Uprising TV -
In 1982 thirteen young black British people died after a house party ended in fire. The fire and its aftermath would ignite an uprising by the black British community. Uprising, captions, BBC 2021
‘There was a lot of racism within the police force. People were fitted up with bags of drugs, people were fitted up with offensive weapons. And so often they were young black people.’ ibid. former PC Peter Bleksley
21 Held After Muggins: A 24-year-old housewife and 20 young men will appear at Camberwell Magistrates’ Court, London to-day changed in connection with a series of muggins. ibid.
They were arrested after a number of raids in South East London on Monday, and followed a rooftop watch by police on shops and streets in Lewisham and Deptford. ibid.
The Metropolitan Police at five o’clock in the morning smashed the doors down of 21 houses and arrested 21 young people … A campaign for freeing of the Lewisham 21, and some of the people were little more than children. But it was what inspired the National Front to set up what they called the Anti-Mugging Branch. ibid. Sid Shelton, photographer and activist
The Battle of Lewisham: ‘The police were attacking us’. ibid.
Kids lying on stretchers burnt till they were pink, and the smell of burning flesh will go to my graves. Uprising II: Blame, survivor
She saw somebody in a white car throw something. ibid.
… Then there was another fire bomb at the Moonshot Youth Club … ibid.
The black people’s day of action was the most powerful expression of black political power that this country has ever seen … There were over 20,000 people marching through the streets of London on an ordinary working day. ibid. Linton Kwesi Johnson
There was a police line across the road that was stopping the march. I really don’t think they wanted us to cross the bridge. ibid. witness
A cordon of police officers in riot gear standing across the entrance to the bridge. We found that particularly disturbing because the route to the march had been agreed. ibid. Johnson
‘Kennington was a very racist area, yeah: Niggers Go Home, NF on the Wall’ … ‘Blacks Stink’ [graffiti] … Uprising III: The Front Line
‘Round and round and round antagonising people endlessly.’ ibid. ex-rozzer whistleblower
Operation Swamp: ‘One day I was stopped three times.’ ibid. old suss law victim
‘We saw the police surround a guy who had been stabbed.’ ibid.
When we got to the high street [after victim dragged to police van] it was one of the proudest moments of our lives. Hundreds of us. ibid.
There was like a cinema playing in my mind of all the indignities I had suffered with the police. ibid.
A lot of chaos. A lot of coppers getting hurt. ibid. ex-whistleblower
You know what? They were good fires. They were fires of freedom. People were breaking the chains. ibid. dude
‘The unprecedented outbreak of violence on the streets of mainland Britain.’ ibid. BBC news