It was good to see a strong turnout of protesters filling the seats in the 2nd floor chamber at City Hall for the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority chaired by mayor Boris Johnson, the first since the policing of the G20. I am sure this helped add weight to some of the pro-protesters' arguments put forward by MPA members grilling Tim Godwin, Acting Deputy Commissioner and Chris Allison, Temporary Assistant Police Commissioner - particularly the regular loud heckles and boos, as well as rounds of applause on occasion.
It was interesting to learn about the command structure of the policing of the G20 protests. The policing of the marches that converged on the Bank of England and Climate Camp, were managed by so-called ‘Bronze Commanders' appointed by the more senior Silver Commander, Chief Superintendent Ian Thomas. These Bronze commanders apparently drew up their own tactical plans assisted by a number of so-called ‘sub-Bronzes' where appropriate. According to a report by Chris Allison on behalf of the Commissioner, there were in excess of 70 Bronze posts deployed that day. Silver Commander then apparently checked these plans to ensure consistency and ensure they met strategic aims. The strategy itself was drawn up by Gold Commander Bob Broadhurst. It makes you wonder what the full strategy was and what tactics Silver approved. I think we are entitled to know.
We heard that police didn't stop people and ask for ID which is strange as that is exactly what happened to me and my colleague Sarah Cope, the minute we stepped off our bus at Liverpool Street station. Three Met officers questioned us about why we were there, and asked for photo ID. One of them told us that they had stopped lots of people with "bricks and stuff" and that they wanted to protect us. Curiously, there was no mention of finding these "bricks and stuff" in the official account of events - just the discovery of fake police uniforms. We need to formally demand that names taken down like this are removed from police databases.
