Hundreds of protesters have descended on a police station in London in solidarity with a Black teenager who was strip-searched by officers while on her period after a false accusation of drug possession.
Crowds gathered outside Stoke Newington Police station, in north London, on Friday afternoon during the protest, which was sparked by the treatment of a schoolgirl known as Child Q.
The pupil, who was 15 at the time, was forced to comply with a cavity search by Metropolitan Police officers in 2020 after teachers at a Hackney secondary school called the force onto the premises.
She was strip-searched by officers - who knew she was menstruating – after teachers suspected that the girl was in possession of cannabis, a safeguarding report said.
Child Q’s mother was not informed of the search, while teachers remained outside the room while it took place. This came weeks after the teenager was wrongly accused by staff of drug possession and threatened with expulsion.
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The teenager and family have now launched civil action against the force and her school, law firm Bhatt Murphy announced on Friday.
Protesters gathered on Friday chanted “no justice, no peace, abolish the police” and “racist cops, out of schools” at the police station.
Various speakers addressed the crowd, including Ngozi Fulani, founder of Sistah Space and a spokesperson from activist group Forever Family, Denise Henry, co-founder of NEU Black Educators Network, and Cha？telle Lunt, a former Black police officer and a founder of Merseyside BLM Alliance.
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A few students who said they attended the same school where the search took place also spoke, as well as children of some campaigners who turned up to show their support. One girl, no older than five years old, said: “We will all stand together to stop racism and we hope everyone is safe.”
“(If I imagined) my mother, my sister, my woman getting strip-searched - that’s just mad to me,” anti-knife campaigner Faron Alex Paul told the crowd.
“But you’re just gonna just take away a 15-year-old girl’s dignity like that and nothing’s going to happen? That’s a problem. And where are these police officers now - they’re at work, still getting paid.
“We can be angry, mad and upset but it’s going to take persistence and organisation to deal with these people. We live in England; it’s a proper racist country. One minute we’re rioting - George Floyd - and then the next it’s gone quiet. Then this.”
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Gesturing up at two police officers in the station who were observing the protest from the top floor, Mr Paul continued: “Keep your foot on the gas people; officers are looking at us now thinking ‘don’t worry, they’ll be gone by tomorrow’.”
Speaking to the crowd, one mother implored parents to advocate for their children at all times - especially with teachers. “We need to put ourselves in those schools and stop letting these teachers parent our children because they’re not their parents - we are,” she said. “Mothers need to go in and confront that teacher when our children complain.”
People in the crowd also held up signs reading “no to racist police, justice for Child Q” and “we say no to police in schools”, as well as Black Lives Matter banners. They also chanted “shame on you” at officers outside the station.
People outside Stoke Newington Police Station in London
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Speaking to The Independent after the protest, activist and singer Jermaine Jackman said: “There’s a lot of anger in the air. There’s a lot of anger at protests but this one was particularly rooted in a space of disgust and disbelief that we’re here again. Of exhaustion. We have a right to be angry. We have a right to be here.”
Mr Jackman, who is also chair of Black Men 4 Change, added: “This is two years ago and it’s now that the review came out - that’s not justice. That’s only shedding light - so when will the family receive justice and when will our community heal?
“Today was a time to express anger, learn, gather knowledge and stand in solidarity with one another saying ‘enough is enough’. But we need to follow this up with change and action.”
Adam Pugh, an anti-racism activist and a former Met Police officer who left the force in 2014 over concerns of racism, attended the protest and told The Independent: “For me, everything about this case is disturbing.
“At what point are we just going to say enough is enough? It’s just one thing after another; for the last two years it’s been violation after violation. From the pandemic and Sarah Everard to the Met Police officers taking selfies with the dead bodies of Black women Nicola Smallman and Bibaa Henry.
“You cannot reform the police - it should be abolished and money spent on policing redirected back into communities. The safest communities in London aren’t the ones that are the most heavily policed; they’re the ones that are most heavily resourced. We always hear talk about bad apples; how many more bad apples do we need to hear about? The whole apple cart is rotten so it doesn’t matter how many good apples are in it.”
The case has sparked outrage from politicians, campaigners and members of the wider public, with London mayor Sadiq Khan sharing his “dismay and disgust” and campaigner Patrick Vernon describing the incident as “state rape”.
Further protests are planned over the weekend in London, Glasgow and Cardiff ahead of the UN Anti-Racism Day on 21 March.