“Many were protesting the institutional racism and misogyny of the police, with marchers chanting ‘say his name, Chris Kaba’ and ‘say her name, Sarah Everard’.”
By Sam Browse
Last Saturday, thousands joined Stand Up to Racism in taking to the streets to protest the government’s Illegal Immigration Bill. In demonstrations up and down the country, organisers estimated an attendance of around 12,000 in London, 3000 in Glasgow, and 600 in Cardiff.
The Bill – which violates international law and the UN Refugee Convention – would make it effectively impossible to claim asylum in the UK without having arrived through a bespoke scheme such as ‘Homes for Ukraine’ or the Afghanistan resettlement scheme. It would also deny those who come here through irregular routes access to the UK’s modern slavery system – perversely banning those who have been illegally trafficked into the country from accessing support.
As protestors marched from the BBC’s Broadcasting House on Portland Place to Whitehall, onlookers heard the crowds shout ‘say it loud and say it clear, refugees are welcome here’, ‘refugees in, Tories out’, and ‘we are black and we are white, together we are dynamite’. After Gary Lineker was sacked from presenting Match of the day and then reinstated following outcry from his co-host, Ian Wright, and the wider public, the marchers also chanted ‘we’re with Lineker, we’re with Wrighty, anti-racists always fighting’.
Many were protesting the institutional racism and misogyny of the police, with marchers chanting ‘say his name, Chris Kaba’ and ‘say her name, Sarah Everard’. Kaba, an unarmed black man, was the victim of a police shooting last year, and Everard was murdered by Wayne Couzens, a serving police officer, in 2021. The chants came only days before Baroness Casey’s report found the Met police to be institutionally racist, misogynistic, and homophobic.
You can see the demonstration in pictures, below.
- The “Resist Racism – Oppose the Anti-Migrants Bill” demonstration was hosted by Stand Up To Racism on March 19, 2023.
- You can follow Stand Up To Racism on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles in the UK and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
