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LIVERPOOL. — Liverpool players took a knee around the centre circle at Anfield in a message of support following the death in police custody of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The picture, featuring 29 Reds players, was posted with the caption “Unity is strength. #BlackLivesMatter”.
Players reportedly requested the picture during training on Monday.
Manchester United players Paul Pogba and Marcus Rashford added their voices to worldwide protests against racism.
Protests have been held after Floyd, an unarmed black man, died on May 25 after being restrained by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who kneeled on his neck for almost nine minutes to pin him down.
Chauvin has since been charged with his murder and sacked.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick first protested against racial injustice and police brutality by kneeling down during the American national anthem in the summer of 2016. That gesture has since become symbolic to the Black Lives Matter movement.
United midfielder Pogba said in a passionate Instagram post that he felt “felt anger, pity, hatred, indignation, pain and sadness”.
The French World Cup winner added: “Sadness for George and for all black people who suffer from racism EVERY DAY! Whether in football, at work, at school, ANYWHERE! This has to stop, once and for all. Not tomorrow or the next day, it has to end TODAY!
“Violent acts of racism can no longer be tolerated. I can’t tolerate, I won’t tolerate, WE WON’T TOLERATE.
“Racism is ignorance, LOVE is intelligence, STOP the silence, STOP racism.” — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter