Police attack anti-Bush protestors

Written by Stewart office

Archived from from Tuesday, 17 June 2008

The ban on the demonstration down Whitehall to protest the visit of war criminal George Bush was enforced with violence by the Metropolitan police. My best friend Suzanna Wylie "sustained a bloody head wound in the melee" according to the Guardian paper. "I'm angry that the police have treated us like we are rioting, and we're not," she said. "I've been on lots of demonstrations before, and every one of the Stop the War demonstrations have been peaceful; this time because Bush is here, because of his own security arrangements, they won't let us demonstrate. "If they let us demonstrate, there would have been none of this." Stop the War Coalition, one of the organisers, added that "this was very predictable. If they had allowed us to deliver our letters of protest to Downing Street, as we had asked, none of this would have happened." Two protestors were hospitalised by baton weilding police. Stop the War Coalition have organised over 20 national protests all of which have been peaceful. We have written a letter of protest to the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith. GeorgeGalloway MP, a vice president of the Stop the War Coalition, has also written a letter of protest to the Commissioner of Police, Sir Ian Blair. Images of the demo can be found here and here. Police Brutality Two protestors were hospitalised after police batoned those who approached the security fence around the protest free 'green zone'. The image below shows one hospitalised protestor being pulled towards the police before being struck on the head and back. Civil liberties another casualty of war Prominent supporters of Stop the War Coalition condemned police violence. Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger said, “Our civil liberties are becoming another casualty of the ‘war on terror’. I was born in a dictatorship and look with great concern at recent erosions of our liberties. At the demonstration today all I wanted to do with others was to peacefully deliver my letter to the Prime Minister. I was prevented from doing so and instead witnessed brutality towards the demonstrators.” Andrew Murray, Chair of StWC, said, “We condemn the decision of the British government and police to deny the British public the right to peacefully demonstrate while acting on behalf of the criminal administration in the USA. We also denounce the brutal conduct of many police officers towards demonstrators in Whitehall. This evening’s events highlight both the growing menace to freedoms in Britain and also the fear that George W Bush and Gordon Brown have of being held to account for their disastrous war policies.” More Media Reports BBC VIDEO: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7455206.stm GUARDIAN: http://tinyurl.com/4nl4uq EVENING STANDARD: http://tinyurl.com/6nbtw7