Adam Bienkov has published a clip from Wednesday's MQT showing the Conservative AM arguing that had the recent student demo been "kettled" by the Met, violence and damage to property would have been avoided. Apparently, kettling has been "tremendously effective" at preventing such things in the past and is only opposed by whingeing lefties who get off on knocking cops.
Where's Gareth Bacon been? His fellow Tory AM Victoria Borwick chaired a MPA investigation into the policing of the G20 demos which raised doubts about use and value of kettling on that occasion. Her Majesty's Inspector of Constabulary produced his own critical report. What's more, kettling did not prevent violence and damage to property at G20. I was there, and it was clear that the way kettling was used that time may actually have aggravated the situation more than calmed it.
The real story of the police approach to the student demo is that, as Sir Paul Stephenson acknowledged, the preparations weren't right. Really, Gareth! It's one thing to exploit the violence to score a political point, quite another to reveal your ignorance in the process.
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