On This Day – New Cross
BBC Archive

18th January 2010 will mark 30 years since the controversial fire that claimed many lives and left many questioning the quality of the police investigation into the deaths. There are those that say it was an accident and others, a deliberate racist attack the authorities couldn’t be bothered to investigate!

The New Cross Fire was a devastating house fire which killed 13 young black people during a birthday party in New Cross, southeast London on Sunday January 18, 1981. The black community were shocked by the indifference of the white population, and accused the London Metropolitan Police of covering up the cause, which they suspected was an arson attack motivated by racism; the protests arising out of the fire led to a mobilisation of black political activity.

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