Kevin Gately

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Kevin Gately (1954 - 15th June 1974) was a second year student of mathematics at Warwick University. He was born in England to parents of Irish background. He died as a result of injuries received in the Red Lion Square disorders of 15th June 1974. An inquest concluded that his death was caused by a blow to the head from a blunt instrument. Kevin was the first person to be killed in politically related disturbances in Britain since the 1930's.

Kevin was unusually tall, being well over six foot, and this led left-wing newspapers of the time to allege that his death may have been the result of a blow from a mounted police truncheon. Neither a coroner's inquest nor a public inquiry headed by Lord Scarman were able to find conclusive evidence. However fellow students who were with Kevin Gately said that after several charges and counter charges involving mounted police and demonstrators he was injured. Contemporary photos show Kevin standing out above the crowd because of his exceptional height. The Red Lion Square demonstration was an unusually violent attempt to stop the National Front holding a meeting in London. The primary organisers were the London Area Council of Liberation with participation from the International Marxist Group and the International Socialists (later the Socialist Workers Party).

Kevin was not a member of a political group or party. An assertion in the 22nd June 2004 edition of the student union newspaper, the Warwick Boar, that he was a member of the International Marxist Group is mistaken. This quiet intelligent young man died on his first demonstration. Kevin was aware of the nature of the demonstration - against the National Front, a neo-Nazi organisation promoting the repatriation of immigrants and anti Irish and anti semitic policies, and he wished to take part. He had no experience of demonstrations before Red Lion Square, and his death led to a silent march of protest, and a major campaign by Warwick students against the National Front.

A Kevin Gately Memorial Painting hangs in the Warwick University Student Union. It was restored in 2004. The character of the painting is symbolic of the anti-fascist struggle and it contains neither a representation of Kevin nor of the actual events of 15th June 1974.