On Fathers’ Day, 17 June, Manchester Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! supported a well-attended protest in Manchester’s Piccadilly Gardens called by the Justice4Grainger campaign.
Anthony Grainger was gunned down by Greater Manchester Police on 3 March. He was unarmed. In the weeks following his death, family and friends, supported by FRFI and other groups and individuals, set about building a campaign to demand that the killer police be brought to trial.
The Fathers’ Day protest was part of a national day of action supported by friends and families of men who have lost their lives at the hands of the state. According to the organisation Inquest, 54 people have been shot dead by the British police since 1990 and 950 have died in police custody, yet not one police officer has been convicted for these deaths. The campaign demands justice for all victims of police murder and calls for those responsible for Anthony’s death to be brought to trial.
Up to 150 people gathered in Piccadilly Gardens demanding justice. Justice4Grainger’s Wes Ahmed and other members of Anthony’s family spoke passionately, asking why police officers are literally allowed to get away with murder on the streets of working class neighbourhoods.
Janet Alder, the sister of Christopher Alder, who died a horrific death in police custody in Hull in April 1998, spoke of her long struggle for justice, talking about the unwritten law which allows the police to escape prosecution for their crimes: ‘This is the kind of law that can only be changed by the people!’
FRFI’s Charles Chinweizu compared the state’s quick-fire judicial response to the uprisings across Britain in August 2011 – in which hundreds of working class people were given lengthy sentences for minor crimes – to the non-existent response to attacks by the police: ‘Have the police killers of Mark Duggan or Azelle Rodney or Anthony Grainger been brought before a court in the middle of the night and remanded in custody? Of course not.’
On 7 July the campaign hosted a screening of the 2001 film Injustice, a ground-breaking documentary produced by Ken Fero and Tariq Mehmood. When it was released, the forces of the state tried to censor the film, with the police threatening legal action against cinemas and against the film makers, who refused to stop screening the film, instead taking it on a national tour. Tariq Mehmood attended the Justice4Grainger screening to speak about the film, which highlights a long series of racist state murders and cover-ups, as well as the brutal response of police to peaceful campaign protests, and features interviews with family members and activists highlighting the need to organise to fight back.
The Justice4Grainger campaign has made a strong start in mobilising people to stand against the murderous violence of the British police. This is just the beginning. FRFI is committed to supporting the struggle ahead to bring these killer cops to justice.
Justice for Grainger!
No justice – no peace!
Louis Brehony and Martin Hope
More information on Injustice can be found at www.injusticefilm.tv
To contact the Justice4Grainger campaign go to www.facebook.com/groups/anthony.grainger
Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism 228 August/September 2012
