HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

Gaza protesters receive Met police payouts

re-post sorry | 13.07.2010 02:48 | Other Press | Palestine | Repression | Oxford

Two protesters beaten by unidentified police officers during a Gaza demonstration in London receive £25,000 in compensation from the Metropolitan Police

Gaza protesters receive Met police payouts
By Simon Israel
Updated on 12 July 2010
.
Exclusive: Two protesters beaten by unidentified police officers during a Gaza demonstration in London receive £25,000 in compensation from the Metropolitan Police, writes home affairs correspondent Simon Israel.

The two protestors, clubbed by unidentified police officers during the Gaza demonstrations in London, received compensation in the first payout by the Metropolitan Police over the policing of violent protests near the Israeli Embassy in January last year.

No officer has been punished amid claims that many had covered up their identity numbers.

In a letter to twin brothers Ashley and Russell Inglis the Metropolitan Police apologised:

"Whilst it has not been possible to identify who struck you and caused your injuries, the investigation into the events established there was no reason to suspect that you were acting in a violent way, and there, should not have been struck with a baton."

The two Oxford University first class honours graduates criticised the investigation, describing it as a whitewash. They say officers from the Met's department of professional standards (DPS) failed to gather all the CCTV footage available that night and so couldn't indentify the policemen who attacked them.

Ashley Inglis described how he stood three feet away from an officer, who made eye contact and then smashed him over the head with a baton.

Russell, who saw his brother go down, went over to help, remonstrated with another officer that he had no right to hit his brother and then also got struck with a baton on the side of his face. They say their efforts to note down police identity numbers were hampered by more police attacks.

Ashley Inglis was one of 17 complaints during a month of pro-Palestinian demonstrations which were filed with the Independent Police Complaints Commission. All were referred to the Met's DPS. None resulted in any disciplinary action against an officer.

He told Channel 4 News: "I was shocked this could happen to me. That someone could step forward and smack me over the head with a baton for doing nothing. That sheer kind of outrage, carried us through the complaints and then taken a civil case.

"I am sure there are other cases out there that could be successful and one thing we're thinking of doing with the some of the money we've got is putting it into a fund for people to bring cases."

The number of arrests totalled 119 - the highest number for a political demonstration in a decade.

During the demonstrations 55 police officers were injured, including broken jaws, fractured ribs and a perforated ear drum and the estimated damage was over than £100,000. 75 protestors were charged, 69 with violent disorder.

At least 30 have been sent to prison despite probation reports which recommended community based punishment. Tomorrow 10 of them will appeal, claiming their sentences ranging from 12 months to two and a half years were excessive.

Photo and clip also:  http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/world/middle_east/gaza+protesters+receive+met+police+payouts/3708382

re-post sorry

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

Thanks

13.07.2010 03:10

I was there it witnessed this, i rember them (the brothers) making a joke to the press when asked if the were twins one replied "yes with twin scars" or something of the sort.

One of the officers involved did indeed have his numbers covered and refused to identify himself when questioned, i approached other officers away from the conflict area and informed them of what happened and pointed out the offending officer, basically told to fuckk off and threatened with violence.

Hope the fuckers cop a brick next time.

Present


hmmm

13.07.2010 11:34

As soon as it is two presumably white guys they pull their finger out and serve justice.

(AA)


compensation??

14.07.2010 11:30

what about all the other non-Oxford protesters who did not get picked on by mainstream media and would not necessarly want a compensation? How do they get compensated? Resistance again police perhaps?

An interesting video of police repression at the Gaza protests has put up recently. Quite a strong statement to counter this kind of reports, i thought. See it hrere
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0KbM_Sv1cw

??


reply: compensation??

21.07.2010 21:46

I'm a bit confused on comment by '??' - are you asking how people that don't want to be compensated get compensation? If not, please can you clarify. Thanks

confused?


Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech