Brockley has been in the news a few times relating to the G20 protests and the subsequent row about policing sparked by the death of Millwall fan Ian Tomlinson. In the build up to the demonstrations, the press highlighted that one of the organisers was Chris Knight (of the Radical Anthropology Group) with the BBC commenting that his 'rather grand house on this rather leafy street in Brockley was in fact the headquarters for the four horsemen of the apocalypse'.
Now a local man has complained about his treatment on April 1st: '21-year-old student Tom Hibbins, from Brockley, south-east London... said he was unable to escape as the police line pressed forward outside the Bank of England, and that he was hit with a metal baton and kicked in the groin by police. He said: "It seems to me inevitable that the tactics used by police on that day would inevitably agitate people and lead to trouble"' (source: BBC News).
And to think that the person who is ultimately in charge of the police - Home Secretary Jacqui Smith - lives just down the road from this hotbed of radicalism in her sister's house in Nunhead. If you're wondering what all the fuss is about, here's the latest film report of the Climate Camp protest:
A friend who lives locally was on the protest, while her husband was drafted policing it - don't think they bumped into each other, but it could have made for an interesting conflict of interests! And Brockley ward councillor Romayne Phoenix only just got out of the police kettle in time to get to the Council AGM that evening.
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