The Trial of the Mangrove Nine

Available for over a year

Kirsty Wark reunites a group of people involved in the trial of the Mangrove Nine in 1971. The Mangrove Nine were a group of British black activists tried for inciting a riot at a 1970 protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove, a Caribbean restaurant in Notting Hill, west London. Their trial lasted 55 days and involved various challenges by the Nine to the legitimacy of the British judicial process. They were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of behaviour motivated by racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police. Joining Kirsty are five people who were caught up in the events of that time, and the trial of the Mangrove Nine that followed. Clive Phillip took part in the protests and was a close friend of the Mangrove’s owner Frank Crichlow, Desmond Gittens ran the neighbouring Black People’s Information Centre alongside Rhodan Gordan, one of the Mangrove Nine defendants, Desmond’s daughter Aisha Gittens knew many of the defendants well. Farrukh Dhondy attended the trial and compiled a daily newsletter for the British Black Panther Movement, and Education Campaigner Gus John was then a youth worker in neighbouring Westbourne Grove and a frequent visitor to The Mangrove. Producers: Olateju Adeleye and Rosemary Laryea Series Producer: David Prest A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4