Demonstrators recently gathered outside Manchester Central Library in a protest against the conviction of ten young black men for conspiracy to murder and cause grievous bodily harm.
The charges were brought against the men after a machete attack was carried out in Rochdale by three men, when John Soyoye, 16, a friend of the group, had been killed in Moston six weeks prior.
Four of them, Harry Oni, 18; Jeffrey Ojo, 20; Gideon Kalumda, 20; and Brooklyn Jitobah, 18; were convicted of conspiracy to murder at Manchester Crown Court on 17th May 2022.
Six others were convicted of a separate offence of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm, Simon Thorne, 18; Martin Thomas Junior, 19; Ademola Adedeji, 18; Omolade Okoya, 19; Raymond Savi, 19; and Azim Okunula, 19.
All ten are due to be sentenced at the end of the month.
The protest was organised by community interest company Kids of Colour and grassroots campaigning group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGbA).
Organisers said that the men had been inaccurately labelled as a ‘gang’ in order to sentence them as a group, rather than individuals.
The demonstration, held on 28th May, began with speeches from representatives from Kids of Colour and JENGbA, as well as from family and friends of the convicted, then marched towards the courthouse to demonstrate outside.
During her speech, Roxy Legane, founder of Kids of Colour, said: “The ‘gang’ is a really, really dangerous term when you’re a young black boy in the UK.
“This is a miscarriage of justice.”
In this video, Mancunian Matters went along to the protest and caught some of the speeches.
