A protest against police racial profiling and ‘institutional racism’ has been organised in Aberystwyth for later this month.
The town’s branch of campaign group Stand up to Racism is aiming to gather at 1pm Saturday, 13 May, at the Aberystwyth Castle grounds.
It is being billed as ‘the biggest anti-racism rally the town has ever seen’ and was sparked after allegations of Dyfed-Powys Police racial profiling were published in the Cambrian News.
It is also a reaction to the alleged ‘institutional racism’ of the force and the miscarriages of justice which have taken place on its watch.
In February, the community rallied around businessman and military veteran Phil Powell who described the trauma of allegedly being ‘assaulted’ and ‘constantly’ pulled over by police in Ceredigion.
A racism row was sparked after Mr Powell, the owner of Mama Fay’s Caribbean restaurant in Aberystwyth, alleged he’d been stopped more than 40 times in 10 years.
Weeks later, a doctor of south Asian origin contacted the Cambrian News claiming he had been repeatedly pulled over by police in the last 12 months.
The aims of the protest have been outlined in a poster circulating on social media.
It says: “We call on Dyfed-Powys Police to stop racially profiling, stopping and searching and harassing local Aberystwyth business owner Phil Powell and other Black and Asian people.
“Quash the conviction of Siyanda Mngaza; a miscarriage of justice initiated by a flawed investigation and prosecution by Dyfed-Powys Police.
“Siyanda is a victim of a vicious racist attack who was jailed for four-and-a-half years for a crime she did not commit.
“We call on Dyfed-Powys Police to acknowledge and apologise for its failings to Siyanda and other people who have suffered from their institutional racism.
“No to the racist Illegal Immigration Bill which attacks and scapegoats the most vulnerable people seeking sanctuary from war, persecution, climate chaos and life-threatening poverty.
“Refugees are Welcome Here!”
Dyfed-Powys Police has been embroiled in several race scandals over the last few years, including the case of disabled 22-year-old woman Siyanda Mngaza who was jailed for four years in 2020 for grievous bodily harm after retaliating to alleged racial abuse from two much older white men and one woman.
The case is being branded by UK race groups as a serious miscarriage of justice.
At the beginning of January, a Welshpool owner of a bakery alleged she has been persistently targeted and harassed by police officers – which has caused her to have panic attacks.
The force denies any wrongdoing on both occasions.
There has been fierce debate about the use of the term ‘institutionally racist’ to describe the Metropolitan Police force in London after Baroness Casey’s report described it as such in March.
Although the definition is disputed, it tends to be defined as unequal treatment or discrimination based on someone’s race ‘arising from systems, structures, or expectations that have become established within an institution or organization’.
The organisers are clear that Dyfed-Powys Police fits into this category.