What Really Happened In Croydon ?

When news breaks about something like the "litter rage" attack on two police officers in Croydon, the place to go is often the comments section (if it exists) of the local paper.

Sure enough, the Croydon Guardian :

Posted by: Iain, Purley on 10:56am Fri 18 Jul 08

I saw it. It was a mob of black youngsters - both male and females - who went completely crazy. It wasn't obvious what the row was about.

I saw it. It was a mob of black youngsters - both male and females - who went completely crazy. It wasn't obvious what the row was about.

So far, alas so predictable. But an hour later (I've trimmed the comments to those who claim to have been there) :

Posted by: DJW, croydon on 11:58am Fri 18 Jul 08

I didn't see inital confrontation but all i saw was the police man excessively hitting the girl with the baton and then jumping around and hitting people who were trying to restrain the girl themselves this is what obviously angered other people and led to everyone chasing him around and attacking him

I didn't see inital confrontation but all i saw was the police man excessively hitting the girl with the baton and then jumping around and hitting people who were trying to restrain the girl themselves this is what obviously angered other people and led to everyone chasing him around and attacking him

Posted by: mark, selhurst on 12:00pm Fri 18 Jul 08

I was there and saw the whole incident from the very start. The police officer attacked the girl first and it escalated from there. If a man was to assault a 15 year old girl with a metal pole you would say that he should be locked up, so why should he get away eith it just because he's a policeman. He broke the law and he should be punished.

I was there and saw the whole incident from the very start. The police officer attacked the girl first and it escalated from there. If a man was to assault a 15 year old girl with a metal pole you would say that he should be locked up, so why should he get away eith it just because he's a policeman. He broke the law and he should be punished.

Posted by: sian, london on 12:08pm Fri 18 Jul 08

i saw the attack myself, and it was nothing of the sort as to what has been printed. the police were handling the teenage girl appaulingly and 2 passers by challenged the police about such brutal behaviou towards a minor.

i saw the attack myself, and it was nothing of the sort as to what has been printed. the police were handling the teenage girl appaulingly and 2 passers by challenged the police about such brutal behaviou towards a minor.

Posted by: Colin, London on 12:24pm Fri 18 Jul 08

Don't believe a word that "DJW", "mark" and "sian" say. What a strange coincidence that three people - all of whom claim to have witnessed the confrontation - should happen to chance upon this site within 10 minutes of each other. This is obviously one very sick individual using multiple IDs to smear the police and deflect our anger away from the savages who committed the asault.

Don't believe a word that "DJW", "mark" and "sian" say. What a strange coincidence that three people - all of whom claim to have witnessed the confrontation - should happen to chance upon this site within 10 minutes of each other. This is obviously one very sick individual using multiple IDs to smear the police and deflect our anger away from the savages who committed the asault.

Posted by: Roberta, Croydon on 12:56pm Fri 18 Jul 08

The police did not attack the girl - they did grab the girl but only after she attacked them. She was abusive and swore repeadetly at the two police officers who were just trying to keep the streets of croydon clean. Why was she in central croydon at 3pm along with other teenagers and the behaviour of the adults was appaling. And we wonder why the black teenagers are ever becomming an ever increasing problem on Croydon streets if this is the way there elders behave. I am absolutley disgusted and am seriously thinking about getting out of Croydon - a place where I was born.

The police did not attack the girl - they did grab the girl but only after she attacked them. She was abusive and swore repeadetly at the two police officers who were just trying to keep the streets of croydon clean. Why was she in central croydon at 3pm along with other teenagers and the behaviour of the adults was appaling. And we wonder why the black teenagers are ever becomming an ever increasing problem on Croydon streets if this is the way there elders behave. I am absolutley disgusted and am seriously thinking about getting out of Croydon - a place where I was born.

Posted by: mark, selhurst on 1:37pm Fri 18 Jul 08

Despite what Colin says, the fact remains that I was there and did witness the whole incident. Whether you want to believe it or not, the officer attacked that young girl and anyone who thinks they were correct in there actions should go and take a long hard look at themselfs. She is a young girl and he is a fully grown man, would Colin and the rest of you be happy if a adult male assualted their daughter, I for one would not.

Despite what Colin says, the fact remains that I was there and did witness the whole incident. Whether you want to believe it or not, the officer attacked that young girl and anyone who thinks they were correct in there actions should go and take a long hard look at themselfs. She is a young girl and he is a fully grown man, would Colin and the rest of you be happy if a adult male assualted their daughter, I for one would not.

Posted by: mary, croydon on 2:24pm Fri 18 Jul 08

First of all im really sick of people lying and making up stories, I was there and I saw the policeman hit the young lady many times with a baton,because she dropped rubbish the policemen attacked her. It upsets me how so many people are telling lies and it is a shame that the police officer will get away with it. Ihate to say it but I feel because the young lady is black the public are defending the policemen.

First of all im really sick of people lying and making up stories, I was there and I saw the policeman hit the young lady many times with a baton,because she dropped rubbish the policemen attacked her. It upsets me how so many people are telling lies and it is a shame that the police officer will get away with it. Ihate to say it but I feel because the young lady is black the public are defending the policemen.

Posted by: Tony, London on 2:53pm Fri 18 Jul 08

Your attack on these teenaer are without warrant, I know both of these teenagers personnaly and consider them to be very motivated intelligent children. I ask my self how could a simple task but a couple of inept (I guess community officer) cause such a problem. Instead of blasting the teenagers maybe we should be looking at the stupidity and [bold]antagonistic[/bold] attitude of the police. I would call on us to demand a police enquiry!

Your attack on these teenaer are without warrant, I know both of these teenagers personnaly and consider them to be very motivated intelligent children. I ask my self how could a simple task but a couple of inept (I guess community officer) cause such a problem. Instead of blasting the teenagers maybe we should be looking at the stupidity and antagonistic attitude of the police. I would call on us to demand a police enquiry!

Posted by: mark on 3:15pm Fri 18 Jul 08

[quote][bold]tony[/bold] wrote: [quote][bold]mark[/bold] wrote: Despite what Colin says, the fact remains that I was there and did witness the whole incident. Whether you want to believe it or not, the officer attacked that young girl and anyone who thinks they were correct in there actions should go and take a long hard look at themselfs. She is a young girl and he is a fully grown man, would Colin and the rest of you be happy if a adult male assualted their daughter, I for one would not.[/quote] So that means they have the right to attack the police? If someone is commitimg a crime then don't the police have a right to get heavy handed? In other words. If you was a officer and you told a young girl to pick up litter and she refuse, what would you do?[/quote] Nobody has the right to assault anyone this includes the police. There's a correct way of dealing with littering, I'm sure that grabbing a young girl by the throat, hitting her repeatedly with a metal baton and spraying her with cs gas is not one of them. Furthermore, what you haven't been told is that another innocent girl who was there, was also hit in the head with the baton causing her head to be split open. So do you feel that this is justified because it was purportrated by the police. As I said before, I WAS THERE. WAS YOU.

Nobody has the right to assault anyone this includes the police. There's a correct way of dealing with littering, I'm sure that grabbing a young girl by the throat, hitting her repeatedly with a metal baton and spraying her with cs gas is not one of them. Furthermore, what you haven't been told is that another innocent girl who was there, was also hit in the head with the baton causing her head to be split open. So do you feel that this is justified because it was purportrated by the police. As I said before, I WAS THERE. WAS YOU.

Posted by: mark, selhurst on 3:37pm Fri 18 Jul 08

All of you bleating on about race should grow up. This is not a issue of race but of a fully grow man attacking and assaulting a young girl. Also the officers were not set upon by the crowd, they only tried to get the girl away from the beating he was giving her. lets me make one thing perfectly clear, ASSAULT IS AGAINST THE LAW, the officer broke the law and just so you know it was not about race, one of the officers was mixed race and the other was white. So it clearly was not about two white officers being attacked by a group of black people.

All of you bleating on about race should grow up. This is not a issue of race but of a fully grow man attacking and assaulting a young girl. Also the officers were not set upon by the crowd, they only tried to get the girl away from the beating he was giving her. lets me make one thing perfectly clear, ASSAULT IS AGAINST THE LAW, the officer broke the law and just so you know it was not about race, one of the officers was mixed race and the other was white. So it clearly was not about two white officers being attacked by a group of black people.

Posted by: marie, south croydon on 4:36pm Fri 18 Jul 08

Actually anne, the a ambulance was called and attented to the girl. The police refused to call an ambulance and it was the communitee that had to come together to get her medical attention. If the communitee coming together to help a young girl who is being brutally beaten by two male police officers with batons is classed as a yob of people then something is seriously wrong. If it was your child you would want someone to step in. If not then you must not care about your children.

Actually anne, the a ambulance was called and attented to the girl. The police refused to call an ambulance and it was the communitee that had to come together to get her medical attention. If the communitee coming together to help a young girl who is being brutally beaten by two male police officers with batons is classed as a yob of people then something is seriously wrong. If it was your child you would want someone to step in. If not then you must not care about your children.

Posted by: Poonam, croydon on 8:56pm Fri 18 Jul 08

Let's release the cctv footage to the media. I was there and I am indian so not racist but the behaviour of the girl was so bad I would not repeat what she said. The police tried to call her down when her friend went crazy and suddenly a group of older people got involved. Release the cctv footage much like they did with the football fans who fought outside a bar so we can make up our mind having been in both situations I found wenesdays situation a lot more frightening but will it happen or will we not want to upset the black community. Answers on a post card.

Let's release the cctv footage to the media. I was there and I am indian so not racist but the behaviour of the girl was so bad I would not repeat what she said. The police tried to call her down when her friend went crazy and suddenly a group of older people got involved. Release the cctv footage much like they did with the football fans who fought outside a bar so we can make up our mind having been in both situations I found wenesdays situation a lot more frightening but will it happen or will we not want to upset the black community. Answers on a post card.

Posted by: george, london on 9:47pm Fri 18 Jul 08

I was there and saw everything. The police were peacefully trying to trying to calm this girl down, when the mob intervened. The police only pulled their trunchons when they were attacked by this mob. Shame on you racists trying to slur the police.

I was there and saw everything. The police were peacefully trying to trying to calm this girl down, when the mob intervened. The police only pulled their trunchons when they were attacked by this mob. Shame on you racists trying to slur the police.

Two points (apart from the delightful "I am indian so not racist"). Either the story which is in pretty much all the papers today is a pile of nagombi, or one (or more) individuals are lying through their teeth to make it an issue of "police brutality" - the sort of thing that 10 or 15 years ago would have had Lee Jasper leading an angry demo outside the local nick. The commenter(s) are reasonably literate - they're not written in txt spk brap brap language. I guess the paper could check the IP addresses of the posters, and this isn't going to be a case of 'we'll never know what really happened' - the CCTV footage will presumably give all the answers. I'll be interested to know if it's the police or the commenter(s) who are being very naughty boys.

See also : Croydon, Croydon II.