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G20 protest victim's family demand answers
5 Nov 2009The family of G20 protest victim Ian Tomlinson said their grief remains raw today as they demanded answers over his death.
Mr Tomlinson, 47, died after he was struck with a baton and pushed to the ground by a police officer during G20 protest clashes on April 1.
His stepson Paul King, 26, and widow Julia, said they are surprised the incident has not appeared in any of the inquiries into the demonstrations.
Speaking at London's City Hall today, Mr King, of the Isle of Dogs, east London, admitted he is frustrated with the response to his stepfather's death.
He said: "There have been four inquiries into the demonstrations and the policing of G20 and we want to know why the dog that bit Ian, the baton strike and the push to the floor have not been mentioned.
"He was an innocent man on his way home. We have lost our dad. Ian Blair made a comment that he was not the first and he would not be the last. So, are there going to be more violent assaults on other people?"
The Metropolitan Police Authority's civil liberties panel held an open meeting today to hear opinions about how public protests are policed.
Representatives of many environmental and personal freedom pressure groups attended, as well as protesters, solicitors and residents.
The panel heard a wide range of views from calls for police to wear football-style vests to make them easier to identify to first-hand accounts of brutality.
There were also several outlandish conspiracy theories, including a claim police left a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland unprotected to encourage disorder.
Addressing the Tomlinson family, Victoria Borwick, who chaired the meeting, said: "There is nothing any of us can say to reverse the situation of what happened last April. We are extremely sorry.
"We have invited people here today to give their first-hand experiences of G20 so hopefully through this process we can avoid tragic incidents happening again."
Speaking after the meeting, Mr King said his family are still shocked by the death. He said: "It does not get any better."
Looking visibly shaken, Mrs Tomlinson added: "We are just lost for words. We found today very hard."
Their solicitor, Jules Carey, said the family hope a decision will be made over whether to charge anyone over the incident "sooner rather than later".
He said: "That is one of the reasons the family simply cannot talk at the moment. The complaint papers are with the Crown Prosecution Service.
"Keir Starmer has suggested in an interview that the decision will be made before Christmas. The family do not want to affect the decision or any trial.
"They hope the decision comes sooner rather than later because the waiting is extremely difficult for them and the closer we get to Christmas the more difficult waiting will be."
A member of the Met's territorial support group has been suspended and questioned on suspicion of manslaughter over Mr Tomlinson's death.
He was caught by an amateur cameraman apparently hitting Mr Tomlinson with a baton and pushing him to the ground.
A file was passed to prosecutors at the beginning of August by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).
Reader views (1)
The IPCC have now confirmed that they will be looking into this aspect of the complaint by the Tomlinson family. On the Civil Liberties panel we had understood that this was in fact likely to be the case, and that has now been confirmed, so I hope that the Tomlinson family will take some comfort from this in order to help resolve their ongoing concerns.
This is a very tragic event and highlights the need for an examination of the tactics used in public order policing
- Victoria Borwick, London UK, 06/11/2009 16:26
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