Here is a video of a press conference held on Friday by a number of student leaders and academics about the police violence which occurred on last Thursday's demo. Following a report of the seriously injured student Alfie Meadows being refused hospital treatment at the Chelsea and Westminster hospital on Thursday, and the intervention of a London Ambulance Service driver who persuaded the hospital to treat him, I will be raising this issue tonight at the public meeting of the London Ambulance Service Patients Forum, which I chair. I will be unreservedly praising the actions of the LAS member of staff and asking for an inquiry into whether treatment was being denied at the hospital.
The Met Police seem to have been given carte blanche by this government to undertake almost paramilitary action against demonstrations. This began, of course, under the last Labour government when the police were again allowed off the leash during the G20 demo in London. The Ian Tomlinson case and now these latest incidents demonstrate that something has gone seriously wrong with policing in London. It also indicates that the police seem to be untouchable in terms of legal action and complaint. The police are rapidly acquiring the characteristics of the hated Yeomanry and militia of the 18th and 19th centuries. It was only last year that I visited the site of the Peterloo massacre in Manchester to commemorate the actions of the Yeomanry there in killing many innocent people who were peacefully protesting there.
As the chair of this press conference says there is a very serious need now for a full debate on policing in this country.
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