Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola has criticised US President Donald Trump over unlawful k!llings by ICE agents.
In a remarkable press conference, the City boss criticised the Trump administration after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents in Minneapolis, having earlier had his say on the wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and Sudan.
‘Look what happened in the United States of America, Renee Good and (intensive care nurse) Alex Pretti have been killed,’ the 55-year-old said when asked what was behind his decision to speak up on political issues.
‘Imagine the NHS, five six people around him, go on the grass and 10 shots. Tell me how you can defend that?’
City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak was the United Arab Emirates’ representative on Trump’s newly formed Board of Peace at Davos last month, an organisation designed to resolve conflicts that also affords the USA significant decision-making power.
Al Mubarak was part of a delegation that visited the White House following Trump’s inauguration last year.
Last month, the Jewish Representative Council accused Guardiola of ‘putting the lives of British Jews in danger’ in the wake of ‘shameful’ remarks around Gaza and wrote to Al Mubarak asking why their manager had not condemned the terrorist attack on a local synagogue.
Talking broadly about geopolitics, Guardiola said yesterday: ‘Never, ever in the history of humanity have we had the information in front of our eyes more clearly than now.
‘The genocide in Palestine, what happened in Ukraine, what happened in Russia, what happened all around the world — in Sudan, everywhere. What happened in front of us? Do you want to see it? It’s our problems as human beings. It’s our problems.
‘Is there someone here who is not affected every single day? For me, it hurts me. If it was the opposite (political) side, it would hurt me. Killing thousands of innocent people, it hurts me. It’s no more complicated than that. Do something wrong, go to jail.
‘I have a lot of friends from many, many countries, but when you have an idea and you need to defend (it) and you have to kill thousands of people (to do that) I’m sorry, I will stand up.’ Protest groups have called on City’s owner and UAE vice president Sheikh Mansour to be held to account for the conflict in Sudan and have twice demonstrated outside the Etihad Stadium in recent months.
The Sudanese government accused the UAE of being ‘complicit in genocide’, something the UAE strongly denies. The UAE this week pledged $20million in humanitarian aid to the region.
Guardiola added: ‘People who have to (leave) their countries, in the sea and then go on a boat to get rescued. Don’t ask if he is right or wrong, rescue him. We can reach the moon, we can do everything. But still right now, we kill each other, for what? For what? It is about a human being. Protecting human life is the only thing we have.’