Police prepare for violent minority at anti-cuts march

Officers prepare new tactics to contain criminal activists, but have no strong intelligence on what TUC insists is a family protest Police chiefs believe “a small but significant minority” will try to hijack Saturday’s march in London against government cuts to stage violent attacks on property and the police. The Metropolitan police, under fire for its use of kettling in previous protests, is deploying new tactics for an expected turnout of 100,000 to 300,000 people in the biggest protest in eight years. Analysts will be used to monitor live CCTV footage if groups are detained by police. They will tell officers on the ground which protesters are not suspected of violence and can be let go and which are suspected of criminality and should continue to be detained. A senior Met source, involved in the planning for the march, told the Guardian: “Some people on Saturday will try to use the event for their own ends or violence.” However he said the Met had no solid intelligence that groups were trying to cause violence and described much of the “chatter” on the internet and in leaflets as aspirational. “There are people who will turn up and if the opportunity arises, will resort to something that may lead to violence or damage. Some want to occupy buildings and that is an offence,” he said. In separate comments, the Met’s former head of counter-terrorism, Andy Hayman, claimed to have “strong intelligence” that extremist groups were planning illegal acts at the march and rally on Saturday. He accused the police of failing to act pre-emptively to avoid violence, saying they “prefer to deal with things on the day”. The Trades Union Congress, which has organised the march, issued a last-minute plea to any protesters planning to disrupt the event to “let Joe public have their moment” to demonstrate peacefully. A spokeswoman acknowledged there was evidence on the internet that some groups were planning illegal action but insisted the TUC had worked intensely with the police and Liberty observers to ensure the event runs as smoothly as possible. “This is a family event,” she said. The march is expected to be the biggest in the UK since the protests against the Iraq war when up to 1 million people took to the streets. Hundreds of thousands of trade unionists will be joined by a broad coalition of groups from pensioners and doctors to families and first-time protesters to highlight opposition to the government’s programme of spending cuts. Police say those on their way to the march carrying objects such as balaclavas to cover their faces to avoid detection will be stopped, and officers have been reminded of their stop-and-search powers to tackle people alleged to be carrying objects that could be used to cause trouble. Amid confusion about the degree of force that police can use if asked to clear areas, the senior source said officers had been given a “use of force lecture” setting out the law. “It is a dilemma in public order policing, but every officer is responsible for their own actions.” The source said “the odd brick or bottle” would not prompt police to wade in, and even if officers needed to don riot gear, commanders would aim to get them back into regular uniforms and baseball caps quicker than on previous marches. The source said it was believed officers wearing Nato-style riot helmets for too long could incite some people, as well as block communication with protesters, which is a key tool for controlling tensions. Police chiefs believe TUC organisers will ensure the main march is peaceful and that stewards will clamp down on any disorder. The concern centres on breakaway or feeder marches which, given the number of people and the area in central London that will need to be policed, cannot be stopped. Police say these marches also cannot be stopped because they are legal. Writing on the website of the Policy Exchange thinktank on Friday, Hayman said: “There is strong intelligence that extremist groups are planning illegal acts of violence at the TUC march and rally on Saturday with the sole aim of disrupting a well-intended peaceful protest. This pattern of behaviour starts to call into question whether it is at all possible for any law-abiding group to exercise their democratic right to protest without interference from violent activists.” He said the police would be trying to manage the safety of tens of thousands of peaceful protesters, while containing any outbursts of violence from the minority. “The tactics and numbers of police officers needed to police both scenarios couldn’t be more different. The lawful protest requires a light of touch approach with the main aim to preserve public safety whereas the potential violent rally calls for a higher police presence that imposes itself on the event hoping to quickly nip a problem in the bud before it escalates,” he said. He called on the police to “aggressively target activists” who use the internet to openly plan illegal protests. “Ahead of Saturday’s event it is curious that such a variety of sources seem to be pointing towards an unlawful protest and yet the police do not appear to be acting on the information, preferring to deal with things on the day.” The TUC spokeswoman said: “The Met has introduced many different tactics to avoid conflict. We are encouraging people not to join feeder marches because it adds to the complication. The overwhelming majority – over 100,000 people – want to come to London because they feel so strongly about what the government is doing and they want to send a powerful message to the government. “We ask that ordinary people are allowed to send a strong message to the government and that people don’t distract from that by causing problems.” Some groups attending the march are calling for occupations of Trafalgar Square or Hyde Park. Police have said that because those areas are public spaces they would not stop that happening – it would be up to the owners of the land, in Trafalgar Square’s case the Greater London authority, to seek a civil court order if they wanted people removed. But the senior source said officers would step in if damage was done, such as attacks on property or statues. It will be the biggest operation to police a march since the 2003 protest against the Iraq war. A total of 4,500 officers will be deployed, with at least 150 drafted in from forces in the home counties. That is the same number of officers as on the streets for the Notting Hill carnival, which attracts crowds running into several hundreds of thousands. Protest Public sector cuts Police TUC Trade unions London Vikram Dodd Polly Curtis Matthew Taylor guardian.co.uk

Posted by on March 25, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.