“Black Lives Matter!!!”

“No Justice, No Peace!!!”

Shouts from the crowd gathered on St Georges Square in Huddersfield tonight as a peaceful demo takes place under the #BlackLivesMatter banner.

It was a relatively small turnout to say Huddersfield has one of the most well regarded Carnivals to it’s name. One would expect a much bigger show, however passion wasn’t lacking.

Speakers talked about their experiences of police mistreatment and relatives who lost their lives while in custody of the Police here in the UK. Elders of the african-caribbean community spoke of the importance of supporting black owned businesses which in turn support the community.

This was a mostly child and family friendly affair bar a little emotional outburst near the end, I suppose tensions run high sometimes, emotions and past hurts can come to a head and perhaps a minor racial slur can be forgiven.

All in all though, this evening was an opportunity to photograph a community event, sensitive in nature, but one where I was welcomed, to show solidarity with those across the world, across the atlantic as well as over here, where some would say Black lives seem very much secondary.