Black Lives Matter Protester Rescues Far-Right Man

This weekend saw numerous clashes across London after far-right mobs descended on the city to confront Black Lives Matter protesters. Although the largest planned protests were cancelled due to concerns of violence from the far-right, a number of smaller protests went ahead during which anti-racism demonstrators and the police were accosted by far-right mobs.

It was during one of these clashes that Black Lives Matter protester, Patrick Hutchinson, came across an injured man from the far-right mob. The man had fallen in the middle of the clashes and was deserted by his band of buddies. The photo of Hutchinson intervening and carrying the man to safety has since gone viral.

Hutchinson himself, however, says that what he did was natural. However, for those who saw the rescue, his act personified the best values of our common humanity.

“We stopped somebody from being killed”

Patrick Hutchinson, a personal trainer, was near the Southbank Centre by Waterloo which was one of the scenes of the clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and far-right mobs. The mobs, who ostensibly came to London to “protect the monuments”, had spent much of the day fighting with the police or attacking picnickers at Hyde Park after the main Black Lives Matter protests were cancelled due to fears of such attacks.

According to Hutchinson, the small number of Black Lives Matter protesters who were still in the city ended up in clashes with a far-right mob in Waterloo. Most of the far-right mob fled but one man ended up in the floor under conditions that Hutchinson likened to a stampede.

“I was just thinking of, you know, a human being on the floor,” Hutchinson said, explaining that he felt the man could die if he didn’t intervene. He likened the situation to the death of George Floyd himself, which could have been prevented had the other officers had intervened instead of watching it as bystanders.

Hutchinson waded into the melee to grab the man and was covered by several of his friends who formed a protective cordon around them. He said that some people were trying to hit the man even as he tried to pull him out.

Pierre Noah, one of those who helped Hutchinson save the man, said that as far as he was concerned, they saved two lives that day: the injured far-right protestor and any other person who could have ended up in jail if they had caused him further serious harm.

More than 100 people were arrested in Saturday’s violence which saw far-right mobs congregate around statues and other monuments around the city before ending up in clashes with the police.