Rally demands an end to deaths in custody

A RALLY in Sydney last week demanded an end to deaths in custody and questioned why United Nations inspectors had been refused access to NSW jails. 

Organised by activist Paul Silva, the small but vocal gathering heard from family members who had lost loved ones to the prison system 

Mr Silva told the crowd, which was surrounded by a heavy contingent of police,
that Aboriginal people on remand were still coming out of jail “in body bags”.

Mr Silva said the NSW Government had refused access to jails because they were hiding the truth. 

“What are they hiding? We already know! They fear the truth escaping their cage of lies,” the nephew of Dunghutti man David Dungay Jnr, who died in custody after being held down by several officers, told the crowd. 

Mr Dungay’s last words were “I can’t breathe”. 

David’s mother Leetona Dungay also spoke at the rally, saying the killings had been happening since 1788, but for state enforcers they are “just numbers, statistics, not people”. 

Gomeroi woman Gwenda Stanley read a Grandmothers Against Removals statement from Central Australia and the Top End demanding closure of Don Dale and the abolition of youth prisons. 

“Torture in our prisons is not an accident…