Saturday 25th October will see 26th annual United Families and Friends (UFFC) remembrance procession in support of those whose family members have died at the hands of the state. The meeting time is 12 noon at Trafalgar Square, after which the gathered strong make their way down to Downing Street for a rally and to hand in their demands for justice, accountability and restorative justice. (1)

UFFC is a coalition of those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody. Established ten years after Black History Month began in the UK in 1997 as a network of Black families, UFFC has expanded to include people from varied ethnic and cultural backgrounds affected by these injustices. Among its demands are:

• Prison deaths be subject to a system of properly funded investigation that is completely independent of the prison service.
• Officers involved in custody deaths be suspended until investigations are completed.
• Prosecutions should automatically allow unlawful killing verdicts.
• Police forces be made accountable to the communities they serve.
• Legal aid and full disclosure of information is available to the relatives of victims.
• Officers responsible for deaths should face criminal charges, even if retired. (2)

Although the attendance each year varies the number of families joining UFFC continues to swell as deaths at the hands of the state continue. Last year recorded the highest number of deaths in and following police custody for 17 years and embedded within those figures is the fact that “Black people seven times more likely to die after police restraint in Britain.” (3)

Yet in almost four decades there has been just one conviction – PC Monk, who was jailed in 2021 for the manslaughter of former footballer Dalian Atkinson. Some attribute this to the ‘George Floyd Effect’ – highended focus on racial justice following the 2020 murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin. But all the evidence since then suggests that the impact of the effect has effectively dissolved. (4)

Four years after the so-called Black Lives Matter protests the police have shown little appetite for change, having just been accused of “burying” a report exposing “baked in anti-Black racism” within the Metropolitan Police. The recent BBC expose only serves to reinforce the police’s intractability around racism. (5) The government for its part is considering embellishing the police’s already extensive powers that critics are calling a “license to kill” (6)

However, the families continue to find ways to fight back in pursuit of justice. One such initiative is the The People’s Tribunal on Police Killings is set up in 2021 by Migrant Media, United Families &Friends Campaign, 4WardEverUK and Black Lives Matter UK that aims to present evidence of state killings before an “international panel in a public forum, whose decisions will then be implemented with the support of official bodies.” It also aims to “highlight the disproportionate impact of police killings on black people, and key themes explored included torture, terror, state cover-ups and black resistance.” (7)

Earlier this year the Tribunal announced that more than 100 relatives of people who have died after contact with the police in the UK since 1971 have joined plans for a class action lawsuit in pursuit of compensation and justice. Organisers reject the terminology “deaths in custody” as it was “inaccurately narrow and misleading”, and does not cover killings of people who have not been arrested or sectioned. (8)

Samantha Patterson, whose brother Jason McPherson died in 2007 after being stopped and searched by police, said:

“We’ve explored all avenues. We’ve done campaigns. We’ve written letters. We’ve met with prime ministers, Home Office secretaries, everybody that you would think. Something needs to change. Jason died nearly 20 years ago, and I’m still hearing about cases that are similar to what happened to Jason that night.” (9)

Over the last fifty years police have a 0.13% chance of being convicted following a killing. (10) So the challenge for the class action suit is that it is being brought in a climate of increasing government authoritarianism such as extreme persecution of dissent, the use of parajudicial measures to shut down opposition movements, and the selective application of the law that both main political parties have bought into and that pretenders like Reform are also unlikely to oppose. (11)

1) UFFC (2025) About. https://uffcampaign.org/about/
2) UFFC (2025) Campaigns. https://uffcampaign.org/
3) INQUEST (17/10/24) INQUEST responds to highest number of deaths in and following police custody for 17 years. https://www.inquest.org.uk/iopc-stats-2023-4; Vikram Dodd (19/02/23) Black people seven times more likely to die after police restraint in Britain, figures show. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/19/black-people-seven-times-more-likely-to-die-after-police-restraint-in-britain-figures-show
4) Margaret Davis (20/10/24) Prosecutions for murder or manslaughter after deaths following police contact. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/prosecutions-murder-manslaughter-deaths-following-152158977.html; Matthew Weaver (15/10/25) Case dropped against Met police officer who shot unarmed man. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/15/case-dropped-met-police-officer-shot-jermaine-baker; Vikram Dodd (26/12/21) Police formally apologise over Dalian Atkinson death after officer’s conviction. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/dec/26/police-formally-apologise-over-dalian-atkinson-death-after-officers-conviction
5) Nadine White (16/10/25) ‘Damning’ review of anti-Black racism within Met police ‘buried’ by force. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/oct/16/review-anti-black-racism-metropolitan-police-force-london; Adrian Polglase & Joseph Lee (01/10/25) Unmasked: Secret BBC filming exposes hidden culture of misogyny and racism inside Met Police. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgq06d44jyo
(6) Vikram Dodd (09/02/25) Changes to law would give police ‘licence to kill’, UK rights groups warn. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/feb/09/changes-to-law-armed-police-uk-accountability-review
(7) UFFC (2025) Campaigns. https://uffcampaign.org/; Jessica Murray (06/04/25) Dozens of families join plan for class action over UK police contact deaths. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/06/dozens-of-families-join-plan-for-class-action-over-uk-police-contact-deaths
(8) Murray. Op. cit.
(9) Ibid.
(10) Ibid. 3,000 deaths involving the police in the UK over the past 50 years, during which time four police officers have been convicted over a killing.
(11) George Monbiot (22/02/25) Extremists would not need to create an authoritarian state in Britain: Starmer is doing that for them. https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2025/feb/22/keir-starmer-labour-illiberal-laws-hard-right-authoritarians; Josiah Mortimer (19/03/25) Protest Crackdown in Britain Now Amounts to ‘State Repression’ And the Labour Government is Continuing the Trend, Warn Campaigners. https://bylinetimes.com/2025/03/19/protest-crackdown-in-britain-now-amounts-to-state-repression-and-the-labour-government-is-continuing-the-trend-warn-campaigners/

we ask the question:

Combating a history of violence: Who are UFFC?

1) Has the “George Floyd” effect now worn off, if it ever was a thing?
2) Will the police ever rid itself of its racism?
3) How will challenges to state violence fare amid increasing government authoritarianism?
4) What ways can the families of those killed at the hands of state be supported?

Our Special Guests:

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is the visionary that brought us the Mosiah Observance in 1998 and is the editor of the offcial guide to the season, Mosiah Daily Affirmations. He is also the author the bookley and accompanying video Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.

Sis. Marcia Rigg: is the older sister of Bro. Sean Rigg who died in Brixton Police station on 21/08/2008. Sis. Marcia has lead the campaign to get justice for her brother, compelling her to give up her 20-year career as a legal PA in the City, as leading the campaign “has been like a full time job” but it has scored some significant legal victories against the state. Sis. Marcia is an organiser in the United Families and Friends Campaign (UFFC), a coalition of those affected by deaths in police, prison and psychiatric custody.

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