I was truncheoned in the back by an officer, some years ago at a protest, for trying to keep a kid safe who'd gotten lost when the police did a push of their line and they were about to go under a horse. Wasn't in a bloc, wasn't even remotely the image of an "activist", and they all saw me help the kid. But I went into the "wrong" area and they were out for blood that day. Saw a journalist carried away on a stretcher for, again, not realising that the lines had shifted. Wasn't a plastic one either, it was the thick rubber coated steel kind.
Much later I realised this had not been a violent protest, the police simply decided to fuck over a bunch of mostly non-activist people because they'd gotten some new toys and wanted to use them.
I was truncheoned in the back by an officer, some years ago at a protest, for trying to keep a kid safe who'd gotten lost when the police did a push of their line and they were about to go under a horse. Wasn't in a bloc, wasn't even remotely the image of an "activist", and they all saw me help the kid. But I went into the "wrong" area and they were out for blood that day. Saw a journalist carried away on a stretcher for, again, not realising that the lines had shifted. Wasn't a plastic one either, it was the thick rubber coated steel kind.
Much later I realised this had not been a violent protest, the police simply decided to fuck over a bunch of mostly non-activist people because they'd gotten some new toys and wanted to use them.