Taking the knee in Feltham

by Siobhan Kelly

The murder of George Floyd by racist cops in Minneapolis in May sparked protests that have rocked the United States and a wave of solidarity actions in Britain and the rest of Europe. The British Black Lives Matter movement has taken the lead the campaign demanding racial equality, social and criminal justice and basic human rights. Last Sunday they took the knee for George Floyd in the Feltham Arcade in West London.

            BLM supporters, including two Labour councillors as well as local religious leaders, gathered in Feltham High Street at 1.30 pm for a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with all protesters against racism and demand racial justice globally. The West London organisers plan to continue the demonstration on a fortnightly basis and the next one is set for Sunday 12^th July.

Solidarity on the Green!

by Siobhan Kelly

A cheery crowd gathered on Turnham Green this last Sunday for a peaceful protest in support of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Justice for Grenfell. Around 200 people gathered at the Green which is in the middle of Chiswick High Street. quite a good turn-out for the affluent neighbourhood of West London.

It started as a small group meeting at Christ Church in the middle of the green at 1:30pm, walking through the green and lining up along the fence where it continued to grow. Local police were on hand to ensure social distancing was maintained and the pavement kept clear for pedestrians. They also fended off a motorist who stopped traffic to yell at us for several minutes before giving us the two-finger salute as he finally drove off!

Most locals were receptive, with many stopping to take pictures and record video and some even raising a fist in solidarity as they walked or cycled by. We had many motorists beep as they passed the demonstration. At one point a Black woman walking down the street realised why we were standing there, gave us a thumbs up and started to dance along the pavement to the music the organisers played over a small PA system.

The demonstration lasted an hour. Halfway through we knelt in silence for 8:46, the amount of time Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck resulting in his death on 25^th May. Once the hour was over most of the protesters left but a third stayed on to continue to encourage engagement from community.

Talking to others in attendance after the demonstration ended, they told me the crowd grew to the point that the line of protesters extended back into the green itself. There is word that the organisers have arranged for two more demonstrations in the coming weeks. So, if any of you are in the West London area please join them in solidarity of Black Lives Matter.

Anger outside the American Embassy

    by Siobhan Kelly

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd there have been protests all around the world. London was no exception. The protest at the United States embassy in Nine Elms on Sunday was scheduled to start at 2 pm but it was already in progress by 1:30. The crowd was diverse and outraged; all standing (and kneeling) in unity to oppose the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, police killings of people from minority ethnic groups and the violent reaction of police to the mostly peaceful protests that continue across the United States.

We chanted “Black Lives Matter”, “We Can’t Breathe”, “Teach Black History”, “No Justice, No Peace, No Racist Police”, “Say their name” which was followed by the names of victims that were killed by police including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. There were even a brief chants of “Boris Johnson is a wanker” and “Fuck Trump” although the chants of “Fuck White Privilege” quickly died out.

The crowd stood outside the US embassy for about 90 minutes, then people started to turn around and walked back up Nine Elms lane to Vauxhall Bridge. A man was walked through the crowd saying “walk with me to the New Scotland Yard”. The crowd then walked over the bridge, disrupting traffic for about a mile in its wake for nearly an hour.

The atmosphere was angry and yet peaceful. There were very few people who were not wearing face masks, and at least where I stood people kept about a metre distance between themselves and those not in their group. The cautious protestors came out in droves despite the urging by Health Secretary Matt Hancock not to attend the protests while we are still in the midst of a pandemic. There were volunteers giving out masks, gloves and squirting hand sanitiser.

Once the crowd left the street, apart from a few stragglers like myself, the police walked down the street along with “Legal Observers”. The police weren’t intimidating and didn’t even clear the street of all the protesters. Behind the line of police walking and their vans there was another smaller group of protesters.

It is astonishing that even with cameras recording police brutality in America it still continues. They don’t care that you film them attacking civilians and the press – especially civilians that are non-violent and only exercising their constitutional right to peacefully protest.

But is encouraging to see such support for the victims of these racist cops, all over the UK and the world, as a result of the killing of George Floyd and the protests in America.