Organisers of Saturday's Black Lives Matter march in Ashby say that over 300 people took part in the event.

The peaceful protest started in Hood Park at 12.30 before heading towards the Bath Ground where people formed a socially distanced circle.

The event was hailed as a success and passed off with no problems.

However, the route was altered the day before to avoid the War Memorial in Ashby town centre.

A number of people gathered in Market Street and Brook Street to prevent any possible moves to interfere with the Memorial.

But the protesters avoided Brook Street and instead headed on to Derby Road and into the town centre.

One of the organisers, Kallum Moon, told Ashby Nub News that he was proud of the BLM event.

He said: "I think it went really well.

"I am immensely proud of everyone that turned up and everyone followed the rules.

"It's the first time in my life I've been truly proud of Ashby. As I young person I very rarely feel this way about Ashby.

"But remember now all whites need to start educating themselves on white privilege, these are the steps we can start to make to dismantle racism."

North West Leicestershire District Councillor Carl Benfield, who helped organise the march as it passed through Ashby, added: "It was just superb to see so many from Ashby, not an ethnically diverse town, come out supporting a battle to which we are often not exposed.

"There was a real sense of hope and community and an excitement that we have a collective voice."

Leicestershire Police had given permission for the march to take place and had a presence along the route.

The organisation behind the protest said they went out of their way to make it silent.

They said on Facebook:  "Ashby Against Racism showed solidarity with black people around the UK who face systematic racism head on.

"Sparked by the killing of George Floyd, the anger and frustration felt by thousands around the issues of race inequalities within the UK saw BLM take to the streets of major UK cities.

"After the anger, and hate thrown at them by anti-racist critics and the far right we thought it was time to show support and solidarity we have in Ashby to the movement and to Black People in North West Leicestershire too.

"We chose to have a silent protest any violence both spoke or physical by those involved in the protest will not be tolerated and you will be asked to leave."

Protesters were told beforehand that they should maintain a two metre distance to adhere to social distancing rules.

Once at the Bath Grounds, a socially distanced eight minutes and 46 second silence was held to show solidarity with Black Lives Matter across the world.

Ashby councillor David Bigby said on our Facebook page: "Proud to have been there."