The British police treatment of tuition fee protesters has turned into a
major scandal for Scotland Yard
as video footages emerged showing mounted officers charging into the crowd.
Members of the Metropolitan Police mounted team were earlier accused of racing into a thousand-strong crowd of demonstrators in London against the government's decision to almost triple university tuition fees.
The accusations got undeniable proof 24 hours after the rallies in Trafalgar Square amid Met's denials as footages showing police leading their horses into the crowd emerged on YouTube.
The Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said after the protests that he had got “no reference to that [horse charging] whatsoever” during the rallies when he was briefed on police operations.
Under pressures to explain what happened at Trafalgar Square during the demonstrations, Stephenson only said he would not make headlines by “saying I'm acknowledging something's happened.”
While the Met insisted in a statement after the demonstrations that “we would say: no, they did not charge the crowd,” they u-turned on that position after the release of the footage.
“The use of police horses to disperse and distance the crowd was an appropriate and proportionate tactic at that time in the given circumstances,” the Met said.
The footage on YouTube showed mounted officers charging a 1,000 strong crowd. Among them were at least two mothers who were there to collect children, a pregnant woman and many school students.
The accusations got undeniable proof 24 hours after the rallies in Trafalgar Square amid Met's denials as footages showing police leading their horses into the crowd emerged on YouTube.
The Met commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said after the protests that he had got “no reference to that [horse charging] whatsoever” during the rallies when he was briefed on police operations.
Under pressures to explain what happened at Trafalgar Square during the demonstrations, Stephenson only said he would not make headlines by “saying I'm acknowledging something's happened.”
While the Met insisted in a statement after the demonstrations that “we would say: no, they did not charge the crowd,” they u-turned on that position after the release of the footage.
“The use of police horses to disperse and distance the crowd was an appropriate and proportionate tactic at that time in the given circumstances,” the Met said.
The footage on YouTube showed mounted officers charging a 1,000 strong crowd. Among them were at least two mothers who were there to collect children, a pregnant woman and many school students.
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