Activists contributed to death says Tory MP

A TORY MP who is a special constable in London today partly blamed G20 protesters for the death of Ian Tomlinson.

David Davies also accused the demonstrators of seeking to exploit the fatality for political purposes.

The Monmouth MP, who serves as a special constable with the British Transport Police in the capital, warned of a "witch-hunt" against police and argued there could have been deaths if officers had let the protests get out of control.

"The G20 organisers who are now so keen to turn the sad death of Mr Tomlinson into a political statement should remember that they went out that morning to a protest knowing that there was likely to be violence," he wrote on the ConservativeHome website.

He later told Evening Standard: "Their actions must have contributed as much to the level of stress that he was under as the actions of the police."

Mr Davies believes people should have avoided the protests as they were expected to be violent.

He backed the investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into Mr Tomlinson's death.

He added: "London is not toytown, it is a violent place and people are being naive if they think that officers should put themselves at risk by acting like Pc Plod."