African voices protest George Floyd’s murder in the USA
On the African continent, as elsewhere in the world, reactions are mounting after the death in the United States of a black man who was smothered in police violence in Minneapolis last week.
The African Union, the first to react, as early as last Friday, protested against the conditions of George Floyd’s death.
In a statement, the chairman of the AU Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, strongly condemned this “murder” and urged the US authorities to intensify their efforts to eliminate all forms of racial or ethnic discrimination.
In South Africa, the ruling party, the ANC, is calling on the US authorities to find a solution to what it calls the “racial impasse” in the country.
In Zimbabwe, the American ambassador in Harare was summoned to explain himself.
In West Africa, the Guinean Human Rights Organization is concerned about this crime with racist overtones, but also about the reaction of the US president calling for more firmness to quell the demonstrations.
Protests were also expressed in the sports world. Moroccan international football player Achraf Hakimi wore a jersey with the words “Justice for George Floyd” on it during a football match on Sunday.
Nigeria’s Anthony Ujah, Senegal’s Sadio Mané and Egypt’s Mohamed Salah also protested, kneeling on the ground before their match. This gesture has become a symbol in the United States of the protest against police violence against African-Americans.
