Stop the War Coalition
Press Release
Monday 23 June
20.20
immediate
www.stopwar.org.uk

New evidence has now emerged that the violent attack on the anti-Bush
demonstration by the police last Sunday, 15th June, was not only
premeditated but was also orchestrated by the police themselves.
Yasmin Whittaker-Khan writing in yesterday's Mail on Sunday identified
one 'protester' as a police 'agent provocateur'

The background is this:

On Sunday 15th June the Stop the War Coalition together with the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the British Muslim Initiative
organised a peaceful protest against the visit of US President George
Bush to London.

Over the last seven years Stop the War has organised numerous
demonstrations all of which have all passed off peacefully. All these
events have been arranged with the co-operation of the Metropolitan
police with whom the Coalition has had a good working relationship.

This time the police were clearly operating with a different agenda:

1] Whitehall was sealed off for unspecified reasons. The police had
taken the 'political' decision not to allow a march to proceed along
Whitehall.

2] More than 1200 police, many of whom were riot police, were deployed
to control a peace demonstration of no more than 2500 people.

3] Without provocation the police drew their batons en masse and
proceeded to attack the demonstrators. There are many independent
witnesses to this and the photographic evidence is strong. Several
people were hospitalised and others arrested indiscriminately.

4] There is evidence that the police used 'agent provocateurs' to try
[without success] and stir up the crowd. See the article by Yasmin
Whittaker-Khan in the Mail on Sunday 22nd June 2008.


A number of questions now need urgent attention:

a] Who took the decision to ban the march? Which government ministers
were involved? What role did the United States security services play in
this decision?

b] Why were so many police deployed?

c] Who gave the order for batons to be drawn and used?

d] Why did the police use 'agent provocateurs' to try and create disorder?
Were the security services involved in this sinister development?

Andrew Murray, Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said today, 'The
premeditated attack on a peace demonstration by the police marks a
further deterioration in the civil liberties of all people in Britain.
We demand a full public investigation into the events of June 15th.'

further information
Stop the War Coalition
Press Office
27 Britannia Street
London WC1X 9JP
T 020 7 278 6694