Updated at 1.20pm
A 17-YEAR-OLD HAS been arrested after angry protesters blocked a road in London and threw objects at police as part of a violent demonstration last night over the death of a 20-year-old man, who died after being chased into a shop by officers last week.
Rashan Charles was chased into a corner shop in Dalston, east London, last Saturday where he was pinned down to the floor by police officers. He was taken to Royal London Hospital, where he died a short time later, the Guardian reports.
Demonstrators blocked off a portion of the Kingsland Road, pushing mattresses, wheelie bins, traffic cones and rubbish onto the streets meaning no cars were able to pass.
When the riot police arrived, officers had bottles and other missiles hurled at them. The Met Police said one police officer sustained an injury to his eye, but remains fit for duty.
A member of the public was knocked from his bicycle and assaulted as he attempted to pass through the protest and a number of parked vehicles were damaged, police said.
The makeshift roadblocks were set alight, as officers on horseback and in riot gear stepped in to try to clear the road.
In a statement, the Met Police said: “At approximately 3.40pm, a number of items were placed on the highway of the A10 Kingsland Road, close to Middleton Road.
A number of items including bottles have been thrown towards officers who continue to monitor the situation.
Police in Hackney tweeted an appeal for calm, and said that its officers were the subject of “abuse and violence”.
Detective Superintendent Claire Crawley said that “nobody [had been] seriously injured, but there was inconvenience to local residents and road users and damage caused to vehicles, a cash machine and a number of windows.
We will always support the right to lawful protest but behaviour such as that seen last night cannot be tolerated.
A 17-year-old youth was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm. He was taken to an east London police station where he remains in custody.
The death of Charles is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It has collected body cameras worn by police officers, and CCTV from the scene.
The Met Police said that Charles had been seen “trying to swallow an object”, and that officers had “sought to prevent the man from harming himself”.
- With reporting from Gráinne Ní Aodha
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say