Protests that started out in solidarity quickly turned into a senseless act of violence. The horrific death of George Floyd is being used as a smokescreen by ‘protesters’ in the UK for their own agenda. I am a strong supporter of human rights, I believe everyone should have equality and should receive justice regardless of the colour of their skin. My views in this blog may be controversial but I am voicing them because everyone needs to understand where not only me but politicians in the government are coming from.
The UK has a death toll of over 40,000 currently (9 June) according to ONS data. However, media reports puts the UK’s death toll at over 50,000 already. On the 14th of April the Daily Mail published an article reading “4000 deaths feared in care homes.” On GMB Piers Morgan addressed this issue to the Care Minister Helen Whately.
Piers asked “is it true that 4000 people, elderly vulnerable people have died of Coronavirus in our care homes?”
The Care Ministers response was that “up to April 3rd 217 people died of Coronavirus in care homes.” The Care Minister went on to say that “very sadly more people have died in care homes,” however, she was unable to give an exact figure. When Piers Morgan asked for an estimate Helen Whately said she would not estimate a figure on the number of deaths. When Piers Morgan demanded he wanted the information that the public were also looking for the Care Minister replied saying “as would I.” The Care Minister (responsible for knowing the amounts of deaths in care homes) admitted ONS data which the government rely on was delayed. Two weeks after Helen Whately’s interview it became known to the public that in fact over 4000 elderly people in care homes had sadly passed away due to Coronavirus.
The fact that the media got an accurate coverage over the number of deaths in care homes over the Care Minister and ONS data it proved the government’s data was not as reliable as the media was. This strongly suggests that what sources in the UK are saying about the 50,000 plus deaths currently may in fact be correct. The NHS is already under severe stress with a lack of critical care beds, a lack of ventilators, a lack of morgue capacity and a lack of PPE which ensures NHS staff safety. With numbers of cases on the rise the NHS is being severely overwhelmed; the last thing they need at the moment in time is an influx of Coronavirus cases caused by protesters gathering in their thousands to protest for a reason I 100% support. Black lives do matter and they deserve justice and equality as everyone else. However, protesting in large numbers in a confined space with no social distancing is dangerous. People can go up to two weeks before realising they have the virus. This all but ensures a huge spike in cases causing a second peak, something the government are trying to avoid due to fear of the NHS collapsing under pressure, the economy plunging into a recession leaving the country worse off when the number of cases reaches zero and ultimately the most important factor of a second spike is there will be more deaths. Over 300 NHS staff have now died from this invisible killer and that number is steadily rising. With already a lack of NHS staff from the start of the pandemic which forced the government to ask for qualified unpaid volunteers to help on the frontline, a sudden surge in cases would guarantee further deaths for our invaluable heroes. As important as the black lives matter cause is - and I cannot emphasise enough my support for the movement and for change - it is paramount that the safety of the public is put first, the safety of our key workers are put first and the NHS as a whole does not weaken.
It is completely hypocritical to call out Dominic Cummings on his illegal drives and then break social distancing rules yourself. It is completely hypocritical to clap for the NHS on Thursday’s and then put them under more pressure by joining a protests filled with thousands.
A magazine based in London carried out an analysis on lockdown and its effects.
This was the results of their data:
“The team analysed data on reported coronavirus deaths from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK, up until 4 May. They concluded that for all 11 countries, interventions were effective enough to drive the R number – a measure of how quickly the virus is spreading – to below 1. The researchers also estimate that the lockdown introduced in the UK on 23 March reduced the country’s R number from 3.8 to 0.63 between the end of March and the start of May.
An estimated 3.1 million deaths due to covid-19 were prevented by lockdowns and other coronavirus social distancing measures across 11 countries in Europe including the UK.”
This evidence including just 11 European countries showed that lockdown and its rules has had a substantial impact on mitigating the deadly effects of Covid-19. With more than three million deaths being prevented in 11 countries proves lockdown has had a huge indescribable benefit. Breaking lockdown now in gatherings of thousands will mean that the guidelines set out by the government that the majority of British people have followed until now will mean that all the efforts made would be flushed down the toilet and would have disappeared in vain especially if a second wave of the virus outbreaks.
In arguments about this topic that I already have had I have come across for a very few people as a racist person who has no regards for black lives, for the movement and for the equality, justice and change they are advocating for. I can assure you this is as far from the truth as it can get. I am simply being realistic in the fact that this virus has killed tens of thousands of people in this country and hundreds of thousands worldwide.
We mustn’t ignore racism. Racism is everybody’s fight regardless of the colour of your skin. Regardless of whether it has or has not happened to you we are all united in this fight.
While we mustn’t ignore racism we also cannot ignore what is currently happening in our country. We cannot get blinded to the fact that there is a virus out here killing people, and unlike police brutality and racism this virus does not discriminate.
At the dispatch box the Home Secretary said:
“This government understands the importance of the right to protest. In normal circumstances a large and peaceful protests would not be of concern to the authorities. But as our nation battles Coronavirus these are not normal circumstances. So to protect us all and to stop the spread of this deadly disease any large gatherings of people are currently unlawful. We cannot afford to forget that we are still in the grip of an unprecedented national health emergency that has tragically claimed over 40,000 lives. So the severe public health risks forces me to continue to urge the public not to attend future protests. The government’s scientific medically lead advice remains clear and consistent. No matter how important the cause, protesting in large numbers at this exceptional time is illegal and doing so puts everyone’s lives at risk.”
While I disagree with the Home Secretary on various other issues I agree with her on this.
Safety first, protests second.
In addition, at the start I said these protests that started out in solidarity turned into senseless violence. I say this because in these said protests protesters were throwing bricks and flares at police officers, bicycles were being slammed into horses. One horse galloped through the streets after the officer on top was knocked off after “projectiles were hurled at police.” 35 police officers were injured on Monday after protesters were violent towards officers. That number has rose to 49 overall.
An officer who was attacked with projectiles by protesters was forced to leave the area after being struck in the head causing him to bleed severely.
I’m not trying to say that British police officers aren’t racist. The Lammy review conducted by Labour MP David Lammy in 2017 into the treatment of minorities by the criminal justice system showed that:
In 2018-19, black people were more than nine times as likely to be stopped and searched by police as white people
They were over three times as likely to be arrested as white people
They were more than five times as likely to have force used against them by police as white people
A quarter of the prison population comes from BAME backgrounds, despite representing 14% of the population. In young offenders institutions, this increases to 50%
While these statistics found by David Lammy have never been acted on by the government; in the UK from 2018-19, 86% of deaths during or after police custody were white people while 14% was from BAME backgrounds.
Statistics also show the inequality towards white people by police officers in the UK. British police officers are not perfect, no police force is but the fact is that they very majority of them do their job perfectly.
However, the issue at hand is that before the murder of George Floyd there were no extreme demands to reform police systems in the UK. George’s horrific death is being used as an excuse for attacking the people (most of who) aren’t racist and are doing their jobs.
Protesters have also started attacking war memorials and statues. The statue of the infamous slave trade owner Edward Colson was taken down and dumped into the water. Labour leader Keir Starmer on LBC voiced his opinions of the toppling of the statue, he said:
“Shouldn’t have been done in that way. Completely wrong to pull a statue down like that but stepping back that statue should have been brought down a long time ago. You can’t in 21’st century Britain have a slaver on a statue… that statue should have been brought down properly with consent and put in a museum.”
While I understand the frustrations of the people in Bristol and completely see why they did what they did it would be more useful for that statue to have been placed in a history museum so we can remember the past of this country and hope to never repeat it.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – George Santayana
Furthermore, while the toppling of the Colson statue is understandable war memorials in the UK along with our nation’s hero statue was vandalised. The Earl Haig war memorial was vandalised after the letters “ACAB” was spray painted on it. Soldiers from Household Cavalry were heckled at for scrubbing of the letters.
Winston Churchill’s statue was also vandalised by people spray painting a line across his name and underneath it the words “was a racist.”
The vandalism of war memorials and Winston Churchill’s statue is unacceptable. Soldiers fought and died for our country so we could live in freedom, in democracy and so we wouldn’t be ruled by an authoritarian dictatorship.
While Winston Churchill was responsible for the Bengal famine of 1943 and claims of him being racist does not take away from the fact that when Neville Chamberlain resigned Churchill lead this country into victory against one of the biggest fascists in history. Churchill wiped out Nazi rule in Europe and without him German rule could oversee the majority of Europe in present day.
On the 6th June 1944 156,000 soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy and from the liberation of France to the takeover of Germany Winston Churchill led the allies to victory. Those soldiers and our nation’s hero should not be disrespected.
My overall view is that while I am behind the black lives matter movement the protests in the UK have erupted into violence on our police officers, vandalization on our national hero’s statue and our war memorials and most importantly the protection of the NHS is put at risk. All compelling reasons to say these protests should be conducted in a peaceful manner after the UK (like New Zealand) have 0 Coronavirus cases.
Written by Rahul Patel
Instagram @rahulpatel7832
Twitter @Rahul_Patel04
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