Crowd protests police killing of local refugee

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This article was published 28/02/2019 (2031 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A protest today about the death of a man killed in a shooting incident with police on the weekend has highlighted racial divisions in the city and the need for better relations between police and people of colour.

Machuar Madut, a 43-year-old refugee who fled war-torn Sudan in the early 2000s with his wife and children, was shot dead by police during an emergency call about a man with a hammer who was causing a disturbance at a West Broadway apartment complex Saturday.

Despite temperatures of -18C, about 100 people, mostly South Sudanese but also people who appeared to be Indigenous and Caucasian, stood in solidarity to protest the shooting during the 90-minute event.

Half a dozen speakers took their turns at a megaphone, placards called for justice, the crowd chanted “Justice for Madut” and “Black Lives Matter” as uniformed police officers watched from inside the glassed-in lobby of the downtown police headquarters on Smith Street.

Organizers with the Council of the South Sudanese Community Association called for an independent investigation — the death is currently under scrutiny by the province’s police watchdog agency, the Independent Investigation Unit. They also called for programs to help immigrants and people with mental illness but it was the call for an apology that stood out.

The Sudanese community wants “an apology from WPS for portraying Machuar Madut as a criminal who was attempting a break in and enter when the fact was he lived in the building and was shot in his own apartment,” according to a list of demands released after the rally.

Madut had difficulty with the English language and his fellow Sudanese community in the city have described him as a peaceful man who suffered from mental health issues. He had separated from his wife, who has moved to Vancouver with their three children.

Several speakers drew parallels between the shooting here and American confrontations where black men have been shot dead by police.

An Indigenous women who said her name was Black Turtle Woman said there’s a need for police to wear digital cameras that can record incidents. “Body cams would clear up a whole lot of misunderstandings.” 

Despite heated rhetoric, the event was peaceful. They crowd moved to let vehicles drive through. A cardboard box of coffee and stacks of cups sat on the sidewalk, next to another box filled with T-shirts with the slogan: “Machur Madut: A Mental Health Intervention Not a Bullet.” Many in the crowd donned the shirts over their winter coats. Some held placards and photos.

“We’ll allow them to stand outside and say whatever it is they feel they need to say,” Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Tammy Skrabek told reporters today. “We asked that they don’t impede access to the building.”

alexandra.paul@freepress.mb.ca