Category Archives: news

Police abandon arrest in face of action by Sistah Space protesters

The police turned up at the protest to keep open vital women’s service Sistah Space.

As you can see in the video below by Charlotte Moore, the cops got more than they bargained for after an intervention by concerned citizens to stop an arrest of a woman protester.

Hackney Council is forcing the Women’s refuge service that provides a safe space for survivors of domestic violence to close. This protest aims to stop that.

But in the middle of the protest (Friday 10 July) the police attempted to arrest a protester.

A call went up from Sistah Space supporters: “Let her go!”

Police were surrounded and eventually forced to exit the scene.

Now that’s what we call community policing!

Please support Sistah Space by donating to their gofundme here.

Posted by Charlotte Moore on Sunday, July 12, 2020

Echoes of George Floyd murder in police killing of Frank Ogboru

Frank Ogboru died after being restrained by police in Calderwood Street Woolwich, London, on 26 September 2006.

Four police officers were on top of Frank, with one at least for some of the time with his knee forced down on his head, when he expired.

Frank Ogboru, a Nigerian businessman, was on a tourist visit to the UK when he met his death.

The full horror is coming to light after an Inquest found that the police had ignored Frank’s cries and he struggled for breath.

“You are killing me, I can’t breathe,” he pleas.

Speaking from Lagos, Mr Ogboru’s widow, Christy said at the time of the killing: “I am crushed. I put my faith in the British system to give me justice but it has failed me. Frank was not a criminal. He did not deserve to die in the street like an animal.”

The Crown Prosecution Service is now reopening the case. Channel Four News has the full story:

Channel 4 news investigation into killing of Frank Ogboru

Photos: Tottenham BLM says end Section 60 stop and search and ban tasers now!

A hundred BLM protesters assembled outside the Tottenham police station for the third time in the past three weeks as they stepped up their campaign against stop and search and for the banning of the Taser.

Support was notably vocal from passing motorists, as the constant stream of police abuses caught on video adds to rising anger across London.

Thanks to Stand Up To Racism for organising.

A similar protest was held down the road at Hackney’s Stoke Newington police station later in the day

  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism
  • BLM protest at Tottenham police station 11 July 2020 - called by Stand Up To Racism

Christopher Alder: Hull BLM protest continues the fight for justice

Hundreds took to the streets of Hull to fight for justice for Christopher Alder.

Christopher died on the floor of a police station in Hull in 1998.

The long fight to get justice has seen Janet, his sister, become the subject of police harassment as they investigated her for having the audacity to persist with a determined campaign to uncover the truth.

Hideous video footage from the Queens Gardens police station in where Christopher was killed, showed police officers standing around laughing and making money noises while Christoper, an ex British paratrooper, died in front of them.

The police killing of Christopher Alder

Such was the neglect and downright obstruction of the authorities, they even released for burial the wrong body, rubbing salt into the wounds of the family.

Christopher’s sister Janet Alder speaking at today’s protest said: “I keep coming back and go over Christopher’s story, until people make a change.

Although an inquest found that Christoper was unlawfully killed, more than twenty years no-one has been held to account for it.

Another big turnout on Brighton BLM protest following “I can’t breathe” outrage

Another big turnout in Brighton today for BLM march. As many as 5,000 took part in the protest.

The march comes on the back of an “I can’t breathe” incident in the city involving a black man and police. Thanks to Chris Middleton for the video below.

And if you missed the video of the latest brutal police attack, here it is:

Brighton & Hove News:

Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council Nancy Platts is to meet the city’s policing commander, Nick May, over her concerns about the footage, which has been circling on social media.

In the film, a suspect loudly objects to an officer putting his elbow on his neck, and then tells him he can’t breathe. At the end of the footage, the officer takes his arm away.

Chief Superintendent Nick May said police are reviewing the officer’s body worn footage and would take appropriate action, but cautioned that the clip only featured a snapshot of a much longer operation in Montpelier Road on Tuesday, 7 July in which the 28-year-old man was arrested during a search for a missing 17-year-old girl.

More at the Guardian.

“I can’t breathe” pleads black man attacked by Brighton police

Brighton police racist violence on display in yet another shocking video.

From the Independent

Video footage showing officers restraining a man as he repeatedly shouts “I can’t breathe” has been referred to the police watchdog. 

A man can be seen lying on the ground as he is restrained by three officers near a police car in a recording captured in Brighton on Tuesday.

A witness to the incident said: “I have seen people be arrested before, I have never seen anything like that. 

“It was really, really shocking. I do not understand why there were three policemen sat on him.”

Join the Brighton BLM protest

Details here.

Sprucing up Trump Tower BLM-style

Great to see the BLM paint job outside the obscene low-class Trump Tower in New York City.

Unfortunately Trump is unlikely to see it in person as he doesn’t visit his hometown anymore, because he is so universally hated there.

Hopefully the paint job will put off people spending their money at the hotel and hasten the demise of Trump Inc.

The shine was taken off the whole affair somewhat though, after the sighting of Mayor Bill de Blasio joining in with the roadworks.

This is the same Bill de Blasio who was singing the praises of the New York cops when they were brutalising peaceful protesters.

The same mayor that imposed curfews in a dangerous attack on the freedom of assembly that is meant to be guaranteed in the US constitution.

The same Bill de Blasio who got elected – as did some other Democrat politicians – on the promise of addressing police racist violence, militarisation and general corruption, but then after getting into office doing nothing.

But de Blasio aside, it’s still good to see some irritant being rubbed into the eyes of the man in the high castle.

There’s more on thumbing it to Trump Tower at the New York Times:

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio grabbed a roller Thursday to paint “Black Lives Matter” in front of the namesake Manhattan tower of President Donald Trump, who tweeted last week that the street mural would be “a symbol of hate.”

De Blasio was flanked by his wife, Chirlane McCray, and the Rev. Al Sharpton as he helped paint the racial justice rallying cry in giant yellow letters on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower. Activists watching chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!”

“When we say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ there is no more American statement, there is no more patriotic statement because there is no America without Black America,” de Blasio said. “We are acknowledging the truth of ourselves as Americans by saying ‘Black Lives Matter.’ We are righting a wrong.”

The mayor announced the plan to paint “Black Lives Matter” in front of Trump Tower last month after earlier saying the slogan would be painted on streets at several locations around the city. Trump responded via Twitter that the mural would denigrate “this luxury Avenue” and “further antagonize New York’s Finest.” De Blasio tweeted back that Black Lives Matter is “a movement to recognize and protect the lives of Black people.”

Rahima Torrence, 20, who was among the people slapping yellow paint onto Fifth Avenue, said that even though the mural might be a symbol, “it’s the beginning of something more.” She said the location in front of Trump’s own skyscraper “shows that we matter and it shows to him that you can’t ignore us.”

US workers to strike for Black Lives in major breakthrough

Reproduced with kind permission of Socialist Worker:

by Nick Clark

A coalition of trade unions and campaign groups in the US is organising a “strike for black lives,” set for Monday 20 July.

Tens of thousands of fast food, ride-share, nursing home and airport workers in more than 25 cities are set to strike for a full day. Others will stage a walkout for eight minutes—the amount of time police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck during the arrest that killed him.

The national strike will also involve marches led by workers.

Strike organisers are demanding action by bosses and the government against systematic racism that fuels poverty for black people. Organisers say black people make up a disproportionate number of those who earn less than a living wage.

They are also demanding guaranteed sick pay, affordable health care and better safety measures for workers forced to work during the coronavirus pandemic.

Movement for Black Lives—a coalition of organisations involved in the Black Lives Matter movement—is also involved.

Unions involved in the strike include the SEIU, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the American Federation of Teamsters and United Farm Workers.

Organiser Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson said corporations “claim to support black lives. But their business model functions by exploiting black labour—passing off pennies as ‘living wages’ and pretending to be shocked when Covid-19 sickens those black people who make up their essential workers.

“Corporate power is a threat to racial justice, and the only way to usher in a new economy is by tackling those forces that aren’t fully committed to dismantling racism.”

Racism

Nursing home worker Trece Andrews said she felt racism was to blame for why she has spent years being passed over for promotions.

“I’ve got 20 years in the game and I’m only at $15.81 (£12.50) per hour,” she said. “We’ve got the coronavirus going on, plus we’ve got this thing with racism going on. They’re tied together, like some type of segregation.”

The call for a strike came as evidence submitted to the trial for the murder of Floyd revealed horrifying new details about his final moments.

Audio recorded on a police officer’s body camera reveals that Floyd pleaded, “They’ll kill me, they’ll kill me” and cried out for his mother and children.

The transcript of the recording covers the moments before and during Floyd’s arrest. It includes the time he is pinned to the ground with officer Derek Chauvin’s knee on his neck.

In the transcript, a frightened Floyd pleads, “Please don’t shoot me,” and “I’m sorry” as police officer Thomas Lane approaches him with a gun in his hand.

Later, officers try to force Floyd into the back of a police car, as he panics and tells them, “I’m claustrophobic,” and, “I’m not resisting.”

On the ground Floyd tells Chauvin, “You’re going to kill me.”

Chauvin replies, “Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk.”

Quarter of young black people in London stopped by cops during lockdown

Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee has got hold of damning evidence of the extent of the oppressive nature of the policing of black (and white) youth in the big cities of the UK, especially London.

Lots of anecdotal evidence has been cited about the increase in stops of young people and now we have the proof.

For black youth the level of harassment has gone way off the scale, with a quarter of all the young black people having been stopped during the lockdown.

This comes after the overpolicing of block parties on working class housing estates.

From the Guardian:

Young black men were stopped and searched by police more than 20,000 times in London during the coronavirus lockdown – the equivalent more than a quarter of all black 15- to 24-year-olds in the capital.

More than 80% of the 21,950 searches between March and May resulted in no further action, according to analysis by the office of the home affairs select committee chair, Yvette Cooper.

The figures equate to 30% of all young black males in London, though some individuals may have been searched more than once.

The Met increased its use of stop and search during the lockdown, compared with a year ago. The force carried out 43,000 stops in May, compared to 21,000 a year earlier, and 30,608 in April, up from 20,981.

Katrina Ffrench, chief executive of Stopwatch, a charity that campaigns against the disproportionate use of stop and search, said: “The number is shocking and saddening. How do those young people feel when this is their city, they’re going about their daily business, could be caring for parents, all sorts of reasons as to why they’re out?” more

Parliament Home Affairs Select Committee hears evidence on stop and search. Hearing evidence this week.

https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/cd010bb3-558c-4575-9a23-ec4a5070a3cb