Two separate rallies converged on the weekend in Lincoln Park, a picnic-and-birthday-party plot nestled in the heart of the gentrified eastern part of the Capitol Hill neighbourhood in Washington.

Thousands of anti-racism marchers rallied last Saturday in front of the US Justice Department before descending on the National Mall to denounce institutionalised racism. The March for Racial Justice was organised after the acquittal of a Minnesota police officer who shot dead Mr Philando Castile, a black motorist; and The March for Black Women was organised to bring attention to the widespread incarceration of black women, sexual violence and murders of black transgender people.

Over the weekend, more than 15 related marches had been scheduled to take place around the United States.