Black Lives Matter protest marches through South London

Hundreds marched from Burgess Park demanding justice for George Floyd and justice for Grenfell, reports Cici Washburn

The 300 strong Black Lives Matter protest on Sunday organised by Stand Up To Racism at Burgess Park (between Camberwell and Peckham) coincided with the third anniversary of Grenfell.

Young people, families, and a mix of local people heard speeches about the deaths in the US at the hands of the police and also deaths of black people in London over the last 30 years; the importance of showing solidarity; the unnecessary tragedy of Grenfell and how Covid-19 has exposed the underlying racism and inequality here.

Naima Omar of Stand up to Racism said along the lines of ‘they don’t like us throwing statues in the river but they don’t care about thousands of refugees drowning in the Mediterranean’ to great applause.

The speeches were followed by a march increasing in numbers as it went along chanting ‘no justice no peace’, ‘black and white unite and fight’, ‘Boris is a racist’ and ‘the UK isn’t innocent’.