Police officers illegally kettled peaceful climate activists at the G20 protests in 2009 to stop their gathering being "hijacked" by violent protesters from another demonstration, the high court has heard.
Lawyers for green campaigners seeking a judicial review of the legality of the police tactics, said the Metropolitan police imposed a tight cordon on the protesters for more than four hours, despite noting at the time that they were "relatively peaceful". Officers also used their shields to strike campaigners in a way that is "not a recognised form of reasonable force at all", Michael Fordham QC said.
The climate camp protest at the Climate Exchange in Bishopsgate, central London, took place on 1 April 2009, the same day as newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died after being struck by a police officer at another protest at the nearby Royal Exchange. The claimants – student Hannah McClure and Josh Moos, a campaigner for Plane Stupid – argue that the police behaviour at Bishopsgate was illegal.
Metropolitan police officers had been careful to keep the two protests separate, the court heard. Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, who was in Bronze command in the City of London during the G20 protests, noted in his account of the day: "Although the Climate Exchange groups were relatively peaceful, the Royal Exchange were not. I didn't want the latter group hijacking the climate camp."
Johnson told Sir Anthony May, president of the Queen's Bench Division, and Mr Justice Sweeney, that the Royal Exchange protesters had been involved in serious disturbances throughout the day, while the climate camp had become "increasingly volatile". He said a decision was taken to kettle the climate camp shortly after 6pm, in anticipation of a separate kettle of the Royal Exchange protest being lifted, but it was not imposed until 7pm.
The southern cordon of the enclosure was then forcibly pushed 30m to the north along Bishopgate, Johnson said, reducing the space available to the 2,000 demonstrators by around a quarter. "Advancing towards the climate camp in riot gear, wielding batons and using shields offensively was a totally inappropriate response," Fordham said.
The officer, from the Met's Territorial Support Group, told the court there had been incidents at the climate protest, including the damaging of police carriers and the throwing of bottles and coins and other items at the police lines.
But Fordham, cross-examining, suggested this had not amounted to an "imminent" risk of serious disorder, as the law requires. The fact that police delayed imposing the cordon, he said, "wholly undermines the suggestion that the conduct or intentions of those who were at climate camp ... was a justification for taking action to constrain them and their civil liberties".
The "containment" was eventually lifted at 11.30pm, and a small number of demonstrators intending to spend the night in tents close to the Carbon Exchange were forcibly removed at 12.50am.
Fordham also challenged the legality of the use of police shields to strike protesters, saying they were not recognised as a reasonable form of force and calling them "particularly objectionable". The technique, he said, formed no part of the tactics set out in the 2004 Acpo Public Order Standards, Tactics and Training Manual, nor were they an approved police defensive technique explained in the Met's Officer Safety Manual.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Lawyers for green campaigners seeking a judicial review of the legality of the police tactics, said the Metropolitan police imposed a tight cordon on the protesters for more than four hours, despite noting at the time that they were "relatively peaceful". Officers also used their shields to strike campaigners in a way that is "not a recognised form of reasonable force at all", Michael Fordham QC said.
The climate camp protest at the Climate Exchange in Bishopsgate, central London, took place on 1 April 2009, the same day as newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson died after being struck by a police officer at another protest at the nearby Royal Exchange. The claimants – student Hannah McClure and Josh Moos, a campaigner for Plane Stupid – argue that the police behaviour at Bishopsgate was illegal.
Metropolitan police officers had been careful to keep the two protests separate, the court heard. Chief Superintendent Michael Johnson, who was in Bronze command in the City of London during the G20 protests, noted in his account of the day: "Although the Climate Exchange groups were relatively peaceful, the Royal Exchange were not. I didn't want the latter group hijacking the climate camp."
Johnson told Sir Anthony May, president of the Queen's Bench Division, and Mr Justice Sweeney, that the Royal Exchange protesters had been involved in serious disturbances throughout the day, while the climate camp had become "increasingly volatile". He said a decision was taken to kettle the climate camp shortly after 6pm, in anticipation of a separate kettle of the Royal Exchange protest being lifted, but it was not imposed until 7pm.
The southern cordon of the enclosure was then forcibly pushed 30m to the north along Bishopgate, Johnson said, reducing the space available to the 2,000 demonstrators by around a quarter. "Advancing towards the climate camp in riot gear, wielding batons and using shields offensively was a totally inappropriate response," Fordham said.
The officer, from the Met's Territorial Support Group, told the court there had been incidents at the climate protest, including the damaging of police carriers and the throwing of bottles and coins and other items at the police lines.
But Fordham, cross-examining, suggested this had not amounted to an "imminent" risk of serious disorder, as the law requires. The fact that police delayed imposing the cordon, he said, "wholly undermines the suggestion that the conduct or intentions of those who were at climate camp ... was a justification for taking action to constrain them and their civil liberties".
The "containment" was eventually lifted at 11.30pm, and a small number of demonstrators intending to spend the night in tents close to the Carbon Exchange were forcibly removed at 12.50am.
Fordham also challenged the legality of the use of police shields to strike protesters, saying they were not recognised as a reasonable form of force and calling them "particularly objectionable". The technique, he said, formed no part of the tactics set out in the 2004 Acpo Public Order Standards, Tactics and Training Manual, nor were they an approved police defensive technique explained in the Met's Officer Safety Manual.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk
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