On the 1st April, several thousand peaceful demonstrators formed a camp
outside the European Climate Exchange on Bishopsgate in central London. Despite
assurances by Commander Broadhurst that the peaceful intentions of the campers
were recognized, the camp was violently attacked and shut down in the early
hours of Thursday morning by the police. The timing of this was enormously suspicious; although we cannot move beyond conjecture, the fact that this was
too late for the papers to report, and after the news broadcasters had stopped reporting, suggests that the police waited for a time to act which would fall
between the cracks of public awareness.
The Climate Camp was not affiliated with the G20 meltdown protests outside the Bank of England, and was not, as has been suggested, an eclectic
association of “confused anarchists”. It was a coalition of people with one clear agenda; highlighting the deficiencies of the industrial worlds response to
climate change, specifically the failure of the Carbon Trading scheme. It is not possible to claim that the camp was the victim of the provocation of
“violent anarchists”; there were none. There is not a single report of violence by the Bishopsgate protestors, whilst a wealth of evidence exists to prove the
extreme brutality of the police tactics to remove the camp. Our intention is narrow in focus; rather than protesting against the numerous injustices
perpetrated against the innocent throughout the day, we want your help in challenging the institution responsible for this whitewash- the BBC.
To give an impression of police tactics, these are some of the things personally experienced and observed;
With no warning, riot police charged the camp, beating and pushing peaceful protesters who had their palms up as a symbol of their peaceful intentions.
When people were knocked down, protesters who went to help were hit with shields and attacked with batons.
When people sat down to try and prevent the police from charging, they were kicked in the chins and beaten (some for long periods of time whilst lying helpless).
The police hauled people out and dragged them around, bending their arms back and threatening totally peaceful protesters.
Some riot police lost control and began hitting everything in sight, including fellow police officers and innocent protesters. On mass, the police removed their identification, preventing us from pursuing any avenues of complaint.
This sounds horrendous, and immensely unlikely but we cannot emphasise enough that it is fact.
The BBC is supposed to be an institution that reports important issues and does so impartially. This usually includes reporting from a variety of perspectives
and ensuring that breaking news of something as significant as police attacking entirely peaceful protesters, gets through. Unfortunately, none of this has
been reported by the BBC; their website was not updated past 9.30 pm on Wednesday, which is exactly when innocent people were being subject to police
brutality. BBC News 24 supposedly provides round the clock coverage of current news, but they did not mention the atrocious behaviour of the police towards
the climate campers. To us, this seems completely inexcusable; the BBC has essentially blanked the issue and has not portrayed the true nature of the
protests or the police tactics.
If you agree with us, and believe that the BBC has failed on this matter, please please fill out a complaints form which can be found here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml
Your complaint can be as simple as “I don’t think that the BBC provided adequate coverage of the police tactics used on peaceful protesters at the G20
Climate Camp”, or it can be more extensive.
If we get enough people to do this, then it will become a headline in itself and the BBC will be forced to say why it did not think that the attacking of peaceful citizens was not newsworthy and did not warrant attention. What’s
more, we may be able to hold the police to account.
Please invite all your friends to join.
Thank you for taking the time to make a small difference.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complaints_stage1.shtml
***UPDATE***
The issues raised here two weeks ago have finally come to light. Thank you to all who have helped made a difference.
Please join the campaign to prevent a reoccurence of the brutality of April 1st.
http://www.defendpeacefulprotest.org/
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=60467068334
The last couple of weeks have been a beautiful testament to the power of common people united in their outrage.
