Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Virtual rally to be held to support Justice for Sheku Bayoh campaign

Right: Sheku Bayoh. Left: Kadi Johnson and the family in Edinburgh with Aamer Anwar in 2018
Right: Sheku Bayoh. Left: Kadi Johnson and the family in Edinburgh with Aamer Anwar in 2018

A virtual protest is to take place on Sunday evening as part of the Black Lives Matter movement – marking the fifth anniversary of the burial of Fife man Sheku Bayoh.

Mr Bayoh died in 2015 aged 32 after being restrained by officers responding to a call in Kirkcaldy, and his family have demanded justice ever since.

Amid ongoing concern about social distancing at protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death in the US, the Scottish Trades Union Council (STUC) has organised an online rally to reaffirm its support for the Justice for Sheku Bayoh campaign and shine a spotlight on the racism experience by black and ethnic minority people in Scotland on a daily basis.

The move comes after Mr Bayoh’s sister, Kadi Johnston, who is a staff nurse, urged people to protest digitally due to the pandemic.

Ms Johnson will be one of the speakers at the rally, along with Aamer Anwar, lawyer for the Bayoh family, Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf, Anas Sarwar MSP, and Usman Ali, chairman of the STUC Black Workers Committee.

Roz Foyer, STUC general secretary designate, said: “A fresh light has been shone on the death and injury of black and minority ethnic people in the Scottish and UK justice systems.

“It is a violent and sickening symptom of a deeper and wider problem which poses questions for all of our institutions.

“It is our duty to ensure that what is happening now is not just a moment of anger and solidarity. Rather our duty is to make this a beginning of an examination of our response to racism and our commitment to stamp it out.

“That process can begin with redoubling all efforts to achieve justice for Sheku Bayoh.”

Mr Ali, chair of the STUC Black Workers’ Committee, added: “We have seen a sharp increase in racism since the health, social and economic pandemic of coronavirus started.

“We need to recognise and call out the issues affecting Scotland’s Black workers including the type of job roles they are likely to perform, the low rate of pay they are often likely to receive, the poor treatment and conditions they are having to put up with.”

The virtual protest will be streamed to the STUC facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/scottishtuc.