By Gabriel Princewill-
Protesters from the group, Black Lives Matter protesters blocked the M4 motorway at Heathrow and in Nottingham, in a day of anti-racist activism.
Campaigners used the occasion to mark the fifth anniversary of the killing of Mark Duggan in Tottenham by police. Duggan was shot in 2011, after a chase by a police car culminated in his fatal shooting, shortly after he emerged from a taxi he had hired for his destination.
Conflicting accounts have been given about what immediately transpired before Duggan was shot and killed by police, but there is no dispute that a gun was not found in his possession at the time he was shot.
A gun was later found 100 yards from the shooting, but police have claimed he motioned towards his pockets as soon as he came out from the taxi.
DISRUPTION
Wail Qasim, who helped organized the Heathrow protest, said “There’s a constant disruption of black people’s lives in the everyday.
“There are everyday forms of racism you face in terms of stop and search, increased levels of unemployment, over-representation within mental health custody, the prison system – this is an ongoing disruption to black people’s lives which they constantly face”.people to listen, to really stop and listen to what is happening to black people – not just in the USA.
“The murder of our kids, our families, the fact that black people are three times less likely to be hired for a job.”
In a statement, the national organization, which describes itself as a network of anti-racists, said the UK needs a movement similar to the campaign in the US.
“[We] have #Shutdown roads in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham to mourn those who have died in custody , to protest the ongoing racist violence of the police, border enforcement, structural inequalities and the everyday indignity of street racism.
COMMEMORATE
“We have chosen today for our action to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Mark Duggan’s death at the hands of the Metropolitan Police. We stand in solidarity with the families and friends of all who have died at the hands of the British state.” The movement began in the U.S in 2012, after George Zimmerman was found not guilty of murdering Trayvon Martin in Florida.
FOUNDED
Black lives matter was founded by three women who have described it as ”an ideological and political intervention in a world where systematically and intentionally targeted for demise”
SOLIDARITY
Several supporters expressed their solidarity with Afro Americans by marching through central London to the House of Parliament. Now, the establishment of a U.K equivalent of the movement originally birthed in the U.S, has been growing . It’s overarching purpose being to campaign for justice in cases of black people who have lost their lives in the hands of police in Britain. Arrests were made during today’s demonstration, allegedly of disorderly and confrontational behavior.
CIVIL LIBERTY
The right to freely express ourselves through demonstrations like protests, is one of the civil liberties afforded to us by the Human Rights Act. However, the right to protest does not give anyone the license to behave inappropriately, or exceed reasonable limits in their protest.
The More importantly, protests with underlying aims that seek progressive outcomes should necessarily be followed up, with a view to achieve substantive improvements, and holding relevant organizations like the police to account whenever it can be demonstrated that they have exceeding their powers and committed an offense.
It must go without saying that white lives matter just as much as black lives, but the reasonable message from the group ”black lives matter” must be that black lives must not be undermined by unscrupulous police officers.