SNIP from Sunderland Echo

Protestors from across Wearside are preparing to join hundreds of thousands of campaigners at tomorrow's TUC march in the capital.

Thousands from the North East are expected to make the journey south for the protest in central London against Government cuts.

Five 60-seater coaches and 1,200 train places have been booked by campaigners from the region eager to take part in the event, which ends with a rally in Hyde Park.

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Did they get those seats paid for by some lefty socialist claptrapping organisation? I don't think so.

from Police Professional

SNIP

A new report published today has welcomed the close working relationship between the police and organisers of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) due to take place this weekend.

The Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) published details of its report looking into policing of protests in central London in recent months, and the preparations for the forthcoming 'March for the Alternative' planned for tomorrow in protest of government public sector cuts.

The report backed the advance cooperation between the police and organisers, and the planned involvement of human rights observers in the control room on the day of the march itself. It also welcomes police initiatives to communicate better with protestors by using leaflets and Twitter.

However, despite the developments and the lessons which the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) says it has learnt from violent student demonstrations in last November and December, concerns remain about the the tactic of containment, known as kettling, and the use of batons.

Some the key issues highlighted in the report include:

• a lack of clarity about the circumstances in which the police can resort to containment, and the apparent lack of opportunity for non-violent protesters to leave;
• the lack of specific guidance setting out the circumstances in which the use of the baton against the head might be justifiable. To meet the human rights requirement that the use of force should be proportionate, operational guidance to frontline officers needs to address this issue specifically and directly; and
• the need for a nimble system for assimilating lessons learned.

Dr Hywel Francis MP, Chair of the Committee, said: "The committee welcomes the cooperation between the Met and the organisers of the march this Saturday, especially the police's use of Twitter to communicate with protesters. But we remain concerned about kettling and the use of batons: clearer operational guidance is needed on both of these if the police are to meet their commitment to human rights successfully."

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to join the anti-cuts march organised by at the weekend, for which around 4,500 police officers are expected to be deployed.

The MPS said that it is planning for a peaceful demonstration, but any violence and break away protestors will be dealt with robustly.

Lynne Owens, Assistant Commissioner of the MPS, added: "It is important that we appropriately set the mood for this day. The TUC are planning for a family friendly peaceful protest and we will do all we can to facilitate this.

"However, we would be naive to ignore the chatter on some public forums and of course we have to plan for separate autonomous groups who choose not to be part of the TUC protest. I must stress that strong views can never legitimise violence and, whilst we are planning for a peaceful day, we will not hesitate to respond speedily to any criminal and violent behaviour. The public would expect this.

"We are rightly scrutinised in our response to these large scale occasions and as part of our commitment to openness and accountability we have asked Liberty to act as independent observers in the pre planning of the event and on the day, both in Special Operations Room and out on the ground."

By Dilwar Hussain

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Don't be be mixing up the spiky anarchists and generic trouble making thugs with legitimate protestors. Still I don't see anyone getting paid to do this. Quite the reverse. They are paying to take part.