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‘Bashment ban’ sparks racial profiling claims

POLICE were accused yesterday of racial profiling after they threatened to close down a nightclub in Croydon for playing a form of Jamaican music, writes Bethany Rielly.

Dice Bar owner Roy Seda said that the police imposed a ban on his club playing bashment, otherwise known as dancehall, on the grounds that it is an “unacceptable” form of music and linked to crime and disorder.

Mr Seda has even been forced to draw up contracts for DJs promising not to play bashment.

Croydon Black and Ethnic Minority Forum chief executive Nero Ughwujabo accused the police of racial profiling for singling out Jamaican music in particular.

“The borough commander must explain what intelligence is underpinning these assumptions instead of giving the impression a sizeable proportion of the population are not welcome in the town centre,” she told local paper the Croydon Advertiser.

Borough commander Andy Tarrant has previously denied that such a policy exists.

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