Hundreds join 'Black Lives Matter' protest in London

A women holds up a "Black Lives Matter" placard as people march in Brixton, south London to protest against police brutality in the US on Saturday. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON (AFP) - Several hundred people protested in London Saturday after the killing of black men by police in the United States.

The Black Lives Matter demonstration saw protesters march to a police station and block buses and traffic, an AFP photographer at the scene said.

Chanting and sitting in the road, demonstrators carried placards with slogans such as "Stop Killing Us" and "White Silence Costs Lives".

London's Metropolitan Police declined to comment on the march in Brixton, south London, or give any information about the number of officers deployed.

The demonstration came after two black men were shot dead by police in the US this week.

Alton Sterling, 37, was killed Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana while Philando Castile, 32, died Wednesday in Minnesota.

On Thursday, a gunman opened fire during a protest in Dallas against police brutality, killing five police officers.

At least 123 black people have been shot dead by police in the United States this year, half of last year's toll of 258, according to Washington Post data.

Rioting and looting erupted in London and other British cities in 2011 after Mark Duggan, 29, was shot dead by a police officer in the suburb of Tottenham.

The taxi Duggan was travelling in was forced to stop by police in an operation targeting gang violence, the Independent Police Complaints Commission later found.

An inquest into his death three years later found police acted lawfully when they killed Duggan although he had previously thrown away a weapon he was carrying. His family reacted with fury to the finding.

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