‘Now is the time’: London’s Black Lives Matter rally looks like a turning point
Many of those protesting about George Floyd’s death believe demands for racial justice now have a new and unstoppable urgency
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It was always likely that the months of lockdown would demand some kind of emotional catharsis. You imagined it would involve the usual British excesses of lager and sunshine. In fact, in the past week its primary expression has been a coming together of mostly young people in our cities under the banner of Black Lives Matter.
On Saturday, in by far the largest of the week’s demonstrations in London, many thousands crammed shoulder to shoulder in Parliament Square in the blustery rain and edged their way forwards toward St James’s Park. On Friday, police and government ministers had warned that such a crowd was not only unlawful but certainly dangerous with the virus still being transmitted from person to person.
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