Of course, I never expected to recieve any kind of justice or honesty from an investigation which consisted of the Metropolitan Police, whom I consider to be one of the most corrupt and inept institutions in the country, investigating themselves, but their report on my case was even poorer than I could have imagined. As I stated during my interview on BBC News last night, I believe that the police are acting as the biggest, armed, government-sponsored gang. Interestingly, rather than informing myself or my solicitor in advance, as would be normal procedure, the findings of the investigation were released straight to the media, late on a Friday afternoon.
It is becoming increasingly clear that the police are intent on whitewashing what is a clear case of police brutality. They have now admitted to striking me with a baton, and there is video evidence, which has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people online, of a police officer tipping me out of my wheelchair and dragging me across the road. If this had been any other member of the public, he would be on trial for assault, but because it was a police officer, unaccountability is once again the order of the day.
But it is very difficult for me to be surprised by any of this. It is difficult for me to be surprised when I know that Alfie Meadows, who almost died from his injuries at the same demonstration, has been charged with violent disorder, and will face his first hearing on June 9th. If he had died from his injuries, would the police still have charged him, in absentia? It is difficult for me to be surprised when I know that the families of Sean Rigg, Ricky Bishop, Smiley Culture, Kingsley Burrell, and many more who have died in police custody, never got justice. It is difficult for me to be surprised to know that the same Directorate of Professional Standards who are currently claiming there is “no evidence” to support my complaints, also made an initial ruling that no police officer would be put on trial for the death of Ian Tomlinson. Now, two years later, PC Simon Harwood has been charged with manslaughter.
Throughout the report the police officers involved have stated that they were acting in my best
interests, and this appears to have been accepted by those carrying out the investigation. That
is a telling indication of how the Metropolitan Police views disability; the MPS as an organisation appears to believe that the fact someone has a disability renders them incapable of determining their own best interest or to act with autonomy.
Even with regard to my ejection from my wheelchair, the police officers involved try to justify their behaviour by referring to the fact that mounted officers were preparing to charge and that I was in the way. I find it stunning that their justification for their violence towards me is that I was in the way of a violent attack on a crowd of protesters, which included children. Remarkably, the report even contains the suggestion that I threw myself from my wheelchair.
The police are on the back foot, and this report only further dents their credibility as a public institution. Their attempts to criminalise the students demonstrators, just like they did with the Gaza demonstrators after Operation Cast Lead, are destined to fail. It should not be the protesters like me who are on trial, it should be the police who are being charged for crimes they have committed.
