Thousands march in London over George Floyd killing

Thousands march in London over George Floyd killing

Thousands of demonstrators marched through central London on Wednesday in solidarity with Black Live Matter protesters in the U.S. calling for an end to police brutality after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis last week.

Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck, an event that has set off the biggest anti-racism protests seen in the United States since the 1960s.

Demonstrators have also come out in cities around the world in solidarity with Floyd and to express anger over racism.

In London's Parliament Square, thousands knelt on one knee, a form of protest known as "taking a knee" famously used by American football player Colin Kaepernick to denounce police brutality against black people.

The London march started in Hyde Park before winding its way to Parliament Square.

Many of the protesters chanted "George Floyd" and "Black lives matter." British police chiefs said they were appalled by the way Floyd lost his life and by the violence that followed in U.S. cities but called on protesters in the United Kingdom to work with police as coronavirus restrictions remain in place.