In the early hours of last Saturday morning, 20-year-old Rashan Charles died after being chased by police into a shop on Kingsland Road, east London. The IPCC opened an investigation shortly after Charles' death, but it's done little to quell anger among the local community.Protesters gathered near the scene of Charles' arrest on Monday evening, and on Friday night around 200 people returned to demonstrate, setting up a road block with bins, mattresses, a lawnmower, bags of rubbish and house plants. VICE's Henry Langston, who was at the scene, said: "Unlike Monday, police were seemingly more confident in trying to clear the streets, but as soon as they tried to clear some of the barricades they were met with bottles and eggs. Police withdrew and riot police units replaced them.
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"After relatively amicable conversations between the police and protesters, the riot police also withdrew, leaving the barricades where they were. At about 8:40PM, a Green Flag lorry drove straight through the barricades – unlike every other vehicle, which had turned around as it approached the road block – pushing one of the wheelie bins, which a protester was sat on, down the street. One guy climbed on top of the truck, while others tried to stop the vehicle. The truck eventually stopped and the protester remained on top of the vehicle, while the driver was taken away by police.
"At around half nine, some of the barricades were set on fire, which is when the riot police moved in and pushed the protesters all the way up Kingsland Road, near to Stoke Newington. At this point the dog and horse units were deployed. By about 11:15 most of the protesters had been dispersed and the police units withdrew."It's all very reminiscent of scenes following the killing of Mark Duggan. The rage is still raw – people are genuinely angry, which is down to a lack of answers, mixed with a familiar scene: police involved in the death of a young black man."See photos of the protest below:
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