Alfa CRG, I totally disagree with your post.
There were a number of separate G20 protests, each protest concerned a different issue and each protest was held in a different location. The majority of the G20 protests were legal and peaceful. The only protesters committing criminal damage (breaking bank windows) and covering their faces were the anti-globalisation protesters.
The police told the media that there was trouble at the anti-globalisation protest, so this is where the media focused their cameras and because protesters smashing windows makes good footage, only this protest was reported. In the light of Ian Tomlinson’s death the media were forced into a u-turn and to report on police brutality carried out on completely peaceful and law-abiding protesters.
Alfa CRG you say “the Police were doing their job, controlling hooligans”, well you branded all people that protest (as every citizen in the UK has right to) as hooligans.
Was Ian Tomlinson a hooligan? Did he deserve to die following three attacks by the police (only the last attack was captured on camera) as he tried to walk home with his hands in his pockets? After his death the police went into standard cover-up mode, with even the IPCC claiming there was no CCTV of the incident, using a questionable coroner for the autopsy and allowing police from the very same constabulary to investigate themselves.
Then you say, “I watched some of the live footage on TV and the police kept very calm despite protesters 'egging' them on. It was also frustrating that these same protesters wore masks and covered their faces, so naturally the police were nervous” once again the only protesters to cover their faces were the anti-globalisation protesters. The other G20 protests were legal and peaceful, unprovoked the police still ‘kettled’, then baton charged and beat the protesters with the edge of their riot shields!
Ironically many of the police involved were covering their faces with balaclavas and had removed their shoulder identification numbers (an illegal act since the public has a right to be able to identify any uniformed officer whilst performing their duty, at all times). If you watched the Select Committee proceedings on BBC news this morning, even the police Commissioner and police Chief Inspector of Constabulary stated that this was “utterly unacceptable”.
Perhaps you think that it is acceptable for a police officer that had removed his shoulder identification number, to push, then hit across the face and finally baton across the legs of a female protester? This was not an isolated incident, the IPCC received a total of 145 complaints. Many of the police behave like animals, think they are above the law, forget that they are supposed to protect and serve the public. Over time the police have regularly demonstrated that they abuse their powers and their remit, which is why we now have the CPS and IPCC in order to provide proper accountability.
The G20 protests have shown that in the modern media age, the police have also forgotten that the media and protesters cameras are focused on them and will capture violent and illegal police brutality. Watch the following footage and explain how it is acceptable for the police to ‘kettle’ and then attack peaceful G20 climate camp protesters that are holding their hands in the air and shouting “no violence”. This is just a small selection of the footage available on YouTube, there are many more videos that are too numerous to list:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t244-zEENSs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5794DZu8iG0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ysKLt3duo
In the UK it seems that the hard-fought for ‘freedom of speech’, ‘right to protest’ and ‘civil liberties’ are falling faster than a fat man sky diving for cake. Many politicians and social commentators have equated the current situation in the UK to that of 1930s Germany. Consider the poem by Martin Niemöller:
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."
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g20 and police by 'kudos' (18 Apr 2009 @ 23:29)
