LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th June, 2020) Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has overstepped his authority by allowing a committee to review the capital's landmarks as part of a move to ensure greater diversity amid ongoing protests against racial inequality, former member of European Parliament Steven Woolfe told Sputnik on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the mayor's office announced that the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm will review all monuments in the nation's capital to assess whether they reflect the city's diversity.
The decision comes at a time of increased tensions following widespread violence in the capital over the weekend as Black Lives Matter (BLM) activists clashed with police. Protesters also defaced the Cenotaph war memorial and a statue of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
According to Woolfe, Khan's decision to permit scrutiny of London's monuments on the basis of their diversity is ill-considered.
"He's the mayor of London with limited powers to deal with transport and policing, and that has nothing to do with legislation that will impact upon the whole of the United Kingdom. Once again, Sadiq Khan has realized he's incapable of doing his own job so he's attempting to step outside the remit of his own powers. This marks a man who feels inferior in terms of being able to do his job," Woolfe remarked.
On the topic of the weekend's BLM demonstrations, the former member of the European Parliament said that there was room to criticize the government for its allegedly inadequate response to the violence that ensued. However, the former lawmaker claimed that what had taken place had little to do with the death of African American George Floyd, whose death in police custody last month is broadly seen as having triggered mass protests across both the US and now the UK.
"I think it's entirely acceptable to criticize the government over the handling of the demonstrations and the violence that accompanied these so-called peaceful marches. These marches were all about power, position, and influence and not really about the individual [George Floyd] that was killed," Woolfe remarked.
The former lawmaker also argued that the UK is one of the more tolerant nations in terms of racial integration and police conduct in ethic-minority communities. The UK police are responsible for the deaths of only a handful of people each year, the majority of which are not from ethnic minorities, Woolfe remarked.
"When it comes to policing, according to the Independent Police Complaints Commission [now Independent Office for Police Conduct] which monitors violence from police, for the 2018/19 period, there were only three deaths by shooting from the police, two of them were white and one black. In 2017/18 there were four deaths by police shooting, three of them were the London Bridge murderers and the other a white man. When it comes to those who die in police custody, the vast majority of them are white, so in absolute and in percentage terms of the population ... deaths in custody are more likely if you're white," the former lawmaker stated.
The UK has continued to witness large-scale protests organized by the UK offshoot of the original US BLM movement. Protesters have rallied in multiple towns and cities across the country, with weekend clashes with police officers in London prompting Prime Minister Boris Johnson to denounce acts of alleged "thuggery" that he claimed had effectively subverted the overall goals of the movement. Around 135 people are believed to have been arrested with some 35 police officers injured.
Additionally, protesters in the city of Bristol tore down a statue dedicated to 18th-century slave trader Edward Colston, before dumping the monument in the sea.
Protesters have claimed they are working to end systemic racism, which they say leads to reduced opportunities and life chances for black people across the western world.
The death of African American George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 has galvanized this movement. Roughly 6,000 people attended a public memorial ceremony for Floyd in Houston on Monday, before a private funeral took place a day later.
