March in Memory of Ian Tomlinson, Chris Knight sneers at officer in charge of G20 Meltdown at Bank on April 1 where he died.
Ian Tomlinson was not involved in the demonstrations around the Bank of England on April 1, 2009, but was a newspaper seller trying to make his way home but prevented by the police "kettling" or containment of demonstration against the Bankers organised by anti-capitalist groups. He was attacked by a policeman while walking along a Royal Exchange Buildings, a pedestrian street close to the Bank (and possibly also earlier) and fell to the ground, got up and staggered a few yards around the corner onto Cornhill, where he collapsed and died. The police at first denied the attack, but it had been caught on cameraphone video by a New York fund manager in London on business and he sent it to The Guardian newspaper. Ian Tomlinson's family are campaigning for a full inquiry into the killing and for those responsible for the death to be brought to justice. The attack on him was one of many largely unprovoked attacks on demonstrators. Although there were a small number of violent demonstrators, the vast majority had come for what the organisers had intended as a "carnival against capitalism", but the police had planned for a riot and did their best to provoke one with heavy-handed tactics. The march in memory of Ian Tomlinson was organised by the same group, G20 Meltdown, who had planned the demonstration at Bank, with the cooperation of the dead man's family, and at their request it was a was peaceful, silent and respectful march. His stepson, Paul King, spoke briefly at the start from Bethnal Green police station before the procession walked the 2 miles to where he was attacked. A small shrine had been established around a fountain close to the spot, and there were several speeches around this, including one from the sister of Sean Rigg who died after being taken inside Brixton Police Staion in August 2008. Professor Chris Knight then began a vigil for Ian Tomlinson over the weekend.
Size: 5040px × 3354px
Location: Bethnal Green, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: attack, baton, bethnal, bystander, chirs, death, demonstration, g20, green, hamlets, ian, innocent, inquiry, justice, killed, knight, march, meltdown, memory, mourning, newspaper, officer, police, policeman, professor, respect, seller, station, tomlinson, tower, unprovoked, victim
