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MET Police appoint a public order "Containment Manager"!!

Tash | 04.03.2011 23:02 | Public sector cuts | Repression

MET Police appoint a public order "Containment Manager"!!

According to Police Review, Asistant Commisioner Lynne Owens, [her with the cute smile] is appointed the Containment Manager and will deal with future protest in Central London.

Her first gig will be on the TUC 'anti-cuts' demo on the 26th.

Note at the end that she refused to confirm or deny whether undercover police officers would be used during the march. This is of course, a bit of a departure from Cdr Broadhursts' previous assertion that there were none..

Tash
e-mail: tash@indymedia.org

Additions

more in the shiny new "containment manager"

05.03.2011 16:41

Police to supply water, toilets to "kettled"

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/03/02/uk-britain-protests-policing-idUKTRE7215J320110302

LONDON | Wed Mar 2, 2011 6:56pm GMT
(Reuters) - Police will warn protesters when they intend to use containment "kettling" tactics through social media sites like Twitter during future mass demonstrations, a senior officer said on Wednesday

Assistant commissioner Lynne Owens, in charge of policing demos for the Metropolitan Police, also said water and portable toilets would be made available to those who find themselves caught up behind police lines.

In addition Owens told BBC Radio that a "containment manager" would be employed for a TUC anti-cuts protest on March 26 which unions say could attract up to 200,000 marchers.

She said the containment officer would be "effecting a very fast release of the people involved in the containment, particularly those who have not been involved in violence."

Owens said the review of how mass protests were policed had been undertaken because student feedback had indicated they did not know how to prepare ahead of marches.

"They didn't know what the route was and didn't know where to go, where there as violence and where it was safe," she said.

The move follows criticism over the way the police handled a string of student marches in London that culminated in the worst rioting seen the capital for years.

Protesters played cat and mouse with police across the city as they attempted to avoid the kettling tactic.

Union chiefs and the police have asked civil rights group Liberty to act as observers at the March 26 demonstration. Both Scotland Yard and the TUC both expect the march to be peaceful.

The TUC said in a statement: "March for the Alternative will be safe and family friendly. Liberty will provide extra reassurance."

&&&&&&&&&&

MPA appoints new Assistant Commissioner (Central Operations) in the Met

http://www.government-news.co.uk/metropolitan-police-authority/201012/mpa-appoints-new-assistant-commissioner-central-operations-in-the-met.asp

& MPA appoints new Assistant Commissioner (Central Operations) in the Met

http://www.mpa.gov.uk/news/press/2010/12/061/

New Portfolio For Senior Met Officer Police Oracle

http://www.policeoracle.com/news/New-Portfolio-For-Senior-Met-Officer_28970.html

tash

Comments

Hide the following 4 comments

wankers

05.03.2011 11:14

Yet more incompetent middle managment! I thought their useless control room was full already. Are they really going to show their faces, on a soapbox, using a megaphone?

The leaflets and tweets are the idea of Reading universitys phycology experts. Who are not fascists as some believe, but Nepolionic control freaks.

kettling "in extremis"
The students & the G20 got 100% kettled long before any action. Neither were extreme situations, just extreme police state control.

Still no mention of any human rights; food, water, toilets, healthcare.

"exit routes in difficult situations" - lieing wankers!

I fear this whole article is a start of a smear campaign to smash the 26-3 demo. Using fear of kettling, fear of extreme police violence.

kettling's dangerous

05.03.2011 17:20

we need to be ready with ways of avoiding being kettled on March 26th (and every other time they try it!)

Theres more kettling discussion on 38 degrees here,

http://bit.ly/gtDtFV, if people are interested

re: comment

06.03.2011 01:15

> "exit routes in difficult situations" - lieing wankers!
1) To be fair - on December 9th they *did* provide an exit route....

...of course, the fact the people using it were released onto Westminster bridge and then crushed by police (not to mention having no access to basic sanitation), was surely an operational mistake and no-ones fault at-all...

2) Not sure the police even know what truth is any more - so it isn't fair to call them liars either....

anonanonanon

lurk 'em

06.03.2011 13:05

The PR industry needs be challenged on this outrage. Whoever has been helping the police press team MUST be challenged.

I watch the student demos on TV. There was a major difference between the blank APTN feed and sky news wank comentary. On westminster bridge one lurking student rightly challenged the sky reporter on his blatent lies, the next reporter came on and had to admit it was 10 hours rather than 4 fours, and that "containment" was total not partial.

The way evening TV news reports at 6pm really dont tell the whole picture, when folks are imprisoned untill 10pm. Weekends have even less coverage.

I'm shocked many ignorant news editors still wrongly refer to it as a dispersal tactic.

Iranian state media PRESS TV was the only TV station with honest coverage, & the student lurkers enjoyed being the background to the live broadcasts.

I think we should demand 100,000 pizzas! That will give the "Containment Manager" something to do.

"The need to protest will be overtaken by the need to eat, drink, rest and so on, and so people will slowly disperse"

http://mindhacks.com/2009/07/23/the-wisdom-of-crowds/

Nicola

UK Indymedia