By IRNA,
London : Britain’s trade unions are joining calls to demand that the government account for hundreds of deaths in police custody.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) expressed support at the remembrance procession to the prime minister’s office Saturday which has been held annually by the United Friends and Families Campaign (UFFC) for the past 10 years.
“The TUC believes that the state has a duty of care towards the people it takes into custody, and a responsibility to be open and accountable when deaths occur,” said TUC general secretary Brendan Barber.
“We believe that an independent public inquiry on deaths in custody should be held to ensure that lessons are learnt from previous deaths and to prevent future deaths,” Barber said in a letter to Home Secretary Jacqui Smith.
The TUC said that since 1969 there had been 2,533 deaths for which the names of the individuals are known but that hundreds of others are unknown.
The latest figures show there were 182 deaths where the identity of the individual is known in the last 12 months.
The UFFC was set up by families who have relatives who have died in police custody, in prison or in psychiatric care and have not received justice.
It is campaigning for reforms in the way deaths in custody are investigated.
Families attending the procession include those of Jean Charles De Menezes, the Brazilian engineer who was mistakenly killed by anti- terrorism police in 2005 but no officer has been held responsible.
The UFFC oppose the ‘shoot to kill’ policy by London’s Metropolitan Police, which the De Menezes killing revealed was being carried out against terrorist suspects.