PRESS RELEASE

Independent anti-racist organisation Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) has today accused Newham Council of trying to ‘whitewash’ racism out its Equalities Framework agenda, after viewing a document (see below) that appears to reveal attempts by the council to downplay and remove references to racism reported to them by the public.

NMP reports that the discovery came to light after it downloaded a copy of Newham’s Council’s ‘Equalities and the Local Development Framework in Newham: December 2010’ document, available on Newham Council’s website, on Tuesday 5th November.

Unlike other documents on Newham Council’s website, NMP believes that in error it has been published in a draft form, allowing the public to view the deletions and comments made before being finalised.

It is alarming that a Metropolitan police undercover surveillance unit, the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), targeted Newham Monitoring Project (NMP) and serves as a reminder of the levels of corruption and misuse of power within the police that we have tirelessly campaigned against for years.

Newham Monitoring Project has now received a response to the complaint we made to Newham council, regarding the behaviour of security guards at Stratford Park and the decision to ban our Community Legal Observers from entering.

Unfortunately, the council has now provided us with another, entirely different justification for the exclusion of local volunteers engaged in informing local people about their legal rights Our initial complaint was submitted because NMP’s Community Legal Observers had been stopped at the entrance on Whalebone Lane at 2pm by someone who appeared to be in charge of security at Stratford Park. He apparently accused them of distributing material that was "making it easy for criminals and giving them tips".

NMP sent an email immediately to Head of Events, Sue Meiners explaining the purpose of our project and raising a complaint about this incident. Volunteers were approached again later in the afternoon and were spoken to personally by the council’s Head of Events, Sue Meiners, who offered a second explanation: that our rights cards were causing "litter". Even when volunteers offered to stop distributing rights cards, they reported that they were still asked to leave because she wasn’t clear who NMP were, despite acknowledging to the volunteers she had received NMP’s email.

A third and new explanation comes in an e-mail from the council’s Head of Communications, Douglas Trainer. In the interests of transparency, it is published below. As well as repeating the suggestion that we might cause littering, he adds that the live-screen park areas are part of a 'corporate event' and that as a result, the council does not allow organisations “to come into the park with a branded presence - including the wearing of branded shirts or bibs.” We struggle to understand any of the reasons we have been given so far for the exclusion of our volunteers. The claim that providing civil rights information encourages criminality is clearly without substance.

Newham Council has agreed to follow up the complaint with its contractors as it “demonstrates an apparent failure to understand why we consistently refuse entry to our events for leafleters”. We believe it raises far greater concerns than this around apparent stereotyping of the local community as criminals and we hope this will be addressed robustly.

 The second justification for excluding Community Legal Observers from Stratford Park, regarding littering, is equally difficult to comprehend. We are a small community group with limited resources, so we have spent time talking to members of the public and only given them rights cards if they want them. If people later drop these (as they may do with any other items on them such a food wrappers) inside or outside the park, it seems somewhat over zealous to ban us from distributing cards at all.

As for the designation of Stratford Park’s live screenings as a ‘corporate event’ and therefore subject to restrictive controls towards providing information to the community, this will come as news to many who live and work locally. Newham Council refers to the Olympic Games within its current Corporate Plan as an opportunity to strengthen local communities so they “have the same social and economic chances as their neighbours across the rest of London”. We believe providing rights information independently contributes to this goal. There has been much debate about the rules used to protect corporate brands during the Olympics and we are genuinely surprised that the council would adopt and enforce similar rules against its own citizens, especially those who are volunteering for a local not-for-profit group with charitable aims.

 If the London Borough of Newham insists on banning Community Legal Observers from its events, then we will of course respect their wishes. We have a far more pressing task in monitoring the conduct of the police during the Olympics and, when necessary, holding them to account. It is disappointing, however, that the council has chosen to take such an unsympathetic position to volunteers who have given up their spare time to provide an important service to local communities.

Newham council’s response

From: "Douglas Trainer"
To: Estelle du Boulay
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 5:33:25 PM

Estelle,

Thank you for your email which Sue Meiners has passed to me to respond to as the head of service. Apologies for the delay in responding - it is a busy time for all of us.

We have a consistent position across all of the Council's corporate events programme - including the Live Sites - to refuse all requests to leaflet in our parks and venues other than for organisations who are a formal part of our event. In part this is to reduce the litter associated with flyering which we are responsible for clearing. We also do not allow such organisations to come into the park with a
branded presence - including the wearing of branded shirts or bibs.

This has been consistently applied when requested across a wide range of organisations including community, faith, political groups and the like.

We obviously would have no problem with NMP volunteers on the public highway outside our events handing out information to the public in a responsible manner. Similarly, we would have no problem with your volunteers enjoying the Olympics at our Live Sites when they are not working.

We will certainly be taking up your complaint below with our security contractors. The position as set out below is not acceptable and demonstrates an apparent failure to understand why we consistently refuse entry to our events for leafleters and the like.

I am happy to feed back to you the outcome of that discussion once completed.

I hope this explanation is helpful and would be happy to answer any follow up questions. Thank you for your understanding.

Regards,

Douglas

A group of Newham Monitoring Project Community Legal Observer volunteers were today "banned" from entering Stratford Park, a site open to the general public who wish to watch the free Olympic livescreens, by security on the ground who apparently accused them of "making it easy for criminals and giving them tips" when giving out Stop and Search rights-information cards to members of the public.

Security at the park are searching people, who appear to be mainly local residents, before entering the park. NMP understands the security at this venue to be under the jurisdiction of the local council London Borough of Newham (LBN).

NMP has contacted the Head of Events and Sponsorship at LBN immediately explaining the observers' role and to raise its concerns about how security are using their powers and to challenge any attempt to block independent rights observers in their movements. As of yet no response has been received.

In a later development, legal observers on a next shift who had successfully entered the park, have reported they were approached by the Head of Events at LBN who apparently said she wanted them to leave because the rights-cards were causing "litter". The observers offered to stop handing out cards for the time being but the LBN staff member said she still wished them to leave the park. She apparently also told the observers she had been contacted by NMP earlier today. We are left wondering why LBN appear to have delayed responding to our earlier communication detailing the role of rights observers and have instead continued to ban the observers.

NMP is deeply alarmed by any attempt to curtail the movements of independent human rights observers and with it prevent members of the public being provided with rights information. We are also alarmed at any unfounded insinuation of criminality towards the local community. Our observers have simply been speaking to and providing rights cards to the public - mainly local residents - entering the park today. By alleging that our legal observers are effectively making things "easy for criminals and giving them tips" indicates a worrying mindset towards the members of the public using the park.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have announced their intention to prosecute PC Alex MacFarlane, who was recorded allegedly saying “You’ll always be a nigger”, in the case raised by Mauro Demetrio of Newham.

The decision reverses an earlier announcement by the CPS that there would be no prosecution.

Mauro Demetrio said today

"I am relieved that some action is now being taken as the previous CPS decision left me feeling that racism was acceptable. I hope now to see justice"

Estelle du Boulay, a spokesperson for Newham Monitoring Project said today:

"We welcome the CPS announcement to bring a charge of a racially aggravated public order offence against PC Alex MacFarlane in the case of Mauro Demetrio. The CPS has a duty to take action at the earliest opportunity against alleged perpetrators of racist crime, whether they are police officers or anyone else in society. We hope the change of decision today reflects an improvement in practice in how the CPS consider future cases as well as sending out a message that racism will not be tolerated at any level.

All too often the real experience of black Londoners seems to be that it is one law for them and another for the police. It is rare to see prosecutions against the police and even rarer for them to result in an officer being found guilty or punished. Today's decision is a step in the right direction but ultimately it is the long-term outcome in this case that matters to the public in terms of seeing justice done or marking a concrete change to how racism and abuse of power are dealt with."

Mauro Demetrio’s lawyer, Michael Oswald issued the following statement:

"We welcome the decision of the CPS to instigate a criminal prosecution of PC Alex McFarlane of Forest Gate Police Station arising out of his conduct towards Mr Mauro Demetrio on 11 August 2011.

We regret that it required Mr Demetrio to challenge their initial refusal to prosecute before the CPS was able and willing to recognise the patently flawed nature of that original decision. However, now that they have belatedly chosen to do the right thing, we – like Mr Demetrio himself – look to the CPS to do their job properly in the conduct of the prosecution of PC McFarlane all the way through to the trial. In the process, we hope that justice may be seen to be done, so that some semblance of confidence in the criminal justice system may yet be salvaged for Mr Demetrio and those many others who tend to find themselves in his position.

Mr Demetrio’s efforts have helped to shine a light on a pattern of failures within the CPS in their handling of cases where complaints against police. In that light, we call upon the CPS and the DPP to initiate two inquiries:

First, an inquiry into the circumstances – including apparent failures of supervision and quality control – in which the original reviewing lawyer in this case was permitted to reach a decision which was so clearly and patently flawed, against the weight of all the evidence presented to him.

Secondly, and more generally, a more wide ranging inquiry into the handling of complaints against police within the CPS, to ensure that those tasked with the responsibility of upholding the rule of law and their decision making processes in relation to such complaints are fit for purpose."

Separately, Newham Monitoring Project are also calling on Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hogan-Howe to install CCTV cameras in the back of police vans in Newham before the start of the Olympics to respond to the damaged community trust arising from this case. Sign the petition here.

Link to full article with transcribed audio in Guardian 30 March 2012

A 21 year old black male from Beckton, Newham has described how police officers assaulted and racially abused him in the back of a police van after being stopped by the police during last August's 'riots'.

With the aid of his mobile, the young man was able to make an audio recording of police officers' comments and later made an official complaint. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) eventually decided not to prosecute any officers directly involved, a decision we are now told is under review following the threat of a judicial review of that decision by the young man's legal representatives, Bhatt Murphy Solicitors.

The young man was initially stopped on 11 August 2011 on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, however the police could produce no evidence of this and charges were later dropped.

The young man has stated he feared for his life whilst in the police van and that on top of physical assault came racist remarks, sexually degrading comments about his mother and a prediction that he would be dead in five years.

"The problem with you is that you'll always be a nigger. That's your problem. Yeah. That's your problem."

"You'll always have black skin colour. Yeah. Don't hide behind your colour. yeah?"

"Don't hide behind your black skin."

PC MacFarlane has admitted to making comments recorded on the audio device and has been suspended pending investigation. Another officer is heard admitting that he strangled the young man.

Other officers have denied assaulting the young man and have denied hearing any abuse.

A spokesperson for Newham Monitoring Project, who are supporting the man said:

"After years of re-branding its poor reputation on racial equality, the culture of racism within the Metropolitan police is still deeply embedded. Sadly, the shocking treatment of this young man at the hands of police officers, in terms of both the physical brutality and racial abuse he describes, are by no means unusual and illustrative of other reports we have received.

The CPS’ refusal to prosecute individual officers, where such damning evidence of racism exists, is inexcusable. It is hard to think of what stronger proof could be provided and their failure to take action re-enforces the view that the police are still largely above the law.

With 12000 police officers based in Newham this summer for the Olympics, the borough’s black communities face the prospect of a regime of repressive policing. East London was awarded the Olympic Games in part, on the strength of its extraordinary diversity but it is policing of the kind seen in this case that can quickly ignite into something much wider. The police continue to make laudable claims of learning the lessons from last August’s events, but the evidence says otherwise.

Meaningful accountability to the community is essential in robustly dealing with unacceptable behaviour and placing cameras in the back of police vans would be a helpful start. Without changes of this kind, the public currently have no option but to take the risk of recording the police themselves. It's rare to capture and preserve evidence of this kind, it is highly risky and we commend the young man’s quick thinking and courage."

By the end of December, a petition against the withdrawal of community language newspapers in Newham’s libraries has collected 1190 signatures from local people.

The ‘Save our Language papers’ Campaign began in June 2011, following complaints to the EKTA Project and NMP from local residents argued that the removal of non-English newspapers was discriminatory.

Newham council subsequently confirmed that it took the that the decision to remove the community language papers in April 2011 because it believes their provision created a barrier to residents learning English and integrating fully into the community.

To challenge this, the campaign launched a petition and following an initial meeting it managed to secure the endorsement of 12 local community groups.

The campaign’s supporters agreed that:

• The decision should be challenged as there had been no consultation around the impact this would have on the community
• The assumption reading language papers created a barrier to learning or speaking English was discriminatory and flawed
• The assumption around accessing language provision at libraries prevents resident from integrating and participating in their community.

It was decided that the best way forward was to launch a petition to capture theses concerns and ensure that residents had a process to challenge the decision.

The aim of the petition is to:

1. Reinstate community-language newspapers in Newham's libraries.
2. Prioritise funding and further resources to provision of English as a Second Language (ESOL).
3. To commit to the continued provision of community-language books and audio books in Newham's libraries.
4. To recognise and celebrate the unique diversity of the London Borough of Newham including recognition of the languages and cultures of its individual communities.

The paper petition can be downloaded from:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/57148540/Community-Newspapers-Petition

Or you can sign online at:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-our-language-papers.html

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead on 22nd July 2005 at Stockwell tube station during a pre-planned police anti-terror operation. Not a single police officer has faced any disciplinary action for the killing. This is despite a jury at the Old Bailey finding the Office of the Commissioner of the Metropolitan police guilty of 'catastrophic errors' at the health and safety trial in October last year.

Three years on, his family continue to tirelessly campaigning to find out all the circumstances into how Jean died and for justice and accountability.

Please join the family to mark the 3rd anniversary of his death on the 22nd July 2008 by attending one of the following events:

• At 9.45am a vigil outside Stockwell tube station to mark the exact moment Jean Charles was killed.

• At 1.30pm to unveil a sculpture of the Brazilian flag made from flowers at Old Palace Yard, W1, next to Parliament Square. The sculpture will bear with the words 'Menezes - 3 years No Justice' written across it. The centre of the sculpture will be made up of 1093 flowers - one flower for every day which has passed since Jean died. Special guests will be announced later this week that will be joining the family to place the final few flowers into the centre of the sculpture on the day.

Old Palace Yard can be found here.

If you can only make one event we encourage people to come to the lunchtime event in parliament.

For further information please contact justice4jean@gmail.com or 07931337890 or 07709656251

Yesterday afternoon, Thursday 10th July 2008, Hafiz Adnan Patel, aged 20, from Stratford, London, died in Leyton, East London. He died of injuries caused by a knife attack.

Police enquiries are currently ongoing in relation to this matter and the family are awaiting news on any developments.

A member of the Patel family made this statement tonight:

“We beg you, please allow us to grieve in peace at this time of sorrow and sadness. We have lost a loved one and at this time we ask that you pray for him so that he may rest in peace and that the family are given courage and strength during this difficult period.

Any person who has information in relation to this matter please tell the police or contact Newham Monitoring Project. We do not want anyone else having to experience the pain and sorrow that we are currently going through. We beg you that if you have any information about what happened to our beautiful Adnan, then please come forward”

A further statement will be issued by the family in the next few days.

If you require any further information please contact the Newham Monitoring Project on 0800 169 3111 or the Police Incident Room on 020 8345 3865.

ENDS

Notes for Press/Editors

1. For more information, please contact NMP on 07709 656 251 / 020 8470 8333 – Press: please use these alternative numbers rather than our 0800 emergency helpline.
   
2. Newham Monitoring Project is an independent community organisation based in east London working with the BME community around issues of civil injustice for over 25 years.

Boris Johnson’s support of plans to increase police stop and search powers is “ill-considered and gung-ho” according to east London anti-racist organisation Newham Monitoring Project (NMP).

Whilst NMP welcomes GLA commitment to finding new ways to address gun and knife crime, it questions why the Mayor is not seeking to address the continued failure of controversial stop and search powers to effectively tackle crime.

A spokesperson for NMP today said:

“If Boris Johnson wishes to address gun and knife crime, he needs to first carefully examine why current police powers, which are some of the toughest in Europe, are failing to deal with this issue effectively. If the police do not have to apply reasonable suspicion, what grounds they will use to determine who they stop and search? Selecting individuals based on appearance and ethnicity is fundamentally flawed, will criminalise and alienate communities and is ultimately likely to fail like the hated Sus laws that were abolished in the 1980’s.

If the Mayor wishes to honour his election pledges he must not rush to try and impress voters in his first few weeks with an attempt at quick fix solutions and must address the underlying problems of community tensions with the police, particularly around racial profiling.

Black people continue to be 7 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched and Asians twice as likely.* Statistics relating to prosecutions from stop and search continually demonstrate it is not an effective tool in tackling crime, particularly compared to intelligence-based policing. There is no evidence that extending these powers will make any positive difference or that the wider public will be any safer.

Our experience of working with young people over the past 25 years is that if you are a young black male you are likely to find yourself repeatedly stopped by the police when you are simply going about your day. Many of the people we talk to have been stopped in excess 20 times without any real justification and it has not led to any charges or prosecutions; surely this is hours of wasted police time. We have always argued that intelligence-based policing alongside real dialogue and engagement with communities is the best approach to building trust and addressing complex issues, whether that be gun and knife crime or tackling terrorism. We call on the Mayor to demonstrate his commitment to tackling crime by meeting with us and the local youth and community groups we work with to discuss and learn about the real experience and suggestions of Londoners in relation to this issue.”

* Stop and search figures from Ministry of Justice Data for 2006, released Oct 2007.

Notes for Editors:

Newham Monitoring Project, established in 1980, is an independent community-based organisation which supports people experiencing racial harassment and /or discrimination from statutory organisations. It is a leading campaigning voice around issues of racism/policing, best known for its work with the families of Stephen Lawrence, Jean Charles de Menezes and the Forest Gate terror-raid families.

The suggestion to stop young people because they are most likely to be “victims of, and the perpetrators of, a lot of these [sic: gun & knife] crimes” would lead to racial profiling and in effect be the ‘the reintroduction of the hated 'sus' laws’, say east London anti-racism campaigners Newham Monitoring Project (NMP).

NMP believes the suggestions of Keith Jarrett, president of the National Black Police Association, run the risk of criminalising a new generation of young people and becoming a new focus of resentment.

A spokeperson for NMP today said:

"Black communities continue to experience disproportionate targeting under stop & search causing tension and distrust of the police. Jarrett should be suggesting ways to engage with black communities, rather than alienate them further, to really fight gun and knife crime.

The Lawrence Inquiry found 'the perception and experience of minority communities that discrimination is a major element in the stop and search problem is correct.' This led to the introduction of mechanisms for police accountability - through recording and issuing receipts - in order to try and prevent the random stopping of individuals without any justifiable basis, or based merely on appearance. Now under the guise of the 'fighting gun and knife crime’, the NBPA seems determined to turn back the clock.

Statistics relating to prosecutions from stop and search continually demonstrate it is not an effective tool in tackling crime, particularly compared to intelligence-based policing. There is no evidence that extending these powers will make any positive difference or that the wider public will be any safer."

Notes to Editors

1. For more information, contact Estelle at Newham Monitoring Project on 020 8470 8333/ 07709 656 251
   
2. NMP is a leading independent anti-racist organisation in east london providing support to people around issues of race-hate crime, police misconduct and civil injustice. Recent work of NMP's includes being the main organisation supporting the families involved in the Forest Gate Raids and supporting the family of Jean Charles de Menezes.

Forest Gate raids: Metropolitan Police accused of increasing likelihood that local communities will dismiss intelligence on 'terrorist threat'

Newham Monitoring Project (NMP), the east London anti-racist and civil rights organisation that has provided support to the families caught up in the bungled anti-terrorism raids in Forest Gate in June 2006, has condemned the Metropolitan Police for condoning repeated and unattributed leaks to the media against the two men at the centre of the raids, which has fuelled a process of character assassination of the two brothers that were arrested and by implication other family members.

NMP has also told the body responsible for holding London’s police to account that for all intents and purposes, local police commanders in Forest Gate were sidelined and excluded from the details of the controversial raids.

NMP, which undertook a number of community consultation exercises in the weeks following the raids to find out local opinion, also reported back that the police operation has increased the likelihood that members of local communities are less likely to believe the information they are given about the nature and extent of terrorist threats.

Newham Monitoring Project’s comments are included in a submission to a scrutiny carried out by the Metropolitan Police Authority into the media and communications strategy of the MPS, focusing specifically on the way that the police communicated to local people following the botched anti-terrorism raids in Forest Gate in June. NMP has outlined in detail the police’s failures to communicate with local residents.

NMP has also told the Metropolitan Police Authority that if the unofficial briefings that appeared in the press following the Forest Gate raids as police sources were not officially orchestrated, then the Metropolitan Police is guilty of effectively condoning the actions of a small group of police officers who have anonymously fed information to the media in return either for cash, the conducting of inter-agency feuding between the Met and the security services over apportioning blame or simply in order to undermine the accountability of a public service. In such circumstances, NMP has called for an urgent investigation into the conduct of police officers based at Scotland Yard who have been responsible for misconduct.

Notes for Editors

1. A copy of NMP’s submission ‘Aftermath of the Forest Gate Raids’ is available here.

2. For further information, contact NMP on 020 8470 8333