London, June 2 (IANS) Liverpool footballers came together in support of George Floyd, whose death has caused a nationwide protest in United States.
Floyd, aged 46, died last week shortly after Derek Chauvin, a police officer, held him down with a knee on his neck though he repeatedly pleaded, “I can’t breathe,” and “please, I can’t breathe”.
The entire Liverpool squad took a knee at the centre circle at Anfield, in a picture shared by ‘The Reds’ on their Twitter handle.
Their post read: “The entire squad knelt in Anfield’s centre circle ahead of today’s training session in a powerful show of support for the #BlackLivesMatter movement.”
Several Liverpool players, namely Virgil Van Dijk, Trent-Alexander Arnold, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum, shared the picture on their personal social media handles as well.
Footballers around the world are taking a stand and voicing their anger following the death of Floyd. The movement has picked up pace with the coming together of such high-profile individuals.
“During the past few days I have thought a lot about how to express my feelings about what happened in Minneapolis,” Manchester United star Paul Pogba wrote on his Instagram handle.
“I felt anger, pity, hatred, indignation, pain, sadness. Sadness for George and for all black people who suffer from racism EVERY DAY! Whether in football, at work, at school, ANYWHERE!
“This has to stop, once and for all! Not tomorrow or the next day, it has to end TODAY! Violent acts of racism can no longer be tolerated. I can’t tolerate. I won’t tolerate. WE WON’T TOLERATE. Racism is ignorance. LOVE is intelligence. STOP the silence. STOP racism.”
Former England captain David Beckham also posted a moving tribute for Floyd on Instagram: “My heart goes out to George’s family and I stand in solidarity with the black community and millions of others across the world who are outraged by these events. Its heartbreaking to see that in 2020 this is still happening.”
–IANS
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