Recent
Watch also...
G20 Lawyers serve Met with pre-action papers - 'hundreds of thousands' compo
Lawyers acting for protesters caught up in last months G20 summit have served the Metropolitan Police with a pre-action notice over their tactics.
G20 protesters subjected to “ketteling” and aggressive police tactics have been told they could receive “hundreds of thousands of pounds” for the way they were treated.
The legal letter landed on the desk of Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson at the weekend from Bindmans solicitors.
Legal basis?
Demonstrators who staged a ‘Climate camp’ at Bishopsgate are demanding Scotland Yard explain the legal basis of hemming protesters in confined areas for hours on end.
They are also asking for a straight explanation of how officers handled events.
Bindmans have called the use of “kettling” in peaceful demonstrations “entirely opaque” and that no reasons were given as to why people were trapped for so long.
Riot police and mounted officers were involved in sporadic violence all day around the Bank of England, in what has been dubbed “the Battle of Threadneedle Street”.
Thousands of peaceful demonstrators were sealed off around the Royal Exchange without access to water or toilet facilities for hours in the controversial police crowd control method.
Solicitor John Halford said:
“The spontaneous and unprovoked use of batons by riot gear-wearing police… is not mentioned much less explained” in the Metropolitan Police Authority’s report into the event.
“Hundreds of thousands of pounds”
The solicitor Tony Murphy, who reached an £85,000 out of court settlement for five Mexican Embassy protesters who suffered assault and false imprisonment, told Channel 4:
“This case concerned five protesters; the G20 involved hundreds if not thousands.”
If successful legal action is taken by G20 demonstrators, the force could face a bill of hundreds of thousands of pounds."
Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has asked Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Denis O’Connor, to review policing tactics – he will face members of the Home Affairs Select Committee this week on the actions of officers.
The review follows video footage showing two alleged assaults by police during the demonstrations in London.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating three allegations of violence by police officers and claims the media were misled by the Met.
The most high-profile complaint followed the death of newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson after he was hit with a baton and pushed to the ground.
Source: http://www.thelondondailynews.com/lawyers-serve-with-preaction-papers-hundreds-thousands-compo-p-2922.html