G20-Circled & Shaken Down During the 2nd Sorrowful Mystery

international | anti-capitalism | feature

Tuesday April 07, 2009 21:52

by Ciaron O'Reilly - London Catholic Worker

Our Problems Stem from our Acceptance
of this Filthy Rotten System

Sometime during the second decade of the sorrowful mysteries, I had a sense we were not alone. Martin, Katrina and I were sat alone in a small East London park facing the Excel Centre where the G20 of the most powerful government leaders were gathered to rearrange deckchairs on their sinking ship. Thousands of police had been deployed around the Excel Centre keeping the few hundreds of protesters who gathered a quarter of a mile from the site. A case of overcatering evidently.

Related Links:
The personal blog of Ciaron O'Reilly.
Previous writings of Ciaron O'Reilly on Indymedia.ie.
The website of London Catholic Worker.
G20 Summit Special from The Guardian.

We had somehow managed to get through to this small park for a face off with the building. We were praying seated at a park table when this big guy leaned over me, I looked up to see an automatic rifle in his hands and a pistol strapped to his knee. He told me to stand up slowly. As I did I went to place a paper in my pocket he said "Keep your hands visible". This guy was serious, I extended my arms away from my body for a frisking and looked around to see 4 other guys and a gal in paramilitary uniforms circling our table all similarly armed with rifles and pistols. 6 of them with 12 weapons, 3 of us with a bible, rosary beads and liturgy sheet. I like these odds.

As Martin stood up he kept reciting the rosary, didn't break stride. My copy of the Guardian began to flutter in the breeze under the park table; I thought I should step out and stand on it so it wouldn't blow away. I then thought, I really like my left kneecap, stayed stationery, refused to give my name and was detained under anti-terrorist legislation, 5th time in the past year in 3 jurisdictions!

The cops paced around methodically as they checked Katrina and Martin's bags....these folks were the real deal, the last card in the cop deck. After the 4 million CCTVs, the fluroescent jacket guys, the riot squads with shields and batons, come these folks I guess.

Our visitors seemed satisfied that our liturgy sheet was not indeed a map of the Excel Centre as reported by their Intel. After we were released from the mystical anti-terror detention and the super cops departed, we returned to prayer and further reflection on these dark times we're in and what small human response we could muster.

Outnumbered, outresourced, outflanked, but not out of the game - Katrina produced a rainbow PEACE banner and Martin drew up a placard with a quote from Catholic Worker founder Dorothy Day "Our Problems Stem from our Acceptance of this Filthy Rotten System!" and made our way toward the G20 gathering.

Across the city others were being raided, arrested, recovering from wounds and long hours of detention/kettling from the previous day's scene outside the Bank of England. A lot more good folks, following weeks of media hype and scaremongering, were internally migrating away from expressing dissent in this historic moment wherein the climate and the economy crash. Where this filthy rotten system based on production for production sake rather than meeting human needs, that operates in the denial that the environment does not have limits to exploitation.

The only way out of this atomised fear and off this sinking ship is nonviolent resistance and solidarity.

save preference

Comments (22 of 22)

Jump To Comment:

before swine

by Chris

Sat Apr 04, 2009 21:40

How is the Gospel ever gonna be welcome in such a den of thieves? God bless for your witness for humanity.

part of the problem

by simple simon

Sun Apr 05, 2009 02:04

I am impressed by the Dorothy Day placard. We are all, as consumers of wants more than needs, part of the big global problem of wasting finite resources while millions live in penury. People on the 'right' and the 'left' want governments and banks to make lotsa money more freely available so we can go back to our spending fantasies. In the case of Ireland the middle classes want to fly away to sunshine holidays twice a year, change their cars every three years and invest in timeshare seaside apartments. Live simply and others in the third world may simply live.

G20 - Reports that Police Assault of Ian Tomlinson Results in His Death

by Ciaron

Sun Apr 05, 2009 20:02

G20 - Reports that Police Assault of Ian Tomlinson Results in His Death

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/05/g20-protest...inson

Photo essay from Bank of England action

by minnie

Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:31

Photo essay from Bank of England action

Part 1

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/426800.html

Part 2

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/426815.html

Part 3

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/426883.html?c=on#c219952

G 20, London: Video proof - Protester dies after police attack

Tue Apr 07, 2009 19:27

Objective proof that the Metropolitan Police assaulted Ian Tomlinson minutes before he dies of a heart attack. Watch the whole vid, especially the slow motion of the attack.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-video

How can the police now claim no responsibility for his death? A smashed up RBS is nothing compared with contributing to the death of an innocent man. Just more disgusting spin from the police, but what did you expect?

what right the police?

by Diarmuid

Wed Apr 08, 2009 00:51

Well, the video posted by the Guardian certainly shows a "smoking gun".

The article above the comments and other reports on the day raise some questions that have been, in essence, around for centuries.
Why do the police protect the bankers, government etc. and attack ordinary people?
What right do they have to bring dogs against people?
What right do they have to bring firearms against unarmed people?
What right to the police have to cordon people into an area and keep them there (even if there had been drinking water and toilet facilities)?
What right do the police have to use other weapons against people who would be arrested if they went similarly armed?
Is there a connection between the time police attacks on demonstrators frequently happen and the time of darkness (when less will be seen and photographed)?
Will any policeman be convicted for this killing? (Remember Kevin Gately, Blair Peach, etc.)

the narrow line

by kh - nmn

Wed Apr 08, 2009 01:54

Given the wrong leadership, given that leadership having armed forces and armed police under its authority, what must clearly be seen is the very thin line existing between the harmony of a nation and of insanity on a level comparable with Nazism.

comparability

by Tang

Wed Apr 08, 2009 07:39

The British cops are investigating the pushing from behind of that man with his hands in pockets, and how he fell badly to the ground (only stretching his hands out at the last second in an attempt to cushion his fall) and how, sitting on the ground assisted by a bystander, (a demonstator?) he tried to speak to one of the standing cops. This might not happen after a demonstration in a military-run South American dictatorship. Neither would the government order an enquiry if there were casualties during a demo by aggrieved factory workers in an interior chinese province. The video wouldn't be broadcast on the controlled media. I don't think England is on a slide towards fascism. It's not on a slide towards socialism either.

not a "protestor"

by not

Wed Apr 08, 2009 08:08

It's pretty obvious by now that Ian Tomlinson was not a protestor. He was making his way home from his job at a tube station.

Lessons for Mayo

by Sean

Wed Apr 08, 2009 09:22

Just shows how dangerous the tactics of the Gardaí working on behalf of Shell in Co. Mayo are. Far worse has been dished out to elderly and frail people but the cops here have been lucky so far that nobody has been killed.

priming the pumps

by lulu

Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:46

The media, especially the BBC, did their bit in advance to persuade people that 'anarchists' were plotting to cause trouble; even some fairly open-minded people I know were citing ' violent anarchist troublemakers' as being responsible for all the problems at the G20 protests, before the story broke of the police assault on the man who died.

listen up, Gards!

Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:54

I hope & pray the Gards in Mayo will take note; many peaceful people have chronic injuries from Garda brutality. Besides 'rough treatment', Gards also flagrantly break Health & Safety law (eg, the digger incident at Pollatomas Pier June 11th 2007), & regularly harrass anyone they suspect of support for Shell to Sea, stopping cars to check documents in the most dangerous spots on the Erris roads - junctions & blind corners. Tourists going the road are starting to notice that something untoward is happening in Erris.

killed by cop

by Ian Tomlinson

Wed Apr 08, 2009 12:56

Caption: Video Id: HECMVdl-9SQ Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video

Some rapid reflection on the day of action at the Bank of England

Wed Apr 08, 2009 16:38

On April 1st. I turned up at Liverpool St. tube station to hook up with folks and a horseman of the apocalypse to head for the Bank of England. 3 other apocalyptic horseman, with accompaniment, would be converging from other starting points to converge on the Bank of England

It had been nearly 10 years ago, pre-Seattle, that I had gathered with 20,000 folks at this tube station for June 18th. ('99) - a kind of kickstarting of the anti-capitalist movement in the 1st. world.
I guess I was looking to see if this movement still existed since the Bob and Bono NGO hijacking at Gleneagles ('05). At 11 a.m. gathering time there was little evidence that it still did - but hey punctuality was never a strong point!

At Liverpool St. station this fine April Day the media and cop contingents appeared to have numerical parity or supremecy over the commited and curious. I didn't like our chances of taking to the street let alone getting to the Bank of England. The media hype leading up to the G20 in London was designed to scare people off the streets in this period of economic and environmental collapse. Anyone who surfaced was displaying great courage. At Genoa '01 it had become obvious that they were willing to kill this movement. There are pockets in this society where they can get away with killing you....jail is one and the mainstream media had made these summit protests another.

But take to the streets we did and our numbers seemed to grow as we made our way. As we got closer to the Bank of England I suspected that we would be held prisoner for the day like May Day 01 in London...a tactic the police call "kettling". I value my liberty but I thought it was worth giving it up for 5-15 hours to make a statement against the G20 and capitalism.

The crowd's arrival at the Bank of England was quite euphoric and the creativity of folks was very impressive. Sound systems and artists kept morale up, statements of truth were written on bank walls and a guy (working with no net!) leveraged himself between pillar and bank to scale up and hang a banner. The dulcet tones of Billy Bragg could be heard emerging singing the Internationale and the Diggers song.

An hour and half in people began to realise they had been taken prisoner by the cops. Cop lines would not allow anyone to leave. I figured that cop priority was to keep dissidents away from the G20 world government leaders so the had ceded this symbolic territory for the day, written off the area around the Bank of England. It felt like a big sit-in and given our lack of resources an achievement - when the media/manufacturers of consent and security forces of the state are so heavilly budgeted.

I tried a bit of street speaking but mostly had chats with folks. Had a good chat with some black bloc kids (I didn't see any older ones). The Royal Bank of Scotland left unguarded and unboarded up had provided the photo op the tabloids were looking for to justify $10 million of security expenditure, further erosion of civil rights and the media hysteria.

The cop kettle was unpassable but not that tight around us, crowd density from 11am-4pm was like a festival - I was content to do my time. For others, the first duty of being a prisoner is to escape. And at 4.30 pm the cops retreated down one road and for a time one could leave through a shopping arcade that came out behind another police line. Tired and dehydrated I took the opportunity. Most people did after five hours of incarceration.

At some point after I left the cop kettle got tighter around those who remained and the cops more aggressive. On my walk back past Liverpool St. tube station I dropped into the Climate Camp which had established a base with scores of tents. The vibe was very fluffy and I assumed the cops were happy to keep them there away fromt the G20 at the east London Excel centre.

Wrong again by 7 pm as Ian Tomlison was being killed on his way home from work the Climate Camp was leveled thus.......
http://www.prisonplanet.com/unseen-footage-riot-police-....html

I always thought these gatherings were valuable as an exhale of a movement, that the inhale was the daily grind of grassroots activism. This morning as we were concluding the London CW communtiy meeting the phone rang. An anarch activist homeless/housing group were alerting us to the eviction of a Turkish family in a tower block around the corner. The four of us ran around (first in circles) and found the right tower block, we joined the one activist advocate and a relative of the family as the cops had broken into the unit. As time went by another 8 cops and 8 activists arrived on the scene - these young people knew their stuff in terms of housing law and it appears the cops were acting quite illegally. So beyond the co-option and state violence the movement is still out there. Keep the faith.

killer cop suspended, more bad deed doers being questioned...

by Servants of the Queen?

Tue Apr 14, 2009 20:11

A Metropolitan Police constable caught on camera hitting Mr Tomlinson with a baton and pushing him to the ground has been suspended from duty.

New probe over G20 'attack' video:

A fresh investigation into police conduct during the G20 protests has been launched after video footage appeared to show an officer hitting out at a woman during the summit.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090414/tuk-new-probe-over....html

Related:
Why did Ian Tomlinson die?
by Imc London
http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1068

Eyewitness Account Of G20 Death Full Version
http://london.indymedia.org.uk/videos/1038

Caption: Video Id: WTCwQt3zBq8 Type: Youtube Video
Embedded video Youtube Video

interview

by steve

Thu Apr 16, 2009 21:43

solobass steve interviews ciaron o'reily
g20 bank of england (3.57)

http://qik.com/video/1362709

Oi Oi OI - What ´ave we got ´ere den?

by bobby watch

Thu Apr 16, 2009 22:25

G20 protest videos: Growing catalogue of evidence against police

Watch a collection of videos passed to the Guardian that appear to show police using excessive force against G20 protesters

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/15/g20-protest-po...logue

Plainclothes police with batons at G20 protests

Plainclothes officers, one with his baton drawn, are seen mingling with uniformed riot police in the City of London on 2 April

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/15/g20-prot...olice

G20 Police "used undercover men to incite crowds"

by provavateurs

Tue May 12, 2009 03:10

G20 Police "used undercover men to incite crowds"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/10/g20-poli...teurs

This acquittal of an EDO protestor

by acquitted assault police

Tue Jun 09, 2009 02:55

Brighton, England

This acquittal of an EDO protestor would imply an acknowledgement the use of excessive police force one would think

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/08/teacher-cleare...sault

G20 Officer could face kill charge

by G20 Death Update

Wed Aug 05, 2009 01:05

G20 Officer could face kill charge

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/04/ian-tomlinson-...arges

G20 Protester Jailed

by Jailed

Thu Dec 03, 2009 10:21

G20 Protester Jailed

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/dec/01/g20-protester-...-bank

One Year On

by one year on

Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:40

One year on since the G 20 cop killing of Ian Tomlinson

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/04/448516.html