Britain to announce cross-govt commission on racial injustice: PM

LONDON - A cross-government commission is set to be launched to check how discrimination in the education system, in health and in the criminal justice system has affected black and minority ethnic groups in Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said here on Sunday.

"We're going to have a big, big effort, which we will be announcing very shortly: a new cross-government commission to look at what is going on for black and minority ethnic groups and to champion their success," Johnson noted.

The move is aimed at ending racial discrimination and injustice in the country, as well as providing more opportunities to black and ethnic minority students going to university, which has been "slightly lost," according to the prime minister.

"What I really want to do as prime minister is change the narrative, so we stop the sense of victimisation and discrimination... We stop the discrimination, we stamp out racism and we start to have a real sense of expectation of success, that's where I want to get to," he stressed. "But it won't be easy."

Johnson's remarks came amid a series of protests following a series of anti-racism demonstrations across Britain, sparked by the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed African American, by US police.

More than 100 people were arrested during Saturday's protests in London, which turned violent later and left six police officers injured, according to Scotland Yard.

It came after around 200 people breached the 17:00 curfew with most congregating around the statue of Churchill in Parliament Square in central London on Saturday. Police later blocked off two pedestrian bridges between Embankment and Waterloo as Black Lives Matter protesters had been on them attempting to get north in the capital.

Johnson condemned the violence on Twitter, saying racist thuggery "has no place on our streets. Anyone attacking the police will be met with full force of the law."

"These marches and protests have been subverted by violence and breach current guidelines. Racism has no part in the UK and we must work together to make that a reality," he wrote.