“Frankly, the protesters were treated like animals”- the police should reconsider their tactics

A view from the 29th January Manchester student protest by Patrick McCluskey

After the disastrously policed march in Manchester on Saturday 29th January, many protesters have been left demoralised at their victimisation by both the Police and the media alike. Peaceful protestors were indiscriminately arrested or beaten for simply voicing their opinions; one man was even arrested for taking a photo of a police horse. Reports of protestors’ desires to incite violence and possession of knives were, quite simply, lies. One man was arrested carrying a razor within an overnight bag, and after numerous searches within kettles, this was the only ‘weapon’ seized. This shambolic day could very easily have been a triumph for democracy, had not the protestors been let down both by the march’s organisers, and by Greater Manchester Police.

There was no ‘plan’ amongst the protesters to break away from the main march as ‘Intelligence’ so wrongfully suggests; in fact, with more solidarity from the march’s organisers, the break-off would have been unnecessary and probably would not have happened. Reasoning for the chosen route and rally was unclear and senseless. The route began at Manchester University and proceeded down the ‘Curry Mile’, away from the City Centre. The route then detoured through a suburban area and into Platt Fields Park, for a rally. This field was more than a mile from the City Centre, prompting dismay and disbelief amongst protesters; chants of “why are we in a field?” circulated frequently, but were ignored. The rally itself was a shockingly bad. Aaron Porter ‘spinelessly’ declined to speak as scheduled after being jeered by protesters, despite increasing cries of “Aaron Porter, show your face!” Mr. Porter in stead allowed his deputy, Shane Chowan, to face the crowd in his place; Chowan was rightfully booed off stage after stuttering the same feeble jargon that Porter often displays. Even amongst the other speakers there was little to be gained for the crowd: a representative of the Fire Brigades Union and a speaker from Edinburgh Occupation provided sole relief amidst this bureaucratic sham of a rally. Many of the speakers were the very people who had continuously failed to hold up the left’s views in Government, in Trade Unions and in the NUS, and the crowd well knew it. For these reasons, it was evident to the crowd as a whole that this march was not as it should be, kept quietly out of the way in the suburbs of Manchester. If our views were to be brought before the general public, we knew we had to bring it to them ourselves. It was for this reason that the ‘breakaway group’ marched to the centre; had the organisers of the march been truly on-side, there would have been no need to do so.

The worst was still to come, however, for these peaceful protestors intent on securing their futures. As they marched quickly but peacefully towards the city centre, there were many attempts by Greater Manchester Police to stifle their plight, by force if necessary, or as it turned out, if unnecessary. Police van after police van drove swiftly through the crowd, and many found themselves at a road block which became the first of the day’s numerous police Kettles. Kettling is a police tactic that has suitably been seen as controversial; Kettles induce fear and claustrophobia, cut off access to basic needs such as food and toilet facilities, and, as seen in London, can last for nine hours or more. Above all, however, they are indiscriminate. With their freedom of speech in jeopardy, the crowd saw it necessary to link arms and move forwards as best they could. They did not punch the police. They did not kick the police. They did not draw knives or wield feeble sticks from broken NUS banners. The police reaction to this motion, however, was barbaric. As the line was broken, protesters were apparently unselectively rugby tackled to the floor and beaten.

One protester, a sixth form student named Ben (not his real name), had walked into the kettle unawares; “it was so peaceful”, Ben explained later, “that lots of us had walked into the kettle without realizing that it was one; there was no apparent reason for them to have done it”. When the protesters attempted to avoid this kettle, Ben was one of those unfortunately singled out by the police. In his own words: “One ran at me- I hadn’t got round the police line, and grabbed my face, pulled my hat off, grabbed my bag, and threw me to the floor (I have some grazes, bruises and whiplash in my neck and back from that). He knelt on me twisted one of my arms behind my back, told me I was being arrested and handcuffed me” (…) “He searched me, told me I was being arrested for section 5 public order and asked for my name, address and date of birth. I had been advised not to answer questions before I had spoken to a solicitor, so I didn’t tell him. About 2.45 I as taken to the police station, but just before I was taken the officer who had arrested me said , as if he were doing me a favour, that he had decided to de-arrest me for public order and re-arrest me for obstructing a police officer, which he told me was less serious. I found out later that the opposite is true.” Ben was then kept for nine hours, until quarter part midnight, with no offer of water until 7.30, no visit with a solicitor (until after he was let out) and no phonecall, the latter two of which are in breach of legal requirements. As there was rightfully no evidence against Ben, and therefore no chance of a court case, he was ‘offered’ a fine of £80 to strike the incident from his record.

Ben’s account is sadly one of the many cases which highlight Greater Manchester Police’s failings on this day. Twenty arrests were made, six of them for ‘breach of the peace’, and few of those arrested were charged. Why? Because these arrests were unfounded, indiscriminate, and used as a device to divide and demoralise the attendees of the march.

After Ben was arrested, the protestors marched together as best they could towards the Town Hall, closely trailed by Police in vans and on horses. Horses were used to charge and intimidate people, and ‘Tactical Aid Units’ were used en masse in the City Centre, resulting in a group of around eighty protestors being Kettled on the street near the Hilton Hotel whilst their friends looked on from the other side of the street. This particular Kettle was constricted into a very small space outside a restaurant, with protestors kept in a block around four people wide. (It was outside this kettle that a man was arrested for taking a picture of a police horse.) To prove their lack of ‘violent intent’, the protestors proceeded to sing and dance, and do the hokey-cokey, reflecting the bizarre and unnecessary nature of the Kettle. Notwithstanding, they were kept for at least two hours in temperatures approaching freezing, then let out slowly in twos, upon the condition that their name, address and photograph be taken and that they should undergo a search, presumably for ‘weapons’. What was the need for this gathering of information? These people were not even arrested, and it is apparent that on that day, not much needed to be done to warrant arrest in Manchester. It was simply used a method of intimidation and demoralisation; frankly, the protesters were treated like animals. This treatment is presumably intended to stop protesters from wishing to express their freedom of speech again; in other words, an attempt to control by fear. It was also evident to many protesters that Greater Manchester Police did not have a tangible plan; protesters watching this Kettle outside the Hilton Hotel were shunted one way, then back again, and told to do contradicting things by different Police Officers. This resulted in confusion, but when asked to clarify their desires, many Police Officers declined to explain reasons, or became aggressive. This environment of confusion is not a good way to police any event; as displayed, it can lead to injustices of a very high degree, which are all too often simply swept under the carpet.

We the protestors call upon Greater Manchester Police, and to all other police forces, not to use such grisly tactics in future demonstrations of any nature. In my personal experience, and in the experience of others I have spoken to, I have found that protesters with every intention of being peaceful can be driven by ill treatment to reconsider. I cite the Kettling and Police brutality displayed outside the Houses of Parliament on December 9th, 2010, which resulted in ‘vandalism’ which again could have been avoided, or at the very least scaled down tenfold. To victimise protestors is not legal. To victimise protesters is not practical. To victimise protesters is not democratic, and for these reasons I sincerely hope that the Greater Manchester Police, and other Police forces, will carefully reconsider their tactics when dealing with marches, and avoid further horrendous Police fiascos such as displayed on 29th January by Greater Manchester Police.