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Police violence leaves a young girl unconcious. Video.

mark | 21.03.2003 00:37

2 mins
windowsmedia
0.5Mb

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!

fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!
fantastic day of protests in Glasgow!


A young girl is left unconcious by violent police attempts to clear the roads around Parliament Square. The girl was treated by a medic and regained conciousness after a few minutes.

Shortly after this incident the police backed off and allowed protestors to occupy Parliament Square.

mark
- Homepage: http://uk.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/collapse-20-3-03-56k.wmv

Comments

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high quality version

21.03.2003 01:54

5.7Mb windowsmedia

mark


bloody hell

21.03.2003 11:18

In the first video (2 min, 0.5mb) two coppers clearly throw another one to the ground!! Completely random use of force . . .

t


filling in the gaps eh

22.03.2003 18:41

i've only watched the low quality version (downloading high quality one now) but as far as i can see, you see the girl being taken away by police officers, and then you see her on the floor - you can't really go around saying they knocked her out, unless you have proof of this. Also what do you mean by violent police attempts to clear the road; that's a silly thing to say as clearly they would have tried verbal attempts first, and the protestors have obviously not listened (it happens a lot, i'm afraid).
The way you put it, you are trying to make it sound like the officers waded in with batons hitting absolutely EVERYONE, when what you mean is they would pick someone up and escort them away.

Let's think about why you are really attacking the police force anyway. They are there to ensure the safety of whoever you protest to - this in itself should not be needed, but we all know there are "protestors" out there who will seriously hurt people who don't agree with their views.
If the police were not there, you would have these protestors hurting other people, and then what would you say?? something along the lines of "we're not associated with them, we are peaceful protestors" i would guess - but right now, i bet most of the people who were getting hurt by police were the violent protestors (which is proved as they are getting themselves in trouble with the police, e.g. provoking them) AND THESE ARE THE PEOPLE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT HERE.

ha


attacking the police?

22.03.2003 21:26

What makes you think I'm attacking the police force? My next door neighbour is a Chief Superintendent, he's a good bloke.I think we need a police force, but that doesn't stop me criticising them when I think they've got it wrong.

It is clear from the footage that the children were peacefully sitting on the road. Standard procedure in these cases if people refuse to move is to arrest protestors and carry them from the road. Attempting to crush children from the road en masse is not good policing.

The facts are that a young girl was left unconscious after police attempted to push schoolchildren off the road. It doesn't really matter whether she was knocked out by her head hitting the floor or fainted in the crush, it happened as a result of the police attempts to clear the road. When dealing with young children the police owe them a greater duty of care than older protestors. In this case they failed this girl in that duty.

A lot of the children at the demo are going to go away thinking that British police are violent bastards, and tell their friends the same. This is not a good thing for our society.

I think it's telling that you decide to comment before even viewing the higher quality version.

mark


hmm...wouldn't say so

23.03.2003 18:22

have just reviewed the high quality video...
the girl in the pink top - you still don't see any actual violence (as in punching her, throwing her to the ground, etc) as all they show is her being lifted by 2 police officers either side and moved away. then she is next seen lying on the floor.

"It doesn't really matter whether she was knocked out by her head hitting the floor or fainted in the crush, it happened as a result of the police attempts to clear the road"
Incorrect, it happened because of people's attempts to protest in an aggressive manner. As i maintain, peaceful protests are fine, but harassing people is well out of order, in my opinion.

The older protestors forget; YOU owe the children a greater duty of care, and YOU also failed. I think both of you are responsible.

I don't see your point about the video quality as that significant - unless the high quality version was a different video, i don't believe it's that much of an issue. I believe i would have picked up the girl being hit in either video (which she wasn't).

Anyway, there's at least one nice point i'll make in all of this - good quality filming.

ha


organisers were schoolchildren

25.03.2003 02:09

This demo was organised and conducted by schoolchildren, not older protestors.

The children can clearly be seen to be peacefully sitting on the road, before the police attempt to push the crowd off the street en masse.

In the original footage it is possible to see the poliecman let go of the girl's foot as it falls to the floor. Her back is also grazed, which would suggest that she was dropped or thrown onto the floor. Other protestors can be seen being pushed forcefully to the floor. There is no evidence that the children were acting in a violent or aggresive manner towards the police, and to be honest, the idea that British police could seriously feel threatened by a bunch of schoolkids is laughable.

mark