but no arrests were made.
"We wanted to pay tribute to him so that justice is done for him and that other George Floyd's are no longer the victims of police violence in the United States," said Philippe Hensmans, director of Amnesty International's French-speaking Belgian section. "It is high time that the USA took up the problem of racist violence against racial and ethnic minorities".
The NGO documented 125 cases of police violence in 40 states and the District of Columbia between 26 May and 5 June in connection with Black Lives Matter protests.
A petition calling, among other things, for those responsible for the murder of George Floyd to be brought to justice collected a million signatures worldwide, including nearly 20,000 in French-speaking Belgium. It will soon be handed over to the American authorities in Washington.
The Brussels Times
