RISING TIDE: November 2024

Laughing Police Men (... circa 1990)

The Brixton riot of 1985...

The community of Lambeth, after the 1981 Brixton riot, did not trust the Metropolitan Police, with many people but mainly those from African-Caribbean population upset about the institutional racism of the police department.

Twenty-one-year-old Michael Groce was one of six children born to Dorothy "Cherry" Groce, who had migrated to the area from Jamaica when she was in her early teens. From aged six much of his life was spent in residential care, brought up in Tinworth House, on a rough housing estate in Vauxhall. Michael was involved with street gangs, and had been exposed to guns during his childhood. He spent time in and out of prison throughout his life, and by 1985 had accrued 50 convictions and 15 different spells in prison.

After being released from prison two months before, whilst out on licence Michael became mixed up with a turf-war between local street gangs. Subsequently, given a gun for protection by a friend, a few days before the riots Michael was in an argument with his girlfriend at his mother's house, and in a fit of anger fired the gun into a wardrobe. Shortly afterwards, he heard a knock on the door and went down to answer it, finding a police officer enquiring if he was Michael Groce. He attempted to close the door, but after the police officer would not let him, Michael put the gun into the officer's mouth. After the officer left, Michael cleaned the gun and placed it in the house, then fled to his sister's home.

Raid on Cherry Groce's house.

On the morning of Saturday 28 September 1985, a group of police officers raided Cherry Groce's house on Normandy Road, Brixton, including an armed CID officer, searching for suspected armed robber Michael Groce. Mrs Groce was in bed, whilst three of her six children were in residence when the police entered the house with force. During the raid, Mrs Groce was shot and seriously injured; after an extensive search, the police did not find Michael Groce. An ambulance was called, and by the time it had arrived a small crowd had gathered outside the house. Mrs Groce was taken to St Thomas' Hospital in central London.

As word of the shooting spread throughout the community, rumours persisted that Mrs. Groce had in fact been killed in the raid. The group that had gathered outside her house grew to over 60, and then moved to the local district police station, where they began chanting "murderers" and anti-police slogans, demanding disciplinary action against the officers involved.

Hostility between the largely black crowd and the largely white police force quickly escalated into a series of mild street battles. These then developed into elongated skirmishes in the areas of Brixton Road and Acre Lane, where the first two of a total of 55 cars over the following 48 hours were burnt out. In response the police deployed the first 50 officers in riot gear in the afternoon, who approached rioters whilst banging their truncheons on their riot shields. Through force, the police cordoned off the area around the police station on Brixton Road, and then cleared the surrounding shopping district.