Archbishop Elpidophoros (Lambriniadis) of America has commented on the death of American citizen George Floyd last Monday, 25 May in Minneapolis.
Mr Floyd died after being wrongfully restrained and pinned down by police. Evidence has surfaced with pictures from the scene showing a police officer placing his knee on Floyd’s neck cutting off his airflow.
“Violence only breeds violence, but when such violence is perpetrated by those in authority, we must all stand up and say: ‘Not on our watch!’ We must stand against racism and stand for equality for all,” Elpidophoros said while he took to Twitter on Friday.
Meanwhile, Greek-American CNN news producer Bill Kirkos and his crew – reporters Omar Jimenez and photojournalist Leonel Mendez – were also arrested on Friday by the Minnesota State Patrol while reporting on the riots that have taken over Minneapolis.
Kirkos, Jimenez, and Mendez were handcuffed on air but they were reportedly released within hours after their arrest.
Following backlash from the press and the public regarding the arrest of the journalists Minnesota State Patrol released a statement saying that “the news crew was arrested as troopers were clearing the streets and restoring order”, noting that the CNN staff “were released once they were confirmed to be members of the media”.