Hundreds attend Black Lives Matter protest in Salt Hill Park

Hundreds of people met in Salt Hill Park on Saturday for a protest organised by Black Lives Matter Slough.

The death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minneapolis last month has sparked protests across the world.

Around 200 people attended the peaceful protest which ran from 2pm – 5pm as they marched through the park and listened to speeches and poetry recitals delivered by ‘different speakers from different backgrounds.’

The protest was held in the park to enable social distancing measures to be enforced and people were asked to remain in their isolation bubbles.

Latoya Hughes, 36, one of the event’s organisers said: “We wanted to highlight the issues to make people see we have need for change.

“We had people from all different backgrounds.”

Attendees also took a knee for eight minutes and 46 seconds, which is the amount of time a police officer pressed his knee on Mr Floyd’s neck.

“We’ve had a knee on our neck for 400 years and that needs to be removed,” Latoya said.

She urged everyone to be ‘vigilant’ about what is happening in their workplace and hometown, saying ‘don’t stay silent’ if they witness discrimination.

“The more voices that speak the more we can make change.”