Police 'assaulted' bystander who died during G20 protests
"The man who died during last week's G20 protests was "assaulted" by riot police shortly before he suffered a heart attack, according to witness statements received by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Investigators are examining a series of corroborative accounts that allege Ian Tomlinson, 47, was a victim of police violence in the moments before he collapsed near the Bank of England in the City of London last Wednesday evening. Three witnesses have told the Observer that Mr Tomlinson was attacked violently as he made his way home from work at a nearby newsagents. One claims he was struck on the head with a baton.
Photographer Anna Branthwaite said: "I can remember seeing Ian Tomlinson. He was rushed from behind by a riot officer with a helmet and shield two or three minutes before he collapsed." Branthwaite, an experienced press photographer, has made a statement to the IPCC.
Another independent statement supports allegations of police violence. Amiri Howe, 24, recalled seeing Mr Tomlinson being hit "near the head" with a police baton. Howe took one of a sequence of photographs that show a clearly dazed Mr Tomlinson being helped by a bystander."
The rest here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/05/g20-protest-ian-tomlinson
Such a lonley thread. Too bad Mr. Tomlinson hadn't broken a window so that we could at least blame him for his own death.
Wow, that's a fabulous remark, FM. Thanks for sharing.
And not a thing will happen to the riot police!
I guess we'll see what happens.
I don't know to what degree the IPCC has been able to deal with cop abuse of people issues. The IPCC's website is interesting though. You can file a complaint against the cops online. You certainly can't do that here.
http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/
Contrast this with Ontario's Civilian Commission on Police Services website:
http://www.occps.ca/
In Ontario, only the person affected by the incident can make a complaint. So if a cop beats the crap out of you, you can make a complaint. But...if you see a cop beat the crap out of someone you can't file a complaint.
Such a lonley thread. Too bad Mr. Tomlinson hadn't broken a window so that we could at least blame him for his own death.
thank you for the awesome comment!
They have video and it was on the 6:00 news.
The quotation marks need to be removed from the word "assaulted". It's right there on the tape.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qrpdrn5kb0s
Good link cue, Lucky for England they actually have a paper like the guardian. I wish we did. Just another example of police brutality.
They killed that guy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XziS5RlRMJs&NR=1
So what if I saw someone getting beat up by random people and I wasn't allowed to call police? Would that go over very well?
The violent behaviour of the London Met has been all over the news here, although only the Guardian doesn't try to paint the protestors as being 'provocative' or the police's reactions as merely 'disproportionate' rather than 'fascist'. Only Tomlinson has been killed, but there is countless evidence at the bullying, joyful vioence enacted by the entire poice force. Here is a collection of video evidence so far, including a second suspension by the giant nazi with his badge number concealed who backhanded and then batonned a small female protestor who was remonstrating the police for beating a second protestor who seems to be just standing around. This incident took place not at the G20 protests, but, ironically, at the vigil held in support of the man the poliss murdered, Ian Tomlinson.
Other highlights include a mass of police beating a crowd with their shields and batons while the protestors raise their hands shouting 'this is not a riot' and a met officer dispersing a group of journalists with a draconian measure meant to resolve violent or disruptive gatherings.
Videos
Second postmortem shows Tomlinson died of 'internal bleeding', not heart attack
The dramatic new evidence, made public yesterday, provoked an immediate response from the victim's family, who said that they had been "badly misled" by police.
It emerged last night that the Metropolitan police officer who had been suspended from duty has now been interviewed under caution on suspicion of manslaughter by investigators from the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Incidentally, the first postmortem was conducted by pathologist Dr. Freddy Patel, with rather alarming quickness. Patel has also been reprimanded twice for questionable ethical conduct.
They are fucking terrorists, these London cops.
Police officer lawfully beat up small female protester, London court rules
Delroy Smellie was suspended last year after video footage was posted on YouTube showing him back-handing a protester and striking her twice on the legs with his metal baton.
He was acquitted of assault by beating after a four-day trial in which his alleged victim, protester Nicola Fisher, declined to give evidence.
Smellie, from the Met's territorial support group (TSG), a specialist public order unit, argued during his trial that he believed Fisher posed a threat to himself and fellow officers. He said he repeatedly struck Fisher, who was considerably smaller than him, after mistaking a carton of orange juice and digital camera she was carrying for weapons.
The district judge, Daphne Wickham, said there was no evidence that his use of the baton was not approved, correct or measured, adding that Smellie had a "mere seven seconds" to act, and other witnesses had feared for his safety.
She said: "It was for the prosecution to prove this defendant was not acting in lawful self-defence. I have found the prosecution has failed in this respect and the defendant has raised the issue of lawful self-defence and as such is entitled to be acquitted."
Ian Tomlinson death: verdict tomorrow on whether police will be charged
The Crown Prosecution Service will tomorrow make its long-awaited announcement about whether a police officer will face criminal charges over the death of Ian Tomlinson.
After Tomlinson died at the G20 protests in London last year, video obtained by the Guardian showed that an officer had attacked him, undermining the authorities' initial version of events.
His family will be informed on Thursday morning if criminal charges will be brought over the death, the CPS has confirmed.
The possible charges include manslaughter, assault and misconduct in public office. Or, the CPS may decide not to bring any charges.
Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper seller, had been walking home from work through the protests in the City on 1 April 2009 when he was struck from behind by a member of the Metropolitan police's territorial support group (TSG).
In deciding whether the officer should face trial, CPS lawyers have examined the video footage along with other documents and witness statements. The high-profile nature of the case means the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, is believed to have been involved in deciding whether charges should be brought.
Starmer is expected to announce personally whether any charges will be brought.
Whatever Starmer says, I think this kind of process is hopelessly flawed. As we know from Abu Ghraib, as we saw in Toronto last month, set up the system and the brutality will follow. I'm not saying that individual brutes should not be prosecuted, because I believe we all should be responsible for running les ordres through a functioning human conscience and consciousness. But we cannot understand how and why these things happen unless we take the systems apart, from the top down -- which, of course, this investigation was never designed to do.
well again, another shining example of why the working class should not follow Public Inquiries set up by the bourgeoisie. It's just a waste of our time.
WE should get into the habit of set up our own and come to our own conclusions and apropreate responces to our findings.
Surprise, surprise: police officer will not face criminal charges
Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said there was "no realistic prospect" of a conviction, because of a conflict between the postmortems carried out after the death of Ian Tomlinson last year.
The newspaper seller died following the demonstrations on 1 April 2009 in central London. The official account that he died from a heart attack was undermined when the Guardian obtained video footage showing a riot officer striking the 47-year-old with a baton and shoving him to the ground shortly before he collapsed and died.
In a written statement the CPS admitted that there was sufficient evidence to show the officer had assaulted Tomlinson, but claimed a host of technical reasons meant he could not be charged.
Tomlinson's stepson Paul King, flanked by his mother, Julia, who was struggling to hold back tears, said: "It's been a huge cover-up and they're incompetent."
The family solicitor, Jules Carey, said the decision was a disgrace and said Tomlinson's relatives would be considering whether they could mount an appeal.
"Clearly it is a disgraceful decision," he said. "We now need to find out if there has been a lack of will or incompetence, and frankly there needs to be an inquiry into that.
This is basically what any inquiry into the Toronto G20 travesty can expect: not only will it lack the serious investigation skdadl mentions, into the sickness that infects our law enforcement, and into our obsession and illusions in this country of what constitutes security anyway; the right to commit crimes while a police officer will be cravenly upheld.
Honestly, I feel uncomfortable saying this but I think that nothing will change until an appreciable amount of people are killed during a protest, ala Bloody Sunday.
A death here or there is easy to explain (thug that deserved it, unrelated reason like heart attack, rogue cop etc)
This is basically what any inquiry into the Toronto G20 travesty can expect: not only will it lack the serious investigation skdadl mentions, into the sickness that infects our law enforcement, and into our obsession and illusions in this country of what constitutes security anyway; the right to commit crimes while a police officer will be cravenly upheld.
Well of course, but we are in harm-reduction mode. Nothing will come of these investigations in any serious manner. At best one or two officers will get slaps on the wrist and some kind of "policy" recomendations will be made, but it is still incumbent upon people to follow the processess through, and make complaints and so on, because that at least will serve to make them careful about what they do, and limit them to a certain extent.
Any resistance at any level, does have an impact.