Thousands of people thronged central Auckland for the Black Live Matters solidarity march. The large crowds spilled out of Aotea Square, and there was little sign of the required alert level two physical distancing. The demonstration follows the suffocation of African American George Floyd by a police office in Minneapolis, which has led to protest and violence erupting across the US.

George Floyd died of a lack of oxygen from being pinned facedown on the pavement with his hands cuffed behind him, a medical expert testified Thursday (local time) at former US police officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial.

There will be more Black Lives Matter protests if New Zealand political leaders fail to take action, a protest organiser says.

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Thousands of people gathered in Civic Square this afternoon for a Black Lives Matter demonstration in support of the international campaign against US police killings of unarmed black men and women.

Over the past three weeks, people across the US have already protesting over the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in police custody. Since then, the Black Lives Matter movement has come to life again throughout many countries, with protesters taking to the streets, demanding an end to police brutality and racism.

Thousands of people gathered in Auckland and Wellington to march in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Outrage and despair over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has energised protesters in the US and worldwide.

Over the past couple of days, I’ve seen floods of social media posts commenting on the Black Lives Matter movement in the USA from fellow kiwis. While most responses have been positive, there is one opinion in particular that I believe is an incredibly dangerous attitude to have during this time – “I’m so glad that we live in New Zealand – we have no racism!”.

The video of George Floyd gasping for breath was essentially Exhibit A as the former Minneapolis police officer who pressed his knee on the black man's neck went on trial on Monday (Tuesday NZT) on charges of murder and manslaughter.