Relatives of young black Britons who died at the hands of police stage rally in support of Brown’s family

Relatives of young black Britons who died as a result of controversial police actions have staged a rally outside the US embassy in London to protest against the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

Wielding placards condemning the failure of a grand jury in St Louis County to indict police officer Darren Wilson for killing Brown in August, several hundred people joined in the protest outside the embassy and held their hands aloft while chanting the slogan of campaigners in the US: “Hands up, don’t shoot”.

Among them was Carole Duggan, aunt of Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police was a trigger for the 2011 riots across England.

“We want to send out condolences to Mike Brown’s family. We feel the pain and know the pain of losing somebody at the hands of the police,” she told the crowd. “We know what it feels like to know that a member of your family has been murdered in cold blood. That is why we stand in solidarity with the community in Ferguson, who are very, very brave people.”

Other speakers included Marcia Rigg, sister of Sean Rigg, a musician who died in 2008 after being arrested and restrained by police in south London.

“People across the world understand the frustration and anger that people in Ferguson are feeling when their loved ones are murdered,” she said. “What are they supposed to do? We try to go peacefully, just ask for the truth, but all we keep getting is lies.”

Protest at the US embassy in London

The demonstration was supported by Labour MP Diane Abbott, who said in a statement that the family of Michael Brown had not just lost a loved one but, following the grand jury’s decision, “they no doubt feel the strongest sense of injustice, which can only make their pain worse”.

“Just as in Britain, the black community in the US has a fraught history with the police. It is one of the reasons I have always been against the arming of police,” Abbott said.

“And just this weekend a 12-year-old boy has been shot dead by police in the US as he played with a fake gun in a park. And time and time again, no one is held accountable. When yet another unarmed young black man is killed and it is ‘lawful’, it can be no surprise that black people are questioning how much value these same laws place on their lives,” she added.