Today the court heard an audio recording made by PC Ackers on Dec 9th 2010, part of a Magnet unit (two police and a photographer) that were present at the protest. Although it was repeatedly stressed that the comments made on the tape were not relevant to the specific prosecution of any of the five defendants, it was argued that the tape gave a picture of the context of the “violent disorder” that is alleged to have taken place that day.
The horse charges were described as a “passive push” and various protesters are singled out and identified by their clothing for future reference. Slogans and chants were noted, as well as the movement of the crowd and the instances where police were commanded to get ‘batons out’ and change from small shields to larger ones.
This evidence was followed by other police statements from the day that stated that the officers had felt “scared” at various points and again noted at which points batons were drawn. At one point one of these officers noted that he had struck a woman carrying a placard on her arm when she didn’t move back.
Tomorrow will see silver commander Johnson answer questions relating to the tactics of the day.
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