VETERAN Labour MP Diane Abbott has highlighted the police killing of Chris Kaba and other black lives at a time of national mourning. 

Writing in the Morning Star today, the former shadow home secretary said it was important to reflect that there is “no hierarchy when it comes to the value of life” as the period of mourning for the late Queen paralyses the country. 

“Many people feel that the Queen deserves her special ceremonial period of mourning and burial,” Ms Abbot writes. “That is only to be expected for such a long reign and such a well-loved monarch.

“Yet many others have died over the same period, including Chris Kaba. And unlike our departed Queen he did not die peacefully in his bed at a good age, surrounded by his loved ones. 

“He was just 24 years old and was gunned down in the street by officers of the Metropolitan Police.”

Mr Kaba, a musician who was soon to become a father, was shot dead on September 5 by a firearms officer in Streatham Hill, south London. He was unarmed. 

Anger at the killing of another young black man at the hands of the Metropolitan Police has been exacerbated by police delays in suspending the officer involved and feelings that the death has been overshadowed by that of the late monarch. 

The Labour MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington added that the family must not be forced to wait years for answers as others have and hit out at police failures to hold officers to account for deaths following police contact, saying: “The state seems unwilling to countenance any wrongdoing by any member of its forces.”

A national day of action is being held on Saturday for Mr Kaba.