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New Cross fire
On 17 January 1981 13 young people died in a house fire at a birthday party on New Cross Road, Deptford. There was much speculation that racists were responsible for the fire, as many of the victims were black.
Anger at police handling of the case, and accusations of a cover-up, saw as many as 20,000 take to the streets in protest. The fire, and the police reaction to it, is widely held to have been one of the catalysts for the Brixton riots of April 1981.
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