Sunday’s Observer quotes Lib Dem MP Tom Brake as pointing a finger at two plain clothes policemen he believes were acting as agents provacateurs at the G20 protests last month. Tom Brake was, as readers will recall, acting as an observer during the protests, and is set to give evidence at a committee on human rights today.
“When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, ‘There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'” Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification.
Brake has produced a draft report of his experiences for the human rights committee, having received written statements from people in the crowd. These include Tony Amos, a photographer who was standing with protesters in the Royal Exchange between 5pm and 6pm. “He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable,” Amos said. “Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked.”
Amos added: “He was pretty much inciting the crowd. He could not be called an observer. I don’t believe in conspiracy theories but this really struck me. Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up.”
Follow @libdemvoice.org on Bluesky
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Labour and the Liberals in 1924 and today
Brexit: The Uncivil War - the TV drama with Benedict Cumberbatch
A power vacuum?
I am liberal, woke and proud of it. We should all accept such descriptions with pride
Steve Nash
Tom Arms
Peter Wrigley
Roland
Ian Sanderson (RM3)
One Comment
I like Mr Amos’ idea, but I guess there won’t have been any video cameras in the area; then they will not have had film in; then it will have been lost; found to be unreadable; and finally inconclusive. All in all though, this really shows the danger we are all in from those in the state who are allegedly there to protect us.
Just as children homes act as a beacon to paedophiles who want jobs there to exploit the young, the police and secret services attract people who want to infiltrate the job and exploit it to project their own agenda on society’s ills and also to ensure their own jobs are safeguarded.
Never has it been more true than the saying, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance – in this I fear some senior ex MPs may have allowed themselves to seduced by those on the dark side.