Found via iamdanw and deplorableword
Firstly, the technology: this is a great example of something that just can’t be done in print. Yes, timelines are possible, but with this amount of interactivity and ability to use different media, it has to be done online.
Secondly, the news: If all of this is true, and the eyewitness reports stand up, it’s shocking. Truly, truly shocking. To think that the police can use their monopoly on legal violence to intimidate the public to this extent is worrying.
And I agree with various other commentators who are as cynical as me when it comes to government/police whitewashing: the police officer who hit this man (or officers, as it may turn out) are simply not going to face the kind of criminal charges that a member of the public would face for doing the same to him.
And just think what the reaction of the police would be like if there was video footage of someone assaulting an officer! The CCTV footage would already be out and all over the media.
Compare it to the riots in Manchester last May at the UEFA Cup final. There, a group of football fans targeted a small squad of police officers. The officers got split up, and one of them got an absolute shoeing from a few idiots in the crowd.
The match was on 14th May. On the 15th (that’s the very next day!), CCTV footage was released to the media of the attack. There was literally a 12-hour gap between the timestamp on the video and it appearing on the BBC News website. Pretty quick turnaround, I’d say.
Compare that case to the one we’re talking about here, where it’s the police that are the aggressors. Don’t give me any bullshit about CCTV not being available. That area of London is one of the most heavily camera-saturated places on Earth, and on that day in particular every Goddamn camera was being monitored, no doubt.
It’s hypocrisy, pure and simple. When a police officer is attacked by the public, the footage is instantly available. Turn the tables, and nothing gets released. It’s a fucking joke.
This is the kind of thing the public should be concerned about.
Not whether the husband of an MP put some porn films on expenses. Not the latest internal grumblings about who should be leader of each political party. Not price rises of 5p on a pint of beer. Not Jade fucking Goody. Not some banker’s pension plan.
We should care about the erosion of civil liberties, and how it is becoming almost impossible to get any kind of admission of guilt or responsibility from the state.
Rant over. This subject (along with media hypocrisy) is just my pet topic, and this story in particular has really caught my attention.
