Small crowd gathers in Portsmouth to pay tribute to BAME people who have died in police custody and due to Covid-19

The Black Lives Matter event, organised by the Stand Up To Racism Portsmouth group, took place in Bransbury Park yesterday (June 13) with attendees taking a knee and holding signs with the names of those who have lost their lives.

Speeches and poems were read out to the crowd.

Organiser Simon Magorian said: ‘We wanted to pay tribute to those who have died and also show our stand against institutionalised racism in society.

‘There needs to be change across many areas of society including schools and housing.

‘We kept it low key as we know we need to be responsible and everyone was socially distanced.’

On the same day groups gathered in Guildhall Square to protect memorials from anticipated vandalism.

Mr Magorian added: ‘In terms of the statue in Bristol we were in favour of that coming down but we were not in favour of the graffiti on the cenotaph.

‘We support the removal of slave owner statues, and of figures like Cecil Rhodes, because some of these statues are from a bygone era and Britain has to come to terms with its Imperial past.

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