Sheena McKenzie
CNN
LONDON — (CNN) Black Lives Matter UK campaigners have blocked roads leading to London’s largest airport, as part of a series of nationwide shutdown protests on Friday.
Transport routes in other British cities have come to a standstill, with demonstrators chaining themselves together in Birmingham and Nottingham. More protests are planned in Manchester later today.
The UK-wide protests mark five years since 29-year-old black man Mark Duggan was shot and killed by police in north London, his death sparked riots across the capital and other British cities.
“In the UK, families have in some cases been waiting decades to find out what’s happened to their loved ones who have died in custody, or to get a straight answer — even where wrongdoing has been found to be by police officers,” Black Lives Matter UK spokesman Wail Qasim, 23, told CNN.
“So this demonstration comes after a decade-long struggle and it’s to highlight what’s happening.”
Heathrow Airport
From around 8.20 a.m. local time (3.20 a.m. ET) several demonstrators began chaining themselves together and lying across the M4 motorway leading to Heathrow Airport beneath a banner reading: “This is a crisis.”
A number of people have been arrested, said London’s Metropolitan Police.
“Heathrow supports the right to peaceful protest within the law, but the safety and security of our passengers, aircraft and colleagues together with the smooth running of the operation is paramount,” a Heathrow Airport spokesperson told CNN.
“We are sorry to those passengers whose journeys are being disrupted and we are working with the authorities to resolve the issue.”
One lane has been reopened, though there is a still traffic congestion.
Birmingham
The group also blocked roads near Birmingham Airport, in England’s West Midlands region.
Nottingham
In Nottingham town center, in the East Midlands region of England, protesters also lay across tram lines, bringing transport to a standstill.
A Global Movement?
The group is also highlighting the deaths of migrants while trying to reach the UK.
“What we’re building here is an international movement in solidarity with the US and also black people across the world,” said Qasim.
Who Was Mark Duggan?
Five years and one day ago father-of-four Duggan was shot by police officers who stopped the taxi in which he was traveling on August 4, 2011.
An inquest into his death in 2014 found Duggan was lawfully killed, even though he did not have a gun in his hand at the moment he was shot.
The jury said it was more likely than not that just before he was killed, Duggan had thrown a gun from the taxi onto a grassy area near the scene.
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