"bikes, tents and personal belongings were damaged and lost in the attack."



Jeez. A few bikes, tents, deary me. Poor you.

I'm sure you can go out and aquire some new tents for your next protest. No? Wrecking a city is ok though.

It seems negotiations between the 'leaders' of climate camp and the police didn't go to well at the end. Lets remember that police brutality was wrong at Climate Camp AND at the Bank of England too. There is not 'good' protesters and 'bad' protesters here. Someone died within a police corral yesterday at the Bank of England. Lets unite demanding justice for this person and an end to police's tactics that put people in danger of loosing life and limb (apart from being a clear violation of our right to liberty and freedom of movement). The police shouldn't use these tactics on anyone, not only the so-called 'peaceful' climate campers.

Absolutely disgusting! Well done to everyone there who stood their ground in the face of such aggression. Absolutely pathetic for such force to be used by the police. The met commisioner should be fired.

 http://www.ipcc.gov.uk/index/complaints/forms/form_complaint.htm

I was not present at the detah of this man, however I was at the G20 protests all day yesterday and witnessed unprovoked police brutality like nothing I have ever seen before.

At Bank I witnessed people being beaten around with batons being ordered to move when they had nowhere to go - We were already being crushed in a police kettle. This was the kettle were we had been pushed by police into the RBS building and held there, assaulted and then the police stood and watched while a small number of people reacted by breaking RBS’s windows. The police allowed this to happen for a good hour before stepping in to move the crowd on.

In the evening outside Climate camp the police were again being excessively heavy handed and a large group of protestors outside the kettled Climate Camp (of which I was part) decided to sit on the ground to show that we were none threatening and not give them any excuse. The police then proceeded to kick people who were sat down in the face. (It is worth noting that the polce had already blocked that road off so at this point the protestors were not even stopping traffic).

The group were then chased by Riot Police the length of Bishopsgate as far as Kingsland Road (a good 20 minute brisk walk). We ran through complete fear, anyone in their way was being beaten. Some people attempted pulling barriers etc into the road to try and slow police down but with no avail.

At the point they stopped chasing us a number of people dispersed. Some of us returned to the Camp to try and check if people there were ok. Some people had been let out, the camp had been cleared and those unnaccounted for we assumed were in police cells of hospital beds.

By contrast a large protest took place yesterday afternoon at trafalgar square with several thousand people from the same groups / organisations as the other demos, but with one exception, virtually no police presence. At this demo, there was no violence, no damage. The demo took place, the speakers said there piece then everyone went home. Coincidence ?

There were headlines of Violence Sweeps City and Protestors Clash with Police etc yesterday morning before any demos had even started. I guess the police had to justify their £7m bill somehow which they couldn’t if all was peaceful so provoking a few clashes to jusify their presence seemed to be the order of the day. . .

I really feel for you lot.

Earlier when we were at the the camp before this baton charge, it appeared to exude an atmosphere of untouchability. There were loads of legal observers, some dressed in suits, scribbling academically into notepads with hippies prancing about to samba rhythms.

You'd cordoned yourselves in, not the police, and you were determined to stand your ground even though 3 riots vans were stationed on the side keeping the pavement clear!

All this with a few accompanying Liberal Democrat MPs roughing it for the night - who I'm sure were escorted out when it went off. We also witnessed several interviews with the corp. media and an interview with a green capitalist! Some of the interviewees made a point of claiming some kind of moral superiority over your passive protests whilst demonising the other protesters at Bank who very facing intense police repression that left a protester dead.

When are you going to confront the fact that it doesn't matter how respectable you are, middle class, or morally right - they are still going to come for you and crack your skulls. None of these police complaints will go anywhere, it will not change how the state monopolises violence.

Wake up and get radicalised!

See you on the barricades!

It is this police reality (that they will use violence on people who do not fight back and will face no consequences) that often eventually turns peacefull protesters into those not prepared to just put their hands in the air or sit on the floor. I used to do the same until I just had enough, which is why I went to bank first and not the climate camp.
It would be a good idea to join the two together but at least those who can be a bit righteous about peaceful protest can not blame any of this on 'spiky' protestors goading the police - the climate camp was a sea of calm until the police waded in.

There was an attempt by some people who were at Climate Camp to move toward the Bank group, in order to try to meet up with them, but there was general non-cooperation, including from a group of black bloc kids who insisted on expanding the camp out the OTHER way, AWAY from the Bank group. The Samba band tried to do the same. The black bloc took part of the junction, then when it was suggested that we needed to move the opposite way, they fell back and allowed the police to move back in, then they changed their mind a few minutes later and tried to take it back again.
Protestors need better coordination and communication, and to give up on notions of 'taking space' purely because we feel like it or we think it will annoy the police or whatever. They need to have a plan of what they will do next, and they need to think about what the police will do next to keep the protestors 'under control' (ie. held against their will, attacked, etc).
There was, for instance, no coordinated effort to take the alleyway that could have acted as a way out of the protest for those who were ill, elderly, etc if under their control, or a way in for snatch squads etc if not under their control, when the kettling started - this could easily have been done had people been looking out for it properly and working together. Instead, a small group of about 5 people checked the alley was secure when the police abandoned it, but nobody joined or helped them. Instead anarchists were playing militant, aggravating the police by 'claiming ground' that the protestors had no need for, nor did they really desire, and liberals and hippies were dancing to samba.

if you can't see this vid (especially if you're on a pc) then try this:

right-click on the link and choose "save link as" to save the mp4 somewhere on your computer.
go to videolan.org and download the VLC player (free). this player is an excellent way of seeing all those vids your computer hasn't managed before, and it's a very simple app that doesn't install itself all over your computer and sell you things like realvideo or windowsplayers or quicktime etc. do

then drag the mp4 icon to the installed vlc player icon and enjoy. (or open the mp4 from inside vlc)

Looking at the national budget for policing and the military in this country, it seems unlikely that we will ever win with force, even though that feels like the natural reaction when injustice reigns. When I see a friend beaten and kicked by some bastard in uniform, it makes me want to pick up a brick. And so we play the game by the cops rules: Large bunch of angry people get together regularly for a good kicking by an armed and armoured force with all the backing of the law and, if needed, the army behind them. And so it goes on.
We need to stop fulfilling their wet dreams of power and glory and get smart, like many have started to do. Affinity group actions, covert, anonymous and effective. Face-to face communication. Unpredictable and unpoliceable.

Hi there,
really great footage, i hope it helps somehow, i have emailed it to one
of the emails i got from a legal observer...

Here's some i shot whilst there, at the end there is completely unnecessary
force used,,,

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ysKLt3duo

All the best
ian

When will you useless hippies realise that no one cares what you think. Gordon Brown himself said that the protests will have no affect on the proceedings of the G20 conference or the outcome, so you were completely wasting your time, he ignores your democratic protests and you don't have the strength or legal standing to do anything about it.

"Lets all get our heads kicked in by the police, that'll show em"

Even if the police do get sued or individual officers are brought to justice, it changes nothing. They are there to do a job and that job is to make sure you lot remain as sheep and to act as a legal barrier that will take the flack so that the individuals in power remain untouchable.

You are all nothing but sheep.