UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson should use his strong personal relationship with US President Donald Trump to intervene and make representations against police brutality after the death of an African-American male in the custody of United States law enforcement officers, Scottish lawmaker Ian Blackford said Thursday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2020) UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson should use his strong personal relationship with US President Donald Trump to intervene and make representations against police brutality after the death of an African-American male in the custody of United States law enforcement officers, Scottish lawmaker Ian Blackford said Thursday.
"The UK's special relationship with the United States and your personal relationship with President Donald Trump means that it is imperative that you use your position to denounce the actions and rhetoric from the US administration and the brutality faced by the Black Lives Matters protesters," Blackford, who is the Scottish National Party's leader in the House of Commons, said in a letter to Johnson that was published on Twitter.
In the letter, Blackford asked the prime minister to clarify whether representations have been made to both Trump and the US government over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 and the subsequent protests and clashes between demonstrators and police.
The Scottish lawmaker also asked Johnson whether he would begin a review of the UK's export of riot control equipment to the United States in the wake of the violence.
In response to similar questions raised in parliament on Wednesday, Johnson said that he was willing to look into any complaints into the misuse of UK-made riot control equipment in the United States, as protests against police brutality and racial inequality enter their second week after Floyd's death.
