Photo: Cops try to get Justice for Mohamud Hassan protesters off the road, Saturday 20th February.
South Wales Police have been accused of aggression towards protesters seeking justice for Mohamud Hassan, the young Black man from Cardiff who died last month after returning home with injuries from Cardiff Bay Police station. The protest had been called after the police refused to suspend an officer involved in a misconduct investigation over the death.
In social media posts following the protest, Black Lives Matter Cardiff and the Vale say the cops tried to intimidate some of those blocking the road and accuse activists of organising the protest. They also say that an officer turned off his body camera when trying to forcibly remove a disabled woman from her car for parking on a double yellow line.
There was a standoff over whether the crowd could occupy the road that saw the cops eventually back off.
A voice reporter, Glyn Owen, who was on the ground, writing below, describes how police sought to pick off more vulnerable people on the protest:
“When demonstrators initiated the protest by blocking off the road in front of the SWP station, officers immediately moved into the crowd attempting to disperse them, citing Covid regulations and obstruction of the highway. While some of the officers appeared to act more responsibly, others were much more aggressive — leading to heated verbal altercations between officers and protesters.
It appeared that the officers were targeting certain people in the crowd who might be more susceptible to these tactics — younger people or people with children. One man who was attending with a young boy got into an angry exchange as the officers turned the tactics onto the pair.
Following the exchange, the man told me that he had felt intimidated by the actions of the officers, but as with the several dozen or so other protesters in attendance, they refused to leave the road.
Once the police were done attempting to move the crowd, traffic officers seemed to be on-hand to control the road closure, which raises the question of why the police were trying to move on protesters if they were prepared for the road to be closed other than an attempt to intimidate protesters to suppress the demonstration.
It’s an interesting insight into the character of SWP, that rather than showing apathy towards people expressing a legitimate grievance, they are choosing to antagonise a community of people who already have cause to hold a negative outlook towards them.
Were they acting in this way to whip up the crowd to an extent that it could reflect badly on the protesters in the media — who were notably absent despite the death of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan being a national news story?
The actions of the police point towards a worrying, and growing trend of UK police forces exploiting the pandemic to suppress protesting — a fundamental right that is protected by domestic and international law that is fundamental to a functioning democracy.
One particularly poignant speech was by a protester who told the crowd of his experiences of Saudi Arabia, warning of the dangers of a descent into a police state. Despite the protest once again being overwhelmingly peaceful, tensions clearly remain high. From what I saw, police seem set on fanning these flames rather than reaching a point of reconciliation.”
The protest was the second in four days over deaths of Black people following contact with police in South Wales. On Thursday last week, hundreds gathered in Newport after the 29 year old Moyeid Bashir died after Gwent Police attended his address when his parents asked for help with a mental health related incident. Moyied’s brother led the march where people held aloft placards directed at the cops reading: ‘Help Not Kill.’
Saturday’s protest in Cardiff was in direct response to the failure to suspend the officer now under investigation for misconduct over the death of Mohamud Hassan.
Last week the IOPC said that body cam footage showed Mohamud Hassan pleading with an SWP officer that he had a seizure and was in serious pain whilst being transported to the station on the evening of January 8th. But the officer is being investigated for effectively ignoring him and not passing this information on to the duty officer at the station. Mohamud Hassan died the next day after being released without charge and returning home with injuries and blood stained clothes.
The news shone a light on the shocking nature of Mohamud Hassan’s arrest and the extreme distress the innocent young Black man appeared to be after the police entered his home.
There have been multiple protests since his death, where the mostly young crowd led by Cardiff’s Balck and Brown community have angrily denounced racism within the cops and demanded answers. Specifically, they have called for the release of body camera and CCTV footage but this has so far been denied.
The decision not to suspend the officer being investigated for such a serious case of misconduct however, first reported by voice.wales last week, has sparked a furious backlash and been seen as a sign of how seriously the police are treating his death.
Speaking to voice.wales following the news of the misconduct investigation, lawyer Hillary Brown from Virgo Consulting, who is representing the Hassan Family, said that they were distraught and a more serious charge should be brought forward.
“If what we’re reading is correct, then we don’t believe it is misconduct, we believe it is gross misconduct,” she said.
“The police were the guardians of his health and wellbeing, and the officer was obligated to pass on information. It was his duty to ensure [Mohamud’s] rights were protected…he was in a state of some distress.”
She went on to say that the “buck doesn’t stop” with one officer though, adding that the “custody sergeant has also failed.”
Ms Brown also raised the fact that over 50 cops were in contact with Mohamud Hassan during his time with SWP: “That’s 52 police officers that would have seen him in a distressed state. He would have told them he was in a distressed and injured state.”
Brown requested the custody records of Mr Hassan’s contact with South Wales Police immediately following his death but this had been refused, with the IOPC saying the investigation would have to conclude first, something they say could take up to 6 months. Meanwhile, Brown said the family were “on their knees” with grief.
