This development comes after the murder of George Floyd which sparked global protests against racism (File)
Brussels, Belgium:
The European Parliament voted on Friday to declare that “Black Lives Matter” and to denounce racism and white supremacism in all its forms.
The resolution has no legal consequences, but sends a signal of support to protesters against racism, and follows a UN call for an investigation into police brutality and “systemic racism”.
And, one day before President Donald Trump held a rally in Tulsa, a city that had experienced one of the worst racist massacres in the history of the United States, lawmakers condemned the brutality of the American police.
Point number one of the text of the resolution takes up the slogan of American activists painted on the street leading to the White House, when he “affirms that black life counts”.
The resolution, adopted by 493 votes to 104, “strongly condemns the appalling death of George Floyd”, an unarmed suspect killed by American police in May.
He berates Trump for his “inflammatory rhetoric” and for threatening to deploy the army against the protesters.
And the EU member states themselves, many of whom have seen demonstrations in recent days against modern racism and previous colonial crimes, are not spared the motion.
EU capitals are urged to denounce “the disproportionate use of force and racist tendencies in the application of the law”.
The EU institutions and the Member States should officially recognize the injustices and crimes against humanity committed in the past against blacks, people of color and the Roma.
And the resolution declares the slave trade a “crime against humanity”.
Earlier on Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council demanded a report on “systemic racism”, but omitted any direct mention of the United States in the resolution.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
