Thursday, April 02, 2009

the G20 protest: from the horse's mouth

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"I was at the protest for 5 hours and can honestly say that the policing today was antagonistic in a pretty extreme way. Being penned in infront of the bank of england for 3 hours caused a lot of people to panic and become hostile towards the police, who would not tell us the justification for being penned in, or even speculate as to how when we could expect to be let out. They criminlaised the lot of us, when, logistically, there was no valid reason for doing so - one of the five ways out could easily have been opened to let those people who wanted to leave through. By the time they did raise the cordon, the mood had clearly shifted from one of peace and fun, to one of anger and fear. When we were eventually allowed out, we inevitably surged and at this point a screaming line of riot police ran at us. We were being given mixed messages, and the overall sense of confusion gre at this point. I'm not an anarchist or a political extremist. I didn't go to cause trouble, I'm a pacifist. But after four hours of this kind of treatment by the police I began to feel enraged. The demonstration was not against the police, it was about much bigger forces and issues. Unfortunately, due to the frankly stupid tacticts the police used , it became a straight run off between the protesters and the cops. They deserve strong critcism for the way they've handled this, and I fear the violence is only going to get more extreme as the eveninig wears on." [sic]
Fucking WORD.


Addition:

From the Guardian:

"The upshot of the ruling and the police's application of their "kettle" formula is that people thinking about embarking on demonstrations in the future may have to decide whether they want to be effectively locked up for eight hours without food or water and, when leaving, to be photographed and identified."
(emphasis is mine)
Habeus corpus, motherfucker!
". . . a legal action, or writ, through which a person can seek relief from the unlawful detention of him or herself, or of another person. It protects the individual from harming him or herself, or from being harmed by the judicial system."
(emphasis is mine)

Addition 03-04-09:

Back Towards The Locus does some indulges in some actual investigative journalism, collating eyewitness reports and looking for photographs of the "protester" who died at the G20 protests yesterday. In direct contradiction to the rapid press releases declaring Ian Tomlinson's death to be from "natural causes", BTTL finds testimony that, in the area where the incident occurred, "things were in full psycho mode by that time", with unmuzzled police dogs and baton charges being conducted by screaming riot police. Furthermore, people described Mr Tomlinson as being bruised, dazed and with blood on his face prior to his collapse.

Make of that what you will.


Addition 04-04-09:

Justin found a video interview of two guys who were there when Ian Tomlinson first collapsed.Their testimony completely contradicts the "police pelted with bricks" headlines.


Addition:

Now the Guardian has eyewitness acounts of police battering Tomlinson. Seems tlike he rapid publication of the post mortem results declaring his death to be from "natural causes" was a little bit premature, hey?

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