#blmuk

Today, in Northern Ireland, Black Lives Matter protests went ahead in Belfast and Derry, despite intimidation of the organisers by police. Many people who attended were issued with £60 fines, using Covid-19 legislation, despite adhering to social distancing guidelines and wearing masks whilst protesting.

Being able to have these kinds of protests in Northern Ireland is especially important, because racism is a real problem in Northern Ireland, and reports of racist incidents to the police now outnumber reports of sectarian incidents. Everyone who went to the protests today was incredibly brave to do so.

Furthermore, the fining of people for attending a peaceful protest is all kinds of messed up and sets a nasty precedent within UK law.

Please consider donating to this fundraiser: https://localgiving.org/appeal/BLMFundBelfast/

If you’re a UK taxpayer, you can gift aid your donation too.

It will be used to help those on low incomes pay these fines, and also to fund a possible legal challenge to these fines.

Please do not share identifying photographs of the demos in Northern Ireland- people are genuinely worried about police reprisals.

This image shows one of the protests compared to an IKEA queue elsewhere in the UK where no fines were given.

You can find their information online whether it be email or postal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1P7owSv_blKdVaAzII-ySKpk1Vo7w2c_mpE4wUSmRPBQ/mobilebasic

Belly Mujinga was working at Victoria station when a man spat on her and a female colleague after saying he had Coronavirus.

Within days, both women fell ill and Belly died just 3 days after being admitted to hospital. She leaves behind her husband and 11 year old daughter.⁣

Belly pleaded with her bosses not to work outside of the ticket office as she had respiratory problems that made her particularly vulnerable. Despite this, they put her on the concourse and asked her to go back after the assault even though she was still shaking from the trauma. Belly reported the assault straight away to her bosses but they failed to contact emergency services. The suspect has still not been found 7 weeks later. ⁣

52 transport workers have now died from Covid-19 and time and time again these workers have warned their bosses of how vulnerable they are in the work environment; from a lack of protection to staff abuse. This is no isolated incident. (www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-england-london-52650110)

Govia Thameslink Railway knew of her condition and yet still put her on the frontlines during a pandemic. This is criminal negligence on every single level and her death and the death of dozens of workers is not inevitable. They were killed. ⁣

Justice for Belly and for the hundreds of workers who have died and will die because of bosses and a government who think their lives aren’t worth protecting. ⁣

May she rest in eternal light and peace. 💛

You can donate to support her family here:

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Only 5% lead to arrests, and only 1% are for carrying weapons.