In what can be called as the trigger, the death of 24-year-old Mohammed Hassan at his residence on January 9, a day later his release by the police in UK, has again brought the protesters to the street.
The 24-year-old was arrested by South Wales Police on January 8 from his residence in Newport Road on suspicion of breach of the peace but released without charge in the early hours 8am the next day.
The police picked him up after the disturbance on Newport road. Soon after the release, Hassan told his family that he was tasered twice.
“He was brutally kicked in the head and suffered injuries to his face and knee, which was dislocated and he struggled to walk,” said his family, who also alleged that he was assaulted in custody.
To the protestors demand, on January 11, the South Wales Police said they were investigating the 24-year-old’s “sudden and unexplained” death after he was taken into Cardiff Bay Police Station. They said the footage cannot be released as it was with IOPC (Independent office for police conduct), who are conducting investigation into the events following the police contact with Hassan.
Catrin Evans, IOPC’s director for Wales, said its investigation would focus on Mr. Hassan’s arrest, the journey in the police van to custody and his time at Cardiff Bay police station, including whether relevant assessments were made before he was released. An interim report from an autopsy examination is awaited.
“He was released on Saturday morning with lots of wounds and bruises on his body. He didn’t have these wounds when he was arrested and he got them when he came out of Cardiff Bay police station,” his aunt Zainab Hassan told BBC Wales.
Hundreds of protestors took to the streets calling for “Justice” with Black Lives Matter (BLM) signs raising the slogan that a man died after being released by police in Cardiff.
And, till now 8000 people have also signed online petitions demanding justice.