Charged: How the Police Try to Suppress Protest

by Matt Foot, Morag Livingstone

Who do the police protect? An investigation into 40 years of battling protest that reveals a hidden police agenda against dissent. Charged is an essential investigation into the role of policing protest in Britain today. As the UK government tries to suppress all forms of dissent, in their pursuit of more control, how do the police manage crowds, provoke violence and even break the law?Since the 1980s under successive governments the police have been allowed to suppress protests, using aggressive tactics—from batons to horse charges to kettling. The landscape of how police deal with protest changed following criticism of the police during the 1981 Brixton riots. New military-style tactics were sanctioned by the Thatcher government, in secret. Over the next forty years those protesting against racism, unfair job losses, draconian laws, or for environmental protection were subject to brutal tactics. In the aftermath, media attention denigrates protesters while the police are praised and continue to act with impunity.Looking through these moments of conflict widens our understanding of policing public order to reveal the true character of the state. Since the 1980s successive governments, from Thatcher to Johnson, covertly plot to suppress protests, using standardised aggressive tactics, from batons to horse charges to kettling. Through undisclosed documents and eyewitness accounts the authors reveal organised police violence against miners at Orgreave, print workers at Warrington, anti poll tax campaigners, student protestors and Black Lives Matter. The voices of protesters have been undeterred.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, Law

354 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 24, 2022

Reviews

[Steven Tafka · Rating 5 out of 5]

CHARGED – HOW THE POLICE TRY TO SUPPRESS PROTEST
By Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone Published by Verso 2022
A stroll through the sensory garden? It is so strange how memories can be triggered, moments in time relived, sounds, smells, a visual mash-up of the melee. Is melee the right word? I’d better check the definition: A melee (/ˈmeɪleɪ/ or /ˈmɛleɪ/, French: mêlée [mɛle]) or pell-mell is disorganized hand-to-hand combat in battles fought at abnormally close range with little central control once it starts. That just about describes scenes at Orgreave, Wapping, Poll Tax, BLM, NUS, Sarah Everard, and Environmental protests, and I like the bit about central control.
Reading “Charged” was indeed like walking through my past and going – I was there – I saw that – and then discovering that my take on what was really going on, was not so far off the mark. What am I talking about? Isn’t it time I put my cards on the table and show my hand? Here goes, a list of my sins:
I went to art school
I am a bit of a lefty
I don’t like bullies
I don’t like social injustice
I like democracy
I like freedom of expression
I am Libran but do not believe in it.
I have anxiety and depression
I suffer from doubt
I try to live in uncertainty
I like change
I am atheist

The next sin on my list is – I sometimes go on demonstrations. I do it because it makes me feel better. And it makes me feel better because at least I have tried do something about a particular social injustice. And it makes me feel better because I think that I’m not completely mad if there are hundreds or even thousands who also feel like me. And it makes me feel better to be part of a democracy. What Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone have done is make me feel better by confirming my worst suspicions. Their exhaustive research into government sanctioned policing tactics explains why certain things happened.
I was next to BBC reporter Kate Adie, facing a line of uniformed police officers outside News International’s new operation at Wapping. I asked her why one of her crew was carrying a ladder – “To climb over the fence when the shit hits the fan,” she quipped. We were hemmed in with hundreds of protesters behind us. There was good humoured banter between the print workers, NUJ members and the police. The man next to me was pouring himself hot tea from his flask. It seemed improbable that mounted police officers would career into the crowd and start hitting us with their batons – but they did. Livingstone and Foot have certainly done their homework, “Charged” recounts this and many other incidents that I witnessed at demonstrations from the 1980’s up to the present day. Police using trained paramilitary manoeuvres, snatch squads, kettling, undercover spy cops, mounted police charges – all of this comes from the secret Public Order Manual of Tactical Options and Related Matters concocted by the Home Office and police top brass in the early 1980’s. I have seen these tactics used proactively and whilst in that melee, I’ve seen out of control police, senior officers waving their arms about and ranting, and plenty of random brutal assaults – these things probably aren’t in the handbook, but it’s what happens when the front line are given orders to take actions against peaceful protestors – it’s all very confusing.
Do we have political policing in the UK? Do our elected Members of Parliament have oversight of the police? Are the police and government accountable for their actions? I’m afraid it’s a, Yes / No / No, situation. Is it legal to protest in the UK? Should the police enable your right to protest? Is it safe to protest in this country? It’s a, Yes / Yes / No. If these and many other questions concern you, I recommend reading “Charged.”

[Sarah Ensor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone interested in policing and how people are policed should read this book.