Police chiefs have passed a damning document accusing officers of using a string of underhand and illegal tactics during the Kingsnorth Climate Camp on to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, it has been confirmed.
Chief Constable Michael Fuller said the Liberal Democrats’ report – which slams the police’s handling on the week-long eco-demonstration - has been referred to the IPCC voluntarily this morning.
He said: "This document makes a number of allegations. Kent Police's policy has always been to be open and transparent in everything we do and this will be no different.
“If we find officers have failed to meet the very high standards we expect then we will act.
“The majority of the comments around the police operation from the people of Kent have been wholly supportive of our actions.
“As with any major police operation we always review our procedures and protocols. Like any forward-thinking police force we are always keen to learn and develop the way we protect the people of Kent.”
Mr Fuller also said he will meet with the IPCC next week to discuss the allegations made in the in-depth document.
The Lib Dem’s report, released yesterday, accuses Kent police officers of: abusing stop-and-search powers, using sleep deprivation tactics – such as playing The Clash’s hit single ‘I Fought The Law’ in the early hours of the morning – and threatening protestors with foreign accents with arrest for immigration offences.
Party leader Nick Clegg said: “The harassment of thousands of protestors who were peacefully campaigning against new dirty coal in Kingsnorth highlights just how shallow Labour climate change minister Ed Miliband’s call for a ‘mass movement’ against climate change actually is.
“The longer the Government fails to act to safeguard the environment, the more protests and calls for action there will be.
“It would be inexcusable if suppression of protests became a substitute for dealing with the root causes of climate change.”
Lib Dem shadow justice secretary David Howarth added: “The evidence contained in this report is deeply disturbing, the police tactics employed at Kingsnorth were out of all proportion to any threat posed by the protestors and were an affront to civil liberties.
“It is impossible to square what happened - an extraordinarily expensive and repressive police operation - with government descriptions of it at the time as ‘proportionate’.
“The police seem to have crossed an important line between preventing crime and preventing protest itself. To equate people who want to protest against government policies on climate change with violent extremists is absurd.
“There must be an immediate inquiry into the policing of environmental protest and into the politicisation of the policing of protest generally.”
Report alleges police:
Abused stop-and-search powers
Used sleep deprivation tactics, such as broadcasting the Clash’s ‘I Fought The Law’ in the early hours of the morning
Pressured campers to give their personal details when they exercised their right not to, including threatening individuals with foreign accents with arrest for immigration offences
Harassed and obstructed legal observers and threatened them with arrest for conspiracy
Seized hundreds of personal items including soap, clown costumes and board games
Were heavy-handed with protestors and aggressively threatened a peaceful procession made up of children, elderly eco-campaigners and people with disabilities
POSTED: 13/03/2009 10:41:07
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