Cambridge student claims 'all white people are racist' in tweets supporting Rashan Charles protests
Police probe messages sent in support of violent protests following the death of a 20-year-old man in east London
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Your support makes all the difference.Police are investigating after the head of an equality group at Cambridge University claimed “all white people are racist” in a tweet sent in support of protesters who clashed with police in east London over the death of a young man.
Jason Osamade Okundaye, who runs the university’s Black and Minority Ethnic Society, took to Twitter after the protest over the death of Rashan Charles.
A series of tweets praised the protesters and claimed that white people had “colonised” Dalston, a once working-class area in the borough of Hackney.
One tweet from the privately educated 20-year-old’s account said: “Watching these middle-class white people despair over black people protesting in their colonised Dalston is absolutely delicious.”
He then said that white people should “go back” to areas such as Exeter and “Solihurst” – presumed to mean Solihull in Birmingham.
Another said: “ALL white people are racist. White middle class, white working class, white men, white women, white gays, white children they can ALL geddit.”
He then urged protesters to "smash everything".
Cambridgeshire Police said they were investigating following numerous complaints that the tweets were inciting violence and hatred.
Mr Okundaye, who studies sociology and politics at the prestigious university’s Pembroke College, made his account private after the tweets caught the attention of the media.
Tory MP Bob Blackman said: “This is stirring up racial hatred unnecessarily – and completely without justification.”
A spokesman for Cambridge University said: “The College is looking into this matter and will respond appropriately.”
Mr Okundaye was reportedly born in south London and educated on an academic scholarship at the independent Whitgift School in Croydon, where full fees for borders are £36,400.
Commenting on his social media posts, Mr Okundaye said: “My tweet about all white people being racist was pulled out of context and separate to my tweets in support of the Dalston protests.
”My tweets on white racism had been said before, in response to people acting as if racism is exclusive to working-class people.
“I stated that regardless of sexuality, class, gender or age, all white people are racist, ie, not just one type of white person.
"And the reference to 'geddit' refers to my previous tweets on how all demographics of whiteness can and should be called out for their racism and how it specifically manifests in their groups, eg, white middle-class people refusing to hire black people, or white gay men stating 'no blacks, no Asians' on dating apps such as Grindr.
“The tweet was conflated with my separate tweets which supported the Dalston protests and my support of activism which seeks justice against police brutality.”
Protesters clashed with riot police in Dalston after fires were lit and the roads were blockaded near to where Mr Charles was seen on CCTV being restrained by a police officer shortly before he collapsed and died.
A statement from the Metropolitan Police said he had died after swallowing an object.
The death led to accusations of excessive force being used, with an investigation being launched by watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission, as a matter of course.
Police said bottles and other objects were hurled at them during the protests, believed to have been attended by around 150 people.
Roads were blocked off with wheelie bins, rubbish bags and broken tables, while mattresses were burned in the streets.
A member of the public was assaulted as they cycled through the area, while an officer suffered a minor eye injury.
Police said one person was arrested on suspicion of causing grievous bodily harm.
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