These are worrying times (The coronation arrests are just the start. Police can do what they want to us now, 12 May). When I policed protest, across 30 years of service (1986-2016), in a variety of roles that included holding a riot shield myself, the police were simply there to protect life and property. We were the visible safety barrier between the protesters and those they were protesting against. We allowed them both to be heard.
Paul Phillips
Retired chief superintendent
• Andy Beckett (Is there a future for protest in Britain? Standing in the muted republican crowd, my fears only grew, theguardian.com, 11 May) mentions the past suppression of protest by the practice of “kettling” – corralling protesters in a confined space for hours. As a human rights solicitor in 2005, I challenged this practice by means of a judicial review. I instructed Keir Starmer QC (as he then was) to appear for our clients. We lost the case. The judge who decided the case was Mr Justice Tugendhat, father of the MP Tom Tugendhat, who is now security minister.
In 2012, the European court of human rights upheld his decision. There is a long history of suppression of protest in this country.
Louise Christian
London
• Civicus.org, an organisation that monitors liberties and freedom across the globe, recently downgraded the UK from “narrowed” to “obstructed”, as our freedoms become increasingly diminished. This puts us on a par with Poland and Hungary. The passive acceptance of the ongoing threat to our freedoms by too many of the population is a desperate indictment of our situation.
John Barnett
Stewkley, Buckinghamshire
• In 1957, when as an 11-year-old I arrived with my parents in this country to find safe haven as refugees from Soviet-occupied Hungary, the sight of a friendly bobby on street corners taught me to not be afraid of authority. Today, at the age of 78, having never knowingly committed a single law infringement in my life, I nevertheless have to fear being arrested if I as much as take part in a peaceful demonstration. My parents would turn in their graves.
Elizabeth Morley
Aberystwyth, Ceredigion
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