Put the kettle on, mother, it's time for tears

There's a quite shocking picture in the Observer today, accompanying a report on the aftermath of the student demonstration against tuition fees on 9 December.

[An] anaesthetist from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, who gave medical assistance to the protesters, said that officers forced demonstrators into such a tight "kettle" on Westminster Bridge that they were in danger of being seriously crushed or pushed into the freezing River Thames.

The 34-year-old doctor, who set up a field hospital in Parliament Square, said that people on the bridge suffered respiratory problems, chest pains and the symptoms of severe crushing.

"Police had us so closely packed, I couldn't move my feet or hands an inch. We were in that situation like that for hours. People in the middle were having real difficulty breathing."

Kettling is a relatively new weapon in the arsenal of the police, and they seem to be testing its limits. How far can they push it before someone dies? Obviously, someone dying would not look good for them but, then again, the police do seem to get away with killing people. It took 30 years for the truth to come out about Blair Peach - that he was killed by the police. The individual police officer responsible was never fingered.

Ian Tomlinson's family are still trying to get justice for their relative, who died after being hit with a baton and shoved over by a policeman during the G20 protests in 2009.

There is a new campaign to defend the "Right to Resist" and opposing tactics such as kettling; it has been initiated by activists around the student protests.

The local beat bobby

Before anyone protests that the local beat bobby (or the local Police Community Support Officer, for that matter) does a good job, up to a point I would agree. I have met some of the local police and liked some of them. (I was also struck in my dealings with them, how hierarchical the police force is.)

But that's the fluffy end of the police, if you like - and not always that fluffy, at that. The hard end is what we are seeing deployed around Westminster. And it could be coming soon to a borough near you, to judge by the recent mobilisation of riot police to deal with an anti-cuts protest at Lewisham Town Hall. Do we deserve that? I don't think so.

A policeman killed Blair Peach

The Metropolitan Police have released documents admitting that one of their members killed New Zealand teacher Blair Peach at a demonstration in 1979 (Guardian report here). Will anyone notice or care, especially with most media attention on the election? Certainly Peach's family and friends will be relieved; the release of this material does not close the story.

The Met Police says it has changed but, if that's so, it hasn't changed enough. Their behaviour around the death of Ian Tomlinson last year shows they still have a culture of covering up wrongdoing by their own members.

It's ironic that Peach was killed on a demonstration against the National Front in the run-up to the 1979 general election. Anti-fascist demonstrators are still being pushed around by the police when we protest against the far-right. We will be pushed around by the police this Saturday 1 May in Aylesbury, no doubt, where the English Defence League are due to demonstrate and we would like to hold a counter-demonstration.

Back in 1979 my mum was a teacher; she was active in the National Union of Teachers. She wore a badge that said "Who killed Blair Peach?" Now we know the answer to that question, but we still have to conclude that "the police protect the fascists".