Did the police incite violence at the G20 protests?

You need to know about this.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) has gone on record to claim that he saw plain-clothes police officers deliberately inciting protestors at the G20 Summit demonstrations to commit acts of violence, according to a story featured by The Guardian. He will raise the issue during a Parliament joint committee on human rights this Tuesday.

"When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, 'There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police," says the MP. His report on the incident includes statements from eye-witnesses including photographer Tony Amos, who was with protestors at the Royal Exchange. "He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable," Amos claims in his statement. "Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He ­legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has received 256 complaints relating to the protests, but states that none of them have been reports of officers encouraging protestors to act unlawfully.

Brake, who was held within a corralled crowd for five hours, says that just a few people were allowed to leave the group duing the time he was in it and as a result it should be a simple matter to examine video footage of the incident to gather more information.

If it is proved that this is the case, what does it mean? Obviously, it would demonstrate that the police are guilty of using entrapment. It would also mean that they deliberately provoked violence, possibly in order to allow them to attack British civilians. This incident must be looked at very carefully, and if the police are shown to have acted in this way then there needs to be major changes - the foremost purpose of the police is to protect and prevent harm to civilians, not to protect businesses and their property. In nations less complacent than our own, revolutions have started over less than this.

Were you at the G20 protests? Did you see anything untoward? Leave a comment - people need to know.