Protestors gathered outside Stoke Newington police station in Hackney on October 27 to voice their concerns about police brutality and the deaths of black people in custody.

The demonstration saw around 150 people sitting outside the police station, projecting a film onto the side of the building, with banners covering up the station bulletins reading “Hackney Cop Watch. Resisting state violence”.

The protest was organised by Hackney Cop Watch, an activists group focused on providing people with skills to protect themselves from police violence.

The protest also saw speakers from groups such as Black Lives Matter, UFFC and poetry from No More Exclusions.

Statistics reported by the BBC show that in the past 10 years, eight per cent of those who died in custody were black, despite representing only three per cent of the UK population. 

Taking to Twitter after the demonstration Hackney Cop Watch said: “Projecting footage of cops killing members of our community onto the walls of a copshop was powerful.

“They heard us loud and clear at Stokey cop shop last night: policing is inherently racist, inherently violent and does not protect us. That is why we do not consent to policing, period.”

Injustice, one of the films projected, was released almost 20 years ago.

It spotlights the deaths of people in custody at Stoke Newington police station.

Oluwashijibomi “Shiji” Lapite, who died in a police van after being detained by officers from Stoke Newington in 1994, as well as other victims such as Sarah Thomas, Colin Roach, Aseta Simms, depicting the struggles of their loved ones fighting to get justice.

Ultraviolence, a film released in 2020 the uses archival footage to document the tragic and undignified deaths that took place between 1995 to 2005, was also shown.

When Injustice was released the group that created it, Migrant Media, was threatened with legal action.

Director Ken Fero told Eastlondonlines: “Several police officers were taking legal action against us for libel and for incitement to riot. This was on the release of Injustice and we told them that we would take them to court for the loss of earnings because they were preventing screenings by threatening litigation against cinemas.”

However, the police officers, including some from Stoke Newington decided to drop the case.

“From our point of view, they knew that if we went to court then the questions that we would be asking within our trial would be exactly the same questions that have been avoided by the Crown prosecution service who have not prosecuted these officers for the killings Stoke Newington”, Fero said.

They have since created a petition calling for the film to be aired, currently with seven thousand signatures. 

Fero spoke to Eastlondonlines on the use of his films during this demonstration: “When you have a police force who has this reputation and when you have the kind of continued violence and harassment that we have seen recently, then it is no surprise to us that the protestors chose Stoke Newington Police Station as a target, because it does have a very poor history in terms of violence and other issues that have really impacted the community quite deeply over several decades.

“We’ve been around Hackney and worked in Hackney for 30 years and there’s always been this history of violence.”

Stoke Newington police station has been under the spotlight for the past year. The case of Child Q, which took place in Hackney, saw many protestors gathered outside the station calling for the removal of the police officers involved in the case.

Fero told Eastlondonlines: “There are many aspects of policing in Hackney and particularly coming out of Stoke Newington that have been a great concern to many people for many years. So, it is not surprising it is once again the centre of controversy.”

Police did not respond to requests for comment.