Man “among those arrested” releases statement detailing injuries

A man has released a statement over Facebook claiming that he was among those arrested, and detailing injuries he alleges he suffered at the hands of police yesterday, December 3.

The statement, released at around 11am on Thursday 4 December, read: “I was released last night from Cov Central without charge, but with a lump over one eye, some pretty bad handcuff marks…

“I had my head bashed against a wall, a knee placed heavily into my neck while I was lying on my back in cuffs, before being turned over and being threatened that the taser being pushed into my lower back would be fired if I continued to try looking round at the officer assaulting me.

“But judging from the pictures, videos and the screams I heard whilst I was on the ground, I got away very lightly. Police deliberately broke camera phones, CS sprayed students, threw and pushed others to the floor, threatened more with tasers, and generally spoiled what had been until a few seconds before an impromptu seminar/discussion on the subject of free education.

He added, “However, the conversation has now turned yet again (and quite rightly) to include the role of the police in the perpetuation of this.

“A point to remember should be that the students had been in the foyer for around one hour, without anyone, including security staff, mentioning an alleged assault on security from myself or anybody else. The first we heard about this was during the screams, between the threats and blows coming from police.

“There was however concerns raised about the security guard making the allegation having assaulted a demonstrator, with one student taking a picture and another making a video of him being asked about the incident, however on a phone owned by a CS spray victim who subsequently had their phone stamped on by police.”

He went on to allege that “The allegation [of assault against a security guard] is an unproven lie with no evidence, dreamt up by the Warwick Uni Security team, acting in the knowledge that to make an allegation first would protect the security guard because police do not allow counter-allegations for the same incident. The University used the violence of the police to cover their own violence, and to quell dissent on campus.”

The University, in both a statement from the vice-chancellor Nigel Thrift and a separate statement from a University spokesperson allege that the police were called following an “unprovoked assault” on a member of the security team by a protester.

The spokesperson said: “Sadly, on this occasion, for the first time in my memory, the security staff were faced with a surprising and very shocking and totally unprovoked act of violence which required us, regretfully, to call the police.”

Vice-chancellor Nigel Thrift also alleges that the police response was the result of “assault” on the security staff. In his statement, he said: “I was disheartened that yesterday’s protest uncharacteristically saw an unprovoked assault on one of our security team that gave us no alternative but to ask the police to attend the scene to investigate that alleged assault.”

The man who claims to have been arrested is not a student at the University of Warwick, but recently graduated from Leicester University.

In his statement, he referred to his bail conditions, which he said “prevents me from attending [the protest on 4 December], or having any contact with the other arrestees.”

The #CopsOffCampus protest will take place today,Thursday 4 December, at 3.30pm outside Senate House.