Solidarity demonstration Brixton Prison New Year’s Eve 2014-15
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8Vuk2w2OVs
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8Vuk2w2OVs
No Justice No Peace
No Justice Just Us
Make some noise
Having spent a very quiet Christmas I decided I needed to get out for a bit. I was nursing a slight case of whip lash (long story) and suffering a bout of shakes from another ongoing “thing”. I had been told about a vigil demo type event happening at Brixton Prison. Curious to see what it was about, I decided to grab my camera and jump on a bus.
When I arrived the was around 2 dozen people gathered down a dark Jebb Ave. this swelled to around 45 people at its peak including people with a large banner reading “no justice no peace belonging to the @blacbanner collective”.
Once every one had arrived a loud hailer crackled to life and a man read off a selection of people who had died in custody in prisons immigration centres & police stations. After a short reading the gathered crowd a number of which had brought whistles pots pans drums and other noise making devices began making cheering making noise and wishing the inmates a happy new year at this point it was decided to continue this well wishing on the move whilst waking around the prison.
A couple of hundred meters round the corner the crowd came upon a section of corrugated iron covering the prison fence and began banging away blowing their whistles and shouting well wishes to the prisoners on the other side which they were hearing and responding to. It was a lot of fun and I think the guys inside appreciated people on the outside turning up to wish them happy New Year. It was all very good spirited.
We were lucky enough to have Marcia Rigg-Samuel come and speak to the gathering on behalf of The United Families and Friends Campaign and about her brother Sean who died whilst in police custody.
This was all going well and the speeches finished. Everyone decided to raise a rousing final cheer for the inmates. One person let off a celebratory New Years firework. That’s when it went pear shaped. The police decided that the firework was too much and a dozen police rushed in to the crowd to detain the individual. The crowd objected to this apparent over reaction by the police and surrounded the cops who had their night sticks out. Chanting “let him go”. They seemed determined at all costs to keep hold of him.
Moments later a collection of further squad cars came hurtling in to the cul-de-sac. The “suspect” was taken to a van but the police decided that they now wanted to start arresting other people as well and around 20 officers proceeded to chase a number of people of in to the adjacent estate.
Back toward the entrance to the road around 20 police officers now formed a human chain to block exit from the area. I would say around 40 to 50 officers were involved; there were also additional vans and squad cars patrolling along the main road Brixton Hill. Later there were reports on twitter that CS spray had been used by the police whilst chasing people in the estate.
After dispersing for a while the bulk of the group headed to Brixton Police station to continue highlighting deaths in custody.
I asked an officer why so many people had been deployed for one guy letting off a small fire work on New Year’s Eve he quoted safety concerns. The mind boggles.
Find out more information about deaths in custody and The United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) uffc-campaigncentral.net For information about Sean Rigg seanriggjusticeandchange.com
When I arrived the was around 2 dozen people gathered down a dark Jebb Ave. this swelled to around 45 people at its peak including people with a large banner reading “no justice no peace belonging to the @blacbanner collective”.
Once every one had arrived a loud hailer crackled to life and a man read off a selection of people who had died in custody in prisons immigration centres & police stations. After a short reading the gathered crowd a number of which had brought whistles pots pans drums and other noise making devices began making cheering making noise and wishing the inmates a happy new year at this point it was decided to continue this well wishing on the move whilst waking around the prison.
A couple of hundred meters round the corner the crowd came upon a section of corrugated iron covering the prison fence and began banging away blowing their whistles and shouting well wishes to the prisoners on the other side which they were hearing and responding to. It was a lot of fun and I think the guys inside appreciated people on the outside turning up to wish them happy New Year. It was all very good spirited.
We were lucky enough to have Marcia Rigg-Samuel come and speak to the gathering on behalf of The United Families and Friends Campaign and about her brother Sean who died whilst in police custody.
This was all going well and the speeches finished. Everyone decided to raise a rousing final cheer for the inmates. One person let off a celebratory New Years firework. That’s when it went pear shaped. The police decided that the firework was too much and a dozen police rushed in to the crowd to detain the individual. The crowd objected to this apparent over reaction by the police and surrounded the cops who had their night sticks out. Chanting “let him go”. They seemed determined at all costs to keep hold of him.
Moments later a collection of further squad cars came hurtling in to the cul-de-sac. The “suspect” was taken to a van but the police decided that they now wanted to start arresting other people as well and around 20 officers proceeded to chase a number of people of in to the adjacent estate.
Back toward the entrance to the road around 20 police officers now formed a human chain to block exit from the area. I would say around 40 to 50 officers were involved; there were also additional vans and squad cars patrolling along the main road Brixton Hill. Later there were reports on twitter that CS spray had been used by the police whilst chasing people in the estate.
After dispersing for a while the bulk of the group headed to Brixton Police station to continue highlighting deaths in custody.
I asked an officer why so many people had been deployed for one guy letting off a small fire work on New Year’s Eve he quoted safety concerns. The mind boggles.
Find out more information about deaths in custody and The United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) uffc-campaigncentral.net For information about Sean Rigg seanriggjusticeandchange.com
Homepage:
Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
observation
06.01.2015 00:44
Just saying: Its very biased just to read out victims of police. I think you will find that victims of criminals are higher in number by a huge magnitude
Another thing, I can't show solidarity with burglars and purse snatchers etc.
Mike
If a firework deserves an arrest do about deaths in custody deserve an arrest?
06.01.2015 08:17
Remember the case of Harry Stanley the Scotsman who was challenged and shot dead by armed police in 1990 because he had a Scottish accent which someone mistook for an Irish accent and reported him as a terrorist? His terrible crime was to have a wooden table leg in a bag which our bright boys in blue decided was a dangerous weapon.
Remember Ian Tomlinson who was a London newspaper vendor who was walking home from work with his hands in his pockets during the G20 protests in London in 2009? He had no interest in either the demonstration or the police and was walking away from the police with his back to them when a certain PC Simon Harwood – a TSG (Territorial Support Group) thug attacked him from behind, knocking him to the ground for no apparent reason other than he was a soft target. Mr Tomlinson was a middle aged man who was not in the best of health and the assault from the burly TSG cop proved fatal as Ian sadly died shortly afterwards. Incredibly Simon Harwood was not disciplined but suspended on full pay for two years after which he was let off. He did not have to be dragged in to a police van or a cell screaming “I can’t breathe!” He was able to sit at home on full pay and wait for his not guilty of anything verdict.
Remember the cases of Blair Peach, Azele Rodney and more recently Mark Duggan?
The statistics of those killed by the police speak for themselves and I feel further comment is unnecessary.
Total deaths in police custody or otherwise following contact with the police, England & Wales 1990-date
Type Metropolitan Police Other forces Total
Custody 252 738 990
Pursuit 42 297 339
RTI 19 100 119
Shooting 22 33 55
All deaths 335 1167
Grand total in England and Wales since 1990 is 1,502 - or about one death every week.
Yes, as the Daily Mail would say `Our police are wonderful`
Paul O'Hanlon
e-mail:
o_hanlon@hotmail.com
@Paul
10.01.2015 15:11
Agree it isn't "perfect". But what in this world is?
If there was no crime, then there wouldn't be a need for police
Unfortunately, there is. As shown in france, 12 innocent people murdered, followed by another 4.
Perhaps you should concentrate on reducing crime, on reducing the number of victims of crime.
Your say "1 a week" die from the police. I think you will find a lot more people die in hospitals than what - what do you want? Ban hospitals and doctors?
8 people a year die from switching the alarm clock off? Ban alarm clocks?
People die every day.... because there are so many people. That some of these people die whilst in police custody is neither here or there. People die in hospitals too, they die on the toilet, they die at work, they die at home. Ban 'homes'? I think not
What you should work on is reducing the number of people who are victims of crime. People who are murdered by muggers and thugs. Thugs who are caught by the police and locked up (not to punish them but to protect the public from them!).
Mistakes will happen of course. For instance, "anarchists" managed to accidentially torch 3 innocent office workers during protests in Greece - remember that? A nurse was blinded in brighton by anarchists, remember that?
Nobody is perfect,.... but the police do more good than bad. They do FAR MORE good than bad, so until you suggest an alternative to stopping muggers stabbing innocent members of hte public, I suggeest you go back to the drawing board with your 'idealist' thoughts as they are not practical beyond rhetoric.
Steve