Britain: Police under attack over G20 violence

British police are under pressure over their violent attacks on protesters during the G20 summit in London this month.

One police officer has been interviewed, pending possible manslaughter charges, after the death of London newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson.

Tomlinson, who was not taking part in the protests, was violently shoved to the ground by the police when he walked near the protests on April 1.

A post mortem revealed he died from internal bleeding, not a heart attack as first reported.

Other cases of unprovoked police assaults on protesters have received wide media coverage, due to protester video recordings.

The legal support team for the climate camp protest held during the G20 summit released new footage on April 18 available at . The legal team also put out a report on police violence against climate activists titled Demonstrating Respect for Rights?

More than 4000 climate activists camped outside the European Climate Exchange, to call for an end to Europe's failed carbon trading scheme.

By 7pm on April 1, after a calm but spirited day of protest, "the police streamed into the camp by force with their batons and shields in full offensive use" the legal report said. Protesters were surrounded by police.

Most were kept "kettled" (penned-in) in the street by the police cordon and were not released for five hours.

The climate camp legal team received dozens of accounts of police assaults from protesters. Seventeen-year-old protester Billy Harrington-Roberts said he was about to leave, when "without warning the police in front of me drew their batons and advanced by hitting the people in front of them. I was hit several times including once on the head."

From GLW issue 792