South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has declared 5 June as Black Friday to mark the police killing of African-American George Floyd in the streets of Minneapolis in the US state of Minnesota, the party announced on Friday.
Floyd’s brutal death, in full view of the public and captured on video, saw a police officer pressing his knee on the unarmed victim’s neck until he died.
The cold-blooded killing has sparked worldwide protests over the past 10 days.
“The alliance, starting on Friday the 5th of June, through an event to be addressed by the ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa, will launch a campaign of solidarity with the people of the United States,” ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte said on Friday.
Addressing the media via video link, Duarte said the solidarity “will start our own Black Friday where, henceforth, we are called upon to wear black on Fridays for the next three weeks” in mourning for Floyd.
The party’s announcement of Black Friday comes a day after civil rights leader, the Reverend Al Sharpton, led the eulogy at the first memorial service to remember and honour the life of Floyd held in Minneapolis on Thursday.
The memorial was held just hours after three former police officers involved in Floyd’s killing made their first court appearance following their arrest a day earlier.
The three former cops, charged with aiding and abetting Floyd’s murder, joined another former officer Derek Chauvin in answering the murder charges in the choking to death of Floyd on 25 May in Minneapolis.
The ANC’s declaration with a solidarity observance of Black Friday follows largely peaceful protests which are on-going in America and other countries.
The protestors are demanding a change to the country’s long-standing racist justice system which has been victimising black Americans for centuries.
NM/jn/APA