Hi all,

So according to the guardian, it now seems the man who tragically died at the Bank of England protest was allegedly hit and pushed to the ground by a group of policeman before staggering off and suffering a heart attack.Originally I set up the group from the perspective of climate camp. However, it is clear that in a number of instances of disproportionate force have been used throughout the policing of the G20 event have occured. ANY violent, disproportionate behaviour by police against peaceful protestors should not be tolerated, so I have included other incidents you may not have heard about below.News - Death at bank of EnglandMan who died at G20 protest was assaulted by police before he collapsed according to witness statements published in the guardian here: #http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/06/g20-ian-tomlinson-police-assault

Video of Ambulance arriving here shows many protestors try to help the man by moving out of the way, again conflicting with police reports of protestors ‘pelting police with bottles’ as they tried to help.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f0S6PPLI8Q (thanks Jonny) The original statement from the police made no mention of the man being hit and knocked to the floor, so did the policeman involve try to cover the incident up? Whatever the case the police PR department certainly played a role in spinning the G20 protests in a very different light to how they actually transpired and many mainstream media outlets bought it hook line and sinker.- Climate camp protestHere is an extract of an account from one of the victims of the assault, posted on the group page....”My girlfriend was pressure pointed on the neck (extremely painful), dragged off me and had her wrists bent behind her back by two policemen who threatened to break them. They dragged her outside the police cordon and then said "what should we do with her now?" before the other said "let's throw her back in", which they did - head first, with her hands behind her back. She landed on the floor and has now got severe bruising on her legs and very painful wrists (which we actually thought might be broken). During this I was punched full in the face my one of the policemen. I was on the floor and absolutely no threat, but he still punched me. I was grabbed and pushed towards the crowd as a group of policemen descended on me, smashing me in the head with the sides of their shields. The whole time I had my hands in the air and did not fight back at all, but that didn’t stop them...”I think it speaks for itself really...

- Taser deployment being investigatedTasers deployed against protestors in police raid on the Thursday morning after the Climate Camp and Bank of England Protests. I have received video footage of the taser incident, although the video is hard to make out as the person with the camera was trying to hide it to avoid it being confiscated, you can make out the taser at the start and at 24 seconds into the video.The group arrested appear to by lying down offering themselves up for arrest when police burst in and point tasers at them. The legal guidance I have been sent on drawing tasers is as follows:

"The person in question also has to a serious threat to safety and capable of serious violence and harm. He has to be demonstrating that level of threat at the time of the Taser incident."

Having seen the video it seems unlikely any of the group were offering any threat of violence.


Action:WHAT YOU CAN DO- Petition against kettlingBecca linked a petition created at number 10 downing street calling for the tactic of Kettling to be banned for use in instances of peaceful protest. I’ve just signed please spare a moment to do the same.- Another group to support!Kettle the Met – very imaginative and light hearted way of getting the message across to the Metropolitan police – send them your old kettle! (preferably with a message to recycle not to use as a weapon to belabour innocent protestors with...http://www.facebook.com/group.php?sid=278c4ce9cde8bbc3809126a179cec22d&gid=82210837463&ref=search-

And of course keep spreading the word! The more people who hear the better, if you’ve read this far your obviously interested so forward the group link onto 10 friends... Link to Protest against police intimidation here:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60467068334#/group.php?gid=60467068334

If there is enough interest I will be looking into whether we can stage some form of demo and/or mass lobby of parliament. Would be great to get other groups involved. I'm very open to ideas so feel free to msg me although may take me a little while to respond.