THERE were 500 demonstrators on Saturday’s annual United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) march from Trafalgar Square to Downing Street, where a petition was handed in by six of the newest families to join the campaign.
It is the 26th year of the campaign which started in 1999 by families and friends of people that died at the hands of the British state.
Banners and pictures of the deceased were placed below the plinth of Nelson’s column.
A march to 10 Downing Street took place, after which a rally was held on the pavement.
News Line spoke to some of the family members before the march took place.
Zara from Northern Police Monitoring Project said: ‘It is important that we show solidarity with families who have been bereaved by the state and then face more injustice when they are engaging with state processes, because I don’t think we can continue like this.’
Oscar Leyens from the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Project Network said: ‘We are here because the police as an institution is racist to its core, and we stand in solidarity with all prisoners living and dead. We are particularly here because of those brutally murdered in police custody.
‘Police brutality takes place throughout the world: In the US, in Europe, in the Middle East and in Britain.
‘None of us are free until all of us are free.’
Richard Larke was there to commemorate Olasemi Lewis who died in 2010 in a psychiatric unit in Bethlem Hospital, south London.
Larke said: ‘Olasemi was black and only 23 years old, and had a mental health breakdown. Nine police officers restrained him and were very heavy handed and he died.
‘His mother Agi Lewis has been campaigning ever since. Staff should be properly trained she had said.
‘15 years later, the exposure of the police officers at Charing Cross station, shows that the police are recruiting the same type of racist officers.
‘It really hasn’t changed. My own son, aged 14 years has been stopped four times.
‘We have this re-union every year.’
There was a silent march to 10 Downing Street where families delivered a letter. A rally took place on the opposite pavement.
Chairman Chondo Jeruwar, opened the meeting. He read out a long list of those killed by the state, including: Azelle Rodney, Ronaldo Johnson, Sean Rigg, Chris Kaba, Adrian McDonald, Mohammed Omar, Matthew Leahy, Devonte Scott, Brandon Geesley, Cynthia Jarrett, Germaine Baker, Joy Gardner, Gavin Brown, and Jean Charles de Menezes and more.
He pointed out that the UFFC was mostly led by black women who had maintained the struggle for justice for 26 years.
They said: ‘We are a collective of bereaved families and it started with grief … We must end the structural violence we meet every day. To have a world with justice we must end state violence.
‘Lives had been lost due to the police, or in prisons, mental health units and immigrant detention centres.’
The first speaker was Germaine Phillips, regarding her son Adrian McDonald.
She said: ‘He had a mental health crisis. He was Tasered and attacked by police dogs and left in the back of a police van. Staffordshire police failed him.
‘The inquest said he died of a ‘stress induced incident’ with no mention of the Taser or the police dogs.’
Phoebe, lost her son Matthew Leahy, 20 years ago in the Linford psychiatric wards at Chelmsford hospital.
She said: ‘He was supposed to be safe but was found hanged. There were no proper records. Nobody was held to account.’
Phoebe added: ‘Finally we have the Lampard Enquiry into deaths and serious failures in Mid Essex mental hospital.
‘I’ve spent 13 years fighting for this. It must deliver answers and not just a bland promise that “lessons will be learnt”… We will not be silent. You’re not alone.
‘At the Enquiry all must tell the truth. Together we are stronger and changing history. We must make sure their suffering leads to some good.’
The father of Chris Kaba, Prosper, said: ‘I’m here because the death of my son was unnecessary. Our son did not have to be killed.
‘The police don’t respect life. There is a system to cover up.
‘We are not animals. We are human beings. There were no issues with him in the last six months. They shot him dead.’
He alleged: ‘There were lies and lies from the police in court. They should listen to us. Think about us.’
The chairman added: ‘In this country we do not have the death penalty.
‘Chris posed no threat to anyone. When they shot him, both his hands were on the steering wheel.’
There were many more harrowing accounts of relatives being neglected in mental institutions and after police chases and Taser attacks.
Becky Shah spoke about the Hillsborough disaster. She said: ‘Hillsborough was the worst sporting disaster in British history.
‘On 15.4.1989, when 97 men women and children were killed at Hillsborough: I lost my mum and friend Marion McCabe. It still affects me to this day.
‘The police, the media and the state all colluded together to give a narrative of drunken hooligans causing it.
‘Lies were told about policemen giving the kiss of life, while hooligans urinated on victims. In the longest ever inquest in British history the 97 were found to be unlawfully killed.
‘In the 2019 criminal trial, Superintendent David Duckenfield faced farcical proceedings. The judge said “poor Mr Duckenfield”.
‘In the second criminal proceedings against 5 police officers, the charges were thrown out as the CPS had drawn up the wrong charges.
‘The only person prosecuted was the Sheffield Wednesday health and safety officer. The fine was just £67 for each person that died. That’s all!
‘There was a replica this week regarding the soldier who shot two innocent people dead on the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre in Derry.
‘There is the Hillsborough law, but we are scared the government will water this down. But why should we need this law? The police should tell the truth. We will never get justice.
‘Don’t trust Starmer. He is facilitating a genocide in Palestine. Free Palestine! (loud applause).
Awa Gueye the sister of Babacar who was killed by French police in Rennes in 2015. She said: ‘The French police destroyed my brother Babacar Gueye who had come to join me in France from Senegal and had been living in Rennes for one year.
‘For months he was harrased by the police. They followed him and arrested him several times.
‘He had mental health problems and suffered a crisis and decided to take his own life.
‘He stabbed himself with a knife. An ambulance was called but instead the emergencies services sent an armed police unit.
‘Instead of helping my brother who was not fatally injured, they shot him seven times in cold blood
‘The police kill in France. People are also killed and take their own lives in prison.
‘I have been fighting for a public inquiry. In 2019 it was granted but the problem was that within the year of Babacar’s death the police had gotten rid of much of the evidence against them.
‘In 2019 they tried to postpone the inquiry again. They said because of Covid. The French state in frightened of me.
‘The judge at the inquiry was frightened of me. We have taken a case out at the Court of Appeal to demand that those responsible are exposed.’
A message came through from a sister organisation of UFFC in Scotland.
Marcia Rigg, sister of Sean Rigg, said: ‘We don’t forget. Every year countless more families have lost someone. They strip search girls and boys in school, and stop and search them.
‘We don’t forget, Grenville, Hillsborough, Stephen Lawrence and how 30 years later his murderer will not name the others. The police protected them for 30 years.’
The sister of Devonte Scott, Marie, described how he was chased by an unmarked police car travelling at 75 miles an hour in a built-up area, and was allowed to die when his car turned over, without the ambulance being called. She said: ‘There was no duty of care to preserve life.’
Patricia, the sister of Jean Charles de Menezes who was shot dead by Metropolitan police officers at Stockwell Underground Station on 22nd July 2005 said: ‘I am here as someone His is not an isolated case.
‘No life should be forgotten. I am delivering a letter to my MP for justice. I am not seeking revenge, but accountability and justice.’
Sarah from Women of Colour said: ‘Many people face violence from the state; people who are victims of rape, immigrants, asylum seekers, trans people, sex workers and the disabled. From the UK to Palestine there is a life and death struggle. We stand with Palestine, Haiti, Congo, Sudan and Brazil.
‘In the US there are mass killings by the police. We don’t forget the international struggle. We campaign for more money for care income, for repair and reparations. Justice for Families, for Palestine and Free Palestine!’