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It had been widely built as a major test for the police: a series of desperate protests, in and around London’s financial district. At the same time, as the city was playing host to US president Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders, there was violence and discontent among some protesters.
“Well, what is putting me off is the police. They are brutal and some of them I felt were actively encouraging violence.”
But police immediately afterwards said tactics were proportionate and it worked. That was until this video came out. It showed what appeared to be an uNPRovoked attack on a 47-year-old man, Ian Tomlinson. The newspaper vendor returning home from work collapsed and died on the street just minutes later. After an initial postmortem suggesting a heart attack, a second examination pointed to abdominal haemorrhage as the most likely cause of death.
The officer involved was questioned on suspicion of manslaughter and an investigation launched by Britain’s independent police watchdog, the IPCC.
Since then, a series of videos have emerged along with an ever growing number of complaints about the use of police force during the G-20 protest.
This video shows a 35-year-old woman apparently being struck by a police baton. This one shows a 24-year-old man being hit with a riot shield.
The head of the IPCC has written off his serious concerns about the supervision of officers at the front line and said it was unacceptable that some officers had covered up their identification numbers. One former senior police officer admits it all leaves a worrying impression.
The lead-up to this demonstration wasn’t the best for the police really. Quotes such as “we are up for it” give the impression that really they are gonna be aggressive and then we are seeing three what appears to be indiscriminate assaults. Take a step back from that. That looks like the police's being more aggressive than the crowd.
The head of the body representing Britain’s police chiefs has defended police tactics and said any debate over public order policing needs to be a balanced one.
Andrew Carey, cnn London.