London Assembly Member Slams UK Media For Bias Over Recent BLM Counter-Protests in Capital

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2020) Members of the UK press have been biased in their reporting of an allegedly "far-right" counter-protest against the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in London this past Saturday, particularly as certain members of the media have looked favorably upon BLM marches held a week before that turned violent and resulted in 62 police officers suffering injuries, London Assembly member David Kurten told Sputnik.

A wave of protests against racial inequality has swept through the United Kingdom since the killing of George Floyd in US police custody on May 25. During some of the largest protests on June 6-7, a statue of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Cenotaph war memorial were defaced by protesters, which prompted a backlash among certain groups of the population.

Counter-demonstrators took to the streets of London this past Saturday to protest against statues and memorials being vandalized, and Kurten said that the UK media was biased for labeling these protesters as being members of the far-right.

"There's absolutely a bias here, I mean from the majority of the mainstream media and mainstream politicians, right up to Boris Johnson ... it's been absolute bias," Kurten said.

According to the London Assembly member, press outlets had looked favorably upon the Black Lives Matter protests that were held a week before, despite 62 police officers receiving injuries after violent clashes broke out.

"Five days when Black Lives Matter have been out and police have been attacked, demonstrators have been getting right up in the faces of the police and shouting and hurling abuse at them, throwing things at their horses, a policewoman was injured very seriously ... and this went on for five days and every time the mainstream media have said it was 'largely peaceful' and it was 'just a small element' that's hijacked it," Kurten, who is also a candidate in the upcoming 2021 London mayoral elections, remarked.

Violence also broke out this past weekend as Black Lives Matter protesters clashed with counter-demonstrators, who were immediately labeled by the press as far-right supporters, Kurten stated.

"Then for one day the other side comes out, as in people who want to protest against vandalism and violence, and they get immediately smeared in the harshest possible terms. So it's absolute bias and everyone can see it now," the London Assembly member remarked.

Kurten told Sputnik on June 3 that he was anxious about violence breaking out in the UK ever since BLM activists began organizing in UK cities. Two weeks later, the London Assembly member said he wished he had been wrong about his earlier prediction, stating that what was now being witnessed was violence for the sake of political aims.

"I do wish I'd been wrong, I didn't want to see violence on the streets of London but there are obviously some who do and want to go out, be violent and vandalize statues and monuments because it suits their political aims, whatever they are," Kurten said.

However, such actions did run counter to the wishes and views of the majority of the UK population, the London Assembly member stated, adding that it was crucial that political leaders got control of the situation in the event of further unrest.

Turbulent scenes were again seen in London this past weekend as protesters opposed to BLM's previously reported defacing of monuments entered the capital in an apparent bid to defend against further acts of vandalism.

Clashes ultimately erupted between counter-protesters, police, and various groups of what were reputed to be pro-BLM activists. In total, 113 arrests were made and around 23 police officers suffered injuries as a result of the violence.

BLM had abandoned a protest that was originally scheduled to be held this past Saturday over feared clashes with opposing demonstrators.

On Saturday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that there was no place on the country's streets for "racist thuggery."

John Apter, the chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales, has urged Home Secretary Priti Patel to enforce an emergency ban on all protests in order to prevent further violent clashes that could result in more law enforcement officers suffering injuries.