Skip to main content
Donate to the 95 years appeal
Woman ‘attacked in racist incident at May Day march’
A London May Day march in 2016

FOOTAGE has emerged of an incident in which a black woman appears to be called a “n***er” on the London May Day march.

Community activist and feminist Lesley Woodburn described how a group of young white people racially abused her for a banner she was carrying with a friend on May 1.

The banner displayed the dictionary definition of the word woman: “Woman: Adult human female,” which she said she was carrying to “defend our sex-based rights as women and girls,” in relation to contemporary debate about sex and gender.

She said that while she was walking on the march the group shouted: “Black scum,” “transphobe” and “Terf” at her – which is a derogatory term for women who are concerned about planned changes to the Gender Recognition Act.

Ms Woodburn said that when she arrived at the rally in Trafalgar Square she stood watching the speakers for around half an hour before being approached by a man who handed her a leaflet for a London Antifa group before becoming aggressive.

She alleges that he tried to grab her banner off her, saying it was “transphobic.”

She says he then pulled on the banner and deliberately let go. She fell to the ground and hurt her back.

Ms Woodburn says the group of young white people then reappeared and one of them called her a “n***er” and others chanted “Terf, terf, terf” at her and called her a “fascist.” The Morning Star received an anonymous message disputing this and saying the word heard as “n***er” was actually “bigot.”

Ms Woodburn added that she was “surprised, shocked and hurt” by the incident but that she had found “a new strength” and that she “wouldn’t be bullied” for standing up for women’s sex-based rights.

She also said that she had campaigned against the far right many times in Britain and Europe over the years was upset that young people did not know “what fascism really was” if they could call a black feminist a fascist.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
More from this author
Philipa Harvey speaks to conference
Features / 21 June 2025
21 June 2025

ROS SITWELL reports from the Morning Star conference on ‘Race, Sex and Class Liberation’ last weekend

Report / 30 March 2024
30 March 2024
ROS SITWELL reports from a conference held in light of the closure of the Gender Identity and Development Service for children and young people, which explored what went wrong at the service and the evidence base for care
Joanna Cherry MP (left) chats onstage with UN Special Rappor
Features / 26 October 2023
26 October 2023
ROS SITWELL reports from the three-day FiLiA conference in Glasgow
Women gather at the Marx Memorial Library, Clerkenwell, Lond
Features / 7 July 2023
7 July 2023
ROS SITWELL reports on a communist-initiated event aimed at building unity amid a revived women’s movement
Similar stories
A DAY TO MOBILISE: May Day marchers in Clerkenwell Green in 2016
Features / 1 May 2025
1 May 2025

As global fascism grows, ROGER McKENZIE urges the left to reclaim May Day’s revolutionary roots — not as an act of nostalgia, but as fuel for building a ‘community of resistance’ against exploitation and the rise of fascism

 Connecticut Sun forward Alyssa Thomas (25) celebrates a bas
Opinion / 18 December 2024
18 December 2024
With more visibility comes more online harassment, write NOREEN NASIR and BRITTANY PETERSON
People take part in a demonstration for trans rights outside
Opinion / 8 October 2024
8 October 2024
As the Establishment stokes a culture war against gender recognition — not in favour of it — the left must unite in support of the trans community, says TOM KING
Caroline Ffiske of Women Uniting, Heather Binning from the W
Features / 17 July 2024
17 July 2024
LYNNE WALSH reports on discussions among feminist campaigners and a recent Swansea University event