NNWN/ 03-06-2020

International rights body has demanded the United States to take bold steps to address the structural racism driving mass protests across the country in the wake of brutal killing of George Floyd allegedly by the police official. Condemning the police action against black American George Floyd which led to his death Human Rights Watch on Wednesday demanded the US authorities to make police accountable and end structural racism in the country.

“The anger and frustration driving mass protests across the US is about more than the criminal actions of the police officers who killed George Floyd,” said Nicole Austin-Hillery, US program director at Human Rights Watch. “It is about a law enforcement system that does not value all people equally and sacrifices the lives and well-being of black people as a result.”
Floyd's death has led to country wide protests in the United States leaving the administration into tizzy. All this happened after a video emerged of Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, killing George Floyd by pinning him to the ground and pressing his knee against Floyd’s neck on May 25, 2020 for more than eight minutes. Four days later, prosecutors charged Chauvin with third degree murder and second degree manslaughter and had him arrested, but they have not charged the other officers involved. The district attorney should immediately file charges against the other three officers involved in Floyd’s death, Human Rights Watch said.
Floyd’s death is the latest in the US history of killings of black people by police. Among those who have been targetted by the police included Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Delrawn Small, Terence Crutcher, Breonna Taylor, and many others. They also include killings of black men that prosecutors refused to properly investigate, like that of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man killed in February by two white men as Arbery was jogging in Georgia.