PRESS RELEASE

On January 10, 2009, Ray Davies, councilor for Caerphilly County Borough and lifelong peace activist, joined a national demonstration in London to protest Israel’s violent assault on Gaza, in the course of which he was attacked and knocked unconscious by the Metropolitan Police. He brought a complaint against the police, and has now won damages for the injuries he sustained.

Recent high profile cases have highlighted the controversial tactics used in controlling large demonstrations. Ian Tomlinson, an innocent bystander, was caught up in the G8 protests and died after being assaulted by the Metropolitan police. In April a judge ruled that peaceful climate protesters were unlawfully detained when they were “kettled”- a tactic used in the Gaza demonstration in January 2009 in which Ray Davies was injured.

The section of the march which Ray was in was stopped by the police near the Israeli Embassy. Demonstrators began throwing old shoes towards the building, a gesture of protest for which they had earlier been granted permission by the police. At this point the riot police over reacted. The marchers were trapped by police lines, unable to move on or go back, and after almost an hour of escalating tension, the Metropolitan police responded by lashing out with their truncheons and shields. Ray tried to calm the situation and approached an officer, who told him to ‘ go back with the rest of the scum”; he was hit on the nose, and then punched unconscious.

After Ray submitted a complaint, 2 senior officers came to Wales to interview him. The investigation concluded it was impossible to identify the officers concerned, refused the request for a token donation- £50- to Children in Need, and gave only a half hearted apology.

Ray did not accept the IPCC report, with the misleading police evidence which twisted the facts. Peace activists who had been on the march and witnessed the attack gave him supporting evidence to pursue his case, which was subsequently taken up by solicitors Bhatt Murphy. After many months, his solicitors finally obtained the shocking CCTV footage which clearly showed the punch from a senior officer which knocked Ray to the ground.

With this new evidence, the police officer concerned had to confess that he had assaulted Ray (having earlier claimed that a photographer tripped and fell on Ray). He admitted that Ray played no part in the violence, but said that he saw only 3 options: to beat him with a shield (see the injuries to Ray’s nose), hit him with his truncheon, or punch him. In his statement, justifying the assault, the police officer said that he thought Ray was 60, not 79- as if it was all right to hit a 60 year old with a blow that knocked him unconscious and could have killed him.

Ray said, “I sincerely hope that the tragedy of Ian Tomlinson and the ruling in favour of the Climate protest, along with my case will bring changes in police practices. There should be an end to kettling and police should display their identification numbers. This will go some way to restoring public confidence in the police, so that we, the public, can exercise our hard-won democratic rights to demonstrate peacefully in our capital, without fear of repressive violence.
Thanks to all those on the demonstration who had the courage to come forward and give evidence on his behalf; and to Bhatt Murphy for their tenacity in pursuing the case, helping him win justice.

The compensation money will be used to help Palestinian charities.