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This is the location at which Ian Tomlinson was photographed lying on his back in front of police officers at last Wednesday’s G20 protest rally in Cornhill, London:

Google Street View view of scene
Press photograph of scene on 1st April

There appears to be at least one CCTV camera opposite the spot where witnesses claim that police assaulted Mr Tomlinson, or at least there was when the Google Street View car last passed by. It’s on the front of the Cornhill Insurance building:

Cornhill Camera View 1
Cornhill Camera View 2

But did it have the incident in its field of view? Can anyone spot any more cameras that may have captured the event?

I’ve read nothing about live camera footage of the alleged assault itself. It would be surprising if none had been captured.

UPDATE: Well, it’s academic now. The witness claims have been confirmed. The police did indeed assault the poor man. He had every right to be where he was, he had every right to be doing what he was doing. The police had not seen him cause any trouble, but they violently pushed him over from behind anyway, and minutes later he was dead.

Not content with ignoring due process (post pending), the rule of law, demonstrating utter contempt for democracy and civil rights, beating young girls over the head with clubs, manslaughtering those down on their luck (2), and spying on our personal communications, our government, police and security services also want us to rummage through our neighbours’ dustbins, you know, in case there’s anything in there that can be used to denounce them.

Frankly, I’ve long harboured suspicions that one of my neighbours is a democrat, committed to open, accountable government. Obviously, I’m reluctant to report him without good evidence for it’s a serious, unsavoury allegation, one that could ruin his career and family life, But rest assured, I’ll be scratching and sniffing his wheely bin for the tell-tale signs. If he so much as drops an Open Rights Group pamphlet in there, it’ll be the salt mines for him and his counter-revolutionary brood.

Note for the smug cynics, bullies, thugs and rule-breakers within our police force. This government won’t be in power forever. You might want to start thinking about your exit strategies. At the very least, consider how to CYKCA (Cover Your Kevlar-coated Arses). Oh, and here’s some advice, this time around “I was just following orders” isn’t going to cut any ice.

How did democracy end up in this mess? “It just fell down the stairs, honest M’Lud”.