On alleged police brutality, and the need for investigation

My post last night may have seemed rather unsympathetic to those who took to the streets in protest against education cuts. And, indeed, I maintain that occupying a university library and pushing students' work off desks is a rather juvenile and foolish thing to do.

But there is another side of the story, too. And in the aftermath of yesterday's protests in London, there are several as-yet-unconfirmed reports of several instances of police violence and abusive behaviour, some directed against protestors as young as fourteen or fifteen. Demonstrators were, reportedly, "kettled" - forced into a limited area and kept there by police cordons for hours at a time, in cold weather. In a press release today, the Education Activist Network is claiming that police "charged protestors on horseback". The BBC reports one eye-witness account from a teenager:

Arkady Rose, from London, is mother of 15-year-old Kathy, who was kettled in Wednesday's protests. She said she was proud of her daughter's participation in the protest.
She added: "After all, it's her life and education that's going to be affected by the changes.
"Kathy wasn't released until after 8pm and she says that there were still students younger than her in there, despite the police saying there weren't. She says she saw teenagers of her age being beaten with batons and people who were asking to leave for medical treatment being refused.
"It seems like the kettling started around the time that most students had had enough and were wanting to go home. The police seem to have kept them moving around by changing the story and moving them from exit to exit with the intention of tiring them out.

"There was no food or water, despite what they say. All my daughter managed to eat all day was a bag of Minstrels."

The Guardian repeats the allegation that mounted police charged protestors, citing an email received from a protestor named "Dylan" who claims to have been at Downing Street yesterday evening.

Police in riot helmets were gradually pushing us back on foot, but when that proved ineffectual, they brought forward a line of horses. Assuming the horses were just there for show, we continued protesting. Then the horses charged. This sounds like a complete exaggeration but there's no other word for it. The horses charged forward at a canter, through the crowd. I pulled my friend out of the way just in time, but I saw a girl, around sixteen or seventeen, get trampled. I didn't see her get up. Another man was trampled and immediately helped up by other protesters.

Earlier I had also noticed an incident in which a police officer was clearly out of control. A girl at the front of the crowd, nearest the police, was yelling, "Peaceful protest, peaceful protest!". He screamed "FUCK OFF!" and punched her in the face. It's interesting how, despite the presence of reporters at the scene, none of this has been in the news. 

We can't, of course, yet confirm the truth or falsehood of any of these allegations. The police, like everyone else, are entitled to be presumed innocent until guilt is proven, and I'm naturally wary of relying on hearsay when such serious accusations are involved.

But these allegations of abuse are serious enough to merit an immediate inquiry. Any violent interference with a peaceful protest needs to be investigated, immediately, by an independent civilian body. It may be that the police will be cleared of wrongdoing, and we should not, of course, pre-judge the issue; but we are entitled to know the truth, and I think we are justified in calling on Parliament to demand an inquiry.