news, UK

London Police beat cuffed black youth for possession of small amount of cannabis

If you were distressed from watching the video of a defenceless child being brutally assaulted by Detective Constable Kevin Rawley of the Metropolitan Police and want to make a complaint, plz see below and link to the complaints form.

How to make a complaint about this police violence

The procedure for submitting a complaint is a simple process. Feel free to adapt the template below:

“When did this happen?

23/04/2019

Approximate time or additional details about the time of the event.

Late afternoon

Please describe the event and what happened in as much detail as possible.

I have been adversely affected by the conduct of a police officer that involves a serious assault” I was traumatised and
appalled by watching a video of Detective Constable Kevin Rowley carrying out a violent unprovoked assault using his baton on a defenceless young man who was in handcuffs. This is not the sort of service we expect from our police force.

This officer needs to be reprimanded and firm action taken as an example to the rest of the Metropolitan police force that such brutal assaults on defenceless citizens is NOT ACCEPTABLE!!

Do you have a reference number linked to this complaint?

Not given

What do you feel would be a suitable outcome from this complaint?

Removal of Detective Constable Kevin Rowley, the officer involved in carrying out the assault as he is a danger to society and a rotten apple in the police force.
https://www.policeconduct.gov.uk/complaints-and-appeals/make-complaint

Information to make your complaint: Jason Gwillim is the Tri Borough Commander for the area and Andrew Rosindell is the MP for Romford!!

Thanks to Sista Shanice

news

Christopher Alder killed by police – 20 years on and the fight for justice continues

Nearly 200 packed into the meeting to commemorate Christopher and support the courage of his sister Janet’s fight for Justice.

Christopher, a former British army paratrooper was killed by police in Hull 20 years ago.  He died on the floor of the police station, handcuffed as officers made monkey noises and stood around laughing as he expired, with no attempt today to help him.

Adding insult to injury, when the family thought Christopher had been buried after many years of delay, it turned out that the authorities had buried the wrong person.

The police have also been accused of spying on the family for having the audacity to stand up to them and fight for justice.

Fantastic support for the march and rally in Hull today came from York, Scarborough, Rotherham , Sheffield and Manchester as well as local Unions like Unite, the University branch of UCU and the loan of the room by City Unison and local organisations like Hull Afro Caribbean Association, Truth Juice and Stand up to Racism.

Today’s events were organised by the Justice for Christopher Alder Campaign and also included supporters from Lancashire No Justice No Peace.

news, US

After Charlottesville Nazi terror, Trump shows his inner racism

Trump is in an alliance with Nazi terrorists. That is the only reasonable conclusion that can be made following the murder of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville on Saturday. The Nazi ‘Unite the Right’ rally which was met by a counter-protest by anti-fascists, saw a motley collection of Nazi organisations come together to defend ‘Southern heritage’ in the shape of a memorial to Confederate traitor to the US, Robert E Lee.

Infamously, Trump refused to call out the Nazis, choosing instead to issue a mealy mouthed statement condemning violence ‘on all sides’. Make no mistake, this moral equivalence is an endorsement not just of racism and fascism but of terrorism.

As the world knows all too well, Trump is a prolific tweeter, but decent people still wait for him to tweet his abhorrence of the racist terror brought to Charlottesville by his supporters. And if anyone is in any doubt that they are his supporters, the fascist marchers themselves made it abundantly clear by chanting ‘Hail Trump’ as they rallied.

Trump is someone who respects loyalty, so we’re told. It’s why he remains loyal to the memory and the politics of his father Fred. Readers will recall that Trump’s father was a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Fred Trump marched with the Klan in New York in 1927 and was arrested for fighting with police. Like father like son is an expression that springs to mind.

Be fair to Agent Orange they say, he’s ‘friends’ with Kanye West so he can’t be a racist.

But discriminatory practices by one of his real estate companies, the revolting campaign to execute the Central Park Five even after they were proved innocent and of course the blatantly racist ‘birther’ campaign against Barack Obama, all are evidence of Trump’s deep-seated racism.

The longer the white supremacist stays in power the more likely it is that he will sow the seeds of America’s next civil war. The lovers of the Confederacy should be able to remember how the first civil war turned out.

By their friends shall ye know them. So let’s take a look at some of his friends – the ones in his cabinet. Steve Bannon – white nationalist millionaire; Jeff Sessions – white supremacist Alabaman and add to that the assorted generals and billionaires, none of whom are known for their promotion of equality and diversity. OK, so he has one black man in his cabinet, but we can safely put that down to tokenism.

After what’s just gone down in Virginia, Americans should demand that those in Trump’s cabinet who claim to abhor white supremacy and anti-Semitism resign immediately. None have so far of their own volition, which tells us all we need to know about the priorities and politics of his appointees.

Sadly, the Nazis are not going to go away. They certainly will not go away if people follow the advice of respectable liberal opinion that thinks if you ignore this filth it will disappear. Intimidation and violence has to be faced own.

The Nazis say they will be back to terrorise Charlottesville. If that is so, then anti-fascist forces will need to mobilise much more widely and deeply. Violence isn’t the key to stopping fascism. It’s a numbers game. We are the many, they are the few. They need to be massively outnumbered and marginalised. In that battle we expect no help from Trump. In fact Trump is part of the problem. In addition, the Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have made it plain by their silence and inaction that they are prepared to go down with the racist White House bully.

Heather Heyer is an American Hero. Let’s honour her by redoubling our efforts to rid the world of fascism. Trump is an American racist and warmonger.

No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA

deaths, news

Justice for Darren Cumberbatch – Jail killer police!

by David Kersey, pictures by Geoff Dexter

Over 350 people attended a march in Nuneaton, Warwickshire yesterday, Saturday, to protest for justice for Darren Cumberbatch from Coventry.

Darren died following an incident with Warwickshire police on 10 July.

Witnesses and family have alleged that he was assaulted and tasered by the police that evening. Darren was placed in intensive care at George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton, after being “dearrested” by the police.

He remained in a coma and died on 19 July.

Campaigners marched from Nuneaton railway station to the McIntyre House hostel where Darren had been staying. Candles were lit and flowers left in tribute at the hostel entrance.

The march then moved on to the police headquarters in the town.

Campaigners demanded the immediate suspension of the police officers involved and suspension of the use of tasers.

The march followed an angry and determined public meeting attended by over 200 people in Coventry last Wednesday.

Speakers on Saturday included Darren’s family, community activist Rev Desmond Jaddoo and witnesses from the hostel where Darren was interrogated by police on the night he ended up in a coma.

The march was led by Darren’s family and supported by his many friends as well as community activists and trade unionists from Coventry and beyond.

Family members gave solidarity greetings to the families of Rashan Charles and Edson Da Costa.

Desmond Jaddoo stated to big cheers, “We have brought one of the main roads in Nuneaton to a standstill. No one gets through, in the name of Darren Cumberbatch. We want Justice for Darren.”

Carla, Darren’s sister, said, “Numbers is power. I am going to make my voice heard in the name of my brother.”

Visit www.facebook.com/Justice4Daz/ to support the campaign.

 

Thanks to Socialist Worker

https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/45061/We+will+fight+for+justice+for+Darren+Cumberbatch

deaths, news, UK

Police case collapses as IPCC reveals no drugs swallowed in Rash Charles killing

 

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has admitted that there was ‘no controlled substance’ in Rashan Charles’s throat.

In a statement last night the IPCC states: ‘The object did not contain a controlled substance.’

This confirms the suspicions of family and campaigners that the police made up the initial story.

Nevertheless, the IPCC still repeats the police claim that there was something in Rashan’s throat but the package has now turned into an ‘object’.

The IPCC state that they have ‘received results of forensic analysis’ of an ‘object’ but, in another alarming and distressing lack of transparency, fail to disclose what it is.

Weyman Bennett, co-convenor of Stand Up To Racism, said: ‘This is totally outrageous and deepens the anger in the community. All the police officers involved must be suspended immediately. The IPCC statement throws up more questions than it answers and the family and community will want urgent clarification.

‘Why has the IPCC failed to reveal the nature of the claimed object in Rashan’s airways? Why are the police officers involved in his death still on duty?

‘We demand that the IPCC holds an immediate press conference and provide full disclosure of what they know. The reality is that far from “helping” Rashan as the police account claimed, the officers’ forceful arrest resulted in his death.

‘Are the IPCC failing to disclose the nature of the object in order to help the police sustain their line that by putting Rashan in a headlock and another kneeling on his back they were somehow trying to clear his airways?

‘As was said by family and campaigners from the beginning, and as everyone can see for themselves in the video, the police were doing no such thing. Their actions killed Rashan.

‘There must be accountability now. Three black men have been killed by police in the space of a month. Are the police trying to start a community uprising?’

The IPCC statement drives a coach and horses through the attempted justifications for his death.

Of course whether Rashan had been swallowing drugs or not his death would never have been justified but now attempts to explain police actions look even flimsier.

In recent weeks three young black men, Edson Da Costa, Darren Cumberbatch and Rashan Charles have died while in contact with the police.

In Birmingham one black man is in a comma after being shot by police while plain clothes officers were filmed kicking a young Asian man.

All this happens almost to the day of the sixth anniversary of the death of Mark Duggan.

Recently published figures show that while BME people are 13 percent of Londons population they were 36 percent of those he faced the use of force by police.

Bennett added: ‘What we are seeing is institutionalised racism working its violent way though police operations with the end result more dead young black men’.

news, UK

Rashan Charles killing: police now judge, jury and executioner in fake ‘war on drugs’

The mainstream media is going into overdrive to try and justify the police killing of 20-year-old Rashan Charles. The story seems to go like this – he was a drug dealer so what did he expect. We had the same concocted story when the police killed Edson da Costa a few weeks ago. We had the same story when they executed Mark Duggan in August 2011; this year is the sixth anniversary of Mark’s death and it will be marked by a protest in Tottenham on 5th August.

The London Evening Standard is running a story today with a still from CCTV claiming it shows Rashan swallowing a package. But even if this interpretation is accurate, since when did the police in this country get the right to be judge, jury and executioner on our streets?

Rash was much-liked in the community and tonight’s protest will be well attended for that reason. Anger is growing at the police’s callous disregard for the lives of young black men in London. No police officer has as yet been suspended let alone charged. Is the Met police importing the tactics deployed by the militarised police of the US where their ‘war on drugs’ has led to daily killings of black people and a massive increase in the prison population from 300,000 in the 1980s to over two million today, despite there being no significant increase in the crime rate. As in the US, here in the UK drug use is the same across different ethnic groups. In fact it is likely higher among white people. the number of those involved in dealing are similar also. But it is poor black and working class communities that are targeted, not the cocaine users in the City of London or on Wall street.

If Rashan had swallowed something, putting him in a headlock and strangling him is not going to retrieve the alleged package. Neither is the full weight of a policeman kneeling on his back likely to ‘help’, in fact it probably had a direct bearing on his death, as did the strangulation.

One thing though is crystal clear from Saturday’s police killing: when people in the community see the police arresting someone, intervention is a necessity. It might save someone’s life.

If the police think they can act with impunity because of the cover-ups of the IPCC, then they will continue to do precisely that. Given the mounting death toll, we have no choice but to start to police the police. Tonight’s protest is a start.

If there is no justice for Rash and all the other dead then there will be hell to pay. As Martin Luther King – ‘a riot is the voice of the unheard’.

No justice, no peace. Justice for Rash!

 

action

Vigil for Rashan Charles – jail killer police!

Rashan Charles was killed by the Met police

A vigil for Rashan Charles – killed by Hackney police – takes place tomorrow Monday 24th July at 6.30pm:

Stoke Newington police station

33 Stoke Newington High St, N16 8DS

 

Black Lives Matter Movement urges everyone who can – black and white, young and old – to be at the police station tomorrow.

We demand justice.  We will fight for justice  – this murder will not stand!

Killer racist police must be taken off our streets.

Facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/479966115678336??ti=ia

#justiceforrash

No justice No peace

news, UK

Hackney police kill young black man Rashan Charles

5 Comments

Twenty-year-old Rashan (Rashman) Charles was killed by police on Kingsland Road, Hackney, in the early hours of Saturday morning. A video posted on Twitter shows Rashan being taken to the ground and held in a headlock by a uniformed officer, followed shortly after by a plain clothed policeman who ‘assists’ his colleague by kneeling on Rashan’s back.

The police as always have got their cover-up story out early, claiming that Rashan was trying to ‘swallow an object’ and that the uniformed policeman was  trying to prevent Rashan ‘from harming himself’.

The killing of Rashan by police follows hot on the heels of the death of Edson da Costa at the hands of police in Newham a month ago. In that case the police also came out with the line that the person they killed was trying to swallow something, although Edson’s family says there is no evidence of this. Likewise, the video of Rashan’s killing shows no package being swallowed and there is no discernible attempt by police to remove the mystery package.

Far from ‘preventing harm’ the police are clearly seen killing Rashan. The police claim that Rashan was ‘taken ill’ during the encounter. Even after Rashan stops moving the police keep him in handcuffs even though he is likely dead at this point. The plain clothes officer continues to kneel on his back even after this point.

Rashan was initially in a car being pursued by police before he ran into the shop.

From Twitter:

This is the video of officers that work for the @metpoliceuk killing a young black man in Hackney and no news have covered it @linkuptv


The police officers involved in the killing must be arrested. At minimum they must be suspended from duty immediately. Instead all we have is the IPCC opening yet another inquiry into racist police killers from which nothing will come – unless we mount a ferocious campaign for justice for Rash, for Edson and all those who have died after coming into contact with police officers.

Justice for Rash!

No justice No peace

Racist police killers off our streets!!

Self-defence is no offence!

One solution, revolution!

 

news

Edson witnesses speak out: ‘I was there and I saw it. The police killed him’

Thanks to Socialist Worker

By Sadie Robinson

The woman who drove the car that Edson Da Costa was stopped in by cops shortly before his death has spoken to Socialist Worker about his treatment.

Edson died in hospital last week six days after the police stopped the car in Beckton, east London, on 15 June. Jussara was among a group of protesters, including some of Edson’s cousins and friends, who gathered at Forest Gate police station in east London yesterday, Tuesday.

She said, “It wasn’t like Edson was by himself and we don’t know what happened. I was there and I saw it. The police killed him.”

During a 200-strong protest over the killing last Sunday, Newham borough police commander Ian Larnder told protesters he would meet them on Tuesday. Initially cops at Forest Gate police station told protesters they had no appointment.

But the determination of Edson’s relatives and friends forced them to meet with two of Edson’s cousins. They told Socialist Worker that, in the meeting, Larnder confirmed that none of the officers involved in the stop had been suspended.

They said he also confirmed that police had used CS gas on Edson.

Jussara told Socialist Worker, “He was already down on the ground when they sprayed him.”

Some of Edson’s friends and family visited the estate where the car stop took place to lay flowers. They described how neighbours came out to share their eyewitness accounts of the stop—and footage of the incident.

“On the tape you can hear neighbours shouting, ‘You murdered him’,” Edson’s cousin Shellin told Socialist Worker. “You can see someone lying on the floor. And the police officers were not uniformed.”

Another cousin, Maria (not her real name) added, “Neighbours told us police officers were on top of him. And that they were telling everyone to go inside. They said police drove their car at people to try and get them to go away.”

They described the injuries Edson suffered. “There were scratches all over his body,” Shellin said. “There was tape on his eyes to try and keep them closed, but they were dry. His whole body was swollen.”

Maria said, “I wish people could have gone to the hospital and seen him. The first thing you noticed was his neck. It was triple the normal size. He had to have something to hold his head straight because his neck wasn’t strong enough.

“They say the police didn’t injure him. So how did that happen? We want justice.”

 

 

The cops have tried to downplay any injuries that Edson received. Instead they have claimed that Edson died after ingesting drugs.

The cops’ pet watchdog the IPCC released a new statement on the case the same day as Tuesday’s protest. It said that a pathologist had “removed a number of packages from Mr Da Costa’s throat”.

But as his relatives and friends pointed out, police are trained to deal with such situations. And possession of drugs doesn’t give cops a licence to kill people.

Jussara said, “When they think someone has something in their mouth, they are supposed to allow them to swallow it and bring them to the police station.

“Who are you to use force? If the police are not doing what they’re meant to do, why should we do what we get told? Why should we follow the law if they don’t?”

Protester Ivan added, “Edson was unarmed. Even if they thought he had a knife, they have training to deal with that.”

Why should people suffer capital punishment just because the police say they think a crime has been committed?

Edson came to Britain from Portugal in 1996 and had a young son here. He was just 25 when he died. Many of those angry over his death are familiar with the deaths or mistreatment of black men at the hands of the cops.

Ivan said, “Police racism is nothing new to me. They killed my cousin in Portugal in the same way. It’s got to end now.”

Fabio, a close friend of Edson, pointed to the double standards when it comes to the cops. “If we kill someone we go to prison,” he said. “What happened to Edson could happen to any one of us.”

People are determined to fight for justice and to stop the police covering up the truth about how Edson died.

Jussara said campaigners want to make sure that “next time, when someone gets arrested, this isn’t going to happen again”.

“We’re going to get to the bottom of this,” she said. “It keeps happening and it has to stop.”

Maria said, “This is us against the government.”

You don’t get any truth from the mainstream media. See more on Edson’s death at the hands of the police at Socialist Worker

deaths

Daily Mail protects police killers by whipping up hate against justice for Edson protesters

We received this email from the Daily ‘hate’ Mail yesterday:

Is the Black Lives Matter UK movement able to comment on the protest last night in Forest Gate?
On Twitter you called for people to get down there and many protesters there seemed to have BLM banners etc. Did you organise it? If not, who did?
What do you want to say about the violence and arson, and the six injured police and demonstrators that were arrested?
What do you want to say to the suggestion that that there is no evidence that Mr Da Costa was killed by the police – rather by drugs he ingested?
The IPCC has said reports he suffered a broken neck etc are ‘misinformation’.
What do you say to the suggestion that Black Lives Matter UK has caused unrest based on untruths at a time when the UK’s emergency services are under immense strain?

Please do respond by 7pm today or perhaps provide a telephone number so I can speak to a representative directly.

Thanks

Ben Wilkinson
Reporter
Daily Mail
Mobile: 07800 926 232
Tel: 0203 615 1084

 

The first thing to say is we are not BLM UK. We are independent of that organisation as we believe mass action on the streets and in our workplaces is the way forward, not elite direct action by small numbers of committed people doing actions on behalf of others. We believe capitalism is the enemy, not white people. Having said that, we defend the individuals in BLM UK who are being attacked in the mainstream media for the ‘crime’ of having the audacity to call for Justice for Edson.

Members of our group (BLMM) did indeed take part in the peaceful protest for Edson, although the Black Lives Matter placards the Daily Mail refers to were from the Stand Up To Racism organisation, which is clear to anyone who takes the time to read the heading on them.

The slogan ‘black lives matter’ is common parlance in the anti-racist movement, but this seems to have passed the Daily Mail by. They want to twist everything to fit into their warped Tory-racist view of the world. The supposed journalists at the Daily Mail obviously can’t read.

Our response to the Daily Mail’s attempt to undermine Edson’s fight for justice and to protect the racist killers in the police appears below.

Yesterday’s explosion of anger in Forest Gate and Stratford was a direct consequence of the death of Edson da Costa, after a police stop. The protest was spontaneously organised by friends of Edson and the Portuguese community in Newham. We hold it as our responsibility, and that of everyone opposed to racism, to support their demands for justice.

The focus of any responsible journalist should be on another death added to a very long list of black and ethnic minority deaths in police hands. The disturbances that followed the spontaneous but peaceful protests demanding justice for Edson are being cynically used to distract from the real issue – the deaths of black and other ethnic minorities at the hands of the police and the increasing number of white working-class youth also being targeted for harassment and worse.

Family members say the hospital doctor informed them that Edson had a collapsed lung, diaphragm and ruptured bladder. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) claim is disingenuously silent on these injuries. The claim that “no serious force was used” is totally implausible and has already further discredited the IPCC.

Since 1990, 166 black/ethnic minority persons have died after contact with the police; nine resulted in unlawful killing inquest verdicts. Yet no police officer has been successfully prosecuted since 1969. The IPCC and CPS have no credibility on delivering justice for victims who die in police hands. The inevitable conclusion drawn by the black community is that police institutional racism is rampant and officers know they can act with impunity.

In 1996, Ibrahima Sey, who died a short distance away from Forest Gate in Ilford, was found “unlawfully killed” by an inquest jury. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) refused to prosecute any officers over the killing. Sey, like Edson, was sprayed with CS gas at close range and his breathing was restricted by use of force, as reported in Edson’s case.

It is a scandal that Newham Borough Commander, Ian Larnder, has not suspended the officers concerned. A teacher or social worker facing allegations of violence would be immediately suspended pending investigations. This only reinforces the conclusion that there is no serious intention to deliver justice for Edson.

We will continue to support mass community campaigns involving anti-racist organisations, trade unions and community groups supporting the family’s legal case to achieve justice for Edson; we will not be cowed or intimidated by racist reporting. On the contrary, this will only strengthen our determination to help seek justice for Edson and accountability of the police for his death.