Witnesseses of Ian Tomlinson's brutal murder come forward

An article in today's Observer newspaper states that the "police assaulted bystander who died in G20 protests". Three independent witnesses have come forward with corroborative statements telling how he was violently assaulted.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/05/g20-protest-ian-tomlinson

The City of London police have claimed that "[He] suffered a sudden heart attack while on his way home from work". Allegedly the IPCC (Independent Police Complaints Commission) were to release a statement on Friday portraying his death as a tragic accident, following a police post-mortem which attributed his death to 'natural causes'. This raises serious questions about the so called independence of the IPCC. Clearly Ian Tomlinson would have suffered serious head trauma, quite why the police and IPCC saw this vital information as too insignificant to mention remains unanswered.

In the light of the white wash of the death of Jean-Charles de Menezes, it seems unlikely that any kind of justice will be served. A serious discussion is now needed within the movement to establish what tactics will be most effective to defend ourselves at all future protests.

Mike

Comments

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Thanks for that input..

05.04.2009 14:51

Thanks for that input..

were they serious about writing a POLICE post mortem?

05.04.2009 20:07

i've never heard of police staff doing PMs but if so then it has to be a recipe for yet another cover up just as bad as de Menezes.

sid

jumping to early conclusions

05.04.2009 20:59

I agree it raises a lot of questions.

BUT you do not need this tragic event to raise questions or debate about protecting people on demos - there were enough people covered in blood from blows to the head or hands to warrent a dicsussion anyway.

Protest idea.

05.04.2009 21:04

How about a protest against police violence and the freedom to protest? It would put them in a very difficult position as any excessive use of force would play right into the protestors hands. Not so sure it would get the same media saturation though for obvious reasons.

Oi!

protest against freedom to protest?

06.04.2009 06:52

not sure you're onto a winner there.

hmmm

Re: Oi

06.04.2009 08:18

The vigil on the 4th was partly a protest against police brutality - right after the minutes silence had finished the police kettled everyone and blocked the road.

Ms Anne Thropy