Stormzy addressed the crowd at a London march protesting the killing of Chris Kaba today (September 10), urging them to “keep going”.
Kaba, 24, was shot dead by a Metropolitan Police officer on Monday (September 5) after the car he was in was flagged by an automatic number plate as potentially being linked to a firearms offence.
A police chase followed, and armed police surrounded the vehicle in a narrow street. Kaba was killed by a single gunshot wound, although a search later revealed he was not armed. He later died in hospital.
Police are treating Kaba’s death as a homicide and the officer who fired the shot that killed him is no longer on operational duties.
Protestors marched through central London earlier today, demanding justice for Kaba and his family. Stormzy was among the crowd and gave a short speech outside Scotland Yard.
“I was very hesitant to come up here because I know, a lot of the time, even with my name and how the British media stays, they try and turn it into this other thing and use my name to try and make it about me, but it’s nothing about me,” he said.
“It’s about us, it’s about the family, it’s about everyone grieving. Chris has a mother, he has a family, he has brothers, he has friends, people who knew him their whole life, for them, this is unbearable.”
He added that the “only reason” he was taking the microphone was because he understood and felt he should use the voice and platform his music career has given him.
Stormzy continued: “Someone said before I got up here something that I want to reiterate, everyone here today, I just encourage everyone to have stamina. I know it’s a very difficult thing to say because no one should have the stamina to go on a journey like this to get justice or to get answers, but when these people do these things, they get away with it.”
He urged protestors to keep putting pressure on the authorities, saying: “What happens is, we do this once, and we get tired. We tweet, and we get tired. We do it for a week, we do it for two weeks, we do it for a month, and they know we get tired.
The family of Chris Kaba has called for the immediate suspension of the Metropolitan police officer involved in his fatal shooting.
Members of Kaba’s family were joined by supporters carrying placards proclaiming “justice for Chris Kaba”, “abolish the Met” and “no justice, no peace”.
Protesters gathered in Parliament Square from midday before marching along Whitehall and then on to Scotland Yard.
Kaba was driving an Audi, which was reportedly rammed and boxed in by police on Monday night. He was said to have been killed by a single shot fired through the driver’s side of the windscreen of the car.
His family has called for the officer who fired the shot to face suspension. In a statement released before the demonstration, Kaba’s family asked the police watchdog to conclude its investigation within “weeks or months, not years”.
