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An independent police inspection report urges police officers to “think very carefully” before “kneeling” during protests.
The warning is just one of the conclusions contained in a comprehensive review of the way protests are handled in England and Wales.
The Home Secretary commissioned Her Majesty’s Police Inspectorate to carry out the review last September, after a year of multiple high-profile protests by groups including Black lives are important, supporters of the far right and climate change activists.
The report also recommends that the police reassess the disruptive impact that certain protests can have on the wider community, as part of their police plans to deal with such demonstrations.
People kneel during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Brixton, South London, in memory of George Floyd
In May and June of last year, many thousands of Black Lives Matter protesters organized weeks of demonstrations in various British cities.
The protests were in response to the death of George Floyd, an African American man, who died in the city of Minneapolis after an arresting police officer knelt on his neck.
Although the vast majority of subsequent protests in Britain were peaceful, a significant minority of protesters caused riots and violence in various demonstrations.
Climate change activists at a sit-in protest in London Pic: AP
The inspection said the job of policing those protests was difficult, and officers often felt pressured to kneel.
National guidance was issued, saying officers should make the decision to kneel based on individual circumstances and safety considerations.
The report found: “Most forces followed this guide, but others gave instructions that kneeling in protests would not be appropriate.
“We heard that officers made different decisions even within the same protest … with one case where some officers chose to kneel in a protest while others chose not to.
“This officer was subjected to continuous abuse by protesters until he did the same.”
Emphasizing the need for impartial policing, the inspection said: “In general, we believe that police leaders should think very carefully before taking any action that could be construed as showing support or dislike of any protest or its stated objectives. it will rarely be appropriate. “
However, the inspection added that “it would be unfair to criticize officers who act unexpectedly in order, for example, to defuse tension in a protest.”
The report, which is more than 150 pages long, says that police forces are often good at planning protests.
But Police Inspector Matt Parr said: “Having reviewed the evidence, our conclusion is that the police do not strike the right balance every time.”
“The balance can tip too far in favor of protesters when, as is often the case, police do not accurately assess the level of disruption caused, or likely to be caused, by a protest.
“These and other observations led us to conclude that a modest restart of the scales is needed.”
The HMICFRS concluded that, with some caveats, the changes to the law would improve the effectiveness of monitoring protests, provided they are applied proportionally and in accordance with human rights laws.
