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Thousands march in Brighton Black Lives Matter protest

THOUSANDS of people marched through Brighton on Saturday shouting “black lives matter every day” after a video showing a man pinned to the ground by police officers circulated online last week. 

Around 5,000 protesters marched along the seafront towards the city centre carrying placards reading “the UK is not innocent” and “decolonise everything.” 

It follows outrage over a video circulated on Tuesday showing a man shouting “I can’t breathe” as he’s restrained on the ground by three officers in Brighton. 

Sussex Police said the man became aggressive after he was arrested, but the incident has since been referred to the police watchdog. 

One protester speaking to the crowds on a megaphone addressed the video.

She shouted: “Sussex Police has recently been filmed using excessive force on a young black man.”

As protesters moved away from the seafront, they shouted in unison: “It is our duty to do this every day. It is our duty to fight for racial justice. It is our duty to win. We are stronger together.

“We are here with love, peace and solidarity. We have nothing to lose — too many have already lost too much.”

It comes one month after 10,000 people marched through the East Sussex city in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement worldwide.

The protests were triggered by the death of George Floyd after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in the US city of Minneapolis on March 25. 

Black Lives Matter protests also took place in Hull on Saturday and in Hackney, east London, on Friday evening.

Hundreds gathered outside Hackney Town Hall calling on the council not to evict Sistah Space — London’s only specialist domestic violence service for women of African and Caribbean heritage. 

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