[How C COVENTRY's 300strong antiracist defence meeting last…]

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How C COVENTRY's 300strong antiracist defence meeting last Saturday was mobilised by supporters of Barricade. JUDITH BONNER and ASH GANGARAN (Coventry NE LPYS) told Socialist Press how they had taken the initiative after the murder of Fatnam Singh Gill.

"Barricade comrades got back from the Bridlington LPYS conference on Monday night.

News of the murder spread quickly. And on Tuesday night a YS meeting of about 20 youth-mainly Asians-got together to discuss how to respond.

We all agreed on a consistent and major presence at the Precinct every Saturday. So we started by organising for a rally the following Saturday.

But that wasn't Trevor Lock has moved house.

Lock is the policeman who was on duty at the Iranian Embassy last May when it was held under siege.

Afterwards he became an official hero and his police work entirely consisted of giving lectures.

But there was always something a little suspect about our Trev which put the faintest question mark over his hero status.

Firstly although he had a revolver on him throughout the siege he never shot anybody. Even though virtually everyone was foreign.

At the inquest he muttered something about not being able to shoot one of the guerrillas who was lying on the floor with his hands up. The SAS man who burst into the room had to shout Out the way, Trev" and bravely pump bullets into his back himself.

A decent pall was pulled over this hesitation of course. No one ever mentioned it. But there was this faint question mark about whether you can accord hero status to someone who has never executed anybody. Not even in cold blood.

Then again Trev was a bit funny about all these receptions. Kept going on about wanting to be a copper back on the beat. Found it harder and harder to accept his medals as they were poured on him month by month.

Kept up with old neighbours. Told photographers to piss off. Nothing obvious of course. But suspect.

This proved a difficulty. Of course the real heroes were the SAS. They were the action men, piaying Sherlock Holmes to Lock's Dr. Watson. But unfortunately the press cannot name SAS men. They are so popular and well loved etc that if you told everyone who they were they would be drilled full of bullets.

Still that's the kind society we live in today.

So all the frustrations of the reporters who wanted to probe the everyday lives of the professionals had to be focussed on a policeman Diplomatic Squad (not so-called because of their diplomacy) by mistake.

His wife confined her intimate domestic revelations to saying how she wished they could stay out of the papers, despite the help given to her by our good samaritans of Fleet Street who camped outside her house with notebooks and cameras in case she thought of anything to say

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