Posts Tagged ‘Chris Kaba’

March & Rally Against Custody Deaths – 2024

Saturday, November 2nd, 2024

March & Rally Against Custody Deaths: The march in London on Saturday 26th October 2024 by the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) was the 25th annual remembrance of the thousands who have died after being arrested by police or held in prisons, secure mental health and immigration detention in suspicious circumstances.

UFFC March & Rally Against Custody Deaths - 2024

The exact number of these deaths is not known, but is clearly very much larger than any official statistics. At some earlier of these events people have carried a list with well over 2000 names from the last 40 or so years.

Just a few of these cases have become well-known, both through continuing protests by the families and friends of those who have been killed and in a few cases also through inquests and prosecutions. But prosecutions have been rare and convictions non-existent even where the evidence has seemed clear.

UFFC March & Rally Against Custody Deaths - 2024
Marcia Rigg holds Keir Starmer’s 1988 booklet ‘The right to life’.

Most have involved physically fit young men, usually in their 20s, who have been arrested by police. People from all communities but with young black men being over-represented, but there are also those of Asian heritage, white British and all others, women, older people. Almost all from the poorer parts of our society.

UFFC March & Rally Against Custody Deaths - 2024

Attempts by the families to get information about the deaths have often been obstructed by police and official investigations into what happened have often been at best cursory, often more concerned with covering up than investigating. Despite the huge number of deaths there have been no convictions, no cases where families have felt they have received justice. And one of the most common chants is ‘No Justice, No Peace!’

UFFC March & Rally Against Custody Deaths - 2024

Few of these cases receive more than a short paragraph in a local newspaper, and where they do get more coverage it is largely due to the persistence of the families in finding the evidence, campaigning and presentations to inquests – often deliberately delayed for many years by the authorities.

One of these is of course the case of Sean Rigg, killed by Brixton Police in 2008. At his inquest four years later, despite several police officers committing perjury, the jury concluded the police “more than minimally” contributed to his death – and were highly critical of the restraint that killed him. Eventually one officer was charged with perjury but acquitted by the jury despite the evidence. His family, particularly his sister Marcia Rigg, continue to fight for justice.

This annual march and rally has usually been completely ignored by the mainstream press – though journalists including myself have covered it. This year there was rather more interest than usual following the ‘not-guilty’ verdict on the police officer who shot Chris Kaba in the head at close range.

On Saturday The Guardian misreported this event in a single sentence in an article on page 6 about Robinson’s arrest: “the United Families and Friends Campaign is planning a protest in Trafalgar Square against the acquittal this week of the firearms officer who shot Chris Kaba dead.”

Justice for Chris Kaba campaigner.

The UFFC wasn’t. It had planned its usual annual commemoration and protest over the many thousands of custody deaths, though supporters of Chris Kaba’s family took part in it, and one of them spoke breifly at the start and at the rally in Whitehall where there were also a number of speakers from other family campaigns.

Trafalgar Square – or rather its southern edge – was only the start of the march, which was to a rally in Whitehall. Normally this would have taken place at the entrance to Downing Street, but this year there was a police barricade some distance before this, and instead the rally took place in front of the Cabinet Office.

The interest aroused by the Kaba shooting did make for a larger protest than in previous years and it was augmented too by some people who had arrived early for the Stand Up to Racism rally. Several thousand filled out across the street to listen to the families speaking.

As usual a small delegation from the event were to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister at Downing Street, though in some years they have been refused entry by the police. They too were prevented by the police barricade, but later I heard that police had helped them deliver it. But as well as the letter, the envelope contained a copy of the 1998 booklet by Keir Starmer, ‘The Right To Life’ in which he had written “When citizens die at the hands of the police, or make serious allegation of torture in police custody, the reaction of the state raises very serious questions about the protection of human rights.”

Justice for Chris Kaba campaigners and Qian Zheng, partner of late Benjamin Zephaniah raise fists,

You can listen to one of the speeches from the rally, by Temi Mwale, founder of the 4Front Project, in which she quotes from that booklet in a video on the Real Media site.

The letter which was delivered to Keir Starmer also contains that quote from the his booklet, before some details of some cases and a listing of the five demands of the UFFC campaign:

As bereaved families, we demand:

  1. An end to all killings at the hands of the state.
    An end to all racist police practice and an end to fatal use of force.
  2. A radical reduction in the use of prisons. People are unnecessarily dying, as prisons
    do not address underlying causes of social harm.
  3. The individuals and state bodies responsible for deaths are pro-accountability for
    their wrong-doings, and an end to all cover ups.
  4. Legal Aid is made available to all families, automatically.

More pictures from the 2024 UFFC Annual March & Rally Against Custody Deaths


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UFFC 21st Remembrance Procession – 2019

Saturday, October 26th, 2024

UFFC 21st Remembrance Procession: Saturday 26th October 2019 saw the 21st annual remembrance procession by the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of of people killed by police, in prisons, in immigration detention and in secure psychiatric hospitals.

UFFC 21st Remembrance Procession - 2019

This takes place on the last Saturday of October each year, and people will meet for today’s procession on 26th October 2024 as usual at noon in Trafalgar Square. It will have added resonance for some following the ‘Not Guilty’ verdict earlier in the week for the officer who fired the fatal shot into the head of Chris Kaba two years ago in Streatham.

UFFC 21st Remembrance Procession - 2019

Each year sees new names added to those who have died in custody under suspicious circumstances – several thousand since 1990. Not one of those responsible have been convicted of murder or manslaughter.

UFFC 21st Remembrance Procession - 2019

Many of the suspicions may be unfounded, but others are clearly not. Relatively few have ever been properly investigated, and often there has clearly been a deliberate failure to do so on the part of the authorities.

UFFC 21st Remembrance Procession - 2019

Inquests have often been delayed for years, and evidence simply not recorded. Only the most determined of family campaigners have succeeded in getting at the truth. A few of these cases have become well known – such as those of Sean Rigg, Christopher Alder and Leon Patterson, but none has yet really resulted in justice.

Coroners have sometimes refused to allow proper consideration of the possible responsibility of the police and courts have at times come to conclusions that seem to fly in the face of the evidence. Police officers have on occaison colluded with each other to commit perjury.

The so-called Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began work in 2003. Wikepedia notes that in 2008 “over a hundred lawyers who specialise in handling police complaints resigned from its advisory body, citing various criticisms of the IPCC including a pattern of favouritism towards the police, indifference and rudeness towards complainants, and complaints being rejected in spite of apparently powerful evidence in their support.”

A Parliamentary Inquiry set up in 2012 described it as having “neither the powers nor the resources that it needs to get to the truth when the integrity of the police is in doubt.

In 2018 the IPCC was replaced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC). Again Wikipedia quotes from a Parliamentary report published on it in 2002: “There needs to be a change of culture in police forces. It should not be necessary to compel officers to cooperate with investigations. This culture change must be from top to bottom to ensure that complaints are handled quickly and openly, delivering punishment for misconduct where necessary and clearing officers who have not committed an offence.”

Also we have the Crown Prosecution Service, with Keir Starmer at its head from 2008-2013. Together there seems to be clear evidence of a powerful system of injustice which has protected police. And one of the most frequent chants at this and other events has long been ‘NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE!’

Many at the protest carry banners, poster and placards with names and pictures of those who have been killed. I’ve written in previous posts about many of them and more details are on various web sites, Facebook and elsewhere. Recently I published a post here Sean Rigg Memorial – 4 Years about a rally in 2012.

More pictures UFFC 21st remembrance procession.

There were other events I photographed on 26th October 2019 – you can find them on My London Diary.


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Goodbye & Good Riddance – September 2003

Friday, January 5th, 2024

Goodbye & Good Riddance – September 2003: Of course there were times in 2023 that I remember warmly, and the first week of September when I was with a group of friends in a holiday let in Barmouth was full of them, though getting there and back was harder going with a rail strike and several long rail replacement bus journeys. But even those long bus journeys had their compensations, with some splendid views and clean windows through which I photographed some of them.

Goodbye & Good Riddance - September 2003
Barmouth September 2023
The rail and footbridge across the estuary at Barmouth closed for major engineering work the day before we arrived so we came and left on a rail replacement buses. The footpath across was also closed, which was a dissapointment as it would have allowed more great walks.

The holiday had been a very welcome break, and we were very fortunate with the weather, but too soon we had to return home – starting with two bus journeys to Machynlleth and then on to Shrewsbury and I returned to photographing protests the following day.

Goodbye & Good Riddance - September 2003
Justice For Chris Kaba – One Year On. London, 9 Sept 2023.
Chris Kaba, a 24-year-old unarmed black man, was driving a friend’s car in Camberwell when police stopped the car and fired a single shot through the windscreen killing him. The CPS received a report on the case in March but have yet to decide if the officer should be charged. Hundreds came a year after his killing to support the family and demand justice at a march from New Scotland Yard and rally in Parliament Square.
Peter Marshall
Goodbye & Good Riddance - September 2003
March to End Fossil Fuels, London. 16 Sept 2023.
People march in London as a part of actions by millions around the world to demand the world leaders gathering in New York for the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit take the urgent action needed for a rapid, just and equitable end to the use of all fossil fuels.
Peter Marshall
Goodbye & Good Riddance - September 2003
Mahsa Amini Day – Woman Life Freedom, Iranian Embassy, Kensington. 16 Sept 2023.
Protests took place in London and around the world in support of the Woman Life Freedom revolution in Iran on the first anniversary of the killing of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the IGRC. People in Iran are suffering immense oppression and injustice. There were protests at the Iranian Embassy and a march to Trafalgar Square where a rally and other protests were taking place.
Peter Marshall
Goodbye & Good Riddance - September 2003
Mahsa Amini Day – Woman Life Freedom, Trafalgar Square. 16 Sept 2023.
Protests took place in London and around the world in support of the Woman Life Freedom revolution in Iran on the first anniversary of the killing of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini by the IGRC. People in Iran are suffering immense oppression and injustice. There were protests at the Iranian Embassy and a march to Trafalgar Square where a rally and other protests were taking place. Pictures are in the same album as those from the Iranian Embassy above.
Peter Marshall
March To Rejoin The EU, London. 23 Sep 2023.
Thousands march in National Rejoin March from Hyde Park calling for an end to Brexit and to restore freedom of movement and reverse the attacks on living standards, public services and workers rights Brexit has caused. The march was followed by a rally in Parliament Square.
Peter Marshall
World Wide Rally for Freedom. London, 23 Sept 2023.
More than a thousand people marched from Hyde Park in the World Wide Rally For Freedom of speech, movement, assembly, health and choice.The march included many anti-vaxxers, climate change deniers and others but was dominated by those condemning London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s ULEZ expansion to include all of London. They called for mass non-compliance with this and other tyrannical government control.
Peter Marshall

The Rally For Freedom was in opposition to the various government bills and acts which have seriously restricted our freedom – such as those aimed at preventing protests and severely restricting the right to strike. But we urgently need to take action against climate change “FOR THE SAKE OF ALL OUR CHILDREN” and the vaccinations have certainly saved many, many more lives than few deaths they have caused. Any responsible mayor of London would be taking similar action to improve London’s air quality, and while there may be details in Khan’s approach which could have been better, he has proved a considerably better mayor for London than his predecessor, and deserves to beat the Tory candidate in the 2024 election.

More on the 2023 protests I photographed in later posts.


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All photographs on this page are copyright © Peter Marshall.
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