ceedee's posterous

547 separate allegations have been made against territorial support group officers

A third of the Metropolitan police's unit of specially trained riot officers have been investigated for alleged misconduct over the last year, according to figures .

More than 280 officers at the Met's territorial support group (TSG) had complaints made against them by members of the public prior to the controversial policing operation of last month's G20 protests.

Scotland Yard said there were 547 separate allegations against TSG officers, of which 29% related to serious and sexual assault. None of the complaints, which were investigated by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards and the Independent Police Complaints Commission, have so far been upheld.

The figure will add to mounting concern over the conduct of the Met's 730 TSG officers, a unit who operate in mobile squads in some of the force's most challenging operations. TSG officers combat serious public disorder, carry out anti-terror arrests and police public order events such as a large demonstrations.

Two TSG officers were suspended for alleged assaults at the G20 demonstrations and one has been questioned on suspicion of the manslaughter of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson. The second, a sergeant, was suspended after footage showed him striking protester Nicola Fisher.

Yesterday's figures showed that more than 130 complaints are still under investigation.

An MP who was involved in last month's G20 protests in London is to call for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite the crowds.

Liberal Democrat Tom Brake says he saw what he believed to be two plain-clothes police officers go through a police cordon after presenting their ID cards.

Brake, who along with hundreds of others was corralled behind police lines near Bank tube station in the City of London on the day of the protests, says he was informed by people in the crowd that the men had been seen to throw bottles at the police and had encouraged others to do the same shortly before they passed through the cordon.

Brake, a member of the influential home affairs select committee, will raise the allegations when he gives evidence before parliament's joint committee on human rights on Tuesday.

"When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, 'There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'" Brake said. But when the crowd became suspicious of the men and accused them of being police officers, the pair approached the police line and passed through after showing some form of identification.

Brake has produced a draft report of his experiences for the human rights committee, having received written statements from people in the crowd. These include Tony Amos, a photographer who was standing with protesters in the Royal Exchange between 5pm and 6pm. "He [one of the alleged officers] was egging protesters on. It was very noticeable," Amos said. "Then suddenly a protester seemed to identify him as a policeman and turned on him. He ­legged it towards the police line, flashed some ID and they just let him through, no questions asked."

Amos added: "He was pretty much inciting the crowd. He could not be called an observer. I don't believe in conspiracy theories but this really struck me. Hopefully, a review of video evidence will clear this up."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission has received 256 complaints relating to the G20 protests. Of these, 121 have been made about the use of force by police officers, while 75 relate to police tactics. The IPCC said it had no record of complaints involving the use of police agents provocateurs. A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "We would never deploy officers in this way or condone such behaviour."

The use of plain-clothes officers in crowd situations is considered a vital tactic for gathering evidence. It has been used effectively to combat football hooliganism in the UK and was employed during the May Day protests in 2001.

Brake said he intends to raise the allegations with the Met's commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, when he next appears before the home affairs select committee. "There is a logic having plain-clothes officers in the crowd, but no logic if the officers are actively encouraging violence, which would be a source of great concern," Brake said.

The MP said that given only a few people were allowed out of the corralled crowd for the five hours he was held inside it, there should be no problem in investigating the allegation by examining video footage.

Senior officers say powers damage community relations and produce little or no benefit

Police have bowed to mounting opposition and are to significantly reduce their use of controversial terrorism powers that allow them to stop and search people without reasonable suspicion, the Guardian has learned.

Stop and search is one of the most draconian powers employed by police in the war on terror and a constable's right to use it will be severely curtailed under plans unveiled today. In a document seen by the Guardian, senior officers admit that the hundreds of thousands of stops carried out under the power had damaged community relations and reversed "fundamental" principles of civil rights.

Critics say that section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows stops without suspicion, has alienated British Muslims without producing little or no benefit.

Usually an officer requires "reasonable suspicion" of wrongdoing to stop someone, but officers have been able to use the power across London since the July 7 terrorist attacks.

Under the new plans, Scotland Yard will effectively remove an officers' power to stop people without reason, although they will keep the power for special circumstances when authorised by senior officers.

Lord Carlile, independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the Guardian: "Section 44 is over-used, there is no question of it, and that is causing alienation to some communities."

...

Government figures released last week showed that black and Asian people were disproportionately targeted following the attempted Haymarket attack.

The number of black people stopped under the powers rose by 322%, compared with a rise of 277% for Asian people and 185% for white people.

In the Met document, Yates writes: "There is no requirement to have any reasonable grounds to conduct the search. This power reverses a fundamental principle in that no suspicion of wrongdoing is required."

The civil rights group Liberty said just six in every 10,000 stops resulted in arrests, and it is not believed that the power has directly led to a conviction for terrorism.

Section 44 allows police to search any person or vehicle without suspicion

Somebody in London is stopped and searched every three minutes, according to new figures obtained by BBC London.

The Metropolitan Police used section 44 of the Terrorism Act more than 170,000 times in 2008 to stop people in London.

That compares to almost 72,000 anti-terror stop and searches carried out in the previous year.

The Met said anti-terror searches had been more widely used since the planting of two car bombs in central London in July 2007.

Terror threat

Of all the stops last year, only 65 led to arrests for terror offences, a success rate of just 0.035%.

Scotland Yard was accused of misleading its own watchdog last night after an official report on the policing of the G20 London protests was said to contain "false claims" and "gross inaccuracies".

The document, submitted to a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority yesterday, set out the police version of events during the demonstrations last month, and included claims protesters and independent observers said were misleading.

The Liberal Democrat justice spokesman, David Howarth, said the report was "full of serious inaccuracies" and questioned its claim that protesters were free to leave police cordons on the streets.

The controversial use of cordons to "kettle", or corral, people at the rally is under review by Denis O'Connor, the chief inspector of constabulary.

The report stated that "whenever possible, people were allowed to leave the cordon" around the Bank of England and the Climate Camp in Bishopsgate. But accounts from hundreds of people caught inside the pens for hours indicated police refused people permission to leave.

The author of the report, assistant commissioner Chris Allison, defended the tactics of containment, telling the MPA that penning protesters, rather than dispersing them, was effective in reducing violence. But the MPA unanimously agreed to examine kettling and other public-order police tactics, in its civil liberties panel.

Other alleged inaccuracies in the Met's report included the claim that the Bishopsgate Climate Camp had blocked a "four-lane highway", and that police had supplied water to penned people.

The report also said Climate Camp protesters had "refused to divulge their plans" at a meeting with senior officers on the eve of the rally. Howarth, who mediated the meeting, said protesters had been constructive in attempts to liaise with the police. "It is time for the spinning to stop and for senior officers to ... take responsibility," Howarth said.

The report also said the Met was cooperating with the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is investigating a complaint relating to an alleged assault of a 22-year-old woman on 1 April. The IPCC has received 256 complaints relating to G20 demonstrations.

In a statement last night, the Met said: "Wherever operationally possible people were allowed out of the containment." It conceded that the Climate Camp had been set-up in a two-lane road, but said traffic had been impacted further south.

Regarding water supplies, the Met said: "Officers gave people water but kept the bottles so they could not be thrown ... Six toilets were deployed by the local authority at the request of police; these contained drinkable running water."

RIOT squad cops will refuse to enforce the law at a Budget day demo in London today.

Police in the Met’s Territorial Support Group, stung by criticism over the G20 demo, will take a “softly, softly” stance.
Thousands of Tamils will flood Parliament Square to protest against the conflict in Sri Lanka.
Cops won’t intervene to stop troublemakers who don’t obey police orders.

Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has this week been visiting TSG bases to speak to cops seething at suspensions.
A PC was quizzed on suspicion of manslaughter after Ian Tomlinson, 47, died in the protests.
Another was suspended for hitting a woman.
Pockets of public order teams across London are threatening to withdraw from policing demos.

And did the sky fall?

Did violent revolutionaries storm Parliament and overthrow democracy?

I guess it's valuable to recognise that at least some police officers will contemplate refusing lawful orders if they're not allowed to behave like thugs.

Daniel Finkelstein honourably retracts his previous comments regarding police tactics, LibDem observers and the right to protest.

But down in the comments, I spotted this contribution and thought it worth recording:

I was there. I'm no trouble maker, I'm not violent, this was my first protest for over 30 years, I'm capitalist through and through, no "scrounger" but a middle class professional.

I went to protest because I am outraged at my government's handling of the economy and our society and the G20's lack of intelligence and ability.

I was "kettled": for FOUR HOURS I had my liberty to move around my capital city and get home totally taken away from me. I had done nothing to provoke such a violation of my freedom. Being held for four hours, not allowed to sit down, not even being allowed to go to a toilet or get any water, was in effect a type of police-sanctioned torture. I was detained like a criminal yet I had done nothing criminal or anything remotely violent or a danger to anybody.

Every now and again the massive crowd that I was being "kettled" in were suddenly charged at by the police with batons. Let me make this very clear: those at the very front of the crowd were asking to be released from our detention, they did not move forward, there was no space for anybody to move forward, yet suddenly the police would charge into them, often shoulders first to cause maximum pain (you've seen some of the photos) forcing them to crush those of us directly behind them, sending people flying.

When we remonstrated and asked them to stop, or asked why on earth they did that, the police shouted comments such as "You want more do you?" and the provocative "Oh yeah?" beckoning with their gloved hands come on, come on ....

After recovering to their feet, or disentangling themselves from those behind them, those at the front shouted for the police to stop assaulting them and pushing us into an ever increasing small space. The response of the police to these verbal requests was to charge them again with all their force or to get their batons out and hit them.

I have never seen anything like it in my life. I stood in a state of disbelief that I was in Great Britain and this was my police force.

To all those elsewhere on the messageboards saying the woman who is shown being hit "asked for it", and "we shouldn't have been there": she didn't ask for it, she was protesting and speaking out at the police hitting another protester who was not threatening them in any way. And we should have been there, it was my right to protest. I am still bruised from my battery at the hands of the police that day.

Is it any wonder this government is behaving the way it does, our society is crumbling the way it is, when there are so many pathetic sheep out there who can't even distinguish between correct policing and thugs in uniforms, no better than the scum they pretend to protect us from.

Posted by: Henry G. | 15 Apr 2009 18:12:11

Watch a collection of videos passed to the Guardian that appear to show police using excessive force against G20 protesters

In the fortnight since the G20 protests in London, the Guardian has received video footage from a number of people that appears to show police using excessive force or questionable tactics in dealing with demonstrators and the press.

The best-known video was sent by a New York fund manager early last week. It shows Ian Tomlinson, who was attempting to return home on the evening of the first day's protests, on 1 April, being pushed to the ground by a police officer.

Here is a list of the footage received over this period, displayed in chronological order according to when the events took place.

The Metropolitan Police has been ordered to review the crowd-control tactic known as the “kettle”, which was used to pen in 5,000 people protesting over the G20 summit in London last week.

The Times has learnt that senior Scotland Yard officers who led Operation Glencoe, the plan to protect the summit and prevent disorder, have been summoned to explain their tactics to members of the force’s watchdog body.

Commander Bob Broadhurst and his team will also be questioned at a closed meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) about the death of Ian Tomlinson, who was hit by a riot police officer minutes before he died from a heart attack. Mr Broadhurst, who gave stark warnings of violence before the protests, will also face questions about whether the language he and fellow commanders used served to stoke up confrontation.

The MPA meeting will take place on April 23, amid mounting public concern and complaints about an aggressive police approach to the demonstrations. The officers will also have to appear at a public session of the police authority the following week.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC), which is investigating the circumstances of Mr Tomlinson’s death, said yesterday that it had received 120 complaints about the policing of the G20 protests in the City of London. Many complainants were responding to the footage of the apparent assault on Mr Tomlinson, but a significant number were people who were trapped inside the “kettle” — the police cordon thrown around the Bank of England — for several hours and not allowed to leave.

Kit Malthouse, deputy chairman of the police authority, said: “We have asked the Met for a thorough briefing session. We want to review and understand why they employed those tactics.” Mr Malthouse, who is also Deputy Mayor with responsibility for policing, said that members would require a full explanation of the intelligence material that convinced the police that anarchist groups were planning violence in the City. “We need to understand the intelligence picture and decide whether the police response on the day was proportionate,” he said.