Tyrone Mings defends England players who kneel at Euro after Priti Patel deemed it a “political gesture” | UK News

English footballer Tyrone Mings responded to the “refusal to defend” Priti Patel who knelt before the matches of Euro 2020.

Responding to the Home Minister’s comment that the protest against racism is a “policy of gestures” and that fans have the right to boo the players, the defender said that “everyone is entitled to their own opinion”.

It comes as Boris Johnson’s former racial adviser warned of “another Stephen Lawrence or Jo Cox tragedy” if government ministers continue to engage in so-called culture wars.

England players and manager Gareth Southgate have explained on several occasions that they have knelt down in protest against racism.

And speaking on Tuesday, Mings said players are “trying to educate or inform” people across the movement.

“To the Home Secretary I don’t really have a direct message,” said the Aston Villa player.

“We talked and [Priti Patel] invited me once to a Zoom call, where she seemed so interested and enthralled with the players’ perspective and what more we could do to fix these kinds of issues.

“But at the same time, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The Home Secretary is one of many who oppose us getting on our knees, or refuse to defend him.

“We have our own set of beliefs and what we think we can do to help or be players who can be influential and can stand up for what we believe in, and it’s understandable that when you have such strong beliefs there will be an opposition to that.

“We’ve talked about it a lot, we’ve talked about trying to educate or trying to educate the minority that refuses to recognize why we take the knee and want to boo it.

“But at the same time at Wembley there was an overwhelmingly positive reaction to our knee grab as well and I don’t think…