Transatlantic protests planned over police handling of drag queen's death
Peaches Christ, the drag alter ego of filmmaker Joshua Grannell, is in the UK organizing the protest.
Officers with the Metropolitan Police in London traveled to San Francsico last week to meet with Grannell. Police believe drugs were involved the night Heklina was found dead. Her friends, however, want more definite answers.
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Next week will mark two years since Heklina's death. She and her friend Grannell were in London at the time getting ready to open their drag parody show, 'Mommy Queerest.'
Grannell is back in London this week to organize a protest in memory of his friend. Supporters will gather beneath Big Ben Monday at 10 a.m. local time.
'We are protesting the London Metropolitan Police because of their ineptitude surrounding our dear friend Heklina's death and the case surrounding it,' Grannell said, 'and it's been two years since that occurred and we still don't have satisfactory answers at all.'
Grannell said police didn't start to take Heklina's death seriously until they learned of her large fan base. Eventually, the Metropolitan Police released videos showing three men leaving Heklina's London apartment the night she was found dead.
'There's a camera trained at your apartment building, we were able to see when you left and when you came back,' Grannell said. 'Which means they've been sitting on that footage of those three guys for two years.'
Grannell met with officers from London last week who traveled to California to update him that there was a lethal amount of drugs in Heklina's system. They wouldn't specify what type of drugs and when KRON 4 reached out to police, they responded saying the investigation is ongoing and it would be, 'inappropriate to more widely share further details.'
It's details that Heklina's friends and family want, having already waited 24 months for answers.
'Very quickly revealed to me by my friends in the UK that there is a really negative relationship between the police and the queer community due to mistreatment of queer people,' said Grannell.
Events for Heklina aren't just happening in London. There will also be a march Monday in San Francisco starting at 7:30 p.m. at 1123 Folsom Street to protest the Metropolitan Police in London.
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