Photo essay: Black Lives Matter Melbourne march

Photographer Leeroy Te Hira took his camera with him when he took part in Saturday's Black Lives Matter march in Melbourne, here are a series of the images he took.

The ABC and Te Hira both estimated around 10,000 people took part in the march, which started at the Victorian Parliament on Spring Street and ended near Flinders Street Station.

The march was a sign of solidarity with anti-racism protests sweeping the United States following the death of African-American man George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in the US state of Minneapolis.

Organisers of the event in Melbourne handed out face masks and hand sanitiser for those taking part as Victoria state rules remain in place in the fight against Covid-19.

Te Hira said the march was very peaceful and didn't feel any bad energy from other participants.

"It wasn't an angry vibe," he said.

"I came away from it with positive feelings rather than negative ones."

Te Hira, who grew up in Sydney, said it was the first protest he had taken part in and that the issue was close to him personally as he grew up experiencing racism.

His mother and father are both from New Zealand, his mother is Pākehā and his father Māori.

Te Hira deliberately edited his images in black and white to capture the flavour of the event and said that he made a concerted effort to photograph white, aboriginal and polynesian members of the march.

He said the march had a strong focus on aboriginal rights.

Te Hira said two images that stood out to him in particular were one of a blond woman holding up her fist in solidarity and a photo of aboriginal members of the protest standing between horse-bound police officers and the rest of the protesters with their arms raised.

You can find more of Leeroy Te Hira's images here.