The home secretary, Priti Patel, has described the Black Lives Matter protests that swept the UK last year as "dreadful" and said she did not agree with the gesture of taking the knee.
The protests, in which demonstrations took place in more than 260 towns and cities in June and July, were the largest anti-racism protests in Britain for decades.
They were sparked by the death of George Floyd while in the custody of police in Minneapolis. Outrage grew at the fate suffered by Floyd, whose heart stopped on 25 May as a police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, according to a medical examiner, with solidarity protests held across the world.
There has since been a public reckoning with Britain's slavery and colonial past. Earlier this year, a Guardian investigation revealed that scores of tributes to slave traders, colonialists and racists had been taken down or were to be removed across the UK, with hundreds of others under review by local authorities and institutions.
However, during a radio interview on Friday morning, Patel said she did not support the protests. Asked if she would be prepared to take the knee, she replied: "No I wouldn't, and I would not have done at the time either.
"There are other ways in which people can express their opinions, protesting in the way that people did last summer was not the right way at all … I didn't support the protests. Those protests were dreadful."
She added: "We saw policing as well coming under a great deal of pressure from some of the protest. I don't support protest and I also did not support the protests that were associated …"
Interrupted, she sought to clarify that she was not criticising the right to protest but rather the "dreadful" action last year.
Priti Patel describes Black Lives Matter protests as 'dreadful'
UK home secretary says she disagreed with last year’s protests as well as taking the knee
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