Monday 16 March 2009
Thursday 12 March 2009
'Kilo Five' Gate, Climate Camp 2008: Police lashing out against peaceful protesters
At sunrise on Monday 4th August 2008 police attempted to tow away a red van from the western gate of the Climate Camp, 'Kilo Five'. They were thwarted by non-violent protesters who placed their bodies in they way. As you can see in these two videos, filmed minutes apart, they used pepper spray and club-blows in their frustration.
Video 1 shows use of pepper spray (the spray was then snatched by one of the protesters and put beyond use.)
Video 2, shot a few minutes later, shows police striking out repeatedly with clubs; at at least one point (1'03") an officer is seen to punch a young woman in the face. At 2'30" another threatens activist medics with a raised club as they try to move to assist a casualty.
Several protesters needed hospital treatment after this incident; as has been documented elsewhere, not one police officer was harmed by the protesters during the entire camp.
Video 1 shows use of pepper spray (the spray was then snatched by one of the protesters and put beyond use.)
Video 2, shot a few minutes later, shows police striking out repeatedly with clubs; at at least one point (1'03") an officer is seen to punch a young woman in the face. At 2'30" another threatens activist medics with a raised club as they try to move to assist a casualty.
Several protesters needed hospital treatment after this incident; as has been documented elsewhere, not one police officer was harmed by the protesters during the entire camp.
Monday 9 March 2009
Police blanket surveilling protesters and journalists as criminals
"The Metropolitan police, which has pioneered surveillance at demonstrations and advises other forces on the tactic, stores details of protesters on Crimint, the general database used daily by all police staff to catalogue criminal intelligence."
Guardian 6th March 2009 (includes police surveillance footage from Climate Camp 2008)
Thursday 5 March 2009
Manchester man arrested for alleged sewer-grate photography, held as a terrorist
Still think that if you're innocent, you have nothing to fear from surveillance and control laws? Have a look at this news-video about Stephen Clarke, a man who was accused to taking pictures of sewer-gratings in Manchester and arrested. Though the police couldn't find any photos of sewer-gratings on his phone (and even though "what a sewer grating looks like" isn't a piece of specialized terrorist intelligence), he was held on suspicion of planning an act of terror, imprisoned for two days while the police searched his home, his phone and his computer. When they couldn't find anything suspicious, they released him, but kept his DNA on file, as the biometric of someone who had been accused of plotting a terrorist act. Video here.
Tuesday 3 March 2009
More on Asad Saeed
Police played 'spot the black officer in the dark', tribunal hears (Guardian, 2 March 2009)
Belgravia officers:
Belgravia officers:
- had apartheid system of 'black' and 'white' vans
- boasted of BNP links
- kicked homeless people in stomach as they slept
Monday 2 March 2009
Community Support Officers 'faced racism and violence'
Asad Saeed became a PCSO for the Metropolitan Police at Belgravia in 2007Repost from news.bbc.co.uk
Staff at a police station in central London have encountered violence and racist bullying, an internal Scotland Yard investigation has found.
Many Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) in Belgravia were afraid to speak out and some were assaulted or threatened by colleagues, it added.
And there was "no doubting the credibility and consistency" of these employees' accounts, the report said.
The review was submitted to an employment tribunal brought by a PCSO.
Asad Saeed claims senior Metropolitan Police officers at Belgravia station "turned a blind eye to racism".
Documents given to the tribunal also include allegations of homophobic abuse and intimidation among staff.
'Humiliating and disturbing'
Mr Saeed's claims centre on two colleagues who have since resigned from the force, having faced charges of gross misconduct.
There was an "apartheid" system at the station, he claimed, with separate vans used to transport black and white officers.
"It was obvious that there was an established racial divide," he added, saying that this became apparent "a week or so" after he joined the Metropolitan Police as a PCSO in January 2007.
One colleague who was a van driver would refuse to pick up PCSOs who were not white, Mr Saeed alleged.
"At first I thought he was just anti-social but very soon I started to think it may have something to do with me being the only Asian Muslim on the team," he said.
"I found it humiliating and disturbing whenever I called him on the radio and he would not answer.
"The airwaves were public as well, so everyone knew it was going on."
The force asked Sgt Sarah Cashman to look into complaints about unacceptable behaviour, which her report has stated took place over "a prolonged period of time".
Among claims of racist language were an allegation that one officer said: "Stick by me and we will bring down all the lazy blacks, one by one."
She also found claims of bullying and violence against people who were homeless.
Asked about Mr Saeed's allegations last week, the force's new commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, described them as "appalling", but said it was not clear when they began.
"If it did take place it is appalling, and if it was known about, I want to know what was done about it."
List of 2,000 innocuous items confiscated by police at Climate Camp
Lib Dem MP David Howarth has obtained a list of the items confiscated (and in some cases lost) by the police at Kingsnorth last August.
Video of people lamenting the loss of their soap, crayons, bikes, etc. in this video: 'What did the police take from you?'
Repost from Observer, 1 March 2009:
Police 'over the top' at climate camp
Tracey McVeigh
More than 2,000 'potentially harmful' items were confiscated from protesters by officers - including balloons, crayons and a clown's outfit
Police have been accused of setting a "dangerous precedent" when they confiscated hundreds of items of property - including children's crayons, a clown's outfit and a pensioner's walking stick - from people attending an environmental protest camp at Kingsnorth power station.
A list of more than 2,000 possessions taken from protesters, who were repeatedly searched going to and from the camp last August, has been obtained through a freedom of information request by Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth.
It shows that officers took packets of balloon, tents, a clown's outfit, camping equipment, cycle helmets and bike locks, plastic buckets, bin bags, blankets, soap, banners and leaflets, books, party poppers and nail clippers. A toy plastic gun, life-jackets, inflatable dinghies, paddles and foot pumps were also confiscated, police say, to stop protesters taking to the river around the Hoo peninsula in Kent. Much of the property has yet to be returned.
It is the latest attack on what has been criticised as over-the-top policing of the Climate Camp near the site where the government is planning to allow the construction of a £1bn coal-fired power station by the energy firm E.on. The project is seen by activists as damaging to the environment and a key obstacle to the UK achieving carbon reduction targets.
Kent police were embarrassed over the event last year when, after ministers had justified what they called the "proportionate" £5.9m cost of the security operation by pointing out that 70 officers had been injured at the event, they then had to admit that the injuries reported by officers included heat exhaustion, toothache, insect bites and headaches.
Howarth said: "It is not the police's job to confiscate protesters' banners, pensioners' walking sticks and children's crayons.
"The police admit that almost all the items seized had a legitimate purpose. The idea that it is appropriate to seize ordinary people's property on the off-chance that it might be used to commit a crime is a dangerous precedent.
"Almost anything can be invested with sinister intent with enough imagination. I even heard of one case where police confiscated a camper's soap on the basis that it could be used to make them slippery and evade capture by police. This is simply farcical.
"This kind of pre-emptive policing is out of all proportion to the threat posed by environmental direct action and should not be acceptable in a democratic society."
Sarah Perkins, a member of the Climate Camp's legal team, said their main concern was that they believed police misused "stop and search" legislation. "It certainly was disproportionate policing and a real sea change in the way police are using their powers. Absolutely everyone was searched, many people several times over, and then police raided the camp and searched yet again."
Green party MEP Caroline Lucas, who attended the week-long event, said at the time that she had witnessed police confiscating disabled access ramps, board games and fire safety equipment.
Kent's assistant chief constable, Allyn Thomas, defended the actions, saying the aim was always to enable a lawful and peaceful protest to take place. "This included our objective to prevent unlawful incursion of the power station," he said. "Had the station been shut down, there would have been a possible loss of power to over 300,000 homes.
"There was also the need to protect protesters who trespassed on the site as Kingsnorth is very hazardous for people without the appropriate training and safety equipment.
"While the majority of people were law abiding," he added, "it was clear from the first day of the camp setting up that a number of people were intent on causing trouble.
"By seizing items which could be used to commit a crime, we were able to ensure criminal acts were not carried out and more importantly no one was injured by some of the items which potentially could have been used to harm others. Arrests were prevented and many of the items have now been returned.
"We hope that anyone who attends a similar event in future accepts their responsibility to do so lawfully and in a legal manner."
Video of people lamenting the loss of their soap, crayons, bikes, etc. in this video: 'What did the police take from you?'
Repost from Observer, 1 March 2009:
Police 'over the top' at climate camp
Tracey McVeigh
More than 2,000 'potentially harmful' items were confiscated from protesters by officers - including balloons, crayons and a clown's outfit
Police have been accused of setting a "dangerous precedent" when they confiscated hundreds of items of property - including children's crayons, a clown's outfit and a pensioner's walking stick - from people attending an environmental protest camp at Kingsnorth power station.
A list of more than 2,000 possessions taken from protesters, who were repeatedly searched going to and from the camp last August, has been obtained through a freedom of information request by Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth.
It shows that officers took packets of balloon, tents, a clown's outfit, camping equipment, cycle helmets and bike locks, plastic buckets, bin bags, blankets, soap, banners and leaflets, books, party poppers and nail clippers. A toy plastic gun, life-jackets, inflatable dinghies, paddles and foot pumps were also confiscated, police say, to stop protesters taking to the river around the Hoo peninsula in Kent. Much of the property has yet to be returned.
It is the latest attack on what has been criticised as over-the-top policing of the Climate Camp near the site where the government is planning to allow the construction of a £1bn coal-fired power station by the energy firm E.on. The project is seen by activists as damaging to the environment and a key obstacle to the UK achieving carbon reduction targets.
Kent police were embarrassed over the event last year when, after ministers had justified what they called the "proportionate" £5.9m cost of the security operation by pointing out that 70 officers had been injured at the event, they then had to admit that the injuries reported by officers included heat exhaustion, toothache, insect bites and headaches.
Howarth said: "It is not the police's job to confiscate protesters' banners, pensioners' walking sticks and children's crayons.
"The police admit that almost all the items seized had a legitimate purpose. The idea that it is appropriate to seize ordinary people's property on the off-chance that it might be used to commit a crime is a dangerous precedent.
"Almost anything can be invested with sinister intent with enough imagination. I even heard of one case where police confiscated a camper's soap on the basis that it could be used to make them slippery and evade capture by police. This is simply farcical.
"This kind of pre-emptive policing is out of all proportion to the threat posed by environmental direct action and should not be acceptable in a democratic society."
Sarah Perkins, a member of the Climate Camp's legal team, said their main concern was that they believed police misused "stop and search" legislation. "It certainly was disproportionate policing and a real sea change in the way police are using their powers. Absolutely everyone was searched, many people several times over, and then police raided the camp and searched yet again."
Green party MEP Caroline Lucas, who attended the week-long event, said at the time that she had witnessed police confiscating disabled access ramps, board games and fire safety equipment.
Kent's assistant chief constable, Allyn Thomas, defended the actions, saying the aim was always to enable a lawful and peaceful protest to take place. "This included our objective to prevent unlawful incursion of the power station," he said. "Had the station been shut down, there would have been a possible loss of power to over 300,000 homes.
"There was also the need to protect protesters who trespassed on the site as Kingsnorth is very hazardous for people without the appropriate training and safety equipment.
"While the majority of people were law abiding," he added, "it was clear from the first day of the camp setting up that a number of people were intent on causing trouble.
"By seizing items which could be used to commit a crime, we were able to ensure criminal acts were not carried out and more importantly no one was injured by some of the items which potentially could have been used to harm others. Arrests were prevented and many of the items have now been returned.
"We hope that anyone who attends a similar event in future accepts their responsibility to do so lawfully and in a legal manner."
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