Saudi Arabia to allow ‘all countries’ to fly over its skies

September 2, 2020 Article

Saudi Arabia has announced that it will now allow flights “from all countries” to cross its skies to reach the United Arab Emirates.

The historic first comes just days after the kingdom let the first direct Israeli commercial passenger flight use its airspace to reach the UAE.

The statement makes no mention of the kingdom’s rival, Iran, nor Qatar, which Saudi Arabia is currently boycotting.

It is apparently a reference to the start of commercial flights from Israel to the UAE, as any direct flight between the two nations would need to use Saudi airspace to be commercially viable.

The Saudi Press Agency said the move comes in response to a “request by the UAE” for flights to and from the country.

Earlier this week, Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, flew with a high-level Israeli delegation to the UAE on the first direct commercial passenger flight between the two countries, a Star of David emblazoned on the jet’s tail.

The flight traversed Saudi airspace, signalling at least acquiescence for a breakthrough US-brokered deal by the United Arab Emirates to normalise relations with Israel.

Shortly after the Saudi statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israeli planes and flights from all other countries can fly directly from Israel to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

He made no mention of Saudi Arabia but a direct flight from Israel involves crossing Saudi skies.

“This will reduce the cost of flights, it will shorten the time, this will greatly develop tourism, it will develop our economy,” Mr Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office.

“These are the fruits of real peace,” he added.

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Categories: Commercial passenger flight, Israel, News, Saudi Arabia, UAE to Israel, United Arab Emirates

Nadiya Hussain: Why I’m scared of calling out racism

August 31, 2020 Article

Nadiya Hussain says she has experienced more racism in the last five years than in her entire life and is “scared” to call it out.

The Great British Bake Off winner worries that her TV work will dry up if she is seen to be “complaining” about anything.

Hussain, 35, who is back on screen with BBC show Nadiya Bakes, told Radio Times magazine she had encountered “racism throughout my life…

“I now work in an industry that’s very much middle-aged, Caucasian, male, and there I am – a five foot one Muslim brown girl, and it’s not my world.

“We have to question why there aren’t more people of colour working in television, publishing, the hospitality industry.

“When I did this show I looked around and I thought, ‘Wow, there’s literally just me and the home economist, who’s Korean’.”

Speaking out is hard “because if I ever feel like I’m complaining about anything, I have this god-awful fear that nobody will want to work with me ever again. So I’m really scared,” she said.

“The times that I have called it out, I’ve met with some serious negativity.”

She called for more diversity in TV and publishing but said the situation had improved, adding that “now people say to me, ‘My daughter wants to do exactly what you’re doing’, and that is a lovely thing to hear”.

Hussain recounted the time she posted a Cornish pasty recipe on social media, replacing traditional swede with apple.

“I got so much abuse… What I constantly read was, ‘What gives you the right to make a Cornish pasty?’ And that really affected me,” she said.

“I’ve definitely experienced more racism in the last five years than I have in my whole life.

“People get away with being racist and if you say, ‘Well, that was racist’, then it’s ‘Take it on the chin’ or ‘Oh, she’s got a chip on her shoulder’.

“There’s definitely a sense that I should be grateful for what I do. I’ve had to learn to have a thicker skin over the last few years, but I’ve also learnt that it’s really important to voice things and not just hold back.”

Hussain says her mum still works six days a week, doing 12-hour shifts in a factory where she cleans hospital linen.

“I’m proud of what she does and the fact that she is one of the people keeping this country going,” the cookbook author and presenter said.

And the mother-of-three has not moved to a bigger house since finding fame because “I can’t see the value in constantly upgrading everything”.

Hussain recently told how she found lockdown difficult and had “struggled” to get out of bed.

She told the magazine that “lockdown caused a massive decline in my mental health” but she also has “really good days”.

“We know lots of people who have been diagnosed with Covid. We also know people who are not following the rules, so there’s this constant anxiety, which has been really tough,” she said.

“I have really big down days where it dawns on me that we could get to the end.

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Categories: Calling out racism, Experienced more racism, Nadiya Hussain, News

Man shot dead in Portland ‘was Patriot Prayer supporter’

August 30, 2020 Article

The man shot and killed in Portland on Saturday was a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer whose supporters have frequently clashed with left-wing protesters in Oregon’s largest city, according to the organisation’s founder.

Joey Gibson, head of the group based in Washington state, said he was also in Portland on Saturday night when supporters of President Donald Trump clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters.

Mr Gibson said he arrived at the scene of the shooting shortly after it happened and was briefly corralled in a nearby gas station by angry protesters.

“I can’t say much right now. All I can do is verify that he was a good friend and a supporter of Patriot Prayer,” Mr Gibson said about the victim.

Police issued a plea for videos, photos or eyewitness accounts of the incident which happened about 15 minutes after a caravan of some 600 or so vehicles that formed part of a pro-Trump rally left the city centre.

It is not clear whether the shooting was related to the clashes between Trump supporters and counter-protesters in Portland, which has become a flashpoint in the national Black Lives Matter protests since George Floyd was killed in May, and an increasing centrepiece in Trump’s law-and-order re-election campaign theme.

Police have not released any information about the case but said they were aware of videos on social media that showed the shooting.

Police Chief Chuck Lovell said: “It is still early in this investigation, and I ask everyone to give the detectives time to do their important work before drawing conclusions about what took place.

“If anyone can provide information about this case, I ask them to please reach out to our detectives. This violence is completely unacceptable and we are working diligently to find and apprehend the individual or individuals responsible.”

An Associated Press freelance photographer heard three gunshots and then saw police medics attending to the victim, who appeared to be a white man. The photographer said the man was wearing a hat bearing the insignia of Patriot Prayer.

Police said the man was shot in the chest.

He was not immediately identified, and it is unclear who shot him.

Portland has been the site of nightly protests for more than three months since the police killing of Mr Floyd in Minneapolis.

Many of them end in vandalism and violence, and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested by local and federal law enforcement since late May.

In the two hours following the shooting, protesters gathered in the city centre and there was sporadic fighting and vandalism, with 10 people arrested, police said.

The caravan had arrived in the city centre just as a planned protest was getting under way.

The chaotic scene came two days after Mr Trump invoked Portland as a liberal city overrun with violence in a speech at the Republican National Convention.

The caravan marked the third Saturday in a row that Trump supporters have rallied in the city.

Patriot Prayer has a history in Portland and has repeatedly rallied supporters for pro-Trump rallies beginning in 2017.

The group’s supporters periodically cross into Oregon for rallies and marches.

Counter-protesters have squared off with Patriot Prayer and other right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters multiple times in the city since Mr Trump’s election.

Mr Trump issued a flurry of tweets and retweets on Sunday, including several that blamed Portland mayor Ted Wheeler for the death and one in which the president appeared to be encouraging his supporters to move into Portland.

“Great Patriots!” Trump wrote as he shared video of his supporters driving into Portland to confront the protesters.

Acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf blamed local officials for failing “to protect their communities”.

“I’m asking Portland officials, so that’s the mayor, that’s the governor and that’s local law enforcement, to do their job to address any violent activity that is occurring in their streets,” Mr Wolf told CBS.

Mr Wolf said the federal government was prepared to send agents to Portland and other cities to protect federal buildings and assist police.

When federal agents increased their presence in Portland city centre in July, it saw some of the largest protests of the summer, with thousands of people turning out nightly.

The crowds dissipated after the agents withdrew and state police agreed to protect federal buildings for a two-week period.

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Categories: Black Lives Matter, Man shot and killed, News, Oregon, Patriot Prayer, Portland

Man shot dead in Portland ‘was Patriot Prayer supporter’

August 30, 2020 Article

The man shot and killed in Portland on Saturday was a supporter of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer whose supporters have frequently clashed with left-wing protesters in Oregon’s largest city, according to the organisation’s founder.

Joey Gibson, head of the group based in Washington state, said he was also in Portland on Saturday night when supporters of President Donald Trump clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters.

Mr Gibson said he arrived at the scene of the shooting shortly after it happened and was briefly corralled in a nearby gas station by angry protesters.

“I can’t say much right now. All I can do is verify that he was a good friend and a supporter of Patriot Prayer,” Mr Gibson said about the victim.

Police issued a plea for videos, photos or eyewitness accounts of the incident which happened about 15 minutes after a caravan of some 600 or so vehicles that formed part of a pro-Trump rally left the city centre.

It is not clear whether the shooting was related to the clashes between Trump supporters and counter-protesters in Portland, which has become a flashpoint in the national Black Lives Matter protests since George Floyd was killed in May, and an increasing centrepiece in Trump’s law-and-order re-election campaign theme.

Police have not released any information about the case but said they were aware of videos on social media that showed the shooting.

Police Chief Chuck Lovell said: “It is still early in this investigation, and I ask everyone to give the detectives time to do their important work before drawing conclusions about what took place.

“If anyone can provide information about this case, I ask them to please reach out to our detectives. This violence is completely unacceptable and we are working diligently to find and apprehend the individual or individuals responsible.”

An Associated Press freelance photographer heard three gunshots and then saw police medics attending to the victim, who appeared to be a white man. The photographer said the man was wearing a hat bearing the insignia of Patriot Prayer.

Police said the man was shot in the chest.

He was not immediately identified, and it is unclear who shot him.

Portland has been the site of nightly protests for more than three months since the police killing of Mr Floyd in Minneapolis.

Many of them end in vandalism and violence, and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested by local and federal law enforcement since late May.

In the two hours following the shooting, protesters gathered in the city centre and there was sporadic fighting and vandalism, with 10 people arrested, police said.

The caravan had arrived in the city centre just as a planned protest was getting under way.

The chaotic scene came two days after Mr Trump invoked Portland as a liberal city overrun with violence in a speech at the Republican National Convention.

The caravan marked the third Saturday in a row that Trump supporters have rallied in the city.

Patriot Prayer has a history in Portland and has repeatedly rallied supporters for pro-Trump rallies beginning in 2017.

The group’s supporters periodically cross into Oregon for rallies and marches.

Counter-protesters have squared off with Patriot Prayer and other right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys and the Three Percenters multiple times in the city since Mr Trump’s election.

Mr Trump issued a flurry of tweets and retweets on Sunday, including several that blamed Portland mayor Ted Wheeler for the death and one in which the president appeared to be encouraging his supporters to move into Portland.

“Great Patriots!” Trump wrote as he shared video of his supporters driving into Portland to confront the protesters.

Acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf blamed local officials for failing “to protect their communities”.

“I’m asking Portland officials, so that’s the mayor, that’s the governor and that’s local law enforcement, to do their job to address any violent activity that is occurring in their streets,” Mr Wolf told CBS.

Mr Wolf said the federal government was prepared to send agents to Portland and other cities to protect federal buildings and assist police.

When federal agents increased their presence in Portland city centre in July, it saw some of the largest protests of the summer, with thousands of people turning out nightly.

The crowds dissipated after the agents withdrew and state police agreed to protect federal buildings for a two-week period.

The post Man shot dead in Portland ‘was Patriot Prayer supporter’ appeared first on Faith Matters.

Categories: Black Lives Matter, Man shot and killed, News, Oregon, Patriot Prayer, Portland

600 attacks on places of worship in Northern Ireland in five years

August 27, 2020 Article

Concern has been expressed after figures showed there have been more than 600 attacks on places of worship in Northern Ireland in the last five years.

According to police statistics, there have been 601 incidents of criminal damage to religious buildings, churchyards or cemeteries since 2014/15.

The number of attacks has remained relatively consistent each year, with 136 in 2014/15, 128 in 2015/16, 118 in 2016/17, 115 in 2017/18 and 104 in 2018/19.

Most of the incidents took place in Belfast (173), followed by Lisburn and Castlereagh (60), Newry, Mourne and Down (58) and Ards and North Down (57).

Most recently, St Saviour’s Church in Craigavon suffered an arson attack in July, while Brantry Parish Church in Co Tyrone was attacked, with a window smashed and damage caused to the interior, in April.

Both the Belfast Synagogue and Belfast Islamic Centre have suffered property damage in the last 10 years.

The figures were uncovered by Christian Action Research & Education (Care NI) following a Freedom of Information request.

The Christian charity has called on the Stormont Executive to consider policies to ensure that places of worship are properly protected.

It has previously called for a Places of Worship: Protective Security Funding Scheme to be set up, mirroring a similar scheme available in England and Wales.

The Scottish Government has announced it is introducing a similar scheme there, leaving Northern Ireland as the only part of the United Kingdom without such a scheme.

Rev Aaron McAlister, rector of Derriaghy Parish Church, saw his church broken into and vandalised in 2019.

He said significant damage was caused to the vestry and sanctuary.

“The individuals concerned managed to get in behind our organ while searching for valuables, but fortunately there was nothing to take,” he said.

“It left many of my parishioners deeply upset. An attack on a place of worship is an attack on the community that worships there.

“Rather than getting on with serving our community, we have had to spend valuable hours repairing the damage caused.

“I would support additional government measures to protect places of worship. Action to prevent attacks happening to other faith communities would be hugely welcome.”

Care NI policy officer Mark Baillie said churches are being attacked with “alarming regularity”, adding that it makes sense to consider introducing a security fund.

“More than 600 attacks in the last five years is a reminder that places of worship, which should be safe spaces for worshippers and congregants, are all too often targeted by vandalism and violence,” he said.

“The gradual easing of lockdown will surely only increase the opportunity and risk of further attacks and therefore it’s important MLAs take action.

“Last year, following Care NI’s previous research into this issue, we wrote to the party leaders asking for a manifesto commitment to create a security fund.

“We had positive engagement with a number of political parties and we are today calling on the Northern Ireland Executive to take this up.”

He added: “The scheme in England and Wales is a practical step we could introduce here to equip places of worship to invest in adequate security to prevent criminal damage.

“In a free and democratic society, no-one should be afraid of gathering together with those who share their faith in a place of worship.”

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Categories: 600 attacks, Churches, mosques, News, NI, Northern Ireland, Place of worship, Places of Worship, Synagogues

New probe into church which sold ‘plague protection kits’

August 26, 2020 Article

The Charity Commission has launched a new inquiry into a south London church which was found to be selling a coronavirus “plague protection kit”.

Bishop Climate Wiseman, head of the Kingdom Church in Camberwell, claimed earlier this year that the £91 small bottle of oil and piece of red yarn would protect people against Covid-19.

Media reports about his claims led to an investigation by the charity watchdog in April, resulting in the link to buy the kits being removed.

But the commission has now launched a new inquiry into the church, which is registered as a charity, over concerns about its management and finances.

The commission said it had examined the charity’s records, and was “concerned” about the accuracy of the information provided with regard to its income and expenditure.

The new probe, which was launched on August 7, will examine the charity trustees’ compliance with their legal duties around its administration, governance and management.

This will include an examination of its relationship with a connected organisation called Bishop Climate Ministries, which the charity claimed was responsible for the sale of the “plague protection kits”, the commission said.

Helen Earner, director of regulatory services at the Charity Commission, said: “Charities should be organisations that people can trust. Many will have been concerned by allegations about this charity’s activities in relation to Covid-19, and so it is right that we, and others, have intervened.

“Our own examination into The Kingdom Church GB has identified further concerns that require investigation, which is why we have now opened an official inquiry.”

In a blog post earlier this year, Bishop Wiseman claimed his concoction of cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet yarn acts as “an invisible barrier to the powers of darkness”.

He wrote: “It is by faith that you can be saved from the coronavirus pandemic by covering yourself with the divine plague protection oil and wearing the scarlet yarn on your body.

“That is why I want to encourage you, if you haven’t done so already, to get your divine plague protection kit today!”

He told the PA news agency in April that the church had sold more than 1,000 of the kits.

“This is based on the Bible – I’m a Christian and there is a way that the Bible says to protect us from plagues,” he said.

He previously insisted that the church was not selling the kits, and that the price tag was just to cover the cost of the ingredients, yarn and postage and packaging.

Bishop Wiseman said at the time that his church was not telling people to ignore the Government’s advice.

The Charity Commission said it would continue to work with Southwark Council Trading Standards’ investigation into the sale of the kits.

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Categories: Charity Commission, church, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Divine Plague Protection, News, Plague Protection

Twin sisters who sparked counter-terror probe ‘held in detention centre’

August 25, 2020 Article

Two sisters who sparked a counter-terror probe after they fled from the UK to Syria at the age of 16 are reportedly being detained in a high-security detention centre after trying to escape a refugee camp.

Twins Zahra and Salma Halane, 22, disappeared from the family home in Chorlton, Manchester, in 2014 and flew out to Turkey before they crossed the border into the war-torn country.

It led to the North West Counter Terrorism Unit (NWCTU) investigating their reason for travel and whether they were assisted.

The Muslim youngsters, said to be “deeply religious”, ignored their Somalian family’s pleas for them to come home and told them they have no intention of returning.

It is thought they went on to become “jihadi brides” as they married fighters from so-called Islamic State (IS) and were later widowed, while elder brother Ahmed Halane was said to have links to various terror groups.

On Monday, the sisters told ITV News they want to be repatriated to Denmark, the country of their birth.

They had fled from IS territory last year, they said, and spent the following 16 months at a refugee camp with Zahra’s young son but were recently arrested by Kurdish security services after trying to escape the camp.

Salma said: “I had never thought of leaving. Things were good. We had WHO (the World Health Organisation) checking me and my sister but the situation became very bad.

“The water is yellow, I am suffering, I have injuries on me and my nephew and my sister, she has injuries on her head.

“We tried our best to go to hospital, we tried our best to do something for our health. So it was like survival of the fittest. We wanted to go to a better care.”

She added: “We have nothing to do with the Islamic State. I see myself as a victim. I am not happy about the Islamic State.”

The twins’ mother, Khadra Jama, told The Daily Telegraph last week that her daughters had been banned from returning to the UK.

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Categories: Counter-terror probe, Islamic State, News, Refugee Centre, Salma Halane, Zahra Halane

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an Iranian ‘hostage’, documentary claims

August 23, 2020 Article

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is a “hostage” in Iran and was on the brink of being freed from jail in Iran almost two-and-a-half years ago until a planned deal collapsed, according to a new documentary.

The mother-of-one’s husband Richard Ratcliffe said the family had even been given a date of December 28 2017 for his wife’s return to the UK.

It is unclear why the deal fell through.

The revelations were made during a BBC Panorama investigation into the detention of British and other western citizens in Iran, which airs on Monday night on BBC One at 7.30pm.

It has long been claimed Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe is being held in order to force the UK into settling a multi-million pound dispute with Iran.

The debt dates back to the 1970s when the then-Shah of Iran paid the UK £400 million for 1,500 chieftain tanks.

When he was toppled in 1979, Britain refused to deliver the tanks to the new Islamic Republic but kept the cash, despite British courts accepting that the money should be repaid.

Panorama said that according to its sources, the Ministry of Defence has objected to the repayment.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said the Iranian authorities have told her that her release hinges on the money being returned.

But publicly the Iranian authorities have denied any link between the debt and Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imprisonment.

The UK Foreign Office also said they do not “recognise any linkage” between the debt and her imprisonment, adding “it is unhelpful to suggest otherwise”.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has so far served four years in prison and is currently on temporary release under effective house arrest at her parents’ home in Tehran due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is unclear whether she will be permanently freed or recalled to prison.

She was arrested at Tehran airport in April 2016 as she was returning to London with her daughter, following a visit to her parents to introduce them to their grandchild.

Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was convicted of spying and jailed for five years.

She has been afforded diplomatic protection by the UK Government, which states that she is innocent and that her treatment by Iran failed to meet obligations under international law.

Mr Ratcliffe believes his wife is being held as “diplomatic leverage” by Iran.

The US authorities agree.

US Special Representative to Iran, Brian Hook, told Panorama Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and other western detainees are effectively hostages.

“The Americans that are held in Iran are wrongfully detained and Iran has unfortunately a sad history going back to 1979 of hostage taking, when they took our American diplomats hostage,” he said.

“This is a practice. It’s a tool of statecraft.

“It’s part of Iran’s foreign policy to take people hostage who are innocent and then trade them later for some objective that they think advances their own objectives.”

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Categories: COVID-19, Iranian Hostage, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, News, Tehran, Uk Foreign Office

Turkish government reconverts another former church into a mosque

August 21, 2020 Article

The Turkish government formally converted a former Byzantine church into a mosque, a move that came a month after it drew praise from the faithful and international opposition for similarly turning Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia into a Muslim house of prayer.

A decision by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, published in the country’s Official Gazette, said Istanbul’s Church of St Saviour in Chora, known as Kariye in Turkish, was handed to Turkey’s religious authority, which would open up the structure for Muslim prayers.

Like the Hagia Sophia, which was a church for centuries and then a mosque for centuries more, it had operated as a museum for decades before Mr Erdogan ordered it restored as a mosque.

It was not immediately known when the first prayers would be held there.

The church, situated near the ancient city walls, is famed for its elaborate mosaics and frescoes.

It dates to the fourth century, although the edifice took on its current form in the 11th-12th centuries.

The structure served as a mosque during the Ottoman rule before being transformed into a museum in 1945.

A court decision last year cancelled the building’s status as a museum, paving the way for Friday’s decision.

And as with the Hagia Sophia, the decision to transform the Chora back into a mosque is seen as geared to consolidate the conservative and religious support base of Mr Erdogan’s ruling party at a time when his popularity is sagging amid an economic downturn.

Greece’s foreign ministry strongly condemned the move, saying that Turkish authorities “are once again brutally insulting the character” of another UN-listed world heritage site.

“This is a provocation against all believers,” the Greek ministry said in a statement.

“We urge Turkey to return to the 21st century, and the mutual respect, dialogue and understanding between civilisations.”

Elpidophoros, the Greek Orthodox archbishop of America, wrote on Twitter: “After the tragic transgression with Hagia Sophia, now the Monastery of Chora, this exquisite offering of Byzantine culture to the world!”

“The pleas and exhortations of the international community are ignored,” he wrote.

Several Istanbul residents rushed to the building, some hoping to hold prayers there, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

“Like the Hagia Sophia, this is an important mosque for Muslims,” the agency quoted Istanbul resident Cuma Er as saying.

“We came here to pray after we learned about the decision.

“But we have been told that it has not yet been opened for prayers.

“We are waiting for the opening.”

Last month, Mr Erdogan joined hundreds of worshippers for the first Muslim prayers in Hagia Sophia in 86 years, brushing aside the international criticism and calls for the monument to be kept as a museum in recognition of Istanbul’s multi-faith heritage.

As many as 350,000 took part in the prayers outside the structure.

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Categories: Byzantine Church, church into a mosque, Erdogan, Hagia Sophia, News, Turkish Government

Dawn Butler police stop rooted in biased system, says chief of UK black officers

August 17, 2020 Article

The police stop of a car in which Labour MP Dawn Butler was a passenger was “rooted in a biased system that views black people as criminals or drug dealers”, the leader of the National Black Police Association has said in an interview.

Inspector Andrew George, the new interim president of the organisation, told the Guardian “we have to look at the processes which led to the stop being conducted”, adding: “Training, briefings and culture all contribute to racial profiling.”

He told the paper: “We have to acknowledge the hurt the black community is currently feeling and respond robustly to the consistent disproportionalities we see in police use of powers.”

Former shadow equalities secretary Ms Butler, who accused the police of being “institutionally racist”, was the passenger in a BMW driven by a friend, who like her is black, when they were stopped by police in Hackney, east London, last Sunday.

She told the PA news agency the incident was “obviously racial profiling”.

Scotland Yard said the stop was a result of an officer having “incorrectly entered” the car’s registration plate into a computer, to wrongly identify it as a vehicle registered to Yorkshire, but did not explain why the search was carried out in the first place.

Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh has insisted officers did “absolutely nothing wrong” and had “nothing to hide”.

But Mr George questioned the reason given for the stop, telling the Guardian: “I would ask why a vehicle being registered in Yorkshire and driving in a global hub like London is enough, by itself, to warrant checking the owner details.”

The National Black Police Association was formed after the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence and in the wake of The Macpherson Report.

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Categories: Dawn Butler, National Black Police Association, News, Police Stop, stop and search