PC Simon Harwood tells inquest how G20 protesters turned hostile when he tried to arrest the newspaper seller in 2009 The police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson to the ground during the G20 protests two years ago told an inquest into the newspaper seller’s death that he had been “in fear for my life”. PC Simon Harwood was advised by the coroner, Peter Thornton, that he was not obliged to answer any question that could incriminate him as he took the witness stand for the first time and came face to face with Tomlinson’s grieving family. His opening remark that he was “here to help the family” was met with snorts of derision in the public gallery and Tomlinson’s son, Paul King, stormed out of the hearing. Tomlinson’s widow, Julia, also left the room, followed by several tearful members of the family. Thornton told Harwood: “I’m sure that you know, and no doubt will have been advised, that you are not obliged to answer any question tending to incriminate you. It may well be that I shall repeat that warning to you later.” Harwood, dressed in a grey suit and patterned yellow tie, said: “I’m very aware of that. I’m here as a witness to help with the inquest and also to give some sort of answers to help the family. So I’m here to answer questions, just to help.” There were scuffles outside the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street when Harwood arrived at the inquest. Security staff escorted him past waiting photographers. Harwood’s evidence to the inquest is likely to last at least two days and will play a crucial role in deciding the circumstances of Tomlinson’s death almost exactly two years ago. Tomlinson staggered a hundred yards from where the police officer pushed him and died within minutes of the incident. The officer was questioned by Alison Hewitt, counsel for the inquest on the events leading up to the encounter with Tomlinson in Royal Exchange Passage in the City of London on 1 April 2009. Harwood, a police carrier driver on the day, described how he saw a demonstrator crouching at the rear of one of the police vehicles and drawing or writing something on the bodywork. He told the inquest: “I then made my way towards the person concerned”. His intention, he said, was to arrest the man. Asked if he believed an arrest was the right course of action, he said it was his “duty” because the “blatant disregard” the protester showed him gave him no other choice. “I felt it was done right in front of me, so close to my position, I believed it was my duty to go and take some course of action towards this male.” But the arrest caused other protesters to react as the arrest began going awry and his target struggled to break free. He said he had become the centre of attention, with the protesters jeering and shouting. There was a “large gasp” from the crowd as the suspect he was holding collided with the door of a police van. Footage showed him leading the man further away from the vans with the crowd surging behind him. 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.” Members of Tomlinson’s family shook their heads when they heard the officer say he was in fear for his life. Harwood said that before going out on duty that day he had made sure his police numbers were displayed on his uniform. The jury also heard Harwood offer some explanation about his uniform. Jurors have already been shown pictures of Harwood’s distinctive dress, which marked him apart from other officers. He was wearing a yellow jacket tucked into his trousers and a balaclava covering the lower half of his face. Photographs also appear to suggest his badge numbers had not been showing. Harwood said he had secured his epaulettes to the shoulders of his jacket with pins. “I always have my numbers [visible] as it is a policy, a Metropolitan police policy, to always have your numbers displayed, especially on public order.” The officer added that his jacket was tucked into his trousers “for health and safety reasons”, enabling him to access the weapons and tools on his belt. The balaclava, he said, was lifted as a precaution to protect him from injury. He said of the policing of the demonstration: “There was a general feeling that it would be robust policing, not just going and picking on people, but robust as in keeping the demonstration where it should be.” The inquest continues. Ian Tomlinson Police London G20 Protest David Sharrock Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …PC Simon Harwood tells inquest how G20 protesters turned hostile when he tried to arrest the newspaper seller in 2009 The police officer who pushed Ian Tomlinson to the ground during the G20 protests two years ago told an inquest into the newspaper seller’s death that he had been “in fear for my life”. PC Simon Harwood was advised by the coroner, Peter Thornton, that he was not obliged to answer any question that could incriminate him as he took the witness stand for the first time and came face to face with Tomlinson’s grieving family. His opening remark that he was “here to help the family” was met with snorts of derision in the public gallery and Tomlinson’s son, Paul King, stormed out of the hearing. Tomlinson’s widow, Julia, also left the room, followed by several tearful members of the family. Thornton told Harwood: “I’m sure that you know, and no doubt will have been advised, that you are not obliged to answer any question tending to incriminate you. It may well be that I shall repeat that warning to you later.” Harwood, dressed in a grey suit and patterned yellow tie, said: “I’m very aware of that. I’m here as a witness to help with the inquest and also to give some sort of answers to help the family. So I’m here to answer questions, just to help.” There were scuffles outside the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street when Harwood arrived at the inquest. Security staff escorted him past waiting photographers. Harwood’s evidence to the inquest is likely to last at least two days and will play a crucial role in deciding the circumstances of Tomlinson’s death almost exactly two years ago. Tomlinson staggered a hundred yards from where the police officer pushed him and died within minutes of the incident. The officer was questioned by Alison Hewitt, counsel for the inquest on the events leading up to the encounter with Tomlinson in Royal Exchange Passage in the City of London on 1 April 2009. Harwood, a police carrier driver on the day, described how he saw a demonstrator crouching at the rear of one of the police vehicles and drawing or writing something on the bodywork. He told the inquest: “I then made my way towards the person concerned”. His intention, he said, was to arrest the man. Asked if he believed an arrest was the right course of action, he said it was his “duty” because the “blatant disregard” the protester showed him gave him no other choice. “I felt it was done right in front of me, so close to my position, I believed it was my duty to go and take some course of action towards this male.” But the arrest caused other protesters to react as the arrest began going awry and his target struggled to break free. He said he had become the centre of attention, with the protesters jeering and shouting. There was a “large gasp” from the crowd as the suspect he was holding collided with the door of a police van. Footage showed him leading the man further away from the vans with the crowd surging behind him. 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.” Members of Tomlinson’s family shook their heads when they heard the officer say he was in fear for his life. Harwood said that before going out on duty that day he had made sure his police numbers were displayed on his uniform. The jury also heard Harwood offer some explanation about his uniform. Jurors have already been shown pictures of Harwood’s distinctive dress, which marked him apart from other officers. He was wearing a yellow jacket tucked into his trousers and a balaclava covering the lower half of his face. Photographs also appear to suggest his badge numbers had not been showing. Harwood said he had secured his epaulettes to the shoulders of his jacket with pins. “I always have my numbers [visible] as it is a policy, a Metropolitan police policy, to always have your numbers displayed, especially on public order.” The officer added that his jacket was tucked into his trousers “for health and safety reasons”, enabling him to access the weapons and tools on his belt. The balaclava, he said, was lifted as a precaution to protect him from injury. He said of the policing of the demonstration: “There was a general feeling that it would be robust policing, not just going and picking on people, but robust as in keeping the demonstration where it should be.” The inquest continues. Ian Tomlinson Police London G20 Protest David Sharrock Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Where else but Celebrity Apprentice can you watch Meat Loaf totally, totally lose it on Gary Busey? The “mother of all meltdowns” happened on last night’s episode, sparked by … art supplies, PopEater notes. Specifically, Meat Loaf’s missing art supplies, which he claimed were stolen by Busey. The resulting tantrum includes…
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US president turns to Twitter and Facebook to kickstart his push for re-election to the White House next year American presidents traditionally announce their decision to run for re-election from the pomp of the White House. But things are different in the digital age – which is why the cryptic web address http://ofa.bo/bWjHd7 kicked off Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election bid. That string of 20 keystrokes in a Twitter posting and an email to supporters on Monday morning led to a video page on barackobama.com asking: “Are you in?” So far, 19 million of them claim they are, if their Facebook “likes” of the video are anything to go by. Of course, Obama’s kick-off would not have been complete without the launch of a Twitter hashtag – in this case #Obama2012 – a political campaign tactic that dates back as far as the day before yesterday. The only tweets that featured in Dwight Eisenhower’s 1956 re-election campaign came from the quail he hunted with supporters before nipping back to hold an official press conference in Washington. The two most recent US presidents to run for re-election, Bill Clinton and George Bush, spent the first phases of their campaigns on a nationwide bus tour. In the digital age, Obama can cover the country with far less effort when he speaks to 500,000 of his grassroots activists via a live teleconference. Obama’s 2012 announcement is mould-breaking even compared with 2008 when he was a senator and revealed he was running in front of thousands at a carefully staged outdoor rally aimed at the television cameras. This announcement-by-video is unusual for another reason: the candidate himself does not address the camera. Instead, a succession of “real Americans” talk about Obama in documentary-style footage. Most of the voters in the video come from battleground states. “Ed” from North Carolina says: “I don’t agree with Obama on everything but I respect him and I trust him.” Ed is followed by Gladys, a Hispanic voter in Nevada and Katherine from Colorado – all are likely to be voting in close-fought contests. There is also young voter “Mike” in New York and “Alice,” an African-American from Michigan, who underline the need to re-awaken Obama’s most loyal supporters from 2008. “You don’t have to be Fellini to figure out what that is all about,” said veteran Republican campaign strategist Mike Murphy. The video ends with: “It begins with us” – a message that suggests Obama needs activists willing to knock on doors, rather than just write cheques to cover the estimated $1bn (£620m) cost of the campaign. Barack Obama US elections 2012 US politics Twitter Facebook Internet Blogging Social networking United States Richard Adams guardian.co.uk
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Cuts could hit those on Afghan and Libyan duty, while wounded soldiers are safe – but only until they recover Gurkhas will be among those losing their jobs in the army’s first round of redundancies, the Ministry of Defence has said as it announced cuts involving 1,000 soldiers and 1,600 sailors. Troops serving in Afghanistan and sailors who have been involved in the Libyan military operations could be made redundant, as will navy pilots in the wake of the decision to scrap the aircraft carrier Ark Royal, and Britain’s entire fleet of Harrier jump jets. In a move expected to cause dismay among their supporters, Brigadier Richard Nugee, head of army manning, said the 3,500-strong Brigade of Gurkhas would lose about 150 soldiers. The brigade has been hit partly due to recent improvements in their conditions of service. Nugee said there was a surplus of Gurkhas as changes in the terms of service in 2008 meant they could now serve for 22 years rather than the previous 15-year limit. “Opportunities for promotion within the brigade are being severely limited by the current situation,” Nugee said. “It is fair to say we would not expect that many to volunteer [because] Gurkhas tend to be loyal – staying with their regiment longer than soldiers in other units of the British army.” He insisted the army remained committed “to a strong and vibrant Brigade of Gurkhas into the future”. But Peter Carroll, a leading member of the Gurkha Justice Campaign, along with Joanna Lumley, said: “In percentage terms, this is a deep cut and will be a huge disruption to the older, highly-trained Gurkhas.” About half the redundancies in the army are expected to be compulsory, defence officials said, but they pointed out that no one preparing for combat operations, deployed on operations or on post-operations leave would be made redundant unless they had volunteered. But they could be told to go as soon as they complete their leave. Defence minister Andrew Robathan appeared less certain. “We do not yet know what operations will be current in September, when people will have received their redundancy notices,” he told the Commons. “We are looking at this carefully and we would certainly not wish to make anybody redundant who is serving on combat operations.” Those “who had served in Afghanistan at some stage may have to be considered for redundancy” because 55% of the army had been posted to the country, he said. Soldiers wounded in Afghanistan will also be candidates for redundancy once they had recovered, officials made clear. Exempt from the current round of cuts are the infantry – with the exception of Gurkhas, the army has a shortage – Royal Marines, special forces, the army’s bomb disposal experts, the Intelligence Corps and the Royal Army Medical Corps. About 25% of the army redundancies are expected to come from officers up to the rank of brigadier. The government believes the armed forces have too many senior officers but those of higher rank – generals, admirals and air marshals – will be the subject of a separate review due to be completed in the summer. Commodore Paul Bennett, the head of Royal Navy manning, said about two thirds of the redundancies were a direct result of reductions in capabilities. “We will have fewer ships and aircraft and so will need fewer people to operate them,” he said. He said 15 of the Fleet Air Arm’s 59 fixed-wing pilots will lose their jobs. Last month, the RAF announced its plans for 2,700 redundancies, including trainee pilots. The government plans to cut 17,000 posts in the armed forces – 7,000 from the army, 5,000 from the RAF, and 5,000 from the navy – saving about £5bn over four years. It also plans top cut the number of civil servants in the Ministry of Defence by 25,000. Military Defence policy Gurkhas Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The SEC is getting ready to bring civil charges against Wachovia for allegedly jacking up prices on its CDOs, even as the loans underlying them fell in value, sources tell the Wall Street Journal . The charges come out of a larger SEC probe into Wall Street’s shady CDO practices, which…
Continue reading …It’s no surprise that Tina Fey’s autobiography, Bossypants , is hilarious; on that much critics agree. But there’s some dissent over whether it does its job as a memoir: “The most successful autobiographies demand a certain amount of psychic heavy lifting, risk taking, and interrogation of one’s ideas; Fey will have…
Continue reading …In an effort to speed up the draining of its Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said today that it will release 11,500 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean. Ten thousand tons of water flooded a radioactive waste processing facility after last month’s earthquake…
Continue reading …More than 9,000 pieces of human remains from the World Trade Center attacks remain unidentified and unclaimed—but some relatives of the 9/11 victims aren’t happy with their proposed final resting place, the AP reports. The plan is to house the remains seven stories underground at the National September…
Continue reading …The US has done a quiet about-face on Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and after months of supporting him despite widespread protests, officials now say the US believes he should leave power. The Obama administration garnered criticism for failing to publicly criticize Saleh, even as the US rushed to oust…
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