The 23rd anniversary of the Brixton bomb of 17 April 1999 was commemorated yesterday where it exploded on Electric Avenue outside Iceland.
The nail bomb was placed by right-wing extremist David Copeland, who subsequently planted two more. The third, in the Admiral Duncan pub in Soho, killed three people and injured 140. The other was planted in Brick Lane, home to a large Bangladeshi community.
The Brixton bomb injured 48 people, some seriously.
Copeland targeted people of colour and gay people. He received six life sentences for his crimes.
In Brixton yesterday Mark Healey, of the National Hate Crime Awareness Week charity, joined LGBT poet laureate Trudy Howson and local police community support officer Juliana Robinson to leaflet and talk to passers-by about the bomb and the continuing issue of hate crime.
“We believe it is important to remember the victms of hate crime, to signpost support to those whose lives have ben changed forever by acts of hate,” says National HCAW.
The bombs in Brick Lane and the Admiral Duncan will also be commemorated where they exploded on 24 and 30 April respectively.
