Death of Salford Class War Veteran - Ken Keating!

THE following obituary for Salford Class War Veteran, Ken Keating, appeared on Ian Bone's blog earlier this week:

Just received sad news from Sean Keating from Salford:

R.I.P KEN KEATING. 24/01/38 - 28/06/11, Legend, Friend, Father, Grandad. My dad Loved by many, hated by authority but respected by all. Safe journey to mum old timer x

Ken was the prime mover in Ordsall Class War in the 1990s and i think it would be safe to say none of us had ever seen the likes of Ordsall Class War! There are others who knew Ken far better than me and I hope to be publishing their thoughts when they are ready. In the meantime best wishes to Sean and family.

See picture of Ken and his ‘Grasswatch’ van here.

What did Ken think about the Lowry Arts Centre:

Oh yeah in an interview with Ken Keating I asked him about Lowry: He gave me a contemptuous look and said “Lowry he was just a f******g rent collector.”

Here’s an account from Practical History of Ordsall Class War in July 1992:

On the Ordsall Estate in Salford (near Manchester), in the space of several days in the first week of July, fires were started at a council neighbourhood office, a housing office, a careers office, a Department of Health office, a MacDonald’s restaurant, and several other buildings. Shots were fired at police vehicles and a petrol bomb thrown at a police station.  Also in Salford, eight people in balaclavas attacked a police car that they had lured into an ambush by setting off an alarm. Local youths complained of police violence, with one saying: “There’s people who can’t pay for electricity. And they’re at home in bed, in the dark, and the door’s kicked in and all they can see is big torches coming up the stairs and the Bill [the police] is saying ‘Stay where you are or you’ll get your heads blown off’”. Another said: “It’s just like Belfast. The police don’t relate to the kids. Why are they dragging them in, beating them up?”

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