The brother of George Floyd, who was killed in Minneapolis in the U.S. on 25 May, made a speech to the U.N. on Wednesday, in a session dedicated to addressing police brutality around the world.
Floyd’s death has sparked protests worldwide against police violence over the last two weeks.
During his speech, Philonise Floyd recalled how his brother had “begged for his life” when a white police officer held his knee against George Floyd’s neck for “eight minutes and forty six seconds”.
He described his brother has having been “tortured to death,” and said his family “had to watch the last moments of his life” which were captured on camera.
“The officers showed no mercy, no humanity” he said, adding that the incident showed “black people the same lesson yet again- black lives do not matter in the United States of America.”
Philonise Floyd also spoke about protests which had sprung up in the wake of his brother’s death, arguing that police violence had taken place at several demonstrations in the U.S.
He said: “When people raise their voices to protest the treatment of black people in America they are silenced – they are shot and killed.”
At the end of his address Floyd asked for the UN to consider “an independent commission of inquiry to investigate police killings of black people in America, and the violence used against peaceful protestors.”
Members attending the meeting in Geneva held a minute’s silence for the victims of police violence at the beginning of the session, which was described by UN Human Rights Council President Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger as “an urgent debate on the current racially inspired human rights violations.”
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