Death of Kevin Gately

Kevin Gately (18 September 1953 – 15 June 1974) was a student who died as the result of a head injury received in the Red Lion Square disorders in London while protesting against the National Front, a far-right, fascist political party.

It is not known if the injury was caused deliberately or was accidental.

He was not a member of any political organisation, and the march at Red Lion Square was his first.

He was the first person to die in a public demonstration in Great Britain for at least 55 years.

Liberation was formed in 1954 as the Movement for Colonial Freedom, an advocacy group focused on influencing British policy in support of anti-colonial movements in the British Empire.

The president of the organisation was Lord Brockway, and two Labour Party members of parliament (MPs) acted as officers.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the London council of Liberation had been increasingly infiltrated by hard-left political activists, and they invited several hard-left organisations to join them in the march.

When the Liberation march reached Red Lion Square, the International Marxist Group (IMG) twice charged the police cordon blocking access to Conway Hall.

Police reinforcements, including mounted police and units of the Special Patrol Group, forced the rioting demonstrators out of the square.

As the ranks of people moved away from the square, Gately was found unconscious on the ground.

He was taken to hospital and died later that day.

Two further disturbances took place in the vicinity, both involving clashes between the police and the IMG contingent.

A public inquiry into the events was conducted by Lord Scarman.

He found no evidence that Gately had been killed by the police, as had been alleged by some elements of the hard-left press, and concluded that "those who started the riot carry a measure of moral responsibility for his death; and the responsibility is a heavy one".

He found fault with some actions of the police on the day.

The events in the square made the National Front a household name in the UK, although it is debatable if this had any impact on their share of the vote in subsequent general elections.

Although the IMG was heavily criticised by the press and public, there was a rise in localised support and the willingness to demonstrate against the National Front and its policies.

From the early-to-mid-1960s the organisation spent much of its energy in ensuring it was not taken over by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), a party also dedicated to promoting anti-colonialism.

According to the historian Josiah Brownell, despite the organisation's efforts, by 1967 the London Area Council was dominated by CPGB members, including Kay Beauchamp, Tony Gilbert, Dorothy Kuya and Sam Kahn.

The National Front was founded in 1967 as a far-right, fascist political party.

From its inception the organisation had four main issues on which they campaigned: opposition to Britain's membership of the European Economic Community; Ulster; the trade unions and what the journalist Martin Walker calls "the post-immigration attack on black people born in Britain".

The National Front had grown rapidly in the early 1970s and by 1974 the membership was about 10,000–12,000.

The meeting was on the subject "Stop immigration—start repatriation", and was in response to plans by the Labour government to repeal parts of the Immigration Act 1971.

The repeal would have given illegal immigrants leave to remain in the UK.

The National Front had booked the room for meetings in the previous four years; the meeting in October 1973 had been picketed by demonstrators, leading to scuffles, injuries and arrests.

In early May the National Front sent their plans for their march and meeting to the Metropolitan Police.

They allowed for 1,500 members on 15 June from Westminster Hall to 10 Downing Street to deliver a petition to Harold Wilson, the prime minister, and then continue to Conway Hall for the meeting.

A journalist contacted the London Area Council of Liberation on 4 June and informed them about the National Front's plans.

Two days later Liberation called a meeting to arrange a counter-demonstration; among those invited were several hard-left organisations, including the CPGB, International Socialists (IS; later known as the Socialist Workers Party), the Workers Revolutionary Party, Militant Tendency and the International Marxist Group (IMG).

On 15 June 1974 the National Front held a march through central London in support of the compulsory repatriation of immigrants.

The march was to end at Conway Hall in Red Lion Square.

A counter-demonstration was planned by Liberation, an anti-colonial pressure group.

In mid-April 1974 the National Front booked the large theatre room at Conway Hall, a meeting house owned by the Conway Hall Ethical Society in Red Lion Square in central London.

As with the National Front, these groups were prepared to use violence against their political opponents; Sir Robert Mark, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in 1974, described the coalition of groups as "not a whit less odious than the National Front".

Liberation also booked the smaller assembly room at Conway Hall for 15 June, to coincide with the National Front meeting.

The booking caused consternation among some members of Liberation, and with the National Union of Students (NUS), who asked Liberation to cancel the meeting.

Liberation also planned a demonstration for 15 June, leaving the Victoria Embankment and marching to Red Lion Square to enter Conway Hall.

The police discussed the situation with Liberation and asked them to enter the hall for their meeting by the back door in Theobalds Road.

There was further violence associated with National Front marches and the counter-demonstrations they faced, including in Birmingham, Manchester, the East End of London (all 1977) and in 1979 in Southall, which led to the Death of Blair Peach.

After Peach's death, the Labour Party Member of Parliament Syd Bidwell, who had been about to give a speech in Red Lion Square when the violence started, described Peach and Gately as martyrs against fascism and racism.