Support the Tomlinson Family's Fighting Fund!

From the Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign website:

Many, many thanks for the hundreds of e-mails and messages of support sent to the campaign yesterday. We can't possibly respond to them individually but it is really important to Ian's family to know that they have so many people supporting them.

Many have asked if there is anything more they can do and today, we are launching a Campaign Fighting Fund. There is still long road ahead in the fight for justice and the Fund will help the Tomlinson family to make decisions about the direction of the campaign without always having to worry about the financial costs, especially when the emotional ones are tough enough already.

Donations by PayPal won't be up and running until next week, so check back then. But if you personally or your organisation (union branch, community or campaign group, for instance) can help by making a donation, please make cheques payable to 'Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign' and send to:

Ian Tomlinson Family Campaign
c/o Newham Monitoring Project
170 Harold Rd
London E13 0SE

The Tomlinson's family campaign has survived over the last 15 months on little more than the time and goodwill of a few dedicated individuals (Estelle at the east London civil rights group NMP deserves a mention for the tremendous amount of work she has done). The Fighting Fund is therefore an opportunity for members of the public, trade union branches and campaigning groups to show their support and provide financial assistance in the knowledge that every single penny will make a real difference in the coming months.

Paul Stott on his blog has another very interesting idea that I hope will be taken up by others: he asks whether it is possible for Millwall supporters and England supporters "to make it clear to police officers who attend the New Den or Wembley that Ian has not been forgotten". It would certainly take some organisation to pull off, but it's exactly the kind of action we need - people prepared to act on their own initiative rather than leaving the struggle for justice for the Tomlinson family to fight alone.