Protest in city after US death
A Black Lives Matter protest will take place in Bath this weekend following the death of George Floyd in the US, which has sparked civil unrest in America and around the world.
The planned protest looks set to attract hundreds, with 100 people already confirming they will attend and more than 350 having declared an “interest” on Facebook.
The event – which is among many being held across the West Country – will take place at 2pm at Bath’s Green Park station on Saturday. It is described on Facebook as a peaceful protest by organisers, who say that “social distancing will be observed”.
A similar protest looks set to attract around 4,000 people to Bristol, as people across the globe stand in solidarity with US protesters after Mr Floyd’s death.
In Bristol a march will see protesters make their way from College Green to Portland Square, in St Paul’s, at 1pm on Sunday.
George Floyd, 46, died after complaining he was struggling to breathe when a police officer knelt with force on his neck on the streets of Minneapolis on May 25. A private postmortem examination found Mr Floyd died from asphyxia – a lack of oxygen – the BBC reports.
Black Lives Matter states on its website: “#Blacklivesmatter was founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation is a global organisation in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on black communities by the state and vigilantes.”
President Donald Trump has been strongly criticised for his handling of the unrest in the US.
He and others have blamed violent clashes at some protests on anti-fascist, far left organisations.
The world has also supported online campaigns such as #Blackouttuesday or #Blackoutday2020.
Some businesses, especially those in the entertainment industry, closed on Tuesday, including the offices of Glastonbury Festival. The festival said on Twitter on Monday: “We stand against racism. Our offices will be closed tomorrow #Blacklivesmatter #Blackouttuesday.”
Taylor Swift, who was due to perform at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, joined many other celebrities to share such messages with their millions of followers.