Ethnic Minorities And The Police

EDM number 649 in 1995-96, proposed by Harry Cohen on 20/03/1996.

That this Houes, noting the death of 29-year-old Ibrahima Sey in police custody on 16th March after being hand-cuffed and sprayed with CS gas and that Mr Sey's death is the latest in a disturbing number of deaths of black people in police custody including, in the recent past, those of Joy Gardner, Brian Douglas, Shiji Lapite and Wayne Douglas and that the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recently reported its serious concern at the disproportionate numbers of members of minority groups who die in police custody; fearing the use of CS gas and US-style long batons may lead to further tragedies; believing that relations between police authorities and black and ethnic minority communities have been undermined by the failure to prosecute those responsible in such cases; calls upon Her Majesty's Government to support the proposals of organisations such as the National Assembly Against Racism, Liberty, the 1990 Trust and Inquest that CS gas be withdrawn forthwith, that long-handled batons be withdrawn and for the implementation of the recommendations by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that all deaths in police custody be subject to independent inquiry.

This motion has been signed by a total of 18 MPs.