Riot in Dalston as protest over death of Rashan Charles turns violent
Rashan Jermaine Charles. Photograph: Twitter
Riots broke out in Hackney last night following a protest over the death of Rashan Charles.
Fireworks were apparently thrown at police and wheelie bins pushed onto Kingsland Road as demonstrators attempted to block traffic.
Charles died in hospital on 22 July following a police chase, and footage later emerged on social media of the 20-year-old being dragged to the ground by an officer in a Dalston shop.
A vigil on Monday attracted hundreds of people, and a planned protest was set for 3.40pm yesterday.
Officers have been subjected to abuse & violence. Whatever the frustrations, this is patently NOT what the family of Rashan Charles wanted. pic.twitter.com/X0WdLHHt0m
— Hackney Police (@MPSHackney) July 28, 2017
But that protest, which carried on late into the night, became violent when some demonstrators turned on police, pelting them with objects, and others hit out at cars trying to drive around the blockade.
Hackney police said in a tweet that officers had been subjected to “abuse and violence”, adding: “Whatever the frustrations, this is patently not what the family of Rashan Charles wanted.”
Understandable anger but please heed the family wishes. Protest peacefully. No more tragedy on top of this sad death if a young man https://t.co/88x6yBQed4
— MegHillierMP (@Meg_HillierMP) July 28, 2017
Earlier, local MP Meg Hillier used social media to appeal for calm as she urged people to “heed the family’s wishes” and “protest peacefully”.
statement from the family #justiceforrash young people in Dalston please respect the wishes of the family no violence in his name! pic.twitter.com/XXICpjBnby
— Patrick Vernon (@ppvernon) July 28, 2017
Former councillor Patrick Vernon tweeted a statement from Rashan Charles’ family which called on people to deter from “hostile actions”.
Charles’ relatives said any such actions risk detracting from its “co-operative engagement” with the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), the watchdog investigating his death.
On Tuesday, IPCC chief Cindy Butts and Mayor Philip Glanville met local youth groups to discuss rising community tensions.
More to follow.
Mob mentality as usual! It is the normal citizens who really suffer in displays of violence and unruly behavior like this. Most probably the same youths who attack the merchants, rob senior citizens, throw acid and basically can not function as human beings. Deport them instead of hard working and law abiding migrants!
Rioting because a drug dealer swallowed his own gear? Pathetic. Police and media as usual being far too soft on these morons.
Understandable anger Hillier? Get real.
the father is one of the speakers at the demo today
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Don’t call them riots. That dismisses the anger over Rashan Charles’s death
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/30/riots-anger-rashan-charles-death-london-police
Without pre-empting disclosures about Rash’s past, and/or why the police stopped him and his mates, please dont dismiss the anger people feel about the impact that the dealers and their clients have on our communities. All for a few pounds to pose in their gangsta selfies, and buy smallcock cars to drive. Last year we had four ODs on our street. The dealers drive on the footpath and directly at pedestrians on our road. They threaten residents. Call these villians out, and find them staring at your front door at 7am as you go to work leaving your kids and wife at home. These are the sort of people who will put petrol through your letterbox. No one riots about they do – because the people who are adversely affected are the ones who obey the law. The villians use our reluctance to defend ourselves and our community, as a tool to violate the community. We have given up the right to remove these people from our community ourselves – which would save the cost of a trial or incarceration. Instead we look to the police to control the situation. We will have to continue looking to the police for as long as the wider drug policy gives a captive market people who dont give a shit about the mess and fear they cause. I expect that Rash will be soon be outed as a dealer – that whatever it was that he put in his mouth was drugs of some sort, that the reports about him and and his mother being shot get confirmed, that the gangsta photos from facebook get confirmed, as does the video of him being arrested in a stairwell. I dont know whether he will be found to be killed by toxicity, or as a result of being thrown to the floor. When I watch the video, I do not see a chokehold, but two cops cuffing someone who is resisting and then moving to clear his throat (at 2:22 of the longer video, the plainclothes cop is squeezing Rashs cheeks apart so the other cop can inspect, at another point a bystander gets a stick to clear his mouth). I dont see any intent to kill – a prerequiste to any finding of murder – despite what BLM seem to think. I now would not be surprised to find Rash directly linked to the people who carry out moped and acid attacks, or to discover the “angry” people rioting are that very same crowd whose anger is at the consequences of their chosen route.
Some antisocial person(s) simultaneously smashed all three of the ATMs outside Barclays Bank in Kingsland High Street. Reducing local people’s ability to obtain their own money at the weekend just made their lives harder.