Boris Johnson's call for water cannon shows a contempt for the people
|
Version 0 of 1. Every time there is a large protest or uprising, a politician or police chief calls for more weaponry to turn on the public. During the riots of 2011, David Cameron promised police whatever resources they wanted, including 24-hour notice for use of water cannon and rubber bullets. During the trials for the 2010 student protests, we heard that officers on 9 December (the day of the final fees vote) had requested rubber bullets, but an operational mix-up prevented it. Now again, in 2014, Boris Johnson wants water cannon in time for the summer, once again citing the 2011 riots as justification. The home secretary, Theresa May, is sympathetic, though doesn't want the government to pay for them. What message are the police, government and London's mayor sending out exactly? The context for demanding the use of these high-speed, propulsive machines that can knock someone over 100 metres away is a grim one. After years of using kettling, batons to the head and body, horse charges and (increasingly) mass arrests and information gathering, the police want the power to soak the population and potentially cause serious damage to eyes and internal organs. (Warning: graphic) images of a man with blood pouring from his eyes after a protest in Stuttgart, Germany, where water cannon was used against protestors, show the dangers of such a technique. Many people have pointed out that beyond the dangers posed by water cannon, Britain's lack of large public spaces, as opposed to the ample plazas and squares of many European cities, would make their use difficult. Perversely, then, thecramped and privatised city, with its many narrow streets and alleys, means that large-scale public control devices are useless. While it is possible to kettle groups in Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square, it is much harder in the rest of the city, where backstreets and higgledy-piggledy streets sometimes allow people to avoid outdoor imprisonment and mass arrest. The use of water cannon and rubber bullets by the police in Northern Ireland – often cited in these discussions – is hardly a great precedent to be copied, given its historical brutality towards Catholics and republicans. But the message sent out by these calls is not, perhaps, meant to be a "practical" one. To demand powers to be able to blast people with water reveals the truth: the "public" is regarded as little more than dirt to be cleansed from the streets of Britain. People who get in the way of the accumulation of wealth, and occupy space otherwise colonised by business and the security services, are to be removed and purified – much like the "broom brigade" sought to clean up the streets after the riots. It is a way of thinking about people that regards them primarily as a nuisance, unruly and in need of some kind of purge. The recent defeat in the House of Lords of the ipna (injunction to prevent nuisance and annoyance) plans is welcome – even if it once again proves the point that unelected, posh peers are ideologically to the left of the government that "represents" the people. It is worrying how close plans to arrest people for singing and protesting, or for simply being a noisy child, came to being passed. In the week that saw the perverse and upsetting judgment in the Mark Duggan inquest – "lawfully" killed despite being unarmed and surrendering – it is clear, as Stafford Scott put it, that "what is seen as justice by the mainstream is experienced as an injustice by the marginalised". As more and more people are marginalised – through racism, poverty and demonisation by the press and government – the feeling that justice is nowhere to be found can only grow. No amount of water is capable of washing away the sins of a government that treats its population like mini-banks at best and as dangerous hordes at worst. If we must have water cannon, let's direct them at parliament, where the real menace lies. Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |