UFFC Rally 2008

10 years of struggle…

Mijiet ta 'nies mietu fil-kustodja fil-Gran Brittanja matul l-aħħar 30+ snin. A disproportionate number of these were African-Caribbean men.

Bejn l- 1969 u 1999 aktar minn elf persuna mietu fil-kustodja tal-pulizija biss, mingħajr ma tingħadd l-imwiet fil-ħabs u l-istituzzjonijiet psikjatriċi. Ħadd qatt ġew ikkundannati għal kwalunkwe minn dawn l-imwiet.

F'Ottubru 2004 the then Home Office Minister, Hazel Blears commenting on a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) report noting a reduction in such deaths said, “There was an encouraging reduction in the number of deaths of people from minority ethnic communities from 22 fl 2002/03 li 10 fl 2003/04. She went on to say; “The PCA report found that while there are grounds for concern about some aspects surrounding the general treatment of detainees, there is little evidence that this concern can be attributed to racist attitudes or behaviour.”

These words however, were of little comfort to the dozens of families who have lost relatives in these circumstances. In representation of grieving families campaigning for Justice, Tippa Naphtali of 4WardEver UK gave the following response to Hazel Blears’ 2005 statement:

“We have concerns regarding the current Home Office definition of custody deaths, which presently includes any death where the deceased came into contact with the police, (heart attacks in cells, collisions with police vehicles responding to emergencies etc) even if only for a short period.

“Families have also had to contend with an unwillingness to get their legal costs covered, graphically demonstrated recently in the Roger Sylvester case.”

“The PCA was disbanded because of concerns about its ability to be independent, and many campaigners therefore will give little weight to their findings on racism within the police, and how race influences the course of investigations into custody deaths. For example, Black people are still far more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people.

Black men are also disproportionately over-represented in the prison population compared to white men; and a previous commander of the Metropolitan Police’s anti-racist unit said the force remained institutionally racist, despite a “sea-change” in its attitudes and behaviour.”

“Exposures in the Christopher Alder case, the TV documentary’s ‘Death on Camera’ and ‘The Secret Policeman’ and of course the well documented findings of the MacPherson Report following the murder of Stephen Lawrence; all beg to differ with the view adopted by the PCA and other official Government bodies. One only has to type ‘deaths in custody’ in any Internet search engine to see the breadth of concern about this issue in Britain today.”

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Segwitu Aħbarijiet:

Custody death families in protest
25ta 'Ottubru 2008
Families of people who died in police custody have marched to Downing Street to ask the government to investigate.

Marzu protesti dwar l-imwiet f'kustodja
26ta 'Ottubru 2008
L-omm ta 'Jean Charles de Menezes wept kif hi magħquda protesta 300 ruħ li ssejjaħ għal tmiem l-imwiet ta' nies fil-kustodja istat.

Annual United Families & Friends Remembrance March
26ta 'Ottubru 2008
On Saturday 25th October 2008, the 10th Annual United Families & Friends Remembrance procession took place in central London.

See more photographs from the event:
Kumpilazzjoni 1 | Kumpilazzjoni 2 | Kumpilazzjoni 3 | Kumpilazzjoni 4
All credits are stated