Players take a knee as Premier League restarts

Premier League players, including champions Manchester City, takle a knee before kickoff in support of the "Black Lives Matter" movement.

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: ARSENAL, MANCHESTER CITY, ASTON VILLA AND SHEFFIELD UNITED PLAYERS TAKING A KNEE AS PART OF THE BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT SHOWS: MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, UK (JUNE 17, 2020) (PREMIER LEAGUE / PREMIER LEAGUE PRODUCTIONS - A MAXIMUM USE OF TWO MINUTES.

EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

NO USE AFTER 1900GMT ON JUNE 20, 2020) 1.

ARSENAL CAPTAIN, PIERRE-EMERICK AUBAMEYANG (NUMBER 14), WALKING ONTO PITCH WITH SQUAD, "BLACK LIVES MATTER" SEEN WRITTEN ACROSS THE BACK OF THEIR SHIRTS 2.

MANCHESTER CITY WINGER, RAHEEM STERLING (7) WALKING ONTO PITCH 3.

STERLING ON PITCH 4.

MANCHESTER CITY MIDFIELDER, KEVIN DE BRUYNE ON PITCH WITH "BLACK LIVES MATTER" ON THEIR SHIRT 5.

MANCHESTER CITY SQUAD / STERLING 6.

VIDEO MESSAGE IN SUPPORT OF BLACK LIVES MATTER MOVEMENT SHOWN ON JUMBO SCREEN 7.

PLAYERS AND REFEREE TAKING A KNEE ON PITCH 8.

STERLING ON PITCH BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 17, 2020) (PREMIER LEAGUE / PREMIER LEAGUE PRODUCTIONS - A MAXIMUM USE OF TWO MINUTES.

EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

NO USE AFTER 1900GMT ON JUNE 20, 2020) 9.

SHEFFIELD UNITED PLAYERS WALKING OUT ON TO PITCH AT VILLA PARK, OLIVER NORWOOD (NUMBER 16) AND GEORGE BALDOCK (NUMBER 2) AT THE BACK GROUP AND ON THEIR SHIRTS YOU CAN SEE THE SLOGAN "BLACK LIVES MATTER" 10.

BANNER IN EMPTY STAND, READING: "BLACK LIVES MATTER" 11.

REFEREE BLOWING WHISTLE AND HE ALONG WITH PLAYERS TAKE A KNEE AS PART OF THE "BLACK LIVES MATTER" CAMPAIGN 12.

ASTON VILLA DEFENDER, TYRONE MINGS, TAKING A KNEE 13.

PLAYERS ON PITCH BEFORE KICKOFF STORY: Premier League players, including champions Manchester City, took a knee before kickoff in support of the "Black Lives Matter" movement as the English season restarted on Wednesday (June 17).

The league returned after a 100-day hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the teams and match officials sent out a strong statement of support for the worldwide protests against racism.

All of the players also had "Black Lives Matter" on the back of their shirts instead of their names which will be a feature for the first 12 matches of the restart.

(Production: Tim Hart)