‘Missiles and petrol bombs smashed against my shield’

JIM AVEY was a young probationary police officer, in 1981, aged 22 when he got the call to go to a riot. Here the former cop and now press officer for the Met writes about his experience.

On April 8,1981 I was a probationer PC at Paddington Green with a heady 16 months’ service and doing a late-turn.

On the day of the riot I had obviously upset ‘Sarge’ as I had been posted gaoler and was busy answering cell bells and dealing with an endless stream of people producing their documents.

Gaolers in those day multi-tasked and dealt with both the front counter and the prisoners.

About 5pm I was suddenly approached by my duty officer, who asked if I was shield-trained.

When I said yes he said: “Get your stuff, (helmet and tunic) you’re going to Brixton.”

A green coach, known as the ‘Green Goddess’ turned up and I set off with one inspector, two sergeants and 18 officers from other stations on D District – Harrow Road and Marylebone.

We had no idea what we were going to or why. We only knew there was trouble at Brixton.

We soon got our eyes opened when the coach driver got lost.

It was dark when we arrived and we actually went the wrong way, ending up the wrong side of the riot.

The rioters were too busy stoning and petrol-bombing the officers in front of them – but it was only due to that fact that we survived.

Everyone went deadly quiet and the coach driver did the quietest reverse of a coach ever known to humanity.

Finally we arrived at the correct side of the riot and we could hear on the radio constant calls for urgent assistance.

Now we had shields, but not everyone was fully shield-trained, but a number of us suggested we take them anyway.

The inspector was against this and asked the control room what we should do.

Control just barked: “Take those shields and go to the scene” – so off we went.

As we approached, we walked past a long line of ambulances with injured officers being treated, most with some sort of head injury.

At a junction there was a superintendent directing officers to various locations.

One side of his face was three times the size of the other. He had obviously had a run-in with a hefty blunt object, but he was still standing firm and giving orders.

We then went into line in front of the riot, near a burning pub.

Our lines were made up of four groups of five of us, each with five behind three long shields .

The fire brigade were there and had their hoses trained on the fire. But the rubble from buildings and thrown bricks had blocked the drains.

With all the water from the fire hoses we were standing in six inches of water.The heat from the fire was roasting us, while our feet froze.

The rioters were about 20 yards away and I was in the front directly behind a shield.

I could feel the smash of missiles against the shield and watch the petrol bombs arrive.

They were being filled in a basement – and you could see someone go down and then return with what looked like a glowing candle.

This candle would arrive in the middle of the road. When the candle dropped it was being ready for the throw.

As each arced through the air, sometimes the bomb exploded, sometimes they did not.

Thankfully no one in my serial was injured.

The rioters were coming closer and closer and it was at this point we were probably saved.

A thrown brick hit one of the firefighters and they then delegated two hoses to the fire and one to keeping the rioters back.

Unfortunately when they turned the hose it struck the top of my riot shield. This not only soaked me in an instant, but also propelled me forward 10 feet in what appeared to be a crazy suicide charge.

Thankfully I managed to make it back, but I was totally drenched and spent the next three hours steaming from the heat of the fire, while being diligently petrol bombed.

About 2am we had the numbers and advanced and cleared the street, but by then most rioters had probably got tired and gone home anyway.

We got back to Paddington about 6am. At 2pm that same day I was back on another session in Brixton and was on duty for the next 26 hours straight.

But I was younger then, and didn’t seem to mind. If you ask was I scared, the answer is surprisingly no – I was 22 and going to live forever.

And if you ask did this all really happen to me; then the truthful answer is no – that young probationer is now as much of a stranger to me as he is to you.

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A clear warning that anger in the black community might spill over into violence came in vinyl, writes Toby Porter

Linton Kwesi Johnson’s seminal 1979 album Forces of Victory had two songs which distilled the anger in Brixton.

Sonny’s Lettah is a man expressing his sorrow, in a letter to his mother, that he “made a solemn promise” to look after his brother Lickle Jim – but had failed.

He has been picked out at a bus stop by three cops who beat him to death in their van.

Also on the album is Time Come, whose lyrics go:
It too late now
I did warn yu
When yu fling mi inna prison
I did warn yu……
When yu pick pan de Panthers
I did warn yu
When yu jack mi up gainst de wall
I didnt bawl
But I did warn yu
Now yu see fire burning in mi eye
Smell badness pan mi breat
Feel vialence, vialence
Burstin outta mi
Look out!

Eddy Grant’s approach was less direct: His 1982 chart song Electric Avenue went:
Now in the street there is violence
And a lots of work to be done
No place to hang out our washing
And I can’t blame all on the sun, oh no
We gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we’ll take it higher
Oh, we gonna rock down to Electric Avenue
And then we’ll take it higher

The song still describes poor, jobless “warriors”, struggling to even feed their family.

One of those arrested was Alex Wheatle – he ended up serving time in prison.

There, he started reading books by the likes of Chester Himes, Richard Wright, C.L.R. James and John Steinbeck, and found his passion for writing.

His novel East of Acre Lane is set in 1981 Brixton and portrays the dissatisfaction felt by the black community that would eventually lead to the riot.

One episode of Steve McQueen’s recent series BBC Small Axe had an episode revolving around his story – Alex Wheatle and the Brixton Uprising.

Even 40 years later, the true story of the 1981 Brixton riots is still being written.