Blacks go on rampage in Brixton

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON, JULY 21. Violence erupted in the predominantly black neighbhourhood of Brixton in south London on Friday following tension over the death of a youth in police shooting a few days ago. Shops were attacked and looted as rioters, accusing the police of provocation, went on the rampage. They overturned vehicles and threw missiles, causing injuries to two police officers.

The trouble, which started around 9 p.m., created panic and the local Underground railway station was closed amid reports that youths were going around the area ``playing hell''. While the police denounced it as ``simply criminal behaviour'', local residents alleged that it was a reaction to the heavyhanded police handling of a peaceful protest earlier in the day. Violence broke out after protesters were returning from Brixton police station where they held a demonstration against the killing of a black psychiatric patient, Derek Bennett. Tension had been brewing since Monday when Bennett was shot dead by police who mistook a gun-shaped cigarette lighter the youth was carrying for a real gun. Bennett was reported to be on his way to see his doctor when he brandished his imitation gun at a bystander and was shot dead by the police. Horrified eyewitnesses said police had no business shooting someone dead on mere suspicion.

According to one report, the violence on Friday started after a protester was pushed to the ground by a police officer. Police called the violence the work of a ``small group of youths intent on causing trouble and committing crime''.

The situation was returning to normal on Saturday morning, and police planned to hold meetings with community leaders to defuse the situation. Brixton is a sensitive area, having been a scene of repeated racial violence in the eighties. Friday's outbreak, however, was not a racial incident though Bennett's killing did reinforce the perception that police tend to be more gung-ho when dealing with ethnic groups.

Bennett's family has demanded an explanation, as it is the second case of ``accidental'' shooting in less than two weeks. His brother questioned how the police could mistake a toy gun for a real one. The incident happened even as the Police Complaints Authority was inquiring into the gunning down of a schizophrenic youth by the Merseyside police while he was brandishing a sword.

What has outraged public opinion is that both victims were mentally ill. There have been calls for a review of the shoot-to- kill policy.

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Section  : International
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