A similar protest of 500 people took place November 15 in Birmingham, England, to condemn the killing of Mikey Powell, another Black man who died while under arrest in the early hours of September 8.

“We are calling for the police officers that were involved to be charged,” organizers of the Brixton march said in the flyer publicizing the action. “We are calling for an independent and external inquiry into Black deaths in custody.”

Protesters braved a pouring rain and marched through Brixton High Street to the location where Bishop had been stopped and arrested by the police on Nov. 22, 2001. Others joined the protest as campaigners drew bystanders to march towards the Brixton cop station, where Bishop had died four hours after his arrest.

“We are here today to make everyone aware that we can fight for justice,” Doreen Bishop, Ricky Bishop’s mother, told protesters. “We need to build a movement to stop police brutality. If it takes the rest of my life that’s what I’ll do.”

After a recent inquest into Bishop’s death, the coroner concluded that he had died from “misadventure,” a verdict which exonerates the cops. According to accounts by witnesses and his family, however, Ricky Bishop was stopped, arrested, and taken to Brixton police station, where he was assaulted and brutalized by police officers.

“Two police officers held Ricky to the ground whilst he was having a heart attack,” Rhonda Bishop, Ricky Bishop’s sister, told the Militant in an interview. “Only then did they go and call for a paramedic.” None of the eight police officers involved in this killing have been suspended or prosecuted. They remain on active duty. Doreen Bishop said Ricky’s family and their supporters are now looking into initiating private prosecution against these officers, as criminal prosecution is excluded due to the costs of such a trial.

“Ricky was taken to Brixton police station, assaulted and brutalized, then drugs pushed into his mouth,” said the flyer publicizing the November 22 action. “The police officers involved in this crime then colluded together to cover up the violent assault. The inquest (which took place recently) was very misleading as vital evidence was withheld by the Metropolitan Police. The jury was only given a choice of 3 verdicts: death by misadventure, narrative, and an open verdict.” The latter two are methods of arriving at a verdict without assigning blame to anyone.

Rupert Sylvester, father of Roger Sylvester, who was also killed in police custody, spoke at the rally. “We’re here to support the Bishop family,” he said. “We were in Birmingham last week to support the Powell family. Wherever there is some action, be it Brixton or Timbuktu, we will be there.”

In October the inquest into the death of Roger Sylvester returned a verdict of unlawful killing. Eight cops involved were suspended as a result. Sylvester had been arrested at his home Jan. 11, 1999. He died seven days later, after being held by force by six to eight police officers for over 20 minutes, causing him to stop breathing.

The Sylvester family joined the Powell family and hundreds of others at the Birmingham protest November 15 around the death in police custody of Mikey Powell. Protesters there also demanded prosecution of the officers involved. The Police Complaints Authority said that Powell was hit by a police vehicle and later collapsed while in police custody and died. An investigation has been launched into Powell’s death and an inquest is expected to begin in December.

Family members and other supporters of those who died in police custody, in prison, or while under psychiatric care attended a national demonstration organized by the United Family and Friends Campaign (UFFC) in Trafalgar Square on October 25. They then marched to Downing Street to hand a letter to British prime minister Anthony Blair demanding prosecution of those responsible for these deaths.

Celius Victor, a UFFC organizer, said in an interview at the Brixton march, “Inquests tell us what we already know—we want accountability.” Referring to a government campaign to deal with racism in the police force by recruiting more Black police officers, Victor said, “It makes no difference: whether Black or white, police officers are trained to act in a certain way.”

The UFFC campaign demands that “custodial institutions…be made accountable to the communities that they serve and criminal charges brought against the officers and staff that are responsible.”  
 
 
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