Diane Abbott MP: Policing protests fairly

Labour MP Diane Abbott outlines the concerns which prompted her Westminster Hall debate on police crowd control techniques.

Protest in Britain is an ambiguous thing.

On the one hand we have a vast history of peaceful and effective protest. Our history dictates that for most people the right to protest and join demonstrations is almost taken for granted.

But on the other hand police and protesters in this country have had a troubled relationship. During the 1970s two protesters were killed during protests against the National Front. Neither of these deaths led to action against the police officers present. There were large and bloody skirmishes between police and protesters during the 1980s miners’ strikes. And in 2004 the right to protest outside Parliament was severely curtailed, making spontaneous assembly in the vicinity of Parliament illegal.

It is against this backdrop that the G20 protests took place last month amongst much speculation on who would be protesting, what they would be doing and how police officers would react.

It was a week before a clear picture of what did go on at the G20 protests emerged. For days protesters and others present on the day had been struggling to make their voices heard.

They reported police brutality, over-aggression and being caught up in a 'kettle' for prolonged periods of time.

But it was only when the shocking video footage of an innocent passer-by being violently pushed over by a police officer was made public that the authorities took notice.

The tragic death of Ian Tomlinson is an incident nobody wanted to see. But I think it is also an indication that we need a serious rethink of police crowd control techniques.

I believe the over-aggressive techniques we are seeing now are due to a move from reactive policing to proactive policing of protests.

I believe that during the G20 protests it was assumed that the majority of people were intent on violence and disorder when the opposite was true.

And I believe that these moves are contrary to allowing peaceful and effective protest, something we all have a right to.