‘POLICE are the murderers! No justice, no peace!’ chanted the crowd of workers and youth at a 2,000-strong mass vigil for Mark Duggan outside Tottenham police station, north London on Saturday.
There were trade union banners present from the NUT, with one commemorating Blair Peach, and from the RMT.
Police had drafted in extra forces for the vigil in the wake of last Wednesday’s ‘lawful killing’ verdict of the inquest into Duggan’s shooting by armed police in August 2011.
His aunt Carol Duggan told the vigil: ‘What we are here to remember is that Mark is not the first person to die at the hands of the police.
‘We have to remember all those deaths in custody that have no justice.
‘We have learned from the long haul that there is no justice in this country.
‘The more people come together, maybe we can get a better life for our children.
‘Mark was not a gangster. The media waged a campaign against him and the family.
‘We are just an ordinary family, we are not here to give those outside fuel to smear us. The inquest took three months to come to the perverse decision.
‘The jury were ordinary people, they had information from the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission).
‘The decision was not the responsibility of the jury, but of the IPCC.’
Carol added: ‘We wouldn’t have had a chance but for those brave witnesses.
‘We thank you for being so brave.
‘If any of you see something, we ask you to come forward.
‘Without witnesses we will never have a trial.’
Stafford Scott said: ‘Mark Duggan was never given a fair or just inquest.
‘We do this because we have to. Police have been killing black people.
‘Today is the 15th anniversary of the killing of Roger Sylvester.
‘Fifteen years ago today we came to burn this station down.
‘The family of Roger Sylvester said, “Don’t do that, go down the justice route.”
‘An inquest found Roger Sylvester was unlawfully killed. A High Court judge said the inquest jury was confused, and quashed the verdict.
‘The judge should say Mark’s inquest jury was confused.
‘No one said the gun was thrown. There was no DNA evidence that linked Mark to the gun.
‘One officer claimed Mark had a gun and he had to shoot Mark a second time because he spun round with a gun.
‘The jury did not believe him. Are police telling us a dead man threw a gun.
‘We cannot accept the verdict.’
Duggan family member Jennifer told the crowd: ‘We know Mark is loved. I back his auntie and his mother.
‘I stand in front of the biggest organisation of gangsters and criminals. We know the police have the government and judicicial system on their side.
‘But they are few and we are many. We have the community, we have the trade unions, we have all of you here today.
‘This vigil is not the end, it is the beginning.
‘We are calling a public meeting at 7pm on January 30th at the Community House, Bruce Grove.
‘They divide and conquer but we are not divided, we are united.’
Roger Sylvester’s father Rupert Sylvester, said: ‘Our son was murdered by police!
‘Five officers were from this station.
‘He went to a friend’s and was coming home. He was followed by police. Eight police came to help him for his own safety, they said.
‘They restrained him in front of his door. Then they took him to hospital. Within 20 minutes, he was dead.
‘No police was ever prosecuted. The judge said it was like suicide. I am not satisfied. The police are killing with impunity.’
Marcia Rigg said: ‘We need justice now, today and tomorrow.
‘My name is Marcia Rigg, my brother Sean Rigg died at the hands of Brixton police station, the most notorious police station in Britain.
‘Sean was a musician, a wonderful man who unfortunately was in the mental health system.
‘What is in those injections? When they don’t have medication, they hear voices.
‘Sean was unwell, he was not a criminal.
‘He made a 999 call to police to take him to a place of safety, they never came.
‘A member of the public called the police as he could see Sean suffered from mental issues.
‘Police came and arrested him. They restrained him with his face down on the ground. They choked him.
‘Then they carried him to the police vehicle.
‘He was unwell from being restrained.
‘He was in the van with his legs held up, yet police said he spun round in the back of the van; it couldn’t be done.
‘Police said he went to sleep before going into the custody suite.
‘But my brother was dying, he died on camera, and we proved the officers were lying.
‘They have just announced the Sean Rigg case will be re-opened,’ she concluded to applause.
Speaking on behalf of the United Families and Friends Campaign, the sister of Leon Patterson said: ‘Since 1969, 3,180 people have died in custody.
‘Too many have died in suspicious circumstances,’ she said and read out names including Harry Stanley, Jean Charles de Menezes, Joy Gardner, Cynthia Jarrett, Colin Roach, Roger Sylvester and Leon Patterson.
She continued: ‘Legal aid and full disclosure notices should be made available to victims. Those responsible should be charged with murder.
‘We had three inquests. At a second inquest, I got an unlawful killing verdict, but that was withdrawn.
‘They said my brother killed himself and overturned the unlawful killing verdict.’
Mark Duggan’s mother Pamela also spoke, thanking everyone for attending peacefully outside the police station. She said: ‘We want justice for my son.
‘Mark was a young boy. He wasn’t a gangster. Gangsters have everything. Mark didn’t have nothing.
‘Mark had his children, his life.’
The vigil was brought to end end with the release of peace doves.
News Line spoke to some of the participants as they assembled.
RMT assistant general secretary Steve Hedley said: ‘We’re here to demand justice for Mark Duggan.
‘He was executed by the police.
‘We’re here to show the trade union movement’s respect for his family.
‘And on a personal basis, my grandson has got black skin and I hope that by protesting here today, it will safeguard his future, that the police won’t be able to shoot him with impunity.
‘The police are not above the law. They should be held accountable when they kill somebody.
‘We question the finding of lawful killing at the inquest.
‘First of all, it is recognised the gun was 20 feet away when Mark Duggan was shot.
‘Also the police statements were full of inaccuracies and misrepresentations.
‘And the police had eight hours alone to concoct a story after the shooting.’
Ed, a student, told News Line: ‘It’s important students stand in solidarity with Mark Duggan and other people being oppressed by the police.
‘They stood with us last year with Cops off Campus.
‘Police beat up students who were occupying and demonstrating against the marketisation of education.
‘We should all stand together.
‘The police can’t be reformed. It’s too late for that now, there’s so much that has been done.’
Patrick Passley from London College of Law in Tottenham said: ‘We were affected by the riots when Mark Duggan was shot.
‘The whole area was cordoned off for a few days.
‘There were conflicting things the police were saying in the inquest about the gun.
‘One time, they said there was a video of a police officer coming out of the minicab Mark was in holding it (the gun) up as if he’d found something.
‘Yet they said the gun was found tens of yards away in a sock.
‘So that would seem to me they were saying there were two guns.
‘But I haven’t heard any mention of two guns. It’s terrible, they shot a man who was unarmed.
‘All those contradictions were deliberately spread. I’m not anti-police but it seems a clear injustice was done.
‘When you see what happened at Hillsborough and “plebgate”, you begin to question the infallibility of the police and the honesty of some police officers.
‘This needs to stop.
‘There needs to be a proper investigation and a look at the coroner’s summing up and how it influenced the jury’s decision.
‘The two Islamists who killed that soldier were armed but they weren’t killed, Mark Duggan was unarmed and he was killed.’
Telecoms engineer Andrew Brown said: ‘Mark Duggan was unarmed – are we allowing police to kill unarmed victims?
‘I was under the impression that the state was here to serve us, not the other way round.
‘I feel absolutely furious. How would David Cameron feel if it was his brother or son who was killed?
‘I want to know what he is going to do about police violence.
‘There’s a shocking statistic, 1,443 have died after police contact.
‘Not one police officer has been charged with manslaughter.
‘We’ve seen the deaths of Cynthia Jarrett in Tottenham and Joy Gardner in Hornsey.
‘This has to come to an end. The police keep saying they’re going to change but they don’t.’
A Kurdish young woman from Edmonton, Sevim said: ‘I’m here to stand up against the injustice against Mark Duggan and his family, and everyone else who has ever experienced this injustice.
‘What the police did was wrong.
‘They need to be properly trained if they are going to handle a gun.
‘If they had to, they could have shot the hands or the legs, they did not have to kill.
‘The inquest verdict of lawful killing was wrong.
‘The government needs to sort the police out, otherwise people could get very angry and take to the streets and sort things out themselves.’
Winston Silcott told News Line: ‘The outcome of the inquest (into Mark Duggan’s death) was a verdict that was perverse and ludicrous. For them to come up with that conclusion they had to exclude evidence and make up evidence. Basically I went to the trial for at least three or four days and from the evidence I heard about the gun it was impossible for him to have had a gun when he came out of the minicab and it was impossible for him to have thrown it from a moving car and the police not to have seen that.’
Whitney told News Line: ‘We’re here for justice for Mark Duggan and his family. I think this time they’ve really crossed the line.
‘The government is provoking this situation with too many cuts.
‘They are trying to close A&Es; where are people supposed to go? The government doesn’t care. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The government are to blame for the verdict and for what happened here two years ago.’
