London [UK], June 23: Commemorations and celebrations are taking place across the United Kingdom to mark what has been described as a "bittersweet" 75th Windrush anniversary.
King Charles III will attend a service for young people in Windsor, a carnival procession will take place in Brixton where many of the Caribbean community settled, and the Windrush flag will be flown in locations including at the Houses of Parliament.
On June 22 1948, a boat named HMT Empire Windrush docked in the southern town of Essex, carrying almost 500 passengers from the Caribbean to fill labour shortages in the UK. Carribeans who arrived in the UK as part of the wider migration movement between 1948 and 197 became known as the Windrush generation.
A commemorative service was to take place at London's Southwark Cathedral on Thursday, while events will be held at the Port of Tilbury where the Empire Windrush ship docked.
Patrick Vernon, convenor of the Windrush 75 network, said the events are a chance to "celebrate the diversity of modern Britain" and to "acknowledge the legacy of those first Windrush pioneers, the challenges they overcame and the contribution they made to Britain." But he said it is a "bittersweet moment, tainted by the injustice of the Windrush scandal." In 2018, it came to light that many British citizens, mostly from the Caribbean, had been threatened with detention and deportation despite having the right to live in the UK.
Source: Qatar Tribune