What are your rights to protest amidst the pandemic?

Anti-racism protests are taking place across the UK to demand justice following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed in US police custody.

Since Floyd’s death on 25 May, waves of anti-racism protests have spread from Minneapolis – his home city – across the United States and around the globe. On Wednesday (3 June), huge crowds could be heard in London’s Hyde Park chanting “I can’t breathe” – the painful last words Floyd uttered as he lay on the ground while a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes.

Protestors are calling for Floyd’s killers to be brought to justice and for an end to police brutality and systemic racism across the world.

The UK’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) coalition is not calling for protests but has said it will support people to stay safe amid the Covid-19 pandemic if they choose to join in demonstrations. In England and Wales, people from black communities have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19, with ONS analysis finding that black people are four times more likely to die after contracting coronavirus than white people.

BLM has advised protestors to wear masks and to self-isolate if they have joined the crowds. It said that there is a “duty to keep our elders [and] vulnerable members of our community safe”.

Read more at: https://eachother.org.uk/anti-racism-protests-black-lives-matter/