LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of people in Ireland are calling for justice for a Congolese man who died after he was restrained by security guards outside a Dublin department store.Activists said disturbing video of Yves Sakila in distress as he was pinned to the sidewalk was reminiscent of the killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis in 2020. Sakila, 35, had been chased and detained May 15 by several security guards who suspected him of shoplifting at Arnotts, Ireland’s oldest and largest department store, in the heart of Dublin. He was unresponsive when police arrived and was later pronounced dead at a hospital. “Yves Sakila was a man who did not deserve to die,” Suzie Tansia, of the Congolese Community Ireland, said at a demonstration Thursday. “He was a human being, like you and I. He was somebody’s son, and that could have been any one of us.”Here are some things to know about the incident.
Video shows man pinned to the ground until he becomes motionlessAttorney John Gerard Cullen, who represents the man’s family, said Sakila allegedly stole a bottle of perfume from the store. Sakila was pursued by security officers as he fled, knocking over a man in his 80s who was hospitalized with injuries, police said.Video of the incident, described by the Irish Network Against Racism as “very disturbing,” shows a man said to be Sakila struggling and crying out in distress as he was held down by several men for nearly five minutes.
