Police defend 'corralling' thousands of protesters for eight hours in City

SCOTLAND Yard today defended the tactics used to "corral" thousands of G20 demonstrators in the City after it was accused of infringing people's right to a peaceful protest.

Politicians, demonstrators and one former police officer were among those who criticised the methods used to handle a crowd of 5,000 outside the Bank of England on Wednesday.

There were complaints that police dogs and riot squads were used to clear a peaceful Climate Camp protest in Bishopsgate.

But the Met, which led an operation involving at least six separate police forces, said today it believed its actions were appropriate in the face of attacks on police by a criminal element in the crowd. The force also denied using dogs to control crowds.

The main criticism was focused on the police tactic of corralling thousands inside cordons outside the Bank of England. On Wednesday a group was held for up to eight hours in a practice known as "kettling".

One demonstrator today criticised the tactic in a letter to the Standard. Ian Winn said a good natured protest was let down by a tiny minority of "window-breaking knuckleheads".

But he went on : "The real story was the Met's outrageous tactic of sealing 3,000 law-abiding citizens inside a tiny intersection for three hours without access to water or lavatory facilities.

"What happened to the right of peaceful assembly? It felt as if the Met was trying to create the angry mob it was ostensibly trying to prevent."

John O'Connor, a former Met officer, also questioned the tactic. He said: "It is a retrograde step, an infringement of civil liberties." Martin Horwood, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cheltenham, said dogs were used on protesters in Bishopsgate and James Lloyd, a legal adviser, said riot police used batons to clear people, including a woman in a wheelchair.

Protesters held in raids on two squats yesterday criticised police for brandishing Taser stun guns.

Commander Simon O'Brien, a member of the G20 security team, said: "We were attempting to keep certain groups and individuals apart. Those who wanted to leave could, and those who wanted to stay and make their point, we facilitated that."

He said police were responding to a small minority intent on creating violence. "There were times when forces withdrew to give space between police and demonstrators, but consistently there were people who were determined to hijack it," he said. The protests were marred by the death of a man on Wednesday. Ian Tomlinson, 47, who worked at a newsagent, was on his way to a hostel where he lived near Smithfield Market when he collapsed on the street from a suspected heart attack.

Friends said years of living on the streets and heavy drinking may have taken their toll. Stephen Solomons, 45, who lived in the same hostel, said: "He got caught up in something he had nothing to do with."

A post-mortem examination was due today. There is no suggestion he was involved in altercation with police.