Black protester who carried white man to safety tried to avoid ‘catastrophe’
The Black Lives Matter protester seen in viral video carrying an injured white counter-protester over his shoulder to safety in London said he did it to prevent a “catastrophe,” according to a report.
“My real focus was on avoiding a catastrophe, all of a sudden the narrative changes into ‘Black Lives Matters, Youngsters Kill Protesters.’ That was the message we were trying to avoid,” Patrick Hutchinson told CNN.
The personal trainer and Muay Thai fighter went viral after being photographed marching through angry mobs while carrying the apparent rival, who was hurt during skirmishes in tourist hotspots in central London on Saturday.
Other Black Lives Matter marchers put protective arms around the injured man as he was carried to safety through the crowds, flanked by police in riot gear.
The man was not immediately identified, but witnesses told Reuters he was one of hundreds of right-wing counter-protesters who had disrupted George Floyd protests.
Hutchinson told CNN he initially saw the man lying in the fetal position surrounded by protesters.
He said he and his friends formed a cordon around the man before he scooped him up to take him to police.
“I am carrying him, my friends are protecting myself and the man on my shoulder. He was still receiving blows, you can feel people trying to hit him,” Hutchinson told the network.
“There were people trying to protect him at the same time carried him over to the police and I said, ‘Here you are.’ One of them said, ‘Thank you. You did a good thing there,’” he added.
Pierre Noah was among those who helped Hutchinson during the clash.
“I’m saving two lives right there. I’m saving the man that’s just about to get squashed up and beat up. And then I’m saving those young boys to get a life sentence,” Noah, who works as a bodyguard, told the BBC.
Hutchinson said he attended the protests because “history was in the making” and it was a “no brainer” to support the cause.
“I want to see equality for everybody. I am a father, a grandfather and I would love to see my young children, my young grandchildren, my nieces, my nephews have a better world than I have lived in,” Hutchinson said.
“The world I live in has been better than my grandparents’ and my parents’ and hopefully we can continue until we have total equality for everyone,” he added.