Black Lives Matter UK to reveal how it will spend more than £1m donations
Black Lives Matter UK is to announce how it will spend more than £1 million it has been given in donations.
No fewer than 35,000 people have made cash gifts of £1.17 million to the group after a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign was set up in June.
But BLM UK has said the GoFund-Me website is holding on to the money while the group works out how it will be distributed.
The organisation, which organised a series of high-profile marches in major cities throughout London, is due to reveal on Tuesday how the cash will be used.
The group has come in for criticism because of its almost revolutionary agenda, which includes dismantling capitalism and abolishing the police.
Last month it published a statement on its fundraising page to say it was working with “organisational and legal experts to create the most appropriate and ethical structure for holding and distributing much of these generous funds”.
It adds how it plans to “resource organisations which centres the voice of people who are doing the work whilst also ensuring we get the money out sooner rather than later.”
The organisation, which plans to launch a new website to coincide with the announcement, adds that it is “in awe and deeply moved” by the generosity of its supporters.
The decision to explain how the money would be used was also timed to coincide with the anniversary of the police shooting of Mark Duggan, which triggered a spate of riots in London and other major cities.
The statement concludes: “All funds are still held by GoFundMe. We won’t be withdrawing them until we have gone through the process outlined above, and explained how the funds will be distributed.”
It has been reported that the Metropolitan Police spent £1.5 million policing the BLM UK protests and counter protests over one weekend in June. While the BLM protest was largely peaceful it did descend into a series of skirmishes with officers outside Downing Street. The second day of demonstrations attracted far-Right counter protests which culminated with them pelting police with bottles and fireworks.
One of those far-Right activists was photographed urinating on the memorial to PC Keith Palmer, the officer killed in the Westminster terror attack of 2017. Andrew Banks, 28, was jailed at Westminster Magistrates Court for 14 days after pleading guilty to outraging public decency.
Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, condemned the mob-like behaviour as thuggery.
