Britain expects the United States to continue its tradition of protecting media freedoms, Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said on Thursday when asked about protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, the black man pinned by his neck to the street during an arrest.
The death of 46-year-old has sparked more than a week of nationwide protest and civil strife. While the demonstrations have been largely peaceful, police in some cities have used force against journalists and protesters, and protesters have clashed with police.
Derek Chauvin, the white officer seen in widely circulated video footage kneeling on Floyd's neck for nearly nine minutes as Floyd gasped for air, has been charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter.
Asked during an interview on Sky News whether he condemned police violence in the United States, Raab said: "Anyone that saw the footage of the treatment of George Floyd would have been moved and distressed as I was, and I think seeing the protests and the violence is very distressing."
"You mention media freedoms and journalistic freedoms, of course the U.S. has a fine tradition of protecting all of those things and yes we do expect that to continue."
Raab said Britain would "of course" raise difficult issues with the United States when it needed to.
"We want to see America come together," he said. "We will work with our closest ally to see what more we can do, if anything, to support that process."
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U.S. Secret Service uniformed division officers face demonstrators during a protest against the death of George Floyd while in custody of the Minneapolis police near the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 1, 2020. /Reuters
Journalists covering nationwide protests have found themselves under attack by police and at times by protesters.
CNN journalist Omar Jimenez was arrested and handcuffed by police in Minneapolis as he was reporting live on camera.
He was released an hour later after the Minnesota governor personally intervened, but there have been several other serious incidents across the country, notably in Louisville, Kentucky, where a riot-squad policeman fired what appeared to be pepper-spray pellets at a local TV crew filming the scene.
The headquarters of news network CNN in Atlanta was attacked Friday by several dozen people. Someone in the crowd lobbed a flash grenade into the building's lobby as police stood guard there.
Shattered glass at the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, in the aftermath of a demonstration against police violence, May 30, 2020. /AP
U.S. President Donald Trump previously threatened to use military forces to crack down the violent protests as the dramatic escalation of a national crisis continue to spread.
"As we speak, I am dispatching thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers, military personnel, and law enforcement officers to stop the rioting, looting, vandalism, assaults, and the wanton destruction of property," Trump said on Monday, but he changed his tone on Wednesday saying he likely won't need military to respond to protests.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also called for restraint from U.S. authorities in responding to demonstrators, saying that grievances must be heard, but they must be expressed in peaceful ways.
Cases of police violence need to be investigated. Police forces around the world need to have adequate human rights training, and there also needs to be an investment in social and psychological support for police so they can do their job properly in terms of protecting the community, said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman for Guterres.
(With input from Reuters)