Ian Tomlinson inquest – live

PC Simon Harwood, the police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson to the ground at the G20 protests two years ago, gives his second day of evidence at the newspaper seller’s inquest 10.13am: Harwood is being questioned by Alison Hewitt, counsel for the inquest. After the protester escaped (see below), Harwood said he was “seeking refuge” near Royal Exchange Buildings. He said there was “hostility” from protesters, so he put his back to the building and faced the crowd to create what he said was a “fighting arc”. This, he said, is a training term used to describe the tactic for keeping the public at arms length. Harwood said after the protester he tried to arrest had escaped, he still had his coat, which he was “swaying” to keep protesters away. 10.06am: Jury is back in the room. PC Simon Harwood has taken his seat on the witness stand. We’re off. 10.03am: Welcome to the Ian Tomlinson inquest live blog. I’m writing this from a seat in the courtroom, where everyone is expecting the next few hours to be the most dramatic of the 5-6 week hearing. Yesterday, PC Simon Harwood, the police officer who was captured in footage released by the Guardian striking Tomlinson with a baton and pushing him to the ground, began giving testimony. His opening remarks – in which he said he was here to “help” the family – caused some offence. But so far, the evidence has been limited to background information relating to incidents in the runup to his encounter with the 47-year-old newspaper seller near the Bank of England on April 1 2009. That will change today when we expect him to provide his justification for the alleged attack on Tomlinson. Proceedings were adjourned as Harwood gave evidence about his attempted arrest of a protester spraying graffiti on a van. This occurred around 20ft from Royal Exchange Buildings – the passage where he came across Tomlinson – and just a matter of minutes before. So we’re getting closer. The protester struggled free after his head struck a police van door, and Harwood was left isolated in what he described as a hostile crowd. He said: At the time, because he was becoming more aggressive, more hostile, I was starting to believe that this was getting out of control. I was aware there was a very hostile crowd and I was actually in fear for my life then from what was coming towards me. My colleague Sam Jones is here too today. You can follow our updates on Twitter – @paul__lewis and @swajones. Please do ask questions and point out where these updates require clarification too. Ian Tomlinson Protest G20 Police London Paul Lewis Sam Jones guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.