A number of anti-racism protests took place over the weekend to mark International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
ADVERTISEMENTA number of anti-racism protests took place over the weekend to commemorate International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The date is observed annually to mark when police in Sharpeville, South Africa, opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against apartheid "pass laws" in 1960.
Demonstrators gathered in Amsterdam and in London where activists said they will not ''give up their right to protest,'' despite the risk of spreading the virus. Some were filmed being detained by police.
Friday saw the EU's first-ever anti-racism summit in a bid to show the bloc's commitment to equality and non-discrimination.
Alfiaz Vaiya is the co-founder of Equinox, a Racial Justice Initiative. He believes EU leaders are now coming around towards the way pressure groups think about addressing structural racism and tackling the root causes of racism in Europe today. But he insists more needs to be done.
"We need to look at how EU policies in other areas outside of racial justice, climate, Covid and migration to see how they exaggerate and increase racism in Europe," he says. "So we need to see that holistic approach, which is still not there at the moment.
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