Sikh Clash With Police In London

[StarStriker]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11948341/Sikh-Lives-Matter-protest-in-central-London-turns-violent.html

Officer pictured being led to police van with blood pouring down his face amid protest outside Indian High Commission that blocks Aldwych and The Strand

Hundreds of British Sikhs clashed with police outside the India High Commission Photo: Lee Thomas

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent

4:23PM BST 22 Oct 2015

A protest as part of the Sikh Lives Matter movement has turned violent in central London, with at least one policeman believed to have been injured.

The officer was pictured being led to a police van with blood pouring down his face amid the incident outside the Indian High Commission.

Hundreds of British Sikhs clashed with police outside the India High Commission Photo: Lee Thomas

A large number of Sikhs joined the protest, which blocked Aldwych and The Strand and included a sit-down protest, on Thursday afternoon

Hundreds of police officers - including at least a dozen on horseback - were reported at the scene.

Hundreds of British Sikhs clashed with police outside the India High Commission Photo: Lee Thomas

The Sikh Press Association website explained why people were protesting.

It said: “Recent deaths in Punjab have again brought to light the plight of ethnic minorities in India. Sikhs have continually found themselves victims of the most severe kind of police brutality, leading to the death of unarmed protesters and even bystanders during gatherings.

Hundreds of British Sikhs clashed with police outside the India High Commission Photo: Lee Thomas

"However, there still seems to be a lack of empathy regarding the suffering of Sikhs. As such, the social media #SikhLivesMatter has been created to draw attention to the acts of Indian government’s atrocities which often go unnoticed in the mainstream media.”

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "At approximately 14:25hrs on Thursday, 22 October, police implemented a containment of approximately 200 people on Kingsway, at the junction with Aldwych, WC2.

"The Metropolitan Police Service was aware of a planned demonstration at the Indian High Commission. Whilst it was initially a peaceful protest the demonstrators blocked the roadway at the Aldwych, which blocked the road and caused significant disruption to the central London road network.

"Police liaison officers attempted to negotiate with those present, in order to facilitate peaceful protest and minimise the disruption to the public.

"Additional officers, including those from the Mounted Branch, were mobilised to the area and a small group of protesters became violent towards police.

"During an altercation, one officer has suffered a head injury and was taken to hospital. There are no reports of any of other injuries.

"Police are in dialogue with those within the containment and those unassociated with the criminality are being identified and given the opportunity to leave. At this stage police believe a number of offences may have been committed."

[Cisco_Singh]

Apparently a group of people blocked the road which caused the clash with police. This is not the sort of publicity the community needs, the media will pick up on anything negative don't give them an excuse.

Why did this group of people mentioned block the road ? Not a very clever thing to do is it.

EDIT: seen unconfirmed report on Facebook that police took a Singh's dastaar off and broke a Nishaan Sahib. No video footage to prove this.

[StarStriker]

well i find it astonishing, how after 30 yrs of 84 marches, NOT once does this make it into multiple news headlines. couple that with with the fact that last 2 weeks, sikhs havnt had no coverage of sikhs BEING KILLED! SO, 1 police officer, gets a good bashing from a singhs, while a kirpan is taken off some1, nishan sahib on floor, n now its ALL OVER the news! Just proves they cant resist makin sikhs look bad via reportin certain news relatin to sikhs. Before any1 starts cussin the sikhs here for bein "violent", 1 thing has to be mentioned tho. The protest started with simran jaap/floor protest, then the indian high commission, ordered riot police to come and deal with sikhs. Its then, that the police started confronting sikhs.

[MisterrSingh]

Sometimes these skirmishes need to occur. I'm not condoning the assault on the copper, but in general, it sends the message we aren't the weak pushovers that some have come to believe. But let's not get carried away. We don't need negative publicity.

[StarStriker]

Sometimes these skirmishes need to occur. I'm not condoning the assault on the copper, but in general, it sends the message aren't we aren't the weak pushovers that some have come to believe. But let's not get carried away. We don't need negative publicity.

thanks for saying that. I remember jagraj singh (BoS), sayin the reasons y the annual hyde park 84 marches r rubbish is coz the police r not even there, coz they know sikhs wont really do anyfink, apart from shout slogans, eat samosey n go home. This proves that we aint no pushovers, never have been. if anyfink, we r too polite. Clear as day tho, that, in the media, muslims, sikhs and irish catholics get the worse press treatment.

[dallysingh101]

Yeah, no one should start cussing apnay for behaving like bundhay. Do right, do wrong whitey makes us look like twats in their media whenever it suits them. So don't worry about PR. On a street level Singhs will actually get respect for showing tuttay.

Good on these brothers and in the words of NWA **** the police.

[StarStriker]

An Eyewitness named Claire Underwood reported the following:

Police sirens can still be heard echoing in Holborn outside the Indian embassy at 5:26. There’s a small fraction of undefiant protesters remaining. Why were the cavalry and riot vans bought in? Was a riot going on or was it a peaceful protest? How many innocent protesters who were exercising their right to protest are spending their night in a police cell. Since when in over 30 years have Sikh protests ever been violent? Was the force and the amount of police presence excessive? Were the police acting in a provocative manner to kettle young members of the protest group?

Were they inciting violence by coming in excessive numbers and in riot gear. Complain to the metropolitan police by calling 101 and speaking to an inspector or alternatively raise this unwarranted and excessive force by the police by complaining to IPCC. Completely excessive force used by these officers when it was clear the man in this photo being arrested had little comprehension of what was going on. He was visibly distressed as his Kirpan was stripped from him. He showed little understanding of English. By standers told him not to speak and to ask for an interpreter. He was very understandably upset.

Unbelievable excessive force used by met police, Sikhs contribute greatly to the UK economy and therefore have the democratic right to protest. A police liaison officer stated that the orders have come from above from he ilks of David Cameron and friends evidently to appease Modi so that UK can continue to prostitute itself to India.

The Met Police reported that about 20 Singhs were arrested in the protests.

[InderjitS]

Apparently a group of people blocked the road which caused the clash with police. This is not the sort of publicity the community needs, the media will pick up on anything negative don't give them an excuse.

Why did this group of people mentioned block the road ? Not a very clever thing to do is it.

EDIT: seen unconfirmed report on Facebook that police took a Singh's dastaar off and broke a Nishaan Sahib. No video footage to prove this.

I was present.

If the Singh's did not block the road this would never have made the news. It would have been the same as the 20+ other protests that have taken place in previous years that pass peacefully when no one took a jot of notice. This of course plays perfectly into the hands of GOI and UK government.

From where I was standing the minor trouble started when the Singh's were being physically man handled, when the police tried to force them off the road onto the pavement (admittedly they asked several times to no avail) and after the Singh above was arrested. This is when 'plastic' water bottles started being hurled at the police, raised voices and pushing and shoving ensued.

The report is misleading, there were no more than 50 odd Singh's opposite India House (Waldorf side) that were being carefully monitored by the Police. The police presence far outweighed what was required during a peaceful protest. Heck they even had a helicopter circling, riot vans, HMP, it was overkill to say the least.

[InderjitS]

[StarStriker]

we should hashtag #racist police