50 years after Kevin Gately’s death at a London protest | UK News
On a summer’s day in central London on June 15, 1974, Warwick University student Kevin Gately, 20, attended a protest in Red Lion Square.
The National Front was holding a march to protest against amnesty for illegal immigrants, and Kevin had joined his fellow students in a peaceful counter protest.
As National Front members, protesters and police clashed in what became a chaotic event, with Kevin suffered a fatal blow to the head.
He became the first casualty at a UK demonstration since 1919.
In the weeks following, his fellow students took to the streets to protest the events which led to his death.
In the 50 years following, Metro.co.uk takes a look back at the tragic event.
What happened that day?
On Saturday, June 15, 1974, members of the National Front descended upon central London and were met by the International Marxist Group who were marching alongside the Liberation Group.
Kevin had never been to a protest before, sources said, and was not affiliated with any political party. But he decided to head down to the march that day alongside his fellow students at Warwick.
The IMG clashed with police when they attempted to finish their pre-planned route, leading to chaos.
Around 1,200 people had been trying to continue walking after turning to enter Red Lion Square, but were met by police who blocked the way to allow the National Front to march forward.
Multiple skirmishes broke out, and after the chaos, St John’s Ambulance discovered Kevin’s body as the fighting dispersed, having died from a fatal blow to the head which caused a brain hemorrhage.
The Guardian reported at the time: ‘We saw his body emerge, rather as a rugby ball comes slowly out of a scrum, as the police cordon gradually moved forward.
‘Both sides were packed tightly together and it seems to us inconceivable that he was not at least trampled upon. He was lying on the ground amid a litter of broken placards, torn banners and lost shoes.’
Jackie Stevens, also a Warwick student, told local media that she had been linking arms with Kevin when the fighting broke out.
She said: ‘I find it very hard to believe that Kevin could not have been touched. There was blood all over the place, people screaming, and teeth all over the ground. It was horrific.’
Another student, Bernadette Connolly, told the Birmingham Post in 1974: ‘If you had been bashed and beaten by police who came at us with their batons swinging, you could be in no doubt that they caused Kevin’s death.’
An inquiry was carried out into Kevin’s death in the months after and the protests which led to it, and found the breaching of the police cordon by protestors turned the event into a ‘riot’.
The inquiry wrote of Gately’s death: ‘There is no evidence that he was struck any blow by any policeman or injured in any way by a police horse: it is not even possible to say whether it was a blow, a fall, a kick or being trampled on which caused the superficially tiny injury that led to his brain haemorrhage.’
Who was Kevin Gately?
Kevin was a second year mathematics student at Warwick University when he died, just three months before he was to turn 21.
He was born in England to parents of Irish descent, and was hard to miss with his red hair and 6’9’’ stature.
Photos taken at the rally showed Kevin standing well above his peers in the crowd.
Not much has been released about his family or private life.
He was buried in Surbiton on June 21, 1974, with 500 students marching to Coventry with black armbands that day to commemorate his death.
Aftermath
Kevin’s untimely death sparked furor among his fellow students and prompted conversation of police involvement in protests and how demonstrations can be organised to avoid further bloodshed.
It also brought up the issue of how to counter fascism.
At the time, London District Secretary Gerry Cohen wrote in the communist newspaper, Morning Star: ‘The police, like the National Front, are on the side of the exploiting class.
‘They operated on that side with thoroughness and with fury on Saturday in Red Lion Square. And Kevin Gately died.’
50 years on
Professor Nigel Copsley, of Teesside University, told Metro.co.uk: ‘A week after Kevin Gately’s death, thousands marched in silence across central London behind a banner that read “Kevin Gately was killed opposing racism and fascism”.
‘Sadly, fifty years on Kevin Gately has been almost completely forgotten. Whilst significant at the time – it led to an official inquiry – the events at Red Lion Square have not been celebrated by anti- fascists in the same way that other ‘battles’ have, such as Cable Street in 1936 or Lewisham in 1977.
‘The reason why is that the fascists were not stopped at Red Lion Square. It took Rock Against Racism, the Anti-Nazi League and Margaret Thatcher’s clothes-stealing to see to that.’
It’s been 50 years since Kevin Gately died. He now rests in a quiet graveyard in Surbiton, alongside his parents. His tombstone reads ‘Beloved Brother’.
Kevin was 21 when he went to the protest in Red Lion Square, peacefully linking arms with his fellow students.
Unlike the others, he never returned home. His family was unable to see their son and beloved brother return home.
His grave is quiet.
The sounds of birds chirping and the distant rumble of trains heading to Waterloo are the only distractions.
Let’s hope he is now at peace – but never forgotten.