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MPs call for end to police 'kettling' of protesters

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Jan 14, IRNA -- British MPs are calling on the government to end the police ‘kettling’ of protesters, saying it is an infringement of fundamental rights.

A parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM) expresses concern about the police tactic of restricting the movement of demonstrators within confined zones as used during recent student protests against the trebling of university fees up to £9,000 a year.

Labour MP Katy Clark said MPs were seriously concerned that “individuals, including minors, have been indiscriminately kettled by police for up to nine hours without food, appropriate facilities or access to medical assistance for those who require it and have been refused the right to leave.”

“A number of individuals have suffered very serious injuries, such as bleeding to the brain, as a result of police action during recent kettles,” Clark said in raising the EDM that has received cross-party support from an initial 23 MPs.

Kettling is an “infringement of the fundamental right to peaceful protest,” she said, calling on the government “to take steps to stop this practice.”

Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) has already commenced legal action against London’s Metropolitan Police for it calls the “unlawful imprisonment” of students during the anti-fees protest.

The test case is being brought on behalf of four sixth form students, including one minor, and the 23-year old daughter of PIL’s leading human rights lawyer, Phil Shiner, who were among thousands ‘kettled’ by police near parliament during the demonstrations.

Students have complained that they were detained for hours within confined areas near to parliament, including up until nearly midnight in sub-zero temperatures without food, water or sanitation.

Senior academics from Cambridge University and King's College London, who accompanied students to Parliament Square, have accused the police of “mass internment.”

Towards the end of last year, four mass protests against fee increases have been held in London. Police tactics have led to scores of complaints sent to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.