Fathers Day vigils make a mark

Birmingham Fathers Day Vigil 2012On 17th June 2012 people gathered at peaceful vigils to remember fathers that have died in police, prison, mental health and immigration detention.

These nationally organised peaceful vigils took place simultaneously in Manchester, Birmingham, Central London, Brixton, Tottenham, Sheffield, Slough, High Wycombe and a number of other locations.

Tippa Naphtali, Mikey Powell Campaign & 4WardEver UK said; “These deaths have just got to stop. Family campaigners need to take matters into our hands in a manner more unprecedented than anything seen before. We need to adopt intelligent and collaborative responses, working with a single vision and strategy”.

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Protesters call to replace IPCC

Family Campaigns United by Peter MarshallProtesters have called for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to be replaced with a new body. They demonstrated outside the central London office of the IPCC, which they claim is dominated by former police officers.

Campaign4Justice claims the IPCC failed to deal with their cases fairly. The IPCC accepted “the current system does not always meet the needs of the public”.

Commons Home Affairs Committee chairman Keith Vaz has said they will hold an inquiry into the powers and future of the police watchdog.

Campaigners say a third of the watchdog’s investigators are former police officers, and therefore “there is no independence in it”.

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8th Memorial for Mikey Powell

Mikey's CaseThe Powell family have announced a candlelight vigil to be held in memory of Mikey Powell who was killed in police custody in 2003. The vigil will be taking place in Birmingham, West Midlands.

Mikey died after police knocked him down with a patrol car, discharged more than four times the recommended amount of CS spray on both Mikey and his friend, and hit him with a police baton. Up to eight officers held him down on the ground for at least 16 minutes and then took him to a police station and not a hospital. Mikey’s Case >
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Mikey : RIP

Candlelit Vigil 2011:

11th September 2011
7.00pm – 8.00pm
Thornhill Road Police Station
Thornhill Road
Handsworth
Birmingham, B20
See Map Here >

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