Ferguson shooting: London protesters planning to demonstrate outside US embassy

Protesters are planning to descend on the US embassy in London's Grosvenor Square, Mayfair tomorrow night, to demonstrate the decision not to indict a Ferguson police officer for killing Michael Brown. 

 

Brown was shot dead in the Missouri town, near St Louis, in August. He was 18 years old and unarmed, and his death led to widespread riots and demonstrations against excessive police force for many weeks. The Grand Jury revealed overnight it was not going to to indict police officer Darren Wilson for killing the teenager, prompting a further wave of violent protests. 

 

British campaign group Stand Up To Racism this afternoon sent out an alert calling on members to join in an emergency protest at the US embassy tomorrow evening (November 26) from 5:30pm, ahead of Thanksgiving on Thursday. 

 

The group said: “We condemn the decision of the Grand Jury not to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson for killing 18-year-old Michael Brown in St Louis. This comes on the same day that Tamir Rice, a 12 year old boy, was shot dead by the police after carrying a toy gun.

 

"We call on all those who oppose this injustice to join us at the US Embassy tomorrow for an emergency protest."

 

Speakers will include Carol Duggan, the aunt of Mark Duggan, who was shot and killed in 2011, leading to widespread rioting throughout London, and Marcia Rigg of the Sean Rigg Justice and Change campaign, anti-racist campaigners and others.

 

Sabby Dhalu, of Stand Up To Racism, said: “The cheapness of black lives in the US is a reflection of racism that black communities face at the hands of the police that must be stopped.”

 

Labour MP Diane Abbott has added her voice to the group's calls for justice. 

 

“My deepest sympathies go out to the family of Mike Brown,” she said. “Not only have they lost a loved one but following the Grand Jury’s decision they no doubt feel the strongest sense of injustice, which can only make their pain worse.

 

“The anger and disruption that has already followed this decision extends beyond the killing of Mike right to the root of long standing issues with the criminal justice system. Just as in Britain, the black community in the US has a fraught history with the police. It is one of the reasons I have always been against the arming of police.”

 

Duggan added: “No one should lose their child. Michael Brown has not got justice and neither has Mark Duggan. The police are there to protect, not to kill our children"