Why war criminal Tzipi Livni and the British government are hypocrites when they say Hezbollah are terrorists who target civilians

Tzipi Livni , the Israeli government, the EU and the British government all say Hezbollah are terrorists because they kill civilians. Yet Livni oversaw Israeli war crimes including deliberate killing of civilians in the Gaza War ; and the British government is still arming Israel and changed the law to protect Livni from prosecution

Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni is also writing for the Guardian on how it’s right for the EU to designate Hezbollah as terrorists because they kill civilians (1)

After the 2008/2009 Gaza War Amnesty International reported Israeli forces killed hundreds of civilians, many where there was no fighting, some in their own homes, others wounded or ambulance crews. It said many deaths couldn’t be explained as “collateral damage” (2) – (3).

Only two Israeli soldiers have been jailed for crimes in that war ; one for 7 months, for stealing a credit card, another for 45 days for “illegal use of a weapon” rather than for killing two unarmed women in cold blood (4) – (8).

Tzipi Livni was Israel’s foreign minister during that war and an enthusiastic advocate of it. She continues to deny Israeli forces committed any crimes in it (9).

The UN reports Israeli forces are still torturing Palestinian children and using them as human shields (10).

The UK government approved £8 billion of arms exports to Israel in the last few years (11).

It also changed the law to give the Attorney General, a political appointee, the ability to decide personally on whether to bring war crimes charges rather than leave it to the courts to decide. It did this specifically to allow war criminals like Livni to come here without facing charges, after a warrant for her arrest was issued in the UK after the Gaza war. The change was also planned under the previous Labour government (12) – (15).

By October 2011 Livni was visiting the UK safe from any prosecution (16).

Hezbollah does say it wants to destroy the state of Israel and force all Israeli Jews to leave what Hezbollah see as entirely Palestine.

That’s wrong in my opinion, but then Hezbollah was formed in the first place to fight the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon which lasted from 1982 to 2000 and involved the torture and killing of  civilians and prisoners by both Israeli forces and Lebanese Christian militias backed by them (17).

These included the notorious Phalange militia, modelled on Hitler’s Brownshirts, and the South Lebanon Army who together carried out the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres of Palestinian civilians in Lebanon with the assistance of the Israeli military.

What’s more, while Hezbollah have deliberately killed civilians in some cases, the supposed moral difference between Israeli forces and Hezbollah is if anything that Israeli forces frequently deliberately kill civilians despite having advanced optics and drone cameras which allow them to see exactly who they’re targeting more of the time.

During the 2006 Lebanon war Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel which are so inaccurate that they had no idea what they would hit and clearly didn’t care if it included civilians. There was also recently a murder of a Lebanese civilian protesting against Hezbollah in Lebanon  (18) – (19).

However the Israeli air force, who have highly accurate weapons and drones with high resolution long range cameras which allow them to see their targets clearly, repeatedly bombed clearly marked ambulances across the country and killed civilians in multiple attacks with drones and air and artillery strikes (20) – (21).

 The worst incident, but one of many, was the Qana massacre, which was a slight variation on the similar massacre of Lebanese civilians by Israeli forces with artillery using drones for spotting carried out at Qana ten years earlier in another offensive in 1996.

They claimed that this was caused by Hezbollah hiding among civilians to fire rockets. Human Rights Watch investigators who were former members of the US military investigated on the ground and talked to both Lebanese eye-witnesses and the Israeli military. They found that Hezbollah rockets were in fact fired from emplacements in the hills many miles from the nearest town or village and that there was no evidence of Hezbollah hiding among civilians (22).

So given British, French and American support and arms for Syrian and Lebanese Sunni militias who include terrorists, and their similar support for Israel, the Hezbollah designation looks a lot more like propaganda than principle.

(1) = guardian.co.uk 22 Jul 2013 ‘Should the EU designate Hezbollah a terrorist organisation?’ For column by Tzipi Livni, Against by Tariq Ali,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/22/eu-hezbollah-israel?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487&commentpage=3

(2) = Amnesty 02 Jul 2009 ‘Impunity for war crimes in Gaza and southern Israel a recipe for further civilian suffering’, http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/impunity-war-crimes-gaza-southern-israel-recipe-further-civilian-suffering-20090702

(3) = Amnesty UK 02 Jul 2009 ‘Gaza conflict: First comprehensive report says both sides committed war crimes’, http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=18294 (same summary of report as (5) above but on Amnesty UK website)

(4) = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_War#Prosecutions

(5) = Ynet news (Israel) 11 Aug 2009 ‘Soldier who stole credit card during Gaza op jailed’, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3760488,00.html

(6) = Haaretz 21 Aug 2010 ‘IDF soldiers demoted after convicted of Gaza war misconduct’,
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-soldiers-demoted-after-convicted-of-gaza-war-misconduct-1.325850 ‘The Israel Defense Forces court on Sunday demoted two combat soldiers convicted of inappropriate conduct during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip in 2008. The two…staff sergeants were demoted to …sergeant, as well as receiving suspended sentence terms of three months each. The soldiers were convicted last month of forcing a 9-year-old Palestinian boy to open a number of bags they thought might contain explosive materials during Operation Cast Lead.’

(7) = BBC News 13 Aug 2012 ‘Israeli ex-soldier cleared of Gaza manslaughter charge’,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-19243246 ‘Court approves plea bargain for soldier charged with ‘Cast Lead’ manslaughter’, ‘Israeli prosecutors have dropped a manslaughter charge against a former soldier in connection with the deaths of a Palestinian woman and her daughter during the offensive on Gaza in 2009. But the sergeant was jailed for 45 days after being convicted of unlawful use of a firearm in a separate incident as part of a plea deal, his lawyer said.’

(8) = Haaretz 12 Aug 2012 ‘IDF soldier sentenced to 45 days for death of mother, daughter in Gaza war’,
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-soldier-sentenced-to-45-days-for-death-of-mother-daughter-in-gaza-war-1.457649

(9) = Jerusalem Post 03 Apr 2011 ‘Cast lead was justified with or without Goldstone’, http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Livni-Cast-Lead-was-justified-with-or-without-Goldstone

(10) = CBS News 21 Jun 2013 ‘U.N. report accuses Israeli forces of using Palestinian children as human shields, abusing children in custody’,
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57590368/u.n-report-accuses-israeli-forces-of-using-palestinian-children-as-human-shields-abusing-children-in-custody/

(11) = Guardian 17 Jul 2013 ‘UK approves £12bn of arms exports to countries with poor human rights’,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/17/uk-approves-arms-exports-human-rights

(12) = Guardian 30 May 2010 ‘Ministers move to change universal jurisdiction law’,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/may/30/change-universal-jurisdiction-law

(13) = Jerusalem Post 15 Sep 2011 ‘UK amends law to protect Israelis from prosecution’,
http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/UK-amends-law-to-protect-Israelis-from-prosecution

(14) = Guardian 14 Dec 2009 ‘British court issued Gaza arrest warrant for former Israeli minister Tzipi Livni’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/14/tzipi-livni-israel-gaza-arrest

(15) = Guardian 05 Mar 2010 ‘Plan to change war crimes law delayed by general election’,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/05/war-crimes-law-israel

(16) = Ynet news (Israel) 06 Oct 2011 ‘Livni arrives in UK for first visit since war crimes law amended’, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4132091,00.html

(17) = BBC News 23 May 2000 ‘Q & A: Leaving Lebanon’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/636594.stm

(18) = HRW 06 Dec 2007 ‘Why They Died : Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War’
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/09/05/why-they-died

(19) = Haaretz 09 Jun 2013 ‘Anti-Hezbollah protester killed outside Iranian embassy in Beirut’, http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.528697

(20) =HRW 06 Dec 2007 ‘Why They Died : Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War’
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/09/05/why-they-died

(21) = HRW 19 Dec 2006 ‘The “Hoax” That Wasn’t : The July 23 Qana Ambulance Attack’,
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2006/12/19/hoax-wasn-t

(22) = See (74) above

Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza should be tried here for the crimes they're suspected of - we shouldn't deport even our worst enemies to be tortured

I completely agree that Abu Qatada and Abu Hamza's views are extreme and morally wrong - and that if they have encouraged people to carry out terrorist attacks targeting civilians or helped fund or organise them they should be charged, tried and jailed. None of that can justify deporting them to countries where they will most likely be tortured and convicted based on statements made by other people under torture though.

"Assurances" from the Jordanian government (basically a dictatorship under the King of Jordan) that they will not do either of these things to particular prisoners extradited to them from European countries including the UK have been proven worthless. This has been established by investigations by Human Rights Watch and by Amnesty International (1) - (2). They've also found that torture in Jordanian prisons is routine and brutal right up to present (3) - (4). That makes Home Secretary Theresa May making a great show of seeking of "assurances" on Qatada just a pantomime done for the sake of appearances.

The right wing media circus in the US could to lead to Hamza, if he is deported to America, being sent to Guantanamo in Cuba for torture, or the US airbase at Bagram in Afghanistan, or secret US prisons in Afghanistan, where prisoners are tortured and tried by 'military tribunal' kangaroo courts (5) - (10).

If Hamza and Qatada have encouraged, funded or helped organise terrorist attacks on civilians, as they are alleged to have done while in the UK, they should be given fair trials here, with a jury. If they're found guilty they can them be jailed for their crimes.

There are excuses given by the Home Office about the supposed difficulties of getting a conviction in court, but British Historian Professor Mark Curtis in his book 'Secret Affairs' (on British government dealings with radical Islamists) and investigative journalist Richard Norton-Taylor say the real reason this option has not being taken is that British intelligence and the Metropolitan Police's Special Branch had many mutually beneficial dealings with Hamza and Qatada throughout the 1990s which would be likely to come up during a court case here and embarrass them, the British government and possibly senior members of both main UK parties (11) - (12).

Another likely reason that neither have been charged and brought to trial here is that the Conservative party are keen to create an easily avoidable dispute with the European Court of Human Rights as part of their propaganda against the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act. Neither prevents us trying or jailing either of these men. Neither have anything to do with the EU - they existed long before the EU, were always separate from it and the European Community and are based on the UN Declaration of Human Rights which was written in order to ensure that we never slipped back into the horrors of the Holocaust and the Second World War.

The right wing of the Conservative party also have an irrational hatred of anything European or foreign which is so extreme that they might as well be calling for the abolition of foreign countries and foreigners.

Those who promote extreme interpretations of Islam often call those who disagree with them "hypocrites". We are more likely to deny them more recruits by showing their claims false by upholding the principles we say we stand for, than by ignoring them when they become inconvenient and so seeming to prove the extremists right.

If we throw away our principles of opposing torture, demanding fair trials and holding people being innocent until proven guilty, the moment they apply to someone whose views the majority of us dislike, then we will really have allowed our enemies to destroy our way of life in a way that no terrorist attack could manage to.

Sources

(1) = Human Rights Watch 06 Oct 2011 'Diplomatic Assurances: Empty Promises Enabling Torture', http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/10/06/diplomatic-assurances-empty-promises-enabling-torture

(2) = Amnesty International 12 April 2010 'Europe must halt unreliable 'diplomatic assurances' that risk torture', http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/europe-must-halt-unreliable-diplomatic-assurances-risk-torture-2010-04-12

(3) = Human Rights Watch 08 Oct 2008 'Jordan: Torture in Prisons Routine and Widespread - Reforms Fail to Tackle Abuse, Impunity Persists', http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/10/08/jordan-torture-prisons-routine-and-widespread-0

(4) = Human Rights Watch World Report 2012 : Jordan , http://www.hrw.org/world-report-2012/world-report-2012-jordan ; 'Perpetrators of torture enjoy near-total impunity. The redress process begins with a deficient complaint mechanism, continues with lackluster investigations and prosecutions, and ends in police court, where two of three judges are police-appointed police officers. '

(5) = Scotsman 27 May 2004,'Soldier left brain damaged after playing unruly prisoner at Guantánamo', http://www.scotsman.com/news/international/soldier-left-brain-damaged-after-playing-unruly-prisoner-at-guant-225-namo-1-532722

(6) = Independent 14 Oct 2006 - ‘Guantanamo guards 'admitted abusing inmates',

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/guantanamo-guards-admitted-abusing-inmates-419992.html

(7) = Human Rights Watch 01 Jun 2010 'The Bagram Detainee Review Boards: Better, But Still Falling Short' , http://www.hrw.org/news/2010/06/02/bagram-detainee-review-boards-better-still-falling-short

(8) = CBS News 13 Nov 2011 'Bagram: The other Guantanamo?' ,

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18563_162-57323856/bagram-the-other-guantanamo/

(9) = BBC News 15 Apr 2010 'Afghans 'abused at secret prison' at Bagram airbase', http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8621973.stm

(10) = BBC News 11 May 2010 'Red Cross confirms 'second jail' at Bagram, Afghanistan',

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8674179.stm

(11) = guardian.co.uk Comment Is Free 14 Feb 2012 'Why is Abu Qatada not on trial?' , http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/14/abu-qatada-not-on-trial

(12) = Mark Curtis (2010) 'Secret Affairs : Britain's collusion with radical Islam' Serpent's Tail/Profile Books, London, 2010 , chapter 16 (pages 265 - 276 of paperback edition)

Alfie Meadows charges parallel Mark Kennedy tactic of charging victims of police violence

Alfie Meadows, the student who almost died after having his skull fractured by a policeman during the student protests – and who other police tried to prevent getting to hospital afterwards – is still facing a trumped up charge of violent disorder, presumably intended to make it look as if ‘he was asking for it’ to save face for the police and avoid charging the police officers responsible, despite his mother and his lecturer being among many witnesses who say he was not involved in any violence towards police (1).

Meadows has to appear in court next month.

This parallels other cases in which police who have made unprovoked attacks on protesters have charged the victim with violence or assaulting a police officer – including charges brought against undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. During protests against the Drax power station in 2006 Kennedy recalled intervening to stop police hitting a woman protester with batons. They knocked him to the ground and jumped up and down on his back, causing permanent injuries to his spine, then charged him with assaulting a police officer. The charges were only dropped once it was found out he was an undercover officer himself (2) – (3).

You can sign the petition calling for charges against Meadows to be dropped on this link and if you want to help the campaign in other ways you can find out more on this link.

EDIT 25th April 2012 : It seems the Meadows case may not be as straightforward as it first seemed as Meadows seems to have admitted to having taken part in lifting and pushing metal barriers towards police (4).

(1) = Barnett & Whetstone Press 05 May 2011 ‘Injured Alfie faces violence charge at demo’, http://www.barnet-today.co.uk/news.cfm?id=16190

(2) = Guardian 02 Feb 2012 ‘Beaten by colleagues, mishandled by bosses: how Mark Kennedy went rogue’ , http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/02/how-mark-kennedy-went-rogue

(3) = Channel 4 (UK) 14 Nov 2009, 9pm GMT ‘Confessions of an undercover cop’, http://www.channel4.com/programmes/confessions-of-an-undercover-cop

(4) = Channel 4 News 10 April 2012 'CRIME: Alfie Meadows on trial for violent disorder during student protests', http://www.itnsource.com/en/shotlist/ITN/2012/04/10/T10041257/

Police violence against the peaceful majority of student protesters and passers-by should be punished too - they shouldn't be above the law

Student protesters have come in for a great deal of criticism in the media lately, but a lot of it has been less than balanced – with a ridiculous fixation on the relatively minor incident involving Prince Charles and Camilla. The minority of protesters who have made serious attacks on police, for instance throwing snooker balls, often causing serious injuries to officers, will get little sympathy and will likely get jail sentences. However the majority of non-violent protesters are not responsible for the actions of this minority – and, with a few exceptions, too little attention has been paid to the continuing and increasing instances of random police violence against non-violent protesters and passers-by, which so far follow a long established pattern of police being above the law. This too often turns the police uniform from what it should be – and still is when worn by many decent officers – a uniform whose wearers uphold the law and only act in self-defence or defence of others – to a shield which allows those who have let power go to their heads, or who want to be able to attack others without consequence, to be immune to prosecution for their actions.

 “Kettling” for short periods to identify and arrest those responsible for violence or serious criminal damage may be legitimate. However when extended for long periods - up to 7 hours in sub-zero temperatures in London recently and in the G20 protests, it becomes effectively illegal detention without trial (1).

Non-violent protesters like Alfie Meadows, seriously injured last week by a baton strike to the head, have been attacked by police for no apparent reason. Meadow’s life was only saved by an ambulance crew refusing to cave to police pressure and 3 hours of brain surgery. Meadow only survived because his mother was nearby and both had mobile phones. She said she remembered the Blair Peach death and knew he needed treatment fast. Meadows’ mother said that despite police claims that they would allow clearly peaceful protesters to leave the police were “The police had been very violent all day. Whoever was trying to get out, they weren't allowing them.”. Police initially refused to allow a Professor to accompany Meadow out of the “kettling” to get an ambulance; and tried to turn the ambulance carrying him away from the nearest hospital , as police were also being treated there (2) – (4).  This was illegal and suggests an unacceptable attitude among some police that all protesters, peaceful and violent, are the enemy in a war.

Passer-by Ian Tomlinson, who wasn’t even a protester but trying to go home from work, died after repeated assaults by the same police officer during “kettling” in the G20 protests, seen by witnesses and recorded on video, with his attacker never charged (5) – (6). The officer will face a disciplinary hearing held by the Metropolitan Police, but such hearings usually lead to all charges being dismissed (two examples later) (7). 

Police have continued to sweep up passers-by along with journalists and non-violent protesters in “kettling” the recent student protests in London and in many cases to attack them with batons and mounted charges and even refuse them medical treatment (8) – (10).

For instance Guardian journalist Caroline Davies emailed a colleague on the first day of the protests in London saying that another journalist, Shiv Malik, had told her the following

‘The crowd surged in an attempt to break through the police line, and I was caught on the same side as the police but facing towards them with the fence behind me. The fence came right up to the police line. The police started to push back then they started using their batons on protesters. I was caught then and pushed up towards the front. I ducked, my glasses were knocked off my face so I was trying to hold them. 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.’ (11).

Witnesses and a video also seem to show police dragged a disabled protester from his wheelchair and struck him and others trying to stop them with batons (12).

When some police are placed above the law public safety is lost. When police killed protester Blair Peach in 1979 through a baton strike to the head, no-one was ever tried. When a joint police and British military intelligence operation killed Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes due to stunning carelessness and disorganisation – and police spokespeople churned out a series of rapidly disproven lies to try to justify the action - no-one even lost their job. Metropolitan Police Chief Sir Ian Blair later resigned over a dispute with Mayor Boris Johnson (13) – (14).

When 6 foot plus, body armoured, police officer Sergeant Delroy Smellie was approached by 5 foot tall protester Nicola Fisher at a vigil for Ian Tomlinson, he turned, first told her to go away, then , as she continued to argue with him, hit her twice with his hand and then took out his baton and struck her hard across the leg with it twice – all caught on video (15). Whatever your view of whether Fisher was justified in haranguing or challenging him or not Smellie’s response was un-necessary, violent and in no way defence of himself or anyone else. Yet his force and a District Judge both decided he had no charges – criminal or disciplinary to face.

Another officer, caught on CCTV video dragging a female prisoner across the floor of a police station before picking her up and throwing her face down onto the floor of a cell, causing injuries and bleeding to her face, was similarly cleared of all charges on appeal after being convicted at his initial trial (16).

We can’t afford to let police forces, judges or politicians misguidedly protect a minority of thugs within police ranks the way the upper hierarchy of the Catholic Church has protected paedophile priests – and make no mistake, a minority of those who join the police do so in order to abuse that position and hurt people, just as with those paedophiles who become priests or teachers or nursery staff for the same reason. If we do the rot will spread and we will risk a police state. Police forces only enhance public safety when they are strictly required to obey the same laws they enforce.

There are police who uphold the law and only use force when there’s no other option, proportionate to that used by others - and only in self-defence or the defence of others, often in the face of provocation, threat, or attacks which can or have caused serious injuries. They deserve our full support and respect.

However those who lash out at random – or because they think they can make violent attacks themselves, shielded from prosecution by their uniform – should be charged, tried and sentenced like any other suspect– and expelled from the force if found guilty. The latter are unfortunately too common, largely because politicians, judges and senior police officers are often so biased or so fearful of being seen as “soft on crime” or as “not supporting the police” that they will not uphold the law when police officers break it – even when deaths result.

We should not always place the blame solely on the lowest ranks either. Politicians and senior police officers making strategic and tactical decisions must bear responsibility for some of the results of those decisions.

Governments and big parties also give seemingly unconditional support to police most of the time for another reason – they rely on the police to crush opposition to their policies, especially when, as is often the case, those policies benefit a minority at the expense of the majority or a larger minority (usually the poorest and those on middle incomes). The police, granted secure jobs by the state, have a traditional alliance with the government in crushing the poor and the newly unemployed when the government sacks public sector employees and cuts benefits for the poor, the unemployed and the disabled.  In the 1980s the main target were the miners. In the 1990s, poll tax resisters.

Many people who witnessed the trouble at the student protests at Millbank, when student protesters occupied Conservative Party headquarters and smashed windows, believe that either the police were hugely incompetent in their estimates of likely demonstrator numbers and so police numbers required ; or else they were sending the Coalition government a subtle message – don’t keep threatening us with cuts along with the rest, because you’ll need us to protect you from public anger against those cuts.

(Only a few dozen students cheered the idiot who dropped the fire extinguisher – with the majority on the ground booing at the dropping of it and chanting “stop throwing shit” (16))

Nor has the Coalition delivered on it’s claims to be restoring civil liberties. Instead anti-terrorism police, who might have been better focusing on actual threats, have questioned a 12 year old schoolboy for attempting to organise a picket of David Cameron’s constituency offices to protest the planned closure of their youth centre. It’s not clear whether the police were acting on the orders of some superior or member of government or on their own initiative.

 

(1) = guardian.co.uk 10 Dec 2010 ‘Being kettled was a shocking experience’, by Jaqui Karn,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/10/kettled-shocking-experience

(Karn is a researcher on crime ethnography whose work has been published by the London School of Economics –http://www.willanpublishing.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=1843921952 )

(2) = Kingston Guardian 10 Dec 2010 ‘Kingston professor says protester with serious injuries was "hit by police"’,
http://www.kingstonguardian.co.uk/news/8731809.BREAKING_NEWS__Uni_professor_says_protester_with_serious_injuries_was__hit_by_police_/

(3) = Independent 10 Dec 2010 ‘Police investigate truncheon attack’,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/brain-op-for-student-hit-by-truncheon-2156207.html

(4) = Observer 12 Dec 2010 ‘Police officers 'tried to stop hospital staff treating injured protester'’,http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/12/police-injured-protester-hospital

(5) = Guardian 07 Apr 2009 ‘Video reveals G20 police assault on man who died’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/07/video-g20-police-assault (also gives eye-witness statements contradicting the Metropolitan police’s initial version of events which was reproduced in many newspapers)

(6) = Guardian 22 Jul 2010 ‘Ian Tomlinson death: police officer will not face criminal charges’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/22/ian-tomlinson-police-not-charged

(7) = guardian.co.uk 27 Jul 2010 ‘Ian Tomlinson death: police officer faces disciplinary hearing’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/jul/27/ian-tomlinson-death-paul-stephenson

(8) = Guardian 27 Nov 2010 ‘Letters : Police kettling stirs the pot of student unrest’,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/nov/27/police-kettling-stirs-student-unrest (see 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th letters)

(9) = guardian.co.uk 10 Dec 2010 ‘Being kettled was a shocking experience’, by Jaqui Karn,http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/dec/10/kettled-shocking-experience

(Karn is a researcher on crime ethnography whose work has been published by the London School of Economics –http://www.willanpublishing.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=1843921952 )

(10) = Guardian 26 Nov 2010 ‘Student protests: Met under fire for charging at demonstrators’,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/26/student-protests-police-under-fire

(11) = Guardian News Blog ‘Student protests – as they happened’, http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/blog/2010/dec/09/student-protests-live-coverage ; see entry for 4.31 p.m

(12) = East London Lines 10 Dec 2010 ‘Disabled journalist describes “violent” police as opponents of tuition fee rise vow to fight on’, http://www.eastlondonlines.co.uk/2010/12/disabled-journalist-speaks-out-about-violent-police-as-dust-settles-on-student-demonstration/

(13) = see this article on my website and the source links at the bottom of it, http://www.duncanmcfarlane.org/menezes

(14) = BBC News 17 Aug 2005 ‘Police shooting - the discrepancies’, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4158832.stm

(15) = Independent 17 Jun 2009 ‘No disciplinary action for G20 assault case officer’, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/no-disciplinary-action-for-g20-assault-case-officer-2003173.html

(16) = guardian.co.uk 18 Nov 2010 ‘Police sergeant cleared of assaulting woman suspect in custody’,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/nov/18/police-sergeant-andrews-freed-appeal

(17) = New York Times 10 Nov 2010 ‘Video of Student Protests in London’,
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/video-of-students-protests-in-london/