Nigel Farage, Brexit Party leader and former LBC Broadcaster, has hit out at reports that police officers who refuse to ‘take the knee’ in solidarity with Black Lives Matters protestors. Following the report that the Hampshire force told its officers that refusing to ‘take the knee’ might make them the ‘focus of protestors attention’, Farage branded the move a “total surrender” to “anarchy and Marxism.”
That Hertfordshire police want their officers to take the knee before protestors is a total surrender to anarchy, Marxism and an organisation that wants them abolished. Insanity mixed with cowardice. https://t.co/Cw6M7sPnDR
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 14, 2020
The advice, issued as part of Operation Velour, calls ‘taking the knee’ a “positive and engaging” action:
“Officers are to be mindful that this is optional and those who do not do so may become the focus of protesters’ attention.
“This has a very positive and engaging effect and when taken by officers, has a positive reaction on the protest groups.”
‘Taking the knee’ has become symbolic of solidarity with BLM since the killing of George Floyd, the spark that has lit the flame of protest. Farage himself has been critical of the protests and publicly lost his post as a prime time talk show host on LBC for comparing Black Lives Matter to the Taliban. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said that people should not attend BLM demonstrations as they were ‘likely to end in violence’.
