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4WardEver UK

Mark Duggan shooting report challenged by human rights groups

Carole Duggan & Nephew, Mark Duggan
Carole Duggan & Nephew, Mark Duggan

originally by: The Guardian
published: 5 December 2019

The official report into the police shooting of a man whose death sparked the 2011 riots is facing a new challenge from human rights investigators who say a virtual model of the shooting shows its main conclusion is wrong.

The shooting of Mark Duggan, 29, in Tottenham, north London, in August 2011, triggered the biggest riots in modern English history.

An investigation by the police watchdog found he was most likely shot while holding a gun that he was probably “in the process of throwing” away.

An illegal firearm was found over a fence and 14 feet (4.35 metres) from where Duggan fell. None of the police officers surrounding him saw it flying through the air.

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4WardEver UK

‘Our brother shouldn’t have died like this,’ say Sheku Bayoh’s family

Sheku Bayoh
Sheku Bayoh

source: The Guardian
published: 16 November 2019

It’s been four and a half years since Sheku Bayoh died in Scottish police custody and now, for the first time, his family is allowing itself to hope they will get some answers.

“My brother was a much-loved father and family man and a well-liked member of his community,” said Kadijatu Johnson, Bayoh’s sister. “He didn’t deserve to die like this, and we as a family deserved better than to be treated in the way that we have been.”

Last week, after Scotland’s lord advocate confirmed that no charges would be brought against any of the nine police officers the family believe were involved, the Scottish government announced a rare, judge-led public inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Bayoh’s death.

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4WardEver UK

UFFC Rally 2019 : Shows solidarity with Scottish & French campaigners

Marching on Whitehall 2019
Marching on Whitehall 2019 – Image credit Rhiann Francis

compiled from Various Sources
published: 27 October 2019

The annual United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC) held its annual march in central London on Saturday 26 October 2019.

This year the annual event also showed solidarity with simultaneous marches and protests with fellow campaigners that took place in Scotland and France.

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Deaths in state custody internationally are still a huge concern and sees no signs of abating. While the problem is systemic, often maintained by institutional racism, many families demanding justice say that the police [and other state institutions] are never held to account for deaths in custody and most certainly do not face any semblance of justice, trial or jail.

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