London: People across the UK will be taking the knee on Tuesday evening to mark the one-year death anniversary of George Floyd, the African-American who was killed in police custody in the US city of Minneapolis on this day last year.
It is part of events planned worldwide to commemorate his death, reports dpa news agency.
The demonstration, which has been organised by campaigners Stand Up To Racism and the UK’s Trade Union Congress, will see people in cities and towns across England, Scotland and Wales show their support for black lives.
The demonstration involves people kneeling down on one knee at 5 p.m. in memory of Floyd, who died after police officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee on his neck for almost nine minutes in an act of police brutality.
The demonstrations are also being held as a way of calling for better action to tackle institutional racism within Britain.
The act of taking a knee is inspired by former US football player Colin Kaepernick, who first took the knee during the US national anthem at a football game in 2016 in protest against racial injustice and how black people are treated by police in the US.
Floyd’s death prompted a wave of protests around the world and sparked conversations about how black people still face discrimination.
US President Joe Biden will meet Floyd’s family later Tuesday.
According to data from Mapping Police Violence, a further 140 black people died at the hands of police in the US after Floyd’s death last year.
The total was 248.
This year, 89 people have so far died at the hands of US police officers.
