The Young Greens, the youth branch of the Green Party, has stepped up its campaign to ban kettling by launching a petition on the government's new epetitions website[1]. The Young Greens have previously petitioned the Metropolitan Police Authority[2] on the issue, and are now taking their campaign to parliament.
Zain Sadar, who previously presented the petition to the MPA, said:
"Even after we presented our petition to them, the Met have failed to say whether they have stopped using kettling as an operational tactic.
"What's more, kettling appears to be a tactic only used against peaceful protesters. During the recent riots in London there were no reports of kettling being used, so we can only conclude that it is a tactic reserved solely for peaceful protests to discourage protesters from engaging in political demonstrations."
The petition calls on the government "to ban the tactic of containment (kettling) of demonstrations, where there is not the threat of violence between conflicting groups of protesters, as it damages the community's trust in the police and confidence in the right to protest".
ENDS
Comment and interview available on request
Notes to editors:
1.
The petition has been submitted to the government's epetition
website. For the full text of the petition go to
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/1116
2.
The Young Greens presented a petition with over 1900 signatures to
the MPA on the 27^th January 2011
http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news/26-01-2011-kettling-petition-young-greens.html
Young Greens Media Enquiries:
press@younggreens.org.uk
07906083213
National Press Office:
020 7549 0315
