Activism

This is the sort of story being pushed into the background by the media free for all that’s the MPs expenses scandal; normally it’d cause public outrage. Yet another way in which Parliament’s let down the voters, but at least it shows some people are still watching.

It’s been alleged by lots of those present (or watching live, like me)that the violence at the G20 London protests was incited by police provocateurs to discredit protestors, following the established European pattern.

The police, as is their wont, continue to deny it strenuously, despite damning video evidence. But also as is their wont they made the mistake of assuming the crowd was composed entirely of hippies with dogs on strings.

Wrong!

G20 police ‘used undercover men to incite crowds’

“…Liberal Democrat [MP] Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards.

Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon.

Brake, a member of the influential home affairs select committee, will raise the allegations when he gives evidence before parliament’s joint committee on human rights on Tuesday.

“When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, ‘There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'” Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification.

Brake has produced a draft report of his experiences for the human rights committee, having received written statements from people in the crowd. These include Tony Amos, a photographer who was standing with protesters in the Royal Exchange between 5pm and 6pm. “He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable,” Amos said. “Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked.”

Amos added: “He was pretty much inciting the crowd. He could not be called an observer. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories but this really struck me. Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up.”

Clearly German federal police didn’t get the memo. They (accidentally or otherwise) arrested one of their police provocateurs:

Police Officer Arrested for Joining Berlin’s May Day Riot

During the May Day protests last week, Berlin police clashed with nearly every kind of demonstrator imaginable — including one of their own. An off-duty police officer from Frankfurt has been arrested for stone-throwing during riots which left over 450 of his colleagues injured.

[…]

The 24-year-old, usually stationed at Frankfurt International Airport, is suspected of taking part in the May Day riots in Berlin and — in at least two instances — throwing cobblestones and striking police officers. He was off-duty and staying in Kreuzberg, the multi-ethnic and alternative neighborhood at the center of the annual demonstrations, during his visit to the capital, where he completed his training in August last year.

The policeman has been suspended and will remain off-duty until the criminal proceedings are over…

Yeah sure. More like a pressured plod didn’t recognise the code word. Now they have to follow through with the arrest and charge.

If this arrest of a fellow-officer follows the UK pattern, give it a couple of months and most likely any charges will be quietly forgotten and the officer concerned will be compensated with a comfy well-paid admin post in a regional station somewhere.