Sisters Uncut

Taking direct action for domestic violence services.

Sisters Uncut raise the alarm on police violence against women

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

  • Feminist protest group Sisters Uncut delivered a formal complaint to the Royal Courts of Justice about ‘routine and systemic violence against women’ in the police force.
  • As hundreds of people gathered, Sisters Uncut activists entered the Royal Courts of Justice to deliver a scathing complaint against police violence and brutality.
  • As the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill is set to pass, Sisters Uncut encourage people across the country to “withdraw consent” from UK policing, and join CopWatch intervention groups.

On Tuesday 2 November at 15:30, feminist protest group Sisters Uncut delivered a letter of complaint against the rampant violence against women within the UK police force.

Crowds gathered outside as activists from Sisters Uncut took the letter into the Royal Courts of Justice and read its contents for all to hear. As the sound of hundreds of rape alarms filled the Court, and whistles and chants filtered in from outside, their message was clear “Met Police are the perpetrators of violence against women and they do not keep us safe”. 

In typical Sisters Uncut style, smoke flares billowed whilst banners emblazoned with ‘Met Police Blood on Your Hands!’ caught the eye of all who passed by. 

Security guards manhandled activists out of the Royals Courts of Justice, hitting two black sisters in the face as the crowd chanted ‘Hey Mister! Get Your Hands Off My Sister!” Thankfully no one was seriously harmed or arrested, but the irony of this kind of treatment at a protest violence against women wasn’t lost on anyone who witnessed it.

The full letter, available on the group’s website here, reads:

“Today we withdraw our consent to police power. This is our super complaint on behalf of all women and all victims of police violence and corrupt criminal justice institutions.”

“The police claim Wayne Couzens was one bad apple, a lone monster, but we know 15 officers have killed women since 2009. We know colleagues referred to Couzens as ‘the rapist’. They did nothing. We know he exposed himself not once, but multiple times. They did nothing. We know he sent vile misogynistic racist and homophobic messages to colleagues on WhatsApp. They did nothing. We know that even after Couzens pled guilty, colleagues attended court to provide positive character references for him.”

“We know the police treated the family of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman with utter contempt: officers took photos of their dead bodies and turned the horrific violence they’d experienced into a joke. Women in Black, immigrant, disabled and working class communities bear the brunt of complicity in this corruption.”

The Met police officers who took selfies with the dead bodies of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman have still yet to face justice. The sisters were murdered in June 2020, and officers were charged with misconduct last week and made a guilty plea in a court hearing earlier today.

In the same week, two Metropolitan police officers made headline news for allegedly raping women. One officer, James Geoghehan, stood trial for rape last week. PC Adam Zaman has been remanded in custody for allegedly raping a woman on Sunday 24 October.

As police are set to be handed even more powers through the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts bill, Sisters Uncut call on everyone to sign up to their Police Intervention Training here.

At least 15 women have been killed by police officers since 2009. As reported in the Guardian, according to the Centre for Women’s Justice, one woman a week comes forward to report a serving police officer for domestic or sexual violence. 

The Guardian also reported that, according to the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, 700+ reports of domestic abuse were made against police officers between April 2015 and April 2018

Between 2012-18, there were 1,500 accusations of sexual misconduct (including sexual harassment, exploitation of crime victims and child abuse) resulting in only 197 officers being sacked.

Speeches were delivered at the protest by members of Sisters Uncut, Feminist Fightback, Women of Colour Global Women’s Strike and Women Against Rape. Also joining the speakers was Patsy Stevenson, the woman who was thrust into the headlines when she was brutally pinned to the ground by Police during the vigil for Sarah Everard in March 2020.

Speakers spoke in solidarity with Bristol activist Ryan Reynolds (22) who was handed a severe custodial sentence last week for their part in demonstrations against police brutality and increased powers in March this year. Speakers made the clear connection between police violence against women, impunity in the courts, suppression of the right to protest and the systemic racism, misogyny and oppression evident in the Police force.

An anonymous member of Sisters Uncut said:

“We are raising the alarm on police corruption and violence in the UK – and spotlighting who the true dangers to our society are: the police. Police officers took selfies with the dead bodies of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman back in June 2020, and have only just been charged with misconduct. Meanwhile, several people who attended the Bristol Kill the Bill protest in March 2021 have already been sent to prison for a number of years. Time and time again, the police have shown that their priority is to protect themselves and their own power, whilst repeatedly enacting violence against women. And the courts are complicit: they are too busy prosecuting protestors to hold the real perpetrators of violence in our society to account: the police.”

Angela Lloyd, a secondary school teacher who has recently joined a CopWatch group in West London said: 

“I joined my local CopWatch group because after all the news this year, I can no longer trust the police. The relentless reports of the police’s violence against women has left me totally disgusted and disillusioned. It has felt like every single day since Sarah Everard was murdered, more stories of horrific police violence have come out, and nothing is being done to hold them to account, so it feels like it’s up to us to hold them to account now.”

Download images here – please credit @protests_photos

Notes for Editors:

  • Sisters Uncut are a direct action group protesting cuts to domestic violence services. The group was formed by domestic violence survivors and support workers in 2014.
  • Sisters Uncut are part of the ‘Kill the Bill’ movement – a coalition of over 40 activist groups who have joined forces and taken to the streets repeatedly since March to reject the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – demand no more police powers. 

Sisters Uncut are renowned for their bold protest tactics, including jumping on the red carpet at the ‘Suffragette’ premiere, dying the Trafalgar Square fountains red and blocking bridges across the UK.

SISTERS UNCUT PROTEST WAYNE COUZENS SENTENCING, SAY “POLICE DON’T KEEP WOMEN SAFE”

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

  • This morning Sisters Uncut, the direct action feminist group who led the vigil for Sarah Everard at Clapham Common in March, gathered at the Old Bailey for the sentencing of Wayne Couzens. 
  • Court: Wayne Couzens arrested Everard under COVID regulations in front of witnesses who did not intervene. 
  • At least 15 women have been killed by police officers since 2009 (1) and one woman a week comes forward to report a serving police officer for domestic or sexual violence (2). 
  • Sisters Uncut: “Wayne Couzens used his power as a police officer to kidnap and rape Sarah Everard. We know that this is not a rare occurrence – one woman a week reports a serving police officer for domestic or sexual violence. The police don’t keep women safe, and they cannot be given more powers. We must resist the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.”
  • Sisters Uncut announce police intervention training and CopWatch patrols: we will intervene to stop police violence in our communities.
  • Sisters Uncut available for tv, radio and print interviews.

Contact: ​​07557477232 / [email protected]

This morning Sisters Uncut, the direct action feminist group who led the vigil for Sarah Everard at Clapham Common in March, gathered outside the Old Bailey for the sentencing of Wayne Couzens. From inside the court, Sisters learnt that Wayne Couzens arrested Everard under COVID regulations, in front of witnesses who did not intervene. 

Outside the Old Bailey, a representative from Sisters Uncut cited statistics from groups such as the Centre for Women’s Justice (CWJ) to argue that the police do not keep women safe, and that the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which increases police powers, must be stopped. 

Today, Sisters Uncut announces a series of training sessions on police intervention, and the launch of a nationwide network of CopWatch patrols. Women, and all those from marginalised communities must stand together to protect ourselves from police violence and all forms of gendered violence.  

Statistics about police and violence against women

As reported in The Times, according to The Femicide Census, at least 15 women have been killed by police officers since 2009

As reported in the Guardian, according to the Centre for Women’s Justice, one woman a week comes forward to report a serving police officer for domestic or sexual violence

The Guardian also reported that, according to the Bureau for investigative Journalism, 700+ reports of domestic abuse were made against police officers between April 2015 and April 2018

Between 2012-18, there were 1,500 accusations of sexual misconduct (including sexual harassment, exploitation of crime victims and child abuse) resulting in only 197 officers being sacked.

Between 2015-17, 415 referrals were made for officers that had abused their position to sexually assault someone, with domestic and sexual violence victims, sex workers and drug users being most at risk of being abused by an on-duty police officer.

Sisters Uncut demand an end to police violence and a halting of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which, they state, will embolden police officers to perpetuate even more violence. 

Sisters Uncut call on everyone to sign up to Police Intervention Training here.

Sisters Uncut, as part of the ‘Kill the Bill’ movement – a coalition of over 40 activist groups who have joined forces and taken to the streets repeatedly since March to reject the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill – demand no more police powers. No new misogyny legislation, no PCSC Bill. Kill the Bill.

Quotes:

A member of Sisters Uncut said “Today we learned that Wayne Couzens ‘arrested’ Sarah. He used his power as a police officer to kidnap and rape her.  We will never know what might have happened if somebody had stopped to film or intervene with Couzens when he ‘arrested’ Sarah. We do know that the police cannot be given more powers. Couzens was not one bad apple – it’s the whole institution that is rotten. We must resist the Policing Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, and we must work together to resist the police on our streets.”

Another member of Sisters Uncut said: “The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will enable the police to decide where, when and how citizens are allowed to travel, congregate, protest, and work. Sentences of up to 10 years are laid down for anything from a protest to a house party or even just a lone individual causing ‘serious annoyance’. We have seen how increased police powers – COVID regulations, in Sarah’s case – means increased violence. This Bill will create more unaccountable police powers and will enable more unaccountable police violence. It attacks all marginalised communities, and it is all of us that must resist”

Images from gathering at the Old Bailey for the sentencing of Wayne Couzens