Call to end “overtly racist” stop and search
Black Lives Matter and Stand Up To Racism campaigners have called a protest to end the police practice of stop and search.
Labour MP for Streatham, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, activist, performer and rapper Drillminister, and other speakers will protest Section 60 Stop and Search laws in Brixton on Saturday.
The protest will begin at noon in Windrush Square and will be followed by a march to local police stations.
This will be the latest in a series of Stand Up to Racism events, supporting the Black Lives Matter protests spurred by George Floyd’s killing in the US in May.
Other speakers will be Brian Richardson of Stand Up to Racism, Patrick Vernon of Justice for Windrush, Anita Israel, ex-education officer of the University of the Arts London, and Nick Amin, of XR Lambeth
Rapper DrillMinster will also be joined by local artists Tizer and musician Wu Lu.
The groups said that under current legislation, introduced by Home Secretary Sajid Javid in March 2019, a black person is 47 times more likely to be stopped and searched than a white person.
They said Section 60 allowed police to stop any person in a designated area without the need for them to establish that they have “reasonable suspicion” for stopping that person – officers only need to believe that a crime “may occur”.
They said the orders are an “ineffective and overtly racist policing tool”.