‘Change is coming’: Protesters march against racism for second day in London with hopes of ‘turning point’

‘If nothing happens after this, I don’t know what will change things,’ says 21-year-old Anis from south London

As thousands gathered for a second consecutive day of anti-racism marches in London on Sunday, protesters were defiant that the wave of support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd’s death must lead to meaningful change.

“We’ve had continual struggles and nothing changes. We need justice,” Anis, from south London, who said he has had “bad experiences” with police, told The Independent.

Holding up a placard questioning “how many were not filmed”, the 21-year-old added: “If nothing happens after this, I don’t know what will change things.”

Anis (left), pictured at the protest with his friend Irav (May Bulman)

This cautious hope was prevalent during the peaceful demonstration as the crowds, made up of different races and age groups, trailed from the US embassy in Battersea towards Parliament Square.

Mask-wearing protesters held up banners warning that “silence is betrayal” as they chanted demands for justice and took to the knee in solidarity with Mr Floyd and the wider Black Lives Matter movement.

The protest was one of a number of demonstrations taking place across the UK – in Bristol, at least 5,000 packed into the College Green area where they held an eight-minute silence, while in Edinburgh, protesters gathered in Holyrood Park to listen to an array of speakers.

The defaced Churchill statue in central London (PA)

While the London demonstration passed off largely peacefully, towards the end graffiti was scrawled on the statue of Sir Winston Churchill stating he ”was a racist”.

Dame Cressida Dick, head of the Metropolitan Police, had earlier in the day condemned clashes that took place during Saturday’s demonstration, which left 14 officers injured.

Ben, 26, from west London, who held a bright yellow sheet of cardboard with the words “Change is coming”, said he was hopeful that the movement would lead to long-term changes.

Ben (far left) believes the protests will lead to change (May Bulman)

“We’ve been treated wrong as people for so long. It’s amazing that everyone’s come together and is standing together finally,“ he said.

“What we see in the news is just bad, violence, black-on-black crime, but I think it’s great that everyone’s come together and is showing love. A bit of unity. And I’m 100 per cent hopeful. Change is definitely coming.”

But chipping in from nearby, Rory, 29, urged caution, saying: “This is not enough. We’ve been doing this. I have hope, I’m all about that, but we need to see evidence that it’s going to change. Stop telling us it’s going to change. We need the evidence.”

(May Bulman)

The northwest Londoner stressed the need for better education of black history and more representation in leadership roles, adding: “We’ve got a man called Boris. We need a Darnel, Jermaine, Andre. They have no one relevant to us to represent us. We need to change it.

“Half of the England football squad is black. It’s all good and well when we’re kicking the ball around and you’ve got us on the back of your shirt, but when it comes to do things that really matter, where are we?”

Helen Cammock, one of the four winners of the Turner Prize last year, was among the protesters, and emphasised that it was important to remember the anti-racism protests taking place across the globe now were a “re-surfacing” and not a “new movement”.

(May Bulman)

“This has been precipitated immediately by George Floyd’s death, but there have been many George Floyds across the world for centuries”, the 49-year-old said.

She added with a hint of optimism: “I don’t have any hope or faith in the structural politics in this country or the US, but I do have a hope that there’s enough of a movement and a dialogue and a conversation that’s now happening, that something will start to shift.”

This tempered hope was strengthened by the non-black people who had come in their droves to protest, who claimed to be recognising that to instigate real change, everyone would need to take action in their daily lives.

Beatrice, 21, from Surrey, said: “I went to a very multicultural school where I saw some of the racism that my friends experienced, and I’m probably a fool for not standing up enough to protect them.

“It’s something that’s often pushed aside, because I think a lot of people know it’s going on but don’t want to admit it. But it’s the 21st century, we need to start shaping up. It definitely feels like everyone’s really focused on this now and everyone really has had enough.”

Beatrice (left) and her sister Eloise (right) travelled from Surrey to take part in the protest (May Bulman)

Her sister, Eloise, 24, added: “We all need to own it, by calling people out, even just things like people making jokes around the workplace. People need to start calling their friends out.

”These things do happen, terrible deaths, and people do call it out and say this isn’t good, but then it just dies away. I really hope this one is going to be a turning point.”

Anna, 21, from west London, who described being told by teachers at her private school that she looked “scruffy” because of her afro hair, said she was sceptical as to how long this support for the Black Lives Matter movement would continue – and called for deep-rooted change.

“This was happening when my grandma was young in the Sixties with the civil rights movement in America,” she said. “I think it’s so easy for people to think this is really going to change something, but they thought it was going to change something back then, and here we are in 2020.

“This is all good, it’s amazing, but then after this, what’s next?”