Last night Belfast City Council backed a People Before Profit motion supporting the campaign to drop the fines and threats of prosecution against Black Lives Matter activists in Belfast and Derry. This is a major win in the ongoing campaign against the PSNI’s disgraceful and disproportionate crackdown on anti-racist activists who protested peacefully against the killing of George Floyd last summer.
People Before Profit tabled a similar motion in July. However, the council did not support it, instead accepting an amendment from Sinn Féin offering solidarity with Black Lives Matter and expressing concern about the PSNI’s actions.
As well as calling for fines and threats of prosecutions to be dropped, last night’s motion backs calls by Black Lives Matter activists for a “real and robust racial equality strategy to help tackle the systemic problem of institutional racism”.
People Before Profit Cllr Matt Collins said he was “delighted” to see the motion pass:
“Shame it took an Ombudsman report showing discrimination and human rights abuses to make some parties support this”, he said. “But without pressure from activists the big parties would still be on the fence.
Disgracefully, the DUP, UUP and PUP all voted against the motion.
The campaign to drop the fines and threats of prosecutions against the Black Lives Matter activists continues. People Before Profit will continue fighting alongside BAME activists to ensure that justice prevails.
