Marine veteran stands outside Utah Capitol in support of Black Lives Matter for so long his shoes reportedly started to melt

‘I deliberately chose to treat this as an extended moment of silence, because the voices of so many non-whites are often not heard’

Retired Marine Todd Winn, wearing a mask which reads "I Can't Breathe," participates in a protest in front of the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City ((2020 The Associated Press))

A US Marine veteran stood outside the State Capitol in Utah, with “I can’t breathe” taped over his mouth, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, for so long, that his shoes reportedly started to melt.

Todd Winn, who has received the purple heart twice, stood in front of the Capitol in Salt Lake City on Friday, for three hours and in complete silence.

Mr Winn stood with the tape over his mouth and a sign that read: “Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tamir Rice, countless others.”

The veteran stood in the same spot for the duration of his protest, and only moved to take a knee and stand at attention, according to Business Insider.

He refused to take water from anybody, and the area became so hot during his protest, that his shoes started to melt, the outlet reported.

He protested on Friday, in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, following the death of Mr Floyd, who died after his neck was knelt on by Derek Chauvin, who at the time was a Minneapolis police officer, but has now been charged with second degree murder and manslaughter.

Protests, in opposition to police brutality against African Americans, have taken place in areas in every state in the US, over the past couple of weeks.

Mr Winn’s protest was captured by photographer Robin Pendergast, who happened to be driving by the Capitol, while he was demonstrating.

Mr Pendergast told Business Insider that he was struck by Mr Winn wearing his full military uniform, and felt he needed to capture it.

“I see this single blue figure, standing in front of the opening panel to the Capitol, with a homemade banner on a stick,” he said, and added: “I knew that the statement he was making was pretty special for a lot of people.”

The photographer said that he knew that he “had to get out and support him,” and added: “Immediately, the respect was there.”

Mr Pendergast uploaded the photo to Reddit, and Mr Winn commented on the post, to explain the reason behind his protest.

“I deliberately chose to treat this as an extended moment of silence, because the voices of so many non-whites are often not heard,” Mr Winn wrote. “I do not consider this a political issue, I consider it a human issue, and a global one at that.”

He said he wasn’t trying to “espouse any political ideology,” but rather highlight “the inalienable rights and protections all Americans should expect to be provided.

“I swore to uphold those rights,” he added, “and I feel this is one way of doing so by speaking out against discrimination and failed training/procedure and oversight.”

Mr Winn commented that he wanted his protest to be seen by the kinds of people who have wilfully ignored the protests.

“I hope it will be seen by individuals who would normally tune out the protesters and allow them to — at least for a moment ⁠— stop and consider what is really being asked for here,” he wrote.

The veteran said those issues are: “Equality, justice, fairness. The right to assemble. The right to be free from discrimination no matter the colour of your skin. The right not to fear the police forces whose duty is to protect and serve communities.”

Mr Winn added: “These should not be partisan political issues, but globally valid concerns we all should be willing to support together.”