Anti racist campaigners take protest to north London police HQ
By Annie Body | 27.06.2001 18:05
Four hundred people gathered outside Tottenham police station in North London on Saturday 23 June for a lively and militant march against racism and police brutality. The march was organised by Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! with families and friends of Roger Sylvester and Harry Stanley, both killed by the Metropolitan police in 1999, and the Broomfield Three Campaign, opposing the trial of three black 14 year-old students who are in court all this week.
The demonstration demanded the resignation of Haringey police superintendent Stephen James and an end to Britain's racist immigration and asylum laws, as well as demanding justice for the family campaigns. Although the turnout was low because the demonstration coincided with the Tottenham Carnival, the political composition of the march was very significant. The importance of this unity was clear on the face of the police as a contingent of WOMBLES took their place beside Turkish communists whose comrades are dying daily on a prison hunger strike. The fascist regime responsible is backed by British capital.
Hundreds of people crowded the streets saluting the demonstration as it passed through, but many of them would not join the march for fear of being targeted by local police if they were seen. There was a minute's silence at the top of Sommerhill Road where Roger Sylvester was killed outside his own home by eight police officers in January 1999. His brother Bernard spoke afterwards, explaining that "the family still has not been told how Roger was killed, or the names of the eight officers responsible who are still policing the streets."
The demonstration finished with a rally outside Wood Green Library with speeches from all the family campaigns, political organisations and community groups present. The Broomfield Three Campaign has asked for support this week during the court case of the children, who face trumped up charges imposed by racist police. A daily picket will take place outside Lordship Lane Magistrates Court in Tottenham at 1pm. Visit
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk, for more information about these and other anti-racist campaigns, the Turkish hunger strikes and Britain's racist asylum laws.
The demonstration demanded the resignation of Haringey police superintendent Stephen James and an end to Britain's racist immigration and asylum laws, as well as demanding justice for the family campaigns. Although the turnout was low because the demonstration coincided with the Tottenham Carnival, the political composition of the march was very significant. The importance of this unity was clear on the face of the police as a contingent of WOMBLES took their place beside Turkish communists whose comrades are dying daily on a prison hunger strike. The fascist regime responsible is backed by British capital.
Hundreds of people crowded the streets saluting the demonstration as it passed through, but many of them would not join the march for fear of being targeted by local police if they were seen. There was a minute's silence at the top of Sommerhill Road where Roger Sylvester was killed outside his own home by eight police officers in January 1999. His brother Bernard spoke afterwards, explaining that "the family still has not been told how Roger was killed, or the names of the eight officers responsible who are still policing the streets."
The demonstration finished with a rally outside Wood Green Library with speeches from all the family campaigns, political organisations and community groups present. The Broomfield Three Campaign has asked for support this week during the court case of the children, who face trumped up charges imposed by racist police. A daily picket will take place outside Lordship Lane Magistrates Court in Tottenham at 1pm. Visit
http://www.rcgfrfi.easynet.co.uk, for more information about these and other anti-racist campaigns, the Turkish hunger strikes and Britain's racist asylum laws.
By Annie Body