The Black, Irish, Muslim, Gypsy and Traveller experience of policing was discussed at a two-day symposium. Earlier this month, campaigning lawyers, scholar activists and community campaigners, from some of the most marginalised communities in England and the North of Ireland, came together at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre in Tottenham to analyse the ‘joined-up state’
Prompted by fears that during last summer’s riots, British police forces were preparing to use plastic bullets, activists from Tottenham joined members of parliament and a delegation from the North of Ireland at a recent Westminster press conference to denounce their deployment. Last month, the Metropolitan police confirmed that since the August 2011 riots its
Below we reproduce the statement by Clara Reilly of the United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets from the North of Ireland who addressed a press conference on how the ‘use of plastic bullets will fuel racial tensions’. ‘In situations of conflict, security forces around the world have developed various methods of controlling and suppressing legitimate political
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week the IRR publishes the latest issue of its quarterly journal Race & Class. It contains an article by Lee Bridges examining the reports and inquiries conducted in the aftermath of last summer’s disturbances. And the UK Border Agency (UKBA) is in the news after telling people being deported from the
In the latest issue of Race & Class, the lead article ‘Four days in August: the UK riots’ examines reports and inquiries conducted in the aftermath of last summer’s disturbances. Professor Lee Bridges comments on the failure of government to consider the deeper structural causes of the riots in August 2011. Instead it has chosen
A legal observer examining the policing of a February English Defence League (EDL) demo in Leicester, describes how its members were protected by the police whilst counter-protesters were ‘kettled’ and harassed. You had to wonder at and yet be extremely concerned about mass kettling and the suspension of rights to free assembly and movement
Dear IRR News subscriber, This week, the IRR publishes a major new report that documents far-right violence across Europe and Saqib Deshmukh examines the policing of a demonstration by the EDL in Leicester in February 2012. Frances Webber assesses Theresa May’s new immigration proposals and the deportation of Sri Lankan asylum seekers in defiance of human
On Sunday 17 June, as families celebrate Father’s Day, vigils will be held at police stations across the UK to remember loved ones who have died in custody. Families and friends will gather for peaceful vigils in Birmingham, High Wycombe, London, Manchester and Slough. The national day of action, which is being supported by the
The home secretary’s latest immigration proposals will restrict migrants’ family life in the UK, make it contingent on income, language and integration tests and on continuing good behaviour. On 10 June, the coalition’s latest attempt to redeem its rash election promise to reduce net migration to below 100,000 was unveiled on TV’s Andrew Marr show.
The wholesale deportation of Sri Lankan Tamils in defiance of human rights concerns, and the feting of a leader accused of war crimes, demonstrate that asylum policy has as little to do with humanitarian considerations as it did a generation ago. For the British government, entertaining Sri Lanka’s president Rajapaksa at the diamond jubilee celebrations
