Mood:
a-okNow Playing: The rights to protest get *Scuttled in order to *Kettle the crowds at big protests
Topic: PROTEST!
Hi Z3-ers This is a short article about the police use of "control tatics" in reference to the G20 protest and the up-coming Olympic in 2012. Scuttling the rights to protest in order to "Kettle" the crowd to surpress them. Sure seems like this discussion is much needed and years long over due. The original article is here: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3392740.html
G20 protests policing 'inadequate' |
Police risk losing public confidence if they do not change how they manage protests, the police watchdog has said.
Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Denis O'Connor, said senior officers were too focused on dealing with disorder, and not enough on allowing peaceful protest.
Public order training and tactics were "inadequate for the modern day", he said, in his review of the G20 protests in central London on April 1.
The report found officers were too interested in whether protests were lawful or not, instead of focusing on allowing peaceful demonstrations.
Some officers policing G20 were not sufficiently aware of human rights laws, he said, and he criticised police use of containment to pen in demonstrators on the day Ian Tomlinson died, calling it "inconsistent".
Mr O'Connor called on the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) to carry out a wide-ranging review of tactics and training for officers dealing with protesters.
The review should include a medical assessment of the damage done by shields and batons carried by riot police, he said.
In future, containment should be used more flexibly, and vulnerable or distressed people should be allowed out, he said.
Mr O'Connor said the changes needed to be made as soon as possible to "meet the challenges of the 21st century", and would be especially important for the Olympic Games in 2012.
The report backed the continued use of containment techniques known as "kettling". Mr O'Connor said they were useful in preventing "running riots", but he said they needed to be tempered, and officers needed to watch the crowds for signs of anyone in distress.
