LONDON (The Guardian) – Protesters gathered outside New Scotland Yard as part of a series of protests across the country calling for justice for Chris Kaba, an unarmed black man who was shot dead by police in south London.
The protest is one of many taking place in the UK, in cities such as Manchester, Coventry and Southampton, as part of a National Day of Action organized by the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign.
The police watchdog, the IOPC, is investigating what happened on 5 September, when Kaba was shot, and will look at whether race was a factor.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the Labor MP for Streatham, who has been vocal in her support for Kaba’s family, criticized the fact that the firearms officer who is under investigation by the IOPC was not immediately suspended by the Met.
“In any other profession, if you did something which ended someone’s life, you would be suspended immediately,” Ribeiro-Addy said. “It makes no sense to me, and I’m a politician.”
Speaking of Kaba’s family, Ribeiro-Addy also said that there has been some “shock at the level of dignity” the family have had when making their demands. “All they want is justice … They have called for peace every single time and they have even called for people not to make anti-monarchy statements,” Ribeiro-Addy said. “They don’t want to see any unrest because they understand that that type of violence is what ended their son’s life.”
The protest was attended by former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn, as well as Marcia Rigg, the sister of Sean Rigg, who died in Brixton police station in 2008 during a mental health crisis.
Addressing the crowd, Rigg said: “Another black man shot unnecessarily by the Metropolitan police … It shouldn’t take a death for us all to wake up again and come out on the streets to fight for equal rights and justice.”
The protest in London was attended by a diverse crowd of people. Sally Thompson, 47, said she had attended the protest because she wanted to support the Kaba family’s calls for justice.
“It was only with public pressure that they suspended the officer in the first place, so I think it’s important for as many people who are able to come down here and demand justice,” Thompson said.
Outside Manchester’s central library, where about 80 people gathered to protest against the killing, Nahella Ashraf, the co-chair of the city’s Stand Up for Racism group, said the demonstration was a continuation of the Black Lives Matter movement, which broke out around the world in response to the murder of George Floyd in the U.S. in 2020.
“It wasn’t just because we recognized that was a problem over there (in the U.S.),” Ashraf said. “We recognize that systemic racism is inherent in Britain as well, and it’s inherent in our police forces.”