20 people detained for George Floyd protest outside US embassy in Sri Lanka

George Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after white police officer Derek Chauvin handcuffed and pinned him to the ground, and knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes while the 46-year-old from Houston gasped for breath.

Published on: Jun 9, 2020, 16:49:45 IST

Colombo | By HT News Desk

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Sri Lankan police on Tuesday arrested 20 people who attempted to stage a protest outside the US Embassy here in support of African-American George Floyd, whose custodial killing stoked widespread protests in America and other countries over racial injustice.

Floyd died in Minneapolis on May 25 after white police officer Derek Chauvin handcuffed and pinned him to the ground, and knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes while the 46-year-old from Houston gasped for breath.

The arrested people were the activists of the Frontline Socialist Party. They had gathered around the vicinity of the US embassy here.

The police said they had obtained a court order preventing the gathering of protesters near the US embassy.

Police said the FSP activists were arrested for violating the quarantine regulations in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sri Lanka has recorded 1,857 Covid-19 cases. The government announced a lockdown in mid-March following the detection of the first Covid-19 positive case on March 11.

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