#BlackLivesMatter: Millions Partake in Virtual protests.

The Black Lives matter march has become an imperative civil rights movement for racial groups, as Protesters from America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia show support for the anti-racism movement via Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Zoom. The creation of virtual protests has enabled protesters share videos and photos with the hashtags, #BlackLivesMatter

#NoJusticeNoPeace #SayNoToRacism on their social media pages. With over 20.8 million posts

on Instagram, online protests have gained more prominence in the past weeks.

Source: The New Yorker

Forthcoming protests have been fixed on Zoom to provide an alternative means of supporting the movement, for young and elderly protesters who cannot be present at the Black Lives Matter marches. Following the death of George Floyd, 46, who was gruesomely murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, English citizens are demanding an end to nationwide systematic racism. Cambridge became one of the most recent cities to engage in online protests, with over 350 people in attendance the online event, organised by Cambridge Stand Up to Racism on the 3rd of June, 6.00pm. The key speakers delivered their speeches in front of King's College, which was live-streamed via Zoom. To wrap up the event, protesters shared photographs of themselves bending a knee.

In congruence with the Cambridge event, London Black Lives Matters (LDN BLM) organised a

virtual protest on the 6th of June, which was hosted at the same time as the central London

protest. The event which enabled over 22,000 participants, gave protestors the opportunity to

show their support whilst keeping safe from Covid-19. ‘Thank you for organizing and posting

this. I couldn’t attend the protest due to living with a vulnerable person and am so grateful I

could attend virtually’, said a protester who expressed his gratitude to the organisers of the event on voice-online.co.uk. The following day, The Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) and anti-racist campaigners united on June 7th, 6pm, for a virtual protest in response to the killing of

George Floyd in the US. The organizers, STUC, explained on their website that the digital

protests protect people who want to protest but are at risk of contracting Covid-19.

Although, the police officers who murdered George Floyd have been incarcerated, the outcry for

racial equality gets louder and more demands for justice have been made regarding the death of

Breonna Taylor. An intense online activism has been committed to that effect, one of which was

the #BlackoutTuesday movement on social media which had over 20 million posts. Protesters are determined to continue saying her name on social media. Breonna Taylor, who would have been 27 years old on June 5th, also lost her life to police brutality.

Xtraxa firmly stands in support of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.