{"id":641125,"date":"2022-05-06T16:21:06","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T16:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecanary.co\/?p=1589866"},"modified":"2022-05-06T16:21:06","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T16:21:06","slug":"court-watches-footage-of-police-brutality-against-kill-the-bill-demonstrators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/05\/06\/court-watches-footage-of-police-brutality-against-kill-the-bill-demonstrators\/","title":{"rendered":"Court watches footage of police brutality against Kill the Bill demonstrators"},"content":{"rendered":"
Content warning – this article contains descriptions of police violence<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The trial of Indigo Bond<\/a> is ongoing at Bristol Crown Court. Indigo was charged with riot after confrontations between police and protesters outside Bristol’s Bridewell police station last year. She was just 19 years old at the time.<\/p>\n Thousands of demonstrators came out on 21 March 2021, in a show of force against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill, which became law last week<\/a>. The demonstration began at a memorial for Sarah Everard<\/a>, a woman who had been raped and murdered by a serving police officer just weeks beforehand. The crowd fought back after it was met with escalating violence from riot police outside Bridewell station. The police attacked with dogs, horses, riot shields, and batons<\/p>\n By the end of the night, police vehicles had been set alight, and the ground floor windows of the police station had been smashed.<\/p>\n Since then 85 people have been arrested<\/a>, and 15 people have been sentenced to prison. The longest sentence imposed so far is 14 years. A massive support campaign has been launched in solidarity with the defendants, with over \u00a350k raised by crowdfunders<\/a> so far.<\/p>\n Indigo is charged with pushing and kicking at police officers, and throwing a piece of wood and a small bottle at officers. She said in evidence that she acted defensively because she was \u201cscared\u201d, and that she was trying to \u201ccreate space\u201d between her and the riot police, and to \u201cpush them back\u201d.<\/p>\n On the second day of the trial, the defence showed a video compilation which contained clips of the police violence on 21 March. It was sourced from material disclosed to Indigo’s defence solicitors by Avon and Somerset Police, which includes footage captured by the police’s own body-worn cameras, as well as police evidence gatherers. The compilation also includes video clips from a news agency and members of the public.<\/p>\n The first significant incident starts just after police had donned riot gear outside the Old Fire Station near Bridewell. Police had moved in after protesters had graffitied a police vehicle and begun to rock it from side to side. The jury was shown footage of officers advancing on members of the crowd with batons raised, and shoving a press photographer with full force. The man falls back, and stumbles into the people behind him as Indigo stands nearby.<\/p>\n Seconds later, the same officer advances on a woman. He has his baton raised high over his shoulder. She uses a placard pole to defend herself as he strikes her repeatedly.<\/p>\n Police Constable Ewan Caulder – the officer who is seen to shove the photographer – denied to defence barrister Russell Fraser that he had lost his “composure”. Fraser questioned him about why he had pushed the photographer, asking:<\/p>\nJury watches footage of police violence<\/h2>\n