Man dies during G20 protests in London (video link; updated again)

Dandelion Salad

Update 2: April 8, 2009

Update 1: April 5, 2009

by James Meikle, Paul Lewis, Jenny Percival and Sandra Laville
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 2 April 2009 02.05 BST

Day of protests that began peacefully turn sour as man dies during G20 demonstrations

A man died last night during the G20 protests in central London as a day that began peacefully ended with police saying bottles were thrown at police medics trying to help him.

The man had collapsed within a police cordon set up to contain the crowds who had assembled in central London and the City to protest over the G20 summit. There were 63 arrests on the day.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission was being notified last night. Scotland Yard said the alarm had been raised by a member of the public who spoke to a police officer on a cordon at the junction of Birchin Lane and Cornhill in the City.

He sent two medics through the cordon line and into nearby St Michael’s Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing. They called for ambulance support at about 7.30pm and moved him back behind the cordon where they gave him cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.

[…]

Video: Man dies during G20 protests in London | World news | guardian.co.uk

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Update 1

DS comment: Thank goodness for citizen journalists with cameras.

Police ‘assaulted’ bystander who died during G20 protests

by Mark Townsend and Paul Lewis
The Observer, Sunday 5 April 2009

The man who died during last week’s G20 protests was “assaulted” by riot police shortly before he suffered a heart attack, according to witness statements received by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Investigators are examining a series of corroborative accounts that allege Ian Tomlinson, 47, was a victim of police violence in the moments before he collapsed near the Bank of England in the City of London last Wednesday evening. Three witnesses have told the Observer that Mr Tomlinson was attacked violently as he made his way home from work at a nearby newsagents. One claims he was struck on the head with a baton.

[…]

Mr Tomlinson, a married man who lived alone in a bail hostel, was not taking part in the protests. Initially, his death was attributed by a police post mortem to natural causes. A City of London police statement said: “[He] suffered a sudden heart attack while on his way home from work.”

But this version of events was challenged after witnesses recognised the dead man from photographs that were published on Friday.

[…]

via Police ‘assaulted’ bystander who died during G20 protests | World news | The Observer

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Update 2

Police Brutality: Ian Tomlinson WAS attacked by the Police BEFORE his death

G20 protest death sparks controversy in UK

see

G20 protests rock London’s financial area + G20 What happened