the London police killed a defenseless, unarmed protester at the G20 summit

The words above are really the most accurate way of describing what happened.

As usual, stellar reporting by the Guardian, who have now made a breakthrough in the question of the police brutality at the G20 summit. They have obtained video of a man named Ian Tomlinson being pushed and struck with a baton, from behind, while walking away, slowly, with his hands in his pockets. He died a few minutes later from a heart attack. Here is the video:



What riot police in general quite simply do not seem to get is that the reason we shouldn't use violence unless attacked is that our bodies, while equipped to handle a certain level of violence, are put in jeopardy by violence. As anyone who has experienced violence firsthand can tell you, it is always, no matter how slight, a shock to the system. Even when you are an unhurt party, the rest of the day is ruined by the adrenaline shakes and constant reruns in your head of what happened.

When they shield bash unarmed protesters with their hands in the air, every single blow risks incapacitating, wounding, traumatising or killing a protester. Baton strikes to the thigh, like mr Tomlinson experienced, are incredibly dangerous. In US prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan, heavy blows to the thigh ("peroneal strikes") have caused fatal damage – clots or infarcts – in abused prisoners, and was the cause of death of several prisoners in the Bagram abuse case.

Police officers are used to violence, and so probably think of it as part of their everyday life. To the rest of us, it can be instantly traumatising. Having The State push you down from behind can really ruin your day. In Mr. Tomlinson's case. He got so wound up, he died. That's a heavy shame for the London Metropolitan Police to bear. They were used as instruments of political violence and ended up killing a man.

"I don't know who is being protected here." I wonder if the police do.

Laws intended for counter-terrorism are being misused in an increasingly heavy-handed approach to policing protests, a new parliamentary report warns today.

The 70-page report, published by the joint committee on human rights after almost a year's inquiry, said it was concerned by evidence of the use of the powers, under legislation including the Terrorism Act, against peaceful protesters.

The report comes as pressure mounts on authorities over plans for the policing of a series of high-profile protests, including at next month's G20 summit in London. The event, due to be attended by Barack Obama and other world leaders, is expected to draw thousands of protesters to Docklands, London. The findings are likely to anger demonstrators, after the news that thousands of riot police will be deployed in response.

The report says: "Whilst we recognise police officers should not be placed at risk of serious injury, the deployment of riot police can unnecessarily raise the temperature at protests."

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O'Brien said the cordons were put in place because a group of about 200 people were violent. "There was no real deliberate attempt to say you are all going to stay here for hours," he said.

He said people had been allowed to leave throughout the day, and that by about 7.30pm those left were people who wanted to be there, and they were asked for their names as they left as part of the inquiry. "What I saw there at that time was a couple of hundred people who did not want to go. They had ... been the agitators throughout the day," he said.

The Guardian saw and spoke to many people who were clearly not agitators, but who were refused permission to leave.

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"this short film shows the campers calling out "this is not a riot" and holding their arms in the air, while riot police surge forward wielding batons and shields in an unprovoked attack."

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"Police said yesterday that a man who died at the G20 protests near the Bank of England had been walking home from work when he collapsed."

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"I don't know who is being protected here." Beautiful video reporting by the Guardian.