Police involved in London G20 death

[scrubadub]

The Guardian have released footage of Ian Tomlinson, the man who died at G20 trying to get home from work, being assaulted by the police shortly before he died.

Video reveals G20 police assault on Ian Tomlinson moments before he died | UK news | guardian.co.uk

The police have been trying to lay the blame for the death with the protesters claiming they hindered the emergency services. It's appalling.

 

[dEFinitionofEPIC]

The New World Order is fast approaching... I expect much more of this in the future....

 

[surbitonPete]

It's a pity everyone didn't have mobile phone cams during the miners strikes.

 

[surbitonPete]

The New World Order is fast approaching... I expect much more of this in the future....

Yes it's a democracy in which you 'must' do as you are told.

 

[scrubadub]

It's a pity everyone didn't have mobile phone cams during the miners strikes.

Very true Pete although they seem to be trying to fix the situation now

BBC NEWS | UK | Photographers angry at terror law

 

[surbitonPete]

Very true Pete although they seem to be trying to fix the situation now

BBC NEWS | UK | Photographers angry at terror law

I hadn't seen that bit of news.....that's typical ...trying to use the excuse of terrorism to prevent people catching them out on camera.

 

[scrubadub]

In a statement, the Home Office said taking pictures of police officers would only be deemed an offence in "very exceptional circumstances"

I don't find it very reassuring given that local councils are already using 'anti-terror laws' to snoop on people's recycling habits, benefit claims etc.

 

[ApOsTle51]

Manslaughter..gotta be ..He died from direct consequeces from that copper's actions.

hope they find the killer and throw away the key and not do the usuall thing of looking after their own..

 

[surbitonPete]

I am afraid it's a fact that now we all have such easy communication with each other our governments feel scared and desperate to make sure we are all completely under control.

 

[Oliver]

Oh oh. The S is about to hit the F.....

I have to say, I popped down to have a look at what was going on at 12.30 since I was working fairly nearby and was pretty shocked at the police tactics. I was pretty lucky not to have become caught up in it, to be honest.

It seems to me that the tactics are more about putting people off demonstrating in the future than about tactical decisions. I just don't understand why "kettling" people for hours at a time is necessary when they could just send in "snatch squads" to pull the troublemakers out.

Just before the cordon was set up, I saw two people being removed in exactly that fashion - Why couldn't it have continued?

Additionally, I read that the police review of the original "kettling" strategy in 2001 concluded that it was lawful so long as individuals were not prevented leaving if they asked to do so. Apparently the police response to this, when asked, is to say "ask the gaffer" (boss), who is, needless to say, nowhere near the frontline!

 

[Letzin Hale]

I'm only surprised that people are surprised by what is going on.
This has been happening for much longer than you might imagine.
In my lifetime I remember the Grosvenor Square demos and police tactics, the miners strike, the Grunwick protests, poll tax 'riots' etc. Go back to the general strike and a similar picture emerges, go back to the Peterloo Massacre when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 gathered at a meeting to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. 15 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier. Nothing has changed in hundreds of years except now we can watch it on TV. Having rights is one thing, choosing to exercise them is another and risks all kind of nasty consequences.
Alan.

 

[scrubadub]

I'm only surprised that people are surprised by what is going on.
This has been happening for much longer than you might imagine.
In my lifetime I remember the Grosvenor Square demos and police tactics, the miners strike, the Grunwick protests, poll tax 'riots' etc. Go back to the general strike and a similar picture emerges, go back to the Peterloo Massacre when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 gathered at a meeting to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. 15 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in ironic comparison to the Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier. Nothing has changed in hundreds of years except now we can watch it on TV. Having rights is one thing, choosing to exercise them is another and risks all kind of nasty consequences.
Alan.

You're right of course Alan. That was a particularly nasty consequence for a newspaper seller trying to exercise his right to walk home.

 

[Oliver]

Alan, you're quite right, of course, when you bring up the past excesses of police action in crowd control.

There's even an argument that since there was relatively little in the way of destroyed property and crowd violence/injury that the tactics were pretty successful.

That said, I think my opposition comes from the observation that if the strategy is to wear people down through attrition, making them think that if they protest they'll likely be trapped for hours without access to toilets, food and water - if there is a long term strategy to undermine protest itself, then we're talking about an attempted erosion of a pretty important piece of our democratic tradition.

I'm not saying that that definitely is the strategy, but I don't think its too conspiratorial to suggest it, especially when taken into account with recent anti-terror legislation and restrictions on protest imposed by recent statute.

Back to Ian Tomlinson - I hope people don't attempt to make him a martyr of their respected causes. It looks like a case of police brutality on a guy minding his own business, and attempting to speak for the dead is plain wrong. IMO.

By the way, I should say that the last time I went on a demo it was against the criminal justice bill circa '93. And it got very, very hairy. Nothing like what I witnessed last week - whether that was because or in spite of policing tactics, I've no idea.

 

[K-Sound Krew]

Just wondering if you guys are familiar with the US's ultrasonic weapon?
I don't think they use it anymore because there was so much protest that it was inhumane because of the pain it causes.

It's one of those catch 22's, people should be able to protest and speak out against their government, but mob protesters get out of hand and the police have the duty to diffuse potentially violent situations.