Soccer Football – Bundesliga – Borussia Dortmund v Hertha BSC – Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany – June 6, 2020 Borussia Dortmund and Hertha players take a knee before the match, as play resumes behind closed doors following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Lars Baron/Pool via REUTERS DFL regulations prohibit any use of photographs as image sequences and/or quasi-video
DORTMUND, Germany (Reuters) – Players of Borussia Dortmund and Hertha Berlin went down on one knee ahead of their Bundesliga game on Saturday in tribute to George Floyd, an unarmed black man whose death in U.S. police custody has triggered protests around the world.
Both teams gathered around the centre circle and knelt ahead of their league game, which is being played in an empty Signal Iduna Park stadium in Dortmund due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The coaches and their staff on the benches also joined in.
Earlier this week the German Football Association (DFB) ruled that players were free to show their support for protests over the death of Floyd. Several players last week lifted their shirts to show messages in support of the protests.
The DFB said it would take no action against symbols of solidarity with the protests in the U.S. and across the world.
The protests have been sparked by the May 25 killing of Floyd in Minneapolis after a white officer detaining him knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as fellow officers stood by.
Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Toby Davis