Following two trial outcomes that resulted in a ‘hung jury’, the case against Newham police officer PC Alex MacFarlane, for racially abusing Mauro Demetrio, has been formally discharged today.PC MacFarlane admitted it was his voice on a recording telling Mr Demetrio in the back of a police van in August 2011 that “the problem with you is you’ll always be a nigger”. However, he claimed in his defence that he thought Mr Demetrio had “low self-esteem” and his words were intended to help calm him down and “examine his lifestyle”. He denied he was trying to demean or assert authority over Mr Demetrio. Read more
Month: October 2012
NMP / Newham Bookshop Event: Still Counting the Dead
On Friday 16th November, Newham Monitoring Project has joined with Newham Bookshop to organise a literary event at the Trinity Centre near East Ham station. Former BBC foreign correspondent Frances Harrison will join us to discuss her book Still Counting the Dead – Survivors of Sri Lanka’s Hidden War with the Sri Lankan born artist and writer.Roma Tearne.
Harrison covered the civil war in Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2004 and has written the first account of the end of the least reported major conflict of recent times, as the Sri Lankan government maintained a strict media blackout. She is one of the few foreign journalists to maintain contact with those trapped inside the war zone between the Tamil Tiger guerrillas and the government. Thousands of schoolchildren, doctors, farmers, fishermen, nuns and other civilians were caught in the crossfire and a United Nations Panel of Experts has reported credible estimates of up to 40,000 dead and has called for war-crimes investigations. Still Counting the Dead recounts the human stories and faces behind the war.
Friday 16 November 2012
at 7 pm at The Trinity Centre, East Avenue, Manor Park E12.
Nearest tube: East Ham
Tickets are only £3 and available from Newham Bookshop: telephone 020 8552 9993 to reserve
Celebrating the fantastic work of our Community Legal Observers during the Olympics
Last Saturday evening, Newham Monitoring Project celebrated the fantastic work undertaken by our Community Legal Observers (CLO) during this summer’s Olympics, with an event at The Arches near Star Lane in Canning Town. Read more