March with us in solidarity for an end to deaths in custody.
There have been over 3000 deaths in state custody since 1969. There has not been a single successful homicide prosecution, despite evidence of unreasonable force and several unlawful killing inquest verdicts.
Join United Families and Friends Campaign on Saturday 25 October 2014 for their annual rally, protest march and petition submission to 10 Downing Street. Assemble for the rally at 12pm in Trafalgar Square. Please wear black. London Campaign Against Police & State Violence will be there with banners.
Marcia Rigg of the Sean Rigg Justice Campaign will now be speaking at our conference. This means we will no longer be screening Burn but instead a section of Who Polices the Police which is about her family’s story. People who want to see Burn can come on Friday 17th October to our film screening of Burn with United Families and Friends Campaign at Birkbeck University. More details on Facebook.
London Campaign Against Police and State Violence will be holding our annual conference on the theme of ‘The Right to Life Under Threat by the State’. Everyone is welcome, and admission is free (but donations are welcome).
The full programme will be published shortly. The conference will feature:
Wednesday 10th September at 9am
Westminster Magistrates’ Court
181 Marylebone Road,
London NW1 5BR
On Wednesday 10 September 9am at Westminster Magistrates Court, “E7”, the officer charged with the murder of Azelle Rodney will be appearing in court. The family have asked for support in having a peaceful and dignified presence outside the court.
The family have asked please don’t use the words “murderer”, “killer” or any other inflammatory language on any placards or banners as this could harm the prosecution’s case.
D, a black man assaulted by police in Brixton in June this year, appeared in court for a case management hearing on Tuesday 2 September. His supporters and members of LCAPSV maintained a presence in the public gallery and outside the court throughout the proceedings. D’s case has been scheduled for 5 January, and we will be there to stand in solidarity with him as he faces charges of obstruction of a police officer.
On Monday 23rd June 2014, D, a black man from Brixton, was assaulted by police officers from the Territorial Support Group. The officers had seen D stop his car moments earlier to speak to his Uncle, and chose to interpret this chance family encounter as something sinister. In the course of a “search” they attacked D and his cousin, a passenger in the car, kicking D multiple times when he had already voluntarily gone to the floor and put his hands out to be cuffed. D was arrested, strip searched, and held in Brixton police station for almost 24 hours. The police attack left him with bruises and a cracked rib. (More details here)
When the police were unable to find anything illegal on D that could possibly justify the search, let alone their violent attack, they charged him with assault on a police officer. This has now been reduced to “obstructing a constable during a drug search,” a lesser charge but one which still carries a possible unlimited fine and 2 years of imprisonment.
D would greatly appreciate your support at his next case management hearing, at Inner London Crown Court on 2nd September at 9.30am. We will meet outside the court with banners, and will be present in the public gallery during the hearing. We must let the police and Crown Prosecution Service know that we are watching them in D’s case, and in every other instance of police brutality in London!
On the 14 August, LCAPSV attended City of London Magistrates court to support A, a member of the campaign, at her latest court hearing for the charge of ‘willful obstruction of the highway’. This charge dates from January of this year, when A was arrested while peacefully protesting outside Downing Street and imprisoned for four days.
A was expecting to be formally tried at this hearing, the previous hearing on the 31 July having been adjourned due to the Crown Prosecution Service’s failure to disclose the necessary evidence to A’s legal team. However, once again, the CPS had failed to comply with the court’s directions and disclosed crucial evidence only once the trial had begun, leaving A and her legal team no time to examine the evidence before the proceedings began. Furthermore, when the CPS eventually handed over the relevant CCTV evidence – some 35 minutes into the hearing – it emerged that an important twenty minutes of footage were missing, for which the responsible police officer had no adequate explanation. As such, the case was adjourned until the 9th December. This means that A’s case will drag on for 11 months. This stretching out of the legal proceedings constitutes a brutal form of punishment in and of itself, as the mental and physical strain such a process puts on people is immense.
In spite of all of this, A is resolute and remains determined to fight against her racist criminalisation. LCAPSV will continue to support A in every way we can and will be in court supporting her on the 9th December. More details will follow closer to the time.
On 6 August, we stood in solidarity with the family members of Sean Rigg, Habib Ullah, Leon Patterson and many others as they called on the Crown Prosecution Service to deliver justice. The United Families and Friends campaign is a coalition of those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody. UFFC said:
The Crown Prosecution Service is charged with inaction. Last week charges were brought against the officer who shot dead Azelle Rodney in 2005. Why did his mother, Susan Alexander, have to wait nine years for that officer to be charged?
Many other families whose loved ones died in custody, are still waiting for the CPS to make a decision. The standard response in recent years has been ‘ not enough evidence to prosecute’ – but this is not good enough.
Crown Prosecution Service – charge the killers now!
You can see pictures from the picket by clicking the Storify link below:
This Tuesday, D once again needs your support and help.
D, a victim of police brutality has had his charges dropped from assaulting a police officer to “obstructing a constable during a drug search”.
He has opted to take it a Crown Court which means he faces a possible unlimited fine and 2 years of imprisonment but he also will have a jury to decide if he is innocent or not.
Far from obstructing a police officer, D maintains that he willingly went to the floor and the Territorial Support Group officers proceed to attack and kick him leaving him with a cracked rib and then locking him up for 23 hours.
No drugs were found as he maintains that he had none on him.
The Police often put victims of their violence on trial to delay or reduce the possibility of any complaints or civil charges being brought against them.
From Justice for Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah / @Justice4Paps Campaign
‘I can’t understand why they were trying to force me to the ground and why the officer was spraying me in the face when I was bent down and then why he attacked me so violently with a baton.’
We are concerned about the recent assault of a local African Caribbean man by Thames Valley Police officers. Andrew Moore was viewing a car for sale on Lansdale Road just by Desborough Road High Wycombe yesterday the 7th of July where he got into a small dispute with the owner who called the police.
When the police arrived – one male and one female officer he was questioned and was asked to ‘drop to the floor’ which he refused to do. He was grabbed by the male officer who attempted to kick him and then was bent down forcefully by a shed/unit where he was continuously pepper sprayed by the male officer who also tried to spray the crowd that had gathered. As he got himself upright he was then viciously assaulted by the same officer with a baton despite members of the public asking him to stop as he was not offering any resistance at this point.
A short statement from Andrew after he was released from the police station:
Justice4Paps feel that the level of force that was used was extremely excessive and completely disproportionate to the situation that the officers found themselves in. There was no regard for the fact that there was a small child in the shed/unit and that there was in the unit next door a group of vulnerable
adults with learning difficulties all of whom were extremely distressed by what they saw and heard.
Andrew himself has been traumatised by the experience and was visibly shaken up when we met him.
‘We have spoken to Andrew and local people who witnessed this brutal attack yesterday and he and communities in the Desborough Road are in shock of what has happened. We need to ask would he have been treated the same way if he had been white and if this had taken place in the Eden Shopping Centre or do the police feel that they can visit this level of violence on people from non-white communities in our areas without there being any comeback or rebuke?
Zia Ullah, Justice4Paps
Andrew is currently reviewing his options which include making a formal complaint against the officers involved in the assault against him. In the context of the complaints against police brutality that Justice4Paps have highlighted over the last 18 months and the deaths of Habib ‘Paps’ Ullah in 2008 and Marcus Cottoy in 2009 High Wycombe and Philmore Mills in 2011 in Slough, it is clear that there are STILL many lessons to be learnt. Thames Valley Police need to ensure that they police communities in ways that are respectful and lawful – if police officers then fail to do this they need to be held to account.
Thames Valley Police say:
On Monday (7/7) at 1pm Thames Valley Police officers were called to a report of a criminal damage and assault at the car wash off Desborough Road, High Wycombe. Officers subsequently arrested a man at around 1.20pm at the scene for public order offences.
Supt Ed McLean, Local Policing Area Commander for Wycombe, said: “Having reviewed the incident, it is clear that my officers were faced with a challenging and difficult situation.
“A man who was identified to the officers was non-compliant and was actively resisting arrest. The officers were faced with a large crowd who at times, appeared extremely hostile and were, in my view, inflaming an already difficult situation.
“I am aware that the actions of my officers were captured and have been uploaded onto social media.
“Concerns were raised to me about the conduct of my officers and as a result a full investigation has been opened which is being overseen by our Professional Standards Department. We have subsequently received a formal complaint with regard to this incident from the man in question and that is also being investigated.
“I would like to point out that my officers consistently display the highest levels of professionalism and they understand the needs and expectations of our communities in displaying those values at all times.
“As there is an ongoing criminal investigation, it would be inappropriate for further comment on this matter at this stage.”
The 43-year-old man arrested has been bailed until 5 August to appear at High Wycombe police station.’
Call out for all against police brutality and racism to support D, a victim of police violence!
On Monday 23rd June 2014, D, a black man from Brixton was assaulted by police officers from the Territorial Support Group and he sustained a cracked rib. The officers jumped out of a van, and claimed they saw him make a drug deal. D states that the officers saw him talk with his Uncle outside McDonalds while he was in his car, but this chance family encounter was found to be sinister in the eyes of the police officers. When D realised that the police were extraordinarily aggressive, he voluntarily put himself on the ground with his hands behind his back expecting to be handcuffed. The officers instead started attacking and kicking him. Rather than questioning and searching him, the police brutalised D and his cousin, and when they didn’t find any drugs they charged him with “assaulting a police officer”. D spent almost 24 hours in a cell while suffering from cracked ribs.
D is facing a hearing about this spurious charge on Tuesday at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court, he would appreciate as much support as he can get.
D’s case is yet another example of racist police violence in South London. The London Campaign Against Police & State Violence aims to make the Metropolitan Police accountable for these abuses of power and offers support to victims of police violence. If you saw what happened, want to help or want more information, contact LCAPSV@GMAIL.COM
