One week on in the City

The echoes of last week’s protests still linger in the City, from the police van parading anti-capitalist graffiti to the headlines in the news of the ever increasing storm surrounding the death of Ian Tomlinson. As more witnesses come forward some of the narratives become more contradictory (drunk v not drunk, only encounter with police or previous encounter) and it will take time to untangle the threads and come closer to finding out what really happened.

In these kind of situations it’s hard to get an idea of context, particularly if you’re not familiar with the City. The image below comes from the Evening Standard’s “This is London” website and shows Ian on the ground after being pushed by one of the police.

The image below is my own picture from across the road showing a wider view. 

If you go forward fifty yards or so you’ll come to the RBS that was damaged by protestors and if you go left just over fifty yards you’ll come to the front of the Royal Exchange, the epicentre of last many of last week’s events, so by any reckoning it occured very close to the centre of the protests. If you head thirty yards or so to the right down Cornhill you’ll find floral tributes attached to a streetsign as a memorial to Ian, which I assume mark the spot where he was treated and subsequently died.

For the sake of the family I hope the truth will out. 

Google Streetview
Location of the picture of the incident
http://bit.ly/15YfM
Location of the damaged RBS
http://bit.ly/6eu
Location of the floral tribute
http://bit.ly/fxYb

The Evening Standard coverage:
“I’ll see you tomorrow if I am still living and breathing”
G20 victim seen on film clashing with police an hour before fatal fall

The City Blog Flickr Page
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Video Shows Police Assault On Ian Tomlinson

A shocking video has been obtained by the Guardian that appears to show police officers assaulting Ian Tomlinson from behind whilst he had his hands in his pockets and posed no threat. In the video, he is seen being hit in the legs by a police officer and then forcefully pushed to the ground.

After a period of time on the floor, he then gets up and stumbles off although it should perhaps also be noted that his walking at the start of the video before he is struck also seems slightly haphazard. He later collapsed and died of a heart attack.

Ian Tomlinson was a 47 year old newsagent in the City of London, and was apparently returning back to a hostel he lived in after finishing work. The video obtained by the Guardian will raise many questions about the police conduct on that day and will no doubt form an important part of the IPCC’s investigation into the matter.

G20 Protest Photos… in Lego

Some shocking photos have appeared of both protesters and police from the G20 protests last week. The first shows a lone protester being singled out for stop and search while the second shows protesters at Downing Street being held at bay while the G20 leaders address the world’s press.

You’ve got to love Legoland…

Calm in the City

Well, mostly calm. There were two workers cleaning a statue on Bank junction when I came in this morning and apparently there was a demo up on Bishopsgate but the general feeling seems to be that people are glad it’s over and now we can get back to worrying about work instead.

Last night’s scuffles were interesting as they didn’t feature on the TV or news that I noticed and when I phoned the office to give them a report they were surprised. That may partly be because a core of protesters had been kettled in at the Royal Exchange where the TV crews were based across the road waiting for something to happen, away from the other action in Lothbury. As it was the TV crews were too far away to get any broadcastable pictures so the whole thing went unreported.

G20 Protest Update - Early Afternoon Day 2

There’s some tension in the air around Bank if you care to feel it. Police are stopping and searching anyone who looks too suspicious for their liking and the police I spoke to didn’t think it was all over just yet. The police helicopter was just hovering over the Liverpool Street area but it seems unlikely that we’ll see anything on the scale of yesterday as the protesters don’t seem to be that organised, particularly when contrasted with the police.

At 1pm there was a short ceremony to remember the man who died during the protests yesterday, who was himself a protester. The circumstances surrounding his death will no doubt be examined over the coming days but I hope it won’t turn into a political football. Just around the corner police horses were lined up in front of the boarded-up windows of the RBS building (picture top) which was attacked by protesters yesterday and you can find pictures for this and more on my Flickr page and Twitter updates (right)

City Blog Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moorgatemercurius/

G20 Protests Update - Lunchtime Day 2

The “Youth Fight for Jobs” protest is apparently 200 strong and complying with the police. Having gathered south of the river they are now going to make their way into the City and may even be there by now. I’m going to head out shortly to have a look.

There’s also talk of a slow march from Bishopsgate to Bank as a mark of respect for the person who died during the protests yesterday

Police attacked as they helped dying protester
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/G20/article6020028.ece

G20 Protests Update - The 2nd Morning

Quite a day yesterday. After my last blog post I headed off through the Climate Camp and then on to Bank. The police had it pretty well sealed off but had missed one side street that enabled me to get in between the two police lines on Queen Victoria Street with a number of other people and journalists at the time when the police were pushing the protesters back towards Bank. Every time the police moved forward the crowd reacted and broken bottles littered the streets with the occasional sign of blood. I saw some protesters being treated for injuries incurred in the scuffles, as much through so-called friendly fire as anything. Word to the wise. If you’re going to throw a bottle from five or ten rows back then your chances are slim of hitting the two or three rows of police. It’s much more likely that it’s either going to sail over their heads or catch one of your fellow protesters in the back of the head… as I saw yesterday.

This morning’s 7am demo at the Stock Exchange turned out to be about ten people and a Monopoly board made out of carpet. 200-300 police around the area made sure that there were going to be no surprises and even the journalists outnumbered the protesters.

It’s unlikely the City will see anything like the disorder and disruption of yesterday again today as the focus will be on Docklands and the Excel Centre but if anything happens I’ll keep you posted.

Check out my photos on Flickr or view the slideshow on the right-hand side, and have a look at my Youtube vids.

City Blog Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moorgatemercurius/

City Blog Youtube
http://www.youtube.com/thecityblog

Man Dies At G20 Protests

News broke on Wednesday evening of man unfortunately dying at the G20 protests in the City of London. The man was apparently in his 30s and died of “natural causes”.

The Press Association quotes a spokesperson from the Metropolitan Police as saying:

“A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane, junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner.

“That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michael’s Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing.”

Update: The man that died has been named as 47 year old Ian Tomlinson.

Were you at the G20 protest? Did you see anything relating to this incident? Leave your comments below…

Don’t miss out City Blogger’s coverage of the G20 protests.

G20 Protests Update - Early Afternoon

Having been out and about I’ve added a selection of photos to the Flickr page but I won’t reproduce all of them here. It seems like 10% of the crowd are protesters, 10% are Police, 10% are journalists and the remaining 70% are curious City workers who’ve gone to see what’s going on. The Climate Camp on Bishopsgate has quite a party atmosphere but there have been some initial skirmishes between the Police and the protesters with injuries and damage to property.

Moorgate Mercurius Flickr Page
http://www.flickr.com/photos/moorgatemercurius

G20 Protests Update - Noon

First the “war” protest moved of down Moorgate as planned with the red horse of war keeping up the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” theme.

Next the Liverpool Street march was redirected down London Wall and then made its way down Moorgate to the Bank.

All the marches seem to have met up at Bank now and although there’s been a little pushing and shoving there’ been no outbreak of violence yet, though it may just be a matter of time.

I’m going to head out again shortly to get some more pics…

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