Vicky Grout
In January it was revealed that London rappers Skengdo x AM had been handed suspended prison sentences after pleading guilty to breaching an interim gang injunction. It was subsequently reported that this injunction was handed to them by The Metropolitan Police and stated that the duo could not perform their song "Attempted 1.0." The duo went on to play the song at a December 2018 concert, leading to their arrest.
Today, February 4, 65 people from human rights organisations alongside academics, lawyers, and musicians, have signed an open letter calling on The Met to stop using the injunctions in their attempts to police gang violence in London.
The letter calls the injunctions "demonstrably ineffective at tackling youth violence" adding that they "present a threat to all our civil liberties." It also calls out the "structurally racist" policing of music and "silencing one of the few avenues, through threat of criminalisation, by which young people can discuss the reality of their lives with any hope of being heard."
Read the full letter here, via The Guardian.