Brixton Splash is a free street party held every year in Brixton with music food and market stalls. Around 20,000 people are expected to attend and unfortunately where working class people go (especially black working class people), the police will follow. Every year we witness police harassing young people from the local community as part of deliberate campaigns of aggression and intimidation.
London Campaign Against Police & State Violence are organising a Cop Watch (Community Monitoring of the Metropolitan Police) at Brixton Splash, this Sunday.
If you would like to get involved and learn how to monitor the police, then please e-mail lcapsv@gmail.com
LCAPSV, Housing Action Southwark & Lambeth and Football Beyond Borders Summer Social – Sunday 9th August, 2pm – 7pm
This time we are in Brixton for a bigger event – as always free food and fun but also now with an additional BBQ and a football tournament to celebrate our collective efforts and successes so far.
All are welcome to play, laugh, eat and drink with us in a family friendly atmosphere
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.
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!
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.
Serious concerns are emerging about the “botched and violent” police counter-terrorist stop and subsequent arrest of a Black man in Greenwich, just over a week after the death of Drummer Lee Rigby. After Counter Terrorism police performed a ‘hard stop'(1) on the car Husani Williams’ was driving, he was arrested for possession of a Class A drug. Williams submitted a defence statement in which he denied the cocaine possession charge and the CPS took the decision this week to drop that charge. The London Campaign against Police and State Violence (2) (LCAPSV) are now demanding that SO15 (3), the Metropolitan Police Service Counter-Terrorism Command, and SO19 (4), MPS’ Specialist Firearms Command should face an independent inquiry into their “brutal and unnecessary” use of force.
On 1st June 2013, Williams was driving through Greenwich near the Woolwich Flyover. In the car with him were his brother, Asanti, and two female friends. At around 6pm, the car was brought to a ‘hard stop’ by armed officers in unmarked cars. The officers shot out the tyres, smashed the car side-windows, and proceeded to thrust their weapons into the faces of the Williams brothers. They then dragged him and the three passengers out of the car. Officers used Tasers and ‘pain compliance’ techniques on the men, who did not resist at any point. During the arrest officers accused the brothers of being terrorists, and are accused of having repeatedly racially abused them. At the time the arrest was reported in local newspapers (5).
Due to the severity of the injuries to his head, Asanti was taken to hospital on the insistence of Paramedics and no charges were made against him. The police explained that the car was targeted because it was linked with an address associated with the Lee Rigby murder. The address in question was that of Mr Williams’ cousin, a Black Muslim, who has not been approached by police to date.
Husani was charged with possession of a Class A drug, but crucially, despite the nature of the stop, was not charged with any offence relating to terrorism. A court hearing which took place in October put the trial back on a “warned list” (6) until April for unspecified reasons. In November, Husani pleaded not guilty. At a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court on 8th January, the Prosecution formally offered no evidence in respect of this charge.
A complaint about the way the Williams’ brothers were treated is currently being investigated and they are also currently preparing to pursue a civil case against the Metropolitan Police.
Kojo Kyerewaa, a member of LCAPSV said:
“This was an outrageous set of events. From the brutal and unnecessary aggression during the police operation and the dubious “intelligence” which led to it, to the shambolic handling of the court case. This raises serious questions about the professionalism and integrity of these institutions of law enforcement.
The Williams’ brothers ordeal happened one week after Lee Rigby’s murder, and all evidence points to the fact that this botched and violent assault was based on tenuous intelligence if not mere speculation with extreme racist abuse. It looks very much like a racist assault by the Police, which could have resulted in the death of an innocent man.”
Husani Williams said:
“The decision to drop the charge against me was a great relief. This entire criminal process has been a time of incredible stress and trauma on me and my family. I’m grateful for the support I’ve received so far and I’ll continue to demand answers and fight for justice.”
NOTES
(1) A manoeuvre also used by armed police in the deaths of Azelle Rodney and Mark Duggan.
