London police chief says 14 officers injured during anti-racism protests

Police scuffle with demonstrators at a Black Lives Matter march in London, Saturday, June 6, 2020, as people protest against the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, USA. Floyd, a black man, died after he was restrained by Minneapolis police while in custody on May 25 in Minnesota. (AP/Alberto Pezzali)
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Updated 07 June 2020
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London police chief says 14 officers injured during anti-racism protests

LONDON: Fourteen police officers were injured in “shocking and completely unacceptable” assaults during anti-racism protests in central London on Saturday, London police chief Cressida Dick said on Sunday.
After a largely peaceful day, small numbers of protesters briefly clashed with mounted police on Saturday after thousands gathered to voice their anger at police brutality after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
“I am deeply saddened and depressed that a minority of protesters became violent toward officers in central London yesterday evening. This led to 14 officers being injured,” Dick, who is Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, said in a statement.
“The number of assaults is shocking and completely unacceptable.”
The police said that 13 officers were also hurt in protests earlier in the week and a number of arrests had been made.
One officer received hospital treatment on Saturday after falling from her horse, but the police said her injuries are not life-threatening.

This video from Twitter shows the moment the police woman was knocked off her horse (Twitter)

This appears to show the moments after the police woman was knocked off her horse, which continued running. (Twitter)

Further protests are planned on Sunday. Dick urged protesters to find another way to make their views heard which “does not involve coming out on the streets of London” due to the risk of the spread of the coronavirus.


Russia hits Ukraine with drones, missiles, kills at least 10 in Kharkiv

Updated 58 min 20 sec ago
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Russia hits Ukraine with drones, missiles, kills at least 10 in Kharkiv

  • Zelensky said that Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure
  • “There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life“

KHARKIV, Ukraine: Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles at Ukraine overnight on Saturday, damaging infrastructure and killing at least 10 people, including two children, in the northeast city of Kharkiv, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia launched 480 drones and 29 missiles targeting the energy sector and railway infrastructure across the country.
“There should be a response from partners to these savage strikes against life,” Zelensky said on the Telegram app.
“Russia has not abandoned its attempts to destroy Ukraine’s residential and critical infrastructure, ⁠and therefore support should ⁠continue,” Zelensky said, urging partners to continue air defense and weapons supplies.


Ukrainian air defense units shot down 453 drones and 19 missiles, the air force said. But nine missiles and 26 attack drones hit 22 sites, it said.

BALLISTIC MISSILE SLAMS INTO RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
The city of Kharkiv was targeted by both Russian drones and missiles, and 10 people, including two children, were killed after ⁠a Russian ballistic missile slammed into a five-story residential building, Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
“When we arrived here 20 minutes after the explosion, I thought I was going to have a stroke. I couldn’t string two words together, and my legs were buckling,” Hanna, a resident of the destroyed building, told Reuters.
“It’s good that I wasn’t there with my child and that my father was with me. It was ordinary people who lived there. What were they targeting?“
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out massive overnight strikes on Ukrainian military-industrial complexes, military airfields and energy facilities, the Interfax news agency reported.
In ⁠Kharkiv, 15 ⁠people were also wounded, and 19 residential buildings were damaged by the Russian attacks, Syniehubov said.
Commercial and administrative buildings, electricity distribution lines, and cars were also hit, he said.
In Kyiv, three people were injured, and the heating was knocked out in 2,806 residential apartment buildings in four districts across the capital after Russian strikes hit an energy infrastructure facility, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said.
National grid operator Ukrenergo said that emergency power cuts were introduced in seven regions following the Russian attacks.
Ukrainian officials said that Russia also attacked four railway stations and other railway infrastructure in central Ukraine and port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region, setting on fire containers with vegetable oil and damaging a grain warehouse.