LINKS to Birmingham's slave trade past were as strong as the yokes and chains being worn by demonstrators as they staged a march to mark the bicentenary of abolition.
Members of the Lifeline Expedition were in Birmingham as part of a nationwide tour visiting Britain's major slave ports and cities and to say "sorry" universally for past Christian involvement in the slave trade.
Protesters chained together marched past the site of the former Farmer & Goulton gun factory in Steelhouse Lane.
Protest organiser David Pott led prayers at the site, later to become the home of the Birmingham Post & Mail.
"This factory may have been run by Quakers, but it was shipping out 600 guns a week to the African continent where they polluted and corrupted those countries," he said.
"The gun trade was a particular evil and we believe that Birmingham's current troubles with gun crime is a legacy of that trade which had strong roots here.
"We walk in chains as representatives of nations who were involved in the transatlantic slave trade, to remember the unnamed millions who were forced to walk this way."
On Sunday the Bishop of Birmingham, the Rt Rev David Urquhart, donned a yoke and chain to show solidarity with the marchers, who went on to Liverpool, Whitehaven and Glasgow.
Mr Pott added: "We have had a very positive reception from Birmingham people. They have been warm and hospitable and clapped us along."
Audrey Miller, of Birmingham's Jubilee Debt Campaign, said: "Today's modern version of slavery is debt, so it is vital we support this."
