John Boyega among thousands Black Lives Matter protest in London

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>Thousands of protesters have flooded central London for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in response to the death of George Floyd&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Activists chanted &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>black lives matter<&sol;i>” and &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>we will not be silent<&sol;i>” as they waited for the demonstration to begin at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park on Wednesday&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Star Wars actor John Boyega was among those to speak at the rally before protesters&comma; many wearing masks and holding placards&comma; marched on Westminster&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It came as chief constables from across the UK issued a joint statement saying they &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>stand alongside all those across the globe who are appalled and horrified<&sol;i>” after a black man died after being restrained by US police&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Floyd died after a white officer held him down by pressing a knee into his neck in Minneapolis on May 25&comma; sparking days of protest in the US&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At the London event on Wednesday&comma; organisers provided masks and gloves to protesters who were asked to sit two metres apart unless they were from the same household&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Protesters were also told to keep their arms stretched out to ensure social distancing when moving around Hyde Park for the protest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Naomi Smith&comma; one of the event organisers&comma; told the PA news agency&colon; <i>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We want people to understand that people are dying from coronavirus and people are dying from racism&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 21-year-old said one of her reasons for protesting was Belly Mujinga&comma; a railway worker who died with Covid-19 after reportedly being spat at by a man who said he was infected with the virus&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>British Transport Police launched an investigation into her death but have since said it would not be taking any further action&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thousands of activists&comma; including members of the railway worker’s family&comma; descended on Victoria Station – where Ms Mujinga was working at the time of the spitting incident – holding a sign that read &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>Justice for Belly Mujinga”<&sol;i>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>I think that is my main reason for this&comma; because she’s black she doesn’t have a voice right now&comma;<&sol;i>” Ms Smith said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>This is our story&comma; this is a UK story&comma; this is what’s going on right now with us&period; George Floyd is in America&comma; and we’re here for him as well&period;”<&sol;i><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Protesters also headed to Downing Street&comma; where hundreds knelt with one fist raised while facing police officers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in the Commons that Mr Floyd’s death was &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>inexcusable<&sol;i>”&comma; in his first public comments on the widespread demonstrations&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said the Labour leader supported the &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>solidarity<&sol;i>” being shown by UK demonstrators but urged them to uphold the rules on staying two metres apart&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>We support the right to protest&comma; of course we do<&sol;i>&comma;” said Sir Keir’s spokesman&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>But of course we would also say that we need to do it in a way which follows the Government’s guidance on social distancing&period;<&sol;i>”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement&comma; the chief constables&comma; the chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council&comma; the chief executive of the College of Policing and the president of the Police Superintendents’ Association said&colon; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>We stand alongside all those across the globe who are appalled and horrified by the way George Floyd lost his life&period; Justice and accountability should follow&period;<&sol;i>”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They also urged people who want to make their voices heard to be aware that &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;<i>coronavirus remains a deadly disease and there are still restrictions in place to prevent its spread&comma; which include not gathering outside in groups of more than six people<&sol;i>”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the US&comma; Tuesday marked the eighth night of protests&comma; which began in Minneapolis where Mr Floyd died&comma; and quickly spread across the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Demonstrations have taken place in areas including New York&comma; Los Angeles&comma; Miami&comma; Columbia&comma; South Carolina and Houston&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some have included clashes between police and protesters&comma; including the use of tear gas and rubber bullets by officers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>US President Donald Trump has pressed state governors to take a more forceful approach against protesters&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In the UK&comma; demonstrators previously protested outside the US Embassy in south London as well as in Trafalgar Square following Mr Floyd’s death&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2e545982b">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; 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