Hands Up! Don't Shoot!

Diane Abbott addresses the crowd

by New Worker correspondent

ANTI-RACISTS gathered in Grosvenor Square outside the American embassy last Wednesday 27th August to protest at the murder of Michael Brown, an unarmed black youth with his hands up, shot dead by police in Ferguson, Missouri.

They were also protesting at the American police response to the wave of outrage and protests this sparked in Ferguson.

The American police response to the demonstrations has harked back to the days prior to the Civil Rights Movement. They have used tear gas, dogs, automatic weapons and armoured cars on demonstrators. Michael’s murder highlights the deeply racist nature of US society today. But deaths in police custody are not limited to America. As we have seen in the cases of Mark Duggan, Smiley Culture, Sean Rigg, and Christopher Alder to name but a few.

The event, organised by Stand Up to Racism, was well attended and speakers included London Labour MP Diane Abbott, Wilf Sullivan, TUC Race Relations Officer, Zita Holbourne, TUC Race Relations Committee member and founder of Black Activists rising against the Cuts, Marcia Rigg of the Sean Rigg Justice Campaign and UAF Co-Chair Weyman Bennett.