G-20 UK protest death goes unpunished

On 1 April 2009, newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died in London as he was walking home from work during G-20 summit protests. First, the British police said he had died of natural causes after suffering a heart attack.

However, the Guardian published video footage showing a British police officer wielding a baton and pushing Tomlinson to the ground.

“In April 2009, along with everyone else, we saw the shocking video of Ian being violently assaulted by PC Harwood, just minutes before he died”, said Paul King, Tomlinson’s stepson.

In May 2011, an inquest concluded that Tomlinson was unlawfully killed by the police officer, PC Simon Harwood, and charged Harwood with manslaughter. Nevertheless, on 19 July 2012, London’s Southwark Crown Court announced Harwood was not guilty of manslaughter.

“After the unlawful killing verdict at the inquest last year we expected to hear a guilty verdict, not a not-guilty verdict, it really hurts”, said Tomlinson’s stepson.

The verdict comes as the British police have never convicted any of their officers for killing people in their custody.

“There have been 940 deaths in police custody since 1990”, said Rachel Harger of Defend the Right to Protest, “and yet not one officer is being convicted”.

ISH/MA/HE

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