Campaigners from Police Spies out of Lives speak to the media after the publication of first part of the report from the Undercover Policing Inquiry, at Blackfriars Settlement, south east London, June 29, 2023
MORE than 100 victims have threatened to walk away from the long-running “unfair” spycops inquiry.
A total of 92 individuals and 20 activist groups have signed an open letter alleging mistreatment by the probe which began in July 2015.
They have threatened to withhold giving evidence to the next stage of the inquiry covering abuses by the Metropolitan Police’s political undercover units between 1993 and 2014.
The non-state “core participants” called for “full disclosure and reasonable timetables” and that “witnesses must not be excluded as a result of insufficient time to prepare — we seek assurances our evidence will be heard.”
A general view of the remains of Grenfell Tower in London, June 14, 2022
VICTIMS of the government’s systemic failures have demanded that the next prime minister take recommendations from public inquiries seriously.
Communities affected by the infected blood scandal, Covid and the Grenfell fire are calling for a new mechanism to ensure that their struggles are not in vain.
They have joined forces on the seventh anniversary of the Grenfell Tower blaze, in which 72 residents were killed after a fire ripped through the 24-storey block in north Kensington.
Campaigners united for the annual memorial walk from Notting Hill Methodist Church this evening.
Lobby Akinnola from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice (CBFFJ) said he was “honoured to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with Grenfell survivors, and all victims of state failures who continue to fight for justice and reform.”
He backed calls for a national oversight mechanism to “help make sure that recommendations turn into action and action turns into change.”
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Edward Daffarn, from Grenfell United, who lived on the 16th floor of the tower block said: “It’s really important that communities impacted by these disasters stand together. We can’t all fight individually.”
He said the message to government is simple: “They need to ensure that recommendations that come out of public inquiries are implemented.”
Victims and campaigners outside Central Hall in Westminster, London, after the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry report, May 20, 2024
VICTIMS of the blood scandal were betrayed by a “subtle, pervasive and chilling” cover-up made worse by a lack of transparency by PM Rishi Sunak’s government, a long-awaited final report found today.
Patients caught HIV and hepatitis as the authorities responsible for their care “not once but repeatedly” knowingly exposed them to unacceptable risks from contaminated blood products and transfusions.
More than 30,000 people were infected from 1970 to 1991 as a result, with 3,000 so far having since died.
The infected blood inquiry report found there has been “deliberate destruction” of relevant documents and “elements of downright deception” from those in positions of trust and power following its five-year investigation.
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Sir Brian added that Mr Sunak’s insistence on waiting for the conclusion of the inquiry before making a final decision on redress has “perpetuated the injustice for victims,” criticising the “litany of failures” by successive governments from the early 1970s, with no action taken even as it became known that the collection of blood from prisons led to an increased risk of hepatitis transmission.
Mr Sunak’s decision to delay means “those infected and affected have felt a lack of transparency and openness characteristic of what they have had to face, and have been fighting, for nearly half a century,” the report said.
