What is the Black Lives Matter movement, and why are protesters blocking Heathrow and Birmingham Airport?
The protest group that started in the US but branched out across the Atlantic to Britain
BLACK Lives Matter is a movement that started in the US to demonstrate against killings of young black men.
The protest group was founded by Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi in protest at the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in 2012.
Martin was shot dead by George Zimmerman, who walked free after claiming he wrongly believed the teen was armed.
Four years on, the group describes itself as “an ideological and political intervention in a world where Black lives are systematically and intentionally targeted for demise”.
The movement has continued to grow in the years since its inception, spurred by the unjust killings of numerous black people.
In 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot dead by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri.
The killing sparked protests and riots in the town and helped catapult the Black Lives Matter movement to its current international standing.
In recent years the group has branched out to the UK as demonstrators seek to raise awareness of systemic inequality this side of the pond.
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Demonstrators have previously held relatively small protests in Britain, blocking roads in London.
But Friday’s "nationwide shutdown" targeting airports, motorways and tram lines marks a new phase for the UK group.
Protesters blocked off the M4 motorway leading to Heathrow and the A45 Coventry Road near Birmingham Airport on Friday as they demonstrated in memory of Mark Duggan and in protest of the countless black lives lost in police custody in the UK.
Meanwhile, demonstrators in Nottingham chained themselves together and lay across tram tracks in the city's centre.
A post on Black Lives Matter UK’s Facebook page has confirmed the protests' link to Duggan’s killing.
Announcing Friday’s “Nationwide Shutdown” the post read: “Five years ago today we lost one of our fam [sic].
“Five years later the community remembers. Justice 4 Mark.”
In an interview with , Black Lives Matter UK organiser Shanice Octavia explained the group's motives: "The main thing [we want] is awareness of the fact there have been 1,563 deaths in state custody in the UK since 1990.
"At the same time, there have been several unlawful killing verdicts, and zero convictions.
"It's so, so hard for the families who've lost loved ones in police custody to achieve justice, and that's one of the main points that we want to get out of this action," Shanice, 23, explained.
She continued: "It's about starting a conversation, because there's this narrative that the situation is not as bad in the UK as it is in the US, but even in the US they've convicted cops for similar crimes against black people.
"In the UK we haven't had a conviction since 1969, so there's this massive gap in terms of the justice system here, particularly with how it responds to black people, and we're hoping this protest can show that, actually, the racism still exists in our institutions."
Ringleaders of Black Lives Matter in Britain include student activists, bloggers and teen model Capres Willow.
Activist Adam Elliott-Cooper, 29, is a postgraduate Geography student at Oxford and one of the movement's organisers.
Explaining the reasoning behind Friday's protest at Heathrow, the 29-year-old said: "Many people are either being killed at our borders or being sent back to certain death."
Black students leader Aadam Muuse said in his online manifesto: “We need a campaign that confronts and tackles racism and fascism at all levels.”
Organiser and blogger Capres Willow, 18, from Essex, was not seen on Friday, but she organised a 3,000-strong US Embassy demo in London last month.
Speaking on a previous protest, the 18-year-old said: "I was wondering, why hasn't London stood up and shown that they give a s***, basically?
"I understand we're disrupting people's lives but... that's life, isn't it?"
Also among the leaders is Marcia Rigg, whose paranoid schizophrenic brother Sean, 40, died of a heart attack in custody. She called for protestors to unite and “shut down”.
Continuing Friday morning's action, rallies were staged across London, Birmingham, Manchester and Nottingham in the evening.
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