THE death of an African American man in police custody in the US inspired a Worcester school to take part in a social media blackout to fight racism.

The King's School in Worcester took part in Blackout Tuesday protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The 46-year-old died after a police officer knelt on his neck for around eight minutes on May 25, sparking widespread protests, riots and looting in the US. Jon Ricketts, acting headmaster at King's, said: "We muted our active social media channels to show our solidarity for this #BlackOutTuesday campaign. As educators, we believe in tolerance and inclusivity and we take every opportunity to foster diversity and equality.

This week the school ran specific virtual assemblies with lower years and middle years pupils and a number of other pupils will receive PSHE sessions about this specific campaign 'and the ongoing importance of anti-racism within our community'.