WATCH: XR and BLM Activists Demand Reparations During ‘Walk of Shame’ Protest in the City of London

Kurt Zindulka / Breitbart News
Kurt Zindulka

During a “reparations rebellion” protest in London, Extinction Rebellion and BLM climate change activists demanded that financial institutions pay reparations for their role in the slave trade.

On Friday, the eco-warrior group took to the streets of the City of London for a so-called ‘Walk of Shame’ to denounce the historical ties to slavery between the Bank of England and other British financial institutions.

In a Breitbart London exclusive video, one activist called for money in offshore accounts to be taken and handed out as reparations. The XR activist went on to suggest that the British Museum return all the artefacts that were “stolen” and transform the building into the “British Museum of Slavery and Empire”.

Later in the protest, one activist was seen with his hand glued alongside a “plaque of shame” to the Lloyd’s of London building, which read: “Lloyd’s of London insured shipping to enable the transatlantic slave trade. Today members insure huge fossil fuel projects in Indigenous lands.”

One activist was heard demanding that a representative from Lloyd’s come down and explain their policy on “reparations” and to explain what “sorry actually means, because I don’t know what your ‘sorry’ means. Sorry is not enough.”

She then led the crowd in a chant shouting “Black Lives Matter” at the building.

In June, the Lloyd’s of London corporate insurance marketplace announced that it would indeed be handing out reparations to Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities over its ties to the slave trade.

One of the founding members of Lloyd’s, Simon Fraser, was found to have received financial compensation for an estate he owned in the Caribbean after the British government began purchasing the freedom of slaves throughout the empire.

“We are sorry for the role played by the Lloyd’s market in the 18th- and 19th-century slave trade,” a spokesman for Lloyd’s said.

“This was an appalling and shameful period of English history, as well as our own, and we condemn the indefensible wrongdoing that occurred during this period,” the spokesman grovelled.

“We will provide financial support to charities and organisations promoting opportunity and inclusion for black and minority ethnic groups,” they added.

This pledge was apparently not enough for the leftist protesters, who screamed “Shame!” at the building.

It is unclear how paying reparations for their slave ties in the Caribbean will rectify historical injustices done to minorities in Britain, as black Caribbeans make up just over 1 per cent of the population of the United Kingdom today.

It could also be argued that Britain did far more than any other country to stamp out the practice of slavery, paying in lives and treasure to shut down not just the Atlantic slave trade but the Barbary and East African slave trades as well.

After the passage of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807, the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave trade ships and freed some 150,000 African slaves.

During the process of freeing slaves, some 1,587 British sailors in the squadron lost their lives.

Follow Kurt on Twitter at @KurtZindulka

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