Media finally admits truth over G20 protests
Oh look, the Metro reports today:
Eyewitnesses today described how protesters came to the aid of a man who collapsed and died during G20 demonstrations at the Bank of England. Police were involved in running battles with protesters in central London when the man, believed to be in his 30s, fell to the ground and stopped breathing.
…
“One or maybe two plastic bottles were thrown, but it was by people further back in the crowd who did not know what was going on. There definitely wasn’t a rain of bottles. There were lots of us gathered around him telling people to give him space. The idea that protesters did not care is completely false.”
This contrasts with the Evening Standard’s disgusting piece yesterday stating the police were ‘pelted with bricks’ when trying to help him – a story they quietly changed on their website later. The paper is a stain on London.
RIP Ian Tomlinson, a guy who was just walking by, and got caught in the Met Police’s delightful strategy of ‘kettling’ people in. BenSix has more.
Cross-posted from Libcon
Postscript: Wonder how the apologists for police action will spin this one.
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Filed in: Civil liberties
From the BBC website:
“A witness to Wednesday’s incident in the City when a man died says: I saw him collapse and smash his head and then he was lying there with his eyes wide open. And then a guy in the audience had a megaphone and shouted “police, we need a medic”, and within seconds the police had a team of eight people ran forward. And yeah, there was a couple of people throwing bottles and bricks but there was a few other anarchists saying “no, stop this, time out, time out”. So within seconds there were no more missiles so the police were with him for a good like two or three minutes before they dragged him back. But as they were dragging him back, then the missiles began.”
Doesn’t quite fit with your version of innocent protestors and incompetent police….
Doesn’t quite fit with your version of innocent protestors and incompetent police
And I’m the only one creating stereotypes am I?
You still failed to address my main point about police tactics… but then I expected that from you LFAT
Sunny, I’ve not seen any evidence that Mr. Tomlinson was hurt by the police. He seems to have collapsed and
sustained injuries without being caught up in any ‘action’. Therefore to blame his death on police tactics seems unfair. If anything because he was in a scene with so many police officers he probably received assistance far more quickly that he would have if he had collapsed on a normal day.
Any death is a tragedy but for either the police or protesters to use this death as propaganda is wrong.
I feel sorry for the guy who died..wrong place at the wrong time
There is a “Send your kettle to the MET” group on facebook
This is all reminicent of Southall thirty years ago this week when Blair Peach was hit over the head by an as yet still unnamed police officer from the Special Patrol Group and died the next day in hospital from brain injuries.
The verdict was “Death by Misadventure” which still stands to this day and can be used by the police as a defence where anyone is killed or injured on a demonstration.
At the time a report, the Cass Report, was prepared by the Met but most of it is still secret. The Friends of Blair Peach are now writing to the Commissioner of the Met and the Home Secretary to release the report in full as well as the notebooks of the SPG officers who were interviewed.
We are moving into a period similar to the 1970s which was a time of violent confrontation. It began with the miners able to force a three day week on the government and then in 1974 bring it down and ended with the Tories in power where they would remain for eighteen years.
It is important to bring presure to bear to get the report released and Blair’s friends would be grateful if people would e-mail the Commissioner and the Home Secretary.
The campaign can be contacted on Southall79@googlemail.com
Further developments,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/05/g20-protest-ian-tomlinson