Northern Police Monitoring Project
EDUCATE – EMPOWER - ORGANISE
PRESS RELEASE
Wednesday November 7th 2012
For immediate release
HISTORIC MEETING UNITES CAMPAIGNS ON THE FRONT LINE OF THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
- Over 80 people launch the Northern Police Monitoring Project in Moss Side Manchester
- Mark Duggan's auntie calls for families and campaigns to "merge together for justice and for peace"
- Hillsborough Justice Campaign explains why the IPCC is "not an adequate investigating body"
Last night (6th November 2012) a vibrant meeting of over 80, including many young people, watched Ken Fero’s film, Who Polices the Police? (2012) before hearing from a remarkably broad range of campaigns.
The Sean Rigg Justice and Change Campaign, Hillsborough Justice Campaign, the Mark Duggan campaign, 4wardever, BARAC, Defend the Right to Protest, the Somali Men's Forum, RAPAR, UKUncut, justice4bolton, United Families and Friends Campaign, Black Students Campaign, youth from the local community and justice4grainger each offered examples from their experiences.
Their contributions shaped the meeting’s resolve to unite and end the situation where there is no proper body in existence that represents or speaks on behalf of victims and the families of victims who have been negatively affected because of policing.
Remembering the 1981 riots, a speaker from the floor urged the meeting to “learn the lessons of history, from what went on before, when we tried to organise in the aftermath of 1981”.
Sheila Coleman from the Hillsborough justice campaign explained how over 23 years of campaigning had taught them “the IPCC is not an adequate body” and, when Wesley Ahmed from justice4grainger addressed the meeting, he described how, earlier in the evening, “they refused to allow me to ask my question” at the hustings for the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in the city centre, a meeting that was reported as only mustering an audience of around 30.
Carole Duggan, Mark Duggan’s auntie urged people to “merge together for justice and for peace” while Lindsay Bessell from justice4bolton described how working together across all sections of the community had helped to gather the evidence that is beginning to call GMP officers to account, with two having been charged for perverting the course of justice.
Launching the Northern Police Monitoring project, everyone was called back to a follow up meeting at 6pm on Friday 23rd November at the same venue, Manchester Community Council Relations (MCCR), Phil Martin Centre, Princess Road, Moss Side, Manchester for 6pm.
ENDS
See npmp.org.uk/
CONTACT
For more information, please contact Dr Rhetta Moran, RAPAR
Mobile : 07776264646 email: [email protected]