Kentish Town NW5 is a close, tight-knit, multi-racial community, with a rich history which dates back to the 12th Century. Residents are proud of their heritage and they trusted their local police to serve and protect them, until May 15th 2004. With one irrational and mindless act of violence, Kentish Town police snuffed out the life of a much-loved member of this community, Kebba Dobo Jobe, from the Gambia. People are angry, some are heartbroken, and we want justice.
On a busy, sunny Saturday afternoon at Camden Lock, a tourist magnet, undercover cops decided to target two Rastas who were chatting and minding their own business beside the canal. Within moments Dobo was dying, face down on the ground, with his hands cuffed behind his back and the full force of an officer's knee in his spine. Friends and passers-by begged the police to "get off him" without success. The police called for back-up, not an ambulance.
The police are now proceeding to protect their colleagues and defame Dobo's character, by branding him a "drug dealer" who was "stupid" enough to asphyxiate on a "fistful of herbs" lodged in his throat, because it fits the stereotype. We're not buying that, but we are still buying ganja... which was meant to be decriminalised, not a capital offence. Unfortunately, Dobo is not the first black person to die in police hands, it has been a consistent pattern in the UK since the sixties. The "lessons" have NOT been learned... police are slow learners.
His cousin, Ibrahima Sey was also held face down on the floor by police, handcuffed behind his back for 15 minutes. This position is well known to be a likely cause of suffocation. Two officers kept their feet on his legs during this time. When he went totally limp and stopped breathing an ambulance was called. Ibrahima was dead by the time he reached the hospital. A campaign and a demonstration was organised in the area, but once again the officers involved remain on duty. None of them have been disciplined or prosecuted.
Apart from Harry Stanley, a Scotsman shot by trigger-happy cops in Stoke Newington for carrying a table leg, all other victims have been black or Asian, six have died in Stoke Newington police station alone. This cannot be a coincidence, it can only be racism. These murders are on the record as 'open verdict' and 'suicide' or 'natural causes.'
Even our "establishment" Rastafarian, Benjamin Zephania lost his cousin, who died recently in police custody in Birmingham. Police harassment, intimidation and brutality is on the increase. Resist it, the police do not have power over life and death and they cannot hide inside uniforms or behind visors, we the people have the power. Use it, or lose it!
On a busy, sunny Saturday afternoon at Camden Lock, a tourist magnet, undercover cops decided to target two Rastas who were chatting and minding their own business beside the canal. Within moments Dobo was dying, face down on the ground, with his hands cuffed behind his back and the full force of an officer's knee in his spine. Friends and passers-by begged the police to "get off him" without success. The police called for back-up, not an ambulance.
The police are now proceeding to protect their colleagues and defame Dobo's character, by branding him a "drug dealer" who was "stupid" enough to asphyxiate on a "fistful of herbs" lodged in his throat, because it fits the stereotype. We're not buying that, but we are still buying ganja... which was meant to be decriminalised, not a capital offence. Unfortunately, Dobo is not the first black person to die in police hands, it has been a consistent pattern in the UK since the sixties. The "lessons" have NOT been learned... police are slow learners.
His cousin, Ibrahima Sey was also held face down on the floor by police, handcuffed behind his back for 15 minutes. This position is well known to be a likely cause of suffocation. Two officers kept their feet on his legs during this time. When he went totally limp and stopped breathing an ambulance was called. Ibrahima was dead by the time he reached the hospital. A campaign and a demonstration was organised in the area, but once again the officers involved remain on duty. None of them have been disciplined or prosecuted.
Apart from Harry Stanley, a Scotsman shot by trigger-happy cops in Stoke Newington for carrying a table leg, all other victims have been black or Asian, six have died in Stoke Newington police station alone. This cannot be a coincidence, it can only be racism. These murders are on the record as 'open verdict' and 'suicide' or 'natural causes.'
Even our "establishment" Rastafarian, Benjamin Zephania lost his cousin, who died recently in police custody in Birmingham. Police harassment, intimidation and brutality is on the increase. Resist it, the police do not have power over life and death and they cannot hide inside uniforms or behind visors, we the people have the power. Use it, or lose it!
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