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G20 protests: Red faces for police over stolen equipment worth £12k
by: Richard Moriarty
RIOT police were left red-faced after it emerged that thousands of pounds’ worth of equipment was stolen during the G20 protests.
The officers left their van unlocked in the City, allowing demonstrators to swipe 10 £1,200 bags containing batons, CS spray, helmets, shields and body armour.
The incident occurred when City of London officers jumped out of their vehicle near the Bank of England on 1 April.
A source said: "The officers came back to the van to find it cleared out. They were shocked. But it’s a very serious issue. Anyone using this gear in future riots could run amok, with real police unable to tell them apart."
The blunder is the latest in a line of incidents surrounding the policing of G20, which has resulted in more than 185 complaints and three official investigations.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) was today beginning another investigation after a man claimed he was assaulted by a Met officer.
New footage has emerged showing protester Alex Kinnane, 24, being hit by a shield. Another video, from a raid on an east London squat, allegedly shows an officer pointing a 50,000-volt Taser at people lying on the floor.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Tasers are used for incidents or operations involving violence or threats of violence with such severity that officers would need to use force to protect the public, the subject themselves and their colleagues. We will assess the footage once we have had a chance to review it."
The IPCC is already examining events surrounding the death of Ian Tomlinson, 47, and an allegation of assault on Nicola Fisher at a vigil for the newspaper seller the next day.
Nick Hardwick, chairman of the IPCC, said officers should not have removed ID numbers or covered their faces and said some needed reminding that they were "the servants, not the masters, of the people".
Earlier, a senior policeman defended police actions at the G20 protests, saying there has been a “lack of objectivity” in the criticism.
The president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, Sir Ken Jones, said that people were looking through “the wrong end of the telescope” at events and that the “vast and overwhelming majority” of officers had acted with “restraint”.
Almost 90 complaints have been made about the police’s actions during the demonstrations earlier this month.
But Sir Ken said: "We have seen a lack of perspective and a lack of objectivity, I am afraid, and, as a result of that, the (police's) reputation has been affected," he said.
"The way that some people come to these protests now, particularly in Europe, and offer violence to people, to property, to other legitimate protesters, and, yes, they came to attack the police, this has become an increasingly difficult job for us to pull off.
"And I think we just need to look at this in the round."
He added: "I saw some of the footage last week of whole groups of officers being hemmed in.
"Nobody wants to talk about that now. Those officers behaved really well, they acted with restraint."
Source: http://www.thelondonpaper.com/thelondonpaper/news/london/g20-protests-red-faces-for-police-over-stolen-equipment-worth-%C2%A312k