This entry was posted on
Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at
3:27 pm and is filed
under The War on Stupid.
Daily Mail (!) – Was ‘friend’ who yelled abuse at police on anti-war demo a stooge or a thug, asks writer: As a throng of protesters built up by the barriers, an extremely animated demonstrator in a white T-shirt caught my eye. He was near the front screaming abuse at the police and trying to get a friend further back to join him. The second man sheepishly refused his encouragements to edge forward. The man in the T-shirt was tall, well-built and handsome, smiling but with a hint of menace. He pushed aside children and elderly people. He continued to shout slogans such as: ‘Pigs Out.’ On his back was a black rucksack and he carried a professional-looking camera with a large telephoto lens. (via)
“Is this him?” asks blogger:
These are grabs from this video captured at the front line. The man matching the description of the writer’s ‘friend’ can be seen at 1:32, 1:45 and 4:30 (i.e. right at the very end).
I’ve scanned through most of the available videos and stills and can’t find (a) any better matches for the description or (b) any clearer shots of this guy.
Perhaps you can do better.
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UPDATE:
Q: “Is this him?”
A: According to bat020 (and others) it’s not.
See comments for more.
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UPDATE – No names under comments, please. But do please sound off if you have illuminating photos/videos to share.
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UPDATE (24 Jun) – There’s a solid lead on who is described in the Daily Mail article, but NO NAMES please until we get better photographic or video evidence. Video footage of the git behaving as described in the Daily Mail article would be the clincher.
Some hunting and emailing will be happening in the background today.
By Paul.Ferrari June 23, 2008 - 3:45 pm
I'm stunned that the Mail published this – even is it was just online.
By Manic June 23, 2008 - 4:00 pm
Me too. But it seems like we've been living in Bizzaro World since the Davis thing.
By poons June 23, 2008 - 4:02 pm
To be fair, it did appear in the print version pg4 or 6 of MOS2.
By Wolf Solent June 23, 2008 - 4:16 pm
Although… to play devil's advocate, that is not "a professional-looking camera with a large telephoto lens", it's a low-end consumer DSLR with what looks to be an unexceptional zoom lens of unknown focal length, with a large lens hood. It's probably less 'professional' than my own camera.
By Manic June 23, 2008 - 4:48 pm
Nevertheless, he's the best FIT* for the description that I've seen so far.(*Did you see what I did there?)
By Unity June 23, 2008 - 5:06 pm
Someone needed to ask him which newspaper he claimed to work for and then ask to see his NUJ membership card.IIRC, the convention used to that MI5/MI6 would claim to be working for the Telegraph and Special Branch, as was, would claim to be working for either the Mail or the Evening Standard, if the demo was in London.
By bat020 June 23, 2008 - 7:08 pm
Hi – I know the person in that picture and I can testify that he is a bona fide press photographer and an active NUJ member. Copper he ain't – and he'd be quite offended by the suggestion.There are actually enough clues in the Mail on Sunday article to identify the copper in question if you bother doing a big of Googling.
By Manic June 23, 2008 - 9:13 pm
Thanks, bat020. Post updated.[NOTE – No names under comments at this stage, please.]
By septicisle June 25, 2008 - 8:35 pm
Is it permissible to link to this?[mod: Link snipped. In a word, no. We want him to be busted, not flush.]