Greek leftists in the city of Thessaloniki set fire to an American flag in front of a United States consulate, claiming to be doing so in solidarity with “U.S. insurgents”.
The group held signs stating “Solidarity with the victims of racism and police violence in the United States,” and “Solidarity with the U.S. insurgents,” while outside the consular building and chanted various anti-racism slogans before setting fire to the U.S. flag, Proto Thema reports.
Dozens of protesters took part in the protest on Tuesday, marching along the main streets of Thessaloniki after gathering at a statue of Eleftherios Kyriakou Venizelos, a former prime minister of Greece who was a prominent leader in the Greek national liberation movement.
The protest is just one of many in support of the Black Lives Matter and Antifa protesters and rioters in Europe in recent days.
In Amsterdam in the Netherlands, thousands took to the streets to protest against police brutality. The gathering was in violation of the country’s Wuhan coronavirus lockdown measures that require individuals to wear masks and to keep at least five feet from each other, and has led to calls for the city mayor — who attended the protest — to resign.
In France, a 20,000 person strong protest took place — both in solidarity with U.S. protesters and to oppose French police brutality — which transformed into riots and violence on Tuesday night.
In Paris, rioters set on fire several makeshift barricades. In the Paris suburb of Clichy, a police station was violently attacked, as rioters made attempts to smash the glass windows of the building and get inside.
The UK has also seen Black Lives Matter activists take to the streets in solidarity with their U.S. counterparts. Wednesday evening saw thousands of protesters break coronavirus distancing rules to march through Westminster.
The scenes in London soon turned violent as protestors began to attack police officers outside Downing Street, just yards from the London residence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson.