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Ian Tomlinsons Death - Whats does it mean for Bristol Demonstrators

Injustice | 23.07.2010 11:22

It will come to no surprise to many of you that it appears that the Police are able to do exactly as they please without any real repercussions for their actions, even when that includes assaulting an innocent man such as Ian Tomlinson who happened to walk past the police. This is a worrying precedent for people involved in campaigns of any sort in Bristol and the UK. I have personally seen police act like this many times with the only difference being that a person actually died.
It now appears that the police are completely unaccountable for their actions ( I know they never been anyway), but this case is so unjust in so many ways. Firstly the officer blatantly assaulted Ian Tomlinson and this has shown to be the case to the whole UK population and wider, yet no charge is being bought because it’s over 6 months (interesting law that sure it would not apply if I attacked a police officer lied low for 6 months and then someone handed in the footage to the police, got a feeling I would be charged). Secondly the cause of death of Ian Tomlinson is still not certain, although it is likely it is linked to the assault, regardless of the cause of death the incident should be properly investigated and some conclusion come to, but it seems the police are immune to this. Thirdly the CPS are obviously spineless showmen setup to appease a corrupt system in order to show a public face of accountability. Their conclusions to this case are so weak and unacceptable it beggars belief.

Also there is no mention of the fact that members of the police force lied about Ian Tomlinson’s death early on, which is effectively perjury and hindering an investigation, yet none of this has been addressed. Also officers were without numbers on their uniforms on the day this happened including the officer who assaulted Ian Tomlinson, yet this is not addressed.

So in general this send out the message of don’t fuck with us as you know what will happen. We don’t care if you catch us doing it on video as we will get away with it anyway, even if you show the whole UK population we will still get away with it.
Also if you are going to come out and demonstrate against the elites viewpoint then you can watch out as we will concoct stories, assault you, take off our ID numbers and do what we want.

What does this mean for people who wish to protest against issues in the future, particularly those not so popular with the state?
But it does appear as we enter these time of massive cuts to our public services and dismantling of services that the general public are becoming more hostile to these lies and deceit of the police, government and big business. The guardian website has 1033 comment s on the story of which 99% are appalled at this decision, shows there is a large amount of public disquiet around this decision. Whether this will translate into action, we shall have to see.

Well people still need to video record events whenever possible, as this has proved useful recently in Bristol where it has helped demonstrators convicted of crimes by the police, it also provides any record of police brutality towards individuals. Although as this case highlights that even doing this does mean that any justice will be served. Furthermore any demonstrations attended we should always make notes of police officers not wearing identification and report this and provide evidence and make it public. Also we need to look after each other when on demos and stand together as one to prevent the police from acting unlawfully.

Good luck out their people and watch your backs.

I know this probably won’t much affect, but here is a draft letter culled from the internet that you can send to our local MP, which is Stephen Williams. http://www.bristolwest-libdems.org.uk/

Dear ,
I write to express my dismay and frustration at today's decision by the CPS to bring no charges in the death of Ian Tomlinson. A clearer case of misconduct by a police officer would be difficult to find. The video evidence clearly shows an assault by a police officer on a member of the public who posed no threat and was committing no crime.

The case is compounded by attempts by other police officers to cover-up the events surrounding Mr Tomlinson's death. Again, the video evidence is clear and there can be no conclusion other than that the police deliberately lied in an attempt to cover-up the actual events. This case, along with that of Jean Charles de Menezes suggests that the police can commit such acts of misconduct with impunity.

I urge you to raise the matter in parliament and to consider possibilities for legislation to provide greater protection to public from such occurrences in future. I would also ask you to do what you can to ensure that there is at least disciplinary action taken against the officer who committed the assault and all those involved in attempting to cover-up the events.

Yours sincerely,

etc.



Injustice
- Original article on IMC Bristol: http://bristol.indymedia.org/article/692762