Thailand activists hold online Black Lives Matter protest

While the US is on the complete opposite side of of the world, some in Thailand joined an online protest yesterday on the Zoom video-conferencing software. Reuters says 300 Thais and foreigners joined the digital call for justice for George Floyd, a black American who died at the end of May after being pinned down by a Minneapolis police officer.

Protesters couldn’t take to the streets due to restrictions imposed by the emergency decree in Thailand and social distancing measures, so they did what they could online. The event, promoted by the unofficial group Supporters of Black Lives Matter in Bangkok, had a moment of silence for 8 minutes and 46 seconds to represent the time Mr. Floyd was pinned under the officer’s knee before he died.

Activists held up their arms, their hands in a fist. Dozens of videos showed everyone doing the same. One wrote “I can’t breathe” on their arms, the last words Floyd said before he died.

“Everyone has hopes, everyone has dreams, everyone bleeds red, you know. It’s crazy that they still have this in 2020 when in 1963, that was when Martin Luther King did his freedom speech.”

SOURCE: Reuters