Feature: Who polices the police? By Kevin Perry.
Nicky Fisher, who is shown in video footage being assaulted by a police sergeant at the vigil for Ian Tomlinson, has reportedly hired Max Clifford to represent her, and is rumoured to be asking £50k for an exclusive interview. It might seem like a bizarre juxtaposition – Clifford, typically associated with "kiss-and-tell" tabloid stories, and Fisher, apparently an "anti-capitalist" protestor - but in other ways it makes perfect sense. Many have accused her of "selling out", but what would you do if the press were hammering at your door, desperate for a scoop? There is something of a tradition of anti-capitalists 'playing the system', such as when Chumbawumba accepted large sums of money for letting Ford and Renault use their music, and promptly gave all the proceeds to support the likes of Indymedia and Corporate Watch.
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Blog: Russell Myrie (author of the official Public Enemy biography, out now on Cannongate)
It's looking increasingly likely that the fallout from the G20 protests will have the same far reaching consequences for policing seen after the Brixton riots, Hillsborough, and the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
The footage of a young woman being hit on the legs by a police officer roughly twice her size is probably even more shocking than the footage which shows Ian Tomlinson being knocked to the ground. In a perfect world the gender of the person would make no difference. But in the real world the fact that it's a woman will probably cause a more sympathetic response. Hitting a woman is the worst thing a man can do and when that man is a police officer the offence becomes even more worse. Of course anyone getting their legs taken away by a police officer who is supposed to be maintaining peace should expect a certain amount of sympathy. The chance to properly complain and see something done about it would be nice too.
What is especially worrying is the fact the sergeant in question is another police officer who deliberately obscured his badge number. Does this mean the attacks on the public were pre-meditated? I wonder how many officers that day decided to take similar action. Anyone who has read the autobiographies of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (and there must be a few of you out there) will know this was a tactic used by police when they attacked The Black Panthers back in the day. It's more than a little shocking to see the technqiue used in (supposedly) civilised, modern Britain around three decades after The Panthers heyday. Thankfully, they can't obscure their faces.
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Vox Pops: Tamils Protest @ Parliament Square by Jody McIntyre.
On Monday 6th April, the Tamil community were united in their disgust over the Sri Lankan governments slaughter of their families back home, so they decided to occupy Parliament Square. Despite threats from the police, they stood strong, and over a week later are still out there, protesting in their hundreds and thousands. We went down to see what was going on...
Sivatharsan, 21:
"We are staying here until the government meets our five demands, or until our last breath. We have been on hunger strike since 10am on Tuesday, and will accept no food or water for as long as it takes. The police can try to remove us, but for every one of us, there are 50 more students ready to replace us."
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1 comment:
Props to Chantelle for featuring this!!
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