Why And How The Policing Of Public

Protest Has Changed In The Last 25 Years Essay, Research Paper

Historically political protests,

demonstrations and riots were quite common in Britain. What was not common

however, was a structured public service department equipped to deal with such

events. This essay will purport to show how and why policing of public protest

has changed in the past 25 years..

Eighteenth century Britain experienced some horrendous rioting, i.e. the

St George.s Field Massacre 1768[1], the Gordon Riots 1780[2] and the Peterloo Massacre in 1819[3], is this a mirror image of things to come... ........... One of the major functions of the police has always

been the control of public order, i.e. demonstrations, sports grounds,

festivals and striking pickets. .The duty of a police officer….includes

the preservation of the peace, or rather the prevention of a breach of the

peace….[4].It is also understood that the police have certain obligations in

ensuring the physical safety of people when faced with large gatherings.

However, three elements cause major problems for the police when faced with any

large gathering, (i) freedom of public expression, (ii) police

obligation to the public safety of the participants and (iii) their

obligation to the protection of the rights of others).. ............ It was not until the late 1800.s and early 1900.s that

British society started to settle down. The emergence of WWI made it difficult

for public protests of a large scale and Britain remained quiet as regards to

public disorder. However, with the emergence of Oswald Mosely and his right

wing supporter.s the situation began to change, hence the passing of the Public

Order Act 1936. Again, Britain began to quieten down, and even the

demonstrations became more civilised, i.e. CND rallies which were peaceful. .Since the end of WWI there has been a marked declined in violent confrontation.[5]............ The early 1960.s saw one of Britain.s most serious

natural disasters in Wales. This event illustrated how ill equipped and

disorganised the police forces were in dealing with a large scale situation.

Laws and the policing skills which were in existence at this time were for

dealing with events such as future wars and not for police forces to assist

others in the occurrence of a natural disaster. Thus arrangements for .mutual

aid. required a major overhaul, hence the establishment of the National

Reporting Centre, (centred in Scotland Yard and made operational in times

of national emergency). The passing of the Police Act

1964 and the establishment of the Metropolitan Force.s Special Patrol

Group (mobile public order police squads) was an attempt to make a more

organised and efficient police force............. The growing prosperity in Britain in the 1950.s and

1960.s opened up a whole new domain of available information with television

and radio, the general public for the first time became aware of issues and

events nationally and internationally and witnessed a much more organised,

violent and confrontational style of protest and demonstrations, such as the Anti

Vietnam War demonstration which took place out side the American Embassy

in 1968. ............. This new style of aggressive demonstrating began to

gain ground with the emergence of mass picketing of miners at the Saltley

Coke Works in Orgreave 1972. The early 1970.s was an era of great

political turbulence in Britain, and it saw the development of the New Labour

and a rise in the far right which generated more protests. With the emergence

of this new style. political protest the

problem for the police was that they were not equipped in terms of specialist

equipment and trained to withstand these aggressive style demonstrations.. Hence it became common at these aggressive

demonstrations for the police to use dustbin lids, milkcrates and anything else

at hand which they could construct makeshift shields from in order to protect

themselves from missiles. ............. This inability to be able to disperse violent

demonstrations put the police in a very dangerous position, thus the issues of

equipping the police forces with tactical training and protective wear started

to be addressed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (A.C.P.O).

Unfortunately, the A.C.P.O were unable to finish addressing the situation

before more civil disturbances broke out...

............... In the St. Pauls area of Bristol the

police made a daylight raid on a club known as the .Black and White Club.. It

was an extremely sensitive operation which resulted in significant rioting. The

then Chief Constable, Brian Weigh removed his out-numbered officers from the

area until reinforcements arrived, however, considerable damage to local

businesses and offices ensued by angry rioters in the absence of the police,

hence there was a local into the inadequate handling of the disorder. ............. ..........

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