Met Police and Lambeth sued by Black activists for human rights breach

Get Nadine White's Race Report newsletter for a fresh perspective on the week's news Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent Get our free newsletter from The Independent's Race Correspondent SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Lambeth Council and the Metropolitan Police Service have expressed regret after being found guilty of breaching the human rights of 34 Black activists following a landmark legal battle. During a High Court hearing on Monday, the judge declared that both parties had “unlawfully infringed the claimants' rights act under the Human Rights Acts 1998, namely article 9 and article 10.” The Africa International Day of Action event was given permission to be held at Kennington Park in south London, but the authorities imposed the restrictions on topics of discussion citing concerns because of controversy surrounding Minister Farrakhan. The claimants argue that this was a “blanket” ban of their right to free speech and launched a civil claim in the High Court for breach of their Human Rights Act, under article 9 which denotes religious, social and political expression, and Article 10 which entails freedom of speech rights. “Lambeth Council and the Metropolitan Police in removing the claimants’ ability to speak their minds, sought to suppress their ability to think about matters of central importance to their very being.” Minister Louis Farrakhan has made offensive remarks about Jewish communities and has been banned from entering the UK since 2002 Mr Clovis said that Lambeth Council and the police have spent over £1m fighting this case since 2017, denying all wrongdoing, which “served to add to the insult my clients’ felt and was a gross abuse of public funds; being deployed not for the benefit of their local community, but to conceal wrongdoing and protect their reputations.” A Met Police spokesperson told The Independent: “The MPS has settled a civil claim with certain participants of an event held in Kennington Park in 2017.