Behind the Tottenham riot
The uprising against the police on the Broadwater Farm Estate in Tottenham has been given widespread and sensationalised coverage in the media. But few of the real facts have been publicised. The following is an abridged account written and distributed in leaflet form by Haringey Briefing, under the title *Defend Bernie Grant, Fight Racism!' THe Events leading up to the riot are clear and need to be publicised. Tension on Broadwater Farm (BWF) has been increasing in recent weeks as police hardened tactics against black youth and because of the shooting of Cherry Groce in Brixton. There has been an increase police harassment and several reports of black youths being beaten up. Against this backround the riot was sparked off by the death of Mrs Jarrett — it was a result of the anger of the black community and their determination to defend themselves.
On Saturday 5 October, Floyd Jarrett, a well known activist in the BWF Youth Association was stopped by the police in Tottenham High Road because his tax disc had expired. The police accused him of stealing the car (which he in fact owned) and Floyd gave a false name. He was then
Ffor assaulting a police officer, handcuffed by Detective Constable Randall, taken to Tottenham Police Station at 1.25pm
according to Floyd, punched and kicked. At 4.30pm Randall and four other police officers went to Mrs Jarrett's house to look for stolen goods, even though Floyd had not been charged with any theft offense, had not lived with his mother for some time and had told the police his own address.
The police gained entry to Mrs Jarrett's house by using a key taken from Floyd at the police station — an illegal act. Although the police claimed they had a search warrant this was not produced. The family of Mrs Jarrett has stated that while he was searching the forcefully pushing their mother.
She fell to the ground gasping for breath However Randall jumped over Mrs Jarrett and still continued with the search, ignoring the family's plea for help and their request for the police to radio for an ambulance. Consequently the youngest son ran across the road to a public phone box to ring for one. It took 45 minutes for it to come. By the time Mrs Jarrett reached the North Middlesex Hospital she had died. International, No. I, November/December 1985
small demonstration of relatives outside Tottenham Police Station followed on Saturday and Floyd was released. Tension did increase on BWF that evening, but there were no incidents. Black Self Defence - Police Riot On Sunday morning there was another demonstration outside the Police Station and the road was blocked temporarily by a sit-down protest. This was followed by meeting of the black community with Bernie
Tand other councillors in the BWF Youth Association office from 2pm onwards. At about 6.30 a group of youths came into a meeting saying that the time for talk was over. The councillors left; a demonstration of black youth set off to march to the police station; but as they entered Willan Road they were met by a large squad of riot police; in fact massive reserves of riot police had been building up in Tottenham all day and by 6.30 police cordons had been set up at all
The blocking of the estate in this way meant that if any violence came it would be highly localised and intense; quotes show that they were determined to prevent the youth leaving the estate and were quite prepared to see this result in violence as long as it did not spread out of
Kenneth Newman now had exactly what he wanted - a set piece confrontation with the black youth. The death of PC Blakelock in the ensuing vicious fighting gave him the ideal pretext to deploy plastic bullets and Conditions on Broadwater Farm About 4,000 people live in the high-rise slum that is the Broadwater Farm Estate. Built in 1971 it almost immediately became a hardto-let estate; three-quarters of the lettings were to families with no choice and a high proportion to single parents. Social and economic conditions are severe - 70% of
Piers Cavendich Rena! the population is on Supplementary Benefit and over two-thirds of the people are black.
Over 50% of the residents are in single parent households. However, there have been very positive developments on the estate. By the early 1980s crime was high and black people were being harassed by police and attacked by fascists. In response to this, the black community began to organise and take control over their own lives.
An active tenant, Dolly Kiffin, took the initiative of establishing the BWF Youth Association and with her supporters took control of the tenants' association. The Council too declared BWF a priority estate, putting in resources and de-centralising services. A vital role was played by Bernie Grant in this. In fact so successful was this self-organisation the estate became a model for tackling inner city problems.
This has now been smashed by the police action. Since 1981/2 the police role in BWF has been limited largely to 'community policing'. The self-organisation of the local community has been successful in cutting crime without a police presence or Neighbourhood Watch Schemes. In order for police power to be restored and for the use of tougher police measures to become politically acceptable, this black self organisation had to be wrecked by the police - hence their provocation of the riot.
Furthermore, Roy Hattersley has been quick to distance the Labour Party leadership from any criticism of the Metropolitan Police. Not content with condemning miners' 'violence' or undermining the fight of Liverpool and Lambeth Councils the Party leadership now feels strong enough to atack a Labour Council taking a stand on the issues of police violence, racism and accountability. These attacks on Bernie Grant are leading to demands for him to be removed as Tottenham's Labour candidate — a witchhunt which must be resisted.
Brixton, Toxteth and Tottenham
- another round of riots in the inner city areas led by the Black
youth. International spoke to
Haringey councillor Narendra
Makanji, national secretary of
Labour Party Black Sections, about the significance of the riots. International: What do you think is the significance of the latest round of riots in the inner city areas? Narendra Makanji: It's an expression of frustration and anger caused by insensitive policing, increasing unemployment and social deprivation. The riots that have occurred have happened in Liverpool, Lambeth, Haringey and Leicester — all of which are Labour areas with a high level of social deprivation, and all of which are in the front line against Government policies on public spending and local government.
We have ten thousand people unemployed here in Tottenham. We are the fourth most needy education authority and even by the Government's own statistics we are the sixth poorest area in the country. All this forms a tinder box which can be sparked off by a single event, such as the raid on Mrs Jarrett's house which caused her to collapse and tragically to die. International: What has been the impact of these riots in the Black and Asian communities in these areas? Narendra Makanji: The impact is difficult to gauge at this stage. On the one hand amongst the youth it has led to an understanding of the political processes which are taking place and the way in which the media operates. Many of the youth are now engaged in a level of political discussion which is much higher than I have ever known before. They are talking about their rights, unemployment, education, training, housing and social security. We have also seen an impact among the older people in the communities who are now totally convinced of the necessity of police accountability.
Up until now there had been a lot of doubts about police accountabilty and many people were prepared to accept consultative arrangements as an alternative. Now all this has changed since the events in Lambeth. Accountability of the police is now a major political issue again. It has also had an impact within the Tory Party. We have seen Peter Walker's open challenge to the Government to carry out new policies to restore levels of employment, at the recent Tory Party Conference. International: What about the response of the Labour leadership? Narendra Makanji: The public response from the Labour leadership has been mixed. 8 Roy Hattersley for example called for even