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G20 policing actions 'unacceptable'
21.04.09
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Some police actions during the G20 protests risked undermining the sacrifice of officers who have given their lives protecting the public, the police watchdog has warned.
Chief inspector of constabulary Denis O'Connor, who is conducting a review of public order policing tactics, said some of the footage from the demonstration showed "unacceptable" behaviour.
Giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Mr O'Connor referred to the heroism of Pc Gary Toms, who died last week after trying to stop a fleeing vehicle in south London.
He said: "My concern was obviously about the individual incidents where officers, on the face of it, appeared to break with their colleagues and assault people.
"We in this country expect the very best from our police, quite properly, and police officers who give their lives - as Gary Toms did, sadly, very recently - they do it for a very noble cause.
"So when you see something that does not square with that noble cause, it is disappointing and hugely concerning." He added: "What I saw was unacceptable."
Mr O'Connor said it was "utterly unacceptable" for officers not to wear their shoulder identification numbers.
"People not wearing their numbers is utterly unacceptable. It's very clear-cut. I'm very concerned that the issue has arisen during the G20 protests. I hope it will be rectified with some certainty."
Nicola Fisher, who was hit across the face by an officer who then struck her on the legs with his truncheon, has complained she was unable to identify him because he was not wearing his numbers.
Mr O'Connor said of the footage of what happened to Ms Fisher: "My reaction to it was I was uncomfortable with it, very uncomfortable with it. I was concerned by it. It did not impress me that this was the British way (of policing)."
Reader views (11)
Nick Nack Paddy Mac, London UK - Well said! You emphasised my point. The media are too busy showing the protestors as victims, never mind the violence the police were subjected to.
As for the comments about the police declaring their intentions by wearing riot gear...tosh!! What are they supposed to do? Go into riot type situations without any defense? What about the safety of their officers? Doesn't anyone care about that?
Maybe, as Nick said, the police should examine the footage of the protests more carefully and make a few more arrests. If they do, I bet the press won't be interested in that though.
- Gill, caterham surrey
has everyone not looked past their noses the police were geared up against violent behaviour consisting of a woman dressed in a jacket who is said to have pushed (as if he would notice a full scale punch from a six male with all that gear) and received a furious back-hander
still if you are not doing anything wrong......
- Les J, Girona Spain
Has anyone noticed a one way street with all this G20 stuff? Why has the news outlets / media only shown photos and footage of the police response in handling the overly aggressive part of the demonstrators? Hopefully the police are going over the CCTV footage and will be making a large number of arrests as protesting does not give you the right to run riot.
- Nick Nack Paddy Mac, London UK
People like Natty here don't see the news? Ian Tomlinson was a newspaper vendor, trying to get home and turned down by police, who cordoned the area without allowing people to get in or out. He didn't die of heart failure, but of internal hemorrhage, and if you think that what he (or Nicola Fisher) was doing in the video was 'provoking' and deserved a violent response I'd rather won't go near you in the street.
Also, the police were being unlawful in covering their id badges and most of the violence we have seen in video images have been inflicted by PCs. And they lied in their press releases, as we have seen in the video of a protester helping Tomlinson out...
Those are the facts, and now there is a committee investigating those facts. If you can't accept them tell us where is the evidence to the contrary...
- Daniel, London
Ummmm Natty - Ian Tomlinson was a part of the demonstration, documented/filmed over an extended period and on more than one occasion obstructing and then deliberately disobeying lawful police instructions again with the apparent intent of provoking response (his heart failure is far more likely due to a weak heart and excessive adrenaline in that case than anything done by the officer concerned), not an innocent passer-by as the professional protest loonies persist in suggesting despite the evidence to the contrary. Nicola Fisher is documented as being aggressive and vocally abusive AT A MINIMUM prior to the incident in an apparent attempt to provoke a response.
You need to find better counter-point examples. These ones don't work too good!
- Rogan, Irving
Sorry but in fact it wasnt 'rentamob' who declared their intentions, but the police. They said a week beforehand that they expected serious trouble and goaded for a fight, turning up wearing balaclavas, batons, shields and helmets. Seemed very fair. NOT.
- Geoff, london, uk
Well said BJ. Yes, if you don't want to risk injury then don't attend demonstrations. How more people aren't injured in the crowds I don't know.
I am sick and tired of hearing people knocking the police. I saw the news coverage where there appeared to be thousands of demonstrators pushing like mad and a few dozen police officers were tasked to hold them back.
You rarely hear about the injuries inflicted by the police, or the affect that working in such conditions has on THEM.
You rarely hear about the numbers of blows officers routinely suffer from thugs, or how criminals spit on them and abuse them. You rarely hear sympathy being offered by the public. Yet who do they call when they need help???
The public ought to thank the police instead of constantly berating them or trying to find fault with them.
- Gill, caterham surrey
Bj says "If you don't want to risk being a victim of aggressive policing do not attend the demonstrations where rentamob have declared their intentions beforehand".
That's commonsense, and at 66 years old I wouldn't dream of deliberately attending such an event as a participant.
The trouble is, by far the most serious casualty amongst either demonstrators or police - Ian Tomlinson, who died - wasn't "attending" the demonstration or participating in it. He was walking home to his hostel from the newspaper stand by Moorgate underground station where he used to help out.
It's disgraceful - but unfortunately only too predictable - that Mr Tomlinson's widow and family are enduring an agonising wait to be told the truth about the circumstances of his death, because other people are so intent on arguing about policing methods that the waters are well and truly muddied.
His bereaved relatives must feel they're in the middle of a nightmare. Yet all many people seem interested in is scoring generalised points - for or against - the police in a kind of verbal ping-pong.
Surely all this points-scoring can wait - for weeks or months if necessary.
But the IPCC needs to pull its finger out now, so Ian Tomlinson's family can be told the truth as soon as possible - not be made to wait weeks or months!
- Mike, Cardiff UK
BJ I think people have the right to protest without suffering at the hands of over zealous and power mad police thugs. Are you saying that Ian Tomlinson, Lousie Broadbent and Nicola Fisher were part of that "rentamob"?
- Natty, London
O.K Bj then how does one legitimately protest in NuLab Democratic Republic?
- Ayliff Mcnab, Spain
Just remember that until 10 years ago street crime in Hackney was alarmingly high. The police began using zero tolerance tactics and the crime figures plummeted. The liberals complained about police tactics and they withdrew. Street crime immediately rocketed and the liberals backed down. Other boroughs began to copy Hackney.
If you don’t want to risk being a victim of aggressive policing do not attend the demonstrations where rentamob have declared their intentions beforehand.
- Bj, London
