‘Trump Declares War On America:’ Europe Reacts As Black Lives Matter Protests Spread Across Continent

President Donald Trump’s speech on June 2 threatening to use military force against protesters denouncing systemic racism has largely been condemned in European media, as demonstrations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement spread to various cities across the continent.

Headlines of prominent newspapers across Europe appeared to condemn Trump’s statement, in which the president avoided discussing instances of police brutality and instead branded the demonstrations, and incidents of looting, as “acts of domestic terror” against which he said he’d deploy the U.S. army.

“Trump Declares War On America” titled Germany’s Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, which also featured an opinion piece by its New York-based correspondent Thorsten Denkler calling Trump “a threat to national security” who “may be putting the nation on the brink of civil war.” 

In France, Le Monde’s front page prominently displays a picture showing policemen aiming their weapons at unarmed black female protesters laying on the pavement, with a headline reading: Faced with protests, Trump chooses military force.” An editorial dubs Trump: “President of division.” 

Spain’s El Pais opts for a front page picture showing presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden attending a meeting with community leaders at a predominantly African-American church in Delaware. The headline reads: “U.S. faces its worst racial conflict in half a century” 

News of the U.S. protests was largely absent from U.K. newspaper’s front pages, with the exception of the Times newspaper, which featured a picture of Sunday night’s protests outside the White House with the caption “Dark Times,” the Independent, where a picture of a group of protesters sitting down with their hands up in front of police officers occupies more than half of the digital front page and a headline reading: “‘This is not going to stop’—at the heart of America’s George Floyd protests.”

Black Lives Matter protests spread across Europe

The U.K. too—where the government’s coronavirus guidelines continue to advocate 2-meter distance between people—has seen protests inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S., with hundreds of people demonstrating in London, Manchester and Cardiff over the weekend.

Rapper Dave, who caused a sensation at the Brit Awards earlier this year with a poignant performance denouncing racism in the U.K.—and specifically Prime Minister Boris Johnson—was among those who joined the Black Lives Matter protest outside Parliament—sharing photos from the demonstration on Instagram.

Protests continued in London on June 1. Police in the capital made six arrests on Monday, the Evening Standard reported, as officers “enforced Covid regulations.” More protests are planned in other U.K. cities, including London, in the coming days.

In the Netherlands, where national conversations about racism have been bubbling up in recent years spearheaded by a movement denouncing the blackface folklore character known as “Black Piet,” around 3,000 people reportedly took part in a demonstration in Amsterdam’s central Dam Square on Monday. 

The large crowds took Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema by surprise, as organizers had expected 200-300 people. Halsema however defended the decision not to disperse the crowds: “We would have had to take a tough line to clear the square and I did not think that would have been responsible,’ she said. ‘People were demonstrating peacefully and they were wearing face masks. If I had known this would happen, then we would have led them away,” she told local media.

Protests and events to honor the memory of George Floyd were also held in European capitals of Athens, Berlin, Brussels—despite protest organizers cancelling their planned event to adhere to social distancing—Copenaghen, Madrid, Warsaw, as well as other cities like Milan in Italy. 

Besides Europe, protests in solidarity with U.S. demonstrations also took place across the world in Canada, Australia, Chile, Brazil—and a mural honoring the memory of George Floyd was also painted in war-torn Syrian, in the opposition-held northwestern province of Idlib.