Police in Manchester may have broken the law by ‘banning’ people from attending the city’s annual Caribbean Carnival, Novara Media can reveal.
Last week it was revealed that GMP’s gangs task force, XCaliber, contacted people identified as “either members of a street gang, associated with a street gang” or “perceived by others to be associated with a street gang”. forward Manchester Carnival.
The letters, signed by GMP, the city council and the Central Independent Advisory Group, advised recipients that “at the discretion of the organizers and the community”, they would be refused entry to the event at Alexandra Park on August 13 and 14.
Now human rights lawyers say the practice – which GMP has has been accepted ongoing since 2006 – likely fell foul of the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the police code of ethics itself. A Manchester City Council source told Novara Media that GMP’s legal team is investigating the legality of the messages.
Vague and ‘illegal’ bans.
Lawyers at human rights organizations Liberty and JUSTICE told Novara Media that the policy most likely violates discrimination law. Lawyers suspect GMP has identified gang members in a “racist” and “unfounded” way. They also warn that the Black-led event is being disproportionately scrutinized compared to similar white-led events.
The letters came to light after Roxy Legane, a member of the Northern Police Monitoring Project, was contacted by the parent of a 16-year-old black recipient. The parent claimed the officer who sent the message told them about “50” other people would be getting one.
Activists believe the other recipients will be mostly young black people. GMP denied this in an initial statement sent to Novara Media, credited to Chief Inspector Rob Cousen.
“Caribbean Carnival is a licensed event and is therefore subject to conditions of entry, agreed by all relevant parties, to prevent and reduce crime, harm and anti-social behaviour,” Cousen said.
“Since 2006, letters outlining these conditions have been sent to individuals who we have information to suggest may threaten the security of the event. Recipients range in age, gender and ethnicity and are considered on a case-by-case basis.”
However, prohibitions, and theirs provision iThe terms of Manchester Carnival’s license are now under scrutiny by human rights lawyers.
Manchester City Council issues the license to enable the carnival to take place each year. As part of their duties under the Licensing Act, the council has a duty to promote the prevention of crime and disorder and public safety. This gives it the right to put conditions on the licence, such as banning certain people from participating.
However, both GMP and Manchester City Council must comply with the Equality Act when exercising these functions.
“We at Liberty think so [GMP and Manchester City Council] have not complied with the Equality Act,” says Adamou. “Firstly, they target a black-led event in a way that we don’t think they do with predominantly white events, for example the Parklife festival in Manchester, which is attended by 80,000 over two days.
“Secondly, the reason they have told these individuals they are not allowed to go to the carnival is potentially based on unreliable and unsubstantiated evidence, I suspect from the GMP gang database, based on hearsay, who you are friends with, where are you. live etcsigns that in themselves do not indicate criminality or danger. They will be fed a lot of racist stereotypes.”
Both GMP and Manchester City Council may also have breached the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act, says Adamou, which requires all public authorities to have “due regard” to the need to eliminate racism and discrimination and promotion of equal opportunities.
Attorney Tyrone Steele, of JUSTICE, also believes the policy could violate further anti-discrimination laws, particularly with carnival bans set for individuals who are “perceived by others as affiliated with a street gang.”
‘Street gang’ is an undefined, racist term,” he says. “You have a scenario where kids are given this letter, saying ‘you can’t come to the event because […] you are perceived as being associated with a gang’.
“What license does it give the organizers to determine who meets those criteria? It is clear that it is young black men who will be caught by this.
“Section six of the Human Rights Act makes it unlawful for any public authority to act in a manner inconsistent with the EHRC [European Convention on Human Rights]. There are a number of human rights acts or rights related to the ECHR that would apply in this scenario.”
The letters likely do not comply with Articles eight, 11 or 14 of the ECHR, which outline the right to a private life, freedom of assembly and prohibit discrimination, Steele says.
Except this, code of police ethics it prohibits officers from unlawful discrimination and requires them to comply with human rights and equality law.
“It is clear that the proposed policy will not comply with any of these requirements and is potentially in violation of the law,” Steele adds. “They have issued letters since 2006, which is 16 years of illegal action, theoretically.”
JUSTICE have contacted both GMP and Manchester City Council to clarify the legal basis on which they issued the letters, but have yet to receive a response.
Similar concerns are also being raised about potential discrimination arising from the implementation of entry policies. The conditions of license approved by the city council in 2022 for Manchester Carnival, seen by Novara Media, set out details of how entry policies are enforced, through private security contractors, who are responsible for refusing entry “on advice and the help of GMP”.
The license conditions also state that people identified to the carnival’s event management team by GMP as being “of bad character, through association with other people or with court convictions” will not be allowed to stay at the event.
“It’s a very, very broad discretion,” says Adamou. “What will it be based on, other than the behavior of individuals on a daily basis, or racial stereotypes? We know how gang databases work. We know how the police view young black men and young men and boys of color in particular.
“It’s going to catch so many people in terms of who you think might be in the gang. I would argue that this is also a breach of the Equality Act.”
A ‘moral panic’.
Legane says that while local rights groups are aware that Manchester Carnival is a “heavily policed event”, the appearance of the ban letters illustrates a greater policing of the event – and the growing prevalence of a “moral panic ” of gangs in the city, focused. on black communities.
“It’s a really important part of building public fear,” she says of the letters. “It’s putting forward [GMP] is there any evidence that there is a major gang problem in our communities. The public becomes on edge, which later legitimizes policing [GMP] continues to do something that – as we see in court – is really weak”.
Legane quotes 2016 research which found Black and ethnic minority people convicted on charges of joint enterprise (where groups of people can be convicted of a crime if they are thought to have foreseen it, regardless of involvement or culpability) were “unfairly identified” by GMP as gang members in a a much higher percentage than white individuals, despite the fact that 77% of those convicted of serious youth violence charges are white.
“You see the proportion of [ethnic minority] people in the gang database against those responsible for serious youth violence and it doesn’t match up,” she says. “But letters like this contribute to the idea that black communities are where gangs and potential violence sit.”
Carnival organizers and the central independent advisory group – drawn from the local community – are also “collaborators” with “racist policing”, says Legane.
“[Carnival] it has such a rich cultural history,” she continues. “It is becoming a spectacle of the council that opens the doors for the police and other agencies to be part of the organization. This leads to harm.
“I want to know who is part of those groups. There is a claim that this is for the community and that the community wants access [put forward by the letters]. Who is he? There are many of us who really oppose it.
“We do not deny the fact that violence exists and is a problem within our communities. We just question the scale [of violence claimed]and approaches to this problem”.
As well as confirming that GMP is now looking into the legality of the letters, Manchester City Council released the following statement:
“The council is committed to working with its partners to ensure the Caribbean Carnival is a safe and happy celebration of the important role the Caribbean community has played in Manchester’s history. As a result, Greater Manchester Police and partner agencies have taken targeted steps to ensure that this ambition can be realised.
This course of action is not new and has been happening since 2006 to ensure a safe carnival for everyone. This year’s carnival, celebrating its 50th anniversary, should be a time to celebrate and the council is confident that this year’s outing will live up to such an important legacy.”
Novara Media has contacted GMP for further comment.
Moya Lothian-McLean is a contributing editor at Novara Media.
