- The great majority of the police, seemingly ever-patient and self-controlled, stood for hours as kids baited and yelled, shoved and provoked. A handful of officers used well-placed elbows while batons were raised only in response to the vandalism.
~ G20 protesters strike at London’s heart, Paola Totaro, The Age, April 2, 2009
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The Peach case was a seminal moment and, like the deaths decades later of Stephen Lawrence and Jean Charles de Menezes, triggered a crisis in policing.
However, it was the death at the G20 protests in April of Ian Tomlinson, the only person since Peach to have died at a demonstration after being attacked by police, that compelled Stubbs to agree to a campaign run by Inquest, the group that advises families of people who die in police custody.
Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor, died of internal bleeding after being hit and shoved to the ground by an officer who has been questioned under caution for manslaughter. He was cremated at the same cemetery where Peach was buried.
“When I saw that footage [of the Tomlinson attack], I instantly drew comparisons,” said Stubbs, a former social worker. “Then I thought: aren’t police supposed to have changed? It was like history repeating itself. But in 30 years technology has changed everything. Suddenly there it was, on film. That would have changed everything in Blair Peach’s case. The parallels with Tomlinson make a public interest case for releasing the report.”
~ Partner of man killed by Met officers calls for investigation to be made public, Paul Lewis, The Guardian, June 13, 2009
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The anti-fascist protester Blair Peach was almost certainly killed by police at a demonstration in 1979, according to a secret report released today.
Documents published on the Metropolitan police’s website shed new light on the death of Peach, a 33-year-old teacher from New Zealand, whose death marked one of the most controversial events in modern policing history.
A campaigner against the far right, Peach died from a blow to the head during a demonstration against the National Front in Southall, west London.
~ Blair Peach killed by police at 1979 protest, Met report finds, guardian.co.uk, Paul Lewis, April 27, 2010
See also : Go Delroy! LOL (April 1, 2010) | Transcript of Newsnight discussion about the TSG and policing of G20, 7/7/9, Bristle’s Blog from the BunKRS, July 8, 2009 | Ian Tomlinson & Colin Roach & Liddle Towers & Gurdip Singh Chaggar & Kevin Gately & … (April 12, 2009).
Aussie Aussie Aussie! Oi oi oi!
The great majority of the police, seemingly ever-patient and self-controlled, stood for hours as kids baited and yelled, shoved and provoked. A handful of officers used well-placed elbows while batons were raised only in response to the vandalism.
~ Beverley Uranium Mine protesters strike at South Australia’s heart, Paola Totaro, The Age, May 9, 2000
See also : S11: Lawyers eh? (March 11, 2007).
