That's telling 'em. Now the Metropolitan police surely won't ever do that again. The MPs did provide criticism but it almost sounds as though they were more bothered with police hiding their identity than they were with protecting peaceful protesters. The report on the G20 policing did not mention the specifics of Ian Tomlinson (who died) nor Nicola Fisher who was hit hard and caught on video. The Guardian:
The conclusion from the Commons home affairs select committee inquiry into the G20 protests of April 1 follows admissions from senior Metropolitan police officers that some inexperienced officers, who were clearly quite scared, used "inappropriate force".
The report by the cross-party group of MPs says they "cannot condone the use of untrained, inexperienced officers on the frontline of a public protest under any circumstances".
Their inquiry also calls for the police to seriously consider whether they can continue with the use of tactics such as kettling – containing protesters behind cordons for a sustained period of time – and the controlled use of force against those who appear hostile without first holding a public debate over the future of policing public protests.
During the G20 protests the Met repeatedly attempted to "kettle" thousands of mainly peaceful demonstrators.
Main & gay blog