From Channel 4 News:
The Metropolitan Police are facing a compensation bill of £250,000, after admitting a raid on a climate change group the day after the G20 protests in London last April was illegal. Police burst into the Convergence Centre in east London carrying taser guns, and handcuffed protesters face down. The Met Commissioner admitted it was unlawful to arrest, search them, and force them to be recorded on film, but he refused to apologise to the protestors.
Also:
The raid was also armed with photos of suspects from the previous day. Every protestor was filmed by an officer from FIT, or the Forward Intelligence Team, but what forced the Met to concede was that not one of them, contrary to intelligence, matched any of the photos.
Full story here. The MPA's Civil Liberties Panel has had something to say about Forward Intelligence Teams:
The MPS should, in respect of Forward Intelligence Teams (FITs):
• consider the proportional use of FITs, define their role and purpose and ensure they are adequately briefed, in line with HMIC recommendations.
• justify and modify the purpose, role and proportionality of FIT deployment through engagement both in pre‐event and post‐event briefings and via ongoing engagement with key stakeholders.
That's from page 8 of their draft report on the policing of G20, which will be discussed at this morning's full MPA meeting at City Hall.
