A demo was called on the 13th December last year because another black man, Wayne Douglas, got killed by the cops, this time Brixton cops. A common occurrence these days, sad to say the response that followed isn't.
The demo near the cop shop was peaceful, but people were just too pissed at Brixton cops attitude to the local black community to just go home and forget about it. There was a stand off between the cops and the demonstrators as people blocked off traffic outside the Ritzy cinema, as people were moving back down to the cop station (and the cops followed) some thirsty individuals decided to take some beer from the 7-11, soon everyone was joining in grabbing what they could (the workers quickly scarpered out the back - they're not paid enough to deal with this kind of thing, hell, they're not paid enough to turn up!) and beer was distributed on the High St. to passers-by. Looting quickly spread up the High St. and continued for about 5 hours in Effra Road, Brixton Hill, Acre Lane and Ferndale Road (some angry dolies even took out their dole frustration on the new Employment Office in Josephine Ave.) Targets were random, some good, some not so good; the new yuppie bar 'the Dog Star' on Atlantic Road (who incidently got £60 grand from Brixton Challenge) got burned and looted, as did the (lesser publicised) police-community liason office in Acre Lane which was above the (extremely publicised) black newspaper office, of course the lone motorbike cop who got beaten nearly to death (?) - a shame he only got a broken collar bone! It was good to see the media, and their surveillance tools getting attacked; peoples distrust of the media in situations like this is an encouraging sight, as was the use of mobile phones to suss out police movements - one of the reasons why so few people managed so much damage and disruption for so long.
The cops used the excuse of hearing (fictitious) gun shots to bring in (publicly) armed police, for the first time in mainland Britain.
We'd like to think that what happened was in some way revenge for Wayne Douglas' death at the hands of your 'so called' protectors, but sadly it will just mean more hassles for the black and radical community from the police, as well as ensuring that CCTV surveillance in Brixton will become even more of a reality.
Expect a crackdown soon as police are going through video footage to try and identify 'ring leaders'.
BRIXTON CHALLENGE
There are so many inner city and urban 'Challenges' and 'initiatives' invented by the government that you get to wonder what the challenge really is, to transform the area to become 'profitable' or 'pleasant' or to trick the residents in to believing that it will somehow benefit them by pacifying them with the hope of jobs, money and houses. Brixton City Challenge plc. is no different, under the auspices of making Brixton 'one of the prime shopping locations south of the river.' it intends to make money out of the image of Brixton as a 'vibrant, colourful community', among other things the Challenge is forcing the council (it's called a partnership) to evict squatters, to fulfil some bargain with the government about reducing their housing stock, installing around 50 new CCTV cameras, making Brixton safe to walk around in especially for the upwardly mobile leeches that they hope to attract, and intends to build a huge new shopping centre to expand our consumer choice (and destroy local small traders) and to pacify and exploit the poor even more by providing dead end jobs.
City Challenges are nothing new, gentrification has been going on for years as a way of breaking down poor communities.
SINK THE BRIXTON CHALLENGE, c/o 121 Centre, 121 Railton Road, Brixton, SE24
EFFRA SITE
A campaign has been going on around another development site in South London, next to Vauxhall Bridge. A private development company want to build one million sq. feet of offices and luxury flats to house yet more yuppies and city workers. Building luxury flats is a kick in the teeth to many council tenants in the area who have to put up with poor housing conditions, at the same time it will destroy an important wildlife habitat along the Thames as well as creating more environmental, pollution, and noise problems. How many more schemes that benefit only the rich and powerful will be forced upon us?
Contact: Effra Site Campaign, c/o Tenants Corner, 46a Oval Mansions, Vauxhall St., London SE11 5SH. 0171-582-7286
People living near the Ritzy have been fighting for years against being submerged by development. Having resisted being removed for a car park the residents association, which includes squatters and short-life tenants, are fighting to ensure that the money earmarked for their street helps make up for years of neglect, rather than being used for kicking them out to make room for more yuppies.