Camden demo over custody death.

Guido. | 23.05.2004 11:31 | London

Outraged community takes to the streets.

Speaker

Minutes silence

Where Dobbo died.

Ready to march.

March 1

March 2

March 3

Arrival at Copshop

Hundreds gathered in defiance.

Speaker

Copshop front door.

Exactly 1 week after Kebbe 'Doddo' Jobe died in the custody of Camden Police, a march was held in his memory. Local community groups including activists from the Kentish Town social centre marched from Camden lock to Kentish town Police station for a rally. The gathering was angry and defiant and was addressed by a number of speakers including Dobbo's wife and father. The Justice for Dobbo Campaign hold a nightly vigil at Kentish town nick from 6-8. For more info call 07951 596048/07949 158 898.

Guido.

Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

The Camden Police state

23.05.2004 12:15

Early on the march on Castlehaven Rd the police had to be persuaded to let the march continue - in a show of disrespect they had initially blocked off the road with a line of coppers.

Overpolicing and general police harassment in Camden to protect arrogant yuppies, plastic punk rich kids, rich consumer-tourists buying sweatshop goods( and greedy retailers who call to 'clean up' Camden ) seems to be the main borough policy.
This is also typified by the Camden Council /TFL booklet who boasted the station redevelopment would be free from 'comforting warm air vents' which might attract the homeless.

So we see a move where people of the community are discouraged to meet,relax and communicate with each other anywhere OUTDOORS in Camden. We have to be good little consumers and sit at tables at overpriced pubs and 'bistros' spending MONEY.

No wonder the pigs had to storm and evict the Camden Community Advice Centre. The council/government and its hired thugs are not interested in building strong communities - they are interested only in controlling society. This point was bore out to me on leaving the demo outside the police station. One person I spoke to on the way back told me that with a previous complaint they had made against the police, he was subsequently arrested and locked up at Holmes Rd police station on a case of 'mistaken identity' ( he looked a bit like somebody on a poster, maybe - and around the corner on Highgate Rd, 2 minutes walk from the demo outside the station, there appeared to be half a dozen riot vans ready to go. You get the picture.

mark

question

23.05.2004 17:28

How did you get your images so small? Do you have an image resizer? If so, what software?

...

Answer

23.05.2004 19:46

Simple, open as a photoshop, goto image size, make image 72 dpi for web, then reduce pixel size accordingly. This allows people who are not on broadband to veiw your stuff in less than 1 hour, it's much kinder to the IMC server and stops corporate media from nicking your pics without paying.

Guido

one law for some...

23.05.2004 21:08

Precisely, Mark. As I said in an earlier posting before the demo, police of all varieties have been crawling all over Camden for weeks, in response to the 'not enough police on our streets' campaigning by some residents groups and the Camden New Journal (in many ways a good local paper but not very far-sighted on this one).

Camden sent out a survey this week to some residents, which includes a fascinating series of questions about 'anti-social behaviour'. Types of asb which residents are asked if they have witnessed or reported, and if so, to whom, include 'groups of teenagers hanging around', and 'people sleeping rough'.

We are all being trained to fear, not the government that is dropping bombs on the people of the world, nor Camden Council who are trying to sell of our homes, or the police (whose actions speak for themselves) but the 'enemy within' - the 'anti-social person'. And what does this anti-social person look like if they are not a teenager or street homeless - yup, you guessed, black, loitering, maybe smoking weed, maybe not, definitely up to no good, maybe even not from this country, an asylum seeker - how many bogeymen can you be at one time before everyone thinks you are fair game?

I thought the demo was good and powerful. I'll be going to the picket/vigils this week. I hope that the action steps up and does not get bogged down in a purely legalistic argument around the inquest, as so many campaigns that began with the same anger have done in the past.

What exactly happened to Kobbe Jobe?

26.05.2004 15:59

I work in Camden Town and while I am equally upset at the annoying influx of yuppies and plastic punks, I am unsure of what bearing this had on what happened to Kobbe. To be honest, while I saw Dobbo around occasionally, I didn't really know him, and I have yet to be told what happened to him. I have heard the rumours and I witnessed the march which was the first time I realised something serious had occured, but no one has told me exactly what happened to him at the hands of the po-pos. Could you enlighten myself and the others who read your website whom I am sure will be equally in the dark.

ali
mail e-mail: bennett.alastair@mtvne.com

What exactly happened to Kebbe Jobe

14.06.2004 19:46

One of your readers asked what happened to Kebba Jobe at Camden Lock.

The information that doesn't seem to be getting out there in the community is that Kebba offered drugs to an undercover police officer. When the cop tried to arrest him a scuffle broke out and kebba tried to swallow his bag of weed which he then choked to death on. The rest is history - outcries of death in police custody - marches through the streets of camden in protest at the death of a man who was acting in an illegal manner. It is very sad that he died. He was someones father, someones husband, someone's son. That is a tradgedy and my thoughts go out to his family.

What I find outrategous is that the community came out in force to protest against the police about someone who effectively took their own life, by their own actions.

The weekend before saw a police officer stabbed to death on a canal towpath, where was the community outrage then? I ask myself, what is the world coming to when the community passionately reacts to the death of someone who was dealing in drugs and not to the death of someone who puts his life on the line everyday to protect us.

Maggie

drug dealer

23.06.2004 07:08

Just what was a Gambian doing selling drugs in Camden Town anyway?

I wonder if he filed tax returns on the money made from illegal activities.

I am sick to death of drug dealers and their supporters whingeing every time they get caught out.

The fact is this guy was selling drugs, he tried to sell to a police officer, then swallowed his stash and died as a result.

Perhaps the people who complain about police brutality should take a look at the Kobe's responsibility in his own demise.

You complain about everything - the council, the police, the yuppies - it's always someone elses fault. You direct a campaign of negativity against the police and then wonder why we live in a fearful, hateful society.

If you want to see what's wrong with this society try taking a look in the mirror.

Big Tom