Can't believe it!

I saw a video in the DM on line this morning, of about 70 police officers lined up with protesters marching towards them. The police officers all took the knee - totally defused any anger in the crowd. the following images made me weep, police officers and protesters hugging each other in solidarity against the killing of an unarmed African American by a police officer
Maybe we can have some hope folks.

They have not been forgotten, SueDonim, nor the people of Hungerford, Cumbria and many others.
We are not without our own tragedies.

People have wondered why Andy Murray said a prayer to the heavens whenever he won a match and I have thought that he could be dedicating his victories to his school friends who died that day.

Oh, people, please don’t forget all those tiny children (and their teacher) who died in Dunblane. We lived just 20 mikes away at the time and it was seared into our hearts. How sad that they have been forgotten so soon. ??

Nor are they the only victims of mass shootings and murders in the UK. We are not on the scale of the US but we’re not lily-white.

We have had our problems, but haven't had ANY mass shootings at schools!

Dunblane, phoenix ?

The right to bear arms was built into the US constitution to ensure that militias could be formed at any time for defence, wasn't it? . My history of the American revolution, or war of independence, according to where you're looking from, is hazy, but I would imagine that at some time the colonists were banned from forming militia. That seems to me to be the sole reason for enshrining it as a 'right' in an age when guns would be widely used for hunting food and personal defence. But I don't imagine the Founding Fathers intended it to be the right to shoot anyone you fancy...

If the majority of Americans find this shocking and are not racist then why do they keep turning a blind eye to the institutional racism of the police in some areas and continue to support Trump?

Of course you’re not all racists Txquiltz, but it looks from here that many of your police forces and those in authority are. Force seems overused by many police forces.

We have had mass shootings here but thankfully they are rare.
We must not forget them though.

Please do not make the assumption the majority of Americans are not as shocked as you about this awful event. Those protesting have a constitutional right to protest, but they do not have the right to burn and pillage. Antifa is a far left organization that bring leadership personnel and additional protestors into situations like this. Suddenly the real purpose of the protest is shoved aside and is replaced by violence and mayhem. Thousands of Americans are watching this with sadness and frustration. Please don’t assume we are all racists.
The officer should certainly receive maximum punishment as well as any others that may have been involved peripherally.

Thankfully it’s not legal for every Tom, dick and Harry to own a gun in the UK.

But sadly it’s not accurate to say we’ve not had any mass shootings in schools.

Let’s not forget in 1996 sixteen primary school children and and a teacher were shot dead in Dunblane primary school. 15 others were shot but survived.

I've only just plucked up the courage to watch the video, and I half wish I hadn't, even though I'm hardly the squeamish type.

That poor, poor man, calling for his mama.

Beyond appalling.

BelindaB I understand why you think it is callous to record what happened, but past events have made the public realise that video evidence is vital in these cases which are far too common in the USA. Put bluntly the police will lie to cover their backs.

One example took place in July 2016 in Minneapolis at around 9:32pm. A 32 year old black man was driving with his partner and their four year old daughter and was pulled over by the police. The man had a firearm in his car and told the officer straight away of its presence. The officer seemed to panic and screamed for the man not to pick it up, the man replied that he was not going to pick it up he was just telling the officer it was in the car. The police officer shot the man In front of his partner and child and the man later died. The officer was charged with second degree manslaughter, went to court and was found not guilty. This is just one example of many and should give an indication of why people feel that video evidence is vital.

phoenix I understand what you're saying, but I actually think it's part of the same narrative.

People such as Trump, Johnson and many others are part of an alt-right ideology and couldn't care less about you and me - whether we're black, white or purple.

Racism in the US has been bubbling under the surface for hundreds of years, but most of us have chosen to ignore it.

So glad to see so many positive posts, thank you.

Those who "know" me will know that it's pretty rare for me to start this sort of thread.

I think that those of us that live in the U.K. can be thankful that we don't live in the U.S. and don't have Donald Trump in charge!

Which will result in more deaths, the riots or the non observance of the Covid 19 guidelines?

Sickened today listening to an item on Radio 4, interview with someone saying things along the lines of "weak, liberal, Democrats" implying that if you weren't prepared to shoot rioters and looters, or "anyone breaking into your house to steal your stuff" then you were less of a person!

Interviewer said "Well, I wouldn't do that, we don't have guns here"

Interviewee responded"Well, you should! We have the right to bear arms built into our constitution! "

Perhaps he should remember the shootings at schools in the States.

We have had our problems, but haven't had ANY mass shootings at schools!

I haven't commented on this thread so far, but that doesn't mean I don't care. I've been following what's been happening in the US and I honestly don't know what to say. It's horrendous.

"holding up a bible" - makes you want to puke. What a truly dreadful apology for a human being he really is.

I am not the least religious, but the idea of using a symbol of religion that means so much to so many in his pursuit of a violent solution is truly disgraceful.

I have an African American friend (she works overseas) who was terrified last night. Some of her friends and family were caught up in the protests and were forced to take shelter in a house in Washington DC. Although they were doing nothing wrong, they had tear gas fired at them and there are photographs from the upstairs windows of the streets around with hundreds of fully armed police who barricaded them in, even though they had been invited in to shelter by the house owner. Very scary stuff.

My friend and everyone she and they knew were tweeting what was happening, as it was happening, because they knew the police brutality would not make it into the MSM. They were terrified for their lives.

Trump walked from the white house to St John Church for a photo op- He stood in front of it awkwardly holding a bible -- or some other book he never read!

And in front of his walk he had the police using violence to remove peaceful protestors and clergy

I have a horrible sinking feeling that this thug is going to get off the murder charge like others before him, though it is difficult to imagine how, given the video evidence.

It is being pointed out in many quarters that there are many Black and other ethnic people in the American armed forces. Should Donald Trump decide to put the US Marine Core or similar onto the streets to forcibly "put down" the protests there could be no guarantee that those forces would not split and turn on itself with sections being for and against the protests.

You could then have the makings of a full scale civil war breaking out in the United States.

Let' us then hope that Trump is for once not stupid enough to sanction such action as the above.

I saw the shameful footage on BBC news of tear gas being fired into the crowds of protesters to clear the way so that Trump and his entourage could walk for a staged photo shoot outside a church.

He stood like an utter moron holding up a bible while he posed for photos.

Even the armed population is unlikely to be able to counterbalance the sheer firepower of the American military.

It was awful to see Trump last night threatening to turn that firepower on his own citizens.

Of course the population is armed which makes a revolution a tad difficult for Trump and government.

I think that’s one of the scary things about all this. Not only were three policemen watching their colleague way over overstepping the mark, no one was courageous enough to stop them. They were too afraid of the police. The girl videoing it was maybe hoping that it would make them stop as she could do nothing else.

The USA is no longer a free country. Perhaps it hasn’t been for a while and no one has noticed. We could be watching a revolution.

How could anybody possibly have physically intervened when faced with four heavily-armed police officers? In the video I saw, several people were verbally intervening, requesting the officer back off.

Those witnesses must be severely traumatised, to have seen a man die by police brutality in front of their very eyes.