Anti-racist events continue to be held across the borough including a transatlantic online rally with MP Diane Abbott and American civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson.

The events are in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign and also aim to celebrate the contribution of BAME people working on the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic.

An organiser for the event told the Gazette: “It has become impossible to ignore the disproportionate effect of state violence on black communities worldwide but especially in the United States and the UK.”

“The sheer scale of the recent global protests is reflective of the fact that the murder of George Floyd is not an isolated incident. The protests also come at a time when black communities in the US and the UK feel that they have been deliberately endangered in the response to Covid-19 and deprioritised in general.”

Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP Diane Abbott and Reverend Jesse Jackson will be joined at the online rally by notable members of the civil rights movement and anti-racist campaigners to discuss: “What Next for the Anti-Racist Movement in the UK and the US?”.

The online rally will be held on July 3 at 7pm. To register for the meeting click here.

Hackney residents are also invited to Take The Knee at Newington Green on July 1 at 5.45pm and opposite Homerton Hospital on July 3 at 5.30pm.