PROTESTORS who split from an anti-racism demonstration in Coventry yesterday (June 7) took to walking on the M6 motorway, leading to the closure of the road.
Police closed the highway as dozens of protestors walked along the M6 between Junction 3 at Exhall and Junction 2 at Walsgrave.
The action followed an afternoon of peaceful protests in Broadgate, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered in solidarity with protests taking place worldwide of the death of George Floyd in the USA, who was killed by police officers.
Shortly after 6pm a small group of protestors made their way along the M6, leading to police halting traffic and causing some tailbacks.
Officers from both the Warwickshire constabulary and West Midlands Police dealt with escorting the protestors from the motorway.
During a demonstration by Coventry Stand up to Racism earlier in the afternoon, people who were gathered in Broadgate knelt in silence to remember 47-year-old black man George Floyd, who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.
Speaking at the demonstration was Coventry North-West MP Taiwo Owatemi, she said: “As a politician, I know we have to hold our policy makers to account.
“We ask them to create policies which represent the United Kingdom and every person who lives in the United Kingdom.
“We need to ensure that our education system is properly funded, so that black people and all people have the opportunity to achieve what they want to achieve.
“We need to ensure that our education systems has black British history inside it.”
