You can also see some ‘kettling’ here.

http://www.mefeedia.com/entry/english-hooligans-italy-world-cup-1990/14662982

Thought you might like to know that a Lancashire Policeman is currently under investigation for allegedly acting in a similar fashion to the guy who felled Mr Tomlinson. PC Paul Carbery (see Blackburn ‘CCTV Cities’) is accused of suddenly and violently throwing a 65 year old disabled man to the ground from behind. Two further Officers are under investigation for deliberately failing to retrieve the video footage that would have provided evidence of the assault.

http://harpymarx.wordpress.com/2009/04/08/cops-reaction-making-the-usual-excuses/

As the Police Fed Chair’s reaction was unbelievable….“Sometimes it isn’t clear, as a police officer, who is a protester and who is not.”

So there you have protesters are fair game for a whack, and what was Ian Tomlinson… collateral damage?

The climate camp was really peaceful all day. It was so relaxed that I spent a fair bit of the afternoon encouraging people to come along, including two of my younger sisters. Feedback I’ve had about the camp was that Bishopsgate office workers w…

After waiting and seeing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/dec/18/civilliberties-humanrights

I do think there are some important differences between policing of (say) a football game, policing outside a club at 2am and policing of a protest

This is where I’ve been at since the whole “Where were you when they beat up the football hooligans in the 90s” canard was introduced to this debate. Policing is contextual; intrinsically. So is professional access security (which I’ve done): in fact the two jobs are remarkably similar in terms of the tactics which work without resulting in violence. To the extent that the training officers for doormen are often ex-coppers.

Broga @78:

This country is turning more fascist by the day and the Met are part of the problem. Guess which force will investigate this? The Met.

Hrm, as I understand it the IPCC has asked the City of London police to investigate the issue. Not only are they not the Metropolitan Police, they can’t stand each other. Again, 1888 in Whitechapel is worth remembering.

I feel both sad and happy that the mail seems to be pushing harder on this story now too.

“The newspaper seller was manhandled by an officer 15 minutes before a colleague was videoed striking the 47-year-old with his baton before shoving him to the ground, it was alleged.”

If what the mail says is true it certainly explains why he would be shuffling and moving slowly in this video. Also, another reason perhaps…

“A third-year medical student who gave first aid to Ian Tomlinson after he collapsed [..] said: ‘It was almost as if he was clowning around. He smelt of alcohol and seemed happy not distressed, but as we were talking he just stopped responding.”"

The real key here is in reading the comments…you have people clearly happy with a paramilitary style policing against “criminals” starting to realise that perhaps all isn’t rosy with that world view. When you have people that normally make excuses for the police saying they’re bullies and cowards you have to feel slightly hopeful.

My use of the word ‘unwarranted’ and ‘disproportionate’ are based on having worked in enough night clubs in my time to have received a significant amount of training in dealing with ‘difficult’ customers, none of which ever covered shoving a man in the back so hard that he falls to the floor and [appears to] hit his head.

Show me the Police training manual in which that particular practice appears as an approved technique and you may have a point.

Justin’s point still applies does it not? If there were videos in any of those incidents they didn’t come forward, and it seems without something that visceral they aren’t willing to go with the story.

How do you factor in how the media reacted to the death of Andy Miller for his heart attack after being hounded by Bailiffs?

The cops, of course, immedisately start toi lie; then they have to pull back as evidence comes in and soon we have they “Very difficult circumstances’ 99.999 per cent of police doing a wonderful job, musn’t blame them all because of a few bad apples and all the rest of the bollocks. This country is turning more fascist by the day and the Met are part of the problem. Guess which force will investigate this? The Met. And butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths.

So are you saying that this is the first innocent man to get a whack from a Policeman? If not, where have the Guardian, commentators and bloggers been?

I’m also happy to admit that for me I notice poor policing of protests more often, because I don’t go to away games, and I tend to go to rock gigs rather than clubs that play commercial pop. I do think there are some important differences between policing of (say) a football game, policing outside a club at 2am and policing of a protest, though, which I may get into later tonight when I have time for a more considered comment.

But my main point is that protest groups tend to have (through necessity) found ways of resisting heavy-handed policing, documenting it and fighting back when it happens. Not perfect means, but (in part because eg policing outside clubs happens on a more sporadic basis) a start. Wouldn’t it be great if all these groups could co-operate to expand on that and to hold police accountable, instead of deriding each other?

What bollocks. It’s taken a week for any media outlet other than the Guardian to even sniff at this story and only then when the video emerged.

Well yes, but “man dies of heart attack, no-one knows why” is much less of a story than “man dies of heart attack after assault by police”.

What bollocks. It’s taken a week for any media outlet other than the Guardian to even sniff at this story and only then when the video emerged. If ‘these activists’ were ‘overly represented in the Media and public life’ they wouldn’t be on the streets in the first place.

To be fair, these activists should be commended for highlighting the Police attack on this man, but remember it is only because they are overly represented in the Media and public life and it can back up their claims to victimisation. In any other instance, they could not give a monkey’s, unless the victim fits their agenda. Just look at the case of Harry Stanley, which was widely ignored by the Left, and only received minimal coverage, due to the campaigning of his family.

To the vast majority, this is an unsavoury incident, but so are the weekly revelations of Police incompetence, CPS incompetence, failings in the justice system, the release of violent prisoners on bail, their insufficient sentencing and the manipulation of crime statistics under this Govt.

It should not be ignored that Britain suffers from one of the highest violent crime records in the Developed World.

Tim J:

My point, precisely…

Finally I get to be on the same side as Unity…

LFAT – you are parodying yourself now!

Under common law, it’s called the eggshell skull rule I believe.