The Met's Mounted Branch - did they charge?

Earlier this week I visited the protests against student fees and the EMA cuts on Whitehall to see what was going on and get the full picture for myself. Reports on the protest two weeks before outside CCHQ which turned violent had been varied and sometimes contradictory, so this time I wanted to make up my own mind.

At lunchtime, I walked across Westminster Bridge and watched the protests from Parliament Square - safely behind police lines may I

add. I even too a photograph of the mounted police that were waiting there, advising that they should be sent in to break up the protest which was rapidly turning violent with smashing of bus-stops and the destruction of a police van.

At that point, the police appeared to be acting in an exemplary fashion. They were friendly and chatty to the crowd, they were allowing protestors free passage out of the demo and were generally in control.

Later that day, I defended the police against accusations of 'kettling' and commended them for their actions. It seemed so much better than their failings at both last year's G20 riots and the CCHQ protests.

I have since, on viewing further evidence, reconsidered my position and wish to fully retract my remarks. While what I saw was good policing, there can be no doubt that after I left the actions of the police became un-necessarily violent. The best evidence of this comes from a video posted on youtube and brought to my attention by @eddyanderson.

There is no excuse for this mounted police charge into the crowd. No, it is not on the scale of the Miner's Strikes or the Peterloo Massacre but it is still grossly disproportionate to what the police officers faced.

The Met's police chief yesterday stated clearly that there was no cavalry charge. If he does not call what this video shows a 'cavalry charge' he is merely playing with semantics - to any reasonable observer, this is a charge by the Met's Mounted Branch.

It has also been made clear that kettling was used later in the afternoon to control the protesters- this is a dangerous tactic and I am generally against its use, although I accept that in extreme circumstances it may be necessary.

In the meantime, we need a full explanation from the Met on why the mounted police were used in such a way at the protest. It would also be useful to look through any guidance notes for protest control that are used by the Mounted Branch - I currently cannot find any.

As cuts bite hard, riots and protests will become all the more common on the streets. It seems that when it gets difficult for the police to handle protests effectively, they 'stamp down'. We must not let them.