Thousands of people attended a peaceful march through Liverpool city centre to St George’s Hall this afternoon for Black Lives Matter.
A crowd gathered for the social distancing march, dubbed L8 Black Lives Matter, outside the Rialto building on Upper Parliament street from around 12pm.
People of all ages, including families with children and those from an older generation turned up in support wearing protective masks and carrying homemade placards.
Eyewitnesses estimated up to 7,000 people could be marching, although Merseyside Police put the figure at around 1,000-1,500.
The march was peaceful and no arrests were made.
Organisers also gave out bottles of water and surgical masks to those who needed them.
The march set off just after 1pm when there were over a thousand people had gathered to make the walk.
The crowd was encouraged by stewards spaced along the route to give each other room and also to chant "black lives matter" as they walked.
It was the latest in a series of demonstrations to mark the death of George Floyd in Minnesota. Mr Floyd, a black man, was filmed pleading for help after police officers pinned him down and one placed his knee on his neck.
The route took the protest march through Catherine Street down Hardman Street and through Renshaw Street before ending up at St George's Hall at around 2pm.
As the crowd reached the St George’s Hall they were greeted by the sound of Katumba drummers, welcoming the marchers as they gathered before the stone steps and pillars.
As more and more marchers turned up the atmosphere felt impassioned but respectful as people cheered and held up signs outside the great hall.
It became clear, many more had taken to the long line of marchers.
By the time the last one had arrived the numbers were in the thousands.
When the Katumba drummers stopped the crowd clapped and roared their approval.
The crowd started chants of "George Floyd", "black lives matter",’ and "no racist police" before a series of passionate speeches were cheered by the crowd.
In one particularly powerful moment, a man with a megaphone addressed the crowd and said: “We shouldn’t be focusing on tearing down statues but building up communities.”
