By News Editor Declan Wilkes

A police officer caught on video pushing a man to the ground who later died during the G20 protests in London has been suspended.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission, who took over the probe from City of London Police, demanded the officer be removed.

Ian Tomlinson, 47, died of a heart attack behind police cordons whilst police and protesters clashed nearby on 1 April.

New footage from Channel 4 appears to show him being hit with a baton.

The video shows Tomlinson calmly walking away from police lines with his hands in his pockets then struck with a baton to the back of the legs and forcibly pushed forward, falling heavily.

A statement from the IPCC said:

"Although decisions about suspension are a matter for the Chief Officer of the police, when there is an IPCC investigation, the police are obliged to consult with us over the suspension of officers.

"In this case, we have expressed the view that the officer in question should be suspended from duty, in the public interest."

Cover up denied

Indications were that the man had died of natural causes, and then there was word that he had been struck by a missile.

However, several corroborative witness statements have been given that Tomlinson was either struck by a police baton on the back of the head or forcibly pushed resulting in a fall and blow to the skull on impact.

Battle of Threadneedle Street - Ketteling

Riot police and mounted officers were involved in sporadic violence all day around the Bank of England, in what some have dubbed "the Battle of Threadneedle Street".

Thousands of peaceful demonstrators were sealed off around the Royal Exchange without access to water or toilet facilities for hours in a controversial police crowd control method called 'kettleing' that hemms people in.

CCTV shows man collapse

IPCC Commissioner for London Deborah Glass said CCTV footage shows Mr Tomlinson collapsing on Cornhill.

She said:

"Initially we had accounts from independent witnesses who were on Cornhill, who told us that there had been no contact between the police and Mr Tomlinson when he collapsed.

"However, other witnesses who saw him in the Royal Exchange area have since told us that Mr Tomlinson did have contact with police officers.

"This would have been a few minutes before he collapsed. It is important that we are able to establish as far as possible whether that contact had anything to do with his death."

Photo credit - Melanie Robinson