Police Protest Policed
THE police want more money. They want to protest. But as the Guardain reports:
The high-profile demonstration, intended to highlight the force’s anger over its recent below-inflation, 1.9 per cent pay rise, is threatening to become a major political flashpoint in the new year. The police claim their preferred route for their march is set to be banned under archaic ‘sessional orders’, laws drawn up in the early 19th century to combat large-scale radical protests that threatened a disturbance of the peace.
The orders are renewed by Parliament each year and invoked by the Metropolitan Police if the force believes a protest will prevent MPs from going about their daily business. Critics of the orders claim they are a heavy-handed response designed to stifle peaceful protest.
And whose heavy hands are used to maintiain order and quieten protest? Answers on the business end of a truncheon to the usual address…
Posted: 30th, December 2007 | In: Broadsheets Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
