August 9th - We Do Not Comply/DOJ Demo

The latest DOJ/Defend Our Juries protest took place on the streets of London on the 9th of August. With over 800 protesters committing acts of terror in parliament square by showing support for the proscribed group Palestine Action. Most of what I have write about however is not about the protesters but the actions of the police. The Metropolitan Police, South Wales Police, Gwent Police and the City of London Police who all attended, and the majority of the officers were over physical with demonstrators from the get go. Shoving demonstrators over each other, punching and kicking them, really shoving press out of the way to the point that within the first 20 minutes I was on the floor (poor footing did play a part). Once Gwent Police and South Wales police arrived it only got worse. There was one officer, an inspector (identifiable by her red cap) who was particularly rough with protesters shoving them around and the second of three officers to shove me to the floor. I also witnessed officers from all of the police forces present shove people of all ages to the floor despite the fact on most occasions officers had more than enough room to do what they needed to do. The third and final time I was shoved to the floor was while I was picturing an 89 year old woman be carried away by police in pain, one protester shoved an officer then it all kicked off with officers leaping over a wall and shoving anyone in their path including me. As I was already walking backwards this shove meant I could not stop any impending fall and down I went landing on my shoulder in a reasonable amount of pain. The pain was so bad that I decided I had done enough and went home in the hunt of pain killers. But none the less they arrested (at the time of writing) 522 arrests took place all for showing support for Palestine Action. One protester stood out to me, a trans woman who decided to take action. For this she could get fourteen years in a men's prison which to put it simply would not be a "nice" situation for her, yet she decided to take action.

LEGAL DISCLAIMER: THESE PHOTOS ARE TAKEN FROM A PURELY JOURNALISTIC VIEW. THEY DO NOT EQUAL SUPPORT FOR ANY GROUP OR PERSONS RELATED TO THIS PROTEST, IN PARTICUALR THE PROSCRIBED GROUP PALESTINE ACTION.

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