The Guardian reported that the Metropolitan Police said protests on 1st April would be "very violent" and that they were:

"... up for it, and up to it."
Metropolitan Police, quoted in The Guardian, 27th March 2009

There I was thinking that their role was to protect the public, not to take on an antagonistic stance which could be argued leads to an attitude where you perceive the people you serve as 'the enemy'. When you give a person power with the knowledge they almost certainly won't have to answer for their actions, give them a club,  a mask and turn them loose on the streets there are likely to be terrible consequences. This video shows Ian Tomlinson being assaulted from behind by a police officer. He died minutes later.

Update: here is an excellent post that puts the above in the wider context of police tactics.

1 original comment:

Spot on Mark.
We have witnessed our human rights get stripped off of us in the last 20 years or so and up until Obama brought some sense into the US, our governments were routinely using so called evidence gathered during torture sessions to convict people behind closed doors and without access to legal representation.
The (Met) Police never seem to learn that we pay their salaries and hence they are ultimately answerable to we the People. Steven Lawrence & Ian Tomlinson RIP.
To end on a positive note: at least we live in a society where we can expose the underbelly of the Beast.
Comment by Ifraz — 23 April, 2009 @ 10:05 am