Jody McIntryre – Tuition Fees Protest – BBC Interview

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[Jody McIntryre - BBC Interview]

[Interviewer]
Pictures of a disabled man being dragged from his wheelchair by police officers during the protests in London over the tuition fees have emerged online. Now these pictures appear to show Jody McIntyre, 20 year old fiscal activist and blogger who suffers from cerebral palsy being pulled out of his wheelchair and dragged across the road to the pavement. While the Metropolitan Police have released this statement on that incident, saying:

In connection with the incident shown on YouTube of of a tuition fees protestor in a wheelchair the Metropolitan Police confirm that the man involved, Jody McIntyre, has not launched an official complaint. The issue has been referred by the Metropolitan Police to the Directorate of Professional Standards and the Met Police say they will contact Jody McIntyre directly.

[Interviewer]
That is the statement from the police that we’ve received, and we can speak to Jody McIntyre now whose in our Westminster Studio. Source: LYBIO.net

[Interviewer]
Good evening to you.

[Jody McIntryre]
Good Evening.

[Interviewer]
Could you just explain what happened to you? Source: LYBIO.net

[Jody McIntryre]
Well, during the demonstration I was attacked by and pulled out of my wheelchair by the police on two occasions. The footage you have just shown is of a second incident. One of the police men who had dragged me down the road in the first incident obviously recognized me, came running over, pushed me out of my wheelchair on to the road, and then dragged me across the road.

[Interviewer]
The police say you haven’t made any kind of complaint, so why not?

[Jody McIntryre]
I haven’t made a complaint yet but I’m in contact with a lawyer and I will be doing so. Source: LYBIO.net

[Interviewer]
It’s been a few days since this happened. Why haven’t you complained before?

[Jody McIntryre]
Because I wanted to consider my options before taking that step.

[Interviewer]
There’s a suggestion that you were rolling towards the police in your wheelchair. Is that true? Source: LYBIO.net

[Jody McIntryre]
I think justifying a police officer pulling a disabled person out of a wheelchair and dragging them across a concrete road is quite ridiculous and I’m surprised that you’ve just tried to do so.

[Interviewer]
So that’s not true, you were not wheeling yourself towards the police.

[Jody McIntryre]
Well I can’t physically use my wheelchair myself. My brother was pushing me. I think it’s quite obvious from the footage that I was 100% not a threat to anyone.

[Interviewer]
In the Observer newspaper you were described as a cyber radical and you were quoted as saying you want to build a revolutionary movement and that can only happen through direct action on the streets. Do you classify yourself as a revolutionary? [Anna: I think this is the article he's referring to]

[Jody McIntryre]
I don’t classifying myself as anything but I think we all have a right to fight against what the government are trying to do. They’re trying to tier education system whereby only the rich will be able to afford it. That is something that I think we should all be fighting against.

[Interviewer]
Now the police have said that they have referred this incident to the Directorate of Professional Standards… what’s your reaction to that?

[Jody McIntryre]
I don’t have a reaction to that but I will be making a complaint in the near future. I would say that it’s very important not to see this as an isolated incident. This is the police’s role at demonstrations. To incite and provoke violence. They’ve done it in the past and they’re continuing to do it now. I am not the real victim here. The real victims are the students, like Alfie Meadows, who is in hospital within an inch of his life after a policeman struck him on the head with a truncheon and he needed emergency brain surgery. Now imagine if it was Prince Charles, or Camilla, or a police officer who had been within an inch of their life.

[Interviewer]
But I have to say, I was in Parliament Square covering that demonstration and I saw protesters throwing lumps of rock at the police, throwing missiles, various missiles, at the police. Were you throwing anything at all at the police that day?

[Jody McIntryre]
I wasn’t throwing anything at the police during that day or during any [unclear] But what is clear is that the media are trying to distract the public from the real issue, which is the cuts that the government are making.

[Interviewer]
Were you harmed in any way in that incident with the police?

[Jody McIntryre]
Not in that … incident, in the incident that’s being shown. There was also another incident around 45 minutes earlier when a police officer struck me with a baton and yes that did cause some injury.

[Interviewer]
And why then, do you think– Are you saying the police picked on your twice. Why do you think they did?

[Jody McIntryre]
I have no idea. I mean, to make one suggestion, I think in the second incident at least, I think there’s a clear element of trying to provoke protesters into violence. Personally, I see myself as equal to anyone else, but I do understand that I could be perceived as more vulnerable, so I think there was an element of trying to provoke violence from others.

[Interviewer]
Did you shout anything provocative or throw anything that would have induced the police to do that to you?

[Jody McIntryre]
Do you really think a person with Cerebral Palsy in a wheelchair can pose a threat to a police officer who is armed with weapons?

[Interviewer]
But you do say that you’re a revolutionary.

[Jody McIntryre]
That’s a word, it’s not a physical action that I’ve taken against the police officers, a word that you’re quoting from a website. I’m asking you: do you think I could have in any way posed a physical threat from the seat of my wheelchair to an army of police officers armed with weapons? This whole line of argument is absolutely ludicrous because you’re blaming the victims of violence for that violence. In fact, it reminds me a lot of the way the BBC report on the Palestinian conflict–

[Interviewer]
When are you going to make your complaint to the police?

[Jody McIntryre]
I will be making my complaint very shortly, in the near future.

[Interviewer]
Okay, Jody McIntyre, thanks very much for your time, thanks for talking to us this evening.

[Jody McIntryre]
Thank you. Source: LYBIO.net

Jody McIntryre – Tuition Fees Protest – BBC Interview. Well, during the demonstration I was attacked by and pulled out of my wheelchair by the police on two occasions. The footage you have just shown is of a second incident. One of the police men who had dragged me down the road in the first incident obviously recognized me, came running over, pushed me out of my wheelchair on to the road, and then dragged me across the road. Complete Full Script, Dialogue, Remarks, Saying, Quotes, Words And Text By Jody McIntryre – Tuition Fees Protest – BBC Interview.