Kettling a 'crime'

The increasingly used police crowd control tactic of 'kettling' is undemocratic, dangerous and must be stopped - delegates to CWU Annual Conference unanimously agreed.

Committing the union to lobby the various police authorities to demand the ending of the practice of the containment of large groups of demonstrators, speakers argued the tactic - which typically leaves peaceful protesters without access to toilet facilities, water or any means of leaving except in the most extreme medical emergencies - is provocative, counter-productive and a fundamental infringement of civil liberties.

Proposing the CWU Youth Conference motion - which also called for a dialogue with the police about alternative methods of crowd control - Dave Fuller of South Central No 1 branch cited 'kettling' as symptomatic of the excessive force sometimes displayed by police officers in protest situations.

Tragic results, he added, had included the death of newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson who, while not protesting himself, had got caught up in the 2009 G20 protests in London.

CWU Youth Advisory Committee chair, Kye Dudd of Bristol branch, added: "Police behaviour has been appalling recently and it has got me thinking about what makes a good copper and what makes for good policing of a demonstration.

"For me it's the same as what makes a good bouncer or a good doorman. Do they stop more fights or cause more fights? Frankly the police have been very bad doormen recently.

"I was at the first Bristol anti-cuts march and it was a very peaceful protest until the police stormed into the crowd because there was a banner with a swearword on it. The action was over the top, it antagonised everybody and in the end there were several unnecessary arrests. It left a bad taste in everybody's mouth.

"Kettling is really just a buzzword for illegal detention, plain and simple, and it's got to stop. We have the right to peaceful protest in this country and the police should respect that. People shouldn't be held for hour after hour after hour without access to sanitation. 'Kettling' tars everybody with the same brush - it makes no distinction between groups of troublemakers or people protesting peacefully - it just targets everyone."

London South East branch retired members secretary Steve Granville agreed, branding 'kettling' as a form of "violence" that has even been dished out to children caught on the wrong side of police cordons.

Clive Walder of Birmingham, Black Country and Worcester branch, cited 'kettling' as a sinister method to "criminalise demonstrations" and to deter people from attending them.

"We've got to send a message back to the Labour Party that, if they form the next Government, kettling has to end - that they will defend the right to demonstrate and defend civil liberties so people can speak out when they think the Government is doing wrong."

Supporting the motion on behalf of NEC, Steve Jones told Conference of two instances where he'd been 'kettled' himself - recently in a student protest he'd got caught up in as a passer-by while en-route to a football match, but earlier during the Poll Tax protest in 1990 prior to its eruption into a full scale riot.

"Reports over the last few years would have us believe that 'kettling' is a relatively new phenomena arising from the G20 demo, but in fact it goes back until at least the poll tax riots of 1990," said Steve. "What happened on that day has never been properly recognised or investigated - in fact at the time no-one had even heard of 'kettling' and few people had witnessed it."

Recalling how he'd been near Downing Street when an anarchist group began a separate protest which largely unaffected the main march, Steve said: "For some inexplicable reason the police with horses and full riot regalia decided to contain about 1,000 of us and blocked off Whitehall with around half the march behind us.

"This was a completely unnecessary and ultimately provocative act which led directly to the violence that ensured afterwards. A number of us spent the next few hours attending to the safety of disabled people, parents with small children in pushchairs as well as arguing furiously with high ranking police officers who were genuinely as confused as we were as to the steps that had been taken but who were under orders.

"It was evident that the situation had been manufactured - and was a precursor for what has happened since."

Steve added: "There needs to be a clear distinction between the restriction of liberty and the unlawful deprivation of it. I may have my reservations about working with the police to develop alternative forms of crowd control but I congratulate our youth comrades for bringing this to Conference and I urge you to unanimously support it."