Police shooting victim Mark Duggan buried
Baku, September 11 (AZERTAC). Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral on Friday of a man who was shot dead by police in an incident that sparked riots across London and other cities in England and creating the worst unrest in decades.
The funeral of Mark Duggan took place near the Tottenham district of north London amid lingering tensions over the circumstances of his death last month.
After more than 100 mourners gathered inside the church, 1,000 people paid their respects as the cortège made its way through the ethnically mixed Broadwater Farm housing estate in Tottenham.
Duggan`s coffin, in a white carriage pulled by four white horses with plumes on their heads, was adorned with flowers spelling out the words "grandson," "son" and "dad."
An increased force of about 10,000 police was on duty across London in case any tensions surrounding the funeral boiled over and spread to other parts of the capital.
Duggan, a 29-year-old father of four, was travelling in a taxi that was stopped by a police unit investigating armed crime in the black community.
Initial suggestions that he had opened fire on police were dismissed by ballistic tests, which showed that a bullet that had lodged itself in one officer`s radio was of a kind issued to police.
The case is being investigated by the police watchdog.
A non-police issue handgun, converted from a blank-firing pistol to one that shoots live rounds, was recovered close to the scene of the death.
A peaceful protest against his death on Aug. 6, two days after the shooting, descended into riots in Tottenham, with shops looted and business premises and flats burned to the ground.
The violence was the spark for riots to break out across London before disturbances spread to other cities including Birmingham and Manchester.
Across the country, five people were killed and hundreds of shops were looted, with some set alight.
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