On the 1st April 2009, a newspaper vendor (Ian Tomlinson) was struck by police batons and pushed to the ground on his way home from work; shortly afterwards he died. His crime? Being caught up in the G-20 protests when overzealous police officers decided to enforce the ‘law’ with deadly consequences.

Over the course of this day and the following day there were many examples of police brutality, although Ian Tomlinson’s death was the most high profile case as he was caught up in a containment operation and did not appear to do anything wrong.

As reported by The Guardian, the next day a police officer from the Territorial Support Group, TSG, struck a woman with the back of his hand twice and then knocked her down with his baton. This officer was suspended by the Metropolitan Police but this does not excuse the actions of this bully or his fellow officers who just looked on while the beating occurred.

Who should be responsible for these renegade, ruthless officers? The officers themselves do not seem to be responsible for their own actions and the entire organisation appears unable to handle situations humanely.

At the G-20 protests, a tactic called kettling was used to keep all the protesters in one place and prevent them form splitting into splinter groups. As well as being considered by many to be a breach of human rights, kettling also denies protester access to food, water and toilet facilities for several hours. Moreover, the tactic is totally indiscriminate and often commuters and innocent bystanders are detained for no reason. In addition, baton charges are used, which can seriously injure any protester unlucky enough to be within reach of the more violent officers.

While the IPCC, totally independent from government pressure, is responsible for disciplining police that break the laws , this in itself does not seem to deter officers from committing the heinous crimes that they should be trying to stop. In my opinion, the police should focus their attentions on keeping protests peaceful and singling out violent troublemakers rather than assuming everyone within an area should be detained and then beaten if they try to exit. Furthermore, I think the organisation should be tougher on the bullies in their ranks rather than covering up the wrongdoings of officers. The police are designed to be a service, not a force.

By Community Correspondent Richard Clifton