The home secretary, Priti Patel, has described the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the UK last year as “dreadful” and said she did not agree with the gesture of taking the knee. The protests, in which demonstrations took place in more than 260 towns and cities in June and July, were the largest anti-racism protests in Britain for decades. However, during a radio interview on Friday morning, Patel said she did not support the protests. Those protests were dreadful.”She added: “We saw policing as well coming under a great deal of pressure from some of the protest. I don’t support protest and I also did not support the protests that were associated …”Interrupted, she sought to clarify that she was not criticising the right to protest but rather the “dreadful” action last year.

Source: The Guardian February 12, 2021 11:31 UTC