"I'm here as a grandma to protect the water and the air, and all my grand daughter is worried about is what they are going to do to me, she sees it every day on Facebook…It's awful." Diane
On Thursday, Sue, from Liverpool, came to the daily Barton Moss anti-fracking protests for the first time, slow walking in front of lorries delivering to the IGas exploratory drilling site. As Sue was walking, she filmed a Greater Manchester Police officer appear to violently pull a young girl with glasses out of the line by her hair and hat, and arrest her.
"A police officer grabbed my phone off me, threw it down and they all stood on it" she said afterwards "I think they were trying to stop me recording because they kept whispering…"
Tammy, nursing a broken rib from Tuesday's protest, explained "They thought she was live streaming, they've already taken one out."
The Barton Moss protectors are definitely the most media savvy campaigners ever to operate in Salford, and possibly the UK. At any one time during protests there are up to five people live streaming events across the world on their mobile phones, so anyone can watch in real time. Others have head cams, mobile phone cameras, old style video cameras, tablets and more, leading to a huge daily archive of every minute of every protest.
Virtually every instance of police brutality has been captured on film and released on social media, while clips have been shown on mainstream tv and newspaper websites. It's undoubtedly helped sway public opinion against the way the Barton Moss protests are being policed.
Meanwhile, some of the most horrific scenes have led to pressure on the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner, who recently set up an independent protest panel to examine policing at demonstrations, while the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) are investigating some of the worst cases of police transgressions.
The police are equally on the case, with a dalek-eyed video van which appears before any lorries approach Barton Moss Road. There are also up to a dozen police `evidence gatherers' taking photos and footage of every single person who attends the protests, be they press, campaigners or onlookers. Video cameras carried on poles film the action from above.
For court appearances and media attention Barton Moss, amongst other things, has become a techie image battle – and one that the protectors appear to be winning. Now, they allege, Greater Manchester Police are attempting to turn the cameras off.
"The Tactical Aid Unit are grabbing cameras and turning them off straight away" said Dr Steve `Spy' Speers, who, recently captured on film a police officer trying to accuse him of `drink driving' after he had drank a cup of tea.
"They arrested Brian the other day but the first thing the Tactical Aid Unit did was make a grab for his camera" he explained "On Tuesday a TAU officer forced me down, grabbed my camera and went for the power button to turn it off. Then he saw the camera on my helmet and said `Is that recording?' They had no reason to turn off my camera, they had pushed everyone to the side, the lorries were going past, it was incidental…
"They are targeting the live streamers" he added "Tristan seems to be getting hit every day because of his live stream, and the arrest of Brian takes one live streamer out, they confiscated his phone."
Tristan, who live streams using the Bambuser website (see here), has been filming some of the most blatant acts of police aggression…
"They've tried to grab my phone a few times while I've been streaming" he said "They've grabbed my arm and one tried to grab the phone itself, tried to push it down, maybe trying to break it or drop it on the floor or something.
"I'm definitely being targeted in my opinion" he added "I don't know if it's because I'm live streaming or because I'm quite vocal in my opinions. But I would say they are trying to take out the live streamers because it's live, so it can't be edited. With other cameras there's upload time getting it online but live streaming is instant - what I'm filming is going straight to the web, they can't stop it and if they break my phone that stuff is still there."
Barton Moss camp solicitor, Simon Pook, of Robert Lizar Solicitors, calls the apparent Greater Manchester Police actions a "sinister development"…
"I've been informed of the developments at Barton Moss and question whether it's lawful activity by an officer in the execution of their duty to interfere with the public's right to film footage and put it in the public domain" he says "Having watched the film footage, it suggests to me that the police have a central intelligence team involved in Barton Moss and people are being targeted."
The footage from Barton Moss, however, continues to pour out (see here). Last week saw some of the worst police activity on the protests, which led anti-fracking expert Ian R Crane to post a video complete with the following commentary…
"They didn't get their way in Court, so now they pile in even heavier…I've been there, I've seen…felt it …and it's shocking to see the way it is escalating" (see YouTube clip here).
On Thursday, a grandmother, Diane, who has been at the protests since they began, recalled the day's events…
"They just lost the plot, they started punching me in the back, then they started punching me in the ear, I'm in agony" she said "And they just trampled over a man when he fell over; they took Alena, snatched her by the hair and hit her as they were pulling her away. One of us is going to end up dead on this lane before anyone takes any notice…I swear to God, we'll end up dead.
"I'm here as a grandma to protect the water and the air, and all my grand daughter is worried about is what they are going to do to me, she sees it every day on Facebook" Diane added "It's awful."
Barry was the man trampled underfoot as he fell over during the constant pushing by the police…
"I'd only just said to a constable who kept pushing me in the back `I can't go any faster, you're pushing me into the people in front and someone is going to fall'…Sure enough, five minutes later the same thing happened, I couldn't move my feet, fell down and just got walked over by lots of boots and legs in black and yellow jackets" he recalled.
"There's several ranks of police behind the police doing the pushing, and although fellow protectors tried to get around me and make a shield they were pulled out of the way I think" he added "No order was given to stop, so the officers kept on walking over me. Then I was picked up bodily by the cops, lifted out and held for a while as they checked there wasn't any offence I was guilty of…"
Meanwhile, Tammy continues to go on the daily slow walks, nursing her broken rib sustained on the protest earlier in the week…
"When I said to one police officer `Don't push me, one of you broke my rib on Tuesday morning', he said `Well perhaps we can make the other one match'" she recalled "He added that `If you've got a broken rib you shouldn't even be here', and I said…`Broken rib or not I will continue to resist your lorries and your laws because I care about it…so you want to go home and think about that…Why would somebody injured, battered every day since November still be here? Think about it. We care about it'
"We have never lifted a finger to them, not once have we retaliated" Tammy added "We'll have this at 36,000 other wells. For me fracking covers everything - it covers profit over people, it covers corruption in public office, government and the police. It covers everything, the lot, it's disgusting.
"I'd walk that line on my knees if I had to" she concluded "It's my kids' future and I will defend it as much as I would defend it if one of them stood at my kids' throat with a knife."
Meanwhile, solicitor Simon Pook is determined that the UK government answers any allegations of human rights violations at Barton Moss…
"I am continuing to build a dossier of evidence and, once this phase of protest has ended at Barton Moss, I will be sending all the videos together with written statements to the special rapporteur for peaceful protest at the United Nations" he says
"The protesters can rest assured that their human rights will be fully defended and, if necessary, the United Kingdom government will have to answer to the United Nations for any human rights violations that have occurred at Barton Moss" he adds "The police are fully aware that the gaze of the international community is fully upon them."
* The Salford Star asked Greater Manchester Police whether officers were targeting live streamers at Barton Moss. Greater Manchester Police responded… "All members of public are asked to leave the area behind police lines without exception – irrelevant of whether they are a protester or not. This is for their own safety."
** There is a vigil outside Swinton Police Station next Saturday 22nd March at noon organised by the Justice4BartonMoss campaign - full details here
Main photo by Steven Speed
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