Chris Kaba: Protests at Scotland Yard over shooting of unarmed black man

A protest was held outside the Met Police headquarters over the shooting of unarmed south Londoner Chris Kaba by a firearms officer.

Hundreds attended the central London rally on Saturday (September 19), with similar events in Brighton, Oxford, Southampton, Coventry, Leamington Spa, Manchester, and Cardiff.

It marked a National Day of Action organised by the Justice for Chris Kaba campaign.

Mr Kaba was a fiance and soon-to-be a father, and the firearms officer who shot him after his car was stopped by police following a chase has since been suspended from duty.

An investigation into the incident has since been launched by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), with the organisation confirming that race will be considered as a factor.

The IOPC has said they expect the inquiries to take six to nine months to complete, a timeframe that has been rejected by the family’s lawyers for lacking urgency.

Mr Kaba was involved in a police pursuit on September 5 after the car he was driving was flagged as being previously involved in an offence.

The 24-year-old Streatham Hill resident was reportedly then hemmed in by two police vehicles, and shot through the windscreen by a single bullet.

Mr Kaba died of his injuries two hours later in hospital.

The protest over the shooting in central London was attended by former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Streatham MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy.

Mr Kaba’s cousin, Jefferson Bosela, said at the event: "We won’t be waiting years for this.

“We want justice as soon as we can."

He added: "I don’t want you to think they [people attending the events] are just coming out for Chris. They are coming out against the system.

"This is a wider issue here that so many people, so many families are grieving as a result of their children, their daughters, their sons being harmed or dying in police custody or coming into contact with police."

Met assistant commissioner Amanda Pearson said: “We continue to fully support the IOPC investigation as they work to establish the facts and try to answer the many questions Mr Kaba’s family and others have around his tragic death.”

She added: “We’ve been spending this week speaking with local communities across London, including our Independent Advisory Groups – we know how important it is we listen to their views and concerns and explain as far as we can what is happening.

“We welcome more of these important conversations.

“We are also talking to our firearms officers who continue to fulfill their duties across London, seizing suspected weapons, undertaking firearms warrants and responding to spontaneous incidents.”