No annual custody deaths rally this year!
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4WardEver has been notified that there will be no official rally & demonstration taking place in London this year. We urge readers to pass on this information!
2008 saw the tenth anniversary of the United Families & Friends demonstration
Unofficial Gathering
31 October 2009
Ken Fero, co-director of INJUSTICE, invites anyone who would like to attend to meet with him at the usual location:
Assemble at 1pm at Nelson’s Column, Trafalgar Square, London
Please note that this will be a simple gathering. There will be no procession along Whitehall and to Downing Street as has been the case in previous years.
Nearest tube: Charing Cross
Contact Ken for more information – E-mail via i...@4wardever.org and we will pass on all messages
See the report on the NEW petition to 10 Downing Street >
The reason given by previous organiser (Kevin Blowe) on another blog were as follows:
Speaking as the person who coordinated the organisation of the demonstration over ten years (as secretary of UFFC), the explanation is fairly mundane.
All of the work was basically done year on year by five people: myself (whose job was to stress about everything), Cilius Victor (who negotiated with the police and produced those amazing lists of people who had died), Gilly Mundy (who as senior caseworker at INQUEST liaised with families), Ken Fero from Migrant Media (who coordinated the press) and Brenda Weinberg (Brian Douglas’ sister). Most of the plans came together on the flat roof at Gilly’s house in Dalston.
When Gilly died suddenly in 2007, we were devastated but somehow managed to pull it together and arrange the ninth annual procession. But when the tenth year came around, we felt that the time had come to call it a day. The intention was always to do something different this year, but after 14 years of campaigning, Brenda really needed a break.
The UFFC protest will always be the most emotionally draining and intense thing I have ever been involved in organising. After all those years, there were dozens of families who I am proud to call friends, but every year there were new families, new tragedies and new anger. But we were largely ignored – by government and by much of the left too. There were brilliant people who came along and showed their support like yourself Louise, but it was a heavy burden on those of us who had to keep persuading the relatives and friends of those who had died that it was still worthwhile.
I hope that soon, we’ll find a new way of gathering families and campaigners together: we are talking about a rally next year at Conway Hall. But to be honest, this October we were just too exhausted.
Kevin