G20 Death.

[Dmacca]

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And if I were the victim and had my wits about me in that situation and I was a totally innocent bystander, Id have turned around and asked the police what the problem was or stood out of their way and appologized for being in the way, or would not have got in the way in the first place.

If you turned around to the cop who committed the assault I have little doubt that you would have ended up on your arse quicker than the unfortunate victim did. The victim's body language was of little worse than apathy, turning around to ask the police "what their problem is" would undoubtedly be seen as confrontation. From all reports it would seem that the victim had little chance of "not gotten in the way in the first place" seeing as how his route home was blocked by police on more than one occassion, he was going where he was told to go.

Of course I was not there at all so I can only guess at what went on.

Fair point Birdog, what about the copper appearing to have is face partly covered, was that cover police issued protection? or something more sinister.

[Guest birdog]

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And if I were the victim and had my wits about me in that situation and I was a totally innocent bystander, Id have turned around and asked the police what the problem was or stood out of their way and appologized for being in the way, or would not have got in the way in the first place.

If you turned around to the cop who committed the assault I have little doubt that you would have ended up on your arse quicker than the unfortunate victim did. The victim's body language was of little worse than apathy, turning around to ask the police "what their problem is" would undoubtedly be seen as confrontation. From all reports it would seem that the victim had little chance of "not gotten in the way in the first place" seeing as how his route home was blocked by police on more than one occassion, he was going where he was told to go.

Of course I was not there at all so I can only guess at what went on.

Fair point Birdog, what about the copper appearing to have is face partly covered, was that cover police issued protection? or something more sinister.

I must admit that it does seem rather sinister to have the face covered, the only reasonable explanation I can think of is that certain officers, in certain roles would cover their faces for fear of reprisals down the line but that raises the question of why would there be reprisals if the police were doing nothing more than their duty and why only certain officers? Personally I think it is more to do with intimidation of protesters, a masked man is always a more sinister prospect than one who is willing to show his face.

[Caley Stan]

The collection of footage on the internet of police being aggressive or violent towards protesters has been growing steadily over the last couple of weeks. Most of it's pretty tame when compared with the behaviour of police in other countries and the behaviour of our own officers during the social unrest of the eighties.

But something has definitely changed. Police tactics have changed dramitically since the huge, peaceful protests which took place in opposition to the Iraq war. I frist witnessed this a few years ago when the G8 met at Gleneagles and a variety of different protests took place across Scotland. The police operation was enormous. Forces from throughout the UK travelled north, many of them riot cops with masks, shields and enormous batons. Extremely peaceful and creative protesting was met with cold aggression, mass surveilance and hugely inappropriate use of counter-terrosim leglislation. This was complimented with a (very successful) tactic of splitting groups of protesters and detaning them in confined spaces for hours at time.

I had never had a problem with the police before those protests. As a teenager, my natural intinct to rail against authority was met with a softly softly, sometimes paternal, always humorous approach from the Norhtern Constabulary. At protests in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London at the beginning of this decade, the police were rriendly and relaxed - their primary purpose seemed to be to ensure that traffic was cleared to allow the marches to proceed smoothly. But those were different times. A lot of people have had political passions awakened by war and imperialism, rampant free markets and the steady erosion of civil liberties. Unfortunately the response of the establishment has been to get tough. To spy to shout to clip people round the ear if they feel that's neccessary.

Thankfully people here aren't willing to stand for that kind of sh1t. If they want to police in this way then we will film them, threaten them and spy on them. I don't much like having to do that. As delicious as the irony of the police being filmed by protestors and than put on trial by the media is, i don't think that walking around filming each other is the answer here. I'd prefer if they would just allow people to express themselves peacefully. Perhaps the fall-out from the G20 and videos that are currently floating around the interntet are a step towards that.

[Johnboy]

Excellent post Stan...

You should send that off to every heavyweight paper in the UK....

Tony Blair's trumped up case for going to war with Iraq damaged this country irrevocably.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Johnboy

[PullMyFinger]

A second post mortem has revealed that Ian Tomlinson had died from internal bleeding of his abdomen.

Telegraph

This whole fiasco stinks.

[absent friend]

What I find damning is that, if you or I, in front of a policeman, hit someone, you would be arrested on the spot.

However, a policeman hits a member of the public, in front of policemen and not one policeman makes a move to subdue him, never mind arrest him!

There has to be a inquiry to identify him - he was watched by his policeman pals for Heavens sake!

There has to be an inquiry to establish if he did wrong - he was watched by his policeman pals for Heavens sake!

A law for one and a law for the rest of us.

[PullMyFinger]

He identified himself last week. Is now suspended pending an "internal inquiry".