![Black Lives Matter activists block a Birmingham road to highlight institutional inequality]()
Black Lives Matter activists block a Birmingham road to highlight institutional inequality (Photograph: UKBLM)
Black Lives Matter activists have blocked access to a main road between Birmingham Airport and the city centre, in a bid to highlight inequality as part of a rebellious national day of action.
The group of protesters formed a human chain across Coventry Road along the A45 route and held up banners and placards bearing the messages ‘No Justice, No Peace, and ‘White Silence Is Violence’.
The demonstration was staged to coincide with a national day of direct action taking place across the country, with similar blockades, protests and rallies taking place in London, Manchester and Nottingham throughout the day.
The Birmingham activists set up a blockade along the A45, causing disruption for early morning drivers. As many left their cars to see what was going on, the protesters blocked access by creating a small human chain and hoisting up banners and placards.
The A45 is a major road which runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42. The road starts on the A4540 Birmingham Ring Road, bypassing Small Heath and crossing the B4145. The location was chosen for maximum impact.
Police have since reportedly arrested five people on A45 Coventry Road near Birmingham Airport.
Billed as a national ‘Shutdown’, the UK Black Lives Matter movement stated the aim of the deliberate nationwide disruptions are to “highlight the struggle for Black Lives in the UK and shut down state-sanctioned racialised sexism, classism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia.”
![Black Lives Matter activists block a Birmingham road to highlight institutional inequality]()
Black Lives Matter activists block a main Birmingham road as part of a national ‘shutdown’ (Photograph: UKBLM)
According to a spokesperson for the organisation, “We believe the time is now for a Black Lives Matter movement in the UK to shut down a nationwide crisis of racism.”
Similar to the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in the US, deaths in police custody is high on the agenda for the movement.
Alongside official IPCC figures revealing “Black people are overrepresented by more than a factor of two for deaths in police custody since 1998”, a list of other institutional inequalities has also been published by BLM:
STATS
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• Black people are up to 37 times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. (Fullfact.org, ‘Stop and search: are black people over-represented’)
• Black people are three times more likely to be arrested than white people. (Institute of Race Relations, ‘Criminal justice system statistics’)
• Black people are 44% more likely to be detained under the mental health act than white people. (The Mental Health Foundation, ‘The fundamental facts’)
• Black people are three times more likely to be unemployed than white people. (Department for Work and Pensions, ‘‘Labour market status by ethnic group: annual data to 2015)
• Black Caribbean pupils were almost four times more likely to be permanently excluded from school in 2009-10 than the school population as a whole. (Office of the Children’s Commissioner School Exclusions Inquiry, ‘They never give up on you’)
• There has been a 57% increase in reported racist hate crimes since Brexit vote. (The Independent, ‘EU referendum: Reports of hate crime increase 57% following Brexit vote’)
• 3034 black and brown people have drowned in the Mediterranean in 2016 alone. (At the time of writing. See Missing Migrants Project, http://missingmigrants.iom.int)
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![Anti-racism campaigners marched through Birmingham city centre (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)]()
Anti-racism campaigners marched through Birmingham city centre last month (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)
Protesters have confirmed their disruption of traffic and business is deliberate and intended.
“A delay of a few hours is nothing compared to the 24 years that Leon Patterson’s family have been fighting for justice. He had a total of 32 injuries to his body – part of his nose was missing, and a Home Office pathologist even admitted he had fabricated evidence of an overdose in court. Yet no one has ever been charged with any offence in relation to Leon’s death.
“We’re putting ordinary people at the centre of this conversation. Like Marcia Rigg, Janet Alder and Kadisha Brown-Burrell who have all lost close relatives to police violence. All other avenues have been exhausted. Families seeking accountability have gone through the courts
“If the justice system was fit for purpose we wouldn’t have to do this,” an activist explained.
![In London, Black Lives Matter protesters chained themselves to tarmac at a road into Heathrow airport this morning]()
In London, Black Lives Matter protesters chained themselves to tarmac at a road into Heathrow airport this morning (Photograph: UKBLM)
In London, Black Lives Matter protesters chained themselves to tarmac at a road into Heathrow airport this morning. The activists blockaded a central route into the busy terminals at the height of the summer season to draw attention to their campaign.
A large black banner bearing the words ‘This is a crisis’ was unfurled, a slogan formally associated with the current campaign.
The UKBLM coalition is a network of anti-racist activists from across the UK, calling for direct action and community organising to “protest black deaths in custody, structural poverty, the violent policing of borders and the rise of racism on British streets”.
The group is not affiliated with any political party but claims to work in co-ordination with anti-racist groups led by people of colour.
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BIRMINGHAM
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Last month, hundreds of protesters marched through Birmingham city centre, demonstrating and rallying in support of Black Lives Matter, in response to the recent and ongoing murders of black civilians in the US and UK.
![Blacks Lives Matter activists held a silent vigil outside the Bullring, in central Birmingham's High Street (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)]()
Blacks Lives Matter activists held a silent vigil outside the Bullring, in central Birmingham’s High Street last month (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)
Although not a new movement, the resurgence of activity was a direct response to the recent killing of 37-year-old Alton Sterling in Louisiana and Philando Castile in Minnesota.
Birmingham-based arts organisation Artivist called an initial silent vigil in High Street, which was followed by a march through the city centre and a rally outside Steelhouse Lane Police Station, which was organised by the Justice or Else for Kingsley Burrell campaign.
![Black Lives Matter supporters marched through Birmingham city centre (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)]()
Black Lives Matter supporters marched through Birmingham city centre in July 2016 (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)
![Birmingham Black Lives Matter activists staged a rally outside Steelhouse Police Station to highlight police brutality in the UK and US (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)]()
Birmingham Black Lives Matter activists staged a rally outside Steelhouse Police Station to highlight police brutality in the UK and US (Photograph: Geoff Dexter)
Campaigners hope direct action and disturbing the peace will echo the struggle of the civil rights movement, following the footsteps of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and encompassing the organisational militancy of the Suffragettes and the Black Panthers.
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MARK DUGGAN AND ENGLAND RIOTS
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![A photo from the family of Mark Duggan, the man shot dead by police in Tottenham Hale in August 2011.]()
A photo from the family of Mark Duggan, the man shot dead by police in Tottenham Hale in August 2011.
The UK ‘Shutdown’ comes on the fifth anniversary of the death of Londoner Mark Duggan – an unarmed black man who was shot dead by Met Police officers – and the resulting England riots which began in Tottenham.
In Birmingham, as in many parts of the country, shops and public buildings were occupied and targeted as anger spilled onto the streets in August 2011. In a tragic turn of events, the stand-off between police and public lead to rioting and deaths in the city.
At the time of Mark Duggan’s death, claims were made that he had a weapon but this was never proven. Conflicting police and public reports, along with a strong focus on Duggan’s alleged ‘gangster’ connections, were widely cited as contributing to the official justification of his death.
“The point isn’t whether Mark Duggan was a gangster or not, but whether the state sufficiently proved use of force was justified. The inquest was riddled with inconsistencies. The jury concluded that Mark didn’t have the gun on him when he was shot. No one saw him throw the gun, despite it being found 20m from him and over some railings. And the only civilian witness to the shooting described it as “an execution”,” UKBLM officials stated.
![The August 2011 death of Mark Duggan lead to national riots across England as anger spilled onto the streets (Photograph: Adam Yosef)]()
The August 2011 death of Mark Duggan lead to national riots across England as anger spilled onto the streets (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
![Riots took place in Birmingham following the police killing of Mark Duggan in August 2011 (Photograph: Adam Yosef)]()
Riots took place in Birmingham following the police killing of Mark Duggan in August 2011 (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
In November 2011, the IPCC had announced that the 9mm gun associated with the scene of the killing had been found 10–14 feet away, on the other side of a fence. QC Michael Mansfield stated that witnesses had told him they saw police throw the gun over the fence. The IPCC initially reported that three officers had also witnessed an officer throw the gun, but later retracted this report.
Duggan’s fingerprints were found on a cardboard box which appeared to have contained the gun. The sock, with the gun inside, were found out of this box as much as 20ft away from the scene of his murder. Yet, neither his DNA or fingerprints were found on the sock which wrapped the gun, or on the weapon itself. Additional tests also found no gunshot residue on Duggan himself.
With the official story of Duggan’s death undergoing numerous changes, the victim’s family and supporters accuse police of misconduct and of failing to co-operate with investigating his death. Shortcomings in the police response have also been blamed for stoking the riots, and for fuelling ongoing discontent, with Duggan’s supporters stating “there can be no peace without justice”.
![The police were out in full force in Birmingham during the 2011 England riots, which also affected the city (Photograph: Adam Yosef)]()
The police were out in full force in Birmingham during the 2011 England riots, which also affected the city (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
![Police officers 'kettled' young people within Birmingham city centre in the hopes of containing any disturbances, but riots ensued in August 2011 (Photograph: Adam Yosef)]()
Police officers ‘kettled’ young people within Birmingham city centre in the hopes of containing any disturbances, but riots ensued in August 2011 (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
![The manager of the former CEX store in Birmingham city centre inspects damage during the England riots of 2011 (Photograph: Adam Yosef)]()
The manager of the former CEX store in Birmingham city centre inspects damage during the England riots of 2011 (Photograph: Adam Yosef)
The UK Black Lives Matter has reiterated its commitment to continue its current campaign across the country.
“Time and again the state expects us to believe the implausible, if not downright impossible. Such as in the case of Joy Gardner. They were so afraid of her, they had to wrap 13ft of tape around her head. Then there’s Jimmy Mubenga where an inquest delivered a verdict of unlawful killing and multiple witnesses heard Jimmy’s cries for help and yet the G4S guards who restrained him aren’t held responsible.
“In Britain, someone dies at the hands of police every 6 days. Black people are overrepresented amongst deaths in police custody, and often the most violent and brutal of these deaths are black people. And actually, the overrepresentation of black people in British prisons compared to population is worse than in the US – and that’s according to the Equality & Human Rights Commission. There’s clearly a problem here, and there’s clearly a problem now.”
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