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Police Tactics Includes Violence Toward Anti-Cuts Campaigners With the Trade Union movement gearing up to support the students campaign against the tripling of education fees, and a planned mass demonstration early in March next year, news comes of police tactics which include kettling and charging with police horses into demonstrators. The scenes reminiscent of the Thatcher years in the 80s was eventually broadcast on Channel 4 news, but ignored by most of the TV media.
"Video footage has emerged showing mounted police charging a crowd of protesters during this week's tuition fees demonstrations, the day after the Metropolitan police said tactics "did not involve charging the crowd". Tens of thousands of school and college pupils and university students demonstrated in largely peaceful protests across the country against government plans to increase tuition fees and scrap the education maintenance allowance, but there were violent scenes at the central London protests. Hundreds of protesters were corralled or "kettled" by police, and later advanced upon by mounted officers." The Guardian article continues: Many who were in the crowd complained of being charged by police on horseback. Police have denied that mounted officers charged at protesters; however, a five-minute video posted on YouTube last night shows a number of officers on horseback advancing at speed through a crowd of people. Jenny Love, 22, who graduated from Bath University in July, said mounted officers "charged without warning". "When the horses charged I was fairly near the front of the demo, where we were very tightly packed in, and found myself very quickly on the floor where I assumed the foetal position and covered my head while people simply ran over me," she said. "Thankfully another protester picked me up before I could suffer any serious damage." Love described the charge "as pretty terrifying" and said she suffered bruising during the ordeal. "I'm very angry that the mounted police were ordered to charge on a crowd containing many people like me who were only interested in peaceful protest," she said. "Police chiefs should think themselves lucky that no one was more seriously injured." In a later article it was reported that "eleven witnesses came forward to confirm they were charged by horses around 7pm, in an incident that was also witnessed by journalists." This laso inckldued a pregnant woman who was seen to be very distressed. Kettling is a tactic used by the police to corral demonstrators into an ever decreasing space, then holding them in that position for up to 10 hours (in the demonstrations held this week). It creates panic and frustration which inevitably leads to violence as people try to find a way out to leave the area or go to the toilet, but are stopped by the ring of police. Questions have also been raised in the media about the police leaving one of their vehicles parked up prior to the kettling of the students, with many saying it was a deliberate tactic given that kettling creates confrontation as police corral protestors for hours stopping them from leaving the area. This tactic was used widely during Thatcher's era and guarantees the outbreak of violence as people are pushed and shoved by the police, sometimes into an ever decreasing space. Sky News website coverage of the police van prior to the kettling can be seen here You can see the original 5 minute video footage on YouTube here which includes comments from a student whose purse was taken by police. Source: Guardian on-line / Sky News
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