Police

Police

• UK police: racist to the core - CounterBlast

  

  Institutional racism is not just a concept that applies to the US but a very real fact for people of colour in the UK, argues Shabbir Lakha

• London marches for Shukri Abdi

  

  A march for justice for Shukri Abdi advances another important campaign in the battle against systemic racism, reports Lucy Nichols

• Fascist thugs attack anti-racist protesters in London

  

  The police failed Black Lives Matter protesters who were attacked by fascists in Trafalgar Square, reports Steph Pike

• London: BLM protesters keep up the pressure

  

  Protesters march to Trafalgar Square after inspiring rally in Hyde Park to continue the renewed fight against systemic racism, reports Harry Welch

• Boris Johnson, statues and staying in the streets

  

  As Johnson launches lazy attacks on the movement, now is no time to retreat, argues Lindsey German

• The uprising on Trump's doorstep: Black Lives Matter in DC

  

  The Black Lives Matter protests in Washington DC are taking the fight straight to Trump, reports Shabbir Lakha based on an interview with Sarah Govan

• Black people protesting racism are not thugs - CounterBlast 8 June

  

  Johnson’s attempt to demonise protesters in Bristol reveals his true colours, argues Lucy Nichols

• #BLM: reports from a day of protest

  

  Thousands take to streets across the country in uncompromising stand against systemic racism

• The message from London is clear: Black Lives Matter

  

  For the third time this week, tens of thousands of people gathered in London to demand an end to police racism, reports Lucy Nichols

• Justice for George Floyd: model resolution and window poster

  

  Counterfire has produced a model resolution you can pass in your organisation and a poster you can download to put on your window or in your area

• The Battle of the Beanfield: an important anniversary in the history of state brutality

  

  Cathy Augustine, Co-vice Chair of the Labour Representation Committee, remembers the Battle of the Beanfield, 35 years after the largest mass arrest of civilians in English legal history 

• Black lives matter: Brixton takes to the streets

  

  A young angry crowd marched to oppose the murder of George Floyd and highlight racism and police brutality in the UK, reports Dave Randall

• Minneapolis: a popular revolt against racism

  

  The current unrest in Minneapolis is an explosive response to endemic police racism, writes Sean Ledwith

• London demands justice for George Floyd

  

  "No justice, no peace" rang out on the streets of London as protesters marched in solidarity with Minneapolis, reports Lucy Nichols

• It’s a big deal that the outrage expressed over George Floyd’s death was massive and multiracial

  

  Class struggle doesn’t go away in a pandemic, writes August Nimtz

• Justice for George Floyd: Minneapolis rebels against racist police

  

  Mass protests in Minneapolis continue for a third day in active defiance to the police after the racist murder of George Floyd, writes Shabbir Lakha

• Why are the police racist? 

  

  Racism is an indispensable tool in the police’s mission to protect a deliberately exploitative system, argues Lucy Nichols

• The Jackson State massacre: the savagery of state-led racist violence

  

  50 years on from the massacre of black students at Jackson State College, systemic racism and police brutality remain prevalent in the United States, writes Alyssa Cassata

• Covid-19, lockdown, and civil liberties

  

  As the crisis continues, we need to make sure that our rights are not permanently eroded, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Covid-19, the state and civil liberties: the case of France

  

  In France Macron is rushing through legislation to give enforcement squads enhanced powers to control individual behaviour, reports Susan Ram

• Victoria Park is the People’s Park: reopen it now

  

  Closing parks is a counterproductive act of petty authoritarianism, argue Alistair Cartwright and Chris Nineham

• Dear Extinction Rebellion, the police are not your friends

  

  The police are an institutionally racist, anti-working class organisation and no amount of love-bombing will change that, argues Shabbir Lakha

• Toby Young is wrong again: the threat to free speech comes from the right

  

  Right wingers like Toby Young are no friends of free speech and the left must fight back, argues Chris Nineham

• The government's attacks on Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are an attack on us all

  

  The government consultation aiming to criminalise the lives of some of Britain's most vulnerable and persecuted groups is disgraceful and must be resisted by us all, writes Norbert Lawrie

• Cyprus: an attack on women everywhere

  

  We must all do our part to fight systematic rape culture, writes Elly Badcock

• Hillsborough: ‘the greatest miscarriage of justice of our times’

  

  Dragan Plavšić looks at the struggle to get to the truth behind the Hillsborough tragedy

• Londoners defy the XR ban to defend the right to protest

  

  In defiance of the police ban on Extinction Rebellion protests in London, thousands protested in Trafalgar Square on Wednesday, reports Chris Nineham

• Police ban on Extinction Rebellion is an attack on our civil liberties

  

  The threat to our civil liberties from the police banning Extinction Rebellion protests is dangerous and we must resist, argues Sweta Choudhury

• Boris Johnson’s law and order proposals are a scam

  

  As ever, Boris Johnson's gung-ho attitude is designed to distract, writes Eleftheria Kousta

• Stonewall 50

  

  Marking the half-centenary of the Stonewall riots, Morgan Daniels looks at the history of the Stonewall Inn and what it means for radical queer politics everywhere

• No to extraditing Assange, no to war

  

  British judges must not collaborate in America's war crimes, argues Reuben Bard-Rosenberg

• What's to blame for knife crime?

  

  As more young lives are being tragically lost to knife crime, we must demand an end to austerity and investment in our communities, the very opposite of the Tories response of racism and repression, argues Julie Al-Hinai

• Knife crime and youth violence: poverty, powerlessness and a way ahead

  

  A commission has found that austerity has played a central role in creating the conditions for the spike in knife crime around the country, reports Kiri Tunks

• The End of Policing - book review

  

  The End of Policing exposes the political purposes behind the police, and the damage caused by the modern increase in their coercive power, argues Peter Stäuber

• From stop and search to 'hands up, don't shoot'

  

  Stop and search powers continue to be used disproportionately against black and minority ethnic people. Floyd Codlin investigates this ongoing problem

• Stop Tommy Robinson, All out for 17 November - Counterfire Freesheet November 2018

  

  Opposing the far right, people's vote, police racism, precarious workers, climate chaos, universal credit and more in this month's Counterfire freesheet

• North West London come out in voice against police violence in Harlesden and racism in wider society

  

  Protestors came out in support of a man who was violently attacked by police in Harlesden, and called for a fightback against racism in society

• Orange is the new black - analysis

  

  Beyond the sly humour and emotive character interactions lies a story of deep institutional repression and desire for radical new approaches to justice, argues Jago Corry

• Cricklewood attack: it’s not terrorism if it’s Islamophobic

  

  Media reports and the police response to the Islamophobic attack in Cricklewood shows that it's only terrorism if the perpetrators are Muslim argues Shabbir Lakha

• Taking back the city: direct action amid the Dublin housing emergency

  

  Homelessness is on the rise and the state is siding with the landlords. Josh Newman reports from Dublin

• Turkey police attack Saturday Mothers vigil

  

  A statement from Solidarity with the People of Turkey on the recent attack against the Saturday Mothers

• Spy Kids: children being used for covert ops

  

  New revelations of police and intelligence agencies using children as spies is a chilling practice of child exploitation argues Jamie Wright

• Spanish women take to the streets to demand justice for women and an end to male violence

  

  The acquittal in Pamplona is not an isolated case. Women are taking to the streets and demanding justice, reports Steph Pike

• Catalan Spring? Resistance fills the streets as ex-President arrested in Germany

  

  Marching on the motorways and confronting police violence, the mass movement has returned with a new defiance, reports Jack Hazeldine

• Not One Step Back: Catalonia rises in protest as 5 ex-ministers imprisoned

  

  Escalating repression by the Spanish state has sparked huge anger and an appetite for militant action, reports Mathew Barton from Tarragona

• What's happening in Catalonia is an assault on democracy

  

  As the wave of repression from the Spanish state continues, Catalonia needs our solidarity now more than ever, argues Chris Bambery

• Institutional racism encouraged the murder of Bijan Ebrahimi

  

  The actions of the authorities showed not only gross neglect, discrimination and injustice but in fact exacerbated hostility towards Ebrahimi, writes Naz Massoumi

• Terrell Decosta: police under scrutiny

  

  The problems with policing are not unique to the US as Terrell Decosta Jones-Burton becomes the latest victim in the UK

• Rashan Charles: police racism hasn't gone away

  

  Young black men have every right to fear the police, argues Daniel Kebede

• No cover up: Justice4Rash

  

  The death of Rashan Charles raises serious questions about institutional racism in the police force

• Rotherham 12: victory against injustice

  

  Landmark victory as 'Rotherham 12' found not guilty, but questions need to be answered about South Yorkshire Police's failings, argues Maz Saleem

• 18 June 1984: remembering Orgreave

  

  As the government announces that there will be no inquiry in to the tragic events at Orgreave, Sheena Moore takes a look back at what happened

• Hillsborough: Football’s greatest hurt

  

  Mark Perryman argues that Hillsborough needs to be understood not just as a human tragedy but a consequence of how football was changing in the 1980s

• Did you hear? Another Muslim murdered in the USA

  

  With Islamophobia rising across the world, why do the media continue to ignore the fact that #MuslimLivesMatter asks Maz Saleem?

• The Met documentary - an exercise in mass deception

  

  Lee Jasper takes issue with the BBC's new 'fly on the wall' documentary about the Metropolitan Police

• 3 police officers forcibly strip a vulnerable child without calling her mum. Is that acceptable?

  

  A 14-year-old girl, who had been a victim of sexual abuse was arrested and forcibly stripped of all her clothes by police officers - It's not an isolated case write Shauneen Lambe and Paola Uccellari

• Free to protest: police back down over planned charges after movement defiance

  

  After insisting that protestors pay for closing the roads the Metropolitan Police have now backed down in the face of defiance. We are stronger than we think writes Chris Nineham