A London Metropolitan Police officer "identified himself to his team leader as being potentially involved in the incident shown on the video footage", Euronews 24 reported today. Good news, the chap has shown to be a man after all — seven days and an incriminating video after the incident, as duly noted by the Scotsman.
On a slightly different note, off-beat watchdog Boing Boing has promoted theremix challange to raise awareness and counteract the ludicrous, new 'anti-terror' campaign run by the Met. The image above is an example of the mock posters, make sure you check the other ones, some of them are pure genius.
In a turn of events that is the dream of every newspaper editor, The Guardian has obtained a short video that shows a Police officer attacking a passer by minutes before he dies during London's G20 protests.
City of London’s newsagent Ian Tomlinson was walking home from work on Wednesday, April 1, when he found himself caught between riot Police and demonstrators near the Bank of England. After collapsing on the ground — and allegedly being succored by Police medics despite being “pelted with missiles believed to include bottles as they tried to save his life” as reported by Sky News — Tomlinson stumbled away and died of a heart attack soon after.
The incriminating footage is part of a dossier that The Guardian has put together and presented to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which also includes a collection of testimonies from witnesses. According to many commentators — see here, here, and here — the episode is only the last dramatic testimony of the way Police forces in the UK have recently been dealing with demonstrations trying to challenge estranged political and financial classes*.
Early Police statements did not acknowledge any misbehaviours committed by officers on the ground during the clashes, and, as the Sky News example mentioned above, mainstream media were quick to pick up the down-with-these-noglobal-rioters line. The worst of all was The Evening Standard**, which carried a (now) unfortunate double-page spread with a rather dramatic — but completely off the track — headline.
Fortunately, an amended article is now online here, and the ES actually carried this article on today’s edition.
Also, IPCC Commissioner for London, Deborah Glass, admitted that “witnesses” have reported Police involvement in the incident. “It is important that we are able to establish whether that contact had anything to do with [Ian Tomlinson’s] death," she said.
*See also what happened at the Nato Summit held in Strasbourg, France on April 4 as reported by Current. **London’s widest-distributed daily newspaper has recently been sold by its historical owner, Daily Mail & General Trust PLC, to Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB spy. Strange as it seems it could be a much-needed boost to liberal journalism in the British capital — see here for details.
Over a period of five months a group of squatters occupied three different homes each worth millions of pounds in one of the most exclusive areas of London, Hampstead Garden Suburb, in the north west of the British capital.
Click here to read the full article and watch a slideshow of Alex Masi's pictures.
Here's the latest project born from yet another collaboration with photojournalist Alex Masi, a multimedia slideshow about squatting in London, UK.
Between June and November 2007, we followed a group of squatters with a penchant for mansions worth millions of pounds. In just over five months they occupied three different homes in one of the most exclusive areas of London, Hampstead Garden Suburb, in the north west of the capital.
During one of their incursions they found themselves sleeping in the lavishness previously enjoyed by former Indonesian president Haji Mohamed Suharto....watch the video to see how it worked out.
A complete reportage — text and photostory — is available to be syndicated. More info on alexmasi.co.uk
These are few of the interviews I made with young and old(er) members of the NUJ, which this year is celebrating its 100th birthday.
It was touching and fascinating to speak to individuals that have played such an important part — well, at least some of them — in the history of the union.
All extremely nice people these union workers, more often than not I would find myself just amicably chatting with them at the end of the interview.
Visit the NUJ web site for more info about their activities.
