LONDON — Protesters have blocked off a section of the M4 at Heathrow Airport, 25km outside of central London, in aid of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
Heathrow is the UK’s biggest airport, making the M4 motorway one of the nation’s busiest stretches of road. Holidaymakers faced ‘gridlock’ as protesters lay in the middle of the slip road that leads to Heathrow Airport, causing many to miss their flights.
A similar protest blocked off the A45 road in Solihull, West Midlands, that leads to Birmingham Airport. Protesters also laid across tramlines in Nottingham, East Midlands, causing disruptions to traffic in the city. (See video footage).
The protests come a day after the five-year anniversary of the shooting of Mark Duggan, an event that sparked nationwide rioting across England in 2011. Duggan was shot dead by police on August 4th, 2011, in Tottenham, London by police after he was allegedly confronting officers with a firearm; his death resulted in protests in Tottenham that escalated into riots that lasted six days, and killed five people in several cities across the country.
Ava Forbes
Journalism student aspiring to become a political journalist and the co-founder of a media platform, ‘Generation:What?’, that aims to give young people a platform in politics. @Ava_Forbes @Generation_What
