Shipston area villagers join Black Lives Matter movement with two-woman protest

Yesterday, Tuesday June 2 – marked #BlackoutTuesday, a day when many people, including famous artists, websites and media outlets went dark across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. It's part of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Demonstrations and protests have occurred at cities across the US for several days after George Floyd – an African-American man – was handcuffed and lying face down on a city street and killed while in police custody.

Debbie Sarjant, of Ilmington, took to social media after encountering the protest in her village.

Debbie said: "Enjoying a sit-down and ice creams from the shop, 85-year-old Patricia Karlsen and 78-year-old Liz Hodgkin asked if I had a phone and could 'send them viral.'

Debbie captured part of a conversation between the two women, which went as follows.

Pulling on her face mask between licks of her Magnum ice cream, Patricia said: "I have to stay under the radar."

Liz replied: "I don’t know why. This was your idea.”

They had been protesting on the streets of Shipston and were now attracting a steady trickle of interested passers by on the village green.

Liz added: “We’re old. We can’t volunteer. We can’t do anything, but we can be part of the movement that helped get Obama into the White House.”

Liz Hodgkin is the daughter of the Nobel Prize winning scientist Dorothy Hodgkin who once lived in Ilmington.