this is @bencsmoke, Huck’s contributing editor, here in Notting Hill where demonstrators are gathering for the ‘million person march’ against police violence and racism. here demonstrators stage a die in in the road as crowds gather

today’s march coincides with what would have been notting hill carnvival. the two day carnival sees a million people descend on this part of the city in a celebration of black culture. the carnival has been cancelled this year due to coronavirus.

today’s march starts here in notting hill where around 200 protestors have brought traffic to a standstill, before heading down towards hyde park where people are already congregating.

march here has left off, still around 200 protestors, as vans of police arrive. demonstrators in the crowd shout “where were they yesterday” in reference to the thousands of anti-mask, anti-vaccine demonstrators who congregated in trafalgar square yesterday.

today’s demonstration comes 7 days after the shooting of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin. blake was intervening in an argument before leaving to get into his car. police shot him 7 times in the back in front of his sons, who were in the car. he was paralysed from the back down.

video of the incident went viral and sparked demonstrations in the city which saw a white teenager vigilante shoot two protestors dead and injure a third.

more demonstrators arrive en mass, weaving their way through halted traffic with a soundsystem

traffic here outside the russian embassy has been halted both ways as the crowd pause and chat “this is what democracy looks like”

a speaker, who introduces herself as “a panther” says - “they’ve fucked with the wrong generation. they told us we couldn’t march today. that they’d fine us £10,000 and put us in jail.”

crowd is marching towards hyde park, chants of “the u.k. is not innocent” and “enough is enough” as cars honk their horns in support

a line of police make their way along the side of the crowd - there’s tension as they line up against the crowd and people with megaphones shout for calm “march on and ignore them”

after a momentary pause they’re on the move again, marching along the park towards marble arch

the crowd take a moment as redemption song blasts from the sound system

the crowd sit on bayswater road for speeches

chaos here in hyde park as the demonstration arrives at speakers corner and are confronted by a group of anti-trans protestors. competing shouts of “trans women are women” and “trans women are men” from the different groups as they face off.

organisers here calling for BLM demonstrators to move into the park. elsewhere protestors are facing up against those shouting “all lives matter”

hard to properly encapsulate what’s going on here. rows kicking off left right and centre as most of crowd move into the park. in the middle of it all this guys having a time of it.

meanwhile, in the park, crowds are sat listening to speeches as the BML event continues

as speeches and music continue in the park, and rolling arguments continue in speakers corner, it’s time to wrap up coverage once again. thanks so much for following along and solidarity to all out fighting racism and bigotry today