Custody Deaths, CCTV, Torture & Halloween: I came to London on Saturday 30 Oct 2010 mainly to photograph the annual UFFC protest calling for justice over deaths in custody. After this I went to a march against the government’s obsession with surveillance and border control, went to a protest against torture in Malaysia and finally on a day when London was invaded by zombies went to the start of the Halloween Dance of the Dead.
United Friends & Families March
The Annual United Friends and Families procession calling for justice for those who have died in suspicious circumstances in police custody, prisons and secure mental institutions made its way slowly down Whitehall before a noisy rally opposite Downing Street. The first procession was in 1999 and it had taken place every year since then.
This year, 2026, people will be gathering at noon tomorrow on Saturday 31st November at the south side of Trafalgar Square – and everyone concerned with justice is invited to join the event.
Around two hundred people die each year in suspicious circumstances at the hands of police, and in prisons and secure mental institutions. Sometimes the deaths are a result of a lack of care, but others are caused by excessive force and brutality.
The response of police and other authorities seems almost always to be one of trying to cover things up, sometimes to blame the victims but almost always to prevent proper and timely investigation. Proper statements are seldom taken from those involved and in some cases police have instead investigated the families of victims.
Investigations into police misconduct are carried out now by the Independent Office for Police Conduct which replaced the totally discredited IPCC, dominated by former police and apparently dedicated to defending them whatever the facts of the case. So far it does not appear to have made a great difference.
Police at Downing Street refused to take the letter the families tried to deliver there for Prime Minister David Cameron, and no one from No10 was prepared to come out and take it. It seemed a deliberate and unnecessary snub. Earlier police had objected to the rally taking place on one lane of the southbound carriageway opposite Downing Street but when the families refused to move it had been allowed to go ahead.
On My London Diary I give a few brief resumes of the cases of a few whose family members where taking part in the even and who spoke at the rally about the deaths of Sarah Campbell, Leon Patterson, Roger Sylvester, Ricky Bishop, Jason McPherson, Azelle Rodney and Sean Rigg.
The noisy protest was still continuing when I left. More at United Friends & Families March.
Life Is Too Short To Be Controlled
Life is Too Short to be Controlled was the second part of an event organised by London No Borders in protest at the government’s obsession with surveillance and border control.
The protesters met at Piccadilly Circus where the Westminster Council CCTV HQ, which controls many of London’s 10,000 CCTV cameras is under the pavement. From there our movements can be followed on almost every street in the capital.
The cameras allow the authorities to track us with the intent of controlling crime and in particular terrorism but they can also be used to enable control of peaceful protest. The protesters say that despite the widespread use of CCTV, it has has not been possible to show a link between crimes being solved and the use of CCTV.
The march was to end at the St Pancras International Eurostar Terminal which has an actual border of the UK, complete with detention facilities then run by the UK Border Agency.
Speeches before the march pointed out that “until relatively recently the free movement of people was seen as normal and beneficial – in the same way as we now see the free movement of goods around the world. Now border controls result in injustice for asylum seekers and other migrants who want to come here and work and contribute to our society.”
Our immigration rules are explicitly racist and No Borders say that anyone should be able to move and live where they want. They say there are no “illegal immigrants”; people are not illegal but some do not have the particular documents that give them the right to live here.
The start of the march was delayed as the bike-powered sound system arrived late and I left to briefly photograph another protest before the marchers reached St Pancras. By the time I returned they had been escorted out after briefly occupying the border area, and one person had been arrested.
Stop Torture in Malaysia
Belgrave Square
2010 was the 50th anniversary of the Malaysian Internal Security Act, under which more than 10,000 people have been detained without trial. It allows arbitrary detention for up to 2 years without charge and for for people to be held incommunicado for up to 60 days – during which they are often tortured, mistreated and placed under severe psychological stress while being denied access to legal process.
In June 2010 the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Malaysia and concluded that the ISA should be repealed and torture in detention ended immediately.
Halloween In London & Dance of the Dead
During the afternoon I met and photographed several groups of zombies wandering around the streets near Piccadilly Circus with bloody faces, open wounds and torn clothing – and a few briefly joined the No Borders Protest.
Later after it had got dark I went to Hoxton Square where a street parade, the Halloween Dance of the Dead, was gathering to walk to a Halloween Party at a Gillett Square in Dalston.
This was apparently the fifth year that StrangeWorks Theatre collective had organised the parade which included the Corpse de Ballet and other groups.
Eventually a samba band, led by a giant skeleton came along from Coronet Street and led the large group of revellers, many carrying bottles, around Hoxton Square and then on to Old Street where I left them going further north. By now I was tired and exhausted and needed to go home rather than party.
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