When it comes to an age of activism, some say there's a grey matter, somewhere between the late 80s and now. Some claim we've come down to an apathetic generation with a lack of fight - and in turn, certain sceptics identify an uphill struggle, in Ctrl.Alt.Shift's mission to make activism 'cool again'. Then again, certain others have then said to me (and rightly so) that it's not even a question of 'cool', but having the sense of fighting for what's important - yet repeating the same tone of scepticism with belief that the distant past movements for women's rights and racial equality have done the militant dirty work for us, leaving our present overly-comfortable, lazyboy state of mind. I mean, it's not crazy to think that some, at times, can find it difficult to get to grips with today's issues and injustices that are blowing up so far from home; things like Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, the Tamil Tigers, DRCongo and the rest of the world's tragedies that don't necessarily affect our everyday lives. Now stop in your tracks - as on Saturday May 23rd this entire notion died, as I listened to a woman scream for 45 minutes: "Who killed my brother?" Her gut-crunching wallows are important to the most apathetic of all of us.

This woman was Marci Rigg, sister of deceased Sean Rigg - leading the United Campaign Against Police Violence (UCAPV) rally from London's Trafalgar Square to New Scotland Yard last weekend. Let me set the picture for you: 21st August 2008, 40 year old Sean Rigg was arrested and restrained by four Brixton police officers, placed in a van and taken to the police station - one hour later, he was dead. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) are meant to be conducting an independent investigation into his death. However, so far, the Rigg fam claim to have experienced a cover up of vital CCTV evidence, a biased investigation in favour of the police (with interviews of the officers involved taking place a whole seven months after the incident). Sean was not formally identified by his family (in fact they were actively discouraged from seeing Sean) - and eventually after much fighting, the family were able to view Sean through a glass box, finding wounds to his head - described in the IPCC's post mortem as a 'wound to his cheek'. This bullshit farce is why Rigg's family cried down the speakerphone, "Who killed my brother?" with the crowd chanting back "The Police!"

No time for apathy – let me give you a few other mentions at this demo:

Mikey Powell: a 38 year old, father of three, who should have been taken to hospital after being beaten down with batons - but instead he died in police custody in Handsworth, Birmingham on September 7th 2003.

Colin Roach: a 21 year old who died after receiving a fatal gunshot wound in January 1983, whilst in police custody in Stoke Newington Police Station. Authorities say it was a clear case of suicide, the public say murder by police.

John Shorthouse: a five year old boy shot dead in his sleep in a police raid on his home in Birmingham on August 24th, 1985.

Roger Sylvester: a 30 year old man from Tottenham, north London, who died in January 1999, after being restrained by officers in a padded room at a psychiatric hospital.

Habib 'Paps' Ullah: a 39 year old man who died in police custody after a routine stop and search in High Wycombe on July 3rd 2008. The Habib family are angry at the recent decision of the IPCC to abandon the criminal investigation and limit their investigation to misconduct by the officers.

And finally, but not least, Ian Tomlinson, the 47 year old newspaper seller who died during this year’s G20 protests. With his hands in his pockets, Tomlinson was attacked from behind by a baton wielding police officer.

Families and friends (representing all of the above) marched in unison, walking along a coffin plated with "For all loved ones who died in police custody" - bringing the casket to the very front of New Scotland Yard's welcome sign, "Metropolitan Police - working together for a safer London." Can you say, ironic?

It's little wonder, with the amount of unfair trials, lack of transparency and true accountability, why tears are shed, why Sean Rigg's fam want a criminal investigation into his death and a chance to robustly cross-examine the alleged "murderers" (not an inquest with a corrupt coroner), and why one Socialist Party protestor who got right up in the face of the police on Saturday said: "It's them who need to be put in custody. They want to 'keep us in our place', and kill if necessary" - and if such a dark side mentality does insist somewhere in the force, that outright needs to be hung, drawn, quartered, killed, murdered, spat on and buried.

The mourning families and supporting protestors seeking justice were certainly not advocating violence, but from my standing, merely demanding answers to very very important questions. The rule of law may state 'innocent until proven guilty', but until fair investigations and deserved punishments to the guilty parties, the police will remain guilty until proven innocent - and the po po should do well never to forget that.

"Enough is enough" and "How many more times?" are scarring chants by Marci Rigg, in memory of her brother, and Tomlinson, 'Paps', Sylvester, Shorthouse, Roach, Powell... And don't even get me started on the 94 dead during the Hillsborough debacle, Mamia Abu-Jamal who remains on death row without a fair re-trial, and shot down Jean Charles de Menezes (seven bullets to the head by specialist firearms who misidentified him as a suicide bomber). If you're lacking on sympathy for the world's traumas, look no further than in your own back yard for piss-taking injustices - brought to you specially by the one and only protectors of the peace, failing to justify their own actions.

Words: Dwain Lucktung. Assistant Editor, Ctrl.Alt.Shift website. My deepest respect goes out to the families of the UCAPV. May you find justice and may your loved ones rest in peace.
Photos: Tekla Balfour

Join the UCAPV march towards the IPCC Headquarters in London on July 10th.

Visit www.againstpoliceviolence.org for more details.