What is Black Lives Matter and what are the aims?

Campaigner Femi Oluwole said BLM was a global movement and that “no individual organisation speaks for the whole Black Lives Matter movement”.

The Black Lives Matter organisation often provided materials and guidance for protesters, Prof Deva Woodly told the New York Times, external, but the group did not orchestrate all the marches. She said new activists then took to social media to reach a wide audience.

Supporters have noted that most marches have been peaceful, but conservative US politicians and TV pundits suggested Black Lives Matter contributed to the deaths of police officers. The BLM organisation said this was untrue: “We’re targeting the brutal system of policing, not individual police.”

In the UK, although there is an official BLM organisation, events are often organised by a number of smaller groups or individuals coming together under the banner of “Black Lives Matter”.

Supporters of Black Lives Matter have also argued that critics who say “all lives matter” or “white lives matter” are dismissing the impact of slavery and racial inequalities.

They say the phrase is a demand for equal treatment and an end to racism – because the lives of black people are just as important as those of others.