Metropolitan Police

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Momo took part in a Protest in Central London . Little did he know, this picture would be a tirade of racist insults

A peaceful protester received racial Abuse and online threats-and All because of a case of Mistaken Identity He's spoken exclusively to Bbc News about what is happening.

The First message was confusing. It came from A Journalist via Instagram, asks Momo if he captured the person on video at a War Memorial , seemingly want to burn a Union Jack .

He had no idea what it was All about, so that at first, The Message is ignored. But soon, a friend sent him a Facebook post. It featured Momo ' s photo. Threats and Abuse dominated the comments.

"He should be hung, drawn and quartered!"

"Go Back To your country!"

Others were much, much worse. It dawned on him that he was The Target of a campaign that accused him of torching The Flag at The Cenotaph , The Memorial to Britain's war dead on Whitehall in Central London .

It was a case of Mistaken Identity - obviously, those who made the effort, even The Most superficial examination. For one thing, the photos and news reports do not identify the person, the rose on The Memorial as A Man , But as A Woman .

But a few accounts published by Momo's real name - we have agreed to call him by a pseudonym, because of The Risk of further Abuse and, soon, his image went viral for All the wrong reasons.

Mistaken Identity

The 23-year-old Londoner is a new graduate, works as a tutor and see if we are a sustainable fashion brand.

The death of George Floyd moved him to Action - he wanted to highlight The Roots of racism across the U.S., in the UK as well.

And so, on Wednesday, the 3. In June, he joined in a peaceful anti-racism Protest in London. He pulled out a red, white and blue anorak and went out into the drizzle with a couple of friends, and wear A Sign that said: "The UK invented racism".

they marched and sang, and a few hours later, wet and cold, Momo returned home.

He pondered for a few days on the publication of photographs of themselves at the protests on his Social Media accounts, But finally did on The Following Monday, the 8. June.

Flag burning

unbeknownst to him, something important happened In Between . On Sunday, the 7. June, another Protest took place in Central London .

Although large and mostly peaceful, they were marred the evening will consist of a smaller, more violent group. the police said, following similar scenes of The Day before.

The Cenotaph flag incident occurred in The Middle of the melee. Images and news reports clearly show that the person up on the pedestal of The Memorial . As Momo Three Days before, she was wearing a red, white and blue anorak.

A protester at The Memorial on Sunday, may 7. June, four days after Momo attended protests in Central London

This is where the similarity ends, however. Momo bears little resemblance to The Woman picture at The Monument . You have different forms of face and build, and if you look closely, the patterns on their anoraks is significantly different.

But it is apparently filling up the online mob is one thing they have in common: they are both black.

"It has become clear to me that this is not about naming and shaming the person who says the fire on The Flag ," Momo. "Instead, it is about targeting a black person with Abuse . "

The Metropolitan Police say a 20-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of damage to property in connection with The Incident at The Memorial . She was rescued at a later date In July .

Racial slurs

Momo is not in a panic, until his brother noticed a certain viral tweet. Momo ' s image was shared by a Twitter account, @Nathan Britain, which has been recently dedicated to the news, the Lives against The Black matter of the demonstrators and the support of U.S. President Donald Trump .

"this is the scumbag who thought it was a good idea, the Union Jack On Fire on Whitehall," @Nathan Britain wrote. "I hope he is proud of himself, the dirty rat. "

even Though the account was not huge, thousands of people have retweeted and commented on. The answers were littered with racist insults.

In a statement, Twitter told the Bbc News : "users may not promote violence, threaten or harass Other People on the basis of race, ethnicity, or other protected groups. "But The Company also said that the tweet by @Nathan is Britain in breach of its rules.

The man behind @Nathan Britain will not respond to attempts to contact you, for the comment.

From Twitter, Momo's picture was shared in other places, including on Facebook and Reddit. In a group, the poster explains: "we make this motherfucker famous". The post went on at 1,500 shares and hundreds of comments before Facebook removed it along with another repetition of the false claim.

A Facebook spokesman said: "We will not tolerate Abuse , bullying or harassment, which on our platforms, and we encourage victims to report due to this behavior, so that we can act immediately. "

Despite the dozens of people who show a clear case of Mistaken Identity , many other accounts share Momo's image is not corrected your posts or you are down.

'I didn't expect it to be so'

The Abuse to continue, But Momo says that he is not to remove the original photo - The One of him in a peaceful Protest of his Social Media accounts. He has family and friends, contributions to the false claim, and says he was surprised by the Abuse .

"saturated with So many friends alert me and said: 'Can you believe this happened?' Trust Me , I can't believe it," he says. "As a black man, I'm so used to hear and see these types of comments.

"This whole situation really highlights the dehumanization of Black People online. People see only an image, people see only a face. The people not A Man with A Family .

"It is the meaning of" fact-checking shows, and The Black Lives Matter Movement . "

" What do you think?

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Source of news: bbc.com