waving crowbars. animal called winston •icott. kind in 1983.
Process
nian powers for the police against Black council leaders, Section. the But the police bark was nothing compared to their bite. It was revealed during the trial that the police had planned their riot at Broadwater Farm for over a year. Commander Polkinghorne who was in charge of the control room at Wood Green police station admitted under oath that five riot vans might have arrived on the estate before the trouble' began at 7.05 pm on that night of October 1985 when Cynthia Jarrett had died. The police have made no charges in relation to her death, but over the next two days 9000 police were turned on the community.
The full fury of the police continued to be vented on the community in the weeks following as 343 people were arrested. The family of one of the juveniles acquitted of affray described the behaviour of the in. vestigating police as being like German Nazis. They told how the police 'came in our house 30-strong The gutter press played the race card' for all it was worth. The Sun captioned a photo of Winston Silcott 'Face of Monster'. In a headline, it described PC Blackelock as the 'Victim of Savages. The Daily Star headline proclaimed 'Hooded Animals out for blood'. Its report read: "The series of chilling pictures on the right show the Beasts of Broadwater Farm moving in for the kill. They are led by an Fast on the heels of the verdicts, the Tories announced a review of the Bail Act and of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. A debate in the House of Commons on the reintroduction of corporal and capital punishment saw over 30 more Tory 'hanger: and floggers' emerge since the last debate of this Strengthening and streamlining the powers of the state is a central part of the lorv anti-workine class offensive. They have used the opportunity of the Broadwater Farm trials first to whip up a climate of racism and then to float the idea of even more dracostate attacks on Broadwate Farm which followed the death of Cynthia Jarrett, le Labour Kaucrsulp Has remalcu sued, ral Iron protesting the trial verdicts, Labour leaders called for an investigation of the judge who had released Winston Silcott on bail prior to the events on Broadwater Farm. And the Labour Party leadership have not only gone along with the Tory racist backlast but have even introduced a witch hunt against Labour Party Black There are still 43 more people to be tried as a result of the uprisings on Broadwater Farm: 7 foi alleged riot and 36 for alleged affray. Of the 27 case: heard before the murder trials, 11 people have been convicted, 7 acquitted and 2 sent for retrial. It is expected that the remaining trials will take six months.
What has happened to residents of Broadwater Farm at the hands of the police and the courts is an extension of the treatment meted out to Britain's Black communities everyday by the state. The whole labour movement must stand up against this racist onslaught and defend Broadwater Farm - starting with support for a public enquiry into the police riot there and for the appeal against the vengeance sentences given to Silcotti, Raghip and Braithwaite.