Judicial Review of G20 policing: court report
Anyone who was there on April 1st 2009 outside the European Climate Exchange will not quickly forget the policing of that day and not have two unanswered questions. Why did the police decide to kettle the Climate Camp anyway? And why did the police use such a massive amount of force?
I spent today at the Royal Courts of Justice with lawyers representing some Climate Campers who have launched a Judicial Review about the actions of the police on April 1st.
They are arguing that the police should not have kettled us, when they did kettle us they should not have kept us all in the kettle until they decided to ‘disperse’ us, that the level of force used by the police was not appropriate, and that the camp should not have been ‘dispersed’ in the night, amongst other things.
Today was the ‘directions hearing’, where our lawyers presented arguments to the Court about what evidence the police had to give us and crucially, if Chief Superintendent Johnson, the key police decision-maker for the police action taken at the Camp, could be cross examined about his decisions.
At the end of a long morning, the Judge said that Chief Superintendent Johnson would be required to attend Court and depending on what the Judge on the day says, he may well have to take the stand and answer questions from our lawyers.
In my personal opinion, I would love to see him squirm trying to justify his decisions that lead to police behaving so brutally that day. Our lawyers seemed pretty happy with the outcome (cross-examination in Judicial Reviews is very rare so this is quite an achievement), so hopefully that means we are set up well for the rest of the case.
The next thing to happen is the actual hearing, which should be scheduled the Spring and should take three days. We would appreciate it if a few people came and showed their support, so there will be something in the Climate Camp newsletter with the time and place nearer the time.
The legal team would like to thank the people for their donations which made this case possible.
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Having watched that video it is quite obvious the protesters in it are surging against the police lines. That is not peacefull. In fact it is assault.
The idiotic comments by the above author are just a continuing evidence that leftie protestors are happy to use violence when they can but play the victim card as soon as they are able. That is not conscionable behaviour, it is agenda pushing, aggressive, calculating and manipulative and most of all it is slimy.
Not Braindead on January 31, 2011
You clearly haven’t watched the film at all. The entire footage shows activists with their arms raised while being pushed back or beaten by the cops.
I have yet to know of any climate change activists to resort to violence – ever.
Stop trolling please.
maybe braindead on January 31, 2011
I’m not trolling. They are pushing towards the police lines who are pushing back. I watched the entire film. Do you deny they are pushing towards the police?
And as for them being “kettled” there was no problem at all at the start of the footage which clearly shows there is hardly anyone next to the police and people just drifting about doing their thing. Then they all start mobbing the police.
It is clearly not a case of trying to go anywhere other than to rub up against the police while protesting their innocence and continualy provking the police to respond by pushing back to hold their line.
The entire thing is a non event and a tactic designed to facilitate cries of “oh look how we’re being oppressed”.
Where were these people trying to go? It’s not like any of them were going “excuse me officer I’m really scared by being part of this crushing mob, I need to escape”. No, in fact as the footage clearly shows they are all acting together en masse surging against the police officers who rather predicably do not like being pushed and mobbed and want to create space for themselves and create a safe zone in which to carry out their duties.
Not Braindead on February 2, 2011
At 1:05 protestor can clearly be heard shouting Forward! Forward!
At 1:07 protesters seen moving forward
At 01:12 Officer in yellow has to brace against bodily pressure of crowd to maintain his position as they are trying to push him backwards.
At 01:16 man in red hat pushed back by officer
At 01:18 man in red hat talking to same oficer. Officer has not moved from spot.
At 01:38 protestors outnumber officers three to one (rough estimate based on pausing film and doing rough head
At 01:52 officers break through line of protesters at it’s deepest point. Protesters surround officers with hands raised continually pressing in against them despite being repeatedly pushed back.
At 02:00 officer pushing protesters back with shield. Crowd chanting loudly at fast tempo increasing emotional fervour.
At 02:10 officer in middle right of screen repeatedly points hand telling protestor with brown hair to move back.
At 02:15 woman with back to officer keeps pushing up against him despite him repeatedly trying to push her away.
At 02:17 top middle, man behind man with brown hair and black leather jacket has clenched fists and appears to be punching officers. Freeze it at 2:19 and it’s easier to see.
At 02:24 same man still punching.
At 02:26 police reinforce numbers though still far less than protestors and begin pushing them back.
At 03:05 man in yellow jacket at top of picture is pushed back by officer however straight away puts his hands out and surges back a officer several times and actually puts his hands on the officers riot helmet.
At 03:26 person in horizontal striped hat turns back to officers and repeatedly pushes back against them. Then faces them again and continues.
I’m afraid after this point I got bored partly because this website is so slow it takes ages for each little bit of video to load.
Would you care to address these points other than simply stereotype me as a “troll”?
Not Braindead on February 2, 2011
If it was not a riot, why did they not all just sit down?
Also, would you have the public believe that tactics and PR are not part of demonstrators repetoir?
Also that they are not just as prone to bad behaviour as any other sector of society?
Imagine this was a football match, do you think things would have gone differently?
Putting ones hands in the air can make it look like you don’t have a weapon but it also serves to increase the appearance of ones height and is a potentially offensive posture. However it looks great on camera. I wonder who brought up this tactic at the pre demo planning meetings….
Not Braindead on February 2, 2011
If everyone had been minding their own business and the police just ran up and started hitting them, riding them down with horses and letting police dogs savage them, the headline might have some credibility.
In fact the headline would more appropriately be
“demonstrators provoke police defensive response using bodily pressure, chanting, and hand waving, then refuse to obey lawful instructions from police officers to move back who then attempt to break up demonstration”
Why do protestors have to behave like this? It s really quite offensive, unruly and distasteful.
Not Braindead on February 2, 2011
wow. You’ve done a lot of homework – is this part of your day job, by any chance? I must say also that you tone and approach has changed between comments too.
The first comment is very sweeping and emotionally charged invoking “lefties” and victims. While the second is very methodical – dare, I say, police-like. Same person?
Anyway, I will admit I haven’t gone through all your time-logs… but I will admit I can hear someone shouting forward. Of course, this could be a response to move people towards and through the police line rather than get kettled! Doesn’t prove violence or confrontation – although it could be mistaken for that.
Your other points all point towards people pushing back against police who were trying to kettle protestors – not proof of violence.
other observations like “protestors outnumber offices 3 to 1″ also prove very little as overall protestors are not riot police and on the receiving end of violence.
Plus without even suggesting I can see any violence towards police, it is well accepted that forming a kettle and then decreasing the space is a tactic wholly designed to provoke violence – again, not that I can see any.
To address other points: if this were a football match and the police behaved in a similar way I would encourage football fans to consider similar legal action.
The video is also early on in the day before the protestors were fully kettled. They later did all sit down with arms raised.
You seem to have overlooked the fact that *none* of the above would have happened if the police hadn’t tried to clear the space in such a – and may I say time-honoured – heavy handed fashion.
Finally, please don’t be upset I haven’t gone through all your points in detail. I really don’t that much time. Although I suspect you already know this – hence the multiple, voluminous comments.
maybe braindead on February 2, 2011