A SILENT vigil was held outside Friends Meeting House in Manchester this week to remember the victims of police pursuits.

On Tuesday evening, protesters held up photographs of people who died due to what organisers Northern Police Monitoring Project call the “systematic over-policing of racially minoritised and working-class young people” by road traffic officers.

Others carried candles and banners reading “GMP [Greater Manchester Police] have blood on their [hands]” and “End the violence.”

A record-high number of road traffic fatalities involving GMP took place in 2021-22, according to the latest figures, with eight people losing their lives in six separate incidents involving officers.

One of the photos held at the vigil was of 17-year-old Ronaldo Johnson who died in 2021 when he was the back seat passenger in a car which collided with a taxi after being pursued by GMP.

Police said the driver failed to stop at a red light and the family is currently pursuing an investigation into his death.