2009-03-31
Commentary: Andy Hayman
The security operation to protect delegates attending the G20 conference is far from straightforward. The police have had to prepare for every possibility – from terrorism to riots to green custard incidents and must manage a crowd ranging from novice protesters to hardcore anarchists.
The trick is to create a hostile environment to deter criminal or antisocial behaviour, while at the same time reassuring the public.
It is a difficult balance to achieve. Too many police officers can prove to be intimidating or provocative. Too few opens the door to troublemakers.
The first job in preparing for this type of event is to collect intelligence. Officers will have been scouring the internet and other “open sources” for weeks. They will know that the majority of protesters are law-abiding but they will have identified some activists intent on violence.
What makes the G20 demonstrations unique is the range of pressure groups planning to protest. Protesters concerned with climate change, capitalism, war and globalisation are to be represented. It will be crucial to locate the agitators and those orchestrating disorder as quickly as possible. Police spotters will be stationed at key vantage points while undercover officers mingle among the protesters.
Disorder has to be nipped in the bud otherwise it can escalate at frightening speed, putting police on the back foot. If needed “snatch squads” will be used to remove troublemakers.
The priority is to secure the summit venue, the ExCeL centre in Docklands. The ExCeL centre has the advantage of having water on one side and it is easy to put a ring of steel around the building. This will involve police marine launches, surveillance cameras, barriers, checkpoints and cordons.
Once that is done the security focus will be on protecting the delegates' journeys in and out of the venue.
With the venue secure, protesters are likely to demonstrate elsewhere, creating a cat-and-mouse chase across London. Text messaging could help change a protest location at the last minute. Demonstrations outside London cannot be ruled out.
Plans for four simultaneous marches on the Bank of England are a real headache. A protest on the move is harder to police than a stationary rally. Protesters will be prevented from running as this raises the risk of injury to innocent bystanders, the police and other demonstrators.
Tactics to herd the crowd into a pen, known as “the kettle”, have been criticised heavily before, yet the police will not want groups splintering away from the main crowd. This would stretch their resources.
We can expect mounted police officers to guide the crowd along the routes. Reinforcements able to deal with any eventuality will be on standby in side streets. The control room at Lambeth will be receiving pictures from across the City and from cameras in the air. Despite months of preparation, things will be tense.
Andy Hayman is former Assistant Commissioner Special Operations at the Metropolitan Police