Protestors took to the streets in UK cities following the death of 18-year-old Mzee Mohammed
PROTESTS have taken place in Liverpool and London following the death of another black man in police custody.
Mzee Mohammed, 18, died last week after being detained by police. Footage from the incident reportedly showed the teen lying motionless face down on the ground while still in handcuffs.
According to the BBC, Mohammed was seen "behaving erratically" with a knife at the Liverpool One shopping centre, and police said he'd been taken to hospital after "suffering a medical episode" but was pronounced dead.
The death has sparked anger in Liverpool where hundreds of people marched through the city centre on Saturday calling for justice.
In London, dozens of people marched from the headquarters of the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to the Royal Courts of Justice, shutting down roads in the process.
Becky Sanders, a friend of Mohammed’s mum, told CommonSpace that he "was taken into police custody, never made it into police custody".
Sanders added: "Police attended the scene where video footage shows around 10 officers surround Mzee who was lifeless on the floor. Paramedics are seen coming over, police are laughing jovially while he is still in handcuffs. Mzee’s mum is now left with no son and unanswered questions."
The rallies follow similar marches across the UK and America after the two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, were shot and killed by police in the United States earlier this month.
"Police attended the scene where video footage shows around 10 officers surround Mzee who was lifeless on the floor. Paramedics are seen coming over, police are laughing jovialy while he is still in handcuffs. Mzee’s mum is now left with no son and unanswered questions."
The scandal around black deaths in police custody reached Scotland last year after father-of-two Sheku Bayoh died after being restrained by police in Fife. The BBC has reported that one of the police officers involved, PC Alan Paton, admitted to hating black people.
A fatal accident inquiry is set to be held into Bayoh’s death but his family have dismissed that as not enough and want a wider public inquiry into the issue of deaths in police custody.
The IPCC began an investigation into the death of Mohammed last week. Since its formation in 2004, nearly 1,000 people have died during or following police contact.
No police officers have been convicted in relation to any of these deaths.
Picture courtesy of Liam O’Hare
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