Police in hunt charges

TWO POLICE officers have been charged with assault relating to the pro-hunting demonstration in Parliament Square last year.

A constable will go on trial accused of causing actual bodily harm, while another officer will face lesser charges of common assault.

Both cases have emerged from an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which is looking into allegations that police were heavy-handed.

At the height of the protest, which took place on Sept 15 as MPs were sitting to vote on the Hunting Bill, the police battled with truncheons to hold back demonstrators.

TV crews caught footage of protesters covered with blood, but the then Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir John Steevens, backed his officers, claiming “nobody got cracked over the head for no reason”.

Following complaints against specific officers, 31 are being investigated by the IPCC, which has passed details of five cases on to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider charges.

The police watchdog has waded through hours of CCTV footage in the course of its investigation, which saw 11 protesters arrested.

Deputy chair John Wadham said: “This is a complex inquiry but we continue to make good progress in examining the complaints received.”

Some 10,000 people protested their support for hunting and the countryside that day, leaving two police officers and at least 17 demonstrators injured.

A spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance, which organised the protest, said: “On Sept 15, police were put in an incredibly difficult situation by a Government which was enabling prejudice and discriminatory legislation, and it has to take responsibility for the results of its actions.

“We will assist the IPCC in any possible way.”