"They were just talking to the police, so how they can possibly expect to get a thorough picture of what is happening on the Moss?"
Yet more controversy raged at Barton Moss today, as members of the Independent Protest Panel and other police advisory groups visited the daily anti-fracking protest under escort from Greater Manchester Police.
The Independent Protest Panel was set up by the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd to examine the policing of protests and demonstrations in the wake of accusations of police brutality at Barton Moss (see previous Salford Star article - click here)
A group of four `independent assessors' were present at Barton Moss today but stayed behind police lines during the slow walk in front of lorries delivering to the IGas exploratory drilling site.
"We didn't see head nor tail of them until the police line had been formed at the bottom of Barton Moss Road, and they proceeded to just walk up the lane while speaking to the second in command and a few officers who had clearly been dedicated to do that liaison for the day" said Dan from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp.
"They were just talking to the police, so how they can possibly expect to get a thorough picture of what is happening on the Moss?" he explained "It didn't seem that it was independent or balanced.
"The police were very much on their best behaviour" he added "They didn't deploy the Tactical Aid Unit - and after the group had left, in the afternoon the TAU were back on site: the nasty malicious attitude was back, they were threatening arrests left, right and centre, they were pushing people and shoving people and it was pretty much back to normal. This morning was very, very different and not like it happens normally at all."
This was a point the Salford Star put to Protest Panel member Martin Miller of the Diocese of Manchester. Could he get an `independent' view when the police knew he was coming and could moderate its behaviour accordingly?
"We are going to be drawing on a range of sources and information to inform the advice that we give" he said "We'll be talking to businesses and to protesters, and that is not a process that the police will be controlling or anything like that.
"It's obviously important that as part of that we do talk to the police and it's also important that when we are coming down to a situation like this that we do inform the police and don't get in the way of the protest itself or the police operation" he added "That's part of the independence of it."
We asked him if the Protest Panel was just a token gesture by Police Commissioner Tony Lloyd, under fire for doing nothing in the face of alleged police brutality…
"I don't believe it is a token gesture, if I thought it was a token gesture I wouldn't be a part of it" Martin Miller explained "I believe that Tony is genuinely committed. I cannot guarantee, of course, that every single recommendation we make will be taken up. People will reflect on it and judge the merits of it.
We asked for a date when any recommendations might come from the Protest Panel but he couldn't tell us. Given public outrage over previous acts of aggression by the Tactical Aid Unit, and the footage and photos that have appeared this week of Vanda, the campaigner and mother viciously arrested by the TAU, we explained that people wanted the brutality stopped now, not in six months…
"I can't make a comment on an individual incident like that, it's not appropriate to the role I am performing" he explained "I couldn't tell you when we will actually produce any advice, it's an ongoing process across a range of things."
Martin Miller was the only recognisable person from the stated list of people on the Independent Protest Panel present at Barton Moss today. Another man from the group who we tried to interview said he was from the Independent Advisory Group to the police, although Greater Manchester Police appears not to have one of these.
However, what seemed like their police facilitated presence drew criticism from many at the Camp who wanted to inform the Panel of questions to be asking…
"I would like to know whether the actions of the Tactical Aid Unit are designed to suppress peaceful protest" said Green Party candidate Martin Burke, who this time last year was completing the second of two three-week stints in northern Syria doing humanitarian work.
"I would like to know whether Peter Fahy, the Chief Constable of Greater Manchester, authorised the technique used to arrest Vanda Gillett on 15th February" he added "It's disappointing that Tony Lloyd has only slowly created a Protest Panel, which is, in effect, a `kangaroo jury' a re-creation of the old police committee that used to have elected councillors. He's been very slow off the mark.
"Vanda's first assault by the TAU was on 15th February, yet they've only just turned up and didn't really talk to anyone" he said "After they had gone ten TAU vans arrived in the afternoon to push ordinary people down a public right of way."
After the morning truck deliveries, the independent advisors were escorted back to their cars by the police.
And having spent the morning behind police lines, they couldn't have seen 82 year old Anne Power's poster reading `Arrest me, Kill me but please don't injure me', a reference to police pushing and shoving. And they couldn't have seen the `We Love You Vanda' placard, nor the little girls handing out daffodils to protectors. They almost certainly didn't witness the `pretty much back to normal' afternoon heavy handed policing.
In terms of the credibility of the Independent Protest Panel, the consensus at the Camp this afternoon was they've already virtually blown it…
Photos by Steven Speed
Main photo shows Martin Miller and other members of the group walking behind police lines
See also previous Salford Star articles...
Brutally Arrested Woman Charged with Assaulting Police - click here
Bez Witnesses GMP Brutality - click here
Barton Moss Solicitor Calls in United Nations as Brutality Intensifies - click here
Salford Grandma Speaks Out Against Police Abuse at Barton Moss - click here
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