“We wanted to show that we were more than them” – liberation

After a week of racist violence, thousands of Britons gathered in several cities, including Brixton, to condemn acts of racism and Islamophobia that have rocked the country.

“Say it loud and clear, refugees are welcome here.” The chant was echoed dozens of times in Brixton, south London, on Saturday, August 10, where hundreds of anti-racist demonstrators gathered at the call of the “Stand Against Racism” association. Dozens of demonstrations took place across the United Kingdom this weekend in response to a week of far-right-led unrest that has rocked the country following a July 29 knife attack that claimed the lives of three girls in Southport, in the northwest. of England. But in Brixton it’s a bit more special.

It was here, in 1981, that “riots” It pitted ethnic minorities against the police. “I don’t want to talk about riots”said Ellen of forty-three years ago. “There, in front, behind the police arch, She shows. We did not riot. We are not there to cause trouble and burn cars and buildings. We were there to make our voices heard and tell what was happening to us.

An ethnic and poor population, for whom social uplift was denied, was discriminated against and mistreated by the authorities, including the police. Even today, some – from Nigel Farage to former Home Secretary Priti Patel