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Policewatch Films

Wednesday 15 April 2009

FIT at heart of the violence

Seasoned Fitwatchers won't be surprised by the number of times the FIT appear in footage of brutal police violence from 1 April. People who were at the G8 in Scotland in 2005 will remember the numerous examples of FIT officers deciding that gaining intelligence was less fun that having a whack at demonstrators. Over the last four years the FIT have lost none of the appetite for violence, which has given a new meaning to their stated aim of establishing a rapport with protesters.

Footage obtained by the Guardian shows how they were consistently present when the police decided to kick things off. They were consistently present when random people were assaulted. They were consistent, again, in their utter disregard for the legal niceties of what they and their colleagues were up to.


This is the true face of the FIT: orchestrating an atmosphere in which the TSG are given free rein to thump people. The FIT played a core role in creating this atmosphere, through their intelligence briefings, through their behaviour on the day, and through the authority of those among their number who are public order tactical advisers. They need disorder to keep themselves in a job, and it certainly doesn't do their part-time members' pay packets any harm.

If the police are targeting 'known troublemakers' they're doing a very good job of concealing it. 

None of this, of course, is news to those who have suffered the malign attentions of the FIT in the past. What's most interesting here is the scale to which the Met have lost the plot, where Bob Broadhurst, Ian Thomas, David Hartshorn and their coterie thought they could have a police riot in the City of London and no one would be any the wiser. We're not talking about minor, bit-part players who cooked up a police riot. This is the cream of the public order cadre of the Met, the premier police force in the country - and further afield, if you believe police propaganda.

Today Sir Paul Stephenson announced that the Inspectorate of Constabulary would conduct a review of the public order policing of the G20 protest. This is surely a means by which he hopes to avoid a full-scale public inquiry. But as evidence mounts up of a deliberate and carefully planned police operation - which was guided from the GT control room in Lambeth - having one more police investigation into the police is completely unacceptable. There is no doubt that this was planned and executed from the top, and it is unimaginable that Stephenson was not kept in intimate contact with the events of 1 April.

Where does this leave the FIT? Frankly, less than a year ago they thought they had US on the run, having finally managed to secure a few convictions, in the process of being appealed. Now, they dare not even attend a protest about policing - the memorial march for Ian Tomlinson - with their blue tabards on. The entire public order policing structure of the Met's left looking very fragile. The boot's very much on the other foot. 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

What's happened, Fitwatch, have you been arrested? No updates for a while.

cosmic clown said...

What you dont realise is that if public order policing is changed the only way which it can go is further toward the way things are done on the continent. Eg instead of a hands on approach water cannons will be employed along with tear gas barriers and eventually what will happen is the police will stand of and let you police your own events until the point where control is lost and force can be used which is justified in this case the death toll will be alot more than one, and you will think you live in a police state.

intergalactic hero said...

I saw a police officer today eating icecream and he wouldnt even let me have any....im going to ring max clifford this officer should be suspended fortwith lest he try and trample my human rights with his ice cream eating jackbootery.........

V said...

Oh no fit watch where have you gone, have you been bagged in this totaliterian state which we inhabit and as we speak you are being waterboarded in a saudi hell hole for crimes against the state.

Clovis said...

Cosmic Clown:

Obviously that is a possibility, and one which has been very much on the cards since the start of the Met Police Authority's public order review a couple of years ago. However, while the effect of water cannon is, as you point out, to establish a zone between demonstrators and police, it would necessarily lead to greater use of police charges as seen at the poll tax riot. By establishing a zone between police and demonstrators, the vacuum would be filled by mobile police units as opposed to the static lines the police frequently seek to use to corral us.

However, there is another way the public order reviews going on could end. I think that the use of kettles is likely to be ended, given the opprobrium it has been met with from many sides. However, I suspect that more resources will be devoted to combating 'known troublemakers' to prevent 'trouble' occurring before it starts.

Time will tell

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your work, have just released an exclusive vid you may be interested on www.defendpeacefulprotest.org

Appears a lot of FIT members present, apparently they had given intelligence on a squat which led to a raid with police threatening a taser at totally non-violent people...

Anonymous said...

Thanks for your work, have just released an exclusive vid you may be interested on www.defendpeacefulprotest.org

Appears a lot of FIT members present, apparently they had given intelligence on a squat which led to a raid with police threatening a taser at totally non-violent people...

AndyM12 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

FIT watch you bore me, its because of idiots like you the police need FIT teams. If you could behave and protest in a reasonable and LAWFUL way they wouldnt exists. Jog on, let the law abidding majority have the power of free speech without the worry that a group of half witted individuals will arrive, gatecrash the event and due to their behaviour attract robust policing. I have seen you in action along with you merry little gang so i can honestly say you make me ashamed to be involved ! The police make mistakes but they and needed because of YOU.

Clovis said...

You're making a lot of fuss about being bored - seems to me that you're not bored, you're not 'involved' (whatever that means) but you have an agenda you're not entirely willing to share. Your point (such as it is) seems to be that the FIT should be left to get on with their job unhindered. I wonder why you'd want that...