I was at the water fight and it was all perfectly innocent, it was actually really refreshing to see so many young people all together having harmless fun. I'm a 17 year old girl (I'm black by the way, as it seems race matter so much to everyone in this blog) so I can vouch for most teens when I say that there really isn't much to do, especially in the holidays.
Everyone complains about kids hanging around on street corners, but apparently we shouldn’t be in parks either.

HERES WHAT I SAW...
A few passer bys were accidentally splashed in the event but most of them understood and were amused and happy to see young people enjoying themselves...
Obviously someone over reacted and called the police, when the police got there, a friend and I asked one of the approachable looking ones why they were there, He replied saying they received a phone call saying there were hundreds of youths fighting and threatening the public, but as it seems to only be a water fight they would probably soon leave.
However, as we were speaking to the seemingly only credible police man there that day, Further down the other police were letting the dogs loose and shouting at everyone to leave immediately, please note that not once did they ask nicely or explain a reason, they just shouted pointed there batons and threatened to hit/tazered or even arrest anyone who didn't comply instantly. The poor police man I was talking to looked almost embarrassed at the reaction of the other police as he could clearly see people were just having harmless fun. I left speedily as I obviously didn’t want to get arrested (for being a teenager in a park at a water fight) but I’m not surprised that the police that day were "assaulted" as they call it, because there manner towards everyone was very threatening without reason and I found appalling. I find it hard to understand how police (yes I know they aren't all the same) can expect to be respected when they go around abusing authority and behaving how they did that day.

And by the way can I stress that they only found "reason" to arrest 9 of the possible 300+ that attended, and that arrest doesn’t mean an actual charge has been made or that the suspected crime has been proved.

Lots of shrieking and flirting and soaking of each other- they were very entertaining. I didn't see any of them drinking or smoking, they weren't swearing or fighting and seemed to be taking pains not to get non-participating people wet- I was sitting there for over 2 hours and didn't get a drop on me, when some water came close the boy who accidentally squirted it near us came and apologised.

So why on earth were at least 3 riot vans, dog units, squad cars with sirens driving on the grass and bullet proof vests needed?

Everything seemed to be going well (even though there was always a heavy police presence) until for some reason a copper confiscated a young lad's super soaker, poured all the water out and then frisked him and his mate. Clearly this sort of attitude got the attention of everyone else who then crowded around arguing witht the police for CONFISCATING WATER PISTOLS.

The next thing everything kicked off and all I could see were policemen shoving the kids really hard. I'm sure the youths were being a bit agro and they were upset because what had been a bit of a laugh was being turned into a fracas but the point is, the policing was appalling. Shouting and shoving and swearing at the teenagers was only going to make them upset and feel as though they're being expected to act up. And so they did. The mistrust the police were showing was palpable. Their body language was aggressive. From what I could see they were all white.

This went on for ages, then the dog unit and riot vans and squad cars with wailing sirens turned up. The vast majority of the water fighters stood around looking upset and incensed. Several came and sat by my friend and I as we were a pair of white women in our mid-twenties and therefore not likely to be seen as a threatening group which must be disbanded by force.

Yes there's a climate of fear at the moment, stemming from the present day culture of violence. But it seems to me that by assuming the worst of the teenagers in the park, the police are digging their own graves. The pleasant, articulate kids I was talking to expressed a blanket attitude towards the police: total lack of trust. The attitudes of the police strengthened this attitude