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Police Aggravate Peaceful G20 Climate Camp in the City of London

Patrick Henningsen | 04.04.2009 14:17 | G20 London Summit | Analysis | Repression

The relationship between Police and public demonstrators continues to be strained, as events surrounding London's G20 Summit boiled over. With little or no real dialogue over public safety between law enforcement and the public, one can only ask- is this the shape of things to come?

Location Reporters: Patrick Henningsen and Brian Viziondanz

Authors note: There were approximately 4,000 peaceful protesters at the City's second main demonstration area at Bishopsgate dubbed the "Climate Camp" yesterday afternoon. This was a relatively mild affair compared to the larger and more pressurized gathering outside the Bank of England.

From the morning onwards, Climate Camp was clearly a festival atmosphere complete with live music, food, street theatre and dozens of small camping tents erected on the road in front the European Climate Exchange building on Bishopsgate.

From approximately 5pm, hundreds of auxiliary police in riot gear began to seal the entire encampment, including all entrances and exits along this city block. Any peaceful protester who requested exit from the area were flatly refused. What ensued after 7pm can only be described as a total 'Lock Down' of the public, after which protesters were hounded by a series of random forward surges by riot police, including incursions deep into the gathering. Note that by this point in the evening police forces had successfully "penned-in" approximately 4,000 peace protesters from both sides of this city block.

READ FULL STORY AT OpEd News (LINK BELOW):
 http://www.opednews.com/articles/Police-Aggravate-Peaceful-by-Patrick-Henningsen-090404-791.html

Patrick Henningsen
- e-mail: pj.henningsen@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.gunghomedia.co.uk

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  1. Our options are becoming ever-more limited — At the end of our tether