In the US overnight, Donald Trump spent time on Twitter railing against familiar grievances and perceived foes.

The president commented on the news that The New York Times opinion editor has resigned over the publication of an op-ed by Senator Tom Cotton, who called for the possible involvement of the military in tackling protesters.

He has also gone back to a familiar complaint of a couple of years ago – and that is about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem to protest against police violence against black people.

Policing minister Kit Malthouse has said the toppling in Bristol of the 17th century slave trader Edward Colston was “wrong” amd “an act of criminal damage”, 
The Independent’s political correspondent Lizzy Buchan reports.

Minneapolis lawmakers vow to disband police force

Two weeks after the killing of George Floyd at the knee of a police officer, a veto-proof majority of Minneapolis city councillors has committed to disbanding the police force.

The nine members of the 13-member council signed their pledge at a rally of protesters demanding that the police force be defunded. Speaking from the stage in Powderhorn Park, council president Lisa Bender said that the city needed a top-to-bottom rethink of what policing is and how it should work.

“Our commitment is to do what’s necessary to keep every single member of our safe, and to tell the truth: that the Minneapolis police are not doing that.
 

“Our commitment is to end our city’s toxic relationship with the Minneapolis Police Department, to end policing as we know it, and to recreate systems of public safety that actually keep us safe.”

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Boris Johnson says protests ‘subverted by thuggery’

Boris Johnson has said anti-racism demonstrations in London were “subverted by thuggery” after some protesters clashed with police over the weekend.

The prime minister said people had the right to protest peacefully but those who clashed with police were “a betrayal of the cause they purpose to serve” – and would be held to account.

Thousands of people took part in demonstrations across the UK over the death of George Floyd in the US at the hands of a white police officer.

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Speaking to the BBC’s
Today programme, Bristol mayor Marvin Rees refused to be drawn on whether demonstrators who tore down the 17th century statue of slave trader Edward Colston should be prosecuted. 

He did say, though, that the statue had remained a “personal affront” to him as a person of Jamaican heritage. 

Asked why he had not organised for its lawful removal, Rees said: “I’m the first directly elected mayor of African heritage in Europe. If I just pitch up and start tearing down all memorials to slavery there would be another debate and I would be on the receiving end.

“I don’t have the latitude to operate like that that other people would, in just the same way Obama didn’t have the latitude to criticise America’s security services in the same way that Trump does.”

Police investigate ‘a small group of people who clearly committed an act of criminal damage’

Avon and Somerset Police have launched an investigation to identify those involved in tearing down the statute of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston. 
 

Black Lives Matter protesters toppled the statue and threw it in the city’s harbour on Sunday.

Home secretary Priti Patel said the toppling of the statue was “utterly disgraceful”, ”completely unacceptable” and “sheer vandalism”.

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