...and the law won
I've seen plenty of police getting carried away and acting like thugs. We know the police made a million mistakes and shot a innocent man at close range in 2005. Not to mention Harry Stanley and Blair Peach. I know I shouldn't still be shocked, but I am.
The response of the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation isn't exactly confidence-inspiring either. This from the BBC News website:
Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said some physical confrontation was inevitable during a large protest.
He told Radio 4's Today programme: "On a day like that, where there are some protesters who are quite clearly hell-bent on causing as much trouble as they can, there is inevitably going to be some physical confrontation."
He added: "Sometimes it isn't clear, as a police officer, who is a protester and who is not.
"I know it's a generalisation but anybody in that part of the town at that time, the assumption would be that they are part of the protest.
"I accept that's perhaps not a clever assumption but it's a natural one."
So if the man had been a protestor rather than a newspaper vendor walking home from work and AWAY from the police, hitting him with a baton and pushing him to the floor, that would have been alright, would it?
Click to viewThe response of the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation isn't exactly confidence-inspiring either. This from the BBC News website:
Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said some physical confrontation was inevitable during a large protest.
He told Radio 4's Today programme: "On a day like that, where there are some protesters who are quite clearly hell-bent on causing as much trouble as they can, there is inevitably going to be some physical confrontation."
He added: "Sometimes it isn't clear, as a police officer, who is a protester and who is not.
"I know it's a generalisation but anybody in that part of the town at that time, the assumption would be that they are part of the protest.
"I accept that's perhaps not a clever assumption but it's a natural one."
So if the man had been a protestor rather than a newspaper vendor walking home from work and AWAY from the police, hitting him with a baton and pushing him to the floor, that would have been alright, would it?