Suresh Grover

Suresh Grover migrated from Kenya to Nelson, Lancashire as a child. Although his father was a civil servant in India, the only work available to him in Britain was on the factory floor. Grover experienced significant racism as a child. For example, he was called racial slurs and beaten at school, and in 1973 he was stabbed by skinheads whilst at the cinema with his nephew, who was also attacked. He reported the attack to the police but a statement was not taken and the attack was never investigated. Subsequently, Grover decided to leave Nelson and moved to Southall, after a short period in Burnley.

On 4 June 1976 Grover saw the aftermath of Gurdip Singh Chaggar’s murder outside the Dominion Cinema in Southall. He asked a policeman what had happened and was told ‘it’s just Indian blood’. Angered by the response, Grover took action to ensure no-one would walk over the pool of blood. On 6 June 1976 young South Asians met at the Dominion Theatre to discuss the racial violence their community was subjected to. An impromptu march to Southall police station began. The protests that ensued, where hundreds of South Asian youths took to the streets, marked the inception of the Southall Youth Movement and Grover was a founding member.

On 29 April 1979 Grover was involved in the large-scale anti-racist demonstration against the National Front in Southall. It was here that the New Zealander Blair Peach was murdered by the Special Patrol Group. Around 700 people were arrested, and Grover with the support of other key activists created a legal defence for the 345 people who were criminally charged. Grover thus founded the Monitoring Group in Southall, a grass-roots organization which advocates for victims of racial discrimination, racist violence and police brutality. It was inspired by the American Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which adopted strategies such as observing police cars in Black neighbourhoods to protect African Americans from racist policing. When conceptualizing the Monitoring Group, Grover sought advice from Ambalavaner Sivanandan and the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), who supported his view that an organization was needed to challenge police violence, particularly in light of the IRR report Policing Against Black People, which documented the systemic over-policing of Black and South Asian people in inner cities.

The Monitoring Group has been involved in key anti-racism and justice campaigns, such as the case of Blair Peach’s murder, co-ordinating the campaign of the Bradford 12 and supporting the Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign. Grover continues to co-direct the Monitoring Group.