HUNDREDS assembled outside the US embassy in London last night to pay their respects to victims of police brutality, after a man in Devon died in circumstances similar to Freddie Gray.

The mass vigil was called after the IPCC confirmed it is investigating the death in police custody of a 38 year-old who had been restrained by Devon and Cornwall police during an altercation on April 29.

The unnamed man died in hospital this weekend leading to parallels being drawn with the case of Gray, which resulted in the recent Baltimore riots.

The brother of athlete Julian Cole, left paralysed after a brutal arrest in Bedford exactly two years ago yesterday, said ahead of the evening rally: “While the people who have done this to my little brother get to live their life, our family are fighting and hurting every day seeing him lay on the bed helpless, unable to talk or know we are there by his side. 

“Those people have taken my brother away from me and I will never get to see him get old, have a family or even become a uncle.”

According to an investigation by the Independent newspaper, of the 3,000 police officers currently under investigation for abuse of force only 60 have been suspended.

In April, Home Secretary Theresa May was also forced to apologise to the families of Sean Rigg and Seni Lewis, admitting that mistakes had been made by the police when holding the men in custody. Mr Rigg’s sister Marcia told the Star that she understood Baltimore’s “grief and frustrations at the police and the judicial system.

“It is important to campaign peacefully together to tell our stories about these serious injustices that happen both in the UK and abroad.”

Speaking on behalf of one of the vigil’s organisers, London Campaign Against Police and State Violence activist Kojo Kyerewaa said they were fighting against “institutional racism.”

“We struggle against violence that is racial in nature, this violence is both physical and structural,” he said. “It results in the acceptable deaths of black and other racialised people. “The problem predates Mark Duggan and even the Metropolitan Police. “We want accountability for officers who have acted in ways that have led to deaths in custody and to an end of deaths in custody. “Without justice, there can be no peace.”