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London George Floyd protests: Thousands of activists 'take the knee' together across London

PA
PA

Thousands of protesters "took the knee" together and raised their fists to the sky in London as demonstrations continue over the death of George Floyd.

The mass kneel at 6pm in locations across the capital came after thousands of protestors descended on Hyde Park on Wednesday, before marching to Downing Street.

Mr Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died in police custody in Minneapolis last week after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes.

Some police officers were seen “taking a knee” earlier in the day outside Downing Street, however as protesters knelt at 6pm none of the officers joined them.

Protesters took part in the mass kneel from Downing Street and Trafalgar Square, and firefighters also took part in a rally in Brixton.

Brits who wanted to support the Black Lives Matter campaign and protests from home were also urged to "take the knee'" from their doorstep. The move was organised by Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) as a gesture to honour Mr Floyd.

Earlier, Star Wars actor John Boyega gave an emotional speech in Hyde Park about the death of Mr Floyd.

The 28-year-old became tearful at points during his speech, which referenced two other black Americans who died in the US and the murder of Stephen Lawrence in the UK.

He said: “Today is about innocent people who were halfway through their process, we don’t know what George Floyd could have achieved, we don’t know what Sandra Bland could have achieved, but today we’re going to make sure that won’t be an alien thought to our young ones.”

Later on Wednesday, Mr Floyd's family visited a makeshift shrine at the Minneapolis street corner where he died on May 25 and demanded the arrest of all four police officers involved in his death.

The family’s lawyer, Ben Crump, repeated his call for all four officers to be charged.

The officer, Derek Chauvin, has been fired and charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers who were present were also fired but none have been charged over Mr Floyd’s death.

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Thousands descend on Hyde Park for George Floyd protest- LIVE