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.
Showing posts with label climate camp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate camp. Show all posts
Thursday, 12 March 2009
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)
Monday, 2 March 2009
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."
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Police violence and deception at the Climate Camp
After yesterday's admission that the police and government gave the misleading impression that 70 officers had been injured in contact with Climate Camp protestors, its interesting to look back at other ways in which they tried to smear the camp, and at some of the beatings they meted out. Bear in mind the reality, now agreed on by all sides, was that over one thousand protesters interacted with the same number of police for a week without a single officer being injured. (Sadly the same can't be said for the protesters.)
The following extract from the BBC News on 5th August 2008 contains points of interest:
1. The BBC anchor's reference to 'violent clashes' (0'27") - sorry to have to correct you BBC, but 'clashes' are where two sides are fighting!
2. The display by the police of items actually taken from the camp (see also, entertainingly, HERE), confusingly intermingled with items found 'nearby', including the famous throwing star, and kitchen knife block (1'26"). Now, it seems quite a leap to assume, as the police and BBC do, that these items were abandoned by people from the Camp, when there are 1.6 million other people in the immediate vicinity of Kent and Medway. Given the apparent willingness of the police to tell other lies in this case, is it too much to suppose that they planted the items? (The thug making the presentation, by the way, is Chief Superintendent Gary Beautridge.)
3. Violence. Look at the man struck in the face at 2'19": his head flies backwards and forwards like a rag doll. Look at the girl stuck in the crush at 2'26": though she can hardly move the cop lashes out viciously and strikes her with his club.
Film HERE.
The following extract from the BBC News on 5th August 2008 contains points of interest:
1. The BBC anchor's reference to 'violent clashes' (0'27") - sorry to have to correct you BBC, but 'clashes' are where two sides are fighting!
2. The display by the police of items actually taken from the camp (see also, entertainingly, HERE), confusingly intermingled with items found 'nearby', including the famous throwing star, and kitchen knife block (1'26"). Now, it seems quite a leap to assume, as the police and BBC do, that these items were abandoned by people from the Camp, when there are 1.6 million other people in the immediate vicinity of Kent and Medway. Given the apparent willingness of the police to tell other lies in this case, is it too much to suppose that they planted the items? (The thug making the presentation, by the way, is Chief Superintendent Gary Beautridge.)
3. Violence. Look at the man struck in the face at 2'19": his head flies backwards and forwards like a rag doll. Look at the girl stuck in the crush at 2'26": though she can hardly move the cop lashes out viciously and strikes her with his club.
Film HERE.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Police and minister lied about Climate Camp casualties
Whether gullibly or cynically we know not, but Police Minister Vernon Coaker has up till now peddled the police lie that 70 officers were injured during the August 2008 Climate Camp at Kingsnorth, Kent. This lie was used to justify the use of blanket search powers during the £5.9m police operation against climate-change protesters.
But Coaker has now written to the Lib Dem's David Howarth to say: "Kent police have informed the Home Office that there were no recorded injuries sustained as a result of direct contact with the protesters." The causes of the twelve recorded injuries that did occur included "heat and sun", and a "possible wasp".
Sources:
Apology over policing 'injuries' (BBC)
Those Kingsnorth police injuries in full: six insect bites and a toothache (Guardian)
Government overstated police injuries at Climate Camp (Lib Dems)
But Coaker has now written to the Lib Dem's David Howarth to say: "Kent police have informed the Home Office that there were no recorded injuries sustained as a result of direct contact with the protesters." The causes of the twelve recorded injuries that did occur included "heat and sun", and a "possible wasp".
Sources:
Apology over policing 'injuries' (BBC)
Those Kingsnorth police injuries in full: six insect bites and a toothache (Guardian)
Government overstated police injuries at Climate Camp (Lib Dems)
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