Roxie Washington, the mother of Floyd's daughter, has called for all four police officers involved in the case to be punished. But just how much further will tensions in the US escalate? And will mass gatherings of protesters pose a threat to public health amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic?
Political commentator Brian Silvester gave his views on the matter.
Sputnik: How much further could tensions escalate in the US in response to the murder of George Floyd?
Brian Silvester: I think the murder of George Floyd was obviously an outrage, and it is quite right that the policeman concerned has been charged with murder, and it’s also right that if people want to partake in peaceful protests, that is fine, but it has now escalated into a lot more than peaceful protests.
What we are seeing in America, and now around the world, is violence against people, we are seeing the destruction of cities, we are seeing fires, we are seeing looting, and the group called Antifa, the so-called anti-fascists, are involved.
It is ironic that Antifa are now becoming the fascists, and they are just using this as an opportunity to cause mayhem in the United States and around the world, and they need to be stopped. I think that it’s right that President Trump has declared them a terrorist organisation, and I think that that is something we should be doing in the UK, because they are causing trouble here as well.
Sputnik: Could large-scale demonstrations pose a danger to public health amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic?
Brian Silvester: It is ironic that the demonstrations in the UK and London and elsewhere, where hundreds of people are gathering together, the police have taken little action against those, but when virtually every weekend now there are protests in London and elsewhere about this ludicrous lockdown that we are under, the police do take action.
For example, Piers Corbyn, who is the brother of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, has now been arrested not once, but twice, and on the last time last weekend, he was arrested and charged with being part of a gathering with more than two people.
If they are going to do that for people protesting against the lockdown, they should be doing the same for people protesting what has happened in Minneapolis. But the police are not doing that, they are adopting double standards, and that’s not right.
Sputnik: Will the George Floyd case have an impact on Donald Trump's chances of winning the upcoming US presidential election?
Brian Silvester: I think that people in the United States want strong action against all this violence, and mayhem, and rioting, and looting; that needs to stop. If the local officials are not able to do so, then President Trump is right to send in the national forces.
I think that these strong actions would be appreciated by the majority, and I do feel that President Trump will be re-elected and that Joe Biden is a very weak and flawed candidate.