The fallout from the G20 meeting shows no signs of abating. A policeman has been interviewed under caution on suspicion of manslaughter in response to video footage which shows Ian Tomlinson being struck and pushed over by a police officer. Mr Tomlinson, 47, died following the incident as a result of what was at the time believed to be a heart attack. However, following a 2nd post-mortem examination in to Mr Tomlinson’s death the cause is now suspected to have been an internal bleed in his abdomen and this is perceived to be more likely to be connected to the violence suffered by Mr Tomlinson, at the hands of the police officer.
Police have been accused of being heavy handed in the manner in which they dealt with protestors at the G20 summit. The Police differ from the average civilian in that they are allowed to use ‘such force as is reasonable in the circumstances’ to deal with situations but what constitutes reasonable force is an issue that is open to debate. The law states that the officer must honestly believe that the force used was justified and not excessive but surely this is a subjective opinion based on the perceptions of the police officer at the time of the incident, not in retrospect.
The police walk an impossibly fine line and the public is quick to turn on them in situations such as this and to criticise them for being too quick to resort to physical means to maintain order. However, police have been also heavily criticised in the past for being too lenient and cautious in their handling of similar situations, as was the case in the May Day riots of 2001, where peaceful protests escalated in to scenes of violence leaving 95 people injured.
There has been much talk of curbing the ability of the police to respond to protests with force but if you were to do that then you limit the ability of the police to carry out their job effectively and could risk compromising public safety as a result. While the death of Mr Tomlinson is a terrible event, police must maintain their powers in order to combat with protestor events and the like effectively, although it is clear that in the aftermath of the G20 protests, police tactics should be constantly reviewed and discussed to make sure that they are proportionate to the situation.