As this refers to an ongoing investigation we will not be giving many details of the attack it is regarding in case this prejudices a trial or makes investigation more difficult. When we have included text from communications we’ve put out we have removed the identifying information for this reason. We hope to be able to give further details at a later date.
Late last year a group of Surrey residents, supported by two local Green Party members, were protesting in support of Palestine in a neighbouring part of Surrey on a bridge over a motorway. They had made sure that they were protesting safely and not causing an obstruction of any kind.
After protesting without incident for a around an hour they were approached by a group of people, one of whom physically attacked them. In the attack a man in his 70s was hospitalised with very serious injuries, some Woking residents were hit and some of the material the campaigners had used was destroyed. Our local party chairperson, Paul, and another Woking resident put themselves between the attacker and the other protesters, most of whom were pensioners, shielding them and being hit by the attacker until he fled. The man who was hospitalised received injuries that could easily have killed him, but after being kept in hospital for around a week he was able to return home. Needless to say a number of the protesters were very shaken up by the incident.
After the incident the protestors were able to provide the police with footage of part of the attack, the address the attackers fled to and the numberplate of a car driven by the group who had approached the protesters. In addition several independent witnesses have come forwards. Despite the shear amount of evidence the police have only been able to arrest a suspect. They have arrested and questioned someone in connection with this assault, but they were released shortly afterwards.
Unbelievably a cyclist stopped shortly after the attack and punched one of the protesters, while the police were on the scene. As far as anyone can tell the cyclist was unconnected to the earlier assault. Adding a further level to the failures of the police this individual was put in handcuffs but then released without any form of warning that we could see.
Given the amount of evidence and the severity of the assault it is shocking that the police are still yet to catch the suspect. This is something that we have brought up in numerous communications with other political figures and in a recent complaint sent to the police.
If you are interested in reading about other ways we supported this local campaign group please click here.
Part of the text from the complaint is displayed below. Again it has been shortened so as not to interfere with the investigation and for the sake of brevity.
… We provided a video of the assailant punching one of the members of the group, the address that he and the group he was with fled to and the numberplate of a car that he used to leave that address. In addition there were a number of independent witnesses who stopped at the scene. … we’re confused as to why the actual assailant hasn’t been arrested. … There were multiple people from the attacker’s group who were visible and identifiable in the video that was sent to the police including the man who attacked us. … We also note that while the police were attending the scene of the incident I just mentioned a cyclist stopped by and punched one of the protestors. … All of this should have been caught on camera by both the body cams the numerous officers on the scene and the dash cams in their cars. As far as we are aware that cyclist was put released shortly afterwards without any charges being brought. We’re very unhappy that the investigation has taken this long and that an assailant appears to have been released for no apparent reason. …
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