PSNI officers were continuing to interview anti-racism protesters under serious organised crime legislation hours before the release of a damning Policing Board report concluding their approach “was not lawful”.
The service has been criticised for its continued pursuit of the peaceful ‘Black Lives Matter’ demonstrators under the legislation designed for criminal gangs, despite warnings from prosecutors it was “a highly exceptional course of action”.
At midnight on Thursday the Policing Board published a report in which its human rights adviser John Wadham said the PSNI approach “sent the wrong message to protesters and damaged the reputation of the PSNI and the confidence of some members of the public”.
“Whatever the rights and wrongs of going ahead with the protests and the difficulty of social distancing given the transmission rates for the virus at the time, this approach was not lawful,” the report read.
The latest interviews were on Tuesday and Wednesday. One of those interviewed said they were shocked to have received the order to give a statement during Black History Month. However, the demonstration organisers have expressed joy and relief at the vindication of their right to peaceful protest.
Sipho Sibanda said she had “begun to lose faith” as she waited for the publication of the report.
“It’s just such a relief. It has been something hanging over my head for so long and I was personally starting to worry about whatever the finding would be,” she said.
“Reading that report this morning is like a weight has come off my shoulders and a bit of hope for what lies ahead.”
Originally from Zimbabwe, she came to seek asylum in Belfast in 2015 with her brother and son – now a teenager and an 11-year-old.
“I can’t wait to show my boys when they come home from school. They were with me when I was arrested and it took us all so many steps back.
“I was saying to them ‘This is different here’ but these months it has been hard to believe that. We thought we were coming to an advanced country but there is structural racism here. I am speaking as someone who knows what that looks like.”
Solicitor Sinead Marmion of Phoenix Law accompanied two people to police interviews this week.
“It shouldn’t have happened in the first place but the doubling down of still pursuing people doesn’t instil confidence in police,” she said.
“They need to really think about the actions that they have taken for black people in Northern Ireland and how that has affected confidence in police.”
Nigerian lawyer and activist Adekanmi Abayomi said the PSNI should “apologise to ethnic minority community in Northern Ireland for disproportionate policing” and added: “Maybe the process of healing can start from there. Our human rights were not only being violated but PSNI also failed to allow human rights law to shape the policing of all other laws.”
The Department of Justice did not respond. The PSNI said it is awaiting the imminent publication of a Police Ombudsman’s report. On Thursday night the PSNI said: “Police investigating breaches of the Health Protection Regulations in relation to Black Lives Matter protests on 6 June, 2020, interviewed two voluntary attenders on 10th November and 11th November respectively. The individuals attended by prior arrangement.”
