Battle of Trafalgar
Channel 4 50 minutes 1990
In 1990, when Poll Tax riots broke out in Trafalgar Square the media condemned the hooligans and anarchists supposed to have started the violence. Yet behind the reportage is the real story of how the news failed to reveal the police role in the violence.
Unprecedented sights in the West End of London, flooded with people as they run down the street. Police wearing helmets and holding shields chase them down, knocking them to the ground. A policeman grabs a woman by the neck then looking up, seeing the camera, stops. Another policeman is repeatedly beating a photographer on the ground with a baton, a young woman is trampled by police horses.
"The only plan seemed to be to cause chaos", says one protester, who watched people being beaten indiscriminately.
"Why was a peaceful march disrupted? Many believe that lying behind what looks like gross mismanagement is something much more sinister.
Battle of Trafalgar raises the question:
"In whose interest is it for demonstrations to end in violence?"