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LONDON. — The black man pictured carrying a white man to safety as far-right protesters caused chaos in central London says he acted purely on instinct and because “we’re all one human race”.
As one suspected far-right protester was attacked by a small group of protesters supporting Black Lives Matter on Saturday, Patrick Hutchinson stepped in with four friends to protect him.
Mr Hutchinson was pictured with the man on his shoulder in an image hailed by many as a sign of hope.
“At the time I can’t remember thinking anything,” Mr Hutchinson, who said his friends were already around the man, protecting him from protesters, told ITV News.
“It was absolute mayhem around this man. You couldn’t even see where he was. If you’re not there to stop it happening then you’re almost party to it just by being there and watching it.
“The George Floyd incident that happened in America, if those three other officers had done what we did and stopped the man that murdered him, things would be very different. So we weren’t going to be party to it. I didn’t even think twice about doing it, it was just an instinct, I didn’t see colour I just saw a human being on the floor possibly coming to his end.”
Police in London struggled on Saturday to contain several hundred far-right protesters, mostly white men, who had gathered in Parliament Square claiming they were there to protect statues.
But the demonstration, condemned by Boris Johnson as “racist thuggery”, turned violent after hundreds of self-proclaimed “statue defenders” took over areas near the Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square.
The groups hurled missiles, smoke grenades, glass bottles and flares at police officers.
Mr Hutchinson and his friends told ITV News they believe the man, who was on the floor, would have been killed had they not been there to step in. — Itv.com
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