Thursday 9 December 2010

It's all kicking off

Down in London, the kettling operation is in full swing - horse charges, the lot.
A wheelchair doesn't protect you in a confrontation with the police, it seems.

#dayx3 police dragged a man from his wheelchair in par sq 5 m... on Twitpic

#dayx3 #demo2010 #ell wheelchair left empty on Twitpic


4.42pm: We have an answer for the question posed at 4.02pm. The man pictured being pulled from his wheelchair is Jody McIntyre who, coincidentally, was interviewed in the Observer last month.
I spoke to his brother, Finlay, who says Jody was actually pulled from the chair twice. The first time was near Parliament Square when police insisted he move from close to the front of their lines. Three officers, he said, picked Jody up and dragged him away. 
The second was nearer the river, when officers insisted he and Finlay were in danger near police horses. This time, Finlays says, his brother was pulled bodily on the ground across the street.

One journalist's account:
Then, basically, a baton strike came to the side of my face and then onto the top of my head. Directly onto the crown of my head. I felt a big whacking thud and I heard it reverberating inside my head. 




"I wasn't sure whether I was bleeding or not. I moved off to the side and asked a police officer if I was bleeding. But he just said 'Keep moving, keep moving". Then I put my hand to the top of my head and looked at my palm and I could see there was blood everywhere. I then asked another police officer, who was wearing a police medic badge, if he could help me. And he told me to move away as well and told me to go to another exit. By this point blood was streaming down the back of my head and back of my neck and matting my hair. I was wearing a roll neck jumper and it was seeping into the back of my jumper. I managed to come off to one side and make my way out where two protesting student helped me. 

Great use of Google Maps to track protests here. There's even Godzilla in the Thames.




15:45
Godzilla emerges from Thames to support protests.

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