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Custody Deaths, CCTV, Torture & Halloween – 2010

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

*Marcia Rigg, sister of Sean Rigg, killed by police in Brixton, tries to deliver a letter at Downing St*

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.

*The United Families and Friends Campaign banner ‘No More Black Deaths In Custody!’*

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.

*Sarah Campbell died because the prison staff didn’t care. Her mother Pauline killed herself on Sarah’s grave*

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.

*Jason McPherson died when assaulted after arrest in Notting Hill Police station in 2007*

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.

*Ricky Bishop’s mother. He died in Brixton Police Station in 2001*

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

*Juliet speaks at Piccadilly Circus – the main CCTV control centre for the City of Westminster is below these streets*

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.

*Some passing zombies joined in the protest for a minute or two*

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.

Life Is Too Short

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.

Stop Torture in Malaysia

Halloween In London & Dance of the Dead

*Waiting for the start of the parade of the dead from Hoxton Square*

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.

Halloween In London

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Police Killing, No Borders, Malaysia & Dance of the Dead – 2010

Police Killing, NoBorders, Malaysia & Dance of the Dead: Saturday 30th October 2010 I went to the annual protest by United Friends and Families against deaths in custody, then a march by No Borders against surveillance and border control. At the Malaysian High Commission I photographed a protest against torture and other human rights abuses before finally going to photograph zombies in a Halloween Dance of the Dead Street Parade in Hoxton.

United Friends & Families March

Trafalgar Square to Downing St

Police Killing, No Borders, Malaysia & Dance of the Dead - 2010 — *Marcia Rigg-Samuel, sister of Sean Rigg, killed by police in Brixton, tries to deliver a letter at Downing St*

The annual march by United Friends and Families of those who have died in suspicious circumstances in police custody, prisons and secure mental institutions went in a slow, silent funeral march down Whitehall to Downing St, where they held a noisy rally.

Police refused to allow them entry to the street to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister, David Cameron and would not take it. Apparently nobody from No 10 was prepared to come and receive it.

This march has taken place every year since 1999 and in most years police have stood back and let it happen, even facilitating it by stopping traffic. This year they had decided to try to stop people marching on the road down Whitehall, but the protesters simply stood in the road blocking it and refusing to move and were eventually allowed to proceed.

On My London Diary you can read more about a few of the several thousands of deaths in police custody, often clearly at the hands of officers.

Among speakers at the rally were Stephanie, the twin sister of Leon Patterson, Rupert Sylvester, the father of Roger Sylvester, Ricky Bishop’s sister Rhonda and mother Doreen, Samantha, sister of Jason McPherson and his grandmother, Susan Alexander, the mother of Azelle Rodney, and finally the two sisters of Sean Rigg.

There were noisy scenes at the gates to Downing Street as the protesters tried to deliver a letter to the Prime Minister calling for justice, with police at the gate even refusing to accept the letter addressed to him. Eventually a few of the group were allowed to sellotape the flowers, a photo of Sean Rigg and the letter to the gates.

Much more at United Friends & Families March.

Life Is Too Short To Be Controlled

Piccadilly Circus, London

*Juliet speaks at Piccadilly Circus before the march*

London NoBorders had organised a march from the pavement above the London main CCTV control room at Piccadilly Circus to the UK border at St Pancras International, protesting about the obsession with surveillance and border control.

Westminster Council CCTV HQ, which controls many of London’s 10,000 CCTV cameras, able to follow our movement on almost every street in the capital was an obvious starting point for the second ‘Life is Too Short to Be Controlled’ protest organised by London NoBorders.

They point out that despite CCTV everywhere on our streets it had not been possible to show a link between it and crimes being sold and say the real purpose of spying on our every movement is its potential to control dissent.

The protesters also called out the deliberate racism inherent in the term “illegal imigrants“. No immigrants on reaching this country are illegal; they simply do not have the particular documents that give them the right to live here and only became illegal once their case to stay here has been turned down.

Until recently the free movement of people – like the free movement of money, goods and capital – was seen as normal and beneficial.Our immigration rules are explicitly racist and NoBorders say anyone should be able to move and live where they please.

The march was delayed and I had to leave for another event before it reached St Pancras International, where those taking the Eurostar enter of leave the country. The station has detention facilities run by the UK Border Agency.

I returned later to hear that they had briefly occupied the ‘border’ area there before being escorted out by police. One person had been arrested and apparently charged with aggravated trespass, but I was told he was shortly to be released by the Transport Police.

Life Is Too Short

Stop Torture in Malaysia

Belgrave Square

2010 was the 50th anniversary of the Malaysian Internal Security Act, ISA, under which more than 10,000 people have been detained without trial for up to two years – and this can then then renewed making it effectively indefinite.

Detainees can be held incommunicado in detention 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 they called for the ISA to be immediately repealed, and the UK chapter of the Malaysian Abolish ISA Movement (AIM) was protesting outside the Malaysian High Commission.

The protest in October marked 23 years since ‘Operation Weed Out’ (Operasi Lalang) when the ISA was used to arrest over 100 Chinese educationalists, civil rights lawyers, opposition politicians and others.

More on My London Diary at Stop Torture in Malaysia.

Halloween In London & Dance of the Dead

West End & Hoxton Square

I’d met a few zombies stumbling around as I walked through the West End – and some of them had come to be photographed with the NoBorders ‘Life is too Short’ banner. But I went photograph the the Halloween Dance of the Dead Street Parade which started from Hoxton Square and was going on to end at a party in Gillett Square, Dalston.

Hoxton Square had by 2010 become a trendy area with art galleries such as White Cube moving in an area some years after furniture and other local trades had declined and it had been squatted or rented as cheap studios for artists since the 1980s or so. Below is what I wrote in 2010 about the parade.

“By 7pm, there were several hundred people ready for the procession to start, including a group of dancers, the ‘Corpse de Ballet’ and a group from Strangeworks with some very well designed costumes, along with many others dressed up for the occasion.”

“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. By this time I’d been out taking pictures for around 8 hours and was feeling tired and hungry, so I jumped on a bus to begin my journey home, leaving the procession, organised by StrangeWorks Theatre collective and [then} in its fifth year, to head on its way to a dance in Gillett Square.”

More pictures at Halloween In London.

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Custody Deaths, Gurkhas & John Lewis – 2013

Custody Deaths, Gurkhas & John Lewis: On Saturday 26th October I went to the annual procession to Downing Street by the United Families and Friends Campaign in memory of all those who have died in the custody of police or prison officers, in immigration detention or psychiatric hospitals. Sitting opposite Downing Street were Gurkhas on hunger strike demanding justice. I rushed away to join the IWGB protesting inside John Lewis’s flagship store in Oxford St demanding that the workers that clean John Lewis stores be paid a living wage and share in the benefits and profits enjoyed by other workers in the stores.

United Families & Friends Remember the Killed

Whitehall

Custody Deaths, Gurkhas & John Lewis - 2013

Many from the families of people who have died in police custody, prisons, immigration detention or psychiatric hospitals had gathered in Trafalgar Square along with supporters for the annual procession calling for justice.

Although there have been several thousand who have died in the last twenty or thirty years, some clearly killed by police and others in highly suspicious circumstances, inquests and other investigations have failed to provide any justice. Instead there has been a long history of lies, failures to properly investigate, cover-ups, and perjury.

On My London Diary I quoted the description by the UFFC:

The United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) is a coalition of families and friends of those that have died in the custody of police and prison officers as well as those who are killed in immigration detention and secure psychiatric hospitals. It includes the families of Roger Sylvester, Leon Patterson, Rocky Bennett, Alton Manning, Christopher Alder, Brian Douglas, Joy Gardner, Aseta Simms, Ricky Bishop, Paul Jemmott, Harry Stanley, Glenn Howard, Mikey Powell, Jason McPherson, Lloyd Butler, Azelle Rodney, Sean Rigg, Habib Ullah, Olaseni Lewis, David Emmanuel (aka Smiley Culture), Kingsley Burrell, Demetre Fraser, Mark Duggan and Anthony Grainger to name but a few. Together we have built a network for collective action to end deaths in custody.

Among those holding the main banner as the march went at a funereal pace down Whitehall were Stephanie Lightfoot-Bennet, twin sister of Leon Patterson, murdered by Manchester police in 1992, Marcia Rigg, one of the sisters of Sean Rigg, killed by police in Brixton in 2008 and Carole Duggan, the aunt of Mark Duggan whose shooting by police sparked riots in August 2011.

At the rally opposite Downing Street many family members spoke in turn in a shameful exposition of injustice perpetrated by police, prison officers and mental health workers. You can read more and see most of them in the captions and pictures on My London Dairy at United Families & Friends Remember Killed.

Gurkhas Hunger Strike for Justice

Downing St

Gurkhas were sitting opposite Downing Stree on a serial hunger strike after failing to receive any action from Prime Minister David Cameron to their petition calling for fair treatment for elderly Gurkha veterans who are living in extreme poverty.

On 24th October 2013 they had begun a programme of nonviolent resistance (Satyagraha) with hunger strikes, at first with a “13 days relay hunger strike in the name of the 13 Ghurka VCs followed by a fast-unto-death.“

Gurkhas Hunger Strike for Justice

Cleaners Invade John Lewis Oxford Street

I met the cleaners and their supporters in the café on the top floor of John Lewis’s flagship store on Oxford Street for a protest by their union, the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB.)

*Organiser Alberto Durango and IWGB Secretary Chris Ford lead the protesters*

All the other people who work for John Lewis in their stores are directly employed by the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) and are ‘partners’ in the business with good conditions of service and decent pay, including an annual share in the company’s profits, which can amount to as much as an extra two months pay.

But JLP outsources the cleaning of its stores to a sub-contractor, who were paying them ‘poverty wages’, only around 80% of the London Living Wage, and employ them under far worse conditions of sickness, holidays and pensions than JLP staff.

By hiving off the cleaners to another company, JLP can still claim it is a ‘different sort of company’ with a strong ethical basis, but leave its cleaners – a vital part of its workforce – in poverty with minimal conditions of service.

*They stop and let everyone know why they were protesting. The security staff watch but don’t interfere*

In 2013, the cleaning contractor was a part of the Compass Group which had recently declared pre-tax profits for the year of £575 million. And JLP had made £50 million profit from its department stores. Despite their huge profits both were happy to shaft the cleaners.

*A short rally inside the main entrance to the store*

The cleaners were demanding to become employed by JLP, the owners of their workplace, and also to be paid the London Living Wage. JLP told them that this was not appropriate.

*Raph Ashley, a JLP ‘partner’ sacked for supported the cleaners*

Among those taking part in the protest were members of the RMT and PCS trade unions and former John Lewis ‘partner’ Raph Ashley, who like many other partners had supported the cleaners’ claim. He was sacked after he gave a newspaper interview raising concerns about the ethnic diversity at John Lewis and was told that ‘partners’ discussing pay and urging them to join a trade union was a disciplinary offence. The protest also demanded justice for Raph.

*A manager asks the protesters to leave – and they slowly went out*

In the café the protesters got out banners, flags, flyers, drums, horns, whistles and a megaphone and walked noisily around the fifth floor before going down the escalator. At each floor they had to walk around to reach the down escalator, and stopped on the way to explain to the shoppers why they were protesting. Many customers took their leaflets and expressed their support for the cleaners, with some applauding the protest.

They continued down to the basement and then came back up to the ground floor where they held a short rally just inside the main entrance with short speeches from RMT Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley, IWGB Secretary Chris Ford and Chris Baugh, Assistant General Secretary of PCS.

*The protest continues on Oxford Street in front of the store*

By then the police had arrived and they told the JLP managers to o ask the protesters to leave the store, and they did so, continuing their protest on the crowded street outside for another half hour.

More about the protest and many more pictures on My London Diary at Cleaners Invade John Lewis Oxford Street.

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