'Riot smear' irks climate protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/uk/8273700.stm Version 0 of 1. Climate change protesters have criticised a police training exercise linking them to riots and petrol bombs. More than 300 police officers from 10 forces took part in the public order exercise at the Ministry of Defence Police HQ in Essex in June. An article on the MoD website said the theme was "based around climate change and the associated protest activity" although it may not be "real-life". The Camp for Climate Action said police were "effectively smearing" it. In a statement, it said: "We welcome any exercise that will help prevent the kind of completely disproportionate police response we saw at Kingsnorth and the G20." It added that by "putting information into the public domain that associates non violent direct action with petrol bombs the police, either by intent or stupidity, are effectively smearing the climate justice movement. The exercise theme was used to give direction and narrative and in no way suggests that all the scenarios tested are going to occur at any real-life protest connected to this issue Ch Insp Chris Yates "Worse still, the exercise itself is psychologically preparing forces from around the country for an extreme militant threat which officers will then associate with climate activists - our fear is that this may only lead to further violence from the police." According to the article published on the MoD website on Wednesday, it was the first time that the MDP had been asked to host the exercise held annually by members of the Eastern Region Public Order Working Group. Chief Inspector Chris Yates, of the Operational Support Unit (South), is quoted as saying: "Each year a planning team with representatives from each force identifies and agrees a topical theme for the exercise and venue for the exercise to take place. "This year the theme was based around climate change and the associated protest activity. "The fundamental objectives of the event were to test and evaluate the interoperability of common public order tactics between forces and to test the resilience of the command structure and of individual commanders." Testing situations The MDP, Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Bedfordshire force are said to have supplied one police support unit for the excercise, each consisting of 29 officers. Officers from Northamptonshire Police, Nottinghamshire Police and the City of London Police Horse Unit also took part in the five-hour event. The role of the 150 protesters for the event was taken by MDP recruits, staff at the MoD Police and Guarding Agency Headquarters, and further education students from Essex. Ch Insp Yates said: "The exercise was structured to move through various stages of tension in the 'community' to a full scale riot which included the throwing of missiles and petrol bombs." He added: "The exercise was very demanding and certainly put everyone involved through some very tough tests. It was designed to stretch the police response and as such it had to examine the most extreme public order situations that officers could face. "Although I think it should be pointed out that the exercise theme was used to give direction and narrative and in no way suggests that all the scenarios tested are going to occur at any real-life protest connected to this issue." A spokesman for the MoD Police said the training event needed to be "cost effective and comprehensive". "Our article made it very clear that, as with all exercises of this type, it in no way implies that the events being tested are going to happen at any real-life protest... "By choosing a respectable theme like climate change we were able, in the early part of the exercise, to test the ability of police officers to react correctly and proportionately to people carrying out their lawful right to protest. "The extreme tactics tested later in the day were designed to test situations at the other end of the spectrum where officers have to face public disorder." |