Britain: Protesters hold vigil for Duggan and police killing declared 'lawful'

January 19, 2014
Issue 

Hundreds of protesters held a peaceful vigil outside Tottenham police station on January 11 demanding justice for Mark Duggan, who was shot dead by police in August 2011. The killing sparked nationwide rioting.

More than 500 demonstrators gathered to protest against the “perverse” inquest decision last week that found police had lawfully killed Duggan when they shot him dead.

Relatives of Duggan, including his mother Pamela, aunt Carole and brother Marlon, joined the vigil, which observed a minute's silence.
Others chanted “No justice, no peace” and “Who are the murderers? Police are the murderers.”

Carole told protesters the media was to blame for portraying her nephew as a gangster.

She said: “The more we people come together and support each other, maybe we can make a better life for our children ― for all of those children who have to live in these communities that are over-policed, where they are not free.

“They don't have the same freedom as other children in other parts of the country and that's not fair. What we have got to remember ― Mark isn't here and we are doing this for his children.

“So let's show the country that we are not this gangster family that the media has been systematically portraying us as. Mark was not a gangster, the media sustained a campaign against him. We're just an ordinary family.”

She also called for a new investigation into her nephew's death by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

“Mark did not get the justice he deserved from the inquest, so therefore we have no alternative but to go back to basics, start at the beginning,” said Carole.

“The beginning was with the IPCC ― what we really want the IPCC to do now is what they should have done in the beginning and that is a thorough investigation.”

Protesters booed Tottenham Labour MP David Lammy for not attending. He told the BBC's Andrew Marr that he would not “share a platform with anarchist groups and people that don't accept that a jury laboured and reached a decision”.

Reggae and hip hop music was played from loudspeakers as other black families who lost loved ones after police contact also spoke to the crowd.

[Reprinted from Morning Star Online.]

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