After two decades of working alongside the Metropolitan Police to try and ease tensions between the police and the Black community, Ken Hinds thought they knew what he was about. That was until they threatened him with investigation for offences under the Serious Crime Act for organising a protest.
Mr Hinds is one of the organisers behind the “Million People March” – a protest against racial discrimination due to take place on Sunday the 30th of August. An email to Mr Hinds this week told him that because he was not a business, charity, public body or political body, in organising an event he was encouraging attendees to break coronavirus regulations. The email also said that he may have already committed an offence by promoting the event.
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Mr Hinds says he had several meetings with the police about the march, before the legal threat came, “as a bombshell ten days before I was due to go out there”.
He adds: “I used to think that we’ve got a reasonably good relationship. I was one of their advisors for many years, who was prepared to step in and de-escalate the tension and certain parts of the Black community.”
Mr Hinds has received several commendations from for his work in promoting fair engagement between the police and Black community. He is Chairman of Haringey’s Independent Stop and Search Monitoring Group, former Chair of the Community Monitoring Network – the London-wide association of 33 stop and search groups from different London boroughs – and a member of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). “They’ve known my qualities over the last 20-odd years. They’ve got the footprint in the sand that tells them I’m a person of substance,” he says.
After Mr Hinds took legal action with ITN solicitors, the Met dropped the threat of prosecution. But he is concerned at the effect the threat has already had, saying, “It’s dampened the enthusiasm of the police behind the scenes making it happen. It took away some of the shine, by people thinking ‘oh, should I be getting involved in this, is this illegal?’ People who want to sponsor certain things – all of that was making it safe.”
Others feel antagonised, says Mr Hinds: “Above all, it kind of also put up the back of others, who said they weren’t going to be intimidated, so they’re coming out at that level to appear to confront the police. So it’s skewed it in that regard.”
Mr Hinds blames, “the part that institutionalised systemic racism plays in attitudes, that’s still very much embedded in policing – so much so that Met Commissioner Cressida Dick is in denial. This is why there are concerns in the Black community about her fitness for that post – I can see that there’s petitions out there calling for her to go. It’s not surprising.”
Mr Hinds stops short of calling for Dick’s resignation, but adds: “If we can’t start with the premise that there’s systemic racism that needs to be addressed then why are we having these dialogues? It’s a game where we will have to give up everything and the police don’t have to give up nothing.”
The Million People March will start at Notting Hill – the site of Notting Hill Carnival, which is online-only this year due to coronavirus – and head to Hyde Park. Carnival is a huge event on the Black British cultural calendar, and one that has seen a great deal of controversial policing tactics over the years.
“The reason Carnival started was about emancipation, it was about freedom,” Mr Hinds says. “It was a protest – defiance – after a racist murder that took place. And the authorities said that we could not march on that street. So that was in defiance. And yet again, 40 years later we are finding ourselves at that square one. This is ground zero. This is why it’s important that we do start this demonstration on the Carnival footprint.”
Mr Hinds is concerned at the chilling effect threats of prosecution could have, saying someone else in his position may not have been able to contest it. “I’m just well connected,” he says. “It’s not every day you’re going to get people who support the underdog, such as I am, to take the Met police to the high court. Underdogs usually haven’t got the finance, the expertise around them. And thirdly they don’t have the confidence to think that they will win. They think they’re putting themselves and their family in some kind of jeopardy.”
Lochlinn Parker, Head of the Civil Liberties department at ITN solicitors, who acted for Mr Hinds, said: “Protestors should not have to have to instruct lawyers to help them exercise their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. This case has clarified that protests called by campaign organisations are not unlawful gatherings, as long the group has completed an adequate assessment of the public health risks of the protest.”
Kevin Blowe from the Netpol (the Network of Police Monitoring) said: “The idea that the police get to decide what is or isn’t a protest is a fundamental breach of the right to freedom of assembly. There is no proper assessment of human rights that goes into the beginning of the process of these decisions… It’s a tick-box exercise as far as the police are concerned and it leaves people in the position that they have to go to the courts and worry about the costs, just to stop this kind of nonsense from happening.”
Despite his experience, Mr Hinds has a conciliatory attitude towards the Met. “I think it’s important that anyone coming to this march doesn’t get it twisted. The police are not our enemy – the government policy and regulation and institutional racism is.”
The case arose as police anticipated new powers to clamp down on public gatherings. From today, police forces are able to fine illegal gatherings of more than 30 people up to £10,000. Home Secretary Priti Patel said it showed that the government wants, “to crack down on the small minority who think they are above the law”. The Home Office and police have promoted this by talking about cracking down on illegal raves, but the fines can also be given to the organisers of “any other unlawful gathering of more than 30 people”.
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “Ahead of this August bank holiday weekend, the MPS have sought to engage with organisers and participants of all planned events, working under the current version of the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No2) (England) Regulations 2020 which came into force on the 4th of July 2020 and we believe, have sought to achieve a balance between the exercise of protected rights and the imperative to protect public health.”
