Archbishops Lead Slave Trade Walk Through Capital

|PIC2|The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have led a crowd of more than one thousand people through London in a Walk of Witness to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade.

The walk started in Whitehall on the steps of DEFRA with a short prayer for forgiveness and a blessing for the walkers from both Archbishops before they set off towards the Houses of Parliament and past Victoria Gardens, home to the Buxton Memorial Fountain, erected in 1835 to commemorate "the emancipation of slaves".

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, led the march across Lambeth Bridge. The 'March of the Abolitionists' walkers, meanwhile, who had walked in chains and yokes all the way from Hull, the parliamentary seat of William Wilberforce, were 'released' at the fountain from their chains by the Archbishop of the West Indies, the Most Rev Drexel Gomez.

On the south side of the Thames, the church leaders said brief prayers while holding a wreath marked with '2704' - the number of ships which departed from London's docks destined to carry slaves during the transatlantic slave trade. The wreath was taken by boat to the middle of the river before walkers joined in a commemorative silence.

The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler, also led a walk from Holy Trinity Clapham, the church where William Wilberforce worshipped.

The two walks converged on Kennington Park in south London for a worship event to continue the commemorations.

The Archbishop of Canterbury challenged Christians to open their eyes and "see" where people might still be in slavery today, calling on Christians to be "agents of release" and "people committed to freedom".

"By God's grace and the work of some extraordinary human beings 200 years ago, people began to see. It took a long time - an embarrassingly long time," said Dr Williams.

He pointed to the horror of modern slavery like sex trafficking.

"For a long time it's been possible for many people not to open their eyes to those things," he said.

The Archbishops were joined by church leaders from across the denominations, including the General Director of the Evangelical Alliance, Joel Edwards, and the head of the Methodist Church, Rev Graham Carter. African church leaders and dignitaries also joined the walk.