Police Brutality last Thursday at Bank - G20
Published:
April 06, 2009 16:39
by
S Bolt
Neighbourhoods: bank
Police Brutality last Thursday at Bank - people gathered for a minute's silence in memory of Ian Tomlinson and this is what happened to them.
What I witnessed last Thursday shocked me so much, I feel the only productive thing that could come from the experience is sharing and propagating what happened.
If you read the news about the protests last week, you won't find much. They are simply not reporting the true extent of what has been going on.
I want to point out now that those 200 odd people who were inside the cordon I saw on Thursday went to Bank to pay their respects to Ian Tomlinson who died on Wednesday stuck inside the police cordon (which was in place for over 10 hours).
This is what I witnessed myself in 15 minutes standing near the Bank of England...
The police were ushering the protesters along towards a side street near the Bank of England. One of them decided he had had enough and tried to leave. A policeman immediately swung him against some scaffolding, handcuffed him and walked him away. My first reaction was that the guy must have done something to antagonise them or break the law earlier.
The ushering continued and the police then split them up into two groups on two cornering streets, not letting anyone leave. Suddenly, a policeman threw a punch at the face of a male man, who raised his right arm to try and block the punch (NO retaliation, merely a block). Immediately, 3 officers threw him up against the scaffolding, knocked him to the ground and beat him with their batons. They then carried him horizontally away.
A photographer on the spectator side of the cordon tried to capture it. An officer ran over and grabbed him, trying to force him into the cordon. He escaped but the officer came after him and squared up to him (who was right next to me at this point) shouting, "Do you want a piece of this, huh, do you want to come and get some?". He was then called back by another officer.
A few minutes later, a girl no more than 10 metres away from me, who was on the front line of the cordon, was suddenly shoved up against a wall and kicked repeatedly by a policeman. he left her as she stayed cowering.
Subsequently, 6 mounted police trotted around the corner and penned them in, after which the police dogs showed up. The general atmosphere was fear at who the police would pick on next.
At that point, 5 police surrounded us (as quite a crowd had amassed in horror by now) and told us that we would be arrested if we didn't move along. One guy said he had a right to stand there and watch and the policeman threatened him in no uncertain terms that he would either be arrested or thrown in the cordon if he didn't move. He did. I left.
No media were there to witness these events.
In the space of fifteen minutes, I saw 5 people arrested for no apparent reason, and 3 people attacked by the police and left bleeding. In FIFTEEN minutes only. At NO stage were the protesters doing anything other than chanting and playing tambourines.
I am left in abject shock at what I have witnessed and would seriously urge you all to spread the word about this. Whether you agree with the subject of the protests or not, every citizen has the right to protest. and a right to freedom to express their opinions without fear of violence or arrest whilst doing so.
It is only when you yourself have an issue that you realise the problems minorities face (when your identity is stolen, when you feel strongly enough about an issue to protest...). Those rights need protecting.
I for one am extremely proud of the protesters for having the courage to go out there and speak up knowing what's awaiting them: police photographers cataloguing them all on a database (they were everywhere today); a constant threat of violence and arrest with no recourse or justice; knowing that the actions of 6 stupid people yesterday (1 who hit officers with a metal pole, the rest who broke the RBS windows) justified in the public's eyes the police violence they faced for the rest of the day; being 'kettled' (cordoned) in for over 10 hours with no right to leave or enter = no food, drink, water, toilets for that length of time.
Ordinary innocent people. The ones the police are supposed to protect. The ones society is supposed to protect.
Think about whether one day, if you ever feel strongly enough about something to protest, you would want to be faced with what I have witnessed. It happens on a regular basis. There is no excuse.
P.S. Yesterday, a student group sitting down on a road were charged by riot police and beaten with one girl being taken away unconscious. Batons were flying everywhere. The injured were not allowed to leave the cordon to seek medical help. One man died penned in like the rest of them. The police should be occupying the moral high ground, not letting a few idiots give them an excuse to randomly assault innocent protesters.
I say not in my name. I hope you would agree.
Contact email: madsquidgeme@hotmail.com
Additions
calendar
Published: April 07, 2009 11:40
by
poster
if this event is really happening, why don't you publish it in the calendar?
The press were kept out
Published: April 07, 2009 21:24
by
James Coglan
You mention the lack of media coverage of these events. I went down to take photographs (I'm not a professional journalist, just concerned about what's going on). On arrival I found that nobody was being let in or out of the Bank area, save for traffic and cyclists. The police did interrupt one cyclist passing through before pulling him from his bike, marching him out of the area then throwing his bike at him (I have photos of this taking place).
Anyone not with the press was asked to leave. What few press remained were moved onto a small stretch of pavement where we could barely see a thing, then a van was parked in front of us. After this even the press were forced to leave with threat of arrest under Section 14, saying we'd be let back in after 30mins (it was over an hour before we were allowed back). We were told we were being kept out "for our own safety". Once we were out of the way, the dogs were brought in and soon after there were running fights in the streets around Bank.
After everyone had been let back into the square, I overheard an officer saying, "it's simple: you beat them, and if they get back up you beat them again." I hope more photos and footage from inside the protest come out; being stuck outside was infuriating.
TRUTH
Published: April 07, 2009 22:01
by
TRUTH
CONCLUSIVE PROOF COPS KILLED HIM
VIDEO FOOTAGE
PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY AND GET READY TO GET ON THE STREETS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault
Note
Published: April 07, 2009 22:52
by
J
Your account has been reported along with serious questions about the press coverage of the day:
S Bolt - why write to the BNP?
Published: April 08, 2009 11:53
by
upthera
The original post above has been sent to Richard Barnbrook, BNP member of the GLA. I would like 'S Bolt' to explain why he thinks that writing to the BNP about this, or indeed anything else - is a good idea.
http: // www .richardbarnbrook.com/ 2009/04/the-right-to-protest/
Link broken, but provided to substantiate my assertion.
Reply to poster...
Published: April 22, 2009 00:18
by
S Bolt
I wrote to Mr Barnbrook because as many people as possible should be up in arms about this, whatever their political persuasion. Like it or not (and I most certainly don't), the BNP were elected democratically, and democracy is something I believe very strongly in.
Policing must change to survive
Published: December 13, 2009 17:14
by
K Clark-Stapleton
Policing MUST Change to Survive.
Violence and police corruption are a serious problem in Brazilian cities. ..... and UK officials attended a conference on that issue in Brasilia in November ...(Hansard 15 May 2009) so what is new here, well nothing with the exception that the Police in the UK have created a huge gaping hole in public confidence due to the manner in which THEY have policed several legal protests.
Recent reports have stated that the Police need to become more humane and use what intelligence exists to show discretion when policing, stop legislating through rules and regulations that can only stifle interaction with the public, in other words be less robotic. It has long been recognised that Policing and corruption are inseparable and it is not simply one bad apple it is more institutionalised and has become the norm for many Police forces and serving officers nationwide. Corruption is multi-faceted it’s a culture issue that creates a bad smell from the top down. Now we hear that within the Lancashire force a special unit is being set up just in case through recession , officers are led into corruption. (http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/4786308.print/)
IF this is really the issue then surely it has more to do with the recruitment process that is used to find Police Officers, IF simply because of an economic downturn an officer is able to be bribed and coerced into criminal activity then the system is fundamentally flawed and must be changed.
Policing is about placing trust in the hands of a select few members of society who we believe to be honest , fair and compassionate individuals, it shouldn’t be about pay and remuneration and sadly whilst we continue to offer salaries that are above other public sector workers then we will only ever have a police force that provides a basic service. We often hear the term “The Thin Blue Line”, a dictum that shows that the police are given a much more equitable position within society than they deserve. The judiciary firmly believe that no matter what, the police are honest, how many times have we heard within a trial the phrase “But why would the officer lie”, it’s a disgrace that police officers are still permitted to refer to their pocket books, also known as the little book of lies and it is shameful that evidence is permitted from officers patrolling in pairs, police corroboration is simply a system by which the police are legitimately lying to falsely convict individuals, because the legal system allows it. The judiciary are at fault, many cases brought before the Courts could be dismissed due to lack of evidence, disclosure delays and evidence misplacements, yet we still pursue these cases that fail and that costs money, huge sums of money are being swallowed up with cases that are doomed to fail, yet no one is questioning why this is continually happening. If the Police lose, misplace or alter evidence then that should be a strict liability issue and the individual (not the force they serve with ) should be immediately suspended without pay , an investigation should be undertaken by non police officers and if found to be at fault that officer should be arrested and charged for perjury, if found blameless then they should be compensated. Courts are clogged up, people have had DNA falsely taken and criminals created due to police corruption , police ineptness and that must change before the system self implodes. Already people are choosing to pay for private security to patrol their communities, they are installing CCTV to protect themselves from Police lies and they are failing to report crimes. Communities have lost faith with their police officers and the police withdraw even more, sadly they have become a rarity on the streets of our sink estates and wider communities.
To change policing they must regain OUR trust and that involves patrolling the streets on foot, interact with the public and cease immediately the use of corroborative evidence so that true justice is once again allowed to flourish. Remove the videos in custody suites and install one that is sent to a central location and cared for by non police officers, no video system should be able to be removed when it goes wrong as it does presently. Anyone found tampering with such equipment should be charged with perverting the course of justice as simply that IS what they are undertaking.
The police must learn from mistakes , they must learn to enforce legislation not divide and conquer, they must work with communities not against them and more importantly they must have discretion because that shows the human face of policing , an area in which most officers wouldn’t recognise today. The police must STOP their use of violence when making an arrest, in many cases it is pure overkill, they go in for the kill, it is no longer just a job it’s a personal situation they themselves have created by threatening unlawful behaviour that far outweighs their alleged offenders behaviour at the time. We only have to watch ‘Road cops’ or ‘Traffic cops’ Sky TV to get a fuller picture of police officers committing section 5 public order offences, the profanities, the violence the aggression, it is outrageous. Watching those programmes it isn’t hard for one to feel intimidated when a police officer is about, they are more tooled up than ‘Robo-Cop’ and that just isn’t fair. The balance we once had with the police and the community has been lost and it would be hard to regain but surely as a matter of public safety we should try.
K Clark-Stapleton
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Shock
After the violence of the police I saw at Bank on the first of April this doesn't particulary surprise me, tho I am shocked. It should surprise me because we are told so often that the police are there to uphold the law and serve the public, not beat the crap out of them for no reason.
MARCH ON SATURDAY 11th STARTING BETHNAL GREEN POLICE STATION 11:30, TO BANK TO PROTEST THE KILLING OF IAN TOMLINSON AND THE BRUTALITY OF THE POLICE ON THE 1st AND 2nd.
Through solidarity and peace we can bring this matter to a wider audience.