Thousands Join Anti-Racism Protesters in UK Defying Ban on Mass Gatherings (+Video)
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Thousands of anti-racism protesters have gathered across the UK, defying calls from officials to avoid mass gatherings.
Crowds of mostly young people on Saturday heard speeches in Parliament Square, London, declaring the beginning of the end of institutional racism, and observed a minute’s silence on one knee to commemorate black people killed by police in the UK, The Guardian reported.
However, as the day wore on, tensions began to flare after a white man made racist remarks, prompting a person to throw a drink at him. He was led away by police following a tense standoff in which police pushed protesters back after one officer was hit in the face with a plastic bottle.
Further flashpoints erupted and officers brawled with protesters, with at least 14 arrests in total throughout the day and another nine officers injured, as glass bottles and flares continued to be thrown, while dozens of protesters danced to music played from a powerful speaker before some joined in prayer.
Elsewhere, about 15,000 people were estimated to have demonstrated in Manchester, while thousands more attended protests in Cardiff, Glasgow, Leicester, Milton Keynes and Sheffield, and in many other towns and cities in the UK to demand an end to systemic racism and in solidarity with George Floyd, the black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck in Minneapolis almost a fortnight ago.
Chanting, clapping in unison and holding homemade placards saying “black lives matter”, a crowd filled Piccadilly Square in Manchester to listen to speakers. They fell silent at 1.45pm and knelt to pay their respects to Floyd.
Several hundred marchers gathered in Newcastle while thousands more watched an online protest organized in the north-east.
In Belfast and Londonderry, police said organizers of protests attended by a total of about 1,000 people would be reported to the Public Prosecution Service “with a view to prosecution” for violating coronavirus lockdown regulations – a decision that could cause controversy.
More protests in solidarity with George Floyd were also scheduled in Manchester, Sheffield, Leicester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Ipswich today.
