Posted by johnqpublican on Mon 20 Jul 2009 at 14:03
Fire!My first reaction to hearing, from a man on the ground with a mobile, that they had killed someone at the G20 demonstrations was to say "They've finally done it. As long as there's footage, this is the one they can't spin away. They've killed one of their own."
Ian Tomlinson was not only "innocent" in the sense that he was not a political dissident like the people he was trying to walk round, he was an "innocent" in the sense that he was laid low from behind by an armoured paramilitary while walking home from work. Imagery is king, and this decade we all have camera phones.
Lois Austin has been fighting the police over the illegality of temporary political imprisonment (kettling) since 2001. The Law Lords ruled against her last year, citing control of violent elements in the crowd as adequate reason for the police tactics in her case: but also laid down requirements upon the police should they wish the precedent to be upheld in future. Those requirements were all broken by Operation Glencoe.
Lois Austin's case is now before the ECHR, and Bindmans (solicitors representing Climate Camp activists) have filed a parallel case.
This article can be found online at the Police State UK website at the following bookmarkable URL:
This article is copyright 2009 johnqpublican - please ask for permission to republish or translate.