Proof has materialised. Finally a video has been produced that clearly shows Ian Tomlinson being attacked by a police officer at the G20 protests minutes before he died of a heart attack. This officer removed his number and covered his face before the brutal assault. Previously the Met’s press office and marketing departments have detailed how officers helped Ian but were hindered by protestors – but that has now been proved to be a lie and the truth has been made public.

The video footage with this article shows that the police were directly involved in the incidents leading up to Ian Tomlinson’s death. Ian was not aggressive, argumentative or resisting police. He was walking home from work, away from police with his hands in his pockets when he was attacked from behind by an officer with a baton and violently pushed to the ground. There is no excuse for this excessive police behaviour that has resulted in the death of an innocent citizen.

The Met’s ‘spin machine’ is now working overtime. There will be many meaningless words and phrases bandied about; ‘unfortunate incident’ ‘full investigation’ ‘with deepest regret’ and already the Met police commissioner Paul Stephenson is quoted as having said that the incidents “raise obvious concerns”.

It would seem that those of who are concerned that we are sleepwalking into a totalitarian police state feel that yes it is quite ‘obvious’ that an incident like this was bound to happen, given the heavy handed attitude of the police when dealing with protestors of any sort. How many other injuries were inflicted on innocent protestors? It seems that the police are quite happy to make up their own version of events and only concede to the truth when it is irrefutably shoved in front of their faces.

That is not to say that all police are overly-aggressive or incompetent. But the police were at the G20 protests to keep the peace, to show restraint and to ensure that the day passed without violence. There is no evidence on the video that any of the ten-or-more officers present did anything to help Ian, or restrain their violent and aggressive colleague. In fact the only people who did attempt to help Ian were the protestors. The people who were stigmatised, harassed and detained by police are the only people who went to the aid of a dying man, while the police, the supposed ‘protectors of the people’ stood by and did nothing.

What are we? How can an innocent man be attacked in the street by officers, employed to protect the innocent, and left to die? The final depressing moments of Ian’s life were captured by any number of videos and photographers and witnessed by numerous police officers. It would seem almost impossible that a person could die under such circumstances, but Ian did die - at the hands of those employed to protect him.