A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Chile to Cambodia
Continue reading...Category Archives: Police
‘Excited delirium’: term linked to police restraint in UK medical guide condemned
Public health bodies and families say term carries racial bias and is used to justify lethal use of force by police
Public health bodies, charities and the families of men who died after being restrained by police have condemned the inclusion of a controversial medical term in one of the UK’s leading medical handbooks.
Acute behavioural disturbance (ABD), more commonly known as “excited delirium”, a contentious expression used in fatal cases of police violence, has recently been added to the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines (MPG).
Continue reading...UN calls for end of ‘impunity’ for police violence against black people
Report launched in aftermath of George Floyd murder cites example of 2018 death of Kevin Clarke in UK
A UN report that analysed racial justice in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” enjoyed by police officers who violate the human rights of black people.
The UN human rights office analysis of 190 deaths across the world led to the report’s damning conclusion that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for killing black people due in part to deficient investigations and an unwillingness to acknowledge the impact of structural racism.
Continue reading...I spy: are smart doorbells creating a global surveillance network?
They were sold as gadgets that meant you would never miss a delivery. But now doorbell cameras – from Amazon’s Ring to Google’s Nest – are recording our every move
I have got a new doorbell. It’s brilliant. It should be; it cost £89. It’s a Ring video doorbell; you’ll have seen them around. There are others available, made by other companies, with other four-letter names such as Nest and Arlo. When someone rings my doorbell, I’m alerted on my smartphone. I can see who is there, and speak to them.
My phone is ringing! C major first inversion chord, arpeggiated, repeated, for the musically trained – you’ll recognise it if you’ve heard it. It’s a delivery. Amazon, as it happens; Amazon acquired Ring in 2018, reportedly for more than $1bn.
Continue reading...Met police brace for ‘busy weekend’ of major London protests
Dance music acts along with anti-lockdown, anti-austerity and climate activists will all converge on capital
Some of the UK’s leading dance music acts are expected to join a protest march in London calling for the government to scrap Covid restrictions on nightclubs, as the capital gears up for a weekend of mass demonstrations.
Anti-lockdown protesters, anti-austerity campaigners and environmentalists will also stage protests in London on Saturday and Sunday, and the Metropolitan police said they were preparing for “a busy weekend”.
Continue reading...Bodies of woman, 23, and man in 30s found in fields near Derbyshire village
Police not looking for anyone else in connection with deaths in Duckmanton as reports name woman as Gracie Spinks
Police are investigating after the bodies of a 23-year-old woman and a man in his 30s were found within hours of each other in fields near a Derbyshire village.
The woman was found in a field near Staveley Road in Duckmanton at about 8.40am on Friday, and was pronounced dead at the scene. She has been named in reports as Gracie Spinks, a keen horse rider.
Continue reading...Police interviewed Prince Charles over ‘plot to kill Diana’
Former Met chief reveals he questioned prince as a witness in 2005 about note written by princess
The former Metropolitan police chief John Stevens has disclosed that he questioned Prince Charles over allegations that he had plotted to kill Diana, Princess of Wales.
Charles was interviewed as a witness in 2005, during a three-year investigation into Diana’s death in a Paris car crash in 1997, the Daily Mail reported.
Continue reading...Why brutal protests have been sweeping across Colombia – video explainer
From the Amazon to the Caribbean coast, several weeks of protests have swept Colombia – dozens have died as demonstrators have faced sometimes deadly retaliation from police.
The catalyst was a proposed tax hike, since withdrawn, in response to the coronavirus crisis. Demands expanded to calls to end inequality, economic disparity and police violence in Colombia – in almost two months, demonstrations have caused food and goods shortages.
Protest leaders have temporarily suspended in-person demonstrations due to a rise in Covid cases, but Joe Parkin Daniels, reporting for the Guardian, explains why this widespread discontent is unlikely to end
G7 security preparations in Cornwall – in pictures
Ahead of the G7 summit starting on Friday, 5,000 mutual aid officers have arrived in the area from police forces across the UK. They will join 1,500 officers and staff from Devon and Cornwall police being deployed at the event.
More than 100 police dogs will be working at the summit, though no police horses are due to be there
Police step in as ‘free Palestine’ chanters approach pro-Israel rally in London
Small group of men tried to enter protest area in Kensington waving Palestinian flags
Police officers stepped in after a small group of people chanting “free Palestine” approached a gathering of pro-Israel protesters in London.
The large crowd, which gathered in Kensington High Street on Sunday afternoon, waved Israeli flags and banners and chanted loudly, while speeches were made. Footage circulating on social media appeared to show the English Defence League founder Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, among the attenders.
Continue reading...Far-right attack inevitable, warns informant who identified London nail bomber
Undercover agent who identified 1999 attacker says police are failing to keep pace with online spread of extreme ideology
An undercover informant who identified the man behind Britain’s deadliest far-right attack has warned that a similar atrocity is inevitable due to the spread of extreme ideology online.
The mole, codenamed “Arthur”, told his handler, who then informed the police, that David Copeland was behind a series of attacks that killed three and injured more than 100 over a bombing campaign lasting less than two weeks in 1999.
Continue reading...US journalist Barrett Brown arrested in the UK on incitement offences
He had been in Britain since November and intended to claim asylum on the basis that he had been persecuted in the US for his journalism
The American journalist Barrett Brown has been arrested and detained in the UK for allegedly overstaying his visa and for alleged public order and incitement offences relating to his role in holding a protest banner which said: “Kill Cops.”
Police arrested Brown on Monday at a canal boat moored in east London, where he had been living for several months with a British woman. He was interviewed and released on bail the following day, but immediately detained by immigration authorities.
Continue reading...Glasgow churches subjected to anti-Catholic abuse after Rangers win
Aftermath of Scottish Premiership victory on Saturday marred by vandalism, unrest and abusive behaviour
A number of churches in and around Glasgow were subject to vandalism and anti-Catholic abuse over the weekend, the Guardian has learned, as Rangers supporters rampaged through the city centre on Saturday.
Windows were smashed at the St Maria Goretti church estate in Cranhill, north-east Glasgow. At another church, which has asked not to be identified, a banner with anti-Catholic slogans was draped across railings in time for evening mass, before it was removed by church officials. There were further reports of abusive heckling of those within church grounds. The Guardian understands that two incidents were reported to Police Scotland.
Continue reading...Anger as Patel delays publication of report into private detective’s murder
Independent panel set up to investigate killing of Daniel Morgan ‘furious’ at home secretary’s move
The home secretary has ordered that an independent report on claims murderers were shielded by police corruption and claims of corruption in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire must be vetted by her department before its publication.
The move triggered fury and follows eight years of work by a special panel to investigate the murder of private detective Daniel Morgan in 1987, who was found dead in a south London car park with an axe embedded in his head.
Continue reading...Police hunt man who tried to frame person for Westminster terror attack
Gerald Banyard found guilty of perverting course of justice over attack by Khalid Masood in 2017
A police hunt is under way for a man who “looked to exploit an extremely tragic and serious situation” by framing an innocent person for the Westminster terror attack.
Gerald Banyard, 67, of Whalley, Lancashire, sent two handwritten notes to police in the days after the Westminster Bridge attack by Khalid Masood in March 2017, claiming that his landlord’s partner had been involved in the atrocity, in which five people were killed including PC Keith Palmer.
Continue reading...Police commissioner candidate withdraws over drink-driving conviction
Tory Jonathon Seed, who was running in Wiltshire, was told 30-year-old offence debarred him, contradicting earlier assurances
A Tory candidate to be a police and crime commissioner (PCC) has withdrawn on the eve of counting after it emerged he had a 30-year-old conviction for drink-driving.
Jonathon Seed has been debarred from becoming a PCC due to a historical driving offence that had come to light, the Conservative party said in a statement.
Continue reading...Refugees and the Armenian genocide: human rights this fortnight in pictures
A roundup of the coverage on struggles for human rights and freedoms, from Colombia to China
Continue reading...Riot police break up illegal party in Brussels park using tear gas and water cannon – video
Clashes erupted as riot police in Belgium used tear gas and water cannon to disperse revellers at an illegal party in Brussels' Bois de la Cambre park.
The event, dubbed 'La Boum 2', was a sequel to the fake festival arranged as an April Fools' Day joke at the same park on 1 April – and was held in defiance of the government's Covid-19 restrictions. A collective called 'L'abîme Team', the organiser of the event on social media, unsuccessfully tried to seek permission for the gathering, local media reported.
On 23 April, Belgium pressed ahead with plans to allow restaurant and cafe terraces to reopen on 8 May despite warnings from health officials that hospital saturation was starting to resemble that of Italy at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. From 8 May, up to 50 people will be also allowed to attend an outdoor event. More than 23,000 people out of in Belgium's 11 million population have died of Covid-19, with about 3,500 daily infections
Continue reading...Julia James: Police say death of PCSO in Kent being treated as murder
Serving community support officer Julia James, 53, was found dead in woods near hamlet of Snowdown
A serving police community support officer who was found dead on Tuesday afternoon was murdered, police have said.
No arrests have yet been made following the death of PCSO Julia James, 53, whose body was found in Akholt Wood in Kent. The loss has shocked the tiny nearby hamlet of Snowdown, where Ms James is believed to have lived with her husband.
Continue reading...Senior managers told police spy to use fake identity in court, inquiry hears
Michael Scott gave false identity when being prosecuted alongside activists over anti-apartheid protest in 1972
Senior Scotland Yard managers authorised an undercover officer to lie in court when he used his fake identity in a trial in which he was convicted of public disorder, an inquiry has heard.
The managers have also been accused of ignoring ethical issues when they encouraged the undercover officer to spy on legally protected confidential discussions between campaigners and their lawyers about legal tactics.
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