A 'POIGNANT silence' which saw hundreds of people with placards sat around the bandstand on Saturday- as the town's own Black Lives Matter demonstration reached its climax.

Hundreds of people gathered at midday in Reading Town Centre in Forbury Gardens to show their support for George Floyd - whose death has sparked angry protests across the world.

The peaceful protest saw roughly 100 people sitting on the grass around the bandstand, as they listened to ant-racism speeches, a statement from the Reading Muslim Community as well as contributions from University of Reading teachers and students.

The demonstration adhered to social-distancing as people and groups sat away from one another at two metres.

The banners people carried were angry, so were the marchers as they shouted 'Black Lives Matter', with messages of 'I can't breathe' 'Defund the Police', 'To be black is not a crime' and more written on the placards.

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At around 1pm a girl made a speech, reciting lyrics from rapper Dave's 'Black', which shares an important message about black history, white privilege and racism.

The protests across the UK were sparked by the death of George Floyd in the US last month.

The 46-year-old African American died after a police officer held him down by pressing a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25, provoking riots in many US cities and demonstrations across the world.

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Yesterday was the second protest in response to George Floyd's death after Reading held their first one on June 5 where crowds of people gathered outside Reading's Town Hall.

Scroll down to see the pictures

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