False Sense of Security (Force)

Another incident of police criminal assault is caught on camera and the IPCC is caused to become involved…but, are we not now at the point where it is clear the IPCC is more about the appearance of accountability than the actual holding of police criminality to account. It acts as a pressure valve for public dissatisfaction and anger, but is it effectively putting criminals who just happen to have a warrant card into jail? So this case goes to the IPCC and people can rest easier, that is the game, but the reality…Well put it this way police officers killed a man, lied about it and are currently still armed and in the service. The IPCC is a comfortable myth that obscures the increasing authoritarian attitude of entitlement in police forces and the impunity our state security forces operate under. In American security nomenclature protest is not classed a “Low Level Terrorism” and social movements as “terrorist environments” (ht2 BB). This is similar to NETCU’s approach-

The term ‘domestic extremism’ applies to unlawful action that is part of a protest or campaign. It is most often associated with ’single-issue’ protests, such as animal rights, anti-war, anti-globalisation and anti-GM (genetically modified) crops.

The existence of the IPCC is an effective PR rebuttal to claims of an encroaching security apparatus, but the legitimacy of that counter argument rests on the institution being an effective independent investigation unit that gets results and polices the police.

Nick Hardwick, head of the Independent Police Complaints Commission said the severity of the G20 complaints and injuries alleged is greater – although the difference may be accounted for by the presence of “citizen journalists” with mobile phone cameras at the G20 protest. “One of the consequences of this exposure through citizen journalism is that we will all see much more clearly what it is – and sometimes it looks ugly – what we expect the police to do,” he told MPs.

Against Guidelines, Police Clearly Using Pain Compliance

This was a Tasering sent to Trent FM in Nottingham

(sorry Daily Mail) According to guidelines from the Association of Chief Police Officers, they must not be used indiscriminately. Guidelines issued to forces state: ‘The use of taser is one of a number of tactical options available to an officer who is faced with violence or the threat of violence.

 ‘Its purpose is to temporarily incapacitate an individual in order to control the threat that they pose.

‘It must not be used to inflict severe pain or suffering in the performance of official duties.’

So either the cops broke the guidelines or this is a big fib they are being taught to use pain compliance or in other words electro-torture to make people do whatever the officer wants them to do. Oh yeah, they punched him a fair bit too.

Taser– This machine creates fascists.

Night & Fog?

Just caught this odd snippet of news-

POLICE swarmed a property in a usually-quiet cul-de-sac last night.

A resident reported seeing eight officers with Taser guns arrive at a property in Bryn Canol, Bedwas, at 7.50pm yesterday, but Gwent Police said none of the officers had been armed.

A spokesman for the force refused to explain the incident to the Echo and said: “It is nothing I’m willing to discuss at this time.”

Now is that ok that the police are refusing to explain their actions and are they saying Tasers do not count as being armed? If it isn’t admitted to does it not happen? Strange.

Report on Kingsnorth Policing Buried

Chris Ames, Index on Censorship:- The Home Office and Kent Police have buried a report on the policing of last summer’s climate camp at Kingsnorth power station, provoking suspicions that it was critical of the controversial police tactics at the protest.

 During the protest last August, activists complained of aggressive policing, including violence against peaceful protestors, excessive use of stop and search powers, arbitrary arrests and mass confiscation of personal property. A number of MPs called for an inquiry.

 Last December, policing minister Vernon Coaker told MPs that the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) was “considering the lessons to be learned” from Kingsnorth. He said he would discuss its report with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and would then “be happy to share those conclusions” with Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary David Howarth.

But the report has been shelved, apparently because Kent Police did not like its findings, despite sending it back to be revised. Soon after receiving a “final” version, Chief Constable Michael Fuller commissioned a second review, on the grounds that the NPIA report “was not an evaluation of the operation overall or whether or not strategic and tactical objectives were achieved”.

 The force also refused to hand the report to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). Kent Police have declined to say what the report’s findings were, in spite of a claim that its policy “has always been to be open and transparent in everything we do”.

The Home Office is now presenting the second review, which is being carried out by an assistant chief constable of South Yorkshire Police, as a “report by the NPIA”, even though both the NPIA and South Yorkshire Police have stated that the NPIA are not involved.

[More]

& Chris Ames in the Guardian, (ht2 Indymedia)

For Muslim Men The UK Is A Secret Police State Already

Five Muslim community workers have accused MI5 of waging a campaign of blackmail and harassment in an attempt to recruit them as informants. The men claim they were given a choice of working for the Security Service or face detention and harassment in the UK and overseas.

They have made official complaints to the police, to the body which oversees the work of the Security Service and to their local MP Frank Dobson. Now they have decided to speak publicly about their experiences in the hope that publicity will stop similar tactics being used in the future.

Three of the men say they were detained at foreign airports on the orders of MI5 after leaving Britain on family holidays last year.

After they were sent back to the UK, they were interviewed by MI5 officers who, they say, falsely accused them of links to Islamic extremism. On each occasion the agents said they would lift the travel restrictions and threat of detention in return for their co-operation. When the men refused some of them received what they say were intimidating phone calls and threats.

Two other Muslim men say they were approached by MI5 at their homes after police officers posed as postmen. Each of the five men, aged between 19 and 25, was warned that if he did not help the security services he would be considered a terror suspect. A sixth man was held by MI5 for three hours after returning from his honeymoon in Saudi Arabia. He too claims he was threatened with travel restrictions if he tried to leave the UK.

An agent who gave her name as Katherine is alleged to have made direct threats to Adydarus Elmi, a 25-year-old cinema worker from north London. In one telephone call she rang him at 7am to congratulate him on the birth of his baby girl. His wife was still seven months’ pregnant and the couple had expressly told the hospital that they did not want to know the sex of their child.

Mr Elmi further alleges: “Katherine tried to threaten me by saying, and it still runs through my mind now: ‘Remember, this won’t be the last time we ever meet.’ And then during our last conversation she explained: ‘If you do not want anything to happen to your family you will co-operate.'”

More @ The Independent 
Remember Bisher al Rawi, who ended up in Gitmo after he was approached, worked for MI5 and then subject to extraordinary rendition and torture when he was framed as a ‘terror suspect’ for having …a battery charger from Argos. It looks like they are using tougher blackmail & harassment tactics now that rendition and the black site prison network are more common knowledge. For young Muslim men in Britain this amounts to an almost apartheid condition, note they have gone to the papers with this suggesting the exhaustive avenues they took of normal redress were not so helpful. Even now the men arrested in Manchester are being denied their rights and the government looks to deport them -in a fit of pique (?)- after finding zero evidence. The NUS Black Students’ Campaign (or here) have passed a motion supporting these students and Hicham Yezza.

Filth

The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said today that he was extremely concerned about some aspects of the policing of the G20 demonstrations although he insisted the vast majority of his officers had done a “remarkably good job”. Giving evidence in front of the Commons home affairs select committee, Stephenson said images of officers apparently lashing out at protesters “were a real concern and should be investigated thoroughly”. But he denied the footage showed behaviour that was “incompatible with British policing”.

Yesterday the MPs also heard from Commander Bob Broadhurst, who was in charge of policing the G20 event. He defended his officers saying they had been “superb” in challenging circumstances.

“The vast majority of those officers have never faced a situation as violent as that,” he said. “I do have a concern that some of our officers have not faced that. I would like to train them more but we don’t have the time.”

What violent situation? Oh the one your agent provocateurs tried to instigate you mean! Talk about rewriting history. And good to see the commissioner thinks murder is a compatible method of British policing. No change there.

Worth a look- Launch of United Campaign Against Police Violence

Pigs

An MP who was involved in last month’s G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds. Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards. Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon. (ht2 LC)

And really, if you think the sobriquet is undeserved why don’t you go watch ‘The Bill’ and drool into your bib like a good citizen.

Pig Ignorant

It’s not so much what this plod posted to Facebook

“Rob Ward can’t wait to bash some long haired hippys up @ the G20.”

Twenty minutes later another Facebook user posted a reply that said: “Dats bad but good in da same way lol [laugh out loud].”

But that the culture of the police led him to think it was a funny and acceptable thing to write. Also it’s nice to see their pejorative nomenclature is around 40 years out of date, fascists eh?

It Was a TSG Officer

And over 48hours later still not questioned, also hilariously the Met claim they didn’t mislead the press.

…sources with knowledge of the inquiry said the officer from the Met’s territorial support group had yet to be interviewed by the IPCC, which declined to confirm or deny whether investigators had spoken to him.

As the Met released a statement insisting the force had not intended to deliberately mislead the public over the death, Nick Hardwick, chairman of the IPCC, defended his organisation’s handling of the case. He revealed the watchdog had received witness statements alleging contact between Tomlinson and police as early as Friday. But it was not until five days later that the IPCC investigation became an independent criminal inquiry, rather than one overseen by the watchdog but conducted by City of London police. The announcement came only after the Guardian handed the watchdog a dossier of evidence indicating that Tomlinson, who was not a protester, had been assaulted as he walked home from work.

Clearly both the police & IPCC were going to sit tight and ignore it, only independent video forced this into the open. A Rotten Force with a corrupted oversight body.

Hardwick also hinted at the significance of the Guardian’s footage when he revealed there were no CCTV cameras in the area where Tomlinson was assaulted.

Is this true, really? In that part of London? Does that mean the cops knew they were in a blind spot so they could crack some heads? Or is it to defuse people asking -where’s the CCTV footage? And what about police helicopter & FIT footage? And what about these-

Pic by fotdmike @flickr

About the personal video system VV3000. Any of those rolling in the vicinity?

The IPCC previously said-

“The investigation is continuing to look through CCTV footage to see whether the incident inside Royal Exchange Passage has been captured and we already have a number of witness accounts from the area.

So how can you look through footage if there are no cameras? Do they mean none in the immediate area but ones close by might have caught it in their periphery? Or do they mean- Footage Deleted.

Harriet Wistrich, who represents the family of Jean Charles De Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead by police who misidentified him as a suicide bomber, said last night that the Guardian’s video appeared to show strong evidence that a crime had been committed. “In these circumstances, I can’t reason why the officer involved could not be arrested and questioned under caution at this time.”

Obstruction and Censorship At The G20 Murder

Jim Jay has evidence that the police also obstructed the ambulance as it tried to get to Ian Tomlinson, which is something the false statement the police put out through the gullible media accused protesters of. Maybe a good rule with police statements is to assume projection in an attempt to deny their culpability. But also form that post, the police stopped photographers form recording their activity, read the article from the British Journal of Photography, having been caught the Met ‘apologise’ which sounds so lovely and polite until you realise their objective has been achieved and this is after the fact PR. Also ask yourself if the official press were barred and pictures force deleted by police of everyone else then what record to contradict the police falsehoods covering up Ian Tomlinson’s murder, the CCTV? The same CCTV that mysteriously stops working at crucial times & places when the police injure or kill someone? And note the police photograph and film the public constantly for a database they denied existed.

Update: Via HarpyMarx, the cop is on suspension but we learn-

The officer in the video, who was wearing riot gear and whose face was covered by a balaclava, identified himself to his manager and the IPCC yesterday as fresh pictures suggested he had removed his shoulder number and covered his face with a balaclava before hitting Tomlinson with a baton and then pushing him to the ground on Cornhill, in the City of London, last Wednesday.

Shows premeditation to me, bet he’s lawyered up like a mofo.

Shock Horror, IPCC Whistleblower Says It’s On The Police’s Side

Heralded as a force for change at its launch, the Independent Police Complaints Commission is out of touch, ineffective and takes the side of the police rather than the public, claims former member John Crawley

Only around 100 IPCC investigations, plus 150 police investigations “managed” by the IPCC, are undertaken each year, compared to 29,000 complaints. The majority of those 100 are not even complaints about day-to-day policing, but concern incidents where Article 2 of the Human Rights Act – the police’s duty to safeguard life – may be involved, and by law require IPCC investigation. Some, such as the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube in 2005 and possibly the death last week of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in London, rightly attract great public concern. But the question, “Do you have to be dead before the IPCC takes an interest in your case?”, is too near the truth.

Next week- Large amounts of bear dung found in forested regions.

Murder At The G20

Dramatic footage obtained by the Guardian shows that the man who died at last week’s G20 protests in London was attacked from behind and thrown to the ground by a baton–wielding police officer in riot gear.

Moments after the assault on Ian Tomlinson was captured on video, he suffered a heart attack and died.

Video & more @ The Guardian

It should also be noted the police lied through their teeth to cover this up. As one Mr Ice Cube once so memorably said–

Fuck tha police

How That Prison Industrial Complex Thingy Works

Via A Tiny Revolution–

(NYT) Edwina Nowlin, a poor Michigan resident, was ordered to reimburse a juvenile detention center $104 a month for holding her 16-year-old son. When she explained to the court that she could not afford to pay, Ms. Nowlin was sent to prison. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, which helped get her out last week after she spent 28 days behind bars, says it is seeing more people being sent to jail because they cannot make various court-ordered payments. That is both barbaric and unconstitutional.

There was also the awful scam whereby judges were paid kickbacks by prison corporations to increase incarceration numbers in their juvenile facilities (“The judge’s whim is all that mattered in that courtroom. The law was basically irrelevant”). Thus sending thousands of kids to jail and possibly ruining their lives for ever in return for millions in bribes. Ain’t capitalism grand?

Which also reminds me a bit of this-

Clive Stafford Smith, acting in his role as an attorney for then-Guantanamo detainee Binyam Mohamed, sent a letter to Barack Obama [PDF] detailing torture techniques inflicted upon his client. A Pentagon review team then censored all the details of this torture from Smith’s letter. (See Breaking: Pentagon Hiding Torture Evidence from Obama.)

Now Mohamed’s attorneys face up to six months in jail, accused by Robert Gates’ Department of Defense of breaking the rules for Guanatanamo attorneys and of “unprofessional conduct” in the writing of the letter to Obama.

That was the torture that UK judges hushed up under the whining lies of David Miliband, now Gates and the Pentagon want to collar Mohamed’s lawyers for attempting to tell the President the tortures they and their CIA chums were inflicting. Actually what that reminds me of is a report where volunteers tried to obtain a complaints form from Florida police stations and were intimidated and threatened with arrest. The journalist who produced the report was then targeted by the police with a wanted notice (incidentally… the original report on the TV station’s site is gone, but there is a report on a newspaper’s site).

I’d really like to see how the Obama administration explains it is different to the previous criminal one as it tries to put Clive Stafford Smith in jail, while continuing to obstruct any attempt to follow its own laws and treaty obligations and prosecute the Bush regime over its publicly admitted torture program.

PS. Actually it is different, if by different you mean worse.

Blair Peach & Ian Tomlinson, Another Police Murder

If you don’t recall the Blair Peach case well here’s a refresher–

Blair was an east London teacher who had come over from New Zealand. He was also a member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and the Anti Nazi League. He was killed protesting at the Nazi National Front (NF), which was holding a meeting in the predominantly Asian area of Southall, west London. His police killers still walk free.

“As the police rushed past him, one of them hit him on the head with the stick. I was in my garden and saw this quite clearly. He was left sitting against the wall. He tried to get up, but he was shivering and looked very strange. He couldn’t stand. Then the police came back and told him, ‘Move! Come on, move!’ They were very rough with him and I was shocked because it was clear he was seriously hurt.”

When the lockers and some houses of Special Patrol Group members were later searched coshes, knives, bayonets, swords and Nazi regalia were found. The unit was later disbanded. But since then the police have been consistently deployed to defend Nazi events in Britain.

[More detail]

His supporters, The Friends of Blair Peach have now written to the Met to address the whitewash that meant no copper was charged with anything despite the Nazi regalia in one of the attacking cop’s home & locker and witness testimony of police brutality.

OPEN LETTER TO THE HOME SECRETARY AND THE COMMISSIONER OF THE METROPOLITAN POLICE

On April 23rd 1979 at a demonstration against the presence of the far right National Front in Southall a friend of mine, Blair Peach, was struck over the head by an, as yet, still unidentified member of the Special Patrol Group and died the next day from injuries sustained from the blow.

A subsequent enquiry into the events of that day by Commander Cass has never been released in full but we are able to say that a number of things have been established. When the lockers of three of the named officers were opened and the home of another was searched the following items were found.

PC White: crowbar, small metal cosh, whip handle, whip, brass handle.

PC Woodcock: US type truncheon, two knives.

Inspector Hopkins: wooden truncheon.

PC Bint’s house revealed bayonets, swords, a cosh and Nazi memorabilia.

All of these things, but especially the Nazi memorabilia found in the home of PC Bint, should have given rise to the greatest of concern about the political orientation of at least some of the members of the SPG. The investigation conducted by Commander Cass at the time has never been made fully public but it believed that he recommended that at least six officers should have been prosecuted for, amongst other things, murder and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Although an early day motion was signed shortly in 1980 by nearly 150 MPs demanding a public enquiry, none was ever conducted. One of the MPs who signed was Jack Straw who, when he became Home Secretary, refused to conduct the very investigation he had asked for nearly two decades earlier.

Various ruses have been used by the Metropolitan Police over the years to prevent the publication of the report. The latest is a refusal under the Freedom of Information Act on the grounds that it ” would affect the immediate family and friends of Blair Peach, owing to the circumstances of the death and the information contained within the report”. As far as is known, the family has never been consulted about this and someone has taken the decision on their behalf.

It is highly unlikely that, had the inquest taken place today, the jury would have returned a verdict of misadventure. A number of factors effecting the original decision of death by misadventure would not have applied. The press and the political establishment almost uniformly blamed the anti fascists for the violence. Press cuttings of the time describe a race riot which it most certainly was not. It was a riot by police officers, which could have been prevented by the Metropolitan Police asking the Home Secretary to ban the march.

The Met themselves must take a great deal of responsibility for the events, not only of that day, but for several years of provocative National Front matches, many of them through areas with high proportions of ethnic minorities, with easily predictable results: vilence, arrests and convictions, damage to property and finally death.

There is no longer any excuse for the Cass report not to be released in full and the longer it is not, the more it looks as if the police are covering up another shameful page in their history. This is not an exercise in retribution or revenge, simply an attempt to get justice for Blair and to establish the fact that people have right to protest peacefully without the risk of injury or death from those whose job it is to preserve the conditions for peaceful protest.

I look forward to hearing from you both.

The Friends of Blair Peach

So 30 years later and…looks like they have done it again, we have already seen the difference between the police version of events and the publics regarding the death of Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests, but now the gap is wider than ever. The version of events propagated through the media by the police-

The man had collapsed within a police cordon set up to contain the crowds who had assembled in central London and the City to protest over the G20 summit. There were 63 arrests on the day.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission was being notified last night. Scotland Yard said the alarm had been raised by a member of the public who spoke to a police officer on a cordon at the junction of Birchin Lane and Cornhill in the City.

He sent two medics through the cordon line and into nearby St Michael’s Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing. They called for ambulance support at about 7.30pm and moved him back behind the cordon where they gave him cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

“The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles – believed to be bottles – were being thrown at them”, said a police statement. The ambulance service took the man to hospital where he died.

A London ambulance spokesman said: “Our staff immediately took over the treatment of the patient and made extensive efforts to resuscitate him both at the scene and on the way to hospital.”

Now what is coming out-

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.

A female protester, who does not want to be named but has given her testimony to the IPCC, said she saw a man she later recognised as Tomlinson being pushed aggressively from behind by officers. “I saw a man violently propelled forward, as though he’d been flung by the arm, and fall forward on his head.

“He hit the top front area of his head on the pavement. I noticed his fall particularly because it struck me as a horrifically forceful push by a policeman and an especially hard fall; it made me wince.”

Mr Tomlinson, a married man who lived alone in a bail hostel, was not taking part in the protests. Initially, his death was attributed by a police post mortem to natural causes. A City of London police statement said: “[He] suffered a sudden heart attack while on his way home from work.”

But this version of events was challenged after witnesses recognised the dead man from photographs that were published on Friday.

So there’s a lesson in this, they get away with it and like any good recidivist they do it again. Now then a reminder of the sort of police involved in the G20 operation, just swap SPG for TSG –

The Met has confirmed that since 1992 all six (TSG) officers involved in the Ahmad assault had been subject to at least 77 complaints. When lawyers for Ahmad asked for details of these allegations it emerged that the police had “lost” several large mail sacks detailing at least 30 of the complaints.

Created in January 1987, the territorial support group (TSG) is on the frontline of policing in the capital, and its 720 officers are often the first on the scene of major disturbances. TSG units have policed every march and demonstration in London over the past two decades, including the poll tax protests, BNP disturbances and “stop the City” demonstrations. They also provide anti-terrorism support and have firearm and taser expertise. They will be on the frontline again next month when they help to police protesters who are expected to gather for the G20 summit in London.

Oh and-

More than 1,000 serving police officers in Britain have criminal convictions, the Liberal Democrats have reported. [Police Service of Northern Ireland refused to answer the Lib Dems’ request for information.] More than half of the 1,063 convictions relate to speeding or other motoring offences; 77 officers have convictions for violence and 96 for dishonesty.

Don’t have nightmares.

Man Dies At G20 Protests

Would it surprise you the police version is wildly at variance with eyewitness testimony from the public? First of all, a quick taste of the standard of police ethics at the protest-

Why were the police doing this? One answer: “It’s the superior powers, I’m afraid”, said one policeman in good temper (rather in the spirit of the WW1 infantry song, ‘We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here’).

Another police officer (something like): “I don’t have to give you an explanation because I am acting on information which is not available to you.”

A third police officer: “There was violence inside the Camp.”

Now this I knew, almost certainly, was a complete, bare-faced lie. I had been inside the Camp up until about twenty minutes before the police started this deployment. Given the atmosphere when I left, it was inconceivable that the Camp had suddenly become violent. It was a party!

So I looked thepoliceman in the eye: “That’s bare-faced lie – I was in the camp just before this started and I know it wasn’t violent.”

His reply? He immediately conceded, with a bit of a laugh, that, yes, he had indeed lied. Feeling a rush of republican self-righteousness hitting me, I asked him if he thought that this is how police officers properly serve the citizenry: by telling them bare-faced lies. Obviously hoping that I would just shut up and go away, he sort-of laughed again and agreed that, yes, this is how police officers properly serve the public.

Now what the people say-

Daily Maybe:- I have an eye witness account from on the ground who saw a man who’d collapsed (rather than pushed or beaten to ground or whatever, although he may have been concussed from an incident earlier).

Protesters called for assistance from the police and helped medical assistance get through. The police were not obstructed in any way.

It is definitely and absolutely untrue that the police were pelted with bottles. This did not happen.

Remember Menezes. Remember how the police use lies as propaganda to cover themselves. Don’t fall for it. My eyewitness was there the whole time and nothing of the kind happened.

Lenin’s Tomb comments from this post:-  My boss (yes, a senior manager at the bank I work at!) went over last night to see what was going on. He literally was next to the man who collapsed and died. He swears NO ONE was throwing a thing. And that the reason the police couldn’t get to the guy was because the cops were using dogs against the protesters and the protesters were running away from them (towards where the guy was). Now interestingly, my boss said the guy looked about 50. The man who died went to the ground and started convulsing. So he seemed to think it was natural causes. But other than that bit, every single thing the police have said is wrong.

I will ask my boss to contact the solicitors, as he is a senior manager at the bank and a very unimpeachable source (in that the police can’t say he was involved in any way or had any sympathies to the protestors – they can’t just brush him off). But I won’t hold my breath. He’s a good man, but it may be too difficult for him to do (i.e. to stand up).

Chicken Yoghurt followed the media as they propagate police versions uncritically and a good point made @ Liberal Conspiracy, this is after the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights said only a week ago was “too heavy-handed in dealing with protests”, that is our representatives democratically made it known this was unacceptable. However the police on orders from superiors (working with govt and overseas security) continue to do it, this is clearly not a policing system for a the people in a democratic society. As posted at the Tomb-

Anyone who witnessed any part of this, or has any pertinent information, should write a full statement and contact the legal team at Bindmans Solicitors on 020 7833 4433 and the Legal Monitoring groups present at the demonstrations.

So what really did the elites do in London and why might a belligerent and unaccountable security force be needed, well as Otto observes–

You can read it yourself by clicking right here, “it” being the official PDF from the G20 London summit. But in a nutshell the idea seems to be to empower the world bankers via the IMF, the body of suits that screwed Latin America into the ground in the 1980’s and 1990’s, to get us out of the mess caused by the world’s bankers.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?