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Boris Johnson, the U.K.'s prime minister has responded to protests which have taken place in cities across the world, including London, over the killing of George Floyd.
The prime minister said the death of Floyd at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer who knelt on his neck as he pleaded for his life and who said "I can't breathe" in his last words, had "awakened an anger, and a widespread and incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice" that the government "simply can't ignore".
The weekend saw thousands of protesters take to the streets of the U.K. and other capitals across the world to protest against the killing of Floyd, with protesters in Bristol tearing down the statue of slave trader Edward Colston and throwing into the harbour, which Johnson had described as a criminal act.
Writing in The Voice, the only British national Afro-Caribbean weekly newspaper in the U.K., Johnson said: "The death of George Floyd took place thousands of miles away – in another country, under another jurisdiction – and yet we simply cannot ignore the depth of emotion that has been triggered by that spectacle, of a black man losing his life at the hands of the police.
"In this country and around the world his dying words – I can't breathe – have awakened an anger and a widespread and incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice, a feeling that people from black and minority ethnic groups do face discrimination: in education, in employment, in the application of the criminal law.
"And we who lead and who govern simply can't ignore those feelings because in too many cases, I am afraid, they will be founded on a cold reality."
The prime minister said he was proud to lead the most "ethnically diverse government in the history of the country", highlighting how two of the four great offices of state are "held by a man and a woman of Indian origin".
"I truly believe that we are a much, much less racist society than we were, in many ways far happier and better", said Johnson.
There is currently no black MP who is a member of the Cabinet, a group of the most senior ministers in government.
Johnson admitted much more needed to be done eradicate prejudice, acknowledging how Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities (BAME) had been disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
But the prime minister came down strongly against those who flouted social distancing rules to protest or caused damage to monuments.
Johnson said those who flouted social distancing rules risked a "new infection at a critical time and just as we have made huge progress."
He also condemned those who attacked the police during protests and who desecrated public monuments.
Johnson said the U.K. was a democracy and those who wished to change the urban landscape of the country should "stand for election, or vote for someone who will".
