'WE HAVE STOPPED PLEADING. police include among their ranks a higher percentage of racists than does society as a whole - and the nature of their work means that they possess the institutional apparatus and "legal" justification safely to translate their prejudices into action.
PERSECUTE Examples of two such legal means which have been used to persecute blacks are the charge of affray and the Vagrancy Act of 1824. The charge of affray, introduced in 1970 and first used against blacks in the Mangrove Nine case, is defined as 'fighting to the terror of the Queen's Subject.
gnightsbribge All that the police in effect need to do after arresting masses of black youths is to find peace-loving citizens to give evidence that they were terrorised by the activity of black youths. However, they have been unable to get as many convictions on this charge as they would like for the simple reason that - as in the recent Swan Disco trial - terrified citizens are hard to find if there was no incident in the first place to warrant the attack by the police.
This charge is currently being ants charged after the Bonfire Night sion and attack by the police.
powers the police to arrest every suspected person or reputed thief frequenting or loitering about or in .....any street, or any highway, or any place adjacent to a street or highway with intent to commit an aghetti gouge used against ten of the twelve defendincident in Chapeltown, Leeds, where 200 black youths challenged the intrus The Vagrancy Act of 1824 emclass people.
NORTH arrestable offence' (Section 6). Similar powers are given under the Metropolitan Police Acts 1829 and 1839, and the Municipal Corporations Act 1882. These antique laws have frequently been used by racist police to arrest innocent black working An important factor in the antagon- society which corresponds to the istic relationship between the police and blacks stems from the very nature Tunde Anthony raiding of black clubs and other social venues and black homes; the racist molestation and brutalisation of individual blacks. And finally, if Mark seriously wants improved relations with blacks, then he must order his men to direct their energies towards subduing the fascist forces which are responsible for both verbal and physical attacks on blacks.
But as long as the police defend the interests of the ruling class, it is inevitable that there will be a conflict with those sections of society who say that those interests are not theirs and must be challenged and defeated in order to build a needs of the great mass of people.
FourTh nternate
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INTS- British secho