Stink on sewage in rivers
THOUSANDS of Black Lives Matter activists defied a ban on mass gatherings and marched in central London yesterday.
Protesters ignored Covid-19 social distancing rules to take to the streets in the wake of the death of American George Floyd.
Crowds descended on Trafalgar Square, Downing Street and the US embassy clutching placards.
Many chanted “I can’t breathe” – the final words of African-American Floyd, 46, as a white officer knelt on his neck in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Among those chanting at armed officers guarding the entrance to Number 10 were protesters waving the flag of anti-fascist group Antifa.
US President Donald Trump has accused the militant Left-wingers of stoking riots and looting in the US.
Yesterday’s event, Kneel for Floyd, was advertised on social media.
At 1pm, protesters fell to their knees in solidarity with black men and women across the world.
Reverend Sally Hitchiner, associate vicar at St Martin-in-theFields church in Trafalgar Square, said: “I’m very sympathetic to the issue but also surprised to see the strength of emotion that has gathered people together.”
Similar protests were held in Manchester, Cardiff and Glasgow with more planned for this week.
MINISTERS will today be urged to end the “plague” of sewage pollution in Britain’s rivers and seas to make them safe all year round.
Campaign group Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) says the UK ranks 25th out of 30 European countries for coastal water quality and that standards have not improved from the “dire” level of the 1990s.
It also claimed only 14 per cent of British rivers actually meet good environmental standards.
The group says the sewage puts swimmers, surfers and tourists at risk of viruses and infections.
It will today seek at least 50,000 signatures for an online petition calling on the Government to stop sewage overflows and farm slurry entering rivers and the sea.
The group’s chief executive Hugo Tagholm said: “It’s unacceptable to treat blue spaces increasingly important to the health and wellbeing of society in this way.”