Dozens held (including Spiderman) after G20 protest raids
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Independent Minds
Andrew Winning / Reuters
A police officer arrests a woman after she resisted against being stopped and searched near the Bank of England
More pictures
Police seized dozens of protesters in raids on two squats today as the hunt for violent G20 anarchists continued.
The number of arrests linked to the summit topped 100 as officers rounded up demonstrators accused of smashing their way into the Royal Bank of Scotland.
More than 80 people were detained in two disused buildings within walking distance of the Bank of England.
Hundreds more marchers returned to the Bank today and were involved in a tense stand-off with police who shut adjoining streets.
But there was no repeat of the sporadic violence that marred largely peaceful protests yesterday by campaigners calling for action from world leaders.
And the only groups who gathered in any numbers near the summit venue in east London were Ethiopians protesting about divisions in their home country.
Scotland Yard made 22 further arrests today, including nine for violent disorder, four for possessing an offensive weapon and four for breach of the peace.
The Met said anyone detained at the two squats who was not "of interest" would be released.
Dozens of police and an armoured police van blocked Earl Street, near Liverpool Street station, where a disused office block was raided.
Witnesses said a large convoy of police vans arrived quietly in a back street before riot police smashed their way inside the three-storey red-brick building.
At least 70 people were led out and made to sit in the street outside as they were questioned and searched by officers.
In Rampart Street, Aldgate, where four arrests were made, occupants of the three-storey building complained about police tactics.
One said: "It was major league over the top. They think we are some sort of terrorist masterminds and we are being linked with violence.
"We are not hardened criminals - we are all educated, civil-minded people."
The officer in charge of policing the G20 protest, Commander Bob Broadhurst, said police were using video footage gathered yesterday to track down violent activists.
He said the "overall mood" of yesterday's demonstrations was good. But he added: "Unfortunately small groups of protesters intent on violence mixed with the crowds of lawful demonstrators.
"Some have been arrested already and officers will be looking to identify others through footage from evidence-gatherers."
Tonight officers corralled a group on to the pedestrianised area in front of the Bank.
As a helicopter hovered overhead, lines of police officers cleared milling protesters from surrounding streets.
There were minor skirmishes as other pockets of protesters were also kettled - a police tactic which involves holding them in small areas.
Once the streets at the busy junction were clear, traffic was allowed to continue flowing but exits to Bank Tube station were closed and those on foot were held back.
It was not clear who the group of protesters were but many of them were dressed in black and some carried Communist Party and socialist flags.
A large number of police vans lined nearby Cornhill and a squad of mounted police were on standby in a side street.
Police were taunted with chants of "shame on you" as they forcefully pushed protesters into groups and other officers photographed protesters.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith made a visit to the police G20 nerve centre today.
A spokesman said: "The Home Secretary received an update on the operations and management of G20 today.
"She was very impressed with the policing response so far and the work the Metropolitan police are doing to make this a safe and secure G20."
* A man who died after being found collapsed at the G20 protests in the City was named by police today. Ian Tomlinson, 47, a City resident, was on his way home from work at a newsagent's when he collapsed near the Bank of England just before 7.30pm yesterday. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said officers had to move the casualty away for urgent treatment after bottles were thrown at them by protesters. He was later pronounced dead at hospital.
A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said: "When all the available information has been assessed, the IPCC will make a decision about the level of involvement it needs to have in progressing the investigation into this case."
* The French "Spiderman" Alain Robert climbed the Lloyd's of London building today to protest over climate change. He unfurled a banner warning of "100 months" to save the world. Onlookers said he leapt out of a silver car which pulled up outside One Lime Street just before midday and began his ascent, without ropes, on the Leadenhall Passage side.
He reached the 9th floor of the 290ft-high building and unfurled a yellow banner before climbing down to street level, where he was met by police and led away.
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Comments
Mr O'Brien, a member of the Met's command team for the G20 security operation, said small pockets of criminals were responsible for the outbreaks of trouble and would be tracked down. ( Well should not be difficult as they all on the Met's Payroll)
But he added that the vast majority of participants were good-humoured. ( yes one has to laugh at the absurdity of the overkill)
Speaking at New Scotland Yard, the senior officer said some of the apparent ringleaders were followed by helicopter as they left flashpoints yesterday.( Followed by helicopter, LMAO ) espcially on Victoria Line and Northern Line...
"As we went on it was clear there were people within the group that were first of all involved in juvenile and puerile behaviour," he said. ( He does describe his own men very eloquently )
The anarchists I know are some of the finest people I have ever met, willing to use their time and energy to help people, dissatisfied with the banality and murder by inaction that characterises the capitalist world we live in.
Your comment, about a protest at which many people sustained injuries from batons (clubs) and shield edges whilst protesting peacefully at the Climate Camp is unfortunately characteristic of this kind of news comment system containing no information, merely spite.
So shocking that some people smashed some windows on a bank during a protest. Perhaps in your mind that is justification for the level of violence shown by the police to large numbers of protestors. Ever hear about the Suffragettes smashing MPs windows with hammers? Perhaps they should never have done such shocking things to promote their cause.
The WORSEST people I know? If you want the most unthinking, brutal, back-covering and dishonourable they were there wearing uniforms and repeating over and over to themselves: "I'm doing what I'm told, that's good. I'm doing what I'm told, that's good."
If you want another side of the story check out: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/0
and
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/0
The Police tactic of kettling . IE keeping people trapped in pens for hours till they become so angry that people react and push forward so the Police can then 'retaliate' in 'self defence' ...
Such tactics are carefully designed to provoke , yet this provocation cannot be caught on camera...clever that.... and effective too in giving journos like this one the opportunity of demonising legitimate peaceful protest
until yesterday that was ...when such tactics may well have killed someone.
Never mind 'the Bill'(ocks) this is what Policing in Britain today really looks like
http://www.britcit.co.uk/content/archiv
Oh yes the old 'dixon of dock green' stereotype the world has of British Police is a little ourdated
I was held at the climate camp til midnight last night. When I arrived
at 6pm to celebrate the creative sight of a camp in london's grey
financial streets, the police
allowed me to walk straight into the camp with my bike. As the reports
have said, the atmosphere was very warm and positive; school children
and old time protesters sharing a space full of colour and music.
Within an hour of arriving, those same police, who had stepped back
and let me through, closed in around the camp and refused to let
anyone in or out. I then watched the police push forward into the
crowd with brutality that was not only shocking but utterly
unecessary. All the protesters put their hands in the air and sat down
collectively on the road. Yet as the crowd lowered I saw a young man
stagger back with his head split open, another boy with a broken nose,
a girl next to me had been kicked between the legs. People were badly
hurt and the atsmophere spun into a frightened panic. A friend of mine
from university who had come from Nottingham to join the camp just put
his head in his hands and cried. This was the scene, minutes after
people had been allowed to wander into the camp without any warning of
the planned police actions, or any chance to leave peacefully. As they
rolled in back up police and black armoured riot vans, and as the
police kicked and crushed people's bikes, the protesters called out to them, and the onlooking bankers, up in their ivory towers, 'This is not a riot!'. As their battons came down, Legal
Observors called out to people to take the police numbers of those who
had hurt protesters; on mass the line of police all covered up their
badges. It was a chilling show of a police unaccountable to their own
laws, and their own humanity. The police were indeed braced for
violence, but most of that young crowd of protesters were not.
Despite our repeated requests to be searched and allowed to leave the
space, we were held there for 6 hours with no access to water, food,
toilets or medical care. Proudly, throughout all this, not one person
in the crowd reacted with violence to any person or property. People
shared the little they had and held public meetings about the aims of
the G20 summit. There was little show of anger, but much unhappiness.
When finally we were herded out one by one at midnight, I felt cold to
the core, chilled by the unprovoked agression of those who I had been
brought up to trust. I am deeply ashamed of my state, when reasonable
and calm protesters are criminalised and provoked in such a manner.
Their use of section 14 on 800 campers was mindless, their violence
was a tragedy and their very presence, with armoured cars and
helicopters, a ridiculous waste of public money.
I am writing this today because I grew up in this city and treasure
the right to use this city space to speak out to our elected leaders
in a peaceful, creative way. There were no harmful intentions in that
climate camp, but the harm done by the police last night goes far
deeper that the physical wounds inflicted; it is in the chaos of
unnecessary state violence that fear is born and trust is lost.
I once was treated by police in a brutal manner for no reason at all. I said to them at the time that I thought I was in Iran or some place like that. What followed were a couple of weeks of quiet thoughtfulness (feeling depressing) in which constantly the feeling flamed up that I had been treated unfairly (which it was as I discovered later by looking at the police law) and an erosion of trust in an institution that I never regarded as hostile.
Of course police is necessary in an organised state and society but we have to watch them. They must be, as a public institution, responsible and accountable. If they start feeling like a force of power that can move into a crowd of peaceful citizens who raise their arms and remove them using violence we must complain about that straight away. Politics and the law must look at that and deal with it.
I am sorry about your experience and I hope it will have consequences. If you can, and know how and through whom, take action.
http://www.britcit.co.uk/content/archiv
As for the police... I've met some ok coppers, no doubt professional and honest, but I've also had the opportunity to listen to a couple of off-duty coppers boasting about beating suspects using the language of 1980s football thugs. So fine, if you want to believe they're all shining paragons of law-abiding honesty that's up to you. But some of us remember Blair Peach, the SPG, Charles de Menezes, the West Midlands Serious Crime Squad, coppers selling drugs and fitting up the innocent in Stoke Newington nick, the Guildford Four, the Birmingham Six, the Bridgewater Three, the tactics used against May Day Protestors, Orgreave, Wapping, Grunwick. These are only a few examples, but there are many, many more...
So are we surprised at this standard of policing in the capital when the Mayor of London has been involved in discussing violent action against a journalist who had the temerity to attempt to uncover illegality perpetrated by the "great and the good"? Hardly.
And lastly, I have to stress that I think that the vandalism of the RBS branch was stupid idiocy; an action guaranteed to justify police thuggery to the ignorant; and just plain wrong.
No main stream news coverage will show this footage of police smashing through a peaceful and legal protest without provocation, cause or aim.
Offset This.
[or google indymedia and find the video in the newsfeed on the right.]
who havn't got a clue that money does not grow on trees and most of us work really hard for it, whilst these mugs sit smoking weed all day talking s***.It was an excuse for bums to have a day out, not one single political objective would ever be acheived and it was all just gibberish from people who i pay to go to the dole que. i get taxed 40% so they can get pissed on a wenesday on their giro!! bunch of mugs for sure. I had to walk through a whole crown on bishopsgate in my suit and no one said anything so ive seen more violence at my neices playschool.I have to say i don't know what was funnier the state of these unwashed retards or the bankers trying to dress down in chinos and polo shirts -stuck out like sore thumbs !!lol I think all city workers should of worn bowler hats and a cane beacuse im not changing my dresscode for anyone ( this is a free country after all - which is the irony of it all)
|hh right officer, So The sort of people you might also see at Tesco, the local library, etc
I did my own obeservation of the event, I would like to categorically state that I also saw ; People with tatoos, people without tatoos, people with hair, people without hair, people with hats, people without hats. ....
Policemen with half a brain, policeman with no brain.....the sort of people you see beating people up at demonstrations really
"We have got officers here from evidence-gathering teams who have got photographs. It did take some time to enter the property so I suspect some people may have been able to leave."
Seriously? What ever happened to covering all entries/exits? Must remember that if I ever get busted for anything, pop out the back door/window and run run run away.
Silly people, all of them. The hippies, the police, the government, the punks, the.... Everyone except me :)
Sigh
Matthew Anderson
Founder of the non hippy franchise site
Ps: Before anyone asserts that those protesting are all unemployed or students - yes, some of them are, including myself - made unemployed last week, and some work part-time or had taken time off from work. Thankfully there are people who do have the time and more importantly, the inclination, to protest against injustice, in spite of the obvious danger to their liberty and subsequent privacy. Some people really put their necks out in pursuit of the greater good, and I am grateful for them. Remember the suffragettes, for example, villified and ridiculed in their time as well as countless other protestors whose action over the years has led to justified changes in legislation.
S.Nundy
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=5
I am very angry that our police are allowed to behave like this, so i've made a decision...next time, for the first time in my life, I will be there with them. With a camera streaming video onto the net.
An account of police violence here - please join this group and show solidarity for the peacful protestors badly treated by police
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=5
The inset picture shows a woman being arrested for failing to be stopped and searched, now pardon me but I was under the impression that a male officer was not allowed to lay hands on a female except in exceptional circumstances such as preventing escape from the scene of a crime, this woman looks terrified, your tax money at work folks... and I for one would agree that if all she had the option of, was being groped by very aggressive and threatening officers or refusing and attempting to go ones way, I too would have told them to get knotted.
How many noticed today that many officers arranged their stab vests to cover their shoulder numbers?
And lastly, the above officer in the picture is a British Transport officer, isn't he a bit lost?
We need to send a clear message to those in charge and those who have power that we will not tollorate this kind of behavior especially even more so from the ones we put our trust in?
I understand that the jobs they have to do are difficult but remember if it was you offending you would be punished by the courts and i don't think they should be allowed to get off with being reprimanded or even sacked they should get double the punishment that a civilian would receive regardless of weather they are following orders from their superiors.
This sort of behavior has to stop and we have to send a clear message to the ones we place our trust in that we will not allow them to get away with it.